CHAPTER 2
DARK RISING
Even in death father was useless to me as my request was rebuffed even though I brought the celestials his head. I swore revenge on the Celestial dragons and escaped Mariejois with important information that I used to black mail my rights back from them later. I returned to the North blue where Vergo, Trebol, Pica, and Diamante elected me their leader. Trebol, Diamante and Pica were all devil fruit eaters so they were the town's rejects.
People feared devil fruit users, ostracising them and treating them like devils, but to these abandoned ones, I was family. They swore to ensure nothing ever stood in my way to greatness again and I swore to be a much leader to them than my father had ever been to me. They became my new family, my elite executives. Trebol, the club seat, with his annoying habit of sticking his way into everyone's personal space; Diamante, the diamond seat, with his hunched back; Vergo, the heart seat, with his silly habit of always leaving food on his face; and Pica, the spade seat, with his very high voice. It was my job to protect them from the sharp edge life dealt to people like us. Their devotion for me is such that they would kill and everyone who offended me going as far as burning down an entire town for having poor pavement that made me trip.
We developed code names for each other and Vergo's was Corazon. Later on I told him to enlist in the marines for the family's benefit which he quickly agreed to. Only Trebol, Pica and Diamante knew about this. I hadn't seen my younger brother Rocy since I killed my father. He was a man when I saw him once more but Rocinante could not speak. An ailment probably brought on from our hard past. I was more than happy to accept Rocy into my family where I could truly protect him. Since Vergo would be leaving I gave Rocy his code name as the second Corazon, my heart.
Soon I built up a crew, got a flag and we called ourselves the Donquioxte pirates. Our Jolly Roger was a crossed out smiley. The oppressed, persecuted, reject s, cursed, abandoned. Any who came knocking at my door I took them all. Especially the children. I knew what it was like to suffer as a child. Most of my crew members were devil fruit users. My ship wasn't just a nursery after all. We were pirates. We stole, we killed and we plundered. If they were coming on board then they were coming with power. There was Jora the artist who ate the Art Art no mi (allows her to alter shape and appearance of anything); Machvise who ate the Ton Ton no mi (allows him to increase or decrease his weight); Senor Pink who ate the Sui Sui no mi (allows him to swim through the ground or walls); and Gladius, a temper mental young man who ate the Pamu Pamu no mi (allows him to make his body or any inorganic object he touches rupture and explode). Lao G was an ageing geezer who still had some kick in him I welcomed him on board. We'd picked up two kids at the time. Baby 5, who'd eaten the Buki Buki no mi (allows her to change her entire body into any kind of weapon) and Buffalo who'd eaten the Guru Guru no mi (allows him to fly across the sea and skies and due to his large body). I soon discovered had a problem with backing down from orders. Having been abandoned by her mother the little girl just wanted to be loved and would take pleasure in anyone who needed her for anything. This was how she had joined my crew but I could tell the girl would need extra watching. She was quite fond of Buffalo but even much fonder of Corazon and playing ridiculous tricks on him. I let her get away with it, Rocy so deserved it.
He was still as clumsy as always and endlessly tripped over his own feet. I bought him a feathered coat just like mine and he thanked me by setting himself on fire. One time we baked him a birthday cake but he wouldn't blow out the candles until I asked him to and he repaid that by ending up setting us both on fire. No matter what age Rocinante would never cease to amuse me. I quickly found out about how he detested children which was big news to me considering how much of a child Rocy was himself. He just couldn't stand them and hurled them away the minute he got the chance. He would kick them but he'd probably fall over in the process. He was not pleased at all about Buffalo and Baby 5, and was even less pleased the day we found Dellinger. The poor abandoned baby had practically been abandoned at sea to die. We'd fished him up from the water and the baby was in a real sorry state. Half fish – half man, I knew no one else would accept such an abomination.
''Come on Corazon'', I smiled at my fussy brother. ''We either let Jora keep the kid or we throw it right back into the sea and let it die. What do you say?''.
Corazon had to give in. Dellinger was quite a little sweet heart, on sight anyway. The darned child carried an arsenal of shark like teeth before he was even one. He had a huge appetite for normal baby food but he would go crazy at the smell of blood. Speaking of going crazy I didn't recall Corazon ever screaming at night like a banshee. Dellinger screamed loud of enough to wake the dead. For Pete holy's sake we were pirates not parents! I was very tempted to stop at the first island we found to get the kid a muzzle if I didn't know it would give Jora a heart attack. She'd grown rather fond of the child. In truth, they all had. Though Vergo didn't take too kindly to having a good portion of his face almost bitten off. While he did deserve it for leaving food on his face (again!). There was nothing Vergo liked less than disrespectful children. There was not a single member of the family Dellinger hadn't sunk his teeth into, much to Gladius' annoyance. Though he came to regret biting Trebol. His mouth was almost stuck together permanently. The crew had basked in the moment of glory watching the child wail about with no voice till Jora had shown up and begged him to cut it off of course. Just when we though Dellinger's biting couldn't get any worse the kid began to teeth in the oddest way imaginable. First his tiny pointed teeth fell right out of his mouth leaving behind a cavern of gums. Then human teeth would grow in their place. Sooner or later those teeth would fall off too and give way to new sharper pointy teeth. The process went on for quite a while causing Jora and Baby 5 to form a habit of picking up his teeth as they fell and storing them away.