A/N: First off… big, fat thank you(s) with cherries and whipped cream on top for reading, reviewing, and following.

Second… It took me longer than I planned to write this chapter, but a few ideas struck me and I just had to add them to this chapter. Plus, I'm in the middle of writing an original graphic novel series and I'm also drawing the characters and everything that is involved with that… links will likely be added to my profile when I officially start the series.

Third… I derped and ended up having to edit previous chapters.

Fourth… Expect some action in this chapter, but please be forgiving as it's my first time writing fight scenes, and after much writing, rewriting, and editing, I hope it turned out well.

Fifth… please enjoy ~X~


Chapter Nine: The Tower and the Tavern

**Countdown: Two months, 25 days left**

Taking his turn as lookout for the upcoming island, Aang sat atop the crow's nest absentmindedly listening to the people far below him. It had been about six days since they had set sail from the mushroom forest, and they'd yet to spot land. Aang had to admit that he felt some concern, because the longer it took for them to reach an island, the longer they would have to stay on that island, the less time they would have to reach Ha Chi.

Katara was by the bow with Nami, using her waterbending to guide the ship along the waves. She had to stop after a while, because Katara had been using her bending for a few hours straight. Nami was annoyed as she looked through a telescope at their surroundings. "That damned little sprite," she complained. "It's been far too long, and no island yet! And here I thought we were at least ahead of schedule."

"Maybe we got lucky and it's Ha Chi that we're sailing towards," Sokka said, but he was inclined to agree with Toph when she stated somewhat flatly, "As if we're ever that lucky."

It was getting later in the evening, with the sky turning a bright red-orange in anticipation for sunset. Aang then saw a strange tower a ways ahead of them. He called out to Nami,

"Hey, I think I see an island!" and he pointed out the tower.

"You see an island?" Toph sounded excited. "Where is it? How far away is it? What does it look like?"

"We'll see when we get there," Nami said with a smile.

"Whoa!" Luffy called out in uncontainable excitement. "It's got a tower! I wonder how high it goes! I wonder what it does! New island! New Island!"

As they neared the island, they saw that it was much bigger than they had originally thought, as mountains and cliffs loomed over the sides. A few more ships came into view at the harbor. People working on the docks eyed them curiously at first, then warily as they noticed the Pirate flag. But the workers continued about their business as if nothing was going on. A few of the Thousand Sunny's crew members returned the wary glances, mostly because they didn't want to run into any trouble.

As soon as they had docked, Toph excitedly exited the ship (with a little help from the others) and she fell down onto the ground as if she were hugging it, making an "earth angel". Since she had only demonstrated earth bending by using her meteorite bracelet, this was something else that held the pirates' curiosity, if only for a moment.

"Oh land! How I've missed you!" Toph declared. "I'm sorry that I was gone for so long!"

Shops were closing for the evening, so they would have to do any preparations and sightseeing in the morning. But that didn't stop the likes of Luffy, Usopp, Zoro, Toph, Zuko, Aang, and Sokka from setting out on their own to explore.

"Don't stay out too long!" Katara called after them.

As they walked, they began to get an idea of how big the island actually was. From what they could tell, the island had likely been just one huge rock at some point in the past. The residents of the island had not built any structures, but rather had carved their homes and stores out of the island itself, making large dome shapes of various sizes that lined the streets. Even a few shops and inns had been carved into the mountainsides. Cobblestone pathways twisted in between the homesteads and stores that had been carved out of the island.

Metal poles with thick wires wrapped around them stuck out of the roofs of shops and homes, as well as other places of residence along the mountainside. These wires were all connected the buildings one way or another, and they led somewhere to the middle of the island towards the tower. Metal and glass lanterns were connected to the wires, and they swayed softly in the breeze. Sokka and Aang stood wide-eyed looking at the lanterns, because of its curious soft yellow glow.

"That isn't candlelight," Sokka observed, truly fascinated by this fact.

"I've never seen anything like it!" Aang said with a grin. "How do these work without some kind of fire?"

"It's electricity," Usopp explained. "It seems that it powers this entire island through that large tower there in the middle. It's probably some sort of generator."

"So it's mystery power," Luffy said with a definite nod.

"No, no." Usopp shook his head and sighed. He then tried explaining to his Captain how electrical energy works, but it was obvious by the look on Luffy's face that he wasn't getting it.

"So, basically it's like a form of sustainable energy?" Sokka asked, thinking he understood somewhat.

"Yeah," Usopp nodded, and now explained how the phenomenon worked to someone who was willing to listen and learn. "Electric power is transformed to other forms of power when electric charges…"

Usopp continued explaining the process to Sokka, who looked genuinely interested with a nod of his head and a hand on his chin, while the others wandered off ahead to explore what they could. Zuko, Luffy, Aang, Zoro, and Toph left the two boys behind who were talking about electricity and the like to head towards the tower in the middle of the island. In the growing darkness, the streetlights grew more prominent and the glass windows installed in the rock faces glowed eerie and dream-like making Aang think of glow-flies. Although a few of the houses had double windows, making Aang think of strange eyes peering out at them. The group eventually reached the tower, and each of them stared up at it in curiosity.

"I wonder how high it goes," Aang craned his neck and squinted as he tried to see the top in the darkness. He could see the faint glow of lights at the top.

"Around 700 feet," an old man with wild gray hair answered with a chuckle, and he continued, "That tower powers the whole island of Felsen. We're also known as Lightning Rod Island. This tower is our island's pride and joy; it powers just about everything that we do."

"Oh, wow…" Aang said in admiration.

The old man introduced himself, "I'm Ampere, and I've maintained this tower for about 63 years now." He rubbed his chin and looked quite proud. "If you come back in the morning, you'll get to see this island in all her glory, and there'll be a tour too."

"I want to see the top!" Luffy announced, and before anyone could stop him, he Gum-Gum Rocketed himself up to the top of the tower. The others could just barely hear him shout with awe at the sight that was before him. Luffy waved to them and was yelling and pointing towards something.

"What's he doing?" Zuko asked, while Ampere was in a panic.

"I think he's pointing towards the Sunny." Aang said, wondering why Luffy felt the need to climb and the tower, plus why Ampere was now shouting at Luffy in a panic.

"He needs to get down from there!" Ampere looked ready to pull his hair out if it meant Luffy would come down from the tower. He waved his arms and yelled, "Young man! You need to get down from there now! Otherwise I won't be responsible for what happens!"

"What's going to happen?" Zuko asked, and Ampere didn't answer for a minute or two as he continued to try desperately to get Luffy's attention to no avail.

"In less than a minute there's going to be-" he was cut off by a loud crack and flash of light as lightning that seemed to come from out of nowhere in the clear evening sky struck the tower and Luffy. Various parts of the tower glowed brightly as the lightning struck it, and faded out again when the lightning stopped.

"NOO!" Ampere screamed. Aang and Zuko could do nothing but shield their eyes and stare in anticipated horror as memories of a lightning bending Azula came to both of their minds. Her lightning bending seemed almost weak in comparison to the lightning that struck the tower. The lights around them gave off a faint flicker, and continued to maintain their steady glow.

"Haha!" Luffy shouted triumphantly as he fell towards them. He twisted himself successfully landing on his feet at the base of the tower in front of them. Black smoke rose steadily from his person as he brushed himself off.

"That was fun!" Luffy proclaimed.

"What was that?!" Zuko demanded, and before he knew what he was doing, he hit Luffy across the head out of the needless worry he had felt for the Pirate Captain. Aang stared at Zuko in surprise.

"Well, someone had to!" Zuko defended when he noticed Aang's questioning expression.

Luffy rubbed his head and just briefly gave Zuko a pouty look, but grinned as he responded,

"I'm a rubber man; that kinda stuff never works on me."

Ampere looked as if he was about to have a heart attack. He seemed to be hyperventilating. "You're a Devil Fruit-user?" he asked in between breaths. "That doesn't give you the excuse to worry an old man like me! My heart can't take things like this…"

"Sorry," Luffy said with a laugh.

It was then Aang realized something:

"Where are Toph and Zoro?"

"Oh, they split up from us after Usopp and Sokka started talking about the mystery power." Luffy said.

"And you didn't say anything?"

"Well it's not like we have to worry about them or anything," Luffy defended, and stated simply, "They're with each other after all."

"Let's just go find them." Zuko said with a huff. "It's best if we at least try stay together."

As they walked, Aang turned to Luffy and asked, "So electricity doesn't work on rubber? What exactly is it? Rubber really would be something useful to have… How does it work?"

"Hmm…" Luffy began. "Well…"

Luffy's face started to turn red in a rather feverish manner as he scrunched his face and tried to think of an answer to Aang's question. Since it seemed that Luffy was literally getting physically ill from trying to think of an answer, Aang gave up and figured he would just ask Usopp or Franky, as they seemed to be the more knowledgeable ones on this particular subject.

"…Uh, it's okay, you don't have to tell me…" Aang said, relieving Luffy of his rather daunting task of having to think too much.

"Yosh, okay!" Luffy responded, recovering in mere seconds.


"And so," Usopp concluded, "I believe that tower acts as a sort of generator that the residents of this island depend on for everyday life."

"That's amazing!" Sokka said. He started to wonder if they could somehow harness electricity in his home World. There was a loud crack and a flash of light, and lightning struck the tower, which confirmed Usopp's theory that the island used the tower as a type of generator.

Needless to say, Sokka was very impressed. He felt that they could learn so much from this World, and that they should take every advantage to learn what they could while they were here. Sokka started trying to think about the ways he could apply some of this World's technology to his own. He was definitely going to have a long talk with the mechanist when they got back.

"How is that possible?" Sokka asked, "There isn't even a cloud in the sky!"

"It's likely the natural phenomena of the New World," Usopp nodded. "There's all sorts of stories about things happening in the New World that I've heard and read about that seem to defy logic."

Sokka and Usopp started walking towards the tower, and had nearly gotten halfway there when they met up with Zuko, Aang, and Luffy. Upon realizing that two certain people were not present, Sokka asked,

"Hey, where're Zoro and Toph?"

"Zoro said he wanted to go for a walk or something," Luffy answered.

"Why didn't you at least ask where they were going?" Sokka asked, and Zuko sighed, feeling very tempted to hit Luffy over the head again.

"Okay, let's just backtrack." Sokka continued. "Where did they split off from us? We can probably find them easily if we know which direction they went."

"Gyaaa!" Usopp started. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"Zoro gets lost going in a straight line; he isn't going to be anywhere near the direction that he originally set off in." Usopp lamented, a frustrated whine evident in his voice. "He could be anywhere by now, plus he's guiding Toph around. Luffy, why did you let them wander off on their own?"

Sokka slapped his forehead. "Great, we can't go back without them. Why would Toph go off alone with him in the first place?"

A look of frustration came over Zuko, and he demanded of both the Straw Hat Captain and the Sniper, "How can a person get lost going in a straight line?!"

"Probably 'cause he's an idiot." Luffy laughed.

Usopp only shrugged, "I don't know, but he manages it." Looking up to the heavens as if searching for an answer and lamenting their bad luck once again, Usopp said, "Why did we take our eyes off of Zoro?"

Zuko, Aang, and Sokka easily imagined Katara glaring at them.

"Why would you let Toph go off like that? We can't just leave her and think she's going to come back on her own! Plus we're in a strange place! Go find her!"

Usopp visibly shivered as they easily imagined Nami hitting each of them over the head with her fists demanding,

"Why would you leave a blind girl to be led around by an idiot like Zoro?! What were you thinking? Go find them!"

Sanji would be alongside her, equally demanding an answer saying,

"Why would you leave our cute little Toph-chan in the care of that stupid Marimo?!"

"We have got to find them!" A determined Usopp said, clenching his fist for emphasis.

"But we don't have anything to worry about, they're with each other," Luffy insisted.

"Then you get to be the one to tell that to Nami when we go back to the Sunny without them," Usopp said.

At the sudden realization of what Usopp's words meant, Luffy took a deep breath and called out, "ZORO! TOPH! COME OUT!"

Luffy was immediately silenced by numerous people sticking their heads out of doors and windows admonishing him.

"What are you doing? Do you have any idea what time it is? Be quiet!"

"Toph…Zoro…come out…" Luffy whispered loudly, while the others just looked at him incredulously.

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, and he started to have something of an understanding as to why the other Pirates acted the way they did towards Luffy. A feeling of sympathy for them slowly rose up in him. Taking a deep breath, he began,

"Okay, let's just look for them. Sokka and I will go this way, Usopp and Luffy, you go that way. Aang, you have your glider. Look for them from the air, and let's try to meet back here in half an hour. We don't need to get any more split up then we already are."

Doing as they were directed, they split up to look for the directionally challenged swordsman and the blind earthbender.


When Usopp and Sokka had stopped to talk about the mechanisms of electricity, Zoro couldn't have cared less, and Toph couldn't have agreed more with him. Slowly taking in the sights around them, Zoro said, "I'm gonna go for a walk this way, I'm not really interested in seeing the tower."

Toph hurried to catch up with Zoro, saying, "You mind if I come with you? The tower isn't going to do much for me, either. Besides, I want to spend as time on land as I can before heading back to the Sunny, and I don't want to do it hanging around some tower."

"Do whatever you want," Zoro replied nonchalantly. "Hm. This way looks interesting."

And with that, the odd pair set off by themselves to explore another section of the town. The majority of the shops had already closed for the night, but after a while Zoro and Toph came upon a store that was still open. A flashing sign advertised locally-brewed sake and gambling, and Zoro stopped to consider whether or not he should try to get some of the alcohol.

"Why'd you stop?" Toph asked.

"It's a tavern," Zoro answered thoughtfully.

The local tavern was quite lively, and Toph could hear the music and voices and smell alcohol from where she stood beside Zoro.

"You want to go in?" she questioned, wondering if Zoro thought about anything else other than sleep, sake, and training. Although she wanted to walk around a bit longer, she didn't necessarily want to go around by herself in a strange town she knew nothing about. Before Zoro could answer, a man's voice called out to them.

"Welcome, welcome!" the man said, bowing repeatedly. "Good sir, won't you and the young lady come in?"

He stood to the side and motioned to the entrance of the tavern, allowing them to see, hear, and smell what was potentially waiting inside. He motioned to the flashing sign, saying, "As the signs say, we've got drinking and gambling! Why don't you come in for a drink and try your luck?"

Toph thought that she could feel something off about the man due to the vibrations that she felt as he spoke. Zoro turned to her, asking, "What do you want to do?"

Toph grinned, "I'm up for it."

"Well, alright. We won't take too long."

Without Katara in the background voicing her dislike for Toph's decisions and behavior, Toph was more than happy to enter the tavern, and actually looked forward to any troublemaking that could potentially come from this decision. Plus, Toph doubted that these people could do anything to her or to Zoro; he seemed pretty tough, plus Zoro didn't seem worried, so why should she be?

"Oh, how wonderful!" the man said, smiling wide. "Welcome! I'm so glad you decided to join us! I'm Morris, by the way. Please, right this way."

Toph could see that the tables and counters were carved out of the rock itself within the tavern, and the chairs were made out of rock and metal. She could see what everyone was doing very easily, and was able to distinguish at least forty people within the tavern, including her and Zoro.

They sat down on carved rock stools at the bar, and Zoro ordered a bottle of the local sake, while Toph decided on some kind of tangy juice. One of the patrons sat a few stools away from them drunkenly turned to Zoro and slurred, "Hey (hic)… don't I (hic) know you from somewhere? (Belch)."

"I just have one of those faces." Zoro said, and glared at the man, "I'm nobody in particular."

Not that he wasn't up for a potential fight, but for now Zoro just wanted to enjoy his sake in peace. He could tell Morris was potentially planning something, but he wasn't sure what. No one was that inviting without having something up their sleeve. The drunkard backed down from Zoro's glare, or maybe he was just too drunk to notice, but he seemed to forget all about the swordsman and ordered another drink.

Toph could hear a small group of the patrons gambling, and she had an idea; an idea that if Katara had been there, she would have protested the idea with every ounce of disapproval that was within her waterbending body.

"Hey Zoro, wanna make some money?" she asked, a devious smile on her face.

Zoro turned his attention to Toph, "Well, we do have to pay for the drinks. What did you have in mind?"

Toph whispered her plan to Zoro, who smiled in response and agreed, "Let's do it. Might as well have some fun since we're here."

Toph and Zoro approached the table where gamblers had crowded around to watch a man play a sort of guessing game with five upside-down cups. A second man sat beside him, looking very pleased at the various pilings of gold, jewels, and belly.

Those who were observing were making bets as to where certain colored marbles would appear. Toph could sense the marbles hidden within the different cups, and found that they were weighted. Toph carefully focused her seismic sense on the cups, and found that there appeared to be small metal plates within the cups.

"I pick that one," a woman was saying. "The green marble is under that one."

A sighted person would have missed it, but Toph had the advantage of being a blind earthbender. She heard a faint *clink* and felt the vibration as the marble within the cup hit the metal plate. Toph sensed another weight drop within the cup that the woman had apparently chosen, and when the man lifted the cup, he apologized, "I'm sorry, it's the red one."

"Oh, damn," the woman sighed, shoving her money towards the dealer "Just my luck."

Toph tapped Zoro's arm and waved her finger for him to come closer, to which he complied.

"He's cheating," Toph whispered. "I don't know how he's doing it, but there is more than one marble in those cups. I think she was right in her guess, but he did something to switch the marbles."

"Must be a Devil Fruit user," Zoro said with a nod.

"Alright, let's do this." Toph said, recalling the scam artist back in the Fire Nation when Team Avatar needed some money. She could tell the weighted marbles were made out of metal, and that she could easily work with.

"Can we have a try?" Zoro asked, taking a seat across from the dealers, and Toph stood behind him.

"Sure, sure, what will you wager?" one of the men asked, and he eyed Zoro's three swords. Toph stepped in and said, "This bracelet. It's genuine meteorite. Plus it can do this:" she showed off some of her earthbending with the bracelet. Since they were going to walk away with the winnings anyway, these people didn't need to know that to make the meteorite bracelet change shape required earthbending. The two men quickly forgot about Zoro's swords and eyed the bracelet with fascination and curiosity. This bracelet had to be just one of the many mysterious treasures of the New World.

"You're on," the dealer in charge of the cups said with a cocky smile, revealing crooked and missing teeth. "Here, you have a choice between three different versions of the same game. You have to find where the red or green marbles are. In one game, you have to guess which color marble is under which cup. The easy version is finding one color marble, but you risk choosing either an empty cup or choosing the cup that has the other marble in it. The second version of the game is basically a more difficult version of the first; you have to find both marbles. The third game is to try and find which of the cups are empty."

"Let's go easy," Toph said. "I want to get a feel for the game."

"Alright," Zoro said. "We'll do the first game; trying to find one color."

"Alright, let's go," the first man said, "We wager 100,000 belly for the bracelet. Which marble are you going to bet on?"

"The green one," Zoro said, and crossed his arms. He watched carefully as the man held up the green marble to display which one Zoro had picked. He placed it under the cup, and then placed the red marble under one of the other cups. He quickly mixed up the four cups, leaving the fifth cup hiding the green marble alone at first. He then took a deep breath saying, "Now, focus on your cup and don't lose sight of it!"

Zoro did just that, and guessed, "The one in the middle,"

"You're…" the man started, and Toph could sense that the weight of the marble was being shifted, so she clenched her fist, ensuring that the marble stayed in place.

"Wro…" the man stopped and stared at the green marble before him, wondering how it was possible, he made a face as he replied, "…Right…"

"Yay!" Toph cheered. "Let's go again!"

They went a few more rounds with Zoro guessing which marbles were under which cup. Toph quickly realized that there were two marbles within each cup. She also quickly learned that the red marble weighed just a bit more than the green one, so she was then able to easily distinguish between the two. Through Zoro's "direction" by him taking guesses saying, "The second cup, red marble," Toph was able to manipulate the marbles using her earthbending, and making Zoro's "guesses" right every time.

After successfully winning a small pile of gold and a few hundred thousand bellies, they were going to call it quits. Toph had "allowed" them to lose some every few rounds so that no one would be suspicious. They were just about to gather up their winnings, but the man who was in charge of the cups slammed his fists down on the table and pointed at them accusingly, "You cheated! I don't know how you did it, but you cheated!"

His partner looked at him, at Zoro and Toph, and then back to him. "Alnico-aniki… Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. No one has ever had such a lucky winning streak like that before." Alnico glared at the two figures before him.

Zoro merely responded with a smirk, "Well, maybe we're just that lucky." He took a drink of his sake, showing that he couldn't have cared less about the accusations.

"Len!" Alnico shouted, "We aren't going to let you escape that easily."

Len pulled out a rifle, and pointed it at Zoro.

"You cheated first!" Toph shouted back. "If anything we were playing by your rules!"

If Toph could have seen Zoro's face, it would have said, you don't need to be telling them that! But there were more important things to worry about at the moment.

The patrons of the bar pulled out pistols and swords, along with some of the supposed "victims" of Alnico's scam, and pointed their weapons at the other unsuspecting patrons. Some of the true victims of the scam stood up angrily, and attempted to pull out their weapons as well. A few of the victims glared angrily at the scammers, and one voiced his furious disapproval, "You cheated?!"

One of the men who reached for his sword screamed as he was stabbed in the side by one of the people next to him.

"Don't move," his attacker ordered.

Another one was mercilessly shot when he tried to pull out his sword in defense of his stabbed friend.

Toph flinched at the sudden noise. She had never heard anything like it before, and judging by the way a man's limp body hit the floor, she didn't want to be on the receiving end of whatever that was.

"What was that noise?" she asked slowly. "I've never heard anything like it..."

Zoro glanced at her over his shoulder, "Gunshot. It goes without saying, but you don't want to get hit with a bullet. Can you fight?"

Toph only responded with a nod.

"Good. Get ready."

This incident caused a few of the patrons who weren't involved with the tavern's scamming gang to make a break for the door. They didn't want to get involved in something like this; they weren't fighters. They started shouting,

"It's a fight! Let's get out of here!"

Some members of the gang attempted to block their path, but Morris spoke up, as he walked up slowly to where Toph was standing and Zoro was seated. "Let the runners go, they don't have anything of value."

He turned his attention back to the swordsman and the blind girl.

"Just give us the supplies on your ship and you can be on your way, and the same goes for the rest of you," Morris said, cocking his rifle and holding it to Toph's head. Toph flinched, as she remembered hearing a similar clicking sound before that one man was shot. "Here's how it's going to work. The girl stays here. You show a few of the men here to your ship, they unload any valuables, and you and the little sister won't be harmed. You can also leave those swords and that bracelet."

Zoro grinned as he slowly stood up, "Well, that's going to be a problem, because you see, I can't give up my swords without a fight."

"Don't move!" Len shouted with nervousness evident in his voice. The near-psychotic grin on Zoro's face had really unnerved him.

Toph had never sensed someone move as fast as Zoro did just then. She only registered that he had moved when she heard the clink of one of his swords, and felt something pass over her head, with that particular metal ringing sound that she knew well-made swords had. Zoro's sword cut something and the sound of metal clanging against the rocky floor could be heard a mere few seconds later, followed by a second series of clangs as more metal met stone. When she finally processed what Zoro had done, Toph stood in momentary shock. Just what was he?

"Ah… ah…" Morris was too shocked to say anything, but he collapsed to the floor, obviously shaken. Toph could tell how fearful he was by his rapidly beating heart and ragged breathing. "G-get them! Target the girl, she's blind! She's the weak one!"

Len stared stupidly at his now useless rifle, but he gave a yell of surprise and ducked as Zoro did a stabbing motion with one of his swords in Len's direction. Len fell back, just barely feeling the breeze from Zoro's sword. As the wall behind where Len's head had just been exploded into a series of cracks that traveled outward a few feet, the cracks also traveled vertically to the ceiling and stopped a little over halfway across the room. Len's eyes bulged from their sockets in shock and fear. Seeing what could have happened to his head, and realizing how too close of call it was, Len felt his nether regions become very wet and warm. Len had only heard stories about swordsmen being so skilled that the very wind from a single swing of their swords could cut through mountains. He never exactly believed these stories, thinking them to be nothing more than sailor's tales. There was no way he was going to stay. He got up and ran out of the tavern, fearing for his life. A few people who had witnessed Zoro's attack and Len's actions decided to follow Len's lead. Whoever the crazy, grinning swordsman was, there was no way they were going to stay. Ignoring the objections of Morris and a few others, they fled for their lives and disappeared into the night.

It would be the second of two very big mistakes the tavern gang made that night. The first, was unknowingly threatening Roronoa Zoro. The second was thinking that the blind Toph Beifong was weak. She earthbended three men who attempted to grab her, and swiveled around a few times, chucking rocks at their attackers.

"She's a Devil-Fruit user!" Alnico could be heard shouting above the noise. The other patrons were releasing a mix of groans, yells, and screams as Zoro fought with them. He easily dismembered their rifles and guns, making them practically defenseless. A few did pull out swords and sabers, but they were easily blocked and blown away, standing no chance against Zoro's shear brute strength. When they tried to attack him again, their swords simply broke in half as soon as he blocked their attempted strikes with his swords.

"What is this?!" demanded a man. "These weapons are some of the finest quality of our metalwork and he cuts it as if it were nothing!"

Something whizzed by Toph's head, followed closely by another projectile. The second projectile left a decent scratch on Toph's cheek, but she didn't have time to pay it any attention as she heard metal clinking sounds shoot in her direction. She quickly raised a wall, blocking the series of attacks. Two men came at her from either side, and she raised walls around her as defense. She could feel them banging on the rock in an attempt to break through. Turning her defense into offense, she shoved the walls away from herself, taking out more than just the two men who had been trying to attack her.

Toph could then sense Alnico standing across from her, anger and frustration reverberating from his form. She could sense a strange vibration come from his body as he started levitating the numerous marbles in his hands.

"No one cheats us and gets away with it, you little blind bitch." He said menacingly. "RAPID FIRE!"

Toph quickly raised another wall between herself and Alnico, and saw that the marbles had penetrated nearly halfway through her defense. What was with that power? Remembering that the chairs were also made of rock and metal, she earthbended a few of them at Alnico, causing him to focus more on dodging then attacking. He was surprisingly quick for a heavy-set man, and he quickly started grabbing at a few things that were around him before diving to the side. Toph tried to predict his movements, but he didn't land where she thought he would. She sensed strange vibrations in the floor, and Alnico was shouting, "Repel Float!"

A series of strange vibrations shot through the floor, as Toph heard metal clinking together. Alnico disappeared from Toph's senses briefly, before a series of light vibrations came from his direction, and his form was traveling across the floor, tapping at the scattered metal pieces that were strewn about the floor. His full figure appeared in Toph's senses again, about ten feet from where he had originally been standing.

Toph was beginning to somewhat understand his ability that was most likely magnetism. She was about to release another attack in his direction, when Zoro called out to her.

"Toph! Look out!"

Toph felt Zoro grab her collar and yank, and she heard metal crash right where she had been standing. Zoro released her to block another attack, and Toph stood close to Zoro, focusing on everyone around her. She could see that right where she had been standing, numerous swords and piping from the chairs had been stuck into the ground. Toph mentally slapped herself as she realized she had unintentionally given Alnico weapons when she had thrown the chairs at him just a few moments ago. From her understanding so far, it seemed that Alnico had to be in direct contact with the metal before he could actually attack or do anything with it.

Toph was forced to focus all of her attention on Alnico, who seemed intent on killing her. That suspicion was confirmed when she heard someone scold Alnico, "We want her alive, Alnico! She's our bargaining chip!"

Alnico grabbed a few scattered pieces of swords and pistols, and said, "I don't care! No one makes a fool of me, or cheats me, and thinks that they can get away with it! Magnetic Field!"

The metal that he was holding clinked against each other at first as it floated into the air, and Alnico started to run around the perimeter of the room in an attempt to flank Zoro and Toph. Sensing that Alnico was attempting to get at them from another angle, and not wanting him to do that floating ability again, she quickly earthbended what metal she could towards herself and timing her bending just right, Toph sent a fissure right under his foot just as it made contact with the floor. Successfully tripping him, he crashed to the floor. He screamed as he wiggled on the floor to dodge his own projectiles. Before he could recover, she sent a pillar underneath him and sent him flying. His falling form unintentionally took out a few of the people that Zoro was currently fighting. Alnico groaned as he passed out.

A small group of people attempted to rush Zoro from behind, but Zoro only grinned ever wider. Quickly turning around to face his attackers head-on, Zoro shouted his attack.

"Lion's Song!"

The people screamed as the backs of Zoro's swords struck them.

"Who is this guy?" one of them whined in between pained groans.

Zoro sent another dull slash into the crowd, "Demon Slash!" causing another wave of screams. In spite of seriously holding back against the weaker opponents, that didn't stop the force behind his swords from cutting the pillars Toph had made and sending more cracks up and down the walls. Zoro grinned as he watched the earthbender girl fight Alnico and a few of the other members of the gang. She was pretty good. It was a shame that her talents were being wasted on these low-class crooks. A few more of the crooks decided to take their leave after witnessing Zoro easily cut through their weapons. "Let's get out of here! We can't fight these two!"

"Ohh! What's going on here?!" Luffy's familiar exuberant voice asked above the noise.

"Wait a second…" Toph heard a man say in a shaky voice. "Three swords… a straw hat… They're the Straw Hat Pirates!"

"You mean we've been trying to scam Pirate Hunter Zoro?!" another one shouted.

"If I had known it was him I wouldn't even be here right now!" a woman wailed.

"How could we not have known it was them?!" another one panicked.

"You're just realizing that now?!" Zoro demanded. But he was only answered with pleas for mercy and forgiveness.

Realizing that they were fighting a losing battle, Morris ordered, "We have no chance, especially if Straw Hat is here. Let's scatter!"

Anyone who wasn't knocked out ran for the exit, with a few of them bowing and pleading with Zoro as they ran past him. "Please forgive us! We had no idea who you were, honestly! We're sorry!"

"Aw, we missed the party," Luffy said, looking disappointed.

At the sight of Luffy and Usopp, the people pleaded with the Straw Hat Captian through teary-eyed sobs, "We didn't mean any of it! Please forgive us!"

Luffy only blinked at them, a confused expression on his face.

"Look at his face!" one of the crooks screamed. "He's going to kill us!"

That just sent another wave of pleading and screaming as everyone ran out into the streets and disappeared among the rocks and buildings.

"Let's just be glad we did," Usopp replied with a nod. "Why were they apologizing to us anyway? What happened here?"

He looked around at the now destroyed tavern which had broken and cracked tables and chairs, along with numerous pillars and slabs jutting out of the floor and walls, and it was obvious that Zoro had used his precise cutting skills to slice a few tables and chairs in half.

The unconscious forms of Toph's and Zoro's opponents lay amongst the rubble.

Zoro sheathed his swords, "Just wasting time." He turned and asked Toph, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Toph wiped at the blood on her cheek, but that action only resulted in smearing the blood, dirt, and sweat into a caked mixture.

"What's all this?" Usopp asked, looking over the strewn about treasure and belly.

"Our winnings," Toph answered. "Let's just gather it and get out of here. This place feels like it's going to collapse."

Anyone who would have objected to their taking all of the treasure was either knocked out or had fled the tavern, leaving the pirates and Toph to do as they pleased. Luffy found a few potato sacks behind the counter for them to put their treasure (and then some) in, along with a few pounds of meat. Zoro gathered a few bottles of the sake behind the bar, and looked quite pleased with his find. Usopp carried one of the sacks of treasure, half complaining half admonishing Toph and Zoro for wandering off like they did and for their getting into a bar fight.

"If only we had gotten there sooner," Luffy said through a mouthful of meat. "We could have been involved in the party too." He balanced carrying the sack and his meat in one hand while he ate with the other.

Usopp, Luffy, Zoro, and Toph met up with Sokka, Zuko, and Aang just a few minutes later at the rendezvous point. Of course the three of them looked at Toph and asked, "Are you alright? What happened?"

"It was nothing. No need to worry." Toph insisted.

"It was a bar fight," Zoro informed them. "The people at the bar tried to scam us, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. They were weak idiots. It was kind of disappointing…"

"I wish I had been there…" Luffy said, while the guys of Team Avatar went wide-eyed and all three asked various questions,

"You went to a bar?" Zuko asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Why would you go to a bar?" Sokka asked. He eyed the pirates' potato sacks filled with treasure, Luffy's meat and Zoro's numerous bottles of sake under his arm. "There has to be more interesting places on this island than a bar."

"What if someone had gotten seriously hurt?" Aang asked, eyeing the scratch on Toph's cheek with some concern. But Toph only shrugged in response. "There was drinking and gambling. Besides, it was a band of cheaters and thieves, so it's not like we did anything wrong by taking what they've stolen first."

Zoro looked between the three boys, as if he was wondering if they were truly serious, and then at Toph, because she sounded very much like a certain navigator just then.

"It's not like anyone got hurt, and from what I saw, Toph can take care of herself. I was impressed." Turning his attention to Toph, he continued, "I'd actually like to see what you could do against a worthy opponent."

"You weren't so bad yourself," Toph said. She thought of Alnico trying to skewer her, and of Zoro's rescuing her. "And thanks, for earlier. I almost was a boar-q-pine back there."

"Don't mention it," Zoro said, and then he paused for a moment. "What's a boar-q-pine?"

"It's a very nasty creature," Zuko explained, "It's a huge tusked pig with large spines. They're very territorial, and it's best not to run into one in the wild, or in general."

Usopp, Luffy, and Zoro each tried to imagine the creature, but of course none of them were even close as they imagined their own strange versions of the creature.

Luffy was imagining a big fat pink pig with tiny tusks and large spines, and thought it to be around the size of the creatures back on Rusukaina Island where he had trained. His mouth watering, Luffy said, "I wonder how it would taste!"

Zoro imagined a large pig with huge tusks like that of an elephant, so the spikes were too big for its face, with large spines protruding through its leather-like skin. "Doesn't seem to be that big of a threat to me," Zoro mused.

Usopp imagined a pig that was roughly the size of an elephant, with numerous tusks and spikes as sharp as swords protruded from its back. Plus, instead of oinking or squealing, it roared, showing rows of razor-sharp teeth. "I could easily fight one, no, one hundred boar-q-pines!" Usopp proclaimed, although he shivered at the thought of ever actually running into just one of the strange creatures.

Sokka, Zuko, and Aang wondered what sort of imaginations these pirates could have for coming to the conclusions that they did. It was getting fairly late as they continued on their way to the Sunny. It was already pretty dark as they made their way through the town, and the lights inside of the homes that they passed were going dark as the residents prepared for bed.


The fact that they were arriving as late as they were on their return to the Sunny was something that a worried Katara and an annoyed Nami were not going to forgive quite so easily. Katara expressed her worry through a series of questions directed at any and all who were willing to answer her.

"Hey, what's going on? Is everything alright?"

Nami expressed her annoyance through glaring at her crew members, and looked as if she wanted to hit them all across the head. "Why are you so late in coming back to the ship?"

"Sheesh, do we really have to play 'Twenty Questions'?" Toph asked, and that was when Katara noticed the cut on her cheek.

"Toph," Katara demanded, "What happened to your cheek?"

"We got into a bit of a fight at a tavern, but-"

"You went to a tavern? Why would you go to a tavern?" Katara asked, crossing her arms.

"Sheesh, going to a bar of all places," Nami said, looking more annoyed at her crew members.

"Well, it wasn't like it was for nothing," Toph jabbed a thumb in Usopp and Luffy's direction. "Me and Zoro ended up getting quite a bit of money. Usopp and Luffy here have the loot."

Katara would have persisted and admonished Toph and the others in her motherly and authoritative way if Nami hadn't of interrupted her.

"Oh, Katara-chan, you can forgive them can't you?" Nami said, her eyes glittering far brighter than the gold, "After all, it's not like they arrived back at the ship too late. And just look at all of this beautiful treasure! Toph-chan, Zoro-kun, thank you!"

Nami motioned for the two treasure bearers to follow her so she could lock away the money in her safe. Chopper stepped up to clean and dress the cut on Toph's cheek, while Sanji hovered over them as if Toph was getting a life-saving operation. Toph relayed to the others the events at the tavern, excitedly telling them about her fight with some guy named Alnico who had weird magnetic powers.

Sanji also made sure to make a point of admonishing and accusing Zoro for being irresponsible and allowing Toph to get hurt.

"How could you let Toph-chan get hurt, you shitty Marimo?"

"Stupid Curly-Brow cook, I didn't let it happen. She's fine."

"She could have seriously been hurt!" Sanji insisted, and attempted to kick Zoro. Zoro unsheathed one of his swords and glared, challenging the chef.

"You wanna have a go, Ero-cook?"

The two started their routine bickering, while Katara looked on. She was annoyed by the fact that Zoro had seemingly put Toph in danger, even if going into the tavern and the gambling had been her idea, he had agreed to it. While she wanted to admonish Zoro, admittedly he had stepped up and had protected her. Plus it seemed that Sanji was genuinely concerned for Toph's well-being. At the moment, Toph was laughing at Zoro and Sanji. Katara smiled, because this was the happiest she had seen Toph in days. As Zoro and Sanji continued to argue, Katara had to giggle at their antics. Toph spurred them on, and called out,

"Go Zoro!"

Sanji suddenly stopped and called out, "Why don't you cheer for me too, Toph-chan? What about you, Katara-san? Oh, Nami-swan, Robin-chwan, your knight in shining- oomph!"

Zoro used the distraction to give Sanji a decent hit in the stomach. He smirked at his victory. A flame seemed to spurt from Sanji's body.

"That was a cheap shot and you know it!"

"Then you should have been paying attention, Dartboard-brow!"

As Zoro and Sanji continued to argue through the use of name-calling and insults, Katara had to giggle at their antics.

That night after dinner, Toph settled into bed and thought about the fight in the tavern. She was very happy with how things had turned out, and was glad that she had been able to see some action and relieve some of her pent-up energy while on this island. Toph fell asleep almost immediately, feeling very content. Today had been a good day.


More A/N: Bar fight! Decided to throw a little action into this chapter, and had quite a bit of fun writing it. Hopefully, Luffy will get to join in on the next party.