A couple things to start with: First, big thanks to everyone still interested in this story. Second, here it is the chapter we have all been waiting for! Batman and Luffy! Yay. Third, life is still as hectic as always so although I have had this written for over a week, I haven't finished all the editing. But I couldn't wait to share what I have because I am just so excited to finally get to Batman. So I am posting this to give everyone a taste and then I will buckle down and finish my over-haul of all the chapters that I am working on. So, be patient and the next time I update, read the whole thing over again because there will be changes and fixes of time lines. Wish me luck and enjoy.

Disclaimer: Don't own Batman or One Piece.

You have to re-read this one. I added some great stuff. Hope you like it.

Batman

Even before he started patrol, Batman knew it was going to be a long night. He had planned to find Killer Croc but several calls to 911 about people falling from the sky convinced him to send Batgirl and Robin to search the docks in his stead, even if it annoyed Batgirl. His main concern was if Joker had released a hallucinogen when he heard the call about a sailing ship. The clown had been unusually quiet since Batman destroyed his last hideout, and he wouldn't put it past the maniac.

Batman couldn't find anything as he drove along Gotham's streets and that made him nervous. Perhaps he needed another perspective. He parked in an alley and prepared to grapple to the roof. This was one of the older parts of Gotham with tall buildings and gargoyles on every ledge corner, perfect for getting a better lay of the land.

A quick grapple later, Batman was following a high ledge around to his favorite lookout point. It had great sight lines following a couple major streets and when the weather was just right and the moon was high, he could even see the water. However, this time he found his spot taken by a young man in an open red shirt and jean shorts. He wore sandals on his feet which were dangling on either side of the gargoyle's head with blatant disregard for the dangers of gravity. His most distinguishing features that Batman could make out so far were a yellow sash around his waist and a straw hat on his head. Not a local, Batman deduced easily.

"Hi!" the boy said cheerfully without looking at the Dark Knight. "You can't have my special seat."

Batman was taken aback for a second but he didn't let it show. "What are you doing here?" he asked gruffly. How the boy had gotten up here; this level didn't have windows that opened out to the ledge?

"I dunno," the boy said with a shrug. He continued staring out at the city.

"What do you mean?" Batman asked again, losing patience.

"I lost my crew," was the answer, which didn't clear up anything. Batman waited for him to continue. The boy finally turned his head to look at him. He had a scar under one eye that looked like it had healed badly years ago, possible evidence of child abuse. "There are too many people for my Haki to locate them so I came up here to try. It's not working though." He shrugged again and turned back to look at the city. "They'll be okay though. We've all gotten much stronger so I trust them."

"Who are you?" Batman continued to question. Obviously the boy wasn't normal but until Batman was sure he wasn't a threat, he would continue to push until he got answers.

The boy jumped to his feet, balancing on the edge. He held his hat to his head and bowed. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to be king of the pirates," he said with a cheerful grin that seemed almost too wide for his face. Now that he was facing Batman, a large "x" shaped scar could be seen on his chest. Based on the scarring, it probably happened two years ago. Batman wondered how a boy so young could have an old wound like that.

"You need to get down," Batman ordered. "It's not safe up here."

"Then why are you here?" Luffy asked.

"Just get down."

"Okay," Luffy said with a grin and a shrug and jumped off the edge.

Batman watched with horror as the boy fell. Batman dove after the boy, pulling out his grappling hook. He waited to the last second to catch himself but even so he couldn't catch the boy. He watched with a sick feeling as the poor boy hit the ground… and bounced? Batman swung to the ground and looked at Luffy in disbelief. He was sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk, watching Batman with a blank look and no damage at all.

No worse for his fall, Luffy grinned up at the vigilante. "Now what?"

Batman glared but the boy shrugged it off, something he wasn't used to. Even Superman flinched from the Batglare but this kid just smiled.

"Now, you go home," Batman said. "And stay off of the rooftops."

The grin fell off his face. "I can't," Luffy said. "I lost my crew, again. They will be fine but I worry and miss them. And I don't know where my ship is."

Batman considered his next move. "Pirate King, you said?" he asked.

"Yosh!" Luffy laughed, regaining his cheer. "It's the man with the most freedom on the sea."

"Are you going to hurt anyone?"

"No, why would I?"

"Fine," Batman said. "Be careful, be safe and good luck finding your crew. If you still need help after I'm done patrolling, I will help you."

"Really?" Luffy exclaimed. "You're so nice, Batguy."

Batman hesitated a moment, but a threat from Joker was more pressing than a young man with bouncy (possible rubber) powers. After Joker and Croc were neutralized, then he'd find Luffy again and help him. Now, he focused on returning to his search. He repelled to the roof and looked for the next landing point when he noticed Luffy standing next to him, just watching.

"Hey, Batguy, can you really help me find my nakama?" Luffy asked.

"It's Batman, and I'm sorry but I don't have time for this," Batman said, grappling to the next roof. He ran across several roofs and grappled across an intersection. He figured that he left the poor boy behind him but when he turned around; there Luffy was, still with that grin on his face. After another swing to a neighboring roof top, Batman saw how Luffy was keeping up. He threw his arm up and it stretched so the boy could swing or sling-shot where he wanted to go. Batman was surprised but didn't let it show. Looked like some type of elastic powers. Luffy seemed pretty in control, but Batman wondered how much use they would be in a fight.

Batman was mid-swing when he saw a disturbance down a side street. Using a second grapple, he changed direction to see what the problem was. Luffy was caught off guard and didn't pay as careful attention to his surroundings. He missed his grab for a street light and swung himself into a wall. Seeing as the kid survived his earlier fall, Batman turned his attention to the street fight on the street below him. It looked like two gangs, three people on each side. It was the guns that convinced Batman to handle things personally before innocents were caught in the crossfire. He pulled out a batarang and readied himself to jump down, mentally planning his approach, considering the variables. The variable he didn't consider, however was Luffy landing in the middle of the fight, surprising the gangsters.

"Hi!" the pirate greeted the thugs cheerfully.

The gangsters weren't impressed. One raised his gun and fired a shot at Luffy before Batman could throw his batarang, though it kept him from firing another. Luffy stepped back and a piece of his shoulder stretched out over a foot before it snapped back, sending the bullet harmlessly into a wall. Batman blinked but didn't hesitate to leap down to back the kid up. Luffy didn't seem to need the help however.

"Guns don't work on me," he said, more serious than Batman had seen so far. "But I still don't like people shooting at me." He swung back an arm which stretched over twice its length before sling it back and punching one of the leaders in the face. A stretched out leg took out three others with a "Rubber Whip" which he shouted out for no reason. A final "Rubber Pistol" brought down the last one.

"What are you?" Batman asked as he handcuffed the thugs for the police to pick up later. Maybe sitting around together would allow these boys to work out their differences peacefully.

"I'm a rubber man." Luffy pulled out his cheek to an amazing degree and let it snap back in place. "I ate the Gum-Gum fruit."

"I've never heard of a gum-gum fruit," Batman said as he led the way back to the rooftops.

"Well, I don't think they have Devil Fruits here, Batguy, at least the man I asked said I was crazy when I asked if he ate the penguin-penguin fruit. He was really funny. He waddled like this." Luffy walked like Cobblepot for a few feet. "And he gave me food to make me go away so I like him. But his food wasn't as good as Sanji's. Sanji's the best cook on the Grand Line and his dream is to find the All Blue. He's my cook. My ship is so cool. Anyway, he talks like this: 'Shitty rubber, did you eat the meat?'" He pulled his hair over one eye and pretended to smoke a cigarette.

"If Sanji is your cook; who's the captain?"

"I'm the captain, duh," Luffy said in surprise. "Hey, I like your belt." He reached out to try and touch it but Batman slapped his hand way. "And your cape. Are you a hero? Heroes wear capes; like Sniperking. He wore a mask to. I liked him but I don't want to be a hero. I'd have to share my meat."

Batman tried to follow Luffy's train of thought with little success. He started to ask another question but an alarm from the manor went off. Bruce trusted Alfred to take care of himself, but he couldn't help it; he called to check in. Alfred shrugged off his worry with typical British calm and Batman turned back to his current problem. The problem in question was gazing up at the sky with a goofy look on his face, which made Batman think of something.

"Luffy," he said to capture the boy's attention. He was now watching a flashing advertisement with fascination. "Did you fall from the sky?"

"Yeah," Luffy beamed. "How did you know? Are you a physic like Madam Sharley?"

"No, but I heard reports of people falling from the sky, which is what I was looking for when I found you." He considered his options; most obvious seemed to be to help the boy find his friends (loose translation of nakama, a Japanese word). Batman decided, "Luffy, I'll help you find your crew now."

"Yay!" Luffy shouted happily and promptly collapsed. He giggled, it sounded like "shi, shi, shi."

"What's wrong?"

"I'm hungry, Batguy. I was so worried that I forgot but now that you're helping me, I'm sooo hungry," Luffy groaned. "Do you have any meat in your belt?"

"No, you can eat later. And I'm Batman," he corrected again and smacked Luffy's hands away from his belt again. The kid couldn't keep his hands to himself and his rubber arms kept Batman guessing about which direction he was coming from.

"But I'm hungry now!" Luffy whined. "Sanji, food!"

"Your friend isn't here," Batman argued. He looked down the street. There was a deli that was open late. "How about we get something from there, they have meat."

"Yosh!" Luffy jumped up and grabbing Batman's arm in a surprisingly strong grip, he dragged the vigilante all the way to the deli, including jumping off the roof which surprisingly resulted in no broken bones for either of them.

While Luffy ordered what sounded like half the deli's inventory, Batman got a call from Nightwing. Bruce knew Nightwing would be out patrolling tonight since Dick had to make an appearance at a charity function Bruce Wayne sponsored, but he was surprised to get a call from his former protégé.

"Hey, Bats, I've got a situation," Nightwing said over the com.

"Yes?" Batman answered, watching with dismay amount of meat the boy pirate was ordering.

"I found a young man who is looking for his friends, says he's a pirate," Nightwing said in a rush, like he expected Batman to not believe him. "I know it sounds crazy but this guy is pretty strong and he saved a woman from a mugger."

"What's his name?"

"Sanji." Nightwing sounded a little more hopeful since Batman didn't ignore his request. He has always been easy to read.

"Good. Just a minute." Batman turned off the call from Nightwing to pay for Luffy's dinner. The boy was lucky that he carried enough cash, it wasn't like he could use Bruce Wayne's credit card. They went to the roof across the street so Luffy could eat and Batman could talk to Nightwing.

"Are you still there?" Batman asked into his com.

"Yeah and still with a pirate," Nightwing joked.

"Well, I found Luffy. Apparently Sanji is the ship's cook," Batman sighed. This sounded crazy even for them. Beside him, Luffy perked up and started to pay attention. Apparently he had already eaten the ten pounds worth of deli meat that he called a sandwich. "I want you to go check on Alfred. I've just got a feeling that the manor's alarm is connected to this. Afterwards, join back up with me. If we can round up all of these pirates maybe we can limit the damage." With everything happening tonight, he wasn't taking chances with his closest friend's safety.

"Gotcha, I got the manor's alert to. Alfred seemed fine, but better safe than sorry I guess. Man, what a weird night," Nightwing laughed and signed off.

You have no idea, thought Batman. Meanwhile, Luffy was looking at him suspiciously, which was a little unnerving.

"Who were you talking to, Batguy?" he asked with a head tilt that made him look like a puppy.

"Nightwing, one of my nakama," Batman said, figuring it was a simpler explanation than estranged ward/protégé. "He found your cook. We'll meet up with him later."

"Yay!" Luffy shouted. "I hope Sanji has some pirate lunches with lots of meat. I'm hungry."

"You just ate," Batman scolded.

"That was just a snack," Luffy said innocently.

Batman decided to ignore that comment and called the manor next. "What is the situation there?" he asked when Alfred answered. Beside him, Luffy was watching him intently. Batman figured he was up to something.

"I have everything in hand, sir," the Englishman answered with his usual dignity. "An unexpected guest got lost in the manor and he was just confiding his circumstances to me."

Another pirate, Batman figured and started to ask a question when Luffy reached for his cowl. "Get off," Batman growled, trying to keep the boy's sticky fingers off his face.

On the line, Alfred paused in confusion. "Sorry, sir?"

"Forget it," Bruce sighed. He stood and walked away from where Luffy was sprawled out on the rooftop, moping. "Is your guest a pirate?" Batman asked quietly, trying not to draw the boy's attention again.

"Yes, sir, how did you know?" Alfred exclaimed, clearly surprised at Batman's inside knowledge.

"They seem to be prevalent tonight. Nightwing will be there soon. Don't let the pirate leave until then." Batman ordered.

"Yes, sir. We are just sharing a spot of tea." Well, that was just typically Alfred. The one time the Riddler broke into the Manor, Batman found them in the kitchen drinking "proper English tea." "It might help to know that he said that there are nine of them," Alfred continued.

"It will help," Batman sighed. He considered what eight more pirates like Luffy could do to his poor city. The boy seemed harmless, except there was a gleam in his eye that convinced Batman not to underestimate him and by association, his crew. "Hopefully your charge is less trouble than my own," Bruce encouraged. Then he noticed Luffy trying to climb into a chimney. "Get down from there!" he shouted at Luffy and told Alfred, "Batman out." Only after he ended the call did he think to ask Alfred which pirate he had. Maybe Luffy would have been able to explain about him, and he could predict the aftermath of having him in the mansion. Now he'd have to wait until Nightwing got there. In the meantime, Luffy was trying to stick his head in a chimney.

"But it looks like the chimney that Zoro got stuck in that one time. It was so funny," Luffy explained as Batman dragged him down. "Though I didn't see it 'cause I was stuck between buildings and a huge tidal wave was coming but Chopper told me about it."

"How did he get out?" Batman asked. If Luffy was talking, he was causing less trouble.

"He cut the building in half," Luffy laughed. "With one hand and his head wedged in the chimney. I wish I had seen that. Though he does stuff like that all the time, so it's not that bad."

Batman stared at the boy. How crazy were these people? He needed to get them out of his city as soon as possible.

"Hey, what's that?" Luffy was easily distracted and seeing the Batsignal light up the sky broke the conversation before Batman could ask about the rest of his crew.

"That is the Batsignal," Batman explained as he started to make his way back to the alley where he left his car. He'd make better time than running over the roof tops.

"Where are we going?" Luffy asked, keeping up very easily with Batman's unorthodox route.

"Back to the Batmobile. I need to go to GCPD. That is what the signal means."

"So cool!" Luffy cried out. "Maybe Franky can build me a signal; it could be the meat signal, for when there is meat for me to eat. Hey, what is that?"

They had reached the Batmobile and with a push of the remote the top opened so Batman could drop into the driver's seat. "It's my car," he answered. "Get in, we have to go."

"So cool!" Luffy shouted again. "Franky and Ussop would love this." He jumped in and after Batman glared at him again, sat on his hands. "This is like the shark sub huh? I'm not supposed to touch anything."

"Exactly," Batman agreed, not bothering to wonder about what a "shark sub" was. "Do you think you can handle that?"

"Sure," Luffy grinned good-naturedly; then pointed at the button for the rocket boosters, "What does that do?"

Batman groaned as he slapped Luffy's hand away. He'd had Harley Quin in this car with fewer problems. Then Batgirl called, as if this wasn't already complicated enough. He routed the call through his cowl to keep the conversation private and started the car, pulling out of the alley to speed in the general direction of GCPD.

"Batman, this is Batgirl," the call came in clear through his cowl.

"Yes, Batgirl?" he answered. If they found Killer Croc, Gordon would have to wait. He made a sharp left that made Luffy laugh.

"We have a situation," she stated to say, hesitant for some reason.

"Did you find Killer Croc?" Batman said as he smacked Luffy's hand again.

"Yes, but we found something else to," she said, making him sigh in resignation. Another pirate, he figured. Apparently they were attracted to Bats. He mentally rerouted straight to the police station rather swinging by the docks.

Luffy tried to push the ejector seat button. "Don't touch that!" Batman scolded, feeling like a parent with a toddler.

"What?" Batgirl snapped back. Batman bit back a sigh.

"Not you, Batgirl. Let me guess, you found a pirate," Batman offered, suddenly exhausted. This was more than he was prepared to handle. Homicidal clowns, sentient plant monsters, mob bosses he could take but one young pirate made him want to strangle something. He took another corner a little too hard but the g-forces kept Luffy distracted.

"How'd you know? He's a cyborg and he's with his ship," Batgirl continued.

Well, that sounded interesting. Alfred said there were nine, so now he knew were almost half of these pirates were. "Good, that makes things easier. What about Croc?"

"He's in a cage the cyborg built when Croc tried to commandeer the pirate ship." She sounded worn out to. The rest of the pirates were probably as crazy as Luffy. "Batman, what do I do? Robin really likes this guy."

That was an unexpected wrinkle, but not surprising. As frustrating as Luffy was, Batman thought he liked him to. As much as Batman liked anyone, anyway. "It's fine, Batgirl," Batman supported her. "The signal is lit, so I'm heading to police headquarters now. I'll have Jim send someone to pick up Croc." That would be easiest and Jim would appreciate it. "Check back in at that point and we'll see where to proceed from there."

Batman lost connection when Luffy pushed a button to transfer the call to the car's computer. "Stop touching buttons in my car!" he shouted in frustration as he put the call back in his cowl. He didn't want to include the boy yet.

"But I want to talk to," Luffy whined. "And the buttons are so cool. What does this one do?" It made the window roll down. That kept him occupied for a few minutes so Batman could finish talking to Batgirl.

"Are you okay, Batman?" she asked.

"Yes, I have my own pirate to deal with. Nightwing is heading to the manor with his and to get the one that Alfred found. I want them out of my city," he explained with as much dignity as he could, but he wasn't sure if it made it to his voice.

"I couldn't agree more," Batgirl agreed, making him wonder about her cyborg and what he was doing with Robin. "I couldn't agree more."

Batman cut the call with Batgirl as they reached the street behind the police station. He considered leaving Luffy behind to talk to the Commissioner but if he did that he might not have a car left to return to. "Luffy, look at me," Batman said authoritatively. "I need you to come with me while I talk to Commissioner Gordon. But you have to be quiet and don't tough anything. After I find out what he needs, we'll find the rest of your crew. Can you do that for me?"

"Yosh!" Luffy beamed.

Batman decided not to hold his breath. In the rush to get here, keeping Luffy under control and the conversation with Batgirl, he hadn't had time to see what Jim would be calling him for. He usually liked to have an idea before heading to the roof but tonight would just have to be an exception. Luckily, Jim usually had a through folder for him anyway so it should still be quick. Batman glanced at the young pirate beside him. Or not.