Gang-Land Grand Line

by Windwillow

As a detour from Alabasta, the Straw Hats land on Olive Island. There they find two dueling criminal syndicates, a third organization's backstabbing plan, and yet another feud between Zoro and Sanji. This isn't terribly ambitious, so don't expect a masterpiece. It contains mild language, some suggestive themes, and some mild violence. It's also potentially the start of a series.

Start Date: October 19, 2024
Windwillow

One Piece: Gang-Land Grand Line

It had been a civil war for the ages. The great battle of Alubarna, which was the final battle between Baroque Works and the Straw Hats, was epic in scale and violent in tone. Eventually the Warlord Crocodile was defeated and arrested, while the pirates themselves departed Alabasta by leaving behind their one-time and forever comrade Nefeltari Vivi. Even if she wasn't there with them in body, she always would be in spirit, and woe to the fool who might dare to harm her - Luffy's friendship is a bond stronger than Sea Prism Stone, and in time that friendship would shake the foundations of the world itself.

With the fires of battle at rest a lone stowaway had emerged from the depths of the Going Merry, the former Ms. All-Sunday, Nico Robin. Luffy's salvation of her had been an unbearable sin and she demanded that she be allowed into the crew as penance, a decision made against the wishes of Usopp and Zoro and with the vehement support of Sanji and (after bribery) Nami. Luffy, of course, was just too dense to see any sort of threat.

The events of this story differ from the true history that Robin sought. Instead of having the St. Briss fall on them in the beginning of their epic journey to Skypiea, the Merry sailed through clear blue skies for several days before the crew's supplies had begun to dwindle. Fortunately, however, there was a large island far in the distance, one that the Log Pose had locked onto, the decision was made to dock for supplies and relaxation.

The team divided into two groups, one consisting of the captain, his navigator, the doctor and the cook and the other containing Usopp, Zoro, and Robin. They'd split up across the wide span of Olive Island, crossing the vast town of Lawncut as they explored the Land of Colors - the Chameleon nation, decorated with multiple hues of every color of the rainbow and a day and night cycle that reflected blue and green rather than dark and light.

Lawncut was divided into two distinct districts, the Ruby and Emerald districts. Each district was ruled by a specific gang, the Ruby Salamanders and the Emerald Serpents, two groups at a constant standstill in their criminal activity, while a third shadow hung in the depths of the underworld waiting to be brought to light. Luffy's side split into two, Luffy with Nami and Sanji with Chopper. Nami's reasoning was that Chopper could keep Sanji in check while ensuring that he didn't try to seduce her, while Luffy was simply the lesser of two evils. While Luffy and Nami took to the back streets in search of the rarer commodities Sanji took Chopper to the shopping district to purchase food and supplies. Unfortunately for Sanji, however, there was a certain woman who had also come to the shopping district in search of a cook for her organization.

Scene One

The back streets of Lawncut were still colorful and vibrant, decorated with shades of blue, green, and gold that belied the underworld that lurked within the darkened alleyways. As Luffy led Nami down a side street they were met with a host of colorful characters, dancers and musicians, and finally they reached a small building simply known as the "Chameleon." Luffy quickly bluffed his way inside and the pair found themselves inside a massive night club. The Chameleon was a high-class establishment, filled with both an elegant bar and (to Nami's chagrin) a strip club that Luffy, of course, had no interest in. While Luffy wandered the bar Nami settled in to the barkeep's closest stool to sample a drink of their finest (or, rather, cheapest) liquor.

Nami slowly moved the ice cubes in her drink around, the hard ice creating a soft clinking noise as she did so. The night club really was a remarkable place, to be sure, but seeing the bimbos pulling off their clothes in the center of the establishment really put a damper on her entertainment. "It's all tits and ass in this place..." she muttered. "It's a good thing Sanji didn't come or we'd never get the idiot to leave."

"Pardon me, ma'am?"

The navigator turned in her seat to find a rather shifty man with a mustache approach her stealthily, which certainly didn't make her hold out a whole lot of hope that the end result would be pretty. "What, never seen a real woman before?" Nami droned.

The shifty man shook his head and rubbed his hands together fiendishly, and as he approached her Nami had a good idea of what he was going to say to her. "You're a truly alluring beauty, ma'am, and it would be a waste for you to sit here at the bar all alone!" he said cheerfully.

"If you're asking me to drink with you, no..." grumbled Nami.

"Oh, no! I would never force myself on a woman!" the man tittered. "I was wondering if you would like to work here! The pay is in the eight digit Berry range to start with, and if you provide excellent service then the nine digit-"

"BEAT IT!" Nami roared, her anger overtaking her as she slung her shoe straight into the man's gut and lifted him high in the air before falling limply to the ground in a heap of flesh. "If I don't do it for my friends, I am sure as hell not doing it for a two-bit hack like you!" she hissed. When security surrounded her, however, with Luffy already seized, Nami's face dropped as low as her knees. "Um... Sorry?" Nami whimpered.

"You beat it," growled the bouncer. "Take your stupid friend and get lost."

Nami and Luffy were very unceremoniously tossed out of the bar, leaving Luffy in a lump of rubber on the street and a burning-red Nami fuming at the door of the Chameleon. "Oh, you did not just do that!" snarled Nami as she tightened her fists and began to seethe in volcanic fury. They'd still made her pay for the drink on top of kicking them out. "Mark my words: You're gonna live to regret this..." she hissed. "Luffy, we're going!" Nami snapped, turning on her heel and storming away from the Chameleon uttering threats and death curses.

"Aww... The meat wasn't too bad," Luffy moaned. He hung his head and sighed, took his hat and plopped it square on his head with a huff. "I'm gonna go find Sanji and see if he has any snacks..." he muttered. When he turned on his heel to leave, however, Luffy was shocked to be thrown under a blanket and dragged away from the scene kicking and screaming. Nami was too busy pondering innovative punishments for the foolish owners of the bar to notice that he'd been taken.

Scene Two

The shopping district of Lawncut reflected the fine agricultural variety that the island boasted, a mixture of fine produce and highly prized beef and pork that widened Sanji's eyes and loosened his pockets. Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the way of seafood, which was quite disappointing. While Sanji wandered from vendor to vendor Chopper explored the bookstores on the island.

Chopper, in his Heavy Point form, paged through a medical textbook as he strolled through the market. The book wasn't cheap and would probably make Nami mad if he bought it, but the doctor felt it would be worth the Berries spent. "They have a lot of herbal concoctions in this thing..." Chopper mumbled as he flipped through the pages. "I never realized you could get this many types of herbs on one single island!"

"The Salamanders and Serpents are acting up again..."

"Huh?" gasped Chopper. He turned to find a pair of fishermen engaged in conversation and their faces sent a chill down his spine.

"One group takes over a street, the other takes over the one across from it..." sighed the first man.

"At least they aren't drug dealers, right?" asked the second.

"Oh, yeah, great news! They still pinch protection money from everyone with a wallet!" the first man groaned.

"I hear that the two gangs are scheduled to have a big meeting later tonight..." muttered the second man. "Let's hope it doesn't break out into a bloody mess like last time."

The more Chopper listened to the men converse the worse it seemed to stick around, and after he'd curtly shelved his book the reindeer darted out of the bookstore in a desperate attempt to find Sanji and get him to guide him back to the Merry. As the doctor ran around the market, however, when he caught sight of Sanji his face went white - he was talking to an attractive woman, and as usual he was swooning over her. This was so not the time for that.

"Ah, my dear, lovely flower! You're a beautiful shining star in the darkest of nights, just so amazingly lovely, my dear madam!" Sanji swooned as he danced around the woman wringing his hands and spouting hearts from his eye.

The woman seemed to be impressed for some reason, and as she put a hand on her hip she sized Sanji up and noticed the copious amount of food he was carrying on his shoulders. "So, you're a cook?" she asked coyly. "I've been looking for someone to cater my organization tonight. Care to come along, honey?"

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" Sanji screeched as he dropped his bags and saluted the woman.

"Then come with me..." the woman chuckled, brushing the tip of her finger on Sanji's chin. "We're having a good will meeting with the Salamanders tonight."

"Oh, please, let me be your mighty dragon and carry you on my back to the furthest of stars!" swooned Sanji. He allowed himself to be lured into a dark alley, leaving Chopper to stare in horror as the cook vanished from sight. She certainly seemed to be bad news, but without anyone else there to help there wasn't anything he could do, so Chopper quickly retreated back to where the Merry was docked.

Scene Three

Contrary to the Ruby District, the Emerald District was much more of a residential area for the higher classes. Zoro, Usopp, and Robin had gone there for two reasons: First, it had a well-known pub and also had a massive library, and second Zoro and Usopp refused to let Robin be on her own to plan some sort of insidious backstabbing attempt to divide the crew. While Robin departed for the library with Usopp shadowing her, Zoro headed straight to the Lucky Lizard pub in the center of the district.

Naturally, Zoro being Zoro, he got totally lost and wandered the streets for several hours until he finally found the pub, where he hurried to the bar, laid down his Berries, and proceeded to consume excessive amounts of liquor. As he drank, Zoro steadily became friends with one man in particular and the two hit it off. The pair drank heartily and traded war stories, though when his new companion offered a chance to party with his group of friends Zoro was either unable or unwilling to say no.

Robin, meanwhile, explored Olive Island's extensive library, while Usopp tried his best to shadow her from afar without letting her notice that she was being watched. After scanning the history books, the archaeologist turned to local culture instead and found that the island was only recently affiliated with the World Government. Its founder, a man known simply as "Chameleon," was stranded on the island with the other citizens and eventually gathered enough capital to pay the Heavenly Tribute, allowing Olive Island to join the World Government.

As she read, however, Robin began to formulate a theory and managed to smuggle herself inside the library's darkest recesses to research the situation further. The records she found revealed the reason why Chameleon had been left on the island: he was a pirate cast out by his crew, and the other citizens were the slaves that they'd left behind to die. Over time Chameleon gathered together a criminal syndicate of his own and, though thievery and extortion, had established a nation capable of paying the World Nobles' Heavenly Tribute by heavily taxing its poorer citizens.

The World Government's operatives had once tried to establish a Marine base on the island, but Chameleon had discouraged it by insisting that he have his own police force run the island free of outside interference. The real reason, of course, was that he dreaded the Marines poking around and discovering that he used to be a wanted pirate. He'd been part of a fairly well-renowned crew that had a high bounty, and dreaded the government discovering his true identity.

Further, with Chameleon on his sickbed he'd been blackmailed into allowing a third criminal organization to function inside Lawncut, the Crossbones syndicate whose influence stretched from across all four Blues to both sides of the Red Line. Crossbones was involved in all sorts of underworld activities ranging from gambling and loan sharking to human trafficking, and the records she discovered told her that two of their chief operatives - Clay Pot and Top Hat - had infiltrated the Salamanders and the Serpents.

The two operatives had embedded themselves in both gangs and acted as inducers of criminal activity, pushing the groups further and further away from their leaders' original intentions and making them into powerful street fighting organizations. The two chiefs in particular, Ochre and Beryl, had garnered a powerful reputation as vicious combatants who chased off pirates and bribed the local Marines to keep them from publicizing their criminal activities. Crossbones had sent Clay Pot and Top Hat to "recruit" them forcibly, while exterminating the rest of the Salamanders and Serpents when they proved no longer useful.

While Robin read, Usopp managed to sneak inside the hidden library and tried his best to watch her from afar. He intended on keeping tabs on the newest and least trustworthy member of the crew, since no one else seemed to give a damn. As she paged through the texts, Robin quietly flicked her fingers and her phantom hand dragged Usopp from the alcove he was hiding in to land on the floor with a loud thumping noise.

"Shame on you for harassing an innocent young lady when she's reading," Robin chided smilingly.

"You're far from innocent, lady!" Usopp snapped, managing to drag himself to his feet as he dusted off his pants. "I've been listening to you mumbling and I've discovered your grand scheme! You're going to join these Crossbones punks and trade us saps like cheap chump change!"

"So you were listening," chuckled Robin.

"Next time, try not reading out loud!" growled Usopp. "Your tricks are revealed! Now, get the hell off of our ship!"

"Relax, I was reading out loud so you could hear. If I'd wanted to betray your crew, I wouldn't have come here in the first place," shrugged Robin. "I could just as easily have turned you in to the Marines for your bounties with an anonymous tip, collected the cash, and been halfway across the Grand Line before the Navy chopped your captain's head off."

"STOP BEING SO MORBID!" Usopp shrieked. "You scare the hell out of me!"

"Why don't you return to the ship, then? I bet the cook and doctor have already returned with the supplies," suggested Robin.

"I'll do just that, thank you very much!" snapped Usopp. "If you plan anything, so help me God I'll make you regret it!"

"You do notice that your knees are shaking, right?" droned Robin. "Shake any more and your legs will fall off."

"I-I am a brave warrior of the sea!" Usopp snarled.

"Good luck with that," Robin chortled.

Scene Four

Luffy pounded his fists against the metal cell that he'd been thrown into, desperate to escape from his prison but to no avail. "Let me out, dammit!" he roared. When he grabbed onto the bars, however, he immediately began to feel woozy and realized that the cage had been constructed from Sea Prism Stone and quickly wilted, falling to his back fully drained of his energy and weak from the effects of the rare mineral. "Not fair..." whimpered Luffy.

"We'll be taking that hundred million Berry bounty off your head!" chortled the guard, a thin man dressed in a black suit. "Well, it's effectively taking off your head, I guess you could say. The Marines will pay well, even for such a worthless shrimp like yourself."

Though he took offense to the guard's insults, Luffy instinctively knew that he had no way to fight back and had to find a way to escape. When the guard slowly drifted off to sleep, however, he found his out: the key hung from the far end of the wall on a hook, directly parallel to his prison cell. In a totally uncharacteristic move, perhaps fostered by his desire to escape and gorge himself on meat, Luffy cautiously (somewhat) formulated a plan and weakly inched towards the cell's bars without touching them.

It would be a plan that Luffy usually wouldn't be able to pull off. This time, however, it was a tiny inkling of urgency that spurred him on to escape. The island still had a lot more meat for him to eat. Luffy thrust his hand outside of the cell in between the bars and allowed it to wilt to the floor limply before slowly using his fingers to drag the arm towards the wall where the key was held. Fortunately, the guard was far from efficient and had actually fallen asleep standing up.

He carefully worked his way towards the key, using his fingers to move inch by inch across the floor, and when Luffy finally got to the wall he swallowed the frog in his throat and meticulously climbed the wall with his elongated fingers. A few minutes of trying finally ended in success, and the rubber man quickly retracted his arm and retrieved the key. Upon hearing two voices, however, he quickly feigned sleep (and nearly actually fell asleep).

The first man wore a red duster jacket decorated with hues of brown and yellow, his black pants matching both his boots, his gloves, and his sunglasses. Judging by his physique he was quite physically capable and had long black sideburns that matched the mohawk he had on his head. Clay Pot, one of the lieutenants of Crossbones, carried with him a sword on his hip and a small armored gauntlet on his left arm.

"We're almost ready, Hat man," Clay Pot said in a brisk tone.

His companion, though he seemed a perfect gentleman, was far from a gentle man. Wearing white gloves and a black top hat curved at the edges almost as if it were a potted plant, he was nearly seven feet tall and lean as a green bean. His black suit, complete with a red handkerchief, was immaculate and well-dressed, and his right eye was covered by a bizarrely oversized sort of monocle that he really just used for decoration. Top Hat, also a lieutenant of the criminal organization Crossbones, had two small devices hidden in his gloves that both made them hard as steel and was armed with a pair of pearl-handled pistols hidden in his sleeves.

"Stop calling me that. My name is Top Hat," growled the Crossbones operative.

"Whatever," shrugged Clay Pot. "The plan is set, right?"

"Yeah. We'll each check in with the 'bosses,' and when the two syndicates join up to discuss uniting we'll take care of business," Top Hat chuckled. "The business being, of course, 'recruiting' those two hoodlums and wiping out the rest of their rabble. Those two are too valuable to waste on some two-bit island in Paradise. I bet we could make them lieutenants in just a couple of years if we convince them to embrace the organization."

"I hear that Ochre's got a new drinking buddy that he wants to induct into the Salamanders... some swordsman with three swords with a sixty million Berry bounty," Clay Pot laughed. Though this caught Luffy's attention, he said nothing and began to snore. "This one'll be hard to take out I hear. We'll need to team up to take him out. Rumor is that this dude beat The Killer at Alabasta's civil war a few weeks back."

"Daz Bonez?!" choked Top Hat.

"Yeah, the same. You know what that means: he's literally tougher than steel," grunted Clay Pot. "You take him out at long range and I'll deal with him at close range. The plus side is that if we blitz him first, Ochre and Beryl probably won't have time to team up with him."

"Beryl's seduced some ditzy cook for the meeting... hopefully this one knows how to cook better than the guy we axed the last time..." sighed Top Hat. Luffy immediately suspected who the cook was, but soon after actually drifted off to sleep and began to legitimately snore. "The meeting starts in half an hour. Better get ready to fight 'em. That swordsman's up first, front and center."

With their meeting concluded Clay Pot and Top Hat finished their drinks and shuffled out of their chairs, soon splitting up to head to their respective target's hideout. As the door slammed shut, the noise suddenly startled Luffy awake and he frantically fumbled for the key to unlock the cell. Unfortunately, as he tried to pick the lock his hand brushed the bars and he again fell backwards totally drained of his energy.

Scene Five

After separating from Sanji and Robin, Chopper and Usopp made their way through town nearly in tears at having been rejected. When they regrouped together on the Going Merry, they related their information to one another - that Sanji had been seduced and that Robin was apparently planning to betray the crew (only one of which was true). Chopper insisted that they had to save Sanji, while a terrified Usopp claimed that he was strong enough to take care of himself.

While the two bickered, Robin returned to the ship after having "interrogated" a few witnesses around Lawncut. She'd discovered several key points: One, Sanji had indeed been seduced by the leader of the Serpents, Beryl; Two, Zoro had been taken to the headquarters of Ochre, the leader of the Salamanders; and third, Luffy had been taken and imprisoned with the intention of trading him in for his bounty. On top of that, the Salamanders and Serpents were now under threat of imminent eradication by the Crossbones operatives.

"We'll need to act immediately," Robin decided. "With the navigator... absent... it falls to the rest of the crew to rescue their comrades."

"Well, I'm against it!" screeched Usopp. "Do you have any idea how strong two Grand Line level operatives are going to be from a criminal syndicate?! We're dealing with people who live on the second half of the Grand Line, right?! How the hell are we supposed to fight that?!"

"It isn't like we can just leave them to die, Usopp..." Chopper moaned. "They're our friends."

"I have a plan, a simple one but a dangerous one," said Robin softly.

"Dangerous?!" Usopp roared. "Screw 'dangerous!'"

"Usopp, just give it up..." groaned Chopper.

"We'll disguise ourselves as kitchen staff and sneak inside the meeting place under cover of darkness," Robin declared. "When the attack happens, we'll step in and save the cook and the swordsman."

"And Luffy...?" Chopper muttered.

"We have no idea where the captain is," shrugged Robin. "We'll need to have faith in him to escape himself."

"So he's dead..." whimpered Usopp. "He's too stupid to figure out a plan to escape..."

Scene Six

Sanji, as you've deduced by now, was seduced by the leader of the Serpents back to her headquarters. Naturally, Sanji being Sanji he never suspected that he was in any danger and came willingly. Just an hour after arriving Beryl had convinced Sanji to mix her a cocktail and make her a snack, which he did gleefully while Beryl stared at him longingly. Part of the plan was work, the other play - he really was quite attractive.

Possessing a slick, laid back air about her, the gang leader was dressed in a white jacket decorated in hues of green and also wore a set of black slacks not unlike her counterpart Ochre. She was slim and trim, almost as if she were cut from a piece of silk cloth, with black hair in a pixie cut and two gleaming blue eyes. Her left eye was masked by her long white bangs, colored in a chess-board colored theme. Beryl needed no weapon, instead relying on her adroit movements and skilled martial arts techniques.

With his task complete, Sanji lovingly presented Beryl with her drink and a tasty bunch of several multi-flavored sandwiches. He slid on one knee, bowed his head, and threw up his arms in joy at having been chosen for the purpose of making lunch. "Oh, sweet love! Life is such a joy, serving the beautiful flower that I see now before me!" Sanji swooned. "You're like a twinkling star, a shining light in the darkness of space that gleams with the beauty of a supernova!"

Beryl slyly took a sip of her cocktail and giggled a bit at Sanji's ridiculous behavior. She'd seduced men before, but no one had been quite this... gullible. "Right, great, good to hear..." she cooed. "Now, you're still going to cater my party tonight, right?" Sanji fervently nodded and gave a stern salute, which only stoked Beryl's interest even more. "That brute Ochre and his goons will be there at midnight. We're going to make peace between the two of us... unless he betrays me, in which case I'll castrate him."

"Wait... Goons? Madam, what kind of organization do you belong to...?" Sanji asked coolly. He had his suspicions but didn't want to entertain them as a possibility.

"The criminal kind," chuckled Beryl. "Gambling, extortion, and so on. It's a good living."

"Hey, hey! It's unbecoming of a lady to be like that!" Sanji insisted, his smile disappearing.

Then again, Nami and Robin are criminals and I love them... But that's different, right?

"Oh, hush. We're meeting to determine whether we'll join together or disband and go legit," sighed Beryl. She lifted a sandwich to her face, opened her mouth, and ravenously chomped down on the food, totally shattering Sanji's perception of her as a proper lady. "And it isn't like you have any part in it. If you're going to interfere, I'll gladly kill you."

"B-But...!" gasped Sanji.

The Serpent's leader threw back her head and laughed, took a sip of her cocktail, and softly stroked Sanji's cheek with her gentle fingers. "God, you're a fool. I'm tired of being hunted by the Marines... I want to see if the Salamanders will agree to dissolving both our gangs together," Beryl said coolly. "Then again, if they have that swordsman thug try and slit my throat, I'll have their hearts on a pike."

Sanji paused suddenly as a slight flush formed on his cheeks at the idea that Zoro was going to be in attendance as well. If the fool wanted to join with another group of crooks, he wasn't worthy to be in the crew and Sanji had no problems with punishing him mercilessly for it. "This swordsman... has green hair and three swords?" he growled.

"Roronoa Zoro, worth sixty million Berries, right," Beryl confirmed.

"That stupid...! I'm going to put that fool on his ass!" Sanji snarled.

"Oh, he's your friend, then?" swooned Beryl. "You can come with me and say hello if you like."

"Friend?! Oh, hell no!" hissed Sanji. "When I see moss head, I'm going to kick his sorry ass from here to the East Blue!"

Scene Seven

"So this is our hangout! How do you like the place?"

The man who spoke was clearly the leader of the pack, judging by the confidence he carried himself with. Dressed in a red jacket, black slacks, and sunglasses he was a muscle head with more than muscle. He was built well, not heavy and not slim, a firm athletic body with a pair of silver earrings and a stud in his nose, and the man's lipstick red hair contrasted to the green, serpentine eyes that stared out from under his sunglasses. This was Ochre, leader of the Salamanders, wielding a collapsible rod hidden beneath his right sleeve.

Zoro set his palm on the grip of his swords as he took a chug of the bottle of booze he'd been provided. The liquor wasn't terrible, but it also wasn't terribly good either. "I think you guys need a better interior decorator..." Zoro mumbled. "All the reds and blacks are sort of hokey. That and the skulls, those certainly don't scream 'welcome to my place.'"

"Well, you'll get used to it, right? If you're going to join us, it'll be a bit of a learning curve but you'll adapt," shrugged Ochre. "With you here, that whore Beryl will think twice about stabbing us in the back. Sixty million! That'll scare the piss out of her when she sees you next to me."

"You're clearly under some sort of delusion. I don't join creeps like you punks," growled Zoro. Almost immediately he was put at sword point by a number of the gang members, but the swordsman quietly took another swig of his liquor and slammed the bottle down hard enough to make the table rattle. "You don't want me to kill you," he said coolly. "I don't want to butcher people nice enough to give me a drink just 'cause they act like they're hot stuff."
Ochre threw back his head and laughed, then waved his men off with a swipe of his hand. He shuffled to sit next to the swordsman, snatched up a bottle, and nearly downed it with a single gulp before setting it down gently.

"Creeps, huh? Sure, we pinch protection money and have a few gambling dens here and there, but I don't think that makes us creeps," chuckled Ochre. "Besides, I wanna go straight. If that wench doesn't backstab me, then we'll try and work something out."

"Good to know," Zoro droned.

"I hear we'll have a new chef tonight, too. Some weird blonde in a suit," Ochre said offhandedly.

"That... stupid idiot..." grumbled Zoro.

"You know the guy?" asked Ochre.

"Never met him before. It'd be nice to cut him down to size," shrugged Zoro. "Can I come with you after all?"

Stupid cook. I'm going to beat you bloody and throw you off the edge of the Merry.

Scene Eight

The meeting between the Serpents and Salamanders would take place at midnight at the Chameleon bar. While the intention was to team up and go legit, both Ochre and Beryl were totally ready to start a fight if either of their nemeses tried to back out or backstab them. To that end they brought their entire gangs for support, unfortunately including the undercover Crossbones agents, who had settled in at the back of the bar in preparation for launching their operation.

Both the Serpents and Salamanders entered the bar separately, and while Sanji stood at the bar cooking up snacks and pouring drinks, he carefully noted who was there and who he needed to pounce on. When Zoro entered, the cook immediately jumped the bar and swung his foot at the swordsman, and Zoro in turn parried with the back of his sword before slashing at his crew mate with his other blade.

"Idiot! So you did come!" Sanji shouted angrily.

"Who's the idiot, Dartboard Brow?!" snarled Zoro as they struggled to gain the upper hand.

"You, obviously!" shot back Sanji. "I'm gonna kick your sorry ass so hard you'll hit the moon!"

"Oh, is that so?!" Zoro snapped. "Let's just see about that!"

"Um... Do they actually know each other...?" mumbled Ochre.

Beryl whacked her counterpart over the back of the head and spun him around to face her, grabbed his shirt and dragged their faces as close together as they could come. "Duh! I thought you'd know about these two twits and keep them separate!" Beryl snarled. "Didn't Roronoa say he was going to thrash the cook?"

"He said that they didn't know each other!" Ochre snapped.

"And you believed it? Idiot!" scolded Beryl.

"Oh, like you didn't have a clue either?! Bull!" spat Ochre. "You just wanted to start trouble so I didn't have to knuckle under to you!"

"Knuckle under?!" Beryl roared. "You lousy, no good...!"

The two exchanges were heated, though only Zoro and Sanji traded actual blows. The two Straw Hats mercilessly attacked each other, Sanji's boot matching the blunt edge of Zoro's swords, with neither side giving an inch and both Ochre and Beryl continually engaged in a heated argument that seemed to intensify minute by minute. Deciding now that this would be the best opportunity he'd have, Top Hat raised his left arm and flicked his fingers, which caused a loud gunshot to ring out across the Chameleon.

With everyone's attention drawn, the Crossbones operative drew both his guns and aimed them at the two gang leaders, while Zoro and Sanji continued to argue and attack one another. "Game's up," he sneered. "You two have just been drafted and the rest of you are about to die. Ochre and Beryl belong to us now. Everyone else? Just get ready to suffer." Top Hat's senses piqued as he narrowly ducked out of the way of a kick from Sanji and as he drew his guns the Crossbones executive scoffed at the cook's audacity. "And what do you think you're doing, you stupid cook?!" Top Hat snarled.

Sanji withdrew a cigarette, put it to his lips, and drew a match to light it before casting aside the match and sliding into a defensive position across from Top Hat to separate him from Beryl. "You point a gun at a lady and expect to get off easy? Fool," Sanji snarled. "I'm going to take your stupid hat and shove it up your ass."

As he watched Top Hat struggle with Sanji, Clay Pot immediately drew his sword and swung at the cook, attempting to behead him. The blade never even came close to Sanji, however, as Zoro swung his swords at Clay Pot's weapon and instantly shattered his guard, forcing him to leap back in shock as the swordsman switched his right hand sword to his left. Zoro snatched up Wado Ichimonji, clapped it in his mouth, and again put his swords each in one hand in preparation to strike.

"You know what? I don't like you," growled Zoro. "I'm gonna cut your sorry ass to shreds."

Zoro swung his sword at Clay Pot's head, but the thug caught it with the side of his left arm and brushed it aside before lashing out with his sword. The blow was met head on with Zoro's Wado Ichimonji, and after a brief struggle they both broke away to put distance between each other as they readied for the next strike. They both traded a series of harsh blows with one another, though Clay Pot was suddenly forced to roll out of the way to avoid being struck in the face by a collapsible rod.

Clay Pot tucked and rolled just in time to watch as Ochre stepped up besides Zoro and the two warriors both charged at him simultaneously. With his sword he caught Zoro's blade, with his gauntlet he parried Ochre's baton, and though the trio struggled it was when Clay Pot went on the offensive that both Ochre and Zoro were pushed back by a flurry of violent strikes and slashes that nearly nailed them both several times.

While his compatriot struggled with Zoro and Ochre, Top Hat lifted both his guns and began to fire wildly at Sanji. The cook narrowly rolled out of the way of the shots, but the bullets caused a tremendous amount of collateral damage to both the bar itself and the unfortunate gang members who had been caught in the crossfire. As Top Hat continued to fire and locked in on Sanji's head, a hard kick shattered his monocle and knocked him back into a far wall.

Beryl stepped up beside Sanji and joined his fight with Top Hat, and while they struggled the barrage of bullets continued to lay waste to the gangsters still inside the Chameleon. As both Top Hat and Clay Pot struggled with their enemies their undercover thugs cast aside their guises as followers and moved to attack Sanji and Zoro. Before they could do so, however, the rest of the Straw Hats leapt into action.

Chopper immediately downed a Rumble Ball and transformed into Arm Point, slinging his massive forearm at one of the Crossbones thugs and shattering his face. While he struggled against a group of the gang members, Usopp sniped at the rest with the best ammunition he could bring to bear. Robin, meanwhile, used her Devil Fruit powers to put the stragglers in strangle holds and together the three Straw Hats kept the Crossbones goons from interfering with their friends' battles.

The two running battles continued to intensify as the bar itself became collateral damage, wild swings and shots wreaking havoc on the Chameleon's infrastructure, though as time passed both Sanji and Zoro, with their team mates, were steadily pushed back when the Crossbones operatives put their serious efforts into the fights. Zoro and Ochre traded blows with Clay Pot as Top Hat tusseled with Sanji and Beryl, though as time passed even their teamwork began to lessen and both criminals took the upper hand.

As Zoro and Sanji continued to come under fire, the door suddenly cracked open and Luffy barged into the bar with his arms stretched back. The rubber-bodied captain threw his fists at the two Crossbones chiefs together smacked them in the face hard enough that they staggered, allowing Zoro, Sanji, and their partners the opportunity to thoroughly trounce the duo with enough force to eventually down them.

During the melee the bar emptied rapidly and, when the Marines barged inside to stop the battle, the Straw Hats quickly slipped outside with Beryl and Ochre just before the Navy proceeded to arrest everyone still in the bar. The Straw Hats reunited with the two gang leaders at the Merry, where the two exchanged gratitude for their rescue and eventually exchanged drinks with them.

When Nami arrived, however, the party abruptly ended. She angrily whacked Ochre and Beryl, tossed them off the ship, and demanded a fifty million Berry reward for saving the two of them before promptly punishing the monster trio for their own mistakes. As Chopper and Usopp hid in terror and their crew mates continued to fight, Robin quietly sat in the kitchen and sipped a glass of tea that Sanji had provided her with before the melee had begun.

Author's Notes

This is the first of a planned series of One Piece stories involving the criminal organization "Crossbones." As with everything I've ever written, everything is tentative and everything is being improvised word by word by myself - the notes were slightly different than what came out, but the general idea was there that there would be a massive melee and stuff would go down.

Everything is a glorious mess and I don't even know if anyone will read (or care) about all this, but I figured I'd post it anyway. It was finished on October 20, and until the time you read this I'll be refining the piece a bit but by and large my usual schedule will continue and The Magus Cut and FFIX will be coming up soon.