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.


"That certainly was close, wasn't it?" said the elegant lady. She and Araly had run into a nearby building for protection from the rising winds and rain, only to find that they weren't alone. A group of swarthy looking gentlemen were leaning against the walls, staring at the only two women present.

Araly was getting disturbed by the continuous glancing at her and the inaudible whispering going on between the men. She shivered in fear as to what they might be talking about. One incident was enough in her life for now. The elegant lady, however, looked perfectly calm.

"Are you sure we're safe in here?" Araly whispered almost silently to her companion. The lady looked over at her with a gentle smile then cast her eyes back down to a small box. She lifted the lid to reveal the half-finished lunch they had left before retreating into the shack.

"Let's finish this off, alright?" she asked. Araly stared at her for a moment, then calmed down and scooted closer to try and enjoy what was left of their food. The men in the room had seen the woman opening the box, and several tough looking brutes stalked over to their blanket.

"Hey there ladies," the one with the pompadour said as smoothly as his rough and evil voice could carry. Araly turned to him and broke a cracker in her mouth, trying to intimidate him. "Mind if we join you?" he finished.

"I like that little one, man. She seems feisty." Said the fat one, who got a direct elbow to the gut for his remark by the apparent leader. The group of men glared smugly at the two ladies. Araly was becoming increasingly hostile and scared, whereas the elegant lady was continuing to eat and sip from her cup of tea.

"Do you two girls got enough food to share with all us guys?" a weasely looking man from the back of the group asked. Araly turned back and picked out a tart from the box, throwing it into her mouth before another semi-perverted remark was made.

"Sorry," the woman said back without turning to them, "but no. This food is for the two of us to enjoy. You should go ask your male compatriots in the corner to share their food with you." The group's eyes' shot from corner to corner until they saw two pirates eating with their backs turned on everyone else.

"You bastard! Gimme some food!" The group left the ladies in favor of pounding the unfortunate men who had been holding out the entire time. Araly giggled softly to her friend, and the woman tittered back in response.


"Wow! Where'd all that rain come from?" Bard was in the rain for only a brief moment, but the rain was intense enough to soak him to the bone. He had been exploring the shipwright stands and fishing supply shops along the dock when the storm kicked in. Then, after a moment or two of searching for Araly, he took refuge in a rather large shack near the square.

Bard started walking down a narrow hallway into what he assumed was a room when he head two people talking around the corner.

It'd be rude to interrupt their conversation, whatever it's about, so I'll just stay here until they're done. Bard leaned casually against the wall and listened for a break in their talking, but accidentally overheard the discussion.


There were three voices, one rough that spoke the most frequently, one that sounded very submissive and spoke sparingly, and then a resoundingly deep and muscular voice that rarely talked.

"Well, that's only under ideal conditions. As you can hear it's raining now. The wind and waves in the area are probably working against them."

The deep voice gave an affirmative grunt before the other continued.

"This isn't a worrysome set back, though. At most, only a few hours will be lost. Lawless and his men are confirmed to be in position at the Tall Mast, and the docks are still occupied with our subterfuge experts."

"At our signal, the boats will all burn and sink into the sea." The submissive voice interjected. A slapping sound was heard as the frequent speaker had struck the other man.

"Yes, well, that's true. The ships along the mountain coast will be subsequently destroyed after the town is finished. Then we can work on the list." A slight rustling of paper was heard. The deep voice spoke up now.

"Do we still have a confirmation on 'them'?" He added special emphasis to 'them', whoever 'they' were.

"Yes sir, they're still here. We assume that they will attempt a counter-strike against us when we make our move, and we're ready for them."

"How many bounty heads have you already confirmed?" the deep voice asked.

"Take a look, sir." Another brief rustle of papers, most of which were being grabbed and handled, then a short silence.

"What's the expected MBC?" the deep voice inquired.

"Considering the bounties on most of these pirates, I'd say around thirty percent." This warranted an annoyed grunt from the deep voice, then the sound of clothes rustling as someone rose up from their seat.


Bard's face had gone from curious to downright angry. All this talk was discussed in an obviously serious and sinister tone, and the talk of bounties had nerved Bard quite a bit. Bard's first impression, although rather uneducated, was correct.

Bounty hunters. This could get ugly. The rain outside was beating much more quietly on the roof than before, so Bard took this opportunity to leave. He opened the door, but was preemptively caught by the men in the other room.

"Who's there!?" Bard slammed the door shut and ran out into the street. It was still raining, but not as hard. He could see the door to the Tall Mast Tavern from the street and remembered that someone or something was supposed to be there. Bard positioned himself directly in line with the tavern and closed his eyes.

"SORU!"

The door to the shack flew open and the submissive, skinny man's head peaked out. There was no one in the street or anywhere that he could see. He looked up, down, to all different sides but could still see no one and nothing. He closed the door as he returned to the two other gentlemen in the shack.

"Didn't see nobody, sir. Sorry."

"Ah, it figures," the talkative bounty hunter quipped, "it must've just been the wind, right boss?" The large, deep voiced man stared in the direction of the door with utter shock in his eyes.

It couldn't have been. What I heard just now, was it really…? "Right," he finally snapped back to a cold, diminutive glare, "the wind."


A swift swinging kick to the face and the rat flew away. A quick jab to the gut and another one went tumbling. A crossing slash and yet another flew across the bar and broke apart a table. Zan was on a roll, fighting as many as ten of these wiry little berserkers at once.

He had been refraining from melding through anything the whole fight, trying to save his trump card in case he needed to help his ally fight off the large man throwing tables across the room. Rezland, however, was doing fine. The tables that he couldn't just sidestep of cut apart were grabbed and hammer tossed back to their burly sender.

"C'mon, at least start trying, here!" Rezland taunted. This greatly angered his already red-faced opponent, who rushed him headfirst from across the spacious room. Rezland jumped clear over him and grabbed the back of his fuzzy collar, hitching a ride as the mental beast rammed straight into a wall. Rezland flipped off and drew his gunblades to parry the sword attacks of the minions behind him.

"Sorry," Zan said as he stepped in, knocking the swordsmen unconscious with two stern backhands. "Those guys kinda slipped past me. How's your fight going? Need some help?" They both looked over at the grizzly man trying in vain to pull himself from the wall he was lodged in.

"Nah. I'm good. In fact this fight's pretty much over." Rezland reached into a small pouch on his belt and pulled out two small, blue pellets. He opened the revolver chamber of both his gunblades and loaded them with precision and speed that Zan couldn't follow.

"What are those?" Zan asked, pointing with the tip of his knife to Rezland's now loaded guns.

"Nerve gas pellets. They come in hand with jackasses like this." Lawless Rugby, now a proud and pissed leader of zero conscious men, finally pulled himself out and turned around just in time to stare down the barrels of the sharpest guns on the ocean. Rezland fired both at once and hit square in Rugby's nose. The gas flooded into the giant man's sinuses and in an instant he was floored, twitching slightly and drooling with white eyes.

Rez twirled his guns and blew on the barrels with style and Zan stared amusingly at him. Rez turned and met Zan's gaze, then sheathe his guns and extended his hand. Zan sheathed his blades behind his back and grasped Rez's hand, both applying a firm grip.

Their moment of friendship was interrupted first by the cheering and applause of their apparent audience that was hiding in the corners and behind overturned tables, then by a wall near the door crashing down into debris. Rain and chilly wind poured into the dusty, body ridden room. The rubble started to shift from a recognizable source. Soon enough, a tall figure in a sleeveless coat stood erect from the debris.


Zan looked deadpan and serious at the newcomer, but Rezland had a ravenously angry face aimed at the man now walking over. Rezland broke the handshake and stomped over to meet this tall stranger.

"Rez, we've got…" Rezland delivered a firm right hook to the man's jaw, forcing him to stumble backwards a few steps and his cheek to swell up.

"WHAT THE HELL, MAN? Is this anyway to greet your captain?" Zan perked himself to this statement while Rezland just fumed and continued marching.

"What the hell kind of captain breaks down an entire wall instead of just using the damn door!?" Rezland shouted, attempting to face his captain on his toes.

"It's not my fault! I was aiming for the door, but it's slippery outside from the rain and I veered off course while I was running!" The whole of the conversation was dismissed by Zan as infantile, so he interjected at that moment, melding through the slight debris instead of stepping over it.

"What were you saying before, stranger?" Zan asked. Bard refocused on him and put on a straight face.

"I think this town's in trouble." The audience that had been in hiding not to long ago perked their ears up to hear this supposed trouble.

"There are bounty hunters here who want to destroy the town and capture all the pirates!" A quiet panic ensued. Hushed conversations between all the unfortunates with bounties on their heads started to roar up. Zan perked his head up, considering the possibility of a raid on a pirate town quietly to himself.

"Rez," bard began again to his first mate, "do you know where Araly is?" Rezland looked up with shock at bard, considering that Araly went out with him earlier.

"She's not with you?" Bard's eyes shot wide open and his teeth were visibly clenching in response to Rezland. He turned around quickly to view the downpour in vain hope to see Araly, but caught the vision of something more startling instead.