Hey, guys! I'm back! This chapter was very long as I had to revise and redo many things. I've been trying to make sure that sentences don't seem too redundant. School has been giving me a hard time too...

As always, Fav, Follow, Review, and

Enjoy! X3

"So this is Little Garden!" Luffy said as the Going Merry cruised along the river. Opposed to its name, the island itself hosted a variety of flora and fauna of abnormally large proportions. The captain directed his wandering gaze towards the lush jungle that surrounded the ship and felt the same excitement from when he last visited the place. 'It's been years since I last came here. Usopp wanted to backtrack to this island in order to tell Dorry and Broggy of his adventures in the New World.' Luffy thought. He remembered their conversation like it was yesterday: Usopp was grinning widely as he told his story, using hand movements to emphasize certain points. The crew along with the giants were relaxing nearby and silently listened to the sniper. Even though it was clear Usopp had changed the story to improve his image, such as saying his opponents cowered at his sight when in reality it was the exact opposite, the rest of the crew respectfully allowed their friend to speak without any interruptions. Luffy remembered how they all laughed and grinned at Usopp's far-fetched tales and he felt a slight yearning to see his original crew again. He shook his head at the thought, however. 'I can't be feeling homesick like this. I've got to stay strong. I can't let Ace die again…' He then turned towards his current crew members and laughed once he saw Nami and Usopp's terrified looks towards the giant dinosaur bird that nearly grabbed Sanji. 'Besides, my friends will always act the same.' He added as an afterthought.

"Yosh, I smell adventure!"

One trip through the mouth of a dinosaur later…

"Gegyagyagyagya!" Dorry laughed with glee as he conversed with a certain Straw Hat pirate.

"Mmmm! This is delicious, giant old guy!" Luffy said as he took another bite into his dinosaur meat.

"Your pirate lunch thing is good too, although it is a bit too small." the giant responded.

"Of course it's good!" Another bite. "That's a special lunch the chef of my pirate crew made!" Luffy huffed. "If you say it's bad, I'll beat you up!"

"Beat me up, you say?" Dorry said. At that, Vivi and Carue both looked up at the giant in fear, thinking he got offended. This doubt disappeared instantly once he started laughing again.

"Gegyagyagyagya! What a funny squirt you are!" Dorry said as he slapped his knee while he continued to guffaw.

"They're becoming incredibly friendly…" Vivi murmured to herself.

"Hey so how long have you been on this island, old guy?" Luffy asked despite already knowing the answer. Dorry smiled at that.

"I've been here for 100 years now!" he said with pride. Vivi and Carue gasped in shock.

"100 years?! No way! Why?!" Vivi asked.

"Because I have been fighting with the other giant of this island during those years in a duel to the death." he said. Vivi continued to stare at the giant in horror while Luffy smiled.

"Surely you can't have so much hate as to fight for so many years!" she said. Just then, the central volcano erupted causing Dorry to look up.

"Ah, that's the signal for our duel to start." he said as he rose from his seat and grabbed his sword. "And It's not because we hate each other that we fight, it's because of our pride."

"But, what on earth caused this fight to begin with?!" Vivi continued to ask. At that, the giant grinned widely. "I forgot..." he began as he ran towards the other giant charging towards him. "The reason a long time ago!" And the two clashed causing a series of tremors that shook the entire island.

After the brief fight…

"Gegyagyagyagya! I see. Broggy's guests are your friends, huh? I saw a man with a long nose as well as a woman with orange hair." he said.

"That's Usopp and Nami!" Luffy exclaimed with glee. "Hah! They said they would wait on the ship, but I knew they couldn't resist the thrill of adventure!"

"By the way, Dorry… Does it really take a year for the Log to set on this island?" Vivi asked.

"Didn't you notice the human skulls scattered about?" the giant said. "Most humans who come to this island waiting for their Log to be stored die before it finishes. Some become dinosaur food, some die of the heat and starvation, some die because they attack us. It seems that one year here is too much for humans."

"Nah, I'd get too bored staying here. We'll just leave before the Log is set and get there if we're lucky." Luffy said and began to laugh.

"Gegyagyagya! Maybe you will!" Dorry responded and laughed along. Meanwhile, Vivi sat there unable to understand what was funny about their situation.

"I will never understand men…" she said. After his laughter finally faded, the giant picked up a sake barrel and raised it to his lips. At that moment, Luffy remembered the rest of the events that were about to take place on the island. 'No! The sabotage!'

"Stop! Don't drink that!" he yelled. Dorry looked at him in confusion, but did what he said.

"Eh? What's wrong with it?" the giant asked. Luffy grabbed the barrel and picked up a fairly large stone, one that fit into his palm. He then threw the barrel high into the air. Taking aim at the barrel, Luffy then hurled the stone at it with enough force to make it hit its mark almost immediately. The stone shot right at the wooden object in the sky and the collision triggered the bomb inside causing an explosion that shocked the three spectators. Dorry snapped out of his confusion first.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" he bellowed. Luffy looked back at him and frowned.

"There are people here for you and the other giant's bounty. They want me and my crewmates dead too." he said.

"I SHALL FIND AND CRUSH THEM FOR TRYING TO RUIN A SACRED DUEL!" he yelled. Once he finished his sentence, the central volcano erupted again. Dorry sighed, but got up nonetheless.

"You two, for the sake of honor, please don't let anyone interrupt our duel." he said. Luffy and Vivi smiled up at him.

"We promise." they said in unison. The bearded giant nodded, then set off. He began to speak as he approached Broggy.

"Before we begin, I must warn you that a group of malicious humans are on this island and have attempted to weaken me through a faulty sake barrel." At this, Broggy became angered and a dark glare settled on his face.

"HOW LOW OF THOSE PATHETIC HUMANS TO EVEN ATTEMPT SOMETHING SO DISHONORABLE!" he roared, but then sighed deeply and got into a fighting stance. "I'm sorry, old friend, but there is nothing we can do for now. Our fight must continue!" With that, Dorry charged at Broggy with his sword up and the battle commenced. Luffy and Vivi watched the fight closely while simultaneously surveilling the area. As the fight dragged on, Luffy waited knowing that Mr. 3 and the other Baroque agents would attack at any moment. Eventually, the fight went on for so long that Dorry and Broggy had to balance themselves on one knee to the ground in order to keep standing. Then they smiled, gave some taunting comments and continued, albeit with much slower movements. Suddenly, out of the forest came a massive streak of white that latched onto the two giants.

"WHAT THE-" they both said before the white wax completely encased their bodies and secured them to the ground. That was Luffy's cue. He was about to dash off to fight them, but an explosion stopped him in his tracks. He looked to the right to see a smirking Miss Valentine and Mr. 5 holding Carue. 'Dammit, I didn't notice but Carue ran off in fear of the fight.' Luffy thought.

"Hahaha! Did you really think you could escape Baroque Works?" Miss Valentine said.

"Honestly, yeah. Your agents have posed no threats to me so far." Luffy deadpanned. At that, the two agents both sweatdropped. Mr. 5 then got a tick mark on his forehead.

"Last time, we were caught off guard! This time, I'll kill you!" he said. "Nose Fancy Cannon!"

Luffy and Vivi both dodged the explosive booger and landed a safe distance away from the agents. Suddenly, they heard a scream from the forest that got louder as it neared.

"AAAAAAAAAAAUGHHH! LUFFY! LUFFY! LUFFYYYYYYYY! NAMI GOT EATEN BY A DINOSA- Huh?" It was definitely Usopp. He stopped running once he saw Miss Valentine and Mr. 5. He then began to run in the opposite direction.

"Usopp, help us!" Vivi said. Luffy just facepalmed and sent out a Gum Gum Pistol towards his cowardly crewmember. Once his hand latched onto the back of Usopp's apparel, he quickly dragged him back. The captain stared at his sniper and, knowing there was no escaping, Usopp hesitantly got out his slingshot. Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine smirked at the pathetic sight.

"Here, how about a trade. We will give you your mutant bird if you give us the princess." Mr. 5 said shaking the poor duck in front of them. Carue squealed and Vivi couldn't help but get teary-eyed. Luffy watched patiently until something white in the distance caught his attention. It had several lit candles on top of it and it was spinnin-

"MY FRIENDS!" he yelled in anger. He remembered what Mr. 3's weird wax thing did to his crewmates and knew that he had wasted too much time. With a roar, the pirate king sent both of his fists back and shot them at the two startled agents. Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine tried to dodge the deadly punch, but they reacted too late and were sent flying at mach speed into the forest. Luckily, Mr. 5 let go of Carue in shock before the duck could be knocked away as well. Once Carue ran back to Vivi, Luffy sprinted towards the candle contraption with his friends behind him. Meanwhile, Mr. 3 was laughing at his trapped victims with Miss Goldenweek drinking tea nearby. He was about to taunt them once more when a haki-infused fist shot at his side from afar. The impact knocked him off of his feet and made him crash into Dorry's arm. Miss Goldenweek blankly glanced at her partner, who was curled up into a ball to nurse his wounded torso.

"Luffy!" Nami yelled. Said captain had just arrived to the scene with Usopp, Vivi, and Carue. Zoro simply grunted.

"We didn't really need your help, captain." he said. Luffy sighed in relief knowing they weren't candle figurines yet. He told Usopp and Vivi to try to free the giants and then walked towards his trapped crewmates.

"Luffy, please help us! The wax is making it hard to breathe." said Nami.

But then Luffy stopped. He looked at Nami in indifference.

"No, I don't feel like it." Nami looked at him in shock while Zoro was staring at something underneath his captain's feet. In Luffy's mind he was panicking at his critical mistake. 'Oh no... Don't tell me….' he thought. He looked down at his feet and saw the black painted symbol.

'Crap! I got caught in Miss Goldenweek's paint spell!'

"Colors Trap." the little girl said in a monotone voice. Luffy grit his teeth in frustration as he struggled to break free, his body twitching occasionally. An explosion followed by a high pitched scream then echoed through the area. When Luffy turned around, Vivi was being strangled by a badly bruised Mr. 5 and Usopp was slowly getting the life crushed out of him by a bleeding Miss Valentine. Carue had been the victim of the recent explosion as evident by his smoking, unmoving form. Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine then both smiled at the trapped captain despite their hideous injuries.

"Hahaaa…. *cough* Whath are you goin thoo do now Sthwah Hath?" Mr. 5 said through his swollen cheek. He then applied more pressure to Vivi's neck and soon she began to lose consciousness. The ground beneath Usopp began to crack as he started coughing up blood.

'No….nononononono NO!'

"Well done, agents! Now we have both the princess and Straw Hat captain to take to the boss! I deserve most of the credit, of course, since I captured almost everyone here." Mr. 3 said as he limped next to his partner, Miss Goldenweek. Deep down, she somewhat wished her arrogant partner had died from the first blow.

Zoro brought his sword up in a heroic pose as he and Nami's bodies slowly froze from the wax. The giant white patches of white made them look as if they had horrendous Amber Lead poisoning. Luffy sweat profusely as he desperately fought to regain control of his body.

'Please….Oh god please, I can't lose them…'

He screwed up his second chance. His friends would die early because he let his guard down for one second. Tears started to form in his eyes.

"Luffy." The pirate king looked up at his first mate.

"Are you really going to let these guys beat you? After everything I've seen you do, losing here and now would be beyond pathetic." Luffy blinked up at Zoro in confusion and the swordsman smirked.

"Don't let them break your will, Pirate King."

That did it.

With a battle roar, Luffy yelled at the top of his lungs and let loose a devastating wave of Conqueror's Haki that engulfed the entire island in a dome of transparent aura. Time itself seemed to stop and in seconds all weak-willed beings in Little Garden were rendered unconscious due to the overwhelming pressure. That included the Baroque Works agents. Luffy's friends watched in horror/fascination as one by one their captors fell to the ground like flies and each of them held their own reactions to the incredible phenomenon.

Zoro grit his teeth and sweatdropped from the intensity.

Nami felt weak and fought to stay awake, but passed out anyways.

Usopp was immediately knocked out cold.

Vivi collapsed soon after due to both the haki and recent strangulation.

The giants lay unmoving (they didn't have a choice since they were still immobilized in wax) and shivered.

Once Luffy's screaming stopped and the effects dispersed, the ones who remained awake let out the breath they were holding in. Luffy glanced down at the paint symbol and stepped off of it with ease. 'Woah, did my will overcome the girl's power? Cool!' he thought. He then looked up at the now still pumpkin candle contraption and stretched a fist back.

"This piece of shit...Causing me so much stress…" Luffy muttered before he punched the wax pumpkin to pieces. He then proceeded to smash the rest of the white wax and in the process freed Zoro and Nami, who had just regained consciousness. Usopp woke up and helped Vivi care for Carue. Eventually, everyone was freed and throughout the entire procedure, no one but Luffy uttered a word. Finally, the pirate king couldn't take the silence anymore and decided to address what they were all thinking: 'What the hell was that?!'

"So, you're probably all thinking what I just did..." he said. His friends stared at him and a couple nodded. "That was a form of Haki. Not just any Haki, Conqueror's Haki. Only one in several million people can have it." Usopp decided to speak up. "W-What is Haki?" he timidly asked.

"It is a power that every living being has. It can be used to sense another's presence, turn your spirit into armor, and overpower the wills of enemies. You can guess which one I used." he said. His audience stared at him in amazement and he grinned.

"Don't worry, guys! It's a weird topic, but you'll learn it eventually!" At that moment, a voice called out from the forest.

"Nami-chwan! Vivi-swan! And the other insects..." he said, muttering the last part to himself.

"Oh, Sanji! There you are! Shishishishi!" Luffy said. Usopp and Carue got tick marks on their foreheads.

"That jerk! Showing up only after we needed his help…" he seethed. Sanji ignored them and casually walked up to Nami with hearts in his eyes.

"Wooooooah, Nami-swan! You look beautiful today!" he swooned. Nami simply glared at him.

"Sanji, what were you doing while we were risking our lives?!" she yelled. The cook snapped out of his stupor and looked at her in realization.

"Oh! I pretended to be Mr. 3 while talking to Mr. 0 and I told him we were dead." Sanji said. Vivi gasped in shock.

"You were talking to the boss?!"

"Yeah, and I got us this." He then pulled out an Eternal Pose from his pocket. At that, everyone stared at him with their jaws hanging open in a comedic fashion.

"Yahooo! Sanji, nice going! Now we can set sail for Alabasta!" Luffy said.

A few moments later…

"Set sail!" Luffy said. With that, the anchor was hoisted and the Going Merry finally began to move at a quick pace.

"If we keep going straight, we should make it to the western end of the island." Nami said.

"Hey! It's the old giants! They've come to see us off!" Luffy yelled. He pointed to Dorry and Broggy who were standing on opposite sides of the path that lead into the open ocean.

"Up ahead is a great obstacle.." Broggy said. "That prevents those who come to this island from reaching the next.." Dorry continued.

"You fought desperately to save our pride, so trust in us and keep going straight ahead no matter what!" They both shouted.

"Yosh! Will do!" Luffy said. Suddenly, as the ship sailed past the exit of Little Garden, a huge ripple in the water appeared. Dorry and Broggy grinned.

"There you are, Island-Eater." Dorry said. "In the name of Elbaf, you shall let them pass!" The other giant continued. Once the colossal goldfish revealed itself, the giants' weapons began to glow red and blue respectively.

"A g-giant goldfish?! Why does that sound familiar.." Usopp muttered. The monster's mouth opened wide and surrounded the Going Merry.

"Just keep going straight, guys! I believe in Dorry and Broggy." Luffy said fearlessly.

Eventually, the fish slowly closed its mouth and encompassed the ship in darkness.

"Keep going straight!" Luffy ordered. Nami, Usopp, Vivi, and Carue were panicking with tears in their eyes. All of a sudden, a large blast of light shot right past the Going Merry with an explosion following soon after. In a flash, the darkness dissipated and the ship was thrown right back onto the sunny seas.

"Hakoku Sovereignty!" The giants from Elbaf yelled. The monstrous attack tore right through the stomach of the goldfish and left a massive hole in its wake.

"Shishishi! Onto the next island!" Luffy said, but then he remembered something important. He turned around to look at Nami, who was clutching her side in pain. They needed to get to Drum Island for their doctor and fast.

'Chopper, we're on our way!'

Next Time:

It's a race against time as the Straw Hat crew stop at Drum Island to save their navigator. They also reunite with their adorable soon-to-be doctor, Chopper. Luffy's not off the hook yet, though. The more the pirate king is pushed into a corner, the more secrets and slip ups spill out. Will Luffy tell his crew the truth? Or leave them to ponder his true strength?

To be continued...

Okay, so for the Conqueror's Haki moment you're probably wondering how Luffy pulled it off. Well, on the One Piece wiki it said that Miss Goldenweek's power can be overcome by one with a strong will/mind. Since the Luffy in my story is wizened through experience, I supposed that it would be enough to break free from her control. I will start working on the next chapter sometime next week! See you guys next time! :3