Let me tell you how this chapter was written. First I wrote it with only lines, then I tried adding lines, then I gave my email to phoenixtears, then then that author edited it, and I edited it because there were mistakes like Fletcher's name being put as fletcher. Thank you for your support and here is the chapter.

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Two guards idly patrolled the beach skirting the walls of the castle for intruders. Movement was seen the taller guard which he then pointed out to saying "There's a guy on that tree!"

"And?" his lazy friend replied.

"His tongue is getting bigger!" the tall guard observed as he tried to redirect his friend's attention.

" Don't be ridiculous. "The lazy guard scoffed as he said "Tongues don't just get bigger."

A long cord roped across their heads in a rush of bewildering speed; close enough to startle the two.

"He's fired at us!" the tall guard shouted as the lazy guard scowled back "He's fired his rope at the wall, the stupid bastard. He's going to hit the wall."

The lazy guard made no move to help his panicked friend as he started yelling "He's using a towel to slide to our castle!" with no reply the tall guard went on with "And his tongue…it's still so big."

That got the lazy guards attention as he finally turned to look at the intruders "What is he going to do with a big tongue—" only to be silenced with a fist to the head knocking him out along with is friend.

Scowling at the beat up men on the ground the brown haired teen made his way to the wall muttering darkly about what he came to do" I can't believe I'm saying this about a boy I only met today, but I'll search this entire castle to find him. Remembering the slightly older teen from earlier he couldn't help but think of the way this all began.

Flashback:

"Are you worried because your Nakama hasn't come back yet?" the older woman asked.

"Why would I be worried? That idiot ran there himself without waiting for me to help him. It's my fault if he's in trouble" young man replied harshly.

The older woman smiled in remembrance "When I was a young pirate I used to only think about the adventure; my nakama were just a bunch of strange men who were there with me on my adventure." Her voice turned nostalgic as she remembered "Then one day during a battle my illusions had no effect on one foe, a Marine. He was only a recruit. To think some recruit could see through my illusions. After he broke through my illusion he raised his sword to finish me, but then one of my nakama stepped in to fight the recruit for me. He ate a Devil Fruit like me that turned his body into smoke. My nakama died and he survived, I never got my revenge against him because I was too weak. But we lost them when another one of my nakama dropped cannon on our ship, breaking it as we sailed away on our rescue boats. That nakama stayed behind and fought the Marine's. He beat two before the smoke marine suffocated him with his toxic smoke." her voice was bitter as she continued "I think that Marine is dead now. A friend of mine who became a Marine said that marine had a son he named Smoker." She turned back to the young man "I had so many friends and now I'm all alone. A harsh cough shook her frame as the young man came to help her lay down.

"You're sick. You need to rest!" Slightly abashed he continued" I'm sorry I had to carry you here on my tongue but it's much stronger than my arms." The old woman didn't seem to mind as she replied with "That's alright. It wasn't the first time something big had its tongue around me. Didn't I tell you about Little Garden?"

Curious he shook his head " We were there looking for giant eggs to carry back from the Grand Line to sell for millions. We knew about the monsters, but we didn't know one of them was waiting for us when we sailed back. It touched me with its tongue, but we were propelled out when we pushed that giant egg to block its throat." The curiosity was replaced with concern as another coughing fit started.

"You need to rest. Is there any medicine you need?" the old woman shook her head.

" I must stay awake…tell you about what being a true pirate is about." He could see that she was growing weaker as he grabbed his journal.

" I'll write down everything you tell me and show it to Fletcher if he's still alive." The old woman didn't seem to hear him as she rambled on.

" Piracy is caused by dreams and ambitions. There are no happy endings when you're a pirate. Every day I was wondering if it would be our last. Everyone we met who wasn't young or stupid wanted us dead. We saw many great things because we never stayed in one place. " He snapped out of the dazed her word put him in as he voice started to fail her" panicked as her sudden weakness he blurted out " Do you need water?"

Her drowsy weak eyes looked back into his " I'm fine. I just need a little nap." Her voice grew weaker as she slowly stopped moving as her eyes closed. She didn't seem to be breathing and he panicked slightly begging her voice filled with emotion.

"Please wake up. We wanted you to be our nakama. It wasn't about how old it was…you were the only person nice to us on this island." Silence permeated the atmosphere but was quickly broken by the loud cackling laugh of the old woman.

"Nap times over!" she screeched joyfully at his shocked face.

" You scared ME to death you hag!" her smiled didn't abate as she replied.

"I know, I just wanted to see your face when you thought I was dying." Anger started to replace the shock as he yelled "It's not funny!"

"Hahahaha. Scaring you young people always makes me laugh. Now Where was I?" she stopped to think for a second ." I mentioned we were hated, I mentioned there were no good endings…did I mention all the strange things I saw?"

Calming down he replied, "Only some of it. You mentioned an island of giants and being eaten by a fish."

Turning to explain to him the old woman said" Well every pirate we faced there was at least one crewmate who had Devil Fruit powers. My captain beat most of them with tactician and knowing sometimes he had to make sacrifices. I was lucky to never be the sacrifice." A humble expression came onto her face "Some days I wanted to quit the journey, just walk back on my island and tell everyone my adventures." Forgotten determination resurfaced." I didn't know until the journey stopped there wasn't any place for me on that island. I belonged on that boat." The silence after that powerful ending was broken by his last question " Did your captain die?" as she replied the old woman had a contemplating forlorn look on her face " I think so but I never saw him die. I kept in touch with every one of my surviving nakama. After they stopped writing to me I just assumed they died." Looking into his blue eyes she ended on a strong note "he was strong, smart and handsome. He never cared about the good things about him. If he knew how much of a great man he was than he probably wouldn't have been a pirate captain."

The pain in her voice was evident now as he tried to convince her toward sleep" Please Liana Get some rest."

Her strength held on. "Why should I sleep while everyone in my crew is scared?" Taken aback by that startling sentence he questioned. "I thought you said your crew was gone."

Giving him a reproachful look she said "You weren't paying attention." She lay back down" Everyone on this island is my crew. Three months after my adventure I wish to go on an adventure but with my wooden leg it was never going to work. That's when I realized everything is an adventure and the people close to me are my nakama. I tried finding new nakama on this island. Everything I did was reinforcement for my wonderful nakama."

The mention of nakama brought up a valuable point that stabbed at him in remembrance so much that he just had to remind her. " I'm going to find Fletcher and stop Gold Finger." An indulging fond smile of absolute confidence.

"Go Christopher help your nakama. He will need it."

Christopher left her to rest as she turned back to sleep. He never heard her lingering whisper of " I wish I could tell him I'll be here when he gets back."

Caught up in his thoughts his determination strengthened as his motivation was boosted " For too long I have been an assassin who has followed my father's orders and taken the lives of people. Now I'm going to be different. I will still be the assassin raised and trained by my father, but I will not kill anymore."

Flashback End

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Fletcher woke up chained to the wall. This place he was taken prisoner to was covered in oil on the floor. There was a roof with small holes in the ceiling. Fletcher wasn't in this prison alone. An old very skinny man was also chained to the wall with Fletcher.

"Finally, someone to keep me company." The energetic teen sighed as wispy brown hair flopped around his head

"Is this where they feed us meat? "He asked excitedly.

" The only thing they let you eat here is what's moldy or old." he complained loudly an angry grimace spread across the man in front of him as the audacity of the teen became apparent. "Do you know who I am? I'm a great pirate. My name is Great Beard Melmon. I have a bounty of thirty beli's." the hulking green bearded pirate said straitening his back to appear more intimidating. That tactic dint seems to work as the teen pouted dismally.

" That's really low. What did you do to get such a low bounty?"

A proud smile came across the hulking pirates face as he explained triumphantly. "I've been stealing food from the marines. I never fight any of them but I escape all the time so they gave me that bounty. I tried to join Gold Finger but he said I was a dumb old man who belonged in prison."

The scowl reappeared as the teen just ignored him as he blew out spit bubbles to entertain himself. "I don't like this place." He loudly complained. Grumbling at the dim witted teen Melmon growled out.

" Well this is where you're going to stay until you die." A frown stretched across the teens face as he denied.

"No I'm not. My nakama Christopher is going to come by and rescue me."

Melmon gave a great snort of amusement as he chuckled "Very funny. But no one is coming for a dumb boy like you—" he never noticed the shadow slipping in the window that knocked him out to stand next to the dim witted teen.

"So this is where you've been hiding, Fletcher?" Fletcher didn't respond beside to stand back up" I had to look through six prison cells just to find you." Christopher explained as he moved to free Fletcher.

A wild grin crossed fletcher's face as he exclaimed "I'm free! Thank you, Christopher." Christopher rolled his eyes as he grabbed Fletcher's wrist pulling him toward a more convenient exit than the window. "You can thank me when we get off this island, now get a move on."

They turned a sharp corner while Fletcher looked around curiously at his place of capture turning curious brown eyes to Christopher he questioned "Where are we going, Christo—" harshly pushing Fletcher back around the corner Christopher peaked out to watch two guards pass. He hissed back at Fletcher.

"Keep your voice down. We can't fight all the guards' here." He contemplate is options as he analyzed a way out" huffing with frustration he said to Fletcher "We can't escape through the front. There's guards stationed there. We will be escaping from the roof; the place I had to go to get inside. Only we will have to jump off instead of swing on top."

Taking Fletcher down an alternate route to the roof and avoiding guards and being seen due to Fletcher's stupidity was harder than it sounds but finally the duo made it . . . only to be blocked by a large group of golden cloaked men.