It took less than a second for Joey to realize that punching Don Krieg, one of the most powerful men in the East Blue, was a bad idea. The don had let go of him out of shock, but that was the only silver lining- now, not only had he further escalated a situation that should have been resolved safely if he had just waited for Luffy to deal with it, but Krieg barely seemed affected by the blow.

  All of his newfound courage evaporated as he saw only the slightest bruise on the man's face. He quickly stepped backwards, trying to get out of striking range.

  "Brat," Don Krieg hissed. "You should have kept quiet. Then you would have at least had a chance to live!"

  He lunged forward, and Joey darted out of the way, his heart pounding in his ears as he began to question how things had gone so wrong already.

  'Curse these stupid One Piece vegetables. If I hadn't gotten them mixed up I could be safe and snug on the sidelines right now.'

  He knew that he was pointing fingers, but it felt nice to have something to blame when you were the target of an eight-foot-tall man wearing battle armor. And that was on the weaker end of the power scale here. Joey gulped as Don Krieg shot daggers at him- figuratively, thankfully.

  "And here I thought I wouldn't even need to draw a weapon. But there's no way you can dodge this!" Krieg yelled, pulling out one of the many guns hidden in his armor. Joey's eyes widened, and, once again, he tried to move away from him- unfortunately, the don was right- it was infinitely harder to dodge a bullet than a melee weapon. As he ran circles around the room, shots whizzed by his head, growing closer and closer each time. The chefs were staying well out of the way, afraid of being hit themselves.

  Time seemed to slow down then, as his step finally faltered, and his earlier injuries caught up to him. He could see a bullet flying towards him, in line to hit him directly in his face- then, a miracle happened. A mass of flesh grew in front of him, and he heard a voice cry, "Gum-Gum Balloon!"

  The bullet bounced off Luffy's inflated body harmlessly, and whizzed right back towards Don Krieg- not that it would do much harm to him, thanks to the wootz steel surrounding his frame, but he was caught off guard momentarily.

  "So you have devil fruit powers, eh? No matter. But I would stay out of the way. Unless you want to die just like that other chore boy right there!"

  Joey gritted his teeth, beginning to feel dizzy as he watched Luffy deflate.

  "I can't let an egotistical tyrant like you…" he said, shaking, "take this ship. They saved me when I was lost at sea, and I owe them my life! So… fight me! If I die here, at least I die fighting!"

  Luffy looked at him, grinning, and on an impulse, he rushed forward, charging his fist with aura again. He was on his last legs, but he was still standing.

  'I've done it again, haven't I? I really need to think before I do things.'

  Don Krieg scoffed, and pulled the trigger on his gun, but through some freak miracle, it had run out of bullets. Moving too fast to even acknowledge this, Joey simply continued his trajectory, putting as much power as he could into a single punch that flew straight into the don, point-blank. Unwilling to give up his momentum, he immediately spun around, shifting his aura into his foot as he delivered a roundhouse kick. His foot couldn't penetrate the steel, however, and the force of the impact caused him to lose his balance, and crash into the floor.

  Krieg looked down at him, surrounded by an air of superiority. "You're starting to piss me off, brat. You may as well stop your feeble excuses for attacks- you won't be able to truly harm me!"

  Joey groaned, and rubbed his temples. He felt light-headed, like the world was spinning around him, and he couldn't focus on anything. "Fuck… you…" he grunted, struggling to stay conscious. Don Krieg leered at him, and kicked him away- he was sent flying across the room, skidding along the floor until he finally came to a stop, courtesy of a rough collision with a table leg. He lay there, gasping for breath, as he felt the world around him slowly fade away.?

  "Hmph," Don Krieg grunted. "Let that be a lesson to all of you. If you don't comply with my demands, you'll end up like him. Dead, with nothing to show for it."

  Sanji looked down at the body lying on the floor, and shook his head. "Not dead. Just unconscious," he muttered. Luffy just barely heard him, and breathed a sigh of relief- Krieg, however, had missed this observation, and moved towards the doors. But then he paused, and turned back around, staring Luffy dead in the eyes.

  "Who do you think you are, straw hat? Some kind of hero? You think it's your responsibility to save people? You got in the way, just now- and you say you're a pirate. Pirates don't help people. We rape, pillage, and burn. So just who do you think you are?"

  Luffy returned his gaze, remaining silent. Then, after a moment, he spoke.

  "You're wrong. Being a pirate isn't about anything except freedom- and I want to be free! That's why I'm a pirate. I can do what I want, whenever I want, I don't need to answer to anyone!"

  Don Krieg scoffed. "You're a misguided, na?ve young brat. I've met many people like you…" He sneered, taking on a scathing tone. "Every last one of them had their dreams crushed."

  And with that, he turned back around, and exited the ship.

  The room remained silent for a few short seconds, as the events of the past half-hour finally had a chance to sink in- then it began bustling with activity. People were running around, scrambling to leave, or find weapons. Someone checked Joey over, making sure he wasn't too severely damaged- Luffy briefly heard them mention something about him 'fainting from stress', but all that he cared about was that his crewmember was okay.

  Unfortunately, this reprieve lasted no longer than two minutes, before a loud crashing sound stopped everyone in their tracks.

  "W-what was that?"

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  "What happened?!!"

  "Don Krieg's ship! It's listing!"

  Luffy immediately dashed off towards the outside deck, panic spreading across his face. "Nami, Johnny, and Yosaku are on the Merry!" he yelled. "It might be too late!" Zoro and Usopp followed close behind, and the three of them emerged to see Krieg's ship completely split in half. Before they even had time to process that, however, Johnny and Yosaku called out for them- they were desperately swimming towards the Baratie, struggling against the crashing waves.

  "Yosaku, Johnny! Are you ok? Where's our ship? Where's Nami?"

  "Sorry, brother Zoro!" Johnny shouted, raising his voice so he could be heard over all the commotion. "They're gone! Sister Nami sailed off with all the treasure!"

  Usopp's eyes widened in disbelief. "What? She took the ship?!"

  "Darn that wench!" Zoro said, punching the wall in frustration. "We should've known her good behavior was just an act!"

  "Hey! I can still see the ship!" Luffy peered at the familiar shape of the Going Merry, which was right on the edge of the horizon, then turned back to the two bounty hunters. "Yosaku! Johnny! Where's your ship?" he asked.

  "It's anchored nearby."

  "Zoro, Usopp!"

  He didn't even need to finish- they already knew what he was going to ask of them.

  "Forget her. Why go chasing after that little thief?"

  "What about the ship?!" Usopp protested. "Kaya gave that to us!"

  Luffy shook his head. "Listen! Nami's going to be our navigator, and no one else!"

  "Ugh, okay, okay! All right, Usopp, let's go."

  "Wait a moment!" he ran back inside, and searched the dining room for Joey. It took a few seconds to spot him, but once he finally did, he stretched his arm out and grabbed him by the collar, then hurried back out to the deck.

  "Bring Joey with you," he said, dropping his limp body on the floor. "He's part of our crew now."

  "You can't just decide that!" Zoro yelled.

  Usopp looked down at Joey, then back up at his captain, a little bit uneasy. "Isn't that technically kidnapping?"

  "Nah," Luffy decided. "It's fine."

  "How- wh- that doesn't make any sense! Why is it fine?"

  "I don't know, I just have this… feeling. Like it's the right thing to do."

  Zoro groaned, putting his head in his hands. "Okay. But if he causes any trouble, I'm throwing him overboard."

  Luffy grinned. "That's fine by-"

  "He's come to kill us!"

  "What?" Zoro muttered, turning around- then his eyes widened. "Is that… Hawkeye?"

  In an instant, he had jumped overboard, and was swimming towards the wreckage of Don Krieg's ship. "Sorry, Luffy!" he yelled. "There's something I need to do!"?

  'So,' Joey thought to himself, slowly opening his eyes. 'Now I've cheated death twice.'

  He gave himself a moment to adjust to the light, then began to take in his surroundings. He was propped against a wall, and clearly, he was nowhere near the Baratie- he seemed to be on a rather standard sailboat of moderate size. He was surrounded by open ocean, and the sun was only a little bit to the east, which meant it was still morning… or early afternoon? He could never remember which way it went.

  Then he realized everything that had just gone through his head, and began to panic.

  'Okay, first of all, how am I not dead, I'm pretty sure I died back there- second, why am I not on the Baratie what the fuck- shit that hurts'

  Joey doubled over, groaning as he felt a sharp pain in his chest- that bastard Don Krieg must have cracked his rib when he kicked him. Actually, now that he thought about it, he hadn't really suffered any fatal injuries. Why had he passed out, then?

  He huffed. 'Too bad Chopper isn't on the crew yet. He'd be able to explain how all this crazy physiology works.'

  Hearing movement coming from the front of the ship, Joey slowly stood up- since he wasn't restrained, he assumed whoever was here with him was friendly. They'd still have a lot to explain, however.

  Getting there was easier said than done, unfortunately. He grunted in pain as he inched along the deck, slowly shifting his balance to accommodate for his injuries. Once he finally emerged onto the bow, he saw Zoro sleeping off to the side, covered in bandages, and Johnny and Usopp milling about- it didn't take long for them to notice him, however.

  "Brother Joey! You're awake!"

  "Uhh, yeah- where am I, exactly?"

  "W-well, we're heading for Arlong Park… Luffy told us to take you with us..."

  Joey's brain, for the umpteenth time this week, ceased to function. "What the hell?! You can't just- I mean, you- I, uh…"

  He sighed- if this were an actual manga, he imagined a sweatdrop would have appeared over his head. "Too late now, I guess. I suppose I'm part of your crew, then?"

  "Look on the bright side, brother Joey! Now you get to be friends with us!"

  'I mean, he's not wrong… though probably for different reasons than what he's thinking of.'

  "So," Joey said, taking a deep breath- an action he immediately regretted, as he was engulfed in a violent coughing fit. "Arlong- ack- Park, huh? This sounds like a 'from the frying pan into the fire'-type situation. You sure about this?"

  "W-well, we kind of have to go there- our navigator's headed there, too."

  "The redhead, right? Why's she not here? Actually, now that I think about it- where's Luffy?"

  Joey knew all this already, of course, but once again, he had to play dumb- it was difficult, but better than the alternative, as far as he could tell.

  "He had to stay behind. He said he couldn't leave until he got Sanji to join our crew."

  Johnny sniffed. "How brave of brother Luffy- to stay behind and fight Don Krieg all on his own. I admire his confidence!"

  "Uh, right- anyways, I haven't eaten since this morning, and I'm starving. Do we have any food?"

  Usopp thought for a moment, then nodded. "There should be some stuff in the pantry- go downstairs, take a left, and it's right there. I think there's bean sprouts, uh… what else?"

  "Ech," Joey said, shaking his head. "Bean sprouts are gross."

  Johnny gave him a flat look, exuding disapproval, and Joey felt his eyes on him as he slowly picked his way down the steps.

  'It's funny,' he thought to himself, 'how sometimes decisions are made for you. Almost as if this was meant to be.' He chuckled. 'Nah, things don't work like that. Unless Arceus is involved- but he doesn't even exist here. I think.'

  Joey paused, considering this- then he shook his head, overwhelmed by the day's events.

  'At least I'm gonna have a damn good time.'