NOTE: Here's the next chapter to this new adventure! Hopefully you guys are liking things so far.

Enjoy and Review!

Chapter 2: Diamond Raid

As night sets over the sands of the Sand Land, the lost pirate duo of the Straw Hats was luckily able to find a form of shelter for the night. A lone campsite with a water supply jug kept itself cool underneath the shade of a rock formation. Nami finished using the water jug to refill their bottles of water. "Not sure who this campsite belongs to, but I'm hoping they don't suddenly come back and attack us." Nami said.

Luffy, who was busy chewing on a large piece of dinosaur meat, turned back to his navigator. He tried to speak, but his mouth was full, which caused chunks and spittle to spray all over. She scrunched her face with disgust and waved him away. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Luffy!"

He swallowed his food and laughed. "Sorry, Nami! Shishishishishi!"

"Don't bother, because you'll just keep doing it anyway." Nami sighed. She sat down next to the fire and took her own piece of meat, a much smaller portion than Luffy's side of things. The navigator wasn't the biggest fan of this style of eating, but they didn't have much of a choice until they reached this Spino place. Looking down at her clothing, Nami frowned at the dirt, sweat, and grime that littered her usually clean body. "Ugh…! I need a shower and a change of clothes!"

"Why? I don't see anything wrong." Luffy said.

"That's because you already lack a good sense of hygiene! For a sophisticated lady such as myself, I can't survive in this desert in this condition." Nami complained with a tired groan. "I just hope Spino has a working shower and somewhere we can buy new clothes at."

"We don't have any money, Nami."

"Please don't remind me of that…" The orange-haired woman almost collapsed from the thought of being completely broke. Sure, she had Beli on here, but this country didn't use the same currency, thus making her as poor as her childhood.

"Couldn't you just steal something?"

"I mean sure, but…" Nami stopped herself from continuing as their conversation with the Peddler resurfaced through her mind.

"Adults and children alike suffer and fight everyday just to get by. It's pretty terrible."

"...People in this country are already suffering enough, right? It wouldn't feel right to take from them." Nami felt a sense of Deja vu, back to when Vivi's kingdom was suffering from Crocodile's inhumane actions. Even when she worked under Arlong she swore to only steal from pirates or those who deserved it. Not even after Luffy freed her had she broken that promise to herself.

Luffy finished the last of his share of the food with a satisfied giggle. "Shishishishi! You're a good person, Nami!" The navigator blushed at his compliment and turned her head with a glare.

"I'm still a pirate, Luffy. Regardless of my own morals, I'll take whatever I want." Nami huffed with a pout.

Her captain continued to stare at her with that infectious smile of his. "Of course! We're pirates! Which means we can do whatever we want! We're free to follow our dreams as much as we want!" Nami found her pout melting away into a soft smile as her captain continued to laugh up a storm. She could never wrap her head around his ability to brighten everyone's mood with his laughter alone. Luffy was dumber than a collapsed brick wall, but his charisma and strong passion ignited a flame inside of everyone around him.

"Hey, Nami!" She snapped out of her thoughts, and gasped when Luffy's face was inches from hers. "I noticed something!"

"Firstly, move!" Nami shoved him back. "Secondly, what? And it better not involve throwing me around like a ragdoll!" His head shook violently, remembering the beating he had received hours ago due to his reckless plans. "Then what is it?"

"Over there!" Luffy pointed at the distance behind her. The navigator turned around to see just what Luffy had noticed. It was a good thing that she trained her eyes to adjust to the dark, because she could barely make out the strange looking shadows that were coming their way. They both stood up to their feet as strange looking vehicles they've never seen before came to a stop. The pirates covered their eyes to avoid getting blinded by the splash of sand.

"Well, well, well! You were right, Sputz! There was something special out here!" A nasty voice spoke first.

"Hehe! I knew I heard some loud dumbass out here, Tink!" A similar sounding voice followed.

"Good work, Sputz, I'm sure the boss will be happy to hear about the beauty we've found tonight." A much deeper voice added.

Nami and Luffy looked back at the three new faces that have made themselves known. The three were dressed similarly to each other. Completely shirtless, dressed in brown leather clothing, punk hairstyles, and diamond tattoos on their faces. But the strangest part about them were the vehicles they were riding on, which looked nothing like the ones the pirates were used to seeing, even from Franky.

Luffy's eyes illuminated with stars at the vehicles. "WOAH! SO COOL!" He was then smacked across the back of his head by his navigator.

"UH…NOT COOL, LUFFY!" She yelled at him. It was clear that these guys weren't planning anything good by being here, especially after hearing their comments. She took notice of their similar tattoos. "Is there anything we can do to help you…?"

"What?" The biggest one raised a brow. "Do you not know who we are?"

"We're kinda new here, so yes, we don't know." Nami responded. Her words were met with looks of disbelief, then stares of pity.

"To think someone hasn't heard of us, bro!" Sputz cried.

"It's a damn shame to meet people so foolishly ignorant!" Tink faked tears of pity.

"Looks like we better educate them on our greatness, boys!" The bigger one declared.

"Yes, Captain!" The three jumped off of their vehicles, they flipped through the air three times before landing perfectly in front of the pirates. Tink and Sputz stood behind their captain with their arms making a triangular shape above him. Then, their captain finished the shape with his own arms.

"WE ARE THE DIAMONDS! THE STRONGEST GANG IN SAND LAND!"

…

…

…

"Eh?" Nami looked unimpressed.

"COOL!" Luffy clapped his hands, highly impressed by the performance. "Do it again! Do it again!"

"R-really?!" The captain stuttered, surprised by Luffy's reaction.

"Yeah! It was super cool!" The rubber captain responded.

The three gang members blushed at the praise, clearly not used to it. "W-wow…it feels nice to actually receive praise for our performance!" Sputz exclaimed.

"Yeah! Usually, the other guys just make fun of us for it…" Tink frowned.

"Now, now, boys!" The captain got their attention. "No need to bring up bad memories! We promised each other that we'd hold our heads up high! Even if others mock our way of living! We'll continue staying true to ourselves!"

The two smaller members teared up at their captain's encouraging words. "C-captain!" Sputz and Tink embraced their captain in a tight embrace, one that he was more than willing to accept.

Luffy crossed his arms with a pleased smile. "These guys are funny, Nami!"

"They were literally threatening us a moment ago."

"Really?"

"Were you even paying attention-why am I asking a stupid question?" Nami smacked herself in the face. She looked back at the strange hug happening in front of her and decided to count it as another weird aspect that her life as a pirate has brought upon her. "Hey, you three!"

They ignored her in favor of happy tears.

"Hey!"

She went ignored again.

"Hey, idiots!"

Their crying continued.

Nami's patience officially reached its limit for the night. She pulled out her Clima-tact, piecing the three-pieced staff together, and generated a small dark cloud above them. "Thunderbolt Tempo!"

SHOCK!

"GYAAAAAAAA!" The Diamond Gang members screamed as their bodies were electrocuted. Luffy just continued to laugh at the sight, finding the entire situation hilarious to begin with. The navigator slowly marched over to them and lifted the captain up by his dark blue mohawk. He stared at her in fear as the navigator's brown eyes promised nothing but pain.

"Now, I have some questions I'd like to ask and you three are going to answer them. Am I clear?" They didn't respond fast enough for her liking. "AM I CLEAR?"

"Y-YES!" The captain cried, and so did his subordinates.

"Good!" Nami's happy mood returned and she dropped the guy like a sack of rocks. She put her weapon away and placed a hand to her hip. "I already know that there are gangs here in Sand Land, but I don't know anything about them. Please enlighten me about them."

Captain managed to sit up properly, still reeling from the thunderbolt attack. "Well, there are many different factions here in Sand Land. You have the official Royal Army, the strongest force within the country. Their military might and weapons are vastly superior to that of your run-of-the mill Wannabe Junker."

"That was also told to us before. So, what is a Wannabe Junker?" Nami asked.

"Exactly as the name implies, they're a bunch of guys who go around collecting any piece of scrap they can find to sell to whoever pays. There are a bunch of scrapyards you could find to sell and buy things from. Though, you have the more violent guys who group up to attack anyone who happens to pass by."

"Sounds no different than your average pirate." Nami muttered. "But back to the gangs."

"R-right! There are two known major gangs within Sand Land. As we told you before during our excellent performance, we're members of the Diamond Gang. The second would be our rivals, the Spades, who specialize in vehicle combat." Captain explained.

"Vehicle combat? Like those things?" Nami pointed at the weird bots in front of them. "They can battle?"

Luffy, who hadn't been paying attention, perked up at the word 'battle'. His eyes trailed over to the bots sitting on the ground. The rubber boy noticed the guns and other artillery weapons attached to the bots.

"You mean the bots? Do you really not know anything about bots?" Captain's remark was met with Nami's staff aimed directly at his nose, sparking with electricity.

"Just keep talking!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" He yelped. "B-but that's all I really have left to say!"

"Hmm…" Nami hummed as she mulled over the information given. She looked at their bots, then back at the pathetic men in front of her. "Now that I think about it, if you three are out here, then doesn't that mean your base is somewhere close?"

"Uh…yeah. We were just heading back when we heard that guy laughing." Sputz pointed at Luffy…or the spot Luffy should've been. Panic rose in Nami's chest when she realized that she left her childish captain unattended for much too long.

"Hey, Nami!"

She, and the Diamonds, turned to see Luffy was sitting on top of one of the bots. It kinda resembled a bike, but much larger and made of tougher metal. Luffy laughed like an idiot as he continued to play around with the bike's controls. "This kinda reminds me of the wavers in Skypiea! I bet I can ride this one better than you-"

BEEP!

"Huh?" Luffy blinked and looked down at the bike as the engine turned on. Without warning, the two-wheeled vehicle took off with the roar of a lion. The dumbass captain screamed as he uncontrollably flew off away from the camp.

"LUFFY!" Nami screamed his name.

"Oh no!" She turned to Sputz, who was panicking. "He's heading in the direction of the base!"

"That idiot is gonna get himself killed!" Tink exclaimed.

Nami calmed down for a moment, especially since she now knew what direction her captain was going towards. Even if the bike crashed and exploded, she didn't have to worry about him getting hurt since Luffy has survived worse. Instead, her focus was much more on something else entirely. "Hey? Your base is loaded with treasure, right?"

"U-uh…yes? But I don't see how that's important right now-Guh!" Captain was roughly grabbed by the orange-haired navigator. She tossed him and his companions into one of the hoverbots.

"You know how to start this thing, right?!" Nami asked as she jumped into the driver's seat.

"Y-yes! You just press the ignition button-" His words were interrupted by Nami smashing her fist against the button. Without much time to prepare themselves, the Diamond members held on for dear life as Nami chased down Luffy.

Beli signs appeared in the money-grubbing witch's eyes as she steered the bot past all of the obstacles in her way. "Easy ticket to money, here I come!"

"Boss! Boss!" The leader of the Diamonds, a tall muscular man with a long light blue mohawk, and dressed in a leather coat with black pants, looked down at one of his subordinates.

"What is it? Has that worthless trio finally managed to make themselves useful?" The boss scoffed.

"N-no, sir! Something or someone is approaching the base! And they're coming in fast on a bot!"

"What?!" He stood from his throne, grabbing his twin maces, and stepped down the short steps. The boss marched through the cave system that he had established for their base, pushing through his clambering subordinates. "What kind of dumbass would approach our base with such carelessness?!"

"I'm not sure, Boss, but they'll regret it for the rest of their lives!" One member exclaimed.

"Yeah! With Boss here, there's no way this chump is gonna make it out alive!" Another one yelled.

The leader of the Diamonds smirked as his lackey's rallying cries filled his ego. Other than the Royal Army, their only competition were the Spades, which meant that there was nobody else in Sand Land that could compare to their combined might. Even those damn Demons should be cowering in fear from the sight of him-

"BOSS! WATCH OUT!"

"Wha-"

SMASH!

To the horror of each member of the Diamonds, the bot piloted by Luffy, smashed into the boss before he could even realize that the bike had gotten that close. The two went flying through the base, smashing through several shelves and furniture until crashing into the cave's wall. Jaws fell to the floor in a cartoonish manner at the sight of their boss getting run over by one of their own bots. What shocked them even more was how the assailant had gotten up from the wreckage completely unharmed.

Luffy brushed off the dirt on his clothes with a wide grin. "Man! That sure was a fun ride!" He looked around his surroundings, noticing the damage that had been caused. "Wow…who could've done all this?"

"IT WAS YOU!" The gang members yelled.

Luffy blinked at them. Then he turned his attention to the food that hadn't been knocked over by his arrival. "Food! Good thing too, I'm starving!"

"DON'T JUST IGNORE US!"

The captain, who was already shoving bread down his throat, glared at the gang. "Hey! It's rude to interrupt someone while they're eating their food!"

"THAT'S OUR FOOD, DUMBASS!"

"T-this idiot! Let's just kill this guy and avenge the boss!" One member yelled. Clearly, he wasn't alone in his sentiments as the rest of his fellow members agreed with the idea. "CHARGE!"

"Hm?" Luffy swallowed a piece of meat, and turned to see that the entire gang was coming right at him. A wide grin spread across his lips in excitement. "A fight, huh? Alright, then!"

One member tried to swipe at him with his sword, but Luffy easily dodged the attack. He smashed the back of his fist into the guy's head, knocking him away. Four grunts tried to attack him together, but Luffy pulled his leg back. "Gum-Gum Whip!" The Diamonds gaped at the bewildering phenomenon that was Luffy's rubber body stretching freakishly. The captain's leg smashed into the frozen grunts and sent them flying away.

"D-did his leg just stretch?!"

"W-what the hell even is he?!"

"Is he a demon?!"

Luffy heard their shouts and cracked his knuckles with a feral grin. "A demon? Nope! I'm a pirate!"

Beelzebub sniffed around the campsite, frowning at the scent that he had been tracking. The sheriff and Thief were behind him, also surveying the bots left behind. "Whoever this scent belongs to was here." Beelzebub said.

"Seems like they weren't alone either judging by the bots." The sheriff added. He looked down to see tracks in the sand leading further away from the camp. "These tracks are still visible, which means they must've left pretty recently."

"Do you think you can continue tracking them, Prince?" Thief asked.

Beelzebub sniffed the air and nodded his head. "The scent is going in that direction." The young demon pointed in the same direction that the tracks were going, shocking the sheriff.

"That direction?! But that's where the Diamond's base is located!"

"How can you tell?" Thief asked.

"As a sheriff it's important for me to be aware of where these gangs are located, just in case trouble gets stirred up." The old human responded.

Beelzebub folded his arms with a thought. "Do you think they're with the Diamonds?"

"It's not an impossibility, but you said the scent felt like a demon, right? Would a demon work with a human gang like that?" The sheriff asked.

"Unlikely, that demons would side with such troublesome humans." Thief responded.

"And I'm still not certain that it's a demon, because there's a weird mixture laced with it. Whoever this guy might be is messing with my nose!" Beelzebub glared at the direction of their new destination. "Hopefully, it's someone strong!"

"Gum-Gum Gatling!"

Nami could hear the cries of pain echoing inside the base as she managed to park the hover bot outside the cave. A few grunts came flying out, rolling across the sand with loud pain filled groans. The navigator ignored them in favor of strolling into the base, the trio of Diamonds hurrying after her. They were shocked incredibly as they surveyed the damage caused to their base of operations. "W-who could've done all of this?!" Tink cried.

"Luffy." Nami answered with a simple shrug. Her brow furrowed as she stepped over the unconscious bodies of Diamond members. "Hopefully that dumbass didn't break anything valuable while making a mess of the place."

"O-one person did all of this?! There's no way something like that is possible!" Sputz declared.

The cat burglar wasn't in the mood to bother arguing, since she was trying to focus on finding anything worth selling. "If you knew Luffy, then you wouldn't be saying that." Nami pushed through some of the wreckage and found a box filled with silver and bronze coins. "Huh? These babies seem antique enough to be sold for a price."

"S-sell? You're stealing from us?! That's messed up!" Captain exclaimed.

Nami gave him a dead stare. "You're literally a part of a gang that regularly causes trouble for the average citizen."

…

"W-well…when you put it that way-"

"GAAAH!" One grunt came sailing over their heads, his body crashed into the cave's ceiling and bounced into the pile of bodies on the ground. A second later, Luffy came strolling in with his hands behind his head.

"That was pretty boring! I thought they could put up a better fight than that!" The rubber captain complained. He noticed his navigator and the stooges, and waved at them. "Hey, Nami! Hey, weird guys!"

"Nice work, Luffy!" Nami stuffed the coins and some other trinkets into her bag. "With this place clean of any stragglers, we can rob 'em blind to make some money!"

"Cool! We can buy a bunch of meat with our money!"

"MY money, Luffy." Nami corrected him.

"But think of the meat, Nami!"

"And think of the actual useful supplies we can buy, Luffy!"

Captain, Tink, and Sputz just watched the two bicker with befuddled stares. It seemed unbelievable that one of the two biggest gangs in Sand Land had been utterly toppled in literal minutes, by people who seemed completely ignorant of the workings of the country. The two were even bickering like some old married couple about how to spend their money!

"W-what do we do now, Captain?" Sputz asked.

"Do we fight them next?" Tink's knees shook in fear at the thought.

"NO! Er-I mean-we should just try to do something else! Clearly, we'd be no match for these two here-GAH!" Captain was interrupted by a strong impact that nailed his back. He was sent flying over the bickering pirates, who were surprised by his airborne body.

"CAPTAIN!" Tink and Sputz cried. They turned around to see the eyes of a demon glaring right at them. The next thing they knew, they were also bashed across the cave's interior.

Luffy and Nami gasped at the sight of the trio getting assaulted. The captain's mood shifted into one of anger. "Hey! Who the hell did that?!" Those three were some pretty funny guys, and they had some cool machines. There was no way he was gonna let their assailant get away with it.

"I did." Walking out of the shadows was Beelzebub, the demon's appearance confused the pirates. The prince sniffed the air, the scent he had been searching for had finally made itself known to him. "Finally, I found you!"

"A kid? What is a kid doing here?" Nami wondered.

"Nami." She felt herself getting pushed away softly by Luffy. "This guy's strong. Get out of the way."

"W-what?! Luffy, that's a child!" Nami argued.

"Who are you calling a kid, human?! I'm Beelzebub, the Fiend Prince!" Beelzebub declared. The little demon pointed at Luffy. "And you're the guy that's been putting my nose on a wild goose chase! Whatever the hell you are is pissing me off!"

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! The man who's gonna become King of Pirates!" Luffy declared fiercely.

"King of the Pirates? Never heard of it, but it does sound cool. Hopefully, you're strong enough to back up the claim." Beelzebub said. He rushed the rubber captain at such a speed that left Nami shocked. The prince's fist smashed into Luffy's face, and to the boy's shock, the captain's head stretched backwards.

"The hell?! Are you a demon?!" Beelzebub questioned.

"A demon?! Nope! I'm a rubber man, because I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit!" Luffy responded, then started bringing his head back with blinding speed. "And I'm gonna kick your ass for hurting my friends! GUM-GUM BELL!" Luffy's head smashed into Beelzebub's, blasting the demon across the cave.

The demon corrected himself, skidding his hands against the ground to slow himself down. Beelzebub winced from the hit, shocked that a human(?) managed to actually hurt him. But instead of irritation, a feral grin spread across his features. "Finally…! Someone who can give me a challenge!"

"Prince!" Thief and the sheriff finally managed to catch up with him. "What's going on?!" The sheriff looked over to see Luffy and Nami. "Is that…?"

"Yeah, that's the guy who I've been smelling. You two keep back. He's all mine." Beelzebub declared.

"Bring it." Luffy returned the challenge.

"Luffy…" Nami muttered as the fight between pirate and fiend commenced once more.

Chapter End

NOTE: And the two main protagonists have finally met! Next chapter will be a battle between Luffy and Beelzebub!