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

Piper didn't have much experience with pirate ships, but considering how often the Strawhats got into big, elaborate battles, Piper was of the opinion that the infirmary was far too cramped.

Chopper had insisted on everyone coming to see him so he could tend to their wounds. Percy had waved him off, insisting that all he needed was more time underwater. Chopper was forced to relent when, with Annabeth's help, Percy hoped over the side of the ship and disappeared into the waters below. Chopper had tended to most quickly enough; most of the Strawhats' injuries were superficial at best. The real problems, besides Percy, were the usual suspects, according to Annabeth. So Piper slipped into the infirmary to see if she could help Chopper tend to Leo, Zoro and Sanji.

"No change?"

Chopper smiled brightly at her in greeting, momentarily distracted from strangling Zoro with a roll of ace bandages, "Piper! No, he's still out. I'll let you know when he's ready for ambrosia."

"PIPER-CHWAN!"

Piper winced at the loud noise and Zoro's scowl deepened.

"It's a small room, dumbass," he told Sanji, "Shut up."

Sanji looked ready to throw himself at Zoro, but Chopper shifted to heavy point to hold Sanji in place.

"I need to finish bandaging you," Chopper said sternly, "Piper, if you want to help, you can take Zoro outside for some fresh air. His bandages are done for now and I need to separate these two."

The look on Zoro's face made Piper want to object, but Chopper looked ready to have a mental breakdown, so she obliged, following the green-haired swordsman outside.

The two leaned on the stern railing, watching the empty sea for a solid two minutes before Zoro lost his patience.

"Just spit it out, already."

Piper jumped, startled by the break in silence, "Sorry?"
Zoro stared resolutely forward, refusing to make eye contact, "You've wanted to say something to me since we met."

"You know, you're way more perceptive than Percy ever gave you credit for," said Piper, "Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about Luffy."

That got Zoro to look her in the eyes, "What about him?" he asked with a hint of danger in his voice.

"You know I'm a daughter of Aphrodite too, right?" Piper started slowly. She didn't want to scare him off before she'd said her piece, "I'm good at other people's relationship stuff."

"So?"

"You're with Luffy, right?" said Piper, "And something's happened to make you question that."

Zoro's scowl deepened, "How's that any of your business?"
Piper raised her hands in surrender, "Search me, but we're still strangers, for now. Why not confide in someone who doesn't know you yet?"

Zoro sighed and his shoulders slumped, "It's not about Luffy," he said slowly, "It's-well, it's about how other people react to us."

"You mean like Tesoro," Piper reasoned, "He wanted to hurt you to get at Luffy."

"I'm supposed to protect him," said Zoro, back to not making eye contact with her, "I'm supposed to protect all of you. I don't-shit."

"It's ok, I know this is hard," Piper reassured him, pushing a little bit of charmspeak into her words to help him calm down.

Zoro sighed, "Me being with him makes me the one who needs protecting. And it's ok sometimes, but when it happens all the time? My pride as a swordsman is at stake."

"Ok," Piper said calmly, "So what you're saying is your pride as a swordsman is more important than your relationship with Luffy?"
"No! Of course not!"

Piper had to force her face muscles to relax to prevent herself from smiling at Zoro's outburst.

"Really? Because that's what it sounds like to me."
She took a step towards him, "It's good that you know it's ok to lean on Luffy and your crew. But if you're as strong as everyone says you are, then Luffy's only gonna make you stronger."

Zoro remained silent.

"That's what's so great about love," Piper pressed on, undeterred, "It makes us stronger than when we're alone. Will you at least think about it a little longer?"

Zoro scowled, "Geez, woman, fine! Now, leave me alone."

"You have to go back to the infirmary," said Piper, grabbing Zoro's wrist and holding him in place, "You're bleeding through your bandages."

Zoro pushed her away and limped towards the observation deck, "No way; I wanna train."

Piper blinked, "Um…what?"

"It'll go away if I get stronger," Zoro explained patiently, still limping away, "Chopper will understand."

Piper shrugged, "If you and Chopper have an understanding, I guess it's ok. Good luck with training."

He turned to glare at her, "By the way, if you tell anyone about our conversation," he hissed menacingly, "I'll make you regret ever meeting me."

Piper gulped and nodded, scampering off to find Annabeth. She didn't care what Percy said; Zoro was scary!

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

Piper found Annabeth with Robin, Nami and Usopp in the bathroom, speaking to a man she didn't recognize via Iris message.

"We're about two days from Dressrosa," Nami was saying.

"If we really push it, the Sunny can cut that time in half," Usopp argued, "I'd say tomorrow afternoon, at the earliest."

"The sooner the better. We'll meet you at this rendez-vous point here."

The man held a crudely-drawn map up to the Strawhats, careful not to get the paper too close to the water, "It's about 3 clicks from the main port. You'll want to camoflage the Sunny; Doflamingo has eyes everywhere."

"Understood," said Robin, "And you be careful too, Traffy; this plan is useless without Caesar."

Indignant shouts from just off-screen caused Trafalgar Law to scowl.

"Ugh, fine. Annabeth, I've got two people here who want to talk to you."

Annabeth blinked, "Me?" Then, a large man and a little boy in matching top knots pushed Law out of the way caused Annabeth to develop a scowl identical to her brother's.

"Kin'emon," she greeted the samurai, "And Momo. I thought you guys were going with the marines."

"We wanted to go with you, Annabeth nee-san!" said Momo, "But you guys ran away before we could ask!"

Kin'emon eyed Piper curiously, "And who's this beautiful lady. A new friend?"

"Don't make me cut you off," Annabeth threatened the man before Piper could introduce herself, "What do you want, Kin'emon?"

"It's best if I explain the details when you arrive," said Kin'emon, suddenly serious, "We need your help, Strawhats, to get back to Wano and free our people."

Nami rose an orange eyebrow, "That sounds like a story that I don't have enough drachmae to listen to."

No sooner had these words left Nami's mouth, the message began to flicker.

"We should go, anyway," Law said hastily, shoving Momo out of the way, "We'll talk more when you get here, and Annabeth, be careful."

"Always," Annabeth promised, and she turned off the shower.

"Who was that?" Piper asked the room.

The sound of squawking from outside interrupted any chance of context for Piper.

"Come on," Nami told her sister, "I'll explain later."

With that, they followed the others outside to find Chopper talking to a messenger gull. The gull was squawking in terror and trying to fly away, but Chopper wouldn't let it.

"What's up with the bird?" asked Usopp.

Percy, looking decidedly healthier than he had several hours ago, looked up from scowling at a roll of parchment clutched in his hands, "He saw Brook and he's been like that ever since."

"Yohohoho! Please don't be scared, seagull-san!"

Annabeth was of the firm opinion that Brook delighted in frightening strangers, but she wasn't about to say so in front of Piper; the daughter of Aphrodite still seemed slightly apprehensive of the talking skeleton.

"What's he saying, Chopper?" asked Robin.

"He wants Brook to go away, for starters," said Chopper, "That's not very nice, you know…"

"Brook's not going anywhere," said Percy, narrowing his eyes at the gull, "And I'm guessing you're not either. Not until I give you this."

The gull nodded in affirmation.

Sanji peeked over Percy's shoulder and glanced at the parchment, "Whoah, looks like you've been invited to the Reverie!"

Shouts erupted on the deck of the Sunny.

"Enough!" Percy shouted, "It doesn't mean anything anyway; I'm not going."

"Is that a party?" Luffy asked innocently, "We should go!"

"The Reverie is a yearly meeting of 50 kingdoms across the Four Seas," Sanji explained, "The rulers of each meet at Marie Geoise to talk about what's going on in the world and what their kingdoms plan to do in the future."

"Oh, we have something like that too," said Piper, glad to finally understand something, "It's a World Summit, right?"

"Exactly," said Nami, "And it looks like Fishman Island's been invited this year."

"But it doesn't matter," Percy said pointedly, waving the parchment in their faces, "I wouldn't make it within 100 feet of Marie Geoise before I'd get arrested. Or they'd let me go then follow me back to you guys and arrest all of us. My dad didn't send this."

"The World Government did," Robin agreed, "Percy is right; he shouldn't go."

"Besides," said Annabeth, "We have more important things to worry about."

Squawk!

"Percy, he wants to know if you're officially declining the invitation," Chopper informed the group.

"Yeah, I'm not going," Percy told the bird, "You can go away now."

The bird let out one more indignant squawk before taking off into the sky. The others started to wander off, but Percy held them back.

"The bird gave me something else," he said grimly, laying a stack of papers out on the deck for all to see, "You're gonna want to see this."

They were wanted posters.

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE- STRAWHAT LUFFY- 450 MILLION BERRIES

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE- PIRATE HUNTER ZORO- 190 MILLION BERRIES

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE- CAT BURGLAR NAMI- 24 MILLION BERRIES

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE- SNIPER USOPP- 32 MILLION BERRIES

WANTED ONLY ALIVE- BLACK LEG SANJI- 98 MILLION BERRIES

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE- PET TONY TONY CHOPPER- 70 BERRIES

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE- DEMON CHILD NICO ROBIN- 90 MILLION BERRIES

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE- CYBORG FRANKY- 70 MILLION BERRIES

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE- SOUL KING BROOK- 40 MILLION BERRIES

WANTED ONLY DEAD- EARTHSHAKER PERSEUS JACKSON- 250 MILLION BERRIES

WANTED ONLY DEAD- DRAGON TAMER LEO VALDEZ- 100 MILLION BERRIES

WANTED ONLY DEAD- EAGLE-EYED ANNABETH CHASE- 60 MILLION BERRIES

WANTED ONLY DEAD- SNAKE TONGUE PIPER MCLEAN- 65 MILLION BERRIES

The deck was silent apart from Luffy, who didn't seem to notice his crew's unease.

"Hey! It went up!" he cheered, "I wonder why?"

"We must have made an impression on the Navy since we entered the New World," said Robin, "The surplus of new crew members certainly helps."

"It's a cool picture," Leo grinned, admiring his poster, "Is that what I look like with my hair on fire?"

"Who even took these…?" Piper muttered, "This better not hurt my chances of getting into college."

Annabeth studied her poster with narrowed eyes, "Ours say Wanted: Only Dead," she pointed out to the others, "And Sanji's says Wanted: Only Alive. What's that about?"

Nami turned to get Sanji's opinion, but the cook was already gone. As the others chatted over their new bounties, Nami slipped off in search of Sanji. She found him in the bathroom, holding a lighter to his wanted poster.

"Wanna tell me what that's about?"

Nami's concern only deepened when Sanji didn't issue her one of his usual, exuberant greetings and instead, wouldn't even turn around to face her.

"Sanji," she insisted, allowing her worry to creep into her voice.

Sanji turned and gave her the fakest smile she'd ever seen from the man.

It was freaking her out.

"Don't worry," he said lightly, washing the ashes down the sink and pocketing the lighter, "It's not important."

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

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

Percy looked up from his college prep to find Piper sitting beside him, admiring Nami's tangerine trees hanging delicately over the side of the garden next to them.

"It's good to see you, Piper," Percy told his friend, carefully marking his page before closing the book, "We haven't really had a chance to talk since I woke up, have we?"

"No," Piper agreed, "Do I need to apologize for that?"

Piper eyed Percy cautiously. He was never the type to hold a grudge, but still…Piper could only imagine what he and Zoro went through on Gran Tesoro.

"The plan went wrong," Percy waved her off, "You did what you had to."

Piper sighed, "That's a relief. I thought you might be mad at me."

"Why would he be mad at you?"

Annabeth, Leo and Nami settled on the deck by Piper and Percy. Leo was still looking pale, but a serving of ambrosia cured his concussion easily.

"Oh you know, torture, executions, all that jazz," said Piper, "But we should really talk about our situation here."

"What kind of situation are we talking about?" asked Nami, "The plan for Dressrosa?"

"She means our particular situation," said Annabeth, "We've got five demigods here. One of them is a child of the Big Three."

"How are we not attracting every monster in a twenty mile radius?" asked Piper.

Percy and Nami shared a look.

"So that's what he meant," said Nami, "Neptune gave us his blessing when we left Fishman Island."

"We weren't sure what it would do," said Percy, "But that would explain the lack of monster attacks while we're at sea."

"But on land is a different story," said Leo, "Once we meet up with Law there will be six of us. I'd hate to leave the others high and dry because of a monster attack."

Leo pulled a notepad and a pen out of his toolbelt, "I can work on some better defenses for the mortals and the ship, but I'll need more celestial bronze."

"We're pulling up to the meeting point in five minutes."

Nami got to her feet and dusted off her skirt, "Looks like we'll have to worry about it later. C'mon, let's go see Law."

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

Luffy touched down on honey-colored rocks and joyfully proclaimed their arrival at Dressrosa. Usopp yelled at him for being too loud, but he couldn't help it! Their new adventure was starting!

Law, Kin'emon, Momo and Caesar waited for them from within the shade of a large boulder just in front of them. Caesar was loudly complaining about the heat, but nobody seemed to care.

"Nami!" Momo cried joyfully, transforming into a pink dragon and flinging himself into the Navigator's arms.

"Oh, Momo-chan!" Nami greeted the child, oblivious to the looks of indignant fury on Brook, Kin'emon and Sanji's faces.

"Let's skip the pleasantries," said Annabeth, holding up a hand to silence everyone, "We can get down to business in a moment. Kin'emon, Momo, why are you here?"

"Kind of seems like you're following us," said Zoro, narrowing his eye suspiciously at the samurai.

Kin'emon and Momo shared a look.

"You said you want to free Wano," Robin prompted the two.

Kin'emon sighed and nodded, "Yes, from Kaido. Which is why we want to help you defeat him."

"Not that I'm against the help," said Sanji, "But why should we trust you?"

"We don't have a choice," said Law, "They say they'll challenge Doflamingo on their own if we refuse; we can't risk them blowing our cover."

"Then it's settled," said Luffy. Everyone looked at him. "We're allies again. Can I trust you to keep my crew safe?"

Kin'emon's face was steely, "I give you my word."

"Anyway, let's go destroy the factory!" Luffy cheered, "We should just go to the town, right?"

"Yes," said Law, "But keep your guard up; our faces are recognizable."

Luffy promptly lost interest in Law and lunged at Momo, demanding that the dragon fly him into town.

"No! I can't fly! I can't I can't I can't! Get off!"

"But he did fly," Luffy pouted to Zoro, "I saw it!"

Zoro patted his strat hat comfortingly, "There, there. Maybe he'll do it later?"

This succeeded in cheering Luffy up and he, thankfully, left Momo alone.

"Nami!" Momo wailed into her chest, causing another round of heated argument.

"What kind of manners are you teaching kids in Wano?" Sanji barked at the samurai.

"You're more perverts than samurai," Brook agreed heatedly.

"SHUT UP! WE'RE NOT!" Kin'emon hollered, the blood trickling from his nose doing nothing to aid his argument.

"Enough!" Law said loudly. He crouched down and spread out the same, crudely-drawn map he'd shown some of the crew in the Iris Message. He pointed at an unmarked point on the map.

"We're here," he explained to the crowd of pirates, prisoners and samurai, "From here, the handoff team will make its way through Dressrosa to cross the long bridge in the north to get to the Green Bit."

He pointed at the green blob at the top of the map.

"P-please get me there safely," Caesar stammered.

"That's us, right?" Piper nudged Usopp.

"This should be fun," Robin said cheerfully.

"Why do we have to cross through the city?" Usopp asked fearfully, "Why can't we take the ship and go around?"
"Bad idea," Percy warned them, "The waters up north are too dangerous; even I couldn't get you there safely."

"The team staying here to guard the ship will need to be on guard," Law continued, "Be prepared to defend against tough attacks."

"What do you mean by that?" Nami gasped, clutching Momo against her chest for comfort.

"I thought guarding the ship was supposed to be the easy job," Brook wailed.

"Since when is anything in our lives easy?" Annabeth said sensibly.

"Guys, we're in the heart of enemy territory; attacks are to be expected," Chopper said serenely, "But we'll be ok; we have Percy and Sanji with us…"
The group looked around, but Percy and Sanji were nowhere to be found. In fact, Percy, Sanji, Leo, Franky, Zoro, Luffy and Kin'emon had all disappeared without anyone noticing.

"EEE? WHERE'D THEY GO?"

"Those idiots!" Law cursed, "They're key to this whole plan."

"HEY! WHO'S GONNA PROTECT US?" Chopper shouted angrily.