Author's Note: Here we are with another chapter. I gotta say, this got a lot more hearts, ribbons, and comments in a week than I thought.

Sorry if this chapter seems like I'm rushing the Orange Town arc. I just wanted to wrap up the arc.

Now, before we begin, I have an announcement to make. Last chapter, I asked everyone for which DC characters they think should be a member of the Harley Quinn pirate crew. A lot of you had many splendid ideas, but it appears I needed to add more detail. First of all, I'd like to have DC characters who's powers don't already exist in One Piece. For example, I can't have Killer Frost because Aokiji already has ice powers. Also, I would also like to know their roles in the crew, like how Sanji is the chef and Nami is the navigator. Just something to consider when giving me ideas.

One more thing: aemorrison7613 asked if Harley was going to be sailing with the Straw Hats or going to put together her own crew. The answer is, both. In this fic, I'm planning on Harley and Luffy forming an alliance during their adventures across the Grand Line.

That's just about it. Please support the story. Any and all comments are welcome.

While the Buggy Pirates celebrated with Nami joining them, Harley and Luffy conversed while they were trapped in the cage.

"No way! You ate the Gum-Gum Fruit?" Harley asked.

"Yep. I'm a rubber man." Luffy said hooking his finger in his cheek and pulling at it. When his cheek stretched, Harley knew he was telling the truth.

"Okay. Not gonna lie. That's both gross and awesome." She commented. "You know, if you want out of here, I could use your help." She pointed halfway across the party where her black bat rested on the ground. "See that bat? That's mine. I'm going to need it to beat up that big-nosed bozo. Think you can use your stretchy powers to get it."

"Use my stretchy powers… Ah, I get it." Luffy said.

He checked to make sure no one was looking before reaching his arm out. It extended and slithered around the partying pirates like a snake. Luffy's hand stopped as soon as it approached the bat, which excited Harley.

"Good work, kid. Now, be sure to grab it by its taped handle. Don't touch the bat itself or… Wait, what are you doing?"

Luffy's hand suddenly went around the bat and raised itself up the nearby table where he plucked two chicken legs from it. He instantly retracted his arm back into the cage and began munching on one of the chicken legs. Harley looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Mmm. Delicious." Luffy said.

"YOU DUMMY!" Harley shouted grabbing her cellmate's collar and shaking him back and forth. "I TOLD YOU TO GET ME MY BAT, NOT TO GET YOURSELF A SNACK!"

"Hey. Relax." Luffy said holding up the other chicken leg. "I got one for you too."

Harley stopped shaking Luffy to look and admire the leg he offered her. She took it with a happy smile on her face.

"Oh, thank you! I tell you, I haven't eaten a thing since I entered the East Blue, so this is very nice of you. Down the hatch!"

Harley sent her teeth down, but much to her surprise, she didn't bite anything. There wasn't anything in her hand anymore. She looked back at Luffy who shoved the second leg into his mouth and ate it. Harley herself growled and attacked him suddenly. The two were fighting so hard, they made a cloud around them.

"YOU JERK! WHO OFFERS A LADY A MEAL ONLY TO SNATCH IT FROM HER AT THE LAST SECOND!"

"DON'T BLAME ME! IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOU DIDN'T EAT IT FAST ENOUGH!"

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE FOR BEING A GREEDY PIG! OINK, OINK!"

"SHUT UP!"

"Yes, please, shut up!" Buggy demanded. When he appeared in front of the cage, Luffy and Harley stopped fighting.

"What do you want, lipstick man?" Harley asked.

"At first, I was conflicted." Buggy explained. "You, Harley. Your bounty and the opportunity you present pleases me. But you, boy. Stealing my map means a very severe punishment. Since the both of you are in my cage, I didn't know what to do with either of you. Then, I finally decided on what to do."

"Are you gonna let us go?" Luffy asked.

"That's right. I'm going to let you… WAIT! NO, I'M NOT LETTING YOU GO! ARE YOU NUTS?!" Buggy turned to his men. "Load up the Buggy Ball!"

The pirates gladly picked up a black cannonball with their signature symbol on it and put it in a cannon.

"What's that supposed to be?" Harley asked.

"That is a Buggy Ball, a weapon of my own design and image." Buggy said. "One blast will level an entire small town. With the Buggy Balls and my Devil Fruit powers, the Grand Line will be mine in no time! But before anything… I'm going to perform a little experiment. Let's see what this does to someone at point-blank range."

The revelation came to both prisoners. Buggy was planning on blowing them both up.

"Wait!" Harley shouted. "What about my bounty? Am I not a hot asset?"

"Your bounty says you're wanted dead or alive. I'll get paid no matter what condition you're in. And now…" He turned to Nami. "Go ahead and prove your ruthlessness to me! Kill your former boss!"

Nami was scared enough of the Buggy Ball, but hearing the captain order her to kill someone made her shake. "Me? Kill them?"

"Yes." Buggy insisted. "Just one little light is all it'll take." The rest of the Buggy Pirates joined in urging Nami to kill them, which only made her look more pressured.

Nami gulped and approached the cannon slowly. Harley lookd and noticed her hands shaking. With a smile on her face, an idea formed in her mind.

"Hey, kid." Harley called out stopping Nami. "Have you ever taken a life before?"

"W-What?" Nami asked.

"I'm just saying. I know you're a thief and you steal, but you've never killed anybody, have you? Why? After what we did, it should be easy for you."

"No." Nami said. "No, you didn't do anything wrong to me. I don't even know you."

"Then why are you going along with this?" Harley asked. "If you're killing us for no reason, then I guess you're a Buggy pirate after all."

Nami shook her hands some more thinking hard about what Harley said. A pirate took the matches out of her hands and was about to light the fuse himself, but then, all of a sudden, Nami pulled out three metal sticks which she put together to make a staff and hit him on the head with it.

Buggy was shocked and angry at what he saw. "YOU TRAITOR! AND AFTER I WANTED TO MAKE YOU ONE OF US!"

"I'll NEVER be one of you!" Nami declared. "Not after what pirates like you did to me!"

"Nami, there's a metal bat on the ground!" Harley said. "Smack Buggy with it and take the key to this cage!"

"Again with the bat?" Luffy asked. "What good's a bat going to do?"

"You'll see." Harley assured.

Nami looked and saw the bat Harley was talking about. However, it was right when the other Buggy pirates went after her. She gasped in surprise expecting them to gang up on her at once. However, at that moment, a miracle happened.

Out of nowhere, a man with short, green hair swooped in and swung one of his three swords at the pirates at the front of the crowd. They fell instantly.

"Seriously?" he asked. "What kind of men gangs up on one little girl?"

"Who… Who is that?" Nami asked.

"Mohji…" Buggy addressed his crewmate accompanied by a large lion.

"Sir, I think that's Roronoa Zoro." Mohji said.

"Roronoa Zoro?" Harley asked. "I've heard of him, but I thought he was a bounty hunter. What's he doing here?"

"Oh, Zoro?" Luffy asked. "He's part of my crew."

"What?" Harley asked. "Since when?"

"A couple of days, I guess." Luffy said. "I saved him from being executed, and now, we're buds. Hey, Zoro, do me a favor and cut us out of here!"

"I can't!" Zoro said. "The bars are too thick for me to cut through!"

"Look! Someone just take the keys!" Harley said. "Buggy has them. But be careful. He can pull himself apart without feeling any pain. Your swords aren't going to do squat."

"I see. Thanks for the tip." Zoro said. He held one sword handle with his teeth and raised another sword in each of his hands. "All right. So which one of you is Buggy?"

"That would be me." Buggy said walking up to him with a wicked smirk. "I'm surprised. You were just told your silly swords don't hurt me, and yet, you're still challenging me? You're either brave or stupid."

"And you're either a big-mouth or a hothead. My money's on both." Zoro talked with his teeth holding the sword handle.

Instantly, Buggy's hands popped off his arms while holding onto daggers. He swung them at Zoro, but the swordsman blocked them all with his swords as they came. He then charged after Buggy to swipe both swords in his hands at him. However, the big-nosed pirate captain split his top half from his bottom half.

"HA! You fool! Didn't I tell you it's useless to… Wait a minute."

When Zoro went through Buggy's body, he surprised him by swiping the keys that were dangling on his belt. He then turned around and threw them far across the area and toward the cage. Luffy stretched his arm out and caught it in his hand.

"Thanks, Zoro!" Luffy cried out as he unlocked the cage. He burst out of it followed by Harley, who landed right next to Nami.

"Finally! I thought my back was going to stay this way forever." Harley said stretching her back. "Looks like we're all free and ready to fight."

"Don't let them go, boys! This time, no more clowning around!" Buggy declared.

"Yes, sir!" the crew shouted readying for battle.

"Looks like we're in for bit of a fight if we wanna get out of here." Luffy said.

Nami gulped. "I guess I don't have a choice."

"GET THEM!" Buggy charged with his pirate crew. Harley, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami ran right back at them.

While Zoro was dealing with the special acrobat, Cabaji, and Luffy rumbled with Mohji and his lion, Harley cartwheeled over to the nameless pirates that crowded her. She showed off her gymnastic skills gracefully as she sent various kicks and punches to anyone who'd get near her. She brought them all down swiftly and easily.

When Harley was done with the goons, she turned her attention over at their captain, who was getting more and more upset with each crewmate of his that went down.

"You people are really pushing my buttons." Buggy growled.

"I'm known to be an expert at pushing other people's buttons. Just something you should know about me." Harley said.

Buggy stepped forward ready to fight when suddenly, the lion tamer and his pet flew in the air right past the two of them. When they fell over the hill, Luffy returned by Harley's side.

"Hey. I took care of the lion guy." Luffy said before turning to Luffy. "Okay, buddy. Hand over your map of the Grand Line."

"Oh, really? You want to go to the Grand Line?" Buggy asked. "Why? Are you up for a little sightseeing? HAHAHAHA!"

"No. I'm gonna be King of the Pirates."

Buggy's laughter stopped and his jaw stayed down. Harley had on a similar expression.

"King of the Pirates?" Harley asked. "Hold on, kid. You're really going to go across the Grand Line, follow in the footsteps of the last Pirate King, Gold Roger, and find his legendary treasure, the One Piece? That's your goal?"

"Uh, huh." Luffy nodded.

"YOU, THE KING OF THE PIRATES?! HA!" Buggy shouted angrily. "IF YOU'RE THE KING OF THE PIRATES, THEN I MUST BE GOD! THE ONE PIECE WILL BE ALL MINE! NOT YOURS!"

"Nuh, uh. I'm gonna get it." Luffy argued back.

Buggy growled. "You know, boy, you've irritated me enough just by putting that stupid straw hat on! It reminds me too much of that red-haired bastard who took everything from me!"

Luffy's eyes lit up. "Red hair… Hold on. Are you talking about Shanks?"

Buggy's eyes bulged nearly out of their sockets. "Wait! You know him?"

"Yeah. He's the man who gave me this hat." Luffy said cupping the straw hat on his head.

"Shanks… Shanks… Where have I…" Harley said before something entered her mind. Her face slowly displayed a state of shock and surprise. "Hold the phone! Kid, you're friends with Red Hair Shanks?!"

"Yeah. Why, do you know him?" Luffy asked.

"Well, not personally, but everyone where I'm from at least know him by name." Harley said. "He's one of the most powerful pirates to this day! In fact…"

"STOP PRAISING THAT SCALAWAG!" Buggy shouted. "THE LAST THING I NEED IS TO HEAR HOW HIS LIFE IS SO FORTUNATE!"

"Why?" Luffy asked. "What did he do to you?"

Buggy growled. "Fine! Since I'm going to kill you in a few minutes, I might as well tell you. Shanks and I served on the same ship when we were kids. We were pirate apprentices. We may have fought over everything, but I respected him to a little bit of extent. But all that changed during one of our raids. I was lucky enough to come across a map to a certain sunken treasure. At the same time, my fellow pirates managed to obtain a Devil Fruit. When I learned how valuable it was, I thought I could double my fortune if I took the Devil Fruit and sold it myself. Sadly, my plan fell apart thanks to Shanks. When I was trying to sneak out with the map and the Devil Fruit, Shanks startled me so much, I accidentally swallowed the Devil Fruit. Not only that, but I lost the map to the sunken treasure, not that it matters anyway since I can't swim anymore! I've never forgiven Shanks for what he did."

Both Luffy and Harley shared confused looks. Finally, it was Harley who said, "Wait. Did Shanks force feed you the Devil Fruit?"

"Well, no. It was an accident, but… WAIT A MINUTE! WHAT'S YOUR POINT?!"

"Well, it doesn't sound like Shanks really didn't do anything wrong." Luffy said. "If anything, you did that to yourself."

"SHUT UP!" Buggy yelled as he broke himself into many pieces and sent each of them after Harley and Luffy. The two pirates are able to dodge the knifes in his hands, but they were unable to reach Buggy's floating head.

"Harley, catch!"

Harley reached out her hand and caught the black bat that was tossed to her by Nami. She looked over at the young thief and saw her carrying a large bag full of treasure.

"I remembered you kept asking for that." Nami said.

"Awesome! Thanks, kid. This is just what I needed." Harley said.

"GIVE ME BACK MY TREASURE!" Buggy yelled out. Suddenly, all of his body parts went chasing after Nami who carried her bag of loot with her as she ran.

During the chase, Luffy looked down and noticed that Buggy's feet which were walking like normal. "Hey, Harley, Buggy's feet aren't flying."

"Hmm. You're right. Guess they can't fly like the rest of his body." Harley said with a smirk. "In that case, we can work with this. Watch this, kid."

Harley reached out and grabbed one of the disconnected feet. She held her bat high above her head and swung it down crushing Buggy's foot beneath it. At the same time, Buggy himself howled in pain before groaning. All parts of his body collapsed to the ground. Nami stopped running to look back at Buggy who had a nauseated look on his face.

Zoro returned to the group sheathing his swords. "Hey. I just finished that guy with the stupid unicycle. What did I miss?"

"Harley just beat Buggy." Luffy exclaimed. "All she did was swat at his foot and now, he's down for the count."

"Well, I can't take all the credit." Harley said patting on the bat that she kept pressed on the foot. "Part of it goes to this special little girl here."

"Special? What are you talking about?" Zoro asked.

"Tell me. Have you people ever heard of… Sea Prism Stone?" Harley asked.

"Uh… no." Luffy answered.

"Well, it's a very exclusive metal that's said to have absorbed focusing power from the ocean. This very metal has the very same properties as the sea itself. Therefore, if a Devil Fruit user touches this metal, they will get weak and lose their powers."

"Yipe! And you wanted me to grab that for you?" Luffy panicked.

"Really?" Zoro asked. "And that bat is made of the stuff?"

"Yep." Harley said holding up her bat to present it. "If I had any more, I would have forged a very brutal mallet. But sadly, this is all I had. But it still works."

Zoro looked down to where the bat should be. "Hey. Did you just lift your bat off of Buggy's foot?"

Harley looked dumbfounded after realizing her mistake. "Oops."

Suddenly, Buggy's foot scurried back to his body pieces as the clown pirate pulled himself back together. He slowly picked himself up. "That does it. You fools have been a thorn at my side long enough. Behold… MY MIGHTY FORM! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Harley, Luffy, and Zoro both looked confused. "What mighty form?" they all asked at once.

Buggy looked down and his jaw dropped. He saw that his head, his hands, and his feet had all come together, but the rest of him—his arms, legs, and torso—were all still gone. They were tied up by Nami.

"These what you're looking for?" Nami mocked.

"Good job, Nami! I'll finish him off!" Luffy said stretching his arms far behind him.

"WAIT! HOLD ON! VIOLATION! VIOLATION!" Buggy protested. He tried to run away, but he was too slow.

"GUM-GUM… BAZOOKA!"

Luffy's arms shot past his body and his hands collided at Buggy sending him far off into the sky until he was out of sight. The Buggy Pirate captain was gone and Orange Town was safe.

"Wow." Harley said. "You guys sure are a lot of fun."

Shortly after, the citizens of Orange Town had finally returned to their homes after they heard the Buggy Pirates were defeated. Harley, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami headed to the dock to get on their rowboat. Problem was, there was only one available. It had Buggy's skull and crossbones on it, but they didn't care. They needed to get off the island.

But after sailing off the island, Nami made a discovery that made her angry. "WHAT?! LUFFY, WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LEFT BEHIND HALF OF THE TREASURE?!"

"Exactly how it sounds." Luffy said calmly.

"THAT WAS HALF A MILLION BERRIES, YOU MORON!"

"I know. The people are going to need it to rebuild their town."

"BUT THAT WAS MY TREASURE!" Nami grabbed Luffy's head and forced it overboard close to the water surface. "WHAT GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO JUST GIVE AWAY THE TREASURE I NEARLY DIED STEALING IN THE FIRST PLACE?!"

"NAMI, WAIT! STOP!" Luffy pleaded trying to keep his head away from the water. "YOU KNOW I CAN'T SWIM!"

"THEN NEXT TIME, DON'T DO ANYTHING SO STUPID!"

Harley sat next to Zoro and laughed at Luffy's struggle against Nami. Once she calmed down, she spoke up. "So Nami. Does this mean you'll be accompanying us?"

Releasing Luffy, Nami calmed down and answered. "Yeah, sure. For now though. I still don't plan on being a pirate. I just think I'll make a fortune with you lucky psychos."

"Looks like for better or for worse, we finally got a navigator." Zoro said.

"What about you, Harley?" Luffy asked. "Wanna join my crew too?"

"No. Not really." Harley said. "You see, I'm trying to start my own crew and be my own captain. I wanna do anything I can do surpass my stupid ex."

"Still can't believe you dumped a guy like Doflamingo." Zoro said. "Even I've heard of him, and I'd think he'd kill you."

"Oh, he tried. Believe me." Harley said. "But let's just say I picked up a little trick that helped me slip right through his forces and make my escape in the nick of time."

"Why'd you break up with him anyway?" Zoro asked.

"It's a long story. Let's just say I had to learn the hard way he never loved me."

Luffy slouched with a pondering look. "So what does this mean for us?"

"I've actually been thinking about that." Harley said. "And I was thinking… an alliance."

"An alliance?" Luffy asked with interest.

"Yep. You already said you were after the One Piece, and I just want to surpass Mr. D. I don't really care how. So here's what I'm thinking. Your crew and mine work side by side. We'll conquer the Grand Line and we'll both be happy."

Luffy looked away to think to himself. "Mmm… Mmmmm… Mmmmmmmmmmm… Okay. I'm in."

"That was too easy!" Nami yelled.

"Luffy, tell me you actually thought about it." Zoro said. "I've heard of pirate alliances, and most of them end up with one stabbing the other in the back."

"Hey, Harley," Luffy said, "You gonna stab me in the back."

"Nope."

"All right." Luffy said with a smile.

"You're way to easy!" Nami yelled.

"Well, I suppose there's nothing we can do to change his mind." Zoro said. "So tell me something, Harley. Why do you want to form an alliance with us?"

"Well, straw hat boy has sails and a crew while I have neither. Plus, after realizing how much of a jerk Mr. D is, I guess my judgement in other people has gotten a lot better, and I have a good feeling about the kid. Besides, if he's really friends with Red Hair Shanks, this could be a big break for me."

"Right. I've been meaning to ask." Luffy said. "Back at town, you said that Shanks was a big deal. How much of a big deal?"

Harley sighed in relief and fell on her back. "I'll tell you later. Right now, it's been a long day and Mama Harley wants her nap."

"Sounds like a plan." Zoro said as he laid back too.

Luffy laughed quietly. "This adventure just keeps getting better and better."

And so the boat kept sailing. The winds carried it all the way to the next island and the next town: Syrup Village.