A/N: Hey guys. Sorry about the extra week with no update, but my internship is over now! Yay for more time to write :)

Chapter 4

As soon as the marine ship drew near enough, it began to fire its cannons at the pirate ship. The shots thundered through the air and crashed into the ocean in warning. Shanks, unperturbed, ordered his crew to sail closer, firing their own cannons in response.

Harry sat calmly sipping his tea, unworried by the violent rocking of the ship since his teacup was enchanted to never spill. The pirate captain was merely playing around at the moment, preferring his fights to be a bit more personal than a pair of ships flinging cannonballs at each other. The real battle would start when the two ships were side by side and wooden planks thrown over their respective railings so the men could invade the opposing enemy's ship on foot.

He had already received permission from Shanks to be as lethal or non-lethal as he wished. Since there would be no Rennervate spells nor was this an assassination job, the wizard decided there was no point in doing anymore than necessary. He'd use today's fight to gauge the necessity of killing as well as the relative convenience of either choice.

After half an hour of cannon fire and the marine ship attempting to dodge Shanks' advances, the two ships were sailing side by side, the cannons quiet while the deck roared. Pirates swung from the netting to jump over to the marines' ship while others grabbed boards they had prepared from below the deck and clambered over the makeshift bridges. A few of the bolder marines charged forwards as well, meeting the pirates head on in their fight for justice.

Harry joined the fight eagerly, relishing the shocked looks he received for his strange clothing before a swift palm slamming against their temple knocked them out for the count.

Maneuvering his way onto the marine ship, using his throwing knives to discourage any bright ideas on the marines' part to knock him off the makeshift bridge, Harry quickly located the commanding officer. Under the pretense of a head kick, Harry slipped a bug onto the man's neck as he dodged before slipping away, stabbing a small knife into the man's hand as a distraction for good measure.

The wizard flowed with the battles, allowing the natural patterns of everyone's movements to guide him around the ship. It was interesting to see the style of attack each man employed, many of which were quite familiar to Harry from previous experience in his old world, and others slightly more impressive. The majority of the marine sailors were equipped with a sword, probably mass-produced by semi-decent blacksmiths under World Government employment. The officer he bugged and left behind had a katana and a few of the sailors held pistols.

The pirates were much more varied. Roller had found a shirt before the fighting started and was now soaking it with sweat as he brawled it out with a pair of marines who lost their weapons. Beckman stepped lightly on the railing, using his rifle like a bat to disarm and knock out the waves of marines targeting him as the First Mate. A man he had yet to meet was up in the pirate ship's crow nest sniping with, strangely enough, a pair of pistols rather than a more stereotypical long-range firearm-like rifle. An incredibly large man was swinging his weight around, one hand holding a rack of meat and the other holding a pistol he was using to kill those who managed to stay standing after encountering the pirate's incredibly large stomach.

And the captain?

A clear clang of steel blades clashing rang through the air. Harry, intrigued by how this sound rose above the more common noise of the ongoing fighting, scanned the two ships in search of the sound's origin. On the other side of the marine ship he had just left, Shanks was confronting the marine officer he just bugged.

'That's a problem,' Harry thought to himself with a hint of irritation. 'If Shanks ends up killing the man, I'll have to retrieve the bug and find someone else to tag. Fuck if I know who's most likely to be promoted in the marine's stead.'

With a crack muffled by the noise of the battle, the wizard immediately apparated back to the marine officer and, as the man's eyes widened in shock, knocked him unconscious; Shanks' cry of annoyance echoed in the background.

"There, there," Harry teased with a grin before leaning in towards the irate pirate captain who disliked his battles being interfered with. "I'll make it up to you," he offered before lowering his voice and ghosting a whisper past an ear peaking from underneath the straw hat. "Promise."

Shanks was silent for a moment, caught slightly off guard, before laughing, his bad mood quickly dissipating. "I'll hold you to that, Harry!"

The fighting grew more desperate as the news of their leading officer's defeat spread through the marine ranks. Shanks easily cut through dozens in mere seconds with the fluid movements of his sword, slashing through the enemy sailors who fell with cries of pain and spurts of blood – some lightly injured, others mortally wounded. Harry danced in his wake with his throwing knives, targeting the marines outside of Shanks' sword range to relieve them of their pistols, and some of their lives.

An hour later and the pirates were triumphant. The few marines left conscious were in no condition to beat back the opponent and wisely chose to retreat with their dead and wounded. The pirates, who had no desire to leave marine bodies on their deck, helped discretely by lessening the fervor of their attack and revealing the occasional soldier who managed to fall unconscious behind barrels and in the shadows of the cabin.

When all was quiet but for the clamor of pirates repairing the damage done to the ship, Harry signaled for Shanks and Beckman to follow him to the navigation room

The wizard pulled out a box, about the size of a shoebox – though the dimension-traveling wizard doubting there were any such boxes in this world as civilization here was much farther behind than his own – and placed it on the desk, ignoring the large map that occupied the majority of the space. He pushed his thumb onto the small pin located on the right side before flipping the lid open, revealing a small glass orb filling half the box, the other half holding a series of green oval-shaped items.

Tapping the orb with his right index finger, Harry recited aloud: "The aspiring conqueror's first weapon is hidden information."

Slowly, the orb began to glow, and when the glow started to pulse gently, Harry spoke again: "Connect to Wrackspurt 3."

"Wrackspurt?" Beckman questioned in the pause that followed.

"It's easier to say than Blibbering Humdinger," Harry explained vaguely.

"But blibbering humdinger sounds more fun," Shanks retorted as he stared with childish curiosity at the orb that started to emit a low-pitched tone at Harry's request. "And it hums!"

Further conversation was cut off when a voice snarled from the orb.

"Enough! I'm fine!"

"But Lieutenant, the doctor says –"

A door slams. For a few minutes there was only the sound of footsteps interspersed with salutes of "Lieutenant Rango!" from the sailors that were no doubt scattered in the hallway the bugged marine officer was striding through.

Finally there was the sound of another door opening and closing, followed by the soft click of a lock and a few minutes of quiet breathing.

"What was that?" the marine questioned aloud. "It must have been a Devil Fruit power, but just what fruit could allow its consumer to pop out of nowhere? It seems like the Doa-Door Fruit, but I didn't notice any holes or 'doors' and I'm quite sure CP9 has possession of that one. I can't even imagine anyone stealing from CP9."

"You know more than a Lieutenant is authorized to," came an unknown voice, deeper and scratchier than the marine's, smoothly interjecting Rango's musings.

The swift, high-pitched hiss of a katana being unsheathed was the immediate response.

"There's no need for that, Lieutenant." The title was stated mockingly, as if the unknown man believed himself so far superior that such a status was undeserving of the pride most placed upon it.

"A white Den Den Mushi," Rango said in a breathless voice, ignoring the taunting words.

Harry frowned. What the hell was a Den Den Mushi and what was the significance of its white color?

"Your transmission will begin a few minutes," the unknown man announced. "In the meantime, why don't you explain what you meant earlier about encountering a Devil Fruit user?"

A pause.

"It was during my fight with the captain of the Red Hair Pirates. We were locked in a sword battle when suddenly, out of thin air, a strange man wearing the oddest clothes – like black leather bath robes – appeared in front of me and knocked me out. When I awoke the battle was over."

"You fought Red-Hair Shanks?" came the incredulous response.

A snarl. "I would think that an unknown Devil Fruit is worth more attention than a stupid pirate captain!"

Cold laughter. "On the contrary," the unknown man replied, still chuckling. "A man appearing out of nowhere could be any number of things more mundane than a Devil Fruit power – your own carelessness, for example. Red-Hair Shanks, however, is no ordinary pirate. You consider yourself a swordsman, don't you? In that case, it should interest you to know that Shanks visits the Grand Line often to have spars with Hawk-Eyes Mihawk."

Spluttering. "Shichibukai Mihawk, known as the Greatest Swordsman in the world, has spars with that scruffy ruffian and lets him live?"

"Oh? How odd that you don't know of something like this and yet know of the existence of CP9. You are a man of strange priorities, Lieutenant Rango."

"You –" a tense moment of quiet before the subject matter stepped backwards suddenly. "My Color of Observation has a range of three meters! It's not my carelessness that allowed him to appear so suddenly!"

Another voice, crackling occasionally as if passing through transmission. The Den Den Mushi, perhaps? "A Lieutenant with Haki. That certainly is impressive, Lieutenant Rango."

"Sir." Was that a hint of worship in the marine's voice?

"A report of this battle with Red Hair will be expected, of course, as well as a separate report on any information you can obtain about this power you witnessed."

"Yes sir."

"As for the purpose for this call, you are being relocated from South Blue into the Grand Line. It has been decided that you have the necessary skill to survive without an escort, and I certainly hope you will not disappoint."

"I am confident in my abilities, sir, and honored by your trust. I will serve well in the Grand Line for Absolute Justice." Yep, there were definitely some worshipful feelings towards the man calling through the Den Den Mushi. Maybe it was someone of high rank in the Marines? Or even the World Government?

"Indeed. Your first job will be a locate-and-retrieve. Intelligence has picked up rumors of the growth of a new Devil Fruit in an underwater cave offshore of Yappa Island. The type and power is still unknown, but that shouldn't prove an issue since no one will be eating it until after it goes through Dr. Vegapunk. Roy has a log pose for you, as well as an Eternal Pose for Bird Island. Mariejois has been instructed to let you through, although Reverse Mountain will be a much more efficient choice. Your log pose should lock onto Yappa after three days on Bird Island. Please use your time wisely. That is all, Lieutenant."

"Yes sir."

Two dull thuds of items being placed on a table.

"Well, I'm off," stated Roy. "Do try not to get tossed off Reverse Mountain, Lieutenant. Eternal Poses aren't so easy to come by."

"Cheh," the marine officer sneered.

Something swung open, lighter and squeakier than the door did earlier when the marine entered – perhaps it was a window? There was a minute of silence and then footsteps followed shortly by the sound of a man falling into a cushioned chair.

"Survive the entrance to Grand Line without an escort. Do they know? Is this a threat, telling me they've noticed my unauthorized forays over Reverse Mountain?"

Tapping of a finger nail, or maybe a pen, is heard against wood, probably a desk.

"It doesn't matter I suppose. I wonder what power this new Devil Fruit holds. Maybe if I play my cards right I will be allowed to consume it after it's been identified. Something to improve my skills with a blade would be ideal."

Talking stopped. For a few minutes, there was nothing but the rustling of papers and the scribbling of a fountain pen or quill. Finally, Harry decided he wouldn't be getting much else in the way of useful information – unless either Beckman or Shanks could translate the sounds of a pen into actual words – and tapped the orb again with a stated: "Disconnect. May the conquest begin."

The orb's glow blinks out of existence and all is quiet.

"Well," Shanks sighs, breaking the silence. "Shall we snatch it?"

"The Devil Fruit, Captain? You're constantly stating you have no intentions of eating one, and the crew isn't interested either. We love the sea too much."

"But Beckman! Just think of the adventure! Stealing a prize from right under the nose of a marine. And I've always wondered what kind of plant a Devil Fruit grows from."

Beckman lit a new cigarette. "You just want a rematch with the idiot who calls himself a swordsman."

"Harry stole my fight," Shanks whined, pouting a little and falling back into a chair.

Harry pulled his own pouting face in return and flopped beside the pirate captain on the arm rest of the chair. "You didn't like my gift of information? Or perhaps," Harry mused aloud slowly, leaning back slightly so that he rested against Shanks' shoulder, letting his head fall backwards on top of Shanks' straw hat, "you were hoping I'd make it up to you with a more physical form of payment?"

A beat. Then Beckman spoke up, as if the short byplay went completely beneath his notice. "We are pretty close to the entrance of the Grand Line anyway, and we have an Eternal Pose to Yappa Island so we have a three day advantage on the marines, as well. Shall I announce it to crew?"

"Yeah!" Shanks exclaimed, getting up and forcing Harry to rebalance himself on his seat now that his backrest was gone. "And ask if Bombay stole the marine sail yet. I'm pretty sure he didn't, so he'll get another chance soon." He turned back towards Harry with a grin. "Your adventure, as promised!"

Harry grinned back and chuckled. "How exciting. I should buy drinks for handsome men more often."

It may have just been sunburn after the long fight earlier, but Harry was quite certain Shanks' skin looked flushed as he walked out the door.

A/N: Wow peoples, flirting and the start of an adventure - are you excited? I'm excited! Now the problem is execution. I don't think I'll ever be as epic as Oda with his manga, but I have Harry! Mwahaha.

Thanks again to my beta, Indifferent Nobody! Love you bunches ^-^

one random reader: thanks for the review/reply to my question :)

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