Another purpose

Meeting the Strawhats

Itachi sighed in relief. He had cast a genjutsu with the Mangekyo Sharingan, but he had forgone using Tsukuyomi. Plus, if he killed an Admiral or completely knocked him out, it would bring unwanted attention to him and the Straw Hats. The best situation was to make Aokiji believe he had killed him and Luffy and send him on his merry way. It would give them some more time to breathe before they eventually brought attention back to themselves.

A clone arrived, carrying the Admiral's bike. He turned back to the Admiral. He laid the man down in the sleeping position that he had previously been in, pumping more chakra in him to lengthen the duration of the genjutsu. He pulled the sleeping mask over the man's face and stepped back. A mind certain of its own actions was the easiest to fool, especially in this world where the concept of genjutsu was completely unheard of.

He turned to the sight of Luffy looking at awe. Itachi just simply smile at the young pirate at his amusement.

"How did you do that?! Why did he stop moving? Why were your eyes spinning?" Luffy came with a load of questions that made Itachi hit him with a chop to make him stop. "Let us go back to your ship. I assume that they're worried about you."

"Oh that's right. Robin!" Exclaimed Luffy. He started to run over to the others to make sure that she and the rest are alright. The duo went towards the ship and found both Zoro and Sanji in the ocean thawing off the ice on their body. "Oi, Zoro! Sanji!" Both men looked  up to see their captain surprisingly alive and still his fist frozen. "Are you two alright?!" Asked the captain.

"Yea, but how the hell are you alive?! Did you beat the admiral?" Asked Zoro. "Well.....no. I sorta had some help." Replied Luffy. He pointed to his side and Itachi was there with a single nod. Zoro and Sanji stared at him, they could tell that he is a powerful person to take on an admiral. He could take them out if he wants to. "Oi Luffy, who's that?" Asked Zoro. Luffy turn to Itachi and just stared at him then proceeded to give his signature smile, completely not knowing his savior name.

"Oh that's right! What's your name anyway?" Asked Luffy. Itachi replied with a smile of his own. "Itachi Uchiha."
"Yea, his name is Itachi," He'd turn his attention towards his men again. "So how's the others? How's Robin?"

"The others are trying to thaw out Robin-chan as well speak." Replied Sanji.  That being said, a door bust wide open from the ship having a orange-haired woman coming from the cabin. "Is everything alright out here? Wait a minute Luffy?!"

"Yo, Nami. Is Robin doing okay?" Asked Luffy.

"Yea, the ice is melting off her, but why are you here?! Did you already beaten the admiral?!" Exclaimed Nami. Luffy began laughing at her questions. "No, I would gotten my ass beat, but Itachi here save me." Nami's vision shifts towards to the new person in their presence. She felt relieved that Luffy was alright, but somewhat having a strange feeling about Itachi. Her inspection of him was interpreted by the little reindeer that was coming out next. She turn to ask him about the situation.

"So how is it Chopper?" Asked Nami.

"She'll be fine. We manage to get most of the ice off here. She should be resting by now." He jumped on the ship's railing to see if Zoro and Sanji were doing okay. "Is the ice thawing off yet?"

"Oi, Chopper! My hand is getting coldddd!!" Yelled Luffy. The little reindeer's attention turns to Luffy as he see that his frozen fist was there. "Wahhhh!!! Luffy, you're alive?! No never mind, come up onto the ship. We need to defrost your hand quickly as possible." "Okay!" Luffy started to jump up toward the ship and landed on the deck. "Oh yeah!" Luffy turns back to the railing as he look down at Itachi once again. "Itachi, you gotta tell me what did you do and join my crew! You're very coooool!" Exclaimed the smiling captain. He started to enter the cabin with Chopper to thaw his hand. Zoro and Sanji to gotten out the water as the ice is finally gone.

Zoro, Sanji, Nami, and Itachi were on the ship, both men were drying off their bodies and clothes and Nami was staring at Itachi with extra precautions if he would tried anything funny. A door opened revealing a long-nosed person walking with fear in his eyes. He sighed and then noticing Itachi on the base of the ship. He shrieked in fear seeing that there's a stranger on board and no one on the ship seem to be mind that he was here.

"G-g-guys! There's a-a enemy on the ship and you're not doing a-anything about i-it." Said the long nose coward.

"Relax, he's not a threat." Said Zoro "He helped Luffy escape from the admiral, so stop being scared."

Usopp relaxed a little but still tensed about his presence. "A-alright then. But if he tries anything, I-I'll have to bring out my army to defeat you." Itachi blinked surprisingly at the long nosed fellow with that empty threat. He'd tried to make himself braver, but it failed completely.

"Alright then. That's it." Said Nami. She started to walk up to Itachi to explain himself for his arrival. "Look, I'm glad that you've saved our idiot captain, but we need to know if you can be trustworthy or not. So, who are you and how did you get here?"

Itachi sighed and began to introduce himself towards the crew. "Very well. If you don't know, my name is Itachi Uchiha. I got here by boat but gave it away to people that was walking on the block of ice."

Sanji took out a cigarette and proceed to lit it up.

"Are you a pirate?" Asked the green-haired swordsman.

"I guess you can say that. I was a commander of the Whitebeard pirates and my bounty is about 660 million berries. So you can all tell that I'm a huge deal towards the Navy."

The crew's widen in shocked in the information that they heard. "You're a Whitebeard commander!?" Exclaimed Usopp. "Like I said, I used to be. Left around two years ago."

"So that means you know Luffy's brother, Ace." Said Sanji.

"Of course I do. How do you guys know Ace? It's been a while since I last saw him. How was he doing, last you saw?"

Nami began to tilt her head to reminisce the events that they met Ace.
"Well, we met him by chance in Alabasta. Really helped us out against this marine, Smoker, and some cannon fodder from a criminal organization. He seemed to be doing well, although he seemed in a hurry? Um, I think he said something about tracking someone, an old crewmate. Said his name was Blackbeard and that he had killed a friend."

The temperature on the deck of the ship dropped a few degrees, the look in Itachi's eyes taking on a hard glint.

"Did he say who this Blackbeard person is? Who he killed?"

She could barely stammer out a "No."

The sudden pressure on the deck let up, to which everyone sighed relief.

"I believe that we should go as soon as possible." Everyone agree on that statement.