Hello, everyone~! I want to apologize and say that this is going to be a short chapter! I should have added it to the end of the last but I got a little lazy...again. Unfortunately, it always seems to win out but that's neither here nor there, as they say. So, without further ado, I hope you all enjoy~!

"Heads up!" shouts Run, landing hard on the ground with Luffy, Sanji and Zoro. By some miracle the four of them manage to make their landing unscathed, and immediately go looking for the man they'd kicked out of the palace just moments before. Thankfully, it doesn't take them look to find him unconscious in the street. Apparently, his Devil Fruit powers don't seem to work when he's unconscious, as he's surrounded by the stolen treasure.

"He got knocked out by a single punch?" asks Zoro. "How pathetic."

"There's so much treasure!" exclaims Sanji. "Is that furry king really gonna give us all this?"

"Amazing!" Luffy laughs. "We can buy so much meat with this!" The four of them quickly load up all the treasure into some...borrowed sacks and immediately head back toward the palace. They aren't exactly sure which way to take but they pick a direction none-the-less. As they're walking back, however, they find themselves approaching a large crowd. "Oh, look! It's a crowd!" Luffy looks around for a moment before breaking out into a grin. "Ohh! It's the Candy Factory! Pappagu told me about it!"

"Really?" asks Run. "Think we could hop a flying fish from there?"

"I'm sure they're making all sorts of yummy sweets in there! Just like the one's we had at the banquet! Oi! Candy Factory!" The people of the crowd turn and quickly greet their Captain, happy to see the 'hero' of Fishman Island. The people of the Island are curious as to why they're here instead of the banquet. Through the crowd, they're all surprised to see the Minster of the Left at the head of it.

"L-Luffy, why are you here?" the Minster of the Left asks.

"Yeah, I really ate a lot! The meat was good but those sweets from Fishman Island were the best!" The crowd falls deadly silent at this, all of them looking between Luffy and another man at the front. He's very...cat-like in appearance.

"Did he say sweets?!" screams the man. "Who are they?!" The man produces a large stack of papers and quickly flips through them. "Ooh! He's 'Straw Hat' Luffy, no doubt about it! Just what exactly is such a notorious pirate doing here?!" The Minster of the Left seems to be at a loss for words. "Brat! Which sweets are you talking about?!"

"Mr. Pekoms!" begins the Minster. "Please, let me explain!"

"Who are you?" Luffy asks. "You're not a Fishman, are you? You must have come to buy sweets! I just finished stuffing myself full of them!"

"What's going on?!" demands Pekoms. "He just said he ate them! Was the factory destroyed or not?!"

"Oh, a talking lion! But I guess it's not really a big deal! We've got something like that after all!"

"Are you messing with me, kid?!" Pekoms lifts his sunglasses to reveal his small eyes, which results in a round of laughter from Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Run, much to his chargin. He starts growling in response, but before he can act, someone calls his name. "Huh?"

"Pekoms," begins the man. "Making such a threatening gesture won't help retrieve the sweets." The man takes a sip from a steaming mug calmly. "Let's settle this peacefully-soir. The tea party is four days from now-bon. We can make it on time if we leave tomorrow morning-jour."

"Another weird one," mutters Luffy. "Who are you?"

"Bon to meet you, you half boiled pirates. My name is Baron Tamago-soir!" The man stands, towering over all of them completely. "Please, make sure to remember my name. Now you gentlemen, did you say that you have eaten the sweets from this factory?" He approaches them, covering the distance in two strides.

"That's right! I want to have more if they have them! They were really delicious!"

"They don't. That's why we don't know what to do-bon!" He raises his hand, motioning towards a Jolly Roger plastered on the factory wall. "This big mark on the factory is the Jolly Roger of the great pirate and our boss, Charlotte Linlin-soir. It claims the Island as Big Mom's territory, as she is one of the Yonko. Which means that Fishman Island is protected under her name-bon!"

"Sounds like a nice person! I wanna meet your boss! Big Mom, huh?"

"Don't mistake this arrangement for anything other than business! In exchange for ten tons of sweets a month, we allow them to use this mark. Mama loves sweets more than anything. Sweets from Fishman Island are her favorite. So, we'll wait until tomorrow morning."

"B-Baron, I told you already," begins the Minister. "The factory's giant cooking machines are broken and we need at least two weeks to repair them!"

"That's unacceptable."

"Oi, Tamago!" shouts Sanji. "Why can't you wait?!"

"Is your boss' mind as small as his balls?" grunts Zoro. "He's one of the Yonko, right?"

"Big Mom is a woman," Run tells them.

"Yes, she is," agrees Tamago. "She is a great pirate woman. I don't think she has balls."

"What's the big deal?" Sanji asks. "So what if you can't get them on time? What's going to happen?"

"If that's the case...then the deal is off! Members of the Big Mom Pirates will descend on the Island and destroy it in no time!"

"Are you guys nuts?!" demands Luffy. "You can't destroy a country over some candy! This country was just saved!" Tamago is silent for a few moments before eventually letting out a long sigh.

"What should I do? They aren't even half-boiled, they're completely raw. What should I do with these fearless rookies?" Before the man can do anything, a transponder snail begins ringing. Both Pekoms and Tamago both seem to go from relaxed to on edge in an instant. Both stand frozen before the transponder, neither of them wanting to answer it...so Luffy does.

"Hello?"

"...You're not Tamago, nor Pekoms, are you," asserts the voice. "Who are you?"

"Monkey D. Luffy! I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"

"Monkey D.? Aaah! You're Garps grandson! You were that brat who meddled in the war two years ago."

"The sweets are gone! I ate all of them!"

"There should be ten tons!"

"I ate all ten tons!"

"Don't lie to me, fool. You're just covering for Fishman Island."

"It's true, every word. I didn't know that they were going to you! We have a lot of treasure here! You can have it for the sweets!"

"I can't eat treasure! I want candy!" Tamago finally seems to find his voice, and snatches the reciever away from Luffy. He tells her that since Captain Kidd sank two of their ships a few days ago they've been short of money lately. If they could take the treasure and post-pone the sweets it would be the best course of action for all involved. Silence reigns for several seconds before Big Mom explodes, telling Tamago that he should be ashamed of himself for even considering bargining with them...but she finds her composure after her rant. "Still...that brat who stood up to me has piqued my interest. Have it your way, instead of Fishman Island, I'll just take my revenge against all of you! Monkey D. Luffy...now I know your name! Come to the New World!"

"Sure. There's some business I want to settle with you, so wait for me. I'm gonna kick your ass all across the New World...and make Fishman Island my territory...!"

Needless to say, Nami was not happy with the fact that they had given away all the treasure. It turned into quite the brow beating when they returned back empty handed but in their defence, they were doing so to protect Fishman Island. "What did you want me to do?!" demands Luffy. "She was going to destroy the Island over some candy! But I still stood up to her!" Rather than be happy with this, however, the rest of the crew and even Neptune and Jinbei were beside themselves.

"Wow! You're really tough, Luffy!" giggles Shirahoshi.

"We didn't really have much of a choice," agrees Sanji.

"What's done is done," adds Zoro.

"I guess you really didn't have a choice," sighs Nami, approaching slowly. "Even so, why..." She holds her staff tightly in her left hand...and gives none of them a chance to react before beating the four of them into the dirt. "...did you give all the treasure away?!" Rather than be phased by her violence, Luffy immediately sits back up.

"Let's go to the New World...!"

With Luffy's decree, and everything determined to set sail for the New World, they headed for the port. Most of Fishman Island has gathered to see off the 'heros' that had saved them, turning it into quite the racuous event. The people kindly offered them all kinds of suppiles for their journey. Shirahoshi began crying her eyes out once she figured out that they were going to be leaving the Island, asking them to stay for another day...and then another month...and finally another year before leaving. Naturally, Sanji was over the moon to have the Mermaid Princess crying over him.

While this is going on the Minster of the Left takes the opportunity to give Nami a new Log Pose. "Here, you'll need this New World Log Pose," the Minster tells her.

"Aah, thank you, but we already have one," Nami replies. "Wait a minute! Run!" The red head, who has been loading the cargo onto the Sunny freezes in place. "Where is the Log Pose that-" There's a brief flash of light and Nami raises her hands quickly, catching the object tossed in her direction. "Don't throw it! Log Poses' are delicate!"

"It's fine, we've got two," Run tosses over his shoulder, heading towards the cargo hold. The Minster of the Left explains the use of the Log Pose to Nami while the rest of the crew busies themselves tucking away the cargo or saying some good-bye's to the people of the Island. Unfortunately, once Luffy hears the explanation behind the three needles in the new Pose, he immediately wants to set sail for the most dangerous of the islands. When all the cargo has finally been packed away, they make ready to sail. Franky has learned how to ascend to the surface, and they more or less know the direction they're going. With that, they're finally ready to set sail, leaving behind a promise to Shirahoshi that the next time they meet, they'll take her to the surface to see the world.

"Let's set sail...!"

"Luffy, I'm tellin' ya, this is a bad idea," warns Run. Choosing to ignore him, Luffy continues his giggling as he ties knot after knot, wrapping rope this way and that along side Usopp. The two of them have it in their heads that they've absolutely got to catch one of the deep sea fish swimming around them.

"C'mon, it'll be fine, Run!" laughs Luffy. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before! I was so excited about seeing Fishman Island, that I completely forgot about it! If we catch one of this deep sea fish we can have Sanji cook it up for us!"

"Let's find one that'll go well with cola!" adds Franky. Usopp and Luffy approach the edge of the ship, holding tight to the make-shift hook that they've fashioned together from some bent metal and rope. The two of them debate of what kind of fish is going to taste the best before Luffy finally decides on some strange looking fish that appears more fat that meat. Without allowing any room for rebuttal, he immediately kills it with a single punch enhanced by Second Gear.

"Hurry, hurry! Catch it!" Run finds a rope quickly shoved into his hands curtosy of Usopp, who then fires their make-shift hook out to snag the fish's mouth. The rope snaps taut, and Run slides several feet across the deck of the Sunny before grinding his heels in and coming to a stop.

"You bastard!" cries Run. "That's twice now! I'm gonna quit holding ropes for you, Usopp!"

"Relax, it's fine!" retorts Usopp. "I knew you could do it!"

"Quick, quick, Run!" Luffy calls. "Reel it in! I wanna eat it already!" A heavy sigh escapes Run, who begins pulling the fish in, hand over hand at least until a much larger fish suddenly snaps it up, nearly swallowing it whole in a single bite. Before any of them can react, another even bigger fish snaps the second one up whole. "They just keep coming! Hurry up and reel it in already, Run!"

"Zoro, will you kill this thing?!" shouts Run.

"One Sword Style...Three-hundred and Sixty pound Phoenix!" Zoro's strike kills the massive fish in a single blow just as Sanji, Brook and Robin appear on deck. Luffy tells their cook that they've caught a fish for him to cook up, and it even has two others inside of it. Run moves over and ties the rope off to the Sunny with a sigh. As he turns away from it, he spots a strange current in the distance.

"Oi...what's that?" All heads turn towards the direction the red head motions to.

"Ohhhh! It looks like a giant sea snake!" cries Luffy. "Usopp! Let's catch that, too!"

"N-No! That's...the Whitestrom!" shouts Robin. "It's a giant whirlpool that appears out of nowhere in the deep sea! When a ship gets caught up in it, it's sweep off course and usually appears far away missing it's crew!" Nami suddenly sprints out of the cabin out onto the deck with Chopper tailing. She quickly tells the crew that they have to steer away from the current immediately. They cannot afford to be caught up in it.

"We're gonna get pulled in! Cut the fish loose!" demands Nami. Unfortunately, before they can act on it the fish they've got trailing behind them is yanked into the Whitestrom, and drags them in along with it. "Hold on tight to the ship!" Run grasps the nearest railing, and finds himself yanked up away from the deck quickly as the ship begins to pitch and roll. Beside him, Zoro hangs on tightly, staring off into the current surrounding them. Both swordsmen exchange brief glances before suddenly smirking, and then breaking out into laughter. Luffy isn't far behind, his laughter joining their's even over the shouting and screaming of the crew.

Then, as suddenly as it's all began, it comes to an abrupt halt with the crew finding themselves sprawled out across the deck of the Sunny. As they all scrape themselves from the deck, they glance around slowly...and come to the realization that they're surrounded on all sides by a pod of Island Whales! Brook is very suddenly beside himself, calling out for Laboon, despite the fact that it's impossible for him to have made it here. Regardless of this, he quickly grabs up his violin and begins playing and singing 'Bink's Sake'. It quickly becomes clear that the Island Whales appreciate his singing as one of them gently begins to give the Sunny a lift towards the surface.

It takes almost no time at all for the light of the surface to begin shining through. It's so close...the New World...the greatest and most dangerous sea in the world...!