A/N:Since One Piecehas multiple outfit designs for the characters in the openings, endings, anime, games, and movies, I'm going to use them in the story to save time from explaining what every character is wearing. There will be a list of clothes in the beginning of each chapter, but the details of the clothes will sometimes be described within the chapters. If you see a dash—/—it indicates that the characters are wearing more than outfit in a chapter, but at a different time. If one character is wearing their second outfit in a chapter, then the others are wearing it, too. Keep in mind that the characters are seen in the same outfit for over a long period of time. Skip the list if you're not interested, I really just put in there for myself. I know this may seem like a waste of time, but as an author, visual imagination is important to me.

Any trademark accessories/clothes of the Straw Hats will still be on their bodies, such as Luffy's straw hat and sandals, Zoro's green haramaki, black bandanna and pants, Usopp's olive-green bandana and shoes, his sniper goggles, and blue-and-white-striped wristband, Chopper's pink hat with the white X, Franky's blue speedos and golden chain necklace, and et cetera. Anything seen repeatedly on the characters throughout the series will not be described. For example, if Luffy's part lists him wearing his main outfit, he is wearing his straw hat on his head and sandals on his feet even if I didn't write it out.

Luffy's Clothes: Normal red vest with yellow buttons and blue shorts with white fur hemmed at the bottom.

Zoro's Clothes: An opened gray shirt from the end of the Thriller Bark Arc.

Nami's Clothes: Purple tank top with black liners, denim shorts, and light brown sandals from One Piece 3D: Straw Hat Chase.

Usopp's Clothes: Normal brown overalls with a white sash with no shirt underneath.

Sanji's Clothes: Normal black, double-breasted suit with a black tie and pants and a long-sleeved, buttoned light blue shirt underneath.

Chopper's Clothes: Normal maroon shorts.

Robin's Clothes: Buttoned, pinstriped light purple sweater, black pants, and black high-heeled shoes from the end of the Enies Lobby Arc.

Franky's Clothes: Yellow shirt with violet bull-like markings on each side on the front and on the back from the Thriller Bark Arc.

Brook's Clothes: Normal black suit with a dark blue cravat tie and black top hat.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Mind if I tag along, Swordsman?"

"Sure, 'long as you promise not to slow me down."– Episode 159

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

As a man that lives off the land and sea, Zoro found the most pleasure in days like this one. The bright sun, cool breeze, warm weather, and the calm sea—the perfect day for an afternoon nap aboard the Thousand Sunny as it sailed through the Grand Line. With his three swords by his side—still donning the gray shirt he wore after the crew left the nightmarish Thriller Bark—Zoro slept below one of the trees on the main deck, his chin down on his chest and mouth slightly parted. The rest of the crew was somewhere on the Sunny doing their own business, which meant that the sound of his light snores were heard by one person.

Sitting upon the swing, which was tied to the tree he was sleeping underneath, was the Straw Hat Pirates' intelligent and beautiful archeologist, her azure eyes reading over the pages of a red leather-bound book. In spite of the warm climate, she was dressed in the same tight, buttoned pinstriped purple sweater she wore when the Straw Hats left Water Seven. Her presence was one of comfort and respect for him. She was, after all, the only member of his crew to never disturb him when he was napping.

It was strange—ironic, really—that he thought the way of her now. When Robin first charmed the crew into letting her join, the swordsman was wary of her. She was a former enemy, so she couldn't be trusted. The former Vice President of Baroque Works managed to gain acceptance among the others, but not him. Since he wasn't as gullible or idiotic as his rubbery captain and the rest of his friends, he took it upon himself to keep an eye on her. It was what his logic—his survival instincts—told him to do. A woman dangerous and shady as her was capable of trickery and assassination, doing whatever it takes to remove obstacles from her path. After the events of Enies Lobby when Robin's horrific past and pure-hearted motives for abandoning the Straw Hats were revealed, Zoro finally and completely put his absolute trust in her. She had proven herself to be a kind and reliable person worthy of his respect. Now, he was free to nap beside her during quiet, peaceful days such as th—

"YOU DUMBASSES!"

Never mind.

Zoro's eyelids instantly shot open as Robin swiveled her head in direction of the kitchen, the source of where the thunderous voice emanated from. Hearing the noise from the Soldier Dock System, Franky popped his head from the hatch just in time to see their childish captain, cowardly sniper, frightened doctor, and shrilling musician come flying through the kitchen door and landing facedown onto the grassy deck.

"WE SAID WE WERE SORRY!" Luffy cried as Sanji stomped out from the galley.

"'Apologies won't cut it!" Fuming, the cook whacked Luffy and the others on their heads with one of his powerful feet.

"What's going on?" Nami inquired in exasperation as she emerged from the women's quarters, her hands on her narrow waist. She leveled the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit user with a hard stare. "Luffy, what did you do?"

"These idiots," the blond-haired man pointed an accusing finger at Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Brook as his visible eye shimmered with blatant anger, "ate the last of our food supply in a eating contest!"

"What?!" The navigator's jaw dropped. Glaring murderously at her captain, she gripped his red vest and shook him vigorously. "LUFFY! IS THIS TRUE?!"

"Wouldn't surprise me if it was," Zoro commented with a yawn, drowsy from his nap. Hearing that Luffy and the others eating out their food supply was nothing new to him. Being together for so long with the gluttonous man in his quest to become the King of the Pirates, he was used to his best friend's predictable idiocy.

"We said we were sorry," Luffy repeated, unaffected by his enraged cartographer.

"What's the big deal, anyway? We'll just buy more."

To help ease his nerves, Sanji lit a cigarette in his mouth. "Food doesn't come cheap, imbecile."

"So what? We have plenty of money from Thriller Bark," he reminded ignorantly. Frustrated, Nami let him go with a rough shove. He fell on his butt next to Brook, who was sitting with his legs crossed while Chopper and Usopp were cowering behind the skeleton.

"Actually, we don't," Robin inserted. Rising from her seat, she gently closed her book and held it beneath her lovely large breasts. "Don't you remember, Captain? You kept insisting on have large banquets after we left, thus depleting our food storage. Afterwards, we spent most of the treasure to stock up on rations on the last island about three weeks ago."

"So much do we have, then?" Franky quizzed as he came to her side.

"I'd say about enough money to buy supplies to last us about two weeks. We're also running out of fresh water, so I'd say we have until that long before we all starve to death." There was a pause before she added with morbid curiosity, "I wonder how long it will take our bodies to decay."

"Ew! Robin, don't say stuff like that," Nami chided with disgust, and then reached into her shorts to pull out a map from one its pockets. "Okay, according to where we are now, we should arrive at the next island in a hour or so."

"Then there's nothing to worry about," Luffy cheered, hopping onto his feet with a grin plastered on his youthful face. With a groan, Zoro scrubbed at hand over his stern face at his best friend's simple-mindedness. Typical Luffy. He never sees the bigger picture.

"You moron, don't you get it?" Sanji stuffed his hands in his black trousers. "Even if we do have enough money to buy supplies when we reach the next island, we're going be broke."

The captain blinked, dumbfounded. "Huh? Really?"

"YES, REALLY!" the thief and chef shouted in unison, prompting their leader to shield his ears from his screaming crewmates.

"Okay, I get it!"

The orange-haired woman turned her attention the crew. "All right, listen up. Robin, Zoro, Sanji, and I will be going into town to get the supplies once we've reached the island. Franky, you're staying behind on the Sunny."

"Why me?" the cyborg asked, clearly surprised.

"And what about us, Nami?" Chopper squeaked from his hiding spot behind Brook, although only half of his face was hidden and the rest of furry body was visible. "I wanted to go buy more medical books and medicine when we got to the next island."

"Yeah, I wanted to get more materials for the invention I'm working on with Franky," Usopp added in.

"And I wanna go exploring," Luffy pouted as their musician bobbled his head in agreement.

"You and the others can forget it," Nami frowned deeply. "All of you are grounded until we find a way to earn more Berries."

"WHAAAT?!"

"You heard me!" Ignoring the four's disappointed whines; she pivoted to the shipwright.

"Franky, go steer the helm."

With a defeated sigh, the blue-haired man gave her a mock salute as he slouched over to Sunny'sbow. As the four troublemakers followed Nami to the library in a futile attempt to convince her to lift their punishment, Sanji sauntered back into the kitchen, mumbling about Luffy and the others being a pain in the ass.

Zoro, never moving from his spot under the tree, raked a hand through his short hair irritation. "This is just great. Those idiots are always getting us into more messes than we really need. I knew that witch was gonna force me into gathering supplies."

Robin flashed him an amused smile, returning to her spot on the swing. "Were you planning to do anything special, Swordsman?"

"Not really. I just don't want to be stuck being someone's pack mule like that idiot cook," the ex-bounty hunter grumbled. "I just wanna do my own thing."

"Ah, I see," the older woman giggled mildly. She gave him another smile, although this one seemed more...sad, before diverting her irises back to her tome. The first mate shot her a confused look. Did he say something to offend her? Robin was mysterious as ever. She was always a difficult one to figure out, the truth always buried underneath that charming façade of hers. When Zoro gazed at her, he saw a puzzle that was just waiting to be solved.

Perhaps it was just a 'woman thing' that he'll never be able to understand. Either way, there was no use dwelling on something weird and complicated as the female mind. Stretching his arms in the air, the swordsman let out another yawn and fell back asleep.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

My, how endearing,Robin thought wistfully, peeking over her book to watch the slumbering swordsman. He was an amusing and interesting man to her. Since day one with the Straw Hats, Robin studied each and every one of her comrades to obtain a better understanding of them. Out of all of them, Zoro was the hardest to piece together. While Luffy and the others accepted her instantly, he kept his distance from her. He used to wear the mask of an aloof warrior around her, which occasionally came along with his gruff and cautious glares.

Her attempt to learn more about the grumpy green-haired man hasn't change since then. Seeing now that he was no longer held any suspicions toward her, Robin thought that getting close to the swordsman would be easier, but it wasn't. From time to time, she would ask him subtle questions, to which he responded by changing the subject or ignoring her. He was defiantly different from the rest of the crew. He wasn't open or expressive about himself, making him complicated to read.

It was as if he was a...puzzle.

She desired to know more about him, to understand him as a comrade and as a historian, just like the rest of the Straw Hats. It wasn't hard for her others to answer her inquires, but Zoro was most certainly a challenge, but that didn't mean she was giving up on the first mate.

However, it was more than just her inquisitive mind seeking to learn more about him. Robin felt like she could relate to Zoro more than anyone else within the crew. She thought it was because of their similar personalities, but she later realized that was not the case. No matter how many times she pondered about it, she couldn't find the answer to her own question.

The only thing Robin did know is that she felt a compelling need to bring herself closer to her sleeping shipmate.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Okay, everyone, you know what you have to do," Nami remarked to once they dropped anchor on the island. "Franky, keep a good eye on Luffy and the others while we're gone."

"Got it, Nami-sis." The mechanic gave her a small wave as she, Sanji, Robin, and Zoro stalked into town for their assigned tasks. Nami and Sanji were to stock up on food and fresh water while the raven-haired beauty and swordsman were to gather herbs and tools.

With nothing else to do, Franky plopped down to the wooden bench that circled the foremast, a cold bottle of cola in one his giant palms. It's too bad he had to listen to Luffy and the others whine over and over again about not being able to go into town for the rest of the day. The Straw Hat Pirates are a super weird crew, indeed. Who ever heard of a navigator grounding their captain?

"This is so unfair," Straw Hat complained for the fifth time since the others left. He sat on the railing of the Sunny with Long Nose, Reindeer-Gorilla and Skeleton, fishing rods in their hands with the lure floating in the ocean. As part of their so-called 'punishment', they were to catch as many fish as they can by the time the others get back. "I wanna go on an adventure!"

Chopper sighed quietly and murmured, "I wanted to buy more books and medicine with Robin."

"Come now, don't be so sad," Brook chimed in to raise the good doctor's spirit.

Usopp sent an irked glare at his ravenous leader. "This is all your fault, Luffy. If you hadn't eaten all of the food, we wouldn't be stuck on the Sunny doing this."

"HEY!" The raven-haired man's countenance shifted from whiny to mad at the accusation. "You ate all the food, too!"

"You're the one who wanted to have an eating contest in the first place!"

"Then why'd you join in?!"

"You told me that—"

Franky let out an exasperated groan as the argument continued. Flipping his black sunglasses over his eyes, the carpenter gazed up at the clear blue sky. He'd normally love to play with Straw Hat and the others by showing them one of his inventions or his robotic body, but he wanted buy more materials for his upcoming projects.

Unfortunately, he was stuck on the ship with nothing to keep him entertained. He sent a glance at Straw Hat, who was currently struggling to yank his fishing rod up with the help of Brook and Usopp while Chopper cheered his buddy on. Franky laughed when Luffy pulled his catch out of the sea, at the expense of being hurled over to the other side of Sunny from using too much force. Unperturbed, the energetic youth hopped back on his feet, and proudly presented a well-sized fish to his friends.

"Staying behind isn't too bad, I guess," Franky admitted with a smile. "Besides, if I'd left the Sunny alone with these guys, they're bound to cause a super mess."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Now, let's see here. We got enough water and food for about two weeks, so that's done. We have some money left. I wonder if I can buy some more map charters with it."

Nami's almond hues swept over the stores and crowds diligently. From the weather, she knew this was a Summer Island. From what she had seen so far, the island was peaceful, aside of the other pirates roaming the bars for liquor. She knew there were other pirates around the town since she saw their ships docked at the port, which meant there aren't any Marines or police force to protect the people. As long as the citizens didn't get in the pirates' way, they were left alone.

"But one thing still bothers me," she proclaimed, halting in her tracks and placed a hand to her chin. "What are pirates doing on this island? I'm pretty sure they didn't just come here for the rum."

"Is there anything you want to go next, my sweet Nami?" Sanji swooned by her side with a heart-shaped eye, his hands carrying multiple bags of food and barrels of water were held under his arms.

The thief ignored him and zeroed in at several pirates talking outside a bar, particularly a chubby, bald-headed man holding a scrape of paper. He must be the captain, she deduced.

"—and now that we got this map, the treasure will be ours!" she heard him cackled in a raspy voice and his crew hollered in agreement. There were a lot of them, but Nami didn't care at the moment. As the word 'treasure' kept echoing in her ears like a resonating golden bell, Nami's devious mind conjured a plan to get her claws onto that map. With an inward, evil smirk, the thief sashayed over to the pirate crew with a fake, sweet smile etched upon her pretty visage.

"Huh? Nami, where're you going?" Sanji blinked in bewilderment when she started to walk away.

"Just stay there for a minute, Sanji," she called back without looking over her shoulder.

Being the love cook that he is, the blond-haired man happily obliged. "Of course, Nami-swan."

"Hey there, boys." The cute orange-haired woman planted her feet firmly in front of her next victims. Flashing them a flirty wink and seductive smirk, she put her scheme into action.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"That should be it, Swordsman."

"Finally, we're done!"

Robin giggled at Zoro's grouchy compliant they stepped out of the apothecary with bags clutched within their fingers. With their task completed, it was now time to head back to the ship.

"You go on ahead, Robin." Zoro stopped in the middle of the streets. "I'm going to take a detour."

As she ceased her gait, Robin pivoted and raised one beautifully sculpted eyebrow at her companion. "Where do you plan on going?"

"I'm going to a weapons shop. I'm going to get more cleaning supplies for my swords with the money we have left."

The archeologist titled her head to the side and gave him a polite smile. She could take advantage of opportunity to spend time with Zoro and learn more about him. "Well, if that's the case, do you mind if I tag along, Swordsman?"

Evidently shocked by the request, he took a moment to register her words. Why did she want to go to a weapons shop with him? The only thing she really was interested in was ruins and history books.

"Why?" he questioned.

"Well, I don't want you to lose your way, seeing that your directional skills is not quite as adept as the rest of us," the female pirate teased, enjoying how his ears flared red in humiliation. She always enjoyed him being put on the spot. She found his embarrassment to be very...cute. "So, do you mind if I tag along? I promise I won't be a bother."

"Sure, whatever." He grunted something else under his breath that Robin couldn't hear, and swiveled in a different direction, which was, of course, the wrong way to his chosen destination. Fortunately, Robin purchased a map when they were still at the docks and studied the layout of the island. The town was quite small since the island is mainly composed of mountains and forests, so the roads were easy to commit to memory.

"Swordsman, I believe the shop is the other way."

"I knew that." The male pirate hastily swiveled, his countenance flushing bright pink.

She grinned. "Of course you did."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

As Zoro spoke with the owner of the store, Robin took the time view the shop with her sharp eyes. It was small and simple, swords decorating the walls and in barrels for customers to see. She peered at a sword with a black sheath and red stars that hung the closest to the counter, studying it down to its minutest details.

"All right, thanks." Zoro's voice drew her observation; her blue orbs watching the owner—a middle-aged with shaggy brown hair and stubble on his chin—make his way to the back to collect the items the ex-bounty hunter ordered. Lazily, Zoro lounged against the counter with his right hand dangling on his sword with the white scabbard—Wadō Ichimonji.

Robin's mind was piqued. Why is it that Zoro kept that particular sword closest to his heart? Watching him for so long, the raven-haired beauty noticed how gentle and carefully he care for that blade like a man caressing his lover. There must a story behind it, a deep and solemn history of such great importance to him that he couldn't even imagine being apart from it. Robin knew it and being the archeologist that she is, she let her inquisitiveness do the talking for her.

"Swordsman, may I ask a question?" she began.

"Depends. What do you want to know?" Ah, ever the suspicious one. This might not be as easy as getting Sanji into brewing a cup of coffee for her when she was yearning for the sip of that delicious substance.

"That pure white sword of yours, what is it to you?"

For a split second, the swordsman's eyes widened in shock and something else she couldn't decipher. His body went rigid, his stance stiffened. Gripping the hilt tightly with his left hand as if he was seeking some sort of comfort from it, Zoro relaxed his composure to show that her inquiry didn't bother him. Why was he hiding his reaction from her?

"What do you want to know that?" Zoro countered with a question of his own, his tone almost sounding like he was forcing himself to remain nonchalant. What was the history behind that sword that could cause such an alarmed response from him? Robin was becoming more curious by the second.

"Well, I've always wondered why you seem to treasure that sword so much. It's precious to you, isn't it? I wish to know why as a friend and archeologist," she replied coolly.

"It's just my favorite." Robin caught the flash of an emotion surfacing in his dark hues, the sound of his deep voice giving away of that certain feeling. The raven-haired woman almost gasped in disbelief. Why did Zoro looked and sounded so... Mournful? Hurt?

Robin felt like she shouldn't press on, realizing just how sensitive the topic may be for him, but something compelled her to push forward with the interrogation. In a soft, hesitant tone, she whispered, "But why?"

"That's none of your busi—"

"Here you go, sonny." The shopkeeper came back just in the nick of time. Breaking his sight from Robin, Zoro turned to the owner and paid him.

"Thanks." The first mate took the white bag from the elder man and bent down to pick half of the bags off the floor where they'd left them. Avoiding any sort of eye contact with his older crewmate, he headed for the door. "Let's go."

Robin inclined her head, heaving up the rest of the supplies and silently followed. A part of her started to regret ever bringing the history of the Wadō Ichimonji up. She hoped that she didn't just ruin her relationship with the swordsman. Was he mad at her for invading his personal life? Or was it that he was remembering a horrible memory in his past that he didn't want to share openly?

Perhaps I overstepped my boundaries.Robin lowered her head down in shame. She could understand if she went overboard with green-haired man, since she also knew what it felt like to have trouble opening up to others—especially when it comes to things of the past. It was one of the other reasons why she felt the need to get to know the swordsman better. She and Zoro were kindred spirits in so many ways, so it was easy to understand how he must be feeling right about now. Should she apologize to him?

Although she felt a twinge of remorse for what happened, the raven-haired beauty felt like she almost made a real connection with Zoro and she didn't want to stop what she'd began. Something told her that her if she continued down this road with him, her relationship with Zoro would change in a completely new and surreal direction.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Well, that was weird,Zoro thought as he walked side by side with the Devil Fruit user. They haven't said a word since they left the shop, which made things awkward for them. Should he apologize for nearly snapping at her when she quizzed him about Wadō Ichimonji and its history? No, why should he? He did nothing wrong, so why should he have to apologize when she was the one prying into his personal business? What gave that nosy woman the right to bring the subject up in the first place? However...

The swordsman glanced over his shoulder, and saw the expressionless mask that archeologist now wore. In spite of that, he knew that she was feeling bad about what transpired between them at the shop. Robin was like that in the beginning, putting on a façade to hide her true feelings. Little by little, she had begun slowly opening to the Straw Hats after proving to her that they would never cast her aside and betray her. And now, she had built that same wall once again to obscure her real emotions.

Okay, fine! He did feel guilty for overreacting. She was just curious and didn't mean any harm, but the topic of Wadō's history was something that he'd always been sensitive about. It looked like she wanted to say something to him, but couldn't. Did she think that he was mad at her?

"Hey, Robin," he called her out at last.

She lifted her head to look at him. "Hmm?"

"I'm not angry at you or anything. Sorry for what happened back there."

Astonished by his unexpected apology, the raven-haired beauty's lips curved into a grateful smile. "Thank you, Swordsman. I'm glad you told me. But I suppose I should apologize for asking you so abruptly."

Whew. That was easier than Zoro anticipated. "It's no big deal. I was just surprised, that's all."

"I understand." She nodded sympathetically, happy that the uncomfortable silence has evaporated. With that settled, the pair continued to the Thousand Sunny. To Zoro's dismay, the first thing he heard was Nami's annoying voice.

"About time you guys got back. What took you?" She stood at deck with the others, and the green-haired man spotted a rolled up scrape of paper in her hands as soon as he stepped onto the ship with Robin. Immediately, Sanji swooped in and offered to take her bags.

Zoro merely rolled his eyes at the chef. What a lovesick idiot.

"Here." He ignored the greedy devil and shoved the bags of tools and medicine to Usopp and Chopper. Seriously, how can Robin deal living in the same room as Nami? All he wanted to do was train.

"Come back here, Zoro," Nami commanded before he even touch the ropes tied the foremast that acted as a route to the crow's nest. The crow's nest was Zoro's most private haven on the ship, a place where he can go to train, nap, or just escape his obnoxious crewmates.

"What do you want?" he demanded, crossing his arms over his muscular torso.

"I have something to show you guys," the navigator announced, unfurling the scrape of brown paper. "Feast your eyes on this!"

While the rest of the Straw Hats awed at the treasure map (minus Robin), Zoro scrubbed a hand over his face in exhaustion. If Nami found a treasure map, then that means he'll be forced into the expedition group in order to retrieve the riches. Ugh... Am I ever going to get a break around here?

"Wow, Nami! Where'd you get this?" Luffy jumped up and down in excitement.

"When Sanji and I were out in town, some pirates talking about a treasure being on this island," she explained, her finger tracing circles over the drawings that represents the forest and mountains. "According to this, there's a treasure hidden in some ruins located one of the mountains."

"Ruins? In a town like this?" Usopp inquired, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Yeah. Apparently, this town used to be ruled by a bandit. Then one day, he was killed when pirates came and took all of his treasure. However, the bandit left behind a large sapphire in some sort of tomb in the ruins that was constructed long ago on the island. No one was able to get the treasure even with a map because the mountain to get there is too steep."

"Hah! No mountain is going to stop us from getting the treasure," Luffy boasted confidently, pounding his fist in his other hand. "I bet we can get it with no problem!"

"That's our Luffy," Nami chirped. "If you guys get the sapphire for me, it can solve our money problem."

"So you'll let us go on an adventure?" the rubbery captain asked with sparkling eyes.

"Yep, but if you don't get it, Luffy, you'll be back on punishment," the cartographer warned. "Understand?"

The captain gave his navigator a serious salute. "Yes, ma'am!"

"Good. Usopp, Franky and Brook can stay behind to guard the ship until we get back."

"Wait a damn minute!" Zoro stomped angrily over to his incredibly bratty shipmate.

"Why the hell do I have to go? If you want to make money, that's fine, but leave me out of it."

"You're coming and that's final, Zoro," she retorted. "Those pirates I stole the map from might come after us. Their crew was huge, so we might need you. If you don't go, I'm going to increase your debt."

Backed to the corner, Zoro caved in. He hated when she threatened to raise his debt every single time she wanted him to do something he didn't want to do. "Fine, whatever."

The witch snickered with victory. "That's what I thought."

The male pirate glared at her, miffed. That damn woman, I swear. What's with women and thinking that the only way to get men to do something is to manipulate them?

"ALL RIGHT! IT'S DECIDED! LET'S GO, GUYS!" Luffy hollered at the top of his lungs, pumping his fists in the air. "TO OUR NEXT ADVENTURE! LET'S GET THAT TREASURE!"

Zoro couldn't suppress his smirk at his best friend's eagerness as he and his fellow crewmates joyfully exclaimed, "YEAH!"

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Swordsman, you joining us?"

"Hmm? Yeah, I'll be along soon."

"The captain smells adventure. Huh... I never stopped to think any of this as adventurous. Maybe I should reconsider my stance."– Episode 154

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ~ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

A/N:To help raise awareness on the situation and encourage fans to buy the DVDs, I will be posting a VERY important A/N at the end of each chapter, although it will be a summarized version of this one. I would appreciate it if all of you readers/fellow One Piece fans take the time to read this.

4Kids Entertainment was the first to license the One Pieceseries for North American release. However, due to the show being too violent for children, it was dropped. On April 12, 2007, the popular company known as FUNimation Entertainmentannounced they had acquired the rights to One Piece. Since then, FUNimation has been at hard work dubbing the rest of the series, and even premiered some of the episodes on Cartoon Network on Toonami until it was canceled due to low ratings. Since it no longer airs on television, a few fans believed that FUNimation had stopped dubbing One Piece.

One Piecehas been doing well and still in the process of being dubbed by FUNimation. On October 28, 2011, FUNimation announced that they had acquired the rights to Season Four, and is currently releasing the Voyages to those episodes. On July 28, 2012, FUNimation announced that they had acquired the rights to Season Five of One Piece and the canon movie One Piece Film: Strong World for North America release for this summer, although no release date has been set.

According to one of the staff of FUNimation during an interview, the reason why FUNimation were able to license Season 5 andOne Piece Film: Strong World shortly after their announcement of Season 4 was due to the fans that had BROUGHT the DVDs of One Piece. It was because of those who had legally and financially supported FUNimation is why they were able to get this far as they are today.

One Pieceis rightfully own by the Japanese company known as Toei Animation. Before FUNimation could begin working on a series, they must license it. Licensing is very expensive, often hundreds to thousands of dollars for one series and tens of thousands for one movie. Although simulcast Internet streaming rights can be less expensive, the prices still range from around $1,000-$2,000 an episode. The prices vary for each and every anime and movie, so just imagine how much money it takes to license just a single episode of one of the most popular animes in Japan. This may seem unfair, but if you honestly think about it, it's not. After all, they're the ones that created the show, directed it, produced it, distribution it, designed it, edited it, voiced it, and everything else. Additionally, that money helps Toei produce more episodes for the series.

After licensing the show, FUNimation must work out a contract with Toei. One of the key points of contract is this: If FUNimation's work on One Piece does well in North America, Toei they will continue supplying them with rights to the episodes of the series. Due to their contract and the amount of money it takes to license episodes, movies, and songs (when obtaining songs, an additional license must be made), it takes FUNimation a while to get rights to the One Piece episodes or anything relating to the series. It is NOTbecause they are slow at dubbing, lazy or given up the series. It IS because they must get Toei's agreement to deliver One Piece to the U.S and pay for it before they can do anything. Even then, the whole process of dubbing episodes is time-consuming, which is why I find it very disrespectful for anyone to criticizing FUNimation for their speed.

After spending hours of negotiating, FUNimation will have to begin translating the Japanese dialogue to English for the episodes and songs; recording with the English voice actors/actresses (who are have lives and other jobs within that same company) and holding auditions for new voice actors to voice new characters; edit the voices over to the scenes and checking over them to match the movement of their lips; mass producing the DVDs and cases for over a million fans across the country; downloading the episodes on billions of DVDs; and then distributing them to stores. If getting an episode is expensive, consider how much money and time it takes FUNimation to get the equipment they need to get through to the actual release.

There are reasons why I'm informing readers/fans in full details about everything that goes down in FUNimation is to reach the main point I'm trying to get at. And those reasons are:

1.) To clarify that 4Kids used to own and dubbed OnePiece, and that FUNimation is the one in current possession of it. There are a few fans that didn't know that 4Kids was the previous owner of the series, and still believes that the company is still dubbing it. FUNimation now has the rights to One Piece, and they are a different company. I wanted to get to help clear the confusion.

2.) To inform those who have not heard about FUNimation gaining the rights to Season 5 and One Piece Film: Strong World for North American release. I know that some fans that are not as well informed as others because they do not have a lot of access to the Internet, search the web for various reliable sites, or only focus on the original Japanese of One Piece since they don't care for the English. I wanted to help FUNimation and spread the word around.

3.) To inform and defend FUNimation for their "slow" speed of dubbing the episodes for One Piece. As I said above, I find it disrespectful for anyone to complain about how "slow" FUNimation is without being aware of what steps they must go through and the time-consuming process it takes them to actual get to the release of the DVDs.

4.) To inform and encourage fans to support One Piece by buying the DVDs in order to get more episodes.

Toei and FUNimation are partners due to their contract for One Piece(and possibly with other animes). In order for FUNimation to get more rights to One Piece, the DVDs must sell well. Toei gets a fair share of their profit from those DVDs, and once they had determined that One Piece is doing well in the U.S, they will allow FUNimation to acquire more rights to the series. Toei can't allow FUNimation to get more episodes unless they know that the series is doing well with American audience and, as it is mentioned above, licensing is very expensive. Mike McFarland, the ADR director for One Piece and the voice of Buggy, tweeted on his Twitter account that FUNimation only license one season at a time.

I know what half of you readers/fans are thinking. One, what happened if we don't have money to buy the DVDs? Can I still support it? Two, why would we waste our money on DVDs when we can watch for free online on anime sites? Three, I hate the English and I only watch the Japanese, so I don't want the DVDs.

1.) For the first half, the most common answer is to get a job. For the second half, there are two ways you can support the series.

FUNimation's official website and OnePieceOfficial streams both dubbed and subbed episodes of One Piece on their website every Saturday and release the new episode in at either eight or nine o'clock (depends on the timezone area and when Daylight Saving Time occurs) after an hour of its premiere in Japan. When you are watching FUNimation's site, a LEGAL site, FUNimation can see there is a market for it and they can get pay for advertisements revenue. By watching there, you can still be supporting FUNimation in a small and perfectly legalway. Please watch on FUNimation's main website or OnePieceOffical since they are the only legal streaming sites on that shows One Piece. Anything else is pirated and is therefore illegal, so FUNimation or Toei won't benefit from it.

Another legal way is to watch from Neon Alley. On October 2, 2012, Viz Media (who dubs Naruto, so please support it by buying the DVDs) launched a 24-hour anime channel featuring popular animes that are dubbed and uncut exclusively on the PlayStation®Network and the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) system. The subscription-based service will be available for a low $6.99 per month. Neon Alley is the first platform designed to be studio agnostic, featuring titles from other anime producers and content distributors, including Aniplex, FUNimation, NTV, Taiseng, Anime News Network (an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, et cetera), and Empire Distribution. By subscribing to Neon Alley, not only you are supporting just FUNimation and Toei, you're also supporting these companies and their Japanese partners as well for only a low price of $6.99 per month. Please, spread the word and tell your friends/fans.

2.) There are numerous anime sites out there that many people go to watch anime whether they are in English, Japanese, or both. I know there are many reasons why people use them, but those anime sites are the ones that are RUINING dubbing companies like FUNimation and Viz Media. Bandai Entertainment is a clear example that when dubbing companies are not profitable, the companies they partnered with will pull out and canceled the series.

Anime sites are great threats to FUNimation and other companies like them. They are violating the copyright laws and committing infringement by posting episodes that belonged to FUNimation and Toei, thus killing their business because no one is buying their products. When the companies find the anime sites, they will take action against them.

Like I said before, I know there are many reasons why people use anime sites. I have gone to forums, YouTube, and other sites and read many arguments about the matter, hearing and reading from both sides. For example, some people think that piracy doesn't have that much affect on dubbing companies. There are other causes for companies to go out of business, but whether people want to accept it or not, piracy do have a large affect on companies—both in and outside of the United States and Japan.

On October 23, 2007, according to ANN (Anime News Network), the Japanese government issued a formal statement of requests to the government of the United States. One of the requests asked for the United States to help stop the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of Japanese animation online. According to Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the distribution of copyrighted materials in the United States has increasingly damaged the creative industries of Japan. On August 18, 2008, FUNimation issued a statement following a lawsuit against illegal uploaders for several animes that were fansubbed online: "Though these series have not been licensed to a local distributor in North America, it is important to note that the rights owned by Japanese producers are still applicable, and enforceable, worldwide.

Industry watchers and anime fans have long known our stance on the unauthorized distribution of anime, especially prior to localization. The practices of illegal downloads and 'fansubbing' are very harmful to our Japanese partners and as part of the longstanding relationship between FUNimation and d-rights and Enoki Films, we have been asked to monitor and take action against unauthorized distribution of these titles. Because we believe that this will benefit the industry, we have agreed to do so."

On October 1, 2012, ANN posted an article stating that the Japanese government passed a law that penalizes people who illegally download copyrighted material. Those charged with illegal downloading will face up to two years of prison or fines of up to two million yen (about $25,000 in the U.S).

Please, buy the DVDs for One Piece (preferably the Voyages since they are the ones that makes the most profits for the companies) or support it in any way you can. Like the dedicated fans out there, I have all of the Collections, and I'm going to keep getting them to show my support. I hope everyone else can encourage others to do the same. Every contribution matters, so please don't think because other people across the world are helping to make sure the series is successful that the company doesn't need support from you.

3.) I know there are lot of arguments about which is better, English or Japanese. I don't care about this ridiculous debate between rude fans that like one and hate the other. I like both the English and Japanese, but happen to love the English more. Just because there are people that don't agree with your point of view, it doesn't mean you should bash them for it. There are lots of fans that just like English, Japanese, or both. There's nothing wrong about liking one of them or both. Everyone is going to have different opinions, but please show respect to those who might not share your point view. It doesn't matter to me and I don't think it should matter to anyone else, either. In the end, we're all One Piece fans and want it to be successful.

FUNimation is a United States company and one of their main focus is to dub the One Pieceseries, however, that does NOT mean that only thing they have on the DVDs is the English episodes. Both the Voyages and Collections contain BOTH English and Japanese audio (along with the subtitles). Even if someone does like one and not the other, you can still buy the DVDs and change the settings to suit your preference, thus supporting the series.

Interesting fact: According to an interview on The Unofficial One Piece Podcast (good source for information and has direct contact with FUNimation occasionally) with Sonny Strait, the voice actor for Usopp, when he and the other voice actors/actresses went to audition for their roles, it was Eiichiro Oda, the famous and beloved creator of One Piece, that chose the English voices/actresses for the series, not the English directors. He wanted to cast voice actors/actresses that sounded close to the original Japanese voices. If Oda-sensei handpicked these voice actors/actresses himself and loved them, then I know that everyone will grow to love (or at least like) them, too. If you don't believe me, search it on the web and see for yourselves.

If anyone has questions or seeking information (like the difference between the Voyages and the Collections and their release dates), you can ask me or go to the One Piece Wiki. However, here's a warning: Do NOT trust everything you read on the OP Wiki so easily. A wiki can be edit by anyone, even trolls or ignorant people, and since I also used to edit there, I know the inner workings well. The reason why I quit was mostly because it is more like a fan site rather than an actual wiki, and the articles there are sloppy and bias. There were a lot of users that bullied me (and the wiki hardly did a thing about it), so I stuck to minor edits and then eventually quit. The most I ever did was the Appearances sections for the Straw Hats (although I gave up halfway on Nami's) and among other things. I'm not saying that they're unreliable and they are pretty decent, but don't trust the OP Wiki so easily and that goes for other wikis, too. If you have any doubts, check the anime/manga, the primary source, and remember to only trust a wiki when you are sure it is 100% reliable.

Thank you for those that read my long A/N. Please do not send reviews with counterarguments about anything I have said in my A/N, especially about the issues of piracy. As piracy is one of the most heated debates between fans across the Internet, I know it's a touchy subject, but it would be incredibly inappropriate to debate about such things on a site meant for stories. Speaking of which, I'm going to be posting one chapter a month. To conclude this A/N, I have one more thing to say: Today is November 11, Zoro's birthday! Happy birthday, Zoro! :)