Hey Guys,
This is my first time Publishing something on Fanfic so forgive me if it looks a little wierd...

Disclamer: I do not own One Piece... I wish I did but it belongs to Eiichiro Oda.

The clatter of feet sounded throughout the silent hallway as the young Marine ran towards the roof hatch. Once he burst through he paused a moment to catch his breath before running up to the officer he was looking for.

"Sir! A ship has been sighted in the harbour! It's one of ours Sir and they are requesting to dock!" he said saluting to the man's back. "Which ship?" he growled. The young Marine gulped, "Sir... it's the Freedom Fighter."

The officer stiffened and growled through his Iron jaw, "It seems we have no choice but to let them dock then... Give them Dock 4. NOW!" he yelled at the young Marine who flinched and quickly ran off with a 'Yes Sir'.

Inky dark eyes gazed silently at the horizon before looking down onto the deck, the straw hat atop his head shading his eyes. The crew were already scrambling around the deck preparing to dock in Shell Town's small harbour, but he smiled gently as he watched the young boy; Coby, who they had picked up along the way, attempting to help.

A gentle wind blew from the north and the coat hanging over his shoulders fluttered gently. Luffy sighed heavily and walked over to the railings of the large ship.

A set of footsteps approached as Luffy gazed at the horizon again. "Kiyoshi, what are our orders?" Papers rustled and soon Luffy's second in command handed him a sheet of paper with the Marine insignia printed in the corner.

He read through the document silently then sighed, "Routine Visit... in other words; Gramps dumping his work on us." He muttered.

He passed the paper back to his friend and gently took his straw hat off his head and ran a hand through his messy hair. Kiyoshi noticed Luffy's agitation and leaned on the railing next to Luffy, "What's bothering you? You've been acting strange ever since we picked up that boy Coby." He said looking at the waves. Luffy put his hat back on and frowned. "Nothing, I just have a bad feeling about this town..."

Kiyoshi frowned; Luffy's instincts were nothing to be doubted, they had saved the entire crew on many occasions.

He shuffled around the papers in his hand then passed Luffy a different sheet of paper. "This base is under the command of Capitan "Axe Hand" Morgan. Morgan is the man who killed the notorious Kuro of a Thousand Plans; Capitan of the Black Cat Pirates." He said.

"His reputation is clean but there have been rumours that he has become power greedy; that being the reason for the inspection, or as we're calling it; Routine Visit." He said bluntly. Luffy laughed lightly and nodded when he finished reading. "Ok then. First things first... find a meat stand then find the base." he gave Kiyoshi one of his trademark grins before walking down onto the main deck, laughing as he went.

Kiyoshi smirked slightly before shaking his head and following after Luffy. The ship had docked and Luffy called Coby over.

The boy rushed over and saluted, "Yes Sir?" he asked formally making Luffy raise an eyebrow; "Hey now... you're not a marine yet ya know. Besides saluting is over rated so put down that arm." He said. Coby stared at him for a moment before swiftly lowering his arm. "Y-Yes Sir!" he stuttered.

Luffy chucked, "Stop with the 'Sir' already! Reminds me too much of Ji-san..." he muttered glumly.

Kiyoshi frowned as he saw Luffy's shoulders tense and swiftly walked over. "It's time to go. There are some men waiting on the shore to escort us to the Base." He said. Luffy nodded, "Ok then, time to go." He said heading towards the ramp. "You coming Coby?" he yelled over his shoulders.

Kiyoshi grinned when he looked behind him, Coby was still standing in the middle of the deck staring at Luffy's back. "Hurry up, or do you want to get left behind?" he asked the boy. Coby quickly ran to catch up to the pair as they headed down the ramp.

The two marines standing on duty at the gates both stood to attention before saluting as five figures came walking up the road.

Two of them they knew to be fellow marines from their base but one of the unknown men seemed to be a young boy. It was the last two that caught their attention though. Both were no doubt officers but the intimidating aura surrounding them implied they were much more than just that. As they passed without a word, of the officers gave them a weak smile before walking on.

Intrigued, one of the marines let his gaze follow the officers back. It only took him a few moments to notice what had seemed so different about the man as he spotted the Kanji that had been sewn into the man's coat.

"I wonder who that was? Must have been pretty important though, considering that they are going to visit Capitan Morgan." mumbled his partner.

The Marine gaped at him. "Are you telling me you don't know who that is!" he hissed. The man shrugged, "Am I supposed to?" he asked.

The marine sighed, "Didn't you notice anything weird about that officer's coat? All high ranking officers have a coat that says 'Justice' right." He said looking at the other. "Of course, everyone knows that!" grumbled the man. "Well, look at that officer's coat again. What do you see?" he said pointing at the officers back as he was about to walk into the building.

The marine squinted his eyes and a moment later he gasped as well. "What the...! It says 'Freedom'! I thought all officers had 'Justice' on their coats!" he said.

The marine smirked. "Only one marine in the whole world has that printed on his back. Commodore Monkey D, Luffy!"

"Commodore D. Monkey sir, may I introduce Capitan Morgan; the head of Shell Town's Marine Head Quarters." said the young Marine opening the doors to a large office and saluting.

Capitan Morgan rose from his seat and bowed his head slightly. "Welcome Commodore. We weren't expecting you." He said gruffly. Luffy smiled and sat down in the seat in front of the desk and Kiyoshi and Coby took positions either side of him.

"You have no need to worry, Captain. This is simply a Routine Inspection." He said crossing his arms across his chest. Morgan sat back down and placed his 'Axe Hand' on the large desk.

"So, what do you need to know?" he grumbled through his iron jaw. Luffy's smile dropped, "I heard from some of the locals that the bounty hunter Roronoa Zoro was arrested for slaughtering a wolf that had attempted to maul a young girl.

"The wolf in question belonged to your son, I believe, and it was your son that made the arrest in your name. But I don't believe that your son is an officer, or part of the marines for that matter." said Luffy in total seriousness. "Under law of the Marines... your son, no matter how privileged, is not authorised to make such arrests." He said raising his head.

Capitan Morgan growled, "The affairs of my son are no concern on mine. He is a good for nothing brat that waves my name around to get what he wants." Morgan frowned and leaned back in his chair.

Suddenly the door burst open and a loud sigh broke the rooms tense atmosphere.

"Man... that bounty hunter sure is persistent. I didn't think he'd last for a full month. He's no fun anymore; I'll probably just execute him tomorrow, who cares about..." The man who walked in had finally opened his eyes and seen that his father wasn't the only one in the room. He snorted, "Who are these losers?" muttered Helmeppo.

Kiyoshi frowned and Coby shouted at him, "Who are you calling a looser! Do you have any idea who this is!" he yelled.

Helmeppo gaped at him, "How dare you speak to me like that? I am the first and only son of Captain 'Axe Hand' Morgan!" While Helmeppo had his short rant, Luffy had stood from his seat "So you are Helmeppo... Would you care to finish what you were about to say just a moment ago?" he muttered letting his Straw Hat shadow his eyes.

"Hmff, you can watch if you want; I'm going to execute that swordsman tomorrow. This month will end in three days any by the rate that swordsman is going he's going to win the bet. I can't be bothered to wait that long..." he muttered waving a hand dismissively.

"What bet might that be?" said Luffy sounding as if he were interested. Kiyoshi's eyes flickered to the Commodore and his fists tightened, unsure whether Luffy was really interested or if this was just a hoax to get information out of the boy. "I made a bet with the swordsman saying if he survived a full month tied to that post out there, then I will let him and that family live. If he doesn't then I get to kill both." said Helmeppo grinning deviously.

Luffy smirked. "Bring me to him." He muttered. Helmeppo paused and then laughed. "Sure, sure!" he said waving a hand dismissively, "He's down in the courtyard. I always knew you officers were the kind to gloat!" he laughed.

Just as Helmeppo had said, the Pirate Hunter was tied to an execution post in the middle of the courtyard. Luffy stood alone with Helmeppo at the gates as one of the marines nearby unlocked the gate and let them both inside. Helmeppo grinned widely and walked up to the Swordsman laughing as he went. "Ha, not feeling so good now are we?" he said coming to a stop in front of him. "Shut up idiot-son... I still have three day's left then I can go free..." muttered Zoro.

Helmeppo stumbled back a few steps in shock before frowning and kicking Zoro in the guts. "How dare you talk to me like that? I am...!"

"Helmeppo! That's enough... leave us." said Luffy glaring at the boy from under his straw hat. Helmeppo shivered slightly and turned to face Luffy. "Who said you can order me round? I am Captain Axe-Hand Morgan's son!" he said outraged.

Luffy continued to stare at Helmeppo while walking forward, "And I am Commodore Monkey D. Luffy. I have the full authority to strip your father of his rank. If I do so then your family will no longer have any influence over this island. Now leave us!" he muttered stopping right in front of Helmeppo who was currently frozen on the spot.

Nodding franticly, Helmeppo practically ran towards the gate and back into the base; most probably to tadle-tail to his father. Luffy chuckled lightly and shook his head before turning towards Zoro.

"You seem to have caught yourself in a bit of trouble here." He sighed.

Zoro looked up and slowly took in the appearance of this newcomer. Instead of the formal wear that most officers wore under their coats, Luffy was wearing what appeared to be a blood red dress shirt, a black vest and long black pants with a white sash hanging around his hips as a belt. Zoro looked down at the man's feet and raised an eyebrow; Sandals...?

Trying his best not to chuckle, Zoro raised his head again to look up at Luffy. Apparently this Marine was a Commodore but he looked about a quarter of the age of all the other old geezers he had heard of that claimed to be Commodore's themselves. Although, he had to admit that the straw-hat resting on the man's head the absolute strangest feature.

Zoro sighed, "What would you know? Now get lost; I'm trying to sleep." Settling back down again Zoro closed his eyes but noticed that the shadow above him still hadn't left.

"I know that you are the famous Pirate Hunter Zoro that everyone keeps talking about and I know that they say you are a demon who had disguised himself in human flesh. I know that you saved that young girl from Helmeppo's pet wolf and I also know about your deal with Helmeppo." He murmured.

"But most importantly, I know that Helmeppo doesn't intend to keep that deal." Zoro's eyes opened and flew up to look at Luffy's face. "What!" he hissed. Luffy nodded, "He plans to execute you and that young family tomorrow." Zoro glared up at Luffy, his bandana shading his eyes from the harsh sun.

"How do I know you're not lying?" he mumbled mainly to himself. Luffy sighed before grabbing onto his straw hat and lifting it from his head while he crouched down in front of the pirate hunter.

"This hat was given to me by someone very special," he said turning it over in his hands. "He took it off his head and told me, 'This world is slowly crumbling under the power of the World Government. They are doing more and more evil under the name of justice.'

"Then when he pressed this hat onto my head he told me to follow my own sense of Justice, no matter what anyone else said." He said smiling gently.

He then raised his hand and placed the straw hat safely back onto his head. "I live by what he told me; that's how you will know I'm not lying." His smile morphed into a frown. "What Helmeppo is doing is wrong."

"I talked to the little girl who had been attacked. She told me she came to visit you; brought her very first rice-balls along with her to give to you." Zoro's eyes widened and he looked up at Luffy, "Is she ok? Helmeppo had her thrown over the wall."

Luffy smiled gently and nodded. "Nothing to serious: just a few bruises." Zoro nodded and sighed in relief. Eying Zoro for a few more seconds Luffy sighed and stood up, "I've decided: I'm going to get you out of here." He said looking up at the marine base tower.

Zoro stared at him, "What... why?" he asked. Luffy turned around to face him with a harsh frown. "Because this is not justice."