"We're docking at a port?" You question as Zoro tosses the anchor over the side of the Sunny.

"All the currents and such that make it hard to get here is what makes it safe to stay at a port." Nami explains. "Marines rarely come here. The island is part of the World Government, but most all the marines stationed here are from here."

"Sounds more like knights and less like marines then." You muse. "I'm welcome to come ashore?"

Nami nods. "Aside from Brook, Franky, Chopper and Jinbei, we're all going ashore."

"... There is a physical divide amongst who is staying and who is going." You say flatly. The face you're making is not pleased.

"You're going to follow me," Nami says, after she gives you a look that says she's as irritated as you are. "And Zoro – You're going to follow (Y/N). No wandering off, no separating. If something goes sideways, we move together. Once we get provisions, we can decide who's going with Luffy deeper into the island."

"I'm not going to like this town." You grumble.

"No one likes this town." Sanji says. "But we're pirates, not revolutionaries."

You give a look back to the ship, debating if you should just stay behind, and then follow behind Nami. Luffy and Sanji are in the lead, with Nami and Robin behind them, trailed by you and then Zoro. You can feel his eye on you, but there's nothing in the gaze like before. He's not watching after some unknown variable, or some threat to the crew. He's simply doing as Nami instructed and following you.

The city was half of what you expected a port city to be. There was a fish market, and even a farmer's market, a general market street, and residential areas. There were more people than you expected in such a dangerously isolated place like this island was, but there was no bustle. There was no haggling or street performers. There were no suspect children casing people for experienced pickpockets. There was no vibrancy in movements or clothing. There was no music or rhythm.

There was no life in the city.

It had people, and they moved under their own will. There was no dark magic urging their limbs forward, but dark magic would've been preferable to way the town felt. Less like a port city and more like a collection of people pretending to be a port city.

It made you bristle, but you did your best to keep your eyes on Nami's back and follow her and Robin. Your job was to carry supplies, and stay out of trouble, and if you couldn't be bothered to do either of those then you should just return to the ship and stay with the others.

The others. Those that were othered by this town. Unwelcome.

You bristle more.

There's a gathering of people that catches your attention. Unlike the rest of the town there is some energy in this crowd. It's not one of celebration, but it doesn't feel hollow and lifeless like the rest of the town does. You move toward it without really thinking, drawn by the sense of life coming from it – the heavy emotion that wafts off the people gathered.

You were never overly empathic. Empathetic, sure, you weren't without compassion or a willingness to understand someone, but you never connected with others' emotions on quite the level you had seen from others. You weren't swayed by someone else's joy or anger or sorrow. You were a knight – you stood as you wanted to stand: by your own values.

Coming to the edges of the crowd you wiggled your way in a little bit. You weren't exceptionally short, but neither were you overly tall, so it took a minute for what everyone was gathered around for came into view enough for you to figure it out. The large wooden platform appeared to be a stage, like one that would be used for important news, or warnings of monsters.

There were three people on it. Two of the stood tall, dressed neatly – one holding a large and heavy looking axe, the other holding a board with papers on it. The third person was a man who looked even more lifeless than the town felt. His eyes were sunken, his soul was defeated. You had seen broken men before, and he was dead on his feet.

You knew it as a scaffold. It was a public execution. You hadn't seen one, but you had heard of them, and this was quite obviously a public execution. Given the number of people around, it appeared that anyone without other business to attend was expected to attend. You tap on the shoulder of a middle-aged man who appeared amicable.

"My apologies, sir, but what did he do?" You ask, nodding up to the scaffold.

"It doesn't matter."

"Eh?"

"The lord decided he is to die, and so he shall." The man replies. "His family soon after, I imagine."

"They're to be executed as well?"

The man shakes his head slowly. "It is illegal to aid them, lass, they'll starve, or steal and end up up there."

"The mother cannot work?"

"Women do not work jobs that make money on this island." He says quietly.

"That's-." There's a hand on your shoulder and you turn to see Zoro. He looks up at the scaffolding and shakes his head.

No one likes this town.

You step away from the crowd with Zoro right behind you and realize for the first time since you noticed the scaffold that you are not following Nami. You hadn't exactly promised to follow her, you hadn't made an oath or even nodded in agreement, but it had been assumed you would follow her. Instead, you were in the midst of the square with no one else but Zoro.

"Oh no." You turn to him. "Do you know which way they went?"

Zoro points in a direction that seems plausible enough and you walk that way with him close behind. You did not like this town. You were internally fuming. There was a caste system back home, it was not fair, but it was not unfair. It wasn't unfair in Winternight. It could be unfair in other kingdoms. This world was like your world that way. If you caused a scene, you could cause problems for the entire crew.

You were not a revolutionary. You had no way to help these people, and marching into the castle and killing their useless king would not solve their problems. The void of power would only be filled by someone else. Statistically, it would be someone worse. Realms like this rarely begot benevolent children.

"(Y/N)." Zoro's voice cut through your thoughts and you look to him. "I-."

"No!" A young voice cut through the air. "Let me go mama! It's not fair! They can't just execute him!"

You and Zoro are frozen, looking at one another as the child cries. The mother's voice is muted, but you can hear it. You're on edge, armament haki roiling in your veins while your observation is spreading out from you like an overflowing bowl. It's thick against the world and you feel and hear and see in such detail. But none of it matters, just the mother and the child.

Not even the words matter, but the emotions stain the overflow of your haki, seeping into your awareness and knotting every muscle in your body. Anger fills you, not rage or indignance, but fury at the truth of this town, of this kingdom, of that child, of the man who was probably already a corpse, and fury at your inability to do anything substantial.

"Roronoa," you ask quietly. "What is a pirate? What does your captain believe is a pirate?"

"... Pirates are free." He answers simply.

You nod after a moment and run past Zoro, and back to the scaffold. If the demon-man of the Straw Hat Pirates was intent on stopping you, he could. You knew it. You weren't weak, but you were not yet at the level of those around you.

There was no hand on your shoulder. No sharp pain to physically stop you.

Perhaps, for a moment, you were a pirate.

.
.
.
.
.
.

"(Y/N) what do you think of-." Nami froze. You were gone, and so was Zoro.

Robin stops when she hears Nami stop speaking suddenly and looks to see the same predicament. "We seem to have a minor problem, Sanji, Luffy."

"Eh?" The two make a similar noise and turn toward Nami and Robin.

"Tch. I bet that damn Marimo wandered off and she went after him." Sanji grumbles.

"I'll find them!" Luffy exclaims, already peeling away from the group. "We gotta finish buying food before we get kicked out of the town, so you three do that!"

"This is going to be a disaster." Nami grumbles. "Alright, I'll get fruits. Robin, get the vegetables, and Sanji get the dry goods. There's another town we can get fish from, so skip that for now."

The three split up as Luffy makes his way through the town. Nami told him to avoid using his devil fruit power in town, it was taboo, but he could still use haki to help him navigate.

Luffy stopped.

He wasn't afraid, but there was something that pricked at his skin when he reached out to try and find you and Zoro with his observation haki. It wasn't stronger than him, and it wasn't stronger than Zoro, but it was almost like looking in a mirror.

It was like instinct staring back at him.

He ran toward the prickly feeling, weaving through the sparse townsfolk with enough speed to ruffle clothes and knock hats off of unsuspecting passersby. When he got closer, he could easily sense Zoro, even with the curious prickle distracting him.

He leapt the last few yards and landed next to an unsurprised Zoro. Both men looked over the scene in front of them with even faces, a wretched and terrified man collapsed by Zoro's ankles, looking at the same scene with pale-faced fear.

The crowd was gone.

The scaffold was gone.

You were standing amid the destruction, two unconscious bodies at your feet, a heavy axe in one hand, the clipboard and its papers in the other hand. The words of the decree bit into your heart like a feral beast. The lord of this land, Arnold Silvio, was going to execute a villager because he wouldn't sign over the rights of his daughter.

"Luffy!" You growled his name, looking up and over at him. You weren't angry at him, but your usual tone was gone from your words. "I have something I need to do."

Letting the pages go into the wind you dragged the axe behind you, pulling your sword from the debris and starting toward the building you had seen easily from atop the scaffold. You weren't running, but there wasn't anyone from this town able to stop you. Luffy or Zoro could easily restrain you, but neither seemed inclined to stop you.

Luffy and Zoro were following some distance behind you. You hadn't asked for their help, and honestly if the crew had left you to your choices and abandoned you, you wouldn't have been able to fault them. You didn't mean to stop following Nami, but everything after that had been conscious choices. It was conscious choice that put one foot in front of the other.

Doors and windows shut as you prowled up the main road. You could feel the mix of curiosity and ease of the two that followed along with you. You could feel the curiosity and concern of the people looking at you from behind shuttered windows and closed doors.

No one defied in this town. There wasn't life enough left in the people for them to consider it. Defiance was an emotion that was long gone, and that's where the curiosity came from.

The castle of this town was a building born of luxury and peace. It was no keep. There were no towers or archers. The gate was open. There was no hard shell you needed to crack, the tender fruit was already at your fingertips for the taking.

Treating the axe like a hammer throw you let momentum move you as you spun in place, releasing the executioner's axe into the front doors of the castle. The sound of the axe crashing into the doors tore through the otherwise quiet air like an explosion. The castle rattled as you drew your sword.

In the land of Winternight you had been proficient enough as a knight to train new squires. That meant speaking over the wide area that was the training grounds. Grounds meant for hard work, and not an area designed to carry one's voice like an amphitheater, or coliseum. You had never been misheard.

"BY DECREE OF ARNOLD SILVIO! THE RULER OF THIS LAND WHO CONDEMNED HIS TOWNSMAN TO DEATH BECAUSE HE WOULDN'T SURRENDER HIS DAUGHTER TO YOUR WHIMS! I AM (Y/N), I SET MY KNIGHTAGE AT THE FEET OF MY LORD AND CHALLENGE YOU AS A PIRATE! COME OUT AND FACE ME!" You bellowed with all the volume your lungs could muster.

There was a long silence. Enough of one that you were beginning to wonder if the castle was just abandoned. You reached out with your observation haki and felt plenty of presences inside the castle, and a moment later you got a response that made you laugh.

"No thank you!" A trembling voice called out from a window above you.

You sheath your sword as you laugh at the absurdity of the situation. There was no one inside with a will to fight, using your sword would cause a massacre. This wasn't your despot to overthrow – all you were going to do was show the townsfolk how weak he really was, and if that meant trashing his castle and dragging him out into the town square, then so be it.

"Fine, then I'll come to you." You say, walking into the castle, vaguely aware that Zoro might not be the only demon.

Maybe if you found some treasure Nami would forgive you.

A/N – Whew –
Well, that chapter was either good, or not. XD

Fun Quin Fact (that is, for once, fun!): I was in Junior ROTC in high school - it's basically prep for military officers (I never enlisted, but that's not my point) - anyway, I'm all of 5'00". In presence and appearance I have always been smol.

I wanted to call cadence for an exhibition routine for the school. My XO was dubious, but let me try. I scared a bunch of people, because I can Very Effectively BELLOW, and no one expects it. I got called Petty Officer Megaphone for the rest of the year, it was fun ^_^