The sun was shining, the sky was almostcloudless and the sea was peaceful. Seagulls flew in circles and everyoneenjoyed this quiet start to the day. Well, ALMOST everyone. "You've raised theprice again!" Nami's complaining voice could be heard from the stern. She waswearing a blue T-shirt that was a little lighter than her skirt. Herindignation was entirely dedicated to the newspaper seagull, who just looked atthe orange haired woman. "Don't you think that's a bit too expensive?" Shethrew a coin into the cash register around the seagull's neck, which salutedgratefully. In the other she held a newspaper. "If you keep raising the prices,I won't buy any more newspapers!" With that, the bird took to the air againwhile Nami watched it go. "Hey, it's just a newspaper," said Usopp,who was sitting with his back to her, making some special ammunition. "But ifyou get it all the time, the expense increases." He carefully poured Tabascosauce into a small, red ball. "Well, you no longer have to save up to buyyour village from Arlong back." He stopped what he was doing and turnedslightly to her. "So why are you still worried about the money?" The thiefturned around energetically. "Idiot, that's exactly why! I don't have to worryabout the village anymore, so it's MY money!" She turned back towards the sea."After all, I can't be broke as a pirate, can I?" She could already see hugetreasures in front of her, reaching into the sky. She didn't notice how theblack haired man had turned away and smelled his ammunition before pulling hishead away. The stuff already burned terribly in the nose, so he didn't want toknow how it would burned in the eyes. "Hey, now slow down! I'm currently mixingup the formula for my 'Tokusei TabascoBoshi' and I have to concentrate!"

Nami had built a small garden on the roof of thegalley, actually she had the boys do it, and planted some of the tangerinetrees she had brought with her. Crouching between the trees, the black-hairedcaptain reached out hungrily for one of the fruits when a hand grabbed herwrist. "You can't just eat Nami's tangerine without her permission,Luffy," said the blonde Smutje admonishingly. "But I'm hungry!"Sanji sighed before he said: "How about if I make you a little somethinglater and you leave the tangerines alone?" She thought for a moment beforesmiling at him. "Okay, but then there has to be a lot of meat!" She got upagain and went down the small stairs that led to the deck of the stern.Unfortunately, she took one step too short and fell on Usopp. The Tabascomixture splashed into his eyes and he cried out in pain. Zoro just shook hishead at the sight. He was sure that if Luffy had been male, Sanji certainlywouldn't have been so cooperative and would have made some lovey-dovey noisesto please Nami.

The orange-haired woman sat relaxed on a loungerand read the newspaper, while Luffy sat on the railing and looked at Usopp, whohad put a wet cloth over his eyes. Nami turned a page as she said, "Theworld is really in chaos right now. Another robbery took place in Villa." Sheturned the pages before a single page fell out of the next page. "A leaflet?"the black-haired woman wondered as it flew past her. Didn't she see somethingred on it? Usopp pulled the cloth slightly away from his eyes and looked in thedirection where the paper landed on the wood. The three's eyes widened as theyrealized WHAT kind of paper it was and WHO was depicted on it. 'Wanted: Portgas D. Luffy - Dead or Alive -30,000,000 Berry' A multi-voiced scream could be heard over the waves. Namiwas the first to snap out of her stupor and immediately flipped to the nextpage of the newspaper, shouting, "That can't be right!" The colordrained from her face completely when she saw the article that accompanied itProfile belonged. Usopp took the newspaper from the orange-haired woman's hand,who had fallen into a state of paralysis, and began to read the article outloud: "''Rookie shakes up the EastBlue.'' As is well known, the bounty for pirates in the East Blue is between3,000,000 and 10,000,000 Berries. But the young pirate, Portgas D. Luffy - alsoknown as 'Straw Hat' - captain of the recently active 'Straw Hat Pirates' hasproven that she should not be underestimated. Since the first sighting of herin Orange Town, has she already defeated three of the most dangerous pirateswho have been up to mischief: Buggy 'theClown' - Bounty: 15,000,000 Berry, DonKrieg 'the Pirat Fleet Admiral' - Bounty: 17,000,000 Berry and her mostrecent victory over the fishman Arlong'Sawnose' - Bounty: 20,000,000 Berry. The Navy has classified her as a seriousthreat. Only time will show what she is really capable of."

Silence fell over the Merry as Luffy picked up the wanted poster and looked at it. Her shoulders began to shake before she held the paper away from her for the others to see, tilted her head back and began to laugh. "We are wanted people! What do you think?" she said with a grin, one hand on her hip. Usopp now took a closer look at the wanted poster. "Dead or Alive...30,000,000 Berry?!" That was impressive for the first bounty. "30,000,000 Berry guys! Hahaha!" The black-haired man looked more closely at the photo. Only Luffy's face could be seen on i tat first glance. She wore a big smile on her face, her eyes were closed as she waved at the camera. Barely visible, could even be blood been see on her face, which wasn't surprising since in the background could the remains of Arlong Park been seen. But there was something in the bottom left corner. That was... He looked happily to the others and pointed to the wanted poster as he said: "Look at that! Even my back is famous now. Schubidubidu." Sanji immediately came running. "What?! I don't believe that!" He scanned the whole picture. It couldn't be that the long nose of all people made it into Luffy's picture and HE didn't! "Such nonsense. I can't see you anywhere!" "Do you see?" Usopp ask gleefully and pointed to the bottom left corner of the photo. Pouting a bit, Sanji sat on the floor and looked away as he said, "It's just the back of your head. That doesn't count." The black-haired man was amused by the blonde's behavior. "Hey, no need to be jealous! One day you'll make it on one too." "Yeah, do you really think?" asked the cook again in a better mood. "Well, if you work hard at it. In any case, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you." The two put each an arm around the other's shoulder and began to dance out of joy when Luffy called out: "Come on guys, now we're going straight to the Grand Line!" "Yeah!" " Hey, you childish idiots! Don't you know that this isn't as funny as you think?" the navigator chimed in, pressing a hand to her forehead before continuing worriedly, "That means the damn Navy wants our lives. And besides, that means we have to get out of the East Blue as soon as possible!" But Nami's concerns were overshadowed by the cheering. "They're looking for us! They're looking for us!" Zoro, who was leaning against the railing of the bow, had heard everything and was lost in his own thoughts. "30,000,000 Berries. With such a high bounty on our heads, even the highest ranking members of the Navy will come looking for us. And so will the bounty hunters. From now on we'll be playing in a completely different league." Luffy had now joined the dance of joy while the three of them sang: "Let's go! Let's go to the Grand Line!"

By now the three had calmed down. Sanji haddisappeared into the galley and was preparing lunch, Zoro was still lying atthe stern, Nami was sitting comfortably in the lounger again, while Luffy andUsopp had gone to the stern. "Hey, what's that?" she wondered and sat down onthe rail, swinging her legs over it. The black-haired man stood behind her withhis arms crossed as they sailed past a poorly repaired ship that was comingtowards the inside. As they passed, they could hear a voice calling out, "Hardstarboard! Turn the ship 180°!" Did they want to chase them? They lookedsurprised at the now approaching ship. "Are they pirates using a dilapidatednaval ship?" the straw hat wearer asked no one in particular. "How wasteful theNavy is that they just throw them away like trash," said the gunner as he lookedat the ship. "WE ARE NOT TRASH!" boomed a man in a suit as he put one foot onthe railing. Somehow the guy seemed familiar to the black-haired woman. "Areyou idiots blind? How dare you forget 'Fullbody with the Iron Fist'?!""Ah, that's the Marine Heini from Baratie!" she cried as therealization hit her, "Are you in trouble and need to be rescued byus?" Fullbody's knuckles stood out white as he stuck them out in anger andgrowled, "Stop fooling around here! Fate has led you directly to me.Portgas D. Luffy!" He held up her wanted poster. "You're under arrest!" "Cool,my picture looks really great!" she grinned. Usopp agreed. "And the back of myhead doesn't look bad either." Sweat ran down the ex-lieutenant's face. Didthey want to make fun of him? "Dead OR alive, it doesn't matter. Load thecannons!" One of the soldiers followed the order and aimed the muzzle at the GoingMerry. 

Nami looked up from the newspaper and mumbled,"They're so loud! What's going on?" Usopp turned pale when herealized what they were doing. Luffy, on the other hand, raised a skepticaleyebrow. "What are they doing? Do they really want to fire on us? Theymust have gone crazy!" And what about the rusty cannons? "They're reallyattacking us," Rabbitfoot stammered as he slowly backed away. Zoro was stilllying against the railing and had one eye open. With a soft sigh, the swordsmansat up, apparently nothing came of his nap. He grabbed his sword, which waslying on the deck next to him, and stood up. Luffy had already swung back ontothe deck, grinned at the marines and grabbed her arm, ready to strike. "I'll takecare of this! That moron should better get ready." "Let it go, Luffy!I'll take care of it," said Zoro, who had approached. She looked over hershoulder at him as she lowered her arm. Usopp placed his arm on her upper armand pulled her away slightly to make room for the swordsman as he said,"Zoro is right, Luffy. Let him do it!" "What?! Why?" "After all,you only make things worse." Should the black-haired woman feel insultednow? "Let Zoro handle it. He can do that better." The green-haired man got intoposition and grabbed Wado. Fullbody pointed his thumb downward as he said,"Come on men, sink them!" The cannon was fired. The ball camewhistling closer after the swordsman placed one foot on the railing and drewhis sword. In one quick and fluid move, he split the cannon when it was withinreach. These flew into the water behind him in two parts before exploding.Shocked and speechless, Usopp looked at the clouds of smoke, while Luffy saidappreciatively: "Wow, not bad." The marine futzis didn't feel anybetter than the black-haired man when the ex-lieutenant stammered:"There's no such thing!" Calmly Zoro pushed Wado back into its sheathbefore looking at Fullbody. "You disturbed my nap." "Come now.Show them everything we have!", the man in the suit ordered in a panic, "Fire!"The cannon was loaded and aimed again when Luffy spotted something at themuzzle of the cannon. "Oh dear, oh dear. That's not good." "That's not good?!"asked Usopp, slightly panicked. If the black-haired woman said THAT, thenthings were probably really bad. A shot rang out, but no cannon came. Thecannon, as well as the shooters, were enveloped in thick, black smoke. When itcleared again, the soldiers and Fullbody were literally black and there washardly anything left of the cannon itself. Luffy had her arms crossed over herchest as she said, "I knew it. There was a crack in the cannon." "You're right,that wasn't good for them."

The Going Merry was rocked when the Navy shipcrashed into it. At that point, one could say it was lucky that the two shipsweren't too far apart anyway. Fullbody had put one foot on the railing, readyto jump onto the other ship, when he growled and said, "Now watch out, yousnotty brats! You probably think you can make fun of ME, Fullbody with the IronFist. Now it's time to fight: man against man!" With that he jumped onto thepirate ship. His men looked at each other uncertainly before their captaincalled out to them: "Come on, follow me guys!" Without hesitation, they rushedafter him with their weapons drawn. The black-haired man retreated screaming asFullbody lunged at the straw hat wearer with his fist outstretched. "Now I'mgoing to get your head!" He struck. Her head flew back, causing her neck tostretch. A grin spread across her lips as he stopped for a moment. "Gomu Gomu no..." Her head shotforward and ripped the hat off of it. She quickly grabbed it with one hand andplaced it on her head again before hitting the pink-haired man. "...Kane!" He crashed into the railing andlooked up at her intimidated. Suddenly his men began to fly screaming throughthe air towards their ship. Confused, he watched them go before he turned hishead back and saw a very angry Smutje. Sanji had taken off his black jacket andput on an apron. He had one hand in his pocket while he held a frying pan inthe other. "You rude clown, what are you thinking of starting a fight duringlunchtime? You really need some nerve for that," he growled, before herecognized the pale ex-naval lieutenant again. "Soup isn't on the menu today,but maybe you want to lick the deck!" That finished off Fullbody. In a panic,he and the rest of his men jumped into the water and tried to get as far awayas possible. "Help! Wait for me! Don't leave me alone!"

Adjusting her hat again, the black-haired womanwatched the fleeing ones in disappointment. "Hu, is it over already?" "Ha, whata braggart!" said Usopp with his arms crossed. Sanji lit another cigarette ashe said, "No manners, I noticed that the first time." "Tell me,what is that noise you making here? Can't I read the newspaper in peace forhalf an hour?" Nami said, having lowered the newspaper a little beforeturning to it again. Instantly the chef found himself in "love mode" again."Nami, dearest, your food is ready." At the word "food" the young captain wasfired up. "Oooh, I'm dying of hunger. Let's dig in!"

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~ On an island on the Grand Line ~

Sitting on a shore, a man was looking through atelescope across the blue sea when he spotted something slowly approaching theisland. "Huh, what is that?" His friend stood up from a palm tree behind him."Huh? Let me see!" He was handed the telescope and looked through it. It was asmall, unusual ship, with a cross-like mast, two candles with green fire, and aperson sitting on a throne in the middle. When the man realized WHO this personwas, the color drained from his face.

Shaking slightly, the two of them stood on thebeach with a few others when the swordsman went ashore. Nobody dared to standin his way. "What do you want here, Hawkeye?" asked one of the men, who hadhalf-heartedly pointed his sword at him. Hawkeye paused before saying, "Shutup. I have nothing to do with you. Where is your captain?" The man immediatelyturned around and ran deeper into the forest. "Just camping on an island,really. HE is as indifferent as ever." "Boss!" the man shoutedas he reached his red-haired captain, completely out of breath, and fell to hisknees. He sat under a huge umbrella with his strongest comrades. Theseincluded, among others, a man with blonde dreadlocks who had 'Yasop' written onhis forehead, a gray-haired man who was smoking a cigar and a larger man whohad a leg of meat stuck in his mouth. The pirate on the ground looked up insurprise when a mug was placed in front of his nose. He greedily grabbed it andemptied the contents in one go. After putting the jug down, he pointed in thedirection it had come from and stuttered, "There-there's Hawkeye!"The redhead looked up. A black cloak hung over his shoulders, covering thestump of his left arm. The man on the ground backed away in shock when he felta present behind him and looked over his shoulder. Standing behind him, Hawkeyehad already appeared. "Hello Hawkeye," Shanks greeted the swordman, "What arare surprise. I'm not feeling particularly special, I drank too muchyesterday. Have you come to cause me trouble?" Hawkeye's golden eyes stoodout from the shadows beneath his hat. "Hmm, I don't fight with one-armedcripples," he replied before continuing, "I met a few interesting pirates alongthe way. And then I remembered something." He pulled a rolled-up sheet of paperout of his coat and walked calmly towards the other person. "Of a story youtold a long time ago. The story about that devil girl..." He stopped, unrolledthe paper and held it up for everyone to see. "...in a smallvillage." Shanks' eyes, as well as those of the others, widened when theysaw the wanted poster of a young, broadly grinning woman wearing a straw hat."Is that...?" Lou said with her mouth full. Ten years had passed and she had changeda little on the outside, but everyone recognized the girl immediately. Even ifnot, they would at least have recognized the name. A broad grin formed on thered-haired man's face before he said: "That's really her, Luffy." Afew years ago he had started to wonder what the little girl from back thenwould look like now or just her first wanted poster. Shanks was sure that Rogerwould have been very proud of his daughter, he certainly was. Not only had shegrown into a beautiful young woman, no, she even had an impressive firstbounty. And even in the East Blue! He lowered his head a little again, hisbangs falling over his eyes. "Nah, if that's the case, HawkeyeMihawk,..." "Hm?" The redhead looked up again, the grin still onhis lips and a small twinkle in his eyes. "...then I can't let you go fromhere like that!"

A mug stood on the stump of a tree as Shanks filled it with beer. Hawkeye was sitting next to him on the tree trunk when the redhead, who was now a little red on the nose again, said with a laugh: "Dahahaha, that's something to celebrate guys!" He placed the bottle next to the filled jug and gestured to his friend/rival to take this. His men were already drinking again. "We definitely have to raise one about that, right? What do you say, Hawkeye?" He had taken the jug in his hand and was looking at the redhead from its contents. "You were sick from drinking earlier." "But Luffy deserves to drink on her! Not so squeamish. Drink up!" The swordman mentally rolled his eyes before he began to drink the beer. The redhead was rarely taken seriously with his behavior. "Drink up! Drink up! Today's a celebration! Dahahaha. Come on guys, today we're going to party until we fall over!" "But boss, you were complaining so much earlier that you had a hungover." "Leave me alone! On such a beautiful day you just have to get drunk!" "But the sun hasn't even set yet," Hawkeye noted. "Come on, forget it, you philistine! Ha, give me another mug!"

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~ Foosha Village – Dawn, East Blue ~

"Hey, have you heard that? There's already abounty on Luffy's head!" said one of the villagers. "Wow, that'sreally impressive!" "Our village will become famous because such afamous pirate grew up here." "Not bad!" "You idiots!"Woop Slapp shouted angrily, "Stop this noise!" "M-Mayor.""Why are you so happy that a criminal comes from our village?!"

In the bar, one of the villagers stood on one of the tables with a mug in each hand as he shouted, "A toast to Luffy!" "Yeah!" Grumbling, Woop Slapp sat down on one of the stools at the bar, where Makino was already put a drink out for him. "Everyone is happy about it." Smiling, the bartender picked up the wanted poster that was on her counter and looked at the picture of the black-haired woman. To her it seemed as if the whirlwind had set sail just yesterday. "Look, Mayor, how happy Luffy looks." "A pirate is a pirate." The same memory came back to both of them. Luffy, when she still had her long hair, stood on one of the stools, grinned broadly at her and said: "I'll be a pirate one day!" And that started long before Shanks and his crew had anchored at there village. "But that's her dream. Are you worried?" The white-haired man looked into his glass before muttering: "A dream or is it fate?"

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~ On the Going Merry ~

The five sat or stood at the bow of the ship andlooked at the map that Nami had laid out. "We are getting closer and closer tothe Grand Line. The only way to get there is over Reverse Mountain," Namisaid, pointing to a mountain where four blue lines met before a single one ledto the Grand Line. "That's annoying!", Zoro spoke up with a raisedeyebrow, "Can't we just get there through the sea?" He couldn't readmaps, but even he could see that between the Grand Line and the East Blue also waswater. So why the detour? "Absolutely not," said Sanji,"According to the old geezer's stories, it's the only way that leads tothe Grand Line." "Mmh, why that?" Usopp wondered. "It'ssupposed to be dangerous." "That's why I asked!" "I don'tknow more than that!" "The reason is..." the orange-haired womanbegan but was interrupted by Luffy. "Ah, I got it! Then let's just sailstraight to it!" "Have you even listened to me?!" Nami turned tothe black-haired woman. "But wouldn't it be much more interesting then?" A widegrin spread across her face. "It would certainly be super interesting todrive directly towards the Grand Line." Nami really had to suppress urge tohit the younger one's before she grabbed her head and groaned. "Oh, do you knowthat talking to you is drives me crazy?"

"But you know what? First we have to go to anisland to buy fresh meat! Is there one somewhere?" Luffy had brought this pointup with a little ulterior motive. Yes, the meat was also a reason, but she hadlearned from Garp that there was an island near the entrance to the Grand Linethat she was very interested in. Ever since she found out about it, she wantedto visit the town there. The navigator pointed her finger at the map. "Here,this is a very famous island. There is Loguetown." "Loguetown," breathed thestraw hat wearer. It really was THEAT island! "This is the city ofbeginnings and endings, or so I heard," said Zoro, who had his arms foldedbehind his head, misinterpreting Luffy's repetition. "In thiscity..." Nami began and was about to continue the explanation when, toeveryone's surprise, Luffy did so. "... was the Pirat King born and years later executed."There was a sparkle in her eyes when she said that. Usopp, Sanji, Zoro and Namilooked at their captain, they hadn't expected her to know this since she seemedclueless from a lot of what they had seen and heard. The straw hat wearerrealized that she had let the information slip out of excitement and her crewwas staring at her in surprise. "Uh...that...I heard that once, shortlybefore I left home!" she tried to save herself from the situation. Coldsweat ran down her back. Actually, that wasn't a lie, just that she had knownthis for many years. There was something else behind it, the four of them weresure of that, but none of them wanted to pressure Luffy to say it because theycould see that it made her uncomfortable. Nami was the one who broke theawkward silence. "Yes, Luffy is right. So, do you want to go?" she asked theblack-haired woman with a smile. "Sure, I have to check it out! The man whoachieved everything lived there. Who owned the legendary One Piece. His journeybegan and ended in Loguetown." "Thisis the place where my father's life ended. I want to see it! I want to see thescaffold and the view he had at the moment of his death!"

Zoro lay completely relaxed on the deck of thestern while the sun slowly approached the horizon and made the sky shine in themost beautiful colors. The sound of the seagulls made him open his eyes beforehe stood up and looked into the distance. He braced himself with his arms onthe railing after shouting, "Look guys! There's an island in front!" Luffyimmediately pulled herself next to her companions and sat down on the whitewood. "What really? What kind of island is that?" Could it really alreadybe THAT island? "I told you that the other day," said Nami, who came closer,followed by Usopp and Sanji. "That should be the island where the city ofLoguetown is," said the black-haired man, with his hands behind his head,helping. Sanji lit the cigarette in his mouth before looking up and asking,"It's supposed to be a pretty big city, right?" "Yes, from whatI've heard," the orange-haired woman answered him. "Hopefully. Thenat least I have the chance to get fresh fruit and vegetables from the marketagain." "And I can go to a weapon shop. I'm urgently brewing tworeplacement swords for my three-sword style. Otherwise I would look pretty oldwith just one sword." "And I'll see if I can find some spare partssomewhere." "So Gold Roger was born and executed on thisisland." "Exactly," said Nami and supported herself with herarms on the railing next to Luffy. The black-haired woman felt her heart beginto beat wildly in her chest with excitement. "When will we getthere?" The older one looked at the sky before saying, "Nottoday." She noticed the somewhat disappointed look on the younger one'sface when she said this. "We will anchor here first. But if we continue sailingat daybreak, we can certainly get there by midday. Maybe even sooner if thewind is favorable." At this news, Luffy's face immediately brightened upagain.

The moon and stars shone brightly in the night sky as silence hung over the Going Merry. Nami was the only one still awake and reading a book by the light of a small lantern when a sleepy voice suddenly sounded. "Um, Sanji, I'm hungry," came it from the sleeping woman. To the orange-haired woman's surprise, she could also hear the mans sleepy voices behind the connection gap. "But we only had dinner recently. You have to be patient until tomorrow." "Just be quiet, sobagaki. I can't sleep when you talk to Luffy all the time." "You're always sleeping. You'd better help me with my work." Lost in thought, Nami put her hand on her chin and mumbled: "How do they manage to talk to each other in their sleep? I mean, I could almost understand the three of them, but the fact that Luffy can take part despite the gap being closed is strange." She shook her head, closed the book, put it to the side and turned off the light. "I think I'll go to sleep too." She smiled and looked at the photo of her foster mother before her gaze slid to the younger one. "Good night." She lay down and covered herself. A few seconds later she too had slipped into a deep sleep.

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~ Loguetown – late morning ~

The five of them stood in front of an archwaybetween lots of houses that said "Loguetown" on it. "Wow, what a big city!"Luffy exclaimed enthusiastically. She had often wondered what her father's homewould be like and now she was finally here! "Many pirates get supplies herebefore they set off for the Grand Line," explains Nami. "You can get almostanything here." "Alright! I need to get some things for my upcoming bigadventures," Usopp said. "I bet there's good quality food here that I'llcheck out," Sanji said, before putting on a dreamy expression, "andlots of pretty ladys!" "There's something I'd like to buy too,"said Zoro with a hand on his chin. His only problem was that he was completelybroke. "Oh, and how are you going to do that?" Nami wanted to know. There was ashine in her eyes that the green-haired man didn't like. "You'recompletely broke, aren't you?" "Alright! I'll take a look at thescaffold!" Luffy said, smiling, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Theothers looked at her in surprise. Why did there captain want to see this placeof all places? Before anyone could say a word, the black-haired woman startedrunning. "I want to see it! The place where the Pirate King died!""Hey, hey! We haven't agreed on a meeting point yet!" the long-nosed mancalled after her, but she had already disappeared into the crowd. "Man,she's really hopeless," he sighed. 

The straw hat wearer knew that she still had alot to discuss with her crew, but she simply couldn't wait any longer. Sheruned off blindly down the street, not paying attention to the people aroundher. "Dad was born, raised and executedhere! Maybe he even walked down that street." Her whole body tingled as shejumped in the air for joy. How long had she waited to see this city with herown eyes, 10? or even 13 years?

She didn't know how long she had walked. She had turned here and there and suddenly found herself at the harbor. She looked around confused. "Huh? How did I get back to the harbor?" A few meters away she spotted a man wearing a white and gray jacket with a fur collar and some dark blue embroidery. He had it open so that you could see his muscular body. He also had dark blue pants on, the legs of which were tucked into his brown boots. She could see brown gloves on his hands and he had something tied to his back. But what was very noticeable was that, despite his young age, he already had gray-white hair and there were two cigars in his mouth. "Hey!" she shouted as she approached, smiling. Maybe the man could tell her how to get to the scaffold. As she got closer, she could see a Marine standing behind the man. The smoker had turned slightly towards him and seemed to be asking him something. Now she could also see that he looked somehow grim, although he probably wasn't, strange. "Man, I'm so excited to meet someone here. Could you tell me how I can get to the scaffold?" she asked as she looked up at him. He was certainly two and a half heads taller than her. "To the scaffold?" "Yes, I think I'm totally lost." "Is this your first time here?" "Yeah, I just arrived on the island. The city is pretty big. Foosha Village wasn't that big and the capital wasn't that winding either." "Why are you looking for the scaffold, lass?" Luffy had her hands on her hips during the conversation. Grinning, she looked at him from under her straw hat as she said, "Because I want to see the place where the Pirate King died." The smoker looked at her for a while. Something about the girl struck him as suspicious, but he couldn't put his finger on it. The black-haired woman raised an eyebrow when the man looked at her strangely. "You don't know where it is either? Well, bad luck, I guess I'll have to take a chance." She had already turned away and was about to leave when the man said: "Wait! The scaffold is where the smoke goes." She turned back to him, somewhat confused. She was about to ask what he meant when she saw the smoke from his cigarettes drifting towards the city. She didn't know if that was a coincidence, but it didn't matter to her as long as she finally found her destination. "All right, then I have to go that way," she said with a grin and ran past him. Before she turned the corner, she called over her shoulder: "Thank you!" The man had turned around and was looking after her. Was it a coincidence that this girl landed on the island today of all days and wanted to go to the scaffold?

Luffy sighed, she had lost sight of the smoke awhile ago and was now standing in one of the countless narrow streets in themiddle of the city. She walked along slowly, her hands on her hips, lookingaround. There wasn't a single soul anywhere who she could ask for directions."Such a dumb thing. What do I do now? The guy was adamant that this was theroute to the scaffold! Or should I have gone left at the last bifurcation?Well, what's the point? "Somehow I'll find that thing." She startedto climb down some stairs when something caught her eye. She stopped and lookedup. There was a sign there that read: ''Bar Gold Roger.'' Curiosity got thebetter of her and she climbed down the long, narrow staircase, which lay in ahalf-hidden niche.

The stairs led to an old swinging door like theones in Makino's bar. Before she peeked into the bar itself, her gaze wanderedover the bare walls. But they weren't that bare. Her eyes had slowly adjustedto the pale light and she could see the remains of former wanted posters. Someof them only had the word "Wanted" visible, others even had the pictures or thebounty on their head. She opened the door, the creaking made the empty bar seema little eerie. There were a few stools at the bar, behind which was a shelffull of various alcohols, some of which she had never heard of. Her gaze movedfurther. Dim lights on the walls tried in vain to illuminate the room. Therewere a few tables around with chairs set up. Only one table had its chairsdown. A skull lay on top of it, a bottle stood in the middle and an old, smalland rather frail-looking man sat in the chair opposite the skull. He had grayhair that showed through a purple cap. He wore a white shirt with a red collarand yellow pants with a red pattern at the bottom of the legs. Small glasseswith round lenses sat on his nose, a gold earring hung from each earlobe and anecklace of elongated green and round red beads hung around his neck. The manturned his head towards her and adjusted his glasses. The black-haired womanlooked back silently before stepping further into the room and saying: "Excuseme good man, are you the owner? I just saw that Gold Roger's name is on thesign outside. Is that the name of this bar?" "Go away!" She looked at the olderman in surprise. Was he in a bad mood? "Listen, girly! A bar is not the placefor a girl like you." He reached for the bottle and poured some into the glassin front of him. "Besides, I decided to close it today." "Are you bankrupt?" Heput the bottle down again. "No, I didn't go bankrupt. I'm closing the barbecause it suits me! Now get out of here!" Luffy went to one of the bar stoolsat the end and sat down on it so that she could look at the man. "I was justcurious about the name, that's all. I'm totally lost! I actually wanted to goto the place where the scaffold is. Could you maybe tell me how to get there?"The old man just looked at her when her eyes fell on the skull, which had adeep hole in the top of its skull. "He, what does that skull have on its head?It's pretty big!" "I'll tell you something. These are the pathetic remainsof a bad guy who called himself 'Killer Jack.'" The old man clinked hisglass against the one in front of the skull before continuing unperturbed. "Hewas responsible for hundreds of pirates going to hell." The old man smiled andbared his dentures, which were already missing a few teeth, when he saw howeagerly the girl was listening to him. "Until Gold Roger appeared and tookdown the villain with a single blow." "That was Gold Roger?"there was a sparkle in her dark eyes when she heard this. The man was a little surprisedat her reaction. He had already seen many youngsters looking up to Roger ormore towards the title and his legendary treasure, but he had never seen suchenthusiastic interest before. He shook his head internally before continuingthe story as if he hadn't seen it. "It's a famous story! He was big and abrutal guy with a big sword! However, the fight was quickly decided." Hepointed to the injury with the finger of his hand in which he was holding theglass. "Here you can see the spot that killed him." Luffy felt ashiver run down her spine. "He was no ordinary villain. He wasn't dead rightaway. Before he bit the dust he whispered: 'Gold Roger, I bow my pirate hat toyou. Long live the greatest pirate of all time!'" The straw hat wearing womanwas holding on to the cushion of the stool while the man said this. "Boyoh boy. That's totally cool!" "Eric Dawn, who was also called theKing, Silver-Silver, the best pistol shooter in the world, the Gun Brothers.They were all dangerous guys who made people tremble. But they too were justwhimpering babies against the mighty Gold Roger." Another shiver ran throughthe black-haired woman's body, which had begun to sweat. She loved hearingstories about her father, especially interesting ones like the ones the old mantold her! He watched her as he saw the smile on her face slowly turn into awide grin. Somehow that grin seemed familiar. "Do you want to hear more abouthim?" "Of course!" There was something about the little girl that made the oldman smile.

"Nowadays, people are less and less interestedin old stories." "I'm interested in that kind of thing, keep talking!" "Don'trush me, girly!" He began to swirl the glass in his hand slightly as he beganto talk about the past: "Back then, no, even today, this Gold Roger was theonly person who wasn't afraid to tackle the Grand Line. You know, the GrandLine is notorious for ships disappearing there and never appearing again.Navigating there is almost impossible. Because people are so afraid of it, theyrarely come near this cursed ocean. ..."

He could still remember it like it wasyesterday. He was younger and his bar was busy. Back then, Roger was still arelatively unknown pirate when he told him that he planned to sail to the GrandLine to have some fun. He could still remember Roger just grinning widely as hetried to get the idea out of him, even though he could never have stopped him.But it was precisely because the Grand Line was unknown that the black-hairedman felt like traveling.

"...After these words he drank all my supplies and the next morning he simply sailed calmly away. And when I heard some time later that Gold Roger had survived the journey alive and returned healthy, I was overjoyed. But all that is in the past. Gold Roger was executed exactly 19 years ago. Since that day, everyone who was convinced of his courage took Gold Roger as an example and joined a pirate crew. But look what happened to them! Today there are only sissys and cowards in this city. But no real guy anymore who dares to conquer the Grand Line. And for this reason, today I will close my beloved bar forever." A sad look crept onto his face as he looked back at the black-haired girl. "I'm on my way to the Grand Line!" Luffy let her legs dangle a little, her eyes were hidden under the brim of her straw hat. The man's eyes widened. "I liked the story of Gold Roger and know some pirates who want to follow his example. That's why I set sail. I'm going to the Grand Line, I'm going to grab the One Piece and then I'm become the King of the Pirates!" She looked up at the last part of the sentence. A fire burned in her eyes and a wide grin was on her lips. He looked at her for a moment. From somewhere he knew that grin, that fire, that...charisma. His eyes widened in realization and at the same moment it was no longer the black-haired girl sitting on his bar stool but the apparition of a long-dead pirate. "Roger!" Sweat ran down the lines of his face as he said: "You're confident of anything, huh? And you say that in this bar of all places?" "I just told the truth, nothing more." A chuckle escaped his throat before he said: "I'm wondering if it was coincidence or fate that you came to my bar today. My child, now that I know that there is someone like you, of course the bar will stay open!" "I don't care, I don't drink." The man had stood up and was shuffling towards the bar counter as he said: "It's decided and there's nothing you can do to change my mind. It's been a long time since I had a customer. The drink is on the house!" He bent down and opened a refrigerator. Luffy looked over her shoulder and said again, "I don't drink." "Hahaha. Is that so? Then how about this?" He placed two glasses on the counter, both filled with milk. "We raise our glasses to the greatest pirate king of all time!" He pulled his cap off his head and got his glass. Luffy grinned, turning in the chair and grabbing her glass in turn. "To the greatest pirate king!" The glasses clinked as they clinked them together. "Tell me, girly. What's your name?" She looked at him confused. "Why do you want to know that, old man?" "First of all, my name is not old man, but Raul! And secondly, I want to know which names to look for when I look for news about you in the newspaper," he said and winked at her. "Shishishi. Oh, I'm Portgas D. Luffy, future Pirat King." "Hahaha, you're really amazing, girly. You said you wanted to go to the scaffold, right?" The straw hat wearer nodded. "You're in luck, it's not far from here. When you leave the bar you just have to take the left alley. Then you come back to the main street and turn right. Even if you get lost again, you can ask someone there for directions." The black-haired woman drained her glass and put it back on the counter before getting up from the stool. "Thanks Raul, both for the milk and for the directions." With that she disappeared out the door, leaving a delighted old man in his bar. 

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Heyoh,

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Yes, yes we areslowly approaching the end of the 2nd act and arrive at a place that has suchgreat meaning for Luffy. 

I even had the idea that Dadan and the mountain banditsmight also get a reaction to their little girl's wanted poster. But I discardedit again because I only had a vague idea: #are happy for her + are proud #Dadanbursts into tears and denies it again You see, only a rough idea. 

If you want, you can write a review or send mean email about how you would have imagined it. (With your permission I wouldthen add these at the beginning or end of the next chapters, as a little bonus.;) 

I think until at least the end of the LittleGarden arc.)  

I hope to be able to welcome you next time whenit says: "On a knife's edge"

I wish you a nice week.