Disclaimer: I do not own One-Piece nor any of it's characters. Those belong to Oda Eiichiro.

Nunya Bizniz

Chapter Seven: Marineford

Rachel locked herself away in her workroom while Missy piloted the Nunya a few miles away from Sabaody Archipelago. The first thing that Rachel started on wasn't a gun, it was a special form of bullet. She needed to work the material just right to get the shape, length and density needed for a sniper bullet. It was going to be tough work since she had never handled a job like this before.

Once the ship was a safe distance away from the island to avoid being spotted, Missy locked herself in her own workroom. Normally she worked on material and gadgets related to energy. This would be the first time that she worked on anything that didn't require wires and power. Taking what she knew of building solar panels, Missy began working on the glass that would help in a powerful telescope. She wanted a challenge as well, so her personal goal for this was not just a telescope, it was one that could zoom in and focus as well.

Each day the girls would check the paper for news regarding Ace's execution. Each day they relaxed a little more, knowing it was another day they had to work on their special projects. It took Rachel a week to finish her bullet. She placed it in a special spot in her workroom so that it wouldn't be lost should a powerful wave come by. She then began work on her new gun. The basis was the typical and standard stuff for a gun. However, the barrel was skinnier and longer than normal. The firing mechanism had to be more powerful as well. It was tedious work and Rachel hoped that it would be worth it in the end.

Missy had the glass needed for the telescope in two and a half weeks. This time she had to wait for Rachel to shape the steel that would house it in the telescope. Since there was no way to optain plastic in this world, the gun was going to be heavy. When Rachel was finished molding the barrel of the gun, she started working on the parts needed for the scope. The barrel needed at least a day to cool and set anyway.

Once Missy had all the material she needed, the assembly for the scope finally began as Rachel returned to working on her gun. She had to be careful when putting the final pieces together, if it was too tight would shatter the glass. If it was too loose then the glass would fall out and shatter anyway. Basically, Rachel was asking her to do something very important and stressful. She was going to pay.

With the scope finished, Missy concentrated on her normal projects. She had offered to help Rachel, but she was soundly kicked out of the workroom. An exclamation of 'We just got the Nunya, I don't want you blowing her up!' had chased her out. With nothing else to do, Missy busied herself with more solar power panels and energy systems for further retailing.

One month and two weeks after starting on the gun, Missy was sitting on the deck as she enjoyed her morning coffee. She set her mug down when she spotted the news stork heading their way. Tossing a coin to the bird, she took her copy of the paper. The front page immediately had the article they were waiting for. Missy rushed below the deck and into Rachel's workroom. "We're out of time," she announced.

Rachel glanced up from the part she was filing. Missy was holding the article out for her to see. Rachel let out a sigh and went back to work. "I'm almost done," she announced. "You can start heading for Sabaody Archipelago. Take it slow though, we still have a whole three days before we need to panic. Not to mention I don't need the waves disrupting my work." Missy nodded and left Rachel alone.

Rayleigh was waiting for the ship at shore. He took his own rowboat out to meet them. Missy was the one to greet him. "Are the two of you ready?" he asked.

"Almost ready," Missy informed. "Rachel seems to be confident she'll be done by the day of the execution. I wouldn't know though, since I'm not a gun smith. I helped her out as much as I could."

"So what will you do after this?" Rayleigh asked.

"We were hoping that you would coat Nunya for us," Missy said. "We'll need to set up a temporary sail system so that it can sail the underwater currents. Rachel will take the ship past Fishman Island and under the Redline. I'll travel across the Redline and meet her on the other side."

"You're not going to go to Fishman Island?"

"There's no way you're getting me to go under water in a floating tin can," Missy snapped. "Rachel's been saying since we arrived to this world that she's just been lucky to get me on a boat."

"You don't know how to swim?"

"I swim just fine."

"Then you're afraid of the water?"

"That's not the issue here."

Rachel choose that moment to emerge from below deck. She blinked her eyes to get used to the sunlight. "She's not afraid of water or of boats or of bridges," she interrupted. "She's afraid of bridges with water under them. A boat on the water is almost the same thing in her opinion. So yeah, I'm lucky I even got her to go along with me."

"Are you done?" Missy asked.

"It's finally finished," Rachel nodded. "I completed my own version of the Barrett M82 sniper rifle. I need to test it out though. I'm not going to chance such a critical shot without sighting in the gun first."

"Great, now we can get to work on setting up a detatchable sail. While we're off, saving the world Rayleigh will coat the ship."

"How do you plan to get to the execution on time?" Rayleigh asked. "You're going to be leaving your main ship here for me to coat."

"We have a small boat that can reach the same speeds as the Nunya," Rachel pointed out. "It'll be a little more cramped, but it will get us where we need to go in plenty of time. We just can't leave too early. We wouldn't want the Marines to catch sight of us before we're ready for the big reveal."

It took the whole day for a temporary sail system to be rigged up on the ship. Rayleigh helped them put it together. He had asked why they needed it for going to Fishman Island if they didn't need it before. Rachel explained the propeller system that they used for the ship. If they used it while the ship was coated there was a high probability of the coating popping and the ship would be sunk. "With the temporary sails we can tear it down as soon as we reach the other side."

The next day Rachel spent sighting in the sniper gun. Shakky led her to a private area where she wouldn't be bothered. Since the slave auction was all but destroyed, it would be a while before anyone would be looking for slaves to sell. It meant that Rachel didn't have to worry about some shady people sneaking up on her. Just in case, Missy had brought a couple of books and hung around Rachel as she sighted her gun while also serving as a lookout.

The day of the execution, just before dawn, Rachel and Missy were loading the speed boat with a few supplies. Tucked into a zipper pocket on Rachel's jacket was the special bullet she had made. The rifle was secured towards the front of the boat. A few medical supplies and a picnic lunch were packed.

"The two of you act as though you aren't going to war," Rayleigh joked.

"With any luck we won't," Missy said. "We're going there, waiting for the right moment for Rachel to make the shot. Once she's successful, we're getting the hell out of there before anyone even realizes where the shot came from."

Rachel was tossing a few pillows into the boat. "What are those for?" Shakky asked.

"I'm going to be laying on my stomach to make the shot," Rachel said. "I want to be as comfortable and steady as possible." Once everything was loaded the two headed out, making their way to Marineford.

"Do you think that they'll succeed?" Shakky asked.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Rayleigh smiled. "I've heard of some crazy plans before, but this one just about beats them all. I can't wait to see the Government's reaction to one of their own being shot by someone from that far away."

The battle was intense, even from where Rachel and Missy were sitting. Missy had stopped the boat about two thousand yards from Marineford, give or take. Rachel wasted no time setting up the rifle on the 'hood' of the boat and spreading out the pillows. She got comfortable and settled in for a long wait. She watched the battle through the scope, adjusting it here and there to watch things of interest. Her body tensed and prepared itself when Luffy and Mr. 3 rescued Ace.

The wait was beyond painful. She had to time this just right or all her plans would be shot to hell. Just as Akainu was to deliver the final plow to Ace, Rachel squeezed the trigger. His magma fist connected with Ace's back and then stopped. His left shoulder let out a spray of blood and the magma stopped flowing. Ace fell forward into Luffy, the pain of the magma knocking him unconscious. Luffy, thinking the worst, passed out from the shock of seeing his brother seemingly die.

Rachel watched through the scope very carefully. The marines were looking out to the sea, looking for whoever fired the shot. Rachel caught a glimpse of Ace's chest subtley rising and falling. "We did it," she announced. She pulled the gun up and climbed into a more secure position. "Let's not waste any more time here. Put the pedal to the metal girl."

Missy didn't need anymore urging. She spun the wheel and pushed the lever forward to full throttle. The speed boat spun around and took off like a shot. The speed that Missy pushed it sent the front into the air. Over the larger waves, they did go air born for a few seconds, which freaked Missy out a bit. Once the gun was in a spot that Rachel was sure it wouldn't accidentally go off she switched places with Missy. She had a little bit more experience with speed boats back in their home world and she put what her older brother taught her to good use. She didn't jump over the larger waves, she steered the boat to ride along them to keep their maximum speed going.

Once Marineford was out of sight and they were relatively sure that no one was following them Rachel slowed down to a stop. Missy immediately hung her head over the side and started to dry heave. "Good thing you didn't eat," Rachel joked. She pulled a canteen out and took a sip of water. "Now we watch for a certain stolen ship or water snake, which ever we see first."

~Trafalgar Law had come to Marineford out of curiosity. He wanted to see what Straw Hat-ya would do and if he could indeed accomplish his goal in rescuing his important family. He and the rest of his crew were shocked when Akainu was shot out of nowhere. "Give me the telescope," he ordered. Penguine handed him the desired object and Law looked around.

He stopped when he noticed a small ship further out to sea. His own vessel sat at the half way point between the small boat and Marineford. He watched as a blonde woman lifted herself from the front, a strange looking gun in hand, and climbed back into the main body of the boat. It stunned him for a second to see the boat suddenly spin around and launch itself across the water. He had never seen a sea vessel travel across the water that fast before. "Now that's interesting," he muttered. He lowered the scope when he could no longer see the boat.

Law turned his attention back to the battle at Marineford. The lower soldiers were still looking for the one that shot the admiral. He smirked when it looked like all the strength was drained from the man. "Now that was some ingenuity," he praised. "Shooting a devil fruit user with a bullet made out of sea prism stone, out of a gun with a range no one could have thought of." He glanced back the way the boat had disappeared. Law did enjoy a good puzzle.