A.n I own nothing.

I apologise for the late update, I recently got a new job and it's taking up most of my time as between mid September to mid October is my works busiest time of the year. Hopefully it will start to calm down soon until then updates will be a bit slow.

Again I aoplogise and thank you for your patience.

Robin, Usopp, Connor and Luffy were sitting at a table in a restaurant. After the strange old man had asked them about the Rainbow Mist, Robin agreed to talk to him, they had wandered through town and Sanji had roped Chopper into helping him into carrying stuff for Nami.

Robin Usopp and Connor had noticed Luffy in a restaurant and had decided to talk to the old man with the rubber captain over a meal. The restaurant was had a nice view of the ocean and it was fairly busy as most tables were full. Luffy had ordered several plates of pasta for the table, when the cook brought it over he glared at the old man.

"You had better have money on you," the cook said harshly.

"Don't worry, he's paying," the old man claimed and pointed at Usopp.

"I NEVER AGREED TO THAT!" Usopp yelled.

"I'm going to tell you a secret, it's the least you can do," the old man pointed out.

The cook nodded and put the food on the table before returning to the kitchen.

"A secret, really?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Yes the secret of the Rainbow Mist," the old man said.

"What's that?" Luffy asked and shoved some food in his mouth.

"First off my name is Henzo, I'm a professor studying the Rainbow Mist," Henzo introduced.

"Robin isn't the Rainbow Mist the name of the books your reading?" Connor asked, remembering what Robin had told him about the book she had lent him.

"Books…what Books?" Henzo asked.

"I'm reading a series of books called the Rainbow Mist," Robin answered "It's about a group of children who find a hidden land filled with treasure and adventure. Apparently the Rainbow Mist leads to Neverland, a place where children never grow up or starve,"

"Well that's a load of garbage," Henzo said disappointingly "There is no land of adventure beyond the mist,"

"How do you know?" Luffy asked; the thought of a hidden land exited him.

"Because the mist itself swallows people up, if you get caught in it you're never seen again," Henzo claimed.

"So there's no land of treasure or eternal youth," Connor frowned.

"Stuff like that does not exist, you're better off believing in something more realistic,"

"But your searching for the mist," Usopp pointed out.

"Yes the mist exists but the land of adventure and treasure dose not," Hezo said firmly.

Before the Straw Hats could ask any more questions the sound of drums was herd, suddenly the other guests quickly began shoving their food and drink into their mouths. Usopp and Luffy watched in confusion, Robin and Connor were too busy focusing on the drum.

Suddenly the door to the restaurant was opened and an older man wearing a purple uniform with white fur shoulder pads walked in. He had red hair and a moustache and thick black eyebrows.

"Greetings citizens, I hope your enjoying your meal," the man in the front said.

He walked into the restaurant and all of the other customers froze, the Straw Hats looked at him in confusion as the atmosphere had gone from calm and relaxed to tense and fear.

"I see you've got an extra-large beer there," the man in front said as he eyed a customer with some drink left in his mug "If you want to drink that you must pay the drinking tax,"

Two soldiers came up behind the man and started searching him.

"Who's that?" Usopp asked.

"That's Flip, the mayor's son. He's in charge of the Tax collection party," Hezo claimed.

The soldiers pulled out his wallet, they brought it over to Flip; Philip searched it and found no money in the wallet. He turned to the man enraged.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Flip demanded.

"I…I can't pay. You've taken everything," the man claimed.

"Those who can't pay must work at the tower," Flip claimed, he made a gesture and the two soldiers grabbed the man by his arms and started to drag him away.

"No please don't…I have a wife and three children," the man begged.

"Then we will have to collect the Children's tax from her," Flip said cold heartedly "Take him to the tower,"

The soldiers dragged the man screaming out of the restaurant and none made any move to stop them. Flip eyed the rest of the restaurant and noticed Henzo; he walked up to him.

"Ah Professor, how's your research going? The mayor would like an update," Flip said in a somewhat friendly way.

"Same as normal, it's hard because there is no way to tell when the Rainbow Mist will appear," Henzo answered.

"That's a shame, your research is being funded by the peoples tax's and that Rainbow tower it being built as a result of your research. The longer it takes the more suffering you'll cause these people," Flip claimed.

Henzo glared at the man bit did not respond.

Flips eyes looked over the other people Henzo was with and noticed Luffy eating a large serve of pasta and Connor.

"You there, that is a large serve you're eating," Flip commented.

"Yeah I'm pretty hungry," Luffy claimed.

"I see tell me is that boy with you?"

"Yeah he is,"

"Then you must pay not only the child tax but also the large serving tax as well," Flip demand.

"It's on him today," Luffy claimed and pointed at Usopp.

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Usopp yelled.

Two soldiers came up to Usopp and he looked at them nervously.

"Oh you mean you can't pay either?" Flip asked with an evil smile.

Usopp sighed, he had no desire to wind up like that other man who was dragged away; he pulled out his money pouched and handed it to Flip. Philip took it and emptied the pouch before giving it back to Usopp; he and his men than left the restaurant.

"Great, now I'm broke," Usopp said depressed.

"Don't worry about," Luffy smiled.

"Easy for you to say," Usopp huffed.

"Robin…what's a Tax?" Connor asked.

"It's what you have to pay for what you own, it's normally not that much," Robin answered.

Luffy and his group finished their meal quickly and left the restaurant as they left the cook who served them came after them.

"Hey word of advice…stay away from Henzo," the cook warned.

"Why?" Luffy asked innocently.

"Because it's his fault we're being taxed, he makes a living out of our suffering," the cook said angrily "If you don't want to be shunned by the people here, you'll stay away from him,"

Luffy looked over at Henzo, the older man was fiddling with the strange contemplation that he carried around; he appeared completely oblivious to the conversation.

"Okay thanks for the warning," Luffy smiled at the Cook.

The cook smiled back thinking he had got through to Luffy, however the rubber captain did something nether the cook or Henzo expected. Luffy walked up to Henzo.

"Hey can I help you find the Rainbow Mist?" Luffy asked.

Henzo and the cook stared at him in shock.

"You believe me…why?" Henzo asked.

"A strange mist that leads to treasure and adventure…who could say no to that?" Luffy asked excitedly.

Usopp and Connor sighed; Luffy was going to get them into trouble again.

"But there is no land of treasure or anything like that, it's just a story," Henzo insisted.

"No it's real," Luffy said "If it wasn't then why would there be books about it?"

"Luffy has a point, even if it is just a legend, most legends have some truths to them," Robin agreed.

"So what do we do to find the mist?" Luffy asked.

"Well…normally I just walk around town, if the mist appears my invention should activate," Henzo said.

"Okay let's go," Luffy declared and walked off in a random direction.

The others followed him and the cook went back into the restraint. As they walked around town Henzo and Robin were having an interesting conversation about theories on the Rainbow Mist, Connor wasn't paying much attention to them. He was more interested in Usopp ting to convince Luffy that Henzo was a bad guy.

"Luffy we can't help this guy, he's a bad person," Usopp claimed.

"But Usopp I want to see the Magic Mist," Luffy whined.

"Luffy those soldiers took our money,"

"You'll get it back, once we find the mist of course,"

"But there is no treasure,"

"You don't know that, Robins books say there is so there must be,"

"So know your trusting Robin as well? Need I remind you she tried to kill us?"

"Technically that was Crocodile, I never actually tried to kill you," Robin interrupted.

"See, there's nothing two worry about," Luffy said with a smile.

Suddenly a loud explosion was herd coming from near the port, the group stopped and looked in the direction of the explosion, and they saw grey smoke rising into the air.

"What was that?" Connor asked.

"Probably some idiot causing trouble or showing off," Usopp guessed and they continued walking.

Henzo and the Straw Hats kept walking while Usopp was complaining about the massive amount the tax cost, Henzo was feeling guilty because he had caused these people grief but despite all that they still believed him about the Mist.

"I'm sorry," Henzo said.

"Why are you apologising old man?" Luffy asked.

"Luffy he's part of those soldiers," Usopp said.

"Really?"

"Yes, he's part of those thieving officials. Weren't you listing to them in the restaurant?"

"No, I was too busy eating,"

Usopp groaned.

"Okay let me put it in a way you'll understand. It's his fault that those outrageous taxes exist," Usopp said annoyed "Did you get that?"

"Not really," Luffy answered.

"Luffy Henzo is a bad guy," Usopp claimed.

"No he's not, he showed us a good place to eat," Luffy argued innocently.

Robin, Connor and Henzo watched Luffy and Usopp argue back and forth on whether or not Henzo could be trusted.

"Dose he always do this?" Henzo asked Robin.

"I'm not sure, I don't really know Luffy that well yet…Connor might know though," Robin answered.

Henzo looked at the boy and repeated his question.

"Oh yeah, all the time Luffy just dose what he wants. If something interests him he'll ignore everyone else until he finds it and sees it with his own eyes," Connor claimed.

"Even if it's a myth and there's no proof?" Henzo asked.

"Especially if it's a myth, he's chasing after One Piece after all. So going after some mist that may or may not exist is not unusual," Connor pointed out.

"One Piece? But that's never been found…" Henzo said in shock.

"I know, but that's just the type of person he is," Connor finished.

Suddenly a man came running up to the group, he was out of breath from running.

"Henzo there you are…you've got to come to the harbour," the man demanded.

"Why? What's going on at the harbour?" Henzo asked.

"A ship just came in…it appeared out of nowhere…It's a Galleon," the man claimed.

"A…A…A Galleon?" Henzo gasped in surprise.

"Yes, common," the man said and took off running, Henzo followed him.

"A Galleon…those haven't been made in years," Robin stated.

"Sounds like fun, let's go take a look," Luffy said and headed towards the harbour.

When they reached the harbour a larger crowd was already there Luffy, had to push his way through to the front of the crowd and his crew followed him. Once he was at the front he saw the Galleon.

"WOW IT'S HUGE!" Luffy shouted in excitement and amazement.

The Galleon was indeed huge; in fact it was so large it did not fit into the harbour. There were small pilot boats around it trying to anchor it just outside the harbour. The Galleon was painted a crimson red colour, it had a bull figure head, for masts with sails that had a Bull skull and crossbones painted on top and at the very top pf the mast was a black pirate flag with a matching jolly Rodger.

This Gallon was a pirate ship.

"Interesting, I thought that they stopped making these types of ships 30yrs ago," Robin said.

"Why? It's so cool," Luffy claimed.

"Because of the amount of time and effort that was needed to build them; Galleons are very powerful and can house a lot of cannons, not to mention the Hull was built to withstand sieges. It's essentially a floating fortress," Robin stated.

"So…why stop building them?" Connor asked.

"Because Galleons are notoriously slow, even on windy days it would not get far. When it comes to transporting aid or supplies a Galleon would be able to carry enough to feed a small country but would take twice as long to get there," Robin explained.

"So it's impractical, but as a pirate ship it would be unstoppable," Usopp pointed out.

"Well I would not call it unstoppable, but it would defiantly be very difficult to defeat in a naval confrontation," Robin finished "but it's strange…it looks old…really old,"

"You did say the last one was build 30yrs ago," Usopp pointed out.

"Yes but…it looks much older than that," Robin said.

"How old?" Connor asked; he had never seen this type of ship before.

"It's hard to tell from here but…I'd estimate at least fifty if not sixty years old," Robin stated.

"Then how is it still floating, don't ships have a life span of about twenty years?" Usopp asked.

"Why only twenty years?" Connor asked looking at Usopp.

"Any longer than that and the wood starts to decay and rot due to the salt water, plus most ships don't even last that long. Some get taken apart then the wood gets recycled and made into other things," Usopp explained.

"Hey what's that?" Luffy asked and pointed to a nearby jetty.

The others looked to se Henzo driving what looked like a one person car; it was yellow and hat the initials H-1 painted in read on the bonnet. Henzo drove it off the jetty and into the sea, however just before it hit the water an inflatable balloon blew out from the base and the car floated safety on the water.

Henzo drove it towards the Galleon.

"That. Was. AMAZING!" Luffy cheered with stars in his eyes "What a cool boat, I want it,"

"Of course you do," Usopp sighed.

"Come on guys lets go get that boat," Luffy said and headed in the opposite direction.

"Luffy wait…where are you going?" Usopp called after the rubber captain.

But Luffy didn't respond, he just kept running so the others followed him. Luffy ran all the way back to the Merry and jumped on board. Usopp, Robin and Connor got back to the ship and saw Luffy pulling up the anchor.

"Luffy what are you doing?" Usopp called out.

"Going out to that Galleon of course," Luffy yelled back "It's too far for me to stretch, so I'm taking the ship,"

"You can't just take the Merry whenever and wherever you want!" Usopp said annoyed.

"Why not? It's my ship," Luffy said.

"Usopps right Luffy," Robin said.

Luffy looked at her in surprise.

"You need at least three people to sail that ship. Not to mention all the rocks around," Robin claimed.

"I didn't think of that," Luffy said and then he got an Idea "Hey you lot should come with me, then we'll have enough people to sail the Merry,"

"Absolutely not!" Usopp protested.

"Aww why not it'll be fun," Luffy whined.

"Because it's dangerous, who knows what's on board that thing," Usopp reasoned.

"I want to look at that ship, so I'll come," Robin said.

"You're going?" Usopp asked looking at Robin.

"Yes I've never been on a Galleon before and it's not something we just stumble onto evryday," Robin said with a smile and she boarded the Merry.

"Thanks Robin," Luffy smiled.

He then looked down at Connor and Usopp.

"Get up here you two," Luffy said.

Connor nodded and obediently boarded the ship, Usopp groaned and followed reluctantly followed. He really did not want to go out to the Galleon but he also did not want Luffy on the Merry without someone who knew how to steer the ship.

The Merry sailed out towards the harbor and the Galleon, Zoro slept the entire way. Once the Straw Hats reached the ship Luffy stretched his arm and pulled himself onto the deck, Henzo was there looking at the damage to the ship and the other Straw Hats followed.

The mas had several cuts on it, there were one or two broken swords, a door leading into the steering area was missing, and there was evidence of something heavy smashed threw one of the railings.

"What happened here?" Usopp asked, noticing the damage.

"A battle most likely," Robin said.

"But…where are the bodies?" Connor asked.

Henzo looked over to them and found Luffy in his face.

"Hey old man, give me your boat," Luffy demanded.

"M…M…My boat?" Henzo asked in surprise.

"The one you were driving, I want it," Luffy clarified.

"I'm sorry but the I need the H-1 for my research," Henzo said and headed into the ship.

Luffy and the rest of the crew followed him; Luffy was still demanding Henzos boat. As they explored the ship the Straw Hats found food on that had looked like it had just been abandoned, despite the fact it was still vert fresh and edible, Robin found some out of date navigating instruments that hadn't been used in close to 50yrs.

Usopp tested a few taps and the stove in the kitchen and they worked perfectly, he then went and examined the cannons and found them in tip top shape.

Connor found a ships log and gave it to Robin to read, she flipped through the log and read the ships previous adventures in the grand line, but ended about half wat through. The last entry told of the crews plans to attack Ruluka Island and but nothing was written after that.

"This is too weird. Food left out, everything works and signs of battle but no bodies and fifty year old navigating instruments….something's up," Usopp said.

"Are we sure the ship is that old?" Connor asked.

"Yes, the last date in this log is one from fifty years ago, and the sips current condition matches the time frame," Robin said.

"Then…shouldn't the food have gone rotten by now?" Connor asked.

"Your right it should have. That's the weird part," Usopp said.

Henzo and Luffy met up with the other three straw hats and they hadn't found anyone on board either. Suddenly the radar dish on Henzos strange invention started spinning, the old scantiest checked it and his eyes went wide.

"It can't be…after years of searching…" Henzo gasped, he grabbed his device and ran onto the the deck.

Luffy and the others followed him, there further out to sea was a brightly coloured cloud sitting on the ocean, it was mostly pink but there was some blue and shades of yellow mixed in as well.

"It's the Rainbow Mist," Henzo declared.

The other pirates stared at it in shock.

"But it's too far out…oh I know," Henzo said.

He ran to the end of the ship and boarded the Merry, he let the sails out and the ship headed towards the mist.

Luffy and the others quickly jumped on the Merry before it sailed away.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OLD MAN?!" Luffy demanded.

"I need to borrow your ship, the H-1 can't get out that far," Henzo said.

"Don't go stealing other people's stuff," Usopp said angrily.

"Aren't you lot pirates?" Henzo asked.

"Hey Luffy….that cloud is getting really close," Connor said in a worried tone.

"Hey that's the mist where the treasure is, right?" Luffy asked.

"According to the books, yes," Robin answered.

"Awesome, let's go and get some," Luffy said excitedly.

"Luffy did you forget that those that go in don't come back?" Usopp panicked.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Luffy said with a smile.

The Straw hats looked ahead as the Merry sailed into the fabled Rainbow Mist.