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

Nunya Bizniz

Chapter Twenty-two: Celebrations

Shanks made his way to the front of the Sunny. He was searching for a familiar, old hat that used to be his. It didn't take him long. Sitting on the rail with what appeared to be two of his own crew, Luffy was fishing. Shanks put his one arm on his hip and just watched the three, they were joking and laughing. It warmed Shanks heart to see that Luffy had such a great relationship with his nakama. Rayleigh, Zoro and Rachel stepped up from behind him. "Are you going to say anything?" Zoro asked.

"Give me a minute," Shanks said. "It's been a while since I've seen him." Shanks took in a deep breath to steady his nerves. He finally decided to draw Luffy's attention. "Four hundred million beri bounty," he called out. "You must be doing something right as a pirate." Shanks had a grin on his face as Luffy stiffened and slowly turned around. "Not just for yourself," he continued to talk. "Everyone on your crew has a bounty, well done."

"Shanks!" Luffy dropped his fishing pole and rushed to his good friend. The red-haired pirate was more like a father to him than he would admit. The three that had come up to Shanks moved away to give the two some privacy. Luffy was so emotional, any talking that he did was distorted and incomprehensible.

Rachel jumped over to the Nunya. Zoro was close by her side. She had some news that needed to be delivered. Rachel came up to Missy on the bridge to find her doing a systems check. "Hey girl," she started out. "It looks like we won't be leaving as soon as we had hoped."

"Why is that?" Missy stopped what she was doing and turned around.

"We have some unexpected visitors," Rachel said. She only had her head stuck up through the floor, still clinging to the ladder. "I think you might want to at least come down and see for yourself." She waited until Missy had given her acknowledgement. Rachel turned back to make sure the ladder was clear. She found Zoro looking up at her with a smirk. "Enjoying the view?" she teased. His smirk only grew wider for an answer. "Well, looking is about all you can do now."

Zoro scoffed and turned away, "Tease." Rachel laughed and made her way down. Once she was on her feet Zoro had her in his arms. She stiffened when she felt one of his hands go slightly lower than normal. "See? I can do more than just look."

It was Rachel's turn to scoff. She tapped Zoro on the chest and pulled back. "Going a little too fast there," she said. "But on the brakes a bit." Zoro's hand rose to the small of her back, but the grin didn't leave his face. "You're incorrigible."

"That's part of my charm."

"If you say so," Rachel whispered. She leaned up and gave Zoro a kiss.

"Get a room you two." Missy was climbing down the ladder. "Some of us single folk don't enjoy seeing that kind of thing first thing in the morning." Rachel let out a laugh and pulled away. She took Zoro's hand and the two went back over to the Sunny.

~It took Shanks a minute to get Luffy to calm down. "Now that you're feeling better," Shanks teased. "How's it going Luffy?"

"It's great to see you Shanks," Luffy grinned. He slowly reached up and took a hold of the hat on his head. He brought it down and looked at it. He had been through a lot wearing it. The entire world knew him as 'Straw Hat Luffy'. Still, a promise is a promise. Luffy bid a silent farewell to the hat and held it out to Shanks. "Just like I promised," he said. "I'm returning your hat to you in good condition."

Shanks took the hat without a word. He looked it over carefully. He could see that there were some new battle scars, but Luffy did keep it in good condition. With a smirk, Shanks slammed the hat back down on Luffy's head. "After all this time," he started. "I guess a straw hat no longer suits me. The hat is yours Luffy. As the future Pirate King, it belongs with you. After all, it's first owner was the original Pirate King."

Silence fell on the ship at the news. Rachel and Zoro, who had been approaching, stopped short when they heard. Luffy took the hat off and stared at it in awe. He didn't realize that he held such an important item all this time. "This was Gol D. Rodger's hat," he whispered. Luffy continued to stare at it for a long time.

Rayleigh had a smirk on his face, one of fondness. He was remembering the early days between him and Rodger once again. He never said anything, but Luffy's personality was the spitting image of Rodger's. Never took 'no' as an answer, always fighting for what he believed in and a fierce loyalty to nakama. There was no doubt in his mind that Luffy was bound to go on many more adventures. Rayleigh looked behind him to the Nunya. That ship would have been useful back when he sailed with Rodger. He spotted Missy coming across at that time.

"Is this the only reason you came?" Usopp asked. "To take Luffy's hat and give it back?"

"Not at all," Shanks let out a grin. "We came so we could celebrate with you." His hand was reaching into the pockets of his cloak.

"What are we celebrating?" Sanji asked. He was standing in front of the door to the kitchen with Nami and Robin not far off. The rest of the crew had filtered out of their places when they heard Luffy's shouts a few minutes ago. Bortolomeo had gone up to Luffy with stars in his eyes when he heard the history of the hat. That was new information and he had the privilege of being one of the first to hear it.

"What is wrong with that guy?" Sabo asked Ace. Ace only shrugged his shoulder. It was best to just let these things go.

Shanks pulled out a wanted poster with a flourish. "Luffy's bounty is no longer four hundred. It went up to four hundred and seventy-five." Luffy's mouth made an 'o' shape as he took the poster in his hands. It was still the same picture, but it was a new bounty. "That's not all," Shanks continued. He pulled out another wanted poster. "Roronoa Zoro has a bounty of two hundred and fifty now."

Zoro nodded his head and crossed his arms. "That's not bad," he said. He looked over to Luffy at this point. "You better be careful Luffy," he called. "It looks like I'm catching up." Luffy's only response was to laugh.

"That's not all," Rayleigh slyly spoke. By this time Missy had come up to join the others. "The government has a wide imagination, it seems." He pulled out three wanted posters of his own. "For forcing another to be executed in his place, the bounty of Fire Fist Ace has gone up along with the announcement of his return."

"How did they figure that out?" Missy asked. She took the poster and looked at it. It showed a close up of Ace wearing the black hat he had used as a disguise. "I can't believe that you let a marine spot you," she snapped.

"He's not the only one," Shanks grinned.

"Newest members of the Straw Hat Crew," Rayleigh announced. He held a poster up for all to see. Missy's picture was there along with a bounty of twelve million. "Name unknown and rank among the crew unknown."

Missy snatched the poster out of his hand, completely flabbergasted. It was a picture showing her riding Franky's shoulder. Her head snapped in the direction of the cyborg. "I blame you," she hissed.

"One last poster," Shanks teased. He held it out towards Rachel. "Name also unknown," he started. "Rank among the Straw Hat crew, assumed to be Roronoa's lover."

"Well they're half right," Zoro spoke proudly. He put his arm around Rachel's shoulder to prove his point.

In a calm manner Rachel took the paper from Shanks outstretched hand. It showed a picture of Zoro carrying her as they were running around Dressrosa. "I have a bounty of twenty-six million?" she asked. "How does that happen?"

"How much time did you spend running through the streets of Dressrosa with Zoro?" Rayleigh asked.

"None," Rachel stated. "He carried me the whole time."

Shanks' laugh shook the whole ship. "Then there's your answer," he managed. "Zoro is a top crew member of this ship. If he should have someone he loves, they're going to try to get to him through her. Secondly, after that fiasco with Ace and Luffy at Marineford they're going to be a bit more earnest in their hunt. The last thing the government wants is for powerful pirates to start having families and creating powerful opponents against them."

"They won't have to worry about Zoro," Rachel seethed. The reminder that the government had no qualms over killing innocent children filled her with anger. "I'll waste the entire government system and let the people decide the fate of their 'self-proclaimed gods'."

"Then I have a suggestion," Sabo spoke up. "After we go to Zou and take care of the business that Law has, let's head to the Revolutionary Headquarters. If you intend to take on the Government you're going to need some help."

"You don't think that the Nunya can handle it?" Rachel asked. "Let me tell you something, we've had this ship over two years. That's a pretty long time for a couple of women that can't sit still to save their souls. Now, if you take into consideration all the modifications I've done to it, what do you suppose Missy has done?"

Silence reigned among the two ships. "The marines have a way to repel sea kings," Missy started talking. "They keep the 'how' a closely guarded secret. It's pretty stupid simple though. But, I've come up with my own version."

"Not so much as 'came up'," Rachel cut in. She took a deep breath. It was sink or swim and she knew Missy was going to want to hurt her after this. "In our world we use high pitch noises to chase away pests. We've found a frequency that chases the sea kings away like their asses are on fire."

"Rachel Ann!" Missy started to storm over to her. Zoro stood between the two women, Rayleigh and Ace not too far behind.

"Now a lot more things make sense," Shanks mused. Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, Bortolomeo and Brook stood there in shock. Sanji froze mid-way to lighting a cigarette. Robin had her eyes closed as she nodded. Shanks was right, more things were making sense. Nami was blinking wildly at the news. Law's eyes were wide, it made sense and yet it didn't. How did they get here and why would they stay?

Franky was the most vocal in the information. "That's SUPER shocking," he said. Luffy and those huddled around him nodded in agreement.

"Most of the Straw Hats are in a state of confusion," Rayleigh noted. He glanced to the side at Zoro. "Yet you seem fine with the news despite being in a relationship with one of them."

"Rachel told me earlier," Zoro announced. "She wanted to make sure that there were no secrets between us."

"Rachel," Missy yelled and hissed at the same time. "I thought we agreed to only tell people when we've both decided it was the best decision."

"Can you honestly tell me we can't trust these people?" Rachel challenged. "I know you have trust issues, but think about it. The more we keep our information from them the more that they're not going to trust us. We were lucky that Ace hung around as long as he did. With a bounty out on us we need to be completely honest. If they abandon us now, most likely we'll be dead inside a week."

"She has a point Missy," Rayleigh spoke up. "You two told me your history right after meeting me, not because you trusted me. You felt that it was the only way for you to get home. Since you learned that you couldn't go home, you've only told one other person and it took you years to do that. I don't know what happened to make you so distrustful, but you need to think about this logically right now." Missy was glaring at him now.

Robin came up and stood next to Rachel. "Do you know why she doesn't trust easy?" she asked in a whisper.

"I do know," Rachel whispered back. "The thing is, most times when she's mad at me I can handle it. This will blow over in no time. The trust story, if I tell anyone I'll loose by best friend forever. So don't ask me and don't ask her."

"I can only imagine," Robin had a look of sorrow.

"Don't over think it," Rachel said. "It's not as bad as you think it is. It just wasn't something that could be prevented. That's all I'm going to say about it. Missy will still trust people, to a certain degree. She just doesn't want to let people get too close to her. She holds everyone at arms length except for myself and her immediate family. Just be happy that you have her trust."

"She didn't trust us enough to share the whole different world bit," Sanji said. He had come closer while Robin and Rachel were talking. "She nearly ripped your head off for that."

"Yeah, not so much. Missy doesn't scare me in the least. When her head is cool, ask her what will happen if she ever took a swing at me."

"I'll do that," Sanji puffed out some smoke.

Shanks put his arm around Missy's shoulders. Nami didn't miss the fact that Law narrowed his eyes at the action. "Let's put this gloom and doom behind us," Shanks shouted. "Everyone here has a bounty now. It's time for us to celebrate." Once the word 'celebrate' left his lips, members from his crew started coming over, carrying kegs. Luffy was reunited with his friends from childhood and Usopp got to spend time with his own father, Yasopp.

In the middle of the festivities a band had started playing. Brook joining them with his violin. The crews started dancing and causing a ruckus. Off to the side, Rachel and Zoro sat watching the whole thing. Zoro glanced over to Rachel. She was staring out at the people dancing. He cleared his throat as he worked up some courage. A blush staining his cheeks he asked, "Do you want to dance?" He looked away from her quickly, not wanting to make eye contact and loose his nerve.

Rachel looked over to him and saw that he was avoiding eye contact. She thought that it was sweet, he was making an effort to make her happy. "I appreciate it Zoro," she smiled. She leaned her head up on his shoulder. "But I'm afraid I'm a terrible dancer. I just love to watch other people make a spectacle of themselves."

Zoro relaxed as she turned down the offer. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer so that now her head rested on his chest. "I'm glad about that," he said. "I can fight in any condition, but I can't dance." Rachel only snuggled up closer to him in response. It wasn't something to laugh at. Not very many men could admit they failed at something. Once she was really comfortable she let out a sigh. Zoro smiled fondly down at her. If he let her stay there he had no doubt she would fall asleep. For some reason, he was alright with her using him as a pillow.

On the other side of the ship. "WHAT I WOULDN'T GIVE FOR A CAMERA SNAIL!" Nami shouted her loss.