Navarone, the Base of G-8

"Wait, Zoro-sensei," Coby tried to reason, failing at slowing his teacher even as he ground his sandals into the floor. They were wandering around G-8's base without rhyme or reason and they were lucky they hadn't been caught yet.

"Did you hear?" a voice asked, echoing from around an upcoming corner. "That ghost ship in the lake is the boat of the Straw Hat Pirates."

"You mean the one with the famous bounty hunter on it?" another voice responded.

"Yeah, Roranoa Zoro. They say he fights with three swords at once, but you know, if I meet him, I'll give him a piece of my mind and show him the strength of G-8!"

"They say he has a student, too," the second voice mused.

"I'm seen the wanted posters; the kid's got pink hair," the first voiced laughed, both of them now getting further away. "Sounds like a girly-ass pansy to me, even if he does have a Zoan Fruit."

"I'll teach him to laugh at my student," Zoro growled, stepping out into a corridor.

"Zoro?" Nami questioned. She was dressed in a Marine uniform and had been mopping the floors, hiding in plain sight. "Coby?"

"Oh. Hey, Nami," Zoro grunted.

"Don't you 'Hey, Nami' me," the navigator hissed. "Are you trying to get caught?" Rather than give the man or his student time to answer, the girl drug both of them by their ears to a balcony. Quickly, she swiped all three of Zoro's swords and dropped them on a bush on the other side of the railing.

"What'd you do that for?!" Zoro demanded, leaning over the side the try to reach them.

"You're the only known user of Three Sword Style," Nami grunted. "Carrying around three swords makes you more obvious than the picture on your wanted poster."

"Shrimp, help me!" Coby shuffled over to the railing, taking his master's hand to lower him further toward the swords. The blades, as if in response, tumbled just a little bit lower.

"Dammit," Zoro growled. Grabbing Coby by a leg, the man jumped over the raining, one hand holding his upside-down student and the other holding the railing.

"Hey, girl," a voice grunted. Nami tensed and slowly turned to meet the gaze of two men in chef wear. "Can you lead us to the kitchens?"

"Oh, sure," Nami panicked, leaving the swordsmen to their own devices. Not ten seconds later, Zoro lost his grip on the railing, him and his student tumbling down the cliffside and into the water. Coby was immediately powerless, so Zoro was forced to not only retrieve all three of his swords alone, but also drag Coby upward with his teeth.

As soon as he broke the surface, he was careful to pull the young teen's face out of the water, even as all the marines in the boats surrounding them aimed their guns.

"Pirate Hunter Zoro and Tri-Horn Coby," Jonathan smiled. "Welcome to Navarone."

"... Damn."

"Are you two the new chefs they sent from Marijois?" the woman questioned, eyeing Sanji and Luffy with contempt. The captain and cook had run into each other and disguised themselves as chefs to try to blend in in the kitchen, but it was apparent that the Head Chef, Jessica, had mistaken them for some others. They chose not to correct her.

Jessica was a woman with short blonde hair dressed in stereotypical cook clothing that hugged her figure. A wedding ring almost imperceptibly glinted on her left hand.

"And if we are?" Sanji questioned, lighting a cigarette.

"They're the ones who called G-8 a backwater base!"

"Saying we only put out sub-par meals!"

"Arrogant assholes claiming they're doing us a favor!"

"I don't care if you're a man who has cooked for the Fleet Admiral, the Pirate King, or the Celestial Dragons," Jessica growled, cutting off her men, "if you don't pass my test, I will personally feed you to the fishes. Now listen up! We've got several hundred marines to feed and if my food is better than yours, I'm kicking you out of my kitchen."

"Is that a challenge, mademoiselle?"

"100 meals each," the woman affirmed. "The marines will decide the winner." The cooks bustled about, using only the best parts of the ingredients and piling the rest on a table. Soon, they finished, all 100 meals laid out over two tables in the dining hall. Luffy stared, drooling.

"How wasteful," Sanji muttered, staring at the bones and leftovers of the ingredients. Pulling several knifes off a rack, the cook set about pulverizing the leftover fish and turning the vegetable skins into a sauce, spouting cooking facts and tips along the way. In half the time it had taken almost 20 other cooks, the single, disguised, pirate chef finished his own plates with a flurry for the audience that had amassed.

"You have to use everything you can out on the seas," Sanji told them as the marines who had been watching surged forward to eat, Luffy among them. "While flavor is important, you never know what the sea will throw at you, so you have to make your stores last. That is our duty as chefs of the high seas. An old geezer taught me that a long time ago."

Vice-Admiral Jonathan sat in his office, idly swinging his fishing rod and pondering what the spirit of the Straw Hats' ship had told him. He'd heard of the Sky Islands, but to think that they were real was just short of preposterous. Even so, that was the reason Merry gave for them landing in G-8. They had been leaving the Sky Island, or Skypia as Merry had called it, using an octopus as a balloon, but an air current had blown them off course.

Still, it was a marine's job to capture pirates, whether their meeting was an accident or on purpose.

"Monkey D. Luffy," Jonathan mused, glancing at his chess board where several pieces were placed strategically. "It's your move."

"We're chasing what now?"

"A girl and a racoon-dog," the marine sighed for the third time. "We don't know who they are and, with the battleships Commander Jonathan let in, there are a lot of unknown people running around. Even so, none of the ships should have any young girls or pets, so we've been told to treat these two as hostiles."

"I think I saw them go that way!" a marine with a goofy grin on his face called, pointing down a hallway. The others took off and rounded the corner at the end.

"Thank you," Grace smiled from the other end of the hallway, the back of the man's Marine uniform stained with yellow-green paint.

"Anything for a friend."

"Alright. Then please keep them off our tail."

"Sure thing!" the man responded, running off. Grace and Chopper went the other way, slinking down corridors and peeking around corners until they came across the medical ward which was quickly filling as the injured from the battleships that had docked were rushed in.

"Patients," Chopper whispered.

"Let's go, Chopper," Grace insisted. "It's not our problem."

"It's my sworn duty as a doctor to treat the injured," the reindeer rebuffed.

"You and your sense of duty," Grace whined. "How are you going to disguise yourself?" Chopper quickly took in their surroundings, discovering a closet with unused lab coats.

"This will do," Chopper stated, shifting into his Heavy Point and donning a coat and a pair of glasses with a fake mustache (that were there for some reason). "Here, put this on."

"That sounds like work," the girl complained as the pink nurse uniform landed on her head.

"Just do it," Chopper ordered. Grace sighed before covering her ordinary clothes with the slightly-too-big uniform. Normally, Chopper was the shortest member of the crew, but when he went into his Heavy Point, he became taller than as Grace. They approached the medical ward.

"No," a woman's voice denied from inside, "I can't do it! I'm a children's doctor, not a surgeon!"

"These patients need you," a nurse insisted. "They need someone."

Chopper barged in and instantly began barking out orders. It took a second for the surprised nurses to react, but they moved to answer his demands. "And get the critically injured prepped for surgery," Chopper finished.

"Chopper?" Nami questioned, now in a nurse's outfit. "Grace? What are you two doing here?"

"This guy just had to save the marines," Grace huffed, "and I don't know where my big sister is."

"I-I don't know who you are," the head doctor, a thin woman with purple hair, got out, "but I'm glad you showed up when you did. I can't stand the sight of blood."

"You're a doctor and you can't stand a little blood?" Nami asked incredulously.

"I'm technically a children's physician," the woman responded, "but due to several factors, I'm the only doctor here right now."

"Listen, Dr..." Chopper trailed off.

"Kabato."

"Dr. Kabato," the reindeer continued. "My teacher use to tell me a story when I was her apprentice.

"There was one a man whose doctors told him he had an incurable disease and that he didn't have long to live. Distressed by this, the man set out to see the world and try to find a cure. One day, on a mountain pass, the man found himself surrounded by beautiful cherry blossoms. When next he went to the doctors, they told him that his disease was miraculously cured.

"The moral of this story is that nothing is incurable, you just have to find the right cure." (1)

"Doctor!" the nurses called. "The patients are prepped."

"Do you think I can show those men the cherry blossoms?" Dr. Kabato whispered.

"Only if you can find your own first," Chopper replied. "Nami, Grace, let's go."

"You want us to help?" Nami questioned. She knew nothing about surgery.

"More work?" Grace whined.

"I'll tell you what to do, come on."

"Yes," Dr. Kabato added, steeling herself. "Let's go."

"I'll ask you one more time," Drake growled, hoisting Zoro up by his head. "Why are you pirates here?"

"I told you," the swordsman spat back. "We fell from the sky. We didn't mean to land here."

"If you keep lying, your student here is going to suffer."

"I can't tell if you're playing the bad cop or if you're actually going to hit me," Coby snarked before blinking. "Goda, Captain Luffy is rubbing off on me."

Zoro barked out a laugh. "That was a good one, Shrimp!"

"Do you pirate scum ever take anything seriously?" Drake demanded, lifting Coby up by his neck. The Sea Prism Stone chains clattered as the young ex-marine-hopeful was lifted up until he was eye-to-eye with the officer who was a whole head taller than him.

"Very rarely," the rosette got out. "I blame our captain."

"Luffy doesn't care about much," Zoro agreed. "I've seen him serious two times: before beating Arlong and before beating God."

"What's this about beating God?" Drake questioned, dropping Coby with a thump and a rattle.

"Was it five days ago?" Zoro asked, turning his eyes to his pupil who was trying to sit up through the weakness caused by the chains. Coby shook his head, unable to see clearly without his powers or glasses.

"Yes, Zoro-sensei. We killed God Eneru five days ago. We spent four of those partying with the angles."

"Do you two filthy pirates really expect me to believe that your captain actually killed God?"

"It wasn't our captain," Zoro corrected with a smirk. "It was our tattoo artist." Drake scowled as he kicked the man in the stomach, forcing the air out of him. Zoro wheezed, preparing for the next blow, but it never came.

"Commander Drake!" a marine called, running down to salute by the cell. "An unknown doctor is performing surgery on the wounded marines from the battleships."

"Then is seems we've found our third Straw Hat," Drake smirked.

"Ugh," Gin groaned, swimming into consciousness. His back was stiff and several somethings were poking him. Opening his eyes, the Man-Demon found himself stuffed in a closet with a sliver of light flowing in from the top of the door. On the shelf to his left, just within the range of the beam of light, was the Rumble-Rumble Fruit they'd acquired. Why he was in a closet, Gin had no idea. There were several scared voices outside.

"Have you heard what they were saying about this ship? Rob told me there were ghosts haunting it."

"Don't say that," the man's partner snapped. "You know I hate ghosts."

"I heard," the first man continued, "that the spirits reached for Shuko and tried to drag him to the Underworld."

"Stop it, John!" In response, 'John' laughed. "Have you gotten word from the guys in charge of getting the gold from the storage rooms?"

"Yeah. They have this big sheet they're trying to fill so they don't have to make as many trips, but they keep claiming that the treasure moves back to the pile as soon as they turn their backs. I think they're just being lazy."

"Maybe the gold really is cursed," the second voice shivered.

Coming back to his senses, Gin tried to stand from where he was leaning on the shelves, but the shelves weren't sturdy enough and gave out under the extra force. The Man-Demon tumbled to the floor with several mops, brooms, and likewise falling on him. The Devil Fruit landed on his chest as the voices outside went quiet.

"…What was that?" the unknown voice asked fearfully.

"I think it came from over here," 'John' replied. Two pairs of footsteps started approaching.

'Shit,' Gin cursed inwardly. He didn't have his tonfa and had no idea who the guys outside were. And they apparently had friends trying to steal the Donna's gold. The men drawing closer had to be either marines or rival pirates who had boarded their ship. By what they said, it was likely that all, except for maybe one, of his crewmates weren't on board. He was unarmed, injured, and alone. There was nothing-

Wait! The Devil Fruit! He could... No. Gin shook his head. What if he went crazy like Eneru had, drunk on nearly-limitless power? However, the men were still growing closer and Logia powers were looking really good right about now.

The doorknob rattled; the door must have been locked. Holding the powerful Fruit up to his face, Gin decided to give in to the temptation; there seemed to be no other option and, in the worst-case scenario, he would join his friends in the realm of the dead.

"Don Luffy will keep me in check," Gin whispered to himself. The pirate bit into the forbidden Fruit just as the lock shattered and the door opened.