Second Chance

Hello viewers! I had adopted this story from Redery The original author of Second Chance, sadly she had decided to discontinue her story but had recently given me permission to continue it. which I am beyond honored to do!

If I owned One Piece then Ace never would've died...

Chapter 9 - Partying With Bounty Hunters!

"Nami! We have an emergency! The light from the lighthouse disappeared!" screamed Luffy as he hung upside down from Merry's head. Despite the emergency, he didn't lose his grin, enjoying the spray from the rain and waves as Merry cut through them, despite feeling a bit weaker from the sea water actually hitting him.

"It's supposed to disappear. That's why you need a navigator. Trust me, I'll remember the way," Nami said confidently, standing by the figure head in a rain coat.

"Shisisisi Of course I trust you!," smiled Luffy as he changed positions so he could hang from the head by his arms, letting his legs dangle free.

"Anyway, can you get off of there?" Nami asked uneasily.

"No. This is my special seat, you can't have it."

"Who wants to sit there, idiot?! But it looks like that rumor is true. Come inside, we need to discuss some things."

Once they were out of the rain and inside the cabin, Nami showed the crew the map to the Grand Line. "It looks like the entrance is a mountain."

"A mountain?" gasped Usopp in shock.

"I thought it was impos-"

"Um, Nami? Sorry to interrupt but you might want to check where we're going," Luffy interrupted as he snacked on an apple.

She shot him an incredulous look.

"What do you mean, Luffy?"

"Well we are pretty close to the Calm Belt. We could drift there accidentally," he replied, the apple's core disappearing in his mouth.

Nami's expression changed to one of complete shock for a moment before looking down at her compass and then at the ship's heading. "Crap! Luffy's right! Guys start rowing backwards immediately!"

"What's the big de-" Zoro tried to say before Nami's fist interrupted.

"Now! It'll be bad if we end up there!"

"Shishishi! Let's go Nami, it'll be fun. It's been a while since I've seen one of those Sea Kings!" Luffy chuckled, looking like it was the best idea he's ever had.

"No way!" screamed the navigator in outrage. " Sanji, Zoro, Usopp, take in the sails and start rowing!"

The three ran off to obey as their captain just laughed and grabbed another apple to munch on. Once they were back in the safe zone, Nami fixed the heading and made sure the storm wouldn't blow them off course again.

"That was really smart for once Luffy," she complimented.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he pouted.

"It means that sometimes you surprise me with your intelligence while other times you drive me crazy with your stupidity."

"Nami's being a meanie! I won't tell you how to get through the mountain," said Luffy sticking his tongue at her.

Nami stared.

"Wait. You know how to?"

"Of course," replied Luffy, smirking cockily, enjoying his friend's confusion.

"How?" she uttered.

"You just go up the mountain," grinned Luffy.

Instantly, her curiosity was replaced with irritation.

"Idiot!" yelled Nami as she bonked him on the head. "And here I thought you were going to be smart. How the hell do you go up a mountain?"

"Why couldn't we just have gone south? We would've been there by now if you didn't make us turn around," grumbled Zoro.

"That's a bad idea Zoro!" yelled Luffy as he pointed at him and gave him a pitiful look. "We have to go up the mountain cause its cooler to use the entrance!"

"That's not it!" screamed Nami. "That way is the Calm Belt. If we went there we'd be trapped! There's no winds or currents in the Calm Belt. To top it off, it's the breeding ground for the biggest Sea Kings!

"Sea Kings?" shouted Usopp his knees shaking so badly they hit each other.

"That's right. Now shut up and let me figure this map out," commanded Nami.

"I already told you, Nami! We just need to go up the mountain!" Luffy insisted, frowning like a little obstinate kid. Nami just ignored him and continued studying the map, while Sanji kicked Luffy aside, telling him not to disturb her.

After a while, Nami looked up, a guilty expression on her face.

"Um, guys? I think Luffy was right. We'll have to go up the mountain," she said, refusing to look at Luffy's smug expression.

"How is that possible though?" asked Usopp, looking as disbelieving as they all felt.

"It looks like the ocean heads to the mountain and creates a stream strong enough to go up the canal. We just have to be careful to get the Merry in and out perfectly. If we lose control for even a second we'll crash into the mountain."

"I told you so!" said Luffy, blowing a raspberry at her. "Isn't the mystery mountain cool?"

After arguing back and forth for a while more, Luffy yelled that he'd spotted the mountain. Sanji and Usopp ran off to steer the ship and Zoro and Nami looked at the stream in disbelief. They almost crashed into the mountain side when the handle controlling the rudder broke, but Luffy quickly jumped in between and used his balloon move to push the boat back on course. Zoro rushed to grab him before he could fall into the ocean and the crew started dancing in celebration.

Luffy climbed back on his special seat while Sanji and Usopp climbed up to the sails as the stream catapulted them high into the air and far above the clouds towards the sun.

It looked as breathtaking as on the day he had passed through here a lifetime ago and a rush of excitement ran through Luffy as finally he was about to restart this journey. Smiling and closing his eyes, Luffy felt the wind rush past them harshly, nearly drowning out the shouts and cries of excitement and wonder of his crew.

This time everything would be alright.

He would make sure of it.

BOOOOOOO!

The moment was broken by a loud wailing noise, making them all snap back to attention.

"Hey did you guys hear something?" asked Zoro, his green eyes narrowing and searching the mist in front of him for something suspicious.

"Ah! Crap! Laboon!" Luffy said to himself as he ran into the cabin.

"Where are you going Luffy?" questioned Nami, still holding tightly onto the rail.

"Nami-chan! I see a mountain ahead!" warned Sanji.

"A mountain? That's impossible!"

They heard the sound again, louder this time and realized it was a massive whale. All four of them started panicking as Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp couldn't move the broken rudder to get the ship out of the way. Suddenly they heard the bang of a cannon, and then again. The force was enough to slow the ship down, and a third shot made the ship stop right in front of the whale.

'Sorry Laboon, but I don't want my special seat destroyed.'

The crew watched in horror, waiting for the whale to react to being hit with projectiles that normally would have torn a ship's hull apart. However it didn't seem to feel the cannons and they sighed in relief. They quickly started to row away, but then Luffy stepped in front of them wearing a mischievous grin.

"Hey... have you guys ever been inside a whale before?"

"What? Of course not!" they all replied. Luffy's grin only widened as he turned around and punched Laboon in the eye.

"Well, have fun!" declared Luffy as the rest of their jaws dropped to the floor. The whale opened its mouth and the ship was sucked in. Luffy was laughing so hard he could barely get off in time as Usopp was crying on the floor and Nami and Sanji started screaming profanities at Luffy. Zoro just gave him an odd look.

Luffy jumped off the ship and started kicking his feet as fast as he could, gaining air little by little. 'Ah! This is Sanji's Sky Walk!' he thought before losing balance and beginning to fall. He quickly stretched a hand and pulled himself up onto Laboon. 'Looks like I need a bit of practice with it.'

Looking around, Luffy spotted the hatch on top of the head and dove in before Laboon submerged himself.

"I'm going to kill him!" screamed Nami and Sanji as they were going down the whale's throat.

"Why, Luffy? Why?!" cried Usopp miserably. He sat on the floor, hugging his knees.

"Calm down," said Zoro as leaned on the rail.

His nonchalant demeanor earned him the wrath of his crewmates.

"How can we?! We just got swallowed!" they yelled with shark teeth.

"Luffy clearly knows something about the whale. Do you really think he'd let a whale eat his nakama?" Zoro questioned, challengingly raising an eyebrow.

That shut them up.

"I'm still going to kill him when I see him," growled Nami.

"Shitty rubber," Sanji muttered furiously as he lighted a smoke. "I'll kick him so hard he'd wish he was swallowed instead.

Suddenly the ship flowed into... the ocean? There was a sky and even an island, but the water was green.

Thanks to a weird flower man, they soon found out they were still in the stomach and the sky was just a painting. The man also told them about how Laboon was smashing his head into the Red Line out of loneliness.

Luffy was sent tumbling down the tunnels as Laboon was smashing his head into the wall.

"Ah, so dizzy! But hey, this is kinda fun!" he yelled right before he smashed face first into a wall. He stood up in a curved hallway with a stream going down the middle. The hallway tilted again and Luffy had to run down it in order to keep upright. After turning around the corner, he spotted a man and woman standing by a door, dressed in strange clothes. As they turned around to look at him, he saw Vivi.

Vivi was bowing in front of the villagers even though they'd just shot at her. "You still don't understand what it means to be a Captain, Luffy. If you fight now, what will happen to Nami?"

Vivi was slapping him silly after he'd provoked her on purpose. "Then what else am I supposed to risk? I don't have anything else!"

Vivi dressed like the princess she is, standing by the shore waiting for them. "I can't come with you because I love my country! But if we ever meet again, will you still call me your nakama?"

Luffy grinned widely as he ran toward them. He had missed Vivi. The two screamed at him as they saw him coming, causing Luffy to laugh as they crashed and went flying through the door.

Luffy saw his ship and immediately started kicking towards it, but he was still not familiar enough with the move yet and was falling faster than he could manage to approach the Going Merry. At the last second he stretched himself over to the ship. Vivi and Mr. 9 fell into the stomach acid.

"Luffy! Why the hell did you do that?!" raged Nami and Sanji as they beat him up.

"Sorry sorry," said Luffy smirking and not sounding apologetic at all. "Anyway, Zoro go save those two."

With stoic silence Zoro went and brought the two on to the deck where they figured out that they were on a pirate ship. At that moment Crocus came back after having tranquilized Laboon. Seeing the intruders he started shouting at them while they pulled out two bazookas from seemingly nowhere and aimed them at the whale's stomach yet before they could even fire Luffy stopped them and ordered for them to be tied up.

Crocus thanked them and told them a bit of Laboon's story while traveling out of whale's stomach. It turned out that Crocus was a doctor that had engineered the whale. Once outside Crocus told them to throw the two trouble makers over board and be done with it. Luffy discretely took their log pose before doing so. He chuckled over Vivi's behavior here.

'She's really good at acting like a bad person even though she's really nice,' Luffy thought.

Once outside, Crocus went on with Laboon's story, about how he had been waiting for 50 years for a group of pirates to fulfill their promise and meet him here. Usopp and Sanj argued over why they hadn't come while Luffy couldn't help but reminisce about Brook, surely still lost in the Florian Triangle waiting for help. After the story was finished,the rubber-boy got up and jumped onto Laboon's head while the rest wondered what he was up to.

"What is that idiot doing?" asked Sanji.

Locating the new wounds, Luffy punched them causing the whale to tear up and roar in pain, making his crew and Crocus gasp in horror. The gigantic whale tried to shake its head to knock Luffy off but he wouldn't let go and kept hitting. Laboon leapt up, smashing his head into the cliff. Unfazed, Luffy responded by punching him in the eye. When he went to slam him again, Luffy put up his hand.

"It's a tie!" he yelled, causing the whale to pause in confusion. A confident smile was showing on Luffy's face. "I'm strong, right? But we don't know the outcome of this match, so we'll have to fight again in the future. Your old friends might not have come back yet, but I'll travel around the Grand Line, look for them, and then come back here to see you. Then we'll fight again!" shouted Luffy, grinning.

Laboon, overwhelmed, roared in agreement and Crocus smiled at them. As a sign of their promise Luffy painted a very poorly drawn Jolly Roger on Laboon and told him not go and smash his head on the cliffs again – otherwise the symbol of their promise would be erased.

Afterwards Nami started working on planning their route while Usopp repaired Merry's rudder. Sanji started cooking an elephant tuna he'd bought in Louge Town and Zoro and Luffy took a nap.

Or at least tried to until Nami started screaming.

"What's wrong?" asked Luffy.

"The compass is broken!"

Crocus, who couldn't believe his own ears when they went and told him they knew practically nothing about the Grand Line, then explained to them why no normal compass would work in these waters, while Sanji brought out the cooked fish. Luffy started eating, only stopping to show the Log Pose he had taken from Vivi.

Nami still punched him for some reason before taking it. When Sanji realized he had finished the whole fish and kicked him, making him smash into Nami and broking the Log Pose as a result, Nami kicked Sanji off the cliff in anger. As she turned to Luffy he quickly held his hands up.

"Wait, don't worry I have another one.", he said hastily, hands waving.

She halted, blinking at him. "What? Really?!"

"Yeah I, um, 'borrowed' one from my home island from some rich dude. It's in my box on the ship."

"If you had one, why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

"Because someone would've broken it," replied Luffy, leaving Nami to mumble something about him being in a smart mood again.

Just then Sanji appeared, escorting Vivi and Mr. 9. They begged them to take them to Whiskey Peak. Nami being Nami, taunted them, saying they broke their Log Pose causing the two to start insulting them. She interrupted and said they did have a spare one and the two immediately went back to groveling.

"We'll take you," Luffy announced, much to their surprise.

"Eh? Are you sure Luffy?" questioned Nami.

"Of course," replied Luffy before looking at Vivi slyly. "One shouldn't refuse royalty after all," he said leaving Mr. 9 to boast about his kingship while Vivi looked startled and confused.

They left the lighthouse, waving good bye to Crocus and Laboon.

It started snowing on the way to Whiskey Peak and Luffy and Usopp had fun goofing around, while Nami made Sanji shovel. Zoro slept peacefully. When the two hitchhikers complained about the cold, she kicked them out of the kitchen, telling them to go shovel as well. Luffy though allowed Vivi to go back inside and just made Mr. 9 do the work, earning him some weird looks. After some time Nami freaked out about how they were going completely backwards when they had just been going straight a few seconds ago. They then proceeded to battle the horrible storms that resulted from the unstable climate on the Grand Line.

After rain, snow, thunder, lightning, sun, wind and all other forms of weather, they finally neared an island enough for it to stabilize. Zoro finally woke up as well.

"Ah, that was a good nap," he said while stretching. Looking around he saw everyone else lying on the deck as well. "Hey even if the weathers nice, it isn't good for all of us to be sleeping. What if we get lost?" he questioned, much to everyone's irritation. He then spotted the two agents and asked what they were doing.

"We're going to their town," answered Luffy.

"Don't tell me we're going to take them there? We don't have any reason to," complained Zoro.

"Yeah, we don't," replied Luffy. 'Other than that Vivi is a nakama,' he thought to himself.

Zoro then went to question the two saying their names were familiar until Nami came and smacked him... a lot. He had bumps coming out of bumps by the end of it.

Nami told everyone they needed to be careful because they had just learned why the Grand Line was considered such a dangerous place. But at last they finally reached Whiskey Peak.

Vivi and Mr. 9 jumped up on the rail as soon as they got close to the island.

"Thanks for bringing us here. We have to go now," said Mr. 9

"We shall meet again if we are destined to," added Miss Wednesday.

"Oh, I'm sure we will, your highness," smirked Luffy just as they jumped off the ship.

After a couple of discussions about the Log Pose and islands in general, they came into the harbors to the cheers of all the townsfolk. They seemed to be happy that pirates were coming and congratulated them on making it across the Red Line. A large man with really curly hair, wearing a suit and carrying a saxophone stepped forward and identified himself as the mayor. He asked the pirates to party with them tonight.

'Hmmm should I let them know it's a trap?' wondered Luffy for a moment. 'Nah, let's just party. They had pretty good food if I remember right. Besides Zoro will take care of it.'

So the crew partied all day long and well into the night. Sanji was surrounded by women, for once, while Usopp had plenty of admirers. Nami won a drinking game to win money while Zoro pretended to pass out drunk. Luffy ate till he was stuffed, and then some more. Once his stomach was bulging, he also pretended to fall asleep. He focused on his Haki, observing that the bounty hunters were slowly leaving the bar and had gone outside to discuss what to do with them. He heard them shout about his bounty and how they should take him alive. 'Idiots. They didn't even tie any of us up.'

He then sensed Zoro sneak out and climb unto a roof. One person came to check on them, but he quickly joined those asleep after a good dose of Conqueror's Haki. He waited a a little longer, listening to their talk about Baraque Works before Zoro started fighting all of them single handedly. Luffy then climbed out and jumped on top of a roof to watch the fight, remembering to take some more meat and a few drinks along.

Luffy sat on the roof chewing his meat slowly for once, as he watched Zoro dash around with a grin. Zoro would quickly dispatch the nearest enemies before ducking into a building or alley to avoid getting shot before popping out from somewhere else to cut down a few more. He seemed to be really enjoying himself, especially as he used one blade at a time so he could test the new ones. Having been satisfied with Yubashiri, he sheathed it and pulled out the Kitetsu blade.

Luffy could feel its aura even from the rooftop. He'd known from the start there was something odd about it, but only truly felt it once he had developed his Haki. Zoro had told him it was cursed, but he had mastered it to a point where he could control it.

The Zoro in this timeline still needed to apparently, as he watched him cut his enemies down. Usually Zoro would only aim to incapacitate his opponents unless he really had to kill them, but this time his blade wasn't held back. Luffy's observation was confirmed when he saw Zoro hold his shoulder and mutter at the blade in annoyance.

Luffa laughed when he saw Zoro throw the ladder down while it was still full of pursuers. He laughed harder when Zoro made a hole in the floor and causally walked away, warning the bounty hunters about it seconds before they fell in. 'Zoro's really enjoying himself,' grinned Luffy.

His laughing finally became loud enough to be heard by the agents when they commented on Zoro being taken down by some gorilla woman. The agents all looked at him with shock.

"You're awake too?" cried Mr. 9.

"Forget about me, you should pay attention to Zoro. You don't really think that was enough to defeat him do you?" chuckled Luffy.

All of a sudden they heard a scream and looked to where Zoro holding Miss Monday up with one hand, squeezing her head until she started foaming at the mouth and passed out.

Zoro taunted the agents while licking the blood off his face in an eerily fashion.

"The marines must've messed up on their intel!" yelled Igaram.

"Yeah this guy is definitely the one worth 50 million!" exclaimed Mr. 9.

"How can that weak looking kid be the captain?" questioned Vivi as she pointed at Luffy on the rooftop. 'I don't like Baraque Vivi,' pouted Luffy.

"Ah, you're awake, Captain?" asked Zoro, finally noticing Luffy.

"Yeah. Nice show you put on," he answered, smirking devilishly.

"W-wait! Did he just call him captain?" asked Mr. 9. "Does that mean the marines were right after all? How strong is he then?"

"Strong enough to not have to deal with the likes of you," answered Zoro as he raised his blades.

"To think we lost this many men to one swordsman. How will we face the boss? It will ruin our reputation," said Igaram as he stepped forward and lifted his trumpet. When he blew on it, it fired like a shot gun and Zoro quickly rolled out the way. 'Wow, that's pretty cool,' thought Luffy. Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday went after him. They figured Luffy wouldn't step in after what Zoro had said.

"Oi, Zoro!" yelled Luffy, gaining his attention. "Don't kill the trumpet guy or the blue haired girl."

Zoro simply nodded in answer as he dealt with Mr. 9 while Vivi was having trouble with Carue.

He attacked the batsman until he fell of the roof and turned around to confront Vivi who did a seductive dance. 'Hmmm, didn't really think that was her style,' Luffy mused.

Zoro ignored the dance, but something worked on him to bring him to his knees. Luckily, Carue charged right past him and off the rooftop before Vivi could strike Zoro, leaving Luffy holding his stomach as he laughed.

Igaram managed to corner Zoro as Mr. 9 got back up. Vivi managed to 'sneak' up on Luffy, who sensed her coming, but let her anyway. She put a blade by his neck while he was still laughing and ordered Zoro to not move. Mr. 9 caught his wrist with a chain as Igaram pulled out small cannons from his hair.

"Sooo coooooool!" yelled Luffy, ignoring Vivi completely. "Well, maybe not the hair, but the cannons are nice," he added as Zoro pulled Mr. 9 in between himself and the cannons. Luffy then grabbed the sword Vivi was holding with one hand, while extending the other down to Zoro who grabbed it. Vivi tried to move the blade, but found it wouldn't even budge a millimeter. Luffy pulled Zoro into the air and Zoro used the back of his blade (making sure it wasn't Kitetsu) to knock out Igaram, tossing him into a few crates in the ground. He then went to join Luffy on the roof as Vivi let go of the sword and fell backwards, holding a hand over her mouth in shock. Unfortunately for her, she stumbled off the roof followed by a flailing Carue.

"What about her?" asked Zoro.

"Leave her," replied Luffy as he handed him a bottle to drink. Zoro just shrugged and accepted it. Luffy sensed Nami nearby and called her up.

"Thanks for distracting them, Zoro. I can't believe they only had this much treasure though," whined Nami as she held up a sack of loot. Zoro only grunted in response.

"Anyway, I'm surprised you saw through their ploy, Luffy."

"Oh, I saw through a lot more than that," Luffy teased, pointing at two new arrivals, a blonde woman with short hair and a man with an afro. They were confronting Igaram and Vivi about their true identities. "Zoro deal with the guy. Nami take care of the girl. Careful, they're both fruit users."

"Why do I always have to fight?" pouted Nami.

"Because you were mean and called me stupid," retorted Luffy as he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Looks like they're fighting amongst themselves," pointed out Zoro who had been listening to the agents' conversation. "Leave them to it," Luffy shrugged as Igaram fired his shot gun.

"Go, Zoro. Don't let them get near Miss Wednesday," ordered Luffy. "Or the trumpet guy," he added as an afterthought.

Zoro sighed and chugged down the last of his bottle before throwing it at the blonde girl just as she was about to kick Vivi. She had to take a step back to avoid it, and Zoro took the opportunity to jump in between the two men.

"Hey Luffy, I've noticed you've been looking and talking a lot about the blue haired girl. Don't tell me your infatuated with her?" asked Nami suddenly.

"Eh? What's that, some kinda meat?" questioned Luffy causing her to sweat drop and face palm.

"Shishishi! Just kidding. No I'm not. But she does happen to be a princess in need of aid..." was all he said leaving the rest to Nami's imagination. It worked because he heard a sudden "ka-ching" that came from Nami's eyes transforming into Bellys. She quickly ran off to help the damsel in distress.

"Ugh! I had to cut a booger! Gross!" grunted Zoro, holding his sword away from himself in disgust.

"So you are the swordsman that wreaked havoc in this town. Why are you helping them?" questioned Mr. 5.

Igaram seemed to have the same line of thought. "Wh-why are you helping us?"

"Captain's orders," answered Zoro.

"What does your captain intend? Never mind, it doesn't matter. We'll just defeat you all," said Mr. 5 as he picked his nose for another booger.

"Move!" yelled Nami as she tackled Vivi out of the way just in time to avoid a falling Miss Valentine. The umbrella wielding girl causally stepped out of the hole she had just made.

"Damn! How much do you weigh?" asked Nami.

"I ate the Kilo Kilo no Mi which lets me change my weight between one and 10,000 kilos. Who are you?" she asked.

"Why are you helping me," questioned Vivi.

"Ah, that's right!" exclaimed Nami as she turned to her and took Vivi's hands in her own, her eyes shaped like Bellys once again. "You're a princess right? We'll protect you and escort you back to your land at a small, one time fee of just one billion Belly!" A tick mark appeared on Miss Valentine's temple, not taking well to being ignored.

"O-one b-b-billion?!" Vivi's jaw dropped. "I don't have that kind of money!"

"What? But you're a princess!" Nami riposted. Being royalty and not having money did not add up in her world view.

"B-but my country's in a civil war! We don't have money!"

"Nami, pay attention!" warned Luffy, getting her to dodge Miss Valentine's attack once more.

"Don't ignore me! I asked you a question," growled Miss Valentine.

"Luffy! She doesn't have any money!" pouted Nami, once again ignoring Miss Valentine.

"Protect her anyway. We'll iron out the details later."

"Stop ignoring me!" screeched Miss Valentine as she used her power to lighten herself and launch herself at Nami, aiming a kick at her head. Nami rolled out of the way and pulled out her staff.

"How am I supposed to fight a devil fruit user Luffy?"

"Punch her like you punch me," suggested Luffy.

Nami didn't get a chance to reply as an umbrella was thrust at her face which she blocked with her staff.

Zoro dodged the booger, not wanting to have to cut it again. He rushed at the man, swinging Sandai Kitetsu down upon him.

Mr. 5 dodged the blow at the loss of half his afro.

"You bastard! You cut my hair!" he roared as he aimed a punch sat Zoro's gut. Zoro brought the flat of his blades forward to block it, but was sent stumbling back due to the resulting explosion.

"What are you?"

"I ate the Bomu Bomu no Mi and became a bomb man," said Mr. 5 as he rushed at Zoro, fist raised. Zoro quickly sidestepped him and smashed his head in with the hilt of his sword, sending the man crashing through the wall of a nearby building.

"Tch. That was easy," he said and began walking away, leaving Igaram with his jaw on the floor.

"Th-that was one of the Officer Agents! And you, ma~ma~ma, knocked him away so easily!"

"Zoro! Don't turn your back on an enemy!" reprimanded Luffy who sensed Mr. 5 getting up with his Haki.

The man walked back out of the building holding a revolver. "I usually don't use this except as a last resort. However it should work well against a swordsman," declared the bomb-man as he pulled it open and blew in it before closing it again.

"A pistol? If I can cut snot bombs, I can cut bullets," said Zoro as took up a stance.

"This isn't any ordinary pistol. It's a special model from South Blue. It doesn't shoot bullets," said Mr. 5 before pulling the trigger multiple times. Not hearing the expected bang, Zoro raised a brow in confusion before being blown back from the initial explosion as the subsequent ones blasted him while in mid-air.

Nami was being pushed back by Miss Valentine who used her abilities to change her speed in battle to confuse Nami. Nami jumped back, just barely avoiding the kick.

"Help me Luffy!"

"Ehh... Don't feel like it," replied Luffy, chewing the last of his meat.

"Dammit Luffy! I can't beat her on my own!"

"Nami! Don't you ever say that again! No one in my crew is weak. Especially you! If you can't beat her with strength, use your brains! She has a devil fruit right? The best way to face devil fruit users is by using their ability against themselves!"

Nami was surprised by Luffy's words and it took her a while to focus on the last part. "Her ability? Oh I see!" yelled Nami as she dodged another kick. She then charged at the blonde, stopping just short of her as she crouched down and whipped a leg towards her shin. Miss Valentine easily jumped up, using her ability and umbrella to gain considerable height before changing her weight again and come plummeting down.

Nami smirked as she took a step out of the way, but brought the butt of her staff up, smashing it into the falling woman's chin. The added weight and speed sent Miss Valentine's head jerking back as loose teeth and blood sprayed out. The woman landed on her back, her weight creating a hole in the ground. At the same time a loud crack went through Nami's staff- it had splintered into tiny pieces.

"My staff!" shouted Nami, looking dismayed. However her expression turned into a grin at seeing her opponent knocked out. At least until she heard the girl groan in pain and start to stir. She decided to take Luffy's original advice and quickly went over to Miss Valentine before she could get up and started punching her until she was fully unconscious.

"Yes! I did it!" she yelled as Luffy smirked and Vivi back away a bit and looked at her as if she were a demon.

"Good work Nami!" Luffy praised, grinning proudly.

Mr. 5 smirked as he blew over the mouth of his gun simply to follow protocol. He started to walk over to Igaram who looked distraught, but was stopped in his tracks as the smoke cleared to reveal Zoro still standing. He was a little bloody and bruised, but mostly just looked annoyed.

"What?! How are you still standing after taking all my shots?" screamed the bomb-man in surprise.

"Hmph. I barely even felt that," Zoro sneered before charging at the man once more. Mr. 5 tried to shoot at him again, but Zoro sliced down through the pistol before bringing the blade back up in the same fluid motion. Only this time it came up through Mr. 5's chest. The man gasped, releasing a shaky breath before collapsing face down.

Luffy jumped down from the roof to join his friends now that the battle was over, smirking all the while. After a pat on the back for Zoro and another congratulatory word for Nami, he walked over to Vivi who was sitting on her behind and looking at the trio in utter bewilderment. He offered her a comforting smile and extend his hand to help her up on to her feet.

"So, Miss Princess, how would you like to employ the Straw Hat Pirates to protect and escort you to your country?"

"Wait!" shouted Igaram, running over with his hair cannons armed and pointed at Luffy. "How do you know who we are!"

"I heard the booger guy say who you are, Captain of Alabasta's Royal Guard."

Igaram bristled; shock, anger and confusion evident on his bloodied face.

"And what would you gain from helping us? Her highness has already told you we can't afford such a price!"

Luffy ignored him and tried to walk past him, but Igaram quickly stepped in his way, fingers at the ready. "I will negotiate with the princess, not her guard. Move," he ordered, but the older man remained motionless other than to flinch back a bit.

"It's fine Igaram, they did save us after all. What do you want," Vivi asked politely as she stepped forward.

"A billion Belly!" yelled Nami.

"I'm sorry, but as I said my country is engaged in a civil war and we cannot afford such an amount," replied Vivi as she went on to explain her countries situation and why she was in Baraque Works. Nami sighed as she realized that she wouldn't get her money. Luffy inquired who the boss of the company was and Vivi said it'd be better for them notto know, but accidentally let it slip that it was Corcodile the Shichibukai, leaving them all shocked. The group than noticed a strange otter and vulture fly off. Nami tried to run away but they made a picture of the trio's faces, leaving Nami severely depressed as she cried in a corner.

Igaram, who had shortly disappeared to somewhere, then returned, wearing feminine clothes and asked the crew to escort Vivi while he went a different direction as a decoy. He warned them that Crocodile's bounty was 80 million before he became a Shichibukai. To Nami's dismay, Luffy readily agreed, shrugging the warning off. Igaram then asked for an Eternal Pose from Vivi while Nami asked what that was. Once Igaram explained it, she pulled out the one Luffy had told her to buy from Louge Town.

"Like this one? So it'll take us to an island?" asked Nami, pulling out a Log Pose like compass except that it was incased on the top and bottom with columns along the side. They name of the island was written on the bottom.

"Yeah, we're going to go there soon. I had you buy it to make sure we don't miss the island," replied Luffy.

Luffy ordered Nami to take Vivi to the ship so she wouldn't have to see Igaram get blown up (Luffy decided not to step in since it would've meant having to fight Robin and the guy came out alive anyway). He also ordered Zoro to go and get the two sleeping idiots. Miss Monday and Mr. 9 also turned up, having been eavesdropping for a while now. They insisted to come along to help protect their friend and Luffy allowed them to.

Once everyone was on the ship (Usopp and Sanji having suffered several bruises from Nami), they heard a huge explosion coming from the direction Igaram had gone.

"Damn they already got him!" shouted Zoro as Vivi watched in horrified silence.

"No, he's still alive," said Luffy. "I can sense him."

"What do you mean?" demanded Vivi.

"Er, well I have an ability that lets me sense people's presence, and most of the time where they are so trust me, he's still alive," comforted Luffy. "Now let's get out of here while we can!"

AN: Chapter nine is now out~! So I hope you all enjoyed the update.

Please review and let me know what you think!