Hello Everyone! Forzarismo here starting the year strong with an all new 10k chapter for the Rubbery Vengeance! I hope you all have had a wonderful 2016 and are having an even better 2017! This chapter may or may not contain information that could be important later on. I'll let you all be the judge of that, but for now here are the stats!:
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Disclaimer from Gracielson Wayne: The Overweight Latino... or Samoan... or Filipino... Or whatever the hell ethnicity he is does not own One Piece, but he does own all of the original ideas and shit he's made, like me. Also fuck you Forzarismo for all of the bad shit you have planned in this story. Don't act like I don't know, I saw your notes... and I don;t want to be part of that shit. Also yes dear readers, that semi-colon I put in there myself, to show that I am a rebel!
Chapter 17: Making Some Final Stops
After leaving Syrup Village, The Strawhat Pirates went to go search for the Baratie. From what Carne and Patty told them, they only had two more days before the Baratie departed and moved on to its next designated stop. After Nami had set the Going Merry onto course with , they had reached the 'Restaurant of the Seas' in two and a half days, three and a half days faster than in the original timeline.
Once they were on the docking side of the Baratie, Carne and Patty went through the back entrance which led right to the kitchen. Sanji meanwhile led the crew through the main entrance of the restaurant.
"Welcome to the Baratie, the best restaurant in the sea. Well, it probably is the only restaurant in the sea, at least in the East Blue that is." Sanji introduced with pride as he showed his crewmates all around the restaurant. Once he got them on a big enough table for eight, Sanji began ordering their foods.
"Well, well, well, Eggplant. Looks like you finally found your crew and have the decency to give them a good meal." the man known as Zeff said with a smirk as he approached the group.
"Can it you shitty geezer before I kick your ass to next Wednesday." Sanji barked back with a playful glare towards his father-figure. A couple hours and a full stomach later, the Strawhat crew began getting ready to set off towards Cocoyashi village. Just as they were about to help Sanji get his personal things into the ship, they heard a scream for help from the distance. Kaya perked up and got out a telescope to see where the scream came from. When she pinpointed where the scream came from, she saw a small boat in the distance with two men in it. There is one man wearing a blue jacket and dark shades waving a white flag. Next to him, he could see a man in a green longcoat on the ground holding his stomach tightly in pain.
"Luffy! There are two men out there and one of them needs some medical attention! What should we do?" Kaya informed Luffy.
Zoro motioned her to give him the telescope so he can see who they are. After only a split-second of having them in his sights, Zoro widened his eyes as he recognized his colleagues. "Johnny?! Yosaku?!" Zoro said a little surprised, catching Kuina's attention when he said those names. During their bounty hunting days, they've crossed paths with each other more than their fair share of times, usually it ended up with Zoro and Kuina saving their asses from bigger fish and teaching them some lessons before they head their separate ways. Their relationship can be called a friendly one-sided rivalry as Johnny and Yosaku always try to become stronger and become Zoro and Kuina's equals, despite the ever increasing gap between the two duos.
"Let's help them. Kaya, get ready to treat the man." Luffy commanded, to which Kaya responded by having all of her equipment in her equipment bag ready before Luffy even gave said command. Once the boat was in arms reach, Luffy stretched his arm and towed them back at a speed Johnny and Yosaku weren't ready for, causing the both of them to vomit at the sudden change of speed and motion. Kaya checked over Yosaku while Johnny ran up to Zoro and Kuina.
"Zoro-aniki! Kuina-nee-sama! Please help Yosaku! Today he suddenly began losing color on his skin and a tooth or two suddenly fell out of his mouth with no explanation whatsoever! His old wounds even began to open up! It's a curse I tell you! A curse! And it might kill my brother in all but blood!" Johnny
"It's most definitely not a curse, And I can guarantee you that he will most definitely not die, at least not from this that is." Kaya stated suddenly as she looked at Sanji. "Can you get me some fruits that have high quantities of citrus? This man is showing early symptoms of having scurvy. It can be easily treated even in late stages if one has the right equipment, but if unprepared, you can easily lose your life to it, like so many others who caught the disease before they were able to store perishable foods for long periods of time." She explained as Sanji came back with a cup and box filled with lemons, oranges, and grapefruits. Together, the both of them efficiently squeezed out as much juice from the fruits into the cup before having Yosaku drink it down. After basically forcing the man to chug down 3 cups worth of admittedly very sour juice, Yosaku suddenly rose up from his laying position, looking around his surroundings as if he were in a dream. He suddenly stood up, and began to pat around his body as a look of joy and relief showed on his face.
"I'm… I'm… healthy again!" Yoke joyfully exclaimed as he and Johnny square-danced together.
"IT DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT!" Nami and Nojiko yelled back comically at the two bounty hunters.
Immediately after the two stopped dancing…
"Hrk."
…Yosaku fell to the ground as pale as he was before, clutching his stomach as it made weird noises.
"You shouldn't have moved from your spot Yosaku. You need to get some rest for a while and take it easy for the next day or two. You are very lucky that we caught it very early as it could've irreparable harm to your body." Kaya chastised as she changed Yosaku's old, dirty bandages for new, clean ones.
After Johnny picked up Yosaku and Kaya led them to guest room, Sanji went to say his final goodbyes.
"I guess this is it old man." Sang merely said neutrally.
"It seems so Eggplant." Jeff replied with same tone of voice as Sanji.
"Don't get me wrong. As soon as I find the All Blue and Luffy becomes Pirate King, I will come back here and prove to you that once and for all that I am worthy to be called a chef." Sanji proclaimed as pointed his cigarette at Zeff, ignoring the nickname Zeff gave him so long ago.
Zeff merely chuckled and looked at Sanji with a sense of pride. "Oh Sanji, you don't need to prove to me or anyone else for that matter that you are worthy of being called a chef." Zeff said, before placing his hand on Sanji's shoulder. "Because you have already proven yourself."
That caught Sanji by surprise. "You mean…"
"Yes, yes, yes! Take a hint dammit! Now go on and make our dreams come true!" Zeff remarked as he kicked Sanji onto the Going Merry.
As Sanji got up, he looked at everyone on the Baratie. Ever since he left the hellhole he was born in known as the Germa Kingdom, his life has been improving in every single way. Sure he misses his late mother and his sister Reiju, especially after everything the two have done for him, but for the life of him, he would never return to that vile location. Over there, the ones that he used to call his brothers and his father insulted his skills as a chef and demeaned him each and every waking moment of his life there, just because he wasn't learning at the same rate as the other three. Over here in Baratie however, each new dish he made was dissected by Zeff and he would tell him what was wrong with said dish and what went well. He looked at his now former home with tears slowly welling up in his eyes, remembering all of the memories he's had with everyone there. Learning how to improve his cooking through Zeff, competing with the other chefs, occasionally flirting with the female customers, and the occasional fight were the biggest categories of why he loves the Baratie so much.
"ALL OF YOU SHITHEADS! I WILL MISS YOU ALL! I WILL COME BACK SOON! AND I SWEAR THAT I'LL BRING PROOF OF THE ALL BLUE!" Sanji screamed out, causing the other chefs and Zeff to cry manly tears at his departure.
"Damn right you will!"
"We're going to miss your ungrateful ass here!"
"You better bring some delicious ass ingredients when you come back!"
"If you forget about us, we'll have Head Chef Zeff kick your ass!"
"Bring all of us souvenirs!"
Zeff looked on at the now departing Going Merry. Tears slowly wrinkled down his aged,wrinkled face as he looked on as his adopted son go on and find their dream. As he headed back inside of the Baratie and into the kitchen, preparing dishes for the customers that have been waiting rather patiently as the whole fiasco happened, he looked up at the ceiling, stopping just a brief moment as a thought passed by his mind.
'Make me proud my boy.'
A Day Later…
Early in the morning, the entire crew had been rounded up by Luffy on the Going Merry's deck; in front him there being a massive black cloth.
"We're pirates correct?" Luffy asked.
"Of course we are. You're the one who proclaimed to be Pirate King." Marguerite replied, a little irritated as she does not know what Luffy wants from them, seeing as all of them were woken up early and she is not a morning person by nature.
"Right, right. And what do pirate ships have that differentiate them from other ships?" Luffy continued to question.
"…A jolly roger?" Nojiko responded back a little uncertainly, as she is still half asleep and is also not a morning person.
"Yep! And what is the one thing that the Going Merry is missing to show the world that we are officially pirates?" Luffy stated more than asked as a wide grin became etched on his face. The entire crew, now wide awake, immediately caught on and face palmed themselves.
'We are such morons.' The entire crew thought to themselves, unaware that each of them thought the same exact thing.
Luffy turned around to show everyone the jolly roger on his coat. The jolly roger is practically the same as his old jolly roger, with three minor differences. The first being that the eyeholes are frowning now. The next two are more in conjunction with each other as the second difference is that the mouth is slightly open and the last change being that there are two streams of blue gas coming out of the mouth, with one on each side. "Do any of you know how to draw?" Luffy asked, already knowing the answer to that one.
Obviously, Usopp rose his hand. "I have quite the decent skill in painting. I'll have you all know that I designed many tattoos to turn horrible scars into a beautiful piece of art that anyone can be proud of." Usopp stated proudly as he rubbed the bottom of his nose, walking back towards his room where he went to get his art supplies.
A while later after he came back from getting his supplies, Everyone looked at their very own jolly roger with pride. The very moment they saw the jolly roger on their sails and on the flag on top of the tallest mast, they felt an incredibly huge feeling of fulfillment fill their heart. They wanted to bask in this feeling for as long as possible. Sadly though, after continuing to heading towards their new destination, Nami and Nojiko's home place, Cocoyashi Village, they were confronted by an unpleasant sight.
"HALT YOU PIRATES! WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE YOU HEADING!?" The Marine's battleship called from a couple hundred yards away from the group. Luffy and his crew stared back at the whiskered Marine Captain as he used a megaphone to question them.
Kaya, having some experience in politics and speeches, stepped forward and spoke for the group. "We are a newly assembled group of pirates called the Strawhat Pirates. As to where we're headed, I'm afraid I cannot disclose that information." Kaya replied, causing the whiskered man to narrow his eyes and sneer at them.
"Well, that's too bad then, I was going to offer some mercy should you have answered my questions, but it seems that you rookies have quite the horrid luck today." Nezumi sneered as he raised his left arm up in the air, causing a chain reaction as the marines under him began preparing the cannons. "FIRE!" The Marine Captain commanded as moved his arm in a downward motion. Cannons fired in quick succession at the pirate ship, never expecting that any of them were capable of defending and counterattacking from such an attack.
Luffy flicked back three with his middle finger, each of them hitting the cannon they were shot from.
Zoro and Kuina deflected two away each, causing them to explode harmlessly in the water.
Nami zapped one, causing it to explode while Nojiko exploded one as well by shooting at it with her revolvers.
Sanji kicked one back to the Marines, hitting their battleship's keel.
Kaya sliced through one, and Marguerite grabbed both halves and threw them to the battleship's biggest mast.
Usopp, in all of this, decided to test the modified cannons of the Going Merry once the rest of the crew were done. The results he expected…
"BRRRRRRRRT!"
…were most definitely not this. the surprising and unexpected amount of recoil he received from the cannon caused him to lose aim for a moment, but it looked like the loss of aim didn't really matter. The entire left side of the marine battleship is riddled with more holes than your standard GTA 5 casualty. He genuinely did not expect just one cannon to put out this much stopping power in the span of four seconds. Every single crew member of the Strawhat Pirates, including Luffy, looked on in surprise by the amount of damage done to the battleship in such a short amount of time. The Marines didn't even have enough time to get over their primary reaction over how each individual crew member dealt with a cannonball that was headed towards their direction.
"Usopp! What were you thinking!?" Kaya admonished her boyfriend.
"…No kill like overkill? You know… what Wayne-sensei always taught us." Usopp tried to smoothly lie.
"He's suicidal! And he fights eldritch abominations just for the heck of it!" Kaya stated back, causing Usopp to shrink back a little.
As the pair bickered back forward, Luffy jumped towards the sinking ship, prepared to restore it back to its original condition. The panicking captain looked at the man in front of him, and his eyes widened in realization before they narrowed down out of pure lividness.
"YOU!" Nezumi snarled as pulled out a pistol and began shooting at Luffy.
Luffy merely dodged out of the way with practiced ease, not even using his Observation Haki to help him dodge out of the way. Luffy half-heartedly slapped the gun out of Nezumi's hand and swept the back of his legs using his right foot, causing said captain to fall on his back with shock. "What the heck is your problem? What did I even do to you?" Luffy asked as he tilted his head to the side, not remembering who this man is.
Nezumi sputtered incoherently for a while before he regained his composure and began yelling at Luffy. "You don't remember!? Ten years ago! You were the one who killed Saint Jalmack, ate my devil fruit, and rescued the Demon of Ohara before escaping! And don't say otherwise! I know its you by the scar under your left eye and that damn straw hat!" Nezumi angrily stated as tried to get up, only to be forced down by Luffy's leg.
"Do I have a bounty?" Luffy asked coldly, wanting to know how bad the after-effects of what he did were.
Nezumi decided to humor the man above him. "Peh, they don't know your name if that's what you're asking. But you do have a bounty, which I always have in my pocket, which I can get out if I CAN STAND UP!" Nezumi roared out as his angry gaze met Luffy's cold one. Luffy reluctantly let up on the pressure and took his foot off of the whiskered captain. Tension at that point for the marine grunts were at an all-time high seeing as the crew they just tried to take down almost immediately took them down in retaliation in just a couple seconds. Not to mention, they have the captain of said pirate group arguing with their captain while their ship was slowly, but surely sinking. They then see the pirate take his leg off of Captain Nezumi, letting Nezumi slowly stand up for himself. Nezumi dusted himself off as he took out a folded brown piece of paper and gave it to Luffy for him to see.
Wanted
Alive Only
The Straw Hat Spectre
230,000,000 Beris
Luffy's eyes looked at his bounty, which showed a blurry picture of his young self using Gear Third while destroying the ship the world noble was in. On the outside, his face looked expressionless, but on the inside he is sweating bullets. He really began regretting going over there to kill the damn world noble, before instantly regretting that regret. If it weren't for that, he would've never saved Robin from being executed ten years ago. If it weren't for that event, many of the things that happened now would've never happened ever.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone calling him out. "Luffy! Are you done yet!? Did you find anything of value!?" Nami called out from afar.
Nezumi's mouth widened to the point the smile he wore reached ear to ear. "Luffy's name is it? Now we have a name for the infamous Straw Hat Spectre. Oh… you're Garp the Fist's grandson aren't you? Well isn't that something. The grandson of the Hero of the Marines is the man who killed a world noble and became a pirate." Nezumi grinned darkly as he said that, thinking he has blackmail on Luffy.
Luffy narrowed his eyes at him. "Like you're any better. You probably would've used the devil fruit I ate to sate your desires to become the highest ranking marine there is, while doing side deals that will most likely bring the World Government in an even worse state." Luffy stated back as if it were fact.
"But here's the thing kid, the Marines are always good. Just like how pirates are always bad. No matter what the Marines do, they will still be considered the good guys in this world, while pirates will only be remembered as the scum of the earth." Nezumi spoke back, saying it as if it is fact, with a couple of Marines agreeing with him on that subject.
The two captains just kept looking at each other, before Luffy closed his eyes and sighed. "Look, I just came here to repair your ship. After that, just go on your way and we'll forget any of this happened, okay?" Luffy said, to which Nezumi merely rose a brow. Luffy crouched down and laid his hands on the now sinking Marine Battleship.
Once Luffy's crew saw blue ethereal ripples going throughout the Marine Battleship, they looked on with annoyance.
"Is he…?" Most of the crew asked.
"Yep." Marguerite replied to their unanswered question.
"Atomic Structure Analysis: Complete. Atomic Restoration." Luffy half-heartedly said as the Ship gave off a bright glow. "There, all done. Now with that done, I'll take my leave, and hope that I never have to meet you again." Luffy said as he begun walking away from Nezumi.
"So what did happen to the Demon of Ohara anyway? Did she run away ungratefully like she always does after you saved her?" Luffy suddenly stopped walking as he processed the words that came out of Nezumi's mouth. "Hit a nerve did I? Well, you should've seen it coming, she's most infamous for always being the sole survivor of every group she joins. Heh, guess that means the cowardly woman is still on the run then." Nezumi continued before letting out a perverted chuckle. "I still remember the first time I saw her. Her voluptuous hourglass body, her wonderfully pale skin, and those beautiful milk chocolate eyes. It such a shame she's a wanted criminal, though I can pull some strings to keep her when I capture he-URK!?" Nezumi got interrupted by Luffy's fist piercing his gut, causing him to cough up some blood, leaving splotches of blood on Luffy's hardened, cold face.
"I will never let you, or anybody for that matter, touch her." Luffy lividly promised as his hand begun to glow blue. "Atomic Dissipation." Luffy said as he took his hand out and watched as in slight fascination as he saw Nezumi disintegrating into blue dust, starting from the hole in his gut until there is nothing left of him.
Meanwhile the Marines looked on in horror as they saw their captain die, with the man not even leaving a body to be buried and remembered. All that was left of Captain Nezumi is the stain of blood left on the floor. They all looked at Luffy, who jumped off the ship and went onto his own.
They definitely had to report this to Headquarters.
Meanwhile with the Strawhat crew, they were surprised to see Luffy with some blood on him, though judging by blood only being on his fist and little splotches of it being on his face, they could immediately tell it is not his.
"I'm going to wash this blood off of me. I'll come back up when it is time for breakfast." Luffy mere uttered as he went to the bathroom to get the blood off of his hand and face, ignoring his crew's questions of what happened on the battleship. After getting the blood off of himself, he went to his room to calm himself down a bit. He really did't like how that whiskered bastard started talking about Robin like that. And when he began talking about the depraved things he would do to her… well it did not sit well with him.
He looked at the sleeping den-den sushi on his table. It's been a long time since he's talked to Robin. He can't start calls with her because he doesn't want to risk her cover being blown up, so only she can start calls when she knew she wasn't being watched. The last time he talked to her was roughly two years ago, around the time he began training Coby. He could still remember that talk he had with her.
Flashback…
"Hey Robin! It's great to hear from you again." Luffy stated happily, happy to be hearing from his girlfriend in so long.
"I could say the same Luffy. Crocodile, or Mr. 0 as he's called in Baroque Works, has been buying supplies from a man named Joker in order to keep the civil war in Alabasta going for as long as he can. From what he's told me, he's looking for the legendary weapon Pluton, so he can begin his rule of Alabasta, and quite possibly the rest of the Grand Line." Robin reported to Luffy, looking a little fatigued judging by how her face appeared through the den-den mushi. "I have given the King of Alabasta, Cobra some vital information on certain supply drops from Joker, allowing the royal family to change the tides at times, though somehow those tides revert back to the Rebel Army's favor. It also seems that Alabasta's Princess Vivi, or Ms. Wednesday as she's known is trailing me, most likely looking for some vital information on Baroque Work's leader Crocodile." Robin finished, waiting for Luffy to reply.
"I would wait awhile before I 'give' any vital info to the princess if I were you, just so Crocodile doesn't hasten his plans and cause anything unexpected." Luffy replied, before giving a more sincere tone. "Are you okay Robin? You don't sound so well. Do you need me to come and help you over there?" Luffy asked in a worried tone.
"No… It's alright Luffy, just have to deal with some stressful situations." She said, though Luffy could hear some guilt in her voice. He then heard a voice in the background, it sounded a little high pitched, and Robin responded to the voice. "I'll be there soon! Sorry Luffy, but I have to go. I'll talk to you when I have the possibility." Robin stated as she hung up, not giving Luffy any time to respond.
Little did either know, that this would be the last time that would talk with each other until they reached the Grand Line.
Flashback End…
Luffy was cut from his thoughts when he heard a knock on his door.
"Luffy, breakfast is ready." Zoro said, before leaving him and heading back up onto the deck of the ship. Luffy felt his stomach grumble when he heard Zoro say the word breakfast. He got up and begun walking towards the stairs, ready to get some grub. As Luffy headed up to the kitchen area/dining room, he immediately noticed the questioning gazes of his crew members. He sat down on a chair and began eating the food on the plate in front of him, which took him about four seconds.
"I know you all want to know what happened up on the Marine's battleship. Long story short, I have had bounty for almost ten years without me ever knowing, I fixed their battleship, the captain threatened one of my crewmates, I killed him, and now we are here." Luffy explained as he took out the wanted poster of him, all of them looking at the old piece of paper with huge amounts of shock.
"How did you not know about this!? And what did you do to get such a high bounty!?" Nami questioned frustratedly, wondering how their captain did not know that he had a bounty, and also wondering how he got a bounty that huge when he was roughly around her age.
"He killed a World Noble, after said waste of space harmed one of his brothers." Marguerite explained while she ate, before continuing on. "He was captured by the Marines, but was able to escape after he ate the Atom-Atom Fruit and rescued someone who is now a crew member of ours." She finished as she drank some juice to help her digest the food.
"Who's the person?" Kuina asked, wondering which of them was the one Luffy rescued.
Marguerite looked at luffy, sending an unspoken question about the identity of their crewmate who is currently undercover. Luffy nodded, sending an unspoken confirmation. "Her name is Nico Robin. She has a bounty of 79,000,000 beris and currently she is working undercover for a criminal organization for roughly five years or so." She explained, as she fed the rest of her food to her bow-snake.
Sanji perked up when he heard that they have an extra female crew member. "How does she look? What's her favorite food? Why did you send her on a dangerous mission!?" Sanji asked the first two questions in a love trance to Marguerite, before his emotions took over when he realized that Luffy sent her to be a mole on what is most-likely an incredibly dangerous organization, and focused all of his anger on his captain.
"Don't worry Sanji. She's stronger than she looks, I made sure of that." Luffy responded, with Sanji completely misinterpreting what he said.
"YOU DARE HARM A WOMAN!?" Sanji roared out as he was about to thrash Luffy, before Marguerite tripped him.
"Calm down Sanji, Luffy would never do that to any of his girlfriends." Marguerite explained, causing Sanji(and in secret, Nami) to look at her with horror-filled eyes.
"She's… taken?" Sanji whispered out in thinly-veiled shock, before letting out a bellowing 'noooooo!' and going down on his knees.
Nami on the other hand felt her gaze narrow as she thought about the two women who seemed to have captured Luffy's heart. She certainly has some competition when she thought about it. She's far behind in terms of strength seeing as one of his crush's girlfriends is a Warlord of all things and the other is a notorious criminal with in incredibly high bounty. Still, it isn't like that has stopped her before whenever she stole treasure from very powerful criminals and royalty.
Besides, how hard can it be? It isn't like one of them slept with Luffy. He would only be twelve when the woman named Robin left. And while the Warlord seems to be head-over-heels for Luffy, she also seems to sophisticated and regal to something as vulgar as sleeping with a most likely teen Luffy. So by this analysis, there's no way any of them have gotten that far with Luffy right?
Right?
"We just caught sight of an island!" came in both Johnny and Yosaku as they barged through the door, and announced that they were close to their destination. Luffy immediately got up from his seat, and walked out of the dining room to go sit on top of the Going Merry's figurehead, basking in the sun as he looked on at the Conomi Islands.
Things just keep getting better and better.
A Little While Later at Cocoyashi Village…
"WELCOME BACK NAMI AND NOJIKO!" The entire village exclaimed as if they were welcoming back heroes. Luffy looked at the tables stacked with food and beelined his ways towards it. before he can even reach for a piece of food, he was stopped by a burly man in a bandanna, most likely the one handling all the food.
"Hey, hey sir! While we have plenty of food around here for free, the food on these tables are for sale! So unless you have some beris with you, then I suggest you-" The man didn't get to finish as Luffy's left hand suddenly glowed blue and in a matter of seconds, a massive gold pillar the size of the burly man appeared. The man looked in complete awe at the gold pillar, before turning to Luffy, who still has his attention to the food on the table, though saliva was beginning to drip from his mouth. "Enjoy to your heart's content!" The burly man exclaimed in joy as he took the gold pillar into his house, completely ignoring Luffy decimating the food on the tables.
Meanwhile, Zoro and Nami seemed to be in a drinking contest against each other, never letting up the booze as people began to gather around them and cheer on. "CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!" The entire crowd, which included Johnny and Yosaku, chanted as Zoro and Nami somehow went through a barrel of booze with practiced ease. On the side, Kuina and Nojiko looked on at the scene with varying expressions, with Kuina showing shame and disgust for Zoro's habit and Nojiko hesitantly chuckling at the scene.
"I won't lose to you Zoro!" Nami called out, as she began her thirteenth drink.
"Same to you witch." Zoro snarked back as he finished down his fifteenth mug filled with booze.
While this was all happening, Usopp and Kaya told groups of children and some adults around them of past adventures they had as children before joining the crew. "And so there we were!" Usopp began dramatically, commentating on the video that Kaya's video den-den mushi is playing. "Me and Kaya were left to play around with some children on this little town called Bruhl, when suddenly!" Usopp paused for effect, eliciting gasps from the crowd around them as they saw red tanks appear from all over. Some of the tanks began preparing their cannons as a whole lot of soldiers began lining up and readying their rifles, with a young Usopp and Kaya getting front row seats to all of this.
"How did you two get out of this!? Did any of the other people die!?" A random adult questioned, really into what is going on in the video.
"Ah, but that is when thing take a turn for the better." Kaya explained as the video continued on to show the enemy army shoot their weapons at the civilians, when suddenly Arasval appeared in front of them and placed his right palm forward, with a reddish transparent shield that extended from one end of the town to the other appearing instantly, blocking all of the projectiles coming their way.
"Woooooaaaah!" The children gasped out as they saw the projectiles that hit the shield be sent back at them as Arasval did a thrusting motion with his right arm. The video continued on to show an orange-haired young man known as Gracielson Wayne rush what remained of the army like a deranged berserker, decimating the severely weakened army in only mere seconds.
"After that, my sensei Neos went to talk with the town's militia, wanting to see what weapons they were using." The scene then changed to Neos bickering with the captain of the town's militia, with Neos telling them that they have poor excuses for weapons, while the captain told Neos he didn't know shit about weapons, which immediately led to Neos tightly gripping the captains testicles with his armored hand and pulling down hard, bringing the man to his knees as the man began screaming like a lil bitch.
Kaya shut down the den-den mushi, eliciting some 'awws' from the crowd. "After that fiasco, we somehow ended up being part of some massive war, being part of events Usopp and I never dreamed of being apart of. In a span of only two months, Arasval-sensei pulverized a massive train to dust, led a massive revolution for a group called the Darcsen, killing thousands, and I mean thousands of Anti-Darcsen racists by himself to prove a point, gaining a massive following in the Darcsen community as he overthrew the monarchy of the country known as Gallia and brought in a more democratic republic. Neos-sensei revolutionized weaponry and vehicles all over the country, bringing them to a much more efficient standard. He also armed the Gallian military with these new weapons and even took over as the new General of the Army, up until the war ended. Wayne-sensei did the same thing with revolutionizing medicine, being able to reduce the number of deaths in hospitals by an astounding ninety percent! He then went on to and I quote, 'Leeroy Jenkins' the entire army successfully and stole this!" Usopp stated as he then showed a series of picture for all to see. The first picture showed a massive behemoth of a tank almost dwarfing the city it was next to in a birds-eye view. The second picture showed Wayne in the control room of the tank, holding a piece sign up with his right hand as he had a very buxom and unconscious white-haired woman on top of his left shoulder. In the background you could see a dead blonde-haired man in royal white clothing bleeding profusely from the head, with his eyes rolled up and his body sprawled all over what appeared to be a throne. The fourth photo showed Wayne covering the entire vehicle in a reddish-black gas, with Arasval angrily yelling at him as he now held the unconscious woman in his arms and Neos shaking his head in resignation. The final photo showed Arasval gripping Wayne's vest with his left hand as his right hand blurred in front of Wayne's face, showing that he was in the process of slapping Wayne at the moment; While that was going on, it was now Neos who was holding the unconscious beauty in his arms as he chuckled in amusement at what was happening in front of him.
"And that is the end of our tale. After a fifteen-minute break, I'll tell you all about the time Wayne-sensei was transformed unwillingly into a cockatoo!" Usopp proclaimed as he brought out more pictures from the boxes on his legs, eliciting massive cheers from the ever growing audience.
"Wait! Did this Wayne person actually err… 'Leeroy Jenkins' this army by himself or did he have help?" A little child in the front row asked, hand raised so that she gets their attention.
"Oh you bet it's true! Oh God is it true…" Usopp exclaimed excitedly, before he whispered out that last sentence as the 'darker' parts of that event popped up in his head as he stared off into the distance.
Flashback…
Usopp and Kaya were currently looking on at the dreadful battlefield that met their eyes. Bodies filled the entire area, as far as their little eyes can see. They looked at the reddish-black sky that gave the entirety of the area a very ominous feel. Their gazing were suddenly interrupted as a literal red-eyed Wayne began having one of his typical temper tantrums.
"Go face the army by yourself they said! YOU'LL HAVE FUN THEY SAID!" Wayne exclaimed angrily as he stomped on a dead soldier's head, crushing it and causing grey matter and blood to stain his boot. "THEY WON'T FLEE AT FIRST SIGHT THEY SAID!" He roared out as he kicked a rather large, but destroyed tank into the distance, causing both Kaya and Usopp to flinch in fear, despite there being no real danger for them as Wayne can actually control his tantrums.
Flashback End…
Seeing that Usopp was most likely have some kind of horrid flashback, Kaya immediately stepped into action. "Okay! We'll be back in a couple of minutes! In the meantime, go do whatever you need to do before we begin our next adventure!" She exclaimed in a jovial voice as she led Usopp into one of the houses in the area.
While this went on, Marguerite stood by in the sidelines, taking in the scene, filling her with joy as she saw all of her crewmates enjoy themselves. She then caught another woman doing the same thing as her. The woman has maroon-colored hair and looked to be smoking a cigarette. The woman looked at the crowd with a lazy grin plastered on her face.
"Hello. Do you mind?" Marguerite respectfully asked the woman as she motioned to the empty seat next to her.
"Go help yourself, I'm just enjoying seeing my daughters enjoy themselves with the people they consider to be their nakama." Bellemere said as she could see Nojiko holding a vomiting Nami's hair away from her face, while Zoro celebrated his victory by also vomiting out all the alcohol in his stomach while Kuina rubbed his back.
Marguerite cocked an eyebrow. "So I take it you are Nami and Nojiko's mother?" She stated more than asked.
"Look's like we have a winner of the million beri jackpot. How'd you figure that out?" Bellemere chuckled as she began walking away from the party, motioning Marguerite to follow her.
"Well, aside from the fact that Nojiko showed her crew who their mother is, It's the way you looked at them a while back. That is the look only a caring mother would give to her children." Marguerite stated, remembering all the times Rouge had that expression on her face as she watch her, Ace, Luffy, and Robin mess around a bit whenever they had free time.
The two continued to walk down the path they were on until they had reached a cliff, showing the clear night sky, holding upon so many stars that it would be impossible to count them all. Bellemere then sat down on the ground before motioning Marguerite do the same, via patting the ground beside her.
"So how did you meet Luffy?" Bellemere suddenly asked.
Marguerite let out a soft chuckle. "It was mostly pure chance now that I think about it. I was at the right place at the right time I guess you could say. How about yourself? How'd you meet Luffy?" Marguerite responded before putting out a question of her own.
Bellemere looked towards the sky with a light smile etched on her face. "To put it simply, fishmen pirates came here, I almost got killed for not having enough money, when suddenly Luffy appeared and sliced off the captain's hand off. He then proceeded to butcher the entire crew save for one octopus fishman, and then sent the fishman he spared on his way. To be honest, I don't know why I let the kid befriend my daughters. To be able to such a thing at such a young age, I honestly feared him even after he apologized to the entire village. Though, that fear soon began disappearing after he visited often, always helping out Nami and Nojiko with their training, though he suddenly stopped after about six months or so. I'm actually amazed by how big and handsome he became, considering he was actually smaller than Nami when they were kids." Bellemere told her story as she drank from the bottle of wine in her hand.
"I have another question for you Bellemere, if you don't mind me asking." Marguerite said.
"Go right ahead, shoot." Bellemere chuckled out as the alcohol begun making her a little woozy.
"How'd you end up with Nojiko and Nami? I know they're adopted, but what I'd like to know is how you met them." Marguerite clarified.
Bellemere froze, as memories began flooding her head on what happened that fateful day. "*sigh* I guess I should take it from the beginning now shouldn't I? It all began one day…"
Flashback…
Captain Bellemere looked towards the island they were getting close to. Apparently there is a group of pirates over on that island that are causing trouble to the island, even to the point that the Marine base established on the island fell to them. Bellemere could understand why the World Government would send the Fourth Division of Cipher Pol to help them out in this endeavor, but she couldn't help but get the feeling that this situation will be worse off now that CP4 is here. She's heard the stories of the things people who work in Cipher Pol usually do. They dirty their hands where the World Government wouldn't 'publicly' go.
She could only hope that all will end smoothly…
—
"This shouldn't be happening!" A heavily injured Bellemere cried out as she hid behind a slab of broken concrete as heavy fire rained towards her direction. She could see some of her comrades falling down, never again getting up as they bled out on the streets. When they first got on the island, they noticed the ensuing battle going between the civilians and the 'pirates', with pirates winning despite the rather small size of their crew. When the Marines saw the 'pirates', they immediately noticed that they weren't actually pirates. They looked more like a squadron of some kingdom's military if anything, with there only being about forty or fifty of them. They all looked incredibly exhausted and seemed to be bleeding in some areas, yet nonetheless held their ground firmly as they seemed to be protecting a tall facility that she could tell is holding something with enough value that they wouldn't allow anyone else to touch it. When the Marines and the enemy attempted to talk this out, was the moment everything was fucked sideways.
CP4… Fucking CP4…
They just had to immediately shoot at them when they were about to begin peace talks. Now look what happened. Hundreds of Marines… all dead because of the Cipher Pol's stupid decisions. Even worse so were all the inhabitants of the island that were in the crossfire, each and every one of them dying as well. Apparently they were holding some civilians hostage from what she could get from the near incoherent hollering the enemies were doing.
Soon enough, their weapons stopped firing giving her the chance to see what was happening.
What she saw next horrified her. When she stood up a bit to see what was happening, she saw a young orange-haired boy in a grey suit jump over her and walked towards the group nonchalantly. When the enemy started rushing the boy, she saw the boy's body bulge and pulsate in different areas before hew suddenly began transforming. She couldn't believe her eyes, there now stood a fucking massive Manticore of all things! The manticore crushed some of the enemy soldiers in quick succession before shooting orange things that looked like spines at them.
Just as quick, She saw him turn into a legitimate pegasus. He took off into the skies as the horn on his head began to glow brightly. He then began descending towards the enemy before a bright and unbelievably powerful beam hit their general location. The hit came so fast that the air shockwave that came as an aftereffect of the beam piercing the sky at such a fast and powerful rate knocked her off her feet and sent her stumbling a couple meters away from her original position. When she got back up, she started walking towards the decimated area, thinking that such an attack would immediately kill anything that it hit.
Needless to say, she was wrong.
There stood standing, albeit shakily, the leader of the enemy, half his face missing and pieces of flesh burned off all over his body. The pegasus landed gracefully on the ground soon after, before reverting back to his original, ginger kid self.
"The World Government won't get away with this! They will feel our wrath! No matter how long it will take! Our Kingdom will have its vengeance!" The injured man spat out venomously, holding what's left of his right arm. "We were protecting our own when you all suddenly started attacking us, the civilians included! We are taught to always try peace talks before any fighting but it seems that the World Government is nothing more than a fake! You will all pay for this! Soon… soon enough the sins that the World Government commit against every country and every island shall bite you back!"
"No it won't. And a kingdom can't have its redemption if it simply ceases to be." A new voice stated, causing the man to turn towards the new voice with a roar. Bellemere turned around only to feel intense pain in her gut as a loud bang rang out. She fell to the ground clutching her gut as she coughed out blood. She turned to see the perpetrator, only to see a plump CP4 agent holding a smoking flintlock pistol, with his attention still on the dying man. "Good job UMX-03, mission objective complete so far. Now we need to deal with the dead kingdom's migrants." The man snapped his fingers, causing seven CP4 to enter the facility. The plump man then aimed his flintlock on the dying man's heart and shot at it, killing the man instantly. Bellemere then heard screams of agony and horror and then some gunshot noises soon after from the direction of the facility. Her eyes widened as she put all of the pieces together.
The way the men gave it their all to protect the building… the reason as to why CP4 immediately shot at them the moment peace talks were going to happen… The rage the now dead leader had when the Fourth Division of Cipher Pol began stating that their kingdom is destroyed…
They were never trying to harm anybody in the first place… They were simply trying to escape the World Governments unjustified assault on them! Now, as tears fell down her eyes as she realized what the Marines are truly used for. They are nothing more than the World Government's clean-up crew, cleaning up whichever mess they created, with only them benefitting from it. Her dream was to become a hero of justice for the marines… to prove to people that anybody can change for the better if they have the right discipline.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she received a hard kick to the face from the portly agent, causing her to gasp in pain as blood trickled out a new wound that opened on her forehead. "It seems you are a tough cookie aren't you? It seems I have ruined out of ammunition, so I can't kill you that way. hmmm… How to deal with this…" The agent pondered on, ignoring the ensuing slaughter going on in the facility behind him. "Oh! I have an idea!" The CP4 agent exclaimed as he snapped his fingers once more. Almost immediately, another young boy in a grey suit came out. The boy has bronze skin and has short black hair. He also appeared to have rolled up his sleeves. "UMX-06, Kill this-hurk!" The agent commanded before having his neck literally flattened by the young kid he was about to command him to kill Bellemere.
The orange-haired kid merely raised a brow. "Jaa… You do realize that we are not supposed to do that to our allies." He half-hearted chastised his comrade for killing the admittedly very annoying man.
"What they won't know, won't hurt them Norris. Besides what he was doing is wrong in so many ways. Even the harming of relatively harmless civilians, even if they were apart of a kingdom not allied with the World Government is still wrong on a very big level. Also, officially… we don't even exist." Jaa explained as bone began coming out of his forearms and hands, encasing his arms in such a way that they resembled muay thai wraps. The boy proceeded to rush into the facility, dead set on killing the rest of the Cipher Pol agents.
Norris merely shook his head in indifference before turning his attention to Bellemere. "I'm really sorry about this, but a weapon's gotta do what a weapon's gotta do." Norris said in a soft tone as Bellemere felt something hit her in the back of the neck.
Her world soon turned black.
—
When Bellemare woke, she noticed that she felt incredibly weak. She looked down on herself and notice the amount of blood still coming out of her. Judging by the position of the sun, she could tell it was getting pretty late. She tried getting up, but found it incredibly hard to do so.
She couldn't believe it… The World Government killed not only her crew, but also the civilians in the crossfire as well as the ones that were in the now destroyed facility in front of her.
She could only feel despair at this point. To see the people she worked for betray her just like that… It felt like the end of the world for her.
'Maybe that's the way things have to be…' She thought to herself as she felt her eyelids start to become heavy. Before she could even close them, she heard light footsteps coming towards her. She looked up to see a little blue-haired girl walking towards her with a bundle in her hands. Bellemere forced herself to get up in a sitting position.
The blue-haired girl, who despite have tears streaming down her eyes, still had a smile on her face. "Nami…" The girl cooed out to the baby girl in her hands, who giggled happily, unaware of what is going around her.
Bellemere looked at the happy baby, and held her hands out, silently asking hold the girl for a bit. The older girl complied, though a little hesitant but nonetheless gave Nami to Bellemere.
"What's your name?" Bellemere softly asked the girl in front of her.
"Nojiko…" The girl responded just as softly, shivering a little as she didn't have much protection in the rain.
"Where are your parents? Where are hers?" Bellemere questioned politely as she shielded Nami from the rain.
Nojiko looked down at the ground sullenly as the waterworks began once more. "Dead… Mama and Papa are dead… Nami's papa died helping us escape. Nami's mama went to a place named Flevence. She was supposed to have come back yesterday… She's probably dead like everyone else." Nojiko croaked out as she began weeping and hiccuping in sadness.
Bellemere, with all her remaining might, stood up and carried both Nojiko and Nami. She began walking towards the dock with a sliver of hope planted in her heart. She couldn't die… not when these children are in need of someone. If she didn't help, the who would? It's not like there is anybody else alive here on this ghost town than the three of them. She soon found a small, but sturdy boat already filled nicely with supplies on the outskirts of the docks. Using her knowledge of the islands around the East Blue, she went out and sailed towards her home island.
She is done… No more working for the Marines… especially after what they have done to not only her, but to everyone on this island as well. It even disgusted her to think that they would use even children as weapons to do as they pleased, even if it was because of those two abnormal kids that they are still alive.
As soon as she got back home, she is going to take a nice warm bath, get a well deserved rest, and eat as much as she could.
Hell, she might even grow an orchard to make money instead. She heard tangerines sell for a good price…
Flashback End…
"…And that was the day I met my daughters for the first time. Quite the story wouldn't you say?" Bellemere finished as she took a swig from the bottle of wine, only to find that there is no more in the bottle.
"Indeed… that is quite the tale… whoa…" Marguerite breathed out as took in the origins of Nojiko and Nami. For them to have gone through something like that at such a young age… She else could she feel but sympathetic. Feeling that her legs are losing blood circulation due to sitting down with her legs crossed for a long period of time, Marguerite got up and decided to head back to where the party is going on. "I had a fun time Bellemere. You could probably make a living with your life stories." Marguerite joked as she left Bellemere to her own devices.
"Hold it." Marguerite stopped by Bellemere's sudden words. "I just want to relay this to your captain. I know he's a good man with good intentions and all, but just let him know that if he dares hurt my daughters in any way possible… let's just say that no skilled doctor alive would be able to help him after what me and Genzo would do to him." Bellemere threatened.
Marguerite merely rose a brow at her proclamation. She herself knows that she's only saying that to show that she cares for her daughters' wellbeing and all, but she highly doubts Bellemere has anything that is capable of harming Luffy in such a way, unless it involves turning Luffy into a vegan, which would most likely mark the beginning of the end. "I'll give him the message." Marguerite blatantly lied. If she wanted to say that to Luffy then she should say it to his face herself.
she's no messenger after all.
The Next Day…
"It's time to set sail!" Luffy exclaimed happily as he and everyone else in his crew began packing up their supplies. After some… 'convincing', Nami and Nojiko were able to get two dozen tangerine trees planted on the Going Merry, in the same area as in the last timeline. Zoro had been able to convince Yosaku and Johnny to stay on the island for a while until they both got noticeably stronger. The local doctor on the island had also given Nami her trademark tattoo on the shoulder, making Luffy smile as the tattoo reminded him of some good memories.
He then looked towards the Conomi Islands for one last time, seeing the villagers them wave away, cheering mostly for Nami and Nojiko.
"Make your dreams come true!"
"Tell us all about your adventures!"
"Be safe!"
"We better be the first people to see your world map!"
"Don't have children too early!"
The last comment made Nami blush bright red while Nojiko only reddened a little as she laughed the comment off. Luffy went down into the ship and brought out a barrel of high quality liquor.
"Everyone…" Luffy began as he set the barrel on the ground. "This is the beginning of a new beginning for all of us. We have prepared ourselves for this moment… The day when The Straw Hat Pirates make their mark in this world. To show everyone that we are not just any ordinary crew." Luffy then set his foot on the barrel. "To become the Pirate King! And to see everyone else dream come true!" Luffy exclaimed in joy.
Zoro and Kuina went next at the same time, setting their feet across from each other. "To become the World's Strongest Swordsman!" They both proclaimed, smirks aimed at each other.
Nami soon went up. "To draw a map of the whole world!" Nami yelled, placing her foot next to Luffy's.
Nojiko went soon after. "To live my life to its fullest!" She stated as she set her foot adjacent to Nami's.
Usopp then went up. "To be the Archest of Archers! The Snipest of Snipers! I will not only become one of the bravest warriors of the sea, but I will become the Sniper King!" Usopp yelled out as set his foot on the barrel.
Sanji went up soon after. "To find the All Blue!" Sanji stated proudly as he set his foot on the barrel as well.
Kaya went up next after him. "I will become a doctor as skilled as my teacher! A doctor that is capable of saving anyone from anything!" Kaya exclaimed proudly as she set her foot next to Usopp's.
And last, but most certainly not least, Marguerite went up. "I will find out about all of the world's mysteries, and share them to my sister kin at Amazon Lily!" Marguerite said with conviction as she set her foot opposite of Luffy's.
"To us!" Luffy yelled out proudly as he raised his leg up in the air.
"To us!" The rest followed as they too raised their legs in the air.
Soon enough, all legs crashed down onto the barrel breaking off the top cover. "BANZAI!" They all celebrated. Today is the day the Straw Hats are officially beginning their journey. Luffy looked at his entire crew as they all celebrated happily, this is a new beginning not only for him, but for the rest of his crew.
He could only hope that things will go better this time around.
"Hey! What's that?" Zoro pointed out as they all soon turned to where he was pointing at.
Luffy looked at what stood in front of him and smacked himself in the face. 'I just had to hope didn't I?'
Who would've thought their adventure would take such a shift so soon?
What did Luffy and the crew see? Find out in the next chapter!
Thank you all so much for reading this new chapter of The Rubbery Vengeance and make sure to favorite, follow, and review! I have something interesting coming up in the next chapter and I hope you will all enjoy it as much as I have had typing it so far.
Next time on The Rubbery Vengeance: The Fallen Madbound Kingdom
Forzarismo
January 19, 2017
