Italics indicate thinking

Bold is for attacks

Steve's POV

We had all decided which way we were gonna go. Nami and I hopped on a bus headed to town and then Robin and Lil grabbed the one going to the forest. Franky had to find the ship so he was left to his own devices.

The start of the bus ride was quiet, neither Nami nor I was really talking and we were the only ones on the bus.

"So Uhh." I said trying to start a conversation "What's with the outfit?"

"What about it?" she said looking at herself.

"You trying to impress someone by showing off that much skin."

"What no!"

"I mean I think Luffy would like you just as much regardless." I joked "But you know these last two years there might be some competition."

"Shut up!" Nami said "I have no one to impress."

It got quiet again and Nami and I didn't say much. I thought I had screwed it up big time and made her uncomfortable but she started conversing with me again.

"So Robin asked if you could move into our room." Nami said.

"Yeah she said you told her it was cool…I don't care I'll go stay with the guys if this makes you uncomfortable."

"No it's fine." She said "Just remember I'm only a few feet away so…yeah…"

Nami and I started talking about what we had been up to these past two years. I was interesting to hear how she had been on a sky island.

"You talked about my outfit earlier what's with yours?" she asked.

"What the wrappings?" I asked aside from the sleeveless tank the bandages cover all the way around my shoulders "I can't take them off or everything around me will get burned."

"They really don't go out?" she said tapping my wrist "Not even in water?"

"I tried dunking them, It sapped my strength and they went out, only to reignite a few seconds later." I explained "due to the wrapping and burning I've basically lost the felling of touch with my hands."

"I'm sorry." She said.

"Don't be it's my own fault…If I hadn't gone to Impel Down this wouldn't have happened to me…That's why I have to find Vegapunk and make him fix me or at least find a way to control the ignition."

"How come the bandages don't burn?" Nami asked.

"I've never been able to figure it out." I said "Probably something Vegapunk did. Maybe they have Seastone in them or something I'm not sure."

"Well we'll be here to help." She said with a smile "I'm sure we can get your normal arms back…exactly how does your Devil Fruit work?"

"It's a Zoan like Chopper's, only Mythical." I said.

"So you have a full blown Demon form?" she asked.

"Yep…I can get pretty big and terrifying. I'm sure you guys will see it someday." I said looking off.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Nami said sounding concerned.

"The Demon form is a monster." I explained.

"Like Chopper's crazy mode?"

"No I'm still in control but it just a lot of power to manage with a lot of wide attacks, I'd be worried about hurting one of you."

The bus came to a stop and Nami and I got off in the upper shopping district.

"I doubt we'll find the others here." I mumbled.

"Well then let's get to shopping." Nami said "We can look and shop."

"This was your plan all along wasn't it. Last time I went shopping with you I got stuck holding all the bags." I said.

"Yeah you did…that was so long ago huh?"

"Two years." I nodded "I bought the lockets then."

"I forgot you guys had those." Nami said looking at my necklace "If you don't want it anymore let me know."

"I'll never sell it." I told her "It's special now."

After that Nami dragged me around to carry her bags while she haggled prices at the stores. She was buying so much I thought my arms were gonna fall off.

"Just take the higher price so we can go." I begged "My arms are literally on fire and I feel a burn."

"Don't you dare burn my clothes." She glared "Now where were we…oh right I won't pay any more than 10,000."

"That's less than half the original price! Be reasonable." The clerk begged.

"Heyyyy! Steve! Nami!"

Luffy, Usopp, Wyper, Brook and Camie came into the store, which was owned by our old starfish pal Pappug.

"What are these prices?" Nami reprimanded the starfish "They're borderline robbery"

"Well they are designer brands." He explained.

"Bring them down." Nami commanded.

"Well I guess I owe you for Sabaody a few years back so you guys just take what you want." The starfish said "It's on me."

I guess he forgot he was dealing with pirates because we just raided the whole store.

"You guys don't understand generosity at all!" he yelled "Have some sympathy!"

There was a big commotion from outside so we went to investigate, apparently in a rare occurrence the king of Fishman Island was making an appearance without his guards, just him and a whale.

"That's King Neptune." I observed "He's big."

The merman approached us "Are these the ones Megalo?"

The shark from back when we met the Kraken appeared and nodded its head.

"Strawhats." The king spoke "I invite you to come join me in Ryuuguu Palace."

Apparently being summoned to the palace was considered a great honor so we gladly accepted. We climbed on top of the big shark and it gave us a ride to the palace. Turned out our new shark friend was the pet of the Mermaid Princess so Neptune was grateful that we rescued him.

"I had sent my sons out to get you but they never returned." Neptune explained "So I came to find you myself. Also while I'm thinking about it we found two of your comrades. A man and a woman. The man wasted no time drinking even though I told him it be more fun if he waited for all of you."

"So it was Zoro." Nami growled.

"And the girl is probably Rose." I added.

"Once they find them my soldiers will bring the rest of your friends to the palace so don't worry." Neptune said.

"Do you guys know where they went?" Luffy asked.

"Franky said something about going to find the Sunny and then visiting a relative of Tom, his master. Robin and Lil went to take a walk through the forest, Lil wanted to study some creatures and Robin wanted to check for something." I told him.

We got closer to the palace and a bridge extended so we could cross. We got a full view of the palace and it was stunning, it was giant and elaborate. The inside was just as fancy. I felt out of place with the way I was dressed.

Once we got inside the King was scolded by his advisors for going out with no supervision.

"Where did Luffy go?" Nami asked.

"Can't even sit for a minute." I grumbled "And where the hell are Zoro and Rose."

Just as a finished my sentence I was some punk guard try and grab Nami.

"Hey there." I said grabbing his wrist "What'd you think you're doing with my friend?"

I pushed the man back and soon we were surrounded by a whole platoon of guards.

"Just great…" I mumbled "What you do now Luffy?"

The guards tried to tell us we were being detained on suspicion of kidnapping mermaids. When they tried to get closer a glared them all back again.

"Pitch Black Wings!"

I generated a gust of wind that started blowing guards back. I kept pushing them back without using my arms…as to avoid burning the whole palace down.

"They're just five people how tough can this be?" A guard spoke up.

"If you keep fighting you'll get in more trouble." Camie said.

"So?" I told her "I ain't going down without a fight."

"We didn't do anything." Wyper said "I won't be punished over nothing."

Wyper reached into his bag and pulled out two metal gauntlets like gloves.

"If you guys wanna go we can throw down." He said tying his boots.

Some rookie guard tried to come up and stab me.

"Iron Body Armament!"

His spear hit me and broke in two.

"Finger Pistol."

I jabbed him in the guy and blasted him back.

"Those moves." Nami gasped.

Two more guards came at me.

"Observation: Paper Art."

I flowed like water to avoid the attack.

"I've had two years to become a Six Powers Master." I told him "I'm practically untouchable by you."

I turned to the side when I saw Neptune's trident coming right at me.

*Clang!"

"Don't get so cocky Little Bro." Rose said as she as Zoro blocked the attack.

"I thought you two were in the dungeon." Usopp said.

"I heard a party." Zoro smirked.

"So I broke us out." Rose smiled showing her right pinky was doubling as a lock pick.

It's got a blade and a lock pick…what else is in that arm?

All the guards came at us at once now that Zoro and Rose were here.

This is getting annoying.

"BACK OFF!"

I glared and most of the room passed out…everyone except for King Neptune and his two ministers. Neptune was mostly fine but the minsters had only been staggered.

They are strong…I need to watch them…

"Tie them up." I said "We need to figure out what the hell's going on"

We finished subduing the soldiers when the transponder snail nearby rang, it was the prince asking us to lower the bridge.

"Yo." I said talking into the phone "I can't lower the gate right now…we're a little busy."

"Am I speaking to a member of the Strawhat pirates?"

"Yep." I said like it was nothing "Now let's talk like civilized men before I start making grilled fishman."

I heard another voice tell the Prince talking to me that he was 'The Torturer'.

Haven't been called that in a while…feels nice.

"I got way too many hostages here so let's get this over with" I said putting on a dark persona to convince him "I want my ship, and I want it coated. I want the rest of my crew, A robot, a reindeer, a pervert, a little girl, and the Goddess of beauty herself."

"Boa Hancock's on your crew?" one of the guards asked.

"No! I want my girlfriend!"

"Don't forget One Billion Beli." Nami waved.

Yeah no.

"Very well." The Prince said "I shall have your exit arranged. But if I may say one thing Steve. It saddens me to have to do my duty at this moment but I am not one to let debts go unpunished. I have a message for you and Strawhat from Jinbei."

Jinbei!

"What is it?" I asked.

"First he says 'don't fight Hody' and secondly he says 'he will wait for you in the ocean forest'. That is all."

Who's Hody?

There was way too much noise coming from the top of the palace so Neptune asked us to check on his daughter. Brook volunteered to run off and he took the sea horse with him. It didn't take long for the skeleton to get back but apparently the princess wasn't there, she was kidnapped.

"An enemy attack right now." Rose said with a fake smile "This just gets better."

"What are we gonna do?!" Usopp yelled.

"Cut'em up." Zoro said like it was the obvious choice.

"If we have to fight we fight." I said "Start getting ready."

Well things are bad here what are you two up to?

Lil's POV

I skipped though the forest looking at various fish and plants. There weren't many animals here so it was kinda boring, and the fish were too far away to get a good look.

"Lil don't go too far." Mama said.

"I'm not." I called out.

I slowed down to walk with Mama. I felt all fuzzy now that we were back together. I felt so safe again. As we went deeper and deeper the forest suddenly became less dense.

The coral trees stopped and we came out into a clearing. It was a huge open meadow with a big grey block in the center.

"A Poneglyph."

"A what?" I asked "Is this one of those things you can read?"

"Yes." She said taking a seat and not paying any attention to me.

"Mom…Mama…Mom…mommy….ma…ma…Mom…mommy…mom."

"Yes Lil?" she said giving me a disapproving look.

"I'll be over there." I said hopping off the log and walking a few paces off.

I dug around my purse and pulled out a stone.

"The Rabbit Riven!"

I smashed the stone and a girl with rabbit ears and wearing a bunny outfit appeared. Riven also had her broken sword with her.

"Miss Lil!" she said hugging me "You never call me anymore!"

"I just called you like a week ago."

"That's like forever ago." She whined.

"Lil who are you talking to?" Mama called out.

"My friend. Mama this is Riven…Riven this is my Mama."

"Pleasure to meet you Ma'am." Riven said as I moved her so she could shake Mom's hand "You're Miss Lil's Mom huh. Well just so you know your daughter's the greatest."

"I'm well aware…where did you come from."

"The other side." I said showing her my bag "I can bring all these creatures over to help me…I can look after myself now, I'm a big girl."

Mama looked at the stone "Fascinating…you'll have to show me them all some time, I look forward to meeting your friends."

Mama went back to reading and I sat down with Riven.

"So do you need me to beat something up?" Riven asked "You said you were going to the new world right I wanna fight stuff! It's been centuries since I had a good brawl."

"Sorry not today." I said holding my hands up "Let's play!"

AN

Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.

Till Next Time!