Chapter 23

Luffy's outburst about Rose's cold wind has left her completely stunned because this makes him the winner of the bet for her recruitment. When she snaps out of it, she scowls at him and takes his arms off her shoulders. "You're still playing that game?"

Luffy keeps his eyes on her as he refuses to back down. "I'm right aren't I? Your cold wind means-"

"Why the hell are you still trying?!" Rose angrily asks as she grabs him by the collar of his shirt, but he doesn't flinch as she keeps going. "Did you even listen to a goddamn word I said in Yuba?! I'll disappear on you guys when the comet comes, so why are you still trying to recruit me?!"

Luffy narrows his eyes at the excuse as he answers her. "Because you won't disappear!"

"You don't know that!"

"Yes I do, because you'll finish the research by then! You can stop yourself from disappearing if you don't want to leave!"

Most of the wind girl's anger fades from his confidence in her succeeding, something that she rarely received in her world, and lets go of his shirt. She tiredly sighs as she tries to figure out what to do. *This is Luffy after all; he's not the type to doubt someone's dream. But, if he knew that I know about his past along with what Ace's future could be...*

She takes a step back while she glares at him. "Then let me ask you this. Do you remember the friend I told you about that came here from another world?"

Luffy nods at the question, so she continues her attempt to drive him off. "She's a demon that has knowledge of both the past and future of this world. She even knows your future along with the rest of the crew's, and can use it to hurt everyone."

The captain widens his eyes at the new information. "You're serious?!"

She slowly nods as she tightens her fists at the memory of Sanji, Usopp and Nami's reactions to her knowledge, but nonetheless she asks him her question. "If she was here what would you do?"

He blinks at the off topic question before he blankly answers her. "I'd ask if she can poop."

Rose widens her eyes at the simple, yet serious, answer before she grits her teeth and covers her face. "Are you fucking kidding me right now?"

Luffy freezes at her reaction when he sees her starting to tremble. "Hey, are you-?!"

He stops himself when she lifts her head back and starts laughing loudly while she hugs her sides. She collapses on her knees from laughing so much and tries to hold it in, but fails miserably. "Hahaha, o-of all the q-questions, t-that's what you'd ask?! S-seriously?! Hahahaha!"

He blinks at her sudden laughter, but seeing her genuinely smiling again causes him to laugh along with her as he watches her recover.

She takes a deep breath to get the remaining laughter out of her system as she stays seated, and wipes away the tears she made from laughing. *This guy's too much. At this rate, even telling him who I am won't scare him off...*

As her resolve begins to falter, she nervously looks up at Luffy for one last confirmation. "If-if she really did know your crew's past and future, would you be her friend?"

Luffy tilts his head at the question. "You ask a lot of weird questions. If she's your friend then she's not a bad person, so why shouldn't we be friends?"

Rose could practically feel her heart leap at the honest answer, that breaks through her walls, and lets herself start believing that he won't turn away from her or her past. She slowly shakes her head to stop herself from getting too emotional and looks away from him. "I just wanted to make sure. Sorry, I know my questions are pretty odd. That being said..."

Luffy hums in confusion when Rose raises a hand up for him to shake with a small grin. "That's just one of the many quirks you're gonna have to put up with from your new crew member."

He widens his eyes at the hand before he starts smiling. "Really?!"

She nods as she keeps her hand up for him. "Yup, you guessed right about my wind and a bet's a bet. Travelling with you guys might help me get some answers too. You can't complain if I really do vanish though."

Luffy's smile goes from ear to ear as he grabs her hand. "That's fine since I know you're not disappearing." He pulls her up into his embrace while he laughs in victory. "Shishishi, you're finally joining the crew! This is gonna be awesome!"

Rose tenses up at the hug while her cheeks heat up, but for the first time since they've met she doesn't pull away. Instead, she slowly hugs him back and buries her face in his shoulder to hide the tears of joy escaping her eyes.

Luffy widens his eyes at the light breeze flowing off her to feel that it's warm and pulls away. "Are you ok?! What does warm wind mean?!"

Rose freezes at the question to see that she's creating another mood breeze and stops it while she wipes her tears. She giggles at the surprised look on his face and waves dismissively. "Relax, it's nothing bad. My warm wind means I'm happy."

The captain blinks at the explanation before he smiles back. "Ok, but you can't make any more cold wind. Captain's orders."

She chuckles at the childish demand as she starts floating. "I'll try not to. Let's get inside."

Luffy nods as Rose lifts them up with her wind. As they start heading to the open window, Luffy curiously looks at her as a question floats in his mind. "Hey Rose, where is the girl from another world anyway?"

The brunette tenses up at the question as they reach the window. She rubs the back of her head while she looks up at the sky as if it has an answer to her situation. "Umm, you see, she's-!"

"GUYS, LUFFY FOUND HER!"

Rose stops herself from Nami's shouting and looks inside to see her running into the room with Usopp and Sanji following. She looks from the trio to Luffy, who's looking at her in confusion, then back to the room where the three pirates are waiting for them.

She nervously looks down with a frown as she remembers the others' reactions to her research. *Luffy's reaction is a special case. The rest of the crew could react to me and my research just like how these three did. I honestly don't want to know what Robin would do if she finds out that I know about Ohara...*

She quietly sighs at her situation and comes to a decision. *I'll keep quiet for now. I'll wait until after the whole crew's together and then decide on a good time to tell them...*

Rose turns to Luffy with a stern look on her face and speaks quietly. "I don't know where she'll end up, but I know she's ok."

Luffy blinks at the half truth, but he doesn't press on it as they land in the room. Once inside, the pair was instantly confronted by the three pirates.

"There you are Rose, we almost thought you left. Are you alright?" Usopp asks worriedly.

Rose nods with a small smile as she rubs the back of her head. "Yea, I'm ok. I just had to clear my head."

Sanji looks at her with guilt still evident on his face from how he reacted. "I'm really sorry we scared you off. I should've known better. With your research you would bring beautiful angels here than dem- Ow!"

Nami cuts him off by punching him on the head. "Shut the hell up! That's not the point!"

Usopp sighs at the chef's antics before he turns to Rose. "We really are sorry; it was all just a real shock to us."

Rose widens her eyes at the apologies before she raises her hands defensively. "It-it's ok, you don't have to apologize... Now that we're crew mates, let's just put this behind us."

Nami blinks at the last sentence then widens her eyes in shock. "Wait, crew mates?!"

Luffy nods with a big smile. "I figured out what her cold wind means, so she's in the crew!"

The three pirates look at Luffy in complete shock as they process the news.

Rose shuffles a bit when their stares turn to her and only fuels her anxiety. *Maybe this was a mistake...*

She looks away from the stares while she tries to find the right thing to say. "Look, I-!"

"Finally!" Rose flinches from their outburst and looks to see the boys smiling in relief.

Nami tiredly sighs as she frowns at Luffy. "It's about time that you figured it out! I had half a mind to tell you what her cold wind meant!"

Rose widens her eyes at the statement. "Wait, you knew?!"

"As soon as you made that wind after Ace left." Usopp says while Sanji starts grinning in excitement.

"Now I have two beautiful ladies to cook for!"

Luffy widens his eyes at the statement before he starts running out of the room. "Oh yeah, we gotta eat! Come on!"

He runs out with Sanji and Usopp following.

Rose blinks at the sudden departure, but wastes no time to start following them when Nami grabs her shoulder to stop her.

She looks back to see Nami looking at her with a concerning look on her face. "Are you really ok with this Rose?"

The brunette nods at the question with a small smile. "Yea, being with you guys has been amazing. Besides, since my research's taboo I'd become the World Government's enemy at some point anyway."

She stops herself when she mentioned her dream and frowns at the navigator as she puts her guard up. "Look, I promise that I'm not planning to use the comet to hurt anyone. If you have any problems with me or my research just tell me and-"

Nami stops her by flicking her on the forehead. "Stop that, I want you to stay with us too."

Rose rubs her forehead and blinks at her comment while Nami smiles at her. "We all have big dreams to follow so you'll be fine here. Like you said, let's put this behind us ok?"

Rose slowly nods with a sheepish smile as she follows her new crew mate out of the room, and into the grand dining hall where everyone is waiting for them. Once they reach their seats, they don't waste their time eating while the noisy meal began.

As Rose quietly eats she can't help but feel a pair of eyes watching her, and looks to her right to see Zoro sitting next to her with a shit eating smirk gracing his face. "What?"

"I heard you finally lost your stubborn contest with Luffy."

She twitches an eyebrow at the remark. "Yup, you guys are stuck with me now." She pauses when she comes up with an idea and grins at the swordsman. "Hey, since we're crew mates now, can you train me in swords? I'm keeping the sword I got at the casino."

Zoro blinks at the request before he grabs his booze. "No way, I don't teach."

Rose widens her eyes at the refusal when he makes a side comment. "I could use a sparring partner now and again though. Just don't complain that I'm not nice to beginners."

The wind girl brightens up at the offer before she returns his smirk. "As long as you don't complain when I send you flying."

Zoro takes a swig of his liquor before he snickers at her rebuttal. "Deal."

Rose grins at the agreement when she sees Luffy's hand coming towards her meal so she stabs his hand to block him.

Luffy takes his hand back and rubs the small wound before he scowls at Rose. "Quit being stingy!"

Rose snickers at the complaint as she grabs another fork with her free hand, so she can eat, while she points the utensil she used to protect her food at him. "You know the rules captain; if you want my food then you gotta be faster than me."

Luffy takes the challenge head on as he makes more of an effort to try to take her food along with everyone else's, but Rose doesn't give in as she blocks his hands at every turn.

As Vivi, her father, and everyone else is having the time of their lives Rose couldn't help but laugh along with them and grow a little hopeful. *Maybe I'll be ok here. It's still better to wait until at least after the whole crew shows up. But, since I won't have a lot of future knowledge left by then they might not see it as so weird. Compared to the other stuff in this world anyway.*

She chuckles at her thoughts as she enjoys herself while protecting her food from her new captain for the rest of the meal.

Once dinner was finished, most of the group wasted no time going into the segregate baths. Rose however, hesitates as she stays by the bath's doorway to make sure that her towel can't fall off her slim body by tucking the corner to the top edge in as tightly as possible.

Vivi looks back from her spot outside the bathtub to see the brunette lurking by the doorway. "Is everything alright?"

Rose quickly nods as she finishes tightening the towel and walks in. "Yea, just wanted to make sure this wasn't loose."

Nami raises an eyebrow at the pale girl's shyness as she takes a seat on a small stool just outside the tub and exposes her back. "You can relax you know. We're all girls here."

"Right." Rose says as she goes into the tub to go to one of the waterfalls while picking up some soap. She ignores the draining feeling in her body from getting wet and starts washing her long, straight, hair under the waterfall.

Nami on the other hand, begins to relax as she lets Vivi wash her back and looks around the extravagant bath. "This place is amazing. I wonder if ships can have a bath like this."

Vivi nods at the assumption. "I don't see why not, this world is so large after all. I mean we saw giants, dinosaurs, and even cherry blossoms blooming in winter. There's so much to see that you can't count."

The navigator grins at the excited girl as she grabs a bucket. "Did you decide if you want to join yet?"

The princess widens her eyes at the question before she slowly shakes her head and finishes scrubbing. "Not yet."

Nami sighs before she rinses off her back. "Well alright, but you need to decide soon."

Vivi slowly nods as she stays seated while Nami goes behind her to wash her back.

Rose grins back at the pair as she washes out the soap from her hair and gets out of the tub. She shakes her head, to get some of the water out, then looks up in shock to see all of the boys, except for Zoro, looking over the wall from their side of the bath. She twitches an eyebrow at the perverts, but freezes when she sees that, while most of them are generally looking around, Luffy's the only one paying attention to her.

She couldn't stop the blush from coming onto her pale face when she sees his big, dark, eyes staring at her with innocent curiosity than with perverted intentions. *Dammit, don't look so innocent when you're peeping!*

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING?!" Vivi yells with a blush decorating her face when she finds the boys staring at them.

Rose snaps out of her daze while she's still blushing and angrily cracks her knuckles. "I hope you bastards enjoyed the show, because you're all paying with a broken nose!"

The men flinch when they see her flying towards them, but Nami grabs her ankle and pulls her down. "Relax Rose, I got this."

Rose blinks at the offer to pretend that she doesn't know what she's gonna do. "What are you gonna do? I could just punch them right now."

"This will last longer than a normal punch."

Rose tiredly sighs before she steps back and turns around to leave. "Fine, you can have them. I'm gonna go dry off."

The boys look at the girls in confusion as Nami walks to the edge of the tub and starts unfolding her towel. "Happiness Punch."

As Nami knocks the boys out with her body, Rose walks out of the bath and uses her wind to blow the water off her body. She quickly changes into a pair of jeans as well as a long sleeve, green, t-shirt then looks down to see that the shirt covers her necklace.

She decides to let it stay hidden in her shirt for now as she grabs her bag and reaches the doorway, but stops when she sees Amir walking past the doorway. When she sees him walk past the door to go to his room, she runs into the room across from her to fly out the window. *Before I go I need to ask Cassim more about why it's illegal.*

She flies towards the tower where a depressed astronomer is looking through his telescope to look at the night sky.

Cassim sighs in disappointment of losing a potential apprentice as he looks at the constellations to try to cheer himself up. "Alright, there's the little dipper, along with the big dipper. Over there we have..."

He widens his eyes when he sees a distorted freckled face in the telescope. "AN ALIEN?!"

He yells in shock as he jumps back and slips to fall on his butt. He catches his breath as he looks over the telescope to see that it's just Rose flying in front of it.

She chuckles from the jumpy reaction as she flies over the telescope to get into the room "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Cassim slowly nods as he stands up. "It's fine, I should've guessed it was you. What are you doing here?"

"I just want to talk to you one on one before I leave."

Cassim slowly sighs. "I assume it's about Hell's comet?"

Rose furrows her eyebrows about the demeaning name, but she holds back from arguing with him as she stands in front of the telescope. "I just want to know why studying the Timore comet is illegal."

The astronomer raises an eyebrow at the request. "Didn't your parents tell you why when they were tutoring you? Or that it's even illegal?"

"They didn't, our country is secluded from the World Government, so I had no idea."

Cassim freezes at the explanation and sees this as a way to keep her as an apprentice, so his eyes narrow on the girl. "Now that you know, is there any way that I can change your mind from doing this? If you do, I might be able to let you stay."

Rose doesn't back down as she looks at him with determination in her eyes. "No way, this piece of the universe needs to be studied too."

As the astronomer studies the girl's serious facial expression, he sees no shred of doubt in her resolve, so he sighs in defeat. "Very well, I'll tell you what I know about the reasoning. Only so you know what you're getting yourself into."

"Thank you." Rose says as she grabs her journal and pen then looks at him with eagerness in her eyes.

He softly frowns at her excitement before he begins his explanation. "Years ago, some time before the death of Gold Roger, there was a team of scientists in the World Government studying a certain crystal."

She perks up at the mention of a crystal as she writes her notes and feigns confusion. "A crystal?"

He nods as he thinks hard to remember the name of it. "Yes, the name escapes me but there was something special about it. Something about having two colors on the same stone and able to absorb radiation from various sources..."

He shakes his head to brush it off before he gets back on track. "Anyway, one night when a team of forty was working to understand the gem, the comet flew through our world's atmosphere. It was said that after their crystal samples absorbed its energy, almost all of the researchers vanished into thin air."

Rose widens her eyes at the story as she stops writing. "Wait, what?! Did any of them come back?!"

"No, not a single one was seen in this world again. The Gorosei were completely baffled when they heard, and it didn't take long for word to get out. It wasn't until a group of astronomers, who were studying the comet at the time, explained their research to the World Government that they understood the phenomenon. Once they learned that this comet has the ability to not only take people out of this world, but bring others here it became a taboo."

Rose frowns at the explanation. "I still don't understand how this whole demon propaganda came about."

"Think about it from this perspective. If people left our world with knowledge that other worlds won't understand, then what makes it impossible for others to come here through Hell's comet? These..."

He shifts his eyes to find a proper wording for them until he finds one that fits the description for those that don't belong here. "These 'outsiders' could have hidden abilities, gadgets, or knowledge that we don't grasp and could do god knows what to us."

"Or they could just be regular people trying to live their lives like we do." Rose says as she gets back to work on her notes to keep her temper under control.

Cassim softly sighs at her defensiveness before he sits down. "I understand where you're coming from, but the World Government won't take any chances. It's better safe than sorry when it comes to this."

She finishes her notes then scowls at the astronomer. "Did the World Government ever find someone from another world?"

Cassim shakes his head as he gives her a look of sympathy. "I haven't heard of any being found, but I don't think you'd want to know what would happen if they did. I heard that the astronomers who explained the comet's phenomenon to the Gorosei were sent to Impel Down, after they refused to abandon the research. Their fates were probably merciful compared to what the outsiders would get."

Rose's grip on the book begins to tighten in fury of this government's cruelty and decides that she's heard enough. She puts the journal back in her bag before she thinks back on his story of the disappearing scientists.

Only one question comes to mind when she thinks of how they vanished to unknown lands, and looks him in the eyes. "I have one more question. The researchers that disappeared, do you know if any children disappeared with them that night?"

The astronomer raises an eyebrow at the odd question. "Honestly, I'm not sure, why do you ask?"

"Curiosity." She says before she turns to leave. "Thank you for telling me the back story. This has been really helpful."

Cassim widens his eyes to see that she's leaving before he gets up, and goes in front of her to stop her. "Why are you doing this? The World Government is too dangerous to have as an enemy."

Rose chuckles at his worry before she shrugs. "I'm not scared, I joined the pirates so I'm their enemy now anyway. As for why well, I want to finish what my parents started. Thanks again for everything and good luck with your studies."

She waves him off, and flies out of the window to leave the astronomer completely speechless at the fact that her entire family is in on this research.

As Rose soars towards the medical bay window, she can't help but grin while she pulls her necklace out of her shirt and kisses the crystal. *My theory about how I got here was right! I freaking love this necklace!*

She laughs in triumph of the confirmation before she thinks back on Cassim's disappearance story. She loses her smile, when she thinks of how it resembles the story she heard as a child from her parents every time she asked about how they started their research. The only explanation they'd give her was a story of a young child, no older than five, seeing the comet one night from another land and was suddenly transported to a back alley in New York City.

She stops to look down at her crystal that's shining in the moonlight, and furrows her eyebrows as she wonders if her family's story is connected to the disappearances in this world. *If children also vanished with the researchers that night then maybe it's possible that...*

She shakes her head to get rid of the thought as she lets go of the necklace, and heads to the medical bay while she mutters under her breath. "One mystery at a time. Right now, I need to focus on three things. Getting some answers on both the comet and this crystal. And surviving the crew's adventures..."

She sighs at her crazy situation, yet she can't help but smile at the new adventures that come with it as she flies into the room just when Vivi, Carue, and the crew walk in.

Nami looks to see that Rose is already in the room. "Good, you're here too." She turns to the others as she makes an announcement. "Guys, we're leaving Alabasta tonight."

Chopper widens his eyes at the announcement. "What?! We're leaving already?!"

Zoro nods as he looks at the captain. "With Luffy awake now's a good time."

"The marines are on the move after us too." Sanji says.

Luffy frowns in disappointment. "Can't we stay a little longer?"

"We're leaving now!" Nami says when a guard walks in with a snail in his hand.

"Straw Hats, there's a call for you!"

Usopp raises an eyebrow at the announcement. "A call? From who?"

The guard looks down at the snail uneasily. "He says his name is Little Bon Bon."

Rose holds back a chuckle from Mr. 2's nickname as she sits on the bed next to Carue. "You guys know him?"

"Never heard of him." Usopp says as he looks at the snail in confusion.

The guard raises an eyebrow at the complaint as he looks down at the snail. "But he said he's your friend."

Sanji sighs as he goes up to the man. "Let's just answer it." He takes the snail and puts it on the desk before he answers the call.

Once answered the snail starts laughing happily with Bon Clay's voice. "Gyahahaha! It's great to see you! It's me, the okama-!"

He gets cut off when Sanji hangs up on him with a blank look on his face. However, just a few seconds later, the snail starts ringing again and only irritates the chef. "QUIT CALLING!"

Before he can pick up the snail, Luffy stretches his arm from his spot on his bed to grab the snail, and pull it over to him. He answers the call with a scowl on his face. "You're Mr. 2 aren't you?! What do you want?!"

The snail begins to get angry at the nickname. "Don't call me Mr. 2! If the marines tapped the phone then they'll find out who I am!"

Chopper sweat drops at the complaint. "But you just said it!"

Zoro groans at the stalling as he scowls at the snail. "Just get to the point!"

The snail blinks when he remembers what he called for. "Oh yea, I have your ship."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Everyone in the crew, except for Rose, yells at him.

Mr. 2 doesn't flinch at the shouts while Rose frowns at the snail. "What are you trying to pull here?"

"I'm not trying to pull anything! I'm protecting your ship from the marines! You can find me and your ship at the upstream of the Sandora River. Come and get it."

Zoro narrows his eyes at invitation. "You really think we'd trust you?!"

"Of course after all." The snail starts smiling from ear to ear just as how Mr. 2 is smiling right now before he answers. "Aren't we friends?"

Luffy stares at the snail seriously for a moment before he nods. "Alright, we'll come get the ship soon."

"See you then!" The snail quickly falls asleep to indicate that Mr. 2 hung up on his end.

Luffy hangs up on the snail while Sanji looks at the snail in confusion. "Think we can trust him?"

Nami drops her shoulders at the situation before she gets ready to pack. "We don't have a choice if he has our ship."

Zoro nods in agreement as he starts packing. "If this is a trap then we'll kick his ass."

The others silently agree as they begin grabbing their things.

Rose puts on her jacket and the belt holding her sword then looks through her bag to see what she's missing. She looks at the tiny pocket at the bottom of the bag, that's sealed with a zipper, and takes a look inside to see that the quarter that came with her to this world is safely inside. *If Amir couldn't find it when he snooped through here, then it should be safe from any other prying eyes. Doubt a coin could give me away, but it'll definitely raise some questions.*

She seals the pocket and goes through the bag while the others keep packing.

The princess however, sits to the side and watches uneasily about her friends leaving and the offer she's been given to join them. "Everyone..."

The crew stops what they're doing and looks to see Vivi nervously looking down while tightening the fists on her lap. "What should I do about the decision to join you?"

The group looks at each other for a brief moment before Nami steps up. "We'll give you twelve hours. Tomorrow at midday, we'll sail past the east coast while we're escaping. We can't stop there, but if you decide to join us we'll get you onboard. The marines will be on our tail, so this will be the only way we can do it."

Vivi slowly nods as she watches her friends attach the end of a rope ladder to the window and unravel it to reach the ground.

"You gotta be there Vivi!" Luffy says when Usopp whacks him on the head.

"Don't tell her that!"

"What?! You don't want her to come?!"

"Of course not, but it's her decision!"

Rose chuckles at the childish argument as she watches the group filing out. When it's her turn to go to the window, she stops when Vivi taps her shoulder.

She turns around to see the princess pointing to a dark blue guitar case that's leaning on the wall. "It has the guitar from yesterday, you can have it. I'm sorry that you couldn't stay."

Rose blinks at the offer and grins at her. "Thank you, and it's alright. I still appreciate that you'd let me meet Cassim. I learned a lot from him." She takes the straps on the left and right sides of the guitar case, and ties them to the straps on her backpack. She sees the last of the crew starting to climb down, so she starts heading to the window.

Before she climbs over, she gives the princess one last smile. "Good luck with your decision."

She doesn't give her another glance as she climbs down to join her new crew. She makes it down to see that the others are getting on the backs of the Super Spot-Billed Duck Squad. She looks to see that all six of the ducks have already been taken.

She begins to use her wind to fly when Nami rides up to her on a duck wearing a white cap, sunglasses, and a bottle hanging from his neck. "You can ride with me instead."

Rose blinks at the offer, but she doesn't think twice before she sits behind her and wraps her arms around the navigator's waist.

Up in the room that they've left behind, the princess can only watch as her friends ride off into the night. When she can no longer see her friends, Vivi pries herself away from the window. As she looks around the empty room, she stops when she spots an envelope on the bed Rose was sitting on.

She opens the envelope that's marked 'Vivi and the crew', and widens her blue eyes when she sees it holding almost every copy of the pictures Rose took from their Alabasta adventure. She skims through the photos and freezes when she sees the one with her, Rose, and Nami together.

She softly frowns at the photo just before Carue quacks in concern. She snaps out of it and smiles at the duck. "I'm fine Carue, we should get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow."

The duck quietly nods as he keeps his best friend company for the rest of the night.

As the sun begins to rise for the new morning, Mr. 2 waits on the deck of the Going Merry for the ship's owners to arrive while his crew waits on the swan boat docked behind him.

He begins to tap his foot impatiently as he leans on the railing for any sign of them, when he sees the crew riding on a band of ducks.

The ballerina man stands on the railing and begins to pirouette. "WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!"

The crew ignores the okama as they reach the shore line and get off the ducks.

"Thanks for the ride." Rose says as she gets off the duck with her bags in tow.

Chopper gets off his duck before he grins at the squad. "Thank you, be careful on your way back!"

The ducks quack their goodbyes as they wave them off and start running back to the capital.

"SEE YA!" Luffy yells as he and the others wave them off.

Mr. 2 begins tearing up at the farewell as he waves with them. "Goodbye! I'm sure we'll meet again someday!"

He snaps out of it when he realizes that he shouldn't be bidding them farewell. "WAIT, THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" He stomps his foot angrily as he glares at the crew. "What's the meaning of this?! A friend's been waiting for you this whole time, and you don't even give me a 'hello'?!"

Rose chuckles at the complaint before she casually waves to him. "Hello Mr. 2."

Mr. 2 blinks at the greeting before he smiles at her. "Hello to you too."

Usopp widens his eyes at the greeting before he turns to Mr. 2. "Quit acting like we're friends!"

The okama sighs as he sits on the railing. "I'm not your enemy anymore since Baroque Works is finished, so let's forget the past. I even did you this favor to show that we're friends."

"What are you talking about?!" Luffy asks while some of his crew members starts climbing aboard.

Mr. 2 points to the ship's head while making his case. "Think about it, if I didn't move the ship from the coast line what do you think would happen?"

"The marines would've found it." Nami says as she walks onto the ship.

He nods at the assumption as he gets off the railing. "Exactly, the coast is completely covered by marines now! It would've been spotted in a second!"

Luffy, Usopp and Chopper widen their eyes at the news as they run onto the ship.

"So you really helped us?! Why?!" Chopper asks when the okama begins to smile at them.

"Isn't it obvious? It's because we're friends."

The three pirates beam at his answer before they start dancing with him like they're old friends.

Rose chuckles at the dance as she flies up, so that she's eye level to the others, but not on the deck yet. She looks back at the country, that she tried to make her home, and chuckles to herself as she grabs the railing. *At least I can say that I tried to stay out of this. Whatever happens now, no regrets.*

She swings her legs over the rail and goes below deck while the others get ready to sail. As she looks around the hall, she pauses when she sees pink flower petals on the floor. She grins at the petals, that can only come from Robin's powers, and confirms that the archaeologist is on board with them. She goes to the storage room and places her luggage inside, to avoid a confrontation with Robin, before she goes back outside.

Once she reaches the deck, she widens her eyes to see that both the crew and Mr. 2's ships are surrounded by eight marine ships. The crew works to outrun them, but they're completely blockaded by the ships that are now sending at least twenty large black spears towards them.

"GUYS, DEFLECT THE CANNONS!" Nami yells as she rushes to the helm to find an opening to steer to.

Usopp and Chopper run off to grab the cannon while the others get to work on deflecting the spears.

Rose quickly flies up and uses her wind to blast enough wind out of her hands to send one of the spears spinning. It crashes into another spear, that's flying next to it, and sends them both into the water. She grins in satisfaction as she keeps working to block as many as she can.

However, the more that she and the others deflected, only more would come to replace them. When a few managed to stab the ship, Chopper ran below deck to start patching the holes.

"Dammit, protecting it from both sides isn't working!" Mr. 2 says as he kicks a spear away from the ship, but he misses the second one that came right after.

Luffy growls in frustration when the spears stop and they begin to hear shouting from one of the ships.

"THERE'S NOWHERE FOR YOU TO RUN!" The crew looks in confusion to see a pink hair marine with iron knuckles on his hands smirking at the crew from one ship.

On the ship next to his a hypnotist marine stands at the front of the ship with his hypnosis ring ready. "That's right Fullbody. No one can escape the Black Spear."

Luffy looks at the hypnotist in confusion and widens his eyes when he sees that it's Jango from the Black Cat pirates. "HYPNO GUY?! AREN'T YOU A PIRATE TOO?!"

Sanji looks at the pink haired man, that he kicked the crap out of at the Baratie, but he forgot about him. "Who's the pink haired marine?"

Jango ignores the confusion as he lift his hypnosis ring to his face. "I'll show you that I'm playing on the right side now. Take a look at this ring..."

Before Jango can hypnotize anyone the crew's cannon managed to hit their ship and blow it up.

"BUDDY!" Fullbody calls out worriedly for his friend when the burning ship leans towards his ship and breaks it in half.

"Holy shit..." Everyone on the Merry widens their eyes to Usopp's comment, and looks to see the stunned sniper staring at the sinking ships with the cannon he just used right next to him.

Luffy's jaw drops at the cannon, that's still smoking from the use, before he smiles at Usopp. "THAT WAS AWESOME USOPP!"

Usopp snaps out of his daze before he looks at the crew then back to the boats repeatedly, and then he smirks triumphantly. "Th-that's right! It was all according to plan! That'll teach those marines to mess with us!"

Mr. 2 grins at the victory before he looks at two other ships that are in their way. "Well done Long Nose! Now just blow up those two ships and we can outrun them!"

Usopp gets to work on getting the cannon ready when a pair of Mr. 2's men from his swan ship calls out to him. "MR. 2!"

"WHAT IS IT?!" The okama calls back to them when the pair looks back at the commander ship sailing towards them.

"BLACK CAGE HINA IS COMING UP FAST!"

"WHAT?!" Mr. 2 runs to the back of the ship to see that they're right and stares at the ship in sheer terror.

Zoro raises an eyebrow at his distress as he looks at the ship. "What's so great about this black cage?"

"You mean you never heard of her?! Black Cage Hina's one of the strongest marine commanders in these parts! We gotta run!" Mr. 2 looks to see that the Straw Hats aren't steering in the direction he instructed them. "What are you doing?! We gotta head south and get out of here!"

Luffy doesn't move as he looks to the island. "You guys can run if you want, but we have to go east."

The okama widens his eyes at the statement. "What?! Why?!"

"We have an appointment. We need to go to the east coast by 12." Nami says as she gets ready to steer them east.

Mr. 2 scowls at their recklessness before he gets ready to jump aboard his own boat. "Hmph, that's ridiculous! What kind of treasure is worth getting killed by Hina for?!"

Rose chuckles at his rashness as she crosses her arms over her chest. "We're not going there for gold."

Mr. 2 looks at her in confusion when Luffy smiles at him. "We're going to pick up our friend."

The okama became completely shocked, at how they were willing to risk their lives for a friend, and decides to help them. He turns to his men with a smile on his face and new determination in his eyes. "Everyone, if we run away now we won't be worthy of being called okama!"

Every pirate looks at him in confusion as he continues to motivate his men. "If we can't sacrifice our lives for our friends then there's no way we can rest in peace! Who's with me?!"

The okamas under Mr. 2 begin to tear up in awe before they cheer in agreement.

Mr. 2 tears up in pride of his friends and doesn't wipe away the streams on his face as he turns to the Straw Hats. "Straw Hat Luffy and all you rascals, please listen carefully. Once I get on my ship you all head east and pick up your friend."

The crew looks at him in shock as he touches his face with his right hand and transforms into Luffy. "We'll take care of those marines for you! Farewell my friends!"

He jumps onto his ship and wastes no time in steering south to begin the decoy plan.

Nami doesn't look back as she steers the ship to the east, but the rest of the crew can only stare as Hina's ship speeds off after Mr. 2's ship.

As the battle rage on between the swan and marine ships Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, and Chopper cry for their friend's sacrifice. "BON CLAY, WE WON'T FORGET YOU!"

Rose stares at the battle sadly as she flies up to where the sails are. She solemnly salutes the okama ship out of respect before she turns around, and lightly blasts wind from her hands to hit the sails so that the Merry goes faster.

The wind girl doesn't give the battle another glance as she focuses on the task at hand. However, as the ship sails off she silently promises that if she makes it to the Impel Down arc that she will repay her debt to the okama.

As the crew reaches the east coast, they begin to hear Vivi's speech from the speakers that are on the island. "I had an adventure over deep oceans and dark tides in search of hope. The ocean that I faced was vast and held things that I could only dream of. There were times when the waves were peaceful and times when the waves were so violent as if they were laughing at the weak. But in that darkness I found a tiny ship that pushed me forward and taught me not to give up."

Zoro looks to the coast and can't find the princess. "That's definitely Vivi's voice making that speech."

Sanji slowly nods as he starts smoking. "It's a ceremony at Alubarna. It looks like she decided not to come after all..."

Luffy refuses to believe it as he stands by the railing and searches for the princess. "It's just Vivi's voice. She'll be here."

Nami quietly sighs as she gets ready to steer the ship. "It's almost 12, we can't stay for too long."

"Wait, let me take a look first." Rose says as she stays flying by the sails and scans the area for the princess.

Usopp looks at the back of the ship and he widens his eyes when he sees two marine ships sailing towards them. "GUYS, WE GOT TWO MARINE SHIPS COMING!"

Nami steers the ship away from the island without sparing the island another glance. "FULL SPEED AHEAD THEN! WE GOTTA GO!"

Sanji looks at Luffy, who's keeping his eyes on the island, and sighs. "Forget it Luffy, she has her life as a princess."

The captain ignores his words as he looks up at Rose. "YOU SEE HER ANYWHERE ROSE?!"

Rose keeps looking as she flies with the ship and widens her eyes when she sees Vivi and Carue waving at the coast. "I see her and Carue!"

The pirates widen their eyes when they look at the coast, and find the princess and the duck.

"Vivi-chwan!" Sanji calls out with hearts in his eyes while the others happily smile for their friend.

Rose looks down at the crew with a smile before she gets ready to fly over to the coast.

"Everyone, I'm here to say goodbye!"

Everyone on the ship stops when they hear Vivi's announcement while the princess keeps talking through the speaker "I can't go with you, but I want to thank you for all that you've done for me!"

Rose lands on the deck with a soft frown as she looks back at the island with the rest of the crew. *Even though I knew she was gonna say no this still sucks...*

She quietly sighs then softly grins as Vivi continues her farewell speech with tears in her eyes. "Even though I want to go with you, I really love this country! So I can't leave!"

Vivi doesn't bother to wipe away the tears that are streaming down her face as she keeps speaking. "E-even though I want to stay here... If we ever meet again, will you let me be your friend?!"

The crew begins to softly grin at the princess' question while the marines look at her in utter shock.

Luffy goes up to the railing and starts calling out to her. "NO MATTER WHAT WE-"

Nami quickly rushes to her captain and covers his mouth with her hand to shut him up. "Shut up!"

Luffy looks at her in confusion as she takes her hand off his mouth. "We can't answer her. If the marines found out that we're friends then Vivi will be considered a criminal. We need to leave quietly."

Luffy looks at her seriously for a moment before he turns his back on the princess along with the others.

Vivi sadly frowns at the turned backs when she sees them rolling their left sleeves up. When she and Carue see the black X's on their friends' left arms, to prove that their still friends, they smile in joy as they show their marks to them as well.

Rose grins at the moment as they make it far enough for the island to be too little to be seen, but the marines are still on their tail.

Nami looks back at the marines before she turns to the wind girl. "Rose, can you use your wind on the sail again?"

"Not a problem, let's give these marines a run for their money!" Rose says with a smirk as she flies up to the sails and gives the ship a strong enough tailwind to speed up without damaging the sails.

The wind girl looks back at the ships that are growing smaller in the distance, and she can't help but feel more excited than ever. Not only for her new pirate life, but also for the mysteries that are just waiting for her to uncover in this world.

As the adrenaline from the excitement kicks in, she wastes no time in helping her new crew not only lose the marines, but sail off to their next adventure.

Once the Going Merry began to speed up, the pursuing marines quickly learned that they were too slow to catch up to the pirates as they watch them escape.

A marine officer on Black Cage Hina's ship couldn't believe what he saw before he turns to his commander, who's watching them through her binoculars. "How can such a rundown ship sail that fast?"

"Because they used a devil fruit user. Hina's so mad right now." Hina says as she takes the binoculars off when a den den mushi starts ringing from the wall.

Once Hina grabs the snail, it began to look like Smoker by having two cigars hanging from its mouth. "Where are you now Hina? We can back you up against the Straw Hats."

Hina twitches an eyebrow at the reminder before she grabs a cigarette from her jacket pocket. "Don't waste your time. Hina lost the Straw Hats when they left the coast."

Smoker couldn't help but grin at the new chance to catch the pirates for himself. "I see, sorry to hear that."

Hina could hear the happiness in his voice when she sees another pirate ship on the horizon. "Men, take us to that pirate ship. Hina needs to take her frustrations out on something."

"YES MA'AM!" Her soldiers quickly get to work on going after the new crew while Hina turns her attention back to the snail.

She grins back at the snail as she finds a good way to tease her comrade. "I wouldn't be too happy if Hina was you Smoker. Hina saw your friend in action."

Smoker raises an eyebrow at the comment. "What friend?"

"The fake hostage your soldiers spoke about. She has a wind devil fruit correct?"

Smoker narrows his eyes at the snail as he holds back his temper. "She has the wind wind fruit, but she's no friend of mine! After that hostage act the little con artist had the nerve to claim that she was just tagging along with the Straw Hats."

Hina giggles at the complaint. "Well, it looks like she's not just tagging along anymore. We all saw her on board the pirate ship, and using her wind to help them get away."

A tick mark begins to grow on Smoker's head as he glares at the snail. "Oh she did huh? In that case, I'm gonna make sure that she can't play innocent anymore!"

Smoker abruptly hangs up his side of the line causing Hina to giggle at his anger before she goes off to take down another pirate crew.

Meanwhile, Smoker lights up his cigars from his chair on the deck of his ship to calm himself down. He looks down at the at the table in front of him to read the new wanted posters made for Luffy and Zoro, that show a bounty of 100 million and 60 million respectively. After he calms down a little he grabs the den den mushi next to the posters and starts dialing.

Tashigi walks onto the deck with two cups and a pot of coffee, and looks to see her captain angrily dialing. "Is everything alright sir?"

Smoker stops dialing when he sees his subordinate and sighs before he hangs up the snail. "Yea, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling much better." Tashigi says as she starts pouring coffee for the captain and herself. When she finishes pouring she sees the two wanted posters and widens her eyes when she sees Zoro's bounty. "He has a starting bounty of 60 million?!"

Smoker nods as he stares at the poster. "That's right, he killed about a hundred bounty hunters on Whiskey Peak. He also defeated Daz Bones in Alubarna."

Tashigi was completely shocked at the explanation as she grabs the swordsman's poster. "What?! The assassin?!"

Smoker nods as he grabs his snail and starts dialing to headquarters again. "That's right, he was one of Crocodile's recruits. But now another poster is about to be made. Rose has been spotted on their ship and she helped them escape."

Tashigi looks at him in shock before she furrowed her eyebrows at the news. "So she really is a pirate. I can't believe she deceived us after we tried to help her."

Smoker slowly nods as the snail starts ringing. "After watching her fight those bananadiles, I can easily tell that she hasn't mastered her logia fruit yet. Once she gains that control though, it's going to be hell for all of us. I'm gonna get her bounty set up so she can't play the hostage act, and then we're going after the Straw Hats."

"Yes sir!" Tashigi says as she puts down the poster then goes back below deck to train for the upcoming battles.

As Smoker makes the call to create Rose's bounty, he not only seals her fate as a pirate in this world, but also helps to mark the start of her new journey as a Straw Hat Pirate.

TO BE CONTINUED