P.E.R.C.Y. J.A.C.K.S.O.N.

"I'm hungry!"

Usopp was aghast. "How can you be thinking of your stomach at a time like this? And you," he whirled on Annabeth, "They took your boyfriend and told us they'd kill him and you said nothing!"

"ZORO WOULD WANT ME TO EAT!"

Annabeth paid him no attention; she was too busy muttering to herself.

"Annabeth?" Leo prodded, "Can you think out loud for a second?"

Annabeth looked up at her crew, "Why did they take Percy?"

"And how did they take Percy?" Nami added, "There's no way he wouldn't have sensed Tanaka behind him with his observation haki. Hey!"

"Sorry, my bad," said the woman who'd bumped into Nami. She'd almost left, when Nami grabbed onto her wrist.

"Where are you going with my wallet, Carina?"

The purple haired woman grinned and spun around, "I almost got you though, right?"

"Hang on a second," said Franky, "You two know each other?"

Nami had barely finished explaining that they used to travel together back in her thieving days when a brown and denim blur shot past Carina and tackled Leo to the ground.

"What the-,"

Sanji lunged forward, but Annabeth held out an arm to stop him.

"It's ok," she said with a grin, "She's an old friend."

"Ow! Piper, quit it! Stop! That hurts!"

"You dumbass!" the girl straddled atop Leo wailed, still refusing to stop pummeling him with her fists, "You died, you fucking died in front of me and you have the audacity to show up here, after months and months of searching? Oof!"

The girl lost her balance and fell off Leo's tiny chest, landing on her butt on the golden cobblestones.

Leo helped her to her feet, "Nice to see you haven't changed, Pipes."

Piper McLean sniffed and wiped away angry tears before fiercely hugging the small boy, "Shut up, Valdez."

"So this is the famous Piper?" Usopp asked the group, "We actually found her?"

Piper blinked her kalidescope-colored eyes in disbelief, "You were looking for me?"

"That's why we're here, little lady," Franky winked.

"Your mom led us here," said Robin, "It's nice to meet you, Piper."

Piper blushed. Annabeth took in her friend's appearance for the first time in months. She was glad to see that Piper had managed to do alright for herself. She, like the woman Nami had introduced as Carina, had changed out of the elegant cocktail dresses they'd been wearing in the VIP room. Now, Piper had on a pair of ripped, well worn jeans, a pair of thick, black combat boots, a red shirt with a pink, sequened star on it, and a denim jacket to hang off her slender shoulders. A single, white feather at the end of her choppy braid completed the look. As usual, Piper appeared to be trying to downplay her beauty.

Sanji thought she was failing miserably.

Piper and Nami embraced while Carina started leading Luffy off towards the shopping district.

"We have a lot to talk about, but I'd rather do it away from prying eyes," Carina told the others, "C'mon, your captain says he's hungry. The restaurant around the corner's great; my treat."

Usopp looked ready to protest, but sighed and followed the others anyway, "Food does sound good."

O.N.E. P.I.E.C.E.

Piper supposed she should consider herself lucky that she didn't remember her crash landing on the Gran Tesoro, or that she didn't crash in the middle of the ocean.

Still, waking up to Gild Tesoro's massive frame at her bedside was an experience she'd rather not relive.

"Hey there, sleepyhead," he chuckled, "You gave us quite the fright when you fell from the sky. How are you feeling?"

Slowly, Piper pulled herself into a seated position. This man seemed nice enough, but Piper had been through too much in her short life to not trust her gut.

Right now, her gut was screaming at her to stab him in the face and run for her life.

"I'm ok," she said slowly, getting used to the feeling of Japanese on her lips. She was glad she chose to accept Aphrodite's help instead of learning the language herself, as Annabeth had, "Where am I?"

"On my ship," he said warmly, "You've been asleep for a few days now. Can I get you something to eat? Who am I kidding; of course you want something to eat."

A wordless snap to the stick of a woman at the door and she was gone in search of nourishment.

"My name is Tesoro," Tesoro introduced himself, "And you?"

"Piper," said Piper, "At least, I think so."

Tesoro's icy blue eyes widened, "You mean you don't remember your name?" he asked curiously.

Piper shook her head, glad that the amnesia act was working, "I'm pretty sure my name is Piper," she clarified, "But everything else is a blank."

Tesoro's servant returned with a golden tray and a bowl of soup, both of which she placed on an ornate, golden table by the bed before returning to her post at the door.

"Thank you," Piper thanked the servant, "It's rather hot in here, isn't it? Some water would be nice."

Tesoro watched in amazement as the servant left to find a glass of water. "You did something to her," he accused Piper and, when she scooted backwards in fear, hastily added, "It's alright! I'm not mad. She's trained to only obey my order. I know power when I see it, or rather, hear it. You're a Devil Fruit User, aren't you?"

Piper shrugged, "I guess I must be."

Tesoro knit his massive hands together and grinned at Piper, "Piper, how would you like a job? You can stay here until your memory returns. In exchange, you will entertain my guests."

"Guests?" Piper asked wearily.

"At the casino," Tesoro clarified, "Sing, dance, juggle-whatever you like."

He offered her a hand, "Join our little family, at least for a little while."

One thing Piper had noticed right away was that she was alone. Judging by Percy's description, this didn't seem like Fishman Island; the odds of any of the others being somewhere nearby were slim. That left Piper with two missions.

Survive and wait.

She accepted Tesoro's hand and rose out of bed, "When do I start?"

Tesoro helped her to the desk by her bed, "After supper, my dear. Eat, then I will introduce you to your supervisor."

"And I've been here ever since," Piper finished, "I'm so glad I finally got to meet all of you."

"Ditto," Carina grinned, "Glad a loser Cat Burgular like Nami finally found some friends."

Nami looked ready to spit fire, but Annabeth held her back.

"So you two are Tesoro's enforcers," Annabeth guessed, "You gather intel while you perform and socialize with guests."

"Pretty much," Piper shrugged, "Though Carina's working on something else too."

Carina sighed, "Guess the cat's out of the bag now. Thanks, Piper."

Piper grinned sheepishly, "Sorry, Carina. But anyway, you know how Tesoro is really rich?"

"What gave it away?" Usopp said blandly, making Chopper giggle.

"That big tower in the center of the ship is where he stores most of his money," Carina continued for Piper, "500 billion berries, to be exact."

"Wow!" Chopper gasped, "That's so much money!"

"Exactly, little tanuki friend," Carina said excitedly, ignoring Chopper when he protested being called a tanuki, "It's enough to buy a small country, and I'm going to steal it."

Piper vigorously shushed the others before they could make too much noise at this exclamation, "Shut up! Carina's been working undercover here for months to do this. She has a solid plan and wants your help."

"And what do we get out of this?" asked Annabeth, giving Carina an unimpressed eyebrow raise.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Piper, "If we steal this money and Carina gives you some, we can save Percy and Zoro."

"Nami, you know Carina," said Usopp, "Can we really trust her?"

Nami's eyes said no, but she got to her feet anyway, "What choice do we have? Carina's right; we have to beat them at their own game or we're never seeing Percy or Zoro again."

The table went silent.

"But why did they take Percy?" Annabeth tried asking again, "Zoro's obvious; he attacked Tesoro. But they specifically targeted Percy. They didn't even turn him to gold; they just knocked him out."

Leo gulped, "Pipes, you remember Midas?"

Piper shuddered, "Working here kind of makes it hard to forget."

Leo shot Piper a questioning look, nodding at Carina, but Piper shook her head.

"Anyway," Leo continued carefully, "Piper and I met a guy with a Devil Fruit similar to Tesoro's once. He turned us both into gold. Our friend Jason only saved us by dunking us in a river. The running water turned us back to normal."

Carina frowned, "I know a secret when I hear one. There's something you're not telling me."

She glanced at Piper, "Piper, these are your friends. I trust you; you know I do. These bits of your past you say are too dangerous for me to know-I'm guessing these guys are a part of that. Let's reverse the long-nosed one's question. Can we trust them?"

"I don't want to startle you, Carina," Piper started slowly, "I really had no idea you two knew each other already, but Nami is my sister."

Very little so far that night had startled Carina but that, she wasn't too proud to admit, made her fall out of her seat.

"Half-sister," Nami added when Carina scrambled back into her seat, "We only met a year or so ago."

"Leo and Annabeth are two of my best friends," Piper continued, making the two demigods grin, "Percy is too. I trust them with my whole heart. And I haven't met any of the others properly yet, but I wanna save Percy."

"We're getting off topic," Robin said over the sound of Sanji noodling at Piper and Luffy devouring his fifteenth chicken leg, "Annabeth poses a good question. Why did they target Percy specifically?"

"Well, if you guys would let me finish," Leo huffed, "My guess is Percy's the key to beating Tesoro."

"Sea water," Nami breathed, realizaiton dawning on her oval-shaped face, "Tesoro's a Devil Fruit User too; sea water must be his weakness. And Percy…"

"Percy could bring Tesoro to his knees in an instant," said Annabeth, "That's why they took him and why they knocked him out; his power is too dangerous."

Sanji blew a ring of smoke and watched it float lazily out the door into the night sky, "That doesn't change anything, especially if they're keeping him sedated."

"I didn't know that your friend could control sea water," Carina admitted, "Just that Tesoro wanted him out of the equation. That doesn't change my plan at all."

"Ow!"

The band of pirates and thieves' attention strayed to a small child on the floor by the bar, cowering at the feet of a large, seedy-looking man in a suit and purple tie.

"Watch it, kid," the man sneered, "Don'tcha know we work for Tesoro?"

"Big brother!" a tiny green-haired girl cried, running to help him to his feet.

"This is gonna add 200,000 berries to your debt," another shady-looking man cackled, "That'll teach you to piss us off."

Piper and Nami both got to their feet, but the burly, bald bartender beat them to the punch.

"Please, forgive them!" he begged, getting down on his knees in front of Tesoro's henchmen, "I promise they meant you no disrespect!"

The daughters of Aphrodite decided they'd had enough when the ringleader stomped a shiny black shoe on the bartender's head.

"That attitude's gonna get your family killed, ya know?" the ringleader sneered, "C'mon, laugh it up!"

"Boys," Piper said smoothly, cutting off the bartender's forced laughter, "I see you've found my favorite bar in town. It's pretty great, isn't it?"
"It sure is," the second henchman said dreamily, "Any bar's great when you're there, Piper."

"It's been a long night," said Nami, leaning gracefully on the bar beside her sister, "You must be tired. Wouldn't it be nice to go home and forget any of this ever happened?"

"You'll do that for us, right boys?" Piper added for good measure, placing a comforting hand on the first henchman's shoulder as the two nodded vigorously, never losing their vacant, happy smiles, "Go home and forget you saw any of us here. Forget about these disrespectful kids too; they're not worth remembering."

The Strawhats, children and bartender watched in a mixture of amazement and relief as Tesoro's lackeys wandered away and disappeared into the crowds.

"Are you alright, boss?" a couple of waiters rushed over to help the bartender to his feet.

"I'm fine, Ricca," said the bartender. He gave Piper and Nami a grateful smile, "Thank you, Miss Piper and miss…?"

"Not important," Nami said kindly, "It's better if I was never here."

The bartender seemed to understand this and left the women alone in order to check over the children.

"Hey."

Everyone looked at Luffy.

"Why didn't you fight?" he demanded.

"We can't!" the little boy cried angrily, "We don't have any money! Money is freedom! So we have to bear it cuz we don't have any!"

Luffy watched, stone-faced, as the kids ran off crying. "Carina."

Carina, interrupted in her stares of amazement at Nami, turned her attention to Luffy, "S'up, Strawhat?"

"Percy is my precious nakama," he told her, his voice steely, "And Zoro…"

He tilted his hat to hide his face, "Zoro is my most precious person. Losing him or Percy isn't an option. Can you help me get them back?"

Carina's heart warmed and she squeezed the rubber boy's hand. Because reservations and secrets be damned; this boy was scared and she could help him.

Besides, she was always a sucker for a good love story!

"Don't worry, Strawhat," she assured Luffy, "That money is as good as ours."

"Then we'll help you," Luffy decided, "What do we need to do?"

"It's too late to do anything tonight," said Annabeth, "We're all tired; we should find somewhere to rest."

"We have a room near here," said Piper, "We can talk more there."