From Caged Marines to Whitebeard Pirates

by Kanra Nakura

When Blackbeard was caught in the action of stabbing Thatch, a fight ensues, causing Marco to be thrown to the sea in his Phoenix Form, hearing the laughter of the traitor and the cries of his siblings as he submerged. Locked in a cage and kept as a pet bird for the Tenryuubito for months, Marco was saved by Marines under Monkey D. Luffy. Full Summary in the First Chapter. FemLuffy

5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

~Four days ago, Mariejois~

Saint Rokudo angrily slammed the door of his room close as he immediately went to the den-den mushi placed near the window. Gritting his teeth, he immediately dialed the number of Saint Jason and waited for him to answer it. He had finally finished speaking to his Grandfather, and he had agreed, as well as the other Elders, who were with him, to remove Saint Jason from his status as a Tenryuubito, whatever happens to him afterward will be none of their concern. Though it did take a while for Rokudo to convince the Elders to side him with exiling the Saint, hours in fact, before they finally agreed. After all, they did want for the Rear Admiral to come back, and the reason is not for the desire of having her body beneath them (deep inside, however, they knew they wanted her like that) like the rest of their people wanted, but because of the report Luffy gave to the guard, Takumi, that was reported to them was very satisfactory and they want more.

Fighting the Vial P78971X, the strongest vial they created and have, inside her for 15 minutes and surviving without the help of her devil fruit was a record. Especially when the others, who are both devil fruit users and non-users, had the vial took an hour or more to fight against it, some didn't even survive. She was extremely marvelous, more so when it took her 5 minutes for her strength to return when the others took a day to come back. They might blame it for her devil fruit but she was trained to learn how to deactivate the fruit, something she had to learn so that they will know the Vials they gave her worked. Also, outwardly she was taught to gain resistance against the seastones but inwardly is a different story. So finishing it within 20 minutes is very, very, satisfactory but… they want more results, they want more test and for that to happen, they need her here. And once they are satisfied… then… everything will be fine.

Though the Rear Admiral not coming back sooner was not the fault of Saint Jason as it was Saint Rokudo who went and presented the dead bird to Luffy, the Elders has decided to stripped Jason of being a Tenryuubito and to be exiled from Mariejois, just to satisfy the man, who the Rear Admiral is destined (in their eyes, for their plans, of course) to be with. While it may seem unreasonable to some, for the Elders and Rokudo the reasons they have are rational. Besides, who wouldn't want the Angel visiting the Mariejois? No one, that the answer.

"Purupurupuru."

'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!' He growled, eyes closed, as he recalled how the Angel rejected his gift because it was dead, how the Angel, his Angel, told him that she could have visited a bit early than her regular schedule without order her to. 'Damn it!'

"Hello~?" Rokudo snapped his eyes open and glared at the den-den mushi, who was showing the smug expression of tenryuubito he's calling.

"Saint Jason…" He snarled softly, his green eyes darkening in anger. At the snarled name, the said Saint blink in surprise.

"Sai-saint Rokudo…" He stuttered. "To what do I owe—?"

"It is my greatest pleasure… to let you know," Rokudo cut him off, sneering. "That as of this day, you are stripped off from your Status as a Saint and exiled from Mariejois."

"WHA—?!"

"Your things and mansion in this place will belong to me from now on. Should you and anyone with you try to stepped foot on this very place, you are to be shoot on sight."

"SAINT ROKUDO! WAI—!"

"The Navy HQ will be receiving the order from the Elders of your new status anytime within this day or tomorrow and they will spread the words to their bases."

"WAIT! MAY I KNOW—!"

"So starting now, you can be a simple noble, commoner, or pirate for all we care but you can no longer step foot on this place. That is all!"

"PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHY?!"

"It was a pleasure hearing you scream, Goodbye!"

*Gacha!*

Rokudo grinned before laughing maniacally, finding it very satisfying whenever he cuts off the Saint- oh sorry, Former Saint from speaking. He was so smug earlier and just before the call ended he was so desperate for an answer. Oh, how that brings joy to the blond-haired Saint. His celebration was interrupted however when the den-den mushi begins to ring again, Rokudo glared at it before smirking and grabs the receiver.

"SAINT ROKUDO—!"

*Gacha!*

"Hehehe… Ahahahahahaha!" He hysterically laughs after hanging up on the former saint again. The man was so confused and desperate that the snail projected the face of a crying man with a desperate expression.

"That was a wonderful expression!" He declared, ignoring the den-den mushi that began to ring again. "We just need to block your number to make sure your call won't get through to us." He hummed before looking at the window.

"Ahh~! Angel that was given to me by the heavens, how I wished you would come and visit me soon~!" He moaned out, looking at the descending sun, while imagining the image of Luffy 'smiling' at him, overlapping the view of the sun.

"Jason is no longer between us my sweet!" He then reached a hand out towards the image, while one hand on his chest.

"So come back to me soon~!" Then the images faded away, this made Rokudo lower his hands as he suddenly sneered.

"Too bad he is still alive, should he decided to be a noble then you would still be serving him…" Releasing a sigh of disappointment, the Grandson of the Third Elder sat down on his chair, place in front of the round table which is located at a corner of the room. He looked at the picture framed in front of him with daze and lustful eyes, licking his lips soon after.

"But don't worry my sweet~ You won't be serving below him soon after." He then giggled, reaching a hand out to gently caress the glass. "Soon~" He sang out and remove his hand to look at the picture. Said picture was an image of a 14, nearing 15, years old Luffy, who was looking and smiling genuinely at the cat that was placed in her lap, a straw hat hanging on her neck while wearing a marine uniform with a pleated blue skirt, her hair was floating to the side, a sign that the wind was blowing gently from the opposite direction. From the looks of it, the photo was stolen, while it was seen with Luffy facing the camera, the angle shows that it was taken behind a wall, with the hint of the image being tilted slightly and the wall the photographer was hiding is seen slightly.

"I'm so glad that I saw you when you were still a Marine in training… so, so, glad…" Then humming filled the room as the Saint continued to look at the image of his obsession.

~Present time, Inside G6 Base~

Marco slowly opened his eyes, hours after having the seastone nails remove from his body. He blinked slowly, trying to adjust to the brightness of the room. Looking around and lifting his head just as slow, he then turned to look below and behind him. That was when Marco notice that he was placed on top of a table located right in front of a couple of window walls, it's curtains were moved and tied to the very side of the windows, giving him the perfect view of the island, or at least the part of the island where the window is placed, and the blue sea.

He then looked around the room he was placed in and blink upon seeing a long meeting table and chairs directly in front of him, beyond the table was a white double door. He then assumed that the double door was the entrance and exit for this room, then he saw on his left was a wall with two doors. Looking at his right, the Phoenix blinked upon seeing a single door placed there, only this door was painted with black and a hit of red while the other two had a lighter color. One door was light orange and the other was light blue. The room also had some paintings and images displayed on the wall, some huge and some are regular-sized, though… above the double door was the largest painting in the room, it consists of Luffy and a group of people. The Avian tilts his head to the side, blinking multiple times trying to see if what he is seeing is true.

Luffy was smiling genuinely and her marine outfit was changed to a long-sleeved red cardigan, with the second button close, a black bikini underneath it, and short denim shorts with white fur stitched on its ends, she's also wearing a pair of sandals. Seeing Luffy's endowed breast that the cardigan couldn't cover, Marco blushed slightly before shaking his head and focus on the people with her. Next to Luffy, on her right, he saw a grinning man with green hair, three katanas tucked into his waist by a red sash, one hand hanging limply at the hilt, and the was placed on his waist. Said man was wearing a dark-green coat closed on his waist and is held by a red sash that was also holding the swords, a black bandanna tied around his left forearms, and underneath the open coat was a green haramaki, black boots to finish his appearance.

On the right side of the swordsman was an orange-haired beauty, wearing a green and white bikini halter top, tight low-rider jeans, orange high-heeled sandals, and a pair of pearl-like earrings. Her orange hair seems to reach her lower back, with bangs hanging over her forehead and a long hair strang hanging on its left side, she also had a tattoo on her forearm, but he can't see it clearly with the angle Marco's currently at. And while her outfit had made her curves and hourglass figure more pronounced, it did not elicit the same response Marco had when he saw Luffy's body. And that's something seeing as this girl showed more skin than Luffy did in the painting. Just then Marco remembered what happen in the ship during bath time, making blood drip down from his nose and shakes his head immediately to remove that memory from his brain at the moment, gently lifting a wing to wipe the blood from his nose, he then went back on focusing on the painting.

Next to the bikini-wearing girl was a man with a curly… afro(?), hair. He was a bit muscular, wearing only a pair of rolled-up yellow pants with red suspenders and a pair of boots. He also had a pair of goggles around his neck, and on his ears were orange ear protectors. He also had a little goatee on his face, a white suncap on his head, and a blue-white striped wristband on his left arm. The First Division Commander tilts his head to the side, frowning slightly.

'Why does he looks so familiar, yoi?' He thought before his sight went to the left side of the painting. There he saw a man with slightly long blond hair and curly eyebrows standing beside Luffy, he had his hair brushed over the right side, covering his right eye. Sporting a dark anchor style facial hair and a stubble on the upper lift, wearing a black double-breasted suit with golden buttons and yellow dress shirt together with a brown tie, black shoes to end his appearance.

Robin was standing beside the man with curly eyebrows, wearing a long salmon sari-like skirt with a partially-zipped navy blue leather vest with a V-neck line and an image of a Chrysanthemum Morifolium printed on the left breast of her vest, nearing the shoulder. The vest exposed her stomach, sunglasses were perched on her head, and a pair of pink high heeled pumps on her feet.

Next to Robin was a man with short, scruffy hair and beard, slightly dark circles under his eyes, Wearing a white jacket with an orange fox design on each side of the jacket, a black shirt underneath the white jacket, and a pair of dirty white pants. He also had a white and blue stripes headband, but there was a small bird design in the middle of the headband and a pair of black boots. But for some reason, Marco found him familiar too.

Beside him was a black-haired male, wearing a navy blue kimono, a white sash tied around his waist, with a Katana tucked on it. The Kimono was slightly open, revealing the muscled chest. One of his arms was tucked inside the clothing, hanging limply and a wooden geta sandals to finish his appearance. Slightly behind the man wearing a kimono, is another man with brown hair, styled into an army cut. He was wearing a white, long, button-up shirt and a pair of black pants and shoes. His shirt had a rising white and yellow bird printed near his chest, on the left side. His pants also had orange flames like designs at the bottom, from the looks of it the flames go round it.

Then in slightly front of the flame pants wearer, few steps on the left from the black-haired male were two females, one had black shoulder-length hair and highlights at the tips, while the other had brown shoulder-length hair, no highlights. Both girls were wearing a tight, sleeveless, crop top, exposing their belly button and short denim short, ending their outfit with a pair of criss-cross sandals. The only difference in their outfit was the colors and design, the black-haired girl's top was white with yellow and red feathers printed around its bottom and black shorts. while the brown-haired girl's top was black with white and blue flames at the bottom and gray shorts.

Behind them was a tall, dark blue-haired male, wearing only black combat pants, and leather gloves. He was completely topless, showing his muscled chest and pale skin. Unlike the previous images Marco saw, this man had a small image of a red dragon tattooed on his left chest, directly above the heart. The phoenix's eyes went back to Luffy and that was when he noticed a… wait… is that a Robot standing behind her?!

Said Cyborg had a buzz cut hair, two stitch-mark scars on his torso. His shoulders, torso, and arms were bigger than the other males in the picture, the hands were studded giving it a more robotic appearance. He had metal rigged suspenders, and large, light blue hinges elbows. The shoulders were a large red ball and socket joint with "BF-37" written on them. The forearms were large and light blue cubes, with a star tattoo being split by an edge. He's also wearing a red coconut tree-motivated Hawaiian shirt. Marco can't believe his eyes on seeing a cyborg standing behind the Rear Admiral, oh and it's getting better because standing on the right side of the Cyborg was a skeleton! A FREAKING SKELETON!

The Skeleton has its arm raised with a hat on its hand, a heart-shaped sunglasses perched on the skull afro hair, a yellow feather boa around his shoulders, a top hat with a giant crown on the brim, a black coat with yellow-orange inner linings, and a white cravat tied between his coat and neck. It also had orange-red trousers with a floral design.

Their Doctor, Chopper, was standing at the left shoulder of the Robot. He was holding a cotton candy, wearing a blue cap with a ring of dots around the circle, while the cap has buckles hanging from it. He also wears a white and yellow vertical-stripped tank tip and an orange pair of shorts. Moving Marco's further to the left, he double-take upon seeing someone very, very familiar standing beside Chopper and the Cyborg. It was JIMBEI! A Fishman and one of the Shichibukai! And he was smiling widely, and genuinely.

'That is it! I will make Pops immediately go to Fishman island for answers, yoi!' He grumbled, looking away from the grinning or smiling images of Luffy and her crew because that is definitely her crew… though he is not sure what's Jimbei's status with them, he'll just ask him or King Neptune when he meets either of them nor was he sure about the Robot and Skeleton behind Luffy, for all he knew they could be just, well… statues. It's probably something the Rear Admiral likes to have in the background. He looks back at Luffy, that was when he notices two nearly unnoticeable silhouette crouching side by side in front of her. Marco had to narrow his eyes, try to get a clearer image of the silhouette but saw nothing like they were just shadows crouching in front of her… and for some reason, each of her hand seems to touch the shadows' shoulder, as if they were there, and the painter merely lessens the dark color of their shadows to brought more color to the people behind the shadows.

Suddenly, Marco heard something cluttered behind one of the doors, making his head snapped toward its direction, that was also the time he realized that he no longer felt the pain on his injured side, as the wing he used to wipe the blood away was not the one above his wound, and then finally remembering the nails were removed hours before. He looks down at his body, to make sure that his feathers weren't flaming, and sighing in relief when there were none. He looks exactly like he was before the seastone was removed and thus the chances of being locked up by Luffy for being a son and First Mate of Whitebeard is nearly zero.

'I can't let my guard down, yoi.' He thought. 'I need to stay like this to avoid detection.' He then mentally thank his Phoenix for not bursting into flames when the nails were removed. Luffy might promise she'll free him but that doesn't mean it won't change when they found out who he is. Though it pains him, Marco inhaled deeply and locked the part of his phoenix that allows him to flame up, with promises to release that side of him when they're with family.

The door on his left, the one closest to him, suddenly opened. Blue eyes blink upon seeing the Rear Admiral wearing a T-shirt with a white and yellow flame orb printed on the left side of her chest, red knee-high cargo shorts. The Rear Admiral was fixing her hair into a high ponytail, her tie between her teeth. When she looked up, their eyes meet and Luffy gave him a relieved smile.

"You're finally awake!" Luffy started when she removes the tie from her teeth and tied it on her hair. Marco released a soft trill, making her smile widen. "That's great! I was worried you won't wake up soon."

Marco smiled at the Female Marine, finding her smile contagious, and watched as she went towards him and patted his head before lifting his wing, nodding in satisfaction when there were no bleedings and then was lifted from his spot, Luffy cradling him like a cat. She was humming as she caressed his body with one hand, while the other kept him in place. The caress Marco is receiving made him droopy, his head was laying at the corner of the Marine's neck and collarbone, this kind of treatment made him want to burst into flame, which he had restrained, he can't, however, restrain the soft croon he keeps on releasing.

Luffy giggled as the bird in her arms relaxed and looked around the room, smiling when she saw the painting before going to the meeting table where there's a white den-den mushi stationed. She paused on caressing so that she can pull out the chair at the head of the table, and sat down. Of course, she receives a disappointed noise and glare for stopping which made her laugh and settled down before putting the bird in her lap.

"If it looks like I'm treating you like a pet…" Luffy started as she reaches for the den-den mushi with one hand, while the other made sure that the bird stays in place, then dialed some numbers. "I am not. I know that your touch starves and that you didn't realize it. So I'm making things simple for you and so that you won't ask if you are ever embarrassed about asking, shishishishi." She giggled, laughing delightedly when he squawked and peck her hand.

"Oh? Is Birdie-san awake, Luffy?" Marco paused at that and looked at the den-den mushi, who had an amused expression.

"Yup, he is Robbin." Luffy chirped as she caressed the bird again, who began to… purr? Luffy blinks and looked down before shrugging and then looks back at the den-den mushi. "Where are you right now?"

"We're in the Kitchen, Captain!" Another female voice answered.

"Ah! Nami!" The Rear Admiral giggled, before saying. "Then please have the Vendetta Marina and the Operation Team Leader to proceed here in my meeting room."

"Roger!" Two female voices answered through Marco thought he heard male voices answered as well.

"Sanji!" The Raven-haired Marine called before they could cut off the call.

"Hai~? Luffy- chwan~?" The snail suddenly had a heart for eyes, making Marco blinked and… frown.

"Bring lots of food! Meat and Vegetables! Plenty of them!"

"Hai~ My beloved Captain-chwan ~!"

"Oh! Don't forget the food for Chopper's patient!" Luffy ordered.

"I already prepared it, Captain-chwan~" Luffy giggled at the response before ending the call, and leaned at the back of the chair. Smiling happily and before looking down when Marco moved and tried to lay his head on her collarbone again.

"Okay, okay…" She mumbled and adjust her hold again, making sure that he was comfortable on her chest, before touching the side of the chair's arm. Marco blink when suddenly he felt Luffy rocking back and forth, releasing a confused coo, he looked at the chair and his eyes bulge when the chair, a simple, metal, armchair, suddenly turned into a rocking chair. He looked at the Marine, who had her eyes close before resigning to his fate. Marco inwardly groans when he realized that he keeps on accepting whatever it is that's happening to this marine and her crew. Closing his eyes, Marco listened to the humming Luffy created, before snapping his eyes open.

'What was that?' He thought, looking around dazedly.

"Come in!" Luffy stated as she watches the bird looked around, startled. 'He probably took a short nap and woke up when he heard them knocking.' She thought, before looking up when she heard the door open, smiling widely.

Marco turned his head to the double door when he heard it open and watched as people began to trickle into the room. He first saw the green-haired male he saw in the painting, yawning as he walks inside, and headed towards their direction. He was soon followed by Robin and Chopper, who was being carried by the Hana Hana no mi user, before hearing Luffy giggled.

"Making sure Zoro doesn't get lost, Robin?" Her voice said teasingly, while they all look at the flustered Marine Captain.

"Of course," Robin confirmed, Chopper snickered while the green-haired Captain glared at her.

"I don't get lost!" He protested.

"Hai, hai, you told us that plenty of times, but we know you got lost, Zoro." Hearing a new voice speaking, Marco moves his eyes from the Marines that were sitting on Luffy's right side and looked at the door where the orange-haired beauty from the painting entered the room and behind her were the pair of women in the painting that wear matching outfits.

"You would think that with us staying in this place for months, nearly a year, the Captain would know his way." The brown-haired woman stated as she sat down across Robin, who was a chair away from Zoro, who had sat on the chair next to Luffy, Chopper was content on sitting on Robin's lap.

"Indeed," The black-haired girl giggled as she took a seat next to the brown-haired woman and across Nami, who was sitting next to Robin.

"I do not get lost, Nami." Zoro growled, "And do not call me 'Captain' Mina, Hana. Our real Captain is her!" He then pointed at Luffy, who blink before giggling.

"While I am, as you say, the real Captain Zoro, you're the one who's been ranked by the Marine as 'Captain'," Luffy stated, making a quoting mark when she mentioned the last word of her statement. Zoro frowned at her.

"Not you too…" He growled. When he heard some snickering he glared at the women around the table and sat down.

"So you finally admitted on getting lost," Nami said, looking at him, leaning her face on her hand as the elbow of said leaned on the table.

"I didn't admit on getting lost, Witch," Zoro told her.

"MARIMO! HOW DARE YOU CALL Nami-swan A WITCH!?" The owner of the voice was the blond-hair with curly eyebrows, entering the room while pushing a cart with covered trays. Next to enter after him was the man with scruffy hair and beard, that was when Marco remembered him, he was the guy who gave Luffy their meal when they first arrive at the ship, Gin.

"Oh… it's the Ero-cook." Marco heard Zoro grumbled and everyone in the room heard too as they either laugh, snickered, or giggled. The blond male, who was putting some plates on one side of the table starting from the very end, paused and glared at the Marine Captain.

"What was that, you shitty bastard?" He snarled, Gin, who was putting the trays, sighed in defeat.

"Please don't start, Sanji. You can fight with Zoro after the meeting. Pretty sure Luffy is tired," He told Sanji, who immediately did a noodle dance as he directly went towards the Rear Admiral.

"Luffy-chwan~ 3! You should have rest and decided to let us have the meeting tomorrow~" He said as he reached a hand out towards the young raven-haired beauty, who merely giggled.

"It's fine Sanji," She said, Marco looked at the man with narrowed eyes. "We arrived here early, and our guest had woken up from his 4 hours of sleep," At that, all eyes went to the blue feathered bird, that was being cradled by their Rear Admiral. Said bird ignored them as his eyes focused on Sanji.

"We still have plenty of time before the day ends, so why not use it for the meeting?" Luffy gave her chef a sweet smile, immediately turning him into a puddle.

"And as usual, he left the preparation to us." The First Division Commander looked away at the puddle man and turning his sight to the other end of the table, where he saw the afro haired man continuing the work Sanji left and then right at the door, holding them open was the brown-haired and dark blue-haired men. He blinked multiple times wondering when had they arrived.

"You could have held this door open, Usopp." The brown-haired stated, rubbing his reddened face. The afro guy paused and looked at him, before flinching.

"Ekk! You were behind me Peter?" Usopp asked, before laughing nervously when all he received was a glare.

"Well… kind of your fault for daydreaming, again." The dark blue-haired male said, making Peter transfer his glare to him.

"Shut it, Gray." He snarled, before blinking when their Lt. Commander suddenly entered, saying.

"Don't fight." The two males at the door merely looked at him, then at the Rear Admiral who decided to put their 'guest' on the table, touching the side of her chair again, turning it into its original form, and grabbing the plate that Usopp had held out for her as he laid a plate in front of Marco. Gin sighed as he finished putting the covered trays down and moved to sit down beside Nami. The 'guest' looks down at the table and notice while there are multiple trays already laid down, there are still a few more spaces left, a sign that there will be more food arriving.

"Yu is right," Luffy stated and looked at them. "Don't fight, you'll be needing that energy at the sparring match either today or tomorrow."

…

…

.

"YOU'RE SERIOUS ABOUT THE SPARRING MATCH?!"

"THERE'S A SPARRING MATCH?!"

"OF COURSE LUFFY-CHWAN~"

All of the voices shouted at once as they all looked at Luffy, who merely gave them an 'angelic' smile. They looked at each other with dread, except for Sanji, who finally regain control of his body and was doing his noodle dance again behind her chair, making Marco look at him. For some reason, whenever the blond act like a lovesick person towards Luffy, he felt furious and made him want to kill the guy. The dark thoughts, however, vanish when Luffy patted his head again, which have stopped a few seconds ago so when he was put down at the table.

"Why are you acting like this?" Luffy pouted when her crew eyed her warily. "Zoro said he will train the lower-ranks, so why can't I? Besides… I told the boys on the ship about that, multiple times." At that, they all looked at Zoro, Yu, Gray, and Peter who sweat drops. They didn't bother looking at Gin seeing he had a resigned expression, meaning he wasn't there when she made the announcement. The former ones, however, had guilty looks.

"You knew there's a sparring match?! And you didn't tell us?!" Nami shouted, as she went to Zoro and began to shake him back and forth, Yu made sure to step behind his Rear Admiral, instead of sitting down as he intended, to be safe from the twins who was giving him a death glare. Marco glance around, and notice that the people who had accepted their fate with the sparring their Rear Admiral said was a smiling Robin, a sighing Chopper, a noodle dancing Sanji, and Usopp, who was already following Gin's example of staring at the ceiling. Peter and Gray were still by the door and glance around as if looking for a way to escape, except their feet were grabbed by… hands?… ah right, Robin.

"Don't worry! Our sparring this time will be simple!" Luffy chirped, clapping her hands.

"YOUR SPARRING WILL KILL US ALL!" The ones who hadn't accepted their fate shouted.

"SUUUUPPPPPEEEERRRRRR! Did someone say sparring?!" A voice shouted as they heard another cart being trolled towards their direction. This made Marco focus on the door, and when the owner of the said voice appeared followed by another person, seeing them, however, made his eyes slowly bulged out.

"Yohohohoho! Sparring with Luffy-san is something we can't miss! Yohohohoho!"

'Holy shit…. Holy shit… HOLY FUCKING SHIT!' Marco screeched both inwardly and outwardly. This screech made everyone in the room snapped their heads towards him in shock, it was then that Marco realized that the Cyborg and Skeleton in the painting were real and not life-size statues or decoration. He continued to screech as his brain tried to process the images in front of him. The Cyborg was pushing a huge cart, while the Skeleton, a freaking walking, talking, breathing, and very much alive (not a statue, not a decoration…. NOT A FREAKING DECORATION!) Skeleton was holding a cane and they were staring at him… holy shit! HOLY SHIT! MERCIFUL ODA! HELP HIM! They're staring at him! He released small squeaks before jumping down from the table and onto Luffy's lap, who blinks in shock and confusion. They all looked at the bird, who was trying his best to hide his face on their Captain's body, shivering. Robin and Luffy, who both had a slight idea of who the bird is, looked at each other in shock, asking each other if this was true.

"Pffft…" The two raven-haired ladies then laughed, which made the rest laugh as well, while the Cyborg and the Skeleton merely shrug and continued inside the room.

"Looks like our guest is not used with… unique people." Robin giggled as Luffy gently touches the quivering head of the said guest.

"Yohohohoho! That screeched nearly give me a heart attack." The Skeleton told them as he sat down right across Usopp, while Peter sat at the chair between him and Hana. Gray immediately sat at the chair on the vacant seat from Mina's right. "Though I don't have a heart! Skull Joke! Yohohoho!"

Luffy giggled at the joke, making Brook's heart feel lighter. Franky then sat down at the seat across her, having finished putting the tray's down, while Yu took the seat on Luffy's left and Sanji sat between Zoro and Robin.

"Bird-guy's screech is suppppeeerrr!" Franky yelled. The youngest Rear Admiral merely shakes her head.

"Well… do understand that Birdie-san has been trapped in Mariejois for who knows how long. So seeing you guys might have been new and unusual for him." Luffy explained this made her crew gain a dark expression as they looked at Marco in understanding. Said Bird, however, has finally calmed his racing heart and gained enough courage to look up from his spot.

'Paradise and New World doesn't have this kind of weirdness, yoi.' He grumbled and merely sat down on Luffy's lap and laid his head on the table, feeling content in his spot, though he sometimes eyed the Skeleton and Cyborg warily. Luffy smiled before looking at Sanji from the corner of her eyes, snickering at the view, as did the rest of her crew when they followed the direction she was looking at. Said blond male was biting, griping, and pulling his handkerchief in frustration and jealousy.

'Lucky bird bastard!' He thought as his eyes turn into fire. Yu sighed before clearing his throat making them look at him, he merely tilts his head in the direction of their Rear Admiral. They looked at her before frowning when they saw her looking at the bird gently and sleepily, though deep inside they saw her looking at the bird with longing. This made them remember her situation, that she's also, in some sense, a caged bird with no way out, not unless they did something about it of course.

"Luffy?" Nami called out softly, which made the former to look at them. she then smiled gently upon seeing their worried expressions.

"I'm… not fine," She admitted as she made a promise to never lie to her crew again due to a certain incident. "But I'm heading there… I guess…" She added this made her crew nods in determination. But before they could proceed to anything else, Luffy then remembered to introduce their temporary guest to her crew.

"Ah! Right, I forgot to introduce our guest." She giggled and lifted Marco's head from the table, said bird gave her an annoyed expression before looking back at the table, making her giggle again. "This one here is Birdie-san. I found him locked in a cage, alone, inside the Mansion of the Former Tenryuubito, Saint Jason."

They all looked at the bird, blinking, those who were present in the base when the letter arrived had blinked, having an idea why the Saint was exiled from Mariejois, those who were with Luffy merely glance at each other, then grinned.

"Birdie-san…" Marco heard Luffy called out, which made him internally sigh in defeat and looked at her. Blinking when she beams upon doing so.

"This is my crew and you will probably be with them when I'm not around." She then started to point at her crew members, mentioning their names as she did so. Marco glancing at every introduction she made, the green-haired was Zoro, Luffy's right-hand man, a swordsman, and her Marine Captain. Sanji, the blond with curly eyebrows, the head chef, and sometimes Luffy's left-hand man when her first left-hand is busy, and combatant, the orange-haired beauty was Nami, the navigator. He then found out that Robin's the archeologist ('is that needed in a marine crew, yoi?') and Gin was the sue chef and sometimes head chef of their crew whenever Sanji is nowhere present, he is also a combatant. He already knew Chopper was the head doctor and sometimes veterinary. Then there's Usopp, the guy with an afro hair, their sniper. Franky, the Cyborg, is the shipwright of the crew.

Brook, the skeleton, was the musician, and Marco had to refrain from slamming his head on the table when he was told that he ate a devil fruit, and, due to some situation, it resulted in him being like that. Because of course, things like this happen with the help of the devil fruit. The male with brown hair is Peter, an Ensign. The women with black and brown hair were Hana and Mina, fraternal twins, Hana being the oldest by a few minutes, both are ranked Ensign as well.

"The three of you could be Lieutenant Junior Grade if you stopped pranking the Headquarters during every visit," Yu told them, but they merely stuck their tongue out in response making him snarl. Marco then found out that the one before Mina was called Gray, a Lieutenant, and a Vice-Leader, though Luffy didn't mention what he's a Vice-Leader for. Then last but not least was the Black-haired male, Yu, Lt. Commander, Luffy's first left-hand man, a swordsman, and Leader of Gray, Peter and the Twins. When the introduction was done, Marco tried to remember their names and faces, though he found it weird that they're not wearing the clothes they wore on the painting as some people would always wear the same outfit but rather they were wearing some t-shirt, button-up shirts, pants, or shorts like the Rear Admiral. He then looked at Luffy, who was watching her crew.

"Their trustworthy." She merely stated upon seeing his eyes on her. This made Marco nod and then jumps on to the table before sitting down, feeling slightly safe with them. He's still freaked out with the skeleton, but not that much.

"Before everything else…" Chopper said, still in Robin's lap. Normally, he would be with his Rear Admiral but she's entertaining a traumatized guest, so he'll sacrifice his place for the guest comforts before his own. Besides, he had more time when the guest leaves. His statement made everyone looked at him.

"I know we ate during our meeting, but I wish for us to eat before we start the meeting if it's okay, Luffy." The reindeer requested this made Luffy blinked before humming.

"Why not?" She then asked, smiling at him. Her crew then cheered as arms sprouted around the table and began to serves foods on their plates. Marco nearly jumps, startled, at the appearance of an arm near his plate. Said arm was then receiving a small bowl of soup from another hand that was immediately put on his plate. The arm then disappeared into petals before a small loaf of bread was put on his plate, he looked up and saw Luffy giving him a small smile. The crew looked at each other with relief when they saw Luffy smile, her smiling multiple times in less than an hour was a new record and it's all because of their guest.

Marco drinks his soup when he saw Luffy doing the same with hers, it didn't escape from the phoenix notice how his and the Rear Admiral's meals differ from the others. They both had soups, loaves of bread, and fruit juice, though there's a salad in the middle front of them and a plate of thin-sliced meat. While the others had rice, all kinds of meats, vegetables, and different drinks for each one of them, Marco's pretty sure there's dessert. Chopper was also seated on the table to eat his meal, just like him, and when he noticed him glancing around, he waved at him. Seeing the wave, Marco looked at the doctor, who gave him a small smile and gestured for his wings.

'Ah… right, heavy meals are bad after a heavy medical operation, yoi.' He nodded in understanding and went back to his soup when he suddenly paused. 'But… Luffy didn't have a medical operation… right?' He looked at Luffy and tried to see if she had some bandages around her body. Luffy saw the bird eyeing her from the corner of her eyes, and she also knew that Yu and Zoro saw him looking. Deciding that their late lunch is well, too peaceful for her, she decided to cause some mischief.

Usopp, who was about to take a bite from his meat, paused and frowned when he felt something touch his leg. He waited for a while to see if it will happen again, but shrug when nothing followed. His spoon was nearing his mouth when suddenly he felt it again. This time he put his spoon down, and looked down at the table, lifting the table cloth, before paling. Slowly, he straightens up again and turned his head towards Gin, who was drinking his drink, and tug his sleeves.

"Hmm? What is it, Usopp?" Gin asked as he turned to see the pale expression of his crewmate, his question made everyone looked at him. They raised an eyebrow when he, shakily, pointed down at the table, his teeth clattering as one hand went towards his mouth. They looked at each other before their attention went back to their sniper when his breath hitched.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Nami asked as she leaned over the side to look at the afro-haired male. Squealing in fright when she felt something licking her feet.

"Nami?" Robin asked as they all looked at her.

"I-i-I th-thi-think t-there's so-so-some-thing un-under th-th-th-the table!" The orange-haired lass stuttered, bringing her legs up to her chest when that something licked her again. Everyone paused at her statement and grab the knives on the table as they all went to look down at the table when they heard a growl. They froze and hold their breaths, including Marco, who was looking down at the table with wide eyes. The table suddenly began to shake and then…

"WAAAARRRFFFFF!"

"AAAHHHH!"

"WAAAHHH!"

"HELP MEE!"

Everyone screamed, excluding Yu, Zoro, and Luffy, while Marco screeched when a black blur thing passed through the table cloth and latched on Usopp's head, who immediately screamed and jumps from his seat to run around the table.

"What is that?!" Hana shouted as she turned from her seat to look clearly at the thing that was biting(?) Usopp's head. Said thing was huge as Chopper's original guard point.

"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" Usopp shouted.

"Stop running! We can't identify it if you keep on doing so!" Gray shouted when it suddenly jump towards and landed on Brook's head when Usopp was about to pass by the Skeleton. Everyone froze, Brook more so when the thing lifted its head… no heads, up from the Skeleton's afro while the hat was knocked over to the floor.

"I-i-i-is th-th-that a-a C-Cerberus?!" Usopp screamed pointing at the three-headed dog, which was licking the drool that slowly fells down from its mouth.

*BARKS!*

*CHOMP!*

*CRACK!*

"AH!"

…

…

.

"Ahhh! SAVE ME! I'M BEING CHEWED TO DEATH! Even though I'm already dead… yohohohoho!" Brook laughed as he then runs around the table like Usopp did when the dog bit his skull and created a crack, his arms in the air.

"Ahhh! Brook!" They all shouted as Peter, Hana, and Mina runs after him. The rest of them watched with a gaping mouth still not registering that there's a Cerberus on the base and they didn't even notice it before. Their guest, however, was turning pale at the sight of the dog. No, Marco's not afraid of dogs, his Pops had a fierce battle-hound and won't ever let anyone touched him, other than Oyaji and sometimes himself. So why should he be afraid of dogs?! (He ignored the annoying voice in his mind that said he's afraid of Stefan because he is not afraid, especially of Stefan! …Maybe…) The reason he paled was due to the fact, the dog looks starving. He was drooling all over Brook's hair and it seems he's eyeing his next victim, prey. There's also the fact that Cerberus shouldn't exist! So unless it's a part of their crew and has eaten a devil fruit of Cerberus form, which he doubted base on their reactions, that dog shouldn't be here!

"SAVE ME!" Brook shouted as the dog then eyes another victim, Chopper. Said victim shivered and moved closer to Robin, who was watching the whole thing with wide eyes, knowing that he will be next, and he can't fight against that! Zoro and Yu gritted their teeth as they look for a way to help their crew when they realize that Luffy wasn't making any noises. Fearing that their Rear Admiral was frozen in shock over the appearance of the Top Predator there is in the room, they turned their heads before pausing and blinked in confusion. Luffy, their beloved Captain, was hunched over the arm of her chair, trembling with one hand over her mouth. She doesn't seem to be puking or something, nor did she seem afraid, in fact, she seems to be laughing?... why would she… laugh…

"LUFFY!" Yu and Zoro shouted, annoyed, once they realized the truth. Gaining everyone's attention as they all looked at Luffy.

"BUWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Luffy, no longer be able to keep her mouth shut, not when she's already been busted by her swordsmen. Everyone looked at her as if she was crazy, then they glance at Zoro, and Yu, who both had sat down, exasperated, then at the Cerberus, who was no longer biting Brook and instead he looked at them rather smugly, then back at Luffy before they remember one thing. Their Rear Admiral is a devil fruit user… which means…

"LUFFFFFYYY!" They all moaned out, excluding Yu and Zoro, who had simply accepted this with a sigh, and Marco, who was confused.

"Sorry, sorry!" Said Rear Admiral said, waving her hand at them.

"You are not even sincere with your sorry!" They screamed.

"Yohohohoho! So it was Luffy-san who did this, and here I thought I'll be eaten by this dog. Yohohohoho!" The Musician stated as said Dog jumps from his head, slowly dissipating as it does so. When they saw it happen, they all glared at the Marine sitting at the head table, who was giggling non-stop.

"It was too quiet!" Luffy blurt out. "A little fun won't hurt, shishishishi!" They then sighed as they saw the crack on the skull of their crew member disappeared before they looked at each other and laughs. Hana, Mina, and Peter immediately crowd around their Rear Admiral for ideas of a prank while Brook sat down, Sanji was dancing behind the chair of Nami and Robin with heart in his eyes, mumbling about how pretty his beloved Luffy-chwan is. Franky and Chopper were patting Usopp's back, who was depressed at being pranked of, Gin and Robin merely snickered as they talk about what would have happened if it's a real Cerberus that attack Brook and Usopp, which scared the Sniper more than he wants. Nami and Gray sighed in relief once they finish laughing and decide to let things be, as they continue to eat their lunch, the orange-haired beauty is doing her best to ignore the dark humor that's being spoken by her shipmates that she sat in between of. Brook went back to eating and sometimes joining Gin and Robin's conversation by mentioning a few possible scenarios on what would have happened. Yu and Zoro then decided that enough was enough, so after glaring at the people crowding Luffy to sit (luckily they complied but not without pouting at Luffy) and drinking their beer, then slamming their mug down at the table. They turned to look at Luffy with determination, ready to fire some questions or at least start the meeting when they found out her attention was on Marco.

Said Pirate was currently doing his best to snuggle, aka hiding, into Luffy's clothes. When Marco saw the Cerberus looked at Chopper he had turned his head towards Luffy and saw the same thing the Captain and Lt. Commander did, which confuses him, what could be amusing with your crew member being chased by the guard of the dead?! He was so focused and confuse with Luffy's reaction that he jump in fright when the two males shouted her name, followed by her laughing out loud. He looked at them, then at the Skeleton ('Wait… Skeleton are bones… no wonder the Celebrus went after him, yoi.') where he saw the said mythical being looking smug at them.

Blinking at the sight of the smug three-headed dog, the First Mate of the Whitebeard Pirates nearly jumped in fright again when they all moaned out her name, though, his eyes immediately narrowed at Sanji, when the way he moaned out Luffy's name was… well, a bit love-sick. When Luffy apologized, followed by them saying it's not sincere, and then the Cerberus dissipating into thin air, he decided to eat his meal and ignore the marine crew around him.

'Fuck this. Their craziness is beyond the Craziness of the entire Grandline, yoi.' He despaired, crocodile tears falling from his eyes as he ignored his surrounding. When he decided to accept his fate or whatever this thing going on with this crew, he didn't expect this. 'Oyaji… I miss you! Oh Oda, please let me keep my sanity until I leave this place and return home…'

When he was done with his soup and bread, he then drinks his water before turning and jumps down on Luffy's lap, wanting her touch to ground him in reality and away from the craziness of her crew, even if she's the craziest of them all… shit, did he just heard Robin, Gin, and Brook talking about the scenarios if the Cerberus is in their crew? Nope, nope, he is not stepping in that territory! But what if… NO!

Luffy giggled, as the bird tried its best to block out her chattering crew by pushing his head in the middle of her breast, though it doesn't seem like he noticed, and patted a hand on his body. From an outsider's point of view, the avian no longer seems touched starve, but Luffy, who had experience being alone, knew what it felt like. This devil fruit user is still touch-starved and is using the emotion he's feeling at the moment as an excuse to have someone touch him which is, in this case, her. She chuckled when the bird flinched overhearing the talk of Robin, Gin, and Brook about the Cerberus playing with evil beings in the world and eat it.

'Hmm… I wonder how my brothers would react if they overheard them?' Luffy thought, humming, as she thought about her older brothers, Ace and Sabo. They could be excited and perhaps would join the Dark Humor Trio (aka Brook, Gin, and Robin) in their conversation, mostly Sabo. Though, if they saw the three-headed dog, Luffy had a feeling that her Older Brother, Ace, would try to fight it.

"Luffy?" Hearing Zoro called her out, she looked up from the bird and found out that her crew had to stop their activities earlier, even finished their meal, and we're currently looking at her with amused, and slightly concern, eyes.

"I'm fine." She told them honestly and nodded for Robin. She saw all of them glance at her plate, which was empty as she had finished her meal when the Prankster Trio had crowded around her, and then they sighed in relief before hands began to appear once more, gathering the used plates. Sanji and Gin stood up and grab the plates handed to them, putting them on the empty carts, before Sanji distributed some parfaits to his ladies, this made Gin sigh as he distributed some apple pies slices to his male crewmates. Though, Brook had cookies and milk, while Franky had a cola cake.

Luffy watched her crew as Sanji laid down three desserts in front of her, a soft fruit yogurt, which Luffy knew is for the bird hiding in her chest, one strawberry parfait, and her favorite, a huge, whole, medium-rare meat pie. Luffy nearly salivated at the sight of pie, but manage to control herself and swallowed.

"Thank you, Sanji," Luffy said, while Sanji bowed at her before straightening up and looked at the bird before turning away depressingly.

"Luffy-chwan's oppai…" He moaned out as he leaned on the cart rather depressedly, with crocodile tears flowing down from his eyes. "I want to be between them too… *sniffs*…"

Unknown to Sanji, Luffy and Marco had heard him. While Luffy merely giggled, Marco grew mad and pressed further between her chest, only then did he registered what was said and his current location.

'Yoi!' Marco internally screamed as his face suddenly blushed, fortunately, it was hidden from the view of the other marines, unfortunately, Luffy saw the blush which made her giggle more. 'Stupid, Beautiful Rear Admiral.' Marco slaps his wings on Luffy's arms, though gently.

Yu and Zoro glance at them before shrugging and drank their beer that was refiled by Gin, before the Chefs sat down. Seeing them ready, and relaxed, Luffy cleared her throat and started the meeting, or rather her experience in Mariejois for this visit. She told them how she had to talk to a Tenryuubito to rescue four beaten up slave women, to which the crew knew and had a glimpse on them, how there is suddenly about the notice No Touching rule, how she listened and found where Birdie-san was trapped (though Marco was confused on this part, who did she listened to?) how she and Rokudo had tea before she decided to try and check on Marco. Luffy, like always, also mentioned the action of the Saint towards her and used it to gain entrance on the mansion Marco was in, the mansion of Saint Jason.

Luffy's crew listened intensely, not once butting in her explanation, their faces only expressing what they are feeling or thoughts, as an example they only raised an eyebrow upon hearing the name of the exiled saint, even Marco was listening intensely. Luffy also told them the condition of their guest when she found him, how he has forcefully pulled her away from the vicinity (growls and hisses were heard during this statement). She then told them the whole event when she visited birdie-san in the middle of the night (Sanji was suddenly depressed on this part and unknowingly gave Marco a gleeful feeling upon seeing the condition of the chef). Followed by the events the next day, the meeting of the third elder, the talk with Rokudo and Sengoku before calling Robin, then during the dinner with the saint. She then told her crew about how she used her devil fruit and create a fake Birdie-san when she rescued him that night. However, when Luffy was about to tell them the event the following morning, she hesitated which was noticed by her crew.

"Luffy…?" Yu hesitantly said, they then watched as she went to cover their guest's ears by pulling him away from her chest and covered the side of his face. Marco frowned at her action and watched as she looked up and spoke to her crew, angry that she's making sure he didn't hear what had happened during that morning, even if he had an idea and was with her during that time, and that she was still hiding it from him. Her hand was removed just in time for him to hear somethings slamming on the table, which made him turn and blink when they saw the dark glare her crew have and her vices had a fisted hand on the table, veins showing in their arm. Chopper, however, was nearly panicking and began to list something on the paper he was holding. Luffy waited for a few minutes for them to calm down before telling them the event of her leaving the mansion, then the event of how she meets the Saint on her way to the terminal.

"He probably had heard me leaving the mansion and was on my way to the terminal, as it seems he didn't bother to check whether the fake Birdie-san is alive or not." She told them, after telling her crew that she embarrassed him in front of the other Celestial Dragon by bluntly speaking that the 'bird' he's giving her is dead.

"That's also the reason why Saint Jason is exiled and terminated from his status." She grinned, while her crew smirked.

"Evil Captain," Robin mumbled, making Luffy shrugs her shoulder, while the rest sighed.

"Shall we proceed with the happenings in Sabaody?" Luffy asked. Yu and Zoro nodded and each took a turn on what happened during their absences. They told the whole crew of the new Auction and Human shop that had tried to open 'with' and without their permission. Those without permissions were immediately thwarted by the group … well… by the group of marines they left behind (Luffy snickered when they mention the marines that were staying in Sabaody, because… well… her Grandpa will kill her if he found out who those marines really are). While those with permission…

"We didn't give any permission to new auctions and shop to open," Yu said, seeing the narrow and confused eyes of his Rear Admiral. "They knew that so those fake documents are useless and they were immediately disposed of."

When Luffy nodded, Zoro then told them how some slave traders carry children to be sold and/or auctioned. How they then tried to buy the marines stationed there to let them sell the children. It was during the next story did half of the crew gain a dark grin, as Luffy's First Mate told him that it angered the marines and him, how they destroyed the traders rather painfully and even left some for the crew to have fun with before letting be eaten by sea kings. Luffy smiled reluctantly and tilted her head to the side.

"Hmm… I rather not have blood spill when sailing…" She mumbled, making them lower their head slightly, thinking she was disappointed at them. "But since we're sailing for… justice… I think it's fine." She added, smiling more brightly.

"If you're a Pirate, Luffy… what would have you done?" Robin asked. This, of course, made the crew listen intensely while Marco was confused as he looked at the crew, who seem excited about seeing what Luffy's answer might be. Why would they ask their Rear Admiral about being a pirate?

"Hmmm…" Luffy hummed, thinking about the story Shanks told him and not even surprised at the question as they sometimes asked her about this. This, of course, made Marco squawk, surprise that the Rear Admiral gave a hard thought about it. "Well… if I'm Pirate then I'll focus on adventures! Just beat people up when they'll try to hurt my Nakama, I won't kill though. Adventures are no fun if you leave a trail of blood behind."

The crew all smiled, impressed, their loyalty and love towards their Rear Admiral strengthen more. While they all would like to talk with her about her dream, they have a 'guest' that shouldn't be even present in this meeting, and they don't want to bring any more pain in their Rear Admiral's heart for letting her remember of the promise she had to 'break'.

Marco was shocked at how kind the Rear Admiral would be as a Pirate, he thought she would be like that Rookie, X Drake, a Rear Admiral like her, who defected to become a Captain of Pirates. The Rookie was known to have a ruthless and bloodthirsty streak, though not as much as that other Rookie Captain, Eustass Kidd. Those two were known for their violence, and yet… if this woman he's sitting on became a pirate, then… would the sea be different? Would her kind heart and soul gave light to people that not all Pirates are bad? What would Oyaji think of her? How would she be… in his family?

"What about you guys?" Luffy asked back, but her crew merely smiled in agreement as Peter said.

"Wherever you go, we'll follow." Marco's eyes widen at the declaration and loyalty they are showing.

"Our dreams are something we will achieve. But… we have you and achieving them without you are pointless, Captain. You're… worth a lot more than anything." Luffy blushed at Nami's declaration and giggled while gesturing to continue with the meeting.

It didn't take long for Yu and Zoro's report with the matter on Sabaody finished, as in the end the slave traders were stopped and there are fewer newly acquired species being sold. Though they are working on what to do with the slaves that were already caught, sold, and re-sold. They need to come up with a bigger plan to free those people without the Navy HQ knowing. They also need to look for any new island being used as a new shopping area for slaves and pets.

"So… What about here in the base?" Luffy asked, looking at Nami, who merely shakes her head, making the raven-haired lass smile.

"Alright then… let it all out." Luffy then had one of her hands laid out on the table. Marco then decided to turn and lay his head on the table beside her hand and enjoy the patting his neck and body is receiving from her while watching the crew. Said crew wanted to talk at once or even have their question, about the event in Mariejois or Luffy, answered, but seeing their Captain's pointed look and that their guest is looking at them, they decided to merely ask things related to Mariejois.

"So, it was your fault that this Saint Jason was terminated?" Gray asked, grinning. Luffy giggled.

"Maybe, shishishishi~!"

"Well, that's one Tenryuubito out. Again." Gin mumbled as he went and list something on the pad he took out from his pocket.

"True, though by Marine Law if he's still a noble we still need to protect him," Hana stated, her younger twin nodded in agreement.

"Nami," Luffy called, the orange-haired woman looked at the Rear Admiral and smirk smugly.

"Let me guess… you want to see the map of our base and the islands that surround us?" Nami guessed, giggling when Luffy merely looked at her with wide, impressed eyes. "Already ahead of you captain~!"

*BAM!*

Marco and Chopper, who both had direct contact on the table (Chopper sitting on it, and Marco laying his head down), jumped when Nami slammed down a map at the center of the table, they, of course, glared at her for that but what was ignored. Luffy chuckled and was about to lean over the table when Yu spoke.

"Luffy… I'm getting concerned about the actions of the Tenryuubito and the Elders." Luffy looked at her first Left-hand man seriously, while said male looked at the table, frowning deeply before he looked at her. "They looked like they have plans for you, to caged you even more. Do you have any idea what could they want from you? Why they were doing this?"

Everyone was silent at the question as they all looked at Luffy, who merely looked at Yu with a blank expression. Minutes passed before she opened her mouth and said.

"I've been in the Marineford since I was 14… and you saw what I've been through there as you joined the troupe earlier than I did." Reminded at what he saw and sometimes heard, the dark-haired male looked down at the table with a shameful expression, Luffy showed them a sad smile. "While I know they did those things to train me… that's just it… that's as far as I know. The Marines want me to be trained, but what the Gorosei and Tenryuubito wanted from me is something I don't know…"

"Maybe we could ask the slaves you rescued?" Gray suggested this made all of them look at him. "Not now, of course. When they're comfortable and gain the confidence to speak to us without looking down at the floor, we can ask them."

"Would you look at that… you do have brains." Yu dryly commented, making a vein to pop from Gray's forehead.

"What was that?" He snarled, as Luffy sighed before giggling.

"Alright… we'll ask the former slaves." Gray then sat down upon hearing that statement from their Rear Admiral, before said Rear Admiral looked at Robin. "Though… do you know where the Fleet Admiral is hiding those things?"

"Yes, Luffy." Robin nodded. "He is really not hiding them… it was on plain sight."

"Plain sight?" Luffy eyebrows furrowed. "How?"

"He just covers up the name and changes the folder." They all sighed in frustration at that.

"Why didn't we notice that before?" Nami murmured.

"We need to do something about those. Robin, you and Usopp talk about it." Zoro ordered this made them look at him. "Just like Yu, I don't like how this is going with the Gorosei and Tenryuubito, in case things went sour then we are prepared for it."

"Got it."

"Thanks, Zoro," Luffy said, as she put her cheek on her hand, her elbow leaning at the table.

"If there are orders that you can't give for some unknown reasons, but we can? Then Yu and I will gladly take over, Captain."

"Hmmm…" Luffy nodded in understanding, thinking of the things that she requests for Robin to find. It wasn't much, she just asks her to search for the Eternal Log Pose of their base and some files, that's all. "Robin… my next visit… I want you to stay with me on Mariejois for a day and search for those things there too."

"Okay." Robin nodded. "I'll have Usopp make a lot of surprises."

"Yeah do that." Yu nodded as he looked at the people sitting on his side. "Be alert Vendetta Marina. Listen and record that's been going on around the HQ and the World Government."

"Yes Sir!"

"AOW! Let's not forget to tell the island under our protection!" Franky added, making them all nod.

"Fishman Island had been notified. King Neptune knew what to do when things went sour." Luffy told her crew, they sighed in relief at that.

"Alright… let's search for the possible island that Jason might currently be at," Nami said as she leaned over the table. The crew then listened to Robin, who was also their informer, about what she knew about the former saint. Luffy knew that Jason had a private Island at one of the islands that's near her base, and by near she meant thousand of miles away. After all, the nearest inhabited island is 1,500 miles away if you're not including those sand bar of islands, though if it's included then the nearest once are at least a thousand miles away and those islands are uninhabited too. It seems that the Gorosei are very determined to keep her and the base's location a secret with how far the islands are.

"Nami…" Luffy said slowly, gathering the attention of her crew, while Marco decided on eyeing the map with interest. "Have you heard of islands that have been doing extravagant parties and had multiples luxurious ships docking in and out for the past 3 weeks?"

"You think that the Island who fit the qualification is where the Noble is?" Nami guessed, making Luffy nod, she then hummed as she began to think deeply. Glancing at her left, Nami noticed Chopper looking outside, which made her follow his sight and smiled.

"Chopper! Can you asked the birds about Luffy's question?" She asked Chopper looked at her with wide eyes before nodding.

"Yeah, I can!" With that, he jumped down, and walk towards the window followed by Nami. The crew watched them as Nami opened the window and let their Doctor talk with the birds with hush voices. Luffy looked away from the duo and leaned against the back of her chair and closed her eyes. Robin, seeing her eyes closed, used her devil fruit, sprouting a pair of arms above Luffy's shoulder and massaged them. The Rear Admiral snapped her eyes open, tense, but when she saw the hands merely massaging her, she relaxed and smiled at Robin, who gave her a small, apologetic smile.

Marco, who felt Luffy tense, turned his head to looked at her, tilting his head when he saw her getting a massage with the help of Robin's devil fruit and relaxing after a while. He glances to the side and saw the present crewmembers looking more alert than they were when she was awake as if they were expecting an attack, which is weird because this is their base… why would they expect being attacked? Remembering the Cerberus incident, Marco had a feeling that's not why they were alert, because as far as he can see… all their eyes sometimes went to the doors, windows, and ceilings in the room. A sign that they are waiting for someone…. no people to barge in the room using the areas they're looking at and fight them.

'This… isn't good.' Marco frowned, tensing himself, as he slowly lifted and spread his wings. Responding to the atmosphere the crew had. Luffy inhaled slowly when she felt something heating in her lap, and since it's only Birdie-san there, he might be getting affected by the atmosphere her crew is slowly creating. Marco was about to burst into blue flames (ultimately busting his cover) when he suddenly felt Luffy vibrating(?) He turned his head to looked at the Rear Admiral, who was looking at him through partial lidded eyes… No… she was looking at his feet! Snapping his eyes at the place the Marine is looking, he froze when he saw some sparks of blue flames appearing. Inhaling deeply and forcing himself to relax, the flames dissipated. From the looks of it, only Luffy saw the change, fortunately, she did nothing and just went back to fully closing her eyes, though the vibrating continues. Lucky him, he grumbled internally Marco leaned his head on Luffy's chest again, relaxed, and closed his eyes.

"Purring, Captain?" Robin asked, smiling at Luffy, who merely purred more, not bothering to answer. This made everyone in the room relaxed slightly as a purring Luffy is a good sign and meaning they are safe. Not that their base isn't safe, because it is… their base is the safest place from the Marineford and World Government, it's just that old habits die hard. It wasn't long before Nami and Chopper went back to their seats and the Navigator immediately worked on the details they managed to gather from the birds, slamming down two more maps on the table. Marco tilts his head to the side, blinking upon seeing a bag hanging on Nami's chair filled with rolled-up papers.

'How did I missed that, yoi?' He thought, thinking that those papers are maps the Navigator have

"Okay, I think I have an idea on what Island Saint Jason is," Nami mumbled as she began to write something on the maps. Luffy opened her eyes, as the hands disappeared, and yawned, stretching her own arms above her head, before looking at the table, though unknown to her, her action was almost copied by Marco. When the Youngest Rear Admiral had opened her eyes and yawned, Marco did the same, shaking his head after yawning before stretching his neck and spreading his wings, before smacking his beak, followed by ruffling his feathers, making them puff up and then deflated. While Luffy may not notice this, the whole crew did and they have to cover up the snickers or giggles that escapes from their mouth, especially Nami, who found it adorable and knowing what devil fruits Luffy has, she can't help but concur with an image of it happening, this time with Luffy using her devil fruit.

Luffy looked at her crew, tilting her head to the side when she saw how they tried to stop laughing, Marco, who had no idea that he copied Luffy's action, also confused before deciding that this is just another weirdness of the Rear Admiral's crew. Nami cleared her throat before pointing at one of the islands drawn in th maps.

"According to the birds' Chopper talked with, this is the only one they passed by that fits the specification you asked Luffy." She said. "And considering that we've been treating these birds well and they are our eyes in the sky, they have no reason to lie."

"Are you sure that's the one?" Peter asked, looking at the said Island.

"Yohohohoho! If that is true then this Jason is smart than the other Tenryuubitos, yohohohoho!" Brook laughs, as he also looked at the maps. Luffy stood up from her chair, putting Marco at the table, and looked at the maps closely as her crewmates talked, putting her hands down and lean against it.

"Or he sees so highly of himself that he deemed his protection to be doubled," Franky spoke, rubbing his chin.

"I think it's merely a coincidence that he choose that island." Gin said, taking a sip from his tea. "The only people who knew our exact location, other than us, are the Fleet Admiral, the Gorosei, and the spoiled brat…" He added before pausing and looked at the avian devil fruit user. "I am not sure whether to include our guest on that part."

"The only reason those guys knew our exact location is because of the Eternal Log Pose they hold, otherwise they would be in the dark too." Usopp pointed, hinting that unless their 'guest' had that Eternal Log Pose then he is the same as the rest of the world, ignorant of their existence.

"Still it doesn't change the fact that the island is right there." Hana glared, while her twin murmured darkly. Luffy then sighed and looked at her crew.

"That said, I will call Fleet Admiral Sengoku to talk with him about this." Glancing at the maps, the Rear Admiral frowned. "If a Tenryuubito chooses an island between two bases, then it just means he or she knew the location of the base."

"Does that mean that Jason knew our base location?" Gray asked, eating a piece of his pie.

"Perhaps…" Luffy mumbled, biting the nail of her thumb, as she began to think deeply. "I'll also ask Saint Rokudo about this… no one should know our base."

"How about you investigate first before calling the Fleet Admiral and that Celestial Dragon? If it was a coincidence then no need to call them and gather more attention." Yu suggested, sneering when he spoke about Rokudo. Zoro seemed to agree as he looked at his Captain, who was blinking, and smiled at Yu.

"Yeah… I might just do that." Luffy stated as she leaned back from the table. "If it's not a coincidence, I'll probably call them tomorrow or the next day. For now… let's talk about sparring!" She cheerfully stated, as her crew groaned in despair, Sanji, however, was twirling happily. Meanwhile, Marco was eyeing the maps, specifically, the island they were speaking of, in disdain. It seems that the island the Tenryuubito who caged him, is 500 miles away, on the East Side from an Island that has a G5 written on it, and from the expression of his 'hosts', it's a marine base, while it's 4,000 miles away, North, from the Rear Admiral's base. Turning to look at his savior, the blue feather phoenix gently pecked her hand, which was still on the table, gaining her attention as her crew went back to argue against their Lt. Commander and Captain of the base.

"Yes, Birdie-san?" Luffy asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion. Said bird flushed slightly at the cute gesture, before shaking his head and pointed his at the maps. Luffy blinked and looked at the spot he was pointing at, then back at him. "What about them?"

Marco crooned, standing up and headed towards the map, as he walks, he didn't notice that he was covered with a transparent orange mist nor did he notice the glances Luffy made around her crew, her warm brown eyes turning light blue. The Pirate made another noise, thus Luffy's eyes went back to him, letting his wings touch the drawing of the G6 base and the island of the exiled Tenryuubito before doing the same to the G5 base. Once that was done, Marco looked back at Luffy, who keeps moving her head from side to side.

"Are… are you asking something about the island?" She asked hesitantly, making Marco nod and walk back to her, hoping that it was enough to make the youngest female marine in the room to understand that he wanted answers, fortunately for Marco, Luffy did. When he was back on his spot, the orange mist disappeared and Luffy closed her eyes and listened.

"Why? Why care for an island that far? A base is near, yet yours is far… why care?"

Luffy smiled when she finally got the correct question the bird is asking.

"Your voice and the voices have been noisy so lately, Birdie-san…" Luffy said, opening her warm brown eyes. "It's… different, but nice to hear." She added as she sat down, and picking Marco up, placing him on her lap, petting his body. The phoenix, however, was frowning internally, confused about her statement. Because what did she meant by voices? His voice? He's not even speaking!

"Well…" Luffy started, leaning back on her chair. "The nearest island for my base is at least a thousand and a half-mile away. And… hmm.. how do I explain this…" Luffy then began to murmur, while Marco snuggled against her, laying his head down on her left breast once he was comfortable.

"Umm… you see for a base, it only protects the islands that are within a certain distance. To get that, we multiply the distance between the base and the nearest island by five. Once you have the answer then the islands within that range will be under your protection and you are required to at least visit them and help them anytime." Luffy sighed in defeat. "Since the one who locked you up is within my range, then I have to protect them… though mostly to those islands, I'm merely reinforcement since my base is more than a thousand miles away. My crew and I can visit and assist the islands that are within 2,000 miles away, islands beyond that range… only I and a few others can visit them since we will be using Geppo, and it is not something all of my crew can use it."

Marco nodded at her explanation, filing it inside his mind so that he can share it with his family, especially when he wants to avoid ( to land) at the islands she's protecting. It wasn't long before Luffy had enough of her crew bickering and stood up, her dessert finished while putting Marco back at the table, who suddenly remembered his dessert, which was place by Luffy in front of him, and began enjoying it. The meals prepared here almost rivals Thatch's, almost, his brother is better (The Avian tried to ignore the voice in his mind telling that he's being biased). That was when he remembered the Fourth Commander's condition before he got separated from his family. The First Mate of Whitebeard slowed down on eating his dessert, frowning slightly as he thought whether or not his brother had fully recovered and if his family are okay. Marco lowered the spoon that one of his talons was clutching, feeling depressed, and suddenly had the feeling of no longer finishing the dessert even though it'll be gone after a couple more scoops.

Laying down on the table, no longer had the energy to do anything, Marco watched the Marine crew, who had abandoned the table and was talking and standing at his right side of the room. Nami, Hana and Mina, seems to be talking with Zoro, Yu, and Gray, the green-haired Captain seemed to try his very best to ignore the nagging females, while the latter two was merely looking at them blankly. Peter was comforting Usopp, who seems to fear the sparring Luffy had planned, more so than anyone in the room. Robin was talking with Gin, both of them excited with what sparring their Rear Admiral had in mind as they don't usually fight with other Marines (friendly sparring) nor Pirates (the ones they aren't assigned to Capture at least) thus, this sparring is something they want to do.

Brook and Franky were merely watching their crewmates as if this was a normal occurrence of them fighting whenever they were sparring with Luffy, and from the looks of it, Marco knew that this was normal for them and was merely putting an act. Chopper was checking his first aid kit and listing down the things that are missing from them, as he knew Luffy could be very brutal when it comes to training or sparring them (Chopper blames Admiral Aokiji, Vice-Admiral Tsuru, and Vice-Admiral Garp for that), while Sanji was putting the plates left on the table on the cart, though he keeps on shouting towards this person he called 'Marimo' to listen to his beloved 'Nami-swan~'. Marco doesn't really like that guy… especially when he acts like that towards Luffy. Speaking of, the Rear Admiral just head out of her room, relaxed, and sat down on her chair again.

"Not going to finish, Birdie-san?" Luffy asked, gesturing towards the unfinished yogurt, said Bird merely shakes his head, making her hummed and eat it instead. Marco blinked at that, not knowing what to think whenever she seemed to finish his meal or drink. It wasn't long before she was done and hand over the empty bowl to Sanji, who bowed at her and put it back on the cart. Then the two of them watched their whole crew bicker, and it seems Yu and Gray finally decided to speak against the girls, followed by Zoro. When the green-haired Captain spoke, Sanji then joined them, defending 'his ladies'.

Marco watched Luffy slowly smirk as she stood up and began to reach around her back, making the Mythological Devil Fruit user lift his head from the table and watch the raven-haired marine intently as she suddenly flicks her wrist and revealed a metal, bo staff which she swings towards Zoro, who was the only crew that's a bit near to her. Zoro reacted immediately, feeling the intended attack, swiftly unsheathing his sword and block the staff.

*CLANK!*

Hearing that, everyone's attention went towards the Marine Captain and Rear Admiral, the latter gaining a dark yet cheerful grin.

"I'm all set for the sparring…" Luffy said slowly. "Are you?" Hearing that, they look closer at the Rear Admiral, who was no longer wearing the clothes she wore during their whole lunch and meeting, instead, she was wearing a light blue with white stripe yoga pants, a slightly fitting light blue sleeveless t-shirt, over the sleeveless shirt was a white loose crop-top shirt. There's also a weapon-belt like wrapped around Luffy's waist, with two 20 inch bar like metals hanging on both sides of her back, the area between the bars was empty, and Marco assumed that it's were Luffy put the bo staff before she took it out. Seeing her outfit, the crew cursed softly as they slowly started to back away from Luffy, who straighten up and let Zoro do the same. The Blue-Feathered Avian watched as they seem to back away from a strong predator with how slowly they went towards the door, when Usopp, who was the very first person to reach their exit, opened the door, they immediately scattered and went towards their room.

"You have 5 minutes to change and head to the training ground! If you're not there within 5 then I'm hunting you!" Luffy shouted as she let her bo staff separate into 3 parts and fasten them on her belt, giggling when they shouted.

"Damn it, Luffy!"

"Roger, Luffy-chwan~!"

"Aye, Aye Captain/Luffy!"

"Roger!"

"Yohohohoho!"

"SUPPPPEEEERRR!"

"Five minutes! Five minutes! FIVE MINUTES!"

"SHUT UP, USOPP!"

Marco blinked at the different shouts that answered Luffy, before looking at the Rear Admiral with wide eyes and then gave her outfit another look over. He wondered why he didn't notice her change of clothes before deciding to leave it be and enjoyed the sight.

'Shit… Thatch will surely tease me if he found out about this, yoi.' With that in mind, Marco swears to never, ever tell his shipmates about this marine. Well, his captain deserved to know, but not his foster siblings, he rather not be teased by them too much, and he still hadn't made them stop that bird and pineapple jokes no matter the punishment he released to them, he rather not add more.

"Let's go then, Birdie-san~" Luffy stated as she lifted Marco from the table and cradle him in her arms. Marco flapped for a while, as they headed towards the room, looking up at Luffy in confusion. Seeing his head slightly tilted to the side made Luffy chuckled.

"Don't look at me like that…" she stated. "I can't let you get bored and alone in a room, especially not after months of captivity." Marco released a soft croon as he let his wings hang from her hands, eyes focusing on their surrounding, when he saw a group of Marines gathered at a window talking, stopping when Luffy was in their sight.

"Hello, Luffy!" One female Marine greeted, making said Rear Admiral chuckled, while her package blinked in confusion and shock.

'They can call her by her name, yoi?' He thought.

"Hi, Ashley!"

"Sparring with the Operation Team Leaders? They were running around like headless chickens when they passed by." A male Marine joked as Luffy passed by them.

"And the Vendetta Marina…" Luffy paused and turned to look at the snickering group. "And then you guys~"

At that the group chokes in unison, looking at their Superior in fear, not that Luffy saw it as she continues walking straight after mention that they were included in the sparring, except for Marco, who was looking over Luffy's shoulder. The avian notice how pale they suddenly went, then at each other before they turned and run away from their spot and from Luffy, who with her keen hearing, heard them and giggled.

"Make sure to tell the others~ You leaders and I will train you tomorrow~"

"GAAAAAAHHHH!"

Marco released a small sneeze with a small shake of his head, this made Luffy glance at him and wonder what it means, before shrugging while the First Mate of Whitebeard wonder why they were so afraid of their Rear Admiral's training, or in this case, sparring.

'She can't be that brutal… right?' Marco thought as he also glances at the Rear Admiral, but then Luffy turned to a huge opened window that leads to a balcony that is 50 or more meters away from the ground. The youngest Rear Admiral stopped at the Balcony's railing and look down where they both saw a huge training ground. The grounds were covered with grass and were 25 meters long and 20 meters wide, a line of trees surrounding it with benches underneath them, some huge trees had set of tables and chairs under them as well. Marco could imagine having a group training here with at least half of his crewmates, and possibly a training between him, his fellow commanders and their pops can also happen in this area… if his Oyaji doesn't use any devil fruit abilities. Thinking that this is where Luffy will make him stay as they train, he began to look around to see if there is someone to watched him only to freeze when his savior jumped on the railings, with him still in her arms. With realizing horror, the Blue Fire Phoenix, robotically turn his head to look at Luffy, who was grinning at him and excitedly.

'No way… no way… no way… NOOOO WAAAAYYY!' And like earlier in the room when Marco found out about Brook and Franky, he screeched. This made the marines, who heard his loud screeched to look out from the window, some poke their heads out, eyes following the white, blue, and black blur that was rapidly descending to the ground, smiling before paling when they thought… no… felt Luffy's eyes on them and slammed the windows shut as if for protection they even locked it. The 'civilians' who heard the screech, merely snickered when they realize it was on the training ground and wondered what kind of training Luffy had planned for her crew for them to react like that.

Marco… well, yeah he can fly, yes he's a phoenix, and yes he may or may not have done a skydive hundreds of feet above their ship before, so it would be correct to assume that he shouldn't react like this right? Wrong! That assumption is so wrong! Yes, he can do a skydive higher than this and not screeched but that was because he knew how to stop and used his wings to break down his fall. But with him being cradled by this Adrenaline Junkie of a Rear Admiral (and yes, he is thinking that this girl is an Adrenaline Junkie, what's with her jumping down from a 50 or more meters buildings and using Geppo to reach her ship)? Shit… and then he has no way of escaping from said Rear Admiral, not with his wings bandaged and risking showing his true identity because flying means bursting into flames for awhile? Double Shit.

Luffy landed on the grass with a soft thump, her knees slightly bent to catch her fall, and stood up, giggling upon remembering the reactions of her Marines, she then glances at her passenger, who was looking a bit pale while glaring at her. Marco swore to himself to make sure she will pay dearly for making him lost at least a decade of his life. When he was put down at one of the benches, followed by her sitting, Marco decided to disturb her short peace, wanting to know why she didn't just leave him alone on top of the balcony. Thus, he pokes her gently with his beak and then pointing at the balcony when she watched him through partial lidded eyes. Luffy hummed as she then stretched and leaned her elbow on her thigh, her cheek resting on her hand, and looked at him.

"You're very curious, Birdie-san." She muttered and poked his forehead gently making him squawk indignantly. "If you're wondering why I didn't leave you alone at the Balcony, heck, why didn't I just leave you alone at my room, other than the reason of you being bored and alone, is because… I don't want you at a place where you can see the whole area around my island." Marco looked at her with wide eyes when her tone suddenly turned cold, even her eyes went from warm brown ones into icy blue.

"While all you can see around here for at least a thousand-mile is nothing but the big blue seas… I rather not take my chances of you seeing something to use as a landmark. This base is a hidden one, and for the sake of the people living here, I would rather keep it that way." Marco gulped, blinks, before slowly nodding his head. Luffy then smiled upon seeing that.

"Besides, I don't know whether you're an enemy or not, so I rather not have you stay alone in a room where important files are found." She added looking away from him and to her crew, who were walking around the corner with mixed emotions, distress, and excitement. They were also panting and sweating now that Luffy looked at them clearly. "And while it means of letting you know my crew's fighting style… we can always improve or add more the moment you left. So it's fine for you to stay here." She then stood up, meeting her crew midway, while Marco shakes his head at the mood swings the Marine had.

"So… Who's up first?" Luffy gave them a grinned, her Operation Team Leaders and Vendetta Marina looks at each other before the latter group step forward to the training ground. Luffy giggled happily as followed after them, skipping as she did so, while the Operation Team Leaders went to the bench where Marco is and sat down either beside him or the forest floor with a hopeless atmosphere. Except for Gin, Robin, and Zoro, who was standing up and can't seem to wait to fight against their Captain.

"Ah! Nearly forgot." Luffy exclaimed before turning to look at them. "Whose next after this!?"

"That would be us, captain!" Nami answered, pointing at the standing Marines. "Brook, Chopper, Usopp, and I will be next. Zoro, Gin, Sanji, Robin, and Franky will be the last team!"

Luffy nodded and turned to look at the group in front of her. The males were only wearing shirts and knee-high shorts, barefooted, while the females were nearly wearing the same, but with different colors, clothes Luffy wore, with the exception of the over top shirts, wearing only pump shoes. Glancing at the Operation Team Leaders from the corner of her eyes, Luffy saw them wearing the clothes they were on the painting Marco saw, except for Robin and Nami who followed Hana and Mina's example, though both women are barefooted.

"Why didn't you wear those shirts?" Luffy asked the group in front of her, as her eyes went back to them. Yu, who saw where her eyes went, answered.

"Nope. We preferred shirts and shorts, not revealing clothing." He shrugs, making her giggled.

"Okay~" She sang, rolling her shoulders as she removes her sandals and wiggles her toes when they touched the grass. The Rear Admiral's eyes went towards her current enemies, eyeing their weapons and stances. Yu and Hana had their bokkens out and were already on their stance, eyeing her in return. Gray had his brass knuckles on his hands, prepared and ready for any attack Luffy will do. Mina and Peter were few steps behind the trio, guns ready. While Mina and Peter are great in hand to hand combat, average on swords, they are better in guns, their marksmanships were their greatest and best skills, nearly rivaling Usopp's (though the liar would come out on top if he stops being trembling whenever he tried to shot someone).

Luffy stopped walking when she was a meter away, standing still. Everyone in the training ground was quiet, the marines inside the building were peeking through the window, feeling excited. Meanwhile, Marco was holding his breathes, feeling two emotions, concern, and excitement. He's concern that something will happen to his savior, but he's also excited if his savior is fighting/training them alone by group, then… how strong is she when fighting enemies or pirates? The phoenix licks his beak, swearing to have his Pops meet this particular crew so that they can at least test their skills and level.

The Rear Admiral slowly took out her own bo staff from her back and with a flick of her wrist, the staff was assembled. The sword wielders in the Vendetta Marina spreads their leg a bit more, watching Luffy, who with a raised eyebrow, twirls her staff. Then, a beat later, Yu and Hana attacked, jumping from their spot and headed towards Luffy with their bokken arched. Just when the swords were swinging down, Luffy disappeared in front of them and then appearing behind them, right in the middle.

"You forgot that I can use Soru." She grinned, swinging her bo staff on Yu's side and kicking Hana right after. Both of them grunted, rolling at the ground. The 17 years old raven-haired marine immediately glance behind her, where Gray was already aiming for punch. Smirking, the Rear Admiral spins her body and then hits the dark-blue haired marine on his cheek with her staff. When Luffy landed on the ground on her feet, she moved her head slightly to the right and then to the left as pellets went past her. Looking up and in front of her, there was Peter and Mina already firing their guns, the former on one knee, while the latter is laying belly flat on the ground. Seeing their position, Luffy immediately reaches behind her and grabs one of the bars like metals attached to her belt. Once in her hand, Luffy brought it in front of her and spreads it open.

Marco blinked at that, turns out the bars on Luffy's waist were steel fans. He watched as the Marine smirked and spins her body once before letting the fan go and he watched as it flew towards the direction of the gun-wielding Marines, who cursed and rolled out of their spot, just in time as the fan dug into the place they were at before it went up. Luffy, however, didn't even bother to look at her fan because Yu was suddenly attacking her which she blocked with her staff. There was a bit of struggle before the bo staff wielder pushes the bokken away and kick Yu's gut. Luffy then turns, catching her fan mid-air when it returns to her like a boomerang, and put it back to her belt with one hand, while the spins her staff, protecting its user from the pellets that Peter and Mina fired once they regain their form, on her left side. Luffy glance at them then at her right where Gray and Hana are coming to attack.

Slamming her staff to the ground, the Rear Admiral jumped over her weapon, smirking at the annoyed expression her attacker had. Mid-landing, she swings her staff at them, hitting them in the face before doing a backflip towards the gunners' direction. Said gunners gritted their teeth and fired calmly in Luffy's direction, tsk-ing when none of it hit her. Luffy then crosses her arms over her chest two backflips away from them and spins around, arching over them. She landed half a meter away from them, facing their backs with one knee bent to her chest, the other stretched away.

With a twirl to her staff, Luffy then hits their faces before they could even register she was already there. When the gunners were sent to the trees, Luffy slides her body and lied down, raising her staff across her face just in time to stop Yu's bokken from hitting her. The granddaughter of the Marine Hero grinned, while the Lt. Commander gritted his teeth, that was when Luffy brought her both of her feet up over Yu's neck, showing her flexibility, and with a twist of her body to the side, the Leader of the Vendetta Marina's was flipped over her, just in time to as Gray was already attacking Luffy, who was crouching after flipping the Lt. Commander's body.

The Rear Admiral rolled back and did a handstand, spreading her legs wide before spinning, hitting the Lieutenant in the face, disorienting him. She then jumps from pusher her hands against from the ground and jumps over the disoriented male's head, her bo staff left on the ground, and sits on the back of Gray's shoulder, crossing her feet and squeezing her thigh around his neck. The Vice of Vendetta Marina tried to grab her shoulders or loosen her grip when Luffy arched her body again, hands stretching for the ground, and flips him on his front. The Rear Admiral immediately let's go, twirling as she does so and stop up before grabbing her fan and then blocks Hana's bokken that was swinging towards her when she began to twirl around. The Ensign flinches as focus and serious brown eyes went towards her, Luffy then grabs the wooden sword and kicks Hana away and towards Yu, who was already running towards them, sending them near the tree lines.

Spreading her fans, Luffy uses its edges to slices through the pellets that were fired at her. She let the bokken go and with her other hand free, Luffy grabs her remaining fan and spreads it. She then swings both fans in front of her, as if she was doing a fan dance, slicing and destroying the fired pellets. The gunners immediately run out of ammo, which they then tried to reload but was distracted when Luffy threw her fans towards them. With a curse, Peter and Mina jump to either side and runs away from their spots just as Luffy's fan went back to her. When she has them in her hands, Luffy then jumps up, followed by using Gray's head as a jumping board to jump higher. The reason for that is probably due to the Lieutenant jumping and arching an arm over Luffy's head, which made him tsk-ed and causes him to create a crater when she pushed him forward to the ground.

Said Captain, who had put her fans back to her belt during the jump, landed on the place where she left her bo staff, which she grabs by doing two front flips and then straightening up, watching as the Vendetta Marina gathered together and stood took their stances in front of her. Luffy grins and twirls her bo staff at her side, before doing it above her head, the spinning going faster and faster until it was blurry. She then lowered her staff back to the side, her spinning not once slowing. That was when Yu, Hana, and Gray jumps to attack, while Mina and Peter fired. Luffy glance at her staff for one second, her smirk widening when she saw indigo highlights on it.

Using Geppo, Luffy passed through the trio, heading immediately to the gunners who blinked in shock, followed by Soru which made her appear at Peter's side. With a wink, Luffy smacks her staff on their chest, making them spit out some saliva and the staff slightly splitting the ground the two were on. This made the two of them float slightly on-air before Luffy smacks their back sending them towards the bench where the other teams are resting. Gray, Hana, and Yu watched with wides eyes as their fellow member was sent away before their eyes went back to the Rear Admiral who was already above and in front of them, her staff arch over her head. And with a swing she brought it down, creating a crater. The impact sent the trio flying before Luffy went after Gray and hit him on his side, followed by kicking Hana to the gut, and Yu was kicked in the face, sending them in the direction where their gunners were sent. While Luffy landed on the ground softly.

…

…

..

.

"Whew! That went well… and fun!" She laughs as the defeated team groans in pain and disappointment. "Is that all you've got?" She taunted, snickering when they merely glared.

"And Luffy won again." Robin giggled, snapping the others from the trance of watching the fight.

"Were the craters and split ground necessary?" Nami moaned as she puts her hand on her forehead.

"Blame Gray, he started it." Luffy pointed at the Lieutenant who merely glares at her.

"HANA-CHAN~! MINA-CHAN~! LET ME TREAT YOUR INJURIES~!" Sanji exclaimed as he went towards them with hearts flying in the background, holding a first aid kit.

"Thanks, Sanji," Mina said making the Cook head on her way, while her older twin was being treated by Chopper.

"Damn it… I thought we nearly had you." Peter mumbled as Luffy walk towards them, swinging her staff.

"Yeah well… you get easily distracted," Luffy stated. This made the Vendetta Marina groan in disappointment but decided to stay quiet and not demand how they were distracted as Luffy will mention it to them, once everyone was finished. Luffy sat down beside Marco, who was looking at her with wide eyes.

"Here, Cap," Zoro stated, holding out a bottle of water to Luffy, who smiled, grabs it, and drinks.

"Ya know…" She started slowly, taking small sips in between. "I've been noting in my head how many times you've all called me Captain or even Rear Admiral during our journey from the time we left Sabaody…"

Everyone froze at that and looks at Luffy from the corner of their eyes. Said female Marine had her eyes were on them despite the direction of her head was directed to their 'guest'.

"I have my playtime with the Vendetta Marina… I'll start to get serious as I went through on sparring you, Operation Team Leaders." She then finished her sentence with a dark grin, while pouring some water on the bottle cap and laid the said cap down in front of Marco, who was frozen solid at the dark aura that surrounds her and at her statement.

'That was playtime for her, yoi?' He thought, incredulously, glancing at the state of the training ground. But then Marco grew excited, his feathers trembling in excitement. 'Let's see how strong you are, yoi.'

"We'll start with the next team after Chopper treats your injuries," Luffy mumbled, as stretched her legs in front of her and leaned back at the bench. Marco chooses that time to drink the offered water, while the crew, robotically, help the defeated group.

"That was playtime?!" Usopp whispered harshly.

"You do remember that Luffy is a lot stronger than us, Usopp, even stronger than her Grandfather. Do well to remember the previous training and sparring session." Nami muttered, wrapping a bandage around Gray's arms, who had his head down.

"Imagine the punishment we'll have for losing within 10 minutes in the training ground." He mumbled. This then made everyone paused and glance at Luffy, who was relaxing on her spot. They were tense, waiting for her response at that, before relaxing when nothing followed and continued on their task.

It wasn't long before the Vendetta's wound got treated and the next team was finally ready. Luffy opens her eyes and stretched. She then headed back towards the training ground, with her bo staff ready. Nami followed after her, her training weapon, a bo staff like Luffy, was out and assembled. Brook and Chopper were walking behind her, the former had his cane, while the latter had his backpack. Their sniper was behind them, trembling, as he holds his slingshots. When they were in the middle, the team were shocked when they saw Luffy blindfolding herself.

"Blindfolded?! Are you serious?!" The Cowardly Trio screeched while Brook and Luffy laughed. The First group sighed in relief, glad that Luffy wasn't wearing a blindfold when fighting/training them, because a blindfold Luffy means that she's will get serious, playful at first but then she'll be serious and it'll be worse than the one they received. The last group was trembling in excitement, knowing that when it'll be their time, the Rear Admiral is very much serious. Marco was feeling the same as the last group and swore to himself to never let his eyes stray away from the raven-haired beauty.

"I did say I will get serious as the sparring continues," Luffy said. "Besides… blindfolding will enhance my sense, and Brook is using a sword, not bokken. Sensei sometimes said blindfold is better when fighting against swords, shishishi."

Nami and Usopp groans before sighing and went to their stances, Brook hummed as he unsheathes his sword an inch, while Chopper had his rumble balls out. Luffy in the meantime tapping her staff on the ground, humming and waiting.

tap

taP

tAP

TAP

TAP!

"Hyaaaa!" Nami screamed as she went to attack Luffy, holding her staff on the side before swinging it to Luffy, who did a side step, this was followed by Nami, who swings the staff towards her side. Luffy merely smirks as she went and dodge all of Nami's attacks, she was just landing after doing a jump to avoid Nami's staff when Luffy tilted her head to the side for a while before swinging her staff in the direction her head was tilted, destroying a huge round pellet that Usopp released. This made the sniper shriek and run, while Brook went and attack Luffy with his sword that was then blocked.

"Oya… Luffy-san is expecting me it seems. Yohohohoho!" Brook laugh as Luffy giggled. "Ah! After this will you allow me to see your panties?"

…

..

.

"YOU DAMN SKELETON! HOW DARE YOU ASKS Luffy-chwan~ THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT?!" Sanji roared, while the rest laughs or sweatdrops.

"LIKE SHE WOULD LET YOU!" Nami, Hana, and Mina shouted. Marco's eyes, though, went half-lidded gaining some dark glints on them, a sign that only his Oyaji knew, a sign that he was planning something… something bad and no one can survive without getting hurt, badly.

'Yoi…' He internally grumbled, darkly at that.

"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughs before kicking Brook in the head and towards Nami's direction. "No way, Sorry." She added and snickered when she heard a flesh hitting a bone.

"DON'T APOLOGIZE!" Hana and Mina shouted while Nami was stomping on Brook's back.

"WOOOO! I'm still here!" Chopper shouted, already on his Kung Fu point as he runs towards his Captain, who immediately used Soru, appearing behind him and kicking him towards the still running Usopp, both grunting at the impact. Luffy then landed and turn her head in the direction where she knew Nami and Brook are at, flicking her wrist and disabled her bo staff before putting them on her belt. Nami stopped stomping Brook when she notices that her Rear Admiral was facing their direction. Brook, who was laughing at the harsh punishment he was receiving, stood up when he realizes where their Navigator was looking at.

Nami and Brook glance at each other, before nodding. They both went to their stances, the orange-haired woman widening her stance for a bit. Luffy tilts her head, when Nami runs to the side, Brooking doing the same but headed in the opposite direction. This made the Rear Admiral inhale deeply, listening to the footsteps of her current enemies, and heighten her senses.

'Nami is running on my left side, while Brook is on the right… hmmm? Usopp is hiding behind a tree, and while Chopper is in his walk point, in front of the tree Usopp is hiding.' Luffy thought before she sensed Nami and Brook runs towards her direction with their weapons ready to strike. She smirked, immediately using Soru when they swung at her. The young raven-haired girl was in the sky when she heard Nami and Ussop scream following by a large hand heading in her direction.

"NOW CHOPPER!"

'Hmm… Monster point... and so soon... huh…' Luffy hummed before muttering 'Geppo', which made her avoid the attack just in time though it did create a huge handprint crater. She gave a small tsk-ed.

"I hope you and plan to fix that, Chopper!"

"EEEEKKK!"

She giggled at that and then landed softly on the ground before doing a side flip when she felt something heading in her direction. Marco, who was watching the Rear Admiral, admire how fast she moved and how she mastered two of the Rokushiki, using it to avoid her incoming crewmates. Though he was a bit shock when the reindeer ate something and suddenly turned into a huge monster with a hoove-like hand, it didn't last long considering what he had experienced earlier. He then watches as Luffy landed and how she did some flips to avoid the pellets her sniper fired at her, and then when she dodges her Navigator's bo staff heading towards her, followed by avoiding her musician sword ("…how can a skeleton fight, yoi? Oh right… he's a devil fruit user…")

Luffy was having fun at the annoyance her crewmate felt, which grew every time she dodges them as they knew she was playing with them, though she's pretty sure Nami's annoyance is because of the crater that Chopper's monster point created when he tried to capture her. Luckily for the reindeer he only lasts 3 minutes in that form before changing to another type of transformation, otherwise, Nami might put a huge amount of debt on him for destroying the training grounds.

'It's not like she's paying them.' Luffy thought amusedly, and as much as she's enjoying this, she also wanted to end this and thus… she went Brook went to attack her after a few minutes of dodging, she immediately brought out and assembled her bo staff, just in time to block the sword from injuring her. Brook paused, as well his teammates when Luffy didn't dodge.

"My turn." Luffy grinned, before twisting her staff and doing a mid-air spin, kicking Brook's skull, which made him flew few feet away from the left side of the bench where Marco is sitting at. Luffy then turned to the rest of his team, grin turning dark. Nami gulped before rushing towards Luffy with her bo staff raised, while Chopper was following behind her in his horn point. When Nami swings her staff to Luffy, the latter jump over her and used Chopper as a springing board, making the reindeer sprawl on the ground, before heading to the direction where Usopp was stationed. Said sniper nearly panic before reaching for his satchel and grabs some pellets to the fire.

Luffy smirk before grabbing her fan, spreading it at her side before throwing it in his direction, and then she turned to faced Chopper, who had stood up immediately from being sprawled on the ground and followed her, blocking his horn with her staff horizontally. Usopp, who was about to aim at Luffy notice the fan flying in his direction, and got distracted as he watched it went through the trunk and up to the sky as the tree he was on soon fell.

"TIMBEERRR!" He screamed jumping down and began rolling on the ground. Luffy merely grins at his shout while the rest groans and slaps their forehead. All the while, Chopper tried to push his Captain back when she took off her feet from the ground, using the staff like a bar and kick his face, removing the staff when she hit him. The impact made Chopper flew back with a grunt, while Nami replaced him, spinning her weapon above her head and swings it down, only for Luffy to grab it and pulls it towards her, bringing the orange-haired navigator close to her, which resulted in her to be kicked in the gut and flew away with her staff.

"Nami-chwann!" Sanji called out worriedly, which made Hana and Mina glare at him since he didn't shout for them when they got hit. Not like they want him to shout for them, it's just that... wait… oh yeah… Sanji was not allowed to root on any women during training. He seemed to realize this as he suddenly went pale while Zoro snickered.

Luffy merely gave a huge dark grin while her head was tilted to Sanji's direction catching the fan that was returning to her before throwing it again towards Brook, who was running towards her. Said skeleton deflected the weapon as he continues to his Rear Admiral, who was merely standing and then disappearing. Brook then moved his sword to the side blocking the staff that went for his skull but unable to dodge the kick heading towards his waist. Luffy threw her musician away and then disassembled her staff, putting it to her belt and grabs the remaining fan on her belt while catching the other as it comes back. She then spreads both weapons and stops Chopper, who is already using his Kung Fu point, hooved fist with one fan, while the other fan had its edges caught with Nami's staff. The two attackers struggled to push against the fan when Luffy jumps and spins her body mid-air, avoiding the pellets Usopp, who was standing few meters away in front of Luffy's previous position, fired. This movement made Nami and Chopper stumbled to the spot Luffy was, which the Rear Admiral immediately took leverage by using Nami's and Chopper's head to break her spin, doing a handstand on the mentioned parts. They bought grunted when their Rear Admiral didn't hesitate to push them to the ground as she once again jumps, arching her body above the space between them and Usopp, and landed behind the latter, who gulp and sweats.

"You really need to learn hand to hand combat, Ussop," Luffy mumbled before turning and then kicking the sniper's side, followed by a kick to the back. Luffy went to follow after her victim and kick his face before he could hit a tree, sending him to the watching team. They all winced at the rough treatment, more so when Usopp's face became unrecognizable. Nami breathed hitched and turn to look in front of her where Luffy was already standing. She started to stutter but immediately raised her hands, one holding her staff, in front of her face when she saw a foot heading her. She grunt when Luffy's feet meets her hand and was thrown back, landing with a roll and stopping on her front. She tried to stand up when Luffy was suddenly above her vulnerable back with a foot lifted up. This made her roll to the side and watch as a small crater appeared at the place the foot landed.

'She's getting serious.' Everyone, excluding Marco, thought. Nami stood up, holding her staff in front of her, turning to face Luffy when she felt someone tapping her shoulder. With a nervous and pale expression, she turned to face that person only to be kicked at the side by Luffy, sending her to the direction where Usopp is still lying down, and unintentionally catching Nami.

"Ugh!" The sniper grunted while Nami sighed in pain and disappointment, before her attention went to Luffy, who was facing away from them, though her face was tilted in their direction. That was when Chopper charged in his horn point, but Luffy wasn't bothered by it as she even went as far as putting her fans back to her belt. Chopper was feet away from stabbing Luffy when she grabs his horns and throwing him over her shoulder. The doctor grunted while the rest flinched or winced as if feeling his pain when his back met the ground. Luffy then lifted him and spins Chopper around before throwing him to the sky, jumping soon after, and kicked Chopper in the gut and to the direction where Sanji is standing, making the cook cushions his fall.

"GAAAAH!" Sanji grunted, his eyes bulging out. And everyone, excluding Marco, knew that it was his punishment for cheering when he wasn't supposed to.

"Lu…Luffy-chwan…" Sanji stuttered reaching for Luffy before fainting. Everyone was looking at Sanji before their eyes went back to the remaining people on the training ground. Everyone was quite as Luffy waited for Brook to attack, while said Skeleton was doing the same. The Marines of G6 knew that Luffy was serious and if she is then she knew how to defeat you within ten seconds, the only way to last longer than ten was to let her attack first. But, unfortunately, the Rear Admiral was known for being patient which is something neither crew have, and thus Brook immediately went to attack, sword up and ready to be swung over Luffy. Said Marine was digging her toe on the ground and mumbling only she can hear, as he brought the sword down, Brook suddenly froze and spit out some saliva. Everyone watched with wide eyes as the Skeleton slouched over the fisted hand of the Rear Admiral, where they all saw, including Marco, the hand covered with indigo like flames. Marco knew he saw an indigo mist covering Luffy's hand but it was suddenly gone when he blinked and the Skeleton was already thrown in their direction. Yu and Gray caught Brook, immediately giving him some milk before their eyes went to their Rear Admiral, who had to remove the blindfold and a hand reached out and made a 'bring it on' gesture towards the remaining team.

"Come on now… Give me your best shot." Luffy gave them an excited yet dark grin, not even breaking a sweat. Zoro, Gin, Robin, Sanji (who stood up immediately when Brook was caught), and Franky grin in excitement before they all went towards Luffy, who was looking at Zoro's swords and then at her blindfolds.

"Luffy… if I may so bold to request…" Zoro started, seeing where Luffy's attention went. Luffy's eyes went sharp and glance at him with a raised eyebrow. "Can you fight against me without blindfolds?"

Everyone, but Zoro's team, gasp at that.

"I know that your already 20% serious and the real purpose of the blindfold… but I want to try our best against you. I am not thinking of any lesser of the other team. I just want them to see, and we want to feel, what will happen when going against someone with the Fleet Admiral's level." He explained this made Yu sigh and said.

"I agree. While you're teaching us to become stronger in a way you know… it still doesn't change the fact that you're a lot stronger, and that we sometimes… no… we always rely on you to save." At that all of them began to nod as the other Marines watching in through the windows gave noises of agreement. "We need to know how much we need to train to be near on the same level as you."

Luffy sighed, while it's true that Admiral Aokiji told her that being blindfolded works best against sword users, the real reason for the blindfold is to lessen, even if it's a little bit, her attacks on her crew. She got used to fighting against the Admiral and some Vice Admiral that during her first training with her crew, the aftermath and casualties were more than any ordinary training would have resulted. She receives punishment for that before she was ordered on using blindfolds when training with her crew until she deemed her crew ready to take on her without the blindfold. Zoro knew Luffy wanted to fight without the blindfold, but she was hesitant on doing so, and he knew why but seeing that there's an oncoming threat to Luffy, to his Captain, he needs to fight against her. All of them.

"Alright…" Luffy sighed as she let the blindfold go. "I'll start with you guys today. Then starting next week you will train against me unblindfolded for five minutes. We will do this once every two weeks."

"YES REAR ADMIRAL!" Everyone shouted, Marco blink wondering if he misses something. The remaining team then went towards Luffy, gulped in excitement and a little bit of fear when they notice her eyes were slits. Slitted eyes for their Luffy just mean that she will probably end the fight with less than 50% of her strength. Zoro and his team waited for a bit before they jump and run in different directions.

On Marco's side, he is seeing some patterns here… the crew always jumps and runs before attacking their enemy, this makes him wonder why the pattern is repeating. Luffy's eyes alternatively eyed her crews' progress before leaning to the side just in time to avoid a fireball that Franky fired, followed by a jump just in time to avoid hands that appear at where her feet were before, though she had to use Geppo when more hands appeared, growing in length. Luffy crossed her arms above her head without looking up, just in time for her to block Sanji's leg, who was attacking from above and behind her. Franky, Robin, and Sanji were shocked, not expecting her to expect or even block the attack when her eyes were focused on the ground. Though they should have expected it, considering how Luffy manage to block every single attack the crew did when they were training with her.

"Are you going to continue, Sanji-kun?" Luffy asked softly, this made Sanji's heart to skip a beat.

"I… I can't milady!" He wept with crocodile tears, everyone below them sweats drops, before Luffy grabs his leg and spins him before throwing him to the ground. "LUFFY-CHWAN~!"

Luffy landed softly, facepalming before her eyes snapped open and blocked the swords that were heading towards her with an arm covered with armament haki. Zoro tsked, before jumping away and watch as hands appeared on Luffy's back, grabbing her own arms tightly. She looked at the side and saw Robin, arms crossed over her chest, looking at her with a determined face. The Rear Admiral tested the grip on her, before smirking as another set of hands appeared on the ground and grabs her feet. Robin knew this won't hold her Captain forever but if this could buy them some time enough for her male teammates to even put a scratch on her then it would be enough.

"Robin-chan behind you!" Sanji shouted, just as Robin froze and looked over her shoulder where a grinning Luffy was standing.

"Make sure it was me, Robin," Luffy stated, before turning upside down, hands on the ground, legs spread wide, and then spins. Her legs tried to hit Robin in the face when suddenly Gin was in front of their Archeologist, blocking their Rear Admira's leg with his Tonfa. Luffy smirked and flipped away from them when her Sue Chef swings his weapon towards her, landing beside the trapped version of her, which disappeared in purple dust.

"You okay Robin?" Gin asked as he twirls one of his Tonfas, while the other was held in front of him, the metal sphere blocking the left side of his face.

"Yeah, thanks," Robin said, shaking her head to remove the shock, while Gin went back to look at his Rear Admiral, who was fighting against Zoro. When she kicked the green-haired swordsman away, Gin immediately jumps to the fray, grinning. Luffy met his weapon with hers, smirking at the sight of how excited Gin is, before kicking the ground pushing Gin back and twirled, her staff resting against her arm, hitting him in the gut. Gin gritted his teeth before receiving a kick at the same place and flew towards a tree. Luffy then disappeared before reappearing behind Robin, who immediately turn only be flown back beside Sanji when the young superior punch the ground, creating a crater and a small amount of shock wave.

"Robin-chan!" Sanji shouted as he helps her sat up. "Luffy-chwan~ Please don't hurt Robin-chan too much! Also please don't hurt your goddess's hands and legs!" Robin chuckled at that before standing up and watch as Luffy ignored Sanji's statement and fought with Franky, who needed a hand to hand combat training.

"Oi! Franky! You better not hurt our goddess!" Sanji shouted, twitching whenever the said cyborg tried to hit Luffy.

"Did you say I'm a pervert?" Franky askes turning to look at Sanji, only to be hit by the list with Luffy's fist.

"Tsk." Zoro tsk as the Cyborg flew past him. "I'll be fighting you one on one Luffy!" He declared, making the former raised an eyebrow.

"Not fighting as a team?" she asked, this made the three sword swordsman twitch before going into his stance.

"As long as they won't get serious against you, I'll go solo," Zoro mumbled through his sword, this made Luffy narrow her eyes before she could say anything, however, Gin is already attacking Luffy from behind, swing his sphere above her. Without looking in his direction, Luffy sidestepped and grabs his wrist before throwing him over her shoulder and into Zoro's direction, fortunately for the former Don Krieg pirate, he manages to flip his body, doing a three-point landing beside Zoro.

"You do know that one purpose of this training is for teamwork…" He started slowly, glancing at Zoro, who shrugged, as their eyes went to Luffy, who suddenly smirked.

"The two of you are the distraction." She pointed out and at the same moment arms sprouted at the ground she's standing, a whirring noise of Franky's arm readying to fire, and Sanji running toward her direction.

"Teamwork, Luffy," Zoro mumbled before striking together with Sanji, who was swinging his leg above Luffy. Unitedly they brought their weapon, or leg in Sanji's case, down on Luffy's head when she suddenly reached behind her, with a flick and a twist, her Bo staff was blocking their attack. They Tsked, though Sanji released it with a soft and loving tone, before jumping away just as Franky fired his beam. Luffy immediately covered her staff with armament haki and a purple mist before swings her staff upward directing the beam up in the sky.

Marco blink, while he knew that Luffy is a high ranking marine, he didn't know she could use armament haki on her weapons… Wait, this could also mean that she could user observation haki! His eyes glinted as he trembled in excitement. How strong is her usage of haki? Is she on his level or more?

'This is getting exciting, yoi.' Marco though internally licking his lip and watched as Luffy jumped away from her current spot, the hand that was holding her had let go when her staff hits Franky's beam, just in time to avoid Gin's tonfa, who had jumped towards her the moment she deflected Franky's beam away, said weapon creating another crater and this made Nami weep and Luffy smirk. Zoro followed after Luffy, who spins her staff, jumps over the fallen tree, and cuts through it (Luffy wonders how it was still there considering Franky keeps firing his fireball and lasers beam in its direction sometimes. Additionally, it has fallen during her sparring with Nami's team and that was minutes ago), she then kicked the tree towards Zoro and then runs towards the direction was Franky and Robin are, meanwhile Zoro immediately cuts through the tree, cursing when he realized that his Rear Admiral was heading to the brains of the team. Sanji landed in front of Luffy, making her stop in the progress of heading towards the Hana Hana no Mi user and the Cyborg, who were both alert and ready. Zoro and Gin stopping behind her.

"This is as far as I'll let you go, Luffy-chwan~!" Sanji stated, doing his noodle dance when he mentioned Luffy's name. This made the Rear Admiral shake her head fondly before her eyes turn into warm brown.

"Are you sure, Sanji-kun?" She asked softly, her face went soft, holding an innocent expression as one of her hand touched her cheek and head tilted to the side. The whole crew, who saw this immediately diverted their eyes, even Zoro, who was cursing Luffy, loudly may I add, about not playing fair. The only person who can't look away was Sanji and Marco, the latter didn't even know why or notice that the crew looked away. The Phoenix's blue eyes were stuck at the Rear Admiral, who was looking at Sanji with wide brown eyes as he took longer to answer, both Sanji and Marco blinked when they saw some light appearing behind Luffy, highlighting her beauty.

"San…ji…kun…" Luffy mouthed slowly, inwardly snickering at her victim(s) expression.

Doki…

Doki...

DOKI!

"Hai~ Luffy-chwan~!" Lo and behold, Sanji totally forgot the training and became the "Ero-cook" they all know. Luffy giggled, while Marco unintentionally released a growl as his wing began to spread and his tail twitching, he was about to launch himself towards Sanji when suddenly Luffy kicked Sanji at the… well… at the weakest area of the men, before kicking him in the face, making him land. Right. In front. Of Marco. The men wince, even Marco, who stopped growling and immediately lowered his wings, coincidentally covering that part of his avian body, that was until, of course, Sanji landed in front of him, Marco then pecked the blond's head. Not that the Chef could notice the abuse his head is having, he's still heaven considering how hard Luffy hit him there.

"I told you to learn to fight against women, even for a short while, Sanji!" Luffy roared, her teeth suddenly turning into sharks. "And also learn how to avoid being fooled!" She added with a hiss and focused back on the remaining members of the team, who keeps on glancing at her then at Sanji.

Sighing, Luff immediately used Soru and stopped in front of Robin, who blinks and breathed hitched when she realized that the daughter of Dragon was in front of her. She immediately crossed her hands in front of her but Luffy immediately grabs them and letting them go when she kicked her in the stomach, making her flew back to Franky, who was about to fire his missiles but stopped to catch Robin. Zoro gritted his teeth and jumps over Luffy, who merely glance at him before disappearing again and the next thing they knew Robin and Franky was laying at a broken tree by the bench, the older raven-haired woman had a bruise on her cheek, while Franky was holding his back, both groaning in pain.

Gin merely frowned before running towards Luffy, while Zoro landed on the other side. He swings his tonfa above her, only to be stopped by Luffy's bo staff, which he tried to return with a kick to the side, but Luffy merely grabs his feet with her free and tightens her grip. Gin wince, gritting his teeth, before leaping up and spins, in return, the Youngest Rear Admiral lets him go and jump away to avoid Zoro's sword. Gin then landed beside Zoro, both of them panting.

They watched Luffy, who blink emotionlessly before she grinned, both male frowns, and then their eyes widen when there was purple dust leaving the edges of her figure. Before they could do anything, Gin was thrown to the side, rolling on the floor before landing beside Franky, who was leaning beside the bench, Chopper and Ussop taking care of his wounds.

"Damn it," Gin cursed, wincing in pain that he felt on his side.

"Well?" Luffy asked, standing behind Zoro, who sighed and looked at her. "You're the one who requested this, the others we're following you."

"But they also wanted this, Luffy," Zoro stated. "Just how serious are you right, now?" At the question, Luffy hummed in thought.

"Considering what I used to defeat Sanji and how fast I went against Franky and Robin, and tricking you and Gin… 30%, more or less." She shrugged, unconcerned.

"Doesn't look like 30% to me," Zoro stated, before going to his stance, while Luffy grins widen.

"You should get used to it," She told him, twirling her staff. It was silent between the two before Zoro went and attacked. All audiences watched as their Marine Captain (aka Zoro) tried to defeat or at least injure their true Captain with anticipation. Luffy blocked the attack as she expected Zoro to do so. This lasted for a few minutes with Luffy on the defensive, blocking or parrying the hits. Then with an unexpected twist of the staff, she was suddenly on offensive making Zoro sweat as he continues to be on the defensive one. Every hit he blocks always makes him back away from Luffy or digging his feet on the ground.

Luffy then kicked off the ground, leaping high into the air, and swung his staff down at her Firstmate, said staff was blocked by two crossed katanas. The three sworded swordman tried his best not to kneel from the pure force of the blow before he finally pushed the female teen away and jump backward almost instantly as Luffy had twisted her weapon around and tried to thrust it at his stomach. Zoro tried to use his Oni Giri when Luffy ducked below and kicked his legs, this made him land on the ground with a groan before his eyes widen, and rolled to the side just in time to avoid the staff heading towards his way. This, of course, created another cater, Luffy glance at the ground before looking at Zoro, who was standing up. They eyed each other for a while before the green-haired swordsman sheathes two of his sword, intending to use Shisui only. Luffy prepared herself upon seeing that he'll be using his most powerful sword. The atmosphere was tense before Zoro, for the first time since their sparring, used Soru and swung his sword towards Luffy, who blocked it, only to repeat when Zoro kept on swinging the swords towards her.

It was on the 10th swing when something amazing, at least to Marco, happen. The moment Zoro hits Luffy's staff, there was a backlash, pushing Luffy from her spot at least a few feet away, when she stopped, Zoro gritted his teeth and push his sword more, creating a crater on Luffy's feet, crack appearing outside it. It was then something burst below the Youngest Rear Admiral, Marco saw white and yellow flames surrounding her feet and then the ground below her, the flames were growing until they reach her knee. Seeing the flames, Zoro's eyes widen, while Luffy let out a dark smirk and bent her knees slightly before giving Zoro a hard push making him flew near the tree line. Luffy also pushed her feet against the ground, and followed after Zoro, leaving scorched marks on the ground. Marco blink before his eyes followed Luffy, who was already beside her enemy and kicked him in their direction. Zoro landed, rolled, and stopped with a grunt beside Sanji, who somehow woke up after Marco stopped pecking him, which right before the battle between the Rear Admiral and the Marine Captain started.

They all looked at the defeated Captain before looking at Luffy, who was walking towards them rather calmly despite the flaming legs. The Firstmate of the Whitebeard Pirates felt excitement and something as else upon seeing the flames, but he doesn't know if it's him personally or his phoenix side… well, it's not like there's any difference as he and the phoenix are always on the same side and agreed to most things. Though Marco narrowed his eyes went he thought he saw some… talons(?) on Luffy's feet but it could be his imagination as he only saw her feet when she was standing in front of them.

'I miss being a hybrid phoenix, yoi.' He internally moaned out, looking at Luffy who didn't even break a sweat as something calming covered the crew. Luffy was looking at the eyes of her crew and then at Marco, who was looking at her legs, which made her look as well. When her eyes saw the flames, she merely raised an eyebrow before they slowly disappeared. Marco released a disappointed croon, drooping when the flames disappeared, which made her smile and pick the bird up and sat down, placing their guest on her lap as she grabs the bottle of water Chopper was reaching out for her and drank.

"That was fun." She said after drinking her water, grinning. "Better luck next time, guys."

Everyone groans, at that, though they were smiling. Zoro sighed before grabbing his bottled water and looks at his Captain.

"40%?" He asked but Luffy merely giggled and petted their guest, who seemed happy with the attention. Marco watched through half-lidded eyes as the crew suddenly felt better and talking to each other excitedly despite being brutally defeated. Meanwhile, as Luffy petted the mythical devil fruit user, she glances at the window where the lower ranking of the base are still watching and gave them a dark smirk. The marines, of course, saw this so they immediately run away from their spot, with no intention to looked back. The crew looked at the window then at Luffy, who was smiling softly, relaxed.

"Soo… where did we go wrong?" Peter asked, sitting in front of Luffy, crossed legged. The others followed him, sitting at the ground, and looked at Luffy, who was humming.

"Well…" Luffy looked at them, before sighing. "You've improved from the last sparring, but you all get annoyed and distracted easily. While it was amazing you guys care for each other, you can't be distracted with your own battle. If you were fighting with a different group and heard a member of the crew getting hurt? Well, the second your attention went towards them your dead. And being annoyed with the enemy isn't something to be done, keep a calm head. Additionally, you got overconfident. Every time you felt that you've cornered me, you were so confident that, that's it. It's over." She then gave them a soft smile.

"Make sure you defeat your enemy first before getting distracted or helping the others, confidence is good, but don't overdo it. It's sometimes better to think that your weak but you will still defeat your enemy." She suggested before her eyes focused on Sanji, whose eyes immediately turn into hearts. "And… try not to get fooled easily."

That statement made them look at Sanji, who snapped out of his… condition…, and glared at them, more specifically at his male crewmates.

"What?" He asked harshly, which made them all sighed and agree with Luffy's hidden message, 'Train Sanji on avoiding to be fooled by women, If he can't fight them, then he should at least avoid being fooled.'

"Oh! And as punishment for losing within 10 minutes of our sparring…" Everybody paled and gulped at Luffy's statement, who was having too much fun. "You'll be fixing the training ground, train the rest of the crew tomorrow, submit your paper works a couple of days early, and… island visitation."

Everyone groans and cursed themselves, except for Brook and Franky, the former laughing as this didn't bother him that much, while the latter was yelling 'SUUUUPPPPEEEERRR!'. It was rare for Skeleton and Cyborg to leave the base, and while they love it here, they still love to explore different islands, and Island Visitation is something that excites them. Luffy merely ignored them and stood up, cradling Marco to her chest, and walk towards the door of the base with the rest of the team following behind her, though still grumbling. Those who were wrapped with bandages earlier began to unwrapped them as they were all, suspiciously, healed and throwing the used bandages on the trashcans near the door. Once they pass through the door, they separated, some heading to their offices, the chefs to the kitchen with plans to discuss today's dinner meal, the other went to tell the other marines about the sparring they will have tomorrow.

The only people left standing in front of the door were Luffy, Marco, Yu, and Zoro, as the latter two had promised to never leave their Rear Admiral outside her room alone, no matter what island they're in... with the exclusion of Marineford and Mariejois. Marco merely released a confused croon as Luffy didn't take the route towards the stairs when it was only the four of them, instead, the Rear Admiral turned left, heading in the direction of the a door that'll lead them outside the base.

It wasn't long before they reached the doors, two Marine salutings when they arrived and immediately opens the door at Luffy's nod. The avian had to blink his eyes when the door was open as it immediately revealed small Victorian houses and… small farms that are few meters away from the door. Marco looked around as they passed a high fenced wall, the roads weren't cobbled stones… they were just dirt, and houses were few meters away from each other, the spaces in between were plotted, some have plants on them, others were being fixed. A few houses also had some wooden fences surrounding them but not much, there were also children standing or playing behind the fences. He turned and looked over Luffy's shoulders, blinking when instead of seeing the face of the base, he was looking it's back. Luffy, Yu, and Zoro noticed this and smirked or giggled at his shock, but didn't bother to say anything as they don't want to reveal why it seems like there's a different town behind the base than the one at the front.

"LUFFY!" Marco heard someone shouted and thus he turned his head to look at the front, blinking when he saw some townspeople running towards them, at the front was a 28 years-old, dark green-haired woman with a small scar on the cheek, black eyes and wearing a yellow pale blouse and a long light pink skirt. Luffy merely smiled upon seeing them, and when the scarred woman arrives in front of them, she leaned down and nuzzled their foreheads together, careful not to squeeze Marco between them. The older woman released a relief sighed as the other gathered around them, and the following interaction made Marco watched in slight confusion.

~An hour later~

After speaking with the people living at the back of the base, the four of them took the long way around the base to reach the front of the island, making sure that the route they took can't be seen by the people that aren't familiar with the island. Ships can't find their base true but sometimes stowaways sneak on their island and were only found out when they screamed, attack by the wild animals, or found by the marines or citizens living there. And stowaways are not allowed in their base, not after that one incident.

It wasn't long until Luffy and others arrived at the start of the cobbled road and step foot on it, gaining the attention of the citizens living there.

"Rear Admiral! Captain! Lt. Commander!" Those who noticed them shouted in delight as they also went towards them, by then Marco was frowning as he took in the faces and appearances of the people in front of them.

"How are you?" Luffy asked softly as she continued walking with the others following her soon after.

"We feel great! The marines train us self-defense as we keep on a lookout and went to the other islands for trades!" One man answered as everyone nodded. This made Luffy to stopped and looked at them.

"That's good, but please be careful." She said, thinking about who these citizens are. Everyone on the island knew that they are no ordinary people, everyone here is either a Marine, a former slave, or people that are loved and important by the former two. Now, normally, runaway slaves are to be turned over back to their 'master' by the marines that found them. But not the G6 Marines, the runaway slaves are brought on this island and will be reunited with their family, some of the slaves here are the 'saved' slaves, meaning slaves that Luffy 'rescued' directly from the hands of the Tenryuubito.

Before, the slaves here normally cower in fear and hide at the town at the back of the base, but the slaves who Luffy deemed forgotten or their slave records had suddenly 'disappeared' took residence at the front of the base to put up an illusion of a normal, thriving island that's doing trading and living peacefully under the protective custody of the Marines. Though the Rear Admiral was hesitant at this at first, after a few trials run, she finally deemed it safe, and thus the once empty and civil less island became the island it was today. It also became a process that the newly acquired slaves are to be treated and hidden behind the base, while the 'forgotten' ones are to be at the front. This made everyone happy as this gave them the life that was brutally taken from them and they have the G6 Marines, especially Rear Admiral Luffy, to thank to and they will do whatever they can to pay it back to them. Though some slaves went to join the others on their secret sister base as they don't want to get the chance of being recognized. It is rare but Saint Rokudo or Fleet Admiral Sengoku had sometimes visited them, which forced them to bow down and sneer when the former visits while seething inwardly and smiling on the outside when the latter appears.

The civilians, who were with Luffy, nodded before their eyes went towards Marco, who was watching them with slightly narrowed eyes. This made the forgotten slaves blink and look back at Luffy, who smiled with her eyes close and a slight head jerk to the side. This made them smile and laugh before they nodded again and leave the Female leader alone with her trustworthy right and left hand, alone. While they would like to talk to her, it seems she had a guest that isn't staying permanently, not surprising as some slaves won't join this base or the sister base… though why does that bird look familiar?

Luffy sighed as she continues to walk and looked around the Harbor, pausing to watch their Civilian/Trading Ship dock at the port, smiling at the marines wearing disguises assisting the former slaves. Yu and Zoro watch as they docked the goods they manage to bring before they turn to follow Luffy, who continued to walk towards the main gate of their base. Marco watched as he was ignored by the marines and civilians alike, liking the atmosphere and what he saw. After all, it's not every day you saw kind marines helping civilians or even living with them peacefully, not that he knew plenty of bases to judge.

It wasn't long before they arrived inside the base and by then it was dinner time which made Luffy immediately head to the cafeteria despite their 'guest' in her arms. Zoro and Yu had no problems with this considering the whole crew would do whatever it takes to make their Rear Admiral happy… though the two aren't sure whether it's because they are truly loyal to Luffy or just idiots who had themselves seductive by her unconsciously and is wrapped around her fingers. Oh well, as long as they did nothing to hurt their Captain personally, they're fine… but if they did hurt Luffy, well… shit is about to go down.

It wasn't long before they arrived in front of an open double door which leads to the base's cafeteria and Marco could see the Marines eating… a bit rowdy, Luffy merely smiled before heading towards the table where her Vendetta Marina and Operation Team Leaders are sitting and sat down at the head chair, Zoro sitting on her right while Yu sat on the opposite, she also put Marco at the pillow that was in the table on her left side before laying her head down above her folded arms and slept. Marco snapped his head towards the direction of his savior, worried, and gently peck her hair. Luffy's crew, however, merely sighed before Nami and Robin stood up, holding a blanket and pillow respectively. Marco paused, a lock of Luffy's hair still in his beak, and watch as the orange-haired beauty arrange Luffy's head by putting the pillow beneath her head and the older raven-haired beauty drape a blanket over Luffy's shoulder before they went back to their seat.

"I take it the visit stressed Luffy out?" Nami asked, looking at the two people who were both with Luffy, Yu nodded while Zoro grunted.

"Stressed is an understatement, she hardly spoke to anyone other than her and the curly old hag."

"Shit…" Everyone, who wasn't present during their walk, hissed and looked at Luffy, who looks peaceful in her sleep, well… she always look peaceful in her sleep it made them wonder if she used her devil fruit to avoid nightmares.

"She begged Luffy to just leave the ranks of the Marines or avoid the Mariejois," Yu added.

"But Luffy can't risk doing either because then they would head to our base and will probably murder all of us until she complies with their demands or join them again," Robin muttered, making them nodded. This made Marco to looked at them with narrowed eyes, wondering why would the Marines kill their fellow Marines just to ensure one Rear Admiral is caged in their hands. It was quite for a few minutes as the lower ranking marines had their dishes served to them, before the chefs in the kitchen join other tables, while the Head Chef and Sue Chef push some carts piled with some dishes and headed to where their Rear Admiral was seated. Said Rear Admiral woke up with a yawn and stretched her body, not surprise on having blankets hanging on her shoulder as she tugged them more around her body while putting the pillow behind her back.

Everyone in the room slowed down on eating or even moving as they watched her movement intently, though unlike how the people in Mariejois watched Luffy's intently with lustful emotions, the crew is watching her with concern, looking for any signs of injuries or something that would say their Luffy was hurt during her time in Mariejois. This becomes a normal occurrence to them, watching for any sign of abuse that Luffy experienced after an experience that forever haunts their memory, an experience that explained the dried drops of blood stuck at the spaces between the cracks on the floor and the foot of the tables and chairs.

Luffy ignored them as she got used to them doing it, that she also understands why, their guest, on the other hand, was tense and looked around, before landing his eyes on Luffy asking for guidance. The only thing Luffy did when their eyes meet was a smile and a pat on the head, which is enough for Marco to calm down and looked at the laid down meal in front of him. Just like the late lunch they had, he had a bowl of soup, though he did see cuts of meat in there meaning it's not the plain one he had earlier, there's also bread but the scent is also different from the one during lunch. Marco looked at Luffy, who gave Sanji, their server, a smile making the blond chef form hearts eyes as he continued on serving the other women at the table. Not long after they began to eat, Marco doing so after Luffy did, though he is not sure why he ate after Luffy did, probably to ensure there's no poison or it could relate to what happens to Luffy during his first morning of regaining his freedom. It wasn't long before he and Luffy finished eating, and then they both left the room with the intention to head to Luffy's room and sleep, though Marco did notice two things during dinner.

One: The Marines in this base cares deeply for Luffy, always watching her movement despite talking, bantering, to each other, and eating their dinner.

Two: The Marines are acting like a family, what with suddenly some of them having a short food fight during the last minutes of dinner time. They remind him of his crew… and isn't that weird? Marine crew reminding Marco of his Family of a Pirate Crew. Ain't that interesting?

~Midnight 4,000 miles away, Jason's Island~

Cold Sky Blue eyes peered through a window of the room where the shivering, mumbling, and jerking fat Former Saint is sleeping. Keeping their ears sharp, the owner of those eyes, jump and landed softly at the window sill, careful to ensure their smalled, sharped claw didn't leave any holes. They then gently pushed the window open, grateful that Saints had the habit of leaving them unlocked, and then jumping at the table.

They then carefully looked through the paper found there, double-checking the noble's status and that no one is present, also making sure that their yellow flame isn't burning that brightly just enough for them to see through the darkness. It wasn't long before they found what they were looking for, sighing in relief at what they read before carefully exchanging the papers they were searching for with a fake one they created earlier just in case. They then fixed the messed up papers to the exact position they found them the moment they were inside and jump to the window sill and then left the place, leaving the window open making the bastard feel a lot colder. The papers were gently grasped in her closed talons, and should anyone saw them, all they could see is flaming white and yellow tip feathers, but since they were all asleep, no one knew or saw what had occurred during that night and they will never, ever, do so.

~G6 Base, Balcony on Luffy's room~

Luffy sighed tiredly and then stretched her arms above her head. She looked below the base and wave at the few marines, who were on night duty when their eyes met. She then turned back inside her room towards the open window wall, she immediately went to the sleeping phoenix in the room, curled at the pillow on top of her lamp table at the side of her bed. Seeing their 'guest' sleeping made Luffy smile before she looked down at her hand where she was holding some papers. She glances back at Marco before heading towards her desk which is found at the opposite side of the room and sat down, immediately spreading the papers she had acquired from the island she went to an hour ago. She turns on her night lamp, before focusing on what was written on the paper, mumbling some of them.

"G5 Base 500 miles away from my island… G4 Base *mumbles*… G3 Base… *mumbles*….. G6 unknown location by the bases…. Possibility 6000 miles away from my current island…. Unknown whether it's south or north… could still be near Redline…." Luffy then sighed in relief, before backing away from the table and tried to process what she had read.

'Jason doesn't where my base is… it means it's merely a coincidence then…' She inwardly hummed before shaking her head and decided to leave it be, what matters is that no one knew the location of their island and that's that. With that in mind, she opens the bottom drawer of her desk before removing the top cover of the hidden compartment present. Inside the compartment where papers and wanted posters like the one she hid in the Marine HQ, she then put inside the papers she had sneakily collected below the wanted posters and then covered them once again, closing the drawer soon after.

Sneaking a glance at the other occupant of the room, Luffy then proceeds to stand up and move towards the painting of Fuusha village that was located on the wall between the bed and the desk. Tilting the painting slightly to the side where it revealed a hole in the wall and inside it was something Luffy treasured dearly, she lifted it from its position and patted the dust that gathered on it before kissing it and then putting it back inside the wall. She then fixed the painting before heading towards the bed, stripping off the clothes she was wearing, including her bra, as she did so before grabbing a pale red, silk nightgown that was laid down on the bed and then slipping it on. She then shakes her head ruffling her hair before slipping underneath the bed covers and fluffed her pillow before laying down, her head facing the window and the sleeping guest, it wasn't long before Luffy finally fell asleep.

~Nearly 4 years Ago~

A 14 years old Luffy hums happily as she jumps on the rocks and swings through the trees, on her way to visit the Fuusha Village for any information about her brothers, who left her when she was still 13, a week after Sabo's Birthday and that was nearly 4 months ago. And as far as she knew her older brothers were enjoying the piracy life and wreaking havoc for the Marines to fix. Remembering the last news she heard her brother had done, Luffy giggled and thought that she was lucky her Gramps still hasn't visited her, because if he did then she would receive a very painful fist of love.

"LUFFFFYY! DAMN IT! WAIT UP YOU MONKEY BRATT!" A loud voice shouted behind her, which made the said Monkey stop and look down behind her where she can see Dandan and her family running after her.

"Shishishishi! You need to keep up Dandan! You need to lose some weight~!" She giggled as her other mother figure glared and snarled at her.

"What was that you, brat?!"

"Boss, calm down!"

"Boss!"

The Dandan Bandits said, trying to calm their raging leader, who was cursing the raven-haired teenage girl, who had her knees hook on the tree branch as she looked at them upside down. Luffy giggled as Dandan shouted at her before lifting her body and stood on the tree branch and look at where the Fuusha Village is, blinking when she noticed a ship heading towards the port. Due to the flag and the symbol on the sail, it is obviously a Marine Ship but what made her blink is due to the lack of the dog figure her Gramps had on his ship. If it's not her Gramps but a colleague, does that mean that something happens to Gramps?!

"Dandan!" She shouted as she turned to look at them. This made the leader stop struggling, hearing the urgent tone in her voice. "A Marine ship is coming at the Portside of Fuusha, and it's not Gramp's!"

That made everyone with her to blink before they run down the path towards the village, with Luffy swinging and jumping through the trees. When they broke through the edge of the Forest, the ship had already anchored at the port side. Luffy, however, paused at what she was seeing, followed by the Dandan Bandits. The Marines that were disembarking from the ships had their guns out and laid out across their body, some of the Marines even had their hands on the hilts of their swords.

The villagers of Fuusha were crowding in front of the Marines, the mayor is seen talking to the buff one at the very front. Makino was standing behind the mayor, her face was frowning as if disagreeing with the Marine and agreeing with the mayor. Tilting her head to the side the raven-haired girl, realize that the man they were talking to was a Marine Captain, who was sneering.

"What's going on?" Dandan asked her, making Luffy shrug and head towards the villagers, they arrive at the last line of the crowd just in time to see the Captain gesturing to one of his men, who was holding a torch, to hand it over before he throws it at one of the houses. Everyone scream in enraged as the Mayor started to wave his cane.

"What's going on?" Luffy asked, grabbing hold at one of the villager's arm. The man turned to look at her, eyes widen upon seeing her before pulling Luffy in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked harshly and concern, Luffy blink and went to answer but then she heard the Captain shouting, which made both of them look at the front.

"I asked you where the Vice-Admiral Garp's Granddaughter is! If you don't want us to burn more of your house or hurt one of you, you tell us where the brat is!"

"And we told you that we won't tell you unless you tell us the reason why, or let us call the Vice-Admiral! Also, why would you burn or hurt us?! Aren't you marines supposed to protect us?!"

"PWEH! Protect you? this village is nothing! Now give us the brat!" The Captain then unsheathed his sword and swung it towards the mayor, who dodges it just in time.

"Mayor!" Everyone shouted as they, including Luffy and the Bandits, crowded and stood behind him. The very person the Marines were searching for pushed through the front and kneeled beside the mayor as did Makino.

"Mayor…" Luffy called out softly as the old man rubs his back, Makino and some of the villagers, who noticed her, snapped their eyes towards Luffy but before anything could be said the Captain seems to have enough.

"That's it! Unless you tell us where the girl is, we will burn the houses, anyone who stands in our way will be hurt!" With that stated, the Marines began to throw some torches. The village men tried to stop them but were either injured by the sword or got nick with the Marine Bullets.

"STOP THIS CAPTAIN!"

"YEAH! PLEASE STOP!"

Everyone shouted while Luffy told the bandits to lead the injured back to their circle so that she can help them with the wounds when suddenly two more people step down from the gangplank and headed towards the starting edge of the fort. The villagers stopped shouting and look at the new arrivals, including Luffy and the bandits, the former was wiping and touching an injured man's arm and the latter was surrounding her.

Everybody gasps and gape as the very person that was supposed to protect their village was merely standing there, doing nothing but merely looked at the ground. Makino stood up, as well as the Mayor, and looked at him with disbelief eyes.

"Oi, Garp! What is the meaning of this?!" Dandan suddenly asked as she stood in front of Luffy, blocking her from the view. From the looks of it, the marines were after her, and it sure as hell that she won't let them take her daughter figure away unless they tell them the reason why and an explanation for going this far. But the Vice-Admiral ignored her, going as far as moving his head to the side.

"Garp-san!"

"Garp!" Everybody shouted, taking a step forward but still covering Luffy as they all had the same mindset as Dandan had. There is no way the Marines will take the village's joy! And this also had nothing to do with the fact of what certain bro-cons will do to them should something happen to her. Unfortunately for them, the Marine Captain noticed that they were hiding someone at the circle they created, which made him narrowed his eyes and look at the pretty dark-green haired woman, who was the only person had the guts to step away from the line they created as they all asked questions at the Vice-Admiral.

'It's pointless.' The Marine thought. 'The Vice-Admiral isn't designated for this mission, and he can't answer you due to the orders. That's what you get for being a loyal dog but a blabbermouth, Vice-Admiral.' He added with dark amusement before an idea pops into his head. A horrible idea but a worthy one to let the girl out, he fingered his hilt as he looked at the woman at the very front.

Luffy, however, was breathing heavily. Looking around the village that was once her home, before she was dumped on the bandit house, burning. Panting, Luffy thought how did it turn like this? She was just planning to visit Makino and the others together with Dandan and her family… That was it… a visit… so why is there blood everywhere? Why are some people injured… why is there fire… Fire… there's fire…Wait… Gramps is there…. SO WHY IS HE NOT DOING ANYTHING?!

"Kyaaa!" Makino screamed as she fell to the ground, holding her bleeding cheek. Luffy gasps, snapping out of her trance before she could have a panic attack, and turned to the front. Seeing Makino down at the ground, she stood up before running towards the woman that raised the her since she was a baby. Makino was trembling at the sight of the Marine holding the sword that injured her, shrugging the hands that tried to grab her.

"Makino!" Luffy shouted as she skidded and kneeled beside her mother figure.

"Luffy…" Makino gasps as she turns to look at Luffy, who hushed and her and touches the bleeding wound.

"So you're Monkey D. Luffy." A gruff voice stated, which made the said D to look up, eyes widening upon seeing a Marine Captain, sneering at the sight. "We have an order from the higher-ups to take you from this place and shipped you to the Marine HQ."

All those who heard his statement had their eyes widen before they all turned to look at the Vice Admiral that was supposed to protect them yet did nothing as his colleague burns some of the houses, injured some of the villagers and Makino. Hearing Luffy's name, made the Marines, who were harming the peaceful village, stop and then stood behind the Captain, blocking the way towards Garp but not their view to each other.

"What? What is this Gramps/Garp/Garp-san?!" They all shouted, shocked at the revelation. But the Vice Admiral did nothing but turn away from them.

"The boys who came from this island, Portgas D. Ace and Outlook Sabo, they're your brothers, aren't they?" The Marine Captain continued, this made Luffy flinch and looked at him. When she saw the dark grinned he was wearing, Luffy knew that she would have to break some promises she treasured.

"If you don't come with us, the Gorosei will order for all of the Marines to attack the ship you brothers are in and they cannot be saved, no matter how many times they will try to run."

"What…?" Luffy whispered.

"What is the meaning of this, GARP?!" Dandan asked as she stood behind the brat she tried to raise.

"Also… we will kill anyone dear to you should you resist us."

"HOLD ON!" Makino shouted, standing up, taking a couple of steps forward as the wound she receives was nothing more but a scar. "Why would you do that to a 14 years old girl who didn't even do anything?! What are you going to do with her?!" This made the Captain glare at her before saying, grinning darkly.

"It's a direct order from the Fleet Admiral and the Gorosei… and since your not the one we're after, it's none of your business!"

SLAP!

"Makino!" Everyone standing behind Luffy shouted as Makino was slapped by the Marine. Luffy stood up and headed towards the dark-green haired woman when her arms were grasps by the Marine Captain, tightly.

"Let me go!" Luffy said, struggling, while Garp glance over his shoulder when he saw his Granddaughter at the hand of the Marine Captain, he closes his eyes regretfully before straightening up and said.

"Let's go."

"AYE SIR!" The Marines saluted as they followed after the Vice-Admiral, Luffy continued to struggle against the hand that was holding her.

"Wait! Luffy!" Everyone shouted as they all prepared to stand up and go after the man holding the sunshine of their village when suddenly the Marines that boarded on the ship point their guns at them.

"ENOUGH YOU BRAT!" The Marine Captain shouted as he let go of Luffy and slapped her in the face, even going as far as using Haki, which made Luffy's eyes widen when she fell and felt blood dripping out of her mouth, and the cheek swelling when she touched it. She then winces in pain when her hair was grabbed and made her watch the villagers.

"Look here you brat!" The Captain grunted. "If you don't cooperate with us, then we will shoot everyone in this town before we'll go after your brothers and make you watched as we kill them in front of you."

"What…?" No… no…

"LOWER YOUR WEAPONS! WE DIDN'T COME HERE TO KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE!" Garp shouted but he was already at the ship. The Marine Captain merely waves his concern.

"Your orders were to accompany us to your village and back to the HQ, Vice-Admiral. I am the leader of this Retrieval Operation and thus you don't have a say on this."

"THEY'RE INNOCENT PEOPLE!"

"And learn your position for this Mission, Vice-Admiral!" This shut up Garp, though some Marines did lower their guns, the Captain merely ignored them and turned at the shaking Luffy.

"Are you going to cooperate with us now?" He sneered as Luffy shakes her head, making him grunt.

"Ready to fire!" Hearing that and the guns clicking their safety off, Luffy snapped and shouted.

"NOOO!" Everyone then glances at her as she sobbed. "I WILL DO ANYTHING AS LONG AS YOU STAY AWAY FROM THEM! AS LONG AS YOU STAY AWAY FROM THIS VILLAGE AND MY BROTHERS!" This made the villages gasps while the Marines lowered their guns as the Captain grinned in triumph and dragged her away, letting her treasured straw hat flew down to the kneeling Makino who shouted.

"LUFFFYYY!"

~At the ship~

"…"

"Please… help them…"

"I will, my dearheart. I will."

"Thank you…"

~At the deck~

SMACK!

The marines merely watched on as the Vice Admiral went and beat the crap out of the very captain who hurt his Granddaughter, not even restraining his strength. No one even bothered to stop him, not even Bogart suddenly felt guilty about what they've done. Especially as the wailing cries of the abducted teenage girl continues

'I'm sorry.'

~Fuusha Village~

Purupurupuru~

"…"

"…Makino…" Makino then sobs and raised the den-den mushi and laid her forehead on her wrist, a bow if anyone could see it. The villagers slowly gain light as well when she spoke, hoping the same thing.

" *sobs* Please… help her… please help Luffy."

"Luffy… Luffy… LUFFFYYYYY!"

~End~

Luffy gasps as she immediately sat up, panting heavily and shivering from the nightmare… no memory that plague her mind. The last memory she had before the dawn island disappeared from the face of the world, unknown to everyone apart from those who were involved… unknown to her brothers. Luffy covered her mouth before sobbing sounds could escape from them, which she succeeded, but she could do nothing with the tears that fell from her eyes. She tried closing them but images of the Fuusha Village burning, and Makino, her dear sweet mother figure together with Dandan, reaching towards her as she was held back by the other villagers as the Marine set sail…

She then heard a soft croon, which reminds her of Avian she rescued days ago. Looking at the side, Luffy blink when Birdie-san was already standing on her bed, his head tilted to the side, crooning as if trying to comfort her. Marco didn't know why he woke up, but he did. He tried looking for the reason for his sudden awakening when he heard some rustling in the direction where the bed of the Rear Admiral is. He turned in her direction and blink as she was sweating, panting, and gripping her blankets, kicking an unseen enemy, she was also moving her head from left to right. He released a soft croon and at the same time Luffy woke up from her nightmare, panting before tears fell from her eyes, which shocked the Pirate as he never thought of seeing the Marine crying.

He stood up from his bed, before jumping from it to the bed, and then slowly, he took a step forward, followed by another and it wasn't long before he was standing near the crying Rear Admiral. Seeing that Luffy didn't notice him, he released another soft croon which garners her attention as she turns her head to look at him. Marco slowly lifted one of his wings, and touch her face, which made her smile as tears touch his feather.

"Thank you, Birdie-san…" Luffy whispered, as she laid down on her bed and grabs Marco, who laid down on his feet and let the female marine put an arm over his body, laying his head down as he looked at the teary-eyed woman. "I hope I can see them… I hope I can hug them…"

Marco released a concerned croon when she suddenly cries, no longer withholding her voice. "Please… make sure my brothers are enjoying their freedom… please.." She pleaded through Marco didn't know whether it was directed to him or to whatever God that is listening as her eyes were directed outsides. He released a croon, before transferring his head to her cheek and rubs the tears that keep on falling.

The First Mate of the Whitebeards Pirates watched as her tears slowly stopped falling, while her eyes lids slowly covering her eyes, he watches as the Rear Admiral went back to sleep with a tear stain expression and swore to himself, to at least figure out who her brothers are and… well… have them join his family as payment for what she did, not knowing the said brothers had already joined his family. It wasn't long after before Marco fell asleep again, snuggling close to Luffy, whose lips slowly turn into a smile as she felt the body of the avian near her body.

~One Week Later~

Marco felt excitement as Luffy giggled, removing the bandages from his body (Marco is very grateful to his Phoenix side and his will to slow down the healing process, or else these people would very much find out who he is. He very much ignored the voice in his head saying that he just wants to spend time with the Rear Admiral). They were at the training grounds, all of the Marines were present, either leaning and watching through windows, standing or sitting around the training ground. Luffy, her Vendetta Marina, and Operation Team Leaders were in the middle, forming a circle, smiling, or smirking.

Some Marines mourned that their guest, or 'Birdie-san' as they called him, is leaving. They got used to having the bluebird perch on Luffy's shoulder or sitting at the side of her table. They also like how they have an awesome bird like that one they are releasing, a mixed color of blue and yellow with eyes that could peer into your soul… it reminds them of a certain Avian, and no, they are not talking about Marco the Phoenix, heck they still haven't met the guy.

Luffy was chuckling as she removes the bandages that in Birdie-san's body, Chopper was standing beside her with a trashcan. When she was done with his body, she then moved to check the leg where the Tenryuubito slave brand used to be located. Luffy marveled at the unblemished skin, she rubbed her thumb at the pinkish circle spot where the brand used to be located, glad that Chopper made a concoction for burnt scar just for the slaves they rescued. It may not truly remove the scar as it leaves some signs, like a pinkish circle, or outlines of the brand (their doctor is working to make a new one where it fully removes and heals the skin) but at least it's something.

Chucking the last batch of the bandage at the trashcan, both Luffy and Chopper critically analyze the condition of their guest, the previous days they made sure the wounds heal while they also tried to make sure he can fly like before he gains that terrible wound. It was progress when he was able to flap his wings and then flew in circles around Luffy's office for a couple of hours around three days ago. They haven't tried flying around or further away from the base, as One: No Marines is allowed to sail away from the base without permission or orders from the Fleet Admirals, even if it's 50 meters away from the shore, swimming is fine, but sailing? Good Luck with that. And Two… well, they are not sure if Birdie-san can handle flying for hours without any break or if he can find near islands to land. Seeing that he was able to fly around Luffy's office for more than 5 hours, Chopper observing him and Luffy doing some paperwork, they knew that he was ready, and since he was excited? Well, who are they to deny them that happiness? Though everyone in Luffy's group, mostly Luffy, will miss their guest.

Satisfied with what they saw, the wound from the seastone nail is nothing but a pink line scar that will disappear in time, the brand is a pinkish spot, and the wing muscles all working well, both Rear Admiral and Doctor agreed that he's good to go.

"Shishishishi, you can go now, Birdie-san~" Luffy declared, and two things happen right after. First is everyone cheering happily, some Marines even throw things hats into the air and catching it right before it reaches their height. And Two… Birdie-san burst into blue and yellow flames… suddenly turning into a blue/yellow flaming avian.

Everyone gasps, while Marco froze at what he did due to his excitement. He began to curse himself inwardly, why did he burst into his true form, a flaming phoenix and not a feathered yet slightly flaming tip bird, on the day the moment that he was about to leave? Couldn't he just… oh he don't know… do that when he's miles away from these Marines?! Because despite them being good, he had no idea what is their reaction will be when they found out that he's Marco the Freaking Phoenix, are they going to attack and capture him despite Luffy's word or… let him go?

Every single marine, paused, tense as they looked at the frozen Birdie-san… no, they can't call him that, not when they knew who he really is… They looked at the frozen Marco the Phoenix, First Mate of Edward Newgate, First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. They glance at each other before looking at their Superiors, who had their eyes on their Rear Admiral, who blinked before sighing and stood up. Luffy looked at Robin, nodding her head at her, ignoring how Marco's attention went to her and then to Robin when the Older Raven-haired woman went towards them.

The two of them had an idea of who their guest is, and him bursting into flames confirms it, which also means they have the exact information they needed. Marco tried not to flinch or even move too much as all the pair of eyes are on the two raven-haired gals. Seeing that it was Robin that Luffy gesture to go closer, and not Zoro, or Yu, the marines relaxed and began to chatter as if they knew or saw nothing. Marco blink and watches as the Marines ignored him and went back to watching him and/or talking to each other as if he was still Birdie-san and not Marco the Phoenix, though some Marines had soft gazes in their eyes which made him relaxed slightly. Robin stopped and stood beside Luffy, leaning to whisper in her ear. Luffy nodded and looked back at Marco, who gulp and waited, while Robin leaned back and looked at him.

"The last known location of your crew is at Mystoria Island, which is nearly seven hundred thousand miles away, West-South-West from here…" Luffy then gestured to Sanji, who sighed and went towards them, carrying a small satchel like the one the News Coo has, the blond chef hand it over to her, which made the young teenage girl grab it and fasten it gently on Marco's body. "We don't know how long you will be traveling thus we had a loaf of bread and a pre-made sachet of water."

Marco glance down at the open satchel, blink at the sight before turning to look at Luffy, who merely gave him a small smile.

"It was fun having you around, we hope you'll visit us sometimes, Birdie-san." This shock Marco, they knew who he is yet they are hoping for him to visit them!? "But the next time we meet… Marco the Phoenix, we're enemies." Everyone gave him a warm smile at Luffy's first sentence and then they were nodding their heads at him at the last one before they all went and slowly disperse. Luffy stayed in front of him before she kneeled and kiss his forehead adding more shock, though he did feel smug when he heard Sanji crying in despair as he fell to his knees and slam his fist on the ground. Marco's attention went back to Luffy when she removes her lips from his forehead and leaned her own to his.

"Watch over them for me…" She whispered, but the statement made Marco confuse, because who was he going to watch over for her? But before he could do anything Luffy moved away and took ten steps back, Marco blinks then releasing a happy and grateful croon, and if there was a hint of sadness on the noise, they all ignored it, before he flapped his wings and flew away from the ground and then away from the base. The Marines that were still watching cheered and wave their hands, Luffy merely smiled with longing as Marco figure went further away from their sight. Yu and Zoro then went to stand a single step behind her.

"Must you give him a cryptic message?" Yu asked, looking at the young teenage girl, who giggled.

"It's not cryptic~"

"Yeah… you telling him that you're hoping a visit from 'Birdie-san' is not a cryptic message of you inviting him to visit us but enemies when meeting 'Marco the Phoenix' is. Sure." Zoro sarcastically murmured, making Luffy blush slightly. "Let's see if he decided to visit us next month. If he understands your message and knows how to find our Island, that is."

"He might be able to do it," Gray stated as he and the others walk towards them. "If he understood the message then he only needed to land in the Mystoria, then flew straightly in the East-North-East Direction, and then boom, the base is found. And I bet a month and a half." He pointed out before adding the bet as an afterthought.

"Hahahaha! That's too soon~" Hana said as she and her twin stood beside the two swordsmen. "I bet that the First Division Commander is not allowed to leave the sight of his crew for two months~!" Luffy blinks before laughing when every marine, who heard Hana, agreed, and before she knew it, a betting pool is running. It won't even take that long before every marine in the base will join the betting pool. Luffy looked at the gathering marines as Yu and Zoro sighed in defeat before her eyes went back to the sky, closing them as winds gently blow on their base. Recalling the memories she had when everything was fine when she was living happy and having a dream.

~With Marco~

Marco flew and flew for hours, taking a break when he landed on an island but never shifting to his human form. And during those times all he thought was reuniting with his family and the Marine Crew he left behind, remembering his time with them, especially with the Rear Admiral. He smirked as he flew, an hour after he had his break, thinking of Luffy. He tried to gather a lot of information about her but other than her ranking, her first name, her crew, their island, and the people living there, it didn't quench his thirst for knowledge of her.

He was then distracted when he saw a ship with a familiar shape figure sailing at the sea below him. His eyes widen before he grinned happily and released a shriek before diving down towards the ship. With his keen eyes, he could see his Oyaji standing up from his chair, Thatch and Izo running towards the railing and then leaning on them as his ship brother, who was on the lookout duty, shouted, fingers pointing at him. More of his brother went out to the deck and watched with wide, unbelieving, eyes as he went closer to them, it wasn't long before Marco landed behind Thatch and Izo but in front of his Captain.

"My son…" Whitebeard said softly, smiling gently as tears began to form from the corner of his eyes. The Whitebeard Pirates waited, holding their breath, not believing that their long lost brother is back with them.

"Hey, Pops," Marco said, grinning widely. "I'm home."

"MARCO!"

"COMMANDER!"

"YOU DAMN BASTARD!"

"YOUR BACK!"

"MARCOOOO!" Everyone cheered as they went and jump on him, some even dared to ruffle his head before they step back and let their Pops hugged him. Marco hugged back and inhaled deeply at the scent and feeling of familyfamilysafesafe! before he took a step back, making sure that the bag, which is fortunately stretchable is still secure around his chest.

"MARCOOO!" Ace and Sabo shouted as they went and jump on Marco making him fell on his back on the floor, said Phoenix merely chuckled as he pats their head and looked back at his Captain.

"Gurararara!" Whitebeard laughed. "Welcome Home, my son."

"What happened?!"

"Where were you?!"

"How did you find us?!"

Marco smiled and shaking his head fondly as the rest didn't wait for him to sit up before bombarding him with questions.

"That's enough." Whitebeard chuckled as everyone's head snapped towards him. "Let's get him settled before asking for stories." He suggested, ordered. His children agreed before some went to get the nurses while Thatch went back to the galley to give his brother something to eat.

"That's right, I have a lot to tell, yoi." Marco smiled at his Captain before looking back at the sea and began to hope of seeing Luffy and her crew sometime soon.

'I hope to meet you soon, Luffy.'

---

TBC

A/N: Hey guys! Thank you for the prayers and good luck that you've given me, it was very encouraging! Ah... sorry for not updating last October when I just excused myself about not updating last September I really plan to update last October but my hours were spent on searching for jobs, I got hired by a company but I didn't pursue it as they only online training and the WFH. While it's okay, the WFH payment is not enough despite working for 8 hrs, and the date for onsite will be next year between Feb and March (this is a 50/50 as there are also other people that have been accepted a lot earlier than me). So I went back to search another one. Hopefully, I will be successful by the end of December or January. I've been trying my best to adjust to this temporary schedule, so I decided to update this November so that I can see how I will write the chapters as I search for work. Even so, thanks, everybody!

A/N: I don't know if you guys like the long chapters or if you would like those chapters to be separated into some parts... If you guys like the chapters to be separated or short, Sorry but I am not doing them. I did that on my Blood Revelation fiction and after re-reading them I kind of didn't like it, cuz I found out that I either forgot what I plan to put in that chapter or the whole plot of that chapter. So I've started this whole outline thing, which helped greatly for this story and thus I am applying it to the rest of my fics. I do also apologize for the fighting scenes of this chapter... it's not really my best one.

A/N: Additional note if you are reading my Blood Revelation it's ending soon. Once Blood Revelation ends, the D. Gray-man will be the next, which fic? I am not sure yet, I need to reread them and gave them an outline for a rewrite. But my DGM fics are more or less 20+ chapters. Just see my profile once I've finished Blood Revelation. Status for updates is also in my profile, there's a poll ongoing but those are for my DGM fics.

A/N: Quick question... do you guys knew any story where Luffy's the older sibling of ASL? Doesn't matter the gender or the pairing... I just want to know. I will tell you why in Chapter 6! Thanks!

Status:

Chapter 6: 50%

Chapter 7: Outline 20%

Review:

SerenaDragneel: Ooohh, as much as I want to read thoughts, I can't hahaha. Thank you for the good luck you've given me ^_^ I really appreciate it. And I hope you like this chapter as much as the previous ones. I tried to stay on the plot I have in mind but it sometimes stray away and then it added a scene in this chapter. hahaha. Now, about the thing in Luffy's food and medicine, it will be explained... or hinted on the following chapters. Such as this one if you found it here, if you did, then I hope you can find more in the next chapters, as more hints will appear especially when I will start of how Luffy joins in the marines. Again thanks for the good luck and another Thank you for the review you've given me ^_^.

Akakuro dan Bbbfang (Aug. 31, Sept. 15 & 18, Oct. 19, & Nov. 7): First off, Aww thank you for the cheer up, it made my day. Secondly, in my honest opinion, I wasn't really expecting this story to receive that much love or being read over and over again as I am a bit insecure about the grammar. T^T I really appreciate how much you reread this story~. I do apologize for the late update, hope this chapter's 32k+ words make up for it. I also hope you will like this chapter too~ Thanks for the reviews!

Mystery56: Thank you! I hope you like this chapter too. I'll try to keep this up but don't expect too much. Hahahaha!Thanks for the review!

Cielo140292: Well... I hope you will be patient with the next chapter after reading this one because Whitebeards are joining the story startiiiiinnnggg... now! hahahaha XD XD XD . Thanks for the review!

The Snake Girl: Hi! So I am not sure how often will I post, I will try my monthly update but I need to check my work schedule first, as the pandemic had made me lost my job and this new job of mine had a different schedule from my previous one. I will update the story about the status of when I will update (which I try to avoid because I don't want to put notice or announcement in my stories anymore... my previous works are examples of that (it made me cringe every time I try to reread it)) or I will post schedules in my profile (which is more likely to happen) so please just see the schedule there. Thanks for the review!