Beginning of the "Final Three Arc"

Chapter 1 - One Weird Island

Hi, all! This is technically the sequel to my story "Girl Troubles". However, it is not really a continuation, so therefore you do not have to read it before this one. "Girl Troubles" just explains how Luffy and Nami got together, that is all.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, because Oda-sama beat me to it. : P But I do own my OC, Crystal. Ha!

Also, I give you fair warning now: SPOILERS. You will notice that I have added a certain carpenter to the crew. Oda-sama has not made this carpenter an official part of the crew yet, but if you do not want to see who it is, then you should not read this. : (

Okay, that is all! Enjoy!

As Nami turned her head and took in their surroundings once again, she felt like she wanted to rip her hair out and scream,

"HOW THE HELL DID WE END UP IN THIS MESS?"

She could not believe their situation.

To start things off, the trip it took to reach this island took two months. It was a record, and they were in dire need of supplies. They arrived at this island to find that it was completely uninhabited.

It got worse. As they searched the island for food safe to eat, they found out that the island was indeed inhabited. It was inhabited by wild, vicious, and surprisingly intelligent natives. In a flash, the entire crew fell into various traps. Luffy, Robin, and Chopper all became entangled in nets made of thick, bluish rope. Nami could only guess that they had a slight bluish hue because they somehow contained kairouseki, or sea stone. That was the only explanation she could think of when she saw that all three Devil Fruit users suddenly became extremely weak to the point of motionlessness. Nami, Usopp, and the musician Crystal got caught in a metal cage that seemed to spring out of the ground. Zoro and Sanji were knocked out cold when two large stones tied to thick vines suddenly swung out of the trees and into their heads.

As the natives started to come out of their hiding places among the bushes and trees to claim their prey, Nami looked wildly about for their cyborg carpenter, Franky. She thanked the heavens as she came to the realization that he was not there. He had somehow escaped.

It got worse still. The natives tied up Zoro and Sanji, taking away Zoro's three swords, and then they subdued Nami, Usopp, and Crystal and tied them up, too, after taking their weapons. They dragged the eight helpless pirates to a large clearing. There was a gigantic pile of wood and other combustible material in the center. There were also nine large wooden stakes all around the pile. They were obviously meant for the nine Mugiwara Pirates, and the eight the natives had managed to capture were soon occupying eight of those wooden stakes. The three Devil Fruit users were tied with that same bluish rope.

As Nami went through all of this in her head yet again, her anger started to subside to hoplessness. Franky was now their only hope. 'At least it's better than nothing,' she tried to tell herself. (A/N - Anything in single quotes and italics is a thought. In case you did not figure that out. :P) However, she had to question his reliability. Could you blame her? Whenever the Mugiwara Pirates found themselves in a crisis, even Usopp would volunteer to help and fight before Franky. He always took things too lightly. He was even more carefree than their eccentric captain, who Nami used to look at as the definiton of "carefree". When Franky became their nakama, however, that belief quickly changed. Franky was indeed the definition of "carefree".

Luffy seemed to be thinking the same thing. He looked over at Nami, who was tied at the stake next to his, and gave her a weak smile. If that rope was truly kairouseki rope, Nami was amazed that he was able to even open his eyes.

"Franky will... come through..." he whispered hoarsly. "He's our... nakama... Have faith..."

Nami frowned at him. "Who said I don't have faith in Franky?"

Luffy chuckled weakly. His head drooped again and his eyes went back to being closed.

Nami tore her eyes away from him. It hurt her to see her energetic captain so weak and helpless. It was just so unnatural. She turned her attention back to the natives.

The natives of the island numbered at least 100 strong. They all had tanned skin, black hair, black eyes, and the only clothes they wore were brown and red loin cloths. They were all armed with spears; some also had short swords and some had throwing knives. There was a pedestal in front of the pyre, and standing on it was what appeared to be the leader. All the natives were big and muscular, but this guy was much larger and more muscular. In addition to his loin cloth, he wore a brown and red robe that was open in the front. Slung on his back were two large battle spears. He looked bored as he watched his people rush around and make preparations for the ceremony.

"Have they found the ninth one yet?" Nami heard one native say to another. They both looked stressed out. The other shook his head. "No," he said frusturatedly. "Our best scouts are combing the forests right now, though... It won't be long..."

Nami smirked at this. 'If they try to capture him by attacking headlong, they'll be dead in seconds,' she thought with a grim satisfaction. 'I hope he's smart enough to avoid those clever traps...'

Sanji, who was tied up at Nami's other side, grunted. "Man, I wish I could smoke," he muttered. He looked up at the natives with a rather frightening look on his face. "You shitheads will never get Franky. He'll beat the shit out of you guys, mark my words. It would be smart to just let us go now!"

They laughed at him.

"I'm serious!" he pressed on fiercely. "You don't know what you're getting yourselves into...!"

"Drop it, Sanji-kun," Nami sighed. "You'll just agitate them. They could decide to forget about Franky and burn us right away..." Sanji fell silent. Suddenly, he heard a loud snore. He whipped his head around to his right side to glare at the swordsman tied up next to him. "You goddamn marimo! How could you be sleeping at a time like this?" the cook yelled in disbelief. Zoro's response was a louder snore.

"Shut up!" a native shouted at Sanji. The native turned away and started to wring his hands nervously. "The great god is going to get angry if we make him wait much longer..." Nami heard him mutter nervously. "We have to sacrifice all intruders to Him... All of them..." Sanji heard him, too. He shook his head. "Oi," he said, looking at Nami. "Not another group of crackpots who believe in god."

"Now, now, Sanji-kun," she admonished him. "Don't call the people of Skypiea crackpots. Religion isn't something you should belittle." "Whatever you say, Nami-swan," he replied adoringly, his eyes big, red hearts.

Nami sighed and rolled her eyes. She looked at the forest. 'Please, Franky,' she thought desperately. 'Please... if you're out there somewhere... come quickly...'

---

Franky the cyborg couldn't help but chuckle at the scene layed out before him. He was sitting up very, very high in a tall tree. He was well concealed, and not even these natives would be able to find him. Part of the reason was because the tree he was hiding in was right next to the clearing.

Franky smiled and raised an eyebrow as he looked at his nakama tied up to stakes all around a huge sacrificial pyre. There was a ninth stake, and it was unoccupied. "Why did they even bother to put up nine?" he said quietly to himself arrogantly. "Did they actually think they would catch me?" He stifled his laughter by covering his mouth with one huge forearm. He opened the small cooling unit in the middle of his body and took out a cola bottle. He drained it in one gulp.

As he lounged up in the branches waiting for the right moment, he started to get bored. "Awww, should I just go down now?" he complained. "I'm bored..."

Then his moment came.

"We're done waiting!" the natives' leader suddenly declared in a clear, ringing voice. All movements and noises ceased. Everyone turned to look at him. "We must sacrifice these eight before the great god becomes displeased!" He turned his head to the sky. "Oh, please, Great God, be patient with us! We will capture the ninth one as soon as possible! We will sacrifice these eight right now to help ease your displeasure!"

All the natives gathered around the pyre and started chanting. One native walked up to the pyre. He had a lit torch. He lifted it into the air and said a final prayer. Franky grinned. 'Finally,' he thought.

Nami closed her eyes as the native raised his arm to throw the torch...

'I can't believe it...' she thought. "Wait!" she cried out desperately. "He'll be here soon, I promise! Just wait! You can do this properly, you can sacrifice all nine of us together...!"

The natives ignored her. The native with the torch drew his hand back...

SMASH!

A glass bottle came out of nowhere and shattered on the native's skull. He collapsed as the torch went flying... towards the pyre. Nami and Usopp screamed. A huge hand attached to a chain snatched it out of the air. Nami followed the chain up to its source with her eyes...

"FRANKY!" she screamed in relief.

He had just jumped out of the tree, threw the empty cola bottle, and stole the torch. His grin was large and very arrogant. He landed in front of the pedestal.

"GET HIM!" the leader shouted. With a roar, the natives rushed at Franky. He quickly pulled a small bomb out from inside his shirt, lit it with the torch, and flung it into the crowd. The explosion was surprisingly big for such a small bomb. A good number of natives went flying into the air screaming. Smoke covered the scene. Nami freaked out when the bomb exploded. 'That idiot...! He could have lit the pyre with that thing!" Franky quickly leapt onto the pedestal. There was something leaning against the stand at which the leader was standing at. Actually, there were three things there: Zoro's katanas.

Franky was able to grab one before the leader attacked. Franky jumped away. He leapt over the large crowd of natives and onto the pyre. Nami freaked out again.

"WATCH THAT TORCH WHEN YOU'RE ON THAT THING!" she screeched. Franky snuffed out the torch. He rushed down the side of the wood pile to Zoro's stake. He threw the unlit torch at the closest native's head, knocking him out. He unsheathed Zoro's sword and cut the ropes. As Zoro took the sword from him, the natives were already on top of them.

Zoro crouched down and layed his sword next to him.

"Mutoryu... Tatsumaki!"

A small tornado suddenly came up around him as he sprung up and punched at the air. It launched all the nearby natives around them into the air. The other natives faltered as they stared in surprise at their flying comrades.

Unfortunately, it launched Franky up, too.

"I'LL KILL YOU, SWORDSMAN!" Franky screamed as he flew. Zoro smirked as he picked Wadou Ichimonji and went to work. Franky scowled. He punched as many natives as he could in midair. When he landed, he started attacking more natives. They were flying left and right as they were hit by the cyborg's mighty punches. He jumped over them and lured them away from the pyre. He then used his fire breath to burn a large number of them.

Zoro dashed around freeing his nakama with Kuina's katana, killing all natives that got in his way.

Luffy flexed his arm as the effects of the kairouseki rope faded away. "Finally!"

He launched himself into the air. He pointed himself downward and started spinning, fists flying out toward the ground like crazy as he did.

"GOMU GOMU NO STORM!"

The natives beneath him stood no chance. They were all pounded into the ground or blown away by the force of the punches. When Luffy landed, he quickly ducked to avoid a spear that was swung at his head. He turned to see the leader. He had both big spears out and was swinging them around in his large hands as if they weighed nothing. "All right, I'll fight you then!" declared Luffy as he jumped back to avoid the spinning spears, keeping a hand on his straw hat to keep it from falling off. The natives allowed their leader to fight him one-on-one. They all concentrated on the other escapees instead.

Sanji immediately went to work when Zoro freed him. Three natives charged at him. "Three-point Decoupage!" Sanji's leg flew out and kicked three times in rapid succession. The three natives went flying. A fourth one came out of nowhere and jabbed at Sanji with his spear. Sanji ducked to avoid it. "Collier!" Still crouching, Sanji placed his two hands on the ground and kicked the native directly in the throat. He also went flying back as blood flew from his mouth. More natives charged Sanji from all directions. From his crouching position, he stood up on his two hands and spun around with his legs extended. The natives were all knocked down by the force of the kicks. Before Sanji could even get back on his feet, yet another native charged at him from his right side. Sanji used his hands to launch himself into the air. He raised his foot straight up, his leg at a 90-degree angle, turned his body to the right in midair, and brought his heel down on the back of the man's skull. There was a cracking noise and the attacker fell flat on his face. Sanji landed beside the body. He calmly wiped the blood off the heel of his shoe on the grass. "Finally... I can get out a cigarette..." he muttered. He took one out. As he was lighting it, another native came charging at him, yelling. Without even turning to look at him, Sanji kicked his spear into his face. As the attacker collapsed, Sanji finished lighting his cigarette. He tossed the match away. "Now..." he said, looking around and placing his cigarette in his mouth, "where's my Nami-swan?"

When Usopp got freed, he immediately started to run towards the pedestal. "Gotta get my bag..." he muttered. He sidestepped a spear, causing the attacker to accidentally stab a comrade. "Leave me alone, leave me alone!" he cried as he ran away from the vicious natives. Then he spotted a clear path through the battle to the pedestal. He started sprinting to it... but then a native jumped in front of him out of nowhere. He had a really scary grin on his face and was weilding two short swords. Usopp screamed. "AH, I'M SORRY!" he cried.

WHACK!

The native fell to the ground with a big lump on his head. Nami stood over the body, scowling and brandishing her Clima Tact. She was carrying Usopp's bag. "Here," she said, tossing Usopp's bag to him. "Thanks," he replied gratefully. "BEHIND YOU!" Nami suddenly yelled.

Usopp immediately ducked to avoid the spear. Then, still kneeling down, he whipped around, pulled the string of his slingshot back, and yelled, "Namari Boshi!" He shot a small lead star into the man's gut, causing him to flinch. Then...

"USOPP HAMMER!"

Usopp grabbed Nami's arm and ran before he could get back up.

"GOMU GOMU NO BAZOOKA!" The leader nimbly dodged Luffy's attack. He leapt forward and swung his spears before Luffy could recover from his failed attack. Luffy bent all the way backwards to avoid the spears. His arms snapped back. The warrior tried to kick him, but he rolled out of the way. From his roll, he put his two feet together and pointed them at his opponent. "GOMU GOMU NO SPEAR!" His legs shot out and his feet hit the leader directly in the stomach. He cried out and went flying back. Before he even hit the ground, Luffy began his follow-up attack. He jumped into the air. When he was directly above the leader, he cried, "GOMU GOMU NO STAMP!" His leg shot straight down and the bottom of his foot hit the leader's face, smashing his head into the ground. Luffy landed next to his still body and lifted his foot off the man's face. The bottom of his sandal made an imprint on the leader's face.

To Luffy's slight surprise, the man slowly got up. He rubbed some of the blood off his mouth and stared at Luffy. "What the hell are you?" he asked.

Luffy sighed. "Why does everyone always ask me that?" he complained. "Oh, well, I'll tell you... I'm the man who's gonna be the Pirate King!"

"Pirate King, eh?" the leader grunted. "Interesting..."

"Look, ossan," said Luffy quietly, "I have no reason to kill you. I know you needed us to be sacrificed for your god, so I can't really call you evil..."

"I don't want your pity," snarled the huge native, spitting blood on the ground. "I need you dead, and that's that!" He charged. Luffy sighed again. He stretched out his arms and grabbed the man's shoulders, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"How...!" the leader tried to say, shocked that he was overpowered by someone so much smaller than him.

"This is your chance, ossan," said Luffy. "Let us go and we'll-"

"SHUT UP!" the leader yelled and he slashed Luffy's right arm with his spear. Luffy cried out in pain, and then he glared at his attacker.

"GOMU GOMU NO BELL!"

His legs shot out and wrapped around the man's midriff. Luffy launched himself towards the big man at a very high speed. Luffy's head smashed into his opponent's face. Blood flew from his nose and mouth as his eyes went blank. Luffy let go of him as he started to go flying. He hit the ground and never moved again.

Once Chopper got his backpack back, he ate a Rumble Ball and prepared to fight. "Horn Point!" He turned into his reindeer form and his antlers grew gigantic. He launched two natives into the air. "Jump Point!" Chopper jumped into the air to intercept his flying victims. "Arm Point!" His arms grew huge and with both fists, he slammed the two natives back down to the ground knocking three others over in the process.

A group of six natives charged at Robin. She crossed her arms. "Doce Fleur." Twelve arms sprouted out of the ground in front of them. Each hand grabbed an ankle. "Trip." The hands yanked at their ankles, causing them to fall into each other. "Seis Fleur." One arm sprouted out of each native's shoulder. Each arm wrapped around its victim's neck. "Strangle." They all choked to death as Robin grimly watched.

Crystal was never very good at fighting. She didn't have any of her kairouseki-based weaponry on her, so she had to fight with only pure physical skill. She was pretty good at kicking people, but she just wasn't fast enough. A native came rushing at her. She sidestepped and aimed a kick at the man's face. He easily dodged and swung his spear at her again. She tried to jump back out of the way, but it got the very surface of her skin. She winced, but she was thankful that it was such a shallow cut. She shook her head to get some of her stray blond hair out of her face. Another native joined. She was having a very rough time avoiding them, and she couldn't get in a single kick. A third one gave a battle cry and leapt towards her... she was surrounded...

WHAM!

The third native went flying into the other two. All three of them fell down. Crystal looked at her savior. It was Sanji.

"Are you all right, Crystal-chan?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you, Sanji-kun," she replied in her quiet voice.

Sanji finished the three natives off with a couple of heel drops.

The battle ended as quickly as it started. In just a little under five minutes, the nine Mugiwara Pirates took out all the natives of whom there were 100.

The Mugiwara Crew was done. They were completely wiped out from the effort of the battle. They all had enough energy during the battle because of adrenaline rush, but they had been so low on supplies that they hadn't eaten a proper meal for quite some time. Now that the battle was over, they all became extremely weak from the hunger. None of them had nearly as much energy as they ususally did.

Without saying a single word, the pirates trudged their way through the jungle, keeping to the path that would lead them to the small beach where they left their ship. They all stumbled on branches and things as they walked; that's how worn out they were. They could barely even walk at that point. Luffy walked over to Nami and they both wrapped an arm around each other to keep each other stable as they walked.

They all eventually reached the beach. There sat their small warship Eternal Merry, its various weapons glistening in the sun.

The crew didn't even make it to the ship; they just collapsed on the sand of the small, beautiful beach. It was very comfortable. Zoro sat with his back against a palm tree. He promptly fell asleep. Usopp and Chopper fell flat on their faces and didn't move. Sanji and Crystal just fell on their backs and looked up at the sky. Luffy and Nami collapsed onto the sand together. "Mmmm, I'm tired," Nami mumbled happily. "I'm really hungry..." Luffy mumbled miserably. She snuggled up against him, her head resting on his chest as she listened to his heart beat. It was all so soothing... the soft sand, the warm sun, Luffy's heart beat... Her eyelids started to drop. 'Must... stay awake...' she thought. 'We need to leave... ASAP... but... oh, god, this is SO comfortable... Maybe just a little nap here...'

Franky and Robin sweat-dropped as they watched everyone fall asleep. "Why aren't you tired?" Franky asked Robin, turning his head to look at her.

"Oh, I am," said Robin, smiling, "but I know how to fight it."

Franky raised an eyebrow at her as she walked away to wake the others. "Well?" Robin said over her shoulder. "Are you going to help me wake them or not?"

Franky grumbled. He didn't really feel like it. Robin suddenly stopped and looked at Franky. "Actually, I have a better idea," she said thoughtfully. "I am going to go find some food for these guys. You work on waking them."

Before he could think of anything to say to stop her, she was already hidden from view by the trees of the jungle. Franky glared at his sleeping nakama. "Goddamn it," he muttered. "First, I gotta save them, and now this?" He shook his head. "What a horrible fucking day this turned out to be..."

Okay, make sure you review, please. I will update this every Saturday. I will try to, at least. I am going to be a very busy senior in high school this year, so bear with me if I do not have an update every Saturday. : P Oh, yes, and the character Crystal and her history will become more and more clear as the chapters go on.