Archaeologist & Little Garden

The Straw Hat Pirates did their best to console their new friend, but they could tell it didn't help much.

They gave Vivi some space in the women's bedroom to let her calm down as they all met in the kitchen to talk about what they were going to do.

"So, what's a Warlord?" Luffy asked before anyone could say anything else, making everyone else facepalm. Nami angrily grabbed his collar and shook him violently.

"How the hell can you know so many famous people and not even know something as simple as that!!!" She screamed at him, while Luffy just let himself be shook, knowing if he said anything she'd just get more mad.

After a few minutes of that, Nami finally calmed down. Sanji took the initiative to explain as he could sense just how pissed off she was still.

"Marine Headquarters, The Four Emperors, The Seven Warlords. These three are known as the 'Three Great Powers' that keep the other so-called 'Powers' as well as the rest of the world in check. There's a bunch more complicated stuff, but I can tell you already don't care at all. A Warlord who is a lackey for the 'World Government' who gets left alone by the 'Marines' in exchange." Sanji explained what the 'Three Great Powers' were to Luffy, who was struggling to stay awake. He snapped out of it when he realized the explanation was done.

"So, this Crocodile guy is one of these 'Seven Warlords'? Then he must be strong, huh?!" Luffy asked with a massive smile, realizing this was going to be his first real opponent in the 'Grand Line'.

The people he has fought so far besides Smokey have been pretty disappointing. Even with Smokey, he only used 'Gear 4th' because he wanted to show Smokey how much stronger he needed to be to fight him.

It didn't matter if he knew 'Haki', that fish was weak as shit and Luffy proudly used him as a training dummy.

But these 'Three Great Powers' things sound pretty interesting and strong. Now you're telling him that one of these Warlord guys was messing with his new friend's home country?

Of course, he is kicking his ass as soon as he gets to 'Alabasta'. He'll leave all that war shit and the Warlords crew to Vivi and his crew, he'd just try to punch through it anyway, and they told him he couldn't do that when he brought it up.

Since he can't punch through the war(honestly he still doesn't know why he couldn't just punch everyone and end the war), he'll just go punch someone he can punch, which turns out to be some dumbass named Crocodile.

Nami and Usopp became horrified when they heard Luffy. They realized there was no way for them to convince him to do something else. Zoro and Sanji, on the other hand, seemed excited.

"A Warlord would have pretty strong subordinates, huh?" Sanji said smirking getting a scoff from Zoro.

"I get the strongest one." The swordsman said, making Sanji's eyebrow twitch.

"Hell no!! And who the hell said you can tell me what to do?!!" The chef yelled out getting a cocky smirk from Zoro before the swordsman looked at his Captain who was still getting scolded by Nami with Vivi trying to calm her down.

"Oi, Luffy!!" Zoro yelled out getting everyone to look at him. He flinched when Nami's glare turned to him, but he pressed on.

"What's my position in the crew?" Zoro asked getting a confused head tilt from Luffy.

"The Vice-Captain. Duh." He said as he dug for gold in his right nostril, getting another smack to the head from Nami for his efforts.

Zoro smiled smugly and turned back to Sanji, who was pale and horrified.

"As the Vice-Captain of our crew, I DO get to tell you what to do." He said as smugly as possible, making Sanji drop to his knees, clutching his chest.

"He's right... How did I not notice before?… Why did I join this crew…" Sanji muttered, making everyone break out in laughter.

Luffy blinked when he heard a laugh he didn't recognize. He turned to the kitchen to see a black-haired woman in her mid-twenties in a cowboy hat.

"Uhh…" Luffy just stared at her, unable to process why he couldn't sense her at all, even when he was looking right at her. His confusion drew everyone else's attention.

They were surprised to see a woman none of them had seen before on the ship leaning on the railing above the door to the kitchen, looking down at them on the deck. After half a second, they jumped into action.

Zoro had his swords out and coated in 'Armament Haki', Sanji had the same applied to his smoking foot, and Usopp and Nami both had their weapons aimed at her. They heard her chuckle.

"There's no need for such hostility." They heard her say before feeling something come out of their backs and before they could react, their weapons were pushed out of their grip and they were shoved off balance.

The Straw Hat crew was on the deck of the 'Going Merry' at the mercy of their opponent, who just smiled softly at them. When she looked behind them, her pupils constricted.

The Captain was gone.

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she felt an arm land over her shoulder.

She looked over to see 'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy with his skin tinted red, steam coming off of him, and a massive smile on his face. Before he could say anything, Vivi broke out of her stupor and angrily glared at the intruder.

"Luffy, be careful. That's Miss All Sunday, Crocodiles partner and second in command of 'Baroque Works'." The princess explained making everyone understand just who was in front of them. Luffy just laughed.

"Don't worry, Vivi!! I can tell that she doesn't want to hurt us!! Though, I can also sense this isn't her real body…" Luffy reassured her before trailing off, getting a surprised glance from Miss All Sunday and making his crew watch her warily.

'He was able to tell this isn't my main body without even knowing what fruit I have? Very interesting, he didn't seem like much of a thinker. Does he know 'Observation Haki' even though he just entered the 'Grand Line'?' She thought to herself as she schooled her expression.

"Impressive. That's correct, I am just a clone. I ate the 'Hana Hana no mi' that allows me to sprout duplicates of my body parts within my range." She casually explained her powers, not worried about her safety at all. This wasn't her main body after all.

"Shishishi!! That's a pretty cool power you have there!! Though, you might want to apologize to my crew for what you did to them.." Luffy warned her in a stage whisper while pointing at his crew. She looked back at his crew and immediately broke out into a cold sweat.

She saw the navigator and sniper glaring at her with their weapons in their hands again, aimed right at her. The cook's leg was producing a heat she could feel from 5 meters away.

Finally, and most terrifying, the swordsman and Vice-Captain was holding the white-hilted katana she took from him in a vice grip with his right hand. The most worrying part was the unstable green coating on the now unsheathed blade.

'Is that 'Advanced Armament Haki'? If this is the Vice-Captain, how strong is the Captain?' The woman thought to herself as she glanced at the straw hat-wearing teenager who hadn't stopped smiling at her. She could tell the only reason the swordsman didn't attack was because of the Captain glancing at him.

Just because she was a clone didn't mean she wanted to die. At least, not before she accomplished her goal.

"Don't be so worried, lady. Though, it does suck that you work for that stupid croc." Luffy pouted at her before perking back up again.

"Hey, if I beat up Crocodile, you'll have nowhere to go right? Then, you should join my crew!! You seem cool, you have a cool devil fruit, and you probably have some kind of cool dream!! I can tell you don't really care about that guy anyways so might as well come have fun on my ship instead." He said, shocking the woman still. She had never experienced such a genuine offer of friendship except when she was a child with a kind giant.

Luffy saw that his words had a big impact on her so he let go over her shoulder and stepped back, no longer in his 'Gear 2nd'. He laughed at her.

"Shishishishi!! You don't have to answer right now. I'll ask you again after I beat up that shitty Warlord." Luffy said simply, stunning the woman even more.

The woman shook herself from her shock before she smiled at him. A real smile this time, which made Luffy smile back.

"Let's see what happens then, shall we?" She said as she pushed herself off of the railing and walked to the edge of the ship. She glanced at Luffy over her shoulder. She knew it was a horrible idea, but she had a feeling it would be alright.

"My real name is Nico Robin." She said getting a beaming smile from the straw hat Captain.

"Nice to meet you, Robin!! You better say yes to joining my crew the next time I ask you." Luffy said getting a soft chuckle in response.

"Hahaha, Goodbye, Captain-san. It was nice meeting you and I'm sorry for how I treated your crew."

The now-named Robin waved at Luffy before her body split apart into pink flower petals, confirming she was a clone the entire time. Luffy laughed when he saw that.

"Shishishishi!!! I'll get her to join next time, I swear!!" He shouted out, getting a smack to the head from Nami before she grabbed him by the shirt collar and shook him violently.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! She's Crocodile's partner!! She's trying to destroy Vivi's country!! How the hell could someone like that join our crew?!" Nami was livid.

She could deal with the normal idiocy, but this was too much. Luffy wanted to recruit the women trying to do exactly what they were trying to prevent. Vivi was also very much looking forward to his explanation.

Luffy just let her yell at him until she ran out of breath. When she did, he took his chance to explain, not wanting another one of Nami's punches.

He still had no clue how she could hurt him without 'Armament Haki'.

"I asked her to join because she seemed cool and has a cool devil fruit." He explained. He continued when he saw the glare both Nami and Vivi were giving him.

"I also wasn't kidding when I said she didn't want to hurt us. Also, the Ms. Every Saturday lady didn't kill that tube-hair uncle. I could sense him still alive on 'Whiskey Peak', which she probably also knew but still left him." Luffy tried to distract them with that bit of information. Thankfully, it seemed to work as Nami let go of him, making him breathe a sigh of relief. Vivi's eyes shot open when she heard that. She looked at Luffy angrily.

"If you knew that, why didn't you tell me?!" She shouted at him, which made Luffy wince. Before he could answer, his Vice-Captain beat him to it.

"If we told you he was alive right after it happened, you'd demand that we go back to get him. The whole point of doing what he did was to buy us time to get back to 'Alabasta'. If we went back, it would've made his efforts pointless." Zoro said as he walked out of the kitchen with a bottle of sake.

Vivi sadly nodded at that before she made to apologize but stopped when Zoro shook his head, silently saying that it didn't matter. He took a massive swig of his fresh sake before looking down at his katanas.

'She caught me off guard. Luffy said that wasn't even her real body. I was so confused and angry with losing 'Wado Ichimonji' that I couldn't use my 'Observation Haki' to sense that.' Zoro thought to himself, getting more and more angry as the thoughts kept flowing in. They were cut off by a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see his Captain smiling at him.

"Don't worry about it. As long as you get stronger and learn from it, it doesn't matter." He said simply, getting a nod in return. Luffy took his hand off Zoro's shoulder and looked over at the other intruder on his ship with a deadpan.

*Quack*

"What's the deal with this big duck? Can I eat him?" Luffy asked getting a laugh from Vivi and a shiver from the duck.

"Hahaha!! No, you can't eat him. He's my friend, Karoo. He's what is called a 'super spot-billed duck' and I can use him as transportation! We have a whole team of them back in 'Alabasta' that the army uses." The blue-haired girl explained, getting a pout from Luffy who was upset he couldn't eat the tasty-looking duck.

Luffy shook his head before he walked over to the edge of the deck where they could see an island about 300 meters away from them. Luffy's smile got a lot bigger.

"Guys, you can sense those two, can't you?" Luffy asked his crew, getting a nod from Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp and confused looks from the two girls and the duck. Sanji was the one who answered his question.

"Yeah. There are two monsters on this island. They are massive and more importantly, are extremely strong." Sanji responded. Luffy could barely hold his excitement.

"Here I come, 'Little Garden'!! I smell adventure!!!"