Blood ties like Iron chains chapter 16
Enter Coyle - Exit Runny Rum
updated 17-10-2018
(In the museum)
Nami couldn't believe what she was seeing,
Perhaps it was the most gaudy and ostentatious thing in the entire museum, and possibly what she'd ever seen.
A, at least two and a half metre tall, solid gold statue, bedecked with all manner of precious stones and even gold and silver inlaid silks in a dozen different striking colours, depicting the late smuggler Coyle the Fruit Merchant, dressed like aking (complete with a small ruby encrusted crown), standing with a raised cutlass (studded with rubies of different sizes, no doubt signifying blood) as if he was going to charge at someone, mouth open in a mad grin, tongue lopping out like a dog.
The first impression of the thing, the bad taste, almost overrode her usual instinct of trying to figure out how much it was worth, and how to steal it.
Fortunately, Luffy and Sanji, if he let go of Viola, could carry it on their way out. If not, Nami was sure her greed would give the necessary strength to haul it herself, or at least the gemstones (those that had been used for his eyes certainly wouldn't be missed, nice big black pearls!).
"We're not leaving without that thing!" she said with a determined tone, not surprising her comrades in the least.
"So that's that Coyle guy huh?" Luffy said as he scratched the back of his head, looking at the statue like a huge sign, oblivious to Nami eyeing the thing for completely different reasons "But who's that other guy?"
Nami reluctantly turned her head away from the huge pile of money on display and looked next to it.
A more modest statue stood facing Coyle's, one with stern features, a noble face and the tell-tale uniform marked the man out as vice admiral. Contrary to Coyle's stance, ready to pounce, a bit like Luffy on an adventure (or at an all-you-can-eat-buffet), this one stood dignified and static. That it was made of stone only served to emphasise the contrast to the other statue.
"Vice admiral Hoodie, defender of the seas, Bane of Coyle, died vanquishing this great evil of the Grand Line, promoted post-mortem in recognition to his deeds…" Sanji read out loud, still shouldering Viola at his side (to the evident joy of both people) "Remembered fondly for his love of the marines and nicknames"
"Kinda, looks a bit out of place that last bit…" he mused "But that's not what we're here for, let's go over that journal this lucky bastard…" he turned to the golden statue with a frown "…left behind!"
Nami shook her head, it wasn't hard to figure out what Sanji was jealous of, anyone that could make one, let alone two kuja fall for them and then have two beautiful daughters from that union, was bound to be envied extensively and the perverts of the crew would be the first in that long line.
Looking at the statue again, Nami put her avarice on hold (it took an immense amount of willpower though) and went to look at one of the glass cabinets, some holding old pieces of loot (like a full suit of captains clothing, weaponry or knick knacks that Nami could only guess the use for) but most containing several pages in different states, some were wrinkled or burnt, while others had the ink spoiled and spilled all over the paper. The plaques that stood next to them, both explained and criticised the journal (and in particular the writer).
The cruelty of Coyle: bombing an orphanage in Vierno, home of our beloved Vice admiral Gion, to get the attention of the City's defenders, demanding them to hand over their devil fruits.
Others went further
Madness of Coyle: claimed that there existed Sky Islands! The depiction to the left is claimed to be from one called Cielo, a moving Sky Island! Nami gave that one a long stare. She knew Sky islands were real, and the drawing only proved that, depicting several birds only found there and a piece of architecture, notes on the side spoke of Baloon Terminal and Skypiea, the latter a place Nami had visited personally. Next to it stood a cracked dial, nailing it home that the smuggler wasn't entirely insane.
Giving the page itself a look, Nami could see several lines that sounded almost pleading: the Radiant One must be pleased with this! Or: Must obey the Radiant One's wishes! And a third one: This will surely be a decent offering to the Radiant one! Must have been his god or something… Nami thought before she moved on to another cabinet.
Map of the Knock Up streams of the Grand Line, this foul villain allegedly had it in his hands for years, but this remains unproven!
That one Nami wouldn't have minded getting her hands on (any navigator worth their salt would want to know where a Knock Up Stream would occur, especially in the New World). Other maps the man had had in his possession, were the following: map of Cielo's course, map of the Redlines fracture lines, map of the undersea black water currents, map of the coast of Wano with all its most treasonous reefs… Nami looked at the last one again.
We can use that! she thought reading the little note at the side: was taken into the custody of Vice admiral Hoodies' family.
So I've gotta find them and steal it! It'll work wonders for us against Kaido!
"Oooooh Look at this!"
Turning to Luffy Nami could see him drooling over a page, very well preserved, the plaque reading: Favorite dishes of Coyle, Island Whale cheese, aged… more Nami didn't bother to read, wanting to hit her captain over the head for thinking with his gut, though she'd admit that she hadn't been much better, when she'd seen the statue.
"See here, it talks about Amazon Lily!" Sanji stood in front of another cabinet, Viola resting on a chair beside it "…came across the Kuja Tribe, aside from their Haki knowledge, they are not much worth as a whole, the Devil Fruit they had not being worth the trip either" the chef read out loud, giving the paper a stern glare "…. Have to ask the Radiant one for forgiveness for my sins there…." Sanji stood stock still for a moment processing what he'd just read "He didn't mention the Kuja-chans at all! What the hell?" leaving the chef to fume Nami went for another cabinet, one with pages that had been completely restored.
It was a list of devil fruits, some of which Coyle had smuggled and traded off at one point of another.
Now Nami could understand a shipping list, but the sheer notes and how intricate they were about the fruits were mindblowing. Descriptions of appearance, type and abilities, Zoan, Paramecia and even several Logia fruits, filled page after page. If knowledge was money, Nami could steal this and live a life a Tenryubito would be envious of for 400 years! (10 if she also paid for her crews' shenanigans).
What confused her about it was that Coyle had labelled them differently from what would normally be the case. Some Logia were marked off with an N, a D, an M or an E, without further explanation…
"I think it stands for not eaten yet, dinner and munched!"
Having Luffy creep up next to her and run his mouth off at random wasn't new to her, but when she was trying to study it was unnerving "Could you be quiet? This is really interesting!"
"Uh huh, hey here's my fruit!" The captain happily exclaimed, pointing at line on a page. It simply read: Paramecia, turns the eater into a rubber-man, only useful if trained for several years, though considering the insulating properties of rubber against electricity, would counter the Goro Goro no Mi, which makes that Logia worthless against one person on the seas, the Goro Goro no Mi (labelled N/"E") is therefore not a worthwhile offering to the Radiant One and will be sold off later.
Nami stared at the lines for several moments.
That freaking guy predicted Luffy beating Enel over 20 years ago! And he considered the Goro Goro no MI worthless because of that? and he freaking had it!
"I'm starting to see how some might think Coyle was crazy now…." She said with a twitchy eyebrow.
Another line stuck out, a large plaque showing a picture of the resident Vice admiral, smiling and waving (and Sanji naturally drooling at it, his face put straight up against the glass), the page next to it reading: Hasu-Hasu no MI (lotus-lotus fruit), Logia, labelled M, after which followed a short list of abilities (turning into beautiful lotus petals, which didn't seem like much of an ability as far as Nami had seen from other Logia fruits), ending with a: would not please the Radiant One as an offering, must continue my search.
The plaque spoke of how it was the fruit of the archipelagos' dear and beautiful vice admiral. It also noted how odd it was to be labelled "M", which was a privilege few of the fruits listed in the notes shared. One of the others were a fabled Ijou-Ijou no Mi (disorder-disorder fruit (authors note: basically it's the Chaos-Chaos fruit)) a logia that enabled the user to bend matter of all sorts and manipulate the very fabric of the world! Nami'd never heard of that one, but it sounded impossible.
"Keep looking, there's got to be something about his family somewhere!" Nami said tearing her eyes away from the plaque.
Ignoring Luffy as he gushed over another fruit entry, the Niku-niku no mi (meat meat fruit) and it's ability to turn anything into edible meat, The group pressed on.
"I think I've found something…" Viola added, having found a new chair at the wall. Rushing to see what it was, Nami briefly had to wrestle with Luffy to be able to read what the plaque and page said: the plaque: only mention of Coyles' family, his wickedness extending to his own siblings!
The pages was even more blunt than the smugglers' other notes: ….my brothers are too stupid, incompetent, loud and far too coarse to be allowed to stand in the Radiant Ones presence, my sister might be worthy, but her abilities would prove fatal and would warrant her to be removed if need be….
"It doesn't say anymore does it?" Luffy piped in, and Nami swallowed hard seeing most of their hopes running down the drain, with Viola voicing her concerns "So what do we do now?"
"We-we'll return to the ship, Chopper'll find a cure, no doubt! Those poor kuja-chans…" Sanji half sobbed, with Viola adding "All that work getting here for nothing…"
"We're going to find a way to save them!" Luffy said with a serious tone and arms crossed "We'll return to Sunny and then we'll start searching, there can't be that many gold skinned people on the seas!"
"Two things Luffy…" Nami said, struggling between keeping a straight face and the urge to smack him over the head "One, I don't think Coyle had gold skin, it's just a statue, and two: we still got an ace up our sleeve"
The stream of questions that followed could be summarized with a humongous why?
Putting out her chest and straightening up, Nami smiled confidently "This is part of the surprise I mentioned earlier Luffy"
"It is? Great! I can't wait to see it!"
Scoffing at the two, Viola shook her head "I don't see how we have time for this!" before Nami could stop her, the Dressrosan princess had seen into the navigators head and found the answer, turning to Sanji with a smile "The museum director has a devil-fruit that allows him to call back echoes of people, we can use that to call Coyle and make him tell us what we're after!"
Nami folded her arms across her chest and gave Viola an angry glare "I really hope that one ady someone messes with your head like that! revealing something you don't others to know!"
While Viola took a step back, ginvgin Nami a frightened and suspicious look, Sanji merely hugged her tighter.
"Nami-chama, please don't be angry at Violet, she's only doing it to help!" Sanji tried, putting himself between the two women, part of him fantasizing about it, the rest hoping that Nami wouldn't strike him "What's wrong with that?"
Nami stared angrily at Viola, not even noting Sanji's plea, it took Luffy's hand on her shoulder to make her calm down "What's wrong is that she just looks into my head without asking! Just going into someone's mind is extremely intrusive! And it's not even the first time either and you know it!"
"You wanting to preserve the surprise wasn't helping us at all!" Viola responded with a scoff
"But having him turn up and reveal it himself would've been way cooler!" Luffy whined, his disappointment all too clear "Nami's done nothing wrong."
"Except waiting to tell us to save money on that service"
"We don't have that much cash and it costs 100.000 beli each time someone's echo is called"
"Won't the guy just help us when he hears what we want?"
"I'm not sure he'll be that humanitarian Luffy"
"Nami-schama can surely haggle the price down right?"
"I hope so, with things like that around…" nodding towards the statue "… I don't think they're in need of money"
Nami felt the urge to drop the meaningless argument in favour of prying gemstones off the statue, but pushed it aside, trying to focus on the matter at hand.
"So where do we find that guy?"
"Why do you think Robin left us as soon as we entered the museum?"
"I thought she had to poop or was hungry or… something" the captain merely responded with a shrug, much to Nami's consternation.
"Well, we'll just have to wait until Robin gets here with the guy"
Waiting for the archaeologist meant that they had extra time to go over some of Coyles' notes, though Nami could have been without listening to Sanji's wailing at discovering those concerning Kamabaka Kingdom especially the part about: fun place, great food, friendly locals. The rest of the cartel didn't seem to like it though… especially about that guy who kept calling everyone -boy. My punishment for my sins by the Radiant One. Brought a chef back with me to cook too and left the old one behind, but the new one died in a mysterious stabbing incident, or at least that's what the cartel wanted me to believe.
We starved a lot afterwards.
Nami merely shook her head and continue to read some more, hoping that Robin would hurry and fetch the guy they needed.
And that she could negotiate the prize to something manageable.
(On the seas)
"What do you want rebel?" Judge called out from the deck of his flag-ship (his main seagoing-snail), looking angrily at the other vessel, normal, but pulled by a large whale, meaning that it could keep up with the germa's vessel and avoid any projectiles if necessary (which had been the initial greeting).
"Why VI'm here to talk to you, my dear king-colleague-boys!" Ivankov responded with a smile and an exuberant pose.
"Dragon-san have a lot to talk to you about Nfufufufu!" the large headed man snickered, much to the assembled kings' anger and worry
"don't test my patience villain" Judge called out, anger boiling in his gut "You're not royalty merely by putting on a crown!"
"But VI'm queen of Kamabaka kingdom! And VI'm representing the leader of the revolution: Monkey D. Dragon! I brought a Den den mushi so he could talk to you in person! heehaw"
His announcement lost some of its' bluster however,
When Ivankov realised he'd misplaced his den den mushi…
(in the museum)
"Nami"
At the sound of her name, the navigator turned away from the cabinet page she'd been reading titled: the different variations of Haki: as there is different people, so is there different ways to use the the haki types available. A single style can be moulded a hundred ways if the user is willingly to train and make it part of who they a…
The page hadn't been restored yet, so most of it had been unreadable, but still provided some recreation while they waited.
But now she was eyeing Luffy, who was starring absentmindedly at some old gun on display, allegedly used by Coyle to dispatch any smuggling rivals.
"What is it Luffy?"
"Why was the echo guy the surprise?"
Nami bit her lip at this, she knew he'd question it at some point.
"Well… I figured… with the museum here, and that whole thing with Ace… I thought that it'd be good for you, for everyone that have lost someone, it'd be good to talk to them again… see their face…"
"Thanks…" he managed after a while, wiping his face with the back of his hand, removing any tears that might be present on his boyish face "Don't you want to use it for your mom too?"
Nami looked down and smiled bittersweetly that would be really nice…. But she wouldn't like to see me as a pirate… "that would be wonderful…" Nami managed, just as Robin emerged from the entrance, a struggling man in tow.
Nami eyed him curiously, noting his looks: short and portly, dressed in a blue suit (complete with a strangling butterfly) and a stack of Newspapers under his arm.
He didn't look happy in the least (being dragged off out of the blue could do that to anyones moods)
"What is it? Pirate?!" from his voice I felt like he had somehow been addressed by a pile manure, not that they weren't used to it, but still.
"Enough of that!" Sanji cut in, dragging the protesting man towards the golden statue, pointing at it "we need you too call this guy back! We've got questions for him!"
"Alto of people got questions for him… no doubt people as vile as him, you pirate beast!" the man sneered at Sanji, before eyeing Luffy and Nami "The Strawhat crew, vile spawn of Dragon and ruffians most tumultuous! And look at the way their women dresses!"
"There's nothing wrong with the way they dress! They're so beautiful they don't need clo…" Sanji ranted at the man, before Nami stopped him with a hand "Please, it's important that we talk to the fruit merchant, it's a matter of life and death!"
But the man stubbornly held his ground "I would never aid a pirate! You are by far the worst sort of Villany in the…. HEEEYYYOOOOO!" the man shouted out as his eyes fell upon Viola in her chair. Nami followed his gaze, noting that he, despite his Sanji-esque voice, wasn't giving Viola elevator eyes, focussing solely on her face.
Two things: this might mean I don't need to spend a Beli, and he's not a pervert, atleast… Nmi thought, as the diminutive director kept on rambling
"Why you vile people were the ones that abducted the dear beautiful Princess! Viola-chan-sama, I, Museum director Hercule Valorius Falco, am at your service!"
(In the tavern)
"That is indeed very useful information, thank you Whitey-san" Jinbe said, his mind a whirlpool of emotions,
so many…
"Don't sweat it Jinbe-sama…" Whitey responded with a shrug "But know this, if they attack you, I might not come to your aid…."
"Because they were your comrades once, under Whitebeard… I understand the dilemma" Jinbe could only picture Arlong in front of him at the moment "When your own fail your expectations, just to pursue their own selfish agendas…"
"Glad we can agree on that" The bluenette raised her glass in a bittersweet toast "but, about that alliance…"
(in the museum)
"I have read all of the articles about you Viola-chan-sama, and of all those horrors you must have gone through under that vile Doflamingo!" the museum director blurted out, tears running freely from his eyes, yet Sanji couldn't determine whether it was from empathy or because he was in the presence of his idol.
The man simply kept blurting out nonsense about how sorry he was that she was now a prisoner of the horrible Strawhat crew (Sanji had a faint notion of striking him, but that wouldn't help them in the least) and that he had all the newspaper articles (which he promptly laid out before her on the floor) little red circles around her picture and the accompanying articles (Sanji noted that the director indeed had all the articles, he also noted that he had to take the pictures of her for himself later), that her radiance could overshadow that of the archipelago's very own vice admiral Gion-chan-sama (Though Sanji wasn't one to dispute it, he couldn't really agree either, both women were exceptionally beautiful to him) and finally, that he was so soooo sorry to hear about her illness (not knowing it was terminal if not treated right) and then naturally blaming the Strawhats (which the little Hercule Valorious Falco wasn't entirely wrong).
"That's all very good director…" Viola managed through the stream of words, compliments to her elegance and curses towards Doflamingo, finally managing to make the blushing director fall silent "…But I was hoping you could help us with contacting the Fruit Merchant"
The director simply stared at her, his mouth trembling "But WHY, would you, or dear and sweet princess, want to contact that vicious brute? Every time Gion-chan-sama have tried we have failed to get a single word out of him…"
"He might know something they'll need" Viola gestured to the pirates "And I think they can get him to talk quite easily"
Looking at the Strawhats the director shrugged "Criminals talk the same tongue I suppose, I'll call his echo up immediately…." Before he hurriedly added, with a smile that rivalled Sanji's at the thought of any beautiful woman "for you, oh princess, Free of charge of course!"
Leaning back, Sanji smiled as he saw Nami's very relieved face.
See Nami-schwan, Violet can be very helpful:D
(In the port)
"Are you certain, you saw them walk around here?"
"Sure as rain captain, The Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro, of the Strawhats and the Worst Generation, is in that tavern, and we think the one called God is with him too"
"… Why is he called God?"
"Well, we think it has something to do with him rambling like a madman about some swim the other took…"
"…That doesn't make any sense you idiot"
"Sorry captain"
"Anyway…" the captain sighed, before his voice turned hard as steel "Signal Brownie, I want him to be ready, and then make ready to attack, the more we cripple the Strawhats now, the less trouble they'll when we assault their ship later!"
(In the museum)
Nami watched in fascination ass the director stretched out his arms and did a number of movements in the air, his hands forming a dozen strange symbols and gestures, while he mumbled away
"Could you please Hurry up? We're on a tight schedule" Viola called out behind him, a hand raised to her face, indicating she had used her devilfruit ability.
"But…. This is an important part of the theatrics, the showmanship…" the director pleaded, hoping he could continue, but at last he conceded "Very well…" then he shouted "Eko Eko: PHANTASM!"
A whirl of mists picked up, and a hundred sounds ffilled the room, words, pieces of conversation, squawking of birds and the sound of the seas, the clink of coins and a hundred other noises. Nami watched it with fascination, the rest of their party too.
All the sounds whirled together, before they became visible, a mass of colours that sped around like a dozen interlocking rainbows and took physical form, and from the thin air emerged a male figure….
and Nami was instantly disappointed.
Coyle the Fruit Merchant looked like any other person. Dark haired and plain faced, his only distinguishing feature was his lack of (or at least very thin) eyebrows. His clothing consisted of a simple Hawaii shirt and baggy brown pants and black shoes, topped off by a red bandanna tied loosely around his head, a few strands of medium length black hair falling over his face. He look like a tourist after a night in town.
After seeing his statue, Nami had expected some sort of rich (extremely rich!) pirate harlequin, like Doflamingo or Mr. 2, only gaudier and somewhat belligerent.
But before her stood a man that could walk into any marine base with his wanted poster on a sign next to him, and still not be recognised.
"Here he is…" the director announced, a drip of disgust in his voice "Coyle the Fruit Merchant."
The man simply looked at the group before him with dark and attentive eyes, yet never looking at any one for too long.
"ahem.." Sanji began "Mister Coyle, we're here to…"
The smuggler openly ignored him, looking around the room with all his notes and some of his wares with only a vague sliver of interest.
Then the phantasm simply clapped his hands together and closed his eyes.
"Uhh" Sanji paused, not sure of what to do
"Don't bother" the director said with a tired voice "He always does that, ignores everything, only prays, and then…" he paused, pointing at Coyle, whom suddenly cracked a small content smile, folded his arms across his chest and looked like nothing that could be said would ever affect him in the least. "As if any god would ever forgive his criminal activities… or listen to his pleas!"
"Well, he's going to listen to us…" Nami said with a stern voice and her hands in her sides "Because we have his daughters!"
To Nami's satisfaction, the phantasm immediately looked at her, the look in his eyes displaying fear and confusion, but also his complete and utter attention.
"Glad to see you're listening" Nami smiled sincerely "I'll make it shor…"
"This beast have offspring!" the director cut her off, his face a mask of fear, pointing a trembling finger at Coyles' echo.
"YES! Two of the most adorable beautiful women on the seas!" Sanji piped in with happiness plastered all over his face, before turning to the echo "Please tell me how you met their mothers?"
While Coyle looked at Sanji with a face that radiated puzzled disgust, Nami raised her voice "That's not what we're here for Sanji!" then she turned to the smuggler
"Coyle-san, I'm sorry to tell you, but your daughters are very ill…" she pleaded with the smuggler, who still stood unresponsive to their words "The only way to save them is if the get a blood transfusion from close rela…"
"Shut it."
The words caught her by surprise, and the rest of the room as well.
Coyle could suddenly speak, his voice blunt and strangely harsh despite its youthfulness and odd highpitch. Nami eyed him suspiciously.
"Uhhh"
Coyle merely scoffed "You want me to rat on my family, but I'm not selling them out for two people I've never met" raising his head at the group he continued "I applaud your little detective work, figuring out I had kids. But that's not something you can just say and expect me to comply out of the blue!"
Nami blinked, she hadn't expected this.
"But they're your daughters!" Sanji yelled at the phantasm, his anger plain to see, but Coyle didn't care in the least "You can't prove they're mine, and why should I care for some strangers?"
Sanji looked like he was about to snap, but a hand from Luffy stopped him, by slamming into Coyles' face like a hammer!
"That won't work" the director simply said "Attacks just pass straight through my echoes" and as soon as Luffy's hand whipped back, Coyles' face reverted to its normal shape as if it was mist he'd struck, now with a confident smirk "Not much you can do to convince me otherwise bud, Guhahahaha!"
As Luffy fumed, the echo kept laughing
"Old lady Nyon said they were yours! She told us!"
"I have no idea who that is"
"She's this really old Kuja" Luffy held out a hand to show her height "always ends her sentences with a -nyon…"
"I don't care about her either" again one of Luffy's fist flew out, slamming into Coyles face, sending him backwards.
"Wha?!" the director shouted out, confused at what was happening. When Luffy's hand returned, Nami noted that it was black with haki.
"So Haki can touch you, we can beat it out of you!" he said with a smile "We win, you tell us everything"
Coyle stood back up and wiped his bruised face, starring at Luffy with cold fury in his eyes
"And I don't' think it'll take that long!" Sanji gloated making ready to join his captain in combat.
Then the smuggler flashed a smile at both pirates while he pointed at them with his right hand.
A heartbeat later, Nami watched in shock as Sanji and Luffy barely avoided the thin rays of darkness that exploded from Coyles' fingertips, ramming into the opposing walls, shattering the bricks.
"It'll take as long as I want it to." The smuggler responded smugly, as he made ready to fire again
"Trust that."
(in a tavern)
Usopp hid under a table.
Why is this always happening to me?
As another barstool (and occupant) slammed into a wall, the sniper dared to peek up.
Zoro was in his zone, slashing left and right at the onrushing attackers. Usopp didn't know why they had ambushed them, but the group had made a lethal mistake of missing Zoro with their first shot, the bullet passing an inch short of his head and instead shattering the bottle in his hand.
Granted Zoro had already emptied 5 bottles but interrupting his sixth (by shooting it no less) was something even Sanji wouldn't do.
Grasping his slingshot Usopp aimed at a huge man with….what looked like a small lion on his shoulders
I sure hope this works! He thought frantically as he unleashed his projectile.
"Eat this!"
(in the museum)
"What the?!" Nami stuttered, her ind racing to comprehend what she had just seen
"It's Coyles' ability!" the director howled "it's his special…"
"He's using armament Haki to shoot at us!" Nami yelled out, ducking under a black ray of death.
"Smart girl aren't you?" Coyle grinned and fired again, missing Nami by mere milometers
"And beautiful!" Sanji piped in, as he too avoided a dark bolt
"hmpf, not on my list of beauties, but I ain't judging" the smuggler shrugged, infuriating Sanji to no end "Why you?"
"This won't solve anything!" Nami yelled "Coyle-san! We need to know where your family is if we're to save your daughters!"
"And why the heck would you want to do that?"
"Rindo and Marguerite are our friends!" Luffy raged as one of his fists flashed towards Coyles body. He managed to twist just in time for the punch to graze his chest, much to the smugglers' anger.
A moment later, Nami felt a searing pain in her head, crying out in pain she was forced to her knees, making both Luffy and Sanji look back at her in fear
"NAMI-CHAMA!"
"NAMI!"
A moment later, a black bolt was close to hitting both captain and chef square in the chest.
"What are you doing to her?" Sanji raged, blocking a haki blast and sending it thought the roof.
"Just a little Conquerors haki, won't kill her… but this will!" Coyle said with a smile, pointing a black finger menacingly at the navigator.
Both Luffy and Sanji immediately ran to Nami to shield her, only to discover it was a ruse, Coyle instead sent a haki shot straight for the director.
Fortunately for him Robin grasped him and pulled the man to the side, narrowly avoiding the dark ray as it hit and effortlessly shattered the floor.
A prolonged battle wouldn't have solved anything, and Coyle knows that, he's trying to take out the one person that can call his echo back! Nami concluded with a sneer, the burning sensation in her head receding as Coyle lost focus.
"Oh enough of this!" Viola said in a tired and angry voice "You won't tell! You don't have to!" Nami knew instantly what she was about to do, and right as rain, the dressrosan princess activated her abilities and looked directly into Coyle's mind, baring his very soul and all its secrets.
The smuggler looked at her in slight confusion, and the others in the room followed suit after witnessing Viola gasp, grow pale and tears starting to form in her eyes
"T-tha-that's the Radiant One?!" she finally managed through small sobs, with a pair of twin waterfalls starting to stream down her cheeks "That's what drives you?!"
(In the market square)
As he walked down the street, Jinbe mulled over what Whitey had told him.
To think, that my own brothers in arms would abandon old ties to save their own hides… I thought they had more honour than this! But why?
The massive fishmans' confusion was temporarily postponed as he heard a loud crash to his right.
Turning his head, Jinbe only just managed to see a part of a building collapse, specifically, it slid off a cut that had been made across one side.
Zoro…
Groaning, Jinbe ran towards the building, hoping that he wasn't right, and the swordsman was in some other tavern.
A loud howl told him otherwise:
"Why won't you go down? I've got 10.000 men outside to back me up!"
"Cool! Bring 'em!" someone shouted back enthusiastically.
Despite not having been with the crew for long, Jinbe had already become used to Usopps' shrill screams, outlandish lies and whimpering protests, so redoubling his efforts, the fishman sped towards the partially destroyed building.
(in the museum)
"Violet?" Sanji gasped as the princess continued to cry, starring at Coyle through her trembling fingers.
Nami was confused too, and the smuggler, likewise, looked at Viola with a nervous expression, eyeing her with some advancing sense of panic and suspicion setting in.
"What are you thinking about?" the chef called out, charging at the smuggler with a kick, only to realise that he'd forgotten to use Haki as he passed harmlessly through the echo and crashed into some cabinets behind him.
"Hey! Be careful with that! it isn't easy grasping half of what that insane lunatic had written down" the director angrily shouted, before towards and try to comfort Viola, even patting her hand "There there, it's all in his head, nothing is going to get out and harm us/you Viola-chan-sama"
"What the…" the smuggler began, before Luffy cut him off "What did you see? Was it food?"
Viola ignored him, trying to hide her teary face in her hands, occasionally slipping a look at the Smuggler.
"That's the Radiant One…." Was all she could muster.
Both Sanji and the director were beside themselves with worry, each trying to push the other away so that they could comfort her "it can't be anything but some monstrous evil deity!" the director went, pointing an accusing finger at Coyle, who looked offended at the man as he crossed his arms
"Got an funny idea about punishment for sins, sure, but insult the Radiant One again and I'll make your death slow!" while the title had been said with something bordering affection, the threat had an edge of cruelty to it that made any doubt evaporate. It sure got the Director to shake, afraid to take his eyes off the smuggler before him.
When Viola spoke however, he reluctantly did, with shock in his eyes at the words.
"That's…. so Beautiful!"
While the rest of the group looked at her with shock, Coyle sneered "Devil fruit…. The Giro Giro no mi (glare glare fruit) if I'm not wrong…"
Viola nodded in response "You're right, I ate it years ago,,, and it's served me very well, shown me all sorts of things…" the princess responded, while wiping her eyes
Nami cringed a little at her words, but if they could simply see the answers in Coyles' head and save their friends, then perhaps ignoring the obvious ethical problems were worth it.
"You're bluffing…" Coyle responded, trying to remain calm "Simple deduction… from my notes…"
"You want proof?" Viola smiled, happy that she had found Coyles Achilles heel "Your little prayer stunt before. That was you using observers haki to locate the Radiant one…." she emphasized on that title, briefly pausing before continuing "And if you donøt want the world to know the truth about you…" she paused, letting the words sink in.
Looking at the smuggler squirm under her gaze, Nami was almost sorry for him, seeing the realisation dawn on him, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.
"…What…" he started off simply, gritting his teeth as he looked at his feet, his fists shaking "Is it… you want… witch?"
While Sanji scolded him for his language and Viola remarked on his similarity to Rindo, Nami felt a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm going to make sure this little battle hasn't called any unwanted attention"
"See you in a moment Robin" turning back to the smuggler, Nami saw that he had begun to pace the floor whirling up pieces of newspaper as he went, glaring at the ground, his face contorting rapidly.
Like a trapped animal
"Viola said you used haki before, could you use that to find any relatives of yours? Your journal mentioned siblings…"
"…I… could…" Coyle responded, still pacing and looking at his feet, his attention seemingly divided between his boots and the people in the room.
"Then please do it. We won't harm your family, we promise"
"I don't think this'll work Navigator-san" Viola responded "He's not entirely willing to share anything, even his journal is full of falsehoods"
While Nami wondered how much truly was false of Coyles' writings, the director was gloating "I knew it was filled with lies!" (but no one really paid him any attention, which he failed to capitalize on) "All that stuff of different types of Logia"
"Oh, my D-E-M-N ranking is real enough" Coyle responded, a little confidence returning, but he kept a downcast head "You just don't know what it's about, because you're too stupid to think is all… it's pretty straightforward really…"
Viola patted the furious director on the head, calming him down (a little) "how about we crack some more of Coyle-kuns' secrets?"
"Certain secrets aren't meant to be shared! He'll just rat to those damn marines as soon as he knows!" the smuggler protested furiously, pointing at the director, who hid behind a cabinet, afraid that another blast was coming.
"He might have a point there, Violet" Sanji chimed in, before he smiled "But we can also use it!"
Nami didn't know why Sanji kept calling Viola that, when it was clear she wasn't a fan of the nickname, and strangely it didn't appear she was the only one who noticed.
"Violet…" Coyle tried the word slowly, earning him more of Sanjis' ire "That is a very interesting name…"
"What's so interesting about it? It's just a nickname" Luffy asked, looking confused at the smugglers' smile.
Something isn't right…
"something about… your homeland, I suspect" the smuggler continued, his tone musing.
"What are you on about?" as soon as Viola had finished her sentence, she looked into Coyles' mind again.
Nami could see the regret settling into the very core of the Dressrosan princess' being in less than a second. Disease and several days at sea had taken a toll on the older woman, and she had no doubt seen her fair share of horrors under Doflamingos' rule of her homeland, but whatever it was she saw in Coyle's mind made it all pale in comparison, Viola certainly did, her arm falling limply to her side, a shocked and scared expression dominating her fine features, her eyes once again on the verge of tears.
"How did you…" her voice trembled and sweat forming on her forehead.
When Nami asked what she'd seen, Viola ignored her, instead looking at the smugglers' feet, or rather what was on the floor.
"N-ne-newspapers…. T-the articles…" Viola managed to stammer, her voice close to cracking, as she looked at Coyle with dread and shock in her eyes.
"I might not be able see into peoples' minds, but reading between the lines is easy enough…" he smiled confidently at her.
Silence immediately fell over the group, as most of the crew and the director looked back and forth from smuggler to princess in confusion.
The only sound in the room,
was Coyles' slow, condescending laughter
"Guhahaha!"
(In the tavern)
As soon as Jinbe came through the door, he stopped in his tracks.
Not because the sight of the destruction caused him any alarm, after having seen Luffy eat, looking at a bunch of broken tables, cutlery and plates wasn't that bad, but because a sword slashing down on the ground in front of you was a good reason to stop in you tracks.
Jinbe looked angrily at Zoro, but the swordsman kept his focus on the other man in front of him.
Locating Usopp behind a table, Jinbe left zoro to his battle "What the hell is going on here?"
"Don't know! They just jumped us out of the blue!" the sniper responded with panic in his eyes, then he yelled over his shoulder "Those 10.000 men are all giants by the way! You better stop before I call them!"
"We've gotta stop this…" Jinbe mused, ducking under a bullet aimed for his head
"Yeah! We got to get the hell out of here and away!"
"No, we have to defeat them! Make sure they don't report finding us to someone else!"
Ignoring Usopp,
as the man would no doubt protest his plan,
Jinbe dived into the fray, fists first.
(in the museum)
"What did you do?" Sanji demanded "Why is Violet like this?"
"I simply deduced something about your little princess friend, one of her secrets, which…" Coyle shrugged "…I really don't think she wants anyone to know about!"
If Viola hadn't stopped him, Sanji would've mauled the echo of Coyle then and there.
"Don't-please-don't…" she pleaded, her eyes never leaving the smuggler. To Nami, it appeared as if the princess was afraid of what he'd do if she even blinked.
"You talk about my secrets and I'll squeal about yours, got that?" the Fruit Merchant retorted bluntly, his eyes hard and unblinking as his gaze bored into Violas' eyes, making her shiver even more.
"You bastard" Sanji said slowly "how dare you blackmail her?"
The smugglers only scoffed in response "Get off your high horse bud, she was blackmailing me a second ago, I just evened the odds"
Nami looked concerned at Viola, her feelings torn between empathy at the princess' distress and the tiniest bit of schadenfreude from seeing Violas' misuse of her abilities finally coming back to bite her in the end.
But that's not important right now!
"Coyle-san, please, we just want to help our friends, who just so happen to be your kids"
Coyle wasn't swayed much "I really don't see any reason to aid you, after all you could just be telling me a gigantic lie"
"We're not lying…" Viola managed, still afraid of what Coyle might say "I can sho…"
"Why would I take a dive into you head, from what I can see it's disturbing as hell enough already"
Again Viola shut up with a shiver, the tears returning to her eyes. Sanji immediately went to comfort her, offering to beat up the man, while the princess pleaded with them not to cause Coyle to squeal.
Nami looked at the smuggler with equal parts anger and sadness, bastard! why won't he help us?
"If you're concerned about your family's safety, there is nothing to worry about, scoundrel" the director cut in "If they have done nothing wrong, the marines will not do anything to them at all"
Coyle only scoffed "You really don't know either the marines or the World Government, do you?" with anger flashing in his eyes the smuggler elaborated "All they care about is blood: If their enemies have a grandson, they're gonna kill that kid in the crib. They've done it to the D clan for years…"
Before Nami could open her mouth, Luffy looked at her seriously
"Why don't we just tap his blood? He's right there…" he pointed at Coyles' surprised phantom.
After a moment of silence the director responded, almost apologetically "It doesn't work that way… my abilities can only call back a persons will, personality and memories, not their physical presence"
"Luffy… please leave the questions to me…" Nami sighed, knowing full well he'd ignore it soon enough
"That's Monkey D Luffy?" Coyle asked with a surprised tone "You're related to Garp the hero?"
"Yeah gramps, what of it?"
"Don't look like him that much, perhaps back during Locks…"
"Don't waste time on his bum of a grandfather!" Sanji cutting in, grabbing Coyle by the collar (with Haki hands) "Better you tell us what we want to know so we can save your daughters…" before he added, more sheepishly "Also how did you even met their mothers…?"
"Also, where' the Niku Niku no mi?" Luffy added in, tongue lopping out his mouth like a dog.
"One at a time!" the smuggler protested "Crazy hags caught my ship off their island and it was either do what they wanted or they'd kill the lot of us… I was lucky to a devil fruit out of that damn catastrophe…"
While Sanji looked at the man with his jaw nearly hitting the floor, the smuggler addressed Luffy "If I ever had that fruit, I'd have made my chef eat it and lived off the best meat on the seas for years!"
"Could the three of you focus for a second?!" Nami howled, only to be ignored by her captain, again…
"Hey, if you're a ghost, do you poop?"
"…I… don't know" the smuggler struggled, for the first time not being completely certain of anything, his feet dangling in the air "Don't know if I can even eat! You'd have to get me food and a toilet… have your guy here do something useful and get some grub, because he's crap at intimidating people" he nodded at Sanji.
"What was that?"
"Buddy, I faced the Radiant One after failing…" the look he gave Sanji made the chef pause and shiver "…You have no idea what scary is!"
"Sure, lunch would be nice now" Luffy mused "Hey Nami don't you have a tangerine or something?" at this, the last shreds of Namis' patience evaporated.
"I'm warning you…" she breathed slowly "Focus… on Rindo and Marguerite…. Or else…"
"I'm trying to Nami-chama" Sanji wailed "But he acts like he didn't want to meet their mother-chans at all!"
"I didn't! That meeting was a horrible disaster from start to finish!"
"Aw they're not that bad, except when they stuck me in a cage and took my hat!" At Luffys' comment Nami snapped, order had to be restored, and thankfully, she knew just how to do that:
Sorry about this Luffy… Nami briefly thought as she took in a breath, and whispered:
"Gushishishi"
The effect was instantaneous, Luffy scrambling through a cabinet with a crash and hugging the wall for dear life, ignoring the thousands of little glass shards and smothered pages the flew everywhere.
"THE WORLD IS ENDING! EAT THE MEAT BEFORE IT'S TOO LAAAATE!" the rubberman howled in despair.
I guess I could have timed that better… the navigator mused, at which point she noticed the shocked stares the director and Coyle were both sending her
"It's a magic spell!" Nami quickly lied, If they just buy that…
"Coyle, if we don't get an answer right now, I'm casting the spell on you!"
Looking at the smuggler, Nami wasn't surprised to see that he was giving Luffy a particularly searching stare, on some level both understanding what had happened, refused to believe it and not fathoming it at all. Nami concluded that he hadn't heard her, she was about to repeat herself when the Fruit Merchants' lips moved, his voice barely above a whisper, but filled with awe none the less:
"What the freaking hell?...can't be…"
"Nami-chamas' ability" Sanji boasted, catching on fast "Do as we say or Nami-chama is going to do that to YOU! And apologize to Violet!"
"Fine, I'll find one… would you put me down first? This is a bit distracting!"
While Sanji put down the smuggler, Nami went and pried Luffy off the wall, trying to ignore the director gawking at her, as if she'd produced a second head or something.
Looking back at Coyle, she saw that he once again had folded his hands in prayer, though he was also shaking his head sadly "Even if I find someone, they could be at the other end of the ocean…" he mumbled before he looked up with a dumbfound expression.
"Okay… this day keeps getting weirder… I got one relative on a nearby island…." He blinked, looking at the surprised (and much relieved) group.
"By the way…" he continued, drawing in a sharp breath "…You might want do something about those guys hiding behind that ugly statue"
"Wha…" As Nami turned she was surprised to see that there indeed were people stepping out from behind the gold monstrosity, three in fact, one that Nami had definitely met, recognising the woman despite her disguise, another she could vaguely remember seeing before and a third, whom she was very familiar.
"Robin…" Nami breathed slowly, sweat running down her back, eyeing the liquid bonds that prevented the archaeologist from either speaking or fighting back, remembering how she herself had been caught in them on Tottoland while battling the enraged army sent after her and Luffy.
The one responsible, the woman, who'd once been dressed in clothes that matched her flaming red hair with the two dark horns, smiled grimly at the assembled pirates, holding a knife to Robins' throat while her shorter pumpkin-headed companion brandishing a sword.
"Glad to meet you again Strawhats… now surrender or Devil Child dies!"
(In the tavern)
Ramming his fist into another opponent, and even as the huge man toppled, Jinbe was looking around, trying to find his real target.
He soon found him, the massive captains' hookswords clashing with Zoros' katana in a twisted serenade of sparks and screeching.
"BLONDIE!" he called, furious at his old comrade.
The big bald man turned, his grin widening at the fishmans' approach
"Jinbe, you're here?" he hollered back, inattentive from the other fighter behind him, Blondie don't know how lucky it is for him, that Zoro's not the type to strike someone in the back. But then again, he wouldn't have cared either way, the man practically lived for a good fight.
"We fought together at Marineford! Why're you attacking us?"
The smirk of the man turned into a confident smile, almost scheming in nature.
"Big Mom wants you guys' heads, and I kinda felt like getting in her good graces, given we're family and all…"
Jinbe snorted at this, were all pirates at the sea either with them or against them?
"Didn't take you for the sort to seek marriage" he responded flatly, knowing how Big mom allied with others.
"Oh, no no, you got that all wrong" Blondie denied with a wave of his blades "I'm not marrying anyone, but Big Mom gave me a few cousins years back, And I kinda think family should help each other, don't you?"
Of course… Jinbe mused, surprise relations works with the enemy too, and the Charlotte family got enough fathers' sides to form a country of their own! And even if she scorned her former husbands, one and all, there would always be some relatives crazy enough to aid the Yonko.
"Fine" Jinbe said grimly, fists clenching "Let's see if you're man enough to claim our heads!"
(in the museum)
"Let go if Robin!" Luffy repeated, his tone turning even more angry than before
"I just told you to surrender Strawhat, give me the princess and do exactly as I say!" the redhaired woman responded furiously. Luffy had a faint memory of the redhead being one of Big moms' daughters or something (even he found it hard to believe that she was related to Lola or Chiffon (and whatever it was Aladine's wife was called))
"What do you want with Viola?"
"A princess is a rare commodity Cat Burglar…" Galette replied "And I have over a dozen bachelor brothers...more than enough for all the others you've got stashed away!"
"Violet-chan! Vivi-chan! and Rebecca-chan!" an outraged voice cried out, only to be met by a:
"Can it Vinsmoke!" Galette snarled before eyeing Luffy, twisting the dagger at Robins' throat, just as more of her own comrades entered the wing.
While they were only three, the tall woman with the sword that Nami and Luffy had fought in Tottoland, a man with wings and the big guy from the market covered in dust and debris for some reason, Luffy recalled their prowess from earlier. Even he'd say that their odds weren't good.
"Coyle! Why didn't you say anything?"
The smugglers ghost merely shrugged "hmm, tell the people whom are blackmailing me about their enemies… sounds perfectly logical… Cat Burglar"
Luffy knew the look that came over his navigators' eyes: She wanted to beat the living daylight out of the apparition (same with the others from the look of things) but she still managed to focus on the Yonko pirates in front of her, none of whom seemed to be pushovers.
And they had Robin.
"Do I really have to repeat myself again?" the dagger drew a little blood "hand over…"
"Let go of Robin!" the rubberman raged, his shout making the redhead scowl, which only worsened when Luffy drew his arm back to strike at her.
Nami cringed nervously as the woman smiled, and opened her mouth:
"Gushishishi…"
Again the effect on Luffy was instantaneous, sending him at highspeed into the statue of vice admiral Hoodie, toppling it. A moment later Luffy was still shivering and holding onto the stone for dear life, mumbling about dusters and earthquakes and yelping about food.
Meanwhile, the redhead smiled smugly "Seems that spell works for other people too"
Nami cursed herself for a fool, and it didn't get better when Coyle gave an offhand comment on it "Yep, that sure was stupid…" still giving the Strawhat captain that strange surprised look, like he was looking for something, and found it.
"Now…" the redhead began again, confident that she had the upper hand "You're also going to tell me everything about your mysterious backer!"
As the Big Mom pirates levelled several guns at them, Nami didn't know what to do: Luffy could be taken out rather easily, Sanji wasn't like to attack with Robins' life in danger (and there were two women against them as well), Viola was too ill to do anything it seemed and Nami herself couldn't take on five of Big Moms' subordinates!
And one of them was spouting nonsense!
"Just a thought…" all eyes turned to Coyle "It's obvious what you're going to do with them…" he waved a hand at the Strawhat pirates "…kill 'em as soon as you got that mediocre bird and some meaningless answers…" disregarding Sanji's protests the smuggler continued "but… I'm certain that you three…" he waved at the newly arrived "…stuck out like a sore thumb when you arrived…" he pointed at the large man "That one clearly smashed through a wall to get here… idiot…"
"What's your point?" the tall woman asked, calmly puffing on her cigarette, but eyeing the smuggler cautiously all the same.
"You really think you've come here unnoticed?"
A heartbeat later, the first shot was fired.
(in the tavern)
Zoro was having more fun than he'd had in a week!
Practically not fighting anything after their stint in Dressrosa, he'd grown irritable and lethargic, at one point he'd even been too bored to drink!
Good Jinbe's attempt at diplomacy didn't yield anything he thought with a smile, as he parried another slash from the hooksword wielding Captain.
The man, blondie as Jinbe had called him, smiled and laughed at each strike, occasionally giving ground before striking back more savagely than before, never once resorting to use the pair of pistols in his belt.
This guy gets it… Zorro thought, just as he made a horizontal slash, intent on taking the other man's head, only for his blade to be met with one of his opponents' hookswords.
This wasn't going to be boring for him in the least!
(in the museum)
Nami stayed hidden behind the statue hoping not to get hit by one of the bullets that kept flying overhead.
As soon as the marines had arrived they'd started shooting, sending both groups of pirates scrambling for safety. Wily as she was, Robin had used to chance to escape her captors, and were now hiding behind the stone statue with her friends, while the Big Mom Pirates had taken cover behind the golden one of Coyle, returning fire to the best of their ability, but it was a losing battle, the group simply hadn't brought enough guns to overpower the marines.
And atop of the roar of gunshot, she was certain she could hear Coyle and Luffy laugh merrily. Not surprisingly, since Luffy's elastic body protected him from bullets, while Coyles' echo or ghost form simply allowed the bullets to pass through.
"What are you two laughing at?!"
"We sure got Robin back fast didn't we?" Luffy responded with a big grin "with Cobils help we can get going and save our friends!"
"It's Coyle, you idiot! guhahaha" the smuggler corrected him, before laughing at a shot almost hitting the pumpkin headed pirate behind the other statue.
"And what are you so happy about?"
"Oh, I'm not happy, this is just so ridiculous, it's funny!" Coyle answered, as he fidgeted with a plaque from one of the smashed cabinets, his hands black with haki.
"What is Coyle doing here? And is he talking?" Nami could barely hear the feminine voice, shouting above the din, but no one could ignore the order that followed "CEASE FIRERING!"
The order was followed a few moments later, allowing either side to reload
"Coyle the fruit merchant…" a feminine voice rang out, dripping with bitterness and disgust. Despite this, Nami could recognise it as belonging to the resident vice admiral, whom she'd overheard in the restaurant.
"So you've got Director Falco with you…" the vice admiral continued, her voice even "And you've gotten Coyle to talk…"
"It wasn't easy!" the director called from behind the statue "If not for Princess Viola, whom the pirates have taken capture, no one would've gotten this unfeeling monster to even utter a word!"
A moment passed before the Vice Admiral answered "Strawhat Luffy: hand over both the director and the princess unharmed, and I swear you'll get a fair trial!"
"I don't wanna."
Disregarding the captains' response, the vice admiral continued "And that will go for your crew as well, a short stay in Impel down for Cat Burglar and Blackleg, that is all"
"That place sucks! There's no foo…"
Nami slammed a hand over Luffy's mouth as she tried to figure out a plan, no way was she going to agree to a stay in a prison, and specifically not that one!
"That goes for you too Big Mom pirates! Surrender and you'll get a fair trial"
"Fat chance! It's the noose for us if you ever win at anything!" the red head responded angrily
"If we're caught, what do you think Mama will do?" the tall blue-skinned one responded calmly "Big Brother Katakuri will not let that stand, and what our other siblings might do… you're as good as dead"
Nami could almost hear the vice admiral grit her teeth, because she herself was doing the same. We have to get out of here somehow! But how?
And we have to know where to go afterwards… Nami thought as she looked up at Coyle, who was asking Luffy to bend the plaque for him(?!) the other two parties had resorted to shout curses, threats and counterthreats at each other, practically ignoring the Strawhats.
"Coyle-san, if you tell us where…" she began, before the smuggler interrupted her
"Maps on the plaque, look for a really rundown house, ask the locals for the initials: I.F. You can't miss it"
The crew (and Viola) looked dumbfound at the apparition, before Sanji broke the silence "Why are you helping us now?"
"That one got spells…" he pointed at Nami "…and I don't have any juicy secrets of hers readily available" his smile made Sanji (and the director) twitch in anger and Viola cringe in fear, sweat running from her forehead.
Or was it the disease that had returned with a vengeance?
"You vile, cowardly creature!" the director snarled angrily, pointing a trembling finger at the apparition "Mark my words, you're going to divulge all of your secrets to Gion-chan-sama!"
"Not without leverage you're not!" the smuggler smiled "What else do you think I wrote down on that plaque I gave Strawbrain here?"
Viola gasped and only Robins' hand on his shoulder prevented Sanji from assaulting the smuggler. (a number of the archaeologists' other hands constrained the director, preventing him from doing anything at all, including listening to what they were saying (or seeing them)).
Luffy didn't get it.
"But why give that to us?"
"Well Devil child, or whatever you're called…" Coyle paused, allowing for Robin to prevent Sanji from making another attempt to assault him "…In the future, nothing prevents those marine bastards from summoning my dead ghost again, or that princess from squealing about my private matters, except for that little piece of dirt…" he tapped his finger on the plaque with a smug grin "And it's in any pirates' best interest that the marines don't know about all my findings…" the smile disappeared, replaced by a brief look of dread on the smugglers face "All of these are just the notes I wrote, incomplete and broken, buit still dangerous... the finished version could well pave the way for something that would make the ruins of Dressrosa…" he paused (Nami assumed for dramatic effect) "...look like nothing more than a kids' unkempht room."
While the image he conjured frightened her, Nami was perplexed at the smugglers' sudden change of attitude but decided against pressing the subject.
"Luffy, we have to get going!"
Luffy simply looked at the wall before giving her a thumbs up and a smile.
Nami sighed, she already knew what he was going to do.
But some random destruction was okay if it meant they'd escape.
"I'll take Violet!" Sanji volunteered, but the princess stopped him "I think I have to stay… the disease has come back…" the chef looked at her, crestfallen, while Nami and Robin nodded their understanding.
"If I stay here, it means that the marines might not follow you as you escape, then you only have to deal with Big Moms' crew…"
"Could work, the newspaper said her father was close…" the smuggler mused, still looking at the two other parties shouting angrily at one another, smiling at the whole scene.
"So we just need a divers…." Nami didn't say anymore, as Coyle simple jumped off the statue of his killer, and walked into the middle of the partially demolished room. She was going to say something, but Luffy put a hand on her shoulder, smiling like he knew what was going on for once.
The two parties stopped bickering, and simply watched the smuggler.
"I have a few questions, just out of academical interest…" he began, tapping his chin "You redhead!" he pointed at the ginger charlotte member "You obviously have a devilfruit and can control some liquid right, and is from the devil tribe, correct?"
"…Yes" the confused response came
"Then how can it be you're so incompetent at using your powers? I thought Devil tribesmen were good at mastering the fruits!"
"WHAT!"
"You could've filled that birds' lungs with water and controlled her like a puppet, but you bind her? Are you an idiot? Have the Charlotte family started letting imbeciles grow up in their ranks?"
"...I AM THE MINISTER OF BUTTER!" the redhead howled at him, and Nami could see that some of her comrades were restraining her from assaulting the echo
"Guha!" the smuggler chortled "What was Olive oil taken? Guhahahaha!"
He's setting them up, Nami thought, and, while she appreciated his initiative, she couldn't help but note how weird it all were, or feel sorry for the people he was mocking.
"I mean, Big Mom must have ten other kids lined up to take your place right? That is, if she hasn't found someone to marry you, or that tall one, off to, not enough takers I guess?"
The angry growl coming from behind the giant golden statue made it all too clear how the Big Mom pirates felt about that comment.
"What are you doing you weirdo?" one of the Marines demanded, Nami recognised the voice instantly, that fat marine captain they'd met some days ago, Jollamb or something like that (authors note: it's Jolland from chapter 2).
"Just getting some answers big guy, speaking of which…" the smuggler turned to the group of marines, hiding on the other side of the entrance.
"You're led by some Vice Admiral right?"
"Yes, I am the leader of this base…" a feminine voice responded "Are you looking to get a rise out of me as well?"
"Pretty much, but also, I'd like to know thing or two…" he took another step closer the entrance, resulting in a number of rifles being pointed straight at him, not that it mattered "You ate my Hasu Hasu no mi, it says so on one of those stupid plaques…"
"Yes…"
"how long ago was that?"
"Some years… what is this all about?"
"If you've had years to train with it, how the heck can't you use it better?"
"I just said: you won't get a rise out of me." The vice admiral reaffirmed stiffly
"Are you too stupid to use it? Or did they just give it to you along with a cutesy tittle, Gion-chump-sama, like some little pretty ornamental headpiece?"
Nami peeked over the statue, curious to what the heck the smuggler was doing. On the doorway, she could see the head of the vice admiral, looking angrily at Coyle
"I've earned my position, just as you've earned yours: as a memory of the past."
"If you'd earned anything, you'd have beaten this entire room by now, the Hasu-Hasu is more than a few pretty petals in the air!" the smuggler retorted angrily, admonishing the female marine "Face it girly, you may have eaten a fruit, but you know nothing about its' potential!" Nami could almost see how the vice admiral was about to snap, Coyle only needed to push a bit more "I think the only reason you've earned anything, is because your daddy was some admiral or king or something."
"…my father was a mason…."
"oh, so you're either just a poster child for the sake of morale, or did you work you way up by seducing all of Marine Fo…."
Nami didn't hear the rest, as a moment later the Vice Admiral shot directly at Coyles' face, followed by the rest of the marines, disregarding that the bullets flew straight through. The Big Mom pirates didn't waste the opportunity and shot at the marines in turn.
Nami missed the commotion that followed, as Luffy smashed a hole in the wall, allowing the Strawhat pirates to escape.
Nami noted that Sanji gave an almost too longing look at Viola as the group scuttled through the hole.
If Luffy hadn't pulled at him, the chef might have stayed behind.
(behind the golden statue)
Galette smiled at the sight of the Smugglers' head blowing open, but sneered as she realised it had no effect, the apparition laughing at the shots passing harmlessly through him.
Why the hell is his deal anyway?
Then she noted the dust in the air, and, behind the stone statue, the gaping hole in the wall, where a little stocky man jumped, his arms full of Princess and his voice full of urgency:
"Vice admiral Gion-chan-sama! I've got her! I've got Princess Viola-chan-sama! But the Strawhats are loose in the town!"
Galette swore, they'd been outmanoeuvred, and in plain sight even!
"We got to follow them! They can't be allowed to escape!"
And we can't let ourselves be trapped here! She thought angrily, trying to formulate a plan for when they got after the Strawhats.
(outside the museum)
"What do we do now?" Sanji complained as the quartet ran down the street.
Luffy didn't know personally, he was just running, it was bad enough that Nami would use that horrible sentence against him, but even he knew it was even worse that their enemies knew about it too! It was even worse than if they didn't have any meat on the Sunny!
"We have to get down to the harbour! The sooner we're out to sea, the better!" Nami urged
"But how do we do that Nami-chama?"
Robin, pulled Nami to her side and whispered something to her, a little smile on her lips.
When Nami reached for her climatact, Luffy felt a tad nervous when she turned to him
"Why're you smiling at me Nami?" he said in confusion
"Why're you smiling at Luffy Nami-chama?" Sanji whimpered jealously.
(In the market)
The day had so far gone quite well,
He'd done what he'd been tasked to do,
Beat up some no name marine and create a little choice chaos: check
Procure the briefcase: check
Not loose what was in the briefcase, nor allow the marines to find out about: Double check
The last part was something he'd made particularly certain not to happen, the boss would be furious if it was lost!
He was just about to head to a bar for a drink when he looked up and saw…it!
While it appeared to be a huge zeppelin, he knew that no one would be stupid enough to actually make one with that kind of decorations!
"Well, Strawhat have never been that conspicuous any way…."
(slightly above the town street)
"I feel funny…"
No kidding, I just blew up your head! Nami mused as she clung to her captains' shoulders, with Robin holding on to the other side.
Putting her climatact in his ear and pumping Luffys' head full of little flying thunderclouds, blowing the head up to the size of the sunny.
The principles were similar to a helium balloon or a zeppelin, and while it gave them an easy escape route, it also made the group stand out like crazy, but then again, the whole town was already on high alert.
"Why did you suggest something like this Robin-schwaan?" Sanji pleaded, jealous at Luffy holding on to either of the two women, while he was relegated to cling to his feet, which Luffy, true to form, couldn't keep still, walking on thin air.
"It's funny and fast Sanji"
"For whom Robin-schwaaaan?"
While the quartet flew through the air, Nami took the briefest of moments to look down at the town and it's inhabitants. She was briefly aware of a small dot that was waving something at them.
When she recognised the dog from Hannibals, she giggled, the little pug still hadn't realised how to actually load and fire the gun at them.
An angry snarl and a sudden tug at Luffy made her look down however.
Holding on to Sanji's legs, was the redheaded daughter of Big Mom
"Surrender!" she commanded, pulling hard at Sanji's legs, while her own had left the ground a while ago "Tell me, who your backer is!"
"We don't know what you're talking about!" Nami shouted "Sanji, kick her!"
"I can't harm a woman Nami-chama!" the chef pleaded "I just can't!"
Nami looked to Robin, holding on to Luffy, she couldn't use her abilities, and she was going to have a hard time using her climatact too.
And down on the street she could see the other Big Mom pirates pursue them, and though they weren't as fast, they weren't letting up.
Looking at the redhead again, Nami saw that she was aiming a gun at them.
As she fired, she missed both Sanji, Robin and Nami, hitting Luffy's giantic inflated head.
Naturally the shot bounced back.
But t Nami's chagrin, it didn't rid them of their attacker either.
Even worse, it seemed the redhead had leartn her lesson, and was now aiming at Sanji.
"We're going to have a little chat now…" the redhead smiled grimly at them
"I got questions, and unless you don't want to see Vinsmoke bleed out over town I suggest you answer them!"
(At the port)
"But captain, are you sure it's a good idea to leave port now? We just got here"
"Call it a hunch…" the captain responded, looking at his crew
They're few, but strong he mused, before he explained the reason for their abrupt departure
"I had the same feeling when we cornered the mermaid princess, and when we sank that other crew…."
"And stole all their stuff!" one of his men added in with a cheer, before his partner slapped a trident over his head for interrupting.
Their captain continued, his voice equally grave and excited
"Something's going to happen, and soon!" he smiled in excitement, a good battle would get his mind off their misfortune for sure.
(in the tavern)
Usopp dived to the side, narrowly avoiding the slash.
The burly captain laughed and was about to strike again, but a quick thrust from Zoro made him dodge out of the way, and focus his attentions elsewhere.
The sniper crawled along the ruined floor, trying to reach the entrance and get away from the madhouse that had been created.
Jinbe and Zoro should've been enough to deal with this guy! Why aren't they?!
Throwing himself flat on his stomach, Usopp evaded the flying body of one of their opponents. Jinbe laughed lightly as the man slammed into the wall, cracking the stone, and sending the wall toppling down. Which made the roof fall down as well.
Usopp managed to dig his way out of the rubble, cursing his rotten luck all the way, he happened to look up.
"Kay… things didn't work out for Luffy and the others either…." He mumbled, watching the blimp-version of his captain, slowly descend towards the harbour. Squinting, Usopp grew a little jealous at the sight of Both Nami and Robin hug Luffy, but something else drew his attention.
"But… that can't be right, doesn't look like Viola-san at all…"
(up in the museum)
Viola giggled at the sight
Strawhat-Luffy as a giant floating balloon wasn't something she had counted on seeing, and she wasn't alone.
Next to her, the smuggler apparition was chuckling with folded arms.
The marines present weren't as entertained, some of the higher ranked ones shooting at both crews of fleeing pirates as they ran fled for their lives.
The vice admiral however, was staring intently at Coyle.
"What is it Vice admiral annoying? If you're looking for a date, your best chance was the blonde guy that just ran off" Coyle pointed at the floating shape, the figure of Sanji visibly had something around his leg (Viola was too weak to use her powers, but hoped that it was Nami, the navigator really needed to forgive Sanji for his past mistakes)
Gions' eye twitched at the smugglers comment "When all of this is done… You're going to answer all of my questions."
"Anyone can answer the question that's on your mind right now" the smuggler looked at her seriously "Those weird shorts don't flatter your thighs at all" he laughed at her face, before adding "Not that anything could to be honest…" a left hook from Gion should've shut him up, but as it wasn't hakified it did little to stop his mocking comments.
It didn't take long for the Vice Admiral to regain her composure however, especially after the Director informed her that Viola was ill and needed to be reunited with her family, and that the Strawhats had the other princesses too.
"be ready to move! I want the Strawhats captured and imprisoned, any member will do! Our main objective is to get those girls away from them, so no killing them! It'll make it harder to negotiate when we corner Strawhats little group"
"and what of the Big Mom Pirates Vice admiral?"
"They'll be following them as well, so don't worry about that Jolland, use your Zoan fruit to catch up and keep them under surveillance"
Then she turned to Viola
"Princess Viola, I'll see to it that you get to safety as soon as possible, but presently, Director Falco will be enough to get Rear Admiral Malta to escort you to your father, unfortunately, catching Strawhat takes precedence"
Viola watched the marines give chase, leaving her alone in the ruins of the Smugglers wing, with both the director and the phantasm of Coyle.
"Look at my beautiful museum! The hoodie family will be most displeased with me for the mess I've made allowed they were already angry that I changed the commercials for the museum against their wishes!" the director rambled on turning towards the exit and running off, presumably to find Malta.
Which left her completely alone, save for one… person.
"He'll be back soon I hope, I don't like to be left in this ruin" the phantasm scowled, looking at the disarray of his notes and old belongings "It's freaking depressing"
"Not as depressing as a father refusing to help his daughters" Viola scolded angrily, giving the echo a harsh glare "What kind of a person are you even? Bombing an orphanage and holding people hostage? And then there's Your Radiant One... how can a person like you have that sort of dream?! so beautiful."
"Still beats what you did, Violet" the smuggler shot back, freezing her in place "A guy that dethrones your father, has you sister killed and then enslaves your country isn't exactly what good daughters, sisters, citizens or aunts go out and shares a bed with! I know Dressrosa got crazy women, but that's unforgiveable for everyone! Even yourself!"
Viola swallowed hard, knowing every word was true, and it had been her shame for years. One she hoped she take with her to the grave.
"I'm afraid, we've got that in common, your dalliance with the ku…"
"I did that for the crew, the crew and a devil fruit…" the smuggler interrupted her, his tone angry and voice rising to the level of a hurricane "And I admitted it before the Radiant One! I sought forgiveness for it! Faced the wrath of the Radiant One, and took every punishment chosen. You obviously haven't, so don't compare us!" his face resembled a volcano more than a human at the time, giving Viola a stare so piercing she thought it would go straight through her head and the wall behind it.
"Deep down, you imbecilic little worm, you're worse than me, because you dont' own up to your crimes, not one article speaks of the time you should've spent in Impel Down, not a word, or is that the usual royalty discount that's at play here? the same sort of ditance that makes you think you have the right to just read into someone elses' private affairs! I don't think I've ever met someone as loathsome as you and I've heard that guy talk for five minutes straight!" he pointed at the stone statue of Vice Admiral.
A moment later the echo began to dissipate into thin air, leaving Viola alone, safe for Director Falco that hurried to her side.
The only part of Coyle's phantasm remaining was the stinging feeling in Viola's heart.
"I'm so sorry for leaving you alone with that Brute, I was so focussed on getting you to safety with your father that I completely forgot the danger that Coyle poses on his own" the director kept apologizing at length, but Viola only heard about half before she snapped out of her shock at the smugglers words.
A few minutes later, she allowed herself to be led away from the ruined museum wing. Her shock was so great, that she couldn't even concentrate on what was going on outside.
(above town)
Nami grinned as the pistol was shot out of the red haired womans' hand.
"Usopp has excellent aim, as always" Robin mused, looking down at the Charlottes' angry face.
But there was little she could do, for a moment later the Luffy zeppelin descended enough to land in the street, where Jinbe, Usopp and Zoro were to greet them.
"What the heck happened here?" Nami exclaimed, looking at the destroyed building behind the trio, carrying more than a few signs of sword-slashes and gunshots.
Zoros smile was bigger than it had been in a week "You missed a heck of a party!"
Jinbe had secured the struggling Charlotte daughter, holding her struggling body secure under his arm "We can cover why Galette was hanging on to you later, as to what happened here, let's just say that Big Mom has many allies, and we have dreadfully few allies as it is!"
"Where's Viola-san?" Usopp piped in, his slingshot aimed at the redhead under Jinbe's arm "And who the hell is this?"
Sanji quickly explained what had happened, with plenty of drama, which made Zoro visibly ill, which prompted a quick confrontation between the two, leaving the other question to be answered by someone else:
"That's…" Nami began, unsure of how to proceed "The Minister of… Butter…" much to Usopps confusion, prompting Jinbe to explain
"Her name's Gallette, Big Mom's 16th daughter, she's been busy recruiting new blood for Big Moms' crew, they'll surrounded us if we don't get out of here fast!"
Swiftly the Fishman explained what he'd been told by Whitey Bay, about all those that had been recruited, and who just wanted to kill them for no reason.
"Right, then we need to go immediately!"
"I might suggest that we split up and cause some havoc first, it'll make a good smokescreen for both marines and Big Moms crew"
"So who's staying?" Luffy asked out loud, more than a little eager to get away
"ME! This place is great!" Zoro smiled grimly "You too Usopp, time to earn that God title of yours" the sniper could only shiver at the thought, too stunned to object.
Robin volunteered as well, much to Sanji's chagrin, and Jinbe too, leaving only the chef, the navigator and the captain to go back to the ship.
But first:
"Galette-san…" Nami began, earning her the harsh stare of the captured Charlotte, and a few choice curses "What was that about a backer?"
"Your backer! Who is it? The one who's been trailing your every move and helped you at Sabaody!"
"We don't' have a backer!" Nami howled back "Where did you even get that idea?"
The redhead shut up immediately.
"Answer the question Galette, or else I'll find a pool to drop you in!" the former shichibukai's threat had the desired effect and the redhead started to open her mouth,
But any sound was silenced by the repeated shots that rang out across the street.
the rest of Big Moms crew had found them, and worse, some others were digging their way out of the destroyed house, immediately resuming their fight from before.
While the rest of the crew took up the fight, the chef, navigator and Captain trio ran for the harbour.
(on the seas)
"I hear you, Ivankov-san, but we won't have anything to do with the rebels, our nations would be destroyed in a heartbeat!" Ivankov didn't much fancy the Merman Kings' tone, but it was understandable, it's not everyday you're told to step aside so you can strike at their bosses directly.
He'd been talking to the kings for a while now, the Den den Mushi occasionally projecting Dragons' voice to the group, setting the little king-boys on edge.
Not their fault Ivankov thought: Dragon-san gets everyone on edge, he's so hard to read, even when you're talking to him directly, hell I didn't even know he had a kid in Strawhat-boy! (He was still a bit peeved at not being told about that)
"Now now, let's all take a deep breath king-boys, so we can think about this in a… who's that guy?"
The man Ivankov pointed at was seemingly one of the the Vinsmoke kings' servants, running for the King of Dressrosa for an urgent message from Runny Rum Archiepelago.
"What's this all about now heehaw?"
"The marines are bringing me my daughter!" the balding king yelled, his relief and happiness plain for all to see "She's being escorted by a Rear Admiral and Some museum director, they're heading straight for us!"
"Why the heck is there a museum director with her?!"
"He insisted on escorting her after she'd listened to that, and I quote:" the messenger began "Horrible bestial, must brutish, evil, sociopathic, violently vile scoundrel and definitely not a gentleman…"
"GET ON WITH IT!" the King of Providence yelled impatiently
"Coyle the Fruit merchant…" the messenger quickly wrapped up, leaving the kings to nod in understanding "Of course, those two Kuja's father"
"Yes" the messenger continued "Apparantly, they somehow summoned his ghost or-echo-or-something and had him point out where some of his family were so they could save his daughters"
"Come again?" Ivankov said from the other ship, not certain he'd heard that right "Sounded like you said, Coyle and daughters?!"
"You know him?"
"Sure, met him years ago, took one of the best chefs in Kamabaka kingdom when he visited, Nfufufu" the okama laughed "All for his Radiant One! Nfufufufu! Oh did he get into trouble because of that one! And now he got daughters! Plural! Nfufufufufufufufufufu!"
A grumbling from the Den Den mushi made Ivankov stop his almost hysterical laughter
"What was that Dragon-san? You know him too?" Ivankov placed the Snail directly at to his ear, there was no way he was missing out on hearing about Dragons' past. What he heard made him was a very clear order.
He snapped around immediately, ignoring the looks and questions of the kings, yelling at his own crew as loud as he was able (which, thanks to his devilfruit, could top the sound levels of a Metallica concert).
"Alright Candies, we're breaking up! Full speed to Runny Rum! Gotta save Strawhat before he does something extremely dangerous!"
then he turned back to the snail in his hands, hoping to know what was going on
Sure, that guy was bad news on even the best of days, but where the heck does Dragon know him from?
When he asked, Dragons response made his jaw hit the deck.
Then he laughed! Hard and long, a storm of chortles, giggles, snorts and all the other sounds a human mouth was capable of. When the Queen om Kamabaka Kingdom finally calmed down, he had to catch his breath.
"That was a good one! I really never thought you had it in you to make jokes Dragon" as he wiped a tear from his eye, Dragon spoke again, loud and clear: "I wasn't joking, I was telling you exactly what Coyle is."
Ivankov stood stock still, then his face started to move in slow-motion, his eyes widen, his mouth dropping. Skin grew pale, eyes bulge and quiver, nostrils flare.
On the other ship, the kings stood, watching their revolutionary colleague intently, not knowing what to do.
When a moment later, the face of the huge headed man quivered and started to crack, they all drew back (even from the ever widening distance as the revolutionary ship began to pick up speed) when the body of the Okama fell backwards with a sickly sticky noise, leaving the make-up floating in the air, a perfect imprint of Ivankovs shocked face….
They didn't move, even after the other vessel began to grow ever smaller in the distance.
Eventually, they went back inside, where the green haired Vinsmoke Prince addressed his father "Why didn't we attack them? They were right there. Like sitting ducks!"
Judge blinked, mulling things over one last time before he answered "Something big is going on, and if we can figure out what it is… what it is Dragon knows… and fears… we can use it against him if need be! Besides, Ichiji is more than enough to deal with that freak at Runny Rum! He'll deliver him to us in chains soon enough, to be given to the World Government, and become proof of our power for all of the world to see!"
(on the Sunny)
Luffy laughed as the Sunny began to leave the pier, just as another group of pirates stormed towards it.
He could hear Rebecca's worried demands to know where Viola was and that Sanji had to hold her back from jumping ship and go to her aunts' side.
"You jump, you get captured, that's a dummy move!" he called out, making himself heard atop the crash of the waves and the shots that rang out from the pier.
Rebecca seemed to see his point, which was good, but not as good as the course Nami was setting with Coyle's plaque. The guy had sure come around fast, good thing Nami had lied about that odd sentence that had begun to bug him so much lately.
Somehow it was like it both felt so natural and so horrifying at the same time…
"Meh, must be magic" he said, brushing the thoughts away, choosing got focus on their escape.
All the chaos that had unfolded in the town had apparently spread to the docks, Luffy could see several vessels that just lay about in the water, watching what happened next.
But he also saw that four ships had set their course directly for the Sunny.
(elsewhere in the harbour)
He'd known it as soon as he saw all the commotion.
That idiot to Strawhat had gone and made himself a target again!
The only good thing about it was that he had a free view to the entire sea battle that was about to take place.
That and he'd put Caesar Clown in a, at least according to the salesman, glass jar that could hold anything.
One which His dog Bertram was sniffing at with a very confused look in his eyes. When the scientist began to make faces at the pug however, the pug brandished a knife and smiled viciously in return, silencing the madman immediately.
"Good boy, Bertram" he said offhandedly, looking through the binoculars as the battle was about to begin.
(on the harbour)
Robin grumbled as the Big mom Pirates fired another volley.
Not only had they been steadily pushed back by both skill and sheep numbers,
Their hostage had also gotten loose and left for the other side.
Presently the Strawhat pirates were having a fighting retreat, and while that had been part of the plan all along, it didn't sit well with her with the way things were going.
And another crew had come in from the side, led by a tall gangling man with a longneck. A man whom Jinbe recognised immediately:
"Hangan! What are you doing with Big Mom?"
"Choosing sides…" the captain said reluctantly "The seas aren't as safe as they should be Jinbe-chan, my crew can't survive without a Yonkos' backing, and without my crew my daughter is as good as dead, but with a strong husband she'll do fine… I'm sorry" he levelled his rifle and fired at them.
Whether or not he intended to miss, Robin couldn't decide, but his crews' appearance served to coral their little group closer to the harbour rather than press them. A swift few thousand hands emerging from the ground stopped the newly arrived pirates in their tracks and gave Robin and her nakama time to flee further away.
As soon as they got to the sea, the Strawhats could join up with the Sunny.
When she heard how Jinbe intended to send them there however, she despaired, mumbling to herself:
"There's no way I'm not going deaf from Usopp's screaming is there?"
(on another ship)
"Steady as she goes!" the captain yelled, eyeing the Strawhats ship in the distance
Soon! He thought
Soon I'll repay tha…
He was momentarily stunned as he saw something hurling through the air towards his target, screaming all the way.
A moment later another shape, this one silent, followed suit.
Scratching the spot beneath his crown, he shook his head
Somebody else must be attacking…
(on the sunny)
Nami watched as the first projectile landed, skipping across the waves as until it landed on the deck.
She didn't need to ponder it much, it was evident what had happened as soon as the projectile uncurled, revealing a very scarred and shaking Usopp.
The next projectile landed in the water and didn't skip as much, meaning the nakama had to swim the last few yards to board the Sunny.
"You had to be thrown too Zoro"
"it could've been fun if Usopp hadn't screamed so much"
"What about Robin-schwan?" Sanji piped in concerned
"Jinbe-san's carrying her it seems" Vivi responded next to him, leaving the chef shaking in envy, it didn't get much better when the former Shichibukai jumped out of the water soaked in water, carrying the archaeologist bridal style.
While Vivi rushed Robin into the cabin for a change of clothes (with Brook was following closely behind them, Usopp retired for a change of pants) and Sanji glared at Jinbe, who was making his way for the wheel to relieve Franky of his position, Nami looked at the seas around them. It was filling up with marines ships and others that she didn't' feel like facing.
And soon enough the first cannonballs started to fall near the Sunny.
What did seem to work in their favour however, was that there were a number of different factions that all wanted a piece of them, and leave nothing for the others.
As soon as one marine galleon got close, a pirate ship began to blast it and vice versa. The constant back and forth made it impossible for the marine base to make it's titanic cannons come to bear, of fear of hitting their own.
But soon, some got very close, close enough for boarding.
Jinbe seemed to recognise some of them
"AMADOB!" he howled at a crowned man, just as he levelled a pistol and fired straight at Luffy (which hit, but since it wasn't a seastone bullet it got sent straight back) "Are you one of Big Mom's underlings now?"
"TO HELL WITH BIG MOM!" the man howled back, brandishing a sabre "I'm doing this for Whitebeard!"
"What the hell are you on about?" Luffy yelled at him in confusion "We didn't do anything to that old guy!"
"You didn't do anything for him either!" Amadob snarled back "When us real pirates were fighting Blackbeard, youwere kicking back on some island in Paradise, afraid to fight!"
"that's' not true! We…" Nami began, but the other Pirate kept talking regardless
"YOU FAILED EVERY ALLY THAT BLED WITH YOU AT MARINEFORD, STRAWHAT LUFFY! YOU FAILED ACE'S MEMORY! YOU'RE UNFIT TO BE CALLED HIS BROTHER!"
Nami stood stock still at the words.
Watching Luffy, she could see the wheels turn in his head, the rage build up and start to boil over, but as Amadobs ship was forced away by another vessel, he had could only stand there and , with another ram into the Sunny in it's place, filled with marines.
The shock could be felt all along the Sunny, pushing it to the side, and making more than one crew member shake or loose their footing.
Which was exactly what sent the mermaid princess that was confined to the deck, off of it.
Nami watched in shock as Shirahoshi bounced off of the deck, and flap like a fish across another, and end up on a third ship bearing a Jolly roger she didn't recognise.
"Shirahoshi-chan!" several voices cried out in unison.
(on another ship)
He couldn't believe his eyes.
A moment ago he'd been aiming to join in the battle that was waging between marines and different pirate crews, perhaps slam into the Strawhats if he got really lucky, the next moment: the missing mermaid princess landed on his deck, only being prevented from sliding off because his second stepped in.
"Well I'll be a monkeys uncle…." he started slowly taking a step towards the huge mermaid, who could only manage to lift her head and stare at him. In his fervour he didn't notice how weak or trembling she was, he could only see all their crew could gain from having her.
"You have no idea how much I've searched for you!"
The mermaid could only look at him with fear in her tired eyes.
(on the Sunny)
Nami prepared herself for what was to come.
Boarding an enemy vessel wasn't something she was used to, and neither were the others.
Brook and Sanji were naturals for volunteering to save Shirahoshi, Vivi had insisted on doing something useful for a change and Chopper was a given since he was the doctor and Shirahoshi might need medical help.
While Luffy, Franky and Zoro fought off the boarding marines, sending more than one back into the sea with a splash.
Just as Zoro parried a slash and returned it (sending the poor man back into his comrades, toppling them like bowling pins), Jinbe brought the sunny within sight of the ship carrying Shirahoshi.
While they couldn't jump to it (at least without getting very wet) Nami's climatact enabled them to get there swiftly, and hopefully they'd have fought off any resistance when The Sunny arrived.
Brandishing her weapon, the navigator made a long bridge of clouds, and as they group ran across it, Nami hoped that Shirahoshi hadn't been hurt.
When they reached the end of it, the ship had moved a bit out of the way, but Nami judged that if they jumped hard enough, they'd reach the deck.
Flying through the air, Nami took in the small crew that were on deck, four in total, only two were armed, this would be over quickly.
The group landed on the deck, (with varying degrees of Luck, poor Chopper landed face first) cutting off the crewmembers that were advancing on Shirahoshi.
"Stop not a step further!" Sanji yelled at what Nami assumed was the groups' leader, a buff man dressed in red and black with strangely tall shoulders, who were giving them all a confused look.
From behind them, Shirahoshi mumbled something.
"the horned captain" she managed feebly, looking straight at the tall shouldered man, Chopper gave her a one over.
"Horned?" the man began "Do I look like I got horns?" he asked aloud, looking at a longlegged man next to him, whose only response was "I don't' think the princess is well captain"
"You're the one that attacked those slavers!" Vivi said concerned, and given what they'd told Nami about it, she didn't have high hopes for their future.
"And those Long Long guys, we got those too!" the captain bragged before laughing loudly "Bokukukuku! They were happy to give us their money when we were done with them! But that's peanuts compared to what she" he pointed at Shirahoshi "Is going to get us when we hand her over to her dad"
"You are not getting her!" Sanji proclaimed, lunging for the face of the captain, foot first.
What happened next, Nami had not expected: the longlegged man effortlessly parried Sanji's kick with one of his own and a punch to the chest from the Captain sent the chef backwards, coughing.
Vivi was the next to attack, wielding Nami's old climatact and aiming for a large crewmember that held a pair of tridents. Nami wasn't surprised to see her being disarmed almost immediately, Vivi wasn't accustomed to her staff at all, so challenging a specialist was a sure-fire disaster.
Meanwhile Brook was struggling against a man wielding a pair of sabres, looking intently into the musicians' skullface
"hey captain" the swordsman called out, pushing Brook away "I think these guys are Strawhats crew!"
Nami raised her climatact and shot out a cloudwall to prevent the opposing pirates from coming closer.
A moment later, it shattered behind the force of the captains' punch, the debris toppling Nami and several others to the ground.
"Right, if you're finished" the captain grumbled with his arms folded "When Strawhat gets here, We'll have a nice little chat about what's gonna happen with her" he pointed at Shirahoshi.
"If you think you can talk anything over with Luffy, You don't know him that well!" Vivi snarled, grabbing hold of Nami's most recent climatact.
This is not going to end well
As soon as Vivi aimed the Climatact at the captain and pressed the handle, the weapon extended.
One end rammed against the deck, yanking Vivi into the air, forcing her to lose her grip and the climatact which shot into the air like a small missile.
Vivi herself fell flat on the deck behind the four opponents, much to their entertainment.
Then the four fighters began to advance towards them again.
(elsewhere in the harbour)
"That little idiot" he grumbled condescendingly
"As always she doesn't know what she's doing"
He turned to his dog, the pug having been busy shining the glass jar and loading its' gun.
"Bertram" he pointed at the weapon the Alabastan prinncess had lost
"Fetch"
The dog immediately saluted him, before it jumped into the sea.
(On the ship)
"ok, if you're done making a fool out of yourself…" the captain growled in annoyance "Strawhat can't deny us this chance! That Princess is gonna make our fortune!"
"You're going to sell her off! Like property?" Sanji snarled, having gotten over his previous injury
"Sell her?" the captain repeated "NO! we hand her over to her dad, he gives us the pick of his dungeons, thing nk about it!" he spread his arms, a far-away look coming over his eyes "How unstoppable wouldn't my crew be if we had Fishman Karate and Merman Combat?"
"I'm still not letting go of Shirahoshi-chan!"
"That's going to be Strawhats decision! Or are you undermining your own captain?"
Suddenly a form came jumping from one of the other ships, landing effortlessly on the bridge.
"Are you boys done fighting each other?" Robin called out from the bridge, smiling as she dismounted Carrot, who almost immediately gushed over the resident crew.
"This was barely a scrap! Besides…" the captain started "We didn't start it Devil Child-san."
"Yes, I saw from the Sunny, Ideo-san, I hope we can come to an agreement"
"You know these guys Robin?" Nami called out in surprise
"Sure she does, we met at Dressrosa" the captain, Ideo, smiled "We're the fourth division of the Strawhat Grand Fleet!" the groups expressions made the man scowl "You weren't told about us were you?"
"In that case!" Sanji smiled triumphantly "We can just take Shirahoshi-chan and get going!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ideo blurted out "DIdn't you hear what we're gonna get with her?"
"But you're our underlings!"
"the hell you say? We're allowed to do what we want, and we're handing her over to her dad! And getting the reward!" Once again, things we're about to escalate
"HEY!"
At the sound of Luffy's voice Nami spun around and saw the Sunny approaching, the battle from before ended, but several ships were already lining up to hunt them down.
"HEY! IDIOT! GREAT TO SEE YOU!" Luffy waved at the other captain
"IT'S IDEO!" was all the man managed before the pursuing ships almost got in range for their cannons to be effective.
Unanimously they all agreed to get the heck out of the area as fast as possible.
(in the town)
"We can't stay here, the marines are getting more organized!" Hangan remarked, making Galette grit her teeth, in frustration.
Not only had they made themselves very noticed by the marines, the strawhats had escaped, and she'd be insulted deeply by some annoying ghost smuggler!
To top it all off, it seemed like she would be the one to explain it to Mama.
"Sister Amande, perhaps we should lay low for a while"
The taller woman simply looked down at her sibling, puffing on her smoke. If Galette didn't know her sister better, she'd believe Amande was supreme in her indifference, but knew that something was nagging the older woman.
"Sister?"
"wa..? yeah sure, let's do that, but what about our guys in the harbour?"
"Yeah?" the rotund Blondie added, slightly annoyed that his battle was already over "I don't want to leave my cousin in that mess of ships!"
"And he won't be" Galette assured him "And even if Brother Brownie would somehow get involved, we'd be sure to avenge him shortly!"
she turned to the rest of their combined forces "For the time being we'll go into hiding, fighting the marines isn't going to get us anywhere!"
and besides... she thought to herself as the crews scattered in all directions,
that damn ghosts' taunts might be good for something!
(On the Sunny)
Nami breathed heavily,
they'd managed to escape the chaos of the harbour and had found some sort of shelter amongst the Archipelago's minor islands, most of which was large enough to hide the Sunny amongst the waves.
the rest of the crew were more or less silent,
Sanji was still wailing about what had been decided: that Ideo and his crew should act as an escort for Shirahoshi, and Robin had joined them so she could discuss it with King Neptune personally (Which to Sanji was the same as loosing three beautiful womens' presence in one day!). that way they all got what tey wanted: Shirahoshi cured and Ideo got the skilled manpower he wanted (he'd also, unsuccesfuly, tried to negotiate Carrot to join him, since he wanted a mink on the crew). Luckily his mood was kept up by having to comfort Rebecca when the former Gladiator heard what Coyle had put her aunt through.
Usopp was still shaking, holding onto the wheel, both to calm his nerves and to steer the ship.
Franky was repairing whatever little damage the Sunny had taken and Chopper was seing to the two remaining patients in the Womens' cabin.
Vivi had apologised so much to Nami for accidentally throwing away her new climatact (Which Nami had naturally already forgiven her for, but the princess still kept her distance).
Zoro and Jinbe had decided, recklessly in Nami's eyes, to delay any pursuers.
Jinbe by sea and Zoro from deck to deck.
The two had cut a swathe along their way which was hard to ignore for either pirate or marine.
which left Luffy...
After hearing what that man Amadob had said, Nami could understand that her captain was upset,
angry,
seethingly furious even.
But she'd decided to give him some time to cool off (but still under her close watch).
Nami herself had set a course to their next destination.
Coyle's plaque had been a huge help, coordinates and instructions about how long it'd take.
what irked her was the inscription he'd left aas well:
To whomever of you dummies read this:
I'm not that big a bastard to write down someone elses personal problems or screwups, so you won't find the little princess' secret here, that blonde would be cassanova would've had a fit anyway.
Nami was forced to agree, and was secretly thrilled that Coyle atleast had that shred of decency,
what next he'd written concerned her though:
About that gushishi spell giberish: there's no such thing as spells, just mysteries and abilities you can't explain yet. Magic isn't something you cough up out of the blue.
What that kid has is a trauma, and a big one! Triggered by that persons' laughter! Get it in order or the moron's done for next time you meet either marine or Charlotte family again, because both that dwarf director and that redhead are both bound to talk at some point!
Nami read part of it again
Laughter? how could Coyle be so sure it's laughter? and why would that affect Luffy so much?
Shaking her head, Nami red the final part:
But fortunately, if I'm right, this trip is going to cure him of that too.
Nami couldn't help but be worried by that sentence.
Coyle had proven to be nothing if not irrational and had now proven to be completely incomprehensible.
One moment being completely against them in all matters, the next he'd seaved thier hides, and she still didn't know what had made him change his mind.
But if he was right, which he'd proven to be on a number of subjects so far, then At least they'd save Marguerite and Rindo soon. And deal with Luffy's trauma.
Somehow, despite the problems they'd faced with:
1. first finding the princesses,
2. then realising that they'd gotten ill (and having to live with all those other women on the same ship)
3. and then Finding a cure (and who could provide the ingredients)
had only taken a scarce few days,
Nami couldn't shake the feeling that they were about to end something that had been a long time coming.
Looking at the setting sun,
Nami dearly hoped it was true.
But she also had a feeling...
that they'd enter some truly dark territory before this adeventure was over.
One that would change their lives,
for eternity...
End of chapter 16
Next chapter: Surprising Family Members
I didn't include as much action in this one as I promised, all the different plot threads had to be sort of resolved and were jumbled up to eleven, but that's going to be lessened over the next few chapters, as I'll do some cleanup.
Threads this time around:
Strawhat Pirates: sets a new course and leaves something behind along the way.
Princess Hunters: the crew that faced the macro crew finally gets lucky and their identity is revealed.
Big mom pirates (and subgroups): hot in pursuit and baying for blood!
Marines: going to dish out some justice.
Mysterious party: isn't entirely certain what's going on upon the archipelago, but are bound to investigate soon.
Revolutionaries: forced to change course.
Royalty: meets someone who they don't get along with that well, bides their time aside from that.
Rnr if you'd be so kind