Adrian was annoyed. He was constantly on the run from the Marines, but his island-hopping journey had led him to, of all places, Loguetown. A place with a good pirate culture due to its proximity to the Grand Line, but a horrible World Government infestation. Many pirates had been caught here. He'd been lucky that his weapons were concealable; he could hide them under his clothing. Or failing that, in the bag he carried on him. He had a ship he used to get here: A small yacht, stolen from a well-to-do individual on the last island he was on. He always liked to steal a different boat from each place he escaped from, when things got hairy. The Marines on the next island wouldn't recognize the boat that pulled in, and with a careful application of disguises, he could pass as its owner. So here he was, disguised as a rich tourist to the site of Gol. D. Roger's execution. But of course, such a ruse wouldn't work forever. Still, the One Piece was beyond the Grand Line. There were lots of pirates here as a result. The Marines wouldn't be looking for him if there were a thousand other criminals passing through every day. [i]Criminal.[/i] He hated that word now, oh so [i]very[/i] much. It was a word that the World Government could use to label anyone it didn't like as a threat to be neutralized, by any means necessary. Sure, he was no saint. But he was a damn sight better than the countless bloodthirsty pirates that plagued the East Blue alone, and he didn't deserve to be treated like them for standing up to oppression! He was a rebel, not a crook! But of course, to a totalitarian regime, there was no distinction. But, alas, this was the world he lived in, and so here he was, getting breakfast from a deserted, seedy bar in the middle of the morning on an island full of Marines who would try to arrest him on sight. But then he overheard something from another table. “Ahem… ‘Alesia’ is quite a common name. We’re just ‘treasure hunters’, and those damned marines are the ones who attacked us first,” Alesia dragged a chair from the nearby table, “But the Scarlet Pirates is recruiting, and we’re still deciding on how to split our spoils. I’m thinking of an even split of 10 million, and the reserves will go to a new ship after we reach the Grand Line. The Reverse Mountain is a bit troublesome to cross…” Alesia? [i]That[/i] captain Alesia? The new kid on the block that prioritized finding treasure over theft and murder? Well, [i]this[/i] was an interesting development! He'd known that he would need protection for a while now. There was only so much even the equivalent of a mid-to-high-tier CP9 agent could do on their own to evade capture by an entire planet of Marines. He had been running and fighting with no end goal. There was no place safe from a government that owned the world. You couldn't get out of their jurisdiction, you couldn't seek asylum, you couldn't do jack. So to get away from them, the best place to hide was among the criminal population. Unfortunately, that tended to surround you with pirates the majority of the time. But Alesia was different. At least, so far. She primarily sought after treasure that didn't belong to anyone (such as the One Piece), and she had directly attacked a Marine ship. And evidently, she won. If he was going to get protection from the Marines, an end goal, and a permanent place to sleep and store more belongings than could fit in a knapsack, here was his only chance. He finished up his food, paid his tab, and approached her with a jovial expression on his face. An expression that wasn't actually forced, for once. His emotions were showing due to the seriousness of this opportunity. "Hello there, Captain. Do you mind if I sit here? I have something to ask you." [@Noodles]