Enter Cat Burglar Nami 2...

Chapter 13.5 - Enter Cat Burglar Nami 2...

"Zoro!" Chopper screamed out happily, eyes bright as he watched the former Pirate Hunter live up to his name.

"Hey now," past Zoro said causally, not even batting an eye as he took down the pirates, "it's not very nice for all of you to gang up on the poor girl."

"You are so cool, Zoro-san," Brook said amazed as Zoro smirked at that.

"Zoro!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

"You could've come sooner you know moss head and saved Nami some pain by taking out that cannon," Sanji suddenly complained.

"What?" he yelled at him, "I don't see you doing anything!"

But his past self looked back to Nami and asked, "You hurt?"

She stared at him, not really registering what he said, so he asked again, "I said, are you hurt?"

"N-no, I'm fine I think," she croaked out.

"Wow, you sound almost concerned," Usopp said to Zoro.

"That was before I realized what a manipulative witch she was," he answered and Nami glared at him as Sanji threatened to poison his food.

"What a relief," Luffy sighed gratefully, "I'm glad you found us. Now hurry up and come get me out of here!"

"How do you keep getting yourself into these situations?" Zoro asked his captain, rolling his eyes as he hoisted his sword over his shoulder and headed over to the cage. "First a bird flies off with you and now I find you trapped in a cage?"

"It's an interesting story actually," Luffy answered.

"Yeah, and now that I finally know what happened," Zoro sighed, "I'm almost sorry I asked."

"I'm more surprised that you found the place," Franky said in a teasing tone and Zoro shot him a deeply annoyed look.

"You all have something to say to me?" he snapped at them all as Buggy spoke up again.

"So, you're Zoro," he said smugly, "If you're here for my head you've got the struggle before you."

Zoro shook his head at how careless he had been. It didn't matter if Buggy was a Devil Fruit user or not… to think he let his guard down for even a moment was shameful. His past self didn't look the least bit interested, and he let him know it. "No, not interested," he said. "I gave up pirate hunting. I'm here for my friend."

"Zoro you're so cool!" Chopper cheered on in complete awe.

But Buggy didn't seem annoyed or relieved. He was still smiling that ugly smile and said, "But I'm interested though. Killing you will boast to my reputation."

"As if he could kill him," Usopp said smugly. "He's dead meat if he tries!"

But Zoro stared at himself, almost trying to will him to pay attention that something was wrong. But instead, he looked back at Buggy and threatened, "If you try, you'll die."

"As expected, bro," Franky laughed, looking forward to seeing him take care of Buggy.

Buggy took out several daggers and held them like claws in his hands as he laughed louder than ever. "Oh, is that so?"

Zoro sighed in annoyance. "I tried to warn you, but… oh well."

Robin looked over to their swordsman and realized that he was looking embarrassed at this. Did something happen? She couldn't see someone like Buggy ever getting the upper hand of a fight… unless…

"Die flashily!" Buggy yelled as he charged Zoro, who pulled out his swords. The battle was over instantly… Zoro cut him into pieces and scattered his body parts across the roof.

Usopp, Brook, and Chopper all screamed at that, never believing that Zoro could've hacked someone to pieces like that.

"You didn't have to go that far did you, Zoro-san?" Brook croaked out as he watched Buggy lying there.

Past Zoro merely put his swords away, not even looking at the body. "That wasn't much of a fight was it?" he asked.

"Wow, he's weak," Luffy said, sounding a little disappointed. "Great job, Zoro."

But there was something wrong…

"Wait, didn't you say this guy was a Warlord?" Franky asked Robin suddenly, "How can he be a Warlord if he's dead?"

"Because he's not," Nami explained, "He can't die by a swordsman no matter how hard you try."

"But how is that possible?" Brook asked startled.

"No way," past Nami whispered in amazement before they all noticed that the Buggy Pirates began to chuckle to themselves darkly. Each one with a depraved grin on their face… the look gave them all goosebumps because it was uncanny the resemblance… it almost reminded them of Bluejam and his crew when they caught Luffy and Ace in the fire.

"Hey, why are they laughing?" Luffy asked, not liking this either, and Robin couldn't help but wonder if he thought of Bluejam as well as he looked at them nervously.

"Their captain is lying dead on the ground and yet they're still laughing?" Nami asked, also looking unnerved, "What's going on?"

"Yeah, is he dead or not?" Chopper cried out, now feeling fear racking his body.

"Fellas? What do you find so damn funny?" Zoro demanded, and Usopp, Brook, and Chopper all screamed in terror as Buggy suddenly drifted up behind him, just floating in midair.

"HE'S A GHOST!" Brook screamed in terror.

"A ZOMBIE!" Usopp and Chopper cried, hugging each other.

"Now there's something you don't see every day," Robin said in mild surprise. "He ate a Devil Fruit…?"

"Right," Nami nodded as the disembodied hand holding a knife suddenly floated up as well and flew at Zoro.

"Zoro look out!" Chopper cried, but too late. The knife went right through his lower left side…

"Zoro!" Luffy cried out in horror.

"Buggy's still alive!?" memory Nami screamed out, looking ready to run screaming from what she was seeing.

"I can't believe that coward stabbed you like that with your back turned," Brook screamed out, "That was such a disgusting move."

"Though it pains me to admit it, I agree," Sanji muttered as he watched past Zoro yell in pain.

Zoro closed his eye. He was lucky that he got away from this with nothing more than a flesh wound. Buggy was arrogant and stupid… that's the only reason that he didn't kill him when he had the chance. Zoro felt the need to kick himself. Again, here was proof that he honestly had no idea to how big the world was. Even if he didn't know about Buggy's powers, he should've remained on guard, always aware of his surroundings…

"The Chop Chop Fruit," Buggy explained as he put himself back together. "That's the name of the Devil Fruit's that's given me my powers! I'm a Chop Chop person and now I can never be defeated by the sword!" he burst out laughing as Nami looked like she was about to faint.

"His limbs… reattached?!" she whispered in shock. "I always thought Devil Fruits were just a story that Pirates told!"

"There are over a hundred different types of Devil Fruits," Robin explained, "But rarely do you see one outside the Grand Line. So it is understandable…"

"But still, someone who can break apart in pieces?" Usopp hissed, shivering at the thought. "That's disgusting!"

"So he's a Chop Chop man?" Luffy asked from his cage, "That's pretty freaky."

"Like you're one to talk Rubberbrain," Sanji sighed.

"I didn't hit any vital organs, but that's a serious wound you have there!" Buggy said with a wide grin, fingering his knife, "So I'm guessing that I am the winner!"

"Only because you fought dirty!" Chopper screamed out, now running over to Zoro just as he fell to his knees and began to pant in pain, blood already soaking his side.

"That's not like you though, Zoro," Franky muttered, looking to the one-eyed swordsman next to him. "What happened?" But Zoro didn't have to answer… his memory self did.

"I let my guard down," he hissed, breathing hard through gritted teeth, "Stupid mistake!"

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Zoro sighed, his hand still resting on his swords. "I can't believe I let myself get stabbed by such a weakling."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "You are such an idiot," he said.

"You say something Nosebleed?" he snapped back.

"Letting someone stabbing you in the back like that?" Sanji taunted, "That's just sad…"

But before they could get into another fight, Luffy couldn't take listening to Buggy laughing and his crew cheering another second. "Stabbing him in the back was a cowardly move," he roared in outrage, "YOU BIG NOSE!"

At once, all chanting and cheering stopped as the Buggy Pirates froze where they were, sweat pouring down their faces as they stared, terrified at Buggy. Buggy's eyes widen in rage.

"What's that you said?" Buggy hissed dangerously, looking ready to kill, "Who has a big nose?!"

"Who does he think?" Usopp demanded, "If he doesn't like his nose why not just take it off?"

"Because I don't think that's a fake nose," Nami confessed.

"You mean he was born with it?" Brook began before laughing.

"It's like fate itself was mocking him from the start," Robin muttered in amusement. But Buggy had enough as he threw his hand, which still held the knife, at Luffy.

"Luffy!" past Zoro called in panic, but Luffy had chopped down on it with his teeth, stopping it dead in its tracks.

"He always did have a powerful jaw," Chopper sighed in relief as Luffy declared that he was going to kick Buggy's ass as soon as he got out of that cage. And as if to prove his point, he bit down until he broke the knife's blade. But instead of scaring him, Buggy only continued to laugh, declaring that he was going to kill them all with his own hands.

"Right…" Franky sighed, "that would be humiliating, dying by Buggy's hands?"

Luffy however was laughing screaming out that he refused to die before he finally looked at Zoro and gave him an order. Possibly their first Captain—Swordsman order since they took down Ax-Hand Morgan… "Zoro, get up!"

"What!?" memory Zoro exclaimed in surprise, and they didn't blame him, how was he going to be able to fight with that injury?

"You better have a really good plan or else we're all dead?" past Nami yelled at him, "So what are you guys gonna do?!"

But Luffy didn't say anything as he continued to smile confidently, looking only at Zoro—and it was as if they were suddenly able to hear each other's thoughts. For a moment, Zoro continued to looked confused before a grin appeared on his own face; getting what Luffy wanted him to do.

"I gotcha, Captain," Zoro said with a smirk.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Chopper asked him as past Nami became even more baffled and looked ready to fall over.

"Ignorant fool! Time to die!" Buggy screamed as he tried to attack Zoro again.

"Again, that's a cowardly move!" Brook screamed, but Zoro was back on his feet as he fought Buggy off, finally able to cut through him and ran past him.

"Your three sword style has no effect on me!" Buggy screamed as his body became whole again, "I've already told you…!" but he then realized that Zoro had run for the cannon. "Hey! Listen to when I'm talking to you!" he screamed back at him.

"Idiot," Sanji sighed, smacking himself in the forehead, "Stop talking and bragging already! Doesn't he see how much of an opening he left here?"

"I think that Buggy just liked to hear himself talk," Nami sighed.

"But what exactly are you planning…?" but Brook didn't get to finish his sentence for Zoro had run under the cannon's hand and pushed up on it. That was when he fully understood… they were gonna use Buggy's own weapon against him.

"EHHHHHH!" Chopper screamed in fear as he watched Zoro tear his own injury open farther. "Zoro! What were you thinking?!"

"Well, there wasn't much time to think," Zoro answered as he watched himself struggle under the weight. "I was only following Captain's orders…" and with one great big heave, he had succeeded in flipping the large cannon over to the opposite side and pointed it right at Buggy and his men.

And as soon as they saw that cannon head they screamed in fright as Zoro ordered Nami to hurry and light the fuse.

"Damn you moss head! How dare you treat Nami like that!?" Sanji yelled.

"You rather that we get killed here?" Zoro snapped at him in annoyance as Nami pulled the matches out and struck one.

"Wait!" Buggy screamed out in panic as Nami did what she was told. "Just wait! The cannon's still loaded with a special Buggy Ball!"

"Karma… you don't mess with it," Franky muttered, remembering how eager Buggy had been to use it before. Buggy continued to plea, but it was too late… the fuse was gone just as Zoro and Nami ducked and covered their ears as the cannon fired with a boom that echoed around them, literally tearing the building apart as the crew all screamed.

Some of the Straw Hats also screamed, this was worse than before, some of them having to cover their own ears as the explosion engulfed everything, leaving nothing but smoking debris.

"So just by looking at him, you knew that he was actually telling you to point the cannon at them and shoot it back?" Brook called to Zoro once his hearing had returned and the smoke filled the air.

"Hmm? Pretty much," Zoro answered unconcerned.

"But how?" Usopp asked, "I mean… you were with him for a little while but you knew?"

"It's just something I would've done if it were me," he answered coolly.

Brook was highly impressed. The two of them had only been crewmates for a short time, but they already knew how to communicate almost perfectly.

Though the smoke didn't bother them, they still couldn't see a thing. Thankfully they were able to find their way out; and aside from some throbbing eardrums, they were all perfectly fine… which couldn't be said for Buggy's crew.

"What happened to you all?" Franky asked, trying to find them.

He was answered with a growl of pain from behind him. Through the rubble, Zoro appeared, and he was carrying Luffy, who was still in the cage. Nami went running with him, staring at the two of them in wonder.

Chopper screamed, "Zoro! What were you doing? You're making the injury worse!"

"Getting us out of there?" he answered obviously.

"You alright, Zoro?" Luffy asked, "How bad are you injured?"

"Just shut up and don't worry about how I'm doing," he snapped back, struggling under the weight of the cage, "I need to concentrate if I'm gonna get us out of this!"

Nami just continued to stare at them as Zoro finally asked Luffy who she was.

"Oh, right," Luffy said evenly, "She's our new navigator."

"I'm not sure about this," Nami countered nervously, "Who are you guys anyway?"

Robin looked to Nami and asked, "Just what was going through your mind here?"

"Just thinking that even pirates can still risk their lives to rescue their friends," she said softly.

"One heck of a way to make an impression," Brook said softly as Zoro hissed at her to move out of the way. Blood squirted out of his wound as he heaved the cage up on his back and lumbered forward. Luffy saw the blood and tried to tell him to put him down, which Zoro ignored as until they were a safe distance away… and even then, he proceeded to drag it beside him.

"You really are crazy," Chopper snapped at him. But Zoro ignored him as memory Zoro kept dragging the cage until he came to rest in front of one of the buildings where his strength finally left him and he fell to the ground, looking ready to sleep.

"Bro, you really don't look good," Franky said nervously as he watched the bloodstain on his shirt grow bigger.

"Nothing that a little rest didn't cure for me," Zoro waved off unconcerned. Even Luffy looked worried as he looked at him; but his attention was then distracted when he noticed that there was a small, white dog with beady black eyes looking back at him. He was standing in front of the building, that they soon realized was a pet food shop and Luffy happily rolled the cage over to him.

"ChouChou," Nami smiled, remembering that little dog.

"I beg your pardon?" Brook asked in confusion.

"The dog's name," she answered fondly, "This is ChouChou… he helped us out when we were leaving this town."

"This little guy?" Usopp asked as Luffy continued to stare at the dog, as if trying to get it to move, even resorting to poking at it… but it was like a statue, it didn't move.

"You sure that's a dog and not a statue?" Franky asked as Luffy started pulling on the dog's face.

"Zoro, this dog looks like it's frozen!" Luffy exclaimed as Zoro was now resting against a pillar on the building.

"I don't give a damn, he can sit there forever for all I care," Zoro huffed, gasping for breath.

"As social as ever I see," Usopp muttered as Luffy suddenly screamed in pain. ChouChou finally couldn't take it anymore and bit Luffy with him trying to pull the mutt off his face.

"Well you can't say that you didn't see that coming," Sanji muttered annoyed.

"Luffy quit goofing around and get serious!" Zoro in the memory yelled angrily before he collapsed again from blood lost. Luffy finally managed to free himself from the dog and rubbed his face in pain.

"Stupid dog," he muttered.

"I don't feel good…" Zoro moaned at the same time, looking like he was about to be sick.

"You both are so strange," Usopp muttered as Chopper shook his head.

"Of course you don't feel good!" he yelled at Zoro. "Didn't you see how much blood you lost?"

"Would you just let it go already?" he barked back in annoyance. Thankfully Nami interrupted the fight by finally tracking them down.

"Hi, navigator," Luffy greeted cheerfully, completely over the previous event as she gave them a tired smile and handed over a large iron key.

"I only did it so we'd be even," Nami explained quickly, but she was still smiling as Luffy looked at it happily. "So now I don't owe you anything so we're square ok?"

"Weren't you the one who got him in trouble in the first place?" Usopp asked her and she blushed innocently.

"Maybe," she said, "But I'm cute so you forgive me right?"

"Of course I do, Nami-swan!" Sanji swooned before giving Usopp a dirty look, "You hear that? You idiots shut up about it!"

"But I'm just telling the truth," Usopp yelled back as Luffy cried out in shock and he looked down in time to see that ChouChou had swallowed the key.

For a moment, no one moved.

"How'd he managed to swallow a key?" Robin asked in mild surprise as Luffy completely lost it and began to choke the dog as the other two stared at him. "You damn dog! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid dog! That's not food! Give me that key!"

"LUFFY NO!" Chopper cried as he watched ChouChou choking and change color from lack of air.

"He didn't kill him," Nami said looking around, and she spotted a familiar face coming towards them.

"Hey, stop that! Stop picking on poor ChouChou! Leave him alone!" he yelled back and got everyone's attention.

"Who's that?" Robin asked curiously as an elderly looking man with gray hair that has been arranged in three lumps and wearing brown armor covering up his street clothes.

"And who might are you, old man?" past Zoro asked rudely.

"Old man?" he repeated irritably, "Why I'm the mayor of this town. Who are you and why are you hurting ChouChou?"

They watched as the mayor finally noticed Zoro's injury and took him to his house for some treatment. Chopper sighed in relief, glad that Zoro was finally gonna get some medical attention, but that didn't last long because when the mayor came back out, Luffy asked him how he was doing.

"I told him he really should see a doctor," he said with a shrug, "But he insisted that he didn't need to and just wanted to sleep it off."

"WHAT?" Chopper cried out again, "You need a lot more than sleep for that!"

"Up until then, I was always able to heal from a little sleep," Zoro said in annoyance.

"Could you guys be quiet?" Nami snapped as she tried to listen.

"So this dog's name is ChouChou?" past Nami asked as she petted the dog's head as Luffy continued to look at the dog.

"Why's he just sitting there like that?" he said asking the mayor, "Sure is a lazy dog."

"He's guarding the store," he answered him casually.

"He's guarding it?" Nami repeated in confusion before she looked up and said, "Oh, I see, it's a pet food shop."

"That's right," the mayor answered, "And the man who used to run this shop was a very close friend of mine." As he got a bowl of food for ChouChou, he told them all about how close the dog had been with his owner, and how that same owner died about three months before from an illness. In surprise, Nami asked him if he had been waiting here all this time for his owner to come back. How the mayor agreed that seemed to be the most reasonable answer.

"But I find that very hard to believe," the mayor added as he puffed on a pipe, gazing at the dog as he continued to eat. "ChouChou's a smart dog. He's probably known for awhile that his master's isn't coming back."

Nami looked confused as she asked, "Then why does he stay here at the store?"

"I guess because he's got a connection to it," the mayor answered simply, a hint of sadness in his tone, "It's his… treasure. He's guarding it. His master left him with this shop and that's why he protects it. I've tried to take him back to my place so that he's not out in the elements but he won't take so much as a step away from it."

Franky was sniffing loudly, before he couldn't hold back the flood of tears, Brook soon following close behind as he balled out. "Oh, man… that's so touching!" Franky declared, "He's pulling at my heart! To think that a dog would be here guarding his treasure like this! I can't take it!"

Chopper sniffled, understanding ChouChou's determination. He felt much the same way as he fought to protect the castle from Wapol. That castle was the Doctor's grave, and he wasn't going to let the same man responsible for killing him back inside.

But as Franky and Brook tried to recover from the story, they suddenly heard a loud roar and the ground was shaking with tremors…

"What was that?" Brook cried, his tears drying up as he glanced around for the source of that sound.

"Chopper?" Usopp asked cautiously.

"It's a cat," Chopper said nervously, "A really big cat… and he's hungry!"

"You mean a big cat like the Tiger Lord?" Brook asked him.

"Not even close," Nami sighed, remembering seeing that lion. "That lion was big, but that tiger could've eaten him easy."

"A lion?" Sanji asked in surprise.

"I guess we should've guessed if they have a circus they've have a lion," Robin said, "Hopefully, we won't see it eat someone."

"Robin would you quit doing that?" Usopp demanded as the mayor began to freak out, grabbing Nami's arm and telling her to run. "It's him, the Beast Tamer Mohji!" he screamed at her, almost dragging her away, leaving Luffy still trapped in the cage.

"Wait, you guys just left him there?" Usopp shouted at her.

"What? He handled it it," Nami snapped.

Luffy sighed in a bored way as he spoke with the dog. "Come on puppy something's here," he said to it, "Why don't you just give me that key back?"

"He doesn't seem concerned," Sanji muttered.

"Well, he's used to fighting giant animals, why would he be worried?" Zoro asked. Just then, it came… Nami had been right, while he was big, it was nothing compared to some of the animals from Mt. Colbo. He was a lion with his fur an unusual greenish fur and its main was a light purple color. Riding on its back was a scrawny man who was in a strange animal fur… the hat he had made him look like a teddy bear ears on the top of his head.

Spotting the cage, he ordered the lion to go near him.

"I see that your friends have deserted you," Mohji said as he smirked down at Luffy, once he looked down and saw who it was. "And after you just escaped."

Looking up, Luffy asked, "Who the heck are you?"

"He looks like he has issues," Sanji muttered and they all nodded in silent agreement.

"I'm known as the beast tamer, Mohji, a member of the Buggy pirates," he answered with a ugly smirk.

"A beast tamer?" Chopper asked excitedly.

"Don't get your hopes up, Chopper, he's not that impressive," Nami said rolling her eyes. "Sure that lion listens to him, but as far as I know, he doesn't know anything else."

"Whoa, that's a weird looking animal suit you got on," Luffy said as he looked at Mohji's head.

"Yeah, why wear his hat like that?" Brook asked curiously.

"That was rude!" Mohji yelled angrily as he pointed to his head. "This is my hair."

"You mean that's natural?" Sanji asked in horror, his jaw dropping. "What? Why would anyone go around with that?"

"'Kay, that's even weirder," Luffy said, raising an eyebrow.

"Took the words out of my mouth," Sanji muttered in agreement.

"You shouldn't assume that you're safe just because you're in that cage," Mohji said, his angry look being replaced with a dangerously smug one. "You must not know of my terrifying skill! There is no animal in this world that Beast Tamer Mohji can't bend to do his bidding!" He then jumped down from the lion, and tried to get ChouChou to shake… which caused the dog to bit his arm and Mohji screamed in pain, trying to throw the dog off.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Franky said sarcastically, "The world's greatest Beast Tamer."

"If this was a real circus, I'd want my money back," Usopp said looking tired.

"You nameless thief, I have no interest in killing you!" Mohji yelled, as if hoping that Luffy didn't see that last part, "But me where Roronoa Zoro is before I change my mind."

"Even if he did tell that loser, I doubt that he'd let him go," Sanji disagreed.

"No way," Luffy answered bluntly and Zoro smirked.

Mohji lost his temper and finally ordered the lion, whose name was Richie, to attack already. At his command, Richie stomped on the cage, smashing it to pieces and bending the iron bars… but also breaking Luffy—who was clearly happy to finally get out. But almost as soon as he was free, the lion slammed his paw at him, sending him flying and smashing into a house, shattering it to pieces.

"Ouch…" Sanji winced as they went over to see the damage. It took a few minutes for them to track Luffy down in all that damage, but when they finally found him, naturally he was just fine.

"Whew… that was intense. At least now I'm out of that cage," Luffy said to himself as he stood up and brushed himself off as he continued to talk to himself, "Now, first thing I teach those Buggy Pirates a lesson. And then I convince Nami to be the navigator of my crew!"

"Looks like here's where he starts to see you as a crewmate," Robin informed her as Nami smiled kindly at that.

As if he summoned her here by saying her name, Nami and the mayor were there, coming out of their hiding place. Nami stared at Luffy and demanded, "How did you survive that attack?"

"You're alive!?" the mayor cried out in shock.

"Man, why doesn't he just tell them that he's not normal already?" Usopp asked exasperatedly.

"Just got lucky I guess?" Luffy asked in confusion.

"Surviving an attack like that isn't normal, I figured you'd be scattered all over," Nami pointed out, still not quite believing that he was unharmed, and seemed to be expecting him to fall over dead at any moment.

"Not normal?" Luffy asked as if he never realized that he wasn't like other people.

"Why exactly did you decide to come to this town?" the mayor suddenly asked him, wanting some answers, "And how did you get involved with those pirates?"

"He's always getting himself involved in something like this," Sanji added with a sigh. "Comes with the job I guess? You get used to it."

"All I'm doing is searching for that chart of the Grand Line," Luffy answered with a grin. "And then a good navigator to join my pirate crew!" He turned around and ran back towards the pet store with Nami staring after him. "I think that guy in the animal suit said he was looking for Zoro so I gotta go!"

"Like I'd die by that loser," Zoro yawned as they went after him once again, but when they arrived at the pet shop they stopped dead and Franky was now bursting out in tears to see the shop was now in flames.

"That monster!" Usopp yelled out in fury, "He and that bastard lion did this didn't they?"

Nami nodded sadly, listening to ChouChou sitting in front of the burning building, and howling miserably.

"He's crying," Chopper sniffled, tears willing up as he stared at ChouChou's bloody fur and scratches. It was clear that he fought and tried to protect the store from the lion… but even after putting his life on the line, he still couldn't protect it.

Brook sobbed open heartedly with Usopp at that—but no one bothered to tell the ones crying off. They all felt a surge of rage at that after hearing that this place meant to that dog. That shop was all ChouChou had left, it was the one thing he truly cherished, and now that was gone forever.

Zoro was looking at the empty look on Luffy's face as he looked at ChouChou. Suddenly, his Captain's eyes narrowed in anger and he knew right away that Luffy wasn't going to let this go. It didn't matter if he was dealing with a human or an animal… but when it involves something that they are willing to fight to the death for… he takes it seriously.

"He's going after them isn't he?" Brook said at once.

"What do you think?" Sanji asked knowingly as Luffy gazed around, as if trying to smell which way that they went. Finally, he went running off down the road, and the Straw Hats could only follow.

"Oh, I'm looking forward to seeing this," Usopp said firmly, only wishing that he could help Luffy beat Mohji up for hurting ChouChou like this.

It was a good thing that the two didn't get far from the shop when Luffy found them. If anything, seeing the box of pet food in the lion's mouth, served to make them all angry and wanting Luffy to hurry up and beat the crap out of them.

Mohji stared down at him in surprise. "Wait, I thought I killed you. What are you still doing alive?" he demanded.

"Karma's a bitch," Zoro said darkly.

He was a little surprised to see that Luffy answered him with a grim. "I'm afraid you can't get rid of me that easily," he informed him. Mohji grunted in anger as he ordered Richie to attack again. The lion dropped the food and charged ahead like a bull… but they all knew how this would end.

"I'm not going to be beaten by a lion," he proclaimed a she stretched his arms out, twisting them around the lion's face so that he couldn't move. And then, showing no mercy, he leapt into the air landing behind Richie… before being able to lift the beast into the air.

"Gum Gum… HAMMER!" Luffy screamed out, and like that, he left the lion in a crater in the ground… out cold.

"Come on," Sanji muttered, shaking his head, "That cat's pathetic…"

"The whole crew's pathetic," Zoro corrected for him, now wanting to see Luffy deal with Mohji, who was gaping at what just happened, unable to believe what just happened. But there was no doubt that he realized that he was screwed.

"What… what are you!?" Mohji demanded in terror as he stared at Luffy, who had his back to him, kneeling on the ground from the last attack.

He was no longer smiling, and his face was shrouded in darkness… which sent a few chills up some of the crew members up their spines as he said simply, in a completely serious voice that they very rarely ever heard from him, "Well, I ate the Gum Gum Devil Fruit."

Mohji looked like he just choked on something. "So then… you have Devil Fruit powers just like captain Buggy but yours make you rubber!?" he cried out.

"That's normally what it means," Robin said, now frowning at Mohji as well.

Luffy didn't bother to give him an answer as he knelt there, his back still to him. Realizing that he was in deep shit Mohji tried to apologize, claiming that he didn't want any trouble.

"If that was true, then he shouldn't have started the fight," Brook said coldly, knowing that he was going to deserve whatever his Captain dealt out to him.

"Not so tough when his pet's out is he?" Sanji asked, breathing out smoke.

"There's no reason for you apologize to me. Because of you, that dog will never get his treasure back," Luffy said coldly as he finally stood up. There was no mercy in his expression as he looked back at him. "And now… because of that… I'm gonna kick your ass."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Nami said firmly.

And before Mohji could even move, Luffy stretched his arm out to grab him by the front of his shirt and dragged him over… Mohji's feet dragging along the ground the whole time, before Luffy delivered a single punch and left him on the ground.

"That looked uncomfortable," Zoro said coolly as Luffy glared down at him and the lion with disgust before he went over to the box of pet food that the lion dropped before and started to head back to the store.

"That was something else," Brook said softly, "I don't think I can remember seeing Luffy-san so angry… aside from when he gave Hordy the beatdown back on Fishman Island…"

"If there is one thing that Luffy takes seriously, no matter what it is, it's when someone considers something to be a treasure," Nami said softly. "If that person is willing to fight for it, he will too. And he respects it…"

"That is something amazing," Brook said, feeling his respect for Luffy rise even higher at that. They walked with Luffy, still carrying the food. Nami and the mayor were there now, watching ChouChou sadly as he looked at the burnt remains of wood that had once been his only treasure and his home.

"Pirates are all the same," past Nami said softly, but with anger in her tone as well, "They're all just a bunch of heartless bastards. They destroy everything that people hold dear without giving it a second thought."

"Just what happened to the pirate's world?" Brook asked sadly.

"It's been over fifty years since you sailed the seas, Brook," Robin reminded softly, "Things change. At least here, Luffy was able to punish the ones who did this."

As Luffy came near, Nami looked away, knowing what she was about to say. Her past self looked up at him and said, almost mockingly, "Oh, you're alive, pirate. You know, I thought for sure that lion was gonna tear your head off and end it all." The dark smile that had been on her face disappeared to be replaced with hatred as she shouted out, "And I wished he had because then there'd be one less pirate in the world!"

The crew was staring at the past Nami, unable to believe that she had said something like that. Only Robin glanced at the present Nami, a knowing expression on her face as she walked over to put her hands on Nami's shoulders in a comforting way.

"Nami?" Usopp asked as she refused to look at any of them.

"That's just… what I always thought of when I heard the world pirate," she answered so quietly, that they almost missed it.

But her past self was full of anger as she ran to him, screaming out, "Maybe I should kill you right now before you can gather a crew and destroy everything else!"

In a blind anger she ran at him, but the mayor stopped her, trying to hold her back. "Come now!" he said, "There's no need for violence."

But Nami was past listening as she fought to break away.

"Don't worry, Nami-swan," Sanji said to her comfortingly, "You don't have to worry about anything anymore…"

"I know," Nami said, finally looking back up. "But still… that means a lot to hear that… thanks Sanji."

Out of respect, Sanji didn't go into any heartfelt words of love. But he did smile brighter at that.

"Would you have really killed him?" Franky asked, though he already had a feeling he knew the answer.

"I was angry," she confessed. "Seeing how ChouChou lost everything here reminded me of myself. Thinking back… even if I could kill him, I don't think I could. Even if it meant that I was ridding the world of another pirate."

Luffy walked passed her, heading straight for ChouChou, muttering, "As if you could ever kill me."

"Well, maybe I'll try it and see!" Nami screamed at him.

"I said stop it!" the mayor yelled, "What's with you people?"

But then Luffy gently put the box of pet food in front of ChouChou… at that, Nami and the mayor froze as they watched Luffy walk around and sit beside the dog.

"Sorry, but that's all I could save for you," Luffy said to him as he looked back to the remains of the shop. "That bastard lion ate all the rest of it."

ChouChou didn't move a muscle, much like before when they first saw the dog, but he was staring at the box of food.

"I couldn't believe what he did," Nami confessed softly to them all, "He went and fought that lion just to get the dog's food back… to think that he went out of his way to do something just for a little dog… that's when I really knew that he wasn't like any other pirate."

She smiled to herself as she watched Luffy say to ChouChou how he could tell that he gave it his all to protect the store.

"Oh, man," Franky sniffled. "I love that dog…"

ChouChou still didn't react at all, as if he didn't hear what Luffy just said. Instead, he merely picked the box up and started to walk away from the shop, no longer having a reason to stay here. But then he turned his head and barked at him happily.

Now it was Chopper who sniffled a little at that. "He said, 'I owe you. And good luck!'"

Luffy smiled at ChouChou and, like he understood what he just said as well, called back, "Thanks! Good luck to you too, doggy."

ChouChou barked a couple more time before picking up his food again and they all watched in silence as he left, probably heading to where the other citizens fled when the pirates came.

"What'd he say there?" Usopp asked Chopper, who was rubbing his red eyes.

"That time he said, 'I'll be alright! Hope to see you again!'" he answered and Franky burst out crying.

"Such a moving scene," Brook declared, his boney hands over his ribcage again, "My heart feels as if it's being torn up! Not that I have a heart to begin with! Yohohoho!"

No one said anything as they watched on… wondering just what could happen next. Luffy kept staring even long after ChouChou was gone, and the mayor finally let go of Nami. She didn't look remotely angry anymore as she stared at Luffy, as if she had never seen anyone like him before. And then, she slowly headed to him until she was a few feet away.

She stood there silent for a moment, trying to find the words. "Sorry about earlier…" she said, and this time, they could hear the regret in her voice. "For thinking… you were like them."

If Luffy was angry with her, he didn't show it. He merely looked up with a smile and said calmly, "That's ok, you've been under a lot of stress lately."

"I'm surprised that he could see that," Nami told them all as she watched the smile appear on her own past self's face. It was here that Nami fully started to respect Luffy… that she could no longer think of him as something like Buggy or Arlong. It was almost startling the difference on her face as she looked… it was here that she truly believed that this was the moment that she began to see Luffy as a friend… something that she never truly had since before she had been forced to join.

Luffy finally got up and dusted off his clothes, telling her that he didn't need to apologize. But as they were talking, they had forgotten all about the mayor, so they were all surprised when they heard him speak.

"I'm pathetic!" he declared, and he was shaking all over, though they weren't sure if it was from anger or fear here. "ChouChou and this young one have fought so hard and yet, I… the mayor, have done nothing but sit back and watch our town be obliterated by Buggy and his despicable crew!"

Luffy and Nami ran to him, trying to calm him down, but nothing they said could work. Instead, the mayor told them all about how they built this town forty years ago. How it was nothing but a barren stretch of land, and how they all came together to build it. Here… he proclaimed the town to be his and the other inhabitants treasure.

"That's something special," Usopp said, understanding the desire to protect your home even when the odds were against you. But almost on cue, Buggy had fired another one of his Buggy Balls, destroying another row of houses, once of which was the mayor's…

"AHHHH" Chopper panicked, "YOU WERE STILL IN THERE, ZORO!"

"Relax," Zoro said evenly, waving his hand away, "I didn't even feel it…"

But Luffy's eyes widened in horror as he just realized the same thing, "AHHH! Zoro was sleeping in there!"

"I'm sure he's dead now," the mayor said regretfully.

"Zoro?! You in there?" Luffy cried panicky, "Are you still alive?"

Zoro was oddly touched by Luffy's concern. He wasn't used to having others worry about his safety… but it did make him feel as if there was something warming up inside him at the gesture.

But then, as they watched through the smoke and rubble they saw Zoro sitting up, rubbing his head almost sleepily as he muttered darkly, "That's one hell a way to wake a guy up."

"How come you weren't dead?!" Usopp screamed at him as Luffy beamed happily, glad to see that Zoro was alright. "You didn't even have a scratch!"

"The building took most of the blast," he shrugged as his past self complained about wanting a few more Z's before having to get up.

"Shame," Sanji said sorrowfully.

"Did you say something, crap cook?" Zoro demanded angrily.

"How did you survive that blast?" memory Nami, said more to herself than to Zoro.

"At that point, I was beginning to think that nothing could surprise me," Nami confessed before sighing, "Boy was I in for a shock."

"Alright! You're alive!" Luffy cheered.

But apparently this was just one explosion to many for the mayor as he hissed to himself, "I refuse to let him get away with this! I won't stand for it. I can't let that scumbag destroy all that my people worked for these last forty years. I am the mayor of this town! I will protect it and its inhabitants! This I swear to my dying breath!" This last part he screamed out, looking ready to march to Buggy, which was probably what he was gonna do if Nami didn't try to hold him back. She told him that he didn't stand a chance, and he knew it, they could see in his face that he already knew it, but he didn't care, he was going to go and fight anyway.

"A brave man," Sanji said, blowing out smoke rings, "He knew he didn't stand a chance, but was still willing to fight anyway."

"Seeing Luffy and ChouChou gave him courage," Zoro explained. He just didn't get what was about that rubber idiot that he could do this without even trying. It was just like there was some strange charm about him that seemed cause people to gather around him…?

"But he's going to get himself killed!" Usopp yelled breaking his thoughts, the mayor breaking away and running down the street to where the last Buggy Ball came from. "Even if it's Buggy, he doesn't stand a chance!"

"He knew that, but he accepted it," Robin said, understanding better than anyone. She saw the tears in the mayor's eyes… "He was ready to die if he had to. But he couldn't stand back and not do anything. He wanted to at least die protecting the town he loved."

"Looks like the party's getting more exciting," Zoro's voice interrupted their thoughts as he came out of the wreckage to join Luffy and Nami and watch the mayor run.

"Sure does," Luffy laughed.

"This is no time for laughter!" Nami said crossly, clearly upset, but Luffy was still smiling at her.

"Don't worry, I started to grow fond of that old man," Luffy reassured her. "There's no way I'd let him die!"

"Well, in that case," Zoro said nonchalantly as he walked between them and started going after the mayor.

"You're gonna go too!?" Nami called, before reminding him that he was hurt.

Naturally, Zoro tied his bandanna on his head, smirking evilly the whole time. "Yeah, so what? The injury to my reputation is a lot worse than the injury to my gut."

Chopper sighed in irritation. "What were you thinking?" he demanded, which was causing Zoro to become seriously annoyed with all the yelling.

"Would you quit nagging me?" he said bored.

"I will when you stop getting yourself into these situations!" Chopper yelled at him, as if he was stupid.

"Well if we want to get to the Grand Line," Luffy said confidently, looking after the mayor's retreating back, "we better go steal that chart back!" He then turned towards Nami, "You gonna join our crew or what?" he asked holding up his hand to her, "Come on."

Nami stared at the hand for a moment in surprise.

"I still couldn't believe that he wanted me in his crew after all that," Nami told them all, but she was truly glad that he did. She watched as she looked back at Luffy. "I'll never sink so low as to become a pirate," she finally said, letting him know that she wasn't going to change her mind any time soon. But then, she slapped his hand with a smile. "But I suppose we could team up," she said reasonably. "In order to achieve our common goals."

Once they finished making up their minds, they went running after the mayor, and it wasn't a moment too soon. By the time they tracked him down, Buggy already had him with his disembodied hand, and was slowly strangling him—which Luffy had forced him to let go.

"How dare you?" Buggy demanded furiously, "You can't just waltz up and treat me like this! I'm Captain Buggy and I won't stand for it!"

"I can't wait to see what he intends to do about it," Franky grinned.

"Listen to me," past Nami said to the boys, "All I want is the chart and the treasure and then I'm outta here you got it?"

"Yeah," Zoro said to her unconcerned. "I got it."

The mayor was telling them off until Luffy knocked him out.

"LUFFY!" Chopper yelled at him, with Nami also yelling the same thing, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Why'd you knock out the mayor?

"Because he was in the way," Robin answered as Luffy smiled back at them.

"That's not a bad idea," past Zoro said, "If the old man had continued to fight, he would've died." They all look down at the unconscious mayor, "It's for the best."

But as Nami began to tell Luffy off, he ignored her as he looked up at Buggy and shouted out, "HEY BIG NOSE!"

"Oh, he did it now," Franky laughed. He was right. Buggy looked furious and he bellowed at his men to shoot another Buggy Ball at them. Nami and Zoro tried to tell him to run, but he stayed where he was until he inflated and sent the ball back. The look on everyone's faces alone was worth seeing it…

"You could've warned me," Zoro muttered as Nami gaped at him like a fish out of water.

"That wasn't something you see every day," Nami said, amused by how stunned she was as the building blew up and the Buggy pirates were all screaming as they were flung apart, "I thought for sure that he was gonna be blown to pieces, but instead he becomes a balloon."

"Alright!" Luffy called proudly. "I got 'em!"

"What the hell kind of monster are you?!" Nami screamed at him, glaring up from her place on the ground.

"I think you freaked her out," Zoro told him coolly as Luffy looked back at her. That was when they watched Luffy explain that he was Rubberman and how Buggy survived by using his own men as a shield…

"That is despicable!" Brook screamed at the idea. "And you call yourself a captain?!"

Things only got weirder from there. Buggy ordered, of all people, one of his men riding a unicycle to fight. His name was Cabaji and he was a tall, slender man with his hair covering half of his face, a large blue and white checkered scarf that covers the lower portion of his face and flowed down his front. While riding the unicycle, he went speeding over to try and attack Luffy, but Zoro stepped in and stopped the blade.

"Really?" Brook asked more sweatdropped than ever.

"He can't be serious," Usopp agreed exasperatedly. But despite his injury, Zoro was more than willing to fight him. Even with Chopper yelling in his ear about how he was going to make that injury even worse, he knew that he would do it all over again. He lives for the thrill of combat.

The fight was dirty to say the least. Cabaji kept going for Zoro's injury… but he kept getting back up to fight.

"Why doesn't Luffy help?" Chopper asked, staring at Luffy. Past Nami obviously thought the same thing and demanded the same thing, who didn't say anything… he didn't even look at her as he watched.

"It's what he does," Sanji said, recalling the fight Zoro and Mihawk. "Even if they're losing… he doesn't get involved in another's fight."

"Even if someone could get killed!?" Chopper demanded angrily.

"I wanted it this way," Zoro snapped, shutting Chopper up as he looked up at him. "Luffy understood that. If he had interfered, I wouldn't have forgiven him."

"Men and their pride," Nami sighed, shaking her head. She'll never understand them.

"You annoying little bastard," past Zoro was growling threateningly, which was never a good thing, "You having fun poking at my wound?" his eyes looked dangerous, as he cried out, "Go ahead!"

Cabaji rode at him at full speed, but this time Zoro didn't move as he let the acrobat stab him in the same place that Buggy did, ripping the wound open. Chopper screamed in horror as people like Usopp and Brook cringed in pain.

"Why didn't you dodge it?" Chopper demanded loudly, looking ready to fight Zoro for doing something so dumb.

"To prove a point," Zoro said simply. "If I lost because of that wound, my reputation would never have recovered."

"And that was worth almost getting killed?" Chopper screamed at him. "You could've bled to death!"

"I didn't so what's the problem here?" he asked in a bored tone that only made Chopper more frustrated than ever. At least Luffy had the sense to keep the bandages on for longer than a few hours… but this guy is always practically trying to kill himself!

Zoro, on the other hand, kept his eyes on the fight. His memory self was still facing Cabaji, refusing to back down. He spoke about how he refused to bring himself to lose to anyone who called himself a swordsman.

"Like you would've lost to a loser like him," Franky said confidently. "You wouldn't have a very bright future ahead if you lost to someone who rides a unicycle."

But Nami wasn't paying much attention as she suddenly remembered what happened next, and glanced back in time to see her past self sneak away to steal the Buggy's treasure. But everyone kept their eyes on the fight as it continued on. There were a few words of outrage when Buggy tried to interfere, but thankfully Luffy stepped in to stop it… in the end, Zoro gave it one last push of energy and took down Cabaji with one final slash.

"YEAH!" Chopper screamed as Usopp and Franky cheered. "GO ZORO!"

"I can't believe the Buggy Pirates were defeated by petty thieves," Cabaji croaked out before his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

"It didn't really seem that tough," Robin said lightly, tilting her head casually, "They really weren't that strong…?"

"We aren't petty thieves," Zoro in the memory growled before he collapsed, his words sounding a little flat as he laid there. "We're pirates!"

Zoro smirked, and Robin understood. "I believe that's the first time you called yourself a pirate."

"Took some time getting used to," Zoro confessed as his past self croaked out, "Luffy…? I'm going to sleep."

Luffy smiled at him, letting him know that he would take care of everything else here. Leaving Zoro on the ground to sleep everything off, he turned to face Buggy. They exchanged words, with Luffy once again proclaiming that he would become the King of the Pirates. As soon as he heard that Buggy snorted angrily, then saying that he would be the one to do it.

"If Buggy ever became king, then I would lose all hope for the world," Sanji said shaking his head.

"Can't argue with that," Nami said, each crew member sweatdropped as they watched the scene. But what really got them was when he mentioned Shanks.

"I can't believe that these two were once crewmates," Franky said, scratching his head as he thought about the captain that saved Luffy when he was a child, and this clown. He just couldn't see it…

But that was when the fight began, and it was interesting at first. Luffy kept throwing attack after attack, but with Buggy able to break apart, it was almost impossible for Luffy to get a good hit in. It took him a few minutes to land a decent hit in and it only happened because Buggy had the nerve to badly damage Luffy's hat. First it was just a tiny nick on the rim… but what he did next made them all angry. He used three daggers to destroy the hat; and when Luffy heard Buggy insult Shanks was enough to drive him over the edge. Luffy was suddenly thrown into a rage that they'd never seen before.

"How dare he?" Chopper cried furiously, wanting to beat up Buggy himself. "Shanks is a amazing man!"

"Red-Hair is truly a man among men," Brook added.

"Shanks is a much better man than you'll ever be! You don't have the right to call him comrade!" Luffy bellowed charging ahead, "And don't you ever badmouth him again!"

In his rage, he finally dealt a painful blow in Buggy's stomach.

"Oh, that had to hurt," Usopp winced, but not at all sympathetic.

"If he wasn't so interesting in bragging and showing off, he could've avoided that," Robin said, having watched how Buggy's head went flying off, but still able to feel the blow.

"What happened between them?" Chopper asked, not getting how anyone could hate Shanks. Luffy wanted to know that to as he grabbed Buggy's face, pulling it apart, demanding that he tell him about Shanks.

Pushing Luffy away, he finally told them the story about how, while they were still pirates-in-training, he grew to hate Shanks. During a raid on an enemy ship, Buggy found a treasure map marking the location of a valuable underwater treasure; during the same raid, the crew retrieved a Devil Fruit: the Chop Chop Fruit. When he heard of how much that a single Devil Fruit could go for, Buggy switched the real fruit with a fake, and then ate the fake in front of the crew so he could sell the fruit.

The night that he was gonna leave and start his plans, Buggy was surprised by Shanks; he hid the fruit in his mouth, and before he could remove it, Shanks surprised him again and he swallowed it - forever losing the ability to swim, and thus also losing his chance to get the treasure underwater after he dropped the map into the ocean.

"It doesn't sound like it was Shanks's fault to me," Chopper said in confusion.

"It wasn't," Zoro said in disgust. "Buggy just didn't want to admit that he was an idiot and blames Shanks for his own stupidity."

"But come on… he tries to jump into the sea to get a map after he ate a Devil Fruit?" Sanji asked, "That's why I'll never eat one. As far as I'm concerned, it's not worth losing the ability to swim."

"Wow… so are you telling me that Shanks saved your life?" Luffy asked when he realized that Shanks jumped in after him.

"NO!" Buggy screamed at him. "That's not the point I'm trying to get across!"

"It sounds like he saved him to me," Brook said.

Buggy went on about how he blamed Shanks for everything, and how he decided that he would simply go after all the treasure on land if he couldn't swim. But he was now no longer interested in Luffy when he spotted Nami trying to make off with a large sack of treasure that she obviously stole from him. Buggy launched his top half at her with knives ready. Sanji screamed out a warning, but Nami had already noticed and began running.

"Don't worry," present Nami smirked as she watched Luffy find the lower half of Buggy's body. As soon as they saw it, they knew right away what Luffy was gonna do… and sure enough… Luffy had given a hard kick right in his own family jewels…

"Oh…" Franky moaned out. He didn't like Buggy, but still… no man should ever have the pain of losing his balls like that.

"Are they cracking?" Chopper winced, "I think I heard something break…"

Even Zoro was shaking his head. Luffy wasn't afraid to fight dirty if he had to… and that was more than effective.

"At least it shut him up," Robin offered in amusement.

"You would think that," Franky muttered to her darkly, having suffered from her brutality first-hand.

With Buggy on the ground in pure agony, Luffy warned Nami to drop the treasure and run, which she refused. When she claimed the treasure was now hers, Buggy grew mad but Nami refused to listen to anything he had to say. Furious, Buggy got back up and went after her again, this time when his body had flung apart into dozens of pieces.

"That is too weird," Brook said, watching the pieces of flesh float in the air. But even with his body in so many pieces, Luffy had spotted Buggy's feet walking along as he continued after Nami.

"Oh… this is gonna be good," Franky smirked as he watched Luffy pick up a foot and began to do all sorts of things. From tickling to slamming his toes onto the ground… until Buggy finally couldn't ignore it anymore and screamed at him to stop.

With him distracted, Nami swung the bag of treasure around in an attempt to attack Buggy, but he ended up grabbing the treasure bag. Neither one of the pair was letting go so it became a sort of game of tug-of-war. Buggy attempted to strike Nami with the knives, however Luffy once again reminded him who he was supposed to be fighting as he came out of nowhere, and took him out with a kick… knocking him into the bag of treasure, ripping the bag, scattering its contents everywhere.

"This is certainly one interesting fight," Brook laughed as Nami stared at the damage, and quietly thanked Luffy for helping her.

"He knows how to take punishment though doesn't he?" Franky laughed as he looked at Buggy's agony-filled face. "He's having the worst day!"

"He looks like a broken toy," Chopper said looking at the parts lying everywhere.

But all good things had to come to an end. This time, when Buggy woke up and tried to reform himself; however Nami has already tied up several body parts and Buggy was left with just bits of his body. With Buggy clearly defeated he was launched into the air by Luffy sent him flying far away with his Gum Gum Bazooka… ending the battle once and for all.

"There we go," Sanji said approvingly, glad that shitty bastard finally got his due for trying to hurt Nami. He only wished that Luffy hurt him more…

"Wow, that was one heck of a day," Franky laughed, having actually enjoyed the battle. "That was something else, sis."

Nami smiled a little. "Thinking back, I probably wouldn't be here if I didn't decide to steal from Buggy. I'm glad that it worked out this way."

"Still, if he wasn't so stupid and stopped bragging, he would've been a lot more dangerous," Robin said with a sigh. "Overconfidence often leads to your downfall."

"And I don't think that I've ever seen anyone with such a big ego," Chopper said.

"Unless you count Usopp," Zoro offered.

"Yeah, unless you count… HEY!" he yelled angrily.

"Oh, Luffy-san," Brook said sadly, getting their attention, and they looked up to see their captain slowly walk over to where his hat lay on the ground, still badly torn up.

"I'm gonna kill Buggy for that," Franky threatened, punching his giant fists together.

Luffy stared sadly at his hat as Nami walked over to him and quietly offered to fix it for him.

"Oh! So you fixed it," Brook asked her happily.

"Well, I know a little bit of sewing," she smiled, "I may not have completely been able to fix the hat up like it was before, but I did a pretty good job of it if I do say so myself."

They watched as Nami then gave him the chart of the Grand Line.

"You gave it to him willingly?" Usopp asked her stunned.

"I know my dues," she said, frowning at him. "And he did deserve it… though now I know that he can't read a map to save his life."

She glanced up to see Luffy's ecstatic look as he took the chart happily. "That was just my way of saying thanks for saving me," Nami said softly as Luffy then asked her again if she wanted to join.

"I told you before, that no matter what, I'll never join a pirate crew!" she said to him firmly, but a small smile appeared on her face. "But… alright. Hanging around with you seems profitable enough. But just remember this. I'm only joining you… because it's in my interests."

"I see," Robin said to her, "So it was more like an alliance instead of an actual membership."

Nami nodded softly. Truth was, she was trapped in another pirate crew at the time anyway, no matter how much she despised it. She never planned on staying with them long anyway… but the longer she sailed with them, the more they began to grow on her. So that by the time she had to return to her home village, it had been almost painful… it had not been an easy thing to do for her to leave.

Once that was all settled with, Luffy went over to wake Zoro up, who looked sickly from his injury.

"You needed a doctor!" Chopper yelled at him, not liking all the blood he lost.

"Again, I didn't die did I?" he said irritably, "I survived without so much as a scar so stop bugging me!"

However, things sorta happened quickly after that… just as they were going to go wake up the mayor, the rest of the citizens came back, demanding to know what happened.

"Sure…" Usopp groaned, smacking his forehead at that, "They come after the dangers over!"

"It was for the best, if they had been here, they'd probably get hurt," Brook answered. But soon, things turned sour… thanks to Luffy, the people were now convinced that they were the ones behind all the destruction and the trio were forced to make a run for it. Luffy hoisted Zoro up, and dragged him along as Nami picked up the two sacks of loot on her shoulders.

"Ungrateful aren't they?" Sanji yelled as they were forced to make a run for it, "They take care of the pirates before they're run out of town!"

But Luffy had a different view of it all.

"This is a good town," Luffy suddenly called, getting their attention.

"How could he think that when they're chasing them?" Chopper demanded, but Luffy saw Nami's questioning look and explained to her, "Everyone's so mad because of the old mayor guy. Something tells me that they aren't gonna listen to our side of the story anyway."

"So true," Zoro laughed.

"Yeah, when I think about it now, even if we did explain it, they wouldn't have let us go," Nami smiled happily with them.

"Funny how Luffy can see the bigger picture," Usopp said softly.

"I think he's more perspective than we give him credit for," Robin smiled widely as well as the trio made a sharp turn and ran down an alleyway, but they did get a surprise. There was ChouChou waiting for them…

"ChouChou?" Chopper called in surprise as the three leapt over the dog, who was now barking furiously at the townspeople, holding them back and giving the three time to escape.

"Oh, so that's what you meant when you said that ChouChou helped you escape!" Brook said, admiring the little dog's spirit.

"Yep," Nami smiled, as they continued to chase after the three. "We probably wouldn't have made it back to the docks in time if he hadn't stopped them."

"What's he saying, Chopper?" Robin asked as ChouChou's barking voice started to fade

"He was saying 'anyone who wants to go after them has to go through me first'!" Chopper smiled just as Luffy cried out a thank you to the dog. They all ran as fast as they could to the docks, now eager to see what happened next—and aside from meeting up with a few members of Buggy's crew who wanted to kill Nami for stealing their ship—it was uneventful.

"Why did they run away screaming when they saw you, Zoro?" Usopp asked him, watching the three run in terror as soon as they got a good look at Zoro's face.

"Moss head's face scared them," Sanji smirked as Zoro gave him a filthy look.

"After Luffy was carried off by that dumb bird, I tried to follow them," he answered through gritted teeth, trying to fight the urge to kill the cook. "But these three were hitchhikers and I made them row me out here."

"Oh, that explains it," Sanji said as they followed Luffy and the others into the two boats and set off, with Luffy leaving behind half of the treasure on the docks. "I wondered how you could've found your way. Someone helped you…"

"At least I was there you idiot!" Zoro snapped at him as they followed them on the water. But as soon as they were leaving the shore, Usopp called for them to look back. They did and they were surprised to see that the mayor was running up, but without his armor this time. "HEY WAIT! YOUNG ONES!" he bellowed out at them.

"It's the old mayor guy," Luffy said as they looked back, and they were all sure that he was gonna curse them all out.

But instead, with tears in his eyes, the mayor screamed out, "THANKS! THANK YOU!"

The Straw Hats all grinned along with the three in the boats as they sailed off.

"Don't worry about it!" Luffy called back, "Take it easy!"

But as soon as Nami realized that half of the treasure was left there, she tried to drown Luffy while Zoro laughed his ass off watching them.

Smiling, he leaned comfortably back in the little boat, gazing up at the sky… "Well, for better or for worse," he muttered to himself, "looks like we finally have a navigator in our crew."

But as soon as those words had been said, and the Straw Hats took another step forward, the bright sunny sky and ocean disappeared around them. Suddenly the whole crew was back in the forest on that mysterious island… in the middle of the night… with no idea to how it happened.