It has been fifty-seven years since the execution of the Second Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy, and he has left a legacy in his wake so great that some say he was more legendary than the First King, Gol D. Rogers. But like the last Pirate King, at his execution, he told the world that he had again hidden the One Piece for the world to find. Many saying it was the start of the next Age of Piracy, but then, war broke out among two families: The Monkey family and the Cobra family. After four decades of bloodshed, the war finally subsided. And nineteen years later, a member of the Cobra family set out on a quest to obtain the One Piece, his name is Cobra D. Red. P.S. I wonder how many people actually read this paragraph every time.

The Lustrous Country of Ilusia! Who's the Mystery Thief?

"That's it, we need a cook." The crew looked up in surprise, a wretched looking Red in the doorway. It had been another bout of incredible nausea and vomiting, after another unsuccessful meal prepared by Bede. Bede had tried once again to add extra flavor to his meal by using his medical herbs, with disastrous results. The crew had learned at this point to let Red try the food first, considering the fact he hadn't learned at that point that he was probably gonna vomit. And to no surprise, he had started to hurl about 4 seconds after the first bite had gone down. But what was unexpected was how violent it was.

He had barely made it out the door before he started spewing out vomit through his hands he had tried to hold down. He had stayed at the railing for nearly a half hour, which led plenty of time for the rest of the crew to eat some of the rations they still had that weren't tainted by whatever herb Bede had put in the meal this time.

Now Red glowered there, the last straw that broke the camel's back obvious as he stared at them, wondering if anyone would oppose him. Seeing that people were listening, Red went into his reasons for needing a cook. "Look, I thought over time Bede would turn out to be a good cook, but it seems to have just gotten worse and worse. Also, Bede," nodding at Bede, who looked surprised to be mentioned directly, considering Red always talked about him after a meal as if he wasn't there, "You may be trained in medicine, but that doesn't mean you'll keep us from getting food poisoning or salmonella, so I think it'd be a safe bet to get us a cook." Nodding in agreeance, Red knew he had won the crew over. Climbing up the stairs to the wheel, he took ahold of it and steered them on course again.

Soon, after nearly another hour of travel, they caught a glimpse of the island, the landmass spreading out before them. As they sailed closer, they began to make out more details, like a wall separating to parts of the town, one much larger than the other. And although the larger one obviously had a bigger population, it sure didn't have the funds to make it look good. Its buildings looked like a good wind could knock them down, and they were all dilapidated and could use some repair. As they sailed past, they could see beggars peddling for food and drunks stumbling around, and they were glad to sail past the sad sight.

As they neared the dock, they started looking for a place to park their ship. And if it hadn't been for the fact that they hadn't made a pirate flag yet, they would've been caught. As they sailed past, they saw a group of Marine soldiers march past, obviously on patrol, and the three shoved Red below the bulwarks so he wouldn't be seen. The crew let out a sigh of relief as the coast cleared. Another sight equally menacing caught their eye again, and it also told them they'd have to change spots. Because as they passed the message board filled with papers and docking schedules, one sheet stood out among them: Red's wanted poster was circled in red paint to signify its importance. Turning tail, the crew sailed out of the harbor, hoping the junky side of town would be a little more forgiving.

Thankfully, the junk town didn't have any message boards with wanted posters on it, probably since pirates were a common occurrence in that town. Paying the harbor master, the crew set off into town, looking for a place to get food supplies and maybe find someone willing to become their cook.

As they walked, Red noticed Henry glancing around quickly, as if looking for something. Or someone as Red noted as he seemed to change the direction of the way he was looking every time a woman passed them. Smiling to himself, Red thought up something to bring this to light. In a higher pitched voice, Red said, "Excuse me? You wouldn't mind giving me directions, would you?" Immediately, Henry turned around, hearts in his eyes, and said, "Of course I'll help you!" only to turn and see Red laughing at his face. Soon, the rest of the crew joined in the laughing and people around them began staring. After he ran out of breath for laughing, Red took another deep breath and said, "You're just as pervy as your grandpa, aren't you!" Red in the face, Henry turned to the three, and shouted, "Hey, I have an excuse! I haven't seen a woman for ten years, and a lot's changed since I was seven!" Hearing this, the trio laughed even harder, causing Henry to go even redder, if that was possible, and walk on ahead of them.

Catching up to him, they went and bought what they needed in supplies. They were obviously low on food stock and Bede had wasted a lot of his medical supplies trying to mix it into food to make it taste better. As they finally walked out of the last shop, their pockets a whole lot emptier than before due to the stingy prices, the group realized how hungry they were and started looking for a place to eat. And that's when it happened

The shadows lengthening, the day had begun to turn to night, and out of the shadows, a figure dashed forward, cutting a swathe in one of the bags the group had, and pulled away a small, but heavy looking bag. As Miles, Bede, and Henry stared off into the darkness, they heard a rummaging sound and turned to see Red checking for what had been stolen. Suddenly, he looked up and stared off into the darkness, then began a mad dash out, shouting, "This is the second time this month!"

Confused, the crew began to pursue Red, but were quickly left in the dust and darkness. As they looked around, wondering where Red might've gone, Miles scratched his chin, obviously thinking. Seeing this, Bede asked, "So, why did Red run off like that? Did they steal some of our last remaining money?" Slowly, a smile began to form on Miles' face as realization dawned on him. Turning to the other two, he explained, "No, I think whoever they were just made the same mistake I did."

Meanwhile, Red was off in the darkness, a few streets ahead of his crew, chasing after the shadow that was the thief. He had to hand it to the thief, they could sure run, and long, too. Soon, the Moon came out, and Red could make out the figure in front of him slightly. They were wearing a deep blue t-shirt, with white lining around the holes, black pants that had a rope as a belt, and sandals. They also wore a scarf over their head to mask their face, obviously so they wouldn't be recognized by whoever they stole from the next day.

As the chase went on, Red noticed a slight slow to the thief's pace, tiring from the running. At this point, he wasn't sure if they knew he was behind them or not, but he kept running. Finally, the chase came to an end when the runner took a wrong corner right into a dead end. Turning around, the thief didn't look surprised to see him there, confirming that they knew he had followed them. As he began to make his way forward, the thief drew a knife, holding it out to defend themselves. Smiling, Red charged forward, ready to take back what had been stolen from him.

As Red threw his punches, he noted that the thief was more on the defensive side, trying their best to avoid his attacks. But soon, he finally managed to nail a hit to the shoulder, sending the thief sprawling. Struggling to their feet, the thief lashed out with the knife, trying to hit Red, but he easily evaded every attack. They were obviously bad with the knife, as if they had never really used it before. They probably used their speed to snatch at a few wallets then run. They had never expected for someone to give chase like that, and were now trying their hardest not to give up what they had stolen.

Lashing out again, the thief tried once again to stab Red, but instead of dodging, Red grabbed their wrist. As the thief struggled to get their hand out of the vise-like grip, Red began to tighten his hold, causing a sharp intake of breath out of their mouth and the knife to fall out of their hand.

The thief, with fear in their eyes, tried to throw a punch, but only managed to make Red take one back step, and then Red delivered his own punch. Knocked into the air, the thief flew for a few seconds and landed on the ground, the bag they had stolen fallen out of their pocket. As Red looked down on the thief, shock filled his eyes, as he faced something he hadn't expected. It was a girl.

She looked around his age, or maybe younger, he couldn't tell, and had amber eyes and shoulder length dirty blonde hair. Not knowing what to do, he began to apologize, but before he could get the words out of his mouth, she ran off into the night, putting her mask back on as she went.

Sighing, Red bent over to pick up his bullets, which the girl had mistaken for their bag of coins and had stolen from them, same as Miles when he first met him. Noticing something shiny on the ground, he picked it up to, revealing it to be the girl's knife. Looking at it, Red realized that it was a large kitchen knife. The girl probably never used it to hurt people, just to intimidate. It was large so it automatically showed authority, and people would automatically step down from the challenge.

Sighing again, Red put the knife in one of his pockets, thinking that he would give it back to her if he saw her again. Putting his hands into his pockets, he made his way into the darkness, wondering where his crew was and if they had already eaten. At this thought, Red picked up the pace, hoping he would be in time to order food; he could live with just water for his drink.

With the girl:

Making her way into the fancy part of town, the girl traced her way through the backstreets until she made it to what looked like the most dilapidated house in the entire town, aside from those on the poor side. Going to the back, she began to scale her way up the side of the building, using the rough brick faces as foot and hand holds until she had made her way into the window with her bed.

Sitting at the bedside, the girl took off her mask and tossed it into the corner of the room, looking for all the world like a dirty piece of laundry and not the mask for one of the town's most notorious thieves. Looking at the stars that were beginning to show up in the night sky, she began to wonder who the person who chased her was, and if they would report her to the law enforcements. After thinking on it for a while, she decided she'd put off the problem for tomorrow night, and so she curled up to sleep the rest of the night away.