[author note: apologies for the break, my dear (insert number under 100) readers, I was struck by a rare thing called having fun and enjoying my summer. now it's time to continue this thing. In this chapter the strawhat crew from one piece stumble upon the Arsenal Gear trasnporting a depleted V1. enjoy.]

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The ocean was wide, blue and endless. It stretched out in all directions, sparkling under the golden blazing sun above. Sailing forth upon the water was a wooden caravel, with a sheep's figurehead. It was the Going Merry, the ship of the Strawhat pirates who were following an eternal pose to Alabasta after escaping the giant's island, Little Garden.

Usopp and Zoro swabbed the decks, whilst Nami ate macaroons freshly served by the chef Sanji. A clattering sound emerged from the kitchen, someone was raiding the fridge.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Complained Sanji, handing the platter of Macaroons to Nami before storming up the wooden steps and into the ship's cabin, slamming the door behind him. Immediately muffled yelling and banging noises emenated out from behind the door, rocking the boat.

Vivi sat at the edge of the deck, looking over the railings with her pet super spot billed duck, Karoo. He quacked quizzically, looking back at the door that Sanji had stormed through.

"Yeah, these guys are a lot to handle, Karoo," Vivi said, brushing her blue hair out of her eyes, "but it's better than being undercover in Baroque Works, that's for sure!"

Karoo nodded enthusiastically.

The ship crested a large wave, water splashing on deck and throwing the boat forward. Zoro kept his balance but Usopp slipped instantly, sliding right into the bow railing of the ship with a crash, the mop getting inadvertantly flung off the side of the boat. Nami's macaroons flew off the platter and into the sea as well.

"What the hell was that for, you idiot!?" Zoro scolded Usopp, picking the long nosed sniper up by his overalls.

Usopp's face was heavily bruised.

"Okay, Okay, I'm sorry," he crossed his arms, "a demon ghost pushed me over is all."

Zoro looked at him judgingly.

"Yeah. A demon ghost. Right."

"Right! Yup!" Usopp nodded.

"And this.. demon ghost.. just so happened to push you over at the exact same moment as the boat swayed, huh?"

Nami piped up.

"And my macaroons are ruined!"

"I don't care." Zoro replied in a blunt tone, while returning Usopp to the ground, much to Nami's dismay who sat up on her lounging chair, eye twitching.

"Whatever, I'm checking the log pose." She said, looking down at the eternal pose to Alabasta. Its needle was spinning uncontrollable and jittering within the glass orb, "what the hell is this.."

She looked up at the sky, counting the clouds in her head.

"Something's changed. Those clouds up there are completely different than they were about twenty minutes ago."

She said, pointing up at the sky.

Luffy clumsily walked out from the cabin door, covered in fresh bruises.

"What's up Nami?"

"A dumbass like you would not understand." She replied dismissively.

"It's a problem with the eternal pose to alabasta." Said Usopp, staring intently into the glass.

"Oh," Replied Luffy, as he vaulted over the railing and landed on the main deck, "have you tried turning it off and then back on again?"

"That's not even possible, you idiot!" She yelled.

"Was just trying to help.." Luffy muttered in response.

The sea was gentle and quiet, totally empty as far as the eye could see.

"Whatever's happened," Zoro commented, "it definitely feels like the danger level has gone down in some way." He crossed his arms with a serious demeanour, scanning the seas around for any signs of the Grand Line's chaos, which they still believed themselves to be within.

However the Grand Line was now very, very far away.

Before any of them could say an other word, Luffy had begun shouting for the crew's attention.

"Heyy! Guys! Look over there! There's a giant ship coming from under the water!" He pointed across the blue expanse, and surely enough, sprouting from the froth and gentle waves came a hulking colossus of steel, shedding the ocean from its hull like a cloak. A monstrous roar rumbled the waters as this construct completed its surfacing.

The wave it sent rippling into the sea rocked the Going Merry once more, but its crew were able to stand firm this time.

"What is that thing!? It's huge!" Exclaimed Usopp, sweating vigorously.

"Looks cool. Can we go closer, Nami?"

"I don't know about this one, Luffy. This whole situation stinks of strange."

"Aw come on. I'll go on my own, that any better?"

Zoro watched as the others discussed amongst themselves. His expression serious. He knew these waters could be treacherous - just like any in the Grand Line. Luffy was acting too careless, as usual, but that was to be expected. However, something felt off. Zoro looked back at the giant ship that was emerging, his eyes narrowed. "Something about that ship doesn't feel right. We should be cautious."

"See even Zoro agrees with me." Nami put her hands on her hips, conviced she was quite victorious in the conversation.

"Aw man," Luffy sulked, "but maybe if we have a look we can get ourselves a working log pose for ya Nami."

The ghost of a smirk played about Zoro's lips, and he shook his head at Nami.

"I didn't say we shouldn't go," he clarified, his arms still crossed. "I just said we should be cautious while we do it."

"That ship looks pretty tough, is all..." Nami's voice faltered.

"When has that ever stopped us?" Zoro replied, patting the hilts of his three swords with a clink.

Sanji pranced towards Nami, clasping his hands by his face in a wishy washy pose.

"Don't worry, Nami my love.. I'll stay and protect you whilst Usopp, Zoro and Luffy go on board that giant submarine!"

Zoro rolled his eyes at Sanji's smitten antics, but kept his usual aloof expression. "What? Afraid you'd get yourself lost, swirly brow?" he quipped, giving Sanji a sidelong glance.

Sanji's face flushed red with anger, and he raised a fist at Zoro.

"Defending a lady from danger is far more brave than waving a few swords around, you moss headed freak!"

Zoro grit his teeth.

"Waving a few swords around?" he repeated, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Last time I checked, those 'few swords' have saved your ass more than once."

The loud sound of Usopp's teeth chattering together interrupted the argument.

"Uh... uh.. uh.. g-guys... I am not stepping a single foot on board that thing! No way! I'm allergic to huge metal submarines, y'know?"

Zoro snickered quietly, a barely-there laugh. "Allergic, huh?" he said, his arms still folded. "You're probably just scared."

"yeah, come on Usopp, it'll be fun!" Luffy chirped in.

"No way! I am Captain Usopp, warrior of the sea! I can't go on board that submarine because I'm allergic to it." He crossed his arms and looked away like a toddler in a bad mood, "I'd really really love to go, but it's a shame I'm allergic."

Zoro leaned back against the railing, a small chuckle escaping his lips. "Allergic my ass." he muttered, his usual grumpy expression returning.

Luffy's smile faded as he actually bought Usopp's excuse.

"Aw man. Maybe we can find you a cure or something."

"I'm sure there's a cure for submarine allergies on that submarine." Zoro scoffed.

"It makes sense." Said Luffy.

The sound of a new set of footsteps on the wood approached as Princess Vivi walked over to the rest of crew, stood by the mast. She had a troubled look on her face.

"I heard the eternal pose to Alabasta is broken..?"

Nami showed the eternal pose to Vivi. It still spun wildly.

"Yup, it's been spinning like this since that big jolt we just had."

Zoro scratched the back of his head, looking troubled by the situation.

"It's damn weird, that's for sure." he said gruffly. "I've never seen an eternal pose malfunction this badly before."

Vivi fidgeted with her arm. Karoo trotted besides her, looking anxious as well.

Luffy saw this, and his mind was already made.

"I'm gonna go on board that submarine and get a new log pose, whether any of you come with me or not!"

There's no stopping Luffy when his mind is set on something like this.

Zoro let out a heavy sigh.

"Fine, I'm coming with you. You'd just get lost if you went on your own."

"Nami, take us closer!"

"You're the captain.." She replied, dejectedly, before disappearing with Sanji to mount the helm.

As the Going Merry began to catch headwind and parse through the waves, ever closer to the submarine, the strawhats began to feel the tension rising. This thing was huge, at least twice as tall as the Merry and maybe thirty times its length. Luffy, ever undaunted, cracked his knuckles.

"We'll anchor here." Called out Nami. Zoro heaved the anchor up, and cast it overboard, the chains rushing from the deck of the bow rapidly as the anchor fell deeper and deeper into the depths of the sea.

"I'll swim to that ladder on the side, Luffy."

"Gotcha. See ya at the top!" Luffy exclaimed, holding onto his straw hat as he threw his arm up towards a metal railing near the top of the gigantic submarine. After grabbing hold of it, he was immediately slingshotted away from the deck of the Going Merry and flew up the impenetrable metal wall whilst wooping and cheering the whole way.

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Zoro braced himself and dove off the side of the Going Merry, piercing the water's surface with a clean splash. His head reseurfaced and he took a deep breath before swimming efficiently over to the metal ladder which clung to the side of the submarine, his strong arms slicing through the cool waters as he neared the ladder. He began hauling himself up the rungs, activating his upper body muscles whilst ascending the long ladder up. Only when this close can one appreciate the sheer size of something like this in the sea. It was like scaling a mountain which had suddenly sprung up in a wide blue abyss.

"Oi, Zoro! Hurry up!" Whined Luffy from above, his head peeking over the edge to watch Zoro make his way up.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Zoro grumbled in response. He continued climbing, his arms and shoulders muscles flexing with each movement. As he neared the top, he could see Luffy's head peeking over the edge, impatience clear on his face Of course he wants me to hurry up.

Upon reaching the top, Luffy watched him climb over the edge with nimble ease.

"Finally, I was almost gonna go through this hatch without you!" He giggled a bit, "c'mon, let's go!"

The top of the submarine was a huge, flat expanse, with hatches and plates of all different shapes and sizes. Steam rose in columns from grilles located in the central area, like some kind of exhaust port. A hatch with a spin wheel keeping it locked and watertight was locked in place in the ground, and Luffy got down to his shackles, heaving and pulling at the spin wheel with all of his strength.

Zoro watched as Luffy struggled with the giant wheel, an amused smirk on his face. "Need some help?" he asked casually, already knowing the answer.

"Nope, I think I've got an idea!"

"Try turning it Maybe." Retorted Zoro.

"Watch and learn Zoro!" Luffy declared, before twisting his arms around each other many many times until they looked like a piece of rope. he placed both hands on the wheel and let them relax. The elastic tension of his twisted arms immediately began yanking the wheel with enough force to spin it around and around rapidly, the locks within swiftly slamming into place and the metal groaning, until finally a loud THUNK echoed down the hatch, and the wheel refused to keep spinning. Luffy shook out his arms, and they returned to their usual lanky appearance.

"Done!" He beamed at Zoro.

Zoro's eyes widened as he watched Luffy's ridiculous method of turning the wheel.

"Only you would come up with such a dumb idea. Couldn't you have just turned it normally?" He muttered. But he couldn't deny that it had worked, the hatch was now open. "Let's go," he said, gesturing for Luffy to go first.

"WOOHOOOOO!" Luffy whooped, as he jumped down into the darkness inside the hatch.. as if there wasn't a ladder down right there. His voice faded away into a quiet echo, which spurred Zoro to hurry down the ladder. He decided to keep the hatch open, just in case.

After sliding down the rungs of the ladder for a few moments, he landed with a sharp clang in a dimly lit hallway. Luffy sat on the floor waiting.

"Hey Luffy, what are you doing sat on your ass down here?"

"I was waiting for you to hurry up and dive down."

"There was a ladder right there, you moron!"

"Alright, alright..!" Luffy stood up, and looked at both directions in the coridoor, before pointing to the left side, "I'm going that way!"

"Okay, well I'll go the other way. You better not get lost.."

"As soon as I find a new eternal pose, I'll come find you." With that, Luffy disappeared down the hallway, his form fading away behind the steamy air.

Zoro watched as Luffy vanished down the hallway. He's definitely going to get lost, he thought, shaking his head.

He started making his way down the other end of the hallway, his swordsman's senses on edge. It was quiet, too quiet...

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Luffy made his way down the incredibly long and drawn out maintainance hallway, the pipes which ran along the wall periodically letting out hisses of steam which made him cough and splutter. Eventually, he found a metal door to the left, on the corner to a fork in the tunnel.

He shrugged and approached the door, hearing muffled talking behind it.

He grabbed ahold of the handle and heaved the steel door open, and it swung much more smoothly than he had anticipated, and it slammed into the wall.

Two soldiers with black body armour and rifles were sat at a table inside, their conversation and card game interrupted. They looked up at Luffy with half alert and confusion.

"What's a kid doing snooping around in here?" One yelled at the other.

"Why are you askin' me? like hell do I know!"

"Oh, I'll just tell you guys why I'm here!" Luffy said, replying to a question not even meant for him, "I'm trying to get my friend back to her country, and our eternal pose has broken, so I was wondering if either of you guys know where I can get one."

They both just stared at him quizzically.

"What!? What are you talking about? eternal pose? Sounds like some kind of gobble-dy-gook to me." The first soldier exclaimed.

"Could be a codeword for somethin'" Replied the second one thoughtfully, scratching his beard.

"Who cares? We need to deal with this kid, pronto." He raised his rifle towards Luffy, "you're comin' with us, kid. Don't resist, cause I'll shoot you."

"Guess the answer's no then. See ya!" Luffy turned and walked out the door without so much as a second thought about the gun in the soldier's hand.

"What the- HEY! Get back here, you brat! This is a gun! Are you dumb?"

No response. Luffy was already making his way further into the deep interior of this military superstructure.

"We gotta call this in on radio," began the second soldier, "but you do it. The boss'll have my ass if I report that some teenager is skulking about, lookin' for secret codeword stuff."

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At that same time, Zoro had found the end of the maintainance hallway. Pushing whatever Luffy might be up to out of his mind, he stepped forward, examining the steel door in front of him. There was a window built in, however the glass was totally steamed up. Zoro glanced at the window, but couldn't see anything through the thick steam covering it. He tried the handle, but the door was locked. He let out a low curse under his breath.

"Hey!" Yelled a stern voice from behind him, "What do you think you're doing? Are you that straw hat kid's friend? Answer me.. or I'll shoot." Zoro turned around slowly, now being face to face with a wild-eyed, neurotic looking grunt soldier, pointing an automatic rifle at him.

Zoro eyed the soldier calmly, his hand resting gently on the hilts of his swords.

"Yeah, I know him. He's my captain. What about it?" Although acting calm, he was watching every move that the soldier made, ready to react at any moment.

The soldier had a moment of surprise before continuing.

"So you're working together, eh? Probably have a ship waiting outside so you can try and heist some kind of codeword item from us, right?"

The barrel of the gun jabbed forward at the mention of 'codeword item'.

Zoro's eyebrows raised slightly at the soldier's words. "Codeword item? You mean an eternal pose?" he asked, his voice cool and calculated.

The soldier's eyes widened.

"There, it's that phrase again, the straw hat kid said the same thing."

Damn you, Luffy.. already getting into trouble..

It only just occured to Zoro that the soldier had some kind of speaking device attached to his body armour.. a radio.

Zoro's mind raced as he noted the radio on the soldier's armor. He could faintly hear voices in the background, coming from the speaker. This could be bad...

"So... this so called eternal pose... how much are you being paid for it?" The soldier asked in an almost accusatory manner.

Zoro narrowed his eyes at the soldier's question. "Paid for it? Listen here, I don't know who you think I am, but I'm not in this for the money. I'm just here for-" He stopped himself from saying any more, realizing he'd probably already said too much.. Steam hissed from a nearby pipe, startling the soldier.

"You're lying," His eyes narrowed, "I don't know what an eternal pose is, but I know exactly what you're referring to by using that codeword, and we're not gonna let your organisation just take it from us like that."

Zoro's left eyelid ticked slightly in annoyance. "You've got it all wrong- I'm not part of any damn organization." He could hear voices coming through the radio now, some kind of conversation going on between multiple people. The soldier didn't seem to be buying Zoro's words, but at the moment, whatever the people on the other side of the radio seemed to be serious enough to take a majority of his attention.. his fingers loosening on the gun, letting it point down slightly.

What followed was the sound of the air being sliced with swift elegance and the sound of a yelp of shock from the soldier as Zoro charged forth using the Wado Ichimonji to slice the soldier's gun and radio in half, and to make him fall to the ground with a slam.

The soldier was caught off guard by Zoro's sudden attack and fell to the ground with a thud, his broken gun laying beside him. He looked at Zoro with a mix of shock and fear, his mouth hanging open. A taunting smile tugged on Zoro's lips.

"Now it's your turn to answer some questions."

The soldier stared up at Zoro, and at the blade edge pointing right at his throat..

"Wha- what do you want to know?" He said in a wavering voice.

"Well first off, when me and my captain talked about the eternal pose, we were referring to a compass. Which makes me wonder why you talked about it like it's a weapon or important object of some kind. So what the hell did you think we were talking about?"

The soldier blinked twice awkwardly.

"Oh."

... silence for a moment or two.

"Just answer the damn question." Zoro ordered, tapping the Wado Ichimonji blade on the soldier's kevlar vest.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you. Look, inside this place we're transporting something of great importance to our company which will make us really rich in the future."

"That doesn't answer a single thing." Zoro interrupted.

"I'm getting to that, okay?.. Well as I was about to say, this item is of huge importance. It's highly sought after, so it's natural to assume that other organisations will try to board this ship if they know it's onboard.. but that's a very bad idea."

"What is the item?" Zoro pressed.

"It's some robot thing, I don't know, I'm just a guard, okay?"

"I think you do know."

"Look, all I know is that it runs on fresh blood, and it's a bloody killing machine. It's a miracle we captured it at all."

Zoro's eyes widened as the soldier explained about the robot, a bad feeling sunk to the bottom of his gut. A killing machine? Not good.

"A robot that runs on fresh blood? And it's onboard this submarine right now?" he asked, his voice low.

The soldier nodded feverishly in response.

"Oh, and this isn't any ordinary submarine, is it? It's way too big, even for the Grand Line's standards.."

The soldier's eyebrow raised, but he didn't feel like challenging someone holding a sword against his neck.

"I- I don't really know what this place is, but everyone I've know call it.. Arsenal Gear."

Zoro's expression became more serious as the soldier mentioned the name 'Arsenal Gear'. The thought of having to deal with a killing machine was bad enough, but now an entire ship dedicated to its production? That sounded like trouble. "Arsenal Gear, huh? Sounds like a damn headache..." he muttered.

The sound of soldier's footsteps clattering on a metal floor approached.. Zoro looked to the locked door behind him.

"Get up." He ordered the soldier.

The soldier got up.

"Now open that door." He pointed to the door with the point of his blade.

"Sure thing.." Said the soldier, anxiously hurrying to the locks on the door.

Zoro watched the soldier's back as he quickly opened the locks on the door. A moment later, the door creaked open, revealing a dimly lit space beyond. It was a catwalk of some kind, leading over a wide empty space. Bright lights shone from around the corner.

"Shut the door behind me, and tell the soldiers I went that way."

The soldier nods his head.

Zoro stepped through the doorway, onto the catwalk. The sound of the door closing behind him echoed through the vast space. He took a deep breath, steadying himself for whatever lay ahead. Though not much could have prepared him for what he did find. It was a giant cargo bay of some kind, like a great hall in a castle.. it was a testament to the sheer size of the Arsenal Gear.

Lined upon the walls were dozens upon dozens of machines of war, shaped like winged dinosaurs of metal and bolts, guns and rockets and clamped firmly to the walls.

There was an army of these mechs in here. Down below on the floor, various engineers and scientists in labcoats hung around, having conversations which were illegible from this height and behind the constant noise of rumbling and of mechanical tools working away within the hall. The catwalk led right across the ceiling of the hall, where another door lay at the other side. Zoro didn't waste much time before continuing forward.

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Luffy, on the other hand, was being confronted by a few guards.

"Please can you tell me where to find an eternal pose?" Luffy pleaded, "those other guys didn't know when I asked them.."

"Hey, it's that straw hat kid we heard about on the radio.."

"Freeze asshole, if you move I'll pump you full of lead."

"You can try, but it won't work!"

This was followed by the deafening rattle, and blinding flash of bullets firing rapidly from the assault rifle, speeding right towards Luffy untill they hit him... and then his body simply stretched to absorb their impact, before launching them all back out again. The discarded bullets eploded from Luffy's elastic body and ricosheted about the metal hallway, even hitting one of the three guards in the arm. He doubled down in pain.

"What the hell!?" Exclaimed the soldier, baring his teeth, "what are you?"

"Glad you asked," said Luffy, stretching his mouth out a considerable distance, "I'm a rubber man!"

"Good god, maybe we should study this kid too." Commented one of the guards.

"He put my own bullet in my own arm! The bastard!" Yelled the pained voice of the third guard.

Luffy cracked his knuckles.

"If you marines aren't gonna tell me where you keep your eternal poses, I'll just beat you up and find them myself instead!" He grinned.

"Oh shit..." Said the second guard.

"Can we get some backup here..?" Asked the first one into his radio. He got a response pretty quickly.

"The hell do you mean 'no'?"

"Gum gum... gatling!" Luffy yelled, pummelling all three guards with a rapid series of ruberry punches, knocking them all bloody and bruised to the floor in one single attack.

Huh... they went down easier than usual..." Luffy knelt down, hearing someone talking. The sound was coming from the radio on one of the guards.

"I'll take that thing." He snatched the radio from the guard's body, clipping it to his red vest so he could hear the chatter on the other side.

"codename supreme machine has escaped and is loose onboard." yelled the voice on the other side, "all available units evacuate from level 1, 2, 3 and 4 immediately, and do NOT approach the bulkheads."