I'm on a kick and don't feel like stopping yet. It's a good feeling.
Chapter 11
Fun fact of the day: Delta always loved the sea, even before he had left Goa the first time. The breeze, tye bright glisten of the water- all of it. Which made it all the more ironic (is this correct usage?) that his devil fruit, the item from which he gained all his power to travel the seas as he pleased, also made it so that he could never touch it.
Or, at least, without losing all of his strength. And since he ate the fruit so early in his life, he didn't even have so much as a fond memory to look back on.
Sometimes life wasn't fair.
A similar thing was occurring now, though slightly more serious, and a hell of a lot more emotionally impairing.
Being thrown into the past sucked, but it had now been something like three, four years, and he had come to accept the sad fact that he may never see his crew again. Acceptance was really the only way he would ever move on.
But here's where it gets tough to think about. Now, on his way to Mango Island, Delta was the most excited he'd been in most likely his entire life- and he'd been pretty damn excited in his younger days. And he couldn't stop laughing constantly. Really, Terry must've been regretting his decision to come along. Probably thought Delta was some sort of psychopath or something.
And at the moment, Delta couldn't find it in himself to care. This is the conundrum. He never wanted to leave his crew and life as the Pirate King, but this was probably the best feeling he'd ever had in his life. Like drugs, but natural, and better.
"How far off are we?" Delta asked, scanning the horizon.
"I jus' told ya, we're close," Terry said, taking a swig of his brew.
"But how close is close? Close-close, or cloooose? Or, like, close?"
Terry blinked a couple times, then looked down at his bottle. He shook his head, dropping the bottle. "Close," he repeated, slower.
Delt grumbled. "And it's straight ahead?"
"Yup."
Delta placed his hand to his chin, frowning. "You don't need me to park, right?"
"Uh… no? What do you-"
Delta didn't hear the rest of Terry's sentence, as he'd burst off the boat and into the air, careful not to break the deck, chasing the sun as he geppoed straight ahead at lightning speed.
Actually, scratch that thing he was thinking at the beginning. This feeling, if anything, was too good. If he didn't calm down from the high soon, who knew what would happen.
Aaand he'd spotted, stopped above, and dropped onto Mango Island. He looked down at his nonexistent pocket watch. Thirty minutes, more like thirty seconds! Ha! Delta did feel a little bad for abandoning Mustache Terry, but he wasn't certain he could last another thirty minutes in wait. His heart was pounding too fast.
He looked around at his surrounding. Beaches and palm trees, nice. And a whole bunch of mango trees. He stretched his arm to grab a few. He squeezed them. They weren't ripe. Delta shrugged, tossing a couple in his mouth. Oh well.
Now that his hunger was temporarily sort of sated- because would he ever not be hungry- it was time to find Robin. He reached out with his Observation, only to find a lot of people spread out all over the place.
Okay, so Mango Island was big. He could deal with that. Robin was strong, her aura had to have a pretty distinct signature when compared with most people, even if she was… a little math… twenty two. Holy shit. Nico Robin, the adult, was twenty two. And he was twenty seven. He, Monkey D. Delta, was five years older than Robin.
He grabbed his head to keep it from spinning and swallowed. From reading the news, to meeting Terry, to sailing all the way here with the picture in hand, it hadn't occurred to him. He was so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of course she wasn't the Robin he knew and loved. This Robin was just a kid, alone in the world. This Robin hadn't turned herself into the World Government to save him, or joined the Revolutionary Army during their two year break. This was Robin… but it wasn't.
It wasn't her. It wasn't.
A tear dropped from his eye, sliding down his check and dropping off, hitting the sand below with nary a sound.
This was what he got, no, this is what he deserved for getting so excited. What was he gonna' do anyway, run up, hug her, and say, "Hi Robin! I've missed you so much!"
Yeah, that would work. Right before she tries to kill him and the marines show up to arrest her, because of course she was in hiding now that her location had been leaked. Still, she had at least a few days before any marines with actual skill showed up. They were in the East Blue, after all.
Head hung in defeat, he started to walk forward, aimlessly going wherever his feet would take him. He hadn't yet given up on finding Robin, but a lot of that ballooning excitement had deflated.
Get it, balloon? Cause he's a rubber man? And he blows himself up? Right? Ha ha?
From how he was sensing it, there were three major towns on Mango Island, and he'd have to check each separately. To search out Robin from his position, taking in every single person in that big of a radius, with only her stronger than average power to differentiate from all others would be near impossible, even with the skills of a Pirate King.
If there was one thing Delta could give Mango Island credit for, its architecture was very nice and fancy. Not in the classical rich parts of Goa type of fancy, but in a more modern, beach time Sabaody way. Yes, it was a very nice high class isle of East Blue, which of course meant that the people sucked.
As he walked into town- no more like city number one on his list, it immediately bombarded him with a storm of pomp and unearned superiority complexes. Made Delta want to gag. But no, Robin was possibly here and he couldn't give up that easily.
So he kept his face blank and walked forward, reaching to every nook and cranny of the city for any sign of Robin, ignoring all the judgy stares at his attire and countenance. Easy to say, he would take a fight over dealing with the wealthy any day.
"Sir. Sir, have you seen that sign?"
Delta was brought out of his haki daze. He turned to the voice. "Sorry what?"
A large, bald, and burly man in a suit was glaring down at him. He pointed. "The sign. Read it."
"Hm?"
NO LOITERING
"It says no loitering."
"Good job," the man mocked. "You can read. So scram, if you know what's good for you."
"I'm not loitering."
In large, purposeful motions, the man looked all around the little area. Finally, he looked back at Delta. "Sorry sir, maybe I didn't look hard enough. Where are the items you purchased from this establishment?"
Delta glared. "Fine." He looked around. What store was he even in? Clothing. Okay, clothing. He could do clothing. He began walking away from the security guard.
"Wait, where are you going?" he asked.
Delta turned back. "Shopping, duh."
"Like you could afford anything here."
And this was why he hated rich people. Even their security was snooty.
"Oh yeah? Watch me."
Less than thirty seconds between that sentence and Delta realizing that no, no he could not afford anything in this store. Not his fault, who in their right mind would ever pay… thirteen million beli for a coat? Ever?
And that security guard was still watching him, a smug look on his face. Aargh! He didn't have time for this! He needed to find Robin, but then also, he really, really didn't want to lose this battle.
Damn it, he was petty. Using all the speed he could muster without destroying the store with air pressure, Delta checked each and every price tag in the store, until finally, finally, he found it.
For two hundred fifty thousand beli, on sale four times now, was a straw hat, covered almost entirely in a silky maroon wrap. He had no idea how a straw hat could be so expensive, but then nothing of the rich culture had permeated his mind in any meaningful way. It was still expensive, so expensive, but it wouldn't break the bank, so he picked it up, walked to the register while staring at the security, and purchased it. Not a word was spoken.
He put on the hat. Something about wearing this straw hat felt wrong. Really wrong. He didn't take it off, yet. He passed by the security guard.
"Hey," Delta said.
"Mm? What do you-" Delta punched him in the face and ran, gripping onto the straw hat so it wouldn't fall off. Off in the far distance now, the security guard called for a squad of marines to be ordered in.
Totally worth it.
Oh, and if he was a criminal now, then-
Delta ran back to the store, punching the security guard again, shot to the register where a woman stood frozen in shock, and took back his beri.
He was a pirate, after all.
Huge numbers of people had begun to walk out from their shops and homes to see what the commotion was about, a few pointing while another couple had transponder snails out, recording the whole event. And more importantly, his face.
Delta sighed. If Robin had ever been in the city, she sure as hell wouldn't be much longer. Taking one last look through his Observation, he realized it was a lost cause. With so many excited people crowded in such a tight area, no way would he see her.
It was time to move on to town number two. Since the island and its cities were so big, there was a good chance he wouldn't even be reported to the other two locations.
Which was good, because if he knew Robin, and he did, she would flee at the first sign of trouble. He just hoped she hadn't left the island yet after that news report. No, he couldn't think about that. Had to keep looking.
If the first city was extravagant, then this was just silly. Enormous gold lettering shone above all the tall buildings, reading out DICEN CITY: LAND OF DREAMS.
A bit flashy, but it wasn't all bad. At least now, he didn't have to keep calling it city number two. A quick scan of the area showed that Dicen City boasted a pretty large, pretty decadent coastline, covered from head to base with ships of all shapes and sizes. Perfect for any pirate trying to escape. Someone like Robin. He grinned.
And with all the security patrolling the docks, it'd take a while to plan out any evasion attempt. Meaning~ she was probably still here.
Dicen City wasn't the type of place he would usually go to if he were looking for Robin, more of Namiesque joint, but it made sense. With all the people, and more importantly, wealthy people, marines would tend to leave the area be and she could blend into the vast numbers.
Smart. Still, hard to hide when a Pirate King was following you, not that he was one to brag. One deep look into the city, and location acquired. Well, it was the strongest aura on the island, so he hoped it was her.
Considering it was in a spot right near the docks, he felt pretty confident.
He started walking toward the location, following his senses… and was tackled to the ground from behind.
"Target acquired!" someone off to the side shouted.
Delta twisted his neck to find a trio of marines standing over marines, and a fourth holding him down. That was fast.
"Get off me!" Delta shouted, roughly knocking the marine into his trio of compatriots. He ran.
"No! He escaped!" a marine yelled into his transponder. "We are currently in pursuit, south west side of Dicen! Target seems to be extremely strong! Calling backup; approach with caution!"
No matter, the four marines already lost sight of him when he threw himself into a crowd of tourist looking folks. Now, all he had to do was keep a low profile as he crossed the city, and it'd be fine.
"Hey! You're the guy from the video!" a little girl shouted, pointing at Delta. "You have a very pretty hat!"
All around him, people turned to look, eyes widening with recognition. Delta felt the top of his head, and sure enough, that silky hat was there. He must've forgotten about it in all the commotion.
The crowd slowly creeped backwards, to avoid him, the man from the… video? The transponder snails! They had his face on tape, and apparently it was popular. Well, that wasn't good for discretion. Delta sighed. No getting around it now. He was just gonna' have to find Robin as soon as possible, before things got too wild.
"Yep, It's me!" Delta said to the girl, thrusting his thumb to his chest. "Name's Delta! Okay bye!"
He ran. No, ran wasn't the right word for this sort of speed. He sorued, if that was a verb.
Somewhere behind him, an alarm started blaring. This was getting out of hand. He weaved in and out through throngs of people out for a day of fun and relaxation, causing wind storms in his wake. A human storm. Mass hysteria all around, and he arrived in front of the building holding the big aura.
It was a bar. Go figure. And a cheap one at that. Looking around, the whole area screamed wild west poverty. Like the classic shady city block right beside "insert any social hub here."
Course Robin would stay somewhere like this. Scummy thugs and pirates were her element. he pushed at one of the swinging doors, stepping inside. He ignored a pair of eyes to his side who'd watched him appear out of nowhere in front of the building.
Sorry, appeared out of nowhere according to their limited eyesight related capabilities.
The bar's inside was as dumpy as the outer shell would suggest. A light film of dust covered nearly all the furniture, and some of the walls had begun to rot. The whole place smelled faintly of mildew, which wasn't very comforting, and all the eight or nine patrons were watching him warily.
Except one.
Alone in the far corner, seated on a stool with her back to turned to him, was Nico Robin. It took all the self control he'd learned in his years not to immediately scream and grab her. She didn't know him whatsoever, and first impressions were everything.
Delta walked to the bar, each step louder than the last, until he was at the seat beside hers. Each movement he made was a dream, some surreal action that he didn't fully understand. He was sitting down now. She still hadn't looked at him, but he was looking at her. He couldn't, couldn't look away.
She was Nico Robin, no doubt. That slim face, those regal, apathetic features, were all trademark Robin. But at the same time, something was different. She was so much younger. And he felt so old for saying something like that, but she was. She was seven years younger than him as he was, and she looked it. Everything about her, thigh similar, was less defined, more childlike, at least a little, and it unnerved him.
He'd never seen Robin like this, which brought a bunch of other thoughts to spiral. The most uncomfortable was, what if he had seen her like this and simply didn't remember the specifics of her face anymore? Maybe after four years, his memory had rewritten her face a little. Just tiny minutia, but still.
"Can I help you?" Robin asked. At least her voice sounded familiar. Cold, distant, and polite, but familiar.
"Hm? Right, yes," Delta got out. "Yes you can, actually. See, I need your help."
"My help?"
See, Delta had actually been thinking about what he would do out on the open seas for a while now. Since he'd already found the One Piece before, and with all those adventures along the way and after, he wanted to tread into new waters. Funny enough, he actually was pretty sure Robin had the exact skill set to help him.
"Yeah. So I've decided to find the Sea Sea Fruit."
Robin looked surprised. She didn't look surprised very often, and it was only for a moment, but she looked surprised. She smiled. Fake.
"The mythical fruit, able to control the very sea that would kill all other users? That is quite the mission." Her eyes narrowed, just a pinch. "Apologies, but how is it that I can help specifically?"
"Well you can read the Poneglyphs, right? Way I figure, something as legendary as the Sea Sea Fruit has got to be on one of them, so I need you to be there to let me know. Who knows, might even count as the hidden fourth great weapon." He grinned. "So, what do you say?"
She shook her head. "Thank you for thinking of me, but I will have to decline for now."
"Aw, why?" Not that he was going to take no for an answer.
"At this moment, it is the fact that the marines are right outside, ready to arrest you, Delta, and I wish not to be in the crossfire."
Delta waved his hand. "Those chumps? I can beat those guys. More importantly, you've seen the video. Do I look good in it? Cool? And how do you know my name?"
"You told a little girl before disappearing."
"Wait… someone was recording that! Oh no! We can't let that video leave this island! Garp's gonna' be so mad if he sees it, and I do not want to deal with that."
Robin watched on passively as Delta fell apart.
"And how'd they even find me? I moved so fast, there's no way someone in East Blue could keep up with me! I can't believe this!"
"The marines followed the storm you left in your haste. It happened that the storm stopped right in front of this establishment, so here they are."
Delta's eyes widened. "Genius…" He was perplexed. "How do you know all this?"
"I've been watching one of the many news reports all around the city using my devil fruit abilities. I'm sure you know what they are, as you know who I am." Her polite smile never once faded. "I'm sorry to say, you've become island-wide news. If your goal was discretion, I believe this is what they call failure."
Delta dropped his head onto the bar. "I know. I'm so bad at that. Sorry Robin, that I lead the marines right to you. I'll beat them up, so it won't really matter, but still."
"It's quite alright."
"And you're sure you don't want to come with me? It's gonna' be fun! A real adventure!"
"Thank you for the offer, but-"
The doors were ripped off their hinges as a swarm of marines entered the bar. "HANDS UP!"
Delta smirked. Marines really were just so adorable, and it had been so long since he'd directly encountered any, (as the Pirate King, the new marines gave him a wide berth) Delta had mostly forgotten about their general presence in the world.
Always so high and mighty, always with the moral high ground, they reminded him strongly of a militaristic version of rich people.
But right now, he was talking to Robin and did not want to deal with them. Hence, Conqueror's Haki. When all the other patrons of the bar, save Robin, also fell unconscious, Delta realized he hadn't been focusing nearly enough. Great power, great responsibilities kind of lesson.
He turned back to Robin. She was staring at him in shock.
"Robin?"
Her face tried to resume its normal features. She got close. Seemed that a younger Robin hadn't fully mastered the neutral expressions of her more mature self. He liked her this way.
"Yes, Delta?"
"Sorry if this sounds rude, but you seem the type to be drawn to power, maybe because it's what keeps you safe and alive, maybe more. Along that line of thinking, I can honestly say that I am quite possibly the most powerful person you have ever met, including your Admiral friends."
The shock was starting to return, a tad. Nearly made Delta laugh.
"Yeah, I know about the Buster Call on Ohara. So what I'm saying is, well, ignoring my plan to find the Sea Sea Fruit, it would be safer for you to be near me than anywhere else in the world."
The smile had gone, her voice cold. "And why do you care about my safety?"
Delta sighed. "Tsk, can't tell you that. But I will say that I believe you to be very important, one of the most important people alive right now, and I believe you have great things to do in your life." A wistful smile crossed his lips. "Call me a good samaritan, but I trust my gut, and the hope of a better future is worth keeping you happy and safe at my side."
She looked nearly ready to accept his proposal. So close. And sure this was technically a form of emotional manipulation, but it was Robin he was talking about. He couldn't let her go. Robin would understand, were she here.
"Look, think about it like this. Whether or not I'm actually as strong as I say I am, you can still probably figure I'm more powerful than you, one on one. If I really had any negative motives, I would act. But I don't, so I won't. See?"
Robin's jaw clenched with a hidden nervousness. So close, so, so close-
"Alright," she affirmed. "I'll come with you. Where is your ship?"
Delta's smile was wide, a firm sideways D below his nose. He didn't remember that last time he smiled like this. Had to have been… nevermind.
He laughed. "Awesome! My ship is- my ship is, uh, hm."
"You don't know where your ship is?"
"No, I do, sort of. We were about a half hour from shore, but I was worried you'd leave and I'd miss you, so I jumped the rest of the way here, so… give me a sec."
He just had to find Terry. Terry would probably have docked a little while ago, and hopefully he hadn't left the ship. So far from any life on the coast, it would be easy to pinpoint him.
A pair of footsteps approached them at running speed. Delta looked over.
"Delta!" Terry shouted, gripping his knees, panting like. dog. "De- Delta! You have no idea how tired, an' drunk, I am! Why woul' ya leave me lie tha'? I've been all over this damn mango… tryin' a find ya! There's marines here, d'ya know?" He stumbled to the side, hitting a table. He grabbed it for balance.
"And yer' face, it's all over tha' island! Big, big ole, ole movin' posters showing yer face! It's all over. One of 'em saw you walk-in' in here, so tha's where I came! Here I a- a- a-" Terry's eyes bugged. He stage whispered, "Delta, don't look now, bu' Nico Rob's right next'a ya!"
Marines must be stationed all around the bar, why would they let him through? Unless, were they using Terry as bait? What a bunch of shits.
"Robin, do you know how to sail?" Delta asked.
"Well enough," she replied. "Why?"
"The drunk's Terry. Terry is my current navigator."
"Ah."
Terry fell over, unconscious.
"Did you use your… power on him?"
Delta shook his head. "Nope. He's just blackout hammered. I'll carry him."
"So if he's here, and unconscious…"
"He's the only one who knows where it is. Solution, get a new ship. Funny, there are a whole lot right next to us."
"Don't you have any belongings one's your ship?"
Delta shrugged. "Not a problem. I can go back and get it once we're out at sea."
Robin hummed in sort of understanding. "I started making a plan on how to bypass the security."
"No need," Delta said. "In case you've forgotten, there're a whole lot of marines outside waiting for us, and I doubt your plan incorporated that." He walked to Terry and flung the man over his shoulder. "Also, I am extremely strong, which can make plans much simpler in my experience."
Robin smirked. "Then I'll follow your lead… captain."
"Temporary captain, but yeah, I like the sound of that."
-o0O0o-
And for anyone who reads this, what's the ratio of boys to girls on the site, or this specific story for that matter? That would be interesting to see... Review please! I enjoy it!
Also, to "Elena A. Grey"s question, um that's a spoiler I think? Yeah, it is. But I'll say one thing. He's most definitely not-
