Join Dead end race

Meanwhile at the Marinefort base , about an hour after the battle between Marine and straw hats,

"What? You mean you lost to those kids?" Sengoku's voice roared through the Fleet Admiral's Office. It startled two people inside the room and even those who were walking outside.

Everyone looked at each other with confusion.

"Yes, Fleet Admiral Sengoku! Currently, Vice Admiral Yamakaji is injured and unconscious but there are no vital injuries. I have already sent the report as for the…."

Just when Smoker was continuing, Sengoku's voice rang from the transponder snail.

"No, we will wait for Yamakaji to wake up. Until then, bring him here! This matter is extremely important."

Saying so, he put down the transponder snail and turned his head at two people. These two were Vice Admiral Garp and Vice Admiral Tsuru.

"Garp! Can't you even make your grandson a marine?"

Although he wasn't sure about the detail, just the fact that Yamakaji lost to Straw Hat Luffy speaks of his potential. If such a person joins the marine, they would have another admiral in the future.

"I can't help it. That bastard was taught by Shanks when the old man was trying to capture other pirates. No matter how much I try, I couldn't convince him." Garp shrugged his shoulder in an extremely relaxed manner as he spoke.

"Shanks that bastard!" Sengoku also clenched his fist angrily. As a grandson of Marine Hero Garp, he was taught to be a pirate by another pirate especially when this pirate was often chased by Garp.

It almost seemed like he is trying to get revenge on Garp.

"Although it is regretful, we can't do anything about it now. So, let's discuss how should we treat the threat level of Straw Hat Pirates." Tsuru saw the anger and helpless on both of their faces so she decided to speak.

Hearing her words, Sengoku turned his head at Garp and said.

"Garp, if the report really goes as I am guessing, I won't be able to suppress it anymore."

"It's okay! The moment my grandson decided to become a pirate, I had already accepted my fate. But bwahaha! My grandson truly has my blood. Defeating vice admiral at the age of seventeen. Bwahahaha! He is truly my grandson."

Garp shook his head and suddenly burst into laughter with a proud expression on his face.

Sengoku jumped from his seat and shouted.

"You bastard, I am getting a headache because your grandson and you have the nerve to laugh."

"Bwahahah! Sengoku, I am still proud of my grandson." Garp didn't care about Sengoku's headache as he continued to laugh with his proud expression.

"GARP!" Sengoku roared that almost shaking the entire Marineford.

Only then Garp calmed down a bit but he still was trying to laugh.

"Haaa! I really don't know what to do about your family. One is a marine hero, the man who chased Roger multiple times and a spiritual belief for most people around the world."

"Second is a head of revolutionary, the man who is trying to overthrow the World Government. He has become the most wanted man in the world and has become the central figure of most rebels."

"Third is a supernova, a kid who defeated a Vice-Admiral after going out in the seas for just a few months. If Smoker hadn't told me just how powerful Straw Hat was at the beginning, I wouldn't have believed he could grow this strong at such a fast pace."

"One is Marine Hero, one is head of revolutionary and one wants to become a pirate king. Garp, you bastard wants your family to hold the top position of every corner."

Sengoku loudly shouted at Garp while holding his collar. At this moment, he was truly terrified of his friend. He was afraid that his friend planned all of this from the beginning.

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence?

Garp saw that doubt in Sengoku's eyes and burst into laughter.

"Bwahahaha! Sengoku, you are truly growing old. How could you even think of something so absurd?"

Garp puts his hand inside a pocket and took out a bag of senbei.

"By the way, I recently traveled to the North Blue and got these famous Senbei. Let's eat!"

Hearing his words, Sengoku's eyebrows twitched.

"I was concerned for nothing. And, you bastard, this is Fleet Admiral's office, not your dining hall."

"Calm down, Sengoku! You will have a heart attack if you keep talking like that. Here, take this!" Garp shared Senbei with Sengoku while looking like he was having a heartbreak.

Seeing his expression, Sengoku was disgusted but he still took the Senbei and ate it.

"If you two have done enough chattering, should we talk about how are we going to handle this situation?" After a few more minutes, Tsuru finally couldn't bear to look at them shouting at each other.

As soon as she spoke, Garp and Sengoku instantly returned to normal.

"Ahem! This time it's going to be serious. We can't overlook the growth of Straw Hat Pirates anymore."

Saying so, Sengoku gave Garp a sorry glance while proceeding with his talk.

"I am calling an emergency meeting. For the full story, I will talk to Yamakaji later but right now, we need to act quickly since there is still a chance that we can catch them."

Hearing his words, Tsuru spoke.

"You should give up on that. Unlike this time, they won't simply sit down and fight marines. This battle lasted two days. For a newbie pirate, it is extremely amazing to be able to fight the entire day."

"But knowing that he is Garp's grandson, it shouldn't be a surprise. But since they fought against Yamakaji for two days and defeated them, what does this mean?"

"They must have a goal. Although Yamakaji didn't mention it, there is a possibility that they, or rather Straw Hat Luffy fought Yamakaji to fully master his Armament Haki."

"Haki grows in the middle of a battle. Normally, young people wouldn't know about this but do you know whom he compared Vice Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates to?"

Hearing her words, Sengoku's eyes shrunk while Garp also got serious.

"Benn Beckman!" Both of them uttered his name at the same time.

"Yes, it's not like Smoker hasn't seen them. And, from every bit of information that I have gathered about this person, I can say the same thing. That means the fight must be his idea."

"Why? To let his Captain's Haki grow. That kid should've awakened his Haki during the battle with Crocodile but this battle truly helped him understand and master Haki."

"Now that he has successfully practiced Haki, they have no reason to stay behind. If nothing else, they should've already left that island by now. Instead of thinking about catching them right now, we should think whether we should raise their bounty or not."

Hearing her words, Sengoku also fell into deep thought. On the one hand, they should increase the bounty of Straw Hat Pirates because of their threat level.

But on the other hand, they didn't want to publicize the news about their vice admiral's defeat.

Yamakaji wasn't a new vice admiral either. He was a truly well-established Vice-Admiral in the Marines. So, publicizing his defeat against the fledgling pirates could hamper the status of the Marines.

"I suggest we should slow down and wait. Although revealing their threat level to the world would make it much safer, they aren't the same pirates as others. At least, from their track record, they have done better than our marines."

"So, wait until something truly important happens. Once something important happens, we will immediately use that to increase the bounty of the Straw Hat Pirates to a high level."

"That way, we don't have to worry about publicizing the defeat of Yamakaji." Seeing him snuggle for a long time, Tsuru finally gave her viewpoint.

Hearing her words, Garp's eyes lit up. Not raising Luffy's bounty was the best thing for him. That means the Marines won't send powerful people to take them down.

But her next sentence instantly broke his heart.

"Even so, we should at least send two Vice-Admirals plus three Rear Admirals to chase them. If they suffer from difficult situations, we will immediately capture them."

Hearing her words, Sengoku's eyes lit up.

"You are trying to take them down this way. Yes, if we don't increase their bounty, other supernovas won't be afraid of them and try to attack them if they stumble against each other."

"Although Straw Hat Pirates might be stronger and win the battle, they would definitely spend some time doing so. And, this way, our marines would be able to find them and capture them before they can run away once again."

Tsuru nodded her head and said.

"Indeed! If the bounty is too high, it will only frighten those pirates. But if the bounty is only slightly high, it will cause some dissatisfaction. Currently, Straw Hat Luffy's bounty is the highest among all supernovas."

"Silently raise this bounty by a few hundred million in a couple of months and this will surely create dissatisfaction among these new supernovas."

"Alright, let's do that!"

...

With straw hats,

The Straw-Hat gang arrived on Hannabal Island with towns infested with pirates young and old after escaping from a fleet of marines that took incharge of chasing them after they went to take supply from nearby island after leaving heart island. They found a small bar hidden between an ally towards one end of the island. Before they entered the bar, they found their wanted posters hanging on the walls outside. They thought nothing of it considering the island was nothing but pirates. As they sat themselves down in the bar, they ordered food and gathered their strength.

"Ahh~ I'm stuffed!" Luffy patted his belly with a mountain of plates piled up in front of him.

"I bet you are." Zoro scowled at him. "You ate a ton."

He laughed. "I still have room for more."

"That's enough!" Usopp ordered him.

Sanji let out a sigh as he finished the last bite to his meal. "Those were some simple, yet delicious dishes. Nami-san, Robin-chan, Vivi-chan, would you ladies care for some dessert?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Nami replied.

Vivi nodded. "I'm good."

"I'll have some coffee." Asked Robin.

Sanji got up with a smile, walking towards the bar. "Certainly~."

"I'll have some more food!" Chopper asked.

"No fair!" Whined Luffy.

"No more for you!" Nami yelled at her captain.

"Eeeh?!"

"Don't 'eeh' me! If no one stops you, you're going to eat forever!"

Sanji sat back down at the table, giving Robin her cup of coffee. "Are we running low on money, Nami-san?"

She sighed. "We haven't exactly earned anything yet... After we stock up we'll have almost around nothing left."

"Eh... That's just great."

"What the hell?" Luffy gasped. "Oi, let me say this as your captain. You guys are spending way too much money!"

Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp all whacked Luffy in the back of the head, planting his face onto the table. "IT ALL GOES TOWARD FEEDING YOU!"

"AHHH~?"

Sanji sat back in his chair and sighed. "... Anyways, this is a pretty big problem especially with the amount of training we do ,we will suffer malnutrition soon. We can only depend on sea king as foods."

"Mou... anything will do." Nami sulked. "Isn't there any way we can make some quick cash here?"

"Well, I didn't see a casino or anything on this island. I guess we'll just have to hope the next island has more to offer." Sanji noticed Nami staring at the bar tender. "Nami chan?"

She shook her head. "I-It's nothing. I am just waiting for Zack. He left without clearly stating where he is going ."

While everyone talked amongst themselves and Luffy and Usopp where fighting over food, Vivi noticed a pirate sitting down at the bar. She saw him place some coins on the table to show to the bar tender. At that moment, the bar tender brought the pirate to the back room, with him being the only one coming back out. She was curious to know what happened to the pirate...

"What happened vivi-chan?" Sanji asked, noticing Vivi's stares.

She shook her head. "It's nothing, really."

"The guy who walked in just now. Probably a pirate." Zoro stated, leaning back in his chair with his arms folded. "Plus, he had a suspicious exchange with the bartender, truly suspicious?"

Vivi tilted her head. "Zoro, you were watching him?"

He shrugged. "More like I caught it out of the corner of my eye. What do you think?"

"Beats me. Something seems to be up."

"What about you, Nami?" Zoro asked her.

She blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb." He smiled. "You smelled it, right? The scent of your beloved money."

"What ohh?" Nami asked innocently. "Are you calling me a money-fiend?"

He closed his eyes, still smiling. "Am I wrong?" While they were talking, Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper where fighting over left overs while several small bones flew into Zoro's forehead, ignoring them. Vivi began to yell at the boys for throwing the food everywhere.

Sanji knelt forward defensively. " Mosshead! What did you say to Nami-san?!"

Nami interrupted him with a wide grin. "You got it! My favorite things are money and tangerines. I'd never pass them by~." She turned her attention to the others. "Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, Vivi, Robin!" They stopped fighting to pay attention to her. "I smell an adventure. This isn't a time to be fighting."

While eager stars glittered in the boys' eyes, Nami got up and walked over to the bar keeper to place a bargain with him. She told him of their money troubles and was looking for a way to make a lot of quick cash. She learned that the bartender was a generous man who didn't want them to simply throw their lives away, especially since they were so young, but Nami tried to explain to him that they were used to these sorts of underground schemes and knew of the situations they get themselves into, aware of the dangers they place their lives on.

Everyone got up and joined Nami at the bar, gathering up their things. Zoro placed his swords back into his haramaki. As he walked passed Robin, he gave Chopper a light pat on the head. "Oi, join us"

Robin nodded, finishing up her drink fast and grabbing her hat. She joined the others as the bartender explained the situation to the crew. As soon as they joined Nami, she was in the middle of asking him to please share some inside information about making money.

"Where is the smell of money coming from?" She asked with a confident smile.

The bartender chuckled. "There's no cure for idiots and pirates, is there?"

Luffy turned to Zoro. "Did he call you an idiot, Zoro?"

Zoro's brow twitched. "Why me?!"

"Because I'm the pirate."

The bartender continued. "Now I'm positive you want to die young. Follow me."

"We're in!" Luffy and Usopp shouted, slapping each other with a high five.

" Hey shouldn't we wait for Vice Captain San," asked Robin.

" No need,I am back let's follow him." came a familiar voice from the back. The crew turned around to see Zack.

" When did you return?"

" It has been a few minutes but all of you let your guard down and didn't notice me, it hurts my feelings you know."

"So did you complete the work you went for?"

" Yup, I did. Well, investigate info on those fools we met in Hearts Island and get some vital news that they worked under someone in the new world and other things. But it wasn't the only thing when for." 'also used my query cards to get things I need to know' replied Zack only thinking of the latter part.

" What other things?!" asked Sanji

" A way to earn some money so it could sustain us for a few days. Have a feeling that the bartender is about to discuss the same thing I came across years back. So let's follow."

They followed the bartender into the back room which they discovered was a long dark tunnel. The bartender lit a lantern for them, revealing the long empty tunnel.

Usopp's smile disappeared. "Oi, it's pitch black in here."

"Keep going straight ahead." The bartender instructed.

"From here?" Vivi asked.

He nodded. "You'll get to where you want to go."

"Hey wait!" Nami shouted. "You haven't told us anything yet!"

"This is as far as I go. You'll understand if you keep going. And any way your companion knows about it I guess." He said with a smile.

Luffy giggled. "Ok! We will!"

Usopp hung onto Luffy. "Stupid Luffy! This way is too fishy! It's got to be a trap!"

The bartender stepped in front of them. "If you don't want to do it, just quite. Then I can sleep more peacefully."

"I'm going!" Protested Luffy. "This smells like an adventure~!"

The bartender closed his eyes and smiled. "An adventure, huh?"

Nami lowered her eyes at the barkeep. "You're certain that we can make some money there, right?"

"I don't lie. But I can't tell you the details."

Usopp hunched over and mumbled. "Uh-oh. My chronic I-shouldn't-go-through-this-tunnel disease is acting up again..."

Vivi's sweat dropped. "Why must you always make up some lame disease to get out of going somewhere or doing anything?"

Zoro placed his hand on Usopp's shoulder. "Give it up, Usopp. The captain has made up his mind to go."

"The fact is that we don't have any money. What choice do we have?" Sanji asked.

Usopp sighed. "Uuuhh... I've got a bad feeling about this..."

"Adventures are waiting for us up ahead, na~?" Chopper asked with his cute little smile.

"Ah!" Luffy replied. "Yosh! Now let's go! To get my food money~!"

"Is that all you care about, Captain?" Zack asked.

"Show two 100 berry coins at the end of this tunnel. That's the password." The barkeep instructed them.

"Arigatou, Ossan!" Luffy thanked him.

Zoro took the lantern from the barkeep and led the way into the tunnel. After walking for several minutes, something caught Zoro's attention up ahead.

"Hmm?"

"Zoro," Zack asked.

"No, it's nothing," Zoro replied. An ugly light face appeared suddenly in front of Zoro, catching him off guard. He yelled, nearly dropping the lantern from his surprise. Zoro bobbled the lantern in his hands, finally catching it. After a couple of seconds of holding it the wrong way, Zoro yelled again, burning his hands from the light. He fell backward, forcing Sanji to catch the lamp this time with his leg.

"Oi, Zoro! What the hell are you doing?" He stopped, staring at the face Zoro had seen. He noticed it was really a man guarding a door. "Who the hell are you?"

" Quite down Sanji!" Nami stopped him, stepping over the fallen swordsman. "Zoro, you're in the way." She faced the man. "No need to be on your guard. We've got the password right here." She pulled out the coins and winked at him. "Ne~?"

The man backed off, opening the door to them without ever saying a word. A bright light showed within. They entered, having a whole new fortress being revealed to them. They had to be about 10 stories if not more in the open fortress. There were pirates everywhere, drinking, eating, fighting, and just partying in general. Pirate flags hung everywhere around the railings, showing off the different pirate gangs in the arena.

Luffy leaned over the railing in awe, just like Chopper, Usopp, and Sanji. "What is this place~?" He laughed.

Vivi nervously smiled from ear to ear, enjoying the sight of all the pirates. "Pirates from all over are here !"

Chopper pointed above them. "Ooh~ There's a ship hanging from the ceiling!"

Zoro finally caught up to them, blowing on his hands. "Man, that thing was hot...!"

"What's all this?" Nami asked. "There were only a few ships at the port when we got here."

"Oi, babe." A pirate called out to Nami. "You come here to bet? The bookmaker's on the top floor."

Nami blinked. "Bookmaker?"

"Huh? You mean you're here to enter the race?"

Her eyes widened. "Race?"

"No way, don't bother! You'll just be wasting your lives doing that."

"Ah yes, so this is the place," Robin said, stepping forward. "It's been a while, so I didn't recall it at first."

"What Robin?" Vivi asked.

"So Zack san was talking about this place." smiled Robin seeing Zack walk up to some pirates on ports.

" I was here once before with the captain of the pirate ship I'd boarded. It's not regular, but they hold a race once every few years." She explained. "Organized by pirates for pirates, the anything-goes Dead End Race."

"By pirates?" Sanji repeated.

"Eh, ex-pirates, to be precise. All the citizens of this town were once pirates."

Luffy and Chopper nodded their heads. "Ah, so cool~."

Robin continued. "The goal is different every time. But the starting point is always here. Participants sail via an Eternal Pose adjusted for the final goal. The rules are simple: whoever reaches the goal first is the winner. Then the winner will receive the prize. And whatever should occur in the route is your own problem. So... no matter what happens."

Zoro nodded. "That's easy to understand."

"As simple as figuring out what's going to happen next," Sanji commented.

Vivi threw her fists into the air out of excited frustration. "Gaah! This is going to be incredible! I have never seen something like this before."

Nami sweat dropped. "Why are you so excited for this race, Vivi? I've never seen you so happy."

"She lives for the rush of facing other pirates in battle," Usopp explained.

Luffy nodded. "Got that right! Pirates from all over the world are here entering this race and we're going to be the ones to show them that we're the strongest and the best! I can't wait!"

Nami sighed. "The race sounds pretty dangerous. Well... it might not be so bad for a crew like ours... And it looks like Luffy's eager to join..." She looked up at the man who informed them of the race. "Ne, who else is entering the race? Do you know?"

The man laughed. "Nani? Are you going to enter? Well, I'd say about a third of the guys here are entering."

Nami smiled. "Ah~ That's a lot of people!"

"The guys at the bottom floor are the third favorite."

Usopp looked down. "Below?"

"See those big guys?" The man asked. "They're the giants Bobby and Pogo." The giants had old-fashioned armor that looked like they were made out of wood and metal. They wore helmets that resembled Vikings as they ate and drank merrily.

Usopp smiled, remembering his encounter with giants before back on Little Garden Island . "Ah~ So giants is entering ~!"

"And on the terrace in front of us, an old rival of Arlong and the second favorite, Grampus mermen Willy." Willy, who was surrounded by other mermen, looked like an older fatter version of an Orca whale, with white messy hair and long fangs. He wore an open shirt and torn shorts with goggles over his slit eyes.

Nami laughed nervously, remembering the horrible Arlong and his mermen when they once ruled her home island. "Eh heh heh. Even mermen..."

Luffy was overjoyed. "Uwaah~~ This is great~! There are so many people entering~! I'm excited~! I wonder who's coming after us~!"

Nami quickly ran over to her captain and twisted her fist on the side of his head. "Wait just a minute, Luffy! We haven't decided yet if we're going to be entering the race! Besides, there's no point in taking part in a crazy event like this! Listen, consult with Zack about it!"

Robin walked up to the man. "Ne, how much is the prize money this year?"

He held his head up, remembering. "Etto... If I remember correctly, it's $700,000,000 berries this year."

Nami spun around with her fighting fist punching the air with determination. "YOSH~! We are entering the race~!"

Everyone cheered. "HAI~!"

"OI!" Usopp and Zoro shouted.

" Well it seems you all have decided so one of you come with me to register for the race," mentioned Zack who just returned.

As Nami and Zack went to sign up, place a bet on themselves, and grab the Eternal Pose for their destination to Partia Island while the others went to grab food in the lounge. Robin stayed behind and sat at a table while sipping coffee. When Nami and Zack returned, they heard that the most favorite in this race is General Gasparde. Soon after that, Nami learned that the food here was free and didn't have to worry about Luffy and the others pigging out without spending a dime.

The others gathered around an empty table where Luffy and Chopper instantly began to eat, already placing piles of dirty empty plates in the middle of the table. Usopp and Zoro grabbed drinks as the others ate. Vivi on the other hand was constantly practicing her instinct to unlock observation haki.

Zoro's sweat dropped. "Why are you so excited? It's just a race with other pirates." He asked Zack.

He smiled. "I told you. Competing against other pirates and beating them in this race will show me how strong we are and give us another step up in power in this pirate totem pole~!"

"The pirate totem pole?"

"Yeah. I heard from my source that there are times when some strong pirate groups do join the race. So we can use them for training !"

"I get what you are saying..." He turned his attention to Luffy, gazing upon his animal-like eating behavior. "Weren't you full earlier as well?"

"Nope! That was only about 60%."

"E-eh... ok."

"The race starts tomorrow, right?" Luffy asked with food in his mouth. "I gotta get myself charged up for it"

"Gotta!" Chopper repeated.

"You don't have to echo him." Usopp teased.

Chopper's eyes went wide. "EH?! No, I don't!"

At this point, Luffy began stretching and taking food from other tables and out of the waiter's hands. "Heehee~! I love this place~! The food just keeps coming and coming~!" Luffy muffled between food.

Zoro sighed. " Seriously.. You're stomach's bottomless... Ah?!"

Suddenly, Zoro's eyes went wide and he stood up at lightning speed, grabbing his swords. A man came up behind Luffy and was about to slam his head into the table, snapping it in two but before he could,was punched and flying at the wall. The man wore a yellow jacket with two black sports stripes down the sleeves. He wore black pants that were rolled up just before the ankles, showing a bit of his tan legs before meeting his boots. His hair was wavy and short, almost shoulder length with a light color of auburn. A lone tattoo that looked like a sideways hook trailed across his left cheek.

"What was that for?" Zoro asked very calmly.

The man shook his fist. "What was that for? What was that for?! What was that... what was... THAT'S WHAT I SHOULD ASK!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Zoro shouted back at him.

" He stole my food stretching his arms like that! Just because his arms can stretch doesn't mean...! His arms... can stretch..." It finally clicked in his mind. "HIS ARMS CAN STRETCH?!"

Usopp and Chopper swung they hands to the side. "A little too slow..."

Luffy got up, wiping his face from the food he was eating "Yosh... You know what I'm gonna do, right?"

The man stood tall, staring at him with low eyes. "You... You have the ability of the Devil's Fruit?"

"So what?"

"Oi, oi, oi, oi brat !" Some angry pirates called out to them from behind. "Don't get cocky just because nobody's been saying anything about you stealing all the food! Do you even know who we are?!"

The man turned around to face them with an annoyed face. "Eh?!"

The pirates laughed. "We're part of Gasparde's crew. Do you think you could piss us off and get away with it?!" The man walked over to the pirates. "We'll kill you guys before the race even starts." They were now face to face. "What's this? Going to apologize? Hee hee too late!"

Robin 's eyes went wide for sec before returning to normal "Did he say... Gasparde...?!" Zoro was the only one that heard her and just gave her a curious look.

"Oi!" Luffy walked behind him, grabbing the man's shoulder. "You were about to fight me!"

One of the pirates shot Luffy, sending him stumbling backwards. Their leader, who was face to face with the mysterious man, laughed. "Keep quiet." He looked at the man who had his eyes looking curious at the stumbling pirate. "Oi, pay attention to me!"

Luffy smiled. "Heh! That won't work. Because I'm rubber." The bullet bounced back at the pirates, shooting into a wall and perfectly missing all the other pirates. As everyone stared with slacked jaws, Luffy yelled at the pirates. "Oi! Why the hell did you do that?!"

The pirate who shot him stuttered. "Maa... I was going for more than just a startle... Who the hell are you?"

"Oi? I've eaten the Gum Gum Fruit. I'm a rubberman!" With that said, Luffy used his Gum Gum Pistol to knock some pirates over, sending a few against a wall. Luffy's arms pulled back into place and he smiled with his fist out. "How was that, morons~?"

" Oi captain don't give about your info to others" Zack stated to luffy.

"Bakemono!" Some pirates called him. "He has the ability of the Devil's Fruit? Just like Gasparde-sama!"

The pirates attacked the man and Luffy, only to fall against their amazing fighting skills. Luffy was playing around stretching and punching the pirates, while the other man defended perfectly with such swift movement as if he was light as a feather on his feet. Not forgetting the others, some of the pirates turned their attention to Zoro and the others, blocking them into a wall. Zoro stood tall in front of the pirates, while Zack stood ready in sideline while observing everything and Usopp and Chopper crouched behind them.

' Well it confirms it , this is dead end adventure non canon storyline. One of the first movie which had best storytelling in beginning days. And according to how things are going , Gasparde is going to trick every one to go into Marine base. While it would have normally worked , unfortunately my involvement is going to change it for sure. Well I am expecting him to give Luffy some challenges so he can improve.' thought Zack.

Usopp shook. "T-they're coming!"

"They're coming!" Chopper repeated.

"Zoro! Slice 'em!" Usopp ordered.

Zoro sweat dropped. "Do something yourself too idiot...!"

The men rushed towards him without a warning. Zoro simply grinned evilly at them and pulled out his swords. When they all swung at him at once, Zoro blocked them all perfectly with his techniques. "I don't feel like cutting you up, so don't make me." Zoro warned.

"W-who the hell is this guy?" One of the pirates asked nervously.

"Yosh~ good!" Usopp said as he and Chopper hid behind a pillar with thumbs up.

Zoro's glared at them. "You're over there?!"

"Gasparde's entering the race...?!" Robin said, dwelling on the thought. She caught some men's attention and they began to run after her as well. They swung at her, but she blocked with ease as she quickly used her Hana Hana no mi . She smirked. "Do you think I'm helpless just because I'm standing here with a drifting expression?" She swung away from them, forcing the men to fall back a step. She ran at them and dodging her way back towards through the group, beating the men along the way and dodging as she went.

Luffy and the mysterious man continued fighting the others until they trailed the fight all the way to the top floor and disappeared. Jumping from chain to chain , like monkeys do in forest from tree to tree.

It wasn't until about half an hour later when Luffy finally returned. He informed the crew that he had met a man named Gasparde, which he was later informed that he was the favorite for the race. He also told them about the mysterious man from before who's name was Shuraiya, a bounty hunter had some proficiency with armament haki. He also said Gasparde had invited him onto his crew, but of course he refused.

"Gasparde...he is going to be a good challenge . Do make me wonder whether he has haki or not" muttered Zack