Author's Note 1: … all these reviews, adds to favorites and followers in just one chapter? Wowzer. Thank you all! I never expected Lelouch's Romance Dawn to actually work and to be liked... well, I hope I won't disappoint you guys with Lelouch's adventures in the Grand Line.
Author's Note 2: Hem. Someone in his review talked about pairings with Lelouch (with Robin or Vivi). Well, the thing is... I haven't planned any pairing for Lelouch right now – and he won't be joining the Strawhats either. Sorry OBSERVER01, but that won't happen in Lelouch's Romance Dawn. And if I made Lelouch meet Vergo, then think logically: where is he right now? Why would he join the Strawhats if he doesn't have a dream to pursue?
Chapter Two: You Are Blacklisted
He who whispers in your ears
is the greatest and sweetest temptation of the world,
but can also become its doom
shall you cross him.
Thirteen years later, in the Grand Line...
"I still don't understand why we're in that goddamn island, Lelouch," Saber, the hybrid half-monkey and half-man, grumbled as he watched with disgust several nobles busy themselves with useless conversations. "We could have landed somewhere else – ah, no. Actually, we do have to pass by Sabaody Archipelago to reach other islands in the first half of the Grand Line, but what I don't get is why we have to stay here for another two damn hours."
His big, green eyes found his partner who was busy reading a large notebook from an equally large bookshelf. Saber glared at his back, knowing that the bastard had gotten used to him whining about anything (and the hybrid knew how quick his folks used to get angered due to his ceaseless bubbly self.) and would brush him off easily. Canterbury Lelouch, now twenty-three – he still couldn't believe he was twenty-three! He died when he had just reached eighteen – and a damn good navigator, hid his amused smirk as he turned the page of the book he was reading. Without so much as giving the marsupial an answer, which quickly angered him.
Saber stomped the ground, snarling and tail standing upright behind him. "Bastard, I know you heard me!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Lelouch.
"I did," the navigator simply responded. "But I just refused to talk because I'd like to focus on my task, and it's proving to be hard with a screaming marsupial."
The last insult wasn't serious, but Lelouch knew his friend would be going for the kill. When he sensed Saber's intent, his instincts kicked in and his Haki made his body move; as fluid and elusive as a snake, the navigator evaded the first bullet by side-stepping to the right, to the left, crouched down, then made a headstand while carrying the book before leaping high. Saber cursed, raising his guns to rain down bullets on Lelouch; he caught the smirk on his black-haired friend before he suddenly disappeared, using the Soru to vanish from sight.
Quarin Saber looked behind him, on his left and right with narrowed eyes, before something in his guts told him to look up. And look up he did, but not in time: Lelouch landed gracefully upon him, his feet firmly stepping onto the hybrid's shoulders, and leaned in by making a perfect right-angled. Saber staggered a little bit, caught off guard, and groaned in annoyance as he struggled with the extra weight before straightening himself. He looked up, scowled at the smirking face his friend was making, before pointing his gun at him.
"Look, Vergo informed me that a little group of pirate hunters bagged something awfully precious to him," Lelouch said casually, despite being held at gunpoint. "I'm quite sure he could have recovered it all by himself, but it seems he's got work to do back at G-5 with his units. Though I'm a bit suspicious since he rarely lets us go on our own, I'm going to ensure we'll complete this errand."
"Then why are we still in that library?" Saber questioned, raising a brow. "And why didn't he come here to retrieve his 'treasure' himself? That would have saved us the trip to that damn island!"
This time, Lelouch smiled genuinely. His walleyed eyes – a gold so bright and vibrant that it shone like the sun for the left one and a purple so light it had the same colour as violets – softened considerably.
"Despite being a corrupted island with nobles and those disgusting Celestial Dragons, they have decent navigation books in their libraries," he answered, standing up and balancing himself perfectly. Saber's gun followed his movement, never missing his face. "I'm almost done, bear with me. Then we'll be off this grove and go to Aquila's hideout to take him out once and for all." Lelouch was still smiling down at him. "Don't worry, we'll be off this god-forsaken island in no time."
This was the code for 'I've got you', and Saber knew that Lelouch had sensed his uneasiness from the beginning, ever since they landed. He retracted his gun, his features relaxing. He even released a breath he hadn't know he'd been holding all this time, as if an impressive weight had been lifted from his shoulders. His friend nodded gratefully before getting off of him, landing lightlly on the dusty floor.
"Were you really going to draw a hole into my face, Saber?" Lelouch inquired as he flipped his hair, amused.
The white-haired hybrid snorted, putting his guns away. "You wish. And what would become of me? Who would put up with me?"
"You'd still have Vergo?" Lelouch offered, sarcastically hopeful.
The hybrid snarled at him, his fangs gleaming under the sunlight, which prompted the navigator to stifle a chuckle. Then he went back to reading, all traces of amusement gone. After coiling his long tail around his waist, Saber settled down on a chair, still looking at him with emotionless eyes. He didn't know how and why he'd come to accept Canterbury Lelouch as his friend, but all he knew was that he'd follow him. Till he died. To think it all started years ago with a matter of philosophy, Saber thought with a small frown. But still, the fact that he always ensured his well-being before his own was nice.
As for Sabaody Archipelago, Saber had been told to avoid it at any cost; as a native of Zaran Island, he belonged to a rare species of hybrids – and since Fishmen and mermaids were categorized as hybrids as well, there was a chance that the half-marsupial would be branded as a prize at the human auction in Sabaody Archipelago. The thought of being sold off to a noble or a Celestial Dragon would sometimes give him the creeps, so being on the accursed island while knowing the damn place was crawling with bounty hunters ready to kidnap him put him on edge. Even humans weren't spared from that atrocious fate. Nobles and their goddamn mindset, he mentally spat with a snarl. Saber knew how to fight and wouldn't hesitate to cause a bloodbath if needed, even though it would eventually cause him problems with the locals and the Marines. He'd die before he could get caught.
His green eyes caught movement on his right and he turned, his hand going for his gun. The sight of a young girl hiding behind a bookshelf, her gaze looking over the two men in wonder, made Saber frown in annoyance. When she caught his eyes, she gasped and instantly blushed, then fled. Even with those creepy walleyed eyes and in that god-forsaken island, Canterbury Lelouch still managed to attract women and girls. At the very least, he didn't take advantage of it like the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock.
"Lelouch," Saber spoke up, crossing his arms. "There's something that hasn't left my mind ever since you said you didn't have a dream and I want to understand."
"Oh? I'm all ears," his friend encouraged, eyes still glued to the book.
Saber turned back toward him, still frowning. "People embrace their dreams and do everything to realize them. And if they die trying, they tend to die with a smile. I don't have a dream myself, just like you, yet something else seems to bind us together; I'm not looking for One Piece, I'm not interested in the race and I'm not even into the twisted idea that is justice to both the World Government and the Marines." He looked up at Lelouch who, at this point, had stopped reading to stare at Saber. "You did something to me back then that made me follow you, Lelouch. I still don't know if it's part of your charisma or that... 'presence' you display sometimes, but it makes me want to walk by your side, so I want to know: if you had a dream, or even an ideal you'd want to realize, what would it be? If I had one different from yours, would you still want me by your side?"
There was this bewildered look in those eyes that Saber wasn't used to seeing, since this was the first time he ever asked Lelouch this question. He stood there, speechless and not knowing what to answer because he knew beforehand that Saber wouldn't be satisfied. Eleven years ago, the hybrid didn't know that crossing paths with this boy with walleyed eyes would change his view on his own life; those walleyed eyes could see people's most secret fears and nightmares and despite Lelouch being young, they seemed more mature than his age. Whatever he had experienced before their first meeting, he had lived.
Slamming the book shut, the navigator put it back in place with caution. There was a strange expression on his face as his fingers lingered on the book cover. "...I have no idea whatsoever," he said truthfully. He sensed Saber's curiosity, so he continued. "There's still something I haven't told anybody, not even Vergo-san, and that will wait until I've garnered enough trust in my entourage. And yes, including you, Saber. Having a dream is for someone who is expecting life or fate to give him the chance to realize and live it, after breaking the restraints, and that was something I was once given."
"Once?" Saber repeated.
"Let's just say that I tried to do something. I tried my hardest, using every means to succeed." He frowned as he turned back to face his friend, his walleyed eyes burning and swirling with so many emotions at the same time that the hybrid couldn't follow. "And you know what, Saber? I failed. I failed when I thought that my ambition and my determination to change and create something better for a certain person I loved dearly would never be broken by the world, I failed when I understood that ideals and realities would likely never be merged together even if I were to succeed. There would always be something or someone to disrupt it – take the kingdom of Dressrosa for example: there was peace and joy under the regency of King Riku Doldo III, and Doflamingo arrived one day. He disrupted everything, using both his demonic intelligence and powers to get where he is. The people of Dressrosa now hate the Riku bloodline for something they thought he'd done in the past. Doflamingo was given the power to realize his plan, and those who aren't deceived by his words and charisma are well aware that his true goal lies somewhere else."
A lie within the truth. Lelouch and Saber may have known each other for eleven years, he still wasn't going to tell him the truth about his origins. One day maybe, but not now. It was just too soon. During his years of training under Vergo's supervision, there was a time he had come to meet the Warlord and his 'family' when his master was due to leave for a mission – finding out that Vergo was a pirate undercover in the Marine corps didn't really surprise Lelouch, since he had his doubts about him. Therefore, he had stayed with them several times. Lelouch would never forget his first meeting with the 'Heavenly Demon', since he had accidentally triggered something when he had looked at him. His first impression of Donquixote Doflamingo was that he was someone awfully dangerous – having been put under so much stress and pressure during nerve-wrecking training sessions under both Sphinx and Vergo's supervision, Lelouch's Haki had flared when the blond man had smirked at him.
'A person such as Donquixote Doflamingo is someone whose thirst will never be quenched. He is just like Schneizel – he thinks like a demon.'
Lelouch Lamperouge was given the power of the Kings and used it to fight Britannia – to fight what made his former country so detestable and everything it did to a world where he knew he and Nunnally couldn't live. So he needed to destroy the Holy Britannian Empire by beheading the demon in charge of the world domination they displayed. As he was dying as the Demon Emperor, he didn't know if he did succeed in creating the idealistic world he wanted for his precious sister and would never know. Somehow, the Geass overtook his own mind and reason, blinding Lelouch Lamperouge and driving him half-insane; his dream of destroying Britannia became something he couldn't even recognize as a goal, and he had lost himself into his rebellion against the empire.
So the very idea of having a dream, if he were given the power to realize it, scared him. Hence why he didn't have one for now. He had destroyed a world to recreate a new one, after all; having his friends and his sister chained during the Zero Requiem, exposed to the world right before his death at the hands of Suzaku, he truly had become a tyrant who had been both hated by those who only reacted to the fear he had spread and worshipped by those who understood his actions. Should he search for a dream in this world? The Grand Line was crazy as hell, but then again, Canterbury Lelouch himself wasn't totally sane anymore. I sacrificed half, maybe even more, of my sanity to embrace this power, he mentally thought as he walked toward the exit of the library, Saber right behind him.
Lelouch looked up at the sky, bright and so blue, while closing his left eye. "And even if you did have a dream for yourself, I wouldn't mind," he continued as he searched the pockets of his white overalls for his eyepatch. He put over his left eye, shielding the strange colour. "I've got nothing dear to me to protect anymore, except my pride and dignity. All I had is lost to me because I abused of the power I was given...and it consumed me to the point I was driven mad and couldn't even realize that I had strayed from my true goal. And if I ever end up having a dream to fulfill, I'll still have to find it since I have no idea. You still don't have a dream, but it could happen to you. You haven't been consumed by power. Yet. So I have complete faith that you won't stray from your own dream."
"In the end, was it worth trying at the very least?" Saber asked softly.
The vision of a smiling Nunnally, with her eyes closed, flashed into Lelouch's mind. This was enough to make him smile as well and he nodded.
"Yes. Yes, it was."
The hybrid nodded solemnly. "Then you don't have any regrets."
Since bounty hunters roamed Sabaody Archipelago like cockroaches, the two friends avoided the main streets; they used dark alleys until they could leave the grove they were on to go to another. Even though they were Vice-Admiral Vergo's protegés, Lelouch still wanted to remain unseen by the few Marine soldiers around here for Saber's sake – it really was annoying when third-class Marine soldiers happened to recognize them and having to tell them that they had some business on Sabaody Archipelago with bounty hunters would be a pain in the ass, especially because Lelouch and Saber were sent by Vergo himself.
It took them about ten minutes to find the hideout they were looking for: located on Grove 17, it was a small, simple wooden building with no real indication that it was bounty hunter's hideout, but Lelouch's Observation Haki could sense the presence of many people inside – about twenty-three. Crouching down on the grass, he concentrated on the noises he could perceive inside. One by one, he isolated them – the clinking of glasses being put down, the rustle of paper or even the splashing of water – until he could only hear their voices. He closed his visible eye, fully concentrating on their voices.
"... sure he didn't send any troops to recover what we've stolen from him? Because that Vergo guy doesn't seem to joke around. And I heard that he has a protégé who's rumoured to be a beast in battle."
"What the hell are you talking about now? I've never heard of any protegé under Vice-Admiral Vergo's care, you sure you've got good intel?"
"Then that's your intel that's crap, buddy! I can assure you that Vice-Admiral Vergo even has two protegés, but the most dangerous one of the two is named Canterbury Lelouch. Rumours say that even if he doesn't kill his opponents in battles, they still end up in a terrible, mortifying state."
"Yeah? Such as? As long as he's not as strong as Vergo..."
"I'm talking about the emotional state here, not the physical state. Though he's crazy strong, there's more to the story than you actually think: two months ago, there was one naval battle in the Grand Line during which some units from G-5 were involved with pirates, and that Lelouch guy was there. He...he did something creepy back there, OK? Half of the pirates he fought ended up acting weird, as if they were seeing crazy things, and they wouldn't stop screaming bloody murder. One even shot himself, as if death was the only solution to stop whatever the hell he was seeing. The guy who witnessed that – and survived – said he's never been this afraid in his whole life."
Lelouch opened his right eye, standing up. He had heard enough to know that they were in the right place – listening to what he did to those pirates months ago was unnecessary, but if it was needed to make out an idea of what he could do to those thieves, the navigator would let it slide. As for letting them live and talk...
He glanced at Saber, putting his black gloves on. "Ready?" he asked his friend.
His unearthly green eyes were burning with barely concealed excitement. And he already had his kodachi out.
"Whenever you are, Lelouch," was the answer.
After all, they did learn to work together as a team over the years. If not, they would have kept facing Vergo's rough punishment for an entire week. Period.
Theft wasn't Sicario's style – he very much preferred catching prizes to offer them at the auction and get his money to waste it on food and booze. The lifestyle of a bounty hunter was great when there was an interesting prey to catch, and Sicario had abandoned everything else to launch himself into the business. Money was power, power was influence. But there hadn't been any good catch these days in Sabaody Archipelago, so it had been too quiet for his taste. The rookie pirates who landed here were only interested in getting ready for the New World, thinking they had seen and experienced everything Paradise had to offer. Fools would always be fools, anyway. And this was one of the major reasons so many had failed and died in the New World, because only the strongest could survive; the Four Emperors ruled the second half of the Grand Line with an iron fist and would crush those who were foolish enough to challenge them.
Sicario wasn't interested in piracy, so the One Piece was out. But he was open for every opportunity if it benefit him and his underlings. And the last one, albeit strange and dangerous since it meant stealing from a powerful Vice-Admiral and looking forward to retaliation, payed off. He just needed to wait for his nark to pay him for the informations he wanted.
Sitting alone in his office, he looked at the files that were carefully placed on his desk. He could read the word 'Confidential' on the cover, which intrigued him; both the Marine corps and the World Government had dark secrets to hide from people – secrets that could throw the balance of the whole world, such as the existence of the One Piece (even though he wasn't interested in the race, Sicario was still curious to know if the legendary treasure of the late King of the Pirates was real or just a legend he made up seconds before his death.). The bounty hunter frowned and crossed his arms, thoughtful. He certainly wasn't going to betray the deal he'd made with his nark and open the files to read them, but he had to admit; he was just that damn curious. Why would that person need confidential documents from the Marines, even though that could lead that certain person to an impending death if she were found out? The risk was too great.
Suffice it to say, it had to be worth the danger of being found out by such a deadly Vice-Admiral. Sicario hoped so, because he would be damned if it weren't the case.
The sound of a loud gunshot suddenly made him jump in his chair, and he shot up from his seat so fast that he almost tripped on his feet on the way to the door. Sicario ripped it open, barely avoiding being impaled by a sword flung his way, and stared at the scene in front of him with wide eyes.
"What the hell?!" he exclaimed as he took in the two figures that were spreading chaos in his lair.
A lot of his men were already down, either out cold or dead, and Sicario knew it was only a matter of time – seconds! – before the last of his companions was bested. But what drew his attention was the two men who were literally slaughtering his minions, especially the one with the eyepatch because the bounty hunter recognized him quickly; while he was busy strangling another bounty hunter twice his size with his legs wrapped around his neck and imprisoning another one within his embrace – all the while bending his body to an impossibly sickening angle because the second man he was throttling was kneeling on the ground –, Sicario could make out the purple right eye, the black hair, the eyepatch and the mad grin on his lips.
Canterbury Lelouch. 'Black Mamba' Lelouch. He was here. He knew.
Now Sicario knew he was going to die. And unfortunately for him, both Lelouch and Saber had heard his exclamation; their gazes flashed at him for a second, one looked at him with contempt, the other looked at him with madness swirling in his eye. The bounty hunter felt his heart drop and sink to the bottom of his stomach as he finally came to realize that he'd been wrong.
"We've been looking for you, 'Lone Wolf' Sicario," Canterbury Lelouch declared. "You've got something that doesn't belong to you, and we need to take it back before our boss comes on Sabaody to retrieve it himself. And trust me on this one: he won't be as merciful." Right after saying this, he unwrapped his legs around the neck of the bounty hunter he'd been strangling – who had passed out seconds ago, foaming at the mouth and eyes rolled to the back of their sockets – to wrap them tightly round his waist, then proceeded to lift him until he slammed his head against the second victim he'd also been throttling.
Sicario winced at the loud thud when his two men both slumped to the ground, defeated. All the others were also down, beaten to a pulp by a – was that a hybrid right here, half-man, half-monkey? Damn, it was his first time seeing one in Sabaody Archipelago! He must be worth millions if he were to sell him.
Unfortunately, Sicario had no time to think of selling prizes to the auction right now; he must think of how he'd survive this. He had to swallow three times – three times during which he avoided blood splattering – before answering, glaring even though he was scared shitless (and probably pissing his pants). "Go to hell, you vile demon!" Then he slammed the door shut, locking himself into his own office.
Lelouch chuckled at the insult, doing a headstand on the back of one of his defeated opponents to jump with a somersault. Bending his body while in the air so his legs could catch the chandelier on the ceiling, he suspended himself there upside down, very much looking like a monkey right now.
"I've heard worse," he said, still chuckling. "That has to be the nicest insult I've ever heard in a long time. So," he added, looking down at his half-marsupial friend. "shall we go talk to the head of this organization now that we've cleared the living-room?"
Saber nodded, his eyes glaring. "He locked his door," the marksman hissed in annoyance, staring at the door with contempt. "What, does he have a secret exit in case of 'emergency attacks' or something?"
Lelouch raised a brow as he eyed the sealed door, wondering why this bounty hunter would go to such lengths to keep stolen files from the Marines. Stealing from a Vice-Admiral was already bad enough for your reputation (depending on the way you'd see it), but keeping confidential files for himself was madness. Unless...
There's something else, Lelouch thought as he readied himself: he let go of the chandelier, brought one leg up before releasing a powerful Rankyaku to cut down half of the building. The attack, forming an aerial blade, went through the wooden construction like butter, making it creak and tremble almost immediately. Flipping over so he could land on the floor on his feet, Lelouch quickly grabbed Saber and used the Soru to disappear.
They reappeared outside the crumbling house, unscathed. Amid the loud noises it was making, they could hear Sicario's crude curses, which made the marsupial smirk in amusement.
"Well, what do you know," he mused, cracking his neck. "The Six Powers of the Rokushiki do come in handy when you need them in a situation such as this one. Even though you're the only one between us two to have learnt them as a child, I'm kind of jealous of your mastery of such deadly technique."
Lelouch, though grateful of the compliment, patted his friend's shoulder in mock sympathy. "If anything, you would have lost your mind over the training sessions," he revealed, sighing. It really was a damn hassle with Sphinx. Suicidal even. "Trust me on this one, you wouldn't have liked it. All right, let's get this over with." Then he disappeared once again, undoubtedly going after Sicario.
Saber frowned slightly, confused. Was it that bad, Lelouch? He had once told him that the training sessions demanded endurance and determination beyond madness, so maybe the Rokushiki technique was something even worse than the martial arts of his own people. Shrugging, he went after his friend, becoming a blur that only ruffled the grass beneath his feet.
Together, they dug up the bounty hunter who was cradling the confidential files he'd stolen from Vergo and hauled him away from the debris of what was his former hideout. He had several cuts all over his face, but otherwise looked pretty fine. However, he still had the energy to try an attempt to escape as he started kicking. Lelouch scowled, evading a kick pretty easily.
"Calm down," he admonished as they threw him against a tree, making the bounty hunter grunt in pain. The navigator then leapt on his legs to prevent them from going wild again, prompting Sicario to gasp. Lelouch crossed his arms and looked down at his prey, imperious. "Though all we want is getting away from that god-forsaken island as soon as possible, we've got questions that need answers. I'm not going to lie to you – there's no way we can let you go after what you've done, so I suggest that you talk now," he emphasized the threat on the last word, his visible purple eye glinting dangerously.
Sicario froze, his heart missing a heartbeat and his face slowly contorted in sheer terror as his eyes widened in painful realization. What is that? Men were constantly face-to-face with fear every day of their life because it was a powerful emotion that could lead them to do both wonders and mad things (such as deciding to betray the World Government.), but there was something off about Canterbury Lelouch that made him want to run off screaming, eyes wide in fear; it wasn't just the smirk on his face, but the very presence he was displaying right now. It made Sicario want to cry, to scream, to run off, to claw his eyes out – to kill himself because in the back of his head he was aware that, if he caved in to whatever he'd see, he'd end up committing suicide by slashing his throat and clawing his eyes out.
This purple eye, the emotions swirling into it... it gave Sicario the creeps.
Seeing that their target seemed too entranced to agree, Saber snorted before plunging his blade into Sicario's left leg, all the while wrapping his long tail tightly around his neck to muffle the scream that threatened to slip past his lips. All that came out was a gurgled sound, which made Lelouch narrow his eye at the confidential files that escape the bounty hunter's hands. He bent down to pick them, his mind whirling with thousands of questions.
"There's something I don't understand, so you're going to help me," he declared as he slowly came to crouch down before Sicario, still firmly stepping on his legs and balancing himself perfectly. He held up the documents in front of the bounty hunter's face. "Anyone who is mad enough to steal from a Marine officer, let alone a Vice-Admiral, couldn't have decided to do this on his own. It's called being extremely suicidal, so there has to be more to the story; bounty hunters aren't into theft, so there must be someone else behind this." Lelouch began to stand up, applying pressure on Sicario's injured leg, making him grunt. "Don't strangle him, Saber. We want him to talk, don't we?"
Since the man was already turning a worrying shade of blue, the marksman slightly loosened his hold on his neck and Sicario took the opportunity to take huge gulps of air, greedily filling his lungs. Lelouch counted till ten, just the time he needed to recover, then spoke once again.
"I really don't know what you expected, but you must have been promised a good load of money if you were to succeed – which means, in other terms, that you must have contacted your employer before we got to you. Now the question is, who on earth would be this desperate to hire a third-rate bounty hunter, and one of the most despicable from Sabaody Archipelago, to steal confidential documents from the Marines? I don't get it."
Sicario had to breathe several times before he could formulate a proper sentence. "You... you don't even know why I did that. A-and you have no fucking idea who you're messing with, Black Mamba," he wheezed, lifting his head so he could look up at Lelouch. The fear was visible in his eyes, but he still seemed courageous enough to talk. Lelouch leaned in, listening attentively. "My contact is someone you don't want to piss off but since he's greatly interested in you, you won't even have to kill me. I'm just some sort of messenger. He's heard about you since you started making a name in the Marines corps."
The navigator's smile slowly grew, becoming sinister, whereas Saber frowned in confusion. "Oh, so you've played job applicant for me? How peculiar. You do know that we're not even official Marine soldiers, right?"
"Lelouch, is your file in those documents?" Saber asked suddenly, staring at the stack of papers his friend was holding. "Take a look at those files, will you? I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this."
Saber wasn't usually one to worry about things, mainly because Lelouch's confidence was slowly rubbing off on him but if he were to get worried (like right now), Lelouch would take him seriously. And the marsupial had been right most of the times when the two friends were supposed to fall for a trap set up by pirates, which had prompted the genius navigator to never underestimate Saber's instincts – because he could trust them to prevent them from being played. And even if it was rare for Lelouch to fall for traps, he thanked his friend's instincts.
Humming his agreement, he opened the file to read whatever was in it. And the first thing he saw was...
"...what the hell?" was all he could utter as his eye settled on his picture, which prompted Saber to peek.
And there was something else: there was his name, his date of birth, the name of his superior – Vergo –, his skills (and by his skills, he meant all of them that had been made public knowledge to the G-5: from his navigation skills to his charisma being explained with details, that always worked on both men and women, his mastery of the Rokushiki and Haki.) and his relationships (so his close friend Saber could also being concerned by whatever was going on.). Lelouch had told Vergo all he needed to know about him ever since he had made him his protégé – minus the fact that he was reborn in the Grand Line and originally from another world. So he knew all of his skills and everything he learnt under his supervision.
This can't be good, he mentally thought as he turned another page to read lines that described him the best way possible; the words 'cunning', 'powerful', 'mastermind', 'master speaker' and 'charismatic' made him cringe, but Lelouch knew they described him perfectly. Vergo having been taking care of him for years, he supposed the powerful 'Marine Vice-Admiral' knew him the most and had learnt a lot about what made Canterbury Lelouch. Gritting his teeth in irritation, he turned another page while Saber turned his attention back to Sicario, threatening him with his kodachi right under his exposed throat.
"You still haven't answered the question: who hired you?" he demanded calmly, applying pressure to the flesh and eventually drawing blood. His green eyes were burning a hole in the bounty hunter's skull – a sign that he had sensed his friend's uneasiness.
Lelouch thought that having a resume about him in a bounty hunter's hands was annoying enough, but something else, more interesting and definitely disturbing, made his blood boil. His hands slowly flexed on the papers, unnoticed by the other two who were talking.
Sicario was pale as he answered the marsupial. "I don't know, I swear!" he exclaimed frantically. "He never told me a name and I never asked as long as we both came to an agreement. I bring him the files about you to his messenger once he arrived here and he –" He suddenly shut up, realizing his mistake.
"Somebody was supposed to meet you? Convenient. When is the meeting scheduled?"
"Saber, forget him. We have a problem," Lelouch announced smoothly. Too smoothly according to Saber.
But the marksman wasn't quite finished with the bounty hunter; hissing in annoyance, he opted for knocking him out by striking a pressure point on the back of his neck. Sicario slumped to the ground, out cold for some time, and Saber stood up to look at what Lelouch had been reading, but stopped when he saw his friend's furious expression. No, 'furious' didn't even reach what he was seeing on his face – 'livid' was close enough. So whatever he's just read must be pretty bad.
The green eyes searched for Lelouch's visible violet one. "Talk to me," he said.
There was a moment of silence during which Saber waited patiently for his friend to speak. And when he did, he didn't know it was going to be this bad. "I knew, from the few times it happened when I would look at someone in the eyes, that my Devil Fruit was bad news. All Devil Fruits are categorized and some are ten thousand times more dangerous and special than most of them accounted for, especially when they cause great damages. But I didn't know how bad mine truly is when Vergo gave it to me." He slowly reached for his eyepatch, gritting his teeth, then brutally ripped it to reveal his left golden eye, burning with so much intensity.
"That must be why someone is intent on learning more about me. What I don't understand is the fact that Vergo didn't even bother telling me this."
"What? What didn't he tell you?"
As an answer, Lelouch shoved him a certain file in his face.
"Did you know that my Devil Fruit is on a blacklist of the most dangerous Devil Fruits that are deemed forbidden? Because I had my suspicions, but I didn't know anything about a damn blacklist."
Saber blanched, speechless.
Try as he might, Vergo knew it would only be a matter of time before his protégé found out about his Devil Fruit and the consequences it would bring because of its rarety – in fact, the Vice-Admiral couldn't believe there was an actual Devil Fruit that could do such things. It wasn't near Edward Newgate 'Whitebeard''s Tremor Tremor Fruit, which could destroy the entire world if he were to use it, but in another league of its own since it worked on the mind. And Vergo thought that Lelouch was the only one who could wield it. No, the pirate mentally thought as he shook his head. That's incorrect.
He knew that Canterbury Lelouch was the only one who could wield that dreadful Devil Fruit.
To think that there was a blacklist for Devil Fruits... the World Government must have encountered the previous owner of Lelouch's and faced great problems with him. Or her. Anyone who didn't know how to really deal with fear would be consumed by its power, so the Five Elders in Mariejois must have used their influence to get to the wielder of the Terror Terror Fruit and murder him before he could endanger the balance of the world – getting that person under control would be a nasty piece of work since she's the embodiement of fear itself. Vergo frowned slightly as he laced his fingers together, thoughtful.
He might have cursed Lelouch by giving him this Devil Fruit (after stealing it right under the Government's nose.) and since they had noticed the disappearance of the Terror Terror Fruit and were heavily looking for its wielder, things would become quite hectic for Lelouch; from what he's read about the Devil Fruit, not only this one worked on everyone's mind, it could also dig up anyone's most secret fears and nightmares, therefore replay them. Such power must also come with heavy consequences, but it hadn't been recorded. And Vergo was sure there were many other things to realize with it. If anything, the wielder must have a mind that has already been tainted by madness to bear and master the Terror Terror Fruit. Lelouch may have been young when he ate – no, when Vergo took advantage of his sleep to make him swallow the bitter fruit – the dreadful Devil Fruit, but he had said some words that only someone who could think ahead of the curve would say.
"I heard a saying once," Lelouch said one day after a particularly rough training session. "Someone, who died a very long time ago, said that 'No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.'. In other words, you don't have to be sane to think like a genius. So I must be insane."
Somehow, this made sense to Vergo. Doffy was a great mastermind when it came to business and he hadn't earned his nickname 'Heavenly Demon' just because he was a charismatic king, but because he just knew how to play his own game around those he worked for; using his status as a Warlord to conceal his involvement in the underworld was clever since he had something to protect (Crocodile was doing the same thing in Alabasta.), so they wouldn't suspect a damn thing. Unless there was someone to disrupt everything he's worked for all these years. The Vice-Admiral may not have known his protégé as much as Donquixote Doflamingo, but he knew for sure that he was highly intelligent and could rival with his old friend if he wanted to. Plus, there was something in Lelouch's eyes and words that made him think that the boy sounded experienced in the matter.
"Purupurupuru... purupurupuru..." Vergo turned toward his left, looking at the personalized Transponder Snail that matched Lelouch's face. He reached it to pick up, knowing who was calling. "Purupurupuru... Ga-Chank!"
Vergo didn't even flinch as he listened to Lelouch's angry voice, the Transponder Snail matching his expression. "You knew about my Devil Fruit, didn't you?!"
But he did hesitate for a few seconds before answering. "Yes. Yes, I knew about the Terror Terror Fruit and the fact that eating it would make you blacklisted."
There was an angry snort on Lelouch's part, to which Vergo didn't really react as the navigator spoke once again. "Those documents you sent me and Saber retrieve had my file and informations about my skills and everything I can do is written here. And what's more, the bounty hunter who stole them was waiting for someone to pick them up, so it looks like we'll have to delay our return for a few days." Lelouch took his time to digest what he's learnt in so little time, scowling and his eyes burning like the sun; the fact that he was being hunted by the World Government for eating a forbidden Devil Fruit, the fact that he would have to expect some visits from said World Government if they caught up to him – everything was going to be extremely hectic from now on. "Vergo-san, why didn't you tell me sooner? Wait, I have a better question: why did you make me eat it?"
"That is for you to find out, Lelouch," Vergo declared. "Every question has its answer and I'm sure you'll find all the answers to your questions, you just need to look for them. But do you remember what you told Sphinx before I came to take you away?"
At the mention of his old friend, Vergo felt an unfamiliar stinginess prick his heart a little and fought hard to sigh heavily. Lelouch still didn't know since he had told him that Sphinx would be travelling into the world once again...
The Transponder Snail frowned. "What of it?"
"Have you figured out what you wanted to be? Who you wanted to become?"
There was another silence at the end of the line.
"That's what I thought. Listen, there are countless of opportunities to take in the Grand Line; you and Saber have been in the New World for eleven years, training and becoming stronger. Now might be a good time to see the first half of the Grand Line, the one called 'Paradise'. I trust you with those documents, Black Mamba, keep them preciously with you and don't ever loose them. If anything, destroy them should you be under assault. If I need backup, I'll call you." Then Vergo stopped talking, remembering something that might upset his protégé.
There was a high chance that he'll go there if the Vice-Admiral decided to tell him. And he and Saber will venture into Paradise to explore it – they had to, anyway.
"Lelouch, there's something else I need to tell you," he said, his tone even.
The Transponder Snail reproduced the navigator's curious expression. "I'm listening."
"Something is going on in the desert kingdom of Alabasta. You should go there."
"... what do you mean, Vergo-san?"
He looked at one file silently – the one that presented Crocodile.
"The Warlord, Crocodile, is being labeled a hero by the Alabastan people and has managed to gain their trust. The king, Nefertari Cobra, is now being branded as a traitor to their own country. Although it doesn't concern me at all and I couldn't care less of this kingdom, I felt like you would. You've run into the princess once during your time with Sphinx, am I right? Nefertari Vivi?"
"That silly princess is still alive?"
"Oh? I thought you have become friends with her." The snort he heard from his protégé made him smile in amusement for a few seconds. "I see. For your information, she disappeared some time ago only to reappear in Crocodile's secret organization, Baroque Works, as an undercover agent under the ridiculous name of 'Miss Wednesday'. My guess is, she's trying to gather informations to save her kingdom."
Lelouch snorted once again. "Seriously, how foolish and stupid can she get? That's the dumbest mistake to make, since there must be someone who must have recognized her in Baroque Works – if not Crocodile himself, then his partner. I'm surprised she hasn't been killed off already, loose ends should be taken care of if the identity of the mastermind is revealed. And just how does she intend to save Alabasta from Crocodile? He's one of the seven Warlords of the Sea and she's just a silly princess who's never been into the world and lives in a fantasy. She'll never make it that way." He hummed for a moment before speaking once again. "You've convinced me, I'm not going back to the New World yet. Instead, I'm going to see Sphinx in Alabasta and watch what will happen. I still have the Eternal Pose he gave me before leaving, so there will be no problem sailing there. The idiot mustn't be home yet, so we'll have time to get there."
Once again, Vergo wanted to speak about Sphinx but couldn't for some reasons. And what would it do, anyway? Lelouch would have known one day, one way or another. If not from him, then from someone who knew the Alabastan in the desert kingdom (he'd always been pretty popular, so he must have made some good friends there.). Vergo nodded his consent.
"Alright then, I won't delay you two any further. Don't get involved if you don't really consider the princess your friend – that's not your fight."
"Since when did you start caring about my relationships, Vergo-san?"
"I only care about those that won't lead you to an early grave."
Then he hung up. The Vice-Admiral got up from his seat, catching his coat.
"Now, what should I eat for lunch?"
"So we're going to Alabasta?" Saber asked, raising a brow as he followed the navigator through the streets to get to their grove where their ship lay. "How far is it from Sabaody?"
Lelouch massaged his forehead, feeling a headache coming. "Very far," he responded truthfully. "Since Sabaody Archipelago is the end of the first half of the Grand Line and one of the last obstacle with Fishmen Island before the New World, Alabasta is located almost at the beginning of the ocean, where Reverse Mountain is. We'll have about three to four weeks of sailing to reach the kingdom. Yes, weeks," the navigator chuckled as he noticed Saber's surprised expression. He showed him the single Log Pose placed on his right wrist. "It will take us weeks to get there if we dock at every island in our journey: this Log Pose is mainly used to travel from island to island in Paradise, unlike this Tri-Log Pose you need in the New World," he explained as he showed the Tri-Log Pose on his left wrist. The needles were spinning like crazy, since they weren't in the New World anymore. "There's no choice. But we can use my Eternal Pose to get to Alabasta in one go, without having to dock at an island."
"We better restock our supplies before leaving," Saber sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Then he looked up at the sky, thoughtful. "I'd like to dock at an island in Paradise just to see how it looked like, if it's similar to the New World and its harshness, but there's this problem in Alabasta that Vergo talked about; it's your native country, surely you must be concerned."
At once, Lelouch's expression turned a little bit somber as they now walked out of town. To be honest, he didn't really know how to feel: three years might be a long time for anyone who wasn't as busy as he was, but he hadn't seen the years pass. As for being concerned for Alabasta? Lelouch didn't want to lie to his friend, but he didn't really feel connected to the desert kingdom. He may have lived there for three years, but he didn't belong there like those who had been living in the country of their ancestors ever since – calling himself an Alabastan would be disrespectful according to him. Therefore, he won't take part into any kind of revolution since it didn't concern him at all. But he was willing to know what the hell was going in the country with Crocodile being there.
Running into princess Vivi during his time with Sphinx was just a coincidence: Lelouch didn't know how and when the former pirate could have bonded with the members of the royal family, and the rascal never answered the damn question. Seeing him talk to king Cobra as if they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in years had been so strange to Lelouch that he had gaped, astounded that his master would address a king without manners. The navigator, who had been too exhausted but also very wary at the time, had saluted the regent with the respect he should have (even though the idea of bowing hadn't crossed his mind one bit, Lelouch had still nodded toward him.). As for princess Vivi?
She kind of reminded him of the one sister he's killed.
"Saber, I'm not going to lie to you but there was only one person I cared about in this country," Lelouch said as he and the marksman reached their grove. "Princess Vivi can be deemed as an 'acquaintance' at best because I didn't pursue a friendship with her."
The half-marsupial didn't appear surprised. "You don't like royalty," he declared confidently, as if he already knew the answer.
"No, I don't like royalty. I despise it with all my might." Lelouch frowned, his eyes burning once again. "While there might be some decent kings who don't deceive their people because of some bullshit, there are others who should have their throats cut open because their regency is based upon fear and violence – what happened to Dressrosa eight years ago is an example of what deceitful regents do when they want something that is rightfully theirs. He could have made a deal with the former king Riku Doldo instead of using him as a puppet to commit crimes he'd never wanted to commit." I'm the last person in the world to say that. "Nevertheless, I want to see what this silly princess will do to save her precious Alabasta."
'Their' ship now in sight, they could now release the tension they'd been feeling ever since they landed on Sabaody Archipelago, but they restrained themselves; they weren't out yet and just looking at Saber's tense expression made Lelouch want to get the hell out of this place (just so he could listen to his friend's bubbly self once they were out of here.), but they first to make sure they had enough supplies aboard. Lelouch jumped onboard, making his way toward the captain on the front deck. Hijacking a pirate ship had become one of the navigator's hobbies when he needed one to sail and didn't have G-5 units to use their ships and, this time, it was going to be pretty useful as the pirates he and Saber tricked into taking them to the islands they wanted to go had been defeated by the harshness of the New World.
"Captain Wen, I trust that you've restocked our supplies after we've left?" Lelouch asked. "Because we're about to be off to a long journey toward a certain island we need to go to."
Captain Wen of the Freesia pirates, a tall dark-skinned man with blue eyes and a scar over his right eye, glanced at him uneasily before nodding. "We did restock our supplies, but I'd like to know where we're going this time. We're already back in Paradise, so telling us when you'd give us our freedom back would be nice."
Lelouch 'smiled' at his boldness. "That's a bit demanding coming from someone who fled the New World like a dog with his tail between his legs," he replied, earning himself an angry snarl from the pirate captain. "And to think you must have been bragging all night along about how you'd take the New World by storm, that's just pathetic. I don't blame you, but you should have been prepared." He turned away, facing the ocean and missing the murderous look Captain Wen was sending him. "We're going to Alabasta."
Not only did he get Captain Wen's attention, he also had the rest of the crew's; everyone turned toward him, surprised to hear that they'd have to travel so far back to the beginning of Paradise. Only Saber, who had settled down high up here on the mast, hanging by his long tail like the half-monkey he was, remained calm and aloof.
"The desert kingdom?" the marksman of the crew wondered, confused. "Why?"
"That's none of your business," the navigator replied smoothly, taking his Eternal Pose out to watch the position of the needle. It was pointing straight ahead of them, past the bubbles and the mangrove trees. "Just take us there, Saber and I have something to do there. You, on the other hand, will be able to sail free as long as you take us to Alabasta without a complaint."
The surprise he had spread around quickly faded into hope as all the pirates began to smile and talk among each other – they hadn't been able to catch a good break ever since those two beat them to a fight all. By. Themselves. Although they weren't Marine officers or pirates either, they had assumed that they were just bounty hunters. They'd been astounded to hear that Lelouch and Saber were just 'travelers'. Hearing that they'd be rid of those two monsters spurred everyone in the crew; even Captain Wen stopped snarling at the navigator.
"C'mon, guys, you heard him!" he shouted to his men. "This is our last journey with them, let's get this over with once and for all!"
"YEAH!"
Now that all the pirates were preparing to depart, Lelouch turned his thoughts toward the country that welcomed him. He couldn't help it. What should he be expecting from Alabasta thirteen years later? Things must have changed a lot since he left all these years ago; the arrival of a Warlord of the Sea in a kingdom was something Lelouch didn't really like, especially someone like Crocodile. From what he's heard about him, the man was as ruthless as diabolical and couldn't be trusted. He looked like the type to backstab his 'partner' after he got what he wanted, not some hero. He may be a 'dog of the World Government' to many but, to those who weren't so blind, he still remained a pirate.
Vergo was a pirate too under the mantle of the Marines, belonging to Doflamingo's crew, so there was no need for him to mess with Crocodile's plans. The fact that he decided to tell him about what was going on in Alabasta was weird, since his master had always made sure he wouldn't get distracted by thinking of his past years in the desert kingdom and only focused both his mind and energy on training. Nevertheless, since Lelouch was intent on exploring Paradise (and maybe visit the Blues if Saber wasn't too excited.), it was all the more natural they'd somehow end up in Alabasta one way or another.
Plus, Lelouch and Saber would have to make sure they wouldn't get into trouble all the way from Sabaody Archipelago to the desert kingdom. Though the Freesia pirates they had blackmailed into giving them free rides were tough enough to take care of themselves, the expert navigator was sure there was something more to the story Sicario told them; his gaze dropped on the confidential documents he's put in his bag and he frowned. There was also Sicario's Transponder Snail he had snatched from the bounty hunter since this was the only way to communicate with whoever was looking for him – Sicario may or may not have communicated again with his acolyte before Lelouch's arrival, but he surely was supposed to meet with the person he's made a deal with. That person will have a nasty surprise: a bounty hunter not coming to the meeting and unable to present the documents he's stolen. Ah, Lelouch would have wanted to witness that. But it was wiser to lay low and leave the Archipelago.
Once the ship was sailing out of the accursed island and getting a little further from it, Saber started to beam. His tense face broke into a wide grin and he exhaled, utterly relieved.
"Well, so long Sabaody!" he called, balancing himself with his tail. His green eyes twinkled. "It hasn't been a pleasure!"
About fifteen minutes later...
"... no way."
This was all the man could say as he stared at Sicario's fallen form on the ground, both bewildered and frustrated at the same time. The bounty hunters had all been taken out, some were dead and others were alive – but just barely – and their hideout wasn't standing anymore. If you looked closely at some of the planks, some had been cut through as if a very sharp blade had done these damages. Only powerful swordsmen – or swordsmasters like Dracule Mihawk – and people having learnt one move of the Rokushiki technique (the Rankyaku.) could do something like this to a building.
The man groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was wearing a dark suit with an equally dark fedora hat. Needless to say, an agent of the World Government could get to Sabaody Archipelago if he wanted to since the island was close to the Holy Land of Mariejois, but what business would he have with bounty hunters? Unless he had managed to bribe them into getting something done for them, agents of the World Government wouldn't bother wasting time on them. But this case was particularly special, since it concerned someone who had attracted the attention of his boss.
But from what he was seeing right now, someone had outright gotten here first. And this someone had taken the confidential files the bounty hunter Sicario had been tasked to steal.
"Damn it, this can't be happening!" he cursed as he searched for his Transponder Snail. "The boss isn't going to be happy about that. Whoever did that also got the files about Canterbury Lelouch..."
He dialed a number, let it ring, then instantly winced at the loud voice.
"AAAARGH! HOT, HOT! WHAT AN IDIOT, I SPILLED COFFEE ON ME!" the man screeched at the top of his voice, as if he were alone. There were curses and movements that could be heard on the other side of the line, once again done by the ever fumbling boss. When everything seemed to be in order, the other man answered. "Hello, can you hear me? It's Spandam."
"Yes, I can hear you, boss," the agent replied, stopping himself before he could sigh.
"Good. Have you recovered the documents as expected?"
The agent winced once again, this time in frustration. Spandam truly wasn't going to like this. "...Boss, we've got a problem."
The screaming didn't take too much time to follow suit. "WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED, YOU INCOMPETENT?!"
Author's Note 3: "A gentle smile and a dignified smile,
Your adorable smile,
Silver hearts and gold hearts,
I'll give them all to you,
Alchemi, Alchema,
Hold the gold star,
Alchemi, Alchema,
Go into a dream
Go into a dream."
Have you watched One Piece: Heart of Gold, the prequel of One Piece: Gold? It was awesome, so I guess the sequel is gonna be surprising! And good. Also: this lovely lullaby won't ever leave my mind.