AN: I am sorry that the update took so long but I had a pretty severe case of writers' block, especially for this story.

I would really appreciate reviews and concrit.

Bonney shot Kid a questioning look when he entered with Law, shirts unplugged and all.

X Drake and Killer proceeded to ignore them as they studied a map, but Kid was sure Killer noticed anyway. He always did as it seemed.

"What did you want?" Kid asked, trying to sound as sobber as possible. Not that he was completely wasted, but a bottle of rum was a bottle of rum.

"Come here." Drake commanded, pointing at a certain place on the map.

"Where are we?" Law asked while Kid moved to stand next to Killer in silence.

"Not far away from the American coast." Drake announced. "That's why I called you here. We will hit land soon. We have to be careful – there will most likely be enemy ships."

Kid stared at the map. "We need to get fresh food and water, right?" he asked, studying the document.

"And you call yourself "Captain."."Bonney snorted. "Of course we do, idiot! Our last stop was months ago!"

"Shut up Bonney! It was a rhetorical question!" Kid barked back with annoyance.

"Oh, you know such a word Mister Eustass? I am impressed." Law commented, making Killer laugh, while Kid and Bonney glared at each other.

"Stop those childish quarrels." X Drake massaged his temples, not even looking at the culprits that caused his headache. "It's late and I want to get this done as soon as possible. I need all of you to understand the plan so we can actually go with it and succeed. Our course is set on a Spanish town and we don't know how they will react – but it won't be very friendly and welcoming. I don't want to lose ship and men. Our success here will be cruicial for later. So don't fuck it up!"

It was early morning when the whole crew assembled on the main deck. They decided to enter the port with the morning tide, getting there as fast as possible and surprising their enemies. It was safer than waiting for the afternoon tide as one could be sure that people would be awake by than.

"Prepare for combat!" X Drake yelled into crowd. "Keep your guard up!"

"What do you see?" Kid shouted up to Usopp who was keeping the watch in the crow's next in the meantime.

"There are some ships in the port but it doesn't seem like any of them would be leaving soon!" Usopp shouted back, almost falling down as he leaned way too far over the railing.

"Drake!" Kid approached the captain to pass on the information. "It doesn't seem like there will be any sea combat. We should be prepared to fight on land."

X Drake nodded to show that he had heard him.

"We need to talk about a battle strategy," Kid didn't let go. "Is there somebody who is experienced and skilled in fighting on land?" he emphasized the second part of the sentence to signalize that experience itself wasn't enough.

"I am," Law stepped next to him, buttoning his uniform as if there wasn't a possible fight in front of them.

"If I die I want to look good while doing that," he muttered when he saw Kid's look.

"What?" the redhead blurted out.

"I was joking," Law rolled his eyes and followed X Drake who had moved to the front of the ship in the meanwhile.

"Let's go!" X Drake yelled and suddenly everything started moving. Kid saw Killer pull up one of the anchors together with the two cabin boys, Heat and Wire did they job and most of the soldiers ran around deck, pulling on ropes and taking their weapons. Some even adjusted their uniforms like Law. What a madness.

The arrival in the port wasn't as spectacular as everybody expected. Nobody paid the English ship attention and the people proceeded with their everyday life as if nothing was happening.

Only one single dark-haired young man in expensive clothing approached the ship when it finally docked in.

He waited patiently till the plank was placed and X Drake, Law and Kid walked down to the dock while the crew with Killer and Bonney in the front line stood guard, weapons in their hands.

"Good morning, gentlemen," the young man greeted the three. "My name is Portgas D. Ace and I was send by the Governor Marco de Azul of this fine city to welcome you and ask you to follow me so you can meet up with him and discuss further matters. We don't want a pointless fight and are ready to cooperate with you."

X Drake looked Ace up and down before he finally nodded. "I will meet up with the Governor. If you allow, I'll change into more fitting garments and me and my companions will join you soon."
"Of course," Ace agreed with a soft smile. "I'll come back in an hour," he bowed lightly.

X Drake nodded and turned around to walk the plank up back to the ship while Law watched Ace carefully out of the corner of his eye as he left.

"Killer, take care of getting the supplies. Take Sanji and some other people and go to the market. Bonney, you will guard the ship together with the remaining soldiers. Law and Kid will go with me, Penguin, Shachi you two too," X Drake commanded in passing as he walked to his cabin. "I want everyone to keep their guard up as long as we don't know what is going on. This is suspicious!"

"What are you waiting for?" Law asked Kid when Drake finally disappeared.

Kid shot him a questioning look. "What are you talking about?"
"Go change!" Law said in that tone that pissed Kid out while rolling his eyes. "You heard what Drake said."
"Shut up!" Kid growled but left nonetheless, leaving Law with a smug grin plastered all over his face behind.

Kid was dressed like a marine soldier when he joined Law and Drake who wore their respective uniforms showing their status as representatives of the Queen herself. On top of that Law carried a small case that he handed to Kid when he finally arrived. "Don't loose that," he commanded, making Kid roll his eyes.

"You act like I am some incapable idiot," the redhead muttered.

"Aren't you exactly that?" Law continued his teasing. "They caught you after all."

"You..." Kid growled.

"Stop acting like children;" X Drake interfered with a sigh. "There are important matters we need to take care of."

Kid shot Law an angry glare but didn't speak again while Law had a smug grin on his face.

"Lead us to the Governor," X Drake commanded Ace who had been waiting for them at the church just like they agreed.

"Of course, sir," he replied with another light bow. "Follow me."

Ace lead the small group through the city for about ten minutes until they arrived in front of a huge building in a colonial style. He stepped to the door and knocked three times on it – the door opened and revealed two men holding the door open who nodded at Ace and waited patiently until the group passed before closing the door.

Kid eyed them suspiciously but them didn't pay him any attention as they pulled out books just after the door closed and sat down on their chairs that stood next to it. The redhead rose an eyebrow but decided to let it be for the time being and followed the others upstairs to where Ace led them.

Again, he stopped before a door and knocked three times on it but this time he opened the door himself when a "Come in" could be heard from the inside. He held the door open for the others and than walked to stand behind the somewhat older blond man who had to be the Governor of this city.

"Welcome," the man spoke and stood up when Ace pulled away his heavy chair. "My name is Marco de Azur and I was appointed as the Governor of this city by the king Doflamingo himself." he fell silent for a moment. "But that doesn't mean that I am not ready to cooperate or be on good terms with other nations for that matter. In fact, it's my duty to do what's best for this city even if I disregard some – let's call them not that thought out – commands, yoi."

Silence fell over the room for a moment as all the men in the room studied each other after Marco's short speech.

"My name is X Drake and I am in direct service of her Majesty Queen of England Nami," Drake broke the silence. "This is Earl Trafalgar Law a respected English noble," Law did a small bow similar to Ace's when Drake introduced him "and this is Eustass Kid who has joined us for this voyage."

Kid nodded instead of bowing but it didn't seem like anybody was interested anyway.

"We don't want more than refill our supplies and take a small break of a few days before we continue our trip," X Drake informed Marco. "Our crew is already buying food and water at the market so we can take of in two days."
A small smile appeared on Marco's face. "I am pleased to hear that. I want this city to be a neutral trading center, disregarding our status as a Spanish colony. There is no use in getting in pointless fights and losing people and wealth."
"Wise words," Drake replied calmly.

"I will appoint you Ace here," Marco put a hand on the younger man's shoulder, "to accompany you during your stay here and to show you around. We don't have such high guests very often."
Ace shot Marco a weird look but didn't speak up while Kid and Law exchanged glances, thinking the same: Ace was supposed to watch them. Still – Marco could become an important ally for England if everything turned out right.

"Thank you, it's very considerate of you." X Drake stood there, watching the two Spanish men in front of men carefully, trying to see through their plan.

"Of course. But if you could leave now, there is work waiting for me," Marco pulled his arm away from Ace, who immediately walked to the door to open it for the English to leave.

Killer entered the kitchen where Kid was reading in a book. "Why aren't you out like everybody else?" he asked. "We are finally on land. You should get drunk and have some fun."
Kid looked up from his book and shot Killer a questioning glance. "Why aren't you out with them. I know for sure that you aren't appointed to the night watch."
"I'll leave soon," Killer replied as he sat down opposite Kid.

"Sure, looks exactly like that," the redhead's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Killer didn't reply to that and instead pulled Kid's book away to find out what he was reading.

The redhead rolled his eyes. "What do you want?" he asked.

"I want you to take Law and get out a bit. That guy speaks Spanish and that way you can find out what the hell is going on in this city. But he won't go alone." Killer replied and gave Kid his book back.

"So you heard about the Governor?" Kid asked and shut the book close. As it seemed he wouldn't have a chance to continue reading it anyway.

Killer nodded. "I don't know what to think about it." he confessed.

"It's weird." Kid agreed and stood up. "I will do it. But you owe me a drink."

Law was sitting next to Kid in the local tavern, looking absolutely displeased. "Why the fuck do I have to do this?" he whispered.

"Nobody else speaks Spanish," Kid replied with equal annoyance. "It may make the guy trust you."
"Sure," Law rolled his eyes and downed the glass of rum in front of him. "Like a little language knowledge would change shit. Besides they speak English."

"There's a huge difference between being spoken to in your native language and in a foreign one, especially if it is the language of the enemy," Kid hissed back. "I know what I'm talking about."
"Like Irish was a language," Law hissed back but stood up to walk over to the table where Ace was sitting alone, watching the guests.

Kid stayed where he was, deciding to not interfere with the talk. Instead, he looked around in the tavern with interest. After all, it was his first time being so far away from home. This was America, a completely new and mostly unknown continent with unknown cultures.

Speaking of which, there was a couple sitting in the back of the tavern. Both had black hair styled in unusual ways and a darker skin than any European Kid ever met. They were dressed like everybody else, but Kid was sure that those two were natives.

"What's wrong?" Killer interrupted his line of thoughts when he sat down next to him.

"Do you see those two?" Kid motioned to the couple. "I am sure they are natives."

"Are you saying that-?" Killer asked slowly.

"It would make maneuvering around here a lot easier." Kid muttered.

Killer stared at the two for a while. "We can't force them," he mumbled after a while. "No, we can't act like the Spaniards."
"What do you want to do?" Kid asked with interest. He had heard about Killer being a master in seeing through people but he had never seen it in action yet.

"I will talk to them," the blonde announced and stood up again.

"You were right." Law joined Kid again just seconds after Killer left.

"He was," the redhead pointed at Killer. "What did you find out?"
"The Spanish king isn't liked here. The taxes he takes are too high and a lot of people basically fled here to save their sorry asses." Law explained.

"That's not surprising at all," Kid muttered. "But are you sure he told you the truth? You saw that Marco-guy and how close they are. It wouldn't be impossible to set that up."
"To a foreigner to the Spanish court life there would be a possibility that they are setting that up. But as I am none, I assure you that they aren't. He spoke about their respective family being forced to leave Spain after a certain incident." Law took a huge gulp. "They dared to oppose Doflamingo on the matter of Corazon. I see them as trustworthy."
Kid watched the other in silence, not being able to tell what the expression on his face meant. But he wasn't going to pry for the time being.