A Different Set of Keys

Chapter 18: The Monkey's Minder

Lucy held up the Log Pose and examined the needle they had been following the past few days. It had stopped violently jerking around within the last hour and had been steadily pointing west. Every time it moved, the fear that they were losing their target or that they had done something wrong and were following a red herring the whole time would rush through Lucy's mind until she managed to calm down. The closer they got to the source of Oceanic Spirit Magic the more nervous Lucy became. After all, there was no guarantee that this source was Luffy. It could be another Oceanic Spirit Mage, one of the Cabin Keys, or—as a dark part of her mind liked to remind her—they could be heading straight towards Blackbeard himself. Lucy didn't know what they'd do if that was the case. A spirit so powerful that it defeated Ace, Luffy, and Sabo together against herself and Cana without her strongest spirit available or a plan.

She tried not to think about how that hypothetical fight would end.

"C'mon, Lucy! I can see the town from up here," Cana called back to her.

"Coming!" she replied before breaking into a light jog to catch up. Cana had managed to put a respectable distance between them in the brief moments that Lucy had stopped to check the magical compass. For someone that drank so much, she sure was in great shape. Or maybe that was just her eagerness giving her speed. Lucy had caught her staring at Ace's hat or twirling his pipe more than once on their journey here. The older mage had a much more personal stake in this trip than Lucy did. She was ultimately here to right a wrong and help a fellow Fairy Tail member/Oceanic Spirit. She didn't know what the exact relationship between Cana and Ace was, but it was definitely more than just partners like she had originally claimed. When she had asked Cana if partners meant more than teammates, she had unhelpfully answered 'not sure' and changed the subject. Lucy really hoped that this was Luffy's magic signature they were following, if only for Cana's sake. She still felt guilty about deceiving Cana into going to her old house, even if her lie about finding something useful in her mom's old things turned out to be true. It would be horrible if she got Cana's hopes up only to run into a random Oceanus Spirit Mage instead of the hiding spirit. That would just be another benefit for Lucy on this trip and another delay for Cana's reunion.

"There it is," Cana declared after Lucy caught up. They looked down upon a seaside town that was packed to the brim with buildings and bridges piled on top of one another like a child's discarded toys. "Stramonium Town. Where we'll find Luffy."

"Yeah," Lucy agreed, keeping her doubts to herself.

Once they entered town, the Log Pose stopped being a constant arrow and had started shifting around again. It wasn't as bad as before it had set, and after examining how it moved for a few minutes, Lucy determined that it was working perfectly, their target was just moving. They started to wander around Stramonium Town to keep up with their moving quarry, but soon found themselves lost in the labyrinth of alleyways and side passages that made up the town's infrastructure. The pair could see why Luffy would pick this town to hide in, even if Blackbeard did find him he'd have a hell of a time trying to keep up with or track of the Monkey Spirit in this concrete jungle. Especially if he was anything like his namesake.

"Dammit," Cana swore as they ran into another dead-end. A quick glance at the Log Pose showed that the source was directly ahead of them, but there was no way that they were getting over this section of buildings unless they spontaneously learned Happy's Aera. "Who the hell designed this place? A drunken psychopath?!"

"Or a particularly sadistic engineer," Lucy commented as she waved her wrist around in the vain hope that the direction would change to one more favorable. It didn't. Seemed like their target was taking a break for once. They'd have to backtrack. "I once tried a jigsaw puzzle that was a mix of three different puzzles with several pieces missing that made more sense than these streets."

Cana stopped drinking from her flask long enough to stare at Lucy in bewilderment. "Why?"

"Robin claimed that it would be fun," she explained with a shrug.

"Was it?"

"It was for Robin."

Letting that conversation die, the two women tried taking a side alley that led to them taking a second alley, a side street, duck between two buildings, hit two more dead-ends, find an actual street and follow it for a bit, then go down a winding alleyway for what had to be a mile before ending up at a three-way intersection with the Log Pose pointing at an unsurpassable wall again.

"This is bullshit!" Cana yelled while stomping her foot. She grabbed Lucy's wrist and forced it at eye level, "Let me see that!" Her eyes darted over the magical compass and she pulled Lucy around by her arm to examine their position. "Fuck! We're right back where we started! We just went in a giant fucking circle!" She let out a wordless cry and kicked the building several times in frustration. "This was a complete waste of time!"

"No, it wasn't," Lucy assured her. "If they've stayed in the same place for so long at this hour then their home must be through here somehow. It's getting late. Why don't we come back tomorrow after we've taken a bath and gotten some sleep and begin tracking him down again? If we get here early enough then we can catch Luffy—or whoever this is—on their way out around the city."

Cana opened her mouth to argue but closed it when she took a second to think. Lucy was right, the sun was already going down and they weren't going to accomplish anything more tonight. "Yeah," she agreed. "Let's find a hotel or motel or inn or someplace where we can crash for the night. And get clean. I've got enough dust on me to pass as an Earth Mage."

"Great! There's sure to be something on one of the main roads." Lucy's enthusiasm quickly faded when she glanced around and saw all of the possible paths to take within twenty feet of their little intersection. Next to her, she heard Cana pop open her flask and start to take a swig.

"Cana?"

"Yep?" she said while popping the 'p'.

"Do you know which way is back to the main road?"

"Nope," she said with another 'p' pop.

Lucy hung her head before lightly slapping her cheeks. She couldn't give up! They had found it before, they'd find it again. How hard could it be? All these streets had to lead somewhere. They'd just keep following the roads and taking the bigger one when they had to turn. And who knew, maybe they'd find someplace to stay on the way.

Lucy and Cana groaned as they trudged into the blessed light of the motel. After the sun had set, they had discovered that Stramonium Town apparently had a thing against lamps and light in general. The streets became a million times harder to navigate in the dark and no, they weren't exaggerating. The fact that they'd found this place, with its lack of name or sign advertising its purpose, was nothing short of a miracle.

The pair dragged their tired and aching feet over to the bar, where the only other person in the building was cleaning several dishes and packing up for the night. "Oh?" he said when the Fairy Tail mages slumped onto their barstools. "Sorry, girls. Last call was almost an hour ago."

"I know," Cana growled. When she had sensed it get that late, she'd started trying every door they came across in the hope that one of them was an inn or something. More than one bar had informed them that they were closed for the night. That had been a first for her. Being told a bar was closed while sober. She didn't like it. "We're looking for a place to stay the night. Do you have a room available or not?"

The bartender's mask of professionalism slipped a little at Cana's rudeness, but he knew better than turning away paying customers, especially desperate ones like these two. "For both of you? Yeah, I've got one room you can stay in tonight."

"Great!" Lucy slammed a stack of money down on the bar. It was definitely more than enough money to cover rooms for the night and with what she had made on the Galuna Job she wouldn't be missing it. She knew she had the bartender's attention when his eyes moved from their chests to the wad of jewels sitting in front of him. "We'll take it!"

The bartender led them up to the second floor and showed them to their room. "Here you go, madams," he told them with an oily voice, his personality having done a complete one-eighty after seeing how much money Lucy had to throw around.

Cana pushed past him and snatched the keys out of his hand with an obviously false, "Thanks." She ushered Lucy inside and shut the door in his face. "Thank god we finally found a place," she moaned.

"You've got that right," Lucy agreed while taking off her shoes. "I was beginning to think we were going to have to pitch a tent in the middle of the street and just camp out till the morning."

"Ugh. You're making me feel dirty just thinking about it," Cana said with a shudder. "You can go first in the bathroom. I'm just going to shower in the morning," she said while throwing her bag on the bed.

"Same. I'm too tired to figure out how this place's shower works anyways," Lucy said as she threw her bag on her bed.

The two then discovered an important detail about their room when they stared at their bags that had just landed on the same bed. A quick glance around revealed that the only other furniture in the room was a chair that just screamed back pain. They looked back at each other and eloquently said,

"Uhh…"

"I'll go talk to the bartender!" Lucy quickly announced. She made a break to the door and away from the awkwardness permeating the room, only for Cana to stop her.

"Lucy, it's, like, three in the morning. We've been walking for days because this stupid city doesn't have a train station anywhere close to it and then we ran around all day trying to track down Luffy. That guy said he had one room, and this is it. I'm dirty, I'm sore, but most of all, I'm exhausted. Too exhausted to hunt down a shady guy and potentially getting kicked out after he's already taken our money. Let's just share the bed."

Lucy hesitated at Cana's suggestion. She glanced between her and the bed. It seemed kind of small for two people, they'd probably have to be touching. She didn't have anything against Cana, but she had never slept in bed with another person since her mother died and had kind of assumed that if she was sleeping with someone else it'd have been after they'd… tired themselves out. And she didn't like Cana that way. Not that she didn't like her! They'd become good friends during this trip. She just wasn't attracted to Cana. Not that Cana wasn't attractive! She was! Objectively. Lucy could, objectively, tell that Cana was a beautiful young woman. She just didn't like women. Romantically!

Lucy was drawn out of her spiraling internal clarifications to herself when Cana called her name. "Sorry, what?" she asked, trying and failing to keep her cheeks from flushing red in embarrassment when she realized how ridiculous she had been, even if it was just in her own head.

"Let's just go to bed," Cana tiredly repeated, pointedly ignoring the younger woman's blush. Normally, she'd love to take the opportunity to tease Lucy with inappropriate comments and innuendoes about her sleeping in the same bed as her, but she was too tired tonight. Maybe tomorrow, if they didn't find a better place to stay. Right now, she just wanted to get some sleep. "Please."

That last request did Lucy in. She couldn't ignore the exhaustion in Cana's voice and the way her head was bobbing as she struggled to not fall asleep on her feet. And, now that Lucy's fight-or-flight response was wearing off, she could feel her own head doing the same thing.

"Alright."

Lucy changed into her pajamas while Cana just slipped out of her pants and slept in her underwear. The two laid down back-to-back on the bed and pulled the sheets over them. Lucy opened her mouth to tell Cana goodnight, but was interrupted by a loud yawn. By the time she had a chance to try again, she could hear the other woman's slowed breathing and knew that she had already fallen asleep. Knowing a good idea when she heard one, Lucy soon joined her.

When she awoke, Lucy found herself glaring at a shard of sunlight that dared to sneak past the curtains and hit her face. She let out a groan at the thought of getting up and pulled the covers up over her face and relaxed into the warm arms surrounding her. She let out a soft sigh of contentment that lasted until her brain finished waking up and reminded her that she was not in her apartment, did not usually wake in someone else's arms, and was sleeping in the same bed as Cana! Lucy then became incredibly aware that she wasn't just sleeping next to Cana, she was spooning with her when she felt two large, warm mounds press into her back. Her hands hesitantly reached back and brushed against bare skin that made the woman behind her shift in her sleep and pull her in tighter. Lucy let out a little moan when the hands around her breasts involuntarily squeezed and a bare leg rubbed between her own and SHE NEEDED TO GET OUT OF THIS BED, NOW!

Lucy tried to remove Cana's hands, untangle their legs, and jump out of bed all at the same time and ended up succeeding only halfway on all three attempts. Her torso rolled out of bed and her forehead hit the ground with a thud that was followed by a pained groan. Lucy blearily rubbed the spot where she knew a bruise was going to form within the next five minutes and asked herself, "Why was it easier when I woke up next to Natsu?"

"Oh~? So, I'm not your first?" a familiar voice purred from above her. "How scandalous. And here you were acting all innocent last night. I feel betrayed."

"Cana!" Lucy yelped out in surprise and, in her panic, managed to overbalance so that her legs left the bed and forced her to flip onto her back. The sheets were pulled off by her legs and draped themselves over Lucy's prone and bruised form. She hesitantly pulled them back to see the brunette's head poking over the edge of the bed to look down at her with a sultry smile that implied far too much. "H-how long have you been awake?"

"Oh, ever since you started thrashing about like a fish out of water."

Lucy let out a little whimper. That was pretty much the whole time.

"So, what's this about waking up next to Natsu that I've been hearing about?" Cana asked with a grin big enough to impress the Cheshire Cat. Lucy pointedly ignored as she gathered up her things for the day and headed for the bathroom. Now that wasn't any fun. She'd have to try harder. "Hey, Lucy," she called out before the blonde could slip away. She waited for her to look at her before snaking her arms above her head and stretching all the way up. She made sure to drop her arms quickly to give her chest a little jiggle, "how was last night for you?"

"I'm getting a shower!"

"Make it a cold one!" Cana advised as she laughed in triumph through the sound of the bathroom door slamming and the shower being turned on. With her fun had for the morning, Cana glanced around for her pants and maybe a jacket. She was cold since Lucy had stolen the sheets. Clothing procured, Cana headed down for breakfast. At least she knew that there would be plenty of hot water left over after she got back.

"Ah, come on, Lucy. You aren't still sore about this morning, are you?"

Cana received silence for an answer. The two had changed into fresh clothes and ate breakfast (closer to lunch based on when they woke up) before gathering their things and leaving the inn. Lucy had put her foot down and declared that they were not going to go through that again. That had been the last thing she had said to Cana before putting the Log Pose an inch away from her eyes and heading out.

"The silent treatment? Really? I already said that I was sorry. Now, you're just being—" Cana was interrupted when a white-haired girl ran into her side and fell down. "Watch it, kid. You could hurt someone running around like that," Cana told her while offering her a hand back up. The girl looked at her with suspicious brown eyes before knocking her hand out of the way and scrambling to her feet. She took off running down the main street, darting between the heavy foot traffic with the ease that came from hours of practice.

"Rude."

"Reminds me of someone," Lucy snarked, finally looking up from the Log Pose.

"Yeah. Me too. She looks like Lisanna did back at that age… Hey!" Cana shouted at the realization, causing her insulter to snicker. "Oh, so that's how it's going to be, huh? I'll have you know I can—"

Whatever Cana was going to claim was lost forever when she was interrupted for the second time in thirty seconds. "Get back here, you little bitch!" a portly man in white clothes heavily stained with various foodstuff shouted while waving a ladle threateningly.

Cana reached out and snagged the back of the cook's collar and stopped him from running off. "Calm down there, gramps. What's the big deal?"

"Big deal? What's the big deal? That little white-haired bitch just ate over two hundred dollars' worth of food at my restaurant and ran off without paying! That's the big deal."

"Well she's long gone now, so stop waving that thing around before you brain someone," Cana told him while leaning away from the flailing cooking instrument. "There's no way that anyone can catch that kid now. So, let's all take a deep breath and calm down before we do anything stupid."

As Cana finished, she looked to Lucy for some assistance only to find the blonde running down the street after the little girl. Cana spat out a curse, "For fuck's sake, Lucy! What did I just say?!"

"Oh, so it's okay for you girls to run after her but not me? I see, hypocrite!"

Cana ignored the cook after flipping him a quick double bird and focused on keeping up with her friend. She quickly caught up to Lucy by virtue of following the gap she made in the crowd and demanded to know what she was doing.

"That girl is the source of the Oceanic Magic we've been following!" Lucy hurriedly informed her. "When I checked the Log Pose after she blew you off, the needle was following her!"

Cana felt a pang of disappointment that they had been following the wrong signal, but quickly buried it for now. She'd deal with that later. "Then why are we following her? She's clearly not Luffy."

"Because she might know where Luffy is! Ace said that he and Luffy were supposed to be looking for other Oceanic Spirit Mages for help. Luffy might have found this girl then moved on because she's too young."

Cana felt a little bit of hope bloom in her chest, but quickly tempered it with realism. "Sounds like a longshot," she couldn't keep a hopeful smile from stretching across her face. "But I've always liked a gamble.

The two Fairy Tail mages followed the white-haired girl as best as they could through the maze of a town. They were faster than her, but she lived in this city and apparently knew it like the back of her hand. The only time they got close was when the girl had been satisfied that she had lost the angry chef. Lucy had managed to get close enough to get a clear look at the girl before she noticed and took off again. The girl had used every back alley, narrow side street, and twisted pathway to stay ahead of them, and it was only thanks to the Log Pose that they managed to avoid losing her and getting hopelessly lost. Again.

The girl eventually stopped in an alley and turned to confront her pursuers. Lucy and Cana were relieved that she had finally stopped. Neither was sure how much longer they could have kept up with her. She was fast for her age and had a significantly easier time avoiding obstacles and squeezing through tight spaces than they did, especially when said obstacles only appeared after she had created them.

"How're you keeping up with me?" the girl demanded. "I'm the fastest kid in town. There's no way a couple of slowpokes like you two could keep up with me, I'm super-fast. You've gotta be cheating."

The two older mages took this moment to catch their breath and properly examine the girl. What they thought was white hair was actually a very light shade of blue that was styled in a bob cut. Her clothes were clean but showed obvious signs of wear. A light blue shirt with a skull wearing a straw hat stitched on the back that was accented with dark blue buttons, cuffs, and collar, blue shorts, and white shoes.

Once she stopped panting, Lucy straightened up and started to talk, being careful to not spook the girl and start their chase all over again. She introduced themselves, "I'm Lucy and this is Cana." Neither mage missed the way that the girl tensed at Lucy's name or how her hand twitched towards her waist. She was an Oceanus Spirit Mage, it was a safe bet that she'd have keys on her. "What's your name?"

The girl's eyes darted between the two mages, looking for the slightest sign of aggression or deceit. She didn't find any, but still kept her guard while introducing herself, "Yukino."

"Yukino. That's a pretty name," Lucy complimented her. Yukino's eyes shifted over to her immediately and Lucy winced. She could clearly see that Yukino knew what she was trying to do. She'd have to try harder if she wanted her to relax and start to trust them. "Anyways. We were following you with this," Lucy showed off the Log Pose on her wrist, letting all three compasses catch the sunlight. "It lets you track Oceanus Spirit Magic and anyone that uses it."

Yukino's eyes stopped darting between the two girls to narrow in on the magic compass. "You can track anyone that uses Oceanus Spirit Magic?" she asked with an intensity that set the older women on edge.

They knew that the girl was planning something but, other than shifting their positions a little in preparation for an attack, they didn't make any sudden movements. After a tense moment of hesitation, Lucy answered her question. "Yes. But only for a little while. After that, it acclimates and locks onto the next closest source."

That was enough for Yukino. These people were looking for sources of Oceanus Spirit Magic and had already tracked her down. If she let them get used to her, then that compass would lead them right to Lucy-nii. He had mentioned that there were bad people looking for him and that's why he had to wear that funny beard and go by a girl's name. These two had to be some of those bad people; one of them was even using the same name as Lucy-nii's super-secret disguise! She had to stop them before they found Lucy-nii's hiding place and he had to leave.

Yukino wouldn't let that happen.

Her left hand yanked the dark blue key out of her back pocket even as her right snatched up the pipe staff she had stashed in this alley weeks ago. The blonde girl jumped back as the brown-haired one reared back her arm to throw something at her, but she was too late.

"Open! Cabin of the Surgeon, Law!"

Cana's throwing card was deflected away by an oversized blade with a furry handguard held in tattooed hands. The owner of said hands was a tall and slim man with black hair hidden under a spotted, white fur hat and a matching goatee. He tilted his head up, removing the shadow from the hat's bill that kept his gray eyes (and the bags underneath them) hidden. He was wearing an open black hoodie that showed off his muscular torso and the large tribal tattoo of a heart that covered his chest, blue pants with the same spotted pattern as his hat, several gold earrings, and black shoes. He gave a sardonic smile to the girls in front of him and said, "Well, this is a surprise. What did these girls do that was so bad you were willing to summon me, Summoner-ya?"

"They're here for Lucy-nii!" the girl told him while twirling her pipe and preparing for a fight.

"Is that so?" Law asked. His eyes ran over the two Fairy Tail mages and sent shivers down their spines. "Well, I guess we'll have to eliminate them then."

"Wait! Wait! This is all a misunderstanding!"

Lucy's protests fell on deaf ears as Law reached his hand out and said, "Room."

A strange semi-transparent blue dome quickly expanded from Law's hand and covered the alley they were standing in. Law then drew his overly long sword and casually swung it in front of him.

Not waiting to see what Law was planning, Cana cried "DOWN!" and tackled Lucy to the ground. The pair raised their heads and were stunned to see the walls around them perfectly cut and floating in the air. "Oh shit."

They quickly scrambled to their feet and tried to sprint out of the alley before the debris could crushed them. But before they could leave, the debris appeared before them and blocked their exit. The pair turned around to see Law smirking at them from the same spot he had been summoned to, the back of his sword tapping against his shoulder.

"Stop! We don't want to fight you," Lucy called down the alley.

"Way past the bargaining stage, Luce," Cana muttered before throwing several of her Explosive Cards at Law.

The spirit's smirk seemed to grow wider as he said something they couldn't hear and made a strange hand motion. Next thing Cana knew, they were standing at the other end of the alley and Yukino was only a few feet away from her with her pipe pulled back to swing despite being well out of reach. Before she could even voice their confusion, Cana's own cards hit her back and went off. The Card Mage was propelled forward by the explosion and realized what Yukino had been planning just in time for the young mage to nail her in the head with her pipe.

Cana went sprawling and saw stars. "Fuck," she swore as she got to her feet unsteadily. A quick hand to her head came back with blood. Kid hit hard. Yukino charged her for another attack with her pipe. She was fast, but Cana was faster. She palmed a card in her offhand before drawing Ace's pipe staff and blocking Yukino's strike.

The light blue-haired girl was shocked at the weapon Cana used. When she first saw it, she had assumed it was a regular metal staff, but now she could see that it was just like the one Lucy-nii had made for her. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion and anger. "Where did you get that?!"

"If you'd let us talk instead of calling your boytoy out to fight for you then you'd know already, ya little shit," Cana replied. A bit much for a kid, but she was a little concussed and a lot pissed. She activated the Lightning Card in her hand and shocked Yukino into breaking their stalemate. Cana was going to press her advantage, but then she heard Lucy scream.

There was a quick displacement of air, and then Law was standing where Yukino had been with that stupid smirk on his face. In one hand he had his compensation sword, and in the other…

Cana's stomach dropped as she watched Law toss a familiar head of blond hair up and down in his hand like a fucking toy. Cana stared slack jawed in horror while Law played with Lucy's severed head as her mind tried to comprehend that her friend, who she had strong-armed into coming on this trip with her, had been killed while she was screwing around with the kid and she was currently standing right in front of her killer.

Before Cana could dislodge the lump in her throat and scream—Lucy's name or just rage she wasn't sure—Lucy's eyes moved to meet her own. Then she started screaming again.

After Cana had thrown her cards, Lucy watched Law disappear before her very eyes to be replaced by Cana. She couldn't do anything more than watch uncomprehendingly as Cana's own attack sent her flying. Then, Lucy's brain came to the logical conclusion of how Cana could have swapped places with Law. Her head slowly started to turn. She knew what she would find to her left, but really didn't want to acknowledge it.

Standing next to her was the spirit with his very large and very menacing sword. "Hello, Blondie-ya," he said with a smile that somehow managed to be both vicious and lazy.

Lucy desperately grasped at her key ring and grabbed a random key. It didn't matter who it was, she just needed somebody's help. Before she could even begin her incantation, Law's sword lashed out at her. With no time to react, Lucy squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the end.

After a few seconds, Lucy hesitantly opened her eyes. She was still alive? How? She had felt the sword pass through her neck, but there wasn't any pain. She was watching Cana fight Yukino from a different angle though, so that was weird. She couldn't see Law either. Trying to turn her head didn't change anything, which sent her into a panic. Had she been paralyzed by his attack?! She reached up to feel for any damage to her neck and was relieved to find that she could still move her arms. That relief quickly vanished when she found what had happened to her neck. Slowly, her hands felt around the base of her neck and traveled higher. But after a few inches, there was nothing there. Lucy brushed past the clean edge where her head had apparently detached from her body. She could feel something cold under her head, but her hands were just finding something warm and squishy that she immediately stopped touching. She was just going to repress that feeling along with the strange tickle she felt inside of her neck when she did that.

Nope. Not thinking about what that was.

But what had happened to her?

Lucy's question was answered when her head was involuntarily moved so that instead of Cana fighting a twelve-year-old, she was looking at the psychotic smirk of the Surgeon Spirit. Lucy let out an involuntary "Eep!" when he grabbed her by the hair and lifted her up so that she was looking down at him. Despite her dangerous position, Lucy still managed to stammer out, "W-wh-what did you do to me?!"

"Take a look."

Lucy's view was shifted, and she was forced to look back at HER HEADLESS BODY! Law started to say something, but Lucy couldn't hear him over the sound of her own scream.

She must have passed out, because the next thing Lucy knew she was being tossed in the air over and over like a macabre ball. From her consistently limited view, she could see Cana staring at her in shock. Then she remembered her current situation and started screaming again.

Law gave her head some spin on the next toss and caught her around the mouth. "Would you shut up, Blondie-ya? I didn't kill you."

Lucy's response couldn't be made out around Law's tattooed hand but judging by the way she was glaring at him and her body was violently gesturing at the end of the alley it wasn't anything complimentary.

The spirit merely rolled his eyes before focusing on Cana. "As you can see, Stripper-ya, I've removed your companion's head. She's fine for now, but that can change quickly if you don't answer our questions."

"Yeah!" agreed Yukino, who had walked over from wherever Law had teleported her to. She was haphazardly twirling Lucy's key ring around in her hand, making the many blue keys attached to it jangle.

Cana internally swore. That kid stealing Lucy's kids just made things complicated… well, more complicated than a headless and alive Lucy had already made things. She needed to stall until she could come up with a better plan. "Fine? You've turned her into the fucking headless horseman! How could you call that fine?!" Cana paused for a moment. "And who are you calling a stripper?!" She was wearing a jacket!

"I can reattach her head at any time," Law explained. "She is still connected to her body and has had no harm done to her, but if you keep trying to stall that can change very quickly." To demonstrate, he gave Lucy's head a squeeze that made the blonde teen scream into his hand loud enough for Cana to hear.

"Alright, alright!" the Card Mage yelled at the spirit. Well, Plan A didn't work. Time for Plan B. "What do want to know?"

While Law was busy interrogating Cana, Lucy was desperately trying to come up with a plan. She was rather limited at the time though. Law was holding her head straight up at the sky and she couldn't do anything with her body since she couldn't see where it was going. She was more likely to trip over her own feet and break her leg again than she was to do something productive. Lucy's hands clenched in frustration and she felt something metallic dig into her right palm. Her eyes widened in surprise. The key that she had grabbed to defend herself against Law! She had forgotten she had pulled it out, which was understandable since she was trying to process the fact that she was FUCKING HEADLESS! Lucy didn't know which key it was, but she'd take what she could get. Her magic surged as she went through the familiar motions of a summons and said the incantation into her captor's palm.

There was a burst of blue light behind them, and then the sound of rubber snapping and an explosion going off against Law's back. They looked back to see a shirtless, muscular young man with a very long nose, a small goatee, and long curly black hair tied back under a white suncap holding a large black slingshot. He was wearing yellow pants with red suspenders, brown boots, a red satchel, and had a pair of goggles hanging around his neck. The man struck a pose and declared, "I'm am the Great Usopp, the Spirit of the Sniper! Who dares challenge me and my eight thousand followers?!"

Cana sighed in relief at the appearance of Lucy's spirit while Yukino backed up in fear. For a spirit to have eight thousand followers at his beck and call was an intimidating power. They were lucky that Lucy managed to grab Usopp's key.

The relief and fear were quickly reversed when Law opened his mouth. "That would be me, Long Nose-ya."

"Law?!" the spirit shouted in surprise. "I'm supposed to fight you?" He turned to Lucy's headless body. "What were you thinking summoning me against hi—ahhh!"

Cana could only stare at the spirit freaking out over a headless body and mutter her thoughts aloud, "We're fucked."

A loud crash was heard and all the debris that was blocking off the alley was sent flying at Usopp and Lucy's body. Even surprised the spirit managed to pull Lucy's body out of the way form the debris while finding cover for both of them. Through the rubble walked a shorter man in an open black shirt covered in sunflowers, a yellow sash, blue shorts, sandals, and a gladiator helmet that did little to hide the intense glare he was leveling at Cana and Lucy's head. He had a large white beard and an X-shaped scar on his muscular chest. It only took one look for Cana and Lucy to know that this was Luffy, the Monkey Spirit and man they had been looking for.

When he opened his mouth though, his tone made them wish that they hadn't found him. "Who hurt Yuki?"

"Luffy?!" Usopp cried out in surprise.

Instantly, Luffy's dangerous aura disappeared and a large smile stretched out under his beard. "Usopp!"

"Lucy-nii!"

"Yuki!"

"Straw Hat-ya."

"Tra-o!"

Everyone began to talk over each other while they tried to explain what was happening. Usopp wasn't fighting anyone, Yukino was being twirled around by Luffy, who was also stretching his limb out to pull Usopp and Law into a hug and the spinning game. Lucy's head had been set aside by Law and was currently staring at a wall while her body slowly started to crawl its way around while trying to feel out where her head was. There was only one proper response Cana could give to the current situation.

"What the fuck is going on here?!"

"Shihihihi!"

A/N: Luffy's here. On the 18th chapter and over 100k words in, no less. I'm not going to lie, I'm not comfortable writing Luffy so the next few chapters are going to be… interesting. Also, Yukino! She's shown up a little early. Now that Luffy's here, I should probably make a blanket statement that the One Piece characters are based on the abilities they had during the Dressrosa Arc. There should be about two or three more chapters for this arc before hopping back into canon. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that. Later.