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

Nunya Bizniz

Chapter Seventeen: Coming Together

Rachel and Missy watched from the bridge as the ship was slowly sinking. Several lifeboats with crew made it off the ship. "I need a better vantage point," Rachel commented. She went to the center of the room and looked up. In the ceiling was a small string. Jumping to reach it, Rachel pulled the string down with her. The ceiling cracked and opened to reveal a hidden ladder. In no time Rachel was climbing up it.

Going through another trap door beyond the first, Rachel was finally on the roof of the bridge, looking down at everyone. She pulled out her binoculars and watched the two ships in front of them carefully. She needed to make sure that the captain went down with the ship, it was proper tradition after all. A particularly odd looking lifeboat caught her attention. It was overly large and circular. In the center was an enormous woman with an even larger head. She looked like she couldn't even move with all the fat she had. "Probably can't," Rachel mused.

Rachel stood at the edge of the roof. "Missy, lower the ramp for me." She then glanced up to see Ace and the others staring at her. "Big Ma'am is trying to escape," she reported. "Anyone up for some up close action I'll be going over there in BB." Rachel then raced back down into the bridge, closing the trapdoors as she went.

"Have fun," Missy called over her shoulder.

"Like always," Rachel waved. She was off the bridge and making her way below deck. Ace, Luffy, Zoro, Sabo and Hack were following after her. When they came to the docking area, ramp already lowered, Luffy's eyes sparkled again. It didn't have as many special docking ports like the Sunny, but the two things that were there were still a wonder to him.

Rachel moved to the larger of the two and started unlatching the straps that were used to secure it. Ace was quick to help her. Once that was done, Rachel got in and sat behind the wheel. Ace stood in front of the boat. "Anyone going better get in," Rachel advised. "Especially if you're a fruit user." It didn't take much more encouragement to get Luffy to jump in. He was followed by Zoro and Sabo. Hack stayed behind, noticing that there weren't any other seats if Ace jumped in. Instead, he chose to protect the Nunya and it's resting passengers.

Once Sabo, Zoro and Luffy were settled, well Luffy was at least in the boat, Rachel gave a nod to Ace. With a push, the boat started rolling backwards down the ramp. Before it got too far, Ace hopped onto the hood and then made his way to a seat. The boat rocked a bit as it hit the water, but it didn't capsize. Rachel started the engine, to Luffy's amazement. Moving the throttle closer to herself, the small boat started moving backwards. Luffy tried to get a closer look, but Zoro forced him to stay out of the way. He had taken the only seat that was next to Rachel. When the boat was a good distance away from the ship and the violent waters it was turning up from the large propeller system, Rachel stopped going backwards.

"We're going to go fast," Rachel warned. "Everyone, Luffy, hang on tight." She pushed the throttle forward and the boat sped off. In a matter of seconds it had passed the Nunya and was heading towards the Sunny.

"Whoohooo!" Luffy was cheering with a grin on his face. He stood close to the front as he enjoyed the wind rushing by. His hat held to his neck by it's string.

"There's Big Ma'am," Ace called. He spotted the lifeboat through the binoculars Rachel had handed off to him. "Change direction to ten o'clock." Sabo raised an eyebrow at the strange way he spoke, but Rachel had no problem understanding. The direction they headed shifted to the left slightly. "She's now at twelve o'clock. Stay on course." Rachel pushed the throttle forward a bit more, pushing the engine for more speed. With the extra passengers, it was going to go slower than normal.

When they were close enough, Ace joined Luffy at the front. The two brothers grinned at one another. "Get ready Luffy," Ace said. "Rachel's going to stop the boat fast enough that will send the two of us flying. That is, if you want in on the action." He sent Luffy a challenging grin, which Luffy returned. It came as no surprise when Zoro joined the two of them when he heard what Ace said.

With no warning except Ace's own words, Rachel pulled back on the throttle suddenly. The sudden stop sent the three men flying forward. Ace used his fire to give himself a little extra thrust, Luffy stretched and grabbed onto his target, Zoro jumped the moment he felt the speed die on the boat.

When the three of them jumped into the fray, Rachel started the boat forward again. "Are you going to help them?" she asked Sabo. She guided the boat to a safe distance from the fight so that it wouldn't take any damage.

"They'll be fine," Sabo said. "I'm not completely used to my devil fruit powers yet. I was expecting flame, but I got wind instead. I studied for the Flare-Flare fruit, not this one. I'm not entirely positive I can keep from hurting anyone on our side. Besides that, someone needs to stay and look after our ride home."

"Puh-lease," Rachel rolled her eyes. They were drifting on the outer edges of the fight now. She was leaning against the side, facing Sabo. "If I was some helpless chick, do you honestly think Ace would have accepted me as a sister?" To emphasize her point, an enemy crewmember tried to climb over the side closest to her. Rachel took out one of her guns and slammed the handle end on his head. The guy dropped like a brick. Rachel let out a sweet and innocent smile, head tilted to the side. "See?" Sabo laughed and shook his head.

Ace took the lead in the fight. He knew that Missy and Rachel would want the match to end as quickly as possible. They were still close to Dressrosa, which meant that they were still far too close to Navy vessels. He got in front of Luffy, setting enemy boats on fire as he went. "Luffy, you tell your crew on the Sunny to get the ship out of here," he ordered. "I'm burning they're boats, they might try to hijack the Sunny to save themselves." Luffy immediately rocketed himself across the water to the Sunny.

Zoro leapt from boat to boat, cutting as he went. The enemy pirates tried to shoot or swing at him with their swords. He was a step ahead of them though. All his training made him faster and more agile than before. When he came to the last boat in the area they thought they had finally cornered him. With a smirk Zoro sliced the boat he stood on in two. He then jumped and landed on some drift wood. He wasn't a devil fruit user, but falling in the water would only slow him down at this point.

Rachel had taken her bat, Bob, out from under one of the seats. Some of the pirates that had been knocked into the water were coming their way. Sabo tried to blow a few of them away with his new power, but it worked sporadically. When the heads appeared over the side, Rachel would hit them back into the water. "This is just like 'Wak 'a Mole'," she chuckled. "Missy is going to be so jealous."

Luffy landed in the center of the deck on board the Sunny. "Luffy!" Chopper cheered. He wrapped his arms and legs around one of Luffy's legs. "I'm so glad that you're alright. Sanji was hurt trying to fight Doflomingo and then Big Ma'am showed up. We were worried that we wouldn't be able to save the Sunny."

"It's okay Chopper," Luffy said. He turned and looked to Nami. "Can you get the Sunny moving Nami?" he asked. He then pointed off to the side. "Head towards that ship over there. The others are resting on board."

"Why are they resting?" Brook asked.

"We all got pretty banged up in the fight," Luffy explained. "It's okay though, someone had eaten a heal-heal fruit and used it on everyone. They're just exhausted now and need to rest. We'll be teaming up with the ship and it's crew now."

"Luffy," Nami caught his attention. "Doesn't that ship belong to Rachel?"

"You've met her?" Luffy asked.

"Briefly, on Fishman Island. Is that her ship then?"

"Yeah, that's her and her sister's ship."

"You mean that women are on board it?" Sanji asked. He had hearts in his eyes as he started to imagine what the women he was hearing about would be like. Nami grinned, anticipating the confrontation that was bound to happen. The Sunny started moving away from the fight, moving to meet up with the Nunya.

Ace stood in front of Big Ma'am on her large life boat. "Now this is unexpected," the fat woman commented. "Who would have imagined that 'the' Fire Fist Ace survived the events at Marineford? The Navy has some explaining to do."

"Even if they do," Ace started. "You won't be around to hear their lies."

"Challenging me to a fight boy?"

"No," Ace shook his head as his fist caught fire. "I'm just telling you that the sea gives life and takes it away." With a blast of his power, the entire life boat was on fire. The few members of the crew tried to put it out, but it was too hot for them to get close. Big Ma'am was starting to panic. As a devil fruit user, if her ship sank then there was a very real chance that she would drown.

"You wouldn't be so heartless as to not grant me a fair fight." Big Ma'am tried to bait Ace into a fight between them.

"As much as I enjoy a fair fight," Ace started. "I fear the wrath that my sisters will rain down on me if I let this chance slip through my fingers even more. Have you ever had someone put itching powder in your trousers before? Let me tell you, not fun. So, before they can plot some worse fate for me, I'll just make sure that the sea takes you."

"You'll be going down with us," Big Ma'am resorted. If she couldn't get him to fight, then maybe she could scare him into stopping the fires. Her eyes widened when a hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Ace's arm.

"I doubt that," Ace grinned. He gave the people on the boat a two fingered salute before the hand pulled him away. The sounds of screaming met his ears when they realized that there would be no stopping the fire.

Luffy pulled his hand back in and Ace landed in front of him. "Perfect timing," Ace grinned. "I was wondering which one of you would be coming to my rescue."

"Nami was the one that pointed it out," Luffy grinned. "Zoro's finished, but he got picked up by Sabo and Rachel."

"Good to hear," Ace nodded. He then turned to Nami and the others. He gave a bow to greet them. "It's so good to see you all again."

"Yup," Sanji puffed out some smoke. "That's Ace alright. I don't remember meeting anyone else that polite."

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Chopper jumped onto Ace's back from behind, in tears. "HOW CAN THAT BE!? THE NAVY CLAIMED THE EXECUTION A SUCCESS!"

Ace patted Chopper gently on the head. Nami nodded her head in agreement. "That's right," she started. "It must be quite the story. There were many accounts that claimed Admiral Akainu had landed a successful punch."

"He did," Ace agreed. He turned around to show off the scar on his back. Nami and Sanji stared at it in shock. Chopper pulled back to get a better look at it. He was inspecting it with the eyes of a doctor. "He would have killed me then, if it hadn't been for Missy and Rachel interfering."

"How did they help you?" Nami asked. "I don't remember reading anything in the papers regarding Rachel. Though I haven't met Missy I'm sure that I would remember reading about her."

"Up until recently only two others knew about their involvement," Ace said. "The first one would be Rayleigh." Nami let out a gasp at the implications. "He had been advising them for a little while. Then, when they actually helped me at Marinford, Law was the only one in a position that could spot them. Rachel has a gun she made specially for long distance. She mounted a type of telescope on it so that she could see what she was shooting. She used the gun and scope to shoot Akainu with a sea prism bullet just as he landed his punch. Law got Luffy, Jinbe and myself out of the area. However, Rachel and Missy met up with him. They took me with them while I was still out. I woke up aboard their ship, the Nunya Bizniz." Ace pointed to the ship that they were heading towards.

"There's Sabo, Zoro and Rachel," Luffy declared. The others looked towards where he was pointing. He was still pointing behind the Sunny. Nami, Chopper, Momo and Brook moved to the rail to get a better look. They were shocked when a smaller boat rushed past them, practically flying over the water.

"I think my eyes popped out of my head," Brook exclaimed. "Although, I don't have eyes to pop out. Yohohohohohoho!" They watched the boat reach the Nunya. It then moved away and turned around to where it was now pointing towards the other ship. When a ramp was lowered it sped up into it. The boat disappeared along with it's passengers.

"You're saying moss head was on that?" Sanji asked.

Luffy gave them all a big grin. "Shishishishishi! He sure was," he answered. "So was my other brother, Sabo."

"You have another brother?" Nami asked.

"I didn't like talking about him," Luffy admitted. "We thought he died over ten years ago. But we met up again in Dressrosa. Both of my brothers came back to me in Dressrosa." Luffy then jumped and got closer to his Nakama. "You guys won't believe it. Not only did I get my brothers back, but now I have sisters too."

"What are you talking about?" Nami asked. "Are Ace and Sabo married."

"Don't even kid about that," Ace shuddered. "I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy. Any man daring enough to court them will have my full support. Mostly because I know the two of them will chase them away. No, I took Rachel and Missy as my sisters during my time recovering and training. When Luffy heard how they helped me, he just accepted them as his own. Sabo took a little more convincing. Once he realized they didn't care for the government anymore than the rest of us he was more accepting."

They got a little closer to the Nunya when Ace had them turn around again. "Now we'll start heading for Zou," he told them. "Missy will keep the Nunya at pace with the Sunny. We should put some distance between us and this island before night fall. Then we can anchor and everyone can have a chance to meet."

The two ships spent the rest of the day distancing themselves from Dressrosa. When it was dusk, the two ships anchored side by side. Ace was the first to leap over to the Nunya. He was followed by the rest of the crew. Momo was reunited with his father and friend. Though the two adults had large bumps on their heads. Ace went up to Missy. "I don't remember the two of them boarding with us," he commented.

"Freaking stowaways," Missy swore. "I should have them keel hauled."

"Where did they get the bumps on their heads?"

"When Rachel docked BB they were hiding in front of it's stop guard." Missy had an evil smirk at this. "I designed it to give a little to the force of the boats docking. So when it came forward it hit both of them on the head. Sabo had been ready to kill them when Zoro stopped and explained who Kinemon was. Though that didn't stop Rachel from wailing on them for just getting on board without permission."

"Wish I had been there to see that," Ace laughed. He could just imagine Rachel chasing the two men around the dock with her bat. Sometimes, he swore, that thing was more deadly than any of her guns could ever be.

Momo had gone up to Rachel when he was finished greeting his father and friend. He put on an innocent face. "It's nice to meet you," he said. Rachel smiled down at him, her eyes twinkling with what he assumed was adoration. He was just a cute little boy after all.

Rachel, on the other hand, was thinking something different. 'If it isn't the little perv,' she thought. 'I wonder what he's thinking.'

Sabo and Hack were meeting Luffy's crew. The injured members were filtering up from below. The first to emerge was Franky. He brought a whole new noise level that Rachel and Missy hadn't been expecting. Next was Robin, she graciously thanked the two for their hospitality.

When Usopp didn't show up Missy headed down to see what was up. She noticed Law glaring at her from where he was still tied. Missy shrugged it off and went to Usopp. She noticed that he closed his eyes really fast when she was in sight. Her eyes narrowed on him and she stormed up to the bed. "Quit milking it," she snapped. She grabbed Usopp by the ear and dragged him out of the room. "You weren't that hurt you big baby."

Up on deck, Bortolomeo was happy that Robin was okay. He got over excited when he realized that the entirety of the Strawhat crew was there. "What is wrong with you?" Sabo asked. "What a geek."

Rachel, feeling sorry for Law, went down to untie him. "We're anchored for the night," she told him. She was busy undoing the knots Missy put in her own coat. "Hope she's not expecting me to iron this out," she muttered. "This ship will have to be over run by mole crabs before I do."

"GOD-DAMNIT RAE!" Was heard from above. Rachel just let out a chuckle.

When Law was freed he was immediately on his feet. "So, we're about to get some food for everyone. You can go and eat with the Straw Hats on the Sunny or you can stay here on Nunya. I'm sure it'll be quieter over here." Law's only answer was to nod his head. The two went up to see what everyone else was going to do. Now the whole Straw Hat crew was reunited, along with a few extra.