Everything was coming together. The cake was done to perfection, with little, tiny figures of the Bear King and his two beautiful brides placed on top. Balloons and streamers were placed tastefully around the room.

  "No, more to the left!" shouted the Bear King, watching carefully as his crew placed the remaining decorations. Of course he couldn't trust them to do it by themselves. Everything had to be perfect, and that meant an inordinate amount of supervision.

  The large man stared unblinkingly as they picked up the massive chocolate fountain, their knees shaking for the effort, as they waddled it into position. He could have easily done it himself, of course, but he had to make sure it was placed in the correct spot. Plus, what's the point of having minions if you had to do the physical labor yourself?

  "I said to the left! Does that look left to you? Honestly, it's so hard to find good help these days," the Bear King grumbled, watching as they moved the fountain once more. But beside that, things were almost perfect. Looking to his right, he noticed a familiar presence making its way towards him.

  "Ah, Pin Joker. I trust everything is in order?" the Bear King asked, watching the man flip through some pages on his clipboard.

  "Everything is on schedule, Captain," he informed. The enormous man gave a happy nod at that, glad that nothing could ruin his perfect day.

  "And what of the intruders? Any word on them?" questioned the Bear King, his happy smile warping into a disdainful frown. Honestly, to think some people would actually be rude enough to crash a wedding. What was the world coming to?

  "I have informed Honey Queen of the situation, but unfortunately, the men below have seemingly forgotten their Transponder Snails. Skunk One said he would inform them as soon as his teatime was over," Pin Joker said, resisting the urge to sigh. That creep took his teatime way too seriously.

  "This is the thanks I get for giving them the day off? If even a single ant gets by them today, see to it that they walk the plank. Understand?" the giant of a man ordered. The man beside him shivered at that.

  The plank was what you might expect, given its name, only instead of being shoved off of a boat, they were sent hurling from the island, forced to fall for nearly a mile until they splattered against the water below. It was an unpleasant way to go, to say the least.

  "Understood sir. I will see to it myself should the need arise," Pin Joker promised, getting a satisfied nod in return. It was at that moment that another individual entered the room, sashaying towards them with the grace of a ballerina.

  One that was never picked to be in a show, but a ballerina nonetheless.

  "Honey Queen! So good of you to join us. Tell me, how are my sweetie pies doing? Oh, I hope they're as excited as I am," the Bear King questioned, his tone doing a complete 180. It was enough to give one whiplash.

  "They're doing great, Captain. They're eagerly awaiting the ceremony, and they just love the dresses you picked out," she said, coming to stand beside them. The Bear King wiggled in happiness, giggling like a schoolgirl while doing so.

  It was… off putting, to say the least. A man who looked like him should not be acting like that. It was enough to give one nightmares.

  "Oh, that makes me so happy. I can't wait for tonight," he said. The two watching could only sweat drop at his behavior. Ignoring him for the moment, Honey Queen turned to the other man beside her.

  "What about their friends? What's their status?" she asked. She wanted to personally drown them in her honey for making her look like a fool. Especially in front of her darling Kuro! Such a slight must not go unanswered.

  Pin Joker sighed, "They made it up the stairs, but now I don't know where they-"

  Boom!

  The clown dressed man was interrupted by an explosion that caused the entire tower to shake, albeit only slightly. It was still enough to catch their attention. Or at least, two of them, because the Bear King was still happily daydreaming, hugging himself while squirming.

  "What was that?" Honey Queen asked, eyes wide.

  "It sounds like it came from the front gate," he said, and the two of them ran towards the window. Looking down, they could see a large dust cloud covering the entrance to the courtyard. When it finally cleared, Honey Queen growled in frustration.

  "It's them. I'd recognize those aggravating faces anywhere," she growled out. The two watched as they proceeded to decimate their forces at the gate. It wasn't that much of a shock, given how weak their men were, but what was truly disappointing was that they couldn't even defeat the half dead buffoon with a shovel.

  A shovel! How was it possible that they could be so incompetent to lose to someone like that? Sure it looked useful, with him wielding it like a spear one moment and an axe the next. But it was a shovel!

  And how was he blocking bullets with it!?

  Unlike his companion, Pin Joker had his eyes on someone else. Namely one Roronoa Zoro. He watched as the three sword user cut through their crew like wet tissue paper. His hand traveled up to the scar on his face, and he couldn't stop the twisted grin from emerging.

  If he could defeat Zoro, he would be one step closer to enacting his revenge on the man who gave it to him.

  "I suppose we should do something about this, shouldn't we?" suggested Pin Joker. Honey Queen stared at him with a raised brow, noting the eager tone of his voice, but shrugged it off. She herself was looking forward to putting these annoying cretins in their place so she could return to her darling Kuro.

  But just as she was about to agree, a newcomer made their appearance.

  "Looks like Skunk One finally finished his tea," muttered Pin Joker. He doubted the man would be able to defeat them all, but perhaps he could take out at least one of them. As long as that someone wasn't Zoro, he couldn't care less.

  "Indeed. We should probably help him though, don't you think?" she said, though she made no move to actually do so, content to simply watch the fireworks.

  "I suppose. I'll inform Boo Jack and your.. paramour Kuro to get into intercept positions. There should be no problems if we can divide and conquer them," Pin Joker stated.

  "Good idea. I'll-" but she was interrupted by one of their many minions bursting into the room, face set in panic.

  "Captain! The girls are missing!" he shouted, making everyone turn to him and snapping the Bear King out of his daydream.

  "Missing? What do you mean missing!?" shouted the hairy behemoth of a man. The highly replaceable grunt shivered in fear at the anger being directed at him, but managed to soldier through his report.

  "S-sir! When I went to relieve Barvo of his guard duty, the door was open and the only one inside was Barvo himself. He was knocked out with blood leaking from his crotch. I don't… I don't think he's going to make it sir," Minion 42 finished reporting.

  "I can't believe it…" muttered the Bear King, and for a moment, his two top crewmates thought he might actually figure out that the girls were working against him. Those thoughts didn't last very long.

  "The explosion must have frightened them. And when, what's his name went to make sure they were ok, they lashed out in fright. Oh, my poor sweet sugar muffins! They must be so scared. Don't worry, your honey bear will come and save you!" he shouted, taking quick, lumbering steps towards the door.

  "Wait, Captain, allow me. Having a woman handle this might put them at ease," Honey Queen suggested, making the large man stop in his tracks.

  "But I'm their husband to be. How could anyone put them at ease more than me?" he questioned in a whiny tone. He tried to give the puppy dog eyes, but it looked more horrifying than endearing.

  Like a hairless bear. Fuck those things are terrifying.

  "I know that, but a woman's heart is a fickle thing. It can be set off at the slightest thing, trust me," she said. The Bear King still looked unsure, biting his long, yellow fingernails with worry, but he eventually relented.

  "Ok, but hurry. I can't stand the thought of them being so scared," he replied. Honey Queen gave the man a reassuring nod.

  "Don't worry. I'll make sure they get back, safe and sound," she told him, her eye slightly twitching at the promise. She would much rather return them in a body bag. Or at least, one of them.

  "Maybe I still can? Pin the death on the straw hat wearing boy and his companions. That guy with the brown hair seemed awfully close to her. Perhaps I can spin the tale of a jilted lover? Yes, that should work. The other girl won't be a problem, she's far too meek to stand up for herself without that ginger haired bitch with her," she thought to herself as she quickly left the room.

  Pin Joker followed suit, contacting Boo Jack and Kuro to make sure the intruders never reached the altar. The uppity former Captain complained about it but did as he was told nonetheless. As much as he may have hated to take orders from someone he saw as his lesser, he knew that if they stopped the wedding, all his plans were in jeopardy as well.

  *Line Break*

  Nick sighed as he finished off the last of the pirate grunts around him, wiping the sweat from his brow. It wasn't that they were tough on an individual basis, there were so damn many of them. It was like they were trying to invade an ant nest.

  "Guess that's that. Everybody still alive?" Nick called out.

  "Like they could defeat the Great Captain Usopp!" yelled out the long nosed sniper, daring to come out of his hiding spot. Not that Nick blamed him. He was the sniper after all. They aren't supposed to be seen. It was just too bad that wasn't the reason he was hiding.

  He did take out several of their opponent's, so Nick would just let him have this one. Besides, he needed the energy for the battles to come.

  "Ohm nom mph gert flur," said Luffy, his face stuffed full of barbecue chicken. Nick wasn't even going to try and decipher what he said. He was alive, and that was good enough.

  Oops, spoke too soon. He's choking on a bone…

  "Like you even have to ask," Zoro responded, still angry about losing the bet. Nick decided not to antagonize him at the moment, for the same reason he didn't call Usopp out on his shit.

  He was also pretty sure the salty bastard hurled a few of the pirates at him in a petty act of revenge during the fight. Jokes on him, Nick counted them towards his total.

  "Fantastic. Great communication guys, really. Now will someone give Luffy the heimlich maneuver before he dies?" Nick called, taking a moment to sit down on a crate. He watched as Usopp went to help the rubber glutton.

  And that's when a certain smell entered his nostrils. He crinkled his nose, frowning at the foul stench. If it wasn't for the copious amounts of people who shit themselves during the battle, the stench might have been worse. As it was, it was merely unpleasant.

  "Luffy, hold still would you!" Usopp shouted, squeezing the other man's stomach to try and dislodge the bone from his throat. Didn't look like it was going so well. Probably because Luffy wanted to eat the bone and not spit it out.

  How greedy could you get?

  "Hey Zoro, you smell that?" he asked, looking around with suspicion.

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  "Yeah… smells familiar," he said, deciding now wasn't the time to hold onto his grudge over losing that bet. There was plenty of time to do that later.

  "I was thinking the same thing. It smells like-"

  But before he could finish his statement, they could hear something approach. Something that sounded familiar as well.

  That's when it clicked in Nick's mind. "Shit, don't tell me…"

  "Greeting and salutations. It seems you've caused quite the commotion on this most auspicious of days. As valorous as your attempts were, I cannot permit you further-ow!" yelled a man dressed as a Skunk, who had flown down and settled onto the roof of the porch in front of the entrance. The reason for his yelling was due to being smacked in the head by a bone.

  You see, Usopp and Luffy hadn't been paying attention, not even noticing the encroaching stench. But when the man started talking, Usopp's cowardly instincts kicked in, and he squeezed Luffy with more force than he should have been able to use. This caused the bone that was lodged in his throat to shoot out like a bullet, coincidentally hitting poor Skunk One right in the noggin.

  "Oh man, that was close. Thanks Usopp," Luffy forced out, his throat hurting from having a bone stuck in it. It looked pretty pointy too.

  "Man, that had to hurt. Nice shot Usopp," Nick complimented, making the younger boy blush, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

  "Aw shucks, it was nothing."

  Skunk One, who had been blasted off his feet, jumped up with an angry scowl on his face and a throbbing lump on his forehead.

  "That was disgusting, you impetuous little bastard! Were you raised in a barn like a filthy animal!?" he shouted, losing that suave tone he liked to use. Still managed to use some fancy words though.

  "Sorry about that.." Luffy wheezed out.

  "Luffy, don't apologize to the bad guys. It sets a bad example," Nick chided.

  "Oh, my bad. Hey, skunk guy! I take it back, I'm not sorry," Luffy called out, making Nick and the others snicker. But Skunk One didn't find it amusing in the least.

  "When I get my hands on you…" he growled, a large billow of gas expelling from the nozzle stuck to his suit. One that was fastened on the bottom of the suit, making it look like he just let out the world's biggest fart.

  "Yeah… I'm going to have to ask you to keep a respectful 10 foot distance. Thank you," Nick snarked, holding his nose. This only seemed to infuriate the skunk themed pirate even further.

  "Do you believe your lowbrow, juvenile sense of humor is actually comedic?" he sneered. But Nick only raised an eyebrow.

  "Says the guy who chose that costume. Not to mention being propelled by farts. That's more juvenile than anything I could ever come up with. I mean, it's not just me, is it?" he asked, looking towards his friends.

  "I think you're both idiots," Zoro said, boredom in his eyes.

  "I think his farts are funny," Luffy said with a laugh.

  "The design could use some work," Usopp mentioned.

  Nick blinked at them a few times before turning back towards Skunk One. "See, they agree with me."

  "Nice try you witless little brat. I don't care what any of you have to say, considering all of you are soon to be dead," Skunk One said, flying up and landing in front of the doors, barring their entrance.

  "Great, looks like we have to deal with this freak. Gonna stink up my swords…" muttered Zoro, not looking forward to this fight.

  "You'll have to catch me with them first, and I don't think you're up to the task," mocked Skunk One, making Zoro's eyebrow twitch with irritation.

  "We'll see about that," he growled out, taking a step towards the man.

  "Wait, let me fight him," said Usopp, halting Zoro in his tracks. Everyone turned to stare at the man, confusion shining in their eyes.

  "And why should I do that?" Zoro asked.

  "That's the man who kidnapped Kaya. I have to do this, please," Usopp naked, staring right into Zoro's eyes. A few seconds ticked by before the green haired swordsman let out a sigh.

  "Fine, but you better not lose," Zoro said.

  "I don't intend to," Usopp returned.

  "Maybe you should tell your knees that," Nick commented, pointing to Usopp's legs that were shaking so hard his knees were clacking together.

  "Shut up! I was trying not to think about that!" Usopp yelled.

  "Do you children honestly believe I'll just let you pass? How naive," Skunk One said, a cocky smirk on his face.

  "Do you think you can stop us?" Luffy asked. Skunk One was about to retort, when Usopp shot a pachinko ball at him. He was barely able to dodge it in time, but Usop wasn't letting up. Skunk One activated his suit and took off into the air, a hail of metal balls following in his wake.

  "This is your chance!" Usopp shouted, even as he fired another shot at the flying man. No matter how scared he actually was, he would fight. For Kaya and his brother. To bring them both back home safely. Not to mention introducing Akisu to his parents.

  "Right. Let's go!" Luffy shouted, with Nick and Zoro running behind him. Well, Zoro was running, Nick was hobbling quickly. But even so, they all made it inside, while Usopp faced off against Skunk One.

  The long nosed man gave a smile as his friends ran into the massive tower. Now he just had to deal with this creep.

  "Sending your friends to fight all on your own? How gutless," Skunk One said with a smile as he landed some ways away from Usopp. Hearing him, Usopp turned around and drew the pouch on his slingshot back, ready to fire.

  "And how exactly does that make me gutless?" Usopp asked. There were a ton of reasons why he was, but that didn't seem like one of them. After all, how is fighting someone one on one gutless?

  "Because my dear boy… Suicide is the cowards way out."

  As the rest of the crew ran inside, Nick couldn't help but worry about the cowardly sniper. He knew Usopp was tougher than he looks, given what happened to him in Alabasta, but he couldn't help but think he wasn't up to this yet.

  "Hey, do you think Usopp will be ok?" he asked, as they entered a room with a massive cylinder containing some kind of screw device along with a glass floor holding an innumerable amount of gears. They couldn't help but stop and stare at the mesmerizing sight.

  "He'll be fine. Like you said, we should trust in our friends," Luffy said, giving him a grin. Seeing this, Nick couldn't help but sigh, a wry smirk making its way onto his face.

  "Using my own words against me? How am I supposed to argue against that? More importantly, what's up with this room?" he asked, looking around with wonder. It was like something out of a steampunk fantasy.

  "Probably for that clock those two mentioned," Zoro muttered, giving the moving gears a curious glance.

  "Yeah, you're probably right. Didn't think it would look like this though," Nick muttered.

  "So it's a mystery room," Luffy said, like he knew what the hell he was talking about. The two gave him a deadpan stare, which Luffy took no notice of.

  "Close enough Luffy. But it doesn't look like there's anything we can do here, so I guess we should just take… the stairs," Nick said with a sigh. His legs were still sore from the last trip up the stairs, he was not looking forward to more.

  But unbeknownst to them, they weren't alone in that room. A certain pig-like man was staring at them from above, a wicked grin on his face. Most of his focus was centered on Nick, the man who humiliated him earlier. This was his opportunity to get some payback.

  "I hope you're ready, asshole. I'll make you pay for making a fool out of me," he said to himself, before rolling himself into a ball, his white cloak completely covering his rotund form. He then started spinning in place, rapidly picking up speed before shooting himself down the stairs, right towards the group.

  The three of them were just about to step onto the first step when Luffy suddenly stopped. Seeing this, the other two halted their advance as well, giving him a curious look.

  "Something wrong?" Nick asked.

  "I hear something…" he said. His words sent Nick and Zoro on high alert, looking around for whatever Luffy heard. Given his senses were closer to a wild animal's than a human's, they would be fools to disregard his words.

  It didn't take long before they heard it too, Zoro gripping his swords in anticipation with Nick doing the same with his shovel. A second or two ticked by before they realized where the noise was coming from, eyes focusing on the stairs.

  "Get ready…" Zoro muttered. Almost as soon as the words left his lips, they saw exactly what was making the noise.

  "Are you kidding me!? What's with these guys and boulders!?" Nick shouted in disbelief, watching what he thought was another giant rock hurtling towards them. He'd seen enough of those climbing the previous set of stairs to last a lifetime.

  Apparently, these assholes disagreed.

  "Who cares, move!" Zoro shouted. Heeding his extremely sound advice, Nick and Luffy dove out of the way. Zoro drew his sword, prepared to cut it in half, when the assumed boulder gave a mighty bounce, the swordsman's swing missing entirely.

  "What the!?" he exclaimed, watching as it soared over his head, making straight for Nick.

  "Oh come on!" he shouted, rolling out of the way in the nick of time, the object crashing into the ground beside him, bouncing away. Nick swiftly, relatively speaking, got back to his feet, as Luffy and Zoro came to stand beside him, staring as the round thing came to a stop.

  "What the hell is that?" Nick asked, glaring at the object that just tried to flatten him. What did he ever do to deserve that?

  Actually, some questions are better left unanswered.

  "Who cares, just get ready to kill it," Zoro said. Nick suspected he was a wee bit angry that whatever it was was able to dodge his attack. He can be so petty sometimes.

  "Maybe it's an egg?" Luffy said, drool coming out of his mouth, pooling on the ground below.

  "It's furry…" stated Nick, a sweat drop forming on the back of his head.

  "Doesn't mean it's not tasty," Luffy said, running towards what he believed was an egg. The others could have stopped him but figured, what's the point? It was unlikely whatever that thing was would be able to injure the rubber man, and this way, they'd be able to figure out what it was.

  As Luffy leapt towards it, it moved away, making the rubber man eat nothing but air.

  "Hey, get back here!" Luffy yelled, chasing the "egg". But no matter how fast he was, Luffy seemed incapable of getting his chompers into it.

  "Stay still, damn it!" Luffy shouted, trying to take another bite.

  "I don't know if this is funny or sad…" Nick said. Whatever tension was felt earlier had all but evaporated as the comical scene continued.

  "It's pathetic is what it is," muttered the swordsman standing next to him, feeling second hand embarrassment for his Captain.

  Luffy continued chasing the object with little success until he finally managed to corner it against the wall. Luffy's eyes lit up with glee as he jumped at it once more.

  "I've got you now!"

  Unfortunately for Luffy, as soon as he was about to finally take a bite out of it, metal spikes suddenly appeared all over the thing. His eyes widened in shock but it was far too late to stop.

  Luffy ate a mouth full of spikes.

  "Ow!" he shouted, flying backwards, holding his mouth in agony as he rolled around on the floor. As useful as being rubber as, it did not stop him from being impaled by pointy objects.

  "Luffy, are you alright!?" Nick shouted, watching his friend writhe in pain. Zoro, however, kept his eyes firmly on the "egg" as it retracted its spikes. It then slowly started wiggling, its shape changing and becoming taller, more human-like, until it finally revealed exact;y what it was the whole time.

  Or more precisely, who it was.

  "Who the hell are you? Give me back my egg!" Luffy shouted, holding his mouth in pain and glaring at Boo Jack.

  "There was no egg Luffy. Just 400 pounds of bacon," Nick called out.

  "Three fifty! I mean, shut up! Gah, this is why I hate pretty boys like you! Always looking down on me! Well I'm sick of it, you hear me!? Sick of it!" he shouted, pointing at Nick who gave him a disgusted look in return.

  "Look pal, I appreciate you calling me pretty and all, but I'm not into you. So why don't you be a good little piggy and run on home," Nick told him.

  "I think I'd rather just kill you all! How does that sound?" Boo Jack threw back at him.

  "It sounds like wishful thinking on your part. You couldn't even beat me let alone these two," Nick snarked, infuriating Boo Jack even more.

  "Curse you and your hip attitude! You really think you can take me in the state you're in?"

  "What can I say, you look like you could use a handicap. Well, you look like you are handicapped, in more ways than one. I mean, what I'm trying to say is yes, I do," Nick responded.

  "Fine, I can settle on just turning you into a corpse," the pig man shouted.

  "We'll see about that. Luffy, Zoro, you two go on ahead. I got this," Nick stated, walking towards the large man with a confident limp.

  "You sure?" Zoro asked, not at all confident in his friend's chances. Not with the state he was in at any rate.

  "About as sure as I can be. Besides, me and him have a score to settle anyway," Nick responded, his mind wandering back to when the fat man in front of him tortured him and took Nami. Yeah, he definitely had some beef with this not so little piggy.

  Luffy stared at him for a moment before nodding his head. "Alright, see you at the top."

  "You got it," Nick called back with a wave as Luffy and Zoro ran up the stairs, never taking his eyes off of Boo Jack. Hopefully there wouldn't be another fat guy waiting to fall on them.

  "Alright, just you and me now, porkchop. Let's see what you got."

  Luffy and Zoro sprinted up the stairs to the third floor, ignoring the side doors as they did so. Call it instinct, but they knew their friends weren't waiting on the other side of them.

  But there was someone waiting for them on the third floor.

  "You've got to be kidding me. How many of you are there?" Zoro asked as he and his Captain came to a halt, staring at the strangely dressed man in front of them.

  "So you've arrived. I've been waiting for you, Roronoa Zoro. My name is Pin Joker, and I challenge you to a duel," he said, not even bothering to glance at Luffy.

  Zoro's eyebrows raised in interest, taking note of the man's sword. It was thin, with two sharp edges on either side of the blade. A rapier. Not a sword he's faced many times before, as most people used either a cutlass or a katana, with some opting for a longsword.

  He was actually starting to feel excited by the challenge.

  "Sounds good to me. Luffy, this guy is mine," Zoro said, drawing his swords. Luffy nodded, not at all concerned about Zoro's well being. Not because he didn't care, but because he had absolute faith in his First Mate.

  "Alright, have fun!" Luffy shouted, before running towards the stairs, with Pin Joker still not glancing at the man.

  "I hope you give me a good fight, Mr. Pirate Hunter. Once I end you, I'll be one step closer to defeating the man with the white sword," he said, adopting a ready position.

  "What did you say?" Zoro asked, clearly surprised by the man's words. But Pin Joker wasn't in the mood to divulge the information, charging towards the green haired swordsman, thrusting his blade straight towards Zoro's heart.

  But Zoro merely stepped to the side, with Pin Joker spinning on his heels to swipe at Zoro's neck, who blocked it easily enough with one sword.

  "What did you mean by the man with the white sword?" Zoro asked, glaring at the clown themed swordsman in front of him. White swords weren't all that common, but they weren't exactly a rarity either, so there was a chance this would lead to nothing. But it was the first lead he's gotten towards him, so he had to take it.

  For Kuina.

  "He was the one who gave me this scar. But it seems you have an interest in that man as well. I'll tell you, but only if you manage to defeat me," Pin Joke smirked, leaping backwards.

  Zoro made a tsking sound, "Fine, have it your way. Just don't cry when you lose."

  "Cocky, aren't you? Very well, we have an accord. Now, show me what you got, Roronoa Zoro! En garde!"

  Luffy quickly made his way to the fourth floor, slightly out of breath. But it was nothing compared to the training his grandpa gave him. When he got there, he skidded to a stop, seeing someone waiting for him.

  "So we meet again, Straw Hat. How unfortunate. I was sincerely hoping you had drowned earlier, but it seems you've forced me to get my hands dirty. I will no longer allow you to interfere with my plans, so I hope you're ready to die," stated Kuro, wearing a pair of gloves with two foot long blades coming out of the fingertips.

  "It's you, Fake Pirate Guy," Luffy said, making Kuro gain a tick mark.

  "I see you're as insufferable as ever. Well, it doesn't matter. This fake pirate is about to kill you."

  "I already told you. I won't lose to someone like you," Luffy said, raising up his fists, ready to fight.

  "I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter. Now, let us end this farce. I grow weary of your continued existence," Kuro said, adjusting his glasses before dashing towards Luffy.