Not Pirates, Treasure Hunters

Part 4 of 4 in a saga

A One Piece Fanfiction by Aoikami Sarah

Chapter Ten - I Know A Lot Of Things

Note: I've taken liberties with the relations between certain dead characters. Forgive inaccuracies, please! - aks

Madame Curator woke to the comforting smell of freshly brewed coffee coming from the mug on the table in front of her and the gentle sway of a sailing ship. More comforting was the sight of the man sitting in the chair on the other side of the table. "How're you feeling?" he asked, lighting the pair of cigars he had been munching on for the last half hour.

"Better. Just bruised, I think." She sat up and winced a little.

"Steady, now," Smoker advised. She rolled her eyes and smirked at him. The smoke curled around his head. "Be honest with me, Robin," he pleaded using her surrendered name. "Are we gonna need back-up?"

The woman who was once known as Nico Robin took a slow breath and pouted before answering. "No."

"Are you sure? If the Lost Pirates are after the same thing we are…"

Sitting back against the couch she had been laying on, Robin waved her hand dismissing his worries. "There can't be many of them left. Even Roger would be in his late seventies. Not many pirates live that long."

"McRae looks like he's about that old," Smoker argued.

"He is, I'm sure. He might have one or two other cohorts from the old crew, but I know for a fact that most of them are gone." Robin found her glasses on the table and attempted to primp herself. "Also, McRae was not one of Roger's inner-nakama, so I don't view him as much of a threat."

"Inner-nakama?" Smoker made a face. He knew he was in for one of his partner's long explanations. Although he was thankful for her knowledge, he was also very glad he had refilled his jacket full of cigars.

"Just as I am close to you but someone like Captain Koby is just an acquaintance who happens to work on the same side, if we were pirates, I would be in your inner-circle of nakama, Captain Koby would not."

"We're not pirates," Smoker grumbled. "But I see what you mean."

Robin finished her coffee and put the empty cup on the table. "There were supposedly only four members of Roger's inner-nakama: James Aide the poisoner, Richard Sairen the musician, Edward Newgate the first-mate and Albert Bolly the gunner."

"Newgate!" Smoker cried. "Whitebeard was Gol D. Roger's first-mate!"

Robin smirked. "Surprising, yes? He didn't go by White Beard until Roger broke the crew up before his execution. All of those men but Bolly are accounted for as deceased. Aide died most recently. On his deathbed he told his widow Red Molly the truth of his identity. Shortly afterward Molly got inebriated at the bar they owned together and told an entire room full of people the story. Aide had been using the box's strange science to distill a whisky so strong that no one had ever taken a full shot if it and remained conscious. Fortunately Captains Helmeppo and Koby were present and passed the information on to the World History Museum immediately. I think they can both attest to the power of this 'Black Lightning' liquor," Robin said with a knowing smile. "Unfortunately, someone also passed the information about Aide on to the only other person who'd know what he was really hiding and McRae got to the prize before we did."

"But then these Rogue Town kids got to it before we did," Smoker commented, ashing his cigars.

Robin grinned. "Not exactly."

"Robin…" he growled lightly.

She let a giggle escape. Teasing him was just too easy. "It's all according to plan. I tracked McRae to Rogue Town. When I arrived, I saw two young men docking to my left. One had red hair, the other had dreadlocks. They looked familiar and were headed in the same direction as I was. On a whim I followed them for a bit before locating McRae. McRae had stashed the stolen box in a shop's basement. Much to my surprise, the red-haired young man beat me to it."

"What?" Smoker asked as if he hadn't been paying attention until just now. "This kid was looking for it, too?"

"No. I believe it was looking for the kid." That stumped him. Smoker folded his arms and stared at her. "The boxes are rumored to contain ancient devices of such intricate science that they defy explanation, perhaps powered by some ethereal power source not understood by this generation. They were collected by Gol D. Roger along his search for the True History. When he knew the end was coming he entrusted their care to four of his inner-nakama: Aide, Sairen, Newgate and Bolly. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Bolly, but if my hunch is correct, Newgate probably passed his down upon his death to his Second Force Captain, Portgas D. Ace. I know that Sairen gave his to his daughter and it's most likely still with her on Largo Atoll. Aide's box is now in the possession of the red-head who said something to his friend about the box 'calling out' to him."

Smoker boggled. "You know all this…?"

"I know a lot of things."

"Then why don't we just take them!"

"Because nothing is that simple," she explained with unending patience. "It took McRae 40 years to stumble upon one of the four pieces. I believe that Aide's box, having been stolen from its caretaker, somehow called out to a familiar person. Each of these boxes resided with someone who was either one of the inner-nakama, descended from one, or descended from Roger until McRae stole Aide's."

"Then the red-haired kid is…"

"I'm almost one hundred percent certain he's the son of the second Pirate King and the Great Grandson of the first." Robin got up, letting Smoker take his time scraping his jaw off the floor. She went to a port hole and watched the waves. "And now he and Usopp's son are on the Grand Line. It won't be long before they put the rest of the pieces together."

Smoker let out a sigh, surrounding himself in a comfortable smoky haze. "And all we have to do is follow them."

"All we have to do is follow," she agreed. "And keep an eye on them. Like I said, we're not the one's who need back-up, Vice Admiral. They are."

Hi, this is aoikami sarah, the author. Since I have a few folks who are nice enough to review, I'm going to be nice back.

ff dot net likes to strip code (like the ? marks before my ! marks in a piece of dialog that uses both which is perfectly acceptable why they take them out is beyond me/rant.) so I'll spell the site out for you:

Go to - aksarah dot com slash onepiece for my fansite Fushigi na Shima which has original character profiles, more fic and fanart and goodstuff to enjoy!

Thanks! - aks

More to come!