Micah anchored the ship. "You think this is the right place?"

False shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see any strange animals. But considering it was only a few hours from the base and it's the first island we came across it might be."

Suddenly a blade was at Micah's throat. "Who are you?" He heard a voice ask, but he couldn't see anyone around him. Just the floating hand at his neck.

"Micah, Captain of the Shaggy pirates, looking for Buggy, I was told he'd be on an island filled with strange animals." Micah responded, as much as he heard about the man he had no way of knowing the powers of the infamous clown.

"You found him, you looking to join a stronger crew?" The voice asked. "Can't imagine why an enemy pirate Captain would seek out another unless it was an alliance or a battle. Which are you?"

"We can't ally ourselves with you." False told him. "We have one ally, and that is Darius, your Vice Captain, we came here to deliver him, we're in his debt after he helped us escape the marine base."

Buggy stepped out from the trees, his arm flying back to him. "He's here with you, where is he?"

Micah gestured back to the boat. "He and the chicken are sleeping, he's been poisoned, said not to wake him until your doctor could cure him."

Buggy popped off his head, flying into the sky to take a look at the boat, still skeptical. "That's definitely him, next time don't show up all flashily, hands up if you're not a threat." Buggy recalled his head. "Silas! Come treat this idiot so we can get moving!"

The doctor rushed out, nodding at the two pirates as he passed.

"Thank you for bringing him back, if there's nothing else you can leave flashily. The man on this island doesn't like outsiders." Buggy shooed them off as Silas dragged Darius off the boat, dropping some of his blood in the younger pirate's mouth.

Micah smiled. "Charming group, well good luck, tell Darius to call us if he needs help, after we find the rest of our crew were headed for the grandline, see ya there." False gave a short bow before following after his captain.

"Why did you make them leave?" Coconut asked him.

"Darius is poisoned, despite their story, we can't trust that it's the truth without him to confirm it." Silas told him. "He'll wake up in a bit after the blood has run its course."

"So this is him?" Alvida walked over. "A little young, average looks, average build. Doesn't seem all that remarkable."

Cabaji spoke. "He's quiet outside of battle, and likes to keep clean, you'll like him if you can deal with the occasional laziness."

Alvida acknowledged his statement. "A step up from the rest of you barbarians."

"He's more than qualified for the position, he beat Cabaji on his first day here." Mohji told her.

"He beat you too!" The acrobat yelled, defensively.

"That's not impressive." Alvida responded.

"What they meant to say is that he's strong despite his looks, second strongest on the crew. Which is why he's the Vice Captain." Coconut told her.

"Well if he can tell me where Strawhat is, I guess he has some use." Alvida said, taking a seat on a nearby tree stump, waiting for the Pirate to wake up.

…

I opened my eyes to a screen that said the poison had been cured. I sat up only seeing one person sitting on a tree stump nearby.

"Finally you're awake, where's Straw Hat?" The woman asked.

I yawned. "So they managed to find you, Alvida."

"I was told you could tell me where he is." Alvida responded.

"Join the crew and we can go after him together, after a quick detour." I offered.

"I don't take orders, I can offer you a temporary alliance."

"See that just ain't gon work for me, I need to know your with us, that you won't try to betray us down the line and the only way that happens is if you join the crew, few pirates would sacrifice their honor and betray a crewmate but alliances end with a simple disagreement."

"You want me to follow you just because you have information on Straw Hat, my loyalty for information? Doesn't seem like a fair trade."

I laughed. "You'll also have protection and the loyalty of a strong crew, if there's an enemy you can't beat, we'll beat 'em for you."

"An enemy I can't beat?" Alvida giggled. "I can't be harmed, no one can beat me now. I plan on proving that when I find Straw Hat."

I smirked, charging electricity into my palms and walking over. "That fruit of yours makes it impossible for physical attacks to hit you, but there are those out there with attacks that directly attack your spirit. There are also those like me." I grabbed hold of her arm. "Those with elemental attacks that can ignore that power of yours, no one can beat you? That's a bold statement when I'm standing right in front of you. Buggy would have trouble that's for sure, but not me, Silas should be able to cut you with seastone blades but he doesn't like fighting. As it stands I'm the only one on the crew who can control you, wouldn't you rather have someone who can beat you as an ally rather than an enemy?"

She smacked my hand away, holding her arm which had been scorched by the lightning. "So what you really mean is either I join you or be taken out here. I don't have a choice."

Smiling, I nodded my head. "What did you expect, were pirates after all, following a random crew just to find a boy was not the smartest move you could've made. So what's it gonna be? Join us or should I drop you off at a marine base to be locked in impel down?"

"Men." She sighed. "So annoying, fine I'll join you but if any of your guys get any ideas I'm bashing your head in."

"They won't try anything, everyone knows what you looked like before the devil fruit."

"I didn't really change much, just lost the freckles." She replied.

"Right." I drawled. "Just the freckles, didn't lose anything else, like maybe three hundred of something else."

…

After my talk with Alvida, Buggy gathered the crew as we prepared to leave.

"Thank you Gaimon for allowing my crew to wait for me here." I bowed to the chest man. "Are you sure you don't want to join the crew, we'd be happy to have you."

"I'm sure, I don't have it in me to leave these guys."

"Well, how about becoming an honorary member?" I offered. "If you ever have trouble, you can call me."

Gaimon dipped his head. "That works for me, thank you, you guys be safe."

"Oh, he gets a choice, that's great." Alvida said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ignoring her I continued questioning gaimon. "One more question, that Straw hat boy, when did he leave this island?"

"Straw hat? He left yesterday morning before your crew showed up." He told me.

I thanked him again heading towards the ship where the others were waiting. "So where are we going next?" Coconut asked.

"We need to head for syrup village, a man that we need should be sleeping there."

Coconut raised his brow. "Are you really learning all of this from the newspaper?"

"Does it really matter?" I countered.

Cabaji looked at the map. "That's not too far from here, we should be able to get there by tomorrow morning."

"Really?" I smiled. "Then we'll still have time to get our last member and head to the battle."

"It's about time you told us who they are, you can't expect us to go through all this work for people we don't know." Mohji butted in.

"The first one is The Man Demon, Ghin, last I heard he was captured by a marine ship. After we get our other member, our goal is to try to intercept them when their captain stops at The Baratie." I explained. "Our other member is The Hypnotist, Jango. Vice Captain of the Black Cat Pirates, last I heard his crew was disbanded but there was word of them heading towards syrup village earlier this morning." I looked at Buggy. "Any objections?"

"Both of them have captains they're loyal to, will they really switch sides?" Coconut asked.

"Your skeleton forced me to join." Alvida complained. "Maybe he'll do the same to the others."

"I didnt force you." I defended myself. "I gave you the option to go to Impel Down."

"That's!" Alvida started.

"Shut up you flashy morons." Buggy interrupted. "We'll get them to join one way or another if it has to be by force, so be it, if you say we need them then we'll take them."

"I'm sure I can convince them." Coconut suggested. "Even if they're captains of other ships they should understand the benefits of joining a stronger crew."

"Vice captains." Silas corrected him. "We'd have to take their Captain out of the game, and that's not something I feel comfortable doing."

Buggy grinned. "Well then the hypnotist should be easy, Kuro died years ago."

"The problem is Ghin, Jango can be convinced but The Man Demon is more loyal than most pirates. If we can get him on the crew he'll be a valuable asset, able to keep up with me despite my advantages." I told the others.

Buggy seemed thoughtful. "Is he really that strong? I assumed he wouldn't be much if he's following a coward like Krieg."

I smiled, deciding to ignore the coward comment. "Currently, I'd say he's stronger than me. If Krieg didn't have his armor Ghin would win in a fight, he'd even give you a run for your money Captain. That's how valuable he is, without him it'd be hard to make you pirate king unless we find a certain swan in the grandline, and I'd rather avoid that man, I love him but he's more useful outside of the crew."

Buggy hummed, surprisingly not threatening to kill me. "We don't have time to waste, we'll set sail immediately."

'With another freak like Darius on the crew no one would doubt my authority, I just have to make sure they don't end up stronger than me.' Buggy snickered inwardly.

I turned to the rest of the crew. "We shouldn't have to but prepare to fight just in case."

Mohji sighed. "Why does there have to be a fight everywhere we go?"

"It's not guaranteed, we can grab who we need and head to Oykot." Cabaji cut in.

"With Phoenix here we can't be too sure, he'll jump at the first person that looks at him wrong." The chicken cocked his head to the side innocently.

"Making him immortal was either the worst idea you had or the best, I don't know which." Mohji spoke.

"Alvida, man the helm." I commanded. "I'm gonna go take a nap."

"You're not the only one who needs to catch up on their beauty sleep. Why do I need to do it? Make the man beast do it."

"Yeah no, we both know you don't need it." I argued. "Any imperfections slip off you, I'd be surprised if you're able to get bags under your eyes, you can consider this your first task as a member of the crew."

Alvida smiled slightly. "Nice of you to say but I don't like the idea of taking orders from a kid."

I shrugged. "Get used to it, besides you have the strength to handle it, Mohji and Cabaji are too weak in case of a storm."

She sighed. "Guess I'll have to if I want to find Straw Hat."

I walked towards the figurehead to sleep, Silas moving towards his captain.

"Hey, how come you stayed in the east blue so long?" Silas questioned him.

Buggy looked at him, wondering where the random question came from. Deciding to humor the doctor, he answered. "I needed to escape the eyes of the world government, I wasn't strong enough to protect myself with my history."

Silas hummed. "Are you strong enough now?"

The red nosed man shook his head. "No, I was sitting around like some kind of flashy king for too long, Darius is right, we've wasted our time here. In the time I spent here, that red haired bastard became strong enough to be considered an emperor."

"So how long will we be in the east blue? There's a lot more people in the grandline that need help."

"We're leaving after this flashy battle, I won't ever be strong enough if I stick around here. I didn't think it was possible before but with our current crew we might be able to make it work. I'll gather all the treasure in the world." Buggy promised.

"I wonder what it's like, the grandline." Silas said aloud.

"I don't know, I haven't been back since my captain died, with this new age of pirates it might be more flashy than I remember."

The two continued their talk, finally seriously speaking to each other for the first time since Silas joined the crew.

…

The morning of the 13th and we finally hit syrup village. "So where's this guy at?" Coconut asked.

"Don't know, all I know is that he should be on this island." I paused, thinking back to what I know of the anime and the manga. "I'll go check the forest, spread out my electroreception and hope I pick something up. You guys can go look in town but don't be aggressive, we're not here to pillage."

Buggy jumped off the ship, landing beside me. "Since when did you give the orders? Pillage respectfully men! No need to kill but we're pirates, take what you want!" The man grinned, walking into town with most of the crew behind him.

"You guys not gonna join him?" I asked Coconut and Alvida as we began walking.

"Silas will make sure no one gets hurt." Coconut answered.

"He told the men to pillage, I'm not a man and a walk in the forest sounds quiet. I can't deal with all that noise, it seems better to travel with you and the child." Alvida explained.

"The more I learn about you, the more I realize we're not so different." I averted my eyes. "Outside of that sadism of course, I've never been one to enjoy others' pain."

Suddenly I felt a presence at the edge of my reception, someone lying against a tree snoozing away. "Found someone, they're still asleep, we'll approach quietly."

Meanwhile back in town. "Thank you guys." A girl smiled down at three kids. "The best bodyguards I could ask for."

"Of course, Kaya." One of the boys replied. "The captain would be angry if we didn't protect you in his absence."

"There isn't much to protect me from." She giggled.

"Oh I wouldn't be too sure about that." A voice entered the conversation. "We're looking for some food, know where we can find some or would you like to die flashily."

Immediately the three boys jumped in front of the girl, their arms out in a defensive manner. "More pirates so soon?" Kaya said worriedly.

"Stay back!" The three boys shouted in unison.

"If you're looking for food, we'll feed you, just don't hurt anyone." A lamb-like man stepped forward.

"Hey look, Mohji, this guy looks like a beast too." Cabaji snickered, stepping out from behind his captain.

"He's a lamb, hardly a match for a wolf." Mohji replied, his hairstyle having changed from the teddy bear look he wore before.

"I'm sorry about them, they mean no harm as long as you give them what they want." Silas bowed to merry. "We're pirates but we're not your enemies unless you make it that way."

Merry scowled. "Follow me. There's an inn near here."

"Merry, shouldn't we take them back to the mansion, we don't want everyone to panic." Kaya interrupted.

"My lady we mustn't, they're pirates, like Kuro, they'll take everything." Merry argued.

"Kuro? You mean the cat that died years ago?" Buggy asked.

"He was pretty smart but I'm pretty sure our captain is stronger." Cabaji informed them. "We won't take anything we don't like, it's much better than us destroying this village."

"We can't!" Silas yelled. "Darius said we shouldn't cause problems."

Buggy glared at him. "I'm the captain!" He turned his gaze back to Kaya. "So what's it going to be?!"

"We can fight them off." Carrot declared, holding a stick.

"No, we'll take them back to the mansion and feed them, even if they take everything it's better than letting everyone die." Kaya decided.

A moment later Buggy burst into laughter, confusing Silas and the group in front of them. "Calm down, we don't have time to eat, we're here looking for a man, Jango, The Hypnotist. We heard he was heading here. Oh but we will take some food and treasure for our journey."

"If you're looking for him he's already left the island, I'll have Merry gather the food and some of the jewels so don't do anything." Kaya pleaded.

"I guess Darius can't always be right." Cabaji sighed. "Let's hope getting Ghin will be easier."

Buggy sat down in the grass. "We'll wait."

Merry immediately left towards the mansion as the boys continued standing guard in front of Kaya who stayed behind to watch the group.

"I'm sorry, I'd love to stop them but I don't have any authority." Silas apologized. "That book in your hand, are you training to heal? I'm a doctor myself, I can help you while I'm here if you'd like."

Kaya seemed apprehensive but because the people in the village didn't really know her she wasn't able to be apprenticed yet. "Then can you explain to me what this plant does?"

Silas smiled walking over. "Of course."

I walked up to the tree, the pirate still asleep. I shook the man awake.

Jango immediately went on the defensive, his chakram in hand. "Who are you? Where am I?"

"I'm Darius, here to recruit you for the Buggy Pirates. Your crew is gone now but you could be of use to us. If not, I have no problem leaving you here to fend for yourself."

Jango looked confused. "Gone, but they were just here."

"I'm sorry to tell you but they've already sailed away, you must've overslept it seems they didn't have time to wait for you. Not a very loyal group, are they?"

Jango stood up and ran towards the treeline, we followed after him, eventually we caught up and saw him looking out over the water, unable to see the flag he once sailed under. "They really left, you work under Buggy? How do I know what you say is true?"

I showed him my necklace, the fish hook having been changed to Buggy's Jolly Roger through the help of my bone art. "This should count as proof enough but if not…" I tossed him a newspaper. "The story of me destroying a marine base has already spread through the east blue. Says I control bone and lightning." I created a skull before allowing my lightning to cover it and shatter it to pieces. "Believe me now?"

Jango looked down sadly. As crazy as his captain was, he loved his crew. "I'll join, I have nowhere else to go."

I clapped. "Great with that settled, we should leave this island so we can find our last member."

"Here's the food and the treasure, now leave our island." Merry demanded, dropping two bags in front of Buggy.

Buggy grinned picking up the bags. "It's been a pleasure meeting you. Come on freaks, we'll meet up with Darius at the ship and head out to find the last guy."

"You should journey with us." Silas offered the girl. "I could teach you everything I know and you may be able to find your friend instead of waiting for him to return."

"She won't be going anywhere with you hooligans!" Merry said firmly.

Kaya dipped her head, apologetically. "I'm still not all that healthy yet, I wouldn't be able to leave the island if I wanted to. Thank you for your help, I'm sure when I find another teacher I'll have a much easier time."

"If it's just that, as long as it isn't a physical injury, Darius can cure you, you'll be healthy and ready to go." Silas offered.

"Hey don't go offering random positions to our crew, Darius and Buggy are in charge of recruitment and we don't have time to carry any more baggage. Anyone coming with us has to carry their weight." Mohji told him.

"If that's the case, maybe we should kick you out." Cabaji interrupted. "You haven't been carrying your weight since Darius got here."

"You're one to talk, when's the last time you actually helped in a fight." Mohji countered, the two falling into an argument.

"Hey Captain!" I called as I walked into town. "Found the hypnotist, he was asleep in the forest like I thought."

Buggy looked over. "Really?! Guess you we're right after all."

"Darius!" Silas called. "Can you heal this girl, she's sick and if it isn't poison I can't handle it instantly. I want to make her my apprentice, I've always wanted one and with more healers we can help more people."

I walked over, placing my hand on her shoulder and activating the cure ability. "Jango is back on the ship and I can't imagine she'd want to be on the same crew as him, not to mention a man from this village joined Luffy according to the citizens. I don't think she'd want to be his enemy."

Kaya smiled as the pressure left her body, suddenly feeling much better than she had in a long time. "I'm sorry Silas but I can't go with you, my place is here, I don't mind waiting for Usopp to come back."

"Alright I understand, in that case take one of these, I bought them back at bar island, this way you can stay in contact and I can keep teaching you." Silas handed her a transponder snail. "They're hard to come across in the east blue so don't lose it."

Kaya thanked him, much to Merry's dismay.

"Alright let's move." I commanded. "We gotta leave now if we want to get to Ghin before any problems occur."

Buggy hurried us along as we headed back to the ship and sailed away.

…

By the time we made it to the Baratie the fins of the restaurant were up and the shouts of battle could be heard from miles out. Our group headed up to the crow's nest, all of us crowded together as we watched the battle from a safe distance. "The Man in the white fighting the man in the black is Ghin." I informed them. "It seems Luffy ended up here while looking for a cook, Sanji is seen as one of the best in east blue according to the newspapers, that's him in the black. Didn't know he could fight."

"Luffy is there?!" Alvida called from down on the deck, not wanting to be surrounded by a group of dirty men as she called us.

"Yeah!" I replied. "He's fighting Krieg right now, but this isn't the time to meet him! We'll wait for the fight to end and grab Ghin after, we don't want to tire ourselves out before tomorrow!"

We continued watching the fight, Buggy deciding to float his head out as far as he could to get a closer look. "He's strong." Coconut noted when Ghin defeated Sanji. "If he's this good then he really might be able to beat you."

"It ain't a question, right now I'm not a match for him, I still need to level up a bit before we're on the same level." I told him as I checked Ghin's stats.

[Man Demon Ghin, Pirate, Lv. 40]

Age: 25

[Stats]

Vit: 40

Str: 50

End: 45

Agi: 35

Def: 30

'Just two more levels.' I thought.

"Lethal Poison Gas Bomb!!" Krieg shouted so loud even we were able to hear it. "MH5!!"

As poison covered the restaurant, I smiled. "Looks like the fight is coming to an end and I just thought of a good idea on how to get Ghin." I looked up to where Buggy's head was floating. "Captain, let's go say hello!" I shouted to him.

Buggy held my gaze for a bit before grinning. "Sounds like we're making a flashy entrance."

"I thought you said we weren't going to meet them." Alvida argued.

"Plan's change, Buggy and I will meet them but the rest of you will remain on the ship." I told her before jumping into the water holding on to Buggy's feet as he flew above. We made our way over to the ship while the gas still covered it, sneaking on board as it cleared.

"Ghin! Where's your mask?!" Luffy shouted, the man demon coughing up blood in response.

"Ghin!" Sanji cried out.

"Hahahaha! What a fool! That's what he gets for thinking he's eternally indebted just for receiving some grub." Krieg bellowed. "Well… idiots will never understand until they die… Ahahaha!"

"Ghin, it seems you've chosen the wrong man to follow!" Sanji growled.

"KRIEG!!!!" Luffy roared.

I clapped my hands as silence gripped the clearing. "Alright, that's enough of that. Sanji is right, Ghin you've chosen the wrong man, which is why I'm here to help you choose the right one."

"Who?" Sanji started before being interrupted by Krieg.

"Who the hell are you?!" The man shouted.

"Bones, Duggy." Luffy spoke, recognizing us.

"Darius." I corrected him.

"My name is Buggy you idiot!!" Buggy shrieked.

"Buggy? I don't wish to fight with you today, why are you here?" Krieg asked.

"My recruiter wants Ghin, says he'll be helpful in making me Pirate King." Buggy explained.

Krieg shrugged. "He's not much use, he'll die pretty soon, you can have him."

"No." I told him. "Ghin won't accept that, instead let's make a bet. If we win Ghin comes with us, if you win we'll destroy this restaurant and get the logs of the grandline from the old man."

"What?!" Sanji yelled.

"I won't let you!" Luffy declared.

"Can't really stop me." I returned. "Both sides are weak, it wouldn't be too hard to take both of you out and take everything for ourselves."

"I don't really need your help but since I have nothing to lose, what's the conditions for this bet?" Krieg asked.

"Simple." I answered. "If you beat Straw Hat, we'll help, if you lose, we take Ghin."

"That's all?" Krieg smiled. "I'll take that bet."

Luffy's eyes hardened. "So as long as I beat him the restaurant won't be destroyed."

I smiled. "Yep, it's all in your hands now."

The two continued fighting, the scene playing out differently than it did in the manga, at the end instead of Luffy being thrown into the sea, Don Krieg took a Bazooka from Luffy and slammed into the wreckage of the ships, unconscious. Luffy fell to his back falling asleep.

"He lost." Ghin whispered. "I didn't think the Don could lose."

"You'll honor his bet right? Instead of using Don Krieg as a name to hide behind, become a feared member of our crew, Buggy's left hand." I held out my hand. "We're gonna continue beating Luffy and become the crew that grabs the One Piece."

Ghin grabbed hold of my hand. "Sure I'll join, I'll honor it but it means nothing when I only have a few hours left to live. At least I can die under a different captain."

I smiled, activating my cure ability. "Yeah well you'll be with us for quite a while. You'll be weak for a couple days but the poison is out of your system. I can cure all poisons and sickness thanks to my ability."

Ghin chuckled lightly. "I guess you have to have this much to aim for Pirate King."

"Back to the ship freaks, we have a fight tomorrow!" Buggy ordered.

"Wait Ghin!!!" Sanji called out.

Ghin turned to the cook. "See you around Sanji, when he wakes up tell him let's meet again, out on the grand line."

We swam our way back to the ship, met by a very irate Alvida. "So how was it?" She asked, sarcastically.

"It was great, seeing Luffy fight in person was pretty fun. Last time I was too worried about not dying against Zoro I wasn't able to watch."

"Mm." She hummed before turning away and going back to her room which was just Buggy's old quarters, he was forced to move out when everyone expressed their discomfort of sharing a room with a woman.

"Silas." I called the doctor. "He's been cured of poison but he won't regain his strength for a bit, you got anything to help him?"

Silas climbed down from the crow's nest. "I can make something for that, it won't taste the best but it should allow him to recover a bit faster, he probably won't be at hundred but he'll be good enough to fight." Silas held out his hand. "It's nice to meet you, I'm this group's doctor, I have the skills but I prefer not to fight so I'll be mostly support for upcoming battles unless I'm really needed."

Coconut greeted him next. "I'm Coconut but friends call me Coco, I love to fight and grow stronger, if we get the chance I'd love to spar with you."

With that the rest of the group one by one introduced themselves, even Richie gave him a lick on the hand. Phoenix tapped the guy on the head with his wing as if comforting a younger sibling.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Ghin smiled. "I'll do my best to help the Don become Pirate King.'" Ghin said, referring to Buggy.

Halftail opened his eyes for a moment, sensing Ghin was stronger and closing his eyes once more. Alvida moved away from the door that she had been listening behind. "Great, I'm surrounded by dirty men."

...

Stats haven't changed, so I'll forego it.

...

Responding to comments

merendinomeliano: Thank you, thank you

MDM11: I love Caesar and I think he'll probably join Cross Guild in the anime but I don't have plans for him joining in my story as of now. As for Darius being apart of major events, I'm still deciding whether or not I should have our crew show up at Marineford and how we're going to get there if I decide to add it.

ellanew12345678: I don't think you'd read the story itself but if you did and made it this far, then cool. I can't draw so while it would be nice writing is a hobby that I do in my free time, I don't want to take it to another level adding in multiple character designs for people to look at.

...

Final thoughts

Sorry this chapter took longer than it was supposed to cause I made a mistake in the later stage of writing. I was going over jango's dance paradise but realized that it would have had to occur after the baratie so I had to go back and rewrite it all despite nearly being done. Instead we made it to where Jango stayed in syrup village for a bit before being discovered by the Usopp Pirates. I also somewhat rushed these last two members cause I wanna write this next arc, once it's done we'll finally head to the grandline.

As always if you like the story feel free to follow or favorite, whichever gives you the notification. If you have any questions or would like to offer advice to a new writer, feel free to leave a comment.