EDIT 8 Sep 08: It has been brought to my attention that some incompetent idiot or two might conceivably believe that I am attempting to claim the One Piece world, or any other world thought up by someone else, as my own. Therefore:

DISCLAIMER: I do not own One Piece. I do not own the chair you are sitting on. I do not own the computer you are viewing this on. I do not own anything from any anime currently in existence, although it is feasible that I might possibly have something to do with an anime sometime in the future. Far future.

I do not own the concept of islands. I do not own the concept of oceans. I also don't own the concept of gunplay. I don't own the concept of swords.

If you do not recognize it, it is probably mine. Therefore, if you are having difficulty deciding whether or not I, quote/unquote, "STOLE" something from you, let me know so I can resolve your case of idiotic mind before we all do something we regret, I.E.: You sue me for talking about something related to your supposedly 'copyrighted' crap and I murder you in your sleep for being an idiot.

Any questions? Good. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

-Luk'var kel'dezh-

It was a quiet night on Kikiro Island when the raft came into view. The night guard had just come on watch, their daytime comrades walking away tiredly; with the recent surge in pirate activity, the East Blue had become a place unsafe for complacency.

On the northeastern watch tower, the green-haired man on watch yawned widely and smacked his lips as he brought his telescope to his eye. His opinion of the local Navy commander's policy of watching at all times was that somebody's screws were loose; nothing on Kikiro Island was worth stealing or even killing, as the lone village was made up of nobody villagers and worthless houses, while the base was the home of a grand total of two small patrol craft and a small prison where minor prisoners from the village were kept, none lasting longer than a week at most. With only a platoon of Marines to hold the entire island, there wasn't much the Navy could've done, anyway, if somebody had really wanted to do something to the island.

So when he brought the glass to his eye and swept the horizon, he was utterly shocked to spy a small raft composed of five logs tied together coming over the edge of the sky, the sail catching the last of the evening breeze and propelling the craft forward toward the island. There was no cabin or even a tent to shelter the inhabitant of the raft, and the watchman couldn't even tell at first if there was even anybody aboard until the craft was roughly a mile from shore.

He eyed the dim form aboard the craft, then brought the snail-phone speaker up to his mouth and began reporting his sighting.

Navy Commander Lance Cradge looked up at the man standing before his desk, one eyebrow raised skeptically. "So the northeast watchtower has spotted a lone raft with a single occupant aboard? He must be blind; any craft approaching us could only be a pirate vessel with a crew of killers aboard. We would know if anyone else was coming."

The man stood there stiffly at attention. "No, sir, he was quite clear. He said it was a log raft, with a single sail and a lone occupant. No cabin, no form of cover, just a lone man sleeping on the raft." The man paused, then added hesitantly, "Sir, he's one of our best night watchers; if he says something is so at night, then he's always right..."

"Bah."

The man winced as the commander stood up and stalked out of the office, then sighed and looked at a corner of the office that had been shrouded in shadows.

"Your father is a good man, but he's a little paranoid, Lieutenant."

Lieutenant Rosa Cradge smiled softly, her hands stroking the lean, well-muscled cat on her lap. "Oh, I think he has due reason to worry, what with this Straw Hat fellow having destroyed some of the largest groups around here. With the big cats gone, the little toms have started scurrying around in their rush to be the next top cat."

The marine nodded, then saluted and left the office, leaving Rosa to herself. Smiling softly, she turned her gaze to the moonlit night outside the window of her father's spartan office.

A good night for an invasion.

The raft sailed unerringly into the port of Kikiro Village, the craft's occupant never waking even when the raft drove itself ashore and beached there; the raven on the top of the mast, however, did awaken. He stretched his wings, then his shadowed eyes lit upon a group of armed individuals that were fast approaching the craft and what could have passed for a smirk crossed his beak before he spread his wings and rose into the night sky. From above, he watched as the figures cautiously approached the craft, then he turned his head and spotted the twin craft anchored in the bay and flew off toward them.

Behind him, the sergeant in charge of the group moving toward the man on the raft slowed as their lights played over the sleeping form; a brown, wide-brimmed hat with a single strand of string running from the brim that probably served to keep the hat from blowing away covered the fellow's eyes, while his close-cut black hair served as a slightly cushioning object for his head as his arms held his skull off the hard wood. A brown leather shirt and brown leather leggings, dark brown boots, all barely showing from beneath the brown overcoat that he was covered in.

As the first marine rudely yanked off the overcoat in an attempt to wake the man, the entire group leaped back as a set of armaments worthy of a Navy arsenal; the belt around his waist supported two strangely-fashion pistols, while two rolls of what were clearly ammunition lay on his chest. The butt of a rifle protruded from behind his left shoulder, while a shotgun lay on the wood next to him and twin hatchets hung from bandoleers on his chest, a set of eight or more knives sheathed on the leather as well. The last piece of armament the shocked group noticed was the massive battle-ax leaning against the mast, having been hidden before by distance.

Then the man woke up and pushed his hat further up, revealing the bandana wrapped around his eyes as he stared straight at the sergeant.

"Douse the lights, wouldja?"