Ace

After the brief encounter with Naruto's "Ramen Pirates," the Straw Hats continued sailing toward their destination, and around a day later, the destination appeared on the horizon.

However, unlike every other island they had reached so far, Arabasta was a colossal piece of land, significantly larger than any other island they had seen.

"Whistle This one is enormous. Arabasta seems to be on a completely different scale."

Hearing Yuna's words, Vivi proudly puffed out her chest and immediately started talking about her home country.

"That's right! I'm not sure about the Four Blues or the second half of the Grand Line, but Arabasta is the biggest nation in the first part of the Grand Line."

As the Going Merry approached Arabasta, the crew decided to take countermeasures against Bon Clay's ability to transform into other people. They tied a piece of clothing to their right arm while hiding a drawn-on cross underneath it.

Minutes later, the crew arrived at the coast of Arabasta, and Nami immediately gathered everyone to figure out the next step. However...

"FOOD!!! I WANT TO EAT AT A RESTAURANT!!!"

... before Nami could get a complete sentence out, Luffy had already used his rubber abilities to blast himself toward land, as the rest of the crew could only watch him vanishing on the horizon.

Seeing that, Nami couldn't help but sigh in frustration as the rest of the crew shook their heads. As always, Luffy seemed hellbent on messing up whatever plans other people were coming up with.

Anyway, everyone collectively ignored Luffy's antics as the Going Merry anchored not too far away from the shore. According to Vivi, there was a city not too far away that they could use to restock their supplies.

And indeed, after only around ten minutes of walking, the rest of the crew reached a small city. Considering the city had yet to descend into chaos, everyone concluded that Luffy had probably gotten lost in the desert somewhere on the way, but considering Luffy's fierce survival instincts, no one was worried. Well, maybe, except for Usopp, who was always worried.

Anyway, as the group approached the first building, Yuna paused before shaking her head.

"Thinking about it, I think it would be better if I were to move around by myself. Except for Luffy, I'm the only one with a bounty, and if one of you is seen walking around with me, they might get a bounty as well."

"Mhh, I wouldn't mind getting a bounty."

Hearing Zoro's words, Yuna couldn't help but shake her head while a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face.

"I get that you want a bounty, but are you sure you want one because you were seen walking around with me? WANTED: Pirate B. Associated with the Straw Hat Pirates. Bounty 100k Berry."

"HAHAHA!!! That's the perfect bounty for you, Moss Head, no Pirate B!"

"What did you just call me, Shitty Cook!?"

"Bring it on... Pirate Beeeee~"

"While Zoro and Sanji were fighting to the death in the background, Nami briefly pondered Yuna's suggestion before nodding her head in acknowledgment.

"I think that's a good idea. While we buy supplies, you can look for our idiot. cough I am our Captain."

"Sure, see you later~"

Seeing Yuna walk away, Usopp looked slightly constipated as he leaned over to Nami.

"Do you think that was a good idea? With Zoro and Sanji being occupied, she was the strongest one remaining."

"No need to worry. Give me a second: Sanji~ Please help me carry my shopping bags~"

"OF COURSE, NAMI-SWAN~"

As soon as Sanji heard Nami's request, he instantly disengaged from Zoro, completely ignoring him for the sake of doing whatever Nami wished him to do.

Seeing Sanji like that, Usopp could only sigh again and again, but before he could say anything else, he noticed something rather peculiar.

"Wait a second, where is Zoro!?"

Looking around, everyone quickly noticed that after Sanji stopped fighting Zoro, he somehow vanished. Realizing what had likely happened, Nami could only facepalm while sighing in despair.

"How in the world did he manage to get lost? The fight wasn't even 100 meters far away. Sigh, whatever. For now, let's gather supplies and see what will happen. I'm sure Zoro will reappear at some point."

Meanwhile, Zoro was looking around in confusion.

"Why the hell would someone carve the faces of people into a mountain? Oh well, it seems like the others got lost again, so let's go look for them."

"I'M GONNA BE THE HOKAGE, YOU KNOW!!!"

Ignoring the weird outcry coming from somewhere ahead, Zoro continued walking forward with confidence.

Meanwhile, Yuna was walking through the city while hiding her rather conspicuous hair with a simple piece of blue fabric. Since the others were responsible for buying supplies, Yuna decided to look for Luffy in the most efficient way possible: by entering a restaurant and ordering a lot of meat.

However, the moment Yuna saw who was sitting at the restaurant's bar, stuffing his face with food, she paused.

Bare upper body with chiseled muscles, wearing a cowboy head. And, the most remarkable thing about the person: A massive tattoo on his back depicting a Jolly Roger with a massive white mustache cough beard.

Like she always did when she entered a new world, Yuna had spent some time gathering information from stolen cough burrowed documents. Thanks, Marines.

Naturally, information about this world's bigshots was also included, so how could she not recognize one of the most famous pirate flags in the world? The Whitebeard Pirates.

'Why would someone from the Whitebeard Pirates be here?'

Shrugging her shoulders, Yuna walked towards him unbothered. Despite the Marines and the World Goverment bending over backward to depict every pirate as a mass-murdering rapist, Yuna wouldn't believe that for even a second.

She has always been good at reading people, and the person in front of her, devouring his meal with great gusto, was, at worst, a scoundrel, so she might as well have a chat. No matter how she looked at it, someone from the world's strongest pirate crew surely had all kinds of juicy information Yuna could extract.

So, without any hesitation, Yuna sat down next to the man she assumed to be Fire Fist Ace and started talking to him while the barkeeper frantically signaled her to stay away.

"Yo, what's a commander of the Whitebeard pirates doing out here in the desert?"

Initially, Ace was slightly irritated by someone disturbing him during his meal, but after turning his head and looking at Yuna, his eyes shone in recognition.

"Ohh! You are Yuna of the Strawhat Pirates, right!"

Obviously, Yuna was taken aback by Ace actually recognizing her. After all, from his perspective, considering Yuna's relatively small bounty compared to Ace's, she probably was a nobody. Despite that, Ace clearly knew who she was.

'I see; I guess it's only natural that he recognizes me~'

[Huh? It is?]

'Naturally.'

Not bothering with the conversation with Kurama any further, Yuna looked at Ace in pity while gently patting his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, young man. I know you've fallen in love with my nation-toppling beauty the moment you saw my bounty poster, but unfortunately, I'm only interested in women."

To Ace's credit, he only froze up for about three seconds before snapping out of his daze.

"What the hell!? I don't care how you look!"

"Fine, fine, I'll pretend to believe that lie to give you some face."

"Damnit, I don't need your face! Cough Anyway, you are part of Luffy's crew, right?"

Realizing that Yuna might not be entirely right in the head, Ace decided to ignore her antics and get to the point instead. So, with a smirk on his face, he asked Yuna about Luffy.

"Mhh? Luffy? Yeah, I'm part of the crew. Do you know Luffy?"

"Hehe, of course, I know him. After all, he's my little brother!"

Ace's face showed a genuine wide smile the moment he mentioned Luffy being his little brother, indicating how close the two brothers were. Meanwhile, Yuna couldn't help but be surprised that Luffy had such a big shot as a brother, but thinking a little more about it, she wasn't too surprised.

'The strength of Luffy's will is quite astounding. If his family members have a similar frame of mind, I wouldn't be surprised if Luffy's parents are important people as well. Guess I should ask him about his parents the next time I see him.'

Yuna was just about to continue the conversation when another person entered the restaurant. He had a tall frame and white hair, showing off his chest while smoking two cigars. Who else could it be but Captain Smoker?

"What's going on here? The Whitebeard Pirates and the Straw Hat Pirates?

"Mah, no need to look so concerned... S... Smoky."

"IT'S SMOKER!!!"

"Anyway, no need to be concerned; we are not forging an alliance. Ace here just tried to woo me, nothing more~"

"I DIDN'T TRY TO WOO YOU!!!""

"Oh right, I forgot I promised you to believe that lie. Sorry~ sorry~"

"IT'S NOT A DAMN LIE!!!"

"Sure~"

While flames threatened to come out of Ace's ears... no, wait, flames were actually coming out of his ears. In fact, half of Ace's body seems to be covered... or rather made out of flames.

'Similiar to Smoky, but fire instead of smoke. How interesting. As long as it isn't the Cum-Cum Fruit of the Tentacle-Tentacle Fruit, I don't plan to eat a Devil Fruit, but I hope I can find one that hasn't been eaten yet for research purposes.'

[You've locked in on those two options, huh?]

'Yeah, but who knows what else is out there for me to discover. Human-Human Fruit Modell: Futanari would be a good find as well. Mhh, how about Modell: Succubus... well, not that I would need that one.'

While Yuna was pondering her future, possibly Devil Fruit and Ace was literally fuming because Yuna was messing with him, Smoker couldn't help but frown at the mess he had gotten himself into.

'If it were just the Straw Hats, it would be fine, but having a Commander of the White Beard Pirates here is seriously troublesome.'

Despite those thoughts, Smoker was ready to fight. Just because he would have to face a powerful opponent, he would not compromise his sense of justice. Pirates were evil, and catching them was justice!

He was just about to draw his weapon when a light chuckle escaped Yuna, drawing his attention. Yuna, however, wasn't looking at him and was instead focused on something that was happening outside.

"Well, considering where you two are standing and while considering the usual pattern, I guess I should be seeing you off~"

Ace and Smoker both looked slightly confused, but before either of them got a chance to speak, the entrance door was blown open.

"ROCKEEEEEEEET~"

Luffy blasted into the room, crashed into Smoker and Ace, and sent both of them flying through the wall while Yuna had strategically placed herself out of Luffy's predicted flight path.

Due to crashing into two people and blowing them away, Luffy's momentum stopped just in front of the bar Yuna was still sitting at. Following that, Luffy's arm stretched all over the restaurant, instantly gathering all the food available and gobbling it down.

"MEAT!!! OWNER, BRING ME MORE MEAT!!!"

Seeing Luffy's behavior, Yuna only chuckled in amusement, already looking forward to the chaos that would happen inevitably.