A blur, everything was just one big blur. Luffy tried to stand up, but as soon as he started moving, violent coughs erupted from his mouth and pretty much pinned him back down. The blurs slowly made sense; everything now seemed like in really low definition rather than a haze.

"Oi, you okay lad?" a voice said from… wherever Luffy was.

"Y-Yeah, I think-" another coughing fit took over what Luffy was going to say, this time though, he felt a few spurts of salty water come out of him mouth "Damm… sea water…" he managed to say between chokes.

Finally, the coughing subsided and his vision became clearer. As it turns out, he was in a cell with two more men.

Who… who are you people?" Luffy asked.

"The name is Captain Jack Sparrow," said Jack "Nice hat by the way."

"Thanks…" he took his straw hat from his hat and looked at it, he then turned to the other man on the room "And you are?"

"My name is Edward Kenway," said Edward as he adjusted his hood "What's your?"

Luffy smirked and stood up, putting his hat back on "My name is Monkey D Luffy…" he pulled his hand from his head and looked and the two men proudly "And I'm gonna be the pirate king!"

Jack and Edward looked at each other; Edward was the first to speak "You do realize that's a load of bullocks. We pirates became what we are because we defied the kings and their rules. What makes you think there is such a thing as a pirate king."

"Actually mate…" Jack interrupted "There isn't a pirate king yet; the brethren court never reached an bargain on who will become the future pirate king."

"What are you two talking about? The pirate king is the one who finds the One Piece," Said Luffy.

Before any of them could express their beliefs, a large bang resonated from the bars behind Luffy; he turned around and saw… someone. At least he thought it was someone, instead of skin he had a thin layer of transparent coat and a short muzzle, his ears were located at the top of his head rather than the sides and his back supported two massive wings.

"Be quiet in there!" he roared.

"Why won't you come inside and make us." Edward rose from his corner and stepped forward.

"As much as I would love to kick your plot repeatedly, I had strict orders to keep you locked up." The guard resorted.

"Yeah, watch me!" Declared Luffy. Feeling that he was completely dry, he pulled his arm backwards and shouted, "Gum Gum… PISTOL!" Then, all of a sudden, Luffy's arm stretched and tore the bars completely off the wall, hitting the guard in the process and knocking him down.

"Jaysus! What was that!?" Edward screamed.

"I believe that I'm too sober to deal with this right now," said Jack, he quickly rose up and moved out of the cell, careful not to step on the unconscious guard "Just close your eyes and pretend it's all a bad dream, that's how I get by…" he then picked a random direction and walked away.

Luffy ran the opposite direction, letting his nose guide him. Edward stayed behind until he finally decided that was enough. He approached the guard and searched for everything of value. He found a sword, a few golden coins and a bundle of keys. After that, he began walking down the hall where Jack went.

It didn't take long for Edward to find his way out of the dungeon. What surprised him though, was the fact that everything, from the floor to the ceiling, was pure crystal. And just like his friend Bonnet once said, it was a truly awe-full pleasure.

But his marveling got cut short when he heard the clatter of metal coming from a hallway to his left. Edward quickly dove behind a pillar and carefully glanced beyond it. There, where he stood moments ago, were five of these weird beasts. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, everything became dull and grey. He focused on the guards until he could see a faint green aura.

It was his Eagle Vision; those who possess the gift are able to instinctively sense how people and objects relate to them, which manifests as a colored glow, much like an aura.

When an individual masters Eagle Vision, the ability can evolve to the more advanced Eagle Sense. This stage heightens all the senses of its user, allowing them to detect the heartbeat of a target in the area, or even foresee a target's path.

For this ability, a variety of colored glows are used to mark different people or objects. Red indicates enemies or spilled blood, blue indicates allies, white indicates sources of information or hiding spots, and gold indicates targets or objects of interest.

But he never saw green, nor did he understand its meaning. Deciding to play it safe, Edward decided to simply 'tag' the guards and pay attention if anyone of them comes closer again. He moved back behind the pillar as he watched the guards' auras through the wall itself, a very handy skill indeed.

Once the guards moved out, Edward came out of his hiding place and down the hall the guards just came from. He walked slowly and carefully, making sure to make less noise as possible.

Luckily for him, he found exactly what he was looking for; the barracks. Once inside, Edwards started rummaging through the different cabinets and weird metallic lockers in search of his belongings. Shortly after he started, he found what he was looking for.

Two pistol-swords, four golden flintlock pistols with a single bullet each, a handful of smoke bombs, ten berserk and sleep darts (with the blowpipe of course), fifteen rope darts and his trusty hidden blades, luckily all in working conditions. He then rummaged some more until he found his most powerful asset of all; the piece of Eden.

Edward found the piece of Eden beneath the assassin's hideout after a storm hit the shores of the island and revealed a long lost forgotten cave system. According to Ah Tabai, the assassin's mentor, only Edward can wield such a powerful artifact without being consumed by power and madness.

Edward sighed in relief as he strapped all his weapons on their respectful places onto his robes. Now feeling more confident, he hurried outside and down the hall once again, hoping to find his way out of this place and make some sense.

It seems that lady luck was on his side today as he reached the exit of the castle without being detected yet. His robes
concealed his hairless face as he mingled with these strange people. Some of them shot a suspecting glance towards Edward; he avoided them as much as possible.

"Did you hear what happened today? Three creatures appeared in the empire!" Edward heard a group of females talking among themselves.

"Yeah, I heard something about hairless apes or something," the second one said.

"I saw one, you know, about two hours ago. One of them roamed around the market when I was shopping. He was wet and looked really tired. He said something about being hungry and eating meat, I was so glad the guards seized him, he was scary." The third one chimed in.

Edward decided it was best to move out, he took a quick glance towards the city "This entire god dammed place is made out of gems…" he silently said. Edward looked around a bit more until he stopped, facing the castle, the only tall building around. So, in order to see better, he did what every sane human would do in his stead, he scaled the – nearly vertical – walls of the palace.

The first few tries were a bit of a failure on his part, the crystal was smooth and clean, not a single crack to get a good footing. Thankfully, after circling the palace for a bit, Edward found some scaffolds that led all the way to the top. A few workers were there also, chatting.

"This work is hard…" complained one of them while wiping some sweat off his brow.

Another worker laughed "What did you expect when you signed up; it takes a lot of preparations to set the empire for the Equestrian games, just be grateful you're not the one working on the coliseum."

Edward ignored the workers and began to scale the scaffolding. As far as he could tell, no one saw him reach the top, and as he scanned his surrounding, he saw something that caught his breath. Out in the distance, a huge ship sailed through the skies!

"What in god's name…"

Edward hid behind one of the pillars that dotted the peak of the palace; getting caught was not on his agenda.

He waited for what must be hours, thinking of means of escape "I could steal that ship… but I don't believe I have the right skills to operate it… maybe I can-"

His muttering was interrupted by an explosion coming from inside the castle, followed by screaming and shouting.

He took a glance downwards to see what all the commotion was about. He did not expect to see the same kid with the straw hat running away as dozens of guards chased him, all the while laughing…

Author's Notes:

Finaly another chapter for my most successful story yet.
Now, before all the rage comments start, let me eplain a few things.

One, Luffy was caught so easily because he was stil wet. Sea water makes devil fruit users to become weak.

Two, I know that Jack, Edward and Luffy barely said anything to each other, that's because it wasn't the 'formal' meet-n-greet, that will come later on.

And finaly, the next two chapters will focues each on Luffy and Jack separately. On the fourth chapter, the three will reunite...

I hope that'll explain some of your questions and defuse the hate comments.