Jen had settled well into life on the Going Merry in the short time since she joined the crew, she's learned everyone's name and they're roles on the ship as well as being caught up on the situation with baroque works, in turn Jen had told the straw hats about how she found the Omnitrix when she was 10 years old and all the adventures that followed, currently the crew where sailing on their way to Alabasta, Jen was up on the top deck with Nami and Vivi who were checking the ships heading
"We seem to be on the right track towards Alabasta" Nami explained while examining the eternal pose she got on Little Garden, their conversation was cut short when they were distracted by Sanji who was scolding Luffy for eating all the food on the ship, Jen had quickly learned that the straw hats weren't like any other pirate crew, though learning that there was no food no on the ship was worrying
Sanji had every free hand on the sides of the ship fishing to catch something for the crew to eat, Jen had been sitting looking at her unmoving fishing rod for about ten minutes before she got bored "alright I know somebody who can catch us some dinner easily" Jen smiled as she turned the dial of the Omnitrix before slamming down on it and in a green flash had transformed into a humanoid fish alien with sharp prominent teeth "Ripjaws!" She yelled before jumping into the ocean, it only took a couple minutes before Jen resurfaced onto the ship she opened her mouth and unloaded a small pile of fish she had caught
"agghh, I'm not eating anything that's been in that thing's mouth!" Ussop yelled his disgust for Jen's choice of food storage was shared between a few of the crew members
"you might not have a choice, it's all we have at the moment" Sanji said as he picked up all the fish and took them into the kitchen
Vivi was sitting at the front of the ship when she saw a wall of grey smoke straight in the ship's path, "hey Nami we need to change course!" She yelled over the navigator
Nami shook her head "No need, it's just seam coming from underwater volcanoes, completely harmless we can keep going straight ahead" As the ship passed through the steam the crew couldn't see anything past the boat, as the Merry exited the steam Jen heard Ussop and Luffy shouting, she turned to see a man dressed in a pink coat with swan shoulder pads dangling off their fishing lines, as the man struggled the lines broke sending him falling into the water
"Help me! Please!" The strange man yelled "I can't swim", Jen immediately jumped into the water and was able to quickly grab the the sinking man and climb back onto the ship
"It's alright I got you, take it easy" Jen said in ripjaws growly voice as she set the strange man down on the deck of the Merry with the rest of the straw hats on deck surrounding them
"thank you, to think I'd be saved by total strangers," the man said as he coughed up water "I'll never forget your kindness for the rest of my life! Also, may I have a cup of warm soup"
"We don't have any food to spare" Zoro yelled
"Oh, hey you! What a cutie! You're just my type" the pink-coated man flirted as he looked up at Vivi who was standing at the top deck causing Vivi to show disgust
"so you can't swim, huh" Luffy asked
"yes I'm a devil fruit user, allow me to demonstrate my power for your entertainment" the strange man laughed as he hit Luffy in the face causing the whole crew to go on edge, Ripjaws readied her claws while Zoro drew two of his swords, "wait, wait, wait this is just for entertainment" the strange man called out in Luffy's voice
to Jen's surprise, the man was now an exact copy of Luffy she hadn't seen an ability like that in quite a while, phew aliens she met when she was 10 had shapeshifting abilities but this was the first time she heard of a devil fruit being able to do such a thing, the strange man continued to demonstrate his ability by turning into each of the straw hats one by one, Jen almost fell over when he got to Nami and removed his shirt for a second before getting knocked down by the real Nami
"oh let me show you my secret technique, I don't show this one off often" the strange man laughed as he touched his face and began cycling through many different people's faces, he continued this game with the crew for a while before a pink ship came sailing beside the Merry where he waved a tearful goodbye and jumped back onto his ship leaving Luffy, Ussop and chopper waving as his ship passed over the horizon, shortly after Jen's transformation timed out and in a flash of red she returned to normal
"th-that man was mr 2 Bon clay!" Vivi shouted as she held her head in her hands gaining the attention of the whole crew on deck "Agh I only realised who he was when I overheard his men talking to him"
"he'll be quite the problem if we run into him, he could turn into any one of us, we can't even trust each other," Nami said as she paced the deck
"Actually I think this will give us an advantage, we now know his tricks we can counter them" Zoro smirked
"We're not too far from Alabasta now, Jen go get Sanji so we can all formulate a plan together" Nami said as she began to think of a counter to Mr 2
The Straw hat pirates had docked the Going Merry away from any towns or cities to keep attention off of them, "woah so this is Alabasta" said Jen as she leaned on the side of the ship in awe of the endless sand
"alright listen up, we need to use self-control here and try to not act on instinct, we need to keep a low profile" Nami said sternly
"bit late for that" Jen chuckled as she pointed towards Luffy who was running off into the distance shouting about food
"Ugh, that guy, I swear" Nami grumbled into her facepalm, "ok let's head out guys"
"wait Nami, I'm too recognisable here and Mr 2 could be anywhere and he's seen all your faces," Vivi said as she fiddled with the white cloth on her left arm that was part of the plan to safeguard against Mr 2
"he never saw my face, I can walk around without the chance of someone recognising me" Sanji smirked as he leaned close to Vivi
"same here," Jen said as she raised her hand
"oh that's right Mr 2 never saw your true form" Nami smiled
"hold on I have an idea" Ussop said as he ran into the ship hold
"This is a terrible idea" Jen sighed as she walked down the Alabasta street alongside Sanji, Chopper in his walk point form and a large totally inconspicuous black tarp that the rest of the crew were walking under, Jen had never seen a street market like this the whole street was packed with people buying and selling different goods, she'd want to look around more if it wasn't so unbearably hot, a green jacket and jeans might have been her signature look but it certainly didn't help with the heat
"shush it's a great plan and stop talking to us you're gonna ruin it" Ussop snapped back at Jen's comment
it wasn't long before the crew had made their way to a small crumbling structure away from the view of anyone in the town, "ugh it's a miracle that nobody stopped us" Nami sighed as she stretched after getting out from under the tarp
"Now what, I assume you have some kind of plan to stop the rebellion right Vivi?" Sanji asked while leaning on what was left of a wall
"yes I do, but before we do anything we're going to need supplies can you do that for me" Vivi said with a determined look on her face
"of course, anything for you beautiful" Sanji said while getting down on one knee
"hmmm Jen it's best if you go with him too, keep him out of trouble if you can" Nami snickered knowing exactly how long Sanji would take if he got distracted by a pretty woman
"Alright, got it" Jen nodded as she followed Sanji and Chopper into the street market
"So Jenny, have you ever seen a market like this before" Sanji asked as he was inspecting several spices from a vendor
"I've seen a couple street markets but never one as packed as this one" Jen answered as she looked over the man's shoulder at the spices laid out in front of him
"Have you ever been this far from your little island?" Sanji asked trying to get to know his new crewmate better, it was a bonus that she happened to be a pretty girl not as pretty as Nami or Vivi no Jen was much more of a tomboy compared to them
"a couple of times yeah" Jen answered "My Grandpa Max would take my cousin Gwen and me on trips around the east Blue on his boat when I was younger"
"oh how'd you cross the calm belt," Sanji asked his curiosity peaked
"My Grandpa Max is ex-marine, he was able to convert one of their old ships into a houseboat before it was set to be demolished" Jen answered as she put the spices they bought into the backpack Chopper was carrying
"wow he sounds resourceful" Chopper said as he followed the two to the next stall
"yeah he is, that's why I know he's safe, wherever he is" Jen laughed assured that she would find Grandfather in good health
Jen, Sanji and Chopper returned to the small structure the rest of the crew were hiding out with all the supplies they bought stacked on top of Chopper, "oh Nami, Vivi I picked out outfits for you like you asked" Sanji cheered as he handed the two girls their outfits before they went behind a large pile of rubble to change
when Nami and Vivi came out from behind the rubble they were wearing dancing outfits
"wow, I love kind of clothing, good find Sanji" Nami said while inspecting how the outfit looked on her
"I asked you to get us clothes for travelling, these are dancer outfits how are we meant to keep attention off us like this" Vivi raised her concerns about the practicality of the situation
"When did you pick these out Sanji I don't remember seeing you pick out any clothing" Jen asked
"oh I picked them up while you were distracted with loading up the supplies on Chopper" Sanji smiled "Oh and that reminds me Jenny dear I got one for you too, couldn't have you feeling left out" he pulled out another set of the dancer outfit
"w...wait that sort of thing isn't really my style" Jen chuckled nervously as she backed away from Sanji only to be stopped by Nami grabbing onto her shoulders
"come on don't be a spoilsport, I wanna see you in it too" Nami smiled as she grabbed the outfit meant for Jen from Sanji and dragged Jen behind the large pile of rubble
several minutes later Nami walked out from behind the rubble shortly followed by Jen wearing a green dancer outfit, "see you look amazing!" Nami cheered admiring her fellow Crewmate
"I'll admit it makes the heat somewhat bearable" Jen sighed thinking about how much Gwen would tease her if she saw her like this, the rest of the crew had also changed into more weather-appropriate gear that helped keep attention off themselves
"Alright, now everyone's ready let's go find that captain of ours" Nami sighed thinking about the kind of trouble Luffy could get into, "Sanji you stay here with Vivi and Caroo since they're likely to be recognised, everyone else we're heading into town"
finding one guy in the bustling crowds at the street market was next to impossible the crew had been searching for quite some time and hadn't seen even a glimpse of Luff's straw hat, as Jen and Nami turned a corner to search the next street for their captain a head unmistakable of orange hair caught her attention, Jen quickly grabbed Nami and hid behind a fruit stand
"oh crap what's she doing here" Jen whispered as she peaked out from the fruit stand but couldn't see Gwen anywhere, Jen's confusion was put to rest when she felt a hand on her shoulder and she quickly turned to see the face of her cousin
"hi Jen what a coincidence meeting you here, and who's your new friend" Gwen asked she was wearing a blue tank top with her usual uniform jacket tied on her waist to deal with the heat
"This is Nami and we met a bit ago and I'm here...following up a lead on Grandpa Max" Jen half lied as baroque works likely had more than just the one deal of alien tech that Jen and the straw hats broke up
"oh really well give me a call if you find something big, wouldn't want you charging into danger without proper backup" Jen laughed "And what exactly is that outfit, trust me it's definitely not your style"
"it was a gift alright I couldn't turn it down" Jen sighed as her cousin snickered at her current state of dress
"TENNYSON!!, STOP CHATTING AND HELP ME WITH THESE FOOLS!!" shouted Captain Smoker who was at the end of the street carrying two men on his shoulder, Gwen gave Jen and Nami a wave as she ran to her superior officer, once the coast was clear the two made a break for it and reunited with the others
"so your cousin is the girl who throws pink orbs from Smokers unit, small world" Nami laughed luckily Gwen had never seen her face back in Lougetown
"yeah she joined the Marines cause she wanted to see some more of the world than just our little island, i guess me and her aren't so different in that aspect" Jen laughed still recovering from the embarrassment Gwen inflicted upon her
the whole crew baring Luffy was back at the crumbling ruins with Vivi, everyone was tired from the search and was resting their legs, Jen had thought of using one of her new flying aliens to search for Luffy quicker but Nami told her it would draw too much attention to them so she decided against it
"ugh we're never going to find him at this rate, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack" Usop sighed as he squatted against the wall of the ruin
"look he's not going to just pop up out of nowhere, we're going to have to rethink our plan and come up with something more efficient," Sanji said as he took a puff of a cigarette, almost the second as Sanji finished Luffy could be seen running from a large group of marines the next street over, "never mind, let's go" Sanji sighed as everyone caught up to Luffy
"oh hi guys, where have you all been" Luffy asked with a smile being met with a sigh from the rest of the crew
"We need to head back to the Merry" Nami ordered
as the Straw hats got closer to the Merry Captain Smoker suddenly rushed up for an attack, only to be met with a wall of fire blocking his path, a young man walked out of the flames he was wearing a cowboy hat with a pair of goggles on top "heh, give it up, your smoke doesn't stand a chance against my fire" he laughed
"Ace?!" Luffy said confused by the man's entrance
"you haven't changed a bit" the man laughed "I'll hold these guys off while you escape" The man smiled as fire began to swirl around him
"got it" Luffy nodded as the Crew and himself made a break for the going Merry
"Just who is that guy" asked Jen wondering why someone would help them escape
"haha he's my brother" Luffy laughed as he jumped onto the Deck of the Going Merry being met with looks of shock from the rest of the straw hats as they sailed off upriver