Last time,
Doflamingo retells how Luffy's arrival to Dressrosa ended up with his imprisonment.
Ussop is too late.
He'd ran farther and faster than he had ever considered himself capable of. (Probably a lot more than he's actually capable of. He'd always been adequate at channeling his panic. Today, there had been panic to spare.) He's looking for Luffy, to warn him of Akainu's imminent arrival, but he has never actually set foot in Enies Lobby before, and it shows. Every street looks the same, sharp edges and encompassing white pressing down on him from all sides. When the cannons begin destroying everything, trying to understand where he is or even where he wants to go is nigh impossible.
The Buster Call is a promise, years of resentment between Luffy and Akainu coming to ahead. If Akainu finds Luffy, Ussop has no doubt, he'll kill him. The marine at his command, a total of three warships plus all the marines already stationed at the Island of Justice, are on the move. All of them now dancing to his death march: I will kill you, even if I have to sink this island.
Some of Ussop's running around finally pays off when he finds Chopper. The little reindeer is half-hidden behind a pillar outside of the main building, or at least, what Ussop assumes is the main building. Their youngest crew member is trying to hide, but as always, he's on the wrong side of the object he's taking cover in, leaving half of his face obscure by the pillar and the rest of him exposed. Ussop's breath stutters, seeing the doctor hunched unto himself, shoulders wracked by sobs and hiccups.
Ussop had it all planned out.
He'd brought a mask and his new slingshot, he had even thought of an alias beforehand, determined to help Luffy without throwing away his pride. He acknowledges that his disguise is questionable at best, and Luffy is nothing if not perceptive about the things he cares about, but Ussop needed a way to hold on to his pride without betraying his friends. (He thinks Luffy will understand. He always does, which only makes everything that happened with Merry all the more bitter).
She's in pain, Ussop.
Seeing Chopper like this, even without understanding what's wrong, how can Ussop possibly put on a mask? When right across the street, his friend needs him? He crosses the distance in mere moments, discarding the yellow sun mask that he'd gotten on the way. It's ugly anyway.
"Chopper?" The reindeer startles despite Ussop's attempts to approach carefully. Chopper braces himself against the wall, a tiny hoof reaching for his beating heart.
A beat and then,
"Ussop...?" The older teen barely nods before there's a fluffy ball of snot and tears shaking against him, all semblance of somewhat composed crying flying out the window. For a couple of minutes, Ussop is beyond anything but trying to pat some comfort into Chopper, eyes wild on the streets. The city of Justice seems deserted from where they stand, but their's smoke climbing through the air in the distance and closer still the building seems to shake. Chopper whispers something, an unintelligible garble that barely sounds more coherent than the whining he'd been doing before.
"What?" The reindeer steps back shakily, looking up at Ussop with so much pain in his eyes that the sharpshooter has to forcefully click his mouth shut lest he asks what happened.
"Are Luffy and the others... are Luffy and the others bad people?" Chopper's voice is shaky but demanding, and Ussop knows what answer the reindeer wants. He wants Ussop to say no. Ussop should say no.
He hesitates.
Regardless of this divide between him and Luffy, there's a reason that he followed the marine. That reason has grown with them, even as hero-worship for his captain dies to be reborn in the shapes of genuine care and admiration. Now, he stands in the middle of the Island of Justice: Ussop, the son of a wanted pirate and a foolish mother. A reckless child who'd been so much of a coward that he ended up being brave, who saved his precious people by abandoning a village and whose salvation brought death... that was the man who was sworn into the squad of Rear Admiral Monkey D. Luffy. That man also knows better.
"Chopper... what happened?"
"There's so many people dead, Ussop, and... and... I just-!" He flails, and it's disconcerting. Chopper has always been easily flustered, but he's their doctor. For all his shyness, Ussop has never doubted him to keep it together and stitch their family up or yell them down if he needs to. It hits Ussop that tiny Chopper is a boy. A smart, talented, brilliant boy, but one that is several years younger than Ussop himself. He's been dragged along on a journey, haunted by life and death. Even hardened men of the sea would buckle. "Why?" he chokes out finally, desperately.
He's murmuring about dead people and questioning Luffy's morals. Ussop can put two and two together.
It's always been a thing edge, this thing Ussop's crew has been doing. The son of a pirate, a marine married to a pirate, former illegal bounty hunters who worked for a pirate and a boy who admires piracy. All bonded together under Justice by a man who wishes to break every rule in the world. (It'd be a lot less commendable if the world wasn't filled with a bunch of shitty-ass rules.)
"Luffy... cares about people a lot," he begins, silencing Chopper with a stare before he can interrupt. Even now, Ussop is angry at Luffy. Mad at his callousness, at his practicality, at his strength. Hurt that he can let go so quickly about something that means the world to Ussop. "Luffy cares about people a lot, and... he's willing to do a lot too, to protect people. Sometimes, like now, there are hard choices that he needs to make."
"What does that mean...?"
"It means that sometimes, the only way to protect the people you care about is to hurt other people. And because Luffy's the captain..." A light goes on in Ussop's brain, and he bites his lip, a lighthouse in the fog of their divide and misery. Rationality, Zoro might've called it. "...because Luffy's the captain... he sometimes makes hard choices so the rest of us..." Oh. "So the rest of us don't have to."
"So... he's a good person?"
"No one is only good, Chopper, not even Luffy."
Brook meets Luffy in darkness.
Dressrosa is very different from the Florian Triangle, yet the people there feel no less trapped.
The streets are cheery and colorful. Toys run rampant amongst the population, masters at keeping their longing in check—the tragedy of forced ignorance, the pain of having something so close and yet so far. Yes, Brook knows it well. His life as a pirate had been joyful and free, but piracy is a very different thing these days. A concept faraway and twisted from the search for freedom the Rumbar pirates sailed after almost a century ago.
Brook doesn't know if he'd be a pirate after what he's learned of the world. Ironic, considering he follows a man that wishes to reach Raftel.
Luffy had been committed to the goal since before he'd taken Brook in. There was no hesitation or delicacy as he declared it to his newest crew member, his voice a lull swimming through the music. He asked Brook to betray his lawless ways, conquer the familiar fear of the unknown, and reach the end of the Grandline all in the same breath. The fact Brook agrees makes it all the more endearing.
Who says Raftel is only for the pirates? Who says only criminals own part of the world?
The logic is simple, as Luffy's often is, a straight line shooting for what he wants, where so many others are twisted by society and greed and decorum into a never-ending circle. It's impossible to think that Luffy is a man who History can forget, not that his Nakamas will let it.
As Brook walks down the streets of Dressrosa, the people around him scream and cry and breathe freely for the first time in much too long. Not as long as Brook was waiting for Luffy, but long enough that his worn heart beats in sympathy with their happiness. Unlike for him, many joyful reunions are waiting at the end of the tunnel. Though Brook guesses he's not quite at the end of the tunnel yet and maybe, he'll get to have his own reunions as well. (He'll have a lot to say.)
The marines had been just as much a tremendous force back in the day than they are now. Their ideals have bent to the radical passage of time, which seems to have made monsters out of men. Too tired of fighting to even disguise injustice in all its many gory shapes. Brook hadn't known about their dark side when he'd been sworn in. It bothered him briefly, but had he really pledge himself to a faceless organization? The only man he'd follow in this second chance at life has Justice emblazoned at his back and that -to Brook- is enough.
He finally spots the port. Sunny and their marine companions' galleon sway unassuming next to each other, seemingly untouched by the cataclysmic occurrences that befell Dressrosa today. Brook knows better, and a shudder slithers down his bag in the remembrance of too much color and tasteless art. The image of Vice-Admiral Smoker in the face of such an opponent though... that had been delightful. Brook highly respects the marine, but he just thinks it so comedic how these youngsters want to take everything so seriously. Zoro is much the same.
The musician knows that their little pod of rebels and misfits isn't technically real marines for all the accomplishments that they have gifted the navy. Revolutionaries. (One more twist in the tale of Monkey D. Luffy.) Regardless, he thinks he's seen more Justice in his Nakama than he's seen from many men who wear an officer's coat. Though the navy does harbor loyal men and women of worth, their strength firmly rooted in the blind faith in Justice -like the one that comes out to greet him.
"Ah, Mister Brook!" The skeleton lowers his head in acknowledgment, almost tipping an invisible hat at the beautiful officer.
"Captain Tashigi, was everything well while I was away?" The other officer nods promptly, jumping down from her vessel to the Sunny's grassy deck, Brook's long legs carry him to her in moments.
"There were no more attacks, though we did receive a head's up to headquarters. Most officers are to immediately head back to Marineford."
"Most officers?" Brook questions.
The former pirate did not sail with Luffy before Enies Lobby, but he has been in Luffy's squad long enough to know that most officers doesn't tend to include them. Tashigi bites her lip as she meets his gaze. (Although he has no eyes!)
"Including you," she confirms, "there's been a high-level arrest, and HQ is preparing themselves for backlash."
"Is that so?" Brook hums, "are they scared they will escape?"
"Doubtful. Apparently, the pirate was hand-delivered to Impel Down. Mister Smoker went on to relay orders to Luffy, but the arrest was made by another pirate. Mister Smoker is not pleased, it's a man calling himself Blackbeard." Something niggles in the back of Brook's head. Blackbeard? "Branch 13th is to meet him at Impel Down when you drop off Doflamingo, take both Blackbeard and the Surgeon of Death to be sworn in at HQ in one fell swoop. Because of the threat level that is Doflamingo, we shall escort you as well."
"I see," unusual but not exactly out of protocol. Brook has a sudden urge for tea, but he keeps his eyes on the city, looking out into the celebrating streets. The main partying hasn't reached the harbors, but the drumming music reaches down to Brook's bones, strumming up his mood anyways. He sets curious eyes upon Tashigi. "What pirate was arrested?"
"It's big," Tashigi previews, "Whitebeard's first mate, Marco the Phoenix." If Brook had eyes, they would've rolled right out of his sockets. Out of everyone at sea...! He wonders if... No, no way his captain knows yet.
"I know! It's mind-blowing!" Captain Tashigi, the gods bless her heart, mistakes Brook's dawning horror with surprise. The undercover revolutionary is grateful for it because there is no evading the genuine fear that is making a home in between his ribs. Something else takes on a higher meaning.
"...And Mister Smoker went to tell Luffy?" he questions, already knowing the answer as it was eloquently stated before.
"He did." Brook trades Captain Tashigi for the sights of Dressrosa, ignorant of the chaos that has been unleashed. Somewhere up there, past the cobblestone streets, the dancing citizens, amongst the rubble of a half-destroyed palace, Brook's captain recuperates, unknowing of the news his friend will bring him. (Though, there is the possibility that Luffy does know something, with him there always is.)
Soon after, a breeze dances along the Sunny's deck, uninspiring but for the aftertaste of raw power that it carries. Brook's much too far to truly feel the wave, but there's no doubt in his mind that Luffy knows.
When the Branch 13 officers reunited at the Sunny, the mood is tense. Luffy is angry, angrier than Brook has ever seen him, but there is no lack of determination in the clench of his jaw or the arch of his brow. It's a mixture between habit and familiarity that brings each of them to sit around the kitchen, where Luffy's ramrod-straight posture sets the tone for the seriousness of the discussion they're going to have.
It's late, Vice-Admiral Smoker and Captain Tashigi having long abandoned their company for their own quarters, puzzled at Luffy's mood. Brook's captain had waved them off with a just tired that rang truer than he probably meant. Trafalgar Law had - wisely - decided to follow them, excusing that he'd instead get his own room for the night if it was possible.
The nine remaining members from Human Resources Brach 13, a secret revolutionary pod, sat around a mint-colored mantel. Not even Sanji dawdles in the kitchen, or Franky retreats early to tinker away at his shop. Robin eyes them silently, perhaps gauging if someone else will begin. Luffy looks angry enough to be in tears with arms crossed over his chest. Brook sees her conviction to take the reigns, but it comes a beat too late.
"So... are we breaking into Impel Down?" As always, Zoro cuts to the heart of the matter. Brook doesn't miss that knocking down the doors into the world's most secure prison is precisely the kind of plan the world's greatest swordsman would prefer -maybe even the only one that comes to mind.
"Zoro, are you crazy?! It's Impel Down!" Ussop cries, looking for support around the table.
"So? We already took down Enies Lobby?" Sanji points out.
"By accident!" Ussop insists.
"That just proves his point!" Franky mutters under his breath.
"Are we really calling that a success? We all almost died!" Nami chips in, glaring at everyone as if vexed by the very conversation.
"I'd rather not relieve that..." Young Chopper's features cannot possibly turn green behind the gills, but somehow the wrinkle of his blue nose still gives up that mildly nauseous impression.
"The marimo is on to something, I don't think letting the bird rot in prison can really be our move."
"Marco's not staying at Impel Down." It's like a knife cutting open the tension, Luffy's flat voice. As always, his dark eyes demand attention, an unhealthy challenge daring you to look away. His crew leans in to hear his words. Like gospel, Brook thinks with little amusement.
"...What?" Zoro's tone of voice doesn't hold an ounce of confusion, but his brow is raised high.
"Luffy...? What do you mean?" Ussop speaks at the same time.
"Are they going to execute him?" Robin theorizes after a moment of silence. Despite the morbid question, Brook sees it as a likely outcome. Marco is one of the stars of the Golden Age of Piracy, one of the few remnants of criminals who had clashed on the seas against Gol D. Roger himself.
The straw hat shadows Luffy's face as he shakes his head, fingers curling, digging into his arms.
"Smokey said it's a secret but... it's a lot worse."
Well, we're moving forward 3 If he's not to be executed, what do you think Marco's fate will be?
Thanks always for your kind comments, they're getting me through Quarantine like you wouldn't believe!