Zone of Protection

Arc 1 – Romance Dawn

Chapter 1 – First step of the journey

Inheriting a will, some might even call that a burden. Some might even try to run away from it; hide from the challenge. Others though, they accept it, carry on proudly. Their dreams and goals empowered by the inherited will cannot be broken.

"Oi, hurry it up!"

A pirate crew that stayed in a small village for roughly a year was once again setting sail; the pirates were loading up the supplies as the villagers observed, none indifferent to the amazing crew's department. The one most affected was a boy, still at the naïve age of seven. "You're leaving, huh?" the boy smiled, though it was neither the wide grin he was famous for nor a smile that reached his eyes.

The pirate captain, a man with a straw hat on his head and as of lately missing an arm already had his back turned to the boy. "Yeah. We've stayed here for quite a while., but it's about time for us to go," and without missing a beat he continued. "I bet you'll miss us."

The boy, Luffy, didn't deny it as he and the pirate captain watched the sea. "Yeah, I'll miss you guys; but I won't ask you to take me with you," it was an often made request, one that was always refused. Now Luffy knew it was for a good reason and more importantly… "I've decided to do it by myself. I'm gonna be a pirate."

With a playful look in his eyes the pirate captain stuck his tongue out at Luffy. "I wouldn't have taken you, anyway! A kid like you could never be a pirate!" one last chance to tease the boy, at least for now, there was no way he'd miss it.

Immediately Luffy's face shifted into that of a pure childish anger. "I WILL! I'll gather my own crew of nakama that's strong enough to beat yours and find the world's greatest treasure!" he wasn't done yet, he needed to make his point. "I'm gonna become the Pirate King, no matter what!"

A more serious, proud kind of smile appeared on the captain's face. "Oh, so you're going to beat us?" the chapter, Shanks, inquired.

Luffy remained silent, he was looking at the ground and fighting back his emotions.

Shanks took his straw hat. "In that case…"

Luffy gasped as the straw hat was placed on his head.

The world around them seemed to vanish for a moment. Like nothing else mattered. "I'll let you look after this hat. It's very important to me. Take good care of it. Some day you'll have to give it back to me- when you're a great pirate! It's a promise, Luffy!"

And with that Luffy cried.

~X~

At around the same time in a completely different world the will to go on was being put to a test.

The city was burning, the smell of blood, death and destruction merged with the air itself, the sound of city collapsing made it seem like the world itself was falling apart as the boy leaned against the rubble. Just around the corner he'd find help. It didn't matter he couldn't sense their allies; he was too exhausted. Yes, that was the explanation. "Just a bit more, hold on Grom," the boy's voice cracked… the adrenaline was wearing off and the panic and pain were settling in.

With what little strength he had left, the boy, Vergil, pulled the barely conscious devil up onto his back. His knees nearly buckled and he bit back a yelp as blinding pain engulfed him just for a moment. His eyes, as red as blood, scanned the area and he finally made that last turn. And this time his knees buckled, the one final base, Grom's last hope for treatment. It was destroyed, utterly decimated.

"Leave me," Grom wheezed, the cut on the side of his neck made everything harder to do. He still pushed himself to the side and leaned against the wall.

Vergil snapped his head to the side. Glaring as best as he could at Grom. "Never!" he actually found strength to yell.

"I heard something over there!" a voice neither of the two recognized made them freeze. Any moment now and they'd be found, was it an ally… or an enemy?

Vergil slammed his fist against the ground, wasting what little strength he had left. He only raised his head when shadow loomed over him.

Grom stood there and despite blood all over him he still looked so powerful. He was no longer trembling or having troubles standing. It was as if a new breath of life coursed through him. His yellow eyes shone with conviction.

Lightning cracked in the distance, footsteps, many of them, got closer.

"Verge, I'm proud of you," in a blink of an eye Grom grabbed Vergil by the neck and threw him into the ruins of the base they were trying to reach.

Immediately upon hitting the ground Vergil lost consciousness.

A single tear rolled down his cheek.

~X~

If there was ever a single kind of food Vergil could just erase from existence, it would be the damn abomination he was trying to force through his throat. It was a combination of blodling cheese too salty to be considered healthy, a thin, cheapest, bitter forest herb leaf and a, thankfully, thin layer of blodling fat on a frankly stale bread. As far as food went it was the second cheapest thing you could get, second only to stale bread and only by five svarogs. Considering the next cheapest thing cost twice as much, fifty svarogs, and was barely half the size Vergil opted for quantity. Not like salted bread would make him any healthier.

"You're definitely getting sick one of these days," a voice snapped him out of mindless chewing and he glanced to the side. Next to him was a devil in his late twenties, though the age wasn't that obvious, from afar he looked younger than Vergil, though a light grey suit contrasting Vergil's tattered black coat and black hair probably had a lot to do with that. "You could say something."

Vergil concentrated back on swallowing the abomination of a sandwich. "Piss off, Kaltag," he growled, really not in the mood for his former comrade's company.

Kaltag though, much to Vergil's annoyance, sat down right next to him. "Why are you even staying here?" the devil looked annoyed as someone in the back groaned, likely in pain. Vergil though remained silent and that annoyed him even more. "One large cup of tea with extra lemon and honey from human world," he placed his order and pulled out a thousand svarogs.

"He'll have a glass of water," Vergil interrupted before the bartender could start making the tea. The white haired male ignored the glares from the bartender and from the devil next to him. "Take a look around," he hissed at Kaltag, they were in a dimly lit bar filled with people that barely made it through the day eating once in a while the cheapest meal they could get.

"Geez, not my fault they can't get their lives together," Kaltag rolled his eyes.

Vergil grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer. "You might want to take a look at what your comrades are doing before you open your mouth," a single spark found its way up to Kaltag's neck to make a point.

Kaltag sneered at him. "Says the high and mighty hero that can't keep anyone alive. Black Thunder? You're nothing but a dead shell at this point," he turned to the bartender. "And I'll have that tea I ordered as well as your most expensive meal."

"That'll be ten thousand svarogs, sir," bartender informed him, oblivious to the glares he and his new favorite customer were receiving from the rest of the devils in the bar. He then turned to Vergil. "Would you like anything else?"

Vergil sighed, fighting wouldn't bring him anything here. "Give me another one of these abominations," he pointed at the nearly eaten sandwich. "Two middle bottles of clean water, a portion of blodling steak and a bread. Put it all in a bag."

Bartender nodded and a few minutes later he came back with the bag to where Vergil was still sitting, Kaltag had moved further down the bar in the meantime. "Eight hundred twenty-five svarogs."

Vergil placed the cash on the counter, took the bag and wordlessly left the bar. The village was still mostly in ruins, with only a few houses actually being without damage. Nine years passed since Grom died here yet this place never recovered. Vergil looked at the sky, that red sky he used to love now seemed like a cruel reminded of the bloodbath this place went through. An old couple stumbled down the street, they were likely walking towards the bar. They nodded at him, offering the weakest of smiles but smiles none the less.

"A nice day, my boy," the old man pointed at the clear sky.

"Most would agree," Vergil smirked, objectively speaking, it was a nice day, for him though.

"Eh, quit teasing darling," the female lightly scolded her husband.

The old man just smiled as he looked into Vergil's eyes. "Nah, he doesn't mind. Right, Vergil-kun."

Vergil reached up and touched the lightning scar on the right side of his face, he had his own lightning to thank for that, even after seventeen years it didn't even fade, it was still as red as the lightning that struck him. "I don't. I'll see you later," he waved to the old couple one last time before heading down the street. A few streets further away from the bar he leaned against the wall and sat down, the shadow of the building provided him with the much needed shelter from the sun.

It didn't help with heat though, there was no wind and sweat made his white hair stick to his forehead. He needed a haircut, it was starting to get into his eyes. He really should have taken off his coat, but it wasn't like it would help so he might as well just bear with it. Vergil closed his eyes for five minutes and then he heard the small footsteps, a pair of them. "Come on out, I brought you food. You'll have to share the steak though."

As soon as he said that two kids, no older than ten appeared from behind the corner. They were twins, still so powerless to make it on their own. Orphans from four years ago… Perhaps that was why Vergil kept providing them with some food and money. He pulled out the abomination and tossed the rest of the bag to the kids.

"Thanks big brother," the blond boy muttered as he and his sister started eating on the ground in front of Vergil.

"For the whatever time this is, my name is not big brother, it's Vergil," he kept pointing that out mostly out of habit by now, there was no way the two were going to stop anytime soon. Despite that he did end up forming somewhat of a bond with the kids, so the least he could do right now was making sure they were taken care of, without him. He waited until they were done with their meal. "Miranda, Gari, I need to leave for some time-"

"But big brother-" the twins immediately jumped up.

"Vergil! And no buts," even now he couldn't not correct them. "I have something I need to fix, and you two need to leave this place," he reached into his pocket and pulled an envelope. A stern look the kids silenced them before they could speak again. "There's money for food, tickets for the train and a letter for Zarja, seek her out when you get there and give it to her. She'll make sure you're fine."

The kids latched onto his legs the moment he stood up, but he gently pushed them away and placed the envelope in Gari's hands. "Keep a close eye on it. Goodbye," he didn't even look back, he just jumped up to the roof where the kids couldn't follow him.

~X~

Thanatos, the demon world as humans often called it, Vergil wondered how long it could last with the way things were going. The ground underneath his boots cracked whenever he moved and while he certainly wasn't thin he wasn't that heavy either. Lack of rain truly messed up this area, almost half a year without it. Not even nights were providing comfort, sure he recovered enough strength to keep going and fight, but darkness wasn't his primary source of power. It was electricity, without it he just kept getting weaker and weaker. Ever since he lost- no, he couldn't think about that now.

Finally, after two hours of walking he reached his destination, crossroads, one used to lead to the bridge that connected two countries in Thanatos, bridge over the chasm of souls, of course it no longer existed, going down that road meant going to death itself. The other side led to Volos, the capital city of Nawia. If going right meant death, then going left meant life, it was quite ironic really so he sat down, right in the middle, below the sign. Not even ten minutes later he heard hooves and looked ahead, the carriage with two devils, the people that contacted him, had arrived.

The devils wore light grey cloaks and neither looked particularly strong, neither felt strong either.

"So you're infamous Black Thunder? I expected someone better I guess, maybe even dressed like a royalty, I mean you could swim in money," the smug look on his face and even a bit of mocking to spice the conversation.

Still, the white haired devil smirked. "What do you want?" he even raised his hands encouraging them to get whatever they wanted over with,

The other devil, the one with thin mustache stepped forward. "We set a demon into the human world and we'd like you to kill it. We'll split the money, hell you can take half."

Vergil raised an eyebrow. "Money?" he was fairly confused. The idea that they set it free on purpose did cross his mind but doing that and coming to him of all people.

The first devil snickered. "Of course. We set it free on some island, Dawn Island or something, we'll let it wreak havoc for some time and then you jump in and kill it. Then we-" he never got a chance to finish, instantly Vergil was on his feet and holding him by the neck.

The rage in his yellow eyes made both of the devils shiver in fear. "Why did you do that?" yet his voice didn't get any louder, he was angered, but behind that anger he still had a bit of curiosity.

"They're just humans! Who cares if a few dozens of them die?!"

"I do," a burst of lightning exploded around Vergil electrifying the two instantly. Before they could even comprehend what happened he placed his palms over their necks and let the electricity flow.

Vergil sighed, this would be a long journey, but first things first, he needed to get from one world to another. "Let's go then, to Dawn Island."

Maybe it was Thanatos' way to say goodbye, or it was just a coincidence, likely latter, nonetheless rain began to fall. As the two barely conscious devils groaned and Vergil made his way towards the chasm a roar of thunder came as a music to his ears. He was about to leave at full strength.

~X~

A year later, for better or worse, Vergil still didn't return to Thanatos. He could go back, all he needed was a storm to boost his strength and he'd be able to make his way to the dimension between two worlds. Then he'd just have to rest and make another trip a bit later. He wasn't doing that.

He chose to stay no matter how many storms gave him an opportunity to leave.

And now he was in a dinghy with a human he met when he first came to this world.

Vergil was sleeping when Luffy, a seventeen years old teen that just began his pirate life, shock him awake. "What is it Luffy? It's been like-" he glanced at the sky to check where the Sun was. "an hour or so," Vergil murmured sleepily, not exactly bothered by being woken up, he'd wake up soon anyway.

"We've been caught in a whirlpool," Luffy stated with big grin on his face and Vergil blinked a couple of times. "And on such a nice day. How careless of us," Luffy pointed out casually.

Vergil had to grin. "You sure are taking things lightly, captain," yes, Black Thunder, a devil, chose to follow a human that was actually younger than him, six years younger. Well, it goes to show that devil do follow strength first and everything else later, Luffy was, after all, stronger than Vergil. The only difference was that Luffy didn't have the necessary skillset to deal with their little predicament. Vergil rose to his feet and looked at the whirlpool. "All right. Let's see if I can do something about it," the devil closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The whirlpool was actually really big, especially compared to their tiny boat, although right now their size was Vergil's biggest advantage. As he looked at the imminent danger he raised his hands in front of his chest so that his right palm was about twenty centimeters above his left palm. A small orb of darkness began forming in the middle before expanding to a roughly fifteen centimeter ball of concentrated darkness that was surrounded by two spinning rings of flaming darkness. The rings stopped and merged at the middle of the ball's outer layer. "Darkness Stream," Vergil's voice was calm, though a bit strained as he generated darkness energy through the ball.

Darkness hit the water and though it took a few moments it slowly began pushing the dinghy away from the whirlpool. Nearing the edge of the whirlpool Vergil narrowed his eyes and doubled his effort, with one final push the boat broke through the confines of the whirlpool and propelled across the ocean.

Luffy whistled as the distance between them and the whirlpool increased. "That sure is a cool ability," he had seen it quite a few times, especially the ones Vergil could use almost instantly.

Vergil laughed as he sat back down. "Too bad I'm a punching bag until it's ready," he leaned against the barrel and yelped. In an instant he found himself on his back and the barrel fell into the water.

"You forgot its empty?" Luffy raised an eyebrow at his first mate. That barrel was empty since yesterday, but they could still use it, so he cocked back his right arm and then stretched it to grab the barrel.

"I forgot it's too light. Or am I too heavy?" the devil pondered, not really doing anything to sit up.

Luffy tilted his head to the side. "isn't it same?"

Finally, Vergil sat up. "I suppose," he made a small orb of darkness before dispersing it. The year he spent in this world really helped him. "Still, I don't think I'd be able to push a ship out of that whirlpool. Guess some perks of sailing on a boat do exist."

"Shishishi! See?" Luffy grinned as he sat cross-legged on the bow. "We'll get a big one though! Eventually," he stretched his arms to show just how big.

Vergil formed a small ball of electric blue lightning. "Hopefully sooner rather than later, there aren't many ways to pass time," he made the ball hover over the board and began moving it around.

Luffy stretched out his arm and went to grab it only for Vergil to raise his finger quickly and manipulate it out of Luffy's reach. "Shishishi," Luffy laughed and pulled his arm back as Vergil hovered the ball above them. "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" the boat swayed from side to side as Luffy's fist went right through the ball.

The two laughed until the boat stopped swaying. "Think fast," Vergil swiftly created a slightly bigger ball and launched it straight at Luffy's chest.

With a grin on his face Luffy easily caught the ball, this time it didn't disappear upon contact and the straw hat wearing pirate could marvel at the slightly tingling ball of blue energy. "Think we can use this as bait?" Luffy asked as he tossed it up and down, a bit of electricity discharged and the ball got smaller but it was still there.

"Heh, I don't think fish would appreciate that. Maybe darkness, as a last resort," lightning didn't affect either of the two, which meant they could fight together without hindering one another. Sound of electricity was once again present as Vergil tossed another ball of lightning to Luffy and the two kept passing time with it.

~X~

Less than an hour before the night the two pirates saw a large galleon slowly drift closer to them.

"That's a big ship," Luffy noticed, he hadn't seen a ship that big in quite a long time. "Think they're friendly?" the ship looked like something that would belong to a pirate crew, an over the top skull for figurehead being the prime example. It lacked a pirate flag though.

"Who knows, maybe they-" Vergil was cut off by a scream.

"Let me go, dumb pirate! Let me go!" it sounded like a child screaming.

The duo froze when they noticed a man holding a child over the railing, seemingly intending to toss it into the sea.

"Guess that answers the question," Vergil growled, he barely contained the anger he was feeling at the moment.

"Help! Somebody help me!" the child screamed.

Luffy and Vergil exchange a single glance. In a silent agreement the devil anchored the boat to the pirate's galleon and Luffy wrapped his arm around the devil's abdomen and stretched the other one to grab onto the railing. "Gomu Gomu no Rocket!" they landed in the middle of quite a large pirate crew, at least a few dozens were surrounding them, and there were more pirates approaching.

"Hey, let the kid go!" Luffy demanded angrily.

"Safely on the ship, not in the water," Vergil quickly added, though his anger wasn't dissipating. As if on cue a couple of sparks circled his clenched fist.

"Put the brat back inside, we've got company," the captain smirked at the two.

"Help!" the frightened boy screamed as he was being dragged away.

Luffy and Vergil lunged forward, but just as they reached the pirate dragging the boy away he disappeared right in front of their eyes.

"Tch, they're faster than they seem," Vergil hissed as the pirates surrounded them. It may have been his imagination, but he had an unsettling feeling he heard a child laughing. He glanced at Luffy, who albeit focused seemed slightly thrown off by something, perhaps he heard it too.

"Men! Attack!" the captain ordered, his sword raised toward the sky as his crew charged at Luffy and Vergil.

Vergil unsheathed a machete he held at his hip. The blade was as green as the darkest forest leaves with lighter vein like lines decorating the dull side of the blade. The hilt followed the forest theme with brown branch like hilt that ended with a sharp pommel. Black shapeless mass emerged from his hand and engulfed the blade. A single swipe of his blade caused a wave of darkness to push back the pirates charging from his side.

Luffy didn't need to put much effort into dealing with the pirates either. "Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" blurry of punches from a rubber man was far from normal attack to the pirates in this sea.

Yet, despite the strange abilities the pirates were unfazed. Like a wild mob they attacked yet again. Vergil dodged a punch and retaliated with an electrified kick to the guts of his attacker. Sounds of rifles firing made him turn around just as bullets hit Luffy.

Said rubber man grinned. "It won't work, cause I'm rubber," the bullets ricocheted back at the pirates that fired at him.

It was easy, too easy to deal with the pirates, a punch or a kick and they were down. It wasn't surprising, given the strength Luffy and Vergil had. Still the number of enemies was an annoyance.

A pirate attacked Vergil from above only to have a machete stabbed into his chest. A few drops of blood dripped onto Vergil's cheek, once again making everything feel wrong. The blood didn't smell like it usually did, it didn't have the same warmth. Everything just felt different. The devil chose to attribute the feeling to the source of blood, a human body. The only time he touched human blood before was long ago in a memory he desperately kept buried. Either that or he was trying to explain something he wasn't sure he could without coming to an understanding that wasn't favorable.

He pulled the machete out and pushed the pirate aside, once again he concentrated on the fight.

"Damn swordsman!" one of the pirates roared as Vergil blocked his blade.

"Captain! Maybe he's the Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro!" another pirate exclaimed

"Zoro?" Luffy repeated as he punched another pirate.

Vergil blasted the captain away with a burst of lightning and jumped closer to Luffy.

"These guys are acting strange," Luffy pointed out as he and Vergil stood back to back.

"They are attacking us, but they only reacted to my machete, and even then it feels wrong," Vergil observed the pirates. Stretching, lightning, darkness, none of those things caused any reaction and no matter how many of them he and Luffy beat up there were still quite a few of them.

A burst of electricity emerged from Vergil's body, electrifying a couple of pirates at once. The devil jumped up and formed a ball of lightning between his palms. "Ball Lightning!" his attack struck the board and electricity spread without any restrains, electrifying the majority of the pirates standing in the immediate vicinity.

Slowly the pirates began backing away, perhaps tired from the fight. Perhaps afraid, perhaps they weren't as eager to face overwhelmingly strong enemies in the dark as the daylight began losing its strength.

"Gomu Gomu no Whip!" Luffy kicked the remaining ones overboard and the only ones left standing were him and Vergil.

"Well, that settles it," Vergil looked around; with no enemies left they had only one objective.

"Let's go save that kid," Luffy said quickly as he and Vergil began the search in the kitchen.

"You guys are really strong!" the voice echoed, strangely, they couldn't pinpoint the location as the child laughed.

"Hey! Are you okay? Where are you?" Luffy called out to the boy.

"In the storage. Come and save me," the child laughed again. Things were starting to get slightly creepy.

"Strange kid," Vergil commented. He had an eerie feeling about this, it just didn't seem normal for a child to laugh in this kind of situation.

The two stepped down into the storage room only to find there wasn't anyone in it.

"Maybe he is hiding," Luffy suggested though he was just as confused by the way the child was acting as Vergil was.

Vergil looked around the storage once more and still couldn't find anything that would lead to that child. "Between the two of us? Doubt any child could do that," he took a deep breath and surprisingly began coughing, nonetheless he concentrated.

Laughter echoed through the ship, the same one they kept hearing.

"Come on out!" Luffy responded to it, he was starting to feel the heat, which was strange. "It's warm in here."

Vergil stopped for a moment and realized that Luffy was right. "You're right, maybe it's just the stale air."

The child laughed again.

"Wait," as the devil concentrated on the sound of laughter and closed his eyes he began realizing it. "It's a demon. The child, the laughter, the crew we beat up, everything is an illusion."

Luffy looked genuinely surprised. "You guys can do that?"

"I can't. A light demon could," Vergil thought it over, it made sense, but he couldn't understand why here of all places.

"So how come their attacks felt real?" Luffy asked a very good question.

"Because only the appearance is illusion, on the inside it's light, capable of damaging or injuring the ones that come in contact with it. It's a highly advanced ability," the devil explained as best as he could as quickly as possible.

"So it's a mystery power?" Luffy asked, he still didn't completely wrap his head around powers Vergil didn't have and other demons and devils did.

"Think of it as shaping a piece of meat so that it looks like, let's say an apple, on the outside it looks like an apple, but it's still meat on the inside," the devil answered, his eyes noticing more and more proofs that this was an illusion. For example, the shadows weren't consistent and he berated himself for not noticing earlier.

Luffy nodded, understanding it now. "Why are they doing this then?" Luffy asked, seeing as this was an illusion he wasn't certain what to expect next.

"It. We're dealing with a demon, not a devil. No idea and I don't feel like finding out. I can try breaking the illusion; maybe we can find a map or something around here," Vergil looked around, fairly confident that they could deal with whatever this demon was planning to do. Even more so since the demon had the light abilities, meaning its power was weakened during the night and he, as a darkness devil, was strengthened by it.

"And that Zoro they mentioned?" the name somehow got attached to Luffy's memory.

"Probably a memory of the ones that demon based its illusion on. It can't just create an illusion, it needs, a blueprint, for the lack of better term," the devil guessed.

"Is it just me or is it getting warmer?" Luffy suddenly pointed out.

It was like that statement triggered a chain of events. Vergil's eyes widened and darkness burst out of his body, weakening the already weakened illusion. And then, all hell broke loose. The smoke was filling the storage; the trapdoors and the ceiling above them were on fire.

The entire ship was burning.

Luffy's eyes widened at the sight that greeted them the moment the illusion was shattered. Not only was the ship burning, it was already a wreckage to begin with.

"So… We better scram," Vergil said and quickly blasted the ceiling with a ball of darkness.

Luffy stretched his arm and grabbed onto the mast, pulling both him and Vergil out of the storage.

A sound of wood cracking echoed quite clearly. "That's not good," Luffy pointed out as they stared at the flames beneath them. Another sound of cracking later and the mast began leaning back.

"Only one way out then," Vergil realized and used lightning to propel him and Luffy over the burning galleon, which gave them a one-way ticket straight into the sea. With Luffy clinging to Vergil safe from drowning the two turned to where their boat was only to see it sinking. A piece of flaming wood landed on it, there was nothing they could do. "Note to self, lightning doesn't go well with ships," he barely resisted the urge to facepalm.

"I feel so weak," Luffy muttered making the devil look at him.

"Come on; let's see if I can find a piece of wood large enough for you to drift on," it was the least he could do, after all, his reckless use of lightning was the cause of this. It still didn't seem right to him, he had complete control over his lightning, and even if he was reckless with its use it still shouldn't have caused something like that to happen.

Well, the wreckage was probably a small spark away from catching fire anyway.

~X~

The sea was a dangerous place for a lone traveler, again and again she was being reminded of that. And today she got reminded twice, first with a cruise ship that was attacked by a pirate crew only for all of the pirates to be slaughtered by a marine devil. She missed the slaughter by a few minutes, but even then she could see the raging whirlwind of fire engulfing the pirate ship. And then, barely a few hours later she saw another burning ship and two people in the water. One of them was searching for something and the other seemed like he couldn't move, maybe due to injury or something like that.

The girl contemplated on what to do, they needed help, but they could also be dangerous. Still, she couldn't just stand by as someone potentially innocent drowned. "Are you alright?" she asked as she approached the two. "Besides being castaways I mean."

She took the chance to take a good look at the two, they didn't seem injured, but the black haired boy clearly didn't know how to swim. In fact he was holding on to the white haired… yellow eyed…

Great.

A devil.

"Yeah. Could you help us out?" the younger boy, surprisingly human, asked. "We're kind of lost, shishishi," he even laughed a bit, almost as if that wasn't even a minor inconvenience.

"We're completely lost," the devil admitted. "I'm Leonidas Vergil by the way. And he's Monkey D. Luffy."

Well she had two options, either leave them, or help them. "I'm Nami," she introduced herself. "And you two are pirates," it was a statement, she didn't need to guess. They didn't look like marines and she never saw a devil sightseeing. A drop of sweat slid down her cheek, she could feel her heart drumming against her chest. This wasn't good.

"We are," Luffy honestly replied.

"Your pal is a devil, you know that, right?" the idea of human being relaxed around a devil seemed unnatural to her.

Luffy actually grinned. "Yep, he sure is," and he even had the guts to look happy about it.

"I can hear you, you know?" the devil spoke up, his tone wasn't threatening, more intrigued or confused as far as Nami could tell. "You don't really like my kind, do you?"

Nami narrowed her eyes. "Someone like you hurt someone I care about; you can't expect me to trust you," there was anger in her words, pirates, devils, she couldn't trust them.

"A devil?" Luffy asked, tilting his head, though he was clearly feeling exhausted. Not necessarily reaction she expected from someone relying on someone else to stay on the surface.

"Also a pirate," she clarified. Yet they seemed like they wouldn't attack, they had plenty of opportunities so far. "I hate pirates and devils! The only things I love are tangerines and money!"

Vergil raised an eyebrow. "A human saved my life, does that mean I should be thankful to every human?"

Nami's eyebrow twitched at the sound, though infuriating, logic. "That doesn't mean I also have to help you. Especially for nothing in return."

Surprisingly, Vergil offered her a machete. "You can sell it; a demon forged machete in this condition could probably give you around a few thousands."

Nami took it and inspected the weapon; this devil clearly didn't have any idea of how prices went around here. Undamaged demon forged weaponry would sell for at least a million, perhaps go over ten millions depending on the quality of the weapon. The boy seemed innocent enough and the devil looked harmless enough, despite the scar on his face. Devil. Of all the things she could come across it just had to be a devil. She had to make a decision, on one hand she didn't want to associate with pirates; on the other hand they were castaways. They probably wouldn't be able to find an island on their own in time. Eventually they would probably die a slow and painful death. She would not stoop so low as to let someone die just like that. "Get on, but don't try anything and don't talk to me."

"Thanks!" Luffy grinned and was lifted up onto her boat. There wasn't anything too striking about the pirate, he was perhaps a bit younger than her, thin and overall average. The moment Vergil got on board she suppressed the urge to back away. He was muscular and the deep blue T-shirt didn't do much to hide it. And he was tall, almost a head taller than her add in those eyes and completely white hair and he was definitely not someone she wanted to see angry.

"Thank you," at least he had the decency to be thankful.

For some reason Nami felt like he wasn't the one in command, like Luffy was the one in charge. Frankly she found it strange.

"Just don't bother me and we'll be just fine."

"Do you know about a pirate hunter? Zoro?" Luffy suddenly asked about half an hour later.

Nami observed him; clearly the boy didn't understand when she told them not to talk to her. Still, she chose to humor the boy. "I heard he was captured by the marines."

Luffy tilted his head to the side. "So he's weak?"

"I wouldn't know. I'm heading to that town so you can check for yourself," if she was lucky the pirate hunter would hunt them down. But of course she wasn't going to say that. She knew better than to lower her guard with a devil right there in front of her, even if he was sleeping at the moment.

"You know exactly where we're going?"

Maybe he was asking his devil, yes that's likely what was going on. The look on his face told her he was talking to her. "Yes, I do," she sighed, the kid really didn't get the message.

"That's amazing," as flattering as that was she hoped he'd just stop talking for the rest of their trip. "Be my navigator."

Nami nearly fell off the boat. "What part of I hate pirates do you not understand?!"

"Geez, he just asked, no need to yell," Vergil groaned, clearly woken up by her exclamation.

"He shouldn't have asked in the first place!" she boldly directed her anger at the devil, in the hindsight it could have been a rather dangerous move, if it was another devil she knew.

Vergil rolled onto his stomach and covered his ears. "Fine, fine. Just keep the tone down, please," he whined, almost like it was actually physically bothering him, more importantly he didn't demand, he actually requested, with please and everything.

It definitely didn't seem devil-like. Especially not when compared to Krim, the only devil she actually knew. For once, it seemed like she didn't come across a violent devil, or he was putting up an appearance. The only thought that crossed Nami's mind as she watched the two pirates was fairly simple. 'What did I get myself into?'

~X~

Barely a few hours after the Sun reclaimed its spot on the sky Luffy jumped down to the harbor while Vergil stepped down from the boat in a less excited way. He did appreciate the opportunity to stretch a bit and once again touch the solid ground. Still, considering Thanatos had little need for ships he guessed he was doing fairly well.

"We are here!" Luffy yelled, excitement obvious in his tone, after all this was the first island he came across on his journey. He turned to Nami. "Thanks, you sure saved us there!"

Nami didn't seem half as ecstatic as Luffy was and she likely didn't care about gratitude from a pirate, even less from a devil. "You're on your own from here on out," Nami began walking away, clearly intent on leaving them to their own devices.

"At least consider joining us, you might get surprised," Vergil called after her only to receive a huff, a glare and an even quicker pace as Nami left their proximity. "Well, she never said 'no', right?"

Luffy nodded. "Mhm, she's nice. Well, it'll work out just fine," he looked sure of what he was saying and Vergil trusted him completely.

"So, where to, Captain?" Vergil asked, the town seemed fairly lively, as far as he was concerned. There were shops and people shopping and whatever else humans did.

"We're gonna find Zoro and see what kind of guy he is," Luffy said.

"Zoro?" the devil repeated and then remembered. "Ah, that pirate hunter."

Luffy nodded. "Nami said he's captured by marines in this town."

Vergil guessed it would be a good idea to try and find new nakama, after all two, maybe three people wasn't enough for Grand Line, even if they were fairly strong. "Well, let's see if we can find him," he approached a nearby sailor. "Say, do you know where they are holding Zoro?"

The reaction was flabbergasting to say the least. Everyone in hearing vicinity jumped away at the mention of Zoro's name causing the two pirates to sweat drop.

"Let's try a bit of a different approach," Vergil suggested as he walked up to a merchant nearby. "Excuse me; can you point us to a Marine base?"

Once again the citizens jumped back and Vergil sweat dropped again.

Luffy laughed hard at that. "This town sure is fun," he grinned. "We'll come across it eventually," Luffy looked at it from the brighter side and despite already knowing the boy for almost a year Vergil still had to smile at the optimism Luffy had. "Or we can just go towards it right away," he pointed ahead of them and Vergil's jaw dropped.

"How… the-" he had to pause for a moment as he raised a trembling finger at the largest, most prominent building in the town. "How did I miss that?!" he was exasperated to say the least.

Luffy just patted him on the back, while laughing his head off. Meanwhile the white haired devil just dropped his head and sighed.

Eventually, the two pirates reached the massive gates of the marine base.

"We're finally here," Luffy stated, excitement filling his voice.

"He's probably a trophy prisoner, so I guess he'll be somewhere outside. Just to be an example of what happens if you cross the line," Vergil figured, so he and Luffy climbed up and looked over the huge wall, although Luffy's feet moved around a bit due to lack of proper footing.

"Now where is that pirate hunter?" Luffy said more to himself as he looked around.

"There," Vergil motioned as he pointed toward where probably Zoro was, well there was a tied up male and they didn't have any actual clues so they didn't have anything to lose by checking.

"Yahoo! Let's go!" Luffy ordered as he jumped down and ran to the other part of the base to get a better look.

Vergil on the other hand just looked at the marine base. "How come I didn't notice it?" ah, well, maybe he was tired, he didn't feel tired, but that was the explanation he was going to go with. Shrugging the worrying lack of observation skills, he followed after his excited captain.

"There he is!" Luffy exclaimed as he and Vergil looked at the man tied to the wooden cross. "If we untie him he can escape."

"Sure," Vergil confirmed with a smirk on his face.

"Hey you!" they heard Zoro calling them and turned to face him. "Get lost you are an eyesore," he told them somewhat angrily, it was a clear attempt to scare them away, one that didn't work, his words did nothing to either one of the pirates.

Luffy grinned and Vergil noticed a girl placing a ladder next to him and climbing up. The devil looked at her and she made a 'shh' motion by placing a finger over her mouth. The small girl looked around a couple of times before dropping the rope down, she slid down the rope and ran toward Zoro.

"What do you want?" Zoro asked, his voice wasn't harsh this time, it was mostly passive.

"You must be hungry! I made you some rice balls," she said sweetly with a big, sweet smile on her face as she showed Zoro her rice balls.

"You're gonna get yourself killed, shorty. Beat it," Zoro told her, it may have not been completely obvious, but he was trying to keep her safe. He knew she'd get in trouble if someone found her here and he'd be damned if he just stood there and allowed her to put herself at risk.

"You haven't eaten anything in weeks. You must be hungry. Here," she told him as she offered her rice balls. "It's my first try but I did my best," the girl admitted shyly.

Zoro's eyes widened a bit as he was taken aback by her words and actions. "I'm not hungry. Now go away or I'll beat you up!" he threatened her but at that moment gate opened and a blond male, followed by two marines, approached.

"You shouldn't bully little kids!" the man scolded Zoro; to this the swordsman glared at the onion headed blond. "You've got more fight in you than I expected Roronoa Zoro."

"Another weirdo arrived," Luffy said as he and Vergil watched the scene.

"If you say so," Vergil still wasn't all that sure what was considered weird by human standards, so all he really had to go on was Luffy's judgement.

"Oh. Tasty looking rice balls," the blond man said as he noticed the rice balls, he had a stupidly evil grin on his face as he looked down on the girl and took one of the rice balls.

"Wait. Those weren't for you!" she tried to stop him.

Vergil frowned, weird was one thing, bastard behavior was something he was judging by devil standards. "He knows, he just doesn't care," and taking food from kids the way that guy just did was, as far as Vergil was concerned, worth a punch or two.

The rice ball thief took a bite of the rice ball and immediately spat it out. "Gross!" he yelled as he turned toward the girl and held his fist up in an angry way. "It's full of sugar! Rice balls need salt! Salt!" he yelled at her as if putting sugar in the rice balls was so bad.

"But, I thought it would taste better sweet," she said sadly.

However, before the girl could react, the childish thief suddenly slammed the remaining rice ball to the ground and began stomping it angrily.

"No! Stop! Stop!" the girl tried desperately to stop him, she fell to her knees and tried to reach out for the now ruined rice ball, yet she couldn't. For all she cared for the food she made she couldn't push herself to take a hit for it.

Zoro looked at the scene along with the pirates outside of the wall while girl had tears in her eyes.

"I tried to make them with all of my heart," the girl cried as she looked at the remaining of the rice ball once the bastard finally stopped ruining it.

The food thief and destroyer however was paying no mind to her feelings as he pulled out a paper. "You haven't read the poster yet?" he asked as he looked at her from the side and held onto his head with his left hand. "Anyone who helps the criminal will be executed. Marine Captain Morgan," the words he spoke made girl's eyes widen. "You know who my father is right?" son of some Morgan asked as he turned to the marine behind him.

"Father?" Luffy questioned.

"A spoiled brat," Vergil growled, he was starting to figure out the dynamics here.

"You. Toss that brat out," spoiled brat ordered making the marine sweat.

"But she is just a girl," the marine tried to argue.

"I'm telling you to toss her outside! Are you disobeying my orders?! I'll tell my father!" and he wasn't showing much more respect for his subordinates, in fact he threatened as he held marine's collar. His words left no choice to the marine.

With the short-term rebellion out of the way it was clear what would happen. "Yes, right away!" marine obeyed and Helmeppo let go of him; he walked up to the girl who took a step back.

"No!" the girl screamed. It was futile; no scream could reach the terrified servant.

"Luffy, can I?" Vergil requested while clenching the wall and breaking off a bit of it.

"Sure," Luffy grinned approvingly.

"Little girl, I'm sorry for having to hurt you," the marine apologized as he reached out to grab the girl.

"Touch her and it will be the last thing you do," Vergil announced his presence, right next to the marine.

Zoro's eyes widened as the marines stood frozen in shock.

"Hey you! Do you have any idea who my father is?! He'll have you executed before you even blink!" the blond was oblivious to Vergil's identity as he glared at the devil.

His followers though were somewhat aware. "S-Sir maybe you should back away?"

"Huh?! Do you want me tell father that you gave me an order?!" the man raged, stomping on the ground to 'prove' his point.

"Forget brat, a spoiled toddler. That's what you are," Vergil sighed and looked at the girl. "Let's go," he spoke a bit softer before picking the girl up and walking back to the wall.

Helmeppo laughed. "See! He's terrified!"

"Who are you big brother?" the girl asked as she looked at Vergil.

"I'm not a big brother, I'm Leonidas Vergil," he stated and jumped over the wall.

"Thank you for saving me," she smiled brightly causing the devil to ruffle her hair a bit and grin.

Luffy walked over as well and his eyes met with Vergil's. They had an understanding. "Wait here for a bit, we'll be right back."

~X~

The glare Zoro was directing at Helmeppo would scare most people, even if he was tied up. "You bastard," Zoro spat at the onion-headed male. If he wasn't tied up Zoro would have, at the very least, punched Helmeppo into the ground. Even if the girl was saved by that devil it was a matter of fact that Helmeppo was willing to put her in harm's way.

"Hehehehe!" Helmeppo merely laughed as he walked by Zoro completely oblivious to the glare and anger radiating from the swordsman. "But man you are really stubborn to still be alive," Helmeppo admitted. "You'll stay here for an entire month."

"Yeah, just make sure you keep your word," Zoro reminded him.

"Sure, sure, I'll let you go if you survive for a month! Hehehehe," Helmeppo began laughing again as he walked away followed by two marines.

Zoro glanced at the stomped rice ball, if only he could reach it. Well, there was nothing he could do and the girl's work would go to waste. At least he would have his peace for some time.

Or so he hoped. As he lifted his head up again he realized he had a lot of visitors today. First these two on the wall, then the girl, then the stupid son and now these two again.

"So you are a bad guy?" the straw hat wearing kid asked curiously as he and the devil stood not too far away from Zoro.

"You two are still here?" Zoro questioned, though a bit more passively this time.

"But still being publicly humiliated like this. Are you really strong?" the nerve of this brat and his unreadable tone. Was he really mocking him now of all times?

"Mind your own business!" Zoro snapped at him.

The two walked up to Zoro. "If it was me I would have escaped in three days," the boy grinned, all the time he kept the eye contact.

"You would have died from hunger in three days," devil pointed out and teasingly jabbed the younger male's ribs.

"Shishishi. True!" Luffy agreed, clearly not offended by the statement.

"I'm different from you," Zoro said with a grin on his face. "I'll survive to show them. Definitely," Zoro announced making the male grin before he turned to leave.

"Eh? What a stubborn guy," perhaps he should have let them go, but they could help him with something.

"Wait a second," Zoro suddenly called them.

"What? Changed your mind?" the devil asked, smirking at him.

"That rice ball, give it to me," Zoro said and relished at the brief moment of surprise.

"Are you sure you want to eat this? It's all muddy," the younger male said as he picked up the rice ball, or well now, it was more like a mud and rice pancake.

"Shut up and give it to me!" Zoro yelled quickly losing patience with the two.

The food was thrown into his mouth and immediately Zoro began regretting it. It was barely edible but he forced it down his throat, mud and dirt and everything. Immediately he began coughing, but it was worth it.

"Told you so," the boy told him.

"Tell that girl, 'Thanks for the food, it was good'," Zoro told him and the two pirates. "Also, devil. You have my thanks for interfering."

The devil rolled his eyes at that. "I don't need thanking for something like that."

Well, that's the first chapter. Let's see what you should take from this, first of all, Luffy will be stronger than at the start of manga, how much that will affect the story remains to be seen. This story will primarily focus on Vergil, so flashbacks, aside from a select few that serve narrative purpose, will be absent. Finally, skipping Vergil and Luffy meeting, I wrote that scene and then, after I thought about it and after taking into consideration something I plan on doing I decided to move It further into the story. Like way further, but it doesn't really affect the current plot so yeah, you'll see it later.

Now, the currency, svarog, one svarog equals five beri, so yeah, Kaltag just ate 50000 beri in one meal. Food, especially one made from ingredients from human world is really expensive in demon world. Steak was three hundred and bread a hundred. A medium bottle of clean water contains a hundred milliliter and it costs two hundred svarog, so clean water is also expensive in most of the world. Just figured I should briefly mention that since it's going to be awhile since its relevant again.

So, let's do this and bring it to an end this time. To make sure that happens I'll have an actual schedule. Every Monday and Friday with a chapter length at least seven thousand words, unless the arc is ending and I misjudge the length, in that case it could get a bit shorter. Next chapter title and next arc will no longer be at the end, but the chapters will keep opening with chapter title.

And that's all I have to say, feel free to like wait for some time to see that I'm actually going to follow the schedule and not drop the entire thing again.