"AAAAAAAAH!" Nami howled in horror, instantly bringing the entire crew to maximum alertness.
Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji burst through the door, prepared to fight to the death and beyond against whatever threat assailed their navigator.
Only, there was no threat. Nami was just staring at the pile of gold and jewels they'd liberated from Ape's concert with dead eyes.
"What is it, Nami-swan?!" Sanji asked in a panic, desperately looking for whatever had upset her.
"It's horrible!" She wailed. "We're missing a sapphire!"
There was a moment of silence, then Zoro snorted in disgust and stomped off.
"Eh?" Luffy asked eloquently.
"I believe that Navigator-san has just discovered that treasure won't come back in time with us if it isn't on the ship." Robin quickly put it all together. "We paid Zeff for our stay at the Baratie with one of the smaller sapphires."
"Robin!" Nami sobbed, looking utterly heartbroken. "The treasure, my money! It's going to disappear if we spend it!"
"Isn't that how money is supposed to work?" Usopp muttered.
"I'm afraid so." Robin was amused by the dramatics. "It seems that Merry only cares to bring us back in time if we aren't on the ship when it happens. Everything else is left behind."
"Because we're nakama." Luffy nodded to himself. It made perfect sense to him.
"You don't understand!" Nami suddenly raged, grabbing the rubber captain by the lapels of his shirt. "I was going to rip off the world! We would have paid for things, then gone back in time and gotten the money back! It would have been beautiful!"
"At least we'll get our cargo hold back." Luffy looked at the bright side. "We can fill it with meat!"
"Nami, no!" Chopper yelled in alarm when she started strangling him. "Luffy can't afford any more brain damage!"
"Wait!" Usopp shouted, bringing all attention to him. "How do you even know that something is missing from that big pile of treasure?"
She looked at him like he was an idiot. "I always know exactly how much money I have."
XXXXX
Soon after they sailed into the Baratie, they found themselves confronted with Zeff.
"Shitty Eggplant." The old chef rumbled, holding up a familiar sapphire. "Care to explain why this appeared at the same time as you vanished?"
"Time travel." Sanji explained in the same tone he used the last time. "With a side order of bullshit."
Zeff hummed and stroked his mustache. "Then I'll take this as compensation for suddenly leaving us shorthanded."
"And as pay for our meals until we leave, right?" Nami asked sweetly.
"No." The retired pirate responded flatly. "Pay up if you want to eat."
"We already paid you in the last loop and it carried over to this one!" The navigator roared at him, sprouting shark teeth. "Don't be greedy!"
This garnered extreme deadpan from everyone.
Zeff was not impressed. "If you don't like it, then you're free to go somewhere else."
Nami steamed like a boiling kettle. She turned to the rest of the crew with a borderline deranged look in her eye. "I am not going to let that shitty old man whittle away at our treasure bit by bit with every loop, you understand me?!"
"I understand Nami-swan!" Sanji ballerinad over to her. "Don't worry, I won't let the shitty old man do that!"
"Good!"
XXXXX
Just as before, Krieg arrived after several days of the Straw Hats goofing off at the Baratie, and was subsequently stomped with ease.
Some ten minutes later, Mihawk floated in serenely on his coffin boat.
Zoro was even more prepared for him this time. The memories of their duel were fresher and he had gone into it with a clearer head and more experience fighting stronger opponents.
"You have gone back in time." Mihawk declared with absolute certainty, this time even faster than before.
Zoro knew that he was still fairly new to the Grand Line, not fully accustomed to its particular brand of common sense, but he was still impressed at how quickly Mihawk saw to the truth of the matter.
The duel stopped and Zoro grinned, knowing that his death was near. "That's right."
"More than once." Mihawk immediately guessed, his countenance darkening with disapproval. "Little frog at the bottom of the well, you will never escape if you keep jumping at the top while ignoring all the stones in between."
Zoro's grin dimmed a bit, understanding what the older swordsman was saying. Mihawk was too strong for him, and had no intention of being used as a teacher without his knowledge. He had gotten overly excited at the opportunity to continually challenge the world's greatest to death matches without consequences.
"I understand." He said.
"I hope so, it would be a waste of your potential otherwise." Mihawk drew his black blade and took off his head faster than he could react.
Zoro's last thought was that he hadn't asked for his name this time. That stung a lot more than he cared to admit.
XXXXX
"ZORO!" Luffy roared in outrage. "Stop getting yourself killed! I want to make it to the Grand Line at least!"
"Sorry, Captain. Won't happen again." Zoro grunted, rubbing a hand across his neck. Decapitation was a strange way to die.
"Nami-swan!" Sanji shouted, skipping over to the navigator and holding out his hands. "I have your gems! They came back with me when I brought them to the ship!"
Nami greedily swiped the two small gemstones. "Good boy!"
Zoro snorted. Fitting that the cook be treated like a bitch in heat, he acted enough like one.
XXXXX
Since Zoro actually cared about surviving this time, he found himself in a peculiar pickle. It felt wrong to have Mihawk right there and say nothing, but he also couldn't just challenge the man.
"Mihawk!" Zoro shouted after the elder swordsman was done carving up Krieg's ship. He ignored his crew yelling at him.
Mihawk didn't react beyond shifting his sharp yellow eyes to him, waiting. The Zoro that had never fought him before and didn't understand how vast the world was would have taken that as an insult. Now, he knew that he was only getting as much attention as he had earned.
Drawing Wado Ichimonji and pointing it at the world's greatest, he made his declaration. "One day, I will challenge you for the title of the World's Strongest Swordsman. Do you hear me, Mihawk?!"
Mihawk's eyes sharpened minutely as he stared back in the pregnant silence that followed. Zoro had no doubt that the elder swordsman was seeing quite a bit behind those words, and did his best to project forward his will and spirit.
"I hear you, Swordsman." Mihawk acknowledged, drawing gasps from those who understood what that meant. "What is your name?"
"Roronoa Zoro!"
"I will await you at the top." Mihawk said simply, got back on his coffin boat and sailed away.
XXXXX
After the excitement at the Baratie, it was time to go to the Conomi Islands and deal with Arlong.
Nami could hardly wait. The first time, for her, had been a mass of anxiety, stress, fear, hate, grief, and more. Now she knew just how much of a chump Arlong was and couldn't wait to see him absolutely destroyed.
Physically and mentally.
The only way this could be made better is if she was strong enough to do it herself, but she knew that she wasn't there yet. Maybe, if these stupid time loops went on long enough, Usopp would be able to put together a superior version of the Clima Tact that she could use to fry the fish herself.
They did still have a bunch of mysterious advanced technology in the Merry's cargo hold after all. Luffy had mentioned something about the shipwright that would be joining them, Franky, being super good with technology. Between him and Usopp, surely they would figure out a way to give her Clima Tact more oomph?
Until then, she would content herself with watching her crew do most of the heavy lifting. She'd take on a few of the smallfry, just to test out how the Clima Tact worked against fishmen. Just like Zoro's swords it had come back with her.
The Going Merry sailed in, bold as brass, paying no heed to any of Arlong's underlings that might be watching.
Nami greeted the people cheerfully, this time knowing that their coldness was fake and that they were only doing it in case she wanted to run instead of trying to save them.
"Nami, who are these people?" Genzo asked warily, looking at the eclectic collection of weirdoes that was the Straw Hat Pirates.
"It's my pirate crew, I'm their navigator." Nami explained happily.
"We're going to kick Arlong's ass!" Luffy declared, still hyped from having all of his crew in the loops with him.
"You really think they can do it?" Nojiko asked skeptically. She knew better than most how strong Arlong was.
"Easily." Nami replied confidently, going over to give her sister a hug. It may not have been all that long since they'd last seen each other, but she had set out expecting to be gone for years.
"Don't worry, my beautiful Nojiko!" Sanji interjected, blazing with lust fueled chivalry. "I'll turn all those fishmen into sushi for you!"
"Is he for real?" Nojiko asked, nonplussed.
"Unfortunately." Zoro snorted.
"You wanna go, you national treasure?!" Sanji roared, instantly offended.
"Can you stop slobbering over the women long enough to get cut up?" The swordsman shot back sarcastically.
"Ummm…" Nojiko looked even more skeptical now.
"Don't worry, that's just how Swordsman-san and Cook-san show affection for each other, ufufufufu." Robin chuckled.
"Ah, I see. They're like that." Nojiko nodded in understanding.
"WE ARE NOT!" Zoro and Sanji shouted, both horrified at the thought, if not for entirely the same reasons.
"Oh, my apologies, I didn't mean to imply anything." Robin said innocently.
"Woman…" Zoro growled, knowing that to be a lie.
"Don't be rude to Robin-chwan, Marino!" Sanji shouted at him. "She apologized even when she didn't have to! Be grateful!"
"You're hopeless!" Zoro shouted back, clenching his swords with a desperate desire to cut the cook up for his stupidity.
"No, you're hopeless!" Sanji retorted, feet trembling with a desperate desire to kick some respect for women into the swordsman.
"Hey, can we have ham melons after we kick Arlong's ass?" Luffy asked.
"Those were pretty good." Usopp agreed.
"What's a ham melon?" Chopper asked innocently.
Everyone gasped in shock.
"The raccoon speaks?!" Genzo sputtered.
"I'm a reindeer!" Chopper roared, going into his Heavy Point.
"Wow, you really found some characters…" Nojiko muttered in amazement.
XXXXX
Arlong had heard some rumors about his subjects stockpiling guns, so he decided to check it out by himself.
Imagine his surprise when he saw a pirate ship docked at the village.
When he saw Nami among them, his first thought was that she had duped another crew with her schemes, but this time brought them all the way to him instead of leaving them stranded somewhere.
"What is this you brought me, Nami?" He asked, grinning widely. "Does this crew have a high bounty? Is their cargo hold full of treasure?"
Perhaps enough to complete their deal even? If that was the case, then Arlong would honor his word and free these humans of their obligation to him.
But if one of his subordinates demanded tribute from them in the future…. Well, that had nothing to do with him, now did it?
"The cargo hold is full of treasure, but it's all mine. You won't see even a scrap of it." Nami said back with a confidence that took him aback.
Anger, even well hidden anger, he was familiar with. This self-assurance he was not and he didn't like it.
"And why is that?" He asked menacingly. "They docked on my island, so their ship is mine."
"Because they're going to beat the shit out of you and destroy everything you've built here." She shot back, snapping a peculiar blue metal staff into place.
"Oh, Nami, I thought you had learned better by now." Arlong chided as his crew laughed at her. Snidely, he continued. "No human can ever beat a fishman."
The villagers cowered away as they should, but Nami and this pirate crew of hers were not looking at all intimidated, to his irritation. Where did these humans get off looking so confident when faced with superior fishmen?
"Hachi." The dumb looking one in the straw hat suddenly spoke up. "You know that Jinbe wouldn't like what you're doing here."
Arlong twitched at the mention of his old captain, but Hachi straight up recoiled.
"E-Eh?!" Hachi flailed his arms. "How do you know Jinbe-san?"
"I met him once, he's a good guy." Straw Hat said. "He would be ashamed of what you've become."
"Don't listen to him, Hachi, he's just some human!" Arlong roared angrily.
As much as he respected Jinbe for his strength, the big whale shark fishman just didn't understand that there could be no peaceful coexistence with humans. They were all evil, inferior creatures!
"B-but, he said he met Jinbe-san?" Hachi stammered, looking between them in distress.
The octopus fishman had never been very bright. He needed proper guidance to understand the truth of the world, Arlong's guidance. He still believed that their parting with Jinbe had been amicable.
"Kill these humans, except Nami." He grinned at her menacingly. "I'll have to explain the facts of life to her again."
XXXXX
But it was Arlong who had the facts of life explained to him, and quite painfully at that.
The rank and file members of his crew got swept aside like they were nothing. Robin crushed most of them with negligent ease in an instant.
Chew got double-teamed by Usopp and Nami, the former of which had already fought him solo in the previous timeline. With their combined bag of tricks, they were able to handle him quite easily.
Kuroobi was no match at all for Sanji.
Hachi even less so for an uninjured and significantly more skilled Zoro. Plus, his head wasn't even in the game, too rattled by what Luffy had said to him.
Chopped didn't even have to fight.
Arlong watched all this happen, certain that fishman superiority would win the day. With every loss, his eyes got more wild even as the stupid superior grin on his face remained frozen. Luffy also stayed in place, staring into his eyes unblinkingly.
Eventually, Arlong couldn't take it any more and launched himself forward with a roar.
Luffy had fought the fishman so many times by now that he could win in his sleep. His Haki had also been increasing, even if he still wasn't able to bring it out consciously. It increased the force behind his blows even though his body was no stronger than the first time. Arlong was defeated and broken in a mere handful of moves.
The villagers saw it all happen and couldn't believe it for a long moment.
"We're free?" Someone asked disbelievingly. "The fishmen are done for?"
"WE'RE FREE!" Another echoed and things escalated from there.
Several industrious villagers started breaking out the torches, intent on burning Arlong Park to the ground. Nami joined up with those, then she was going to get her tattoo changed again.
Having it revert back to Arlong's mark had been pissing her off tremendously.
Other, less kindly inclined villagers, approached the downed fishmen with a variety of improvised weaponry. Now that the shoe was on the other foot, they were intent on extracting some payback. Chopper wouldn't let them beat on or kill the defeated injured, alas, so all they could do was make their bindings painfully tight.
Luffy kept his focus on the most important thing.
"BRING ON THE HAM MELONS!"
XXXXX
Lieutenant Commander Brannew massaged his temples after getting off the den den mushi with Captain Nezumi. The man was both incredibly annoying and the report he had given was troublesome.
Straw Hat Luffy, apparently a hotshot new rookie from the East Blue. There had been a few reports of him before. Fairly minor stuff, such as getting into a fight with Captain Morgan, which led to the reveal of that officer's corruption, and the defeat of Krieg.
There had also been some mention of an interaction with Mihawk, but it was unclear.
It was this most recent report about the defeat of Saw-Nose Arlong that was the most troubling. Not only should that fishman have been much stronger than the average East Blue Pirate, yet had apparently been defeated easily, but the reveal of a surprise crew member of the Straw Hat Pirates.
Devil's Child Nico Robin. Bounty: 79,000,000. A woman who the Marines had been trying to catch for twenty years now. What was she doing in the East Blue? Why put herself under the command of a rookie captain?
It made no sense, which is why Brannew was getting the feeling that he was missing something. Nico Robin was a dangerous schemer intent on disrupting the balance of the world and bringing down the World Government.
Wait. Monkey D. Luffy…
Brannew knew of two other people with the name of Monkey and the mysterious D initial. Monkey D. Garp was the Hero of the Marines, but his son, Monkey D. Dragon, was the exact opposite, the leader of the Revolutionary Army and the most wanted man in the world.
Such a man would very much want a woman like Nico Robin in his ranks. The Marines knew that the Revolutionaries had been searching for her as well, in fact.
Could it be…?
He would have to go talk to Sengoku about this. This could be the most important bounty he had ever assigned, too important to risk getting it wrong.
XXXXX
"EHHHHH?!"
The shocked outcry shattered the calm of the seas.
"What the hell is with this bounty?!" Nami demanded. "'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy, Son of Dragon the Revolutionary. Wanted Dead or Alive. 120,000,000?!"
"Whoa, that's a huge starting bounty." Luffy got excited for a moment, before remembering why that was a bad thing. "Crap, this means that Blackbeard will show up too early again!"
"You didn't tell us that your father was such an outrageous man!" Usopp panicked for no reason.
"Oh yeah, I guess it has been a while since we talked about that." Luffy started picking his nose in boredom, having had this conversation far too many times already. "Yeah, my dad is Dragon, but I don't really know him. My gramps is Garp, the Hero of the Marines. My brother is Fire Fist Ace, Whitebeard's Second Division Commander. And I know Red-Haired Shanks, one of the Four Emperors."
"Ufufufu, Captain-san sure is well connected." Robin chuckled. "If the Marines figured all that out, then the bounty makes sense. I think that's probably because of my presence, so I suppose I should apologize."
"You should never apologize for being here, Robin-chwan!" Sanji immediately protested.
"Why would this be because of you, Robin?" Chopper asked innocently.
"My bounty is much too big for the East Blue, and the Revolutionary Army has been after me as well." Robin explained. "Simply having the same last name as Garp or Dragon would not draw too much attention… or perhaps Garp was even covering for Luffy, but me seemingly appearing out of nowhere to join a rookie in the East Blue would be far too suspicious for them to brush aside. The Marines have probably assumed that Luffy is an agent of his father. If not for him being a complete unknown until now, the bounty would probably be far higher."
"That's so annoying!" Luffy gnashed his teeth, balled up the paper and threw it into the sea. "It's my adventure, not my dad's!"
"There's no use talking about it, it is what it is." Zoro said calmly. "We'll just have to face it head on."
Luffy really wanted to agree, but he had encountered several situations during this time loop business that couldn't be tackled head on.
XXXXX
The first sign they had that something was wrong, was the smoke rising into the air from Loguetown. Which, granted was a pretty big sign.
"It looks like there was a major battle or something." Usopp said, looking towards the town through his telescope.
"That's strange, who would attack Loguetown and the shitty smoke Marine?" Sanji asked.
It was a very good question, because there really wasn't anyone in the East Blue who could handle a Logia like Smoker. And nobody outside of the East Blue would have any reason to attack it.
"There's a bunch of wrecked ships." Usopp continued to describe. "Their flag is a sad bear over crossbones, surrounded by playing card symbols."
Luffy knew that flag, so did Nami and Zoro.
"The Trump Pirates?!" They all exclaimed, some more confused than others.
"Who are the Trump Pirates?" Chopper asked, having no idea about some East Blue pirates.
"A bunch of fakes." Luffy replied. "Their leader is some bear guy that thinks he can become Pirate King by making the cool clock scientists build him a big cannon instead of sailing."
"A big cannon, you say?" Usopp said flatly, woodenly turning to stare at what appeared to be a pretty blasted out Loguetown. Everyone except Chopper followed his line of sight, likewise realizing what had likely happened. The poor reindeer was just confused, having not connected the dots.
"Yep. It would be pretty cool if it wasn't so dumb." Luffy nodded, also not connecting the dots.
"Damn it, how are we supposed to get any supplies if the town was blown up and the Marines are all riled up." Nami bemoaned.
"We should dock anyway." Zoro grunted. "We can handle Smoker and I have something I need to do there."
He had to go talk to the shopkeeper and tell him what had happened to Yubashiri and Sandai Kitetsu, and offer compensation if necessary. He wasn't some thief, not even accidentally.
"Don't assume that everything will go as we expect." Robin warned. "Luffy's bounty is much higher this time, and the Marines know what I am part of the crew. That news could be what precipitated the Trump Pirates attacking Loguetown to begin with, and there may be other differences."
Robin knew better than most how small things could snowball into big things, how little bits of information could have dramatic consequences.
She was familiar with the Trump Pirates, them having been potential Baroque Works recruits before being deemed as unsuitable. She knew the arrogant mentality of pirate captains that dreamed of being Pirate King – Luffy being a notable exception.
With this kind of attack having never happened before, she could only assume that something to do with them had provoked the Trump Pirates into attacking Loguetown.
"Let's go see what's up." Luffy decided. He was both curious and knew that they would need to stock up on meat for the journey to Reverse Mountain.
XXXXX
The Marines and the World Government weren't the only ones pondering the implications of Nico Robin joining a completely unknown pirate crew. One Monkey D. Dragon was also confused by it.
It would have been one thing if she had joined up with his son after running into him by chance and after he had already gained some notoriety. But for such a notorious woman to come all the way to the East Blue to join up with a no-name, no-bounty pirate? That was a different matter entirely.
Since Dragon had already intended to be here to see his son off on what he considered the true start of his adventure, he decided to observe as well. And maybe interfere if Smoker and the reinforcements he had received proved too much for Luffy. It would be terribly rude of the World Government to get in the way of a man's journey.
That was why he had been present when the Trump Pirates had unleashed their new weapon on Loguetown. As good as his Kenbushoku Haki was, it didn't make him all-knowing or truly precognitive. By the time he realized what was going on, it was already too late. And after that, the angry swarm of Marines had quickly taken the overly cocky crew apart.
So he was still hidden from all eyes when the Straw Hats sailed into Loguetown. The Marines, already angry at the unprovoked attack and having been mobilized specifically to intercept this crew, fell upon them like locusts.
Dragon had prepared himself to intervene, only to blink in surprise when his son and his crew made short work of the force standing in their way.
He had thought that the vastly inflated bounty was simply because of Nico Robin's presence and the Marine's misplaced belief that Luffy was an agent of the Revolutionary Army, but it appeared that he was also much too strong for the East Blue.
Captain Smoker, Captain 'Black Cage' Hina, and multiple CP9 agents were battled and defeated in a pitched battle in the Loguetown plaza. No rookie crew only a few weeks into their voyage should have been capable of facing off against such a force. Dragon had thought that Sengoku had committed an excessive amount of resources.
But Luffy demonstrated excellent combat prowess, considerable mastery of his Devil Fruit, knowledge of several Rokushiki techniques, and was even on the verge of manifesting Haki.
His crew was not quite as advanced, but they were better than they should be. All of them showed the hallmarks of Grand Line experience. Still not good enough to face off against CP9 with ease, but they didn't suffer overwhelming defeat either. And Luffy was able to finish the fights when they went bad.
Dragon was very intrigued.
With the Marines and CP9 suffering a humiliating defeat and being left to recover where they fell, the Straw Hats had free reign of the city. Free reign which they used to buy up supplies with jewels and raw gold. Luffy took the opportunity to climb up the execution platform and proclaim his intention to become Pirate King.
Dragon could only grin at that. It was a worthy goal, one that would shake up the world. He decided that it was time to step in and ask some questions. At this point, there was little use in hiding, as this event would already catapult the Straw Hat Pirates into the realm of the truly notorious.
"Pirate King, hmm?" He spoke as he appeared next to his son. "I approve."
"I don't care what you approve of!" Luffy instantly retorted, showing not a hint of surprise. In fact, it seemed almost as if Luffy was expecting him. That was very interesting. "This is my adventure, not yours, no matter what the Marines think!"
Dragon's grin only widened at that, sensing the flickers of Haoshoku Haki in the words. His son had grown up into an impressive man. "Of course. We all must walk our own path, and the world is still waiting for our answer."
"Right!" Luffy nodded firmly. "It was nice seeing you, Dad, but I gotta get back to my crew."
Dragon just nodded and vanished again, not asking how Luffy knew who he was or to join the Revolution or send Nico Robin to them. A Conqueror blazed his own way forward and did not listen to the reason of others.
Besides, whether Nico Robin exposed the truth of the world with the Revolutionaries or with Luffy mattered little in the end.
XXXXX
"'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy. Son of Monkey D. Dragon." Blackbeard read to himself. "Wanted for ties to the Revolutionary Army, piracy, stealing Marine secrets, and the devastating raid against Loguetown. Bounty: 250,000,000. What an outrageous rookie, zehahahaha!"
Of course, Blackbeard didn't believe the part about this rookie wrecking Loguetown for a second. He had decades of experience with the World Government's bullshit and at this point saw through it automatically. Judging by how quickly Straw Hat's bounty had been raised again, the Marines had probably wrecked Loguetown themselves in their attempts to apprehend him and Nico Robin, and were just passing the blame around.
Now what to do with this information?
Unlike what many people believed about him, Blackbeard was not really one for complex long-term plans. He had general ideas about what he wanted and a keen eye for opportunities. He could be incredibly patient if it was necessary, but was not afraid of pouncing on things and then dealing with the consequences.
Right now, his goal was to get stronger. He had the Yami Yami no Mi, which had been the lynchpin to his ambitions. It was unfortunate that he had needed to kill Thatch and abandon the Whitebeard Pirates to get it, but that was how things had turned out. Instead of suddenly rising up to become Whitebeard's successor after gaining the fruit, he would simply have to do things the hard way.
To do that, he needed strength, both personal and in his crew. Ace probably wouldn't accept his invitation to join his crew, but what about his little brother? Because Teach recognized Monkey D. Luffy as the younger brother that Ace had constantly bragged about.
This smelled like an opportunity. And even if it failed, he would be able to use them to bargain with the World Government. Whitebeard's Second Division Commander and the son of Gol D. Roger (Blackbeard had sniffed that secret out long ago), the son of the Revolutionary Dragon, and Nico Robin? Yes, the World Government would give a great deal to get their hands on these people.
And it would provoke Whitebeard into a war for certain. What Dragon would do was anyone's guess, but there was a strong chance that he wouldn't leave his son to die, no matter how bad of an idea it would be to attack Marineford. Best of all, no matter how such a battle went, all three sides would be devastated.
"Zehahahaha!" Blackbeard laughed as he made his decision.
XXXXX
The Straw Hats knew something was wrong shortly after they sailed down Reverse Mountain.
There was no Vivi or Mr. 9 anywhere.
They made friends with Laboon and talked to Crocus, who also hadn't seen them.
They made it to Whiskey Peak, where the fake bounty hunters were too terrified to get up to their usual antics. There was also no sign of Igaram or Vivi.
"I was afraid of this." Robin said with a frown. "As Miss All Sunday, I let Vivi follow me and discover Mr. 0's identity. If she tried to follow someone else and got caught…"
"They killed her?!" Usopp, Nami and Chopper squawked.
"They better not have laid a hand on even a single one of Vivi-chan's beautiful blue hairs!" Sanji roared in outrage.
"It is possible." Robin said. "Anyone discovering Crocodile's identity was usually executed on the spot. But if he knew who she was, then she may have been taken prisoner instead."
"She's alive." Luffy decided. Vivi was part of the crew, even if she had decided that she had to stay home. If she was dead then they would have reset, he knew it.
"That still leaves us with quite a problem." Robin accepted his words calmly. "If Crocodile has Vivi prisoner, he would be able to blackmail the king into nearly anything. And if he realizes her importance to us, then he will not hesitate to use her against us as well."
"Blackbeard might show up, too." Luffy scowled. "That's why I had to, ugh, keep my head down. He always shows up if my bounty get too high, and this is the highest it's ever been."
The sheer disgust with which he spoke of keeping his head down would have been funny if not for what he said.
"Then we will have to be very careful." Robin said simply. "Our main advantage is that no one knows our route.
"Are we still going to stop on Drum Island?" Chopper asked hesitantly. "I want to talk to Doctorine, and beat back Wapol so that he doesn't come back."
"Of course." Luffy nodded firmly. He wasn't going to skip out on something that important to one of his crew. "I'll leave the sneaky stuff to you, Robin. Just tell me whose ass to kick."
XXXXX
Elsewhere on the Grand Line.
In a spot where Ruluka Island should have been, there was only empty ocean.
And a mysterious diving crew mysteriously dredging up something mysterious from the waters.
XXXXX
Their detour to Drum Island turned out to be unexpectedly dangerous. Doctor Kureha had been rampaging around the place, looking for her missing apprentice, then grown despondent when she found no sign of him.
So when the Straw Hats sailed in and she heard that Chopper was on board the Going Merry, things got a little… excitable.
Because Kureha was a tsundere, a most deadly beast. She was tremendously relieved when Chopper came back, and her rage was equally massive. Wapol had the misfortune of arriving at about that time and served as an example of why it was unwise to cross a doctor.
Kureha barely even listened to their explanation about time travel. As soon as she heard that Chopper was staying with the Straw Hats, she picked up an old naginata and attempted to perform unnecessary surgery on them with it.
XXXXX
Unfortunately, their adventure in Alabasta didn't go nearly as well.
Being forewarned about the threat of Blackbeard, the Straw Hats' plan had been a much stealthier than normal entry into the country. Having no information on Vivi's whereabouts, they guessed that she would be held at Rainbase. That was where Crocodile was headquartered, after all.
But it never really got that far.
Having gotten a taste of the strength of Luffy and his crew, as well as his brief interaction with Dragon, the Marines were desperate to stop this rising new threat. They sent two vice admirals, backed up by a considerable number of subordinates as backup.
Blackbeard, pursuing his own ambitions, also ended up in Alabasta.
Ace had already been there for a while, waiting for Luffy to meet him.
Crocodile had been there to begin with, and was getting awfully nervous about all these powerful people showing up.
Then there was the volatile civil war situation…
In short, it was inevitable that something would light the fuse.
Nobody could say for sure who started it, but the brawl that engulfed Nanohana left the entire town devastated. Crocodile's people had stayed out of it, aside from throwing blame around and further inflamming the civil war.
The Straw Hats hadn't wanted to get involved, but the giant plumes of fire and darkness forced their hand.
It didn't end well.
XXXXX
"Ugh, what a bunch of monsters." Zoro muttered as they found themselves once more back on the Going Merry on Syrup Island. He had been killed by Vice Admiral Momonga, being no match for the Marine swordsman yet. "We need to get stronger."
"And we need to be more discreet." Robin didn't quite disagree. "Our captain has some troublesome connections for the World Government to panic about."
The archaeologist was honestly a little baffled that Luffy's connections weren't known previously. It had taken just one loose thread for them to begin unraveling it all. Garp must have been covering for his grandson.
XXXXX
OMAKE
For being a captain, Luffy didn't really do much on the ship most of the time. He was, however, perpetually hungry, so he fished.
Usually he didn't catch anything, being too impatient for it. This time, he caught quite a prize indeed.
"Oooh, it's a Devil Fruit!" He exclaimed, recognizing the unnaturally large and strangely colored fruit, with its swirly patterns.
He wasn't quiet, so a good chunk of the crew heard him.
"A Devil Fruit, you say?" Jack Sparrow, still waiting to get his ship back, immediately ambulated over. "Like the one you ate that made you stretchy?"
Jack was very interested in that kind of power.
"Not like mine." Luffy corrected, turning the fruit over. It was somewhat lemon-shaped and a bright green color. "The Gum Gum Fruit won't appear again until I die. This one has a different power."
"What kind?" Pintel leaned in close, grinning as he stared at the fruit greedily.
"Don't know." Luffy shrugged.
"You gonna eat this one, too, Captain?" Ragetti asked. It made sense to him that the captain would want to keep the power to himself.
"You can't eat two Devil Fruits." Luffy looked at him as if he was dumb, which was honestly kind of insulting. "Everyone knows that you explode if you try."
"Could one of us eat it, then?" Jack asked casually. There was nothing casual about the look in his eye.
"Sure." Luffy handed him the fruit like it was nothing. "It tastes horrible, though. And the sea will hate you forever. If you go overboard, you'll sink like a rock. I almost drowned so many times, shishishishi!"
Upon saying that, Luffy wandered off, sensing that nobody was paying attention to the ship's pantry. He was hungry.
Jack held the fruit in his hands, staring at it with a complex expression. Then he sighed and lobbed it towards Pintel and Ragetti, walking away without saying a word.
As interested as he was in the powers granted by the fruit, he could not stomach the thought of being hated by the sea. She was the only mistress he truly loved.
A wooden block was found and the Devil Fruit placed atop it. They stared at it like it was the One Ring at the Council of Elrond.
Sitting on barrels around the Devil Fruit were Pintel, Ragetti, Murtogg and Mullroy, each sporting deeply thoughtful frowns. Circled around them was the rest of the crew.
"So… should we eat it. And if yes, who should do the honors?" Pintel opened up the debate.
"If we are trying to stay out of Hell, then eating something called a Devil Fruit seems like a bad idea." Murtogg pointed out.
"Aye, that's true." Mullroy nodded along with his compatriot. "Weren't there many a cautionary tale about people damning their souls for power? Didn't humanity get kicked out of the Garden of Eden because Eve got tempted into eating a fruit by the Devil?"
"You're saying we'll turn into a woman if we eat this here Devil Fruit?" Ragetti asked vapidly.
"No, ya idjit!" Pintel yelled in exasperation, dopeslapping his nephew. "That's not what Devil Fruits do!"
"You don't know that!" Ragetti yelled back in offense. "Oi, Captain! Can a Devil Fruit turn you into a woman?!"
"Yes!" Luffy's voice came back, sounding like it was yelled through a mouthful of food.
"See?!" Ragetti smugged triumphantly.
"That's just makes it even more dangerous to eat it." Murtogg said, vaguely horrified.
"That's true." Pintel admitted, ignoring Ragetti's smugness. "I wouldn't want to get violated by demons."
"What makes you think demons wouldn't violate you even as a man?" Mullroy asked, confused. "I mean, they're demons. Why would they be put off by a little buggery?"
"Captain said Hell is full of crossdressers and perverts, remember?" Pintel argued. "They might enjoy that, so I figure demons would only violate women. Maybe they'd make everyone else watch."
The group of expert philosophers paused to consider that argument, then nodded with an indistinct mutter of agreement.
"So we are agreed that it's a bad idea to eat this Devil Fruit, then?" Murtogg asked.
"We don't know if this fruit will turn whoever eats it into a woman." Mullroy pointed out. "And if we're already bound for Hell, then what difference does it make?"
"But we don't know what the fruit does." Murtogg argued back.
"We could just ask the captain." Ragetti pointed out with shocking logic. "Oi, Captain! Do you know what this fruit does?"
"No!"
"Will it turn us into women?"
"No, Iva-chan has that one!"
"Who the hells is Ivachan?" Pintel questioned in confusion.
"That isn't important." Murtogg decreed. "What is important is that this fruit can't turn us into women."
"Aye, fair enough."
"That brings us right back to square one, doesn't it?" Mullroy asked rhetorically. "Do we accept that we are already damned and eat the fruit, or do we reject it and hope we can stay out of Hell? For my part, I will say that this feels either like a trap or a test for our immortal souls."
"Maybe we could sell it to the Navy?" Ragetti snickered. "They'd be paying us for the privilege of going to Hell when they die."
"Aye, and in the meanwhile they'd be monsters like the captain." Pintel said flatly.
"Oh yeah…"
And so the debate ran in circles, ultimately deciding nothing. What none of them thought to consider was that if one Devil Fruit appeared, could there be others? And these others didn't even have Luffy's patchwork explanations for them.
Before long, pirates, marines, and seamen of all stripes with strange powers started popping up. This completely wrecked the attempts of Britain's Royal Navy to stamp out piracy. Then it proceeded to wreck any notion of stability as people with effectively supernatural powers realized that they were better off on the mainland and far away from the sea.
Within a few decades, every major political entity on the planet was reduced to ruin, replaced by Devil Fruit empowered warlords.