Lightning flashed across the darkened sky asBuggy's laughter echoed over the square. "The defendant, Portgas D. Luffy,is sentenced to death for treachery, perfidy and other offenses against Buggythe Clown!" As soon as these words left Buggy's mouth, his men startedcheering. The black-haired woman looked nervously at the crowd below her. Shewasn't stupid and knew what Buggy was saying, but she certainly wasn't going toshow it. After her next words someone might really doubt her intelligence, butshe had to distract herself somehow and buy some time so that her friends couldshow up. She doubted Buggy would make a secret out of this. Taking a deepbreath, Luffy calmed her rapidly beating heart before she smiled and said,"This is the first time I've seen an execution." "You're beingexecuted here, you idiot!" Buggy snapped at the straw hat wearer. He knewshe was stupid, but like that?! She pointed at herself before turning her headas best she could towards him and shouting, "You've got to bekidding!" "I'm not kidding!" "Get me out of this now!That's unfair! You can't do that to me!" "Hey, your rebelliousnessisn't helping anymore! Here we go! We don't want to disappoint the audience!""You bastard! When I get out of here, you can expect a bigger beating thanbefore!" "Shut up!"

By now Buggy had had enough of her screaming andhad placed one of his feet on her head. The blade of the sword lingersdangerously at her neck. Her plan had worked before, but now she was gettingbored. And on top of that, Buggy wanted her to apologize? Luffy rolled her eyesbefore saying in a monotone, bored voice, "I'm really sorry. I will neverdo it again. Please let me live." "Forget it, you rubber skull!" "You know, wedo that to everyone who gets in our way!" she could hear Cabaji's voice belowher. "I thought the brat had a lot more to show. She doesn't deserve it anyother way," the black-haired woman also heard Alvida's voice. Seriously? Theself-absorbed Trulla hadn't even stood against her for two minutes and now shesaid something like that?! Buggy looked down at the black-haired woman with agrin. He couldn't shake the feeling that what he was about to do was wrong, but he shook that feeling away."Finally, do you want to say anything meaningful? You've got a lot of listenershere waiting for something like that, hahaha!" Luffy clenched her handsinto fists. How she would love to hit him right now. "Hahaha, well, never mindthat. Whether you have to say or not doesn't matter. You will soon be a thingof the past!" The older one almost lost his balance when the black-haired womansuddenly raised her head and shouted: "No, I am the future Pirate King!" Hervoice echoed across the silent square and the crowd. She wouldn't die, not yet,and certainly not in this place! The spectators looked up at the straw hatwearer with their mouths open. She wanted THAT to be her last words?

"Did she just say Pirate King?" "She dares to saysomething like that here?!" "She...she probably has a screw loose!" some voicesreached her ears. A bitter taste began to spread in her mouth. How much wouldthese people cheer if they knew who she really was? She quickly pushed thosethoughts away when Buggy raised his voice again. "It's about time to endthis, don't you think, rubber toad?" Once again she tried somehow towriggle out of her bonds. If only she could manage to free at least one of herhands! Laughing, Buggy raised his sword as two familiar voices rang out fromthe square. "This execution..." "...is CANCELED!"Surprised, Buggy looked down when Luffy looked down. At the back of the squarestood Zoro, who had already put his headscarf back on, and Sanji, who wassmoking as usual and had his hands in the pockets of his pants. "Zoro! Sanji!"A smile spread across her face. All eyes were now on the two newcomers.

Grinning, Zoro lifted Wado slightly as he said,"You really know how to cause a ruckus. Aren't you going a little too far withthese kinds of jokes, Luffy?" "Now when it's time for the side show,I'll join in too," Sanji said casually, "Looks like we'll have tofight our way through these weaklings." One of the townspeople recognizedthe green-haired man. "P-Pirate hunter Z-Zoro!" The residents ran in alldirections in panic. If the pirate hunter was in town to fight the pirates,none of them wanted to stand in his way. "SANJI! ZORO!" And she had alreadythought that her delaying tactics would have been pointless. "Finally here,Zoro? Too bad you're too late!" Buggy shouted, raising the sword above hishead. The two's eyes widened when they saw this and sprinted towards thescaffold. As if they would allow some clown to kill their captain! "If youwould be so kind, my dears!" cried Alvida, grinning. "As you wish, LadyAlvida!" one of the pirates shouted before they pounced on the blonde and thegreen-haired man. "Get out of my way!" Zoro shouted, swords drawn ashe fought his way through. Sanji also made his way through the pirates, hisgaze flickering for a moment to his captive captain and the laughing clown. "If he harms even one hair of her head, Ican't guarantee anything!"

"Try as hard as you want, YOU can't stop me!This is the end of your captain!" Luffy's heart raced in her chest as shewatched her struggling crew. A warm feeling spread through her chest. A smallsmile crept onto her lips. She knew that she could rely on them. She didn'tcare anymore whether Buggy would get his revenge or not. At least she knew thatthere were people, other than her "somewhat" crazy family, who would risk theirlives for her. "You goddamn bastard!" Sanjigrowled as he got closer and closer to the scaffold. Another enemy fell throughZoro's swords as he raised his head. Half of his face was in shadow. "If I manage to cut through the supports ofthe platform...!"

Hidden in the shadows of the houses, the marinesstood ready. Captain Smoker's words were still fresh in everyone's memory:"Remember, as soon as Portgas D. Luffy's head falls, we will attack withall our might! Have all units ready." "Aye, aye, sir!"

Buggy had Luffy's head pressed against thewooden platform again when the blade of his sword flashed in the light of theemerging lightning and struck. So that was it. Her life would end when she wasjust 17 years old. In the same place where her father's life was ended exactly19 years ago. Fate probably enjoyed the irony that her life would be ended by,of all people, a former member of her father's crew. Her life wasn't long, butit was longer than the government would have allowed, but there wasn't a momentshe regretted. "ZORO! SANJI! USOPP! NAMI!" A deep rumble of thunder soundeddirectly above her. "I'm sorry..." She looked up and gave her best Dgrin. "...I'm a goner." She could hear the swishing of the sword,which was getting closer to her every second. "Will I finally see my parents and Sabo? Even if not, I'm glad to havemet people I could call my friends. Would they have accepted me despite myorigins? All in all, my life was great and if I had the opportunity to live itagain I wouldn't want to change anything!" "Don't!""Don't talk rubbish like that!" Zoro and Sanji shouted in horror.They felt like their hearts would stop as they saw the sword come down towardstheir captain's neck. Even Smoker's eyes widened in disbelief when he saw theblack-haired woman's face. "She's smiling!" He hadn't seen anythinglike that since... Despite the thunder above her, Luffy could hear a crackle asthe blade was only a few centimeters from her neck. A blinding light blindedthose present on the square and froze them as lightning struck the scaffold,forcing them to cover their eyes. Sparks flew from the scaffold as some rivetspopped out of the connectors and the floor cracked. When the people could seeagain, they saw the entire tower engulfed in blue flames as the first loosebeams clattered down. The first drops of rain fell from the cloud gate as thetower began to tip over, groaning and creaking. The echoes of the fallen towerreverberated through the city streets as Luffy's straw hat slowly sailed to theground. No one present could say anything when the person in front of whom thehat had fallen bent down and placed it on her black curls, laughing. "Hey,I'm alive!" Luffy said. In front of her was a coked-up and unconscious buggy,while she herself was just a little covered in soot. The lightning was drawn tohis sword and hit him with full intensity, saving her life.

With their mouths and eyes wide open, Buggy's men and Alvida stared at the black-haired woman in shock. A normal person couldn't be that lucky. She had to be in league with the devil! Zoro wordlessly put his swords back in their scabbards as Sanji's cigarette fell from his mouth. Grinning, Luffy came closer. "Phew, what a relief. I really thought that would be the end of me." Without looking at the swordsman, the blonde asked him: "Hey, do you believe in God?" "Now is not the time for questions like that! We should get out of here." His eyes darted to the shadows. He had the feeling for a while that they were being watched. "The danger is not over yet!" As if on command, dozens of soldiers suddenly stormed the square and surrounded the pirates and the three Straw Hats. "Oh, dear!" "Great," groaned the two mans. A battle broke out between the parties, with the three on the sidelines. "Hey great!" said Luffy and dodged a pirate who flew towards her, "It's really fun here!" She dodged again. "Somehow it turned out to be a really fun day." She was about to throw herself into the fight when a hand caught her by the collar. "Hey, Luffy!" She cocked her head in surprise and looked into stormy gray eyes. "Oh, Zoro. What is it?" "We don't have time to put down roots here! We're leaving now." "We have to go back to the ship immediately and raise the anchor, otherwise we won't be able to get out of here! Then we can forget the Grand Line!" Sanji spoke up. Luffy's eyes widened. Forgot the Grand Line? Absolutely no way! "No, there's no way that we aren't go there!" She tore herself away from Zoro's grip and ran after Sanji. Luckily for them, one of the roads was not blocked by soldiers and they were able to use it to escape. However, one of the soldiers had seen them and shouted: "The Straw Hat Pirates are trying to escape!" "They are not allowed to escape!" "Go after them!" Some soldiers tried to cut them off and were either kicked, slashed or punched. "Hurry up or they'll catch us!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ With Smoker ~

"Why was she smiling? Did she know she would survive this? No, at that moment it was completely clear to her that her life would end. She had resigned herself to her fate and simply smiled." "Captain, about the pirates..." the soldier in the suit and navy coat interrupted himself and silence fell between them before the gray-haired man said without turning around: "One question , Lutennend. Have you ever seen a pirate smile even on the scaffold?" The rumble of thunder drowned out the sounds of battle in the square below. "No, Captain. Even the most dangerous criminals have turned ashen in the face of death. They were completely desperate." "Not the girl with the straw hat. She smiled. Just like Gold Roger, the Pirate King. Exactly 19 years ago he was put on the scaffold in this city and smiled as he was executed." Smoker swallowed a lump. Was it a coincidence that the Pirate King and this girl looked so similar or did it have a deeper meaning? "Uh, Captain?" Smoker looked over his shoulder. "Where did the Straw Hat Girl go?" "Uh, she and her friends ran towards the harbor, Captain." "What about the first battalion? They should blow up every pirate ship!" he said as he walked past the soldiers. "Sir, um...there was a problem with the ammunition. It got wet because of the storm, but we've already gotten a replacement." Smoker stopped at the door. "It's what?" "We sent the third battalion as reinforcements. They're just waiting for your order!" "Captain Smoker, we need to act as quickly as possible! We absolutely have to prevent the pirates from setting course for the Grand Line!" Tashigi also piped up. The white-haired man didn't turn around as he said, barely audible: "The wind is blowing from the west, it will take them out to sea in no time. I don't know, is this all a coincidence? I feel like the gods want her to get away from us. I ''White Hunter'' Smoker swear as captain of this naval base that she will not escape from this island!"

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~ Somewhere in the city ~

A figure walked through the deserted streets of the city, undeterred by the storm. Nothing of the person could be seen as he was wearing a long, green hooded cloak. "Wind, show them the way. The storm of fate has come upon you!" came a deep, rough voice. A flash of lightning lit up the dark sky, revealing the person's face for a moment. There was a grin on his lips, determination written in his dark eyes and a strange red tattoo on the left side of his face before he disappeared from the street at the next flash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ With Luffy, Zoro & Sanji ~

As they run through the streets, Sanji couldn'thelp but keep glancing at Luffy. He had already realized that she was beingcareless, but the thing about the scaffold. He shuddered just thinking aboutit. Somehow he couldn't shake the feeling that the only way to deter them fromsuch idiotic actions was to do something, and this actually contradicted hisprinciples. But if it prevented her from killing herself, would it be okay?

 "What kind of storm is this?!" Zoro asked as they ran. They had left the last soldiers behind a while ago and no one had appeared before them. "If we don't get out of here soon, we'll be stuck here. Nami was right when she said we have to get back to the ship quickly!" Sanji said simply. He could already feel his suit starting to stick to his skin due to the rain. The straw hat wearer, however, didn't seem to mind much. On the contrary, she seemed to be having fun as she laughed and shouted, "Run! Run! Run!" Sanji and Zoro wanted to shake their heads. She seemed far too euphoric for the fact that she was almost killed.

"Where is the sea?!" shouted Zoro. Was he surethat the sea was closer or did the houses and streets move on their own again?*"Because of the heavy rain, I can't say where we're going!" Luffysaid with a grin as she ran in front of her first mate and Smutje. Suddenlythey heard several footsteps behind them and glanced over their shoulders.Dozens of soldiers suddenly appeared behind them. "There they are!" They turnedtheir heads forward again before Zoro said annoyed: "These guys are prettystubborn! Should we stop and fight?" "We don't have time forthat!" Sanji replied. He paused at the sight before him. He got thatlovestruck look again and shouted: "Who is this lady?!" "Hm?" Zoro narrowed hiseyes. There was only one person standing in front of them and they had theyhead bowed. Wait a minute, that was... "I didn't notice that you were RoronoaZoro and, on top of that, a pirate yourself. You...you lied to me!" She looked upand glared at Zoro. The three pirates immediately stopped, with Sanjiimmediately snapping at Zoro. "What?! What did you do to her?!" Thegreen-haired man ignored the blonde's outburst and stepped past his captain,towards the woman who was the exact image of Kuina. "You never asked me myname. So when did I lie to you?" "A villain like you shouldn't beallowed to own one of the king's swords! I will confiscate your legendarysword, Wado-Ichi-Monji!" Zoro grabbed it, grinned at her and saidprovocatively: "Try it!" Tashigi drew her own sword and stormed towards theswordsman. He blocked the blow without any problems, he could feel the forcebehind her blow. He dodged her next strike before striking himself and beingblocked. A grin crept onto his face. "I see."

"You jerk! What are you thinking ofattacking a lady!" Sanji shouted angrily. "Don't interfere!" Tashigishouted as she blocked Zoro's blow. Sanji's posture immediately relaxed again."What?" "This is a fight between Roronoa and me! There is no need tointervene!" "You heard her. Go ahead!" said Zoro, who had his back to them.Sanji looked a little contrite. He couldn't allow a lady to be at the mercy ofthat gorilla! Before he could protest, however, Luffy had already put her handon his shoulder and said with a smile, "Come on." She ran off, Sanjiclose behind her. But before they were too far away he turned around andshouted: "Hey Zoro, if you hurt the lady, I will never forgive you!"With that he turned around and followed his captain through the streets.

"I can see the exit! The harbor is very close!"Luffy shouted as the two ran through the streets. Even though they were on therun, she enjoyed the rain on her skin. It reminded her of her childhood onDawn, where she and her brothers would hunt and train no matter the weather.Through the veil of rain she suddenly began to see someone standing under theentrance sign. "Hey, who is it this time?" Sanji asked. It was that Navycaptain with the cigarettes, what was his name again? Oh yeah, Smoker! Therewas a strange vehicle behind him. Had he managed to catch up with them with it?He stood calmly in front of his vehicle when he said: "You're finallyhere, Straw Hat Luffy." The woman he was addressing and her cook stoppedand looked at him. "Didn't I tell you that you won't make it to the GrandLine before you defeat me?" A grin spread across the black-haired woman'sface. "Oh yeah. I almost forgot about that." "You seem to havenothing but air in your head." Sanji leaned towards the younger one andsaid in a quiet voice so that the gray-haired man couldn't hear him: "Hey,Luffy..." "Sanji, go ahead, I'll come right after," she interruptedhim. The blonde's eyes widened as he looked at her. She couldn't be serious afterwhat happened earlier! "Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that. That's the endfor you." The cook looked at his captain, she had that look again and heknew he couldn't convince her. Lightning flashed across the sky as she shouted,"Come here!" Sanji sighed before doing as she told him. Smoker paidthe blonde no attention as he let him pass. His attention was solely on theblack-haired woman in front of him.

The rain became heavier with every minute andmore and more lightning lit up the dark, cloudy sky. Small streams were alreadyrunning down her straw hat when she didn't take her eyes off Smoker. "I willdefeat you and make my way to the Grand Line! I am the one who will become PitareKing!" "Enough of your empty words!" To her surprise, his fiststurned into smoke before they shot towards her. Before she knew it, the smokehad surrounded her, solidifying around her body as it took hold of her. How wasthat even possible? "What?! What's going on?!" she shouted, as if tryingto wriggle out of the white-gray cloud. Her fingers slid through the smoke evenas it gripped her. The black-haired woman screamed in surprise as she waslifted into the air. Smoker looked up at her as he said, "I ate some of the MokuMok uno Mi. In other words, my body can turn into smoke at my will." Luffyreally didn't know how to describe the feeling while the smoke held her. It wassolid and had spread pretty much all over her body, but at the same time it waslike air or water that you couldn't really grasp. Suddenly Smoker brought hisarms down and pulled Luffy with it. She hit her back against the ground beforethe smoke released her again. She rolled onto her stomach and gasped for air.The white-haired man let the smoke reach his hands again and looked down at her."What's wrong? Are you allready finished?" The straw hat wearer lifted herhead and pushed herself back onto her feet. "Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" Her punches rained down on the marinecaptain, but he didn't even flinch. She stopped her punches when her fist lodgedin his face. Where she had hit him he had turned to smoke and looked at herunimpressed. "What?! Ah, that's disgusting!" She withdrew her hand and thesmoke returned to normal. "White Blow!"Before she could react, the smoke shot towards her and slammed the straw hatwearer into the wall behind her. She gasped as the air was forced from herlungs again. "You bastard! Gomu Gomu noPistol!" Luffy shouted, being pushed against the wall before slamming.But her fist just went right through him. How was she supposed to fight someoneshe couldn't touch, but he could?! "Have you finally understood it now? Youwill never reach the Grand Line." The next moment he was no longer in front ofher but behind her and had grabbed her by the head. "Didn't I already tellyou?" He jumped into the air, pulling the surprised Portgas with him. Shefelt him sit cross-legged on her back as she fell towards the ground. She wasgrabbed by the head again and slammed it against the ground. Another thanks toher devil fruit powers, otherwise it would have certainly hurt more than italready did. "You're supposed to have 30,000,000 Berries on your head?"She tried to somehow get out of his grip, but she couldn't even turn her head."Well, your lucky streak is over now!" He grabbed the handle of hisjitte with his free hand and was about to pull it when another hand joined hisand stopped him.

"I'm not so sure about that, Smoker."He looked over his shoulder and saw a man under a green hooded cloak. "You're..."What was HE doing here? The man had a mysterious smile on his lips as he lookeddown at the marine captain. A flash allowed the man's face to be seen for asecond. He had tanned skin and a red tattoo on the left side of his face."What's going on? Who is there?" the black-haired woman wanted to know.Whoever this was truely had just helped her and she wanted to thank him. "Why does he have to press my head to theground like that?!" Smoker ignored the squirming black-haired womanunderneath him and looked the man straight in the eyes. "The government isafter your head." "The world is waiting for our answer." As soonas he said this, the rain suddenly stopped and a huge wind shot through thestreets of the city. Smoker was blown off Luffy's back and she also suddenlyfound herself in the air. She had reflexively put her hand on her hat when shefound herself upside down and caught a glimpse of her rescuer. A wide grinappeared on the man's face as the wind ripped at his coat a little. She didn'tknow why, but the grin seemed familiar to her. Before she could take a closerlook at him, however, she was carried further away by the wind.

She didn't know how far she had flown when thewind suddenly died down and the rain started again. She had landed in the middleof some sacks as she stood up. "What just happened?" She lookedaround and found Usopp, Sanji and Zoro nearby, also rising from the rubble. Hergaze continued and stopped at the sea. The wind had carried her to the harbor,which was practical. "Luffy!" she turned in the direction from whichNami's call had come. There, a few meters from the coast, she was standing onthe railing of the Going Merry, which had already been cast off."Luffy!!" "Nami!" "We'd better hurry before the shipdrifts away!" said Sanji, who was standing next to her. "Okay!"The boys ran in one direction, but to their great surprise, Luffy ran in theother direction. The three immediately stopped and watched her go. None of themhad a good feeling about it. "Gomu Gomuno..." She grabbed a stair railing, swung over it and fell backwards."What?" "W-wait!" "I have a bad feeling aboutthis!" the three talked in confusion as they saw the black-haired woman'sarms stretch. "...Rocket!"She shot forward towards her friends and let go of the railing. The three tooktheir legs in their hands and tried to run away when she came flying. "Ahhh, Iknew it!" Not a second later, the younger one rammed into the three of them anddragged them towards the Going Merry.

The flight of the four was intercepted by thered and white striped sail before they hit the deck. Nami looked at the fourwith relief. Now they could finally get out of here! "Come on, get up! We haveto get out of here!" said Nami as the four stood up again. Nami and the boysimmediately got into position. Luffy was about to join them when she suddenlyheard a voice. "It's time you showed the world what you're made of. Be as freeas you want to be and follow the path you have chosen! Live and follow yourdream!" She whipped her head around and looked back at the island. She was surethe voice had come from there, but they were already too far away to hearanyone. On top there was also the noise of the roaring sea! The same feeling ason the scaffold spread through her before a small smile crept onto her lips."Luffy, where are you?!" she heard Namis calling to her. Theblack-haired woman turned away from the slowly shrinking island before runningto the others. "I'm coming!"

Large waves lashed against the hull of the ship as Luffy said, "Oh, man. We almost capsized." She was now sitting on the railing of the bow, holding on to her straw hat. Nami and Sanji stood with her at the bow, Zoro stood a little behind them with his arms crossed, while Usopp was clinging to the mast and looking over his shoulder at them. "Look, over there! The light!" Nami shouted as a light flickered at regular intervals in front of them. The black-haired man narrowed his eyes. "Yes, there is a lighthouse." "The light shows us the way. Somewhere over there is the gate to the Grand Line!" "So behind the light it goes to the Grand Line," said Luffy and her eyes began to glow again. The orange-haired woman turned her head towards her. "What are you planning to do now?" "I think we should wait a little longer because of the storm, guys!" Usopp spoke up. The four of them looked at each other excitedly when Sanji asked: "Should we make a pact before we embark on the big adventure?"" "Yeah!" "Great idea!" "We'll do that!" A barrel was quickly brought out of storage and placed on the deck.Sanji was the first to put his foot on the barrel and said, "I'm going find the All Blue!" Luffy was next. "I'm gonne be Pirate King!" "I'm going to world's greatest swordsman!" "I'm going to draw a map of the world!" Usopp looked at the others a little awkwardly before he put his foot on the barrel himself. "Well and I uh...yes right. I'm going to become a brave warrior of the sea!" The five of them looked at the barrel in front of them, smiling as the wind blew through their hair and the rain soaked their clothes. "Let's go to the Grand Line!" Luffy said and the five of them raised their legs before kicking the barrel and it shattered. This sealed their oath.            

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* I read the idea in a few fics and thought it was so great that I wanted to include it in some way.

So the East Blue Arc is now over. Hope you liked it.

You will probably be surprised why there is only1 chapter this week. The explanation is very simple: 

This was the last chapter that I wrote yearsago, so voting begins again with the new one, which will influence somedecisions. I'm also currently writing a few chapters (I'm almost at the end ofWhiskey Peak) and of course I have to build up a small supply so that you don'thave to wait so long. 

Depending on how fast I am, I may also have tochange the upload rhythm slightly (e.g. every two weeks or just every month). 

However, before I publish a part of the whole arc, I would like to have covered a certain amount beforehand (e.g. Cape of the Twins & Whiskey Peak or Little Garden & Drum).

So keep your fingers crossed for me that I manage to finish Whiskey Peak in time so that we can continue next week.

Until then, I wish you a nice rest of your day.

Your Kitsune Nee-chan

P.S.: If you're interested, you can take a look at "My idea collection" and see what else I have planned or check out my tumble page to read some stories that I really liked or little drawings that I used for some of my stories made ideas. (see comments section for Links)

I may also start uploading little summaries of story ideas there. We will see