When she woke up that morning, Nami hadn't even entertained the thought of a visitor showing up on their deck while they were in the middle of the ocean. So when Luffy, via what he called a Mystery Power, declared that another friend of his was on their way to their current location, she was naturally in a state of what could only be called confusion.

"Who's this friend of yours, Luffy?" Usopp asked the other raven haired boy.

"You'll see!" the captain cheered cryptically, "I mentioned him to Zoro and Nami, though, a while back."

The two mentioned shared a quick look. If Luffy had mentioned whoever this friend was to them, then that meant they were also from the future. But, that could be anyone from the story! Neither even wanted to think of the possibility that he'd forgotten to mention someone and that it was possibly them coming toward their 's also the fact that Luffy hadn't exactly told them who came with him to the past. Neither of them would ask him yet, though, not until they were alone.

Usopp watched the three interact, suddenly feeling left out. He knew he shouldn't feel like this. Those three had been together for who knows how long before they'd met him, and he had only just joined! That didn't stop his feelings, though, and it showed despite his best efforts.

"Usopp!" Luffy had noticed his friend's crestfallen mood and wanted to do what he could to make him happy. Though, not knowing why Usopp was upset made this task a bit harder. He slapped the sharpshooter's arm with a wide grin, "Tag! You're it!"

The long nosed boy was shocked for a second, giving Luffy enough time to run out of the cabin and out onto the deck. What had just happened? It took no longer than five seconds before he realized what game he'd just been pulled into and his mood lifted with a grin to match his captain's. "Oh, you're on!" He quickly followed after him.

Zoro watched the exchange with fondness, thinking back to what Luffy had told him and Nami. He didn't know the last time Luffy had gotten to act like this and it made him a bit sad, though he couldn't place exactly why, he had an idea. In the short time he'd known his captain, he'd managed to gather the fact that the younger was a childish person by nature. 'But even then…' Zoro closed his eyes in thought, 'I can't even begin to imagine how much he's been through. How can he still act so carefree like this? How can he still smile?'

Nami seemed to have caught his thoughts. "He's been through a lot of shit." she said to the first mate, only affirming his thoughts, "When do you think he'll tell us the rest of the story?" If he decided to tell them, but she didn't say that out loud.

The swordsman hummed and looked at her through one eye. "Probably not while Usopp's around." he pushed himself to stand from the table, "I know he trusts him, but I don't think Luffy's ready for the whole crew to know. Hell, I don't even think he's ready for us to know!"

The navigator shrugged and stood up as well, following the others out onto the deck, "You're probably right. Let's not ask him."

"Yet."

"Yet."

With everyone now on deck, Luffy decided to expand his and Usopp's game of tag to include the other two as well. He'd never gotten the others to play with him, Chopper and Usopp before, so he was gonna see if he could change that. Even if it was just once and a while, that's all he could ask for at the present moment. He had let the sniper hit his arm, making him the hunter in this game, and had made his way up to hit Zoro in the shoulder. He was successful. "You're it!"

The green haired man grunted with a small smile and poked Nami in the arm, "Not anymore." He then jumped over the railing and joined the other two males by the mast. All three were now waiting for Nami to chase after them. When she didn't do anything, the more playful of the three sulked in a corner while the third simply leaned against the railing to take a nap.

Nami, upon noticing the boys' put-off attitudes, calmly walked over to Usopp and tapped his arm. Now having his attention, she flashed him a smile as she backed away a few steps, just out of his reach. "You're it!"

He gawked for a second before chasing after her. And just like that, the game of tag was renewed and laughter took over the deck.

Marco knew Luffy could tell he was in the area long before he was able to even physically see him. He didn't expect to land on the young captain's ship while they were in the middle of a game of tag, though it wasn't something out of the range of normal expectations for the kid. It was both an amusing and saddening sight to see. The blond knew that Luffy hadn't been able to play around this much - if at all - in their previous timeline so he wasn't going to interrupt his quality time with his crew. Marco knew just as much - if not more - how valuable quality time with those you view as family is. After an hour of watching, though, he got tired and landed by the small patch of grass that was somehow thriving on the upper deck, catching the attention of Zoro. Marco still wonders how that grass was still alive. Is there a secret behind it? Maybe he'd ask and grow some food on the Moby Dick…

Zoro, upon noticing the blue phoenix landing on the deck, stopped running around with the others and turned his attention to the small grove, his hand on his swords. His actions caught the attention of the rest of the crew who stopped playing and turned to look where he was looking.

"Marco!" Luffy smiled and waved at the man. The crew visibly relaxed upon their captain's recognition of the blue and yellow bird. Those looks turned to confusion when they realized that the visitor their captain had told them about was a bird and not a human like they had all believed. Luffy laughed at their confusion. "Guys, this is Marco. He's a friend of mine!"

Marco chose that moment to transform back into a human. "It's nice to meet you all." He greeted them with a small smile and wave, his posture was as lazy as ever and his other hand was in his pocket.

Usopp and Zoro both greeted him back as they normally greet someone, with a nod or a wave back, but Nami had a different reaction entirely. She'd heard about all of the Whitebeard Pirates, so she was a little bit scared that the First Division Commander was on their ship. Luffy's smile didn't change, even when he picked up on Nami's shock and fear.

"I came to speak with Luffy, do you mind if I steal him away from you for a bit?" the blond asked. He hated being formal, but he hadn't met the Straw Hat Crew of this timeline yet, so he couldn't act like he knew them. That would only end badly.

Luffy, who had never bothered to really learn many manners, laughed at the older man's misfortune of formalities. "We'll go talk in the men's quarters. Nami, will you keep us on course?"

"Sure, but where are we going, exactly?"

"To the Baratie! I wanna get a chef!" With no more to the conversation, Luffy led Marco into the hull of the ship, Nami went into the kitchen area to steer the rudder, Usopp began messing with the cannons, and Zoro laid on the deck to take a nap.

"This is my vivre card," Marco handed Luffy a small piece of paper the second the hatch closed behind him. He then handed him a second one with several numbers on it, "And these are my personal den-den and my ship's den-den numbers. Labeled accordingly."

Luffy tucked the two into the bag he had yet to unpack and motioned for Marco to sit down on the couch in the room. He did, and Luffy sat on the floor in front of him. "So, what else did ya wanna talk about?"

Marco didn't even try to beat around the bush. "I told Whitebeard." He had several topics he wanted to bring up, but this one would take the shortest amount of time. "I told him about what happened and what we all discussed before coming back."

"I told Zoro." Luffy responded, "Nami listened in, so she knows, too." He waited a second before continuing, "This goes without saying, but I don't plan on hiding this from my crew. I won't tell anyone but Zoro outright, but I'm not going to actively hide it from them. If they ask, I'll answer."

Marco nodded along to what the younger said. He expected no less from him. Actually, he honestly expected Luffy to spill everything to his whole crew the second he got the opportunity! He shrugged and figured he should've given the boy more credit. Swiftly, he moved onto the other, much less appealing, topic of conversation. "We've got less than a week before Teach stabs Thatch." Luffy's mood dropped as he listened to the information. "It took me two days to fly here. I'll probably only stay with you and your crew for three days before going back to New World, which will take another two days."

"That will give you three days of prep time before everything is set into motion."

"Yeah."

The two were silent for a long few minutes. Neither really wanted to linger on the topic, but they didn't know how to move onto a different one. So, they opted to just sit and be. They hadn't really gotten many opportunities before to interact with each other alone, so this was a bit of a strange situation. Sure, they met during combat, encountered each other a few times after that, but they'd never really spent time together and it was really starting to become obvious.

Finally, Luffy spoke up. "Sabo knows I'm from the future." he waited a moment. "He asked me about it the day he left home, so I told him. He promised not to tell anyone though. He even offered to help us!"

Marco had his hand on his chin in thought and nodded. "Having a Revolutionary with us will be beneficial. Anything else you wanted to tell me?"

Luffy thought hard for a moment. There was something else, but he wasn't sure what it was. Oh, well! He shook his head. The two jumped at the sound of cannon fire and ran to where the other three were on deck. "What happened?!"

Usopp turned around from where he was staring in shock at a rock in the distance. He had the decency to look a bit sheepish. "I was practicing my aim, just to make sure I could actually shoot this thing. I hit the rock over there!" His chest swelled with pride. "Of course I hit the rock! The Great Captain Usopp never misses a shot!"

Everyone's attention was then turned to the railing where a rope had just appeared. Almost as soon as they noticed the rope, did a man jump over and make himself known. "You killed him!" he accused, "You killed Johnny!"

"What?!" Nami glared at Usopp who had drastically paled in fear.

The man pointed over the side of the ship to where his companion was in a tiny row boat. "He's been really sick. We were over on that rock, trying to get him better, when your cannon ball came out of nowhere and hit the rock above us!" he then broke down crying, "Johnny's dead and it's all your fault!"

Marco looked over the side of the railing and at the man in the row boat. He hummed. "He's not dead. Bring him on board?"

Luffy nodded and reached down and grabbed the man, pulling him on deck. The poor man was pale of color and sweating, his tongue hanging out and barely breathing. Nami decided to take a look at him. "Marco's right. He isn't dead." she turned to Usopp and Zoro, "Go get some limes and lemons from below deck and bring them up here."

"Be sure to juice them in the kitchen, first!" Luffy snickered after them. While it would have been funny to see his crew's lack of attention to detail, he didn't need Johnny choking on citrus fruits after only being on board for a few minutes.

Marco had decided to sit back and watch the rest of this interaction play out. He'd seen Luffy with his crew before, but that was after all of them had made it into the New World. Now, though, he had the opportunity to see what they were like when they were just starting out. He wasn't about to waste this chance! Besides, now he had two things to hold over the others: Meeting up with Luffy first, and seeing how he meets some of his crew.

The small crew of four managed to 'revive' Johnny. Said man, after being given the line and lemon juice mixture - that could not have tasted good, especially because there was no sugar added - decided it would be a good idea to dance around the deck with his partner Yosaku, Usopp, and Luffy. He soon learned, though, that that was probably the worst idea as he promptly passed out again and collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Nami sighed and placed a hand to her head. "I told him that he shouldn't be moving around like that." Luffy simply laughed.

"So," Yosaku asked after they had moved Johnny into the corner of the cabin which was deemed the Med Bay, "Where are you guys heading?"

"The Baratie," Nami answered.

Luffy jumped in, "We're gonna get a chef there!"

Yosaku stared for a second. "If you want a chef, then you're heading to the right place! The Baratie is famous for its chefs."

"Really?" Usopp asked.

The man nodded, "Yeah. But not for their food. No, they're famous because all of them used to be pirates!"

Zoro, who had just walked over to make his presence known to the group, smirked, "Really? This oughta be interesting."

Yosaku gaped at the green haired swordsman for a bit. "Zoro-aniki?" he asked.

Zoro waved slightly, "Yo, Yosaku! How've you been?"

"Zoro-aniki! It's been a while! You're a pirate now?"

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"You two know each other?" Nami asked.

"I traveled with him and Johnny for a bit when I was a bounty hunter." Zoro explained.

Luffy chuckled, interrupting the group, "No time to waste, crew! Full speed ahead! To the Baratie!"

It took the ship no less than four hours to reach the Floating Sea Restaurant: Baratie. Twenty minutes before they managed to dock at it, though, a Marine ship under the control of Marine Captain Fullbody attacked them. Not wanting to make the same mistake as last time, Luffy deflected the cannonball and made sure it didn't go through the roof of the Baratie. He made it hit the dock the marines were going to use, though. Marco wisely stayed out of sight throughout this exchange.

"Usopp?" Luffy addressed the man, "Fire back."

"What?!" was the crew's collective response.

"They fired at us first! It's only natural we fight back." Luffy then huffed, "But, I won't make you if you don't want to." 'Yet.'

Zoro sighed at his captain's leniency. That was going to have to change soon, or problems within the crew were going to start showing up. He hoped Luffy knew what he was doing, though.

The Going Merry made her way swiftly through the waters and dropped anchor beside the Baratie. They were greeted by a not so happy restaurant owner and Sous Chef. Both of them yelled at Luffy - who had admitted that he accidentally launched the cannonball at their ship in defense from the marines - and demanded he work for half a year to repay them for the damages if he couldn't pay for it now.

"No." the young captain denied, "I don't have to listen to you. If anything, you should charge the marines at least half of it. It was their cannonball anyway. I was acting in self defense!" Zeff - the owner - sighed as he walked back inside, grumbling all the way about not getting paid enough to deal with snot nosed brats. Sanji - the Sous Chef - was left to deal with the pirates. Luffy grinned at the blond chef. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy! Can we get something to eat?" he asked.

Sanji chuckled softly and turned around, "I'm Sanji. Come inside and order."

Luffy rushed past the chef and into the floating building, his crew following behind him. Johnny and Yosaku followed them, and Marco brought up the rear. He had heard of the Baratie, but had never come to the East Blue to try its food. From what he heard, it was pretty good food.

When the group sat down - taking three tables, Johnny and Yosaku at one, Marco at another, and the rest together - Zeff grabbed Luffy by the back of his shirt. "Not you, brat! You're gonna work off the damages to the ship."

Luffy whined, "How long will that take?"

"Seeing as it was only the outer deck that got hit, half a year."

"No."

"'No'?"

"I can't stay here that long! I can stay a week at most, but I'm leaving whether you like it or not. I've gotta get my crew to the Grand Line! I can't do that if I'm stuck here!"

Zeff sized the raven haired kid up for a moment. The kid had spunk, he had to admit it. Knowing he wouldn't be able to keep the kid here longer than a week at best, he relented. Handing him an apron, he ordered him to wash dishes in the kitchen. Of course, Luffy didn't do that. No. Him doing the dishes would mean the Sanji won this battle and he was going to die before he let that happen.

The following two and a half days passed relatively slowly in Luffy's eyes. Nothing really big happened. At some point, he had noticed Nami eyeing the wanted posters Johnny and Yosaku had been looking through. He had locked eyes with her, looked over at the wanted posters, and shrugged. He wasn't going to do anything unless she asked him for help. Although he had promised he would save her again, he was no hero or saint. He wouldn't do anything to help the Cocoyashi Village if Nami wasn't in danger or if she didn't ask him for help.

On the third day, it was time for Marco to leave. He had pulled Luffy and Zoro aside that morning on the deck of the Going Merry while Nami and Usopp headed into the Baratie for breakfast. "I'm going to head back to New World today." he said, "You both know - to some extent, in Zoro's case - what happened last time, so I'll spare you the details. We're going to keep Thatch alive, this time. We have five days before the mission where Thatch finds the devil fruit. When Teach has abandoned the ship and crew, I'll give you a call."

"How will you contact us?"

"Luffy gave me his den-den number yesterday."

That hadn't happened. Marco probably was just looking around and found it. That didn't bother Luffy, though, because he didn't have anything to hide from the older man. Luffy shrugged it off. "I'll talk to you then, k, Marco?" The blond nodded and got ready to transform and take off. Before he could, though, Luffy stopped him. "Wait! I remember what I forgot!" Neither of the other two questioned his wording. "Uncle Hawky came to say hi before I left home! And he's on his way here now."

Marco nearly face planted into the floor, but he managed to keep his composer. So maybe he only had one thing to hold over the others. Nodding, he transformed. "Oh! Your brother says 'hi'." He then took off, leaving the young captain and first mate.

"Who's 'Uncle Hawky'?" Zoro asked as the two left the ship.

"His name's Dracule Mihawk." Luffy said. "He's on his way here, chasing some guy named Creig. I won't stop you from fighting him, but I can tell you you won't beat him."

"Are you doubting me?"

"No. I just know you aren't ready to face him yet."

"Care to elaborate?"

"He's got a lot more fighting experience than you and he used to be a pirate. He's traveled the Grand Line before, too. Not to mention, he's from the future, like me and Marco. He knows how you fight now and all of your moves."

Zoro took all of this into consideration. When the two reached the entrance to the Baratie, he stopped. "I'm still going to challenge him."

Luffy sighed, expecting nothing less. "I won't stop you, but I'm not going to like it."

The two shared one more glance and entered the cabin. Finding where their friends had sat down, they added their orders to the groups before Luffy was pulled away to help in the kitchen. No one knew why they continued to put him in there. He ate all of the food and didn't even look at the dirty dishes! No one questioned Owner Zeff, though.