His ship slowly approached the archipelago. It never stopped to amaze Mercer how different island here were...but then again this was not an actual island so what the hell.

Alex turned to the soldiers "You will stay and guard the ship, If you go on land make it only four at any one time"

They saluted, making Mercer almost roll his eyes. It's not that he had contempt for soldiers...but the idea to obediently listen to what other people order you reminded him to much of sheep to like it.

He jumped down and easily landed on the ground, the moment he made the first step he noticed something unusual. He touched the ground and felt a strange substance stick to his hand. Looking in Shu's memories again he found the answer, Tree-sap. It was also responsible for all the bubbles in this place. Interesting but trivial overall.

He slowly made his way to reach the sixty-sixth area where the Marine base was located. It was not that far away from the grove 59 where his ship docked making it rather simple to get there.

When he finally reached the base he looked for the commanding officer, but to his frustration the man was not present.

Since the commander was not here he looked for the communication center.

A quick talk with the human told him what he wanted to know. So somewhere around grove 40?

Walking to his destination he spotted a familiar face. He had a scar on his left eye but the green hair and the three swords were a dead giveaway.

It was a mystery how the marines haven't already tried to apprehend him. Mercer shrugged, it was not his business anyway.

When he reached the grove 40 he saw that there were a lot of people on the streets. More than a few were pirates if he remembered the new wanted posters right.

This place was a pirate magnet, why is there no admiral and a strong garrison simply picking them off as they arrive?

He even overheard one saying that the Straw Hats have reemerged and were recruiting a new crew...that actually made no sense. From what he knew of them they were like an elite club, you don't just sign up and be part of it.

Hell, they made more chaos for the marines on the Gran Line with nine people than many with entire fleets.

Well who cares, its something to ponder at least until he found the man. Just as he was about to search for the human he spotted a white navy uniform in a line to a concert of all things.

And not any concert, but one that was performed by a living skeleton of all things...it was amazing that the people found that normal...they would probably ignore a Hunter jumping down the street. Maybe dead men tell no tales, but it seems they can sing them.

"Commander" he said to the marine who wanted to buy a ticket to the show. Couldn't he send one of his sheep to get it for him? honestly it wouldn't surprise him if he saw an admiral wasting time sunbathing or sleeping while on duty.

The human looked at him and nodded "Captain, what brings you here?"

"I had to rendezvous with Vice-Admiral Doberman but his location isn't known to me, I'm hoping that you could give me the information about his whereabouts."

The man frowned "I'm afraid you missed him, he already departed almost a day ago"

"Do you know where he went?" Alex should feel frustrated about the human managing to slip his grasp, but its not the end of the world.

"I think he said back to Marineford" answered the marine as he rubbed his forehead probably thinking it will somehow stimulate his memory.

So back to my original destination.

"Do you wish me to contact him and tell you are coming?"

"That wont be necessary, I will see him on Marineford then" said Mercer and glanced to the concert hall "the skeleton really managed to attract a crowd."

The marine grinned "You bet! It's Soul King we are talking about here, he is bone to be wild!"

Bone?...never mind "Well I thank you for your time" said Mercer as he walked back to the docks.

As he was walking down the street he saw a kid dragging probably the worlds largest bag on his back. Well compared with a walking talking skeleton, this could probably be considered normal.

Alex was almost on the docks when the pirates who were fighting in the streets suddenly quieted down.

"Its the Straw Hats!" said one of the civilians.

Now that got his attention, they were almost as infamous as the Yonko.

But he had to rub his optical organs to see if he perceived correctly. Nope, still the same.

Down the street walked a pair of men, one blond the other green haired.

You got to be joking. Looking over the people who were quickly moving out of their path he could only conclude that they were serious.

Now he knew that the wanted posters were two years out of date...but still...

The two Sanji and Zoro impostors couldn't be more obvious.

Ok, Zoro could have taken on weight, but how could those fools explain the wrong facial structures...not to mention that they were almost a head shorter than the originals.

On the other hand he saw the real Zoro walking around the place without any problems.

How nobody recognized them was a mystery. He probably didn't even need his disguise, if he only put the hat or the veil he would be a perfect double.

Alex smirked at the idea and proceeded to return to his ship, there was nothing here that would interest him. It's not like a boat full of haki users would appear only for him.

It seems that the Straw Hat pirates were going to make some trouble again.It was none of his business, he needed to get his claw's on a Vice-Admiral soon. Before he reached his ship he spotted something bizarre, a hand with an eye and a human ear sticking from a nearby wall monitoring the traffic in the docks. Now that's a handy ability to have for a spy. But then again his information gathering was far more practical so he ignored it.

He left as fast as he could to his next destination, his prey eluded him for far to long.

A/N: Should Mercer remain disguised as a marine? Try his hand in piracy? (If so who would be his crew members) or a solo hunter.