East Blue (Day)

Sailing with Russo, as it turned out, was not a pleasant experience.

"Oh, there once was a ship that took to sea! The name of the ship was the Billy o' Tea! The winds blew hard, her bow dipped down! Blow, me bully boys, blow!" the blonde sang. This was the seventy-third verse in a row.

"Gagh! Just stop already!" Zoro shouted, covering his ears. He was fine being a criminal. He was fine with a boy younger than him as his captain. He was fine knowing that he would probably be burdened with having to fight off bounty hunters every other day. But he drew the line at this. "Do you have to sing?"

"Don't be silly! Pirates are supposed to sing!" Luffy proclaimed, smiling.

"Ugh, well, could you at least sing something else? ANYTHING else!" Zoro asked, trying to find a compromise.

"Nope. Don't know any other songs." Russo admitted.

The swordsman groaned audibly, making the blonde snicker to himself. The trio then heard the cry of a bird flying overhead. Naturally, Luffy said the first thing that entered his mind. "I'm hungry."

The straw-hat boy stretched his arms up to the bird, intending to drag it down to the boat. Unfortunately, he misjudged the size of the animal and ended up flinging himself upwards. His head was lodged in the bird's beak, and he had no way to escape.

"Dammit, Luffy!" Zoro yelled, rowing the boat as fast as he could, trying to catch up to the bird as it flew into the distance.

"HEY! Easy with that speed!" Russo shouted, clutching onto the boat. Despite being a pirate, he despised getting wet. As the boat sped across the ocean's surface, two figures came into view in the distance. "Get out of the way!"

"We don't have a boat!" one of the figures responded, desperate.

"Then jump on when we pass you! But make it quick!" Russo said, bracing for a rough impact. Within seconds, the small vessel had two more passengers. Based on their attire, it was easy to tell that they were pirates as well.

"Okay then, now that that's settled, you'll be letting us have this boat now!" one of the pirates said, holding out a knife.

Zoro and Russo shared a deadpan look before the blonde grinned widely. "Oh, I'll let you have something, all right."

The sound of something blunt striking twice rang throughout the East Blue, followed by a very distinct laugh.


Orange Town (Day)

The day had started fairly well for Nami. She had located the whereabouts of a map to the Grand Line. However, when she reached Captain Morgan's office, all that was left was a note saying the map had been 'flashily' taken by another pirate group led by Buggy "The Immortal". Admittedly, she didn't know much about the man. But she knew for a fact that he couldn't possibly be as threatening as her current captain.

A short boat trip to Orange Town led her to a ghost town, filled with empty houses and a sense of unease. She didn't like how familiar it felt.

It wasn't hard to find Buggy's crew, as the pirates had set up a circus tent that blared loud music. With the grace of a cat, she slipped in and out, successfully stealing the map.

But of course, nothing could be that easy. Before she could get far enough away, some of Buggy's men saw her and gave chase, forcing her to run into the empty town. She considered herself relatively fit, but she couldn't run forever.

And then, like a comet shooting through the sky, a red blur crashed into the road, kicking up dust and temporarily blinding everyone in the vicinity. "Agh, that hurt. But at least I won't get dropped into the water now." Luffy said, still a bit dazed.

Seeing an opportunity, Nami pounced. "Hey Boss! Thanks for coming to save me!" she exclaimed, confusing everyone present.

"Do I know you?" Luffy asked.

"They're all yours now, Boss!" Nami said, running away.

"Hey, that girl's getting away!" one of the Buggy Pirates said.

"It's okay, we got her boss now!" another said.

Before anyone could attack, soft footsteps could be heard coming from behind Luffy. "So, these are the Buggy Pirates." a young female voice said. Everyone looked down the road to see a pale 11-year-old girl in a faded white outfit walking towards them. She had blank eyes and dull blue hair, as well as an ascot around her neck. On her hip was a white scabbard. "I wonder how strong you all are."

"Heh, we're not scared of a couple kids!" one of the pirates proclaimed, slapping Luffy's straw hat off his head. The boy promptly responded by punching said pirate in the face before retrieving his hat.

"Don't you dare touch my hat!" he said angrily.

"Silent Scream." the blue-haired girl said, drawing her sword. She then dashed forward, swung her weapon without a sound, then walked back to her previous location. All of the pirates in that group immediately fell to the ground with cuts on their bodies.

"Woah, that was so cool!" Luffy said, awestruck. He was tempted to ask her to join his crew, but he already had a swordsman in Zoro.

"Thank you." the girl said, almost emotionlessly. Even so, a very faint blush could be seen on her face.

"Hey, you're really strong!" Nami said from a nearby rooftop. She then caught sight of the pale-faced girl and her weapon. 'Did she help?'

"Aren't you the girl that set me up?" Luffy asked.

"Call me Nami! I'm a thief who steals from pirates!" Nami introduced. "Wanna team up?"

"Nah, I think I'll pass." Luffy said, walking away.

"Waiting for someone." the pale-faced girl said, leaving as well.

And then, as if by divine intervention, both of their stomachs loudly grumbled.

Snickering to herself, Nami got an idea. "If you help me with something, I'll get you both some food." she said, climbing down.

"You will!?" Luffy and the pale girl asked simultaneously, rushing to the thief.

"Yep!" the girl said, leading them into a house. There was still food on the table, which Luffy and the young swordswoman gleefully ate.

"So, do you live here all by yourself?" Luffy asked.

"No, this isn't my house. I'm just staying here for now." Nami said. "This place has been empty for a while because of Captain Buggy. Everyone left their homes because they were scared of what he might do to them." It was uncomfortable saying that, as she was familiar with the feeling of being oppressed.

"So, you're stealing from the people who live here?" Luffy asked.

"How rude." the tangerine-haired girl said, mildly offended. "I only steal from pirates. And I'm close to my goal of a hundred million Berries." She brought out the map she stole. "With this chart to the Grand Line, it'll be much easier from here on."

"You can navigate?" the pale-faced girl asked.

"Yep! In fact, I'm probably the best navigator in the East Blue!" Nami proudly boasted.

"Great! Then you can join my crew!" Luffy said, excited.

"No!" Nami shouted. "I'm guessing that means you're a pirate, then."

"Yeah! I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm going to be King of the Pirates!" Luffy proclaimed.

"You remind me of my Captain." the pale girl said, giving a small smile.

That sentence shot through Nami like a harpoon. "Oh, don't tell me you're a pirate too." It was one thing for her to become a pirate as a young girl, but she didn't want anyone else to go through the pain she did.

The blue-haired girl nodded. "I'm here with another one of us, but we got separated." She looked out the window. "Our Captain said he'd meet us here, so we landed at port a while ago."

'I'm going to have an aneurysm.' Nami said to herself. What was it about her that drew pirates to her?

Elsewhere on the island, a young man with white hair was trying to locate his crewmate.


AN: Care to guess who these crewmates are? They are both canon characters.