One Piece: Regime
Chapter 1. Bastion: The Island of Mercy
The midday sun shown down on the crew of the Thousand Sunny as it plowed through the relatively calm waves. The scene on deck was a relatively normal one for the Straw Hat crew, with Usopp entertaining Chopper with another outrageous tale of his adventures and Brook calmly playing Bink's Sake on his violin. At the helm, Franky was casually looking forward at the current, his built in mini-hands making slight compensations at the wheel whenever it was needed. Standing next to the cyborg was the ship's navigator Nami, who was currently keeping her eyes glued to the sky and sea simultaneously. Beyond the helm, Luffy sat on the edge of the bow, leaning forward towards the horizon.
"You know Luffy, sitting there and just staring forward isn't going to make us find an island any faster," Nami called out to Luffy as she caught sight of her idiot captain moving himself even farther forward along the bow.
"I know, but I just want to see what a New World Island looks like so bad! I've never seen one of them before! I bet it'll be so cool!" Luffy said as he inched along the bow to the point that if he moved any closer, he'd surely fall straight down into the ocean. "I bet we'll run into all sorts of cool things! Like robots, and dinosaurs- or maybe even robot dinosaurs! That'll be cool! And maybe we'll stumble upon an island where it rains meat!"
"Don't be an idiot! It can't rain meat, not even in the New World!" If Nami's arms could stretch like her captain's, she would have surely slugged the fool on the back of his head right now.
"Aw, but why not?" Luffy said as a temporary damper dropped his level of enthusiasm.
"Because… It… It would just be stupid, okay?" Nami crossed her arms and looked away indignantly.
Elsewhere on the ship, Sanji was finishing the preparations for the crew's lunch, turning over a sizeable chunk of meat that was resting on a frying pan and adding a final dash of several different spices. Once the steak had been browned to the chef's satisfaction, he flipped it over on top of a pile of similarly prepared meat chunks, and placed the plate of meat on top of a cart and wheeled it out onto the deck.
"Lunch is served! Today's meal is a sea-king flank soaked in white wine and seasoned with five different spices."
"Wohoo!" Luffy screamed as he reached his over the helm and grabbed ahold of the mast, then pulled himself over to the main deck. "Meat! Meat! Meat!"
"Geez, again with the seaking? This is the third day in a row that you've made seaking for lunch," Usopp said disappointedly.
"That's because you shitheads haven't caught anything new in over a week! We're running low on the supplies we picked up back at Fishmen Island as it is, so you'll eat what I cook, and you'll like it."
"I don't care if you make seaking every day Sanji, this meat is good!" Luffy said as he shoved three of the meat slabs into his mouth at once.
"Well, it would have lasted longer if you didn't eat so much, this is the last of that over-sized fish that I managed to preserve."
Luffy swallowed hard. "You mean this is the last of our food? I better eat my fill now so I'm not starving later."
Luffy extended an arm at to grab another few steaks, when a black shoe suddenly came down and pinned his extendable arm to the finely kept grass growing on top of the deck.
"You've had enough, Nami, Robin, and the rest still haven't had any." Sanji kicked the offending arm away and gave Luffy a glare to scare him off, before taking out a lighter and lighting up a new cigarette.
A white blur suddenly obscured Nami's peripheral vision, causing the navigator to lose focus and turn her head in alarm.
"Hey, Nami, is something the matter?" Franky asked
"Oh. No, it's nothing." Nami said through a perfect mask of reassurance. In actuality however, it was more than nothing. The rest of them didn't seem to fully understand the situation, but they were effectively sailing aimlessly as of now. The Log Pose, which had been the only way of knowing which direction they needed to sail to in order to get to the next island along their path through the grand line, didn't work in the New World; meaning they had no way of knowing if they were actually making progress towards an island or not. Just when she thought they wouldn't get anywhere now, she had started seeing these white shapes appearing occasionally either to the right or left extremes of her vision. Originally, she had just thought she was suffering from dehydration or something, but after a few days of seeing the blurs always appear either to the right or left of her, she got the idea that they might be trying to direct the ship towards a nearby island by either telling her to turn the ship to port or starboard at certain times.
…Okay, she admitted to herself that it probably wasn't the most logical conclusion, but at the very least it gave her some sense of still being in control of where the ship ended up.
"Uh, Franky? I think we need to turn the ship to starboard."
"Hmm, why?" Franky answered offhandedly, his mind focused on measuring how smooth the Thousand Sunny was sailing today.
"I just… have a feeling that we might be getting closer to an island."
"Alright then! Starboard it is!" Franky said with sudden enthusiasm as he abruptly turned the ship. "Oh, SUUUUUUPER! The Thousand Sunny is definitely still riding the waves with maximum efficiency even after two years!"
"Ooooh, Nami!" Sanji called out as he began ascending the stairs towards the helm area, "I've skimped out on the rest of the crew's fruit serving all last week to insure that I could make this special parfait for you today!"
"Oh, thanks Sanji!" Nami said with a slight hint of relief in her voice as she accepted the glass bowl and spoon from the ship's resident cook and self-proclaimed ladies' man. At least this might help take her mind off the fact that they still really don't know where they're going.
"Ugh, Sanji, I'm so hungry!" Luffy groaned in protest from the spot he had chosen to collapse on the dock.
"It's only been four hours, you won't starve to death for at least a few more days," Sanji said as he snuffed a cigarette out in the ashtray sitting on the table placed off to one side of the ship. "How about instead of lying there and complaining, you and the rest of the shitheads on this crew try and catch us some dinner?"
"We've been trying to catch something!" Usopp called over from the left hand railing that he and Chopper were sitting at. "There hasn't been a nibble all afternoon."
"Well, try harder, Nami and Robin's lives depend on you idiots brining in something soon, so get to it!"
"Geez, we get it already, get off our case!" Usopp muttered to himself as himself as he returned his attention to the idle bobber floating in the sea in front of him. Wow, this was boring.
"Say, Chopper!" Usopp said in his "Brave Captain Usopp" voice. "This reminds me of the time that I singlehandedly took down the Goldfish Emperor."
"Really Usopp? Tell me the story!" Chopper said as his eyes shined like stars.
"Well, you see, after all of the giant island-sized goldfish I'd slain throughout my life, their boss decided that he needed to get rid of me once and for all or there wouldn't be any giant goldfish left in all of the Four Blues. When he and I finally met eye to eye, I couldn't believe how big he was. Instead of being the size of an island, he was easily as long as a good stretch of the Red Line, and equally as wide too."
"Really?" Chopper asked in awe.
"That's right, he was so big, even my special Captain Usopp's Giant Goldfish Fryer couldn't fit all the way around him. Which was a real shame too, because if he had, I could have made so many-"
"Hey, everyone! Everyone!" Nami suddenly called out, genuine relief flooding her voice. "I think I can see something coming off in the distance, I think it's an island!"
"Really! That's awesome!" Luffy said as he made it from the deck to his feet in one single move. "They'll have to have something to eat right? Hey, maybe there will be meat growing from the trees there! That would be great!"
Nami, still too far away to slap her captain upside the head, merely took her frustration at his ridiculous comments out on her forehead. Still, she should be happy too. It seems that her theory about the white blurs had been right- though whether that would turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing has yet to be proven. Either way, they had found an island, and it didn't seem to be made out of fire or lightning, or anything such as that.
"Hey, can anyone see anything on the island yet?" Luffy said. Looking about to jump overboard right now and try and swim the rest of the way- even though he knew he couldn't swim.
"Hang on, it's too far away to make out any details with the naked eye right now," Nami took out a spy glass from a supply box Franky had placed near the helm and adjusted the device to its maximum level of magnification.
"Well, it's certainly pretty big, probably at least 100 miles in diameter. It looks to be lightly wooded, so it's probably an Autumn Island or a Winter Island in its summer season. I can make out quite a few tall buildings along the coast, so it's easily inhabited. I also see…"
Nami paused for a moment, mouth hanging open as her eyes caught sight of an enormous marble statue of a fully armored warrior carrying an enormous shield that concealed about 60% of his body from view.
"T-This is amazing! I can't believe we wound up here as our first destination in the New World. What a lucky break!"
"Hmm? Nami, what are you talking about?" Luffy asked, as clueless as always.
"If that statue I saw is real and not a fake, then this island has to be Bastion- otherwise known as the only safe and normal place in the New World!"
"Really? Aw, that's boring, I wanted to see something cool," Luffy huffed.
"Ha! I see that my reputation precedes me! Not even the New World dares to try and get between us and our ultimate goal of Raftel Island! Tremble before the might of Captain Usopp!" Usopp put one foot up on the ship's guard rail and pointed forward triumphantly.
"It also looks like there is a few Navy ships docked at port, and at least two ships are flying the flag of the World Government." Nami added as the ship drew close enough to the island for her to start seeing things clearer.
Upon hearing those words, Usopp suddenly doubled over and began coughing violently.
"Oh no! I'm having another case of my I-Can't-Go-To-This-Island-Disease!" Usopp slumped to the ground and huddled into a fetal position. "You'll have to go on without me!"
"Well, it's not like we can just dock our ship right outside of town anyways with those ships in port, we'll have to circle around and find a protected bay that's hopefully within easy walking distance of some shops." Nami said decisively as Franky began to circle around the island.
It took the Straw Hat crew another hour to find a sufficiently sheltered place to moor their ship. By that time, Luffy had gone without eating for nearly five hours. This was simply unacceptable. As such, the rubber man had instantly sprinted off into the surrounding woods in search of food the moment the Mini-Merry he was riding in hit dry land. The crew could only stare in anger and disbelief at how reckless their captain still was, even while he was currently on an island that was currently inhabited by both World Government and Marine forces.
Zoro, who up until now had spent the entire day sleeping, was the first person to step onto Bastion after their captain had made a beeline for the woods.
"Well, we know he can handle himself. I'm going for a walk-"
"What? No! Absolutely not!" Usopp yelled at the swordsman. "Even after we all trained for two years, you still can't avoid getting lost in a straight hallway!"
"Oh calm down," Zoro said, mildly annoyed that people continued to believe that those incidents were his fault. "Look, I'll cut a slash in every tree I pass so I know where I've been. I'll be back before nightfall."
With that, the swordsman strolled off into the woods, the sound of steel hitting wood giving Usopp some reassurance that Zoro might-maybe-possibly be able to find his way back without becoming lost.
"Damn Mosshead," Sanji sneered as he too stepped onto the beach. "Doesn't he know that getting fresh supplies is the top priority when we land anywhere?"
Nami sighed. "Sometimes I don't know how I put up with you people. Anyways, that port town we saw earlier should be southwest from here, so if we just head in that direction and follow along the coast, we should be able to arrive in town before all of the shops close for the night. Franky, you stay here and guard the ship. Oh and to the rest of you, if you see any Marines walking by, try and cover your face, we didn't come this far to slip up now."
Far away from the Straw Hat crew, sitting in a very cozy looking office chair behind a very nice marble-top desk, a dark brown-haired man in a tuxedo took a sip from the cup of tea that rested in his hands. Judging from his face, he looked to be in his late thirties or early forties, though his hair had yet to lose any of its color.
There was a knock at the ornate wooden door that separated his personal office from the rest of the building. After no response was given, the knocker merely let pushed the door open.
"Ah, Force, welcome back. "The man nodded to the redheaded woman as she entered the room. "I'm going to assume that you're here to give a report and not to accept my invitation to play cards with Media and I?"
"You are correct, sir," Force said as she slammed a stack of papers onto her superior's desk. "Oppression has just reported in: She was able to both locate and guide the Straw Hat pirates to Bastion. Although predictably, they didn't just dock their ship on our front door. I need you to sign all of these and authorize a search of the entire island immediately."
"No need," The man said as he leaned back in his chair. "I'm willing to bet that the Straw Hats have stopped here because they need supplies. Since reports don't suggest them to be the raiding type, they'll probably show up at stores located in the larger towns on the island in hopes that the higher amount of foot traffic would allow them to buy what they need and leave before anyone notices. Send a message to the local marine garrison and have them increase patrol frequencies in the major population centers. Also, be sure that all of our operatives are ready to move at a moment's notice; and keep Oppression out on surveillance duty."
"Yes, Dictator, Sir!" Force gave a salute and walked out of the room, leaving the pile of requisition forms sitting on the desk. The brown-haired man merely smiled, and pulled out a set of wanted posters from the cabinet under his desk.
"Monkey D. Luffy, Roranora Zoro, Nami, Sogeking, Sanji, Chopper, Nico Robin, Franky, and Brook," The man thought to himself as he spread the posters out on his desk. "I would like to cordially invite all of you to come to my base of operations. I wish to have a long talk with all of you about the meaning of the word Justice."
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Author's Note: And Chapter one is here! The Straw Hat Pirates have arrived on the Island known as Bastion, renowned throughout all four Blues as the safest island in the New World. What will fate have in store for the Straw Hats while they're here? Guess you'll have to wait and find out!
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