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"Your 'bandits' are nothing of the sort," Robin said. "They are, in fact, members of the Order Of Seven."

"The Order of Seven?" Chopper asked.

"A secret order of assassins," she explained. "There's always seven of them, and they pass down their titles only upon death. Most people haven't even heard of them, but each of them is a Devil Fruit-using killing machine."

"If they're so secret, how come you know all this?" asked Amina, clearly skeptical.

"Sir Crocodile did business with them while I was in his employ. That's how I recognized Barabas' name: he was a member of the party who came to negotiate with Crocodile, and he kept saying his name as though we should recognize it."

"If that's true, we might have gotten this place into a lot of trouble!" Chopper said.

"That's right..." Nami said quietly. An idea was coalescing in her head. She quickly turned to the chef and said "Hey, cook! If you forgive us this bill, we'll get rid of the bandits for you!"

Derrek appeared torn. On the one hand, he certainly wanted the bandits gone. On the other, it was such a lot of money to give up.

"I'll give you half-price," he said boldly. And so the haggling began.

"So, they'll probably have some pretty strong fighters?" Luffy asked.

"Very powerful," Robin replied. Luffy chuckled.

"This is gonna be fun!"

All conversation was cut off by a the crack of a loud, commanding voice. "Straw Hat Luffy! Roronoa Zoro! I know you're in there! Come out before I knock the place down around your ears!"

Luffy turned around and looked out the window. Zoro opened his eyes and looked around.

"Who's calling for me?" he asked. Nami smacked the back of his head.

"Don't you ever pay attention?" she shouted.

Behind her, Derrek was rapidly becoming frantic. "Seventy-five percent off! But that's my final offer!"

"Done!" Nami happily proclaimed before turning back to her Captain. "Luffy! Go take care of them for us!"

"Alright!" Luffy yelled. "Let's go get'em, guys!"

"Oh, are we fighting somebody?" Zoro said, rising to he feet and placing one hand on his katana.

"I can't go outside," Usopp said, his voice shaking with fear. "My can't-leave-the-restaurant-at-all-costs disease is flaring up again."

"Oh, shut up," said Sanji, grabbing him by the nose and dragging him towards the door. All seven Straw Hat Pirates stepped through the door and stood facing their opponents.

On the other side of the street stood a short man with an unruly mop of hair. Flanking him in a row were six men, including an extremely bruised Barabas. Luffy pointed at the man in front.

"Are you the leader?"

"I am."

They stood in silence, staring at each other for a few moments until Luffy broke the silence.

"You don't look very tough."

"Nya ha ha ha!" was the sound of the short man's laughter at this statement, but his followers were less amused.

"You will address Lord Ronas with the respect he deserves!" Shouted an even shorter man on the leader's right, who gripped the hilt of his sword and looked as though he might charge forward and attack. Ronas waved him back casually, and he grudgingly stood straight once more.

"One might say the same for you, Straw Hat Luffy. You certainly don't look very intimidating. It's hard to believe that someone like you has such a large bounty."

"Yeah, it is pretty hard to believe," admitted Luffy, looking slightly embaressed.

"On the other hand, you look the part exactly, Roronoa Zoro."

"I take it you're here for our bounties?" Robin asked. Ronas' gaze shifted to her face, and he looked surprised for a moment.

"My goodness, I know that face! If it isn't Nico Robin! What an unexpected surprise to see you travelling with this group of pirates. That makes three large prizes in your little band, Straw Hat. You are going to make us wealthy indeed."

"You want a fight?" Luffy asked. "I'll kick your ass right now!"

"Why, certainly, we will fight! I notice that your crew has seven members, while my own band also has seven. What a happy coincidence."

The swordsman bowed low and spoke.

"Lord Ronas, if I may be so bold-"

"You wish to face Roronoa Zoro?"

"Yes, Lord."

"Very well. He will be your opponent. Anybody else have preferences?"

Barabas cleared his throat. "My lord, I-"

"You will face...him." Ronas declared, pointing at Usopp's cowering figure. "He's the only one of them I can depend on someone as incompetant as you to defeat."

"What are you talking about?" Luffy shouted across the space between them. "Come over here and let's fight!"

"A moment's patience, Straw Hat Luffy. First, I need to set the stage."

There was a blur of motion, and then something ran past Luffy very quickly. He looked around frantically, and saw that Ronas, Zoro, and the swordsman had all vanished.

"Zoro!" he cried out, alarmed. A blur of motion whipped past his face once more, snatching up Nami and one of the 'bandits', then speeding away once more.

"Nami!" he cried out.

"Oi, what the hell's going-"

Sanji's question was cut off as he vanished as the blur of motion went past once more.

"Sanji!"

One by one, the Straw Hat Pirates and assassins vanished, until only Luffy was left standing in front of the restaurant. Then the blur came by one more time and stabilized into Ronas' form once more.

"What the hell did you do, asshole?" Luffy shouted, distressed by the disappearance of his comrades.

"Oh, calm yourself, Straw Hat. They're all unharmed. I just took them...away. Each of them will fight one of my men. This whole island is our battlefield now!"

Luffy was having none of that. With a cry of "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" he threw his right fist forward, sending it stretching out towards Ronas' stationary form. Ronas easily stepped to the side, and the punch sailed right past him. Then he vanished once more, and a rush of air flew along the length of Luffy's arm towards his body.

Luffy suddenly began stretching in every direction at once, as though suddenly under attack from a rain of invisible blows. He gave out a short cry of pain and surprise, and coughed up blood as he tumbled forward.

"A rubber man...how dissapointing," Ronas said from behind Luffy. "Your Devil Fruit power might protect you from regular attacks, but it's worthless when you're struck by a thousand punches in the blink of an eye!"

Luffy pulled himself up to his feet slowly.

"How...did you do that?" he asked, coughing loudly as he did.

"I ate the Flash Flash fruit," Ronas said, turning to look at Luffy once more. "It gave me the power to move faster than the eye can see."

Luffy pulled his fist back once more, but Ronas didn't even let him throw the punch. Luffy crumpled again, his rubber body stretching out once more.

"How are you going to fight someone you can't even touch?" Ronas asked.

Luffy managed to haul himself back up into a sitting position again, but cried out and fell down again as Ronas zipped past him once more.

"Damn you..." he said as he lay on the ground, panting.

"Oh, do be quiet," Ronas said as he stood over him. "I'll finish you in a moment. First I have business with this restaurant."

He turned and began slowly walking towards the restaurant. Amina stood in his path, hands held out before her.

"Please," she shouted, "don't destroy it! We'll give you the money, we'll give you all the money we have!"

"It's not about the money," Ronas said with an evil grin on his face, "Not anymore."

He vanished once more, and with a bang a man-sized hole appeared in the restaurant, as though someone had run through it very, very quickly. A moment later, the restaurant front exploded outwards, and another hole appeared. Ronas reappeared exactly where he had stood, walking forward at the same sedate pace.

"Please, don't do this! This restaurant means everything to us! We came to this town with nothing but a dream of running a great restaurant, and serving the sailors who come in from the sea!"

Ronas blurred once more, and another pair of holes were blown in the restaurant. What little clientele had not already fled were not running for their lives.

"We saved all the money we could, and somehow managed to gather enough to buy this place!" Derrek said, now down on his knees and begging. "Please, do anything to us, but let the restaurant stand!"

Ronas was standing over them now.

"I don't care about any of that," he said disdainfully. "If you're going to try to stand up to us, even a little, then an example must be made of you. I cannot allow any slackness or insubordination."

Then he vanished again. Hole after hole was blown in the restaurant as he ran through it again and again.

"Please, stop it!" Amina cried out, tears rolling down her face. Ronas paid her no mind, and continued to trash the restaurant.

"Stop it, please!" Derrek cried, but Ronas ignored him too.

"Knock it off, you asshole!" Luffy shouted, and Ronas was surprised to suddenly find a hand gripping his collar.

Luffy jerked his arm upwards, sending Ronas on a circular arc through the air at the end of Luffy's arm. He sailed through the air until he impacted on the other side of the street, collapsing the wall of the building opposite the restaurant. Luffy's arm snapped back to his shoulder.

"Don't you try to ruin their dream! If you wanna fight somebody, fight me!"

Ronas pulled himself to his feet, surrounded by rubble. He gave Luffy an evil grin.

"Now that's more like it. This might be fun after all."



"-on?"

Sanji looked around. Suddenly, he was in a different part of town altogether. There was no sign at all of his crewmates or the Order members.

"Where am I?" he asked, looking around. He looked down and realized that his cigarette had gone out. He lit a match, and brought it up to his face to relight it.

There was the sound of a gunshot, and suddenly Sanji's cigarette was gone, carried away by a precisely-fired bullet.

"What the hell?" he asked, staring at his now-empty hand.

"My name is Varin the Longshot," a voice called out from a nearby rooftop. Sanji looked up and saw a thin man, his face completely covered by a swath of scarves, pointing an enormous rifle at him. "May I ask your name?"

"Sanji," he replied, slightly befuddled.

"I will be your opponent. Prepare yourself!"

Then he fired the rifle again.



Nami looked around, confused. One moment, she'd been standing behind Luffy, and the next she was in the middle of a forest, standing in the shadow of an enormous rock.

"What the hell happened?" she asked aloud. Suddenly a thought occured to her. A moment's patience, Straw Hat Luffy. First, I need to set the stage. Ronas had said those words, and then suddenly she was...here.

Oh no! she thought distressedly. He didn't match me off with one of those deadly assassins, did he?

Nami pulled out and assembled her clima-tact. She backed up against the enormous rock. There, at least now whoever was out there couldn't come at her from behind.

"Excuse me, miss," a gravelly voice asked from jsut over her right shoulder. Nami leapt forward as though she'd been stung, then turned and brought her weapon up in a defensive position. A face had appeared in the side of the rock.

"My name is Ergon the Rock. I'm very pleased to meet you. What's yours?"

Nami was too dumbstruck to answer.



Chopper was lying on the ground, trying uncomfortably to shuffle away from the lean man who was bent over him, poking his belly inquisitively with a stick.

"Oh, really now. This is just insulting. Even Baraba gets to fight a full-sized man. I'm stuck with a little racoon."

"Hey, asshole, I'm a reindeer!" Chopper shouted from the ground.

"I mean, it talks and everything, but it's still just a little raccoon," the man continued, paying Chopper no notice. "I'm really going to have to complain-"

"I just said that I'm a /reindeer/!" Chopper shouted, shifting into Heavy Point and lashing out at the tall man, who effortlessly vaulted backwards and landed with a backflip.

"Oh, that's much better. A Zoan user, eh? This should be fun. My name is Cluran the Beast, and I challenge you!"



Usopp leapt out of the way just as an enormous stone hammer crashed down on where he had been standing.

"Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi!" he shouted, running away as quickly as possible.

"Stand still, puny man!" Baraba shouted, running after him with a battlecry.

Usopp suddenly came to a halt, turning about to face his pursuer. Baraba grinned.

"So, you finally decided to face me like a man?"

"Don't come a step closer!" Usopp shouted, holding his hand out in warning. Baraba stopped short. After a moment he managed to collect his thoughts enough to ask 'why?'.

"I have eight thousand followers waiting in ambush!" Usopp declared proudly. "If you come another step, they'll beat you to a pulp!"

Baraba slowly considered that. For a moment it seemed he was going to buy it, and then...

"Eight thousand men? Bah! That is nothing! I could smash eight million men!"

Usopp was mortified. He fell for it, but it still didn't help me!

Usopp screamed in panic as Baraba surged forward once more, hammer held up at the ready.



Zoro looked around, confused. He was used to finding himself in unexpected places, but usually he at least had some recollection of travelling there, even if he did not remember exactly how. He was unaccustomed to suddenly finding himself someplace else.

He heard a sound off to his right, and turned his head to face it, gripping the handle of one of his blades. There was a small flash of light, and suddenly there was a sound to his left. He turned to face that. Suddenly there was a series of light flares right in front of his face. He stumbled back, covering his eyes with his left hand.

There was the ring of steel on steel, and when the light died down Zoro had his sword half-way out of its sheath, parrying a blow dealt by the swordsman who had been standing with Ronas. Zoro grinned.

"What's the big idea, blinding me like that, eh?"

The swordsman attacked again. Zoro leaned back, avoiding the first stroke, then fully drew his sword and parryied the next two. He then thrust forward, but there was another flash of light and his opponent was suddenly standing a few meters away.

"Masterful," the Swordsman said, sheathing his own blade and bowing low. "My name is Cortez the Blade. I desire honorable combat against a master such as you. Will you do me the honor?"

"If it's a fight you want," Zoro said, drawing a second sword, "I'll give you one."

"Prepare yourself," Cortez said, and then he vanished in another flash of light.



"Seis Fleurs Clutch!" Robin shouted. Six arms sprouted over her opponent's body and twisted, snapping the head back. He fell to the ground, unmoving. RObin wiped the dust off her hands. THat had been almost too easy...

"Honestly, how very rude," a voice called out from behind her. She turned and the man was standing there, completely unharmed. She glanced over her shoulder to be sure, but the man she'd disabled was still lying there. SOmething odd was going on.

She crossed her arms and called out "Seis Fleur Clutch" once more, and this copy fell to the ground just like the first.

"It's not even as if I finished introducing myself."

Robin turned once more, and the man was standing there, completely unharmed. He had one hand on his wide-brimmed hat, and was holding it down over his face.

"You are Nico Robin. Famous outlaw, archaeologist, bounty of seventy-nine million beli. Quite a sum for someone who earned the price at nine years of age. Possessed, it would seem, of a rather extraordinary set of abilities. Fortunately, I am not without my own talents."

Seven more of him stepped into view from behind rocks, trees, and otherwise just out of sight. Robin suddenly found herself surrounded by eight identical men.

"My name is Sixbones the Many, and I am here to claim the bounty upon your head."