And boom!

Third chapter already out baby! So in truth I already wrote the first four chapters before releasing the story to make absolute sure I was ready for this to be uploaded and I wasn't just being impulsive again.

But hey based on what you guys have to say I think I've been doing pretty well so far! And in this chapter we get the introduction to my personal favorite Straw Hat pirate so I'm excited for that!

Once again thank you to Petrus, Qazse, and Yellowpikmin88 for going over this chapter.

I hope you all enjoy it.


"HmmmMmmmmMmmm…" A pleasant humming sound was heard as a small wooden life boat sail through the southern sea. Currently the orange haired girl that was sneaking around on Zuko's ship the previous day was rowing through the ocean with a content smile on her face. She had a large bag of treasure she managed to steal from Alvida's pirate ship and even managed to collect a few things from Zuko's ship. But as she was sailing suddenly something cast a shadow over here, but at quickly as it came in vanished. "That went by too fast to be a cloud…"

Looking up, her eyes nearly widened like dinner plates and her jaw dropped at what she saw. "W-What the…" To make sure she wasn't just seeing things the girl took out a telescope and aimed it at the thing that caused the shadow and her jaw dropped further at what she saw. "No way!"

A loud yawning sound was heard as Appa flew through the air with the five occupants on its back. So far things have been going smoothly. Nothing had interrupted their flight course and so far their had been no other ships down in the water, pirate or Fire Nation, and the winds were perfectly fine with no sort of storms approaching.

So while travelling was fine, the conversation that was happening on top of Appa was a bit tense. "So…" Katara began awkwardly as she and the others had their eyes on Aang who had his head lowered. "Why didn't you tell any of us you were the Avatar?"

"Because…I never wanted to be…" Aang admitted in a saddened tone. While most would probably be excited over being the Avatar, master of all four elements, Aang was certainly not most people. It's just…not what he wanted.

"But why?" Coby asked in a confused tone, raising a brow at Aang. Being the Avatar sounds like the best thing that could happen to someone. Heck he'd love it if he were born the Avatar. "Being the Avatar sounds like the best thing that could happen to someone! I'd probably give everything I have to be the Avatar!"

"It's complicated ok…" Aang said with a bit of frustration in his voice as he turned away from everyone. "I don't wanna talk about it ok?"

"I don't get it," Luffy said as he just watched the conversation with a blank tone. "Is the Avatar some big deal or something?"

You could hear the sound of the other's jaws dropping for miles as they stared at Luffy in disbelief. "Of course the Avatar is a big deal!" Sokka yelled as he got right into Luffy's face. "How could you not know that?! The Avatar! Master of Water, Earth, Fire, and Air! How could you possibly-"

THUNK!

"Ow!" Sokka yelled out as Luffy bonked him on the head to shut him up.

"Look Luffy, in short yes the Avatar is very important." Katara told Luffy in a short and simple way. Something told her she was gonna have to get used to talking to Luffy like that. Katara then looked to Aang again. "And Ang, the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and finally put an end to this war,"

"And how am I gonna do that?" Aang asked, downcasted.

"Well according to legends you need to first master water, then earth, and then fire," Katara explained as she tried to remember the legends of the Avatar that her Gran-Gran told her. "Right?"

Aang nodded at Katara. "That's what the monks told me,"

"Wait!" Luffy shouted as he looked at Aang in disbelief. "You can learn ALL FOUR elements?! I thought benders could only learn one!"

And now cue the massive face palms coming from everyone. "Yeah…that's kind of the Avatar's thing…" Sokka deadpanned at the rubber man. "Like I was saying. Master of all four elements."

"That's so cool!" Luffy grinned widely while looking at Aang. "I knew you'd be a good fit for my crew! So how good at you with the other three?"

"Um…well…" Aang rubbed his head awkwardly. "Not...very experience at all…"

"Oh." And just like that Luffy's grin fell as he sat back down. "Well that's disappointing,:

Aang lowered his head in shame as Katara put a comforting hand on Aang's shoulder. "It's ok Aang, just try and look on the Brightside." Katara reassured him with a smile. "If we head to the North Pole we can both find a master to teach us waterbending!"

This perched up Aang as he smiled at Katara. "We can learn it together!"

Katara nodded enthusiastically at Aang before turning to Sokka. "And Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way." She knew that would make her happy.

And sure enough it did as Sokka nodded contently. "I'd like that." Sokka said with a small grin. "I'd really like that."

Katara nodded before looking at Luffy and Coby. "And Luffy we can help you gather more crewmates and help you look for the One Piece." Katara told him with a grin. Though she never thought she'd be a pirate looking for some grand treasure she has to admit…it does feel pretty exciting. "We're gonna make sure you become King of the Pirates!"

"Alright!" Luffy cheered enthusiastically as he rose both of his fist in the air. "Then come on crew! We got to find more people to join us!"

"Alright, but before we do anything of that we got some serious business to attend to," Aang explained before pulling out a scroll. Everyone watched as he unrolled it and revealed a map of the world with different locations being color coated. The Earth Kingdom was colored in brown, the Fire Nation in Red, the North and South Pole in blue, and the Air Temples in light blue with all the other areas on the map being white for Neutral Territory. "Here, we'll ride the hopping llamas." Aang began listing off various activities while pointing to different areas on the map. "Then waaay over here, we'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish. Then back over here, we'll ride the hog monkeys, they don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it so fun,"

"U-Um, excuse me." Coby spoke up, stuttering a bit as he rose his hand. "I'm n-not really part of t-the crew remember?"

"Oh right, sorry about that Coby I guess I forgot," Katara apologized with Coby waving it off. "But wait, if you aren't part of Luffy's crew then how did the two of you meet?"

"Um, well…" Coby began as Luffy started laughing a bit.

"WHAAAAAAT!" All of the Gaang yelled in disbelief as Coby flinched while Luffy continued to laugh.

"You were a slave to a pirate captain?!" Aang yelled with a horrified look.

"You were on that scar faced guys ship?!" Katara yelled while looking in between Luffy and Coby.

"You were sailing and sleeping through the south pole in a barrel?!" Sokka looked at Luffy like the straw hat pirate was absolutely crazy. "How did you even survive the whirlpool?! Those are known for being able to tear apart glaciers!? Are you absolute insane!"

"Hehehehe, yeah it got pretty crazy!" Luffy simply laughed as he remembered that little predicament. "Thought I was a goner there! Hahahah!"

"…Are you even sane?" Sokka blinked at Luffy in disbelief.

"I think you've known Luffy long enough to answer…" Coby deadpanned at them.

As the other's just to grasp just exactly what Luffy was, most of them agreeing he was either insanely stupid or just insanely crazy or more likely both, Luffy himself went up to the map and brought it over to Coby. "But first before we do anything I promise Coby we'd drop him off at a Marine base." Luffy told them with Coby smiling gratefully at the rubber man. "So Coby where's the nearest Marine Base."

"Hmmmm, well the map is a bit outdated…" Coby commented as he looked it over. He became a bit skilled at examining maps while on Alvida's ship. He was no expert navigator but any means but he knew a thing or too. "But there should be one right here!"

Katara, Sokka, and Aang soon gasped as they saw the area Coby pointed to.

Neutral Territory.

"Nope. Nuh-uh. No way. Not gonna happen." Sokka was immediately against the idea as he took the map away from Coby. There wasn't any way he was going into neutral territory. "Going into neutral territory is way to dangerous who knows what kind of stuff is there,"

This caused Luffy and Coby too look at him strangely. "What are you so afraid of?" Luffy asked with the tilt of his head. "It's just some town, it's no big deal,"

"A town in neutral territory is a very big deal!" Sokka explained with a very serious expression. "I've heard stories of the neutral territory and none of it is good. People from the four nations that go there never come back. Most of the time it's against the law to go there, not even the fire nation will head there,"

"I've heard that too," Aang confirmed. "The monks always forbid others to travel there. I even heard a story about a monk from the northern air temple leaving, saying they were going to neutral territory, and they never came back."

"That seems kind of like superstitious talk, and that's coming from me of all people," Coby pointed out as he pointed to himself. "Usually the worst you have to deal with in neutral territory is pirates but they are also on nation water as well. Plus they have the marines protecting them!"

"You've mentioned these marines a few times Coby," Katara spoke up, looking at the pink haired boy in interest. "What are they exactly?"

"Only the strongest bravest and coolest guys in the entire world!" Coby answered practically instantly with a large smile on his face. He was pretty much in fan boy mode right now. "They sail the seas taking down bad guys like pirates! Protecting and saving people on a daily basis! And the Fire Nation stays out of neutral waters because they know how strong they are and are scared!"

"Taking down pirates?" Katara suddenly became very worried about that. "But…we're pirates now, right? And you're traveling with us so…what does that mean for all of us exactly?"

"U-U-Um…uuuuh…" Coby suddenly began to sweat nervously. "I…I didn't really think about that…ok! Just don't tell them your pirates! Simple as that! We're not flying the Jolly Roger after all so they won't suspect anything!"

"But why would we hide it?" Luffy asked as he leaned down on Appa. "We are pirates after all!"

"Don't be stupid Luffy!" Coby immediately snapped at Luffy. "If they find out you're pirates they're gonna lock you up and throw away the key! And that's the best scenario! Worst scenario is that they execute you! They tend to do that to pirates ya know!"

"….Yeeeeeah, as much as this is really making me wanna visit neutral territory I still think it's a bad idea." Sokka stated with a blank look with sarcasm pretty much leaking out of him. "Look as the leader I think we should-"

"Hey! Who said you were the leader!" Luffy stood up at yelled right at Sokka while pointing a thumb to himself. "I'm the captain of this crew!"

"Um, I think I'm a bit more capable of to be leader then you," Sokka pointed out as so far Luffy has shown absolutely no skills in being a leader. He was stupid, most likely crazy, stupid, happy all the time, stupid, and absolutely stupid. "So-"

"I'm the captain!" Luffy snapped right in Sokka's face.

"Ok boys calm down!" Katara got in between the two oof them before a fight could break out. "Let's put it to a vote ok? All in favor of Sokka as the captain raise your hand?" Only Sokka proceeded to raise his hand much to his disbelief. "All in favor as Luffy as captain?" Everyone else then raises their hand…even Coby.

"You aren't even part of this crew!" Sokka yelled at Coby who only nervously chuckled in response.

"Well sorry Sokka but it's decided," Katara stated with a grin with Sokka's jaw dropping at his sister. His own little sister voted against him! How could she betray him like that? "So Captain Luffy where are we heading?"

"To the nearest marine base!" Luffy said with a big grin while striking a heroic pose. "We're gonna help Coby achieve his dreams!"

"So we're really gonna be heading into neutral territory huh?" Aang said with a mix of worry and excitement in his tone. Yes he was a bit afraid of venturing into neutral territory due to all the stories he'd heard, but he was also excited over going to an entirely new place. Hoping onto Appa's head, Aang took the reigns as he got ready to change the bison's direction. "Alright Appa, we're going to a whole new place so let's try and make a good first impression. Yip-yip!"

With a low growl, Appa turned and the group was on their way to Neutral Territory.

About half an hour later, the group eventually saw an island coming in the distance. There destination. "Land-ho everyone!" Aang announced getting everyone's attention, the young airbender giggling after word. "Heheh, I've always wanted to say that,"

"Ok guys here's the plan," Sokka announced, getting all eyes on him. "We get there, drop Coby off at the Marines and then get the heck out of there before we either encounter some neutral territory…weirdness or that idiot reveals to them that we're pirates." Sokka points to Luffy who is just grinning as he looked down at the incoming island.

"Oh stop being so paranoid Sokka," Katara rolled her eyes. While she was admittedly a little worried herself about things, she was also really excited about this! Neutral territory! Lands almost completely unknown to the nations. Sure she heard stories about people going and never returning but they can't be all true, it's just superstition like Coby said. "It wouldn't hurt to look around a little bit, and maybe also pick up some supplies."

"Actually, I think Sokka's right," Coby told everyone in a bit of a grim tone. He just remembered something about the particular base…and it wasn't good. "This particular marine base…it's holding someone as prisoner. One of the most terrifying people ever. Roronoa Zoro."

Suddenly the atmosphere became tense as everyone looked at Coby with shocked and confused looks. All except Luffy who turned to Coby with interest. "Zoro?" The young pirate repeated.

"Can't say I've heard of this guy before," Sokka said as he leaned back but took an interest in whoever Coby was talking about. "What's this Zoro guy like? What makes him so scary?"

"He's a bounty hunter. And he's like a living demon," Coby began describing Zoro to the others, with Aang and Katara getting chills from how Coby described this man. "He's known for dicing up his bounties like a bloodthirsty beast. He's been called nothing less then a demon in living breathing human form. He's taken down entire pirate ships and even Fire Nation ships all by himself!"

"Bye himself…" Katara asked with both amazement and a bit of fear. "Is he really that strong?"

"Please that's ridiculous." Sokka however wasn't buying any of this. No way a single person could be strong enough to do all that by himself. "This guy probably hypes himself up so that guys like you can spread his rumors and everyone thinks he's stronger than he actually is,"

"No that's not true at all! He's a demon I'm telling you!" Coby yelled at Sokka before turning to Katara. "And strong? Strong is a complete understatement! I even heard a rumor he's defeated Fire Lord Ozai in one move!"

Now that truly left Katara and Sokka feeling completely shocked. Even Aang looked surprised as well, although he was unaware of the current Fire Lord but no doubt he was supposed to be strong. "No way…" Katara muttered as she gripped the bottom of her coat tightly. She's heard how terrifying and strong Ozai was, his ruthlessness knowing no bounds. But apparently this Zoro guy not only defeated him, but defeated him in just one hit. That was truly amazing.

"Hahahah! Well that's great!" Suddenly Luffy chimed in as he grinned at Coby. "I was hoping he was as strong as I've heard, now I'm definitely asking him to join my crew!"

"…" Everyone was now dead silent as they stared at Luffy in complete disbelief. Katara and Coby with dropped jaws and Sokka and Aang with widened eyes. Was…Was Luffy actually serious? "Y-Y-Y-You…" Coby finally broke the silence as he pointed a shaky finger at Luffy. "…Wanna…r-r-recruit him…"

"Yep! That's right!" Luffy simply nodded.

"Luffy…y-you can't be serious?" Katara asked in a tone of disbelief. Didn't he hear any of the things Coby just said about Zoro? Trying to recruit him wasn't just idiotic it seemed like it was flat out suicidal! "You heard Coby he tears apart both pirates and Fire Nation with ease! The second he finds out you're a pirate he'll kill you!"

"Yeeeeeah, not sure how I feel about bringing a living demon onto the crew," Aang spoke up with an unsure tone. While he did feel maybe Coby was exaggerating a little bit…if even what half of what he said was true then this Zoro guy was no one to mess around with. "Sure there isn't someone else you have in mind?"

"Nope!" Luffy shook his head. "I've decided! Zoro is gonna join our crew!"

"…Whelp, this is gonna end badly," While Sokka still had a hard time believing what Coby said about Zoro. No one could be that strong right? Sure Luffy was able to take down a bunch of fire nation soldiers but that was only because of weird devil powers or whatever they were called. Besides that ship was smaller than the average ship and it wasn't freaking Fire Lord Ozai! There's no way Zoro could have beaten him and in one hit no less. Just then they felt themselves begin to descend and they all looked to see they were no flying down towards the neutral island. "Alright…we're really doing this."


After a few minutes they group landed in a more forested area of the island. As they were hoping off Appa and stretching their bodies, Aang was using some of the nearby foliage to cover up Appa. "Just stay here buddy," Aang told his bison before petting his head. "We're in a new place and I don't want you potentially freaking anyone out. So just stay there and wait for us to come back ok? Shouldn't be too long." Appa simply let out a low growl before laying down and getting comfy.

"Ok guys we're officially in neutral territory now so let's not do anything to stand out and get attention on us," Sokka instructed everyone before looking to Coby. "You're from neutral lands, tell us. How do people in neutral territory talk? How do they walk? Is there hair as weirdly colored as yours?"

"Whats wrong with my hair color?" Coby asked as he put his hands to his hair. After seeing it was still it's normal color he deadpanned at Sokka. "And they walk and talk like normal people. I told you you're just overreacted. Let's just head into town and you'll see."

"Alright Luffy, Coby, lead the way!" Katara encouraged as she and Aang began following the two neutral landers with Sokka sighing as he followed in the back.

"Here we are! The marine base city!"

Luffy shouted as the group finally entered into the city and needless to say, Katara, Sokka, and Aang were shocked at everything they were seeing. This place was nothing like they ever seen. "This is crazy…" Katara said as she looked around. There were houses made of brick and other kinds of stone all around with only certain parts made of wood. There were also food stands all around selling stuff from fruit and veggies Katara's only seen pictures of but also a bunch of stuff she's never even seen before! Looking to the side, she saw some words on a window that said 'Candy Store' Katara had no idea what candy was but she was certainly curious. "I've never seen anything like it before!"

"Look at this stuff," Sokka said as he placed his hand on a brick wall of a house. While he's more then aware of stone and how the pretty much all the other nations had stone houses and huts he's never seen any sort of stone like this before. "They have houses and buildings that don't melt."

"Excuse me," Sokka's attention was brought to a man who was looking at him strangely. "Could you please take your hands off my house,"

"Oh uh…sorry," Sokka apologized awkwardly as he walked away.

"What are those things?" Aang asked as he pointed to some pole that looked like it had a glass box on the top of it with a little glass ball thing on the inside. "Glass inside of glass?"

"Those are streetlights." Coby answered as he pointed to what Aang was looking at. "When it gets dark the lightbulbs turn on so there's still light at night,"

"Lightbulbs?" Katara asked as she and the others from the nations gave Coby a confused look. "What are those? Some sort of firebending thing?"

"Um…no. They use electricity to light up." Coby explained to them while giving Katara a strange look. "I get why Aang doesn't know them but neither of you two do?"

"Um, you saw it back in the South Pole," Sokka gave Coby a blank look and tone. "We got ice, snow, and more ice."

"Right, right, s-sorry forgot about that," Coby apologized as he scratched the back of his head. "So looks like you got some stuff to learn about stuff in the neutral territory. But you should all be able to pick up on it quickly."

"Enough about all that, we gotta head to the marine base." Luffy said as he pointed forward towards a very large building around the back of the city. It was easily the biggest building that the three nation dwellers have seen and even Coby thought it was absolutely huge. "First we drop Coby off and then we can find Zoro and see if he'll join our crew."

GASP!

Suddenly the group heard tons of gasp and looked around to see everyone looking at them with shocked looks. Some were even hiding behind their stands and street lights. "Uh, what's going on?" Aang asked in a confused tone as he looked at a teen boy hiding behind the streetlight. The teen flinched as Aang looked at him and tried his best to hide more behind the thin post. "Did we say something wrong?

"Maybe we shouldn't mention the name Zoro here," Coby whispered to the group. The mere mention of Zoro probably terrified them and Coby could definitely understand why given his reputation.

"Probably a good idea," Katara whispered as the group went forward again.

After a little bit of walking everything seemed to calm down and the group was able to relax. Katara walked to a nearby stand that was selling fruit and looking over them before picking up a green fruit with a large bottom. "I'll take this please," Katara said before handing the stand owner a couple of berries with the man giving Katara a friendly smile. Katara joined back up with her friends as she took a bite of the fruit before her eyes sparkled at the taste. "Wow! It's so sweet and juicy!"

"Can I have a bite?" Aang asked with a smile. Katara nodded as she handed the fruit to Aang who took a bite himself and had a similar reaction to Katara. "That's amazing! I've never had a fruit like this before!"

"Sure that's safe to eat?" Sokka asked cautiously as he looked over the fruit with suspicion. "It's neutral fruit! It could be filled with…neutral stuff!"

"It's just a pear," Coby deadpanned at Sokka before turning to Katara as Aang handed her the pear back. "Is he seriously always this paranoid?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Katara sighed before taking a bite of her pear. "Sokka just try and relax. This just seems like an ordinary town filled with ordinary people. Sure there are some new things but that's what makes coming her so exciting, we got some new things to discover and find out! So just try and keep an open mind ok,"

"Hey I'm just keep us all safe ok?" Sokka tried to reason with his sister that his paranoia was perfectly reasonable. "We need to be on the look out for anything that might try and take us out. Look I say we just leave Coby with these Marine guys then get the heck outta dodge."

"W-W-Wait, hold on," Coby told everyone with a nervous look. "I-I-I don't t-think I-I'm q-quite ready to be a m-marine quite yet,"

"Huh, why not?" Luffy asked Coby with a raised brow. "You said it was your dream right?"

"W-Well yeah o-of course," Coby nodded as he scratched the back of his head. He really wanted to join the Marines but he just couldn't walk up to them and ask to be one…right? "But I heard the one in charge of the base here Captain Morgan is-"

GASP!

Suddenly, just like before when Zoro was mentioned, everyone nearby let out loud gasped as they stared at the group with shocked and scared looks while hiding behind whatever they could. "Um, it's happening again…" Aang said nervously, feeling a bit subconscious with everyone starring at him like that.

"That doesn't make any sense…" Coby muttered as he looked at everyone's reaction once he mentioned Morgan. "I get why they would be frightened of Zoro but why would they act like this when I mentioned the marine captain?"

"You said the marines were the good guys right?" Katara asked Coby, who nodded his head in response. "They sure don't act like he's a hero…"

"Yeah, I'm getting a really bad feeling about this," Sokka said with a serious look while crossing his arms. He knew going into neutral territory was a bad idea and this just cements it. "I think we should leave. There's gotta be other marine bases that don't have demonic prisoners or weird scary captains,"

"Hahahah! Man this town is such a weird place!" Luffy didn't seem put off her anything and just laughed at everyones reaction. "You guys are making too much of this. Maybe they're just jumping around for the fun of it."

"Somehow I doubt that Luffy…" Katara deadpanned at him.

And so they continued to further through town and eventually came across the gates leading to the marine base. "Well I guess this is it Coby." Aang said as he gave the pink haired boy a sad smile. "It's time for you to live out your dream,"

"Y-Y-Yeah, thanks A-Aang," Coby stuttered as he looked at the gates with teary eyes. This was it. He was actually gonna do it. He was gonna walk inside that base and beg with all his heart and soul to be a marine like he's always wanted to be. "I-I-I guess this is w-where w-we part ways e-everyone! I k-know we haven't known each other l-long but I'm gonna m-miss you all-"

"Upsy daisy!" Suddenly Luffy got everyone's attention as they saw the straw hat pirate trying to climb over the wall and into the marine base. "Come on! Where's the foot hold?"

"Luffy what the heck are you doing?!" Katara yelled as she grabbed Luffy's legs to try and pull him down…only for his legs to stretch out. "Right…rubber man…"

"Would you get down from up there!" Coby yelled at Luffy as he went bug eyed. "They'll see you!"

"Now where's this demon?" Luffy asked as he looked around for where Zoro might be. He wasn't scared of Zoro despite all the stories, it just made him want to meet Zoro for himself even more!

"Stop it Luffy!" Sokka yelled as he started to climb the wall next to Luffy with Coby climbing up on the opposite side of Luffy. Meanwhile Katara climbed up next to her brother while Aang simply used his airbending to jump up on top of the wall. "You're gonna get us all arrested! Or killed!"

"Besides they wouldn't keep Zoro out here," Coby told the rubber man with an obvious. "They're probably keeping him in some dark dank cell in the basement or-"

"Is that him?" Aang asked as he pointed forward at the yard in front of the wall.

"Huh?" Everyone let out as they looked to where Aang was pointing. Suddenly many of their eyes widened as what the saw, directly in the middle of the courtyard was a cross-like post and tied to it was a man with tanned skin and a black bandana on his head. He wore black trouser that were tucked into black boots, a plain white shirt with three undone buttons at the collar as well as a green haramaki along with three identical gold earrings on his left earlobe. He also seemed a little worse for wear with bruises over his body. 'That black hood…that haramaki…' Coby thought with an increasing sense of fear as he stared at the tied-up man. "There's no doubt about it…"

"That's Roronoa Zoro!"

"Wait, that's Zoro?" Sokka asked as he rose a brow while starring at the tied-up man. "Seriously? That's the guy you said was a living demon? Just looks like any other person to me."

"I bet if we untie those ropes he can just walk away." Luffy suggested as he pointed to Zoro.

"Don't be such an idiot Luffy!" Coby yelled, looking Luffy like he was crazy which he most likely was! "There's no telling what a bandit like that will do to us if we let him go he might just kill us all!"

"I'm not so sure about that," Aang said as he sat down crisscross on top of the wall as he looked over Zoro. Aang could certainly feel an aura of toughness around him but nothing that really screamed malicious or even demonic. "He doesn't look that bad to me, I think we should do it!"

"I'm not so sure about that guys," Katara said with concern in her eyes. While she agreed with Aang that Zoro didn't seem as bad as Coby made him out to be, she wasn't exactly on board with freeing him. "I mean he's gotta be under arrest for a reason right? We shouldn't just go busting him out."

"Ah there's no need to worry about any of that," Luffy said with his usual grin. "It can't be that big of a deal and even if he does anything I'm strong! I can protect us!" Just as everyone was about to shout at Luffy for being crazy again…

"Hey! All of you!" A new voice spoke up to them. All but Luffy flinched as they looked forward to see Zoro looking right at them with narrowed eyes. "You're an eyesore. Get lost!"

"O-Oh! S-S-Sorry Mr…Zoro sir!" Katara nervously apologized to the bounty hunter as he turned his gaze to her. "We didn't mean to disturb you. W-We'll go!"

"Finally!" Sokka let out in relief as he dropped down from the wall. "Someones starting to agree with me. Let's just head back to Appa and-"

Suddenly cutting Sokka off was the sound of a ladder being set up. Suddenly a little girl with brown pig tails climbed up it and everyone turned to her as she gestured them to stay quiet. Carrying something in her hands she jumped down the wall and began to run towards Zoro much to everyone's shock. "Aaaaaahhh! What the hell is she doing!?" Coby yelled before turning to the others. "Luffy! Aang! Katara! One of you're gotta stop her! She's approaching the demon himself!"

"Hey! What about me?!" Sokka felt irritated and not being included, but received no response.

But they all watched as the girl walked up to Zoro with absolutely no fear. "What do you want?" Zoro asked as he looked down at the girl who smiled sweetly at him.

"I thought you might be hungry!" The girl said as she presented a small sack to him. Opening it up revealed two white treats. "So I made you some riceballs!"

"You got a death wish or something kid?" Zoro asked with a hint of irritation in his voice. "Scram!"

"You haven't eaten anything this whole time you've been tied up." The girl revealed, surprising everyone watching the scene. She then held up the two rice balls to him. "Here! I've never really made them before but I did my best so I think you're fine!"

Zoro let out a low growl as the girl persistence giving him something to eat. "Listen kid I'm not hungry!" Zoro rose his voice and glared down at her. "Stop irritating me and get the hell outta here!"

"But…" She frowned a bit at his harsh words.

"Scram before I kick your ass little girl!" Zoro yelled even louder this time.

Meanwhile the people watching this were having mixed reactions. Coby was quivering as he was expecting Zoro to tear that poor girl to shreds at any moment, Luffy was just simply starring at the scene silently, Aang was simply wondering why Zoro was turning down the food, and Katara was glaring at the tied up man for how he was treating the poor girl. "Well I'm still not sure if he's a demon but he's definitely rude," Katara grumbled out, not exactly having the best opinion of the bounty hunter right now. "Maybe he deserves to be tied up…"

"It's not nice to be a bully!" Suddenly a new snobbish sounding voice spoke up as the gates leading into the yard opened up. Stepping into the field was a lanky man with light blond hair which was in a bizarre mushroom shape and had a distinctive cleft chin. He wore a purple suit with match pants and fancy black shoes. He had an arrogant smirk on his face as two people in marine uniforms followed behind him. "You seem be handling yourself well, wouldn't you agree?"

"Now there's another weird guy?" Luffy commented as they watched the lanky man walk up to Zoro and the little girl. "Wonder who he is?"

With a grunt, Sokka climbed back up the wall again and saw the lanky man and gave him a strange look. "What's with neutral people having such weird fashion and hair styles."

Coby let out a sigh of relief as he saw the lanky man and the two marines step in. "Thank goodness, he must be with the navy," Coby told everyone with a small smile. "Now that girl will be safe!"

Aang and Katara however kept their eyes on the lanky man, getting a bad feeling from him.

The lanky man then went up to the little girl and looked at the two race balls in her hands. "Oh? These are some tasty looking rice balls," He commented before snatching one up and eating it with the girl yelling it wasn't for him. However after he bit into it he immediately spit it out with a look of disgust on his face. "Gah! Too damn sweet! You stupid girl! They're packed with sugar, you're supposed to use salt for rice balls!"

"But I…thought they tasted better sweet…" The girl said with a shaky tone.

"Give me that!" The man then took the last rice ball and threw it on the ground and started stomping on it. "Take this! Take this!"

The group all started to glare at the lanky man now as he stomped on the girl's rice balls. "H-How horrible…" Coby muttered, if that man was with the marines he certainly wasn't showing it with that kind of behavior.

"That's just cruel…" Katara gritted her teeth as he watched the lanky man mock the girl. "Someones gotta teach that guy some manners!"

"No wait!" Coby quietly yelled as he pulled Katara back from jumping over the wall. "You'll just get yourself arrested! It's not worth it!"

"I think I have an idea." Aang said as he glared at the man, the Avatar watching as the girl fell to her knees crying over how hard she worked on the rice balls. "Get ready to duck under the wall."

"Didn't you get the notice?" The lanky man then pulled out a piece of paper. "Anyone caught aiding a criminal shall be executed, signed Captain Morgan." The girl paled and froze after hearing this, causing the man to give a cruel smirk. "Heh, seems even snot nosed brats fear my daddy. You! Throw her over the wall!"

The marine the man pointed to flinched after hearing this. "But sir-"

FWOOOOOOOOOSH!

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!" The lanky man and the two marines let out as suddenly a powerful gust of air hit them and blew them all the way to the opposite end of the court yard.

"Huh?" Both Zoro and the little girl let out, confused at what just happened.

"Come on!" Aang called out to the girl as he lowered his staff. The girl looked back at Zoro and saw him sending her a nod. Nodding herself, the girl ran back towards the wall and grabbed the end of Aang's staff, allowing the airbender to pull her up and get her back to the other side of the wall, with Aang jumping down himself.

"Gah! What was that?!" The lanky man demanded to know as he looked around for whatever could have caused that gust of wind. Zoro was still tied up and it didn't look like anyone else was around. Just then he looked at himself and screamed as he saw all the dirt and dust covering his once spotless suit. "AAAAAHHH! I'm absolutely filthy! Don't you dare look at me! I need to get cleaned up now!"

And with that the lanky man ran as fast as he could towards the base with the two marines following him. "Heh, serves him right," Zoro commented with a smirk.

On the other side of the wall, Aang and the others were looking over the little girl to make sure she was alright. "Hey are you alright?" Aang asked with a kind smile as the girl wiped away her tears. "That man was pretty rotten huh?"

"Tch, rotten's an understatement," Katara said with bitterness in her voice as she knelt down to the girls level and straightened out her cloths. "He didn't hurt you or anything right?"

"Yeah…" The girl sniffed as she looked up at Katara and Aang with a small smile. "I'm fine. Thank you for helping me,"

"Coby are you sure these marines are all you said they're cracked up to be?" Sokka asked with crossed arms as he wished he could be glaring at that lanky man. Next time he saw him he'd make sure to get one on him instead of Aang. "Because if they're anything like that guy they sound just as bad as the Fire Nation to me,"

"W-W-Well…I don't know…" Coby didn't quite know how to answer that. From what he's heard the marines are noble who always help those in need and stop bad guys and that blond man…was none of those things. "What do you think Luffy? Wait, where did he go?"

Everyone looked around and found no trace of the straw hat boy. Aang once again used his airbending to jump up to the top of the wall and his eyes widened as he saw Luffy walking up to Zoro. "There he is!" Aang pointed to the rubber man.

"Hey," Luffy said to Zoro as he walked up to the tied up bounty hunter. "So I hear you're a bad guy,"

"Are you still here?" Zoro asked with the annoyance in his voice being clear.

"You're stuck out here for all the world too see and nothing," Luffy pointed out as he rose a brow at Zoro. "Are you really all that strong?"

"Mind your own damn business!" Zoro yelled, wishing he could clobber this annoying straw hat guy right now. Damn ropes.

Luffy simply grinned as he took a few steps forward and put a hand to his hat. "If I were you I'd probably would have starve to death in just three days!" Even Luffy thought he was overestimating himself. No way he could go even a day without filling his belly to the max multiple times.

"I've got more spirit than you'd ever have!" Zoro bragged with a confident smirk. "That's how I'm gonna survive this ordeal! I swear it!" Zoro then lowered his head again to look at the ground. "By the way I don't now what that bald kid did but…tell him thanks for helping her."

Luffy gave Zoro a nod before turning around. "I will," He then started walking away while giving the bounty hunter a wave. "Well see ya weird guy!"

"Wait!" Zoro called out to Luffy one more time as he eyed on the stomped remains of the rice balls. "Could you...pick that up for me?"

Luffy rose a brow as he picked up the remains, a bunch of dirt mixing in with the rice. "You're seriously gonna eat this?" Luffy loved food, probably more then anything, but even he would draw the line at what he was holding in his hands right now. "It's mostly a mud ball right now."

"Shut up and give it to me now!" Zoro snapped as he eyed the rice and dirt mush in Luffy's hands. Zoro then opened up his mouth and three the food inside.

Zoro coughed a few times as he swallowed it with Luffy giggling and crossing his arms. "Should of listened to me,"

"It was good," Zoro said, surprising Luffy a bit. "Thanks for the food."


LATER

After talking with Zoro, Luffy met back up with the group and the girl, who they learned was named Rika, led them to the front of a restaurant/bar where Luffy was telling Rika about how Zoro liked her food. "Really?" Rika asked with a big smile and wide eyes. "He really liked it?"

"Sure did," Luffy told her with a grin. "He ate every last grain of rice,"

"I'm so glad," The girl muttered with a happy look. After all the suffering Zoro's been through at this point she's glad she was able to help get some food in his belly.

"Doesn't sound like all the rumors you told of us of Zoro being evil might not be true," Katara said while looking at Coby. Zoro seemed rude yes, but not evil. And he wanted Luffy to make sure to tell Rika he liked her rice balls. "Are you friends with him Rika?"

"Well not exactly. But he is a very nice man!" Rika told everyone with a smile on her face as she remembered what Zoro did for her and her mother. "He got himself punished for us…"

"What do you mean by that?" Aang asked with a curious look.

"It was that dumb Helmeppo's fault…" Rika began explaining with a sad look on his face. "He's captain Morgan Son and he and his stupid son have been terrorizing our town for a while now. One time he brought his pet wolf into my moms restaurant and it started terrorizing everyone inside. It was about to attack me but…Zoro protected me from it, he even punched Helmeppo in the face and held a sword to his neck! But…Helmeppo threatened to have his dad execute me and my mom. So Zoro made a deal with him. He's letting himself be tied up with no food or water for a month and says he'll be let free if he survives a full month. It's been three weeks since that day."

The others couldn't believe what they heard. It was just awful…how can someone be so cruel? "Someone's gotta take this guy down…" Katara growled as she tightened her fist. No way they can just stand by and let that man continue to terrorize this town.

"Do you really think there's anything you can do?" Rika asked Katara with a pleading voice. All she wanted was for someone to come and help them, maybe these strange looking people can do that? That bald kid has already saved him. "Please, you can't let them keep doing this! Kelmeppo punches and kicks him while he's tied up! I…I don't know how to help him!"

"I see why you're upset…" Coby said sympathetically. If this was the kind of stuff marines did…maybe he should have second thoughts about joining him.

"Hey," Suddenly Rika felt a hand on her should and looked up to see Aang smiling at her. "We'll help you out. We promise."

Rika let out a happy gasped as she looked at Aang with hope in her eyes. "You will?"

"We will?" Sokka asked Aang with widened eyes. "Are you sure it's a good idea for us to get involved in this towns problems I mean-"

CRASH!

Cutting Sokka off was the sound of glass breaking, and it sounded like it was coming from inside. "What was that?" Katara asked in concern.

The group headed inside and found none other than the man of the hour Helmeppo inside with two marine soldiers. He had his feet up on his table and was attacking like he owned the place. "I'm hungry! Bring us what you got and keep the check for yourself!" The marine son demand with a giant smug grin on his face. "And bring me a bottle of your finest moon shine or whatever crap you serve! And put some speed into it lady I don't have all day."

"Ok that's it!" Katara silently yelled as she rolled up her sleeves.

"Uh Katara what are you doing?" Sokka asked with a cautious tone. He and most of the members of their group flinched as hey saw her pick up a nearby chair. "Wait Katara!"

"Ah that's more like it," Helmeppo said as Rika's mother glared and handed him a glass of wine. "I'm looking for something fun to do since I'm bored out of my skull here. I suppose I could execute Zoro tomorrow! Hahahahaha!"

"He wouldn't!" Aang gasped out as Sokka glared and gritted his teeth. Meanwhile Luffy was silent as he began to glare at the man with complete malicious.

"Hey mushroom head!"

"Huh?" Helmeppo looked behind him to see Katara standing right behind with a chair over her head and-

SMASH!

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Helmeppo yelled in pain as Katara gritted her teeth and smashed the chair over his head with enough forced to completely break.

SLAM!

And if that wasn't enough Luffy ran forward and slugged Helmeppo in the face and sending him to the nearby wall. "GAH!" Helpmeppo yelled in pain once more as the two marines rushed over to him while everyone else in the bar was watching with shocked looks.

"You're scum!" Luffy yelled as he tried to charge at Helmeppo again only for Coby to hold him back.

"Let me at him!" Katara yelled only for Aang to hold her back from doing more damage as well.

"You…You two hit me!" Helmeppo yelled while holding his cheek in one hand and his head with the other. "You two actually hit me! I'm Captain Morgan's son you know!"

"Like we care!" Katara yelled as Aang and Coby struggled to hold her and Luffy back respectively. Both wanting nothing more then to pound this guy into the ground.

"You'll care once he executes you two!" Helmeppo yelled like a spoiled brat as the two marines helped him stand up. But as he stood up he got a better look at Katara, Aang, and Sokka and narrowed his eyes at them. "Wait a second, those cloths. You are from the nations, aren't you?!"

"And what if we are?!" Katara asked as she tried to get out of the Avatar's grasp.

"Well that explains why you all don't know anything about me or the power my daddy holds!" Helmeppo yelled as he took the hand of his head to point at the group. "You stupid savages probably don't even know how to count to five!"

"Savages?" Aang asked as he glared at Helmeppo. He might be a peaceful monk…but now he was started to feel tempted to let Katara go and let her rip this guy apart. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Tch, well let me make it out in a way you filthy savages can understand," You could practically see how condescending Helmeppo's tone and words were. "All you nation dwellers are filthy dumb savages that don't know left from right and waste your lives playing with silly magic while the rest of us are actually making real progress in the world. Now since you're all obviously too stupid to understand how things work with I'll make you all a deal. If you agree to be my personal servants I might just spare your lives? Sound fair?"

SLAM!

"GAAAAHHH!" Helmeppo once again started screaming in pain as Sokka suddenly ran up to him and hit him right on the head with his club.

"Hey Aang, remember how I said I wasn't sure if we should get involved in neutral territory stuff?" Sokka asked with the monk nodding his head. "Yeah, I changed my mind. We're definitely getting involved."

"Grrrr…that's it!" Helmeppo yelled as he glared at the group with complete malice. "Once I tell my daddy about this I'll have all of your heads hanging up over my fire place!" With that, Helmeppo and his marine goons ran out of the resteraunt.

"Yeah! Run away you coward!" Sokka taunted as he rose up his club. "That'll teach ya to mess with the water tribe!"

"Guys, I've made up my mind." Luffy spoke up with gritted teeth. A fire burning in the straw hat pirates eyes. "Today…"

"Zoro joins my crew!"


And boom!

Another chapter down!

Get to see Team Avatar learning more about Neutral Territory such as their more advanced technology. When you can't rely on benders for stuff you tend to find other ways to get certain things done and that leads to them being more developed then the other nations.

And there's gonna be more stuff they discover as time goes on so there's gonna be a lot of fun stuff with that.

So make sure to favorite, follow, leave a review, and stay tuned for the next chapter...

"Axe Hand Morgan"