Family

Zoro was leaning against the wall of the upper cabin with his arms crossed. He had heard the entire conversation and he was not happy about it. As far as he was concerned, stronger enemies meant that they would get stronger faster.

Cutting down bounty hunter after bounty hunter without breaking a sweat was getting boring. He wanted to surpass his own limits and become stronger. If he continued playing around, he would become the World's Strongest Swordsman when he was 90 years old when Mihawk died.

He didn't want an empty title, he wanted to beat Mihawk and take the title through blood.

He turned to look at Thirteen, who started walking back to the cabin as Ace left on his cigarette boat. Zoro eyed him from the shadows before disappearing completely.

Thirteen went to his room and sat on his bed, staring at the wall in silence.

A while passed

Thirteen stood up in the middle of the night and picked up his backpack, he walked to a dresser and grabbed a black t-shirt with the bunny logo. He threw it on before walking out of his room silently.

He picked up White from the ground and covered his mouth as he slipped into Chopper's room and stole his Human Body booklet. Thirteen slipped the booklet into his bag before silently walking out.

He never made a sound as he walked in and out of rooms, collecting food and water only for himself without taking too much.

When he was done, he had White on his shoulder and was standing on the railing of the Merry with a scarf around his head, leaving only his eyes visible. He was wearing all black except for his legs and arms, his feet were also unclothed as he didn't like the feeling of not being able to feel with the soles of his feet.

White grabbed onto his head and Thirteen took a deep breath, focusing as he saw the coast in the distance. He crouched and jumped into the air, saying "Get there or I'll die." the other him cursed and took over Thirteen's body.

Thirteen's pupils turned red and he stomped on the air, shooting through the sky, flying through the air and landing on the coast of Alabasta. Before the other him could rampage, Thirteen punched himself in the stomach.

He spat out blood and fell to the ground as he said "Fuck you!" and his eyes returned to normal. Thirteen shakily stood up and clenched his stomach, making his blood denser to start healing faster.

His breathing smoothed out and he blasted off the rocks of the coast, shooting off into the desert, disappearing into the darkness.

The next morning

Nami walked out of the cabin quickly, looking around. She ran up the stairs to the Upper deck and looked around, her expression getting more anxious and frantic. She ran back down and went back into the cabin as Usopp looked over and asked "What's her problem?"

Vivi held her chin and looked around in confusion.

Sanji walked out of the kitchen with a tray of drinks, saying "We're missing food." Luffy turned his head and Chopper scratched his head with his hoof, adding "I'm missing a book." Vivi snapped her fingers and everyone looked at her.

She said "I'm missing a scarf!"

They blinked at her and shook their heads, as Nami came out from the cabin. She grabbed Sanji and said "You're missing food?!" Sanji was stunned and nodded in response, she turned to Luffy and asked "You didn't eat it this time!?"

Luffy shook his head and Nami bit her nails, saying "Thirteen's missing. White's gone too!" The news smashed the crew like truck-kun on a mission, Sanji said "It's alright, he's probably in the bathroom…" not quite believing his own words.

Chopper fell to his butt and teared up, Luffy looked at Nami and said "What do you mean missing?" Nami said quickly "Like gone! Like he's not here! Like he's fucking missing! What do you mean?!"

Vivi walked over and said "It's okay, calm down. Where could he have possibly gone?"

Conveniently, the Merry stopped at the coast Thirteen landed on last night.

Luffy looked at Zoro, who was silent and unsurprised. Zoro looked at him and jerked his head to the coast.

Luffy jumped off the Merry and landed on the rocks, looking at the ground. The rocks were cracked and looked like they were shifted, there was also a bit of blood on them. He narrowed his eyes and said "He didn't say anything."

Usopp replied "Why would he? He doesn't talk anyway." Luffy answered "But everything was fine, why would he leave just like that?" He turned to look at Zoro, while Nami said "Maybe he was kidnapped!"

Sanji patted her shoulder and replied "Who would kidnap him? First of all, who CAN? Secondly, how could they do it without us noticing?" he shook his head and added seriously "Something must've happened."

Vivi touched her chin and muttered "But what happened? The only thing that happened yesterday was Ace introducing himself…" her words trailed off and she looked at Luffy, the rest looked at Luffy, who was looking at Zoro.

Luffy clenched his fists and said "What happened?" Zoro sighed and stopped sharpening his swords as he said "Last night…" he proceeded to tell them what Ace told Thirteen and the rest of their conversation, including Thirteen's sudden change of voice and the powerful presence he felt coming from the back.

As he spoke, Luffy's fists clenched tighter and he closed his eyes.

Nami covered her mouth as she listened and the rest were solemn.

Zoro finished and then scratched his chin as he continued "Then in the middle of the night, I saw him jump from the ship to the coast and run away. He kept jumping in the air too, it was weird." Sanji muttered "Jumping in the air?"

Nami shouted "And you let him leave!?" Zoro shrugged and said "Who am I to stop him? Not to mention, can I even stop him?" his eyes got serious and he pointed to the back of the deck, adding "Let me tell you something, what I felt from the back of the ship last night…"

He chuckled and his hand shook as he added "Even if there were a thousand of me, I would still get slaughtered." strangely there was a crazed excitement in his eyes and he continued "I don't know what's going on with Thirteen but…" he licked his lips and said "What he shows us is nothing. Not even a little bit."

He leaned back and closed his eyes, finishing "I'm pretty sure he knew I was listening and didn't care. It didn't feel like Big Cat, more like an actual Tiger. I'm just too weak to matter." he chuckled to himself and stopped talking.

Luffy turned around and Sanji looked at Zoro in shock before looking at Luffy, asking "What do we do?" Nami said "We have to go get him back! What do you mean?!" Sanji inhaled from his cigarette and his hand shook slightly, he sighed the smoke out and said to her "Nami-swan…"

Nami grabbed him and said fiercely "Listen, cook! I don't care if he's a million times stronger than you, or if he'll bring the entire world to attack us! He's a part of our family!" The rest looked at Nami with widened eyes, Luffy looked up from the ground and grinned.

Zoro licked his lips and got up from the deck as he caressed the handles of his swords with his thumb, a feral grin stretching across his face. Sanji looked at Nami and smirked with a hint of craziness as he said "You really are an angel~"

Usopp shivered and lowered his goggles, saying "Oh boy… I'd rather be eaten…" Chopper held the rim of his hat and looked at Luffy through the shadows over his face. Vivi was lost until Luffy chuckled.

She turned to him and he said with his back turned to the group "Find Thirteen." Nami looked at him and Vivi asked in confusion "After that?" Luffy chuckled and cracked his knuckles as he said "Then I'm gonna beat the shit out of him."