Hi there! This story is a sequel to my fic On the Misty Shore. You're going to want to read that first, or you'll be as lost as Zoro. :P For those that have read it, welcome back, and thanks for sticking with me. c:

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

Chapter 1 – Assessments

Breakfast on the Thousand Sunny was always an exciting time, matched only by lunch and dinner—or possibly the odd enemy attack. Bits of rice, meat, and the occasional roll flew through the air as each crew member fought to claim their share. It wasn't as hard as it had once been—their captain's arms could no longer stretch across the entire table, nor was his appetite quite so limitless, but Luffy still did an admirable job of clearing as much of the food as he could reach.

At the far end of the table, a translucent figure watched the proceedings wistfully. "Looks good," Zoro muttered to himself. What he wouldn't give for a drink right now…

"Jealous?" Zoro looked up to see Sanji grinning down at him. "And it tastes as good as it looks."

"Probably tastes like shit, then." The swordsman scowled and looked away.

A vein twitched on Sanji's forehead, but amusement was still in his voice as he leaned closer. "You're not fooling me that easily. I heard what you said just now, Marimo. You miss my cooking, admit it. You'd do anything for just one bite of my lovingly-prepared meal—"

"Like hell," Zoro growled. "It's just a leftover habit. After three centuries of not eating, even your food starts to look almost edible."

There was a creaking noise as Sanji's hand tightened on his spatula. "Care to repeat that, shitty swordsman?"

Zoro rose, smirking, to face him. "I said that it's a good thing I don't need to eat anymore. At least I don't have to pretend to enjoy your cooking."

"Why you—" Sanji launched a furious kick at Zoro, who watched the chef with a bored expression as the attack swept cleanly through his intangible body. "Stop doing that, damn you!" Sanji sent another round of fruitless kicks at the ghost.

"Stop what?" Zoro asked. "I'm not doing anything. It takes effort to touch things. Why should I spend that effort on you, love-cook?"

Sanji let out a wordless cry of frustration. "Why are you even here, shithead?" He glared at Zoro. "As you oh-so-helpfully pointed out, you don't need to eat! Aren't you supposed to be keeping watch? Get the hell out!"

"What, scared something might sneak up on you?" Zoro yawned, standing there just long enough to make a point that he was leaving because he chose to and not because Sanji had told him to, then vanished from the galley.

"Fucking shitty ghost," Sanji grumbled, flopping into a seat and taking a deep drag on his cigarette.

"I'm still not used to that," Usopp said with a shiver, staring at the spot where Zoro had been standing.

"I know what you mean," Nami said, stirring her coffee. "It still bothers me sometimes, even after six months. So much is still the same…" She stared into her drink. "Sometimes, when we're sailing peacefully, it feels just like it did before. I start forgetting about what came after, our new lives, and all of it…and then Zoro will walk through the wall, or appear out of nowhere, and everything comes crashing back."

"Yeah," Franky said. "Or we'll be fighting guys we coulda handled no problem before, and we only realize we're in over our head when Zoro steps in to rescue us." He lifted his glass of cola, draining it in one long gulp and slamming it back onto the table. "Man, this sucks! I miss my old super-body."

"I'm glad he does, though," Chopper said. "You guys get too reckless sometimes. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Anyway, it can't be helped," Robin said calmly. "It will take time to regain our former strength. Locating four specific devil fruits or even just recovering speed and muscle…they won't happen overnight. We've already made great progress since we've returned to this world."

"You're absolutely right, Robin-chwan!" Sanji said, leaping up to offer her another coffee. "But I still wish it'd go faster," he muttered, once he'd returned to his seat. "I can't stand depending on the shitty marimo for safety."

The rest of the crew shared the sentiment, if not the chef's feelings toward the ghostly swordsman. It was an undeniable fact that Zoro was currently the strongest member of the crew by far, and likely would be for some time to come. Their new bodies, while generally fit, didn't have the years of training from their previous lives. Luffy and Sanji had some Haki control back, but it was weak and still unreliable. None of the devil fruit users had their powers restored. Franky had been spending increasing amounts of time in his workshop, but there had been no signs of cyborg modifications so far, and all he would tell them was that whatever he was working on wasn't ready yet. Between Chopper's ministrations and regular energy transfers from Zoro, Luffy's health was considerably better than it had been when they'd first returned; but "better" wasn't the same as "robustly healthy", and he still tired easily.

Zoro, on the other hand, while occasionally having difficulties maintaining a solid hold on his swords in the heat of battle, had lost none of his ability since becoming a spirit—in fact, having spent nearly four hundred years alone with nothing to do but train, he was stronger than ever. In response, Sanji was training twice as hard as anyone else on the crew, determined to regain his old skills so he could stop being protected and get back to doing the protecting—particularly of the ladies, of course.

"Not to worry, Sanji-san," Brook said comfortingly. "I'm sure we'll be able to pull our weight soon—even though I now have more weight to pull, Yohohoh-AAAHH!" The musician's laugh rose sharply to a scream as without warning, Zoro popped back into the room directly across from him. Luffy continued eating, unconcerned, and Robin merely blinked, but the rest of the crew jumped, shrieked, or fell backwards, startled by the swordsman's sudden appearance.

"Zoro-san…please don't do that..." said Brook weakly, clutching at his chest.

"What have we told you about sudden appearances?" Nami yelled. "If you can't bring yourself to use the door like a normal person, at least teleport to the side of the room, don't just pop up right on top of us like that!"

"I should kill you for scaring Nami-san, you shitty bastard," Sanji snarled.

Zoro snorted. "Bit late for that, cook." He turned to his captain. "There's a ship approaching, Luffy."

Luffy looked up, breakfast momentarily forgotten. "What kind of ship?"

"Looks like a pirate ship," Zoro said. "It's too far away to be sure of the mark, but it's definitely a Jolly Roger."

"Pirates." Sanji ground out his cigarette. "Probably means a fight, then."

"We could just get out of here," Nami suggested. "Franky, we have enough cola for a Coup de Burst, don't we?"

"Yeah, we're all stocked and good to go!" Franky said confidently. "We can disappear before they get anywhere near us."

"Well, Luffy?" Usopp asked hopefully. "Let's just leave for now, huh? We're getting close to the next island, remember, and we heard there might be a devil fruit there, too! We don't need to be getting involved in anything dangerous right now!"

Luffy was silent for a moment, eyes shadowed by his hat. "No," he said at last. He looked at his crew. "I don't want to run away anymore. We'll never be as strong as we were before if we keep running from danger."

"We'll never get to be that strong if we fight someone we're not ready for and get killed, either!" Usopp whined, but everyone knew there was no use arguing with Luffy when he had made up his mind like this.

"We keep going," Luffy said firmly. "If they catch up to us, we'll deal with it then." He smiled. "Besides, maybe they're nice guys!"

"I doubt it…" Nami said with a sigh as Luffy headed for the door, chuckling. "Well, come on, then. We'd better be as ready as we can."

Sanji grinned hungrily as the crew left the galley. "Perfect," he said, pulling out a new cigarette and lighting up. "I could use a good workout."

"Be careful, Sanji!" Chopper said worriedly. "I know you're getting stronger, but…but…"

"Yeah, I know," the chef said, pausing to rest a hand on the reindeer's head. "I'm not gonna do anything stupid. Just stay here and relax."

Chopper didn't look happy, but stuck in Brain Point form, he was even more useless in a fight than Luffy, and the crew had decided soon after they'd returned that the little doctor would stay out of the way during any conflicts until he regained his powers. They needed Chopper to remain unhurt; the rest of the crew was far more likely to sustain injury these days, and having medical attention available after the battle was critical.

The crew lined up on deck as the ship approached. It was definitely a pirate ship, though rather small and shoddily built. The flag featured an image of a round green fruit carved to resemble a grinning face, with two black knives crossed behind. The Straw Hats eyed the flag, considering.

"…Melon Pirates?" suggested Usopp at last.

"What a sad-looking ship," said Franky. "I'll bet she's never seen a decent shipwright in her life."

"This is the big emergency?" Sanji grumbled.

"Should be about right for you," Zoro said with a grin. "I think I'll sit this one out. You kids have fun."

Sanji bit down hard on his cigarette. "Sure," he ground out between clenched teeth. "You just stay back and let us handle it, gramps."

Zoro glared. "Call me that one more time, cook—"

"Well, let's not be too quick to judge these people on appearances." Robin spoke up. "If we underestimate them, we may be cut to pieces."

"T-that's not funny, Robin." Usopp gripped his kabuto nervously.

"It doesn't matter what they look like," Luffy said. "We'll see if they're friendly, and if not, we'll take care of them."

"Right," Franky said. The shipwright was carrying a small shoulder cannon, though he kept it lowered for the moment.

Zoro placed a hand on Luffy's shoulder. "I'll be here if you need me," he said. Luffy nodded, and Zoro faded from sight.

The ship caught up to them a minute later. Up close, it looked even worse—clearly something that had been cobbled together by amateurs just starting out. The sails were patched; the planks were uneven and stuck out at weird angles.

"It's a miracle the thing hasn't sprung a leak," muttered Franky.

The ship's crew was on deck. They seemed to be armed mainly with swords, though one or two sported battered guns. Every one of them fixed the Straw Hats with identical glares as they drew near the Sunny.

"Well, they look friendly," Brook said, keeping a firm grip on his sword.

Luffy was undeterred. "Hey!" he called enthusiastically. "What's up, guys?"

One of the pirates stepped forward. He was a hulking giant of a man, with long, scraggly blond hair capped by a green helmet that strongly resembled a melon. He brandished his sword at the Straw Hats. "Prepare to die, insolent fools!" he shouted.

"Seriously?" Nami asked. "He couldn't come up with a better opening line than that?"

"Why?" Luffy called back to the man. "We haven't done anything to you!"

The man's eyes narrowed. "How dare you use that flag?" He swung his sword up to point at the Straw Hats' Jolly Roger, fluttering proudly in the wind. "That mark belongs to Monkey D. Luffy, the second king of the pirates! You insult his name by trying to claim it as your own, and we will make you pay for your impudence!"

"Oh, not this again," Usopp moaned.

Nami sighed. "How many times does this make now? See, Luffy, this kind of thing will just keep happening! We really should just put the flag away until we're stronger—"

"No," Luffy said. He glared back at the other captain. "This is our flag! And we'll defend it!"

"Cheeky brat." With a mighty leap, the man landed on the Sunny's deck, brandishing his sword at Luffy. "You're dead!"

"Oi, shithead," Sanji said. "Get the hell off our ship."

"Or we'll get you off," Franky said, raising his cannon to aim at the pirate.

The man glared at the weapon contemptuously. "You expect me to be scared of your little toys? If you're so full of yourselves that you'd use that flag, you should have something more impressive to back it up!"

"Well, we could call up the resident ghost," Sanji said, raising his leg, "but he tends to get grumpy when we bother him for things we're perfectly capable of handling ourselves."

The fight was brief. The man's sword skills were not much more impressive than his ship, and a few quick kicks sent him sailing back to crash among his men, bruised and bleeding, with his melon helmet smashed to bits.

The rest of his crew roared in outrage and surged forward onto the Sunny. "Looks like it's party time," Franky said, grinning.

The Straw Hats set to with relish. The Melon Pirates had a lot of men for such a small ship, but they were just as weak as their captain had been, and Luffy and his crew had no real difficulty finishing them off.

"Is it over?" Chopper asked a few minutes later, peeking cautiously out from the galley.

"Yeah." Sanji grinned at him. "No problem. We kicked their asses."

"Awesome, Sanji!" Chopper squeaked, running down onto the deck. "You're amazing!"

"Yeah," said a voice, and Zoro reappeared in the middle of the deck, smirking. "Congratulations on being able to handle small fry, Swirlybrat. Bet you're real proud."

Sanji's good mood evaporated in an instant. "Shut the hell up, shitty ghost," he growled, and sent a kick flying straight through Zoro's head. It may have been a useless gesture, but seeing that smug look disrupted even for an instant made him feel better, somehow.

"Did anyone get hurt?" Chopper asked anxiously.

"Not a scratch!" said Usopp proudly. Then he glanced at his captain. "Hey, you okay, Luffy?"

Luffy was leaning on the rail. He seemed uninjured, but was breathing a bit hard. "I'm fine," he said.

Chopper rushed over to him. "You can't push yourself so hard in fights yet," he said worriedly. "Come on, I need to make sure you're okay." He began tugging Luffy towards the stairs.

"I'm just a little tired, that's all. I'm fine, really—"

"Don't argue with your doctor! Get in here!"

With a sigh, Luffy gave up and allowed himself to be led to the infirmary.

"He's okay…right?" Usopp asked.

"I'm sure he's fine," Nami said. "He really has gotten much better since we returned. He just needs to learn not to take things too fast." She headed for the stairs. "I guess I should see if Chopper needs help with anything."

"Man," Franky said as the rest of the crew headed inside as well, "it's nice to be famous, but I could do without all these pirates throwing themselves at us out of wounded pride."

"Yeah," Usopp agreed. "But I guess we're stuck with it, huh? You heard Luffy; he'll never hide our flag. We're lucky we were able to convince him not to go shouting the whole story to everyone we meet."

"All we have to do is get stronger," Sanji said, heading into the galley. "Then it won't matter who comes after us or for what."

"And with any luck, the next island will help us do just that!" Brook said. "If there is a devil fruit there, and if it is one of the four we seek—"

"That's a lot of 'ifs'," Usopp said.

"We must think positively, Usopp-san! Why shouldn't it be one of ours?"

"Okay, fine," the sniper said with a sigh. "I just hope we can get it without too much trouble."

So…yes. First chapter. Hopefully you enjoyed. c:

I'm not going to make any promises on how often I'm going to update. I have the next several chapters written, but I want to maintain that lead (maybe even increase it), so you'll get chapter 2 when I'm finished with the chapter I'm writing now, etc. I would love to make that happen once a week, but I know I won't be able to keep to that every time, so…it'll take as long as it takes. I have a tumblr linked on my profile that might give you some idea of when the next chapter will be coming. Or maybe not. I just find it helpful to talk about what I'm writing, so I make a lot of random posts there about whatever part I'm working on.

I'm going to tell you right now that I don't plan on going into too much detail about everything that's changed in the last 400 years – what the political powers are, how technology has advanced, etc. That doesn't mean there won't be any of that, but I'm not interested in trying to reinvent the entire OP world, and that's not what this story's about, anyway. One thing I will say is that the World Government is no longer around, because I can't really picture One Piece ending with it still existing, at least in its current form.

Regarding any ghost stuff in this fic – I did do research, but I'm going to be picking and choosing and making things up to suit the story, so please don't tell me I'm "wrong" about something. Ghosts aren't really something we have concrete facts for to begin with (even on whether or not they exist). On the other hand, if you have any information you'd like to share, or an idea for something, I'm listening. It might be useful for some of the stuff I'll be doing later. c:

Okay, I think that's it for now. (I feel like there was something else I wanted to mention…Oh well.) Thanks for reading!