If you're looking for the new update, I put it after Chapter 5.

Weeelllll… This is sooner than I estimated considering I hadn't even started it before I moved… I seriously had my doubts about whether or not I would finish this, but here it is!

Thank you all so much for following and favorite-ing this story! It's surpasses Haki in favorites now! And your reviews give my writing soul life!

Enjoy!

Nami wakes slowly to a blue-tinted room in filtered light. For a second she wonders where she is before the previous day's happenings return to her. She stretches and rolls to her feet, noting Robin is no longer in the room, and shuffles out of the aquarium intent on bathroom, fresh clothes, and coffee, in that order. After the first she noiselessly opens the door to the girls' room and peeks inside, but finds it empty. Huh. She shrugs and steps over to her closet.

She takes the long way to the kitchen so she can walk outside and check the air, finding it relatively stable. Oh, right, we're in the Blues now, aren't we. She shakes her head at the thought; she had never fully appreciated how easy they had had it before sailing the Grand Line. Just using a normal compass was weird to her now. She decided to recheck their route just to be safe before they rose anchor as she heads for the kitchen.

"Morning!" She greeted, noting Franky, Sanji, Robin, and Makino, with her baby, were up and had finished eating; they greeted back. Nami noted several books on summer islands in the grand line and one of their log books open in front of their new guest. Ah, they must have been explaining it to her… And dismisses it for later. "Huh? Where's Luffy? He didn't already finish eating did he?" It was still pretty early, but if so many crew members were awake and eating there was no way Luffy would still be sleeping. It was like he had some kind of sixth sense that told him when anyone was eating something in his vicinity.

Franky pointed behind him to the benches. "Naw, he and Usopp-bro are over on the bench here. I'm surprised you didn't hear them."

Nami walked over to see as Sanji rose to bring her her coffee and breakfast. As Franky had said, Usopp and Luffy were indeed lying on the bench cushions, fast asleep. Usopp had wrapped himself up in a blanked and was facing away from the table on his side, while Luffy had obviously just passed out and lay sprawled on his back, limbs hanging over the side of the bench. A few more minutes of fidgeting and he'd probably fall off. Someone seemed to have draped a blanket over him. Nami smiled at the two and pulled Luffy's blanket up a bit to secure it better. "I'm shocked he hasn't woken up, what with you all eating right beside him."

"Give it five minutes, I say." Sanji grumbled. He had several plates ready and covered for the occasion.

Makino smiled at the sleeping boys. "He only fell asleep an hour ago and Robin says he's been playing with Ace all day yesterday."

Nami whipped around towards the woman at those words, eyes wide and confused. Then she noticed everyone's calm demeanors. She couldn't tell where Franky was looking, behind his sunglasses, but Robin was giving her a small, patient smile, and Sanji was looking at her a little warily. Makino had a similar expression to Robin's, but seemed to be waiting for something.

"'Ace'?"

Makino's smile widened a bit, encouraged by Nami's light tone, and turned in her seat to face her fully. Her son was sitting on her lap sucking his thumb and he stared at her curiously. "Yes. Miss Nami, this is Ace, my and Shanks' son."

She was left speechless by this turn, taken off guard, but was left with the distinct impression that the feat they had just pulled off in the last couple days was a bit more significant than she had originally thought because of it.

"Nami?"

Robin's call snapped her out of her reverie and she stuttered out a response, still surprised. "I- uh… ok."

Sanji came over with her food and drink and the atmosphere in the room seemed to have lifted somewhat.

"So, can we assume you knew Luffy's brother, then? It was kind of a shock to learn they weren't actually related. Not that that makes them any less brothers!" Sanji amended frantically in response to Nami's death-glare.

"Blood doesn't stop you from being a family." Nami stated in annoyance around her mouthful.

"You got that right, sis!" Franky exclaimed.

Robin nodded.

Makino chuckled. "Yes, I knew him. I met him not too long after Luffy did, when Ace was ten. Me and the town's mayor would hike up into the forest every now and then to visit. They were always a very rambunctious group." She froze at a sudden thought.

Franky laughed. "I bet that's an understatement! What was Luffy-bro like as a kid?"

Makino suddenly had everyone's undivided attention, she laughed. "Not very different than he is now, actually." She looked thoughtful in the wake of the unsurprised replies and added. "Well, this might interest you. Luffy used to have quite a little temper."

They all looked surprised, what, Luffy?! Sure, he could get angry if his friends were threatened…

"I remember the captain and his crew would tease him all the time and he would yell at them and throw a fit. To be fair, he was quite cute when he sulked."

"I'll bet. We only see him angry when he's fighting or badgering Sanji for food."

That set everyone laughing, even the baby, but the noise had the questionable effect of rousing one of the occupants of the bench.

"FOOD! You guys are eating without me! Sanji! Food!" Their captain stretched over and grabbed his hat, which had been placed on the table.

"Yeah, yeah, I got your food right here. What do you want to drink?"

"Hot chocolate!"

Sanji went about heating the milk and Luffy plopped down into the seat his crew had vacated next to Makino. Almost instantly baby Ace started reaching for the young captain, making demanding noises, so Makino indulgently handed him off to Luffy.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" He slurred around Ace trying to stretch his cheek as far as it could go.

"Your friends wanted to hear about what you were like as a child. I was trying to think of specific stories…" She said pensively, a thoughtful look on her face. "How about… Did you ever tell them how you ate your devil fruit?"

Luffy's eyes lit up and he laughed loudly. "No. Tell them, I don't really remember."

Everyone eagerly listened, even Sanji when he came by to give Luffy his food and drink. "Well, there's not much to tell, really. Luffy was angry at the captain again and he grabbed the fruit which had been left in a box on the bar. He ate it, thinking it had been a regular fruit for desert." She shrugged at their amused expressions.

Robin spoke with a thoughtful expression. "So he must have been about seven when he ate his fruit." Makino nodded the confirmation.

Nami finished giggling. "Why was he mad at Shanks that time? Do you remember?"

Makino glanced at Luffy, but he was entertaining her son and eating at the same time and didn't even seem to be paying attention to the story. "Well, there had been an incident in the bar just before… A bandit group had come down from the mountains and tried to intimidate us when they found out there wasn't any more alcohol in the bar. Their leader had spilled sake on the captain and called them cowards. As soon as they left he and his crew started laughing about it, but Luffy hadn't been amused."

"A mountain bandit picked a fight with an Emperor? He sure had balls." Franky snorted.

"Well, I wasn't too informed on the state of the New World back then, but I'm not sure he was an Emperor at that time. At the least, I doubt those bandits would have known."

Nami was giving Luffy an odd look. "So he just sat there and did nothing even though he could have easily beat the crap out of them?"

"I suppose. The captain didn't seem very inclined to violence unless one of his own were threatened."

"Did that bandit ever come back?" Franky asked.

"Hey, Franky! Did you and Usopp ever finish the snail thing you were doing to call Shanks?!" Luffy interrupted suddenly.

Franky seemed a little taken aback by the interruption but eagerly changed subject at the topic. "We sure did! I have it set up down in the workshop. Do you want to call him now?" He turned to Makino with the question.

She stood up firmly and nodded.

Guard duty was boring when you were part of the crew of an Emperor. There were rarely any challenges by rival pirate crews. Well, worthwhile ones anyway. And now that the ranks had been cut down by one, courtesy of the captain's little protégé, there was even slimmer chances of some action.

Not that Blue John was on night watch duty at the moment. No, his current job was infinitely more boring. An opinion he would keep away from his captain if he wanted to avoid being kicked overboard. Ever since they had gotten that call from their allies informing them that the Navy had somehow gotten ahold of the captain's son and lover, there had been chaos on board. Captain, who was normally very calm and almost laidback, had been frantically searching for any means to return to the Blues right away. Thank goodness Beckman had managed to convince him that he needed to stay put and wait for a possible call from the woman or her captors. This compromise had only been made possible because the first mate had promised to take one of their faster vessels and try to intercept the Navy's ships. That had been over a week ago. So here he was, watching over the multitude of specialized Den Den Mushi and waiting for one in particular to ring. He took a long breath over the situation.

"Buruburuburuburu." The snail suddenly snapped awake and intoned blandly.

For a minute Blue John just stared at it in shock, completely forgetting what he was supposed to do. As soon as it started ringing again, however, he was up and out of his seat and sprinting down the hall.

"CAPTAIN!"

Makino, Nami, Robin, and Franky were sitting around the ringing Den Den Mushi. It had been heavily altered throughout the night and now featured a multitude of wires connecting the snail's shell to a small box with various switches and lights. Franky had started explaining the function of it before Nami interrupted him, saying they could get the instruction later, although Robin's eyes gleamed with interest over the device. Surprisingly, Makino had tapped the number pad assuredly with no written guide.

At their expressions she had explained, "I thought it best to memorize it in case of emergencies so no one else could reasonably be able to use the number without my knowledge. If someone else called from it he would know something had happened to us."

Nami had been impressed at the insight and they sat waiting for the line to be picked up, she shifted Ace on her hip as Makino sat in front of the snail. Franky kept watch over the little switch box, monitoring a secure connection, which had apparently been more difficult to achieve than he expected. He would at least be able to predict if a foreign signal was nearing their own, so he could warn them of a tap.

Finally, the snail straightened with a 'kacha' and a cold voice demended. "Who is this?"

Makino didn't recognize the voice, she believed, but let out a breath all the same. "Hello, this is Makino from Windmill Village. Is the captain there? Let him know we are fine."

Whoever was on the other line sounded a lot more relieved as a result and the snail started tearing up as a mirror to the speaker. "Makino-san! Finally! The captain has been going crazy ever since we heard about-" Suddenly his sentence was cut off as a thought seemed to occur to him. "Are you really ok? You were with the marines, last we heard."

"Yes, I was, but a few days ago Luffy and his friends- I mean, the Strawhat pirates rescued me from the marine ship we were on."

"The Strawhats?" The man inquired.

Nami waved over Makino's attention and offered over the infant, taking up the snail's receiver. "Hello, this is the navigator of the Strawhat pirates. It seems you're personally unfamiliar with our captain, but he's close friends with Red-Hair Shanks so we took it upon ourselves to help liberate Makino and her son. She's safe with us. Is your captain there?"

The man seemed a little taken aback from the change in speaker and the, apparently new, information. "Uh, yeah, we let him know the snail was ringing but it didn't seem like he was in the right… temperament to negotiate if it came to that, so the crew is restraining him until we had a better understanding of the situation."

Nami nodded. "That's fine, better let him over before he hurts someone." Makino had a hand covering her face but she also wore a smile. The man agreed and left to call his crewmates and captain.

"If he was so worried about you two I'm surprised he just didn't take you with him or something." Franky voiced.

"Oh, he tried, but as I said before, I'm not a sailor. I prefer land. And anyone not fully invested to a life of adventure and risk on the sea has no business being a pirate. Besides, I wanted to provide a place for my boys to come back to."

"Just Red-Hair?" Robin asked coyly.

Makino laughed, "Well, the number does seem to be growing." She looked down at her charge. "It's only a matter of time before this one decides whether or not he wants a life on the sea as well."

"By then, Luffy will be King." Nami stated with a smirk.

The snail came back to life before the conversation could continue further, a comically distraught expression for a snail as sweat beaded up on its already moist surface. It was a sign of Makino's affection that she didn't shy away from it at all, as Nami had.

"MAKINO! Are you alright?! What happened?! Is Ace ok?! They didn't hurt you two, did they! Where are you?! I swear, if anything-"

"Captain! Please calm down. I can't answer any questions if you keep yelling like that and I can hear perfectly well. Besides, you're scaring Ace." The baby was actually staring at the snail in fascination, but a little fibbing couldn't hurt in this instance.

The pirate seemed properly chastised at that and patiently quieted down, although the snail's expression had settled into a childish pout.

"Oh, my god. So that's where Luffy got that look." Nami muttered in bewilderment.

"We're both fine. We're with Luffy's group right now. A few of his friends are here with me."

"Luffy? He's there? I thought they were in the New World."

Nami leaned down to the receiver. "We were, but we found a way to cross the calm belt and managed to intercept the marine vessels carrying Makino. Luffy's actually not here right now. He said he didn't want to talk to you unless it was face-to-face."

The snail split into a wide grin and laughed loudly, also reminding the crew strongly of Luffy. "Really. Anchor sure has grown up, then. Tell him I hope to see him soon. I hear he's going around dethrone-ing Emperors. We're bound to meet sometime." He chuckled some more, as if the prospect was both amusing and anticipated, then returned to a serious demeanor. "But, really, you're not hurt?" Makino paused a little too long in her answer and the snail became instantly more foreboding. "Makino?"

Nami once again stepped in to support Makino's silence with a clinical summary of her injury. "Our doctor thinks she was pierced in her thigh with a Finger Pistol from one of the marines, probably to incapacitate her. He's already cleaned and re-bandaged it and believes the stitches can come out in another week or so as long as she keeps off it." Makino had winced throughout the explanation just thinking about the effects it would have despite the succinct nature of it; Nami gave her a sympathetic yet firm look. "No point in hiding it, it's best to be completely honest in these situations."

The snail nodded. "Yup, thanks." It was said fairly lightly, but the crew didn't envy any marine the Red Force would come upon anytime soon. "And Ace? How's he doing?"

Makino sighed in relief over the change in topic and propped the baby up on her lap closer to the snail. "He's right here. Say 'hi', Ace." She lowered the receiver closer to him and he grasped it firmly and stared at it intensely.

The expression on the snail became soft, any lingering animosity instantly vanishing, as the father responded. "Hi, Ace. How are you doing, buddy?"

"Hi!"

Shocked silence overtook the room, marred only by Makino's light gasp, until Shanks chocked out, "Did he-?! Has he spoken before?!"

Makino looked just as surprised as her lover felt. "Uh, no. That was… that was a first…"

Robin seemed like the only one to keep her head in such a situation, Franky was openly sobbing again, and gently interrupted the chatter to remind their navigator of the purpose of their call.

"Oh, right." She leaned towards the receiver, still clutched in Ace's little hands and spoke. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we really need to talk business before anything while we still have a secure connection. Our shipwright is keeping watch, but we'll disconnect it if the line becomes compromised." She continues after receiving an affirmation. "It sounds like you already sent someone to pick up Makino, so the easiest solution would be to just meet them somewhere and hand her off to you. I'm sure she'd be perfectly safe under your crew's watch so that would be option 'A'."

Observed only by the three Strawhats, Makino pursed her lips a bit but remained silent.

"You have another proposal?" Shanks asked.

Nami takes one last glance at Robin, who nods her encouragement, and proceeds. "Makino is not a pirate or a criminal, not really. Sure, she can meet up with you and sail under your protection, or be situated on an island with allies of yours, but she's not cut out for this lifestyle. She has her own way of thriving among civilians and a business she has upheld for years." She places a comforting hand on Makino's shoulder. "She can't return to her island, but we think we know just the place for her to live from now on. If you'll trust our judgment."

"Sounds interesting, let's hear it."

"The Nefertari family of Alabasta are descendants from the twenty kings to found the World Government eight hundred years ago. Even though they didn't move to Mariejois back then and take up the same egotistic title, they are still highly respected. And with the near thing with Crocodile two years ago, the marines and government have been treading lightly around the Nefertaris."

"Are you suggesting we have Makino and Ace move to Alabasta? It might work at first but it'd be the same as with Windmill, the Royal Guard or someone would eventually find them and it would find it's way back to the same bastards that started this whole mess in the first place."

Nami grinned into the receiver. "You would be right, except the Royal Guard would know from the start. Or, well, maybe not the details but they wouldn't sell her out, at the very least." She smirked at the snail's confused expression. "You see, we're actually very close to the kingdom's princess and we're willing to bet, if we asked, that they would shelter Makino from the government."

The snail was speechless with surprise, then contemplation. "You really think they'd shelter the son and lover of a pirate? Who are actively wanted by the government?"

Nami inclined her head in acknowledgement of the point. "It could be risky for them. And certainly not easy on Makino and Ace if they decide to go, it's incredibly hot there. But if it does work it could be the most secure option for them. King Cobra hid us away in the palace for a few days after Crocodile's arrest, even as the marines were accusing him of it. If we explain the situation to them, I'm sure he and Princess Vivi would be willing to lend their help."

"…I see… Could I talk to Makino alone?"

Nami looks at Franky for his opinion. He sighs and tweaks a few switches and wires on the adjacent box, then nods decisively. "The connection is fine for now but if anything comes close I've set it up to automatically be severed, so I'm not sure how long it will last." He gives Makino a sympathetic smile and steps out, along with the other two women.

Not ten minutes later the line has been severed and they have their answer.

The Thousand Sunny was docked just off the coast of a small deserted island. Makino had assured Nami that Shanks had determined their general location by tracing their radio waves while they were talking, presumably using similar technology as the navy had developed. So they had decided to lower anchor at the closest island they could find and wait for the crewmates Red Hair had sent. There had been a minor incident when Hancock had called to ask about the delay, but they had determined it would be best if the Warlord wasn't anywhere near the Emperor's crew. Not to mention the Strawhats was afraid of what she would do if she met Makino, no matter the maternal role she played. Most of the crew had disembarked to play on the beach, under supervision from Makino and Zoro, and wait for the Red Hair pirates to show up. Zoro was occupying his time with his favorite activity.

Makino sat nearby and watched the boys build a sandcastle, Ace in a sling tied to Usopp's back (Luffy had earned a time-out from the baby after… well, let's just say it was justified) that he and Franky had re-designed to feature a wide shade over its occupant. Franky had taken to joking that they should launch a line of infant furniture and accessories. Nami had laughed at first but now she was starting to think it would be a seriously profitable idea.

Makino sighed contently and tried not to think about the impending goodbyes, she was relieved that her new soon-to-be-hosts were benevolent towards the pirates and she could have someone to share news with.

"You'll look after him, won't you?"

Zoro paused in the downward stroke but kept his overall position. "That's pretty much our main function on this crew."

Makino smiled and nodded, "I wanted to provide a place for them to come back to. Even if things didn't go so well, they could always return." She fidgeted a bit with her hands. "I guess I'll just have to build a new place in Alabasta."

The swordsman remained silent for a few moments while he finished his set, then lowered the weights and began to wipe away the accumulated sweat. "We all have places we can return to, we all get strength from them; but it also prevents us from returning before we reach our goals. We've all made promises to the people we left behind that the time apart would be worth our goal. If we went back before then we'd be breaking those promises."

She gave him one of those smiles she had become known for, equal parts affection, exasperation, and amusement, "Perhaps that's how it seems to you, but speaking as one 'left behind' I'd give you the option of a vacation every now and then."

He waved his arm to encompass the whole beach, "Haven't you been paying attention? That's all we do!"

"Well, I can't argue there, but what I'm talking about is something more… prolonged." Her eyes softened at a memory of long ago. "All I mean is, don't think we'll go chasing you out if you find a need to return before your final venture."

Zoro grunted and returned to his training.

When Makino had informed Usopp that his father had gone along with the rescue vessel, his heart had leapt into his throat. He knew he had already said that he wouldn't meet him, not yet, but he continued to feel conflicted over that decision. It shouldn't matter. He had already made his decision and he would stick to it no matter what, he stubbornly reminded himself. Yet, he also felt that if he could not bring himself to wholeheartedly believe that then he would come to regret the decision greatly. So, he resolved to ask his friends their opinion on the matter. A poorly-thought plan, in retrospect.

Zoro and Sanji essentially thought he should figure it out on his own, but if he was doubting his decision then that might be a clue to his true feelings. Just about what he thought himself.

Nami told him he was an idiot, she hadn't been there for the profound initial decision-making spurred by Luffy after all, and told him to meet his father along with the rest of the crew. Then she shoved him out of the library. He later realized that the question may have been a little insensitive to her. He would tread more carefully from now on.

Robin, Chopper, Brook, and Franky also believed he should meet Yasopp, especially if he found himself doubting his decision, but they were much more sympathetic to the matter of I'm-not-a-great-warrior-so-I-need-to-wait-until-I've-accomplished-something-great. In the end, they said, the decision rested with him though.

Perhaps out of cowardice, Usopp had avoided talking to the one person whose opinion on this mattered the most to him. After all, he had made the decision on his coattails and not wanting to go back on his word was one of the major reasons holding him back.

He found him on deck near the swing, chatting with Makino and the baby. To Luffy's delight and Makino's amusement, Ace seemed to have picked up 'hat' in the last week and a half since he had dropped his first word, making Luffy determined to increase his vocabulary with pirate-related words. Under his mother's supervision, of course. Who knew.

Usopp cleared his throat awkwardly as he approached them, making them look up. "Uh… Luffy? Can I talk with you?"

"Sure." He grinned. "What's up?"

The sniper faltered under their curious gazes; not like this was a private conversation. "W-well… I've just been thinking- I've become a pretty great warrior over the course of our journey, right?! I mean, the name 'Usopp-sama' is synonymous with 'savior' and 'god' on some islands!" He waves his arms out and strikes a pose. "Of course, it doesn't even compare to my adventures before I joined the crew… Why, I remember the time I wrestled a giant squid as big as a mountain to save a village from its-!"

"Usopp."

The quiet command put Usopp of his balance and the lie died away; he cursed himself and his bad habit and stared out to sea. Any day their ship might appear on that horizon, someone had been kept on watch at all times to wait for it.

"I… I think I want to meet my old man." He finally said, still not looking at his audience. As soon as he said it he knew it was right, just the thought filled him with excitement. He nodded. "Yeah, I do." He peeked over at his captain, who was grinning at him.

"Of course you do! Yasopp's an awesome pirate!" Unable to keep still, he began swinging back and forth while keeping his feet on the ground, causing Ace to giggle with glee. "I'm glad we'll get to meet him."

Usopp smiled a bit uncertainly. "So… you don't mind if I do?"

"Why would I?"

"Well- Just- I- I thought- We kind of agreed we wouldn't see them until we've reached our goals…" He was starting to feel foolish.

Luffy tilted his head to the side and frowned. "Mgh, yeah, but I had already made my promise to Shanks. You've never met your dad, so he doesn't know about any promise you made to him. This could be your only chance to do it before we reach our goals." He grins again. "Besides, when we do meet again, what fun would it be if he didn't have something to compare the experience to?"

Usopp stared at his captain and mulled over the words, once again stunned by his sporadic ability for wisdom. "Yeah… Yeah! Maybe I'll put on a little demonstration or something…" He muttered as he ran for his workshop, energy renewed.

Luffy laughed in anticipation of whatever the sharpshooter would plan and Makino smiled at him in pride.

It was the next morning that Brook caught sight of the small vessel sailing towards them at unusual speed and quickly ran around the ship to alert everyone at the top of his lungs (not that he-). Once closer, they could see that the ship was indeed exceptionally small from usual vessels traveling the Grand Line, never mind the New World; it was just a bit larger than the Merry had been but still smaller than Sunny. Perhaps it was a testament to the crew's strength and desire for stealth.

The crew waited with bated breath on the beach as a small rowboat came ashore with just three people. This was the crew of an Emperor and they'd only had Kaido and Big Mom's as experience, no matter the large grin plastered over Luffy's face.

The men had barely disembarked before the Strawhat captain collided with the group, wrapping rubbery appendages around them all in a truly un-pirate-like display of affection. They would have tipped right into the surf if Zoro hadn't grabbed Luffy by the back of his shirt to give them a chance to get their balance back.

The tallest man with almost-white hair and a cigarette between his teeth scowled lightly at the boy. "Jeez, you haven't changed at all, Luffy."

Luffy laughed loudly and let his body snap back to normal, standing before the three Red-Hair pirates with his hands on his hips. "You have! What happened to your hair, Benn?! You look like an old man now!"

The man sighed with familiar exhaustion, as if he heard the comment frequently, and one of his comrades tried to stifle their laughter while the other looked caught between bewilderment and horror over the disrespect. "That's what happens when you're first mate to an idi- I mean, Emperor."

More laughter. "Shanks is doing good then?"

"Too well."

Zoro interrupted the responding laugh with a cleared throat and gave his captain a reminding look.

"Oh! Come meet my crew!" He then proceeded to drag the three closer to make introductions. Besides a slight twitch from the man with dreadlocks when Usopp was introduced, there wasn't further incident. But then Benn introduced his own companions, Yasopp and a fairly new recruit called Rock Star, and still nothing was said Nami gave Usopp a confused scowl and poked him hard in the ribs, but he ignored her.

Makino decided to step in before the pause could become uncomfortable. "It's good to see you all again, Benn, Yasopp. And to meet you, Rock Star." She smiled at the unfamiliar pirate and he stuttered out a flustered greeting in return, bright red. "Thank you for coming to get us, I'm sorry for the trouble."

"It's no trouble, Makino. If we hadn't, I'm pretty sure the boss would have declared war on the government until he got you back." Yasopp laughed.

Makino turned red this time and Luffy just nodded his head solemnly, completely agreeing with the logic of the prediction.

Sanji stepped forward at the interval and spoke with a deliberately bored tone. "You'll all be staying for a bit, right? Luffy insisted he wants to have a party before Makino-chan leaves."

Benn and Yasopp share a serious glance before the first mate turns back to the Strawhats, Yasopp seems to fidget uncomfortably. "Sorry, but we're going to have to leave immediately." Loud shouts of protest and Benn raises a hand for silence. "We were spotted by some Navy vessels a few days ago and only just managed to shake them, but they're still on our tail so we'll have to keep moving if we want to stay ahead and avoid confrontation." The implication was clear.

Luffy looked extremely disappointed but reluctantly nodded; he looked on the verge of pitching a fit, though. Nothing compared to Sanji, who was in tears.

They quickly gathered Makino's supplies and Franky helped set up the child's furniture on the ship before each crew was gathered on their respective ships, a gangplank connecting them, and Makino said her last goodbyes. The two crews had had short interactions amongst themselves over the short period, but no one had seen if Usopp and Yasopp had been one of them. There was a strange tension in the air.

Nami was about to snap and just throw the idiot overboard when a distant siren caught their ears and the whole group ran to the edges of their vessels to see a handful of battleships making their way towards them. She cursed and ordered Franky to man the helm but hesitated to tell Usopp to take his position below deck. It was strangely quiet besides the hurried activity to regain motion of the ships. The plank connecting the two was retracted but Makino stayed in place on the lower deck, watching the Strawhat captain with a sad smile.

But the enemy ships were closing in fast and orders on the pirate ships rose to a shout until Usopp jumped up onto the railing beside his captain and deliberately pulled his new Kabuto slingshot off his back. He reached into his satchel and picked out a small projectile, the size of a marble, and pulled back on the loaded casing as far as his reach would allow. He didn't bother lowering his magnifying goggles, letting his new skill guide him.

His fingers released pressure and the projectile shot off towards the enemy vessels, still seemingly too far for contact, and was followed by a second of absolute silence, even from the marine sirens. Then-

BOOM!

The very front of one of the inner ships produced a great explosion. By the position it came from the front cannon and was followed by several chain explosions. A warning siren started to blare as it careened off course but it wasn't enough to stop it from smashing into the adjacent battleship. Several more warning sirens drowned out the chaos.

Usopp's arms drooped a little in surprise over the display, even he hadn't predicted that, but he quickly corrected himself by posing dramatically and yelling out to the faraway enemies. "Yeah! That's what you get for messing with the Strawhat pirates!" The Sunny finally started to slowly move towards the battle, intent on giving the Red-Hair pirates time to escape, and Usopp turned towards them and their mildly impressed expressions. Or, one in particular. "You, there! You might be the crew of an Emperor but make no mistake!" He slammed the butt of Kabuto down on the railing and raised his voice. "This is the crew of the future Pirate King! And I'll stop at nothing to help Luffy achieve that title!" He was breathing hard by the end of the exclamation but for once he was deaf to Chopper and Brook's cries of agreement, just staring with unwavering determination at the one man he had been waiting to meet all his life. "I AM USOPP, SNIPER TO THE STRAWHAT PIRATES!"

And with that, he jumped off the ledge, past Nami and his friends and ran to man the cannons. Luffy looked after him with a wide smile.

A spell seemed to have been broken and the rest of the crew scurried off to prepare for battle as the ship slowly distanced itself from the smaller one with increasing speed. Luffy stayed within sight though, walking along the Sunny's railing until he was at the stern with a serious expression.

Makino began waving goodbye and baby Ace started fussing over the sad atmosphere.

"HAT!" He finally screeched, making the nearby crew jump.

Luffy waved goodbye and his laughter floated over to the ship over the sound of cannon fire.

It's over, finally or not-so-finally.

I hope I kept the characters consistent at least, if not in character, throughout the story (I think Luffy was a little OOC at some points…). Some parts of this chapter seemed a little weak, but…

Though I've marked this as 'Complete' there will be at least one deleted scene and an Epilogue (just focusing on Makino and Ace), but I'm not sure when they'll be up. I already have the deleted scene written out but I accidentally packed the notebook away in one of my boxes and I probably won't get those for another week, at least.

I hate to beg for reviews, but I'd really like to know what scenes stuck the most by this last chapter. It doesn't have to be anything big, just something that sticks out in your memory even after all this time and chapters? Thanks!

Also, now that the story's over, I'm thinking of changing the summary. Since there are only four character slots should I include Garp and Hancock or leave that as a surprise for future readers?

Ahhh, it's been a hectic 2-3 weeks. Moving, getting settled in, classes. I finally started at my first choice University! *happy dance* So that caused a lot of delay. Also… I might have spent the month leading up to the move doing a 30 Day One Piece Challenge, so if you want to see if it was worth putting this story on hold you can check it out at my deviantart under 'fanart' (I have the links on my profile page). That was super fun.

If you enjoyed this, perhaps you'd like to check out my other fics? ;)