Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to One Piece. All properties therein are those of its creator.

Note: While I love everything about One Piece, the story is incredibly long. I'm not sure I have the ability to cover everything adequately. So some events will inevitably end up truncated, summarized, or even skipped if I deem them unnecessary to the story I'm telling. I apologize if I miss some of your favorite storylines, but that's just how it is.

Part Two - Enter The Swordsman And The Thief

"Good job, Koby, keep the wheel steady on this course and we'll reach the naval base before you know it." Bartolomeo praised the ship's new recruit. They'd been on the open water for a few days now and the kid was proving to be a natural on the helm. It was almost enough to impress him. That being said, he had a long way to go before he could even think of calling himself a proper marine. "Every fifteen minutes I want you to tie off the wheel and do forty push ups. Got it? We need to get you in shape!"

"Yes, Sir!" The kid saluted and went back to the wheel, staring at the horizon with pride and hope.

The captain chose not to mess with him anymore than he had and instead ascended the rigging to the crows nest so he could annoy his best friend and superior instead. Upon arrival he saw the man in question shirtless and sprawled out on the floor, snoring.

'Oh this is just too good.' he thought as he gleefully rubbed his hands together. Then, with a twist of two fingers, he formed a barrier around the commodore's head. The reaction was instantaneous. Luffy shot to his feet, stumbled for a second, and then shocked the hell out of him by turning in the blink of an eye and socking him right in the face. As his concentration fell so too did the barrier, leaving Bartolomeo with a bruised nose and angry friend all at once.

"What the hell, Bart?" Luffy exclaimed. "Were you trying to kill me?"

"Of course not. It was a joke." He managed to squeeze out through the headache his wounded nose and pride were bringing forth.

Luffy blinked at that. Once, twice, and then keeled over laughing. "I guess that was pretty funny." He agreed. "Say, how much longer until we reach the base?"

"About an hour. Why?"

"Cause I want to grab some food before our inspection. I haven't eaten anything besides rations for days now."

"You know you could solve that problem if you just learned to cook for yourself." The green haired man groused. Earning a fresh glare for his troubles as a result.

"Why would I do that? I have a wife that cooks for me." Luffy complained.

"Well your wife isn't here!"

"And a good thing too, otherwise you'd be getting your ass kicked back into the grand line." Luffy commented. "You just couldn't keep it in your pants, could you man?"

Bart huffed out loud at what he thought of that statement and replied, "Yeah, like you're one to talk. Last time you and your wife got together the entire base needed to break out the noise cancelling headphones. Anyway you should start getting ready. We wouldn't want the people of this island to see you as anything less than pristine after all."

"Fine." Luffy complained while looking longingly at his regular napping spot. "I'll get dressed."

Shell Island

"I hope Koby doesn't mind staying on the ship." Luffy commented as he walked down the street with his hands folded behind his head, Bart walked stiffly beside him with his hands thrown in his pockets.

"Someone needed to look after the craft, the kid understands that." Bartolomeo said. "Hey, is it just me or are these people going out of their way not to look at us?"

Luffy took a stealthy look around under the brim of his hat, and what he saw worried him greatly. Citizens gazed at their white coats with fear clearly etched along their features, and parents ushered their children off of the street into the safety of closed doors. "Now that you mention it, yeah. I wonder why that is?"

"Well maybe we can find some information at that pub up ahead." The green haired man pointed at a wooden structure across the street with brightly colored window covers and a large sign that read, 'Rosemary's.' "You did say were hungry."

Luffy smiled and led the way through the door, "Indeed I did." The interior was just as melancholy as the rest of the town seemed to be. The people eating there were slumped of shoulder, hunching over their food without talking, laughing, or showing any sign that they were even enjoying their meals. There wasn't even music playing. The straw hat wearing commodore took one look at the crowd and asked, "Who took a shit in your breakfast?"

He got a few dirty looks for the comment, but nobody made any moves to stand, and the naval officers made it to a free table without any confrontations. That was until a tiny brown haired girl walked right up to them and demanded, "You're making everyone sad! Get out!"

The horrified barmaid tried to rush up and pull the rambunctious girl away, but Luffy held up a hand to stop her as he leant down to put his head level with the child. As everyone present held their breath, the young man put a huge, comforting, smile on his face, and said, "I'm sorry if that's true. My friend and I are new here, so could you tell us exactly why it is our presence is making everyone 'sad'?"

"It's your uniforms." She said simply.

"Our uniforms?"

"Yes. The navy is bad. They hurt people here."

A stormy look started building on the dark haired man's face at those words. "Could you give me an example?"

"Sure." The little girl was feeling a lot better about these strangers the more she talked to them. It was easy to tell that they weren't from around here. And the one with the straw hat… something about him just radiated calm and peace. "A while ago a nice swordsman, named Zoro, came in to eat breakfast. Like a lot of people do. He paid in advance, and he even told me some jokes. But then the base captain's son and his dogs barged in and started tearing up the place. They even threatened my mom when she asked them to leave. Mr. Zoro made him stop, he saved all of us, but the marines still took him away." She was frowning herself now as she nudged a basket she'd been carrying with her hip. "They don't feed him there, so I was going to give him some of these biscuits I made as a thank you for helping us."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Luffy slid out of his chair and motioned to Bart to do the same. "I suddenly find I've lost my appetite. So why don't I escort you to the base to make sure he gets the food you've so graciously prepared?"

At his words the little girl beamed up at him with a smile bright enough to eclipse the sun. "Okay! Come on, Mister. If we hurry he can eat before the noon bell!" Without another word the girl ran out of the establishment, and the officers hurried to catch up, after nodding apologetically to the pub staff and patrons.

It didn't take long to reach their destination. As was the case with most military installations, the town had grown close to it to capitalize off of enlisted personnel with disposable incomes. Luffy expected the child to lead him over to the main entrance and down into the holding cells, so he was justifiably confused when she instead took them to the parade grounds, where a tall man with green hair was bound a couple inches off the ground with his arm tied to the sides on a wooden cross. It must have been incredibly painful.

"So this is the guy, huh?" Luffy inquired as his makeshift trio finally crossed the green to approach the prisoner. "I have to say, he doesn't seem that scary."

At his words, the stranger lifted his head and growled, "Let me out of these ropes and give me my swords, then you'll see scary."

Luffy thought about it for all of a second before whipping out his longword and swiping easily through the ropes on the cross, dropping the prisoner to the ground. Then he waved to the little girl, who happily skipped up to the man and started waving around her basket before him in circles like a windmill.

"My name is Commodore Monkey D. Luffy, and based on testimony from the people I met in town today I absolve you of whatever punishment you were sentenced to endure." He gave a dark glare to the cross and said, "This is not what the Navy stands for. You have my apologies for how you were treated."

"Roronoa Zoro, and I'd rather have my swords than your apology." He muttered, just loud enough for the commodore to hear him.

"Really? Where are they?"

Surprised by the easy response, Zoro said, "Last I heard, the captain's brat took them as trophies. They're probably just hanging on the walls in his quarters if I had to guess."

A dark look seemed to build on the officer's face for a moment, before rapidly clearing into a blinding smile. "Well then, you eat up quick and we'll go get them. I know for a fact this kid worked very hard to bake these biscuits and it'd be a shame to waste them."

Zoro gave the commodore a strange look, but nevertheless dug into the food with a passion. He'd not eaten in several days after all. When he was finished he looked down at the little girl and said, "That might just be the best thing I've ever eaten. You made those?"

"Yup." The girl bobbed her head.

"Then you have my compliments. Now get out of here. I have a feeling things are about to get a little rough."

"Okay. Stay safe, mister." The girl chirped before running off back to the wall.

Seeing the interaction was done, Luffy turned to Bartolomeo. "The captain of this base has violated numerous naval guidelines with this behavior. I hereby deem him unfit to lead and am issuing a warrant for his arrest. Will you execute that warrant, captain?"

Bartolomeo nonchalantly buffed his fingernails over his chest tattoo, "No sweat, sir. We find him and he'll be out for the count."

"Excellent." Luffy turned back to Zoro, "Follow us then and we'll retrieve your swords."

Or at least, that was the plan, until the objects themselves started walking right toward them! As they all watched, a girl about Luffy's age, with orange hair, and wearing a deep V-neck T-shirt started sneaking out the main door and along the outer wall. Over her shoulder was a rather fully stuffed sack, and under her arm were three katanas. So focused on watching her back was she that the strange woman didn't notice she was walking right toward them.

"Ah, commodore?" Zoro asked warily, "Is that girl stealing my swords?"

Luffy nodded. "Yup. And a bunch of other stuff too apparently. Not that I blame her. If what happened to you is the regular behavior around here there's probably a bunch of stolen shit in there."

"I don't know weather to be annoyed that she's taking my weapons or thrilled that they're apparently worth enough to take." The swordsman mused as the girl finally came within arms distance, "Ah well." He reached out and snatched the blades just as the thief recognized she'd met others on her path. As he affixed the weapons to his belt she shrieked, dropped the bag, and fell back onto it as a result. The clinking of coins the action elicited removed all doubt as to her actions.

To her credit, the girl rallied quickly. "This isn't what it looks like." She said immediately.

"Really?" Luffy walked over and squatted on his haunches beside her as an alarm in the base started blaring. "Then what is it?"

"I-I found this bag just lying around in the entrance hall. I was coming to visit a friend that works on the cleaning crew here and I thought he'd know what to do with it."

"Hm." the commodore stared into the girl's eyes for a moment, then smiled. "You're a terrible liar, but I don't care either way."

"What?" The orangette was incredibly confused by what was going on. She'd been on her way to make a fresh break with her haul when she was suddenly confronted with a wide smiling officer in a straw hat of all things!

"I don't care if you stole from this base at the moment. The current leadership is corrupt and deplorable. I'm willing to bet that money came from the current captain's personal safe?"

Still staring into the strange officer's eyes, Nami suddenly found herself unable to lie to him. "Y-Yes."

"Then more than likely it wasn't even notated on the logistics and accounting records. As far as I'm concerned that money was ripe for the taking and you can keep it if you want."

"Really?" Nami couldn't believe what she was hearing. What kind of navy officer was this?!

For his part, Luffy was using one of the best skills his grandfather had ever taught him. Reading people. As he held this strange girl's gaze he also perused her body, posture, and thought about the tone of her voice as they spoke. What he was picking up was not good. Thin lines peaking just under the sleeves of her T-shirt. She'd been whipped before, and more than once for the scars to remain. Her arms, though toned with muscle were also thinner than should be normal for someone of her age. Indicating a lack of care or neglect. Her voice had the quality of someone that was used to lying, though hated it. And her eyes… those were the worst. They were hard, cold, and much too old for the face they resided in. She knew and understood suffering. Finally, the deep, dark, bags under her eyes showed a chronic lack of sleep. What must she have been doing to earn those lines?

His observations brought him to one conclusion. This was a person who needed help, and as an officer in the navy he couldn't very well turn away.

"Really." he finally said. "Tell you what, why don't you stick with us for a bit. I'll sort out whatever this is," he gestured to the sirens, "and then we can send you on your way. Better than running off on your own and getting caught am I right?"

"Ugh, y-yeah. Yeah that sounds alright." She replied, still not sure what to think of her current circumstances.

"Great. I'm Commodore Monkey D. Luffy. What's your name?"

"I'm Nami."

"Well it's nice to meet you. Now let's-" He was all set to suggest they go inside and turn off that bloody alarm, but before he could a cadre of marines followed by a massive man with an axe for a hand came barreling out of the gate. A twiggy blonde in a suit followed behind them at a more sedate pace. "Never mind. We can handle this here."

Luffy turned to face the oncoming crowd, his long coat billowing in the wind and his hand held securely on the hilt of his sword. Bartolomeo stood next to him, and surprisingly enough, Zoro came to stand on his other side, one of his blades drawn and held at the ready. Behind them all, Nami could only stare at the scene they presented and wonder why she suddenly felt warmth in her chest.

At Luffy's questioning look, the swordsman said, "You promised me justice. I want to make sure I get it."

"Very well." The straw hat wearing man answered. Then he turned back to the crowd, that was now only a few meters away, and yelled, "Marines! Form ranks!"

Bartolomeo followed his lead, "Commodore on site!"

The cadre immediately jumped to attention, but the captain only sneered and kept walking forward. "Who the hell are you?" He growled.

"Commodore Monkey D. Luffy. You are captain Axe-hand Morgan?"

The captain raised his axe menacingly, still advancing, "Yeah. Now what do you want on my property?"

Luffy raised a brow, "Don't you mean the navy's property? We were here to simply inspect your facility, after what we heard in town we were then going to arrest you, but after saying that… I think we're just gonna kill you."

"Ha!" The man had finally reached the group, towering over them at eight feet. "Fuck the navy. This place belongs to the strongest, and that's me! Now die!" He raised his axe to swipe their heads from their shoulders. He never got the chance to swing it.

At a gesture from his commodore, Bartolomeo crossed his fingers and a dome of emerald light enclosed the captain's head in a sphere without air, similar to how he'd pranked his commodore before, only this time he didn't let up. Morgan raged, beat at his head, and his muffled screams rent the air for several seconds before finally falling to the ground and clawing at his neck. This lasted for moments more before the big more fell still, his leg twitching slightly. The lightly fanged man waited a few seconds more to make sure of the kill before releasing his fingers to cancel the barrier.

"Dad!" The blonde looking ponce screamed as he ran forward and started cradling the big man's head, the marines guarding him looking incredibly uncomfortable as they followed at a distance.

Leaning comically to the side, Luffy asked Zoro, "That's the guy that set his dogs on the townspeople right?"

"Yup."

"You want his head?"

"Badly."

"I hate people that hurt the innocent for fun. Have at him."

Zoro smirked and brought his blade into a high guard. A second later he was across the field and flicking his sword to the side to clean the blood as he sheathed it. The blonde's head fell to the grass with a wet plop.

Meanwhile, Nami was staring with open shock at the tableau before her. All she had ever known of the navy was corrupt officers allowing Arlong to run rampant over her home with impunity. Corrupt assholes willing to let anything go for the right price. Now, here was this man. Not only proclaiming his hatred of the unjust, but also permanently ending the problems he saw with extreme prejudice. What was this feeling blooming once more in her chest? She'd felt it earlier, but what was it? Hope? Surely not. She'd gotten rid of that useless feeling long ago.

While she was having her internal monologue, Luffy was berating the marines present for allowing Morgan to terrorize the populace of the island and assigning shit details and punishments left and right. It was going to be a long day.

The next morning found Luffy seeking out Zoro and Nami. He didn't know why, but he kind of liked them. Last evening he'd called Garp to report the deaths of Morgan and his son, and arrange transport for the coroners and the captain's replacement. The old man hadn't been thrilled with how he'd handled the situation but he understood. Garp hated bullies just as much as his grandson after all.

Now, having set things to rights, Luffy and Bartolomeo were about ready to head out, but the man wanted to see the others first. He had a question for them. Luckily all people had to eat, and he discovered their location readily enough when searching the same pub they'd stopped at upon their arrival on the island.

Zoro and Nami were seated together at a table in the back, eating plates of eggs and sausage. Luffy quickly informed the barmaid he'd have the same and crossed the room to sit down across from them. "Hello." he said as they blinked at him in surprise. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Yeah, right." Nami huffed. "What do you want commodore?"

The man raised his hands placatingly and shrugged his coat lightly off of his shoulders so it fell across the back of his chair. "Just to talk. You two fascinate me, and there's something I'd like to know about you."

"What's that?" Zoro inquired.

"What are your dreams? What do you want out of life? I'm always curious to hear the answers."

"Really?" Zoro asked. What a strange question, but the guy seemed serious about it. "I guess mine's simple enough. I want to be the greatest swordsman in the world. It's a dream I shared with a good friend long ago. She can't do it now, so I have to carry that goal for the both of us."

Luffy was smiling as he heard that. "That's an awesome goal, Zoro. I think Dracule Mihawke is the best right now so you'd need to beat him to claim the title. Say, would you like to join my crew? I can introduce you to him."

Zoro gaped at the man before him, "You know Mihawke?"

The commodore shimmied his sword a bit in its sheath, "Who do you think taught me to use this?" Zoro had no answer as Luffy reached his hand across the distance, "How about it? Join my crew, and I'll not only introduce you to the man, but I'll teach you the things you'll need to know to actually provide him with a challenge."

Zoro took a moment to consider his options. He could continue on as he had been. capture bounties, turn them in, earn enough to carry on ever further into the Grand Line until he finally tracked the black bladed swordsman down. It would take time, but he could do it. That being said, there was no telling if he'd be able to improve his swordsmanship enough in that time frame for it to matter in the end.

The alternative was following this man. This boy younger than him that had already reached the rank of commodore in the navy. He supposed he could have been lying about knowing Mihawke, but a look into the other man's bright trusting eyes threw that idea right out the window. That wasn't the gaze of a liar. When Luffy said he could train him properly, Zoro believed him. And introducing him to his rival sounded a lot better than wasting time looking for the bastard.

With a grunt of approval, the green haired man reached forward with his own hand and shook the commodore's. "I'm in."

"Excellent." The man brushed his straw hat back further on his head and turned to face Nami. "Sorry about that little tangent. What about you?"

"I want to create the first complete map of the Grand Line. I'm a navigator, the best you'll ever meet." She praised herself with an exaggerated pat on the back.

"That's great, Nami!" Luffy reciprocated that same praise with enough exuberance to even make her smile. Then his gaze turned serious, "But that isn't your only dream is it? A navigator doesn't need to steal like you did. You need that money for something, something dear to you. I could see it in your eyes when we met yesterday. Please, tell me. I swear that I can help."

Nami didn't want to say anything. By the gods she didn't. But she'd been carrying this weight alone for so long that every morning it became harder and harder to wake up, and this man… something inside her was begging her to trust him. To at least 'try' to trust at least one person in this world. More than anything else though, she was tired of being alone.

"A pirate named Arlong took over my village when I was a little girl." She spoke slowly, shielding her eyes with her bangs. "He's cruel, and hurts the people that live there, but I managed to make a deal with him. If I can make one hundred million berries for him he'll leave. He forces me to draw him maps in the meantime." She nudged the bag at her feet, "With this haul I'm close. Really, really, close."

Luffy stood slowly from his chair, walked around the divide, and pulled the girl into a warm hug. She stiffened against him for a moment before relaxing and wrapping her arms around his waist in return. She'd forgotten how nice a hug could feel. The Mute Mute man made a point to not comment on the wet spots her tears were forming on his shirt and vest. It had clearly taken a lot of effort to say as much as she had.

"I take it your villagers tried to contact the navy?"

She nodded against his chest. "They didn't do anything."

"Bribes?"

"I think so. Arlong likes to joke that he's untouchable."

"Not for me." Luffy snarled before running his fingers through the girl's orange hair. Zoro just kept sitting awkwardly across from them. "Join my crew Nami."

"I can't." She sniffled before raising her sleeve to display the tattoo on her shoulder, "He made me join his crew when we struck our deal." Why was she telling him all of this? Probably because she was tired of keeping everything locked inside, and Luffy was just so warm and accepting.

"I don't care, Nami." Luffy shocked her by saying. "Whatever you've done, I'll wipe it away just like I will Arlong."

"Why?" Her tears were finally starting to dry out now. "Why would you do anything for me? You only just met me."

"Two reasons. One, it's the right thing to do. A bully is terrorizing innocent people and I despise bullies. Two, you have a dream being trampled on. I have a great respect for dreams, and no mercy for those that crush them."

"W-What's yours?" She asked.

"I want to be the man that experiences everything this world has to offer. I'll go everywhere and see everything. The world is a big place though and I could use a navigator."

"You really don't care what I've done?"

"Only what you will do. Come with me and we'll kill Arlong, destroy his crew, and free your people. After that the Grand Line is the destination and we can map it out as we go. What do you say?"

Nami took a moment to consider the offer, and finally decided she had nothing left to lose. "When do we cast off, commodore?"

Luffy smiled and kept rubbing her hair, "We can rest here for a while yet. I still haven't eaten after all."