Yes, I updated! BUT! I also rewrote chapter one so you have to go back and read that one first! I've changed a few things and added more in. I know it's been a really long time, and I'm glad everyone who reviewed (all 66 of you, wow that was more than I expected) wanted to see more. I have this story planned out up to the Timeskip, so I do actually have this figured out. I've added a bit of a back story for Paige, so hopefully that will clear up some things.

IF YOU HAVEN'T REREAD CHAPTER 1 DO SO FIRST! THEN YOU CAN READ THIS CHAPTER!

Monkey D Phoenix

Chapter 2 ~ Onwards to Alabasta!

Two Days Later…

It took ages to get to Little Garden, but it hadn't taken long for Luffy to push his anger and hate to the side to pretend that nothing had happened with Miss All-Sunday. He wore Phoenix's necklace at all times, and one glare at Nami convinced her to not try and steal it. The entire crew knew that something had happened, but only Zoro was close to figuring out what it was exactly.

He knew that there was something on the Grand Line that Luffy wanted, aside from the One Piece, and that time was of the essence to find it. Each delay irritated Luffy, he could see that, and from his reactions he knew that the something he was looking for was in Alabasta, but it wasn't until Miss All-Sunday made her appearance that he realised it was a girl he was looking for. He guessed that she was a prisoner, clearly in Crocodile's grasp, but for some reason time was running out to help this girl.

Luffy was almost back to his normal self: goofing off with Usopp, annoying Zoro to play tag, and running all over the ship. It was like nothing was wrong, but there were signs that not all was well. After Zoro, Sanji noticed it, but that was only because he had become in tune with the way Luffy's stomach worked. The rubber boy had stopped eating as much as normal. He ate the same at every meal, but the times between meals weren't as often. He had a suspicion as to what had caused the change, and he had seen how violently sick Luffy was the first meal after Whiskey Peak, but there had to be more to the change in behaviour.

It wasn't anything big, and Luffy knew exactly what was wrong.

After Phoenix had been kidnapped, his diet had taken a sudden downturn as depression took a hold of him and taunted him with how weak he was. He had recovered, thanks to Ace and Makino forcing him to eat and Ace promising to look for her once he left to become a pirate, but every so often he would retreat into himself again. The mere thought that his little sister was being tortured and that there was nothing he could do to save her was tearing him apart. He wanted to get stronger for her, but all that strength meant nothing if he couldn't get to her.

Another reason he avoided drugs and alcohol. It made him depressed.

Little Garden had proved to be a great stress reliever, being able to violently beat up various agents of Baroque Works had helped his raging emotions a lot. The fact that three of his friends had nearly been killed by candle wax of all things had been hard, and fighting against the little painter girl had been awful as he couldn't lift a hand to defend himself. However, when Sanji showed up with an Eternal Pose to Alabasta, he gave him a hug of happiness and cheered. Sanji had freaked slightly when the boy had hugged him, but the expression on his face had caused him to allow it that one time.

But now, they were sailing away from an island few escaped from, and towards Alabasta. Luffy was just about dancing around the others, and Nami took the initiative to call him over and ask him what had made him so happy. Still dancing, Luffy just sung out an answer without joining them.

"A special person is in Alabasta, and I'm going to make her join my crew!"

But, his happiness high only lasted as long as it took for Nami to collapse from a high fever. He almost couldn't believe how cruel everything was. It seemed like every time he received some good news, bad news immediately followed. First, he learnt exactly where Phoenix was, and then they were delayed as they needed to help Apis. Second, he had a route to Alabasta and a reason for going without telling his crew, and then Miss All-Sunday rocks up to show that she is being hurt and that if he doesn't hurry he will miss her. And now, he was almost to his sister, but with Nami sick they wouldn't be able to sail safely making it even less likely that he would get to Phoenix before she disappeared again.

He followed everyone down into the girls' cabin, leaving Zoro behind to navigate, and watched what Vivi was doing. Nami looked awful, her face was flushed and it looked like she couldn't draw a full breath. He hadn't really had much experience with illnesses, but even he knew that whatever Nami had was bad.

"It's most likely the climate," Vivi said as she lay the cloth across Nami's forehead. "It's quite normal. See, sailors in the Grand Line aren't used to the change in weather and can become quite ill. There are countless stories of tough, notorious pirates who suddenly died."

Vivi explained to the others that because of the changing climates, a person's immune system was ravaged by colds and fevers until they just couldn't take it anymore. And she also warned that even the slightest cold could be deadly if they weren't careful. As Sanji cried out in despair, Vivi quickly asked if there was anyone on board who knew anything about medicine.

Wordlessly, Luffy and Usopp both pointed to Nami and that was when everyone knew that they were in worse shape than they first thought. Vivi looked anxiously as she smoothed out Nami's blankets.

"Well, when you're sick eating lots of meat always helps, right Sanji?" Luffy suddenly asked their cook.

Sanji sniffled a little as he looked to Luffy and answered him. "Meat is protein and that does give the body energy to operate properly. I can cook some food to give her energy, but there's no guarantee that it'll cure her, I'm not a doctor."

He looked to Nami sadly and went on in a forlorn way. "Besides, if my cooking made that big a difference, she'd never get sick. I put a hundred times more care in preparing her meals than I do for you losers. I feed Nami and Vivi fresh meats and vegetables to ensure balance diet… anything that's rotten or moldy…" he pointed to the boys. "…goes to you."

"JERK!" Usopp exclaimed, slapping his hand. Luffy nodded, the food still tasted great and he knew that Sanji would never poison the crew with bad food.

"My point, as long as I'm this ship's cook, nobody's going to feed Nami better in terms of nutrition," Sanji said firmly. "I can do anything in the kitchen…still, I do know that there are specific foods for different kinds of illnesses. But I can't make that call, she needs to be diagnosed by a doctor who'll tell us how to help her!"

"Just feed her everything that we got," Luffy suggested.

Sanji was just telling him that she was too sick to eat as Vivi checked her temperature and gasped out that she had a fever of a hundred and four. Luffy frowned deeper and his fists clenched. That temperature was a bad one, they needed to bring it down.

"There's bound to be doctors and nurses in Alabasta that can help, right?" Usopp asked anxiously as Vivi leaned back on her knees, "How much longer till we get there, Vivi?"

Vivi thought it all over, trying to think of a way out of this mess as she confessed, "I don't know, at least a week, and that's too long!"

A week. Luffy turned and left the room in order to check on Zoro. The swordsman was lifting a weight as his eyes focused on the horizon, though they flicked to Luffy when he appeared at his side. One look at his face revealed to him how serious everything was, and not just with Nami.

"We're running out of time, aren't we?" he eventually asked as his eyes returned to the horizon.

"Yes."

"And Nami?"

"Not good."

"What's the plan?"

"Nami won't make it to Alabasta as she is," Luffy said, his heart breaking with every word. His hands clenched the railing with a white-knuckled grip. "We need to find a closer island with a doctor on it."

The door behind them opened and Nami walked out, and even if she was pretending to be alright, both boys could see that she was far from well. She looked at the two of them, then out at the sea, and then at the Eternal Pose sitting next to Zoro.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked the swordsman.

"What's your problem?" Zoro asked, annoyed and concerned at the same time. "The ship is going straight isn't it?"

"Yeah, straight in the wrong direction!" Nami snapped. "Look at the Pose for crying out loud!"

"I don't have to look at that thing," Zoro stated, turning away from her. "We've been heading fo the biggest cloud over there the whole time."

"Clouds move you idiot!" Nami cried before her hands gripped her head painfully. "Ah, my head!"

"Then go inside and rest!" Zoro yelled.

Luffy watched her without speaking. He really hoped that it was just a cold, a change in the environment that caused her illness, but he also knew that it was a bit more serious than that. She looked like she was about to collapse, but still her eyes rose so that she was looking at the sky with furrowed eyebrows. She muttered something about the wind before spinning quickly to the two boys with the order to get everyone up on deck. Zoro did as ordered as Luffy stepped up to catch her before her legs gave out.

"Don't push yourself," he whispered as the others started to climb up from the girls' cabin. "I can't lose anyone else."

"What?" Nami breathed. Luffy said nothing as the others appeared on deck, but when Nami ordered for their heading to be altered, he was the first to move. Even as sick as she was, he trusted her to know what she was talking about. The boys copied him, curious about the order, but aside from a few complaints the task was done and they were heading in another direction. Vivi walked out from the cabin, a newspaper in her hand, and she stopped near Nami. She looked down at Luffy.

"I have to ask you a favor!" she began. "As a passenger on your ship, it's not my place to ask this, but I have no choice. My homeland is in jeopardy of being destroyed so I would really appreciate it if we could move even faster! Every minute that I'm out here, puts more of my people in danger of losing their lives. We need to head to Alabasta at full speed!"

The men were all looking at her with hard expressions. Luffy clenched his fists but didn't change his expression. He felt sorry for the girl, but his crew and his family would always come first. Even if it meant a million people would die, he would sacrifice it all to save a family member or a crewmate. But at the same time, if they didn't hurry to Alabasta, Phoenix would be lost to him.

"Of course we will," Nami said agreeably. She was leaning on the railing heavily but there was a smile on her face as she looked at the princess. "Just like we promised!"

Vivi smiled and suggested that they hurry up and find a doctor. After all, the only way they could move top speed was to get Nami healthy as soon as possible. The others sighed in relief, and Luffy did as well, but his heart was heavy.

"Right!" he called out, smiling tightly in agreement. "No one makes this ship move like Nami!"

Everyone agreed and Nami thanked her as she tried to walk over to her. She apologized… just before she fainted. Vivi caught her before she hit the deck, thankfully, but everyone's attention soon focused on the water behind the ship.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Usopp screamed in horror.

Not too far away, an enormous cyclone had appeared out of nowhere—one so big and large that it towered over them. The lightning flashed and the wind was so strong that even though they were far enough away not to have to worry about getting sucked in, the Going Merry was tossed around like a toy in a bathtub.

"IT'S A CYCLONE!" Vivi screamed.

"IT'S HUGE!" yelled Luffy, hanging onto the mast. They all realised that they would have been caught in the centre of that if they had continued on with their heading, and it was Nami that ensured that they would make it out of that alive. Luffy ordered Vivi to get Nami inside, so that she could rest, and had the others start to search for an island. He pulled Sanji to the side and asked him to make Nami a soup so that she could get some food in her, and keep her hydrated.

He followed Vivi down into the girls' cabin and sat at Nami's desk. The princess looked really worried, but also determined as she fixed the cold cloth back on Nami's forehead. The newspaper she had been holding earlier was sitting on the desk, and Luffy quickly read the page that was opened, and felt his heart beat a little faster as fear grew in him. Apparently, three-hundred thousand of Alabasta's Imperial Soldiers had defected and joined the Rebel Army so that now the Rebels outnumbered the soldiers and the tide has changed. The paper was dated for three days previously.

"How do you choose?" Luffy asked softly, alerting Vivi to his presence.

"Choose what?" she asked curiously.

"Between family and friends…"

"I don't understand," Vivi told him, her brow furrowed. "I could see that you wouldn't have wanted to go to Alabasta with Nami like this, but you were all so concerned about me that I needed you to focus on your strength. Nami is sick, she needs a doctor, and she won't make it to Alabasta. Once she's healed we can go and stop the rebellion."

"The world won't wait," Luffy muttered. "When it comes to it, I don't think I could choose. My family…or my friends…what is the right choice?"

"Family is important," Vivi began. "But, I'm a princess and my first loyalty will always be to my country. As hard as it is, if I can save my country I will do whatever it takes. Wouldn't you do the same for your crew?"

"I would give everything I have to keep them safe," Luffy said without hesitation. "But…there's someone out there who is waiting for me, and with every delay she gets further away from me."

"The girl Miss All-Sunday spoke of? Who is she? Is she in Alabasta?"

"…she's my little sister," Luffy admitted, his voice lower than before. Nami was still conscious and her eyes widened at the confession. "Crocodile captured her a few weeks ago, and before I even got to the Grand Line my destination was going to be Alabasta to get her back. But we keep getting delayed, and I don't think I'm going to make it to her in time."

"I think you will," Vivi told him with a smile. "As soon as Nami's well again, the ship will fly through the water until we get to Alabasta. She'll be waiting for you there."

"There's still a week to Alabasta," Luffy stated as he stood. "Even if Nami was well, and this ship was going as fast as possible, I already know that I'm too late. If we had gotten here a week ago, without any delays, maybe I would have made it in time. I'm the one who has to live with that."

"Luffy…"

"Keep watch over Nami for me," the captain ordered. "I'm going to help look for an island for her."

He left the room and made himself comfortable on the figurehead. He held the gold necklace in his hand as he stared out at the ocean. Another delay, more time to spend on something else, and all the while Phoenix was being pulled further and further from his grasp. He wouldn't rest until she was by his side again…that he promised.

Four Days Later…

The snowy kingdom of Drum didn't have many doctors, in fact they had two: one old lady and a reindeer. They lived in a castle on top of the tallest mountain on the island, and Luffy had climbed it hand over hand with Nami on his back and Sanji's jacket between his teeth. The cook had gotten himself injured on the trek up, so was unable to help with the climb. Luffy had passed out as soon as he reached the top, but the two doctors had helped his friends and he was able to rest easily.

Upon waking, meeting the reindeer and chasing it all over the castle to eat it, Luffy found himself sitting in one of the bedrooms with the still bed-ridden Nami and eating some of what Sanji had prepared earlier. The old woman, Doctor Kureha, was sitting at the table with him and Sanji was sitting next to Nami with a bowl of food in front of him to help her eat. Kureha had a newspaper in her hands, skimming through the articles, when Luffy choked on his food as he spotted the main article on the front page.

The Immortal Phoenix Captured! On Route to Impel Down!

He was so furious with the article title, not even bothering to read it, and stormed out of the room in order to break something. The others stared after him in shock, before their eyes focused on the newspaper curiously. Kureha stared at the title curiously, not understanding why the capture of another pirate angered him, and asked the other two about it.

"I've heard of the Phoenix," Sanji admitted. "But I have no idea what it means to Luffy. He doesn't normally act like that."

"Where was she captured?" Nami asked.

"Says a Warlord caught her and turned her in, not from where though, just that it was reported yesterday," Kureha stated.

At that moment the reindeer, Chopper, burst into the room stating that Wapol had returned to the kingdom. Nami was instructed to sleep to recover a bit more, but Sanji and Kureha followed Chopper to the front door in time to see Luffy angrily beat up the fat king-pirate from earlier. They didn't interfere, but after the first barrage Luffy returned to stand near them and Sanji looked at him in concern.

"You alright Captain?"

"No," Luffy stated shortly. "Let's beat up this guy and get to Alabasta. There's a crocodile I'm interested in killing."

A few hours later, after having defeated Wapol, recruited Chopper to join the crew, had new injuries treated, reunited with the rest of the crew, and skipped out on paying Doctor Kureha's bill, the Straw-hat Pirates were staring up at the tallest mountain in amazement. The old woman had set off every cannon with some kind of powder inside it, and the result was that the mountain looked like a giant sakura tree. It was beautiful, and it was the scene they left behind.

The party on the ship was great, like always, and Luffy acted like he always did. But Sanji was looking at Luffy in contemplation, something that intrigued Zoro, so the swordsman ended up sitting next to the cook, watching their captain. Eventually, Sanji explained what had happened that concerned him, and Zoro h'mmed his understanding.

"We're too late then," Zoro summed up. Sanji looked confused and Zoro elaborated quietly so that they wouldn't draw attention. "He said before, there's a special person in Alabasta he wanted to join the crew. The fact that he got angry over that article makes me think the person he wanted to join the crew was Phoenix, but she's now gone from Alabasta. He also said he wanted to kill a crocodile right? Crocodile is a Warlord, he apparently captured her, and now she's been turned into the marines. So, we are too late, by at least a week I'd say."

"Damn," Sanji muttered. "He's been stressing over her, not eating as much as he normally would, and we didn't notice."

"He hasn't been acting completely normal since that woman gave him that necklace," Zoro observed as he took a drink. "I think his whole 'let's get to the Grand Line as quickly as possible' thing was to find her before she disappeared. Phoenix is renowned for not staying in one place for too long."

"We'll keep a closer eye on him," Sanji vowed. "We'll be to Alabasta in a week or so."

"Let's hope we don't get any more bad news before then."

In the middle of the party, Luffy was acting as silly as possible to exhaust himself further. It was great having a new crewmate, especially a doctor, and now that they were on the open water again they would be in Alabasta soon. He forced himself not to worry about Phoenix, she could escape whenever she wanted to, the marines meant nothing to her, but it was where she would end up that concerned him. She would probably lay low for a while, which meant he wouldn't be able to find her for a long time…

…if at all.

One Week Later…

It took them a whole week to get to Alabasta, and in that time they had run out of supplies so they had no food, and rescued a weird ballerina cross-dresser guy who they discovered was Mr 2 after he returned to his own ship. They were docked at Nanohana at that moment, and Nami was giving last minute instructions to the crew so that they could do what they came to do. The main thing was to get supplies to last a trek through the desert, and not get recognised by any Baroque Works minion in the process.

Luffy didn't listen, and as soon as he could he jumped ship and ran into town with the intention of finding food and information as to where Phoenix could be now that she had been gone for a week. He didn't learn anything about her, sadly, but he did find something almost as good as his sister.

He had spotted Zoro staring in worry down the street, and he ducked out of sight of his crewmate before turning to see what he was looking at. A man wearing shorts, no t-shirt, and a bright orange hat was instantly recognizable, and as soon as he was out of sight of Zoro he sprinted down the street and jumped onto the man's back. The man cursed at the sudden weight, ignoring the reproachful looks from the people passing by, and shrugged off Luffy with difficultly.

"Luffy, you little brat," the man scolded. "A little more warning would have been nice."

"I got you good Ace," Luffy laughed as he was put back on the ground. "You've gotten slow in the last three years."

"I haven't had any annoying brothers or sisters jumping on me every second of every day," Ace protested. Luffy frowned at the reminder and Ace smiled sympathetically. He was happy to see his younger brother, and without another word he pulled him into a hug. Luffy returned the hug just as tightly, conveying how much he had missed him in their time apart.

"You've lost weight," Ace observed. "That, or you haven't gained any weight in three years. Come on, let's get something to eat."

"Not hungry," Luffy muttered, but nonetheless he allowed Ace to drag him to the nearest restaurant to eat. The older man ordered the food and when they sat down they started to talk about each other's' crew mates, ships and a few of the lighter adventures that they'd been on. Luffy wasn't eating much, just picking at his food, but his eyes were alight with wonder and joy as Ace spoke about his crew.

"You have some nerve, eating in public like this…Portgas D Ace and Monkey D Luffy."

The two brothers looked up at the new person but it was Luffy who recognised him instantly. He was Captain Smoker of the marines, based in Lougetown, and a man who had almost stopped Luffy from making it to the Grand Line at all.

"Smokie!" he smiled. He kicked the nearest chair out in invitation. "Join us, we're having lunch!"

"Friend of yours, Lu?" Ace asked curiously. "Didn't peg you as someone who would be on friendly terms with a marine."

"Smokie's alright!" Luffy insisted. "He actually believes in what he's doing. Grandpa would like him."

"What are the two of you doing here, together?" Smoker asked as he cautiously sat down. He refused the food Luffy pushed across to him, his eyes focused on the two of them cautiously.

"Just two brothers catching up," Ace said easily as he took another bite of food. "This is a restaurant after all. What are you doing here?"

"I've been looking for you, Straw-hat," Smoker revealed. "I told you that you had to defeat me to come to the Grand Line…you didn't. So I'm here to arrest you."

"Forget that," Luffy laughed. "I don't have time to be arrested. There's too much I need to do before that happens."

"What do you have planned coming here?" Smoker asked. "We intercepted a transmission, it was barely recognizable, but the few words we were able to understand led us to believe that you would be on your way here."

"I'm going to kill Crocodile," Luffy said seriously, no longer laughing. "He plans on destroying Alabasta, so I'm going to defeat him as a favour to Vivi…but he hurt someone important to me, so for that I'm going to kill him."

"What have you heard Lu?" Ace asked in concern. He didn't like how his brother shut down his emotions as the conversation continued. In response though, Luffy pulled out a necklace from under his clothes for the two men to see, though it was only Ace who understood.

"Shit," he whispered. "He's the one who turned her in?"

"I think he's done far more than that."

"Want some help? You seem to be more up-to-date with information than I am, and I'm on a quest of my own."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Smoker demanded. "Crocodile is one of the Seven Warlords, he's accountable to the World Government, are you saying that he has something to do with the problems in this country?"

"Yes," Luffy said simply, his eyes leaving Ace's to focus on the marine. "He's the cause of it, and I'm here to stop him."

"Are you here for the same reason, Portgas D Ace? Kill a Warlord?"

"No, but I may have to put that on my to-do list," Ace replied. "I'm here looking for a man who used be my crewmate. He killed another crewmate in cold blood, stabbing him in the back, so I'm hunting him down to take his life. No one should be able to get away with killing a crewmate. We're pirates, if we can't trust each other to watch our backs, who can we trust?"

Smoker nodded and blew out several smoke rings as he thought. The two pirates in front of him were completely different to most pirates. Aside from being painfully honest, they didn't seem to think like any other pirate Smoker had met. They seemed to care about friendship and people, more than money at least. They were almost like free-lance marines. It would also make it a pain to arrest them, but it was his duty to at least try.

"Despite what you've told me, I am a marine," Smoker began. "It is my duty to arrest you, but I'm not stupid enough to think that if I called for back-up, Headquarters would send more marines to apprehend Crocodile. They trust him, and won't lift a hand to interfere. So I'm going to give you a chance to escape to defeat him. If I catch you, too bad, but if I don't you have until this matter is resolved for me to try again. Sound fair?"

"Do we get a head start?" Luffy asked, a smirk growing on his face.

"You have until I get off this chair," Smoker told him, a smirk on his own face. The two brothers looked at each other, and then they ran after leaving some money on the table. To them, it felt like they were young again and running through the streets of High Town from police, but the consequences were a bit more serious this time if they were caught. Marines from all over the town started to chase them, and they agreed that it would be better to split up and meet back up later.

Luffy laughed as he ran, even when he spotted Smoker chasing him instead of Ace, and used his abilities to vault to different surfaces. The lowly marine grunts were no threat to him, but Smoker couldn't be hit and with his ability he could almost fly, so he was a big threat. He got turned around a few times, but eventually he spotted his crew and ran towards them with a bright smile and a wave.

"Ah! Luffy! Couldn't you have lost them before leading them to us?!" Zoro cried in anger as the six waiting pirates started to run with their supplies on their backs. Luffy just laughed in reply and picked up speed so that he was running beside the swordsman.

"Guess what I found?" he asked Zoro as they ran.

"Marines?" Zoro guessed sarcastically.

"Yep! But that's not all! I found Smokie as well!"

"Why is that a good thing?!" Zoro snapped as he looked over his shoulder. "The marines are trying to kill us!"

"They're just trying to make sure we don't get to our ship," Luffy said easily. "I ran into Smokie earlier. He should be here soon. I lost him for a bit but he's always been able to find me fairly quickly."

"I've got you now, Straw Hat!"

Luffy and Zoro looked back in time to see Captain Smoker appear at the front of the charge. Luffy grinned at him, before calling out.

"Not yet you don't! Aren't you forgetting someone?"

"HEAT HAZE!"

A band of fire erupted between the marines and the pirates as Ace jumped down from the roof between the two groups. Luffy cheered as the rest of his crewmates paled. The flames had freaked him out slightly, but he then realised that it was a Devil Fruit ability and his brother wasn't actually hurting from the fire.

"Fire-Fist Ace," Nami breathed.

"What's he doing here?" Sanji asked.

"Hey Luffy, stop staring and go," Ace ordered. "I'll hold them off for you."

Luffy laughed again and started to run, the others following behind him. Nami pulled up beside him and asked how he knew Fire-Fist Ace.

"That's easy," he stated with a smile. "He's my big brother!"

Making it back to the ship was easy, though Luffy hadn't really wanted to leave without his brother. Instead, the ship sailed out from the dock so that they wouldn't be boarded by marines, and waited until they could spot Ace before sailing on. The crew watched Luffy bounce around, and a few of them realised that they hadn't seen a real smile on Luffy's face for quite a while. Ace used his abilities and a specially made boat for him to make it to the Going Merry and leapt on. He landed on the railing, and as soon as Luffy bounced passed him he grabbed him and pulled him close in what could have been called a hug, if Luffy hadn't been struggling against him.

"So this is your crew," Ace said. "They look nice."

"Yep! This is Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper," Luffy said, pointing to everyone awkwardly from his trapped position. "And Vivi and Carue are joining us for a while. They're all really great people!"

"It's nice to meet you all," Ace said, inclining his head politely.

"It's nice to meet you," everyone said in unison.

"Luffy just finished telling us that you were his brother," Nami continued.

"That's right, this little kid here is my younger brother," Ace said with a bright smile. "He's a handful, but it's good to see him doing well."

"I've never not been well," Luffy stated with a smile up at his brother, still in his grasp. Ace snorted in disbelief before releasing the younger captain to join his crew. He watched how the boy interacted with the others, and he sighed when he realised that the boy was acting like he had when they were younger. It was something that bugged him to no end, when Luffy pretended everything was alright when in reality he was far from alright.

"He's been less cheerful since he got that necklace," Zoro revealed, leaning against the railing next to Ace. "The woman who gave it to him fled in terror, but I will say that that is the first time Luffy has truly scared me."

"How long ago was that?" Ace asked.

"A little more than two weeks ago," Zoro revealed. "Before that he was like a child on a sugar high. He was so excited to have arrived in the Grand Line, and then everything went downhill for him. Who is she? The girl the necklace belongs to?"

"He hasn't told you?"

"We only know that it's a girl he's looking for because he admitted that she was in Alabasta and she was going to join the crew."

"Ah damn," Ace muttered. "That explains a lot."

The ship rocked suddenly, throwing everyone off balance and causing them to look forward and gasp at the four marine vessels bearing down on them. Ace sighed and stood up.

"I'll take care of this, I won't be long," he ordered Luffy. Luffy grinned and waved as Ace leapt backwards onto his small boat and sped off towards the marines. The Straw-Hat Pirates watched in curiosity as in one powerful strike Ace destroyed all four vessels. Luffy grinned, unsurprised, while the rest of his crew were more than surprised.

"He's really strong," Nami observed. "He defeated them with one blow."

"And he's polite," Sanji added. "Are we sure that he's related to Luffy?"

"It doesn't seem possible," Usopp murmured. "But Luffy's pretty strong too."

"They must have trained together a lot," Chopper stated.

"Ace is the strongest person I know," Luffy explained. "One day I'm going to beat him."

"You mean that there's an actual flesh and blood person who you've lost to?" Nami asked in shock.

"Oh yeah, I've never been able to beat him or-" Luffy froze before he could finish his sentence and his face closed off.

"Or who?" Usopp asked. "There are two people you can't beat?"

"He could never beat Paige either," Ace replied instead as he returned. "She's the strongest out of all of us."

"Who's Paige?" Chopper asked.

Ace looked at Luffy once, and caught the nod that it was alright to talk about. Luffy turned his head away slightly, looking at the damage as the ship sailed around the burning wood. He ordered Sanji to prepare something eat, and the crew filed into the kitchen so that they could sit comfortably as Ace spoke about his and Luffy's past.

"Paige is our little sister," he began. "But she goes by Phoenix now. It's been three years since we've seen her, she's really hard to catch."

"Phoenix?" Sanji asked. "As in, the Immortal Phoenix?"

"Yes," Luffy said with a nod. He was uncharacteristically standing by the door, staring out at the ocean and almost ignoring what was going on behind him.

"So that's why you were angry when we were at Drum?" Sanji asked him. "Because you read in the paper…"

"I've known that she was in Alabasta since Lougetown," Luffy told him. "I also knew that Crocodile had caught her, though how he kept her for so long is a mystery as she doesn't normally let other people control her. A week ago she was handed over to the marines."

"That's why you didn't want to help Apis," Zoro realised suddenly. "Because by helping her, we wasted time, if we hadn't helped her, we would have gotten here in time."

"We can't know that," Luffy said sharply. "Besides, I made a choice then and I stand by it. Phoenix will be fine on her own for a bit longer. She's strong."

"Doesn't stop us from worrying though," Ace stated. "You'll see why when you meet her, but despite all her strength and intelligence, she's only fourteen."

"Thirteen," Luffy corrected. "Her birthday is next week."

"So young," Usopp muttered.

"She's not here now," Luffy continued, looking at his crew for the first time since the conversation started. "But Crocodile hurt her, so I'm going to hurt him. After he's been defeated is when I'll start searching for her again."

He left the room, ignoring Sanji when he announced that lunch was ready. Ace sighed as he left, and turned back to the crew who looked shocked when Luffy turned down food. Usopp and Nami in particular looked panicked, but Zoro and Sanji seemed resigned. Vivi and Chopper weren't accustomed to Luffy yet, but it was only a matter of time before they realised how unlike Luffy it was to turn down food.

"I see his depression has returned," he stated. He looked to Zoro. "You say that it's been two weeks?"

"Almost three," Zoro stated with a nod.

"Depression," Chopper muttered. He looked sad. "I didn't notice."

"Luffy's good at hiding his feelings," Ace said with a soft smile. "He's been doing it for years. And you're new to the crew, if I remember Luffy's explanation correctly. There's no way you would have been able to pick up on his behaviour without knowing him beforehand."

"I'm a doctor," Chopper insisted. "I'm supposed to know these things. There are many medicinal solutions to depression, I could prescribe him something to help him cope."

"Don't," Ace ordered. "Drugs will make it worse. They always have, no matter what they were meant to do. Anything that can mess with the mind is something that Luffy should avoid at all costs."

"He was drugged at Whiskey Peak though," Vivi stated. "He didn't look depressed then."

"He was trying to kill me," Zoro told her. "Remember? He said back then that drugs make him irrational and he doesn't know what he's doing under its influence."

"Was that before or after he got the necklace?"

"Before, but the drugs were still in his body when he received it."

"He's not eating as much as he was when I joined the crew," Sanji revealed as he set lunch out on the table. "He's almost halved the amount of food he eats a day."

"In three years he still weighs the same as he did when he was fourteen," Ace told him as he started to eat. "He won't get better until he finds Phoenix, but at least he's still eating. When she first disappeared he almost broke…didn't help that he was the last one to see her."

"What happened?" Nami asked curiously.

"Three years ago a slavers ship docked on our island. This is before I left, and Grandpa was sprouting some nonsense about how she was going to be a marine, a marine's wife, or a permanent inmate in Impel Down on account of her abilities. She stormed out and was captured, but I think she had been caught with other children as she would have been able to escape easily had she been alone. The marine ship that was there to pick up Grandpa fired on the slavers ship without getting the captured children off, thankfully Phoenix had already done that, but Phoenix hadn't been able to get off herself and when the gunpowder ignited she went up in flames."

"And Luffy saw that happen?" Usopp asked, his face pale.

"Yep," Ace sighed. "He hasn't been the same since. I don't know if he's gotten over it, but he had this terrible fear of fire, couldn't go near it without panicking and calling out to Phoenix."

"How could she still be alive?" Vivi asked tearfully. Ace looked uncomfortable at that question, but answered it nonetheless.

"Phoenix can't die. She will always wake up again, and if she loses a limb, it will grow back in a couple of hours. The scars she keeps, but her soul will never pass on and keeps returning to her body. I shudder to think about what Crocodile did to keep her, and I know Luffy's doing his best to not think about it."

"Everyone dies," Chopper told him.

"Phoenix can't," Ace leant back on the chair, staring at nothing as he recalled his childhood. "She told us once that she was the Master of Death. The Master of Death is someone who can command the dead, while at the same time being forever barred from death."

"Scary!" Usopp moaned.

"Command the dead?" Sanji asked. "What does that mean?"

"It means that if she wanted, she could raise an invincible army completely loyal to her and impossible to defeat. I don't know much more than that, but that is not her only power. If there is a human who could be a God, she is the closest anyone could ever come."

"Then why do you worry?" Zoro asked. "If she can't die, you know she'll be alive the next time you see her."

"I know she'll be alive physically, but she still feels pain," Ace explained. "She can still be tortured to death, and then she'll wake up and be tortured to death again. I'm afraid of what will happen if she mentally snaps, for she could become the most dangerous person in the world…and no one would be able to stop her until she's destroyed everything."

The pirates were silent as they thought about that. A child with the ability to destroy the world, a child who would never stay dead, it was a scary thought. But then they thought about how happy Luffy had looked when he thought he was getting closer, and how angry he had gotten when Miss All-Sunday had taunted him with Phoenix's necklace, and they decided that they would do their best to find and save the child from herself. She was already a part of their crew after all.

After lunch the crew returned to the deck to see Luffy sitting on the figurehead, silently watching the ocean. They all gathered around, not saying anything about their discussion, but giving him the support to know that they'd follow him wherever he led them. Ace leapt onto the railing by the figurehead in order to talk semi-privately with him, and with a sigh he noticed that Luffy had been crying.

"Do you think she hates me?" he asked quietly.

"She would never hate you," Ace promised. "You were the only one who she told everything to, and you were also the only one who could see through that cloak of hers. Not even grandpa could see through it. She was the only one you would let wear your hat, and you were the only one she would listen to."

"She listened to you."

"Not all the time," Ace chuckled. "Maybe it's because you asked her to join your crew first, and ever since then she's looked to you as her captain. But that necklace was her treasure, I know it has images of us in it, and you were the one who arranged for her to have it. She would do anything you asked of her."

"Then why doesn't she wait for me? Is she running from me?" Luffy felt more tears run down his cheeks.

"She's scared," Ace whispered. "Who knows what Crocodile did to her? She most likely doesn't know that you're on your way."

"I want her back, Ace," Luffy whispered, even softer than Ace. "I want my sister back."

"We'll get her, I promise Lu," Ace looked back at his brother's crew with a small smile. "And your crew will back you up all the way."

Luffy nodded and dried his eyes, retreating once more behind his masks. He joined in with the Chopper and Usopp who had drinks near them, and started to toast random things. They recognized his need to focus on something else, and allowed it, but they all promised to keep an eye on how he behaved throughout the journey.

"Ace, are you sure you don't want to join us?" Luffy asked, a tad hopefully. "It'll be fun, I promise."

"I can't right now, I'm chasing someone," Ace admitted. "He's a pirate, named Blackbeard."

"Blackbeard?" Usopp muttered.

"I've heard of him," Vivi admitted. "He's the one who attacked Drum Kingdom."

"You see, Blackbeard used to be a member of the Second Division of the Whitebeard Pirates," Ace explained. "He was one of my own men, but he committed the most unforgivable sin a pirate could…he killed one of his fellow crew members and then he jumped ship. As Commander of his Division, it's my responsibility to take care of it."

"So that's why you're after him," Usopp mumbled.

"I came here because I'd heard that Blackbeard was seen in Alabasta, a place called Yuba, so that's where I'm headed," Ace revealed.

"Hey," Nami realised. "That's our destination too, right?"

"Exactly," Vivi told her. She pulled out a map and lay it on the ground before them. All the pirates gathered around in order to see it better. "We've just entered the Sandora River. We'll take it Erumalu where we'll dock, and then we'll proceed on foot until we reach Yuba, here. The leader of the Rebel Army is there, that's where we're going."

"You don't say," Ace muttered from above them all. "You mind if I tag along?"

"Nami, Vivi, I'll follow you anywhere!" Sanji babbled like a love-sick fool. "Just tell me where to go!"

"Hopefully it's somewhere off of a cliff," Zoro told him.

"What did you say Zoro?!" Sanji yelled at him, losing his star-struck appearance.

"Cool it you two!" Nami ordered. "Well, looks like you'll be with us for a little while Ace."

"We're all really happy to have you aboard," Usopp told Ace, his expression suddenly very confident. Luffy started to laugh loudly, he didn't really care what had brought Ace back to him, he was just happy to have some family around. He wondered if he could convince Ace to stay until they found Phoenix.

"This is going to be fun!" he stated. "To Ace!"

"Cheers!"

To Be Continued...