A/N: After a long time I finally managed to write something ^^ Somehow, I feel like that it must be full of mistakes :D So if you notice some mistakes, please let me know so that I can correct it. By the way, is it just my feeling, or do I relly repeat the words too much in this fic? :D

Also, about those log entries, the dates are made-up, I'm not sure how long time it was between individual occurences in OP.

Also disclaimer - of course I don't own One Piece. If I would, this wouldn't be a fic :)

"Umm, sir?"

"What is it?"

"Are you sure it's okay?"

"And why shouldn't it be?"

"Shouldn't we got an ispection permission?"

"Tashigi..." Smoker rubbed his temples, "we are Marines."

"Y-yes sir, we are, but still..."

"Then why the hell should we ask for permission when investigating a pirate ship?!"

"Eek! Sorry, sir!"

"Jeez girl, continue searching for something useful and stop thinking about crap."

An hour later…

"Sir! I found a log!" Tashigi run towards Smoker waving her hand which held a small book. Her superior grunted in approval and opened it. It was neat writing, most likely a woman's work.

Year 1, May 8th

After getting Merry Go from Kaya and convincing Usopp to come with us, we set sail from Syrup village. Merry's a pretty good ship, even though a little bit small. Guys already managed to damage the poor thing – I swear this was the first and only time I let Luffy handle the helm.

Year 1, May 15th

Usopp and Luffy were parctising cannonade today. Actually Usopp's pretty good at it. We met Zoro's friends too; Luckily, they're not as dense as him but they aren't far from that either. It was decided we'll go to the floating restaurant Baratie to try and get a cook.

We got our Jolly Roger too!

Year 1, May 16th

Luffy managed to piss off some Marine imbecile who called himself Fullbody – never heard of him though, and he claimed to be well-known – and destroy the roof of our destination. Now to make up for that, he has to work at Baratie for a year as a waiter. Poor restaurant, they're going to bankrupt like this! Luffy claimed to find a perfect guy to be a chef in his crew – his name is Sanji and he goes after every pretty face he sees.

Year 1, May 18th

Today's the day. We've been here enjoying Baratie's cooks' meals for three days already and it seems like Zeff isn't going to forgive Luffy anytime soon. No one's suspecting anything. I don't want to leave but I have to. I hope they'll understand.

The next entry was somehow smudged on various places by what Smoker assumed were tears.

Year 1, May 24th

I can't believe it. The nightmare is finally gone. Thanks, Luffy. Thank you so much. Now that Arlong's gone, I can go with you again.

Zoro's got this awful scar across his chest – Usopp said he was fighting Mihawk after I left. He really is reckless. So what, some stupid promise to a dead girl! Is it so much more important than his own life?

Smoker frowned at this. It was a Marine secret that that Strawhat brat defeated Arlong, just like it was in Crocodile's case, to hide the incompetence of the navy. If the navigator was from an island Arlong had assaulted, he could at least guess now the reason why one of his crew joined him. Not that it was important, of course – once pirate, always pirate. And Roronoa fighting Mihawk? That greenhead had to be quite strong if he survived.

Tashigi who was leaning over his shoulder so that she could read too, gasped at this. 'Dead girl?' Could she be the one he always yelled at her to stop looking like? Thinking about it, the first (and last) time they fought, he said something like that.

Meanwhile, Smoker turned the page and continued reading:

Well, seeing his trainig sessions, it probably is. Crazy idiot.

I've got to pack my things, we're leaving Cocoyashi tomorrow morning. I hope I'll be able to take some mikan trees with me. A reminder of Nojiko and Gen-san on our adventures.

Year 1, May 26th

Our next stop is decided – we're going to Loguetown and then hopefully, with the map I stole from Buggy, to the Grand Line. Everyone is kind of excited to see THE Loguetown, Luffy the most and Zoro the least but he needs new swords so he doesn't complain much and besides, he usually sleeps for two thirds of day and then trains so he doesn't have time to complain.

Year 1, May 29th

Weather's good. Nothing interesting happened today, except for Usopp blowing up some new experiment of his, Luffy getting his bounty and meeting that Fullbody idiot again. We should reach Loguetown in two days.

Year 1, May 31st

Here it is! The town of the Beginning and the End. Luffy's practically beaming and I bet he'll storm out of the ship the moment it'll stop moving.

The two of them couldn't help but chuckle at this. The rest of entry seemed to be written with some time gap after this part:

Geez, this crew has more luck than sense. We just barely escaped Marines in Loguetown thanks to that red-nosed imbecile Buggy, who wanted to take revenge on us and execute Luffy and burn Marry! Luckily, the weather was on our side and Luffy escaped although later we had problems with setting sail due to the storm. We should soon be able to see the lighthouse to guide us to the Grand Line. I have to reorganize the guys before they manage to steer us straight into the Red Line.

Year 1, June 1st

Wow! We're in! The ride up and down the Reverse mountain was incredible! Although there was a big shock awaiting us at its foot – a whale was blocking the way and we just so-so avoided crashing into it. We were all relieved that the whale didn't see us and Luffy had to ruin it and hit its eye for destroying his favourite seat. Thanks to this we got into the whale's stomach and met there doctor Crocus and a pair of weirdos who called themselves 'Mr. 9' and 'Miss Wednesday!. We got our Log Pose from Crocus and the weirdos asked us to take them to their island, Whiskey Peak and just like that, we decided our destined path out of the seven. We should arrive at Whiskey Peak in a day or so.

Year 1, June 3rd

This was a completely insane night. Whiskey Peak was a town full of the bounty hunters but that wasn't problem thanks to Zoro. But then suddenly some creepy bomb-guy 'Mr. 5' and 'Miss Valentine' showed up and wanted to kill 'Miss Wednesday' who, we learned, is in fact the princees of the sand kingdom Alabastra. Another weirdo, 'Mr. 8' and she told us about the danger the Shichibukai Crocodile presents and the weirdo begged us to take his princess back to her county so that she can stop the rebellion. I agreed but only for some money, of course.

The weirdo set sail to be the bait and was killed by an explosion. To be honest, it took me by surprise; I knew people could die easily but being with Luffy, I've kind of forgotten just HOW easily.

We were on the sea again and a mysterious woman whom Vivi called 'Miss All-Sunday' appeared and offered us an Eternal Pose to some island which was supposed to be safe. Luffy told her off and we headded for our next stop, Little Garden. The name rings a beel but I can't remember where have I heard it before. We'll wait and see. I think we can become friends with Vivi, she's quite different than what she seemed to be like when we first met her and she really worries about the people at her home.

Okay, so the origins of the relationship between the princess and the Strawhats clarified. Smoker quickly scaned next few entries, some of them written by said princess herself; the navigator girl apparently fell ill and the crew, being a group of idiots they were, knew nothing to help her. That fluffy pet thing Chopper was evidently their doctor.

After some more skimming, it was his own name which caught his eye.

Year 1, July 9th

We just so-so escaped Rain Dinners and Rainbase too. Smoker might not be so much of a jerk after all. Luffy was whinning for a while how he wanted to "give Smokey tight goodbye hug" and was abruptly silenced by Sanji's foot. Later, Vivi got caught by Crocodile but Luffy pulled her back on that pervy crab and went to fight Croc himself. It's been more than two hours now already and he's still not back. Everyone's distressed by this but no one wants to think he's dead. He's always where people need him so let's just hope he'll get to Alubarna in time.

Year 1, July 11th

I woke up a few hours ago. The uprising ended and Luffy beat Crocodile. I wonder how comes the Marines haven't arrested us when we were unconscious. Not that I mind but come on, we were lying in the middle of a street.

Year 1, July 13th

Luffy finally woke up. The feast was something Alubarna's palace has never seen before. The royal bath was incredibly comfortable too. Pity we're leaving tonight. I'll miss Vivi immensely. We gave her the choice to join us again if she wanted but I guess she'll want to stay in her country now that everything's solved and Alabastra needs a lot of repair.

I gave up the reward for getting Vivi home.

Year 1, July 14th

It's suddenly very quiet here without Vivi and Carue. But we'll always be her nakama. Also, Luffy decided that intruder may stay.

Smoker closed the log. "Let's go read somewhere else. They might return any time and I want to have the moment of surprise." With these words he made his way towards one of the doors.

"And I want to finish this; it's better than a novel. And paperwork."

Tashigi readjusted her glasses. "Yes, sir," and followed after him.

Leaning against a wall of a storage room, Smoker was deep in thought. While reading the log he learned a lot about about the crew's adventures and their characters. He knew they weren't those typical pirates who stole and robbed but it was almost ridiculous to which extent they helped those in a need although not always deliberately.

He looked down at his subordinate who was currently using his chest as a pillow and was fast asleep and couldn't help but smile. His brave, clumsy little captain. It must've been quite a shock for her to find out how much stronger Roronoa got over those two years. He was surprised too, after all. And Strawhat taming countless beasts of the sea… he didn't know what to think about that. Impressive, maybe.

Smoker gave the small book lying on the floor next to them a glance and his mind returned to thinking about what the navigator has written in about what she got to know regarding Strawhat's experiences in Impel Down. In his opinion, it wasn't something the brat deserved. And that day of the execution… it was almost unbelievable how much did Portgas' death get to him. Seeing the state Strawhat was in when "leaving" the battlefield, it was quite a wonder he stayed alive. Was that a pang of a pity he felt towards the kid at that time? Or maybe a bit of a guilt.

Smoker looked out of a tiny window the storage room had and frowned; it was already dark outside, yet there was no sign of the pirate crew returning to the ship.

He took off his jacket, laid himself on the floor, situated Tashigi in something he deemed to be a comfortable position and making his arm her new pillow and covered their upper bodies with the jacket. Soon enough, vice-admiral Smoker was one of the visitors of the dreamland too.

A/N: That's it for the first chapie ^^ I'll be happy for any constructive criticism.