Despite their efforts, Robin and Chopper had yet to find a solution for Luffy's dilemma. None of the medical textbooks or any of the books in the library held any sort of relevant texts or images.

"But we'll keep looking," Robin added reassuringly after she and Chopper told Luffy this news. They'd found Luffy in the observatory, apparently hiding from Sanji.

Luffy sighed. "Okay, then. Thanks!"

Chopper grinned and Robin said, "Perhaps if we can find a bookstore at our next stop, we'll have a lead . . . or we can ask around."

"Oh, when're we landing next?" Luffy asked.

Nami's voice reached their ears from the deck: "Land ho!"

"Seems like we're here," Robin said, shrugging.

Luffy grinned. "Awesome! Let's go!"

She jumped down the hatch as they dropped anchor. Just beyond where they docked was a small, sleepy port town. And not too far from that was—

"Oh, lord," Nami muttered, eyeing the Marine base in the distance. "Everyone, be careful, there are Marines on this island . . ."

"Why me?!" Usopp moaned. "God above, spare us from capture!"

"You know that we met God, right?" Zoro pointed out. "Anyway, we'll be fine, just keep a low profile. Hell, they haven't put out new wanted posters yet, so they might not recognize some of us."

"They'd better put some new ones out soon," Sanji growled.

"I wonder if anyone had their picture taken during those two years," Brook mused. "I was certainly out and about a lot . . ."

Sanji froze. "Never mind, never mind, I'll stick with my old picture."

The others looked at him oddly.

"Moving right along," Nami said. "Luffy, can you come with me?"

Luffy froze in the act of bending her knees, ready to spring off of the ship. "Why?"

"I was thinking," Nami said, eyeing her up and down, "that you'd look really cute in a skirt."

Luffy frowned and straightened up. "Well, I guess that'd be okay, but—"

"Luffy-chan in a skirt?!" Sanji exclaimed, hearts filling his eyes.

"Never mind!" Luffy exclaimed, and promptly jumped off the ship and bolted down the street.

"Look what you did, Sanji-kun," Nami snapped.

"Luffy-chan in a skirt," Sanji whispered again. "A short, short skirt . . ."

"You're gross," Zoro said, knocking the back of Sanji's knees with a sheathed sword so that the cook fell to the deck. "Get your ass off the deck and get your head out of the gutter. It's still Luffy, y'know."

"Speaking of which, someone should find her," Franky remarked. "She's bound to get in trouble with Marines crawling around."

"I'll do it!" Sanji exclaimed, jumping up.

"Anyone but you," Robin clarified, and Sanji sank to his knees, moping.

"I'll go," Zoro said, and he jumped off the ship before the others could stop him.

"Any volunteers to look for him when he gets lost?" Nami asked.

Robin raised her hand.

Luffy had been quick to find a bar. She strode inside cheerfully as if she'd been there many times before, sat at the counter, and ordered some booze.

The man sitting next to her stared incredulously as she gulped half of it down and slammed the mug back on the counter.

"Hey, miss, you seem a little young for that kind of drink," he remarked.

Luffy scowled. "I'm not a kid! Don't you dare tell me I need juice!"

". . . I didn't say that . . ."

"Hey, girlie, you look familiar," the bartender said, leaning over far too close to Luffy. "Have I seen you somewhere?"

Luffy scowled again. "Don't call me girlie. I'm not a girl."

The bartender and the patron looked at her chest.

"Don't be rude!"

"I swear I've seen your face somewhere," the man next to her said thoughtfully. "Can't put my finger on it, though . . ."

"Ah, never mind that," the bartender said, waving a hand. "As long as she's not a criminal, it doesn't matter."

Luffy almost choked on the rest of her drink, partially because of this statement, and partially because five Marines had just walked through the door.

"The usual?" the bartender asked as they sat at the counter on Luffy's right side. Luffy quietly ignored them and played with the empty mug.

"Yeah, I . . ." the Marine sitting next to Luffy trailed off as he glanced at her. She whistled and pretended to drink from the mug.

"You look like . . . nah, couldn't be," the Marine muttered, glancing at her chest. He glanced at his comrades. "Hey, doesn't this chick look like Monkey D. Luffy?"

The other Marines, the bartender, and the patron went quiet and stared at Luffy. She glanced around.

"Hey . . . that is Monkey D. Luffy," one of the soldiers said slowly. "Same scars from the paper's pictures."

Luffy quietly pushed her mug away and stood up slowly, intending to run for the door without making too much of a scene.

"I thought that Monkey D. Luffy was a man," the bartender said.

"I am a man!" Luffy yelled. "Just 'cause my body's different—!"

"So that is the criminal Monkey D. Luffy!" one of the soldiers yelled, and they all readied their guns.

"Damn right!" Luffy exclaimed, putting up her fists. "If I have to get through you jerks to get back to my ship, that's what I'll do!"

"Your ship, hm?" the Marine who'd sat next to her said, aiming his gun at her stomach. "So your crew's here with you?"

"Of course they are, but they won't be taken down easy," Luffy said firmly.

Someone fired and her shoulder caught the bullet, bouncing it back and wedging it in the wall. She promptly punched the nearest Marine and he went down like a rock.

The others fired their guns, apparently not having learned their lesson, and these bullets bounced off of Luffy's body easily. As she punched out another of the soldiers, she exclaimed, "Go ahead and try to hit me if you're able! Anyone else want some?"

But as she pulled back her foot for a roundhouse kick, she suddenly winced and dropped to her knees, clutching her torso.

"Now!"

The remaining Marines formed a pig-pile on Luffy. One of them yanked out seastone handcuffs and chained Luffy's wrists and ankles. With some rope, they effectively hogtied her.

"My . . . stomach," she groaned. "It hurts . . ."

"We got him—her?—anyway, let's get this criminal back to base!" one of the Marines exclaimed. They left the bar, dragging Luffy behind them in an unusually inconspicuous manner.

". . . She never paid for her drink," the bartender said quietly.