February 6, 801 WG
Lance stared out the window at the sky, dawn was coming. The town was dark and quiet. It was still too early for fishermen such as him to be up. Though it was winter, the sun still rose at its usual six o'clock hour. Seasons on the Grandline weren't dictated by the amount of daylight like the islands in the outer seas. No, he was awake for another reason.
There was a quiet energy to the air, signally impending danger. He didn't know what, but it had stirred the old warrior within, waking him hours early. He could see nothing amiss but he knew trouble would soon be here. He glanced at the shadow of the Thousand Sunny then over toward the couch where the Luffy slept. The young man was curled beneath the spare comforter. It was a relief to see him sleeping quietly when he had reportedly been suffering nightmares before.
Though, he had told Grandmother Gwendolyn that he would contact Dragon, he hadn't yet. Luffy wasn't so far gone that he needed his father. Lance wanted to give the old spirit healer a day with the new strategy first. If it worked then Luffy wouldn't need Dragon. Lance didn't want to waste Dragon's time or put him at risk by calling him over unnecessarily, however, it would take time for him to travel to Mendora. If Lance didn't call him over soon enough, Dragon wouldn't arrive in time if Luffy did fall apart.
The troubling energy changed his mind. If danger were approaching the Straw Hats in their current state then he feared Luffy would be shoved over the brink. He pulled out a den den mushi and attached an encryption device. It was an old device and it took several minutes before it confirmed it had completely encrypted the den den mushi he was using. Lance wondered how long and how well it would work but it was all he had to work with. Once he was certain the line was secure, he began dialing.
The ring tone sounded as he waited for a response from the other end. After a minute a sleepy voice responded. It wasn't Dragon, probably an underling assigned to monitor the lines.
"Who is it?"
"I need to speak with Dragon."
"Who is this?"
Lance knew the subordinate was just doing his job by not just blindly handing him over to Dragon. Dragon was there leader even if a call was probably the most harmless communication their leader could have with an unknown. Still, Lance didn't want his name to being going over the line. Dragon was known but Lance was anonymous. If the encryption failed, Lance could become a target along with his entire family and even country. Best not to say his name and convince the subordinate at the other end to just hand over the receiver.
"This matter concerns his son and it would be best for all parties to reduce the relay error by getting Dragon to talk to me specifically."
The young man at the other end was silent for a moment then said, "What happened to Luffy? If you're holding him hostage…"
Lance snorted, cutting the young man off. "Is this Sabo? Dear boy, what'd you do to get stuck on night watch?"
Sabo was silent again then snarled, "What makes you think this is punishment?" He sounded just a little too huffy, thus confirming to Lance that Sabo had gotten himself into trouble with Dragon.
"Dragon's always been the type to humble his officers with grunt work if they got too full of themselves. Though, I think you weren't being as mindful of your task as you should be, Chief of Staff."
Choking sounds came across the line. Lance grinned. If he had the time he would tease Sabo some more just because he could, but this was a business call, so he needed to get back to the subject at hand.
"All right, all right, I'll leave it at that," he said. "I just need to speak with Dragon about his son, but since it's you I guess I can trust you with this message."
Sabo growled. He clearly thought this was ransom call.
"I'll need you to repeat what I'm about to say word for word to Dragon. No interpretations or assumptions. Dragon will understand if you repeat it properly, otherwise he'll just get confused."
"Fine. What's the message?"
"Tell Dragon, Congratulations! Your precious baby boy, the one you threw away your entire career for, is very much his mother's son. Now hurry up and get your ass down here. You're the only one who has the ability to talk him off the ledge he's about to hurl himself off of. I can't. That's why she married you and not me in the first place."
Sabo was silent again then said in an incredulous tone, "You want me to say what?!"
"Write it down and hand it to him if you really can't say it."
Silence again then he said, "What's wrong with Luffy?"
Lance thought about the answer. It was a long answer was complicated and he could tell the encryption device was not going to last much longer. Someone had found the line and was trying to crack the code.
"Just get here before things get any worse."
Nami moved across the deck with purpose. Luffy hadn't come to breakfast again, something that had become common place in the last two weeks. However, he was not at his customary spot on the ship's bow. More troubling was that Ann hadn't appeared for breakfast, and when Nami checked on her bed, found she hadn't slept in it last night. Nami's concern was only growing as she found that no one onboard the ship had seen Luffy or Ann return. Nami decided to head into town to see if any of the townsfolk had seen their wayward captain this morning. She started walking down the gangway.
"Leave him be," said Zoro from where he was lounging on the railing.
Nami glared at him. She couldn't help but feel last night's conversation had played a role in Luffy not returning. "Why should I? He's not himself right now."
"You've been fussing over him for the last two weeks like a mom over her kid. Luffy's not a kid and he can take care of himself."
Nami stormed back up the gangway. Zoro looked at her and cringed when she stood over him, radiating fury. "ZORO!"
"Lively as always, I see."
Both Nami and Zoro paused and looked down at the dock. A man in a long brown coat, wearing a white and black spotted hat and holding a sheathed sword against his shoudler, stood near the gangway looking at them.
Law.
The two froze and went on guard. Law was a contender for the Pirate King throne, and after what happened with Pudding, they weren't going to just make nice with any of their rivals no matter what their past relationship was.
This case was especially tricky. Law had been the one to bring Ann to them. He was the only pirate in the world that knew Ann was on their ship. To make things more complicated, he had presented Ann after they had acquired the fourth Road Poneglyph. That was six weeks ago and at that time he hadn't said a word about the Road Poneglyph.
Nami turned to regard the Heart captain. Why was he here now? Had he found the fourth Road Poneglyph and was here for a translation, betting on Luffy's general friendliness to get it? Nami bit her lip, if Law had retrieved the fourth Road Poneglyph then he was about to win the throne. Luffy was still stalled. Translating it for him would give Law the One Piece. Surely, Law had to know that they weren't going to make this a boat race to Raftel.
"Hi, Tra-o, fancy seeing you here," said Nami in feigned friendliness. No point in picking a fight if it could be avoided. The people of Mendora had been very accommodating and she didn't want to cause them any unnecessary trouble.
Law looked around and asked, "Where's Straw Hat-ya?"
Nami felt her pulse quicken and Zoro shifted his grip on his sword. She kept her smile, though, and answered, "Here and there. We just stopped to resupply."
"Hoh…" Law eyed her and Nami suddenly wondered if Law was aware they had been docked for longer than a simple supply stop. It only confirmed in her mind that, this time, Law was up to something.
"So what brings you here?" asked Nami quickly. She didn't want Law lingering too long on Nami's response or ask a follow up question that would reveal the lie.
Law didn't shift his focus as he replied, "Just happened to wind up here while following the log pose. It's frustrating to not have any hints on where to find the fourth Road Poneglyph, but I guess that's why no one knew where it was even when they had been part of Roger's crew."
"Is that the real reason you're here?" said Zoro, jumping down and resting his hand on the hilts of his three swords.
"Real reason?" Law adjusted his own grip on his sword. "Are you saying that the fourth Road Poneglyph is here?"
Nami hissed in fury and alarm. Zoro, you idiot! You're playing right into his hands!
"I didn't say any such thing," replied Zoro, flicking his thumb on the guard of his favorite sword and exposing a centimeter of naked blade.
"Then you won't mind if I look around," said Law turning his back on Zoro and walking away.
Zoro clicked his sword back into place only after Law was several yards up the street and still walking. Nami hurried down the gangway. She grabbed Zoro by the collar and shook him.
"Why did you ask him that? You practically told him about the fourth Road Poneglyph," she snarled, still whispering to prevent eavesdropping.
"Huh? I didn't say any such thing." Zoro, however, was not bothering to keep his voice down.
Nami was too infuriated by Zoro clueless response to notice and her own voice began to rise. "You did! When Law said he didn't have a clue where the fourth Poneglyph was, you got all territorial and asked if that was the real reason he was here, you practically told him that it was here."
"But it isn't here. So what if he got the wrong impression?"
"Maybe not the Poneglyph itself but we have the translation, which is even better for him! If he figures out we already have it, he could come and take it. If we had just acted clueless he wouldn't know it was here in any form."
"Then that would be all the more reason to grab Luffy and get out of here."
"Agreed but if we round everyone up at once, Law will notice. He's the biggest schemer we've met to date, if we start running around he will realize we're trying to bail. I'll look for Luffy and Ann, like I was originally planning, as well as alert our friends if I see them. We want everyone to return to the ship naturally. So you stay here and watch the ship to make sure no one from Law's crew tries to sneak onboard."
"Fine, but if we do it that way, we might not leave until tomorrow morning."
"Then we leave tomorrow morning. We're trying to avoid a fight, Zoro, and Law is docked right next to us. We can't let him suspect us." Nami turned away and headed into town. Things had just turned unbelievably dangerous in a very short space of time.
Unnoticed by the pair, a red fox sat behind a barrel near the dock. It flicked its ears and waited for the swordsman to return to the ship before stepping away from its corner. It moved quickly and watched for people, avoiding their attention until it arrived at the gangway for a certain submarine.
A large man with dark hair looked at the fox and asked, "So what have you learned, Ikkaku?"
"The Straw Hats have the translation for the fourth Road Poneglyph. Something happened recently so our captain's presence had put them on edge. They are planning to leave soon, possibly tomorrow morning or earlier if they can get everyone back to the ship. They're trying not to arouse suspicion so they aren't rushing. There's no Poneglyph here, though."
Jean Bart scratched his head in confusion. "I wonder why they're hanging around here instead of heading to Raftel."
"I don't know either. They were dancing around the subject the entire time. Something seems to have happened, though. They are being unusually cautious."
"Well anyway, good job! We'll let Captain Law know when he gets back."
Ikkaku nodded then head up the gangway. Once she reached the deck, she shivered and stood up back into her human form. Foxes had excellent ears, perfect for eavesdropping, though, the way those two had spoken, even a regular person could have heard them.
Idiots.
(Notes)
Yes, I gave Ikkaku a zoan devil fruit. There was never an indication one way or the other in the series and she could have just as easily gained it since Wano. So she will be a fox for the rest of the Chronicles.