Voyage Of The Cavalier

by Victor Soul

Ever since Pirate King Gol D. Rodger declared the existence of the ultimate treasure, The One Piece, the world has entered a new golden age of piracy. However, one man strives for something more precious. He breaks out of his enslavement, joins the Straw Hat Crew and takes part in wild adventures in order to get it. The only thing he wants to do...is to find his home. (OC X Harem)

7. The Broken Mask

Here's the next chapter, I hope you'll enjoy it.

GreatAsura - Thank you so much, I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

djinn - Thanks, I've been wanting to write the assassin formally known as Magpie's new character. He'll be quite different from the serious killer that we have known from the previous chapters, I hope you like him all the same.

Foxfire573 - 1) Muchas gracias, me alegro de que lo hayas disfrutado. La Urraca libre va a ser bastante diferente a la esclavizada, pero me aseguraré de que sus interacciones con Luffy sean lo más divertidas e interesantes posible.

2) No te preocupes por eso. Considero las sugerencias de todos los que envían y decido si las uso en función de lo hábil que soy como autor. Sin embargo, a veces alguien sugiere algo y me hace pensar '¿por qué no se me ocurrió a mí?'. Así que, pase lo que pase, no dudes en enviar cualquier idea y estaré encantado de leerla.

3) Buena pregunta. Dado que es el poder de la Fruta del Diablo lo que roba, aún tendrá un tiempo reducido desde la última vez que robó; no importa quién lo posea.

4) Su fruto será revelado en este capítulo. En cuanto a cómo puede leer poneglyphs... Bueno, eso se revelará más adelante en la historia.

5) Eso es excelente... Voy a tener una suposición de que va a ser larga [Sweat Drops].

Muchas gracias por leer de nuevo y espero que disfrutes de este capítulo.

phillyitalian - Interesting theory, however I can't reveal anything quite yet. Raven is definitly going to be a major antagonist in this story as you will see in this chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Ramen Sensei - RS - Haha! Thanks so much, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter just as much.

FanSuperAnime - Thank you, I'm glad to hear it. Readers seemed to have picked up on Raven and her abilities to read the poneglyphs. I cannot reveal anything yet so I'm going to let everybody come up with their own theories. Magpie cannot read the poneglyphs.

Magpie's backstory (like pretty much every backstory in One Piece) is heartbreaking and I will reveal it gradually as the story progresses. So be prepared for more sad moments. Haha!

I really liked Monet's character when I watched the Punk Hazard arc and I feel compelled to give her and her sister more of a backstory. I'm not sure about them being slaves, however, I think it's more likely that they grew up in a war zone; with Monet dreaming that she could fly away from the hell she and her sister lived in (hence why she decided to be a harpy) and Sugar wanting to stay young and have the childhood that never she got. That's my interpretation anyway. We still have a lot to cover before we get there. Thanks for reading.

wellingtonlucas282- No problem, thank you so much for reading. I always enjoy seeing your reviews.

Guest - I get what you mean. I'm not a big fan of it either. It would be interesting to have my OC be his own captain, but the way I thought out this story and how it develops involves a lot of the Straw Hats at their adventures. Maybe, one day, I'll create a separate story and make it different. Thank you for reading anyway and also thank you for this list; I see what I can do.

Phoenix Keyblade - Thanks so much, I'm glad you are enjoy it.

Guest - Thank you. He'll sort of have a reduction. He still has his skills, but his personality will be a great change on the way he fights. This chapter will go over it. The next chapter will be about Cavalier trying to figure out his new role, so I'll go over it soon. Thanks for reading.

Dragoul Mayol - Haha! Okay, okay. Here's the next chapter. Thanks for reading.

---

Chapter 7: The Broken Mask

Private Room, Palace of Alubarna

Two days had gone by by since that night.

Most of the Straw Hats had woken up and had recovered quickly. Zoro immediately threw himself into training, Sanji had been venturing out to gather food to practise his cooking, Nami had been testing out her new Clima-Tact that Usopp made for her, while the marksman was keeping himself busy repairing his slingshot. Meanwhile, Luffy slept peacefully in the hospital ward, resting after a long and bloody battle against the Warlord.

It wasn't as if they could do much else since the Marines were swarming the place; it seemed that the news of Crocodile's deceitful plan and his defeat had caught the attention of the right people and so they acted immediately. Crocodile, and the rest of Baroque Works, we're arrested and forces had been sent to maintain order under the command of Smoker and a Vice-Admiral sent all the way from Marinford. The fact that Crocodile was a Warlord and, therefore, under the supervision of the World Government, would mean that they were just as responsible for not seeing the problem in the first place. However, overall, things were steadily getting back to normal; the country was rebuilding itself and the Nefertari's had the people's trust once again restored.

Vivi, who had now got rid of her sandy and dirty clothes for fresh clean robes, knocked gently on the ward door before pushing it open and poked her head around it. She smiled softly as she saw Chopper fast asleep in a chair, his hat had fallen over his eyes and was making a soft snoring noise. Beside him, laying on one of the hospital beds, was the unconscious form of Magpie. His wore a hospital gown and had his legs, torso, arms and head wrapped in bandages, completely masking all his features except for his closed eyes.

She sighed sadly at the sight; she still remembered that night with her encounter with the Black Feathers. Her cries had alerted some local soldiers and she l told them to take him to the closest medical practise that was open. The doctors worked quickly to save his life, but it was only when she brought Chopper over to help did Magpie managed to pull through. He had been going steady ever since; even when they moved him to the palace, he didn't stir for a second.

Vivi made her way across the ward and kneeled beside the doctor and stroked his fuzzy cheek, "Chopper," she whispered, "Chopper, it's morning. Time to wake up.

"Huh?" the reindeer snorted before he sat up and pushed his hat instinctively back onto his head, "Oh, morning Vivi," he yawned as he rubbed his eyes with his hoof before he looked over to his patient with a frown, "Hmm, still no response."

Vivi pulled up a chair and sat next to him, "We're you up all night again, Chopper? You need rest as well. We've got plenty of doctors that can take care of him."

"I know, but I just felt bad leaving him in here all alone," he told her as he gave him a look over, "Especially, in the state he's in. Besides…he helped us take down Crocodile," he looked up at her with a curious look, "Do you mind if I ask you about the mask he was wearing? Didn't you say that it was keeping him from dying?"

"Sort of. I don't really know the specifics, but that guy said that his body was dependent upon it. Once he takes it off then his body will go into shock and he'll die."

"I see. If that's the case then that mask must be something special. Maybe it was some sort of advanced technology."

Vivi raised an eyebrow at that, "How do you mean?"

"I ran some tests on him after we stabilised him," Chopper explained as he held up a clipboard with some papers attached, "according to your account, as soon as the mask broke, everything in his body failed. His heart gave out, his lungs collapsed, his blood pressure dropped to dangerous levels, he lost control of his senses, his throat seized up…honestly, I'm pretty shocked that he's still alive. Whatever that mask was, Magpie's entire body and its function was being monitored, controlled and treated by it. I mean, look at this."

He reached over and pulled back some of the bandages on his arm for her to see. Vivi looked over and cringed at the sight. His skin was a sickening purplish black; similar to a bruise but far, far worse then one she has ever had.

"That looks painful," she muttered sympathetically, "Is it bruised?"

"Worse," Chopper said, "The muscle has been torn and then grown back before being torn again. Repeat the process a couple hundred times and you get a severe case like this. I say that eighty percent of his body is like this, his arms, legs, back and parts of his chest have undergone this."

"Because those are the muscles he frequently uses," Vivi realised.

"Yeah, and if you look at this X-ray I took," he said, passing her the clipboard to her the X-ray and pointing at his arm on the sheet, "Remember when we're heading to Alubarna and he attacked us. Sanji tried to kick him, but he caught it. Well, according to the X-ray, his radius and ulna were both fractured by the force. However, he showed no signs of pain or even stopped using the fractured arm. However, what's really strange is that, for the time time the fractured occurred to when the mask was taken off, the fracture had almost healed itself."

"That's impossible. That was barely a day between those events. Bones don't heal that fast."

"Exactly, not only does it seem that the mask constantly pushed his body to its limit, but it also made the bone tissue repair itself at extraordinary rates. The mask must have had physical, respiratory and hormonal control of him. That's why it sounds like advanced technology."

"Sounds like something Dr Vegapunk would come up with," Vivi muttered.

"However," Chopper hummed as he rubbed his chin with his hoof, "I can't understand why they would do this to…anyone. This is cruel."

Vivi looked towards Magpie and sighed sadly, "It's…because they wanted to make him into a perfect killing machine," she said, surprising the reindeer, "They forced his body to go beyond its limits; made him stronger, faster and better than any human; just so they can use him as a puppet," she tightened her fists in anger, "sixteen years that guy told me. Sixteen years he's been suffering through this. It's sickening," she muttered.

"Poor Magpie," Chopper uttered sadly as he gently redressed the bandages back to their place, "I don't what to do now. He's still unconscious, but I don't want to leave him alone in case he wakes up."

Vivi's anger left as she looked down at Chopper and offered him a gentle smile, "I'm sure it'll be fine. Why don't we check on Luffy and the others."

"Okay," the doctor sighed.

Vivi stood up and began to make he way to the door, "I think we have some cotton candy in the kitchens. Would you like some of that?"

"What's cotton candy?" Chopper asked curiously as he followed her out of the room.

"I'm sure you'll love it," she said as he opened the door for him.

As she stepped out, she glanced once again and the unconscious form of Magpie. She frowned in concern before she quietly closed the door behind her.

---

The ebbing pain was the first thing he felt as he slowly drifted into consciousness.

Everything ached from his bones to his head, preventing him from doing anything but lie down and stare up at the ceiling. His mind was cloudy and distorted as the rational side to him tried to figure what was going on; attempting to comprehend the state he was in and how to proceed.

He began with the index finger on his right hand as it seemed like the easiest to move at the moment. He tried to bend it forwards, but it didn't barely budge. He tried a second time and third, but it was on the fourth attempt that he managed to move it by an inch. He tried it again and again until his brain finally started working again and he was able to move the finger all the way down to his palm and then back up again easily. He then moved onto his middle finger, then the ring finger, pinkie thumb and then all of them at once. He did the same with the other hand and then toes on his feet, his arms, his legs and then finally his was able to lift his head.

He gazed wearily around the empty room in confusion, his brain still haven't processed what was happening. Suddenly, realisation struck him like a thunderbolt; wasn't he supposed to be dead?

He began to flail about in confusion, his mind abuzz with questions and thoughts that he had no idea how to begin answering. In his panic, he accidentally rolled off the bed and landed hard on the floor, causing him to yelp in pain. He bared it for now and, using the chair for extra support, he propped himself up and clung himself on to the windowsill and peered out of it onto the palace gardens and the battlements beyond it. Over the battlements, he knew that was where the Arabastan desert was and knew that he needed to get there and to make his escape.

Magpie straightened his legs and forced himself to stand up. He felt his legs shake and ache in pain, but he couldn't let it get to himself. He opened the window, climbed through it before he leaped out of it and until the soft flower beds a few meters below his window, landing with agile precision. He then sprinted across the gardens, scaled the battlements and leapt over them and out of the palace; it was so fast that no guard or attendant noticed that somebody had just escaped.

The door to his room opened and Chopper walked in with his medic bag in his hooves. His eyes landed on the empty bed, causing him to gasp in shock. He dropped his bag and ran over to it.

"Magpie? Magpie? Magpie!?" he cried panically as he ran around the frantically. His eyes landed on the open window and he trotted over to it, using the chair to stand on so he can look outside, "Oh no! We did he go!?"

Meanwhile, Magpie had already reached the outskirts of Alubarna, descended the stairs and sprinted out into the desert as fast as he possible can.

He ran and ran and ran; the city was a mere speck on the horizon and he was running over hot sandy dunes.

He ran and ran and ran; never stopping or slowing down for a second to catch his breath or stop the growing pain in his bones.

He ran and ran and ran…until he slowed down to a complete stop. He stood in the middle of the desert, under the hot Arabastan sun, and did nothing. His mind was completely blank.

He looked to his left and saw sand and the blue sky.

He looked to his right and saw a rock formation in the distance.

He looked behind and saw nothing else. No matter what way he turned, there was nothing for him to see.

He was alone. Very alone.

In confusion, he staggered over to a nearby rock and sat down on it and waited. Ever so often, he would look around to see if something would happen or somebody would come up to him, but nothing he did. And so he sat in the middle of the desert; doing and saying nothing at all.

---

Arabastan Desert

Under the cover of darkness, five individuals rode on the backs of the kingdom's finest super spot-billed ducks across the sand dunes. They were heading westwards from Alubarna towards the Sandora River, hoping to avoid the countless Marine forces already stationed around the country.

Nami checked her map before scouting the horizon in the distance before she nodded in confirmation, "Shouldn't be too long now. We'll probably meet out rendezvous point in a little over thirty minutes."

"Is anybody going to me why that ballerina guy decided to help up?" Zoro grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest, "I thought he was our enemy a few days ago."

"He said he was doing it because we were friends," Usopp said with a shrug, "I don't know about that, but at least we get the Going Merry back."

"Then we can sail around the country and meet up with Vivi," Chopper chirped, "just as we planned."

"Don't get your hopes up. We still have a while to go. We still have to look out for Marines," Sanji reminded, "Anyway, what about Magpie?"

"What about him?" Zoro questioned.

"Shouldn't we, I don't know, be a bit concerned. He could pop up at any moment."

Usopp shivered, "What a scary thought."

"But Vivi promised us that he wouldn't do that anymore. His mask broke off remember," Chopper told them with a small frown, "besides, I treated his injuries and I doubt that he got too far. Maybe he's still in Alubarna? I still wished I could go out to look for him and make sure he's fine."

Luffy listened in on the conversation, but kept silent and focused straight ahead. He had only just woken up this morning, only for them to tell them that the assassin was gone the day before. Vivi had explained to them what happened and the captain was angered by what the Black Feathers had done to Magpie. However, there was not much they could do about it; Magpie was gone and they needed to leave as soon as possible before the Marines caught them. It did, although, weigh heavily on his mind.

He continued to stare straight on before something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned his head towards it and uttered a puzzled hum before he patted the back of ducks' head.

"Hey, stop for a moment," he told it, making it stop in its tracks.

The other ducks followed suit and they all stopped in the middle of the desert, earning a confused look from his crew.

"Luffy," Nami sighed angrily, "What are you doing? We can't just stop. We have to get out of this country as soon as possible," she scolded.

However, Luffy responded by raising his arm and pointing to the right of them. The crew looked towards where he was pointing and noticed something in the distance. They squinted are it, trying to see what it was, but it didn't take them long to recognise it.

"No way," Usopp gasped, his eyes widening in surprise, "What's he doing all the way out here?"

---

The assassin, still sat on the rock, gazed through his bandages up at the night sky. He was completely enraptured by the stars and the moon and the darkness in between them, having never seen anything like it before. Even the darkness looked and felt different from when he was in his prison; that darkness was cold, unloving and swallows you up like quick sand. However, the darkness he was now seeing was soft and gentle as if it was holding up the twinkling stars and the glowing moon in its embrace.

He continued to gaze up and didn't notice the people approaching him until he felt somebody tap his leg. He looked down and saw the doctor of the Straw Hats looking up at him in concern; the assassin tilted his head to the side in curiosity.

"Magpie! There you are," Chopper questioned as he checked over his bandages, "You shouldn't be moving. You're going to make your injuries worse."

The former assassin blinked blankly down at him before he nodded in understanding, "Oh…I'm sorry. I didn't intend to."

Chopper and the rest of the Straw Hats were a taken aback by his reply. His voice and tone was completely different from the cold, unmerciful assassin he used to be. It was soft and indifferent with a hint of hesitance as if he was being careful in the way he spoke in case he offended someone. Chopper cleared his throat and talked to him again.

"Are you okay? You just disappeared on us. Vivi was really worried about you."

The former assassin jolted in surprise, a memory of a blue haired girl flashed through his mind as he remember the name, "She was? I'm sorry for that as well. Are you friends of hers?"

It was Chopper's time to be surprise.

"Yeah, we are. Don't you remember us?"

"Can't say I do. Although, I can't really remember meeting anyone before," he admitted.

"Well in that case, my name is Chopper. I'm a doctor," he greeted as he stuck his hoof out for him to shake.

The assassin gave the hoof he was offering an odd look as he wasn't quite sure what he was doing. Not wanting him to offend him, he made his hand into a fist and gently tapped it with his knuckles since he thought it was the best alternative.

"Chopper…" he mumbled before his head perked up in recognition, "Right, I remember your name being spoken aloud."

"That's right!"

"I tried to kill you."

"…That's right," the doctor coughed awkwardly.

The former assassin looked up at the rest of the crew and tilted his head, "That must mean I tried to kill all of you."

"Pretty much, yeah," Nami, Usopp, Zoro and Sanji groaned back.

"Not me!" Luffy called as he waved at him, "You only wanted to kidnap me."

"Oh, then that must make you Monkey D. Luffy then. It's good to put a name to a face. I'm really sorry about that kidnapping."

"Call me Luffy," the captain told him with a wave of his hand, "and don't worry about it. We're friends, Pie-Guy," he said, to his surprise.

"I mind a little," Usopp said as he crossed his arms, "Luffy, how can you forgive him so easily?"

"I told you, he's not a bad guy."

"I'm sorry," the former assassin softly said, catching the crew's attention. His head bowed low so he stared at the ground through his bandages, "As much as I want to blame Magpie and the Secret Empire, I know that I have no excuse for what I have done. All of it was my fault and I will live with the guilt to the day I die. You have every right to not take my apology, but I just wanted to let you know that I am sorry for my peace of mind."

The crew stared at him as he made his apology before they shared inside looks with each other. Eventually, Usopp sighed and stepped forward, rubbing the back of his neck as he did.

"Alright fine. I guess we can forgive you," he told him, making the former assassin's head perk up hopefully, "After all, I guess you could have done worse if I hadn't stepped into save those guys. Thankfully I was there to help."

"HELP!? YOU BARELY DID ANYTHING!" the crew shouted at him.

The former assassin nodded in appreciation, "Thank you…but you shouldn't really lie like that."

"Eh!? How did you know!?"

"So what are you doing out here?" Nami asked as she stepped closer to him, "Being out in the middle of the desert is dangerous."

The former assassin looked around before he focused back on the navigator, "Well, I felt as if I needed to be somewhere…but…I don't really know where that somewhere is. And, after a while, I got lost and just decided to…sit here until something happens or someone tells me what to do now."

"You've been out here since yesterday morning!" Usopp cried.

"I guess so. It hasn't been too bad. The days are a little boring but the nights are interesting to look at," glancing up at the dark skies once again, "perhaps you can help me? Can you tell me what I should do now?""

"Maybe you can go back to where you come from," Sanji offered, "You know, like your home."

"Right," the former assassin said as he stood up straight, "I'll go home," he declared as he turned around and began to walk away…only for him to stop after a few steps and turn back to them, "Where is that exactly?"

"Huh? I don't know. What island are you from?"

"I…don't know."

"Well, are you from the Grand Line or from one of the Blues?"

The former assassin tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"The Blues. North? South? East? West? Which one is it?"

"Umm…sorry, are those places? I never heard of them."

"Right," Usopp said thoughtfully, "Maybe you can ask around if anybody has heard of your family and find out from there. What's your real name?"

The former assassin frowned thoughtfully as he racked his brain for an answer. However, he sadly shook his head.

"I don't think I have one."

"Of course, you do," Zoro sighed, "you must have a family name or something."

"Family? Sorry what's a family?"

They were all taken aback once again.

"Family?" Zoro repeated, "You know like you're mother, father, siblings, cousins. People who love and care for you. Do you have any?"

The former assassin frowned sadly, "None of that seems familiar. Are you saying I must have them?"

"You must have parents or at least had some. How else would you have been born?"

"I see…" he muttered as he looked around the landscape again, "…I suppose there are out there…somewhere. My family. I wonder where they are?"

The Straw Hats shared another unsure look before Nami waved them all together into a huddle.

"Okay," she whispered, "what are we going to do with him?"

"We can't let him stay out here. His health might worsen if he does," Chopper told them.

"We can't exactly send him back to Alurbarna either," Usopp said, "I mean, the guy's already lost as if is; it would be cruel of us to force him into a place unknown to him and tell him to live his life."

"Can't we? He's not exactly our responsibility is he."

"Oh come on, Zoro. Look at him," Nami said, nodding at the former assassin search along the horizon in confusion, "He's vulnerable right now. It's not like we can leave him out here all alone. Sanji what do you think?"

"I think that Arabastan perfume you bought smells delightful, Nami~swan~"

THWACK!

"Stop sniffing me!?"

"Ow! Sowwy, Nami-swan " he moaned before his face turned serious, "if we can't leave him here and we can't bring him back to Alurbarna, then I guess there's only one thing he can do."

"You don't mean?"

"Yes," he turned his eyes towards Luffy who had been listening in on the conversation for a while, "would you be willing to let him join the crew?"

"Wait, shouldn't we think about this?" Usopp questioned, "It seems kind of a sudden. What do you think Luffy?"

The captain scrunched up his face in thought and hummed. Eventually, he gave them a shrug of indifference.

"Sure. As long as he asks first," he told them.

"Huh? Really?" Nami asked in surprise, "you usually ask people right, left and centre. Even to people who really shouldn't be on the crew. Why are you giving him a condition?"

Luffy, once again, shrugged, "Just felt like it. I only want the best people to be part of my crew."

"Then shouldn't you have made the condition harder? That bar you set up is so low that it's practically a trip hazard," Usopp remarked.

Chopper turned away from the huddle scampered up to him with a bright smile, "Magpie, how do you feel about joint our crew?"

"Your crew?" he uttered in surprise, "Err…yes, I suppose that's good."

"Great. Then all you have to do is ask Luffy and you'll be a Straw Hat," he chirped, "Ask him now."

The former assassin stared down at him with a blank expression before he stepped towards Luffy and cleared his throat, "Ahem, Captain Luffy. If you don't mind, I would like to join your crew. Will you accept me?"

Luffy closed his eyes and gave him a wide grin from ear to ear before he took a deep breath and said…

…

…

…

"Nah."

"EH!?"

The Straw Hats, except for Zoro, cried out in shock. They were not at all expecting him to deny somebody to be on their crew; it had never been done before. They had all been offered by Luffy and all of them denied him at first before eventually agreeing; Luffy had even refused to Sanji's refusal before which was beyond unusual. But this was completely different.

"Oh…" the former assassin said, "…I see."

"Yeah, sorry," Luffy said as he began to pick his nose, "Don't really want you to be on my crew. I don't feel like accepting your offer."

"I…I see. I guess I'll stay here then."

"Yeah, sure. Anyway, we better get going. We need to get out of her before the Marines catch up to us. Good luck finding your home and all. Maybe you should try retracing your steps or something. I don't know," he turned around and leapt onto the duck he was previously riding, "Bye Pie-Guy. See you around maybe."

Usopp turned to his captain with a curious frown, "But Luffy-"

"You heard him," Zoro interrupted as he mounted his duck, "We need to get going."

The rest of the Straw Hats glanced at the former assassin before they followed suit and mounted their ducks. Chopper patted him on the knee gently, making him look down at him.

"I'm…sorry about that. We need to go now, so just make sure you take care of yourself and keep your bandages clean, okay?" he told him, earning a nod in understanding.

Chopper scampered to his duck and got onto it, he cast one sad look back at him before waved at him, "Bye…good luck."

"G-goodbye," he stammered unsurely with a small wave, watching them as they rode off into the desert.

He watched them for a little while longer before he turned and sat back down on the rock once more, feeling all alone once again. He sighed sadly and waited patiently once more.

Meanwhile, with the Straw Hats, Usopp rode up beside Luffy and gave him a questioning look.

"Hey Luffy, what was that all about?"

"Huh?"

"You denied his request to be part of the crew. You've never done that before.

Luffy shrugged, "Guess there's a first time for everything. Besides, I already told you that I didn't feel like accepting him."

"But-"

"Don't you see, long nose," Zoro sighed with a roll of his eyes, "Luffy can't take his request and I won't either. He could rot in the desert for all I care."

"Hey, that's not nice!" Chopper yelled at him.

"Why do you have to be so mean!?"

"Big meanie!"

"Big meanie moss head!"

"Shut it!" Zoro yelled at them, "Don't you idiots understand what's going on. If what Vivi told us about him is true then he's been taking orders and commands for most of his life. The last thing he needs is for us to tell him what to do," he explained before he sighed, "If he wants to join, then it'll be a decision that he has to make for himself. He needs a reason to join, but he needs to figure out what it is first. We're pirates, not charity workers. We can't just give him something even if he begs for it. Or else he will never think for himself. If he's wise enough then he'll figure it out; if not then…well, we have to see, won't we?"

Usopp frowned thoughtfully while Nami and Chopper looked away sadly; Sanji reacted by lighting up another cigarette and placing it in his mouth. They guess that he was right and it explained why Luffy denied him. The tough love approach seemed to be the only thing that could get through the vulnerable and lonely assassin. Luffy understood this and he kept very quiet as they rode towards the Sandora River.

This was for the best.

"I…guess so," Usopp muttered, "…but it doesn't mean your any less of a big meanie."

"Super big meanie!"

"Stinky big meanie!"

"Big meanie moss head!"

"Stop calling me a meanie!"

Back with the former assassin, he continued to sit on the rock and wait for somebody else to come by. However, his mind constantly thought back to what Luffy had told him before they had left; it kept echoing in his empty head over and over again, causing him to frown and hum in thought.

"Retrace my steps," he pondered out loud, "I…suppose I can do that."

---

Vivi's Room, Palace of Arabasta

Vivi couldn't sleep.

She had been trying for hours, but she was just unable to do so. Instead, she sat on her bed with her legs folded beneath her while Caroo slept at her side; she stared into the darkness of her room and listened to the noises of the night like the gentle snoring of Caroo, the gentle buzz of firefly as the flew around outside her window and the chilling breeze that rattled the hit the glass.

The thoughts of tomorrow kept her awake. Not only was she worried for Magpie when he disappeared, but was expected to speak to the entire country through transponder snail and reassure them that order had finally be restored and they could begin the road to healing. However, the Straw Hats were waiting for her at Eastern Arabasta, hoping that she will join them in their adventures. She had no idea what to do; does she do what she wants and do what she needs to do.

She sighed tiredly and gently scratched Caroo on his plumage, her mind racing at a mile a minute as she wondered what to do. When suddenly…

Tap! Tap! Tap!

She sat upright at the noise, accidentally waking up Caroo in the process, and turned to the window to see a figure standing on her windowsill. She gasped in shock before her eyes recognised who it was.

"M-Magpie?" she uttered as she climbed out of her bed to the window.

"I'm sorry for startling you," he softly replied, "Do you mind if I come in?"

Vivi hesitated slightly before she reached up and opened the window and stepped to side, allowing him to jump inside.

He turned his bandaged his head towards her and nodded, "Thank you. I would have come here earlier…but there were a lot of windows. I may have scared some of the guards, by the way."

"Quaaaacckk! Quaaaccckk!"

He stepped back suddenly as Caroo suddenly snapped his bill at his face aggressively, clearly still upset about how he kidnapped him and held him hostage. However, before he could do anything else, Vivi gently wrapped her arms around him and held the large duck back.

"Caroo, that's enough," she firmly told him off, "It wasn't in control of his actions."

Caroo gave a duck equivalent to an angry growl before he waddled off and sat down in the corner, facing away from both them.

"I'm sorry that I upset your duck as well," he said sadly.

"It's fine. He'll get over it," she told him, earning another annoyed quack from Caroo, "What are you doing back here? I thought you would have left."

"I was doing that…but I realised that I didn't have anywhere to go," he admitted.

Vivi frowned at his tone; he sounded so lost and emotionless that she couldn't believe that this was the same Magpie from before. She gave him a sympathetic smile and patted her bed, "Take a seat here. You must be hungry. Let me get you something to eat and drink."

A few minutes later, Vivi returned with a tray holding a pitcher of water, two glasses and a bowl full of grapes and set it down on her bed beside him before she sat down as well; Caroo waddled over and sat down at her feet before curling himself up and falling asleep again. He looked down at the bowl of grapes on the tray and titled his head to the side as if confused by what they were, something that Vivi took notice.

"Sorry, this is the only thing I could find in the kitchen which didn't involve preparation," she explained, "my father can't know you're here. He won't do anything to hurt you…it's just if the World Government were to ask him then he would be oblige by law to let them know about your involvement with the Secret Empire. The less people who know; the safer you'll be."

"I see," he uttered before he looked down at the bowl again, "What are those?"

"They're grapes," she explained, "You eat them."

He frowned in thought before he looked up in realisation, "Yes. That's right. Grapes…I think I remember them," he reached his bandaged hand and plucked one from the bowl. He raised it to face, pulled away the bandages covering it, and put it into his mouth, "It's really nice. I like it. I can't believe I ever forgot about it."

As the two shared the bowl of grapes between them, his purple eyes drifted up to the corner of the room where a beautiful dress was being worn by a mannequin and hummed curiously, "Are you…going to an event?"

"Huh?" she said before she noticed him looking at her dress, "Oh, well sort of. Tomorrow, I'm supposed to give a speech to Arabasta. Tell them that the country needs to unify and rebuild itself from what happened."

"Why what happened?" he asked seriously.

She gave him a curious look, "You don't remember what happened? The war and Sir Crocodile?"

"Oh that!" he said in realisation before he looked down at the floor, "I'm sorry…I only remember parts. Not everything, but enough to get an idea."

"You keep saying that you are forgetting things. Are you suffering from memory loss?" Vivi softly asked, "Is that a side effect from your mask breaking.

"No…I don't think so. I was like this before then. In fact, it wasn't until Luffy chipped my mask that I regained some consciousness," he told her, "It feels like I've been trapped in a pitch black room for years. I had no idea what was happening while I was Magpie, except for a few things that flashed inside my head," he admitted, "I had no concept of time, where I was or what I was doing. I just existed without meaning or knowing who I was…it…it was worse than death," he told her. He gripped the bed covers with his bandaged hands and began to shake uncontrollably, "It w-was awful. When you are alone in the dark…and the cold…with no hope of getting out…you forget things that that should never be forgotten. I forgot who I was…I forgot what I looked like…I even forgot my own name. I have no idea how to take care of myself, I have no idea how to live among other people…I…I don't know how to do anything. The Empire had taken sixteen years of my life and now I am nothing but a useless, broken person who can't do anything," he uttered as tears formed in his eyes and drip onto his bandaged face, "I thought…I thought that I wanted freedom…but now that I have it…I don't even know what to do with it. Now I'm wondering if I even deserve it in the first place since I'm going to waste it-"

"Don't say that!" Vivi sternly said before she grabbed his shoulder and made him look at her, "Don't say that after everything you've been through! You have suffered…so much. You can't just give it all away," she told him, looking at him with sincere eyes, "How did your survive? Chopper told me that there was no way that you could have lived after what happened…and yet you're still here. What made you not want to die."

He sniffed sadly and closed his eyes, "I…I was almost dead. I knew it. I felt it…but there was something that was holding me back…something that I wanted to do."

"And what was it?"

He hesitated slightly, "It…was you," he admitted, much to her surprise, "In the last moments before I died…I saw how sad you looked. You were sad, because of me…and I…didn't want you to be sad. I don't want to cause you or anybody pain anymore. Especially, as you had come after me and risked your life. So, I lived. I lived because I wanted to make you happy," he looked at her nervously, "Are you happy that I survived?"

She gave him a warm smile, "Of course I am. I'm more than happy because your life hadn't been wasted. And I'm glad that I can talk to you now and tell you that, just because you don't know how to do things, doesn't mean you can't learn. You have an opportunity that not many people have. You're now free to go out on your own and discover such amazing things. There are so much to see, hear, taste and experience and you're lucky enough to truly appreciate everything. Your freedom isn't wasted; you're just afraid of taking that first step," she rubbed his shoulder in comfort and fixed him a confident look, "So, I'm asking you now, what do you want to do? Don't think about it for too long. Just say the first thing that comes to your head."

His mind instantly went blank; he couldn't think of anything he wanted. Eventually, he looked up at her.

"I want to make you and everybody happy."

Vivi sighed at that, "That's sweet of you...but you need to want something for yourself, not for other people. Isn't there anything in the whole world that you want more than anything. You have the freedom to do so, you have all the time you want...all you need is a reason to get it."

He frowned in thought once again and took a deep breath as he tried to concentrate, 'What do I want?' he thought to himself, 'What do I want? What do I want? What do I want!? Why is this so hard!? I can't think of anythi-'

His train of thought stopped as he remembered something. Back when he was Magpie, after the war was over, he had attempted to take Luffy away, but he stopped. He saw how much his crew, although injured themselves, tried to stop him from leaving...because they cared for each other. Magpie had never seen it before and, despite how negative he was, still wished that he had somebody to care for him...and then he gave up on capturing Luffy.

'They...cared for each other. Their friendship and loyalty for one another...it was amazing,' he thought as a single tear formed in his eye, "I wonder if anybody out there cares for me?'

'Family?'

His eyes widened when he heard Zoro use that word earlier. It sounded so unusual and foreign to him that he couldn't help but feel intrigued by it.

'You know like you're mother, father, siblings, cousins. People who love and care for you. Do you have any?... You must have parents or at least had some. How else would you have been born?'

The former assassin snapped her head towards Vivi, "Do...do you think I have a family?" he asked her.

She blinked in surprise at the random question before she nodded, "I'm sure you do. I'm sure you have a family who misses you so much and wish that you can come home safe and well."

His eyes widened in shock, 'Family...' he thought in awe, '...I have...a family somewhere...and they're waiting for me at my home?'

He began to shake again as his heart began to beat faster and faster; his brain felt numb and his fingers twitched. Vivi noticed the sudden change and was about to ask what was wrong...when he did something that she was not expecting...

...he laughed.

He reared back his head and roared with joyful, sweet laughter. He felt the muscles on his face tighten themselves into a smile; something that hasn't happened to him in ages. He fell backwards on the bed and continued to chuckle and giggle; it was so loud that Caroo woke up in alarm and made Vivi worry about how loud he was being.

"Wait Magpie-"

"Family," he laughed, cutting her off, "I have a family somewhere! And they're waiting for me to come home!" he jumped off the bed and began to twirl around giddily on one foot before he leapt backwards and performed a perfect backflip, "That must mean I have a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents! That's so many people! They're all waiting for me! They all care and love me! I've never been this happy in all my life!" he cackled as he continued to dance.

Caroo looked at him as if he was insane, but Vivi, although a little confused, couldn't help but giggle along with him at his new discovery. She was happy for him and so glad that he had broke though his negativity. All these years of bottling up his emotions and forced to live in solitude had now broken free and there was no way of putting them back in. Suddenly, he stopped and gasped in realisation.

"Wait! What am I doing? They've been waiting for me for sixteen years. They don't know where I am or what I even look like now," he hurriedly said, "I have to find them...but I don't know where they're gone...or who they are. How am I going to do that?" he told himself before he remembered something, "The Straw Hats. They're travelling around the world, they going to new places and meeting new people. This means that there's a high chance that they'll run into my family at some point...oh my goodness," he uttered in realisation, "Vivi...I know what I want more than anything in the world," he told her as his eyes gleamed with hopeful tears, "I want to join the Straw Hats and go home," he told her confidently, "I want to be with people who know I am and will take care of me and I will take care for them in return. That's my dream. I want to go home."

Vivi smiled in satisfaction, "Took you long enough, huh? Well then," she said as she stood to her feet, "Let's get you home."

His smile grew wider as she said that as he felt himself grow more excited by the second.

"But first," the princess said as she held up a finger, "We need to get you ready. If you want to make a good first impression then you need to look your best."

"You're right," he said as he stood before a dressing mirror Vivi had at the side of the room, "I look awful."

He reached for his face and began to pull of the bandages wrapped tightly around them, slowly unravelling it from his chin to his forehead. Vivi and Caroo peered around him to look at his hidden face...and gawked in shock. The first thing they noticed was his youthful, symmetrical face and his wide bright purple eyes that seemed to twinkle in the light. He had a chiselled jaw and high cheekbones that was covered in a thick wild beard and moustache which was, strangely enough, silver in colour and shimmered prettily as he brushed his hand through it. He looked at himself in the mirror, whilst still keeping the bandages wrapped around the top of his head, and blinked in surprise.

"Wow...so that's what I look like," he muttered to himself before he turned to Vivi and Caroo curiously, "Do...I look normal?"

'Are you kidding me!' Vivi shouted in her head, 'You look like a prince from a fairy tale!'

'QUACK! QUACK!' Caroo shouted in his head as well, just as astonished by Vivi.

The princess coughed and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "Y-yes...of course you look normal."

"Really?" he gasped excitedly, "That's so good to hear," he said before he looked back at the mirror, "Huh? So, why's there hair growing on my face?"

"It's called a beard," Vivi explained as she came up next to him, "If I had to guess, I would say that you look around eighteen or nineteen...although judging by the beard and how thick it is, I would have to lean towards maybe twenty. Assuming that you started growing it at around seventeen," she hummed before she gave him a reassuring smile, "If you want to join Luffy's crew then we need to get you ready. You need a wash, maybe trim the beard down and new clothes. Leave it to me. I'll help you."

He looked at her in surprise before he held up his hands and smiled sheepishly, "You really don't have to do that-"

Vivi gently grabbed his hands and smiled up at him, "I know I don't have to, but I want to," she told him, making his heart skip a beat in his chest. Her eyes drifted up to his head where the last bit of bandages were wrapped around, "Strange that your hair didn't grow as much," she said as she reached up to take it the bandages off his head, "I would have thought it would be a little bit..."

TWHUMP!

As soon as she pulled the bandages off, she and Caroo were shocked to see yards upon yards of hair fall from it and hung down his back. Just like his beard, it was a pretty silver colour that seemed to glimmer and flow from the top of his head to the ground like a silvery waterfall of hair. It must have been at least a hundred inches long; it was even longer than her own height by at least two and half feet! Vivi's jaw dropped at how much hair there was before she looked up at him in bewilderment.

"How...was all of the kept underneath your mask for all this time?"

"You know what," he said, "I was wondering why my head felt so heavy."

Before she could question reality any further, the door to her bedroom opened and Ingram stepped in, wearing his nightgown.

"Princess!" he cried out, "I heard a noise from your room what is the mat- HUH!? A HAIR MONSTER!?" he yelled as he eyes bulged at the sight of him.

Vivi pressed a finger to her lips, "Shh! Don't wake up the entire palace," she ordered him before she gave him an amused smile, "Can you get Terracotta? This...is kind of an emergency," she told him as the former assassin inspected his long hair.

---

A.N: Interestingly enough, hair can grow up to half an inch a month which means it grows 6 inches a year. Therefore, if 0.5 X 12 = 6 and Magpie had been growing his hair nonstop for sixteen years then 6 X 16 = 98 inches of hair which is around 8 foot. Considering how Magpie is 6'5'', that means it's a lot of hair. Add a little bit of One Piece logic and it'll make much more sense :)

---

A few minutes later and he was currently sat on a chair with a sheet wrapped around his neck which was hung over his front; his long silvery hair flowed down the back of the chair and trailed on the floor behind him. Meanwhile a tall, round woman stood behind him with a pair of scissors and other grooming tools at the ready. She had round eyes, red ruby lips, a wide nose and her long blond hair were in large curls that flowed down to her elbows. Vivi stood beside her with even more tools for hair cutting piled in her arms, acting as the woman's helper.

"Thank you for doing this Terracotta," Vivi sheepishly told her, "I would have called you over in the morning…but this was an emergency."

"I see," the woman known as Terracotta giggled, "well, don't worry yourself, honey. We'll make this shaggy dog into a toy poodle in no time."

"Toy? I'm being made into a toy?" he asked in confusion.

He twisted his head to look at them, but Terracotta grabbed him and turned him back around.

"No, no, dear. You must keep still," she told him before glancing at her husband in the far corner, "Ingram, darling, stop hiding in the corner and come and help us. We need a place to dispose off all this hair."

Ingram, as Terracotta said, was in the corner with his forehead pressed against the wall, a cloud of misery appearing over his head.

"Must tell his highness of intruder in daughter's room," he moaned, "But can't disobey the princess' orders. I can't do anything."

He gave him an odd look from his chair, "Is he alright?"

"He's fine, dear. Now let's worry about yourself," Terracotta said, "the facial hair, is it going to stay or go?"

"Umm…" he raised his hand and touched his beard, "It's pretty itchy. So, I guess it can go."

"Good choice. Now for your hair, what style were you thinking?"

"Style?"

"Why yes. There's buzz cuts, mullets, bob cuts, mohawk, pompadour, crew cut…"

As Terracotta continued to list off al the styles that he could have, Vivi noticed the troubled, confused expression on his face and felt compelled to step in on his behalf.

"Why don't we start with a simple cut and then we'll see from there," she suggested before she turned to him, "What do you say?"

He grinned brightly in response, "Yes, let's do that!" he said excitedly.

"Perfect, now how long will you want it?" Terracota asked, "We can do a short trim? Or maybe to your ears? Or maybe something down your shoulders?"

He looked around the room with his eyes before they landed on Vivi. His eyes moved from her kind face to long blue hair that cascaded down her back like a waterfall; once he took it all in, he smiled and nodded in satisfaction.

"Can I have mine as long as Vivi's?"

Vivi's eyebrows raised in surprise, "Mine?" she asked, unintentionally touching the end of her hair, "Why do you want it that long?"

"Because you're kind," he told her brightly, "And I want to be seen just as kind to everyone else."

Vivi was about ask what he meant when Terracota leaned over to her and whispered to her, "Princess, if what you told me is true, then I think he's imitating you because you're his only conception of what a kind person is like. He's using you as a template so he could appeal to other people. Isn't that sweet?"

The princess gave her a surprised look before she turned down to meet his grinning face. She giggled happily to herself.

"Well, I guess if that's what you want."

"I really do!"

"Great. Now let's get started," Terracota said as she lowered the scissors down his hair before stopping at his lower back.

She grabbed one lock of silver hair and closed the scissor blades around it…only for it to do nothing. She hummed thoughtfully as tried again and again, but the scissors were unable to cut through it.

"I see. This is a much serious case than I was expecting."

"I guess that's what happens when you keep hair sealed up for over fifteen years, huh?" Vivi mumbled with a sweat drop.

Terracotta placed the scissors down before she quickly headed to the door, "This requires my serious tools. Let me just get the gardening shears…"

"Gardening shears!?" Vivi exclaimed.

"…or maybe that chainsaw."

"I think that's a bit too extreme, Terracota!"

---

Baths

A little while later and the former assassin was sitting on the edge of the lavish baths that the palace had. It was massive with marble tiled flooring, decoration of grandiose statues and potted plants and a large mosaic pool of hot water that was fed by a golden fountain at the centre. It was way too big for just him; even the wall partition, that separated the men's side from the women's in half, still made him feel awkward to be the only one here. However, he soon got used to it and sunk himself neck-deep into the water with a relieved sigh.

Like most thing about him, he couldn't remember the last time he bathe and so the warm water eased his weary muscles and washed away years of blood, grime and sweat. He reached back and felt his long hair flowing over his back like a silvery waterfall. Terracotta did a wonderful job with his hair, as soon as she had cut it, she had managed to curl it into elegant locks which covered the tops of his ears and over his shoulders. She had also made quick work of his facial hair and now he was completely clean shaven, travelling his chiseled chin and high cheekbones. He pulled down a stand on his hair and inspected the colour with an intrigued hum.

"Funny. I swear that I used to have brown hair," he told himself before he shrugged.

He loved his new appearance, but what he didn't like was his scarred and bruised skin; all, apart from the front of his muscular chest, his waist area and his head was, to him, grotesque to look at; a horrible reminder of what had been inflicted on him over the years. Vivi assured him that it will heal, but how long that will take is unknown. He took a deep breath and looked away; he shouldn't focus on something he can't immediately change. He needed to focus on his future instead.

"Hey…"

He jumped at the sound of Vivi's voice from outside the baths, making him look around at the door.

"…Is everything alright in there? The water's not too hot is it?"

"It's great, thank you," he called back, before frowning puzzlingly, "Why are you staying out there? Wouldn't it be easier to talk if you came in?"

"Err…n-no, I don't think I should do that," she replied, a hint of embarrassment in her tone, "This is fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, fine," she firmly answered, "Have you got the bottles of soap with you?"

He looked to the side of the baths and saw the two glass bottles of shampoo and conditioner that she had given him before he entered.

"I do, yes."

"Okay, use them to wash your hair with. Use the shampoo first and then the conditioner and then go under the fountain to get it out. Use as much as you want: But make sure to completely wash it out otherwise your will get greasy," she instructed.

"Will do," he called back as he reached out for the first bottle.

Meanwhile, Vivi, Ingram and Terracotta stood just outside the baths and waited for him to be done. Ingram leaned against the wall miserably; he still didn't like the fact that he had snuck into the palace and was forced to keep it from the king.

"Princess are you sure I can't inform his highness? I'm sure that he needs to know about this. All this sneaking around is making my stomach twist in knots."

Vivi gave him an apologetic look, "I'm sorry Ingram, but father's already got enough on his plate for tomorrow. Besides we need to get him ready as quickly as possible if he wants to get to Luffy and the others."

"OW!"

A cry came from the baths, making all three of them jump in surprise. Vivi turned to the entrance to the baths.

"Are you okay in there?" she asked

"Yes…just the soap got in my eyes. It…it stings," he called back.

"Okay, just be careful in there."

Terracotta hummed thoughtfully, "Maybe I should go in there to help him wash."

"You will do no such thing!" her husband exclaimed.

Vivi suddenly clicked her fingers and turned to Ingram, "Oh, that reminds me. He needs some new clothes. He can't wear a hospital gown whilst at sea," she said before she rubbed her chin in thought, "Let's see. He probably needs something sturdy, but lightweight. Something that would be suitable for all weathers…"

As Vivi continued to list out the things he would need, with Terracotta offering her opinions as well, Ingram sighed and shook his head drearily.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he muttered.

"I'm done," he called out as he walked out of the baths with a cheery expression on his face, "that was great. I need to take more baths in the future."

"That's-eek!" Vivi looked towards him, squeaked in embarrassment and snapped her head away; her face completely red.

"Oh my," Terrcotta uttered with a delighted smile.

But before she could say anything else, Ingram slapped his hands over the women's eyes and glared at him.

"Don't just walk out of here! Wrap a towel around yourself first, you cretin!"

He blinked at him in confusion before he nodded happily and walked back into the baths, "Okay, will do."

Ingram gave another weary sigh as he still held his hands over their eyes, "Utterly despicable."

"Alright. Now I'm ready," he said as he walked out again with a towel.

"Not around your head! Around your waist!"

"Oh right," he replied as he walked back into the baths.

---

Armoury

Dressed in a new clean hospital gown and slippers, he and Vivi stepped inside and followed Ingram into the large armoury where the palace contained everything in times of warfare; everything from uniforms, armour, weapons, spare gunpowder kegs and ballistics were inside the large dark, spacious storage room. His purple eyes were wide in wonder at how much was in this place; rows and rows of storage areas sorted into clothing, weaponry and cannons, separated by a wide open path down the centre of the armoury. He turned to Vivi and grinned excitedly.

"This is brilliant, Vivi. I never seen anything like this before," he told her before he noticed that she was looking away from him to hide her blushing face, "Is something wrong?"

"N-no, I'm fine," she stammered.

Cavalier titled his head to the side, "It's just that your face is all red and you look like your zoning out…and you keep looking at my crouch-"

"Ingram!?" Vivi hurriedly called out as she rushed towards her guardian, "So, where are you leading us to? I thought we would be upstairs to get him clothes."

"The Grand Line is not a place to take lightly. If he wants to survive the rough seas, vicious pirates and the monstrous sea kings, then he must have the correct clothing to wear," he told her seriously as they headed into the armour and uniform part of the storage room, "Simply put, what you need is an armour fit for him and the skills he possesses and I have the perfect thing," he stopped beside a dark glass display box, cleared his throat as if he was giving a speech and turned to him, "Have you heard of Germa 66, the evil cooperation who is the arch-nemesis of Sora the hero?"

…

…

…

"…I don't even known my own name," he replied plainly.

"…Right, I forgot about that," Ingram sheepishly said, "Anyway, several years ago, when Vivi was a young girl, our country's best scientists at the time had gathered together to create a suit of armour that enabled its wearer great strength, speed and agility based on the Germa 66 in the famous comic book. With it, our soldiers can protect the country from those who wish to inflict evil on our citizens," he sighed and turned to darkened display case, "Sadly, the cost of making such a thing was too much and so only one was made. However, since the princess has insisted that you wear something that would protect, I'll be willing to give it to you," he reached down and flicked a switch at the bottoms of the case before he presented what was displayed in the case.

Inside the display case was a strange costume that was perched upright on a stand. It resembled a costume you would find in a comic book; a dark purple skin-tight jumpsuit with a long flowing purple and black lined cape attached to the shoulders and a pair kneel-high white boots. It seemed to glow within the display case, radiating its power and strength to their audience.

"Behold! I give you Arabasta's replica suit of the Germa 66," Ingram declared dramatically, "The user who wears it will be as strong as ox; as fast as a rocket and durable of the hull of an iron ship. With it, you can take down powerful enemies from the strongest of pirates to the ruthless of sea kings without a single scratch. If you wear this suit, dear sir; then nothing will stop you on your journe-" he stopped when he noticed that he had disappeared. Vivi had noticed as well and wore an amused expression on her face, "Where did he go?"

"Hey, what's this?"

Ingram turned to see that he had wondered off a few meters away and was looking at a dressed mannequin; inspected the clothing it was wearing carefully. Ingram raised an eyebrow and realised what he was referring to. The mannequin was dressed…rather unusually. It wore a pair of black trousers held up by a golden buckle belt and a white satin poet's blouse with the front opened up slightly from the neckline to just above the navel which was held together by white laces. Around the shoulders was a tyrian purple side cloak which hung from the back of the right shoulder to all the way around the back and the left arm and ended just in front of the left side of the chest. At the base of the mannequin there was a pair of black leather boots with the top of them turned down to form a cuff. Finally, perched on top of the mannequin's head was a wide brimmed cavalier hat that was the same colour as the cloak. The left side of the brim was turned up and its edge was attached to the crown by a brass button; it had a golden buckle around the base of the crown and a large golden feather protruding towards the back from the base; each strand of hair on the feather gleaming brightly despite the dimly lit room.

"Oh that," Ingram said, "That's a prototype for a redesign of the uniform of the palace's calvary unit we had a few years ago. It was deemed impractical and so we just stored it in here."

He lifted up the cloak and feel the material between his fingers and smiled happily to himself, "I like the feel off it. It's not too heavy and yet it's thick enough to keep the wearer warm."

"Yes, very good. Now back to the suit right here," Ingram said as he pointed to the display case, "The wearer of this suit is capable of-"

"What's this made of?" he interrupted as he felt the blouse, "It's soft and silky. It feels really comfortable."

"It's satin," Ingram sighed in frustration, "Now back to the-"

"I also love the cloak," he interrupted again, his eyes not once leaving the costume, "But shouldn't of go around both shoulders."

Vivi walked up to him and inspected it as well, "It's called a side cloak. Swordsmen can wear this without restricting the movement when they use their weapons. You can also conceal weapons underneath it."

"Oh I see. That's clever."

Ingram helplessly pointed at the display case, "But you won't need to wield a weapon if you wear th-"

"And look at this hat!" he happily cried as he took the hat off and placed it on its head, "It fits perfectly."

"It really suits you," Vivi agreed, "Especially the feather."

"The feather is the best part. I can think of a hundred things I can use for it."

"Please listen, you two," Ingram sighed in exasperation, catching their attention, "This is really important. The sea is a dangerous place and so it is important to have the right equipment. So, either you take the raggedy costume that failed to gain the palace's approval because it looked ridiculous or you can where a state of the art suit of armour that will guarantee your survival."

…

…

…

He tilted his head at him and gave him a blank look, "Does that suit have a feather?"

…

…

…

"No," Ingram replied, "No, it doesn't…"

---

Vivi's Bedroom

A few minutes later and the former assassin stood before Vivi's dressing mirror, admiring the old cavalry uniform he was wearing. The blouse was open to reveal the unbruised parts of his muscular chest, his cloak was draped over his left arm and kept concealed and his hat was cleaned and the feather was adjusted to make it look even bigger. Vivi decided to add a few more features like a purple linen sash around his waist and a pair of elbow-length leather gloves. His silvery hair fell gracefully from beneath this wide hat and the boots were comfortable and sturdy enough for him to run in. He grinned happily at what he was wearing before he turned to Vivi across the room.

"I like this. Can I keep it?"

Vivi giggled, "Of course you can. Isn't that right Ingram?"

She turned to her guardian who was back crouched down in his corner again, drawing small circles with his finger as a cloud of misery hung over his head.

"Yes…do whatever you want," he moaned bitterly, "If you want to wear a frilly shirt and stupid hat over highly-sophisticated armour then, by all means."

Vivi rolled her eyes at his behaviour, "Don't be like that, Ingram. It really suits him. He looks like one of those gentleman pirates you read in those romance novels or a cavalier riding on horseback into battle in the same romance novels," she said, earning a confused look from Ingram, "Miss Monday was a fan of them and there wasn't much else when were undercover on Whiskey Peak."

"Cavalier?" he said with a hint of confusion, "What's a cavalier?"

The princess turned to him with a small smile, "It's a soldier who is part of a calvary unit; a horseback rider in other words. They're sort of like a knight, but a little different."

He nodded in understanding at her explanation before he looked back in the mirror, "Cavalier, huh?" he muttered to himself.

Ingram cleared his throat and stood to his feet, "You would have to excuse me. Tomorrow is an important day for the palace and we all need our rest," he cast an indifferent look towards him, "The day guards will be making their morning rounds in twenty minutes. I think it's best to leave before they discover you."

"Right. Thank you, Ingram!" he thanked gratefully.

A ghost of a smile appeared on the older man's lips before he walked out of the room and closed the doors behind him. As soon as he left, Vivi gently pulled him by the sleeve and made him sit on her bed.

"Here. I've got something for you," she told him before she looked up, "Caroo, you can bring them now."

Caroo, who had been resting in the corner for all this time, quaked and waddled to Vivi's dressed. He picked something up with his beak and brought over to them and placed it on his lap. He thanked him and looked down at the simple wooden box that he now had; he opened it and found that it contained two pistols and few bullets.

"Are these-"

"I picked them when Chopper was treating you," Vivi explained as she came over with something in her arms, "I also picked this up for you. I'm not sure if you want it…but I thought you should be the one to decided what happens to it."

Vivi hesitatingly passed him the object and he took it gently in both hands. He didn't recognise the appearance, but he did recognise the weight of it and the feel of sturdy grip on the hilt. His purple eyes sadly looked down at the rapier in his hands; the same rapier that Magpie had used to kill and injure so many; the weapon that had been at his side for years. He slid a finger up the thin blade and still felt how sharp it was; so much blood had been spilled on this blade. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

'No, stop that!' he thought to himself, 'It's this negative attitude that was the cause of all this pain. I promised myself and Vivi that I will always be positive. I must put my past behind me to move on.'

"Are you okay?" Vivi asked while Caroo looked at him in concern.

In response, he cleared his throat and looked up at her with a bright smile, "It's just an object. Nothing more. Nothing less. It is what I do with it that's important. And I will choose it to defend others with it rather than to cause any more pain."

The princess smiled at his reply, "That's nice to hear. I have a holster for it and your pistols if you need it," she told him before she gave him a questioning look, "Although, with your memory loss, I have to wonder if you need to relearn how to use them. That'll be troublesome."

He hummed and frowned slightly. He reached over and grabbed a leftover grape from the bowl on Vivi's bedside table and tossed it into the air before he flicked his rapier at it.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The grape fell back into his hand but, to Vivi's and Caroo's astonishment, the its skin had been peeled into a coil shape, falling away from the grape to reveal the flesh. He looked down at it before he nodded.

"I see what you mean. This is shoddy work. I was aiming to do it in two flicks," he hummed before he popped the grape into his mouth and ate, "Looks like I need to practise," he said cheerfully.

They're mouths dropped open at his swordsmanship with Caroo releasing a startled quack. Vivi sweat dropped and smiled awkwardly.

"Muscle memory, I guess?" she muttered.

Vivi gave him the sheaths she had promised and he put them on underneath his cloak before he put his rapier and two pistols into them; all of them fitted perfectly and concealed from everybody but himself. Once he was done, he made his way to the window he had entered earlier and opened it wide; he bowed his head slightly before he turned back to Vivi with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You're not joining us, aren't you Vivi?" he asked her, surprising her by his sincerity, "You're going to stay behind in Arabasta."

Vivi fell silent for a few seconds before she sighed sadly, "How…how did you know?"

"Because it's the most logical decision," he simply replied, "I know I haven't know each other for long but I know that you're the type of person who would put others needs before your own. Arabasta is a long way from fully recovering…they need their princess," he sat on the windowsill and gave her a sympathetic look, "But you want to go with Luffy and the others as well, don't you?"

Vivi slowly nodded in agreement while Caroo rubbed his beak against her side in comfort, "I…I do. I don't think I have ever experienced something as amazing as sailing with them. I wish I could have spent longer with them when I didn't have to worry about my country. Sail off into the horizon with my friends until we couldn't go any further…but I can't do that. In fact, I don't want to do that, because I love my country as much I love to go on an adventure and, you're right, I can't leave it now," she gave a sad sigh and bowed her head, "I want to live my dream…but I know I have to make the right decision."

He felt his heart clench as she fell into depression; he knew how hard the decision was for her and wished she didn't have to go through it. Personally, he didn't want to say goodbye. She was the first person to take care of him, treat him like a person and show him kindness despite everything he did to her. He frowned thoughtfully before he smiled as he came up with an idea.

"Vivi," he said, making her look up, "Do you have something that you can write down?"

She gave him a curious look before she walked away to her dresser and retrieved a pen and a notebook, "What do you want me to write down?"

"Just your name, please?"

Vivi gave him another look before she complied and wrote her first name on the first page in her notebook before she passed it to him. He took the notebook and carefully tore out the section of the paper with her name around it: he folded her name in half before he tucked it under his cloak where he knew it was safe.

"I don't have enough awareness to know what is the right or wrong thing to do. I have a basic idea, but I hope I can learn more about it on my journey. All I understand is that is good to be happy and I want you to be happy," he told her honestly, "But for this situation, it is not so simple. If you're happy to stay in Arabasta then allow me to take a part of you with me on my journey and to live your dream for you," he patted the place he had kept her name, "I promise to not let your desire for adventure to go to waste. You may not be here physically, but you will still be with me and the rest of the crew and your spirit will be close to my heart. And when we finally meet again, I will give you back your name and tell you that your dream has been lived to its fullest. I know it's not exactly what you wanted, but would it make you happy anyway?" he asked in a gentle tone.

Vivi gave a soft gasp and held her hand over her mouth, tears starting to form in her eyes at what he said. She smiled as she wiped the tears away before she reached for the notebook and wrote down the word 'Magpie' and tore it out to show him.

"It would," she said, "And I know it's hard for you to leave so soon. So, would it be alright if I do the same and return it to you when we meet next?"

He nodded ecstatically, "It would, Vivi," he said before his eyes looked towards the slip, "Did you write down the word 'Magpie'?"

"I did."

"Well…I was thinking of changing it. My name, that is. Magpie is such a cruel, harsh word and I want a new name that's joyful and hopeful."

"What did you have in mind?"

He hesitated slightly before he answered with a sheepish look, "Well, I did like the word 'cavalier'. The person you said I looked like earlier. It's sound exciting and friendly…something that would appeal to other people and make it easier to make friends. Yes, Cavalier. I would like to be called Cavalier from now on."

"Quack?" Caroo uttered as if he was saying that the word he picked out wasn't a real name.

However, Vivi tapped his side and sent him a look before she nodded in agreement, "Okay. You're name is Cavalier. Name's are special, so make sure you cherish yours."

"I promise," the now named Cavalier said with a grin. He reached over and scathed Caroo beneath the bill, earning a delighted quack from him, "Goodbye Caroo. Sorry for kidnapping you. I hope we could be friends nonetheless."

"Quack! Quack!" Caroo replied as he contently flapped his wings and nodded.

"And goodbye to you, Vivi. Thank you for…thank you for everything."

The princess giggled before she nodded at the window, "Goodbye, Cavalier. Be careful out there. I hope you'll find your home."

"I hope so too," he said as he turned around…however, a few seconds later he turned back around, "This may sound stupid but…how do you greet people. I feel like I'm going to that a lot and I-"

Vivi reached out and gently touched his shoulder, "All you have to say is 'Hello my name is Cavalier. It's a pleasure to meet you' and then you say something that you like about them. That's the first step to making friends, understand?"

"I do," he said as he turned around…but turned back around again, "One last thing."

Vivi giggled, "Cavalier. You need to go."

"I know, I know, just one more thing."

"Okay. What is it?"

He hesitated slightly before he stepped forwards and wrapped his arms gently around her in a warm embrace, closing his eyes as he did. Vivi was surprised at first but he then heard him whisper into her hair.

"You're…you're the kindest person I've ever met. I'm going to miss you."

Vivi blinked in surprise before she returned the hug. They stayed like that for a few more seconds before Cavlier pulled away and climbed onto the windowsill.

"Goodbye Vivi," he said before he grinned in excitement, "I'm going home. I'm finally going home!" he cried before he leapt out of the window and onto the ground below.

Vivi and Caroo stepped forwards and peered out of the window and watched as Cavalier silently made his way across the grounds, scale the battlements and disappeared into the darkness. Vivi stared outside for a few more seconds before he leant back and closed the window behind her.

---

Banks Of The Sandora River

"Now let's see. Where did I moor it," Cavalier hummed as he looked up and down the river. He sprinted a couple of hundred meters down river before he spotted what he was looking for, "Ah! There it is!"

He rushed towards it, jumped onto the deck and began to unfurl the sails, "Bring down the main sail, check the lines, make sure the rudder is down," he reached up to his and touched the feather to feel which way the wind was blowing, "Wind is my favour. I think I've got everything sorted. Just like riding a bike…although, I don't know how to ride a bike. Oh, I put that on my 'Must Do' list," he said jotting it down in the notepad Vivi gave him, "Now, how did Magpie bring up the anchor? Oh, I think the mechanism is below deck."

He made his way towards the hatch, opened it up and dropped down into it…only to have three people stare back at him.

Mr 5, Miss Valentine's and Miss Golden Week, who looked dishevelled and tired from the time trapped down below deck, turned their sights towards the stranger. While Cavalier blinked blankly at them. All of them too surprised to utter a word.

…

…

…

…

Cavalier tilted his head and frowned, "Who are you?"

"WHO ARE WE!? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?" Mr 5 and Miss Valentine's shouted back at him.

"Oh right, sorry," he said before he cleared his throat and gave them a bright smile, "Hello, my name is Cavalier. It's a pleasure to meet you. What are you doing on my boat?"

"Your boat?" Mr 5 snapped, "What the hell are you talking about!? It's that assassin guys' boat. The one that took Mr 3."

"Yeah, that's right. We've been stuck down here ever since," Miss Valentine's snarled, "So, if you don't get us out of these seastone cuffs we'll-" she stopped suddenly when she noticed the sudden lack of weight on her wrists and ankles. She looked down and saw that, to her surprise, her restraints were gone; she was free, "What? How did-"

"My apologies," Cavalier said with a sheepish smile, holding all three's seastone chains in his hand before chucking them to the side, "Looks like I completely forgot. There you go, your free now."

Mr 5 looked at him from over his sunglasses before he glowered, "How did you do that? You didn't even go near us."

"Hey, it's him," Miss Golden Week plainly said as she nodded at him, "I recognise the rapier on his belt. That's the assassin that took Mr 3."

"What!?" the other agents cried out in shock; their eyes bulging in their sockets.

Cavalier, however, smiled brightly and laughed a little, "Yeah, those days are behind me now. Now, I'm called Cav-"

He leapt back suddenly as Mr 5's explosive fist almost hit him and flipped backwards and landed on the deck of his boat.

"-lier," he finished, seeming not minding the attack or the murderous look the two agents where sending him as they climbed out of the lower deck, "Phew, almost hit me there. Can't say I blame you though. You must have been cramped under there-"

"Shut up!" Mr 5 snarled as he pulled out his pistol and aimed it directly between his eyes, "do you know who you just messed with, you punk? We're pretty high ranking agents of Baroque Works working for the Warlord Sir Crocodile, you heard of him? One word from us and he'll scatter your corpse across the desert."

"Yeah," Miss Valentine's agreed, smirking as she too stepped on the deck, "And you don't want to get on his bad side. He'll make you pay."

…

…

…

"Ah…" Cavalier uttered sheepishly with a sweat drop, "…well, this awkward."

Mr 5 raised an eyebrow, "What the hell you talking about?"

"You see, I don't know how to say this, but…Crocodile is arrested, Baroque Works has been disbanded and its members have also arrested and the entire plan to take over the country through a civil war has been foiled and good has triumphed over evil."

….

….

….

….

"Huh?" they both uttered blankly, a look of absolute disbelief evident on their faces.

"You're lying!" Miss Valentine's shouted at him.

"He isn't."

They all turned towards Miss Golden Week who, as they were in the middle of talking, had somehow called for an albatross wearing a mailman's cap and a satchel around his neck; they are known as News Coo and they often carry newspapers around the world. The young girl put a few coins in its satchel as she read the latest edition of the Grand Line Review before she showed them front cover, despairing Crocodile wearing chains, to her colleagues.

"The boss has been arrested. It happened a few days ago," she told them as Mr 5 and Miss Valentine's snatched the paper from her and read it for themselves, "Looks like we've been made redundant."

"No way!" Mr 5 cried, "Boss lost!"

"And so has everybody else! We're now just common pirates!" Miss Valentine's cried before they both sank to their knees in despair, "And while this was happening, we were locked up and playing tic-tac-toe against a child to kill time."

"Correction, you were losing tic-tac-toe against a child. 1573 to 0," Miss Golden Week plainly said.

"I still say you were cheating!"

Mr 5 stood to his feet and gave Cavalier a deadly glare, "And it's all your fault!" he snarled as he pointed his pistol at him again, "You know what this is, punk?"

"It's a pistol," Cavalier chirped happily, unfazed by him at all, "I've got a couple myself actually."

"No. This is flintlock .44 calibre six shot revolver all the way from the South Blue…"

"That's a long name."

"…it's capable of firing six of my explosive breath in under ten seconds…"

"You're not going to explain more on the explosive breath bit?"

"…I only use it to kill stronger targets, but I'm sure I can lower my standards to a goofy-looking punk like yourself…"

"Wow! What an honour!"

"…are you stupid or something?" Mr 5 growled at him, "Can't you see I'm threatening you!?"

"Oh, I know," Cavalier said with a smile, "I just have a bad perception of social norms and identifying the correct reaction to various situations. Vivi told me I'll get used to it by interacting with other people, but, for now, I'm just excited to meet you."

"…Wha?" the assassin uttered in bewilderment, but before he could say anything Miss Valentine's pushed him aside.

"Let me handle this guy," she said before she grinned up at Cavalier, "Listen here, bastard. You may have got the jump on us last time, but we won't be making that mistake a second time," her eyes darkened beneath her hat, "I'm going to crush you into paste until there's nothing left! Kyahahaha" she cackled.

"Wow, that's a cute laugh."

"Eh?" Miss Valentine's uttered, completely thrown off by the compliment.

"You're laugh is really cute," Cavalier brightly repeated, "It's both evil sounding and joyful at the same time. I can listen to it all day. In fact…" he leaned down close to her face, making her lean back, "…you're beautiful. I haven't seen many women in my life, but even I know you're pretty. Your hair is like the bright sun and your eyes are so dazzling. You're sense of dressing style also compliments you well with your appearance and also-"

"Shut up!" she yelled at him, her face turning red in embarrassment, "Who the hell compliments somebody when they're threatening to kill them!"

Cavalier gave her a honest smile, "Sorry, I just noticed over hundred things I like about you that I just needed to tell you. Do you want me to tell you all of them?"

"Like hell I would!?"

"Then why are you blushing?" Miss Golden Week questioned from beside.

"I'm not blushing! My face is just red because I'm angry!"

"Hey!" Mr 5 snarled.

Cavalier turned to him with a bright smile, "Oh right. Do you want me to list of things I like about you? Just to warn you, it's not as many things I have for her."

"What's the matter with you!? You're acting weird!"

"Am I? I'm just excited to meet you. You're the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth people I've met and I want us to be friends. After all, if I'm going to find my family then I want them to know that I have made plenty of friends so they don't have to worry about me and we can all live happily forever. That's why I want to join Luffy's crew; to go and find my home and my family!" he declared proudly.

Mr 5 and Miss Valentine's stared at him with blank expressions as they had no idea how to respond to what he said. Miss Valentine leaned over and whispered to her colleague in a low voice.

"He's starting to freak me out, Gem," she said, not bothering to use his code name anymore.

"I know," he whispered, "He's worse now then he was when he was wearing that mask."

They shared a look before they backed away to the side of the boat with Mr 5 pulling Miss Golden Week away by the arm.

"You know what, we should probably go now," Miss Valentine's said with a nervous gulp, "We need to…err…well…"

"Go and save our colleagues," Miss Golden Week offered helpfully.

"Yeah, that…" she agreed before looking down at the younger girl, "Wait what?"

"Never mind that," Mr 5 muttered as they backed away, jumped off the boat's edge and onto the ground. They made sure to keep their eyes on a grinning Cavalier, "We should probably go. See you, punk."

They all turned around to make a quick getaway but yelped in surprise when they found him in front of them, still smiling brightly. They looked back at the empty boat and then back at him, wondering how he got there so fast.

"Wait, you can't go. I haven't properly apologised yet," he told them with a small frown.

"I-It's fine. We forgive you."

"No, no they won't do. Here let me make up to you. Let's see," he said as he began to rummaging though his pockets and pulling a few items out, "I've got a bit of lint, some sand, an old ticket stub for something, more sand, an old boiled sweet covered in dust…oh, never mind, it's just a moth ball, even more sand, thirty million Berries in cash, a cool stone I found on the way here-"

"Wait," Mr 5 said suddenly, "what was that?"

"Oh, the cool stone. Yeah, it has a hole in it."

"No, the one before that."

"The thirty million Berries?" Cavalier repeated as he pulled out a was of Berries from his pocket, "Magpie used them for bribes but I don't really need them anymore. Would you like it?"

Miss Valentine's and Mr 5 shared another questioning look before they nodded at him.

"Yes," they said at the same time.

Cavalier happily held it out to them to which they immediately snatched it out of his hands and began sorting it.

"Thirty million. That's more than our bounties put together," Miss Valentine's whispered excitedly.

"I know. Fifteen million each, there's a lot I can buy for that," Mr 5 said with a grin.

Cavalier smiled happily as they watched them cackle madly over the money, "They seem happy," he said before he turned to Miss Golden Week, "What about you? Would you like anything?"

The young girl shrugged, "I'll have the cool rock," she said to which he gladly gave her. She looked down at and hummed thoughtfully, "Huh, it is pretty cool," she admitted.

"Anyway," Cavalier said as he leapt back onto his boat and pulled up the anchor, "I would love to stay for longer but I have a crew to join. Good luck you three, I hope we'll meet each other again. Bye!" he cried out as he began to swiftly sail down the river, leaving the three Baroque agents behind.

They watched him wave at them goodbye all they way down the river until he was a dot on the horizon. The events of what just happened were so bizarre that it took them a while to figure out what it was.

"Weirdo."

"Freak."

Miss Golden Week nodded at their comments before she held her hand up to them, "My cut, please."

"Huh?" Mr 5 cried out, as she beckoned her hand at him, "I thought you just wanted the rock!?"

"We can settle it on a game of tic-tac-toe."

"Damn it," he muttered before he slapped ten million Berries in her open hand.

---

Eastern Arabasta

"Ahhhhh! The Marines are coming! The Marines are coming!" Usopp yelled in sheer panic.

Sanji snarled in anger, "Damn it! I thought we lost them!"

"Looks like Bon Clay's diversion didn't last for long," Zoro muttered bitterly.

The Straw Hats pirates were in trouble.

They had retrieved the Going Merry from the Sandora River and had managed to sail around the southern and eastern seas of Arabasta in order to meet Vivi near the dock. The princess, with Caroo beside her, had given her teary speech on how she couldn't join them on their adventures across the world; after all, her people and her kingdom needed her after so many years of desperation. The Straw Hats, although saddened by this, knew it was for the best and promised her that, no matter how many miles and how many people they will encounter, they'll never stop being her friend.

However, waiting for Vivi for too long had been costly on their escape. Nine Marine ships, six of them were four mast battleships, one smaller three mast fleet ship and a two mast flag ship, were headed their way steadily in one long row. They armada kept close to the cliff coastline on the left hand side and used the bountiful wind to their advantage. The flag ship was situated the third on the right while the fleet ship was the furthest right of the ship line. The flag ship itself was the main worry; with a dark pink and light blue colour scheme and the name 'Hina' sewed on the highest main sail, it was clear that the ship was owned by a captain; somebody who they really didn't want to be involved with.

"Nami!" Luffy called out from the railing, "Get us out of here quick!"

The navigator looked up at the sails and grimaced when she saw that they weren't billowing like they should be, "We can't! There's no wind behind us. We've must have drifted towards the point of sail without realising it. We have to use the oars to turn us around."

"That'll take too long. The Marine ships are already in firing range," Zoro called back.

"Then we're sitting ducks!" Nami cried.

BOOM!

They cried out in alarm as a long thin projectile fired towards them, missing the Merry by a few meters and landing in the sea,

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Three more projectile fired towards them. Luffy was able to swat one away with his Gatling Gun attack, Sanji kicked another away, while Zoro sliced the last one into pieces before it could hit. However, as more and more ships approached, the number of projectiles increased. There was no way they could take them all.

"We're doomed!" Usopp cried as he ducked underneath another projectile fired at him before he took cover by jumping into a barrel.

Meanwhile, on the flag ship, the captain of the armada stood on a pulpit at the bow of the ship and smile smiled cruelly as her ships got closer to her targets and their capture grew ever nearer. She was a beautiful woman in her early thirties with long pink hair and dark brown eyes and held a cigarette between her ruby red lips. She wore a burgundy two piece suit with a yellow collar and wore a white captain's coat over her shoulders; she also wore a pair of sunglasses perched on her forehead. With a gloved hand, she reached up and took the cigarette out of her mouth and blew a plume of smoke into the air before she called to her subordinates over her shoulder.

"Keep up with the bombardment," she ordered, "but don't go overboard. Hina wants them alive."

"Aye captain!" the sailors cried out happily, more than eager to carry out their beautiful captain's orders.

"Oh, Hina-sama~ I love the way you say bombardment~" cried a tanned skin man with unkempt pink hair and a long scar on his right cheek. He wore a dark blue shirt, orange trousers, a Marine cap and a pair of brass knuckles on each hand, "I can listen to you give me orders all day!~"

"You're right, Fullbody pal!" cried out a skinny blond man beside him. He had a long, thin, red and black stopped beard and wore red tinted heart-shaped glasses. He wore a purple and yellow giraffe-print shirt, black trousers and a marine cap, "Hina-sama is the greatest!~ Let's dance in to celebrate!"

"You got it, pal!" Fullbody climbed in as they posed dramatically together.

They were about to go into one of the dances when Hina shot them a glare, "Shut your traps and do your jobs. They tried to distract Hina with the Baroque Works agent, but their attempt was futile," she smirked and took another drag of her cigarette, "Hina is not going to let them get away," she muttered before she turned around and nodded at the howitzer situated on the top deck, "Prepare Hina's cannon and aim for the hull. Let's competely immobilise them."

"Of course, Hina-sama!" the two cried.

"And no dancing!"

"…of course, Hina-sama," the moaned in disappointment.

Hina turned back around and leaned against the railing at the bow of her ship, her sharp eyes locked onto her target. She smirked when she heard the howitzer slowly being cranked into the right place, ready to impale the Going Merry with another metal projectile.

"Ready to fire, Hina-sama!" a seaman called out to her.

She took one final drag of her cigarette before she pointed at the Going Merry and shouted "Fire!"

BOOOM!

The cannon fired the projectile from her flagship and over the sea…but there was something wrong. Hina frowned as the projectile flew up way too high and too far to the right. It tilted downwards and plummeted straight downwards and impaled itself into a rocky islet a quarter of a nautical mile away; the other end of it sticking out into the air. Hina growled in anger and turned her head around to see that the howitzer was now pointing upwards.

"Who did that!?" she yelled as the sailors gathered around the cannon in confusion, "Who the hell changed the trajectory!? Who dares to waste missiles at at time like this!?" she roared as she marched up the howitzer.

She reached up to the barrel of the cannon and pulled it all the way down…only to see a man she had never seen before perched on the other end of it; she could only assume that he was the cause of their miss.

"Hello," Cavalier cheerily called before he slid down the barrel of the cannon on his feet. As soon as he got to the end, he sat down on the edge of it and smiled down at the cold, stern face of Hina, "My name is Cavalier, it's a pleasure to meet you. I like your pink hair. What's your name?" he friendly greeted, holding out his hand for her to shake.

Hina's eyebrow twitched in irritation, "What the hell do you think you are doing?" she slowly asked in a deadly tone.

Cavalier pulled back his arm and sat with his hands in his lap, "Well, I couldn't help but notice your armada- it's very nice by the way -is attacking that pirate ship and I was wondering if you can…not do that."

…

…

…

"Eh!?" the sailors cried out in shock.

The sheer audacity to politely ask a captain of the Marines to not arrest a pirate crew was unheard of. Only a mad person would even think of doing that. As the Marine sailors shouted at him and pulled out their swords and rifles, ready to attack as soon as their captain ordered to. Hina, however, sighed calmly before she pulled out a transponder snail from her pocket.

"Hina to Lieutenant Hargrieves."

"Aye captain?" the lieutenant responder through the snail.

"Hina has to deal with some sort of…insane person. Sail ahead and break formation and attack the Straw Hat crew. We will catch up to you as soon as Hina's done."

"Aye aye captain," came the reply before the transponder clicked off.

At her command, the fleet ship, on the far end of the row, unfurled more of its sails and increased its speed until it began to overtake the other ships, using its light weight to its advantage. Cavalier watched the ship sail ahead with an interested look before Hina cleared her throat to catch his attention.

"You want Hina…to not arrest them. On what grounds should Hina go through with your request," she questioned coldly.

"Because I want to join them," he brightly replied.

Hina's eye twitched, "So you're a pirate."

"Not yet. I will be as soon as I join."

"I…see."

"So, about calling off the attack."

Hina suppressed a growl and instead offered him a smile, "Oh, of course. How silly of Hina. Why didn't you say from the beginning."

"Well-"

"Perhaps you would want me to call the admirals and tell them to stop arresting pirates all together," Hina continued sarcastically, "Or perhaps the Fleet Admiral or the World Nobles as well. Because the one thing they love is to take requests from pretty boys in stupid clothing, especially ones who aspire to be pirates themselves."

"No, that's fine," he told with wave of his hand, "You don't have to bother with that. I can just talk to you or maybe I can talk to this Hina you keep mentioning."

The smile dropped from her face, "Hina is Hina, you idiot."

Cavalier blinked in confusion, "And…Cavalier is Cavalier. I'm sorry what are we doing?"

"You are currently speaking to Captain Hina of the Marines," Fullbody yelled at him furiously.

"Yeah, show some respect, you cretin."

"You said it, Jango."

"Oh, I see," Cavalier laughed, "You refer to yourself in the third person. That's really cute. Cute and beautiful. Wow, there's a lot of beautiful women in the world."

"He speaks the truth!" the sailors cried out, before Hina shut them up with a deadly glare.

She turned back and beckoned him to lean in forwards to which he happily complied with. As soon as he was close enough, Hina grabbed his shirt and pulled him in close to her face, her intimidating glare staring down at him coldly.

"Listen here, nobody boards Hina's ship without Hina's permission, nobody disrespects Hina's military equipment and nobody asks Hina for stupid favours just because they want something. So if you don't get off Hina's ship in ten seconds, Hina will tie you up in chains and kick your ass into the sea. Do you understand?"

While still smiling, Cavalier frowned a little bit at her threat while the captain looked like wanted nothing more than to wring his neck on the main mast.

"So, you won't call off the attack?"

"No."

Cavalier hummed sadly and leaned back away from her, 'Aww, I thought that would work, but it looks like hipster made her angry,' he thought in disappointment, 'I guess I did give them a chance. Better luck next time, I suppose he thought.

"Now then, do you have anything else to say before you leave."

"Well, it's a shame, but I guess I have no choice," he said as he pulled an object out of his cloak and handed it out to her, "Here you go."

Hina raised an eyebrow at the metal object in his hand, "What is that?"

"Err…captain," one of the sailors piped up as he pointed to the object, "Sorry to interrupt, but that looks like the break that holds the anchor in place."

"What?" Hina muttered with a frown before she growled at Cavalier, "How dare you touch my ship!" she snapped; she then turned to her sailors, "Check the equipment for anymore sabotage! Who knows what else he's done."

"I didn't touch anything on this ship," he told her honestly, earning a deadly look from the captain, "I promise."

"Then where did you-" she stopped mid-sentence as realisation finally struck her like a thunderbolt. She snapped her head towards the front to where the fleet ship was sailing ahead…and spotted the thing that was wrong, "No!"

Cavalier smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, sorry about this…but I kinda really need to join the crew."

Meanwhile aboard the fleet ship, Lieutenant Hargrieves was spying the pirate ship through his telescope with an calm expression on his moustache. He was about to give the order to fire on the enemy when one of his sailors called out to him.

"Lieutenant, sir!" the sailor cried, making him turn to him, "The anchor has detached itself."

Lieutenant Hargrieves frowned and marched towards the port side and found that the sailor was telling the truth. The anchor, which should have been pulled up onto the side, was being dragged along by the ship by its chain.

"Who released it!?" he demanded, "Pull it back up before it slows us down!"

"We can't, sir," the sailor told him, "I already checked and the break that releases the mechanism is missing."

"Missing? What do you mean mis-"

He stopped suddenly when he realised something. They had just sailed passed the islet with metal missile embedded in it on the right. So if the anchor is on the port side then it is directly heading to…

"STOP THE SHIP!" Hargrieves roared, "TAKE DOWN THE SAILS BEFO-"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence as he and his entire crew were thrown off their feet as the ship lurched abruptly; any objet not tied down were also flung across the ship, scattering here and there. The ship began to swerve sharply to the left as if something was pulling it around into a wide arc. Hargrieves finally clambered to his feet and looked over the side to see that his suspicions had been confirmed. The anchor had managed to come onto the islet and latched itself to the missile, forcing the ship to swing around back towards Hina's armada. He growled in anger and looked towards the front just in time to see that they were crash into a small boat that was floating in their path. He frowned at it, wondering where it had come from, when he spotted several barrels of gunpowder sat on the deck and a lit lantern hung above them.

His eyes widened in shock just as soon as the fleet ship smashed into the boat.

BOOOOOOMMM!

A loud explosion rippled through the air as soon as the ship made contact with the boat. All the sailors on the ship were knocked over again by the explosion, but nobody seemed to be seriously injured. However, one sailor spotted smoke billowing from the bow of the shop and immediately alerted the others to it.

"FIRE! THE SHIP'S ON FIRE!"

"IT'S SPREADING TOO FAST!"

"ABANDONED SHIP!"

The fire quickly spread from the bow up to the decks and onto the sails, igniting the white fabric as if they were made of paper. Sailors leapt into the safety of the cold waters and left their posts behind; consequently, they lost control of the helm and which way the ship was sailing in.

Two commanders, one of the third battleship and the other from the fourth battleship from the left, saw the fiery ship hurtling towards their ships in the line and did a massive spit-take and their eyes bulged in their sockets. The commander of third ship turned to his sailors and roared at them.

"HARD PORT NOW!" he commanded as the sailors took their positions.

The helmsman whispered the wheel hard towards the port side to try and dodge the flaming ship, but instead accidentally rammed into the second ship…and the second ship rammed into the first ship…and the first ship rammed into the cliff face.

"WE'RE GOING TO CRASH! EVERY MAN TO HIMSELF!"

"WE'RE DOOMED!"

"ABANDONED SHIP!"

The sailors cried out as they were forced to slam into the cliff which splintered and fractured the hull in an instant. The second battleship did not fare any better as it was sent crashing onto a patch of scree followed by the third battleship. All three battleships were nothing but wrecks; the hull ruptured, the masts collapsed, the sails were tangled with each other and three hundred or sailors were left stranded in the ocean.

The commander of the fourth battleship did the opposite the other commander, but with similar results.

"HARD STARBOARD! GET OUT OF THE WAY OF THAT SHIP!"

The helmsman swerved the battleship to the right and immediately slammed into the bow of the battleship next to it…which hit the next battleship…which his the next battleship…which hit Hina's flagship like a long line of dominoes. One of the figureheads of the warships slammed into the mast of the battleship next to it and made it topple over with a mighty thud, causing even more destruction and throwing Marine sailors helplessly into the icy seas below.

Hina and the rest of the crew fell at the sudden impact and scrambled to get to their places and get the formation back under control. The captain staggered to her feet and leaned herself onto the side. The cigarette fell from her mouth as watched as the flaming ship crashed into the battleship and splintered its port side; her eye twitched in fury as the flames spread onto the battleship; her mouth turned into a snarl as the fire reached the battleship's magazine and saw it rip the battleship into pieces; and her fingernails scraped the wooden railing as the fire continued spread across the sails of each battleship, her sailors failing to put out the fires, masts collapsing and explosion booming. Her blazing fire ignited and burst inside her as she watched her armada destroy itself in a number of seconds all because of that…one…man.

She slowly turned her bloodthirsty eyes on Cavalier; her teeth were gritted together, her face was red with rage and a low threatening growl escaped her lips.

Cavalier, however, was unaware of her murderous intentions and observed the destruction around him with a worried hum.

"Oh dear," he mumbled, "Maybe the gunpowder was a little too much," he pondered to himself as stepped to the side to avoid a burning plank of wood that flew past him.

Suddenly, Jango and Fullbody leapt in front of him and drew their weapons at him; Jango with his chakras and Fullbody with his brass knuckles.

"You're dead, pirate scum!" Fullbody yelled at him.

"How dare you do this to Hina-sama's armada!" Jango snarled furiously.

Cavalier tilted his head at them in intrigue before he smiled, "I didn't introduce myself you, didn't I? My name is Cavalier. It's a pleasure to-"

"Shut it!" Fullbody yelled, "Let's show this bastard how we role Jango!"

"Yeah! Let's dance!"

They gave a war cry as they charged at him…only for both of them to be knocked away by a single kick; the two flew through the air and crashed into the ship's quarter wall. Cavalier watched them get kicked away in curiosity before he turned to the irate Hina, her eyes filled with fury and her hands gripped into tights fists.

"You. Are. Dead," she snarled slowly like a wolf cornering its prey.

Cavalier laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "You know, one day, we're going to look back and laugh about all of this."

Hina roared and swung her fist at his head, but he leaned back with a smile on his face. She twisted around and tried to kick him, but he ducked underneath it and forward rolled away from her. He rushed towards the starboard side and leapt off the side and landed on the last battleship that hadn't been touched by the destruction yet; Hina aimed a punch at where he was, but only ended up hitting the wooden side, snapping it off by the force.

Cavalier landed on the battleship with a satisfied sigh and looked up to see the wind was in the sails and ready to sail away…all he had to do is deal with the fifty Marine Sailors surrounding him with the rifles and swords pointed at him.

He offered them all a friendly wave, "Hello chaps. Sorry, but I need to borrow this battleship. My boat just exploded, you see. Would that be alright?"

"Get him!" one the sailors yelled as he charged at him with his sword, roaring with anger.

Cavalier drew his rapier from beneath his cloak and ducked under the swing. He swiped at the sailors side, making him cry out in pain, before he kicked him to the ground.

"A simple no would have sufficed."

Two more sailors charged at him; he dodged the downward swing of the closest sailor's blade before he cut the muscles in his arms, rendering them useless. He then stole the sword with his power, sound around and parried the next sailor's sword and then stabbed him in the side with the rapier and kicked him onto his back. He spun around and threw the sword, hilt first, behind him so it would hit the next churching sailor right in between the eyes; he lunged and stabbed and swiped the next sailor up the muscles in his right leg.

As he continued to fight, dodge and knocked out each Marine that attacked him, he couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't a cruel, bloodthirsty cackle nor was it a sinister, malicious howl at the thought of injuring and attacking people; in fact, he would much rather not hurt anyone to be perfectly honest. It was joyful, honest laugh. It was caused by something he had never experience before; a sense of freedom and liberation from his prison. He was fighting form something that he wanted, instead of an order or demand. And, in a strange way, it made him so undeniably happy to the point that he felt like he was going to burst in absolute joy.

He laughed and fought all the Marines that were gunning for him, allowing his body to move left and right and up and down to the point that if felt like a dance.

'This feels much different from the other times I fought,' he thought gleefully as he swiped his rapier, 'I have control of my body. I move when I want and how I want. This is what freedom is like! I have never experienced something so wonderful!'

BANG!

He dodged a bullet that was aimed at his head and turned to see a few Marines had climbed the masts and perched themselves on the wooden yards with their rifles. He grinned as he sped towards the mast and ran up them, much to the Marines' shock.

"No way!"

"That guy's quick!"

He leapt up on to the yard and kicked the nearest Marine off his perch, but not before stealing his rifle, twisting around and using the butt to clobber the next rifleman on the head, knocking him into the water. He tossed away the rifle and moved his head as more bullets shot at him from below on the deck. He sheathed his rapier, pulled out his pistols and began to fire down at the Marines, hitting them expertly in non-lethal places. Another shot almost hit him from behind, he sensed more sniper's perched on the yard of the next mast and saw that Marines were climbing up the rigging towards him.

However, all he did was laugh and cut off a rope that was strung up around the crow's nest. He grabbed ahold of the rope, ran to the edge and leapt off it; he swung himself in a wide arc around the mast and up to the the mast behind him. In mid-swing, he kicked two of the sniper's off the yard before he swung back around towards the rigging. He let go one one hand, grabbed his rapier and, as he swung by, cut through the ropes holding the rigging up, making several sailors plunge into the waters, screaming all the way down. He swung all the way down and landed just beside a confused sailor and handed him the end of the rope.

"Here, have this," he told him brightly.

Puzzled, the sailor took it and screamed in terror as he was rocketed off his feet by the rope and launched across the ship; he eventually landed by crashing into two more Marines and knocking them all of the side.

Cavalier laughed and stepped onto the port side as the last ten Marines crowded around him, nervously pointing their swords and their rifles at him. The entire crew of the battleship had either been injured or had fallen into the sea, meaning that they were last line of defence.

"Who is this guy," one of the sailors muttered with a gulp, "He boards our ship, takes out most of our crew and all he does is smile and laugh."

"Don't let him get to you. He's still only one lousy pirate," his fellow sailor told him.

"Honestly chaps," Cavalier sighed as he flicked the blood of his rapier, "I would rather not hurt anyone. We could still be friends," he offered.

THUNK!

Cavalier hummed curiously at the sound and looked down to see a wooden gangplank had been laid down on the side of the ship; right next to where he was standing. He looked behind and saw, marching from her burning and sinking ship with a murderous look on her face, Hina quickly approaching him like a demon stepping out of hell. The sailors backed away from their captain in sheer fear while Cavalier raised a single eyebrow.

"Captain Hina looks angry," one of the Marines uttered with a gulp.

Another sailor nodded before he realised something, "Wait, this is a good thing. Captain Hina will totally kick the crap out of him!"

"Yeah! Go captain!"

"Kick his ass!"

Cavalier smiled as he stepped onto the gangplank and walked over until they were a few meters apart; he tilted his hat at her and offered her a gentle smile.

"Hina. Good to see you again."

Hina, however, snarled at the friendly greeting, "What's your name again, pirate?"

"It's Cavalier," he told her happily,

"Cavalier, huh? Good. Now Hina has a name to carve on your gravestone," she said before she got into a fighting stance.

"How considerate of you," he told her as he took a fighting stance with his rapier at his side, "But I had already died once this week and I'm not too eager to do it again."

"We'll see about that," she growled before she launched at him with her fist aimed at his head.

He blocked the punch with the hilt of his sword and then did the same with the other fist flying towards him with ease. He thrusted his rapier towards her to which she sidestepped and immediately attempted a right hook to which he ducked under. He twirled around, grabbed onto the side of his cloak and whipped the ends towards Hina's face to blind her; however, she ducked, twisted around and tried to swipe his legs from under him. Cavalier jumped over her away before she could kick him and landed behind her with a flourish of his sword and wide grin on his face.

"This is fun."

"Take this seriously, you bastard," she hissed as she charged at him again.

She began to pelt him with punches from left, right and centre and Cavalier would deflect all of them with the hilt of his rapier. He stepped back from a right hook and swiped at her left leg, making a small gash appear. Hina grunted in pain but ignored the blood tricking from her wound, twirled around and swiping her leg at his head. He raised his left arm to block the incoming kick…but suddenly her leg morphed around him and passed through his arm like water.

Cavalier jumped back and frowned as he felt a height weight around his wrist; he looked down and was surprised to see an iron restraint on his wrist and studied carefully before he turned to Hina with a smile.

"A Devil Fruit user as well. We have so much in common."

"Way to go, captain!"

"That's Black Cage Hina for you!"

"You're dead, pirate!"

The sailors behind her jeered while Hina smirked like a cat who caught the canary.

"Hina's ability is useful for catching scum like you," Hina told him, "Are you intimidated by Hina's powers now?"

"Of course not," he told her with a grin, "How can I be intimidated by somebody so beautiful. You have such a cute manner of speaking and your eyes are so pretty."

The captain rolled her eyes, "Hina tires of your flirting. You should be ashamed for thinking you can get away with it."

Cavalier blinked blankly at her before he tilted his head to the side in puzzlement, "Sorry, what's flirting?" he asked obliviously.

Hina snarled before she stretched her arms out and produced an iron railing that shot out of the the tips of her hands. The railing curved towards him before it immediately wrapped around his entire body, restraining him from moving at all. Cavalier looked down at the metal restraint around him; he would have dodged…but his curious mind had taken over. Hina, pleased to see him trapped, snapped her fingers at the sailors behind her.

"Lock him up. Hina doesn't want him to move an inch before we reach Inpel Down."

"Aye, aye captain!" the ten sailors called back before they climbed on the gangplank and charged straight for him.

As his captors grew closer, Cavalier spied one of the masts on the battleship he wanted to escape on and hummed in interest,

"I wonder if I can sail away with only two masts. Ah well, I guess I have to find out," he said to himself.

The sailors were almost on him when they suddenly heard the creaking of wood from not too far away. They looked over their shoulders as they noticed a shadow fall over them and looked up. Their eyes widened in fear when they saw one of the masts of the battleship felling on top them; the metal screws keeping it upright suspiciously disappearing and made it topple over. They screamed in terror as the mast smashed through the gangplank, scattering the sailors into the sea below and breaking the plank in half; the only part still left was attached to the battleship while the rest were not pieces of splintered debris.

Hina had maned to avoid the mast and stepped back in surprise; she whipped her head around to try and find Cavalier but couldn't find him…until she felt something land on the gangplank behind her. She turned around and was immediately kicked in the stomach, sending her stumbling back to the edge of the gangplank before she managed to stop herself. Regaining her balence, she glared up to see Cavalier smiling back at her, having somehow gotten out of the cage she had put him in.

"You-" she hissed.

"Well, it's been nice, Hina," he interrupted as he took off his hat and bowed to her, "But I'm sorry to say that I must go. I hope we'll meet again," he told her as he puthis hat back on before he raised both arms; the left of which still had the iron restraint. Suddenly, the restraint disappeared and reappeared in his other hand, "catch!"

He tossed the restraint to her and she instinctively caught it in both arms, but the weight was too much and it made her stumble back and trip off the edge. Hina's eyes were wide in rage and shock as she fell towards the cold waters below; her sight never leaving Cavalier's for a second all of the way down.

"DAAAAAMMMMMMMNNNNNN YYYYOOOOOOOUUUUU!" she screamed before a loud splash was heard.

Cavalier smiled contently and kicked the gangplank off the edge and into the water so would had something to hold on to in the water. He jumped onto the deck, quickly gathered the sailors in a few lifeboats and set them off to sea, and rushed to the helm of the battleship and began to sail it towards the Going Merry.

"She was nice. I have to catch up on her later on," he told himself happily.

Snap!

He blinked in surprise as a flash of light washed over him. He turned around and saw to his surprise that there was a man standing not too far away with a camera in his hands which he was pointing straight at him. He was quite short and looked to be in his late forties with brown hair and moustache, fair skin and round eyes. He was dressed in a creme coloured shirt, a blue and white checkered vest, white trousers and a wide brimmed top hat. The strange looked down at his camera at the photo he had taken while Cavalier studied him; he didn't look like a Marine, not a proper one at least, but he did wonder what he was doing on a battleship.

"Hello," he greeted, catching the strange man's attention, "My name is Cavalier. It's a pleasure to meet you. I like your moustache."

"Huh?" the man uttered before his eyebrows raised in surprise, "Oh…thank you, I guess," he told him before he scratched his head and muttered to himself, "That's strange. Nobody had ever notice me before. Must be losing my touch."

"Not too sound rude or anything, but can I ask what you are doing on this battleship?"

"I'm the Marine photographer. The name's Attach," he greeted before the two men shook hands in greeting, "Don't mind me. I'm just taking your photo for your wanted posters."

"A wanted poster? For me?" Cavalier gasped in joy, "how do you know I'm going to get one?"

Attach looked over his shoulder at the flaming destruction behind him. He saw battleships broken and shattered, sails and enrobed in vicious flames that hungrily at away, the screams and yells of hundreds upon hundred of sailors and Marines as they rescued themselves from the chaos by swimming to port or grabbing the closest floating piece of debris; he saw nothing but a total annihilation of Marine armada, a humiliating stain on the reputation of the World Government's military.

"...call it a photographer's hunch."

"Okay," Cavalier brightly said, "Can I see it?"

Attach hummed thoughtfully before he shrugged, "Sure."

He stood next to him and showed him the photo had taken. Cavalier was more than pleased with it and nodded in appreciation.

"So, that's what a photo is. It looks great, thank you so much."

Attach shrugged, "Eh, it's my just my job."

"What a great job. Do you usually take the one or multiple photos?"

"One, usually. There are new pirates made everyday and taking multiple photos takes up too much room," he explained before he hummed, "although, thinking about it, I am nearing the end of the reel. I might as well as use it up and get another one in Arabasta," he muttered, "Do you want me to take more photos of you?"

For the next two minutes, the men more or less had a fashion shoot. Cavalier would pose according to Attach's instructions on various parts of the ship from up close glamour shoots to him posing on the sides of the ship and at the helm. Eventually, the reel had ran out after fifty two photos, but they had fun while it lasted.

"Thanks so much Cavalier," Attach said, grinning as he gave him a thumbs up, "I'll make sure to give them all to my superiors. I hope you don't mind, but I'm probably going to sell the rest to a magazine or newspaper."

"Yeah, that's fine," he said with a wave of his hand.

"I better go now. It was nice meeting you," Attach said as he headed to one of the last lifeboats, "Hope to see you again for the next wanted poster."

"Aha! Not if I see you first," he joked before he waved goodbye to him as he lowered the lifeboat to the water, "Bye! He was nice," he said as he returned to the helm and began to steer the ship again. A few seconds later, he suddenly remembered something, "Oh dear, I forgot to ask him what a wanted poster is. Ah well, I'll just find out later."

---

Meanwhile, Attach whistled merrily as he rowed to the shore with his camera safely hung around his neck. He was about half way there when suddenly a hand burst out of the water and grabbed the side of his lifeboat, making him yell in fear. Another hand joined the first one and a figure with long wet pink hair which covered their face pulled themselves up onto the boat. He gulped as he assumed it was some sort of sea monster but that's when the pink hair parted slightly to reveal the bloodshot eyes and the snarling facing of Captain Hina.

"Attach," she hissed slowly and menacingly, "Did you get a photo of that demon?"

"Do you mean Cavalier?" he asked nervously, "o-of course. Plenty of them. He's actually a nice guy wants you get to know-"

He stopped talking when the irate eyes glared daggers at him, making his blood run cold.

"Bring Hina to port and give Hina your transponder snail," she snarled, narrowing her eyes and scathing the side of the boat with her long sharp nails, "Hina's going to skin him alive."

---

Going Merry

"Err…what just happened?" Usopp uttered as he and the other members of the crew looked over the side of their ship.

"That was a catastrophe," Zoro said, hid brow furrowed inquisitively, "You think that they're were just useless at sailing or something?"

Sanji shook his head, "It didn't look like an accident. It looks like sabotage to me."

"Who would do that?" Chopper questioned.

The Straw Hats were in the middle of preparing for the inevitable battle with Marines when they stopped at the sound of loud explosion. Investigating what happened, the witnessed the rest of the carnage from the bow of the Going Merry; everything from the ships crashing, the fires and even more explosions until the fleet was no more then a bunch of sinking ship wrecks.

As they watched the Marine ships slowly submerge into the waters, Luffy leaned back and rested the back of his head on his hands casually.

"Meh! Who cares. At least they're not bugging us anymore. We can finally set sail."

"Not so fast, Luffy," Nami said, as she pointed into the distance, "One of their ships was 't effected and is currently heading our way. Everybody prepare to battle!"

"Yosh!" Luffy cried as he spotted the ship coming towards them before he leapt in the railing and began to stretch his arms, "Piece of cake. They don't stand a chance against us."

"They should be in range. Why aren't they firing at us?" Sanji questioned as he took a puff of his cigarette.

Usopp hummed thoughtfully before he reached up and pulled his sniper glasses over his eyes, "I don't see anybody on board…and it's missing a mast. Something is not right."

"Aww, come on," Luffy moaned, "let's not think about it now. The ship isn't going to destroy itself, you know."

BOOOOMMM!

Suddenly the Marine ship exploded and ruptured a few meters away, scattering pieces of wood and other debris into the air before they crashed into the sea. The smell of lit gunpowder was evident in the air; a clear sign of what caused the explosion. Luffy's and the others jaws dropped in shock.

"Wah! It destroyed itself!" he cried out in astonishment before his looked down at his hands in awe, "Did I do that? Am I a prophet?"

"How did you come to that conclusion!" the others yelled at him.

"Pardon me!"

They jumped in surprise at the new voice and turned around to see a figure in a wide brimmed feather hat and wearing a cloak standing atop of the Merry's figurehead, looking down at them with gentle eyes.

"Do I have permission to board your vessel?" he asked with a hint of nervousness in his tone.

Cautiously, he stepped off the figurehead and approached them. He flipped his cloak over his shoulder as he did and revealed to the crew his sheathed rapier and pistols; he thought it would be wise to show them his weapons to show that he was concealing any trickery or any intention to surprise them with an attack. Zoro's eyes immediately honed in on the sword and gave a simple hum in realisation.

"Huh? Now that's a surprise."

Nami was the next to notice, "That rapier. It's Magpie," she whispered.

"No way?" Usopp said, "He looks completely different. I wouldn't have guessed somebody like that would be underneath that mask of his," he glanced over his shoulder at the Marine ships, "And I'm guessing he was the one behind all of that."

"Scary," Chopper said with a small shiver.

Cavalier took a deep breath as he stepped in front of Luffy; he took off his hat, pressed it against to his chest and bowed his head in respect. Luffy raised an eyebrow in intrigue and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked up at him. He took a deep breath and held out his gloved hand in greeting.

"Hello my name is Cavalier. It's a pleasure to meet you. I like…how you gave me hope," he told him sincerely, "Despite how I acted before and the terrible things I have done, you, your crew and Vivi gave me a chance to break through my own prison and allowed me to becoming something greater," he told him before he frowned confidently, "I get it now. I get why you turned me down earlier. But it's different now. Nobody is forcing me nor is anybody deciding what I should do. Because, now, I have a reason to see the world; a reason to leave my past behind; a reason to live," he tightened his hands into tights fists, tears starting to form in his eyes, "I want to find my home. I want to find my family. I want to find who I was before the Secret Empire. I don't care how long it will take or where we go. I'm not even sure if they're even still around or even remember me, but I just have to do this. I…I want to go home. Please Luffy, I want to join your crew…will you accept me?" he asked passionately.

At the end of his speech, Luffy hummed and frowned in thought; his face scrunched up slightly as he did. Eventually, a broad smile appeared on his face and he reached up and slapped his shoulder good naturally.

"Sure. You can join," he told him, much to his delight, "As long as you have a dream then your more than welcome to be on board. Like me, my dream is to find the One Piece and become King of the pirates."

Zoro stepped up and nodded "I'm going to be greatest swordsman."

"I'm going to draw a map of the entire world," Nami added.

"I going to be a brave warrior of the seas!"

"I'm going to find the All Blue."

"I'm going to cure all diseases!"

Cavalier sniffed and wiped his tears away before a grin crept onto his face, "And I'm going to find my home!" he declared boldly, earning cheers from the rest of the crew, "Thank you so much. All of you. Your dreams sound lovely to me."

Luffy laughed merrily at what he said, but it didn't last long and his frown quickly returned. He sighed and walked to the side of the ship and gazed over the coastline of Arabasta as they slowly began to sail away. Cavalier hummed in concerned and stepped up from behind him.

"Luffy…is something that matter? Did I do something wrong?"

"Nah," he replied, "It's not that."

Nami stepped up beside Cavalier, "If it's about Vivi then you don't have to worry. She can take care of herself."

"No, it's not that either."

"Then what is it?"

Luffy sighed wearily, "I just can't help but think about Pie-Guy," he admitted, "I was expecting him to finally figure out what he wanted and come and join us. I bet he's still out there. In the middle of the desert all alone. I hope Vivi or somebody finds him."

….

….

….

….

The crew stared blankly at their captain before they looked at a rather confused Cavalier. Eventually, Sanji spoke up to him.

"Luffy. He's right here."

"Huh? Where?" Luffy asked whipping his head around in search for him, "I can't see him."

Cavalier raised an eyebrow before he grinned in amusement, "It's me, Luffy. I'm the one formally known as Magpie," he said with a wave, "Don't you recognise me?"

The captain stared blankly at him as his face scrunched up as if he was using every single braincell he had to process what he said. Cavalier laughed at his puzzled expression before he cleared his throat.

"Monkey D. Luffy. You are the enemy of the Secret Empire," he said in a deep, emotionless voice.

….

….

….

….

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?" Luffy yelled out in shock as his eyes bulged in their sockets as he finally understood what is going on, "YOU'RE MAGPIE!?"

"YOU ONLY JUST REALISED!?" his crew yelled at him

"No way!" Luffy cried before he leapt at him and wrapped his arms around his neck in a tight hug, "You're here! I was so worried you wouldn't come!"

Cavalier was taken back in surprise before he hugged him back, "Well, you don't have to worry any longer. I'm here now," he told him before he sweat dropped, "So, did you think I was just some random person who wanted to be part of your crew or-?"

Luffy jumped off him and shrugged, "I don't know. You look and sound totally different. I thought you looked like a mummy."

"Those were just bandages, Luffy," Chopper sighed.

"He does have a point," Usopp said as he rubbed his chin, "before you were all scary, dark and murder-y, but now you look like a completely different person. Even your personality has changed quite a lot."

Cavalier smiled, "I like to think I've always been like this, but it was Magpie who changed me into a cold bloodied killer. Being behind that mask…was…it wasn't great. Which is why, I want to experience and learn everything I can about this world. And, so far, I've seen some fantastic things and met some brilliant people who I want to be my friend. After all, I want my family to know that I've been doing well. I don't want to make them upset by what happened before the mask broke. I can't wait to tell them all the amazing things I've done."

"So, where did you get the weird clothes," Sanji asked.

"From Vivi. She said I look good in them and I feel good. Have you seen the feather on my hat? Brilliant isn't it?"

"Yeah, sure it's great."

"Not only that, but it covers up the horrible skin I have," he told them.

"Speaking of which," Chopper said as he trotted over to him, "You must be recovering well. Not only have you ran all the way here, but you also managed to defeat a bunch of Marines. It's interesting how you managed to do all of that and not put strain on your body."

"It's actually the opposite," he told him as his eye twitched slightly, "I'm in incredible agony right now."

"You're what!?"

"Yeah, but it's fine. I just need to...actually, I'm going to pass out in a minute. Is there a bed I can lie down in? Oh wait...never mind...too late," he said before he fell face first onto the floor.

"WAH!" Chopper yelled as he changed into his human form and picked him up in his arms and rushed him off to the medical bay, "YOU MORON! TELL US WHEN YOU'RE HURT!"

"I…didn't want…to make…a fuss," he replied dizzily.

"Great," Zoro muttered as he and the rest of the crew followed them to the medical bay, "Just what we need. Another weirdo."

---

Vivi and Caroo watched as the Going Merry sailed away from Arabasta and into the horizon with a sad smile. She had never had friends like them and she doubted she would meet anybody similar in her lifetime. Despite it being only a few days, it felt like an eternity ago when they met at Reverse Mountain and she would nothing more then to spend more time with them and see the world for herself...but she knew that she couldn't; Arabasta needed her; she was a princess, not a pirate.

She sighed and closed her eyes, "Thank you Cavalier for living my dream. Please make it worthwhile for me," she whispered as the sea breeze blew her blue hair gently, "And I wish you all the best on your voyage home. I'm sure you family misses you," she opened her eyes and scathed Caroo on the beak, earning a quack of delight from the duck, "Come on Caroo. Let's go home."

---

Throne Room of the Basilica, Secret Empire

Three Days Earlier

"Will you stop singing and bring me back my fingers!" Mr Nest bellowed as he held his bleeding hand, "Raven! As your superior, I demand-"

"It's not the time for that," Raven sighed, "Be patient, Mr Nest."

"You dare speak back to me, you arrogant brat! I am your-"

"Superior. Yes, you have barked that word at me so often that it has lost all meaning," she coldly said, "I, for one, do not need words to demonstrate my authority," she said, earning a growl from Mr. Nest.

They had returned swiftly from Arabasta, leaving a dying Magpie in the hands of Vivi, and were now stood outside the large doors of the throne room, waiting to be let in for an audience with the Emperor. Mr. Nest hadn't had the time to dress his wound and clutched his hand underneath his armpit to stop the bleeding. Raven, on the other hand, was leant against the wall beside the door and had to endure the four minutes and twenty six seconds (according to her estimates) of his whining and complaining.

"You're absolutely useless, you are," Mr. Nest snarled, "You did nothing. Nothing! You stood here and watched that princess find us, allowed him to injure me and before we could dispose of the girl you took us away! Against my orders!" he marched over towards her and leaned in close to her mask, "I hope I don't smell treachery on you, Raven. It'll be an awful shame to lose two agents in one day."

Raven tilted her head up to him and gave him a look that sent shivers down the larger man's spine, "On the contrary," she whispered sharply, "Everything I do…is for the empire."

Suddenly, the doors to the throne opened for them, making Mr Nest step back in surprise. Raven calmly pushed herself off the wall and walked straight in.

"It is time," she told him.

Mr. Nest rushed in and fell onto his knees before the looming figure of the Emperor still sat on his throne, his hollow eyes looking down at them in silent judgement. Raven didn't kneel but calmly stood just behind Mr. Nest and folded her arms before her as she quietly basing her lullaby to herself.

"M-my liege," Mr. Nest stammered, "I come with grave news-"

"I heard a commotion from outside," the Emperor interrupted in his dark voice, "Is there a problem with you and Raven, Mr Nest?"

"Well, it's related to the bad news, my liege. It's about Magpie-"

"The agent that you assured me would not fail. Am I remembering that correctly?"

Mr. nest hesitated slightly, "Y-yes…but, you see, Magpie had betrayed us. Not only had he failed his mission but he had attracted the attention of the royal family of Arabasta. I, unfortunately, had to dispose of him before any serious damage was caused. He is dead, my liege, Raven can vouch for me."

As the Emperor's cold eyes turned to Raven, the assassin nodded in agreement.

"I can confirm that Magpie is dead, my liege," she told him.

The Emperor's eyes trained on her for a few more seconds before he returned his focus on Mr. Nest, "I see. How troublesome. Raven, I will be calling Bathory to my side."

Raven nodded before she raised her hand and clicked her fingers. At that moment, Mr. Nest gave a startled yelp and looked down at his hand to find that his fingers had returned. He wiggled them to test them out and quickly noted that his blood stains had disappeared as well. He looked over his shoulder at Raven before he gave a bitter snort and turned away. The next second, the sound of clicking high heeled shoes echoed through the throne room, alerting them that she had arrived.

She emerged from the shadows of the giant throne dressed in a red blouse, black trousers and a long white lab coat. Her long blond hair fell over her shoulders and down her back gracefully and her bright green eyes peered over her the circular glasses she wore on the bridge of her nose. She was beautiful; standing at over six foot and looked to be in her early thirties; with snow white skin, a sharp, intelligent face and a small kind smile on her lips as she strutted into view. In her left hand, she held a strange red apple with orange and yellow rings on it and a syringe in her other hand. As she got closer, a servant in a white mask, ran up with a comfortable chair and placed it down for her. Without taking her eyes off the fruit, she sat down and inserted the syringe into it.

"My liege. You called for me?" she drawled in a sweet, calming voice.

"Ms Bathory," Mr. Nest uttered, "What a surprise. I haven't seen you out of your laboratory in ages. How are you enjoying the Smile Fruit that I acquired for you?"

Bathory drew back the plunger and watched as a greenish liquid was drawn out of the flesh of the apple, "It's interesting," she hummed before she looked up at him with a pleasant smile, "But we didn't come here to discuss that. So, stop you're pandering and get on with it," she ordered.

She may have said it sweetly, but there was a hidden tone to her words that made Mr. Nest shiver in fear.

"Magpie has been terminated by Mr. Nest," the Emperor informed, making her look up at the towering figure in mild surprise, "And he has come here to declare it."

"Terminated?" Bathory gasped in horror, placing a dainty hand over her mouth like a rich lady, "How dreadful. How could you have done this to my sweet little Magpie?"

"It was necessary," Mr. Nest told her, "Magpie had betrayed us. He was a threat to the Empire. I had to make a tough call."

Bathory frowned slightly and pouted sadly, "Oh dear, how awful. How truly awful!" she said before she placed a single finger on the corner of her mouth and gave a thoughtful expression, "However, that's rather strange. Very strange, indeed," she hummed as she turned her sharp eyes on him again, "Strange...considering I haven't got his Devil Fruit back."

Mr. Nest felt as if the floor had given way beneath him. His eyes widened in his mask and he began to physically shake.

"W-what?" he uttered, "That's impossible."

She raised an eyebrow and scowled at him, "I hope you're not saying I'm a liar, Mr. Nest. This is very serious. If he has passes away then I would surely have it come back to me, shouldn't I? And yet, I have not."

"Explain yourself," the Emperor ordered with a growl.

Mr. Nest hesitated slightly before he turned back to Raven pleadingly, "Tell them, Raven. Tell them that Magpie died. You said so yourself."

"I did say so," Raven calmly said, earning a relieved sigh from him, "Magpie is dead...and his new life has begun."

"WHAT!?" Mr. Nest roared at her, "HOW DARE YOU-"

SLAM!

Mr. Nest yelped as something ginormous almost crushed him. He rolled over to the side and scampered away to see that it was the end of a giant, long handled battle-axe. He followed the axe up and saw the Emperor's hand gripping the other end beneath the blade with his massive hand, having used his weapon to almost smash him into paste. The Emperor glared at him with his dark, hollow eyes before he looked over to Raven.

"Raven...are you saying that it's finally time?"

The assassin nodded, "It is my liege."

Mr. Nest looked at the both of them in confusion, "What? What's going on!? Time for what!?"

The Emperor didn't respond to him. Instead, he reared back his head and roared with laughter.

"HUH! HUH! HUH! HA! HA!" he bellowed before he raised his free hand and grasped it into a tight fist, "For two hundred years and four generations, we have waited patiently for the new age! Building our forces and honing our skills until we can finally pounce! I shall take over my great grandfather's legacy and finish what he had started," he lowered his head and nodded at Raven, "You and your predecessors had been a great help to our cause. The Empire thanks you Raven," he told her, earning a single nod from her, "And, of course, your family's contribution is greatly admired as well, Ms Bathory."

Bathory giggled behind her hand, "My, my. You're too kind, my liege."

"Let's begin the new chapter in our history immediately...with the dissolution of the Black Feathers."

Mr. Nest took a step back in shock, "The Black Feathers...dissolved? B-But your liege, that's your army."

"And a new one will rise from the ashes and we will no longer be needing you, Mr Nest."

"My liege! I mean this with respect, but I've been leading the Black Feathers for over forty years-"

SLAAMMM!

Mr. Nest screamed as the Emperor slammed the hilt of his battle axe down next to him, shattering the floors and shaking the basilica to its core.

"And what have you done in those years, hmm? Grown fat, become lazy and abuse my soldiers," the Emperor roared, "You're merely a care taker. Somebody who proceeds over the organisation of the Black Feathers, but Raven informs that you pass the work onto her instead."

Mr. Nest whipped his head towards the assassin, "You traitorous bitch! How dare you go behind my back!" he yelled at her before he suddenly realised something, "You were the one who brought that princess over. You changed her future so she could find us! You've planned this from the start! This is a conspiracy!"

"Indeed, I have," Raven calmly sighed, "But you're wrong about me being a traitor. You can't be one if you have been loyal in the first place. I told you...everything I do is for the good of the Empire."

Mr. Nest stared at her in utter disbelief, not believing what was happening to him. Bathory, however, giggled at how lost he looked behind her hand.

"My, my. I almost feel bad for him. He looks like a kicked puppy."

"I hope you don't feel too bad. After all, he is disposable," the Emperor drawled.

The head of the Black Feathers gritted his teeth in rage and his hands tightened into fists, "Disposable..." he spat, "...disposable? After everything I have sacrificed to get here, after all my years of loyalty and hard work...you call me disposable?," his furious eyes locked onto Raven's form as he reached for the knife in his pocket, "Let's see how far this new age will get...without your strongest soldier!"

He roared as he charged towards Raven and unsheathed his knife, aiming directly for her heart. Raven looked over to him as ran over and tilted her head in curiosity and not in fear that he was hoping for. It didn't matter anymore as Mr. Nest reached her, raised his knife and plunged it into her chest right up to the hilt and held it there for a few seconds. He cackled gleefully at what he done...'

...until he realised that Raven wasn't in any pain...nor was there any blood leaking through her uniform. In fact, she looked rather bored as if she had predicted it.

She smoothly reached up to to the knife and simply pulled it out as if nothing happened to her. That was when Mr. Nest noticed the small slit where the knife had entered; it was only for a split second, but he swore that the slit was fizzed and crackled with black and white dots; looking something similar to white noise you would find on T.V screen. He stepped away in shock and stared at her white mask.

"You're...you're not a Paramecia Devil Fruit user," he realised, "You're a Log-"

In a split second, Raven disappeared from his sight. He took a step back in shock before he felt a strong hand grasp his throat and start to choke him. Over his left shoulder, he heard the soft voice of Raven whisper into his ear.

"Do you remember what happened to you fifty five years, twenty two weeks, five days and forty two minutes ago?" she asked, "You were part of a mining group excavating coal from the Ecko Quarry when the cave roof collapsed on you. You broke ten bones, your organs were crushed and lost sight in your right eye for four years. Do you remember that?" she asked once again, "If not, then allow me to jog your memory."

CRACK!

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Mr. Nest screamed in agony and blood spurted from his mouth as ten bones broke, all his internal organs were crushed and he suddenly lost sight in right eye. He collapsed to the floor and continued to scream and wail in pain as Raven allowed him to relive his past life.

"Raven, dear," Bathony called out as she shielded her eyes, "A little warning next time, please. You know I can't stand the sight of blood."

"Mr apologies, Ms Bathony," Raven said with a polite bow.

Somehow, using what little strength he had, Mr. Nest managed to pick himself up and limp towards the door, trying to get away from the assassin as fast as possible, "HELP ME!" he screamed, "HELP ME! THEY'RE GOING TO KILL ME! CROW! SWAN! EAGLE! ANYBODY! JUST HELP ME!"

He reached the door and ran through it...only for him to step onto nothing but open air. He yelped in surprise and reached out to grab the handle before he could fall. As he hung in the air, he looked down and gasped as he saw that, instead of being outside, he was hanging high above the throne room, looking down at the Emperor and his subordinates below. He gulped in fear and pain and tried to pull himself up...when he heard a familiar sound.

'Tweeet Twooo! Tweeet Twooo!'

It was the sound of somebody whistling, imitating the sound of a particular bird.

'Tweeet Twooo! Tweeet Twooo!'

He looked up and paled as he saw a long, silent hand reach out from the door he fell out of it. The arm and hand was so thin and spindly that it looked like it was made of needles; it wrapped its thing fingers around his wrist and began to crush it with its powerful clutch.

"Cuckoo," Mr. Nest gasped, "No, not you too."

The thin hand crushed his wrist with a solid snap and allowed him to fall several feet onto the cold, hard floor; landing right at the Emperor's feet. He cried in pain, tears began to stream down his mask as he barely could move his body. Although, he did attempt to get out of there as quickly as possible...he found that his arms and legs were no longer in control. He looked around and saw, to his horror, that his limbs and turned into solid marble, just like the sort that floor was made of. He yelled in fear before a large hand grabbed his mouth over his mask and, with a single flash of light, turned it into solid brass, sealing it completely shut. His eyes darted around and saw the final figure standing over him.

He was as tall as he was wide; and he was plenty of both; with huge bulging muscles with arms like oak trees. He wore the standard Black Feather uniform but it was bluish black colour with a yellow rim around the hood; his mask resembled a strong, thoughtful expression with narrow eyes and a closed mouth. Mr. Nest knew who he was as well.

'Bower?' he thought in despair.

The giant assassin stepped away to his right, allowing him to see, through his left eye, the two thin arms and hands of Cuckoo appear on his left; the rest of his body hidden somewhere out of his vision. Finally, Raven was the last to appear in his line of sight, looking down at him as he was nothing more than a pathetic insect. All three of his assassin, agents he had known and worked with for decades, had now betrayed him and left him to suffer as they mockingly stood over him.

"HUH! HUH! HUH! HA! HA!" the Emperor bellowed in amusement, "With the Black Feathers gone, it is time for reorganisation of the special forces. Mr. Nest, I would like to introduce you...to your replacements. " he waved a hand to the muscular agent, "Bower, eater of the Matter Matter Fruit, will now be the head of the Warrior Group consisting of the agents Crow, Hummingbird, Buzzard, Oxpecker, Vulture, and Hoopoe."

"Grgrgrgrgrgrgrgr!" Bower grumbled in laughter, "I'm going to crush anyone who gets in my way."

The Emperor waved his hand at Cuckoo's hands, "Cuckoo, eater of the Space Space Fruit, will be the head of the Espionage Group which will consist of Starling, Parrot, Hawk, Dove and Chaffinch."

'Tweeet Twooo! Tweeet Twooo!' Cuckoo whistled, he never spoke and only talked through whistling, "'Tweeet Twooo! Tweeet Twooo!'

"And finally..." the Emperor continued, "Raven, eater of the Tick Tick Fruit, will now be the head of the Assassin Group which will consist of Sparrow, Crane, Swallow, Swan and Peacock."

Raven merely tilted her head and sighed before she began to softly sing her lullaby once again.

The Emperor raised both arms before him, "I present to you, the Sentinals. Time, space and matter are at my command. The very fabrics of the universe and beyond are at my fingertips and nothing will stop us as we conquer the world and punish those who wronged my family for generations. The world and everybody in it will soon learn the power of the Sentinels and the Secret Empire!"

The Emperor began to roar in laughter once more while Bathony smiled pleasantly, however nobody noticed the sorrowful look in her eyes. Mr. Nest began to shake as he felt utterly weak and hopeless at the display of power. His eye darted towards the Emperor in questioning; luckily, Raven picked up on what he wanted to say.

"My liege. At this time, Mr Nest wants to know what would happen to Magpie," she told him, "He's free to roam wherever now. Who knows who he would meet and tell them our secrets. Marines, Admirals, Warlords, Emperors and other strong pirates. There's a chance he could run into them, he wonders.'

The Emperor leaned back on his throne and chuckled darkly, "Free to roam, wherever?" he repeated, "Good. Just as planned."

---

That's it for now!

So a little fun fact. This chapter is the longest I have ever written across all my stories so far with a word count of 28,232. As a reference, my average is ten to fifteen thousand words per chapter.

You might have noticed the personality change with Cavalier (formally known as Magpie). He is, as the kids say nowadays, a cinnamon roll and a himbo. I already gave an OC who is dead serious all the time and so I thought it would be nice to write an OC that has a personality of a Labrador puppy instead. He will still have his ruthless moments; just wait when he meets Spandam at Enies Lobby or the Celestial Dragons at Sabaody. He can be pretty frightening when he wants to.

Oh and I've updated his character bio on my profile.

Thanks for reading :)