Not Pirates, Treasure Hunters
Part 4 of 4 in a saga
A One Piece Fanfiction by Aoikami Sarah
Chapter 34 – One Piece
High up in the fronds of a large palm tree on the edge of the beach Taka scouted the situation. Her half-brother quivered beside her, eyes wide, muttering something about how amazing it was that he was so high off the ground and had no idea how she got them there. Taka ignored his melt-down and squinted at the beach. "Two humans, about 12 dozen shark people. There's a box that looks just like ours next to the old man in the hammock." She looked left and right with her eyes, hardly moving a muscle as she perched in the fronds. "Jones and Iisopp are three hundred yards to the left. Looks like they got Chisa back. Is that other guy with them the pirate she was abducted by?" Diego twitched and muttered incoherently. She rolled her eyes. "Chanson and Sakura and I assume your Uncle by the look of him are about 200 yards to the right where the jungle meets the beach."
Diego's mutterings began to increase in volume as his shock wore off. "How the… did we get up here… you just…?"
"Shh. If you make too much noise all those people-eaters down there will know we're here."
He swallowed hard and stared at her. "Do you hate me?" he asked.
"I don't know," the older girl replied quickly. His stare pierced her. She sighed and turned to face him. "Look. I don't know you very well yet. You're about the right age to have been conceived only a short while after my father left my mother and I and I'm still dealing with that little issue." She noticed he had the look of one of her mother's students whom she had just bested and who was about to burst into tears. "Even if that's the case it's not your fault. Relax. We hardly have time to get into this now, anyway. There's a treasure that we need to get to, remember?" She gave him her best attempt at a reassuring smile. It seemed to work. Diego nodded.
"Recently I was told that my auntie is really my mother and today I found out this Roronoa person is my father and now I know I have a sister. It's all a bit much," he added and adjusted his glasses. "But you're right. We have a task at hand. That box down there is the last piece to this treasure. We need to get a hold of it, but how? Even with Uncle Smoker helping us out it's going to be tough to get past all those sharkmen."
Taka nodded. "We need the mastermind. Hang on tight," she said, holding out her arm for him to latch onto again. "We're going down."
"I hate this part…" Diego cringed as her ninjutsu was activated and a cloud of smoke swirled around them, masking whatever it was she did to get them out of the 80 foot palm.
On the ground and back where they had left their parents, Taka explained the situation. They agreed to split up, Zoro carrying the still ailing Robin would go to Chanson's party and Taka and Diego would go to Jones' party. When the girl arrived, she and Diego were quickly introduced to Vane who apologized to Diego for making a bad first impression on him. Taka told Jones what the beach ahead looked like. He agreed that their goal was there and asked her to tell the other group to wait for him before making a move. She used another of her special earth-type jutsu to make a copy of herself grow from jungle floor seven hundred yards away and only inches from Sakura who nearly fainted from shock. The vine-and-leaf covered duplicate told Smoker, Chanson and Sakura to stay put until Jones gave the signal and melted back into the ground.
When she was done, Taka lowered her hands and opened her eyes. "Alright then, What's the plan?"
Jones took his hands out of his pockets and clapped them together. "I'm gonna go talk to them."
"Are you nuts?!" his best friend wondered.
"No, I'm untouchable," he corrected him and threw his fist through Iisopp's face. "Be right back. Wait here."
His cousin stepped in front of him. "I'm going too," Vane demanded.
Jones made his hand solid and put it on his shoulder. "No offence, Cuz, but they could still pick you up and throw you in the ocean." Vane glowered at him. "You'll have plenty of butt-kicking to come, I promise."
The pirate stood down. "You're lucky as hell you're related to me."
"I sure am, Vane. I sure am." Jones grinned and started out of the jungle.
.x.
The sharkmen's leader, Izuru was just starting to approach the old man in the hammock when someone shouted that a human was coming toward them. She held a hand up to hold her men back and allowed the stranger, who was alone and walking in a leisurely, non-threatening way to come into their midst unharmed.
"How's it goin'?" Jones asked. He could almost hear Iisopp smack his own forehead in the distance.
"What do you want, human?" Izuru growled, baring her razor-sharp teeth.
Jones leaned over and looked behind her. "That," he said and pointed to the box.
She laughed. "Absolutely not. Are you soft in the head or something?"
"Some of my friends think so, but I think it's an endearing trait, myself." He gave her a wide grin. "If you'll excuse me." Jones sort of saluted her and began to walk around her. Izuru laughed again and side-stepped to get in his way. When he passed through her she shuddered and boggled at him. Half of her cohorts cried 'ghost!' and took off for the water. Jones tried very hard not to laugh as he approached the box. "So this is it, huh?" The old man in the hammock next to it mumbled in his sleep and smacked his lips. Intrigued, Jones approached him.
"You stay away from him!" Izuru shouted. She kept her distance, put off by the boy's ghostly ability.
"Make me!" Jones fired back.
Infuriated, she ordered Vaughn Williams to do something about him. Vaughn scoffed at her. "That's an Akuma no Mi ability, Izu-chan and nothing anyone can do anything about, including me if I can't touch him." She made a grabbing gesture as if to grab the air to show how useless it was to stop him.
Jones kept his hand solid and nudged Bolly's shoulder gently. "Hey, mister. Mister, wake up, I gotta talk to you."
Izuru growled loudly and looked around as if trying to find something that would work on this stranger's ability then grinned wide. "I might not be able to hurt you, but I can hurt the dozen or so crewmates you've got waiting in the wings!" She called to her men and they rushed toward the jungle. The Treasure Hunters took that as Jones' sign and rushed out to fight them.
"Crap!" Jones hissed and shook the old man again. "Mister, come on, wake up!" He glanced feverishly at the sharks as they clashed with his friends. "Damn it, I didn't want anyone to get hurt!"
Bolly groaned and blinked at him. "I'm up, I'm up, hold your horses…" As his vision focused he gaped at the redhead and tears came to his eyes. "Vincent? Is that you?!"
A grin spread slowly across Jones' face. "Close. I'm Jojo. Blue D. Jones. I've come with the other tree of those," he said and pointed to the box to their left. "Are you gonna try to take them away from me, or can we split the treasure?"
Bolly began to chuckle a delighted little laugh and clasped the young man's arms. "My boy, I believe we have a deal!" He stopped and turned his head to the left. "What's going on here?" he asked as the sharks clashed with the Treasure Hunters. "Are we having a party?" His eyes sparkled as he turned back to Jones. "Is it your birthday, Vincent?"
Jones sighed and pouted. "Sit tight and I'll kick these shark guys' butts."
Bolly's boney hand clamped down on his arm and for the first time Jones realized he was talking to a former member of Gold Roger's crew. The old man pulled himself out of the hammock and even shrunken with age he was a large man. His clothes were faded and stained. He wore a long, tattered captain's jacket that seemed several sizes too big over pants, a boat-neck shirt and sash. His hair was white and long and his beard was wide and bushy. He released his human handrail and shuffled toward the beachhead and the fighting. Bolly took a deep breath and shouted 'stop!' at the top of his lungs and stop they did. Everyone turned to stare at the formidable senior citizen. "Tiburon, stand down!" The sharks all looked to Izuru who seemed bewildered at Bolly's ability to command attention. She made a hand gesture and they all retreated toward the sea. Slowly, the Treasure Hunters approached Jones.
Chisa, however, ran. "You did it, Nii-chan!!" she called and skipped across the sand.
Bolly shuffled back to Jones and seemed to have lost the vigor he showed only moments before. He sighed and seated himself on the edge of his hammock. "Well, that's enough excitement for one day, don't you think Izu-chan?"
"This boy wants your machine, Bolly-sama," Izuru replied defensively. "Do not let your guard down!"
Bolly waved her off. "I imagine you're the one bringing the rest of them to me, aren't you?"
Vaughn boggled. "What?! You mean you knew that?! Why'd you have Angus and me traipsing across the bloody Grand Line for then?!"
As the others gathered they heard the argument and wondered the same thing. "If Angus hadn't tried to retrieve James' machine I don't think any of them would have come!" he said with a hearty laugh. "We'd still be waiting for all eternity!"
Most folks didn't have a clue what he was talking about but Nico Robin breathlessly asked her husband to put her down. Smoker did so carefully and she used her son's shoulder as a crutch as they both stepped forward. "I believe you're right Bolly-san," Robin said. "When the boxes were in the possession of those they were entrusted to, they were at peace. It was only when they were disturbed that they began to call out to each other."
Vane rubbed his chin. "So that's why the respirator wanted me to take it away so badly…"
Chanson nodded. "Same thing happened with me," she said and tapped the wooden box she had just taken off her back. "Vincento wouldn't shut up about wanting to get on the Ferris and head East."
Jones folded his arms. "So what happens now?" he asked, staring intently at Bolly.
The old man smiled and clapped his knees with his hands. "I don't have the slightest clue."
Diego frowned. "Surely they're still talking to you?"
Jones shook his head. "It's so loud and mumbly now that they're so close together, I can't tell what they want."
"They wanted to get together, right?" Iisopp asked. "So, why not put them together?"
"I knew I brought you along for a reason," Jones commented jokingly. "Sound good, Bolly-san?"
"Sure, sure. Maybe when they touch something will happen!" The old man agreed and Chanson, Vane, and Jones placed theirs corner-to-corner. Chisa picked up Bolly's much to his surprise and helped him get it in place. All four of them were impressive when placed in a large square but as everyone held their breath, still nothing happened.
"Well, shoot. I'm stumped." Jones scratched his head.
Robin frowned. "Bolly-san, surely you must know something? Didn't your captain tell you anything about these devices when he gave them to you?"
He shook his head. "It was nigh forty years ago but I remember that day like it was yesterday. The day before he went off to give himself in to the government in order to spare the rest of us he gave each of us four one of these boxes. Said they each had a different function, James got the still, I got the water purifier, Richard got the music box and Edward got the respirator. They're powered by an ancient power source we found along the way in our journey but I haven't a clue how it works. Only the captain knew that and he's long gone… him and Vincent…" The memory was too much for Bolly. He hung his head and silently wept. "Oh, Vincent…"
Zoro leaned over to Robin and whispered "Who's Vincent?"
She smiled slightly. "I think you're about to find out." Their son looked up at her and made a face. "Do you have an idea, Diego?"
"I think so," he said and stared at the boxes. "Nothing is known about the 'ancient power sources', right? Do we know what they look like? Are they like a battery that makes these things function?"
Chanson approached her mother's music box and opened it for him. Taking her lead, Vane, Jones and Chisa did the same with the others. "I didn't really get a chance to poke around in it," she admitted. "But if there's something powering these things, I'd say it's in there." Chanson pointed to an area in between and behind two of her device's floating keyboards. Tubes and wires snaked their way around and into a carved wooden box. Diego crouched down and squinted into the darkeness.
"Bingo," he said quietly. "I see glyphs."
"Bingo," Robin repeated breathlessly.
"Can we get that out without destroying the machines?" he wondered. Chanson shrugged.
"I can." Jones walked around to them and stared into the music box's inner workings. He made his body passable and walked into the machine, scaring off more of the shark men who remained. He ducked down and put his face into the machine, leaving only his hindquartes protruding.
"That's real nice, Jones," Chanson groaned and lit a cigarette.
When he emerged, he held the wooden carved box in his hand. "He let me do it. I didn't think he would," he said. They closed the music box back up and placed the smalled, four-inch wide box on top of it. "What's it say, Diego?"
The young archaeologist studied the runes. "I am your friend. Together we… Together we…" Diego turned to Robin with a sheepish look. "I don't know this one."
She approached him and read the same passage. "Together we sing. Then it repeats all over this box. I think there might be something inside it." Carefully, Diego lifted the seamless top off the box, revealing a small, black cube inside. Robin held a hand to her chest. "I don't believe it…" she whispered.
"What is it, Robin?" Smoker asked.
"Well, the only character on this object is for 'friend'," she said, pointing with a trembling hand as Diego removed the cube from its box. "And I'd recognize that object in any size, anywhere. It's a miniature Poneglyph."
Diego went to set the cube down on top of the box but thought better of it. He handed it to Chanson. "And if this one says 'friend'…?" he said quietly. "Jones, can you retrieve the other three for us?"
"You bet." He went to work and handed the cube he extracted from each to its respective owner. Bolly seemed bewildered and actually shook the cube and held it to his ear wondering what it could be. Vane stood very still and wore an expression of worry. "It's ok, man," Jones said, retrieving his own cube.
"This is really something else, isn't it?" Vane said quietly.
"Yes, my boy, it is," Bolly said, becoming lucid once again.
Diego inspected the other Poneglyphs and their boxes. "This is my bravery, Together we are strong." He said to Vane. "This is my wisdom, together we know all," he said to Bolly. To Jones he said "this is my love. Together we are one."
Before anyone could ask what to do next, Bolly stepped close to Vane and touched the Wisdom cube to the Bravery one. Chanson touched the Friendship one to that and Jones touched the Love Poneglyph to hers. Behind them, a rather dirty and disheveled Angus McRae and a sandy and bruised Kihi arrived but didn't say a word, silenced by the tension in the air. Everyone held their breath.
A thick, bright white beam of light shot straight up from the cubes as they suddenly split open. The four holding the cubes remained where they were but everyone else took at least one step back and cried out in alarm. Bolly was the first to speak as his eyes adjusted to the light, so much brighter than the sun that made the beach and the sky and the ocean seem as night.
"Vincent…" the old man whispered.
"Hello, Albert," the figure in the light answered as he became opaque. "It's been a long time." Everyone was able to see the young man in the beam of sparkling light that shot up from the four Poneglyph. He wore loose pants and a white shirt open and tied down with a sash around his waist. His face looked very much like Jones' and a bit like Luffy's as well. Rather than a devious smile like Jones' or a cock-sure grin like Luffy's Vincent's smile was Buddha-like, peaceful and kind. Bolly wept openly and appeared to want to speak but was at a loss for words. The apparition smiled and turned to the others. "Jones, Vane, Chanson and you Chisa, thank you for helping me."
The cigarette fell from Chanson's fingers as she mechanically lifted it to her mouth. "Vincento?" she asked in a broken voice.
He nodded slowly. "You must thank Harmony for me, and Vane you must thank Ace for taking care of me so well."
With tears in her eyes Vaughn Williams collapsed as her ability reached its limit and her age caught up with her. McRae caught her as she fell without taking his eyes from Vincent. "It's really you?" McRae asked. "When you died, the Captain really preserved your life?!"
The apparition shook his head. "He tried…"
Robin's eyes went wide with understanding. "Friendship, Courage, Wisdom and Love – the four attributes of the Shikon, the ancient concept of the four-chambered heart…" she said as if in a dream.
Diego gasped. "Amazing…"
Robin put her hands on her son's shoulders from behind. "Somehow Roger was able to use these four Poneglyph to seal away the four parts of his son's soul for safe keeping so he wouldn't pass on!"
"Correct, Madame," Vincent said, nodding to her. "My soul was persevered but my life is long over. He meant well, my father did, but it's time I said goodbye."
Izuru, the only shark left on the beach stood her ground trembling from head to toe. "You were what was so im-p-portant to Roger? B-but what about the t-treasure?!" she stammered. "Bolly-sama, you said that when the four came together we'd receive the greatest treasure in the world!"
Vincent cocked his head to the side and said scoldingly, "Albert, what have you been telling these folks?"
Before Bolly could find his voice to answer, Jones shouted, "it's true!" He grinned like a lunatic. "The treasure is all around us!"
Vincent smiled down on his grand-nephew. "Yes it is, Jones."
Several voices in the crowd gasped and a collective whisper floated on the air. "This is the treasure. It's right here. All this time. Right under our noses!" Bolly nodded and mopped his tears. The old man drew Chisa into the group of four and handed her his Poneglyph. "Are you ready, Albert?" Vincent asked, holding out his hand.
Bolly took a deep breath. "I've been ready for some time now, Vincent."
The apparition took his hand and his spirit self slipped out of his body which fell to the sand. Izuru let out a scream but dared not go any closer. Albert appeared before them young again, his green beard seemed to lilt in the spectral breeze coming from the Poneglyphs. "Thank you, everyone," Vincent said, raising his hand. "For getting me back in One Piece."
The light intensified and many people had to shield their eyes, but they all saw the two spirits rise up from the little black boxes and shoot into the sky. The beam faded slowly, showering them all with fairy sparks. For nearly a minute the beach was silent save the soft sobs coming from Vaughn Williams and the sharkwoman, Izuru.
"Bolly-sama…" the women whispered.
Chason blinked a few times and realized her face was wet. She dropped the now empty Poneglyph on the sand and put her hands over her face. When Sakura's arms closed around her shoulders she turned and fell against his chest, sobbing. "I don't… know what's… wrong with me!" she cried. "I'm not sad so why am I crying?"
"It's ok," he whispered, tears in his eyes as well.
Jones hugged his sister who was in a similar state then passed her to Iisopp who jogged in instinctively toward them and wrapped his arms around her. Jones looked around and found that everyone was either being hugged, giving a hug or sitting very close together, and hardly an eye was dry. Taka leaned against her father and pouted in a very little-girl way. Robin hugged her son who sobbed quietly and pretended to be strong. Her hand clutched her husband's tightly. "Wow," Jones whispered as he watched his friends and family recover. His cousin stood very still and stared at the black box in his hands. Jones glared at his and knew that it was empty. He dropped it onto the sand and stood in front of Vane. "You ok?"
Vane took a deep breath. "I don't think so." He pursed his lips, trying like hell to keep his own tears at bay. "I think I need to go home."
"Ii-chan, Nii-chan…" his sister said weakly as she lifted her head from Iisopp's chest. "I wanna go home, too."
Jones nodded and wiped his own tears. "Oh yeah, right. I'm the Captain." He wanted to say something uplifting, something courageous and inspirational as he felt should. "Ok, everyone. Let's go home."
To be concluded!!