Enemies closing in!
So sorry I haven't updated before.
Recap thread
The Strawhats team 1: Luffy and Nami has found Coyle, the rubbermans missing uncle, who has been turned young again, which is its' own particularly annoying headache (specifically his character).
Strawhats team 2: Jinbe and Zoro have been fighting almost nonstop, but not without aid.
Strawhats at Fran's house: Everybody, except her nieces, are living in fear of the hostess.
Big Mom pirates: A lot of running for Galette and Kato. Amande and her cohorts are getting weary but man can they take a beating.
Marines: Vice Admiral Gion is dead set on bringing Luffy's uncle to justice, for personal reasons. Redcliff and Jolland got very humiliated.
Royals: The Germa hasn't had the best of luck this time around. Reiju are out on duty, Ichiji has joined the fray while Yonji has been forced into a situation he never would have imagined. Neptune is not happy, but atleast Shirahoshi is with him again.
Independent parties: None of them are happy with the situation.
(On Runny Rum's main island, the plaza)
"There they are! Told you we'd hand 'em over!" the smuggler pointed smugly at the Big Mom pirates, who whipped their heads back and forth in confusion from the Strawhats to the newly arrived marines.
Luffy had just enough time to lunge and tackle his uncle to the ground.
They crashed into the ground with a thud as the bullets whizzed above them.
Nami landed a moment later with a scream.
"Why'd you have to pull at me so hard?!"
"You wouldn't have been fast enough Nami!"
"I think she's jealous Neffy" the smuggler chuckled as he pushed his nephew off of him and over to Nami, who quickly pulled the captain behind a stall, Jinbe scooping up Coyle and following suit (while also dragging along a very angry Zoro who tried to go in the opposite direction, towards their opponents).
Luffy blinked in confusion before he looked up at his uncle and smiled"…Yeah it is a cool afro you got Fruncle"
As the smuggles chuckle turned into laughter, Nami groaned "You really can't stop saying stuff like that can you?"
"So I should just shut up and let things go their natural way?"
Nami was silent for a moment before she uttered a tentative "…Yes…"
"If neffy's ok with it, then Fine I guess" the smuggler scoffed whilst rolling his black eyes "But it's so boring to wait for…"
"Wait for what?"
"Nothing Jinbe-chan" Nami responded as she waved off the question while the smuggler pointed at Luffy and Nami with a thumb.
"Those two getting hitched"
Jinbe and Zoro both cocked an eyebrow at the man, Nami gave him an annoyed look and Luffy was oblivious "Does hitched mean there's food?"
"That's a part of it" the smuggler laughed
"Ok we'll do that after we've saved Rindo and Marguerite"
"That's the spirit neffy" The smuggler gave him a proud thumbs up "Look to the future in the heavens"
"Where' else'd I look?"
"Given the way your green haired friend smells" the smuggler wrinkled his nose at a perplexed Zoro "I'd wager he'd talk about the bottom of a bottle"
"How do we get him to be quiet?"
"Don't know yet Jinbe-chan" Nami groaned and forced the group to run away,
And they'd have gotten off the plaza,
If a storm of pink, white and yellow lotus leaves hadn't whirled up and stopped them in their tracks.
The Vice-Admiral Gion stepped out of the storm, wearing a determined and angry look on her face.
"You're not going anywhere"
(The Marine Base, The cannon galley)
"Who's this?" the commander in charge of the cannons asked incredulously, suspicion glowing out of his eyes
"This is Vice-admiral Gi-" the voice from the den den mushi replied before the commander cut them off
"I know the Vice-admirals' voice, I wouldn't be fooled by yours" the Commander sneered back "Commodore Durkey, is that you?"
"N-no…"
"Commodore Durkey…." The commander replied in a tired voice, pinching the bridge of his nose "What's going on?"
"Vice-admiral Gion has commanded me to order you to…"
"She wouldn't give that order Commodore"
"There's Pirates here!" Durkey screeched "The Big Mom and Strawhat crews are both here!"
"Much as I'd love to shoot either one" the commander answered truthfully "The Vice-admiral still wouldn't give that order Commodore"
Durkey halted for a moment, contemplating the situation, when suddenly his face lit up "What's your rank Marine?"
"Commander, sir"
"Then I outrank you!" he smiled triumphantly "DO as you're told! You will respect the chain of command!"
(The Plaza)
"Is that so?"
"Indeed it is so, Coyle" the vice admiral's eyes narrowed and became so intense that they could've carved a hole through the smugglers' skull.
He didn't seem to notice: "Then how're you going to take us to jail? By chatting about justice and other flimsy ideologies?"
Next to him, Nami barely stopped herself from slapping him "Can you no go mouthing off to people for two seconds?"
The smuggler merely shrugged in response and the vice-admiral scowled "He's just trying to anger me" her eyes narrowed further "It won't work"
"Would you just let me at her?"
"That won't work either…Pirate Hunter is it?" the Vice-admiral cocked an eyebrow at the green haired swordsman, murmuring to herself "What an odd name for a pirate…" she drew her sword "My men are surrounding this plaza as we speak, you'll have nowhere to go, surrender now and…"
"THERE THEY ARE! GET THEM!"
The group of pirates and the marine all turned to see another group rushing towards them at top speed. The redhaired leader was easily recognisable and hollered for his soldiers to charge at the pirates.
Much to her displeasure and initial bewilderment, in the ensuing clash of people, with blades, kicks and punches thrown in all directions and the accompanying yelling, taunts and curse slinging,
both sides had unanimously agreed that the Vice-admiral was considered collateral damage.
(On the streets)
"You sure this is what we should be doing Cliffy?" Jolland asked his colleague "The Vice-admiral was…"
"I know what she said!" the reed thin captain almost screeched back at the fatter captain "She made us repeat it all remember!"
"Yeah, thrice" Jolland lifted the shade of his green cap "But I still don't see why we went back to get this thing" he gestured to the cannon the cadets were rolling after them.
"To fire at any pirates we see!"
"I thought you had cannons in your body?"
Redcliff grumbled and turned a dark shade of red, a colour that'd make him the ency of any half rotten tomato forgotten in the fridge "…I had…. Limited fortune last time I tried that…"
"Ohh, back when we met the Strawhats the first time… " the larger captain scratched his chin absentmindedly (Authors note: reread chapter 2-3)
"Exactly"
"And we got our butts kicked…"
"NOT excatly"
"…Five ways till…"
"WE WERE BRIEFLY OVERWHELMED BY SUPERIOR NUMBERS AND SNEAK ATTACKS!"
"Yeah, two of them came straight at us from an open field in broad daylight"
"Would you stop talking!" Redcliff looked over his shoulder at the very tired marines "You'll hamper morale"
Jolland gave the wheezing troops a quick scan but didn't bother telling his colleague that that ship had sailed, possibly somewhere between the third and fifth time they'd been forced to run up hill, again.
"Wait…" Redcliff held up a hand "Did you hear something?"
(The Plaza)
Nami swore as she dodged yet another attack from one of the Germa Soldiers.
A moment later, her original climatact rammed into the soldiers' head, the light in his eyes went out and he dropped to the ground in a crumpled heap.
It didn't matter, there were plenty more soldiers, even if Luffy and Zoro held back the majority, while Jinbe dealt with the soldiers' redhaired leader, Sanji's eldest brother. A group of soldiers were swarming so close that it was almost impossible to even make out the Vice Admiral that had cornered them before.
"Why're you attacking us?" the fishman yelled over the din of battle.
"You've got those princesses!" Ichiji simply responded with a smug grin "Now, be a smart pirate and hand them over!"
"We were going to!" Luffy yelled back as he punched a soldier so hard he took down three other enemies that stood behind him "We just had to do something first!"
In the hubbub of soldiers Nami could see the Vice Admiral start to resurface, an equally part angry and determined look on her face as she pushed and showed the Germa soldiers out of her way towards the pirates.
"Then get to it Strawhat!"
"We don't have them here!" Luffy shot back at the redhead prince, who'd just punched Jinbe in the face, the large fishman reeling from the blow.
"You should've brought them then!" the prince grinned back as his hands began to cackle with scarlet energy "You really are an idiot"
"This was more important!"
"Not to Germa" Ichiji levelled his electrified hands at the captain.
The crackling blast never came as Jinbe intercepted the move by throwing the prince over his shoulders which saw him slam into a nearby wall, the bricks cracking under the impact.
The prince himself didn't seem to care about the blow however, as he was soon getting back up on his feet.
But Nami was more concerned about the vice admiral that'd gotten up from the drove of soldiers.
And she looked furious!
Drawing her sword the woman lashed out, striking the Germa soldiers with the back of her blade, sending several flying to the side, winded but alive, before she strode towards the pirates who'd just managed to clear a small circle around them, a grim look in her eyes.
"Hand. Over. Coyle!" she breathed and leveled her sword at the group "And I promise you…." She looked at the group in a mix of anger and confusion "Where is he?"
Nami looked around, Luffy's Uncle was nowhere to be found.
"No matter." The Vice-admiral frowned, but despite her stony faced, Nami could tellt the woman was furious "You can tell me where he's gone while we interrogate you!"
"Is that food?"
In the split second it took for the Vice-admiral to groan and narrow her eyes at Luffy, Jinbe had moved.
Slamming directly into the Vice Admiral, the huge fishman bullrushed her and a dozen soldiers behind her down like a huge haki covered bowling ball. Strike.
"Quickly, get the guy and get out of here, I'll catch up!"
Neither Luffy nor Zoro heeded his words as they instinctively rushed to help him, the swordsman striking down several of Germas soldiers and his captain laying them low with a huge elephant-gun while calling out "Fruncle! where are you?"
Nami (very unwillingly, but even less willing to be a sitting duck for soldiers, Marines and big Mom crew) followed suit and started looking for the wayward smuggler.
She didn't get to look for long as a humongous explosion was heard and the nearest building started to collapse in front of her.
(On the seas)
"Hey, Guy!"
"Don't call him that! Call him captain!" a female voice shouted at the towering man.
"Yes, call me CAPTAIN!" another voice yelled from the bridge, its' owner parading across the deck atop of a horse "And an adequately large number of other beautiful titles!"
The tall man paid neither any heed "We're getting closer to the spot on the map"
His captains' face lit up instantly "Wonderful! I can't wait!" a sword rose high into the sky "Prepare to charge as soon as you spot them!"
The captain turned back to watch the waves, his sword still in the sheath but his hand was going white as he gripped the pommel tightly.
"Just you wait Strawhat… I'll show you!, I'll show everybody!" he roared "ALL OF THEM!"
Behind him, the tall man sighed "Well you're certainly letting it be heard"
Afterwards, the man rubbed the back of his head grumbling that pricky second-in-commands and staff officers shouldn't be allowed to hit each other.
(The plaza)
Luffy saw the building explode, bombarding the plaza with debris, smoke, dust, splinters and glasshards. Those with armament Haki were safe from the shrapnel, but several Germa soldiers weren't as fortunate, leaving them either dead or wounded.
Haki didn't protect against the noise though, and for a moment the entire plaza was deaf.
The Strawhat captain wasn't certain what the others were yelling, but he assumed it was the same as him "Where's Nami?"
The ferocious navigator had been right behind him and now she wasn't. Even to some as unintelligent as Luffy could figure out that it wasn't good a good sign right after an explosion in the same area.
Neither did the battlecry that he heard when the sound finally came back.
"I said: ONWARD FOR THE MARINES!"
(Not far away)
He was vaguely aware that there was an explosion nearby, that there were screams, shattering of glass and concrete and a lot of running feet.
I hope Neffie and his bird are well he mused, before the searing pain in his head came back. He wasn't entirely certain where it came from, but it felt like fury, a ferocious geyser of wrath that was about to burst and crack his head open like a melon.
He didn't want to go blow off on his dear nephew over something he didn't know about yet.
Then there was another jerk in his shoulder towards his suitcase.
He looked at it.
It was nothing out of the ordinary, at least in his smuggling days, the fashion had most likely changed from when leather was classy and good taste, so he guessed it was an outdated old thing by now. But he was glad that he saved old stuff, it was important to hold on to things.
Like his radiant one.
He smiled happily at the thought, as he always did when that one was on his mind.
The greatest thing that ever happened to me…I'm so lucky to…
The pain came back with a vengeance and diverted his thoughts completely and Coyle held his head until the agony began to die down and he could think clearly again. He tried not to mind that the pain had forced to his knees and he got up on shaky legs.
"Damn… what is wrong with me?" he pondered for a moment, then reiterated sheepishly: What WILL be wrong with me?
He frowned as the thesis took form in his head, which rapidly developed into a witch-brew of sadness, wonder and regret bubbling away in his head, threatening to boil over into another painful seizure: Neffie didn't act like he knew me… and that I didn't know about my daughters either… his frown deepened as he realised another thing: of course I wasn't allowed to know those two…the radiant one… the pain came back, the rage spluttering inside his head, the geyser was starting to turn into a volcano… or a Knock Up Stream.
Man, older me really doesn't like me thinking about this at all… he rubbed his chin, but was interrupted as his shoulder jerked again, this time more forcefully and he almost fell over in surprise.
And you really want me to open this old thing huh? He scrambled over to the suitcase as there were more screaming from the plaza, somebody yelling a silly battlecry and whatnot. Marines are so predictable no matter the era it seems…
Even if he didn't think it, Coyle felt a knot in his stomach that told him he was nervous for Neffie and his bird and their two friends, he got the distinct vibe from them they were good people, and he'd met far too few of those on his smuggling runs. He briefly thought it was nice with some of that for a change before the pain howled through his head again, and carrying a baseballbat, a large meathook and a bomb in some third limb with a flamethrower between its teeth.
Hope neffie and bird are doing good… the broiling anger swung the bat within his head, and judging from the ensuing agony it hit his eyes from the back, then the only thing that kept his orbs in place and not flying across the island was the aforementioned meathook, which he presumed his older selfs' anger would use to spit-roast his peepers over the flamethrower if this went on any longer.
How the hell is even my anger smart at planning everything!?
No answer.
Somehow it felt like whatever personality behind the anger appreciated the question, treating it as a light mental exercise. Still didn't explain why he hadn't been around his nephew as he grew up….
Man, I would've had fun with that little idiot, bet he was slow at learning to talk because he kept stuffing his mouth with food he stole from Nando and Fran, Forte wouldn't have talked to him because he didn't know how to flatter him the right way and my kids were playing with their other cousins while their moms chatted and wondered who were the most silly:D
Even the feeling of his eyes being roasted and the bat connecting with the inside of his skull once more didn't take away the joy Coyle's gentle little fantasy gave him, nor the bottomless sadness from being denied that particular scenario with his family, nephew and siblings alike, and his daughters… man that one will take some time getting used too…
For a moment he found it odd the anger wasn't hammering on the inside of his head, but he figured it'd only gone to fetch a cannon that fired cheese graters and acid covered spiked mats or something.
Or perhaps older me isn't pissed at younger me… AAAWWWW CRAP! he held his head and groaned: I was wrong! He stumbled to the side, the cannon shoots mousetraps and poisoned suction cups… on fire!
Eventually the pain became too much and Coyle relented OKAAY! OKAY! I'll go to the blasted suitcase!
The smuggler grunted as he approached the suitcase, which, despite the screams coming off the plaza, the dust in the air, the stench of blood, sweat and black powder, was surprisingly easy and he gleefully flipped the thing over on its' side.
"Now…" he said to himself and smiled expectantly at the lock "Guess you can't tell me what the hell is the code to this bloody thing?"
(The Plaza)
She ducked under the debris as they flew through the air, only later damning her own reflexes as it wasn't necessary.
Gion had eaten a Logia, which made some falling bricks and beams pointless trivial matters to her safety. But that didn't stop it from being a danger to others.
And right now, she needed to prevent her subordinates from firing a cannon at buildings in the middle of a town.
"REDCLIFF!" she shouted angrily at the smoke cloud, his loud yelling of "FOR THE MARINES!" over and over and again made it abundantly clear where he was and who was responsible for the wanton destruction around her. When she found the captain, Captain Jolland right next to him (unsurprisingly), he had just stumbled over the corpse of a Germa soldier, fallen face first into the ground and had managed to grind his face into the cobbles that'd somehow been turned into gravel and sharp-edged rockcubes (Jolland was trying to help him up).
Redcliffs eyes grew wide as he saw Gion's expression. The normally attractive woman's features had turned from disciplined to something demonic. The Vice Admirals' nostrils were flaring, her eyes had become so focussed they could've been used for lenses to light fires by use of moonlight, a fist on the hip trying not to simply fly out and tear the head off the captain, while the other hand gripped her sword so tightly her knuckles were turning white and the rest of her arm would soon follow.
If Vice-admiral Gion was the type to wear a miniskirt, Redcliff wouldn't even have noticed (and if he had he wouldn't have dared to look under it either). Sadly for Redcliff, and Jolland by extension, Gion was definitively the type to punish idiocy and misbehaviour with a number of severe punishments (tales were still told in hushed whispers amongst marine cadets about the lieutenant that had to clear the ships' hull of barnacles with his front teeth for spilling lukewarm coffee on an ensign (with numerous, often racy, variations), and then writing them up for a dirty uniform), and creating chaos in the middle of a town that was being evacuated was unlikely to count as a minor misdemeanour.
Redcliffs' reaction to the very idea of Gions' fury raining down upon him like some twisted and personal divine judgement was natural, at least for him "We saw pirates!"
"So did we! But then there was a big smoke cloud they could hide in!" Gion grabbed him by the scruff and lifted him up so that his feet were dangling over the sundered cobbles "Your little number has just done more harm than good you fool!" she snarled and brought the Captains' head close "Stay put in the hole you just made and make sure no pirates escapes!"
She dropped him on his rump and a small curse escaped his lips as he rubbed the sore spot. Gion didn't bother to admonish him for it and instead turned slight to address captain Jolland "Learn from this: Don't do anything stupid captain"
She turned back towards the loud dust cloud that was dominating the whole plaza, the others present audibly trying to find their comrades while avoiding their enemies, Germa soldiers, Strawhat crew, that stranger in the trenchcoat and the Big Mom crew were all out there, hiding and waiting to be captured for some life sentences in Impel Down. To Gion it was obvious what needed to be done, if not they'd lose every possible chance they had at obtaining justice.
"Right now this whole situation have to come under control" the Vice Admiral stated and without turning
"We were pursuing Hangan the slavelover Vice-admiral" she turned to Jolland, doing the salute to the best of his flappy ability "What were you dealing with here?"
"I've come upon Three groups of opponents" she snarled in return, her lips curling at the thought "5 of the Big mom crew, 4 Strawhats and one associate: Coyle… and the Germa Kingdom doesn't seem to understand they're supposed to be on our side…"
She heard Jolland swallow loudly at the opposition "Should we call for backup?"
"No need" Gion smirked, a rare occurrence given what had transpired "My men are covering one exit, they'll make sure to bar the other road as well… but you two had to make a giant third entry to the plaza…" Gion exhaled angrily, trying to keep her anger (and the trembling need to smack Redcliff over the head with whatever she could find, possibly one of the cannons at the base) in check. She wasn't doing it out of any comradery, it was a simply principle that she wouldn't strike her subordinates no matter what they did (traitors was another thing entirely, but even Redcliff's incompetence didn't mark him as one, yet) "And this smoke screen isn't helping much either"
"How so Vice-admiral?" Redcliff finally managed to stand up and make a useful point for a change "The blasted pirates don't know where anything is right now either"
Gions' shoulders slumped, and she explained exactly why the smokescreen wasn't a plus for anyone.
(In the dust cloud)
Amande scowled.
It was obvious that the marines were idiots. Giving their enemies a giant smokescreen to hide in was an utter case of lunacy at best. True, to a bunch of inexperienced fools it could create panic, but not when the force making the ambush were giving off their own position like a child in a kindergarten a fact that Galette was all too honest about. Amande loved her little sister, she really did, she cared about family and was extremely loyal to it, punishing ANY traitor she came across with extreme and merciless prejudice, a reputation she'd gotten by killing off her pig of a husband almost 16 years ago. But the younger redhead was also mouthy when angered, which could be really annoying in the long run, especially when Galette was snarling this close to Amande, who, like her underlings and sister, were ducking to avoid any stray bullets, just in case the Marines decided to go for another double set of medals in stupidity, inelegant warfare and chaos making.
"I see something"
Amande had a hard time following to where Kato was pointing, but as a large dark shape began to move directly towards them, she knew it'd be a problem. The way that person moved was far too confident and final to be some weakling from the Marines, far too likely to be a danger than most pirates she'd dispatched too. If a storm of steel and murderous intent was sentient, it'd walk in the opposite direction of this stranger.
In fact, it would run like crazy and get a disguise.
"I think it's that guy in the trenchcoat…" she mused and took a whiff on her cigarette, though finding little joy in it, the smoke having little difference in odour compared to the smokescreen they'd been enveloped by "The one that was warning the Strawhats…"
"Given the size of the guy, I think you're correct miss" Kato nodded affirmatively.
"I'm sure you could've found that out yourself Kato" Amande reassured the smaller swordsman, stroking his pumpkin head with a faint reassuring smile "You're very skilled"
"…Thank you miss…" the smaller figure answered hesitantly, seemingly unsure how to respond to praise from one of the older Charlotte siblings. Amande knew it wasn't normal for them to treat homies kindly, especially since a lot of the souls Big Mom harvested from her subjects ended up making sentient food and trees (not to mention other objects, some were ridiculous while others were downright disturbing, case in point: all of the Charlotte children objected to the idea of Homie underwear).
"Please Miss Amande…" Dacquoise pleaded with an infuriated tone not far from her "There's a guy coming towards us…." The winged underling reminded her, before her snarled at Kato with more than a fair share of disgust "And he's just a homie anyway!"
"Quiet." Amandes' voice had turned much harder than it usually were, which meant that Dacquoise got the hint and shut it instantly. Amande was vaguely aware the Galette was smiling appreciatingly, but also giving her sister a befuddled and questioning look. The elder sister knew why, but also knew it would be extremely hard to explain to Galette. After all it was many years ago… and Mama had expressively forbidden it (her exact words at the time were: "It's fine, he's alive now!" and that was basically a very good sign for her children and crew never to talk about it again).
At least Dacquoise is smart enough to not to press the subject….
Then something entered her mind
And Amande looked around with wide eyes and a droplet of sweat running down her temple, the tall woman's voice turning, not by much mind, trembling and unsure
"Where's Durum?"
(Outside the Plaza)
He cursed silently and pressed up against the wall, letting the shadows and dusk hide his presence while the chaos demanded more attention at the moment than, to Hangans' chagrin, his own infamous reputation did.
Those stupide Marines! How dumb can they be?! Hangan looked at the huge hole where there'd been a house a few moments before. He shook his head at the whole situation.
So barbaric, he thought and aimed his riffle at the moving shapes in the smoke, a group that was forming up, wondering if he should take out a marine… or perhaps one of his own almost-allies... with a well-placed bullet right in the head.
He didn't like the idea of allying with Big Mom, but his daughter and crew would be more exponentially more secure under that humongous female glutton than under the other Yonko. Blackbeard and Kaido were both monsters, intent on amassing power and military might like a pair of aspiring dictators for some grand conquest in the future. Shanks didn't make allies, nor did he have subordinate crews, the Redhair crew took care of themselves and their territories and that was it. Big Mom wasn't much better than the first two, but at least she outwardly wanted to abolish slavery, though her own practices amounted to about the same, at least when it came to the normal residents of Tottoland.
Her soul-taxes are crazy… he mused and pulled back his rifle, unwilling to take the risk. If he hit one of Big Mom's children by mistake, he'd be as good as dead. And that was if they caught him in the town. If he escaped, then Big Mom might come for him personally! Or send one of the Sweet Commanders after him. Hangan knew that he had limits and even if he faced the disgraced Snack, he knew he'd be dogfood for sure!
Didn't use to be like that though.
Why'd I have to get older? He grumbled and slid further away from the Marines, if Whitebeard hadn't died I wouldn't be in this damn pickle!
But nothing could've prevented Whitebeards' death… and somewhere Hangan knew that, no one could be the strongest forever or live off their past glories and exploits in retirement, that sort of thing wasn't for proper pirates (even the marines didn't get to rest, just look at Garp and Sengoku). The closest thing pirates or criminals had was Impel Down, the end of a rope or some other form of execution.
Except the Roger Crew, but those guys had always been extremely special anyway and broke the rules as if there'd never been any to begin with.
Then another movement in the smoke caught his eye, it was faint, but he was sure one of the marines were doing something with their arms, raising them up
Got to be that Vice Admiral… he concluded after a quick scan at what looked like a female arm (he wouldn't have been able to spot a more feminine silhouette in the smoke) and then Hangan smiled a rare smile and once more took aim.
And if I'm right then this'll be a great opportunity…
(In the dust cloud)
Off all annoying things that could happen!
First, he'd been delayed on this mission of extreme importance.
Then he'd been forced to beat up some idiotic Marine captain (and not have enough time to kill him!)
After that the entire island had been locked down and he'd thus far been unable to find his target.
Then he'd run into Strawhat and his feeble Navigator, one of which had then then stolen his favourite food!
And I haven't eaten properly in days! he grumbled internally, griting is teeth Evidence lockers shouldn't come without a larder!
He'd been too busy to hunt them because of his much more important mission (How the hell did a fat, ugly, old, scumbag of a man hide so well?!)
Then, when finally he'd have the chance for some fun… watching an old opponent fight and possibly die against another opponent… and everyone had complained about him wanting to extend the entertainment a little, he'd warned the idiot didn't he?
And then, ultimately, that fun had been destroyed by the marines who'd filled the whole area with smoke and noise. Everyone had disappeared and there was no fighting and no doubt the marines had blocked off the exits by now.
So the only fun he could have was wandering through the smoke, kill any stupid Germa soldiers he came across (3 so far, so silently he didn't even hear their last breaths himself) while he searched for a building he could slice up and create an exit route.
Internally, he vehemently denied calling it escaping. That was for other people. He didn't flee. He left when the job was done! (or when he was given a better offer, he never knew when there'd be another good job, assassination was big business, but he liked being able to choose his assignments, it lent him a wonderful feeling of freedom to pick jobs).
And right now, his job was to find and kill his target and let nothing get in his way (conincidentally also his plan post-hit).
The crack of stone alerted him to a nearby opponent, but he still couldn't hope to avoid the powerful arms that wrapped around him, strong enough to squeeze out life from a whale.
Which sounded like a flute being blown by a bellows.
"OI'S GOTCHOU NAOW!" the brute howled so close to his face the scarf he'd worn did little to shield him against the cloud of death emanating from his assailants' maw, telling a tale of decades of bad dental hygiene and a sugar heavy diet, not to mention the buckshot of spittle plastering the scarf, his hat and face.
Is this what death smells like? He thought, realising, as the brute began to Squeeze, that he could not get out of the hold…
That he wasn't strong enough!
And that the brutes' vice grip around his chest very quickly was forcing the air out of his lungs….
(On Dvorak)
Sanji tiptoed through the livingroom, as silent as a gentle breeze.
His targets, Rindo-chan and Marguerite-chan were asleep on the couches, but their guard dog of an aunt was right next to them, snoring but still smoking on her pipe, letting little smokeclouds rise periodically from her mouth.
How can she keep smoking when asleep? Sanji wondered after he'd been startled by the woman's grumbly puffing the little pipe in her mouth
"Gimmemoamead…" the woman grumbled and kept on sucking her pipe puffs of smoke escaping her mouth with each syllable.
Sanji pulled out the piece of cloth he'd brought and put it over their hosts' head.
Then he thought a silent prayer to whatever god was looking over the Other inhabitants of the island, and tentatively snapped his fingers.
And was beyond relieved that Fran didn't stir.
He'd fashioned the noise-cancelling headgear in the event that Fran wasn't as heavy a sleeper as her son. The chef didn't want her to start yelling or give the others commands the second she awoke just because he got a little carried away when he chatted up the Kuja pirates, keeping them company in the dark night.
The chefs' attention was returned to the two women on the couches, and he eagerly approached to side of the blonde one, Marguerite, who'd started to shift and stir on her makeshift bed, the blanket sliding off her slim yet womanly form as the Kuja pirate moved feebly around in her sleep.
If she hadn't been ill, Sanji would've let her keep moving so he could enjoy the sight, though he inwardly damned Chopper for not removing the ladies' clothes (especially their tops, or the lack thereof (even if it was skimpy, it was still an obstruction of his view)) when the doctor had gotten Franky to put them there. So, the chef simply tiptoed over to her side and pulled the blanket tighter over her body. She thanked him with a small content smile on her lips.
Sanji was just about to turn his attention to her darkhaired half-sister when he felt something tug at him.
His heart swelled when he saw it was Marguerite's hand that held onto his pants, lightly, just between her thumb and index finger. The blonde kuja was looking up at him with barely open eyes, a strange void in those two dark orbs, so similar to Rindo's, even the shape too. Sanji could also see the resemblance to their host Fran and even Luffy's by the colour.
But that glint in her eyes made Sanji think about the most recent events, and it churned his stomach in the wrong way.
He'd seen it in Viola's eyes too in Dressrosa, the small hope, as brittle as a glass needle and as vulnerable as an almost burnt out match, that the person would stay with them, even if for a moment, to calm and soothe the nerves and dispel any fear in their heart.
"Thank you…" the kuja managed, her voice gentle low and weak, but only in terms of body, but the spirit were there in abundance.
I can see the resemblance now…. Sanji smiled as he took Marguerite's hand and gave it a slight squeeze of reassurance before he sat down next to her. Even if Fran had awoken then and there he wouldn't have moved from the spot.
"How are you?" he inquired softly as he leaned down close to her face, both allowing Marguerite to conserve as much of her strength as was possible and (almost as importantly as being kind to the Kuja) it let Sanji get that teensy weensy bit closer to her.
"I could be better…" she managed to cough ever so slightly, but she also smiled at him, the confidence he saw before still being alive and well, perhaps even getting stronger.
Perhaps it's something in the blood… Sanji mused for a moment before Marguerite spoke again, voice a bit stronger this time, but still nothing like before that horrible illness took hold.
"What're you thinking about Chef-san?"
"Oh…" he blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his head at her question "I just noted how alike you and Luffy are"
"But…." Marguerite gave him a lopsided look, voice more than a bit unsure "…We don't eat that much meat…"
"Not exactly that…"
"Or are that funny…"
Sanji snickered a little, embarrassed that he didn't know exactly what tell the bedridden woman. He was afraid it'd come off as weird or perhaps too philosophical (Based on Viola's opinion on the Kuja, it might go over their heads), but the next he heard managed to dispel his fears, by giving him a bit more time to weight his words.
"Or that stupid…" Rindo added, now awake, just as weak as her sister, but still as spirited, though not anywhere near as positive, her voice carrying a breath of cynic reality, before she seemingly dozed off again, the small action exhausting what little energy she had. Then again Sanji could have been mistaken and the darkhaired woman had simply responded in her sleep.
"I actually meant you have the same will" he looked at Rindo while he answered Marguerite's question, twisted in his seat to look at their host, the two sisters' aunt, who was still sleeping and smoking at the same time, resembling an old house in the night. No lights, but still a little smoke from the chimney indicating that there was life in there.
"You don't give up" he elaborated and smiled at the young blonde, noting how Marguerite looked over at her aunt with a searching look, part in awe and part in longing. For what, the chef couldn't tell initially, the aunt in question was deeply unpleasant in his view. Her disapproval of Nami being near Luffy was wonderful enough, it drove the two a little more apart which would eventually drive her to his arms to forgive him and confess her feelings for the chef. But that was utterly outweighed by her treatment of everybody else, not to mention that she insisted that he didn't have anything to do with her nieces. But as soon as Sanji stopped thinking with his love of beautiful women and started thinking emotions and using empathy, the answer came to him easily.
"I know how you feel…" he mused and gave the host another look, even as he could feel Marguerites' eyes upon him, silently asking what he meant (he didn't need Haki to know she was looking at him, years of longing for women had given him a sense for the attention of the fairer sex, though he still, much to his dismay, hadn't figured out how to sneeze when one got naked anywhere near him) "Family's a fun thing…"
He waited a moment before he continued "You never quite know where it is… and when you're far away from them… you kind of feel, like they should be there with you and should've been all along" Sanji silently. Even despite his own experiences with Germa, his evil, perfectionist child-experimenting father or his vicious and sadistically condescending siblings, minus his big sister Reiju, all the pain, torture and degradation, Sanji still felt that there should be something there, a sense of familiar loyalty that'd make all the evil they did vanish. He didn't feel that towards his own family, he couldn't, not after all those evil actions they'd committed… and for what? Some old kingdom that wasn't there anymore.
Was that truly worth all those lives lost?
Sanji didn't believe it, he couldn't. He'd grown up with his fathers' warmongering and knew what it meant to see the soldiers that bore the brunt of the fighting looked like after a Victory. To the former Vinsmoke prince, Victory just meant there were more survivors on their side.
"And what did defeat mean?"
Sanji hadn't realised he'd said all that outloud until he heard the softspoken question. It caught him completely off guard and he instantly blushed as red as a pot of cranberries. Then he looked around to see whom had spoken, for while it had been soft, it had still been with more strength than Marguerite could muster, devoid of Rindo's cynical drowsiness and far too gentle to ever have come out of Fran's mouth.
He smiled when he saw whom had spoken, the slender frame almoost obscured by the lack of light in the room, but he could've recognised the speaker on that particular mixed cloves and saffron scent she had "Vivi-chan!" his blush abated slightly, only resting on his cheeks as the bluenette walked closer to him, illuminated by a small candle she lit on the way.
"I thought I'd check up on the sisters" she stood next to him and smiled sheepishly, her eyes shining in the candlelight and "I'm sorry if I interrupted your story"
"It's okay Vivi-chan… I honestly hadn't realised I'd spoken" he rubbed the back of his head and glanced at Marguerite "Sorry if it was… too dark" Sanji swallowed nervously, afraid he'd scared the princess, given what Baroque works and Crocodile had put her country through (an blasted civil war for crying out loud! And the threat of a bombing of it too), he didn't want her to relive those memories ever again.
"It's okay" she waved his worries off and closed her eyes, Sanji guessed she was feeling the need for sleep "You're very kind to tell about your family even if it's a grim story…." She sighed and dozed off, but not before adding "And your voice is nice and sweet…"
Vivi smiled encouragingly at Sanji as he got up, he eyes showing she agreed with the stricken kuja's sentiment.
The moment Sanji felt the two was having was interrupted by a small voice addressing him out of the blue "Chef-san…"
Sanji turned back towards Rindo, who'd managed to regain consciousness on her couch, her dark eyes illuminated by the candleflame. He couldn't help but marvel at how the orbs resembled burning coals in an oven or running treacle that could be spread over pancakes and that Sanji could serve Rindo when she got better (her sister too, and the other women-chans as well).
"I don't think us cousins…" she stopped to catch her breath, and Sanji smiled at the admission that she considered Luffy family, before Rindo began anew "Have the same will as Aunt-san…"
At this Marguerite chimed in "Yeah, Aunt-san is way more bossy than any of us are…"
Both sister giggled feebly at this and the chef couldn't help himself but join them. It didn't take a moment for Vivi to do the same.
"Yeah" Sanji agreed with her, not a shred of sycophancy or even flirting in his soul "Your aunt got all the commanding presence Luffy lacks hehe"
The blonde snickered before she coughed slightly and had to catch her breath again.
"Perhaps we should leave these two to rest Sanji-kun" Vivi advised and gently tugged at his arm "They need their strength for when Nami, Luffy and Zoro-san returns"
Sanji agreed with a silent nod, bid the two kuja a good sleep and led the princess lead out of the livingroom, smiling, both at the chat they'd had, and the look of Vivi's shapely silhouette illuminated by the candle in her hands.
The chef dearly hoped she'd continue sailing with them for a while (or forever).
If they were too many on the Going Sunny (Nami-schwann had complained about them lacking supplies with all the extra women-chans on board) then they could drop/kick (dropkick was a definite option in Sanji's eyes) off mosshead on some island somewhere no other ship would ever sail (why they hadn't done it before entering the Grand Line was beyond his comprehension). That plan had a snatch though, as Sanji had the distinct feeling that the Swordsman's horrible sense of direction eventually would lead him to an island Nami-schwann had pointed out.
But looking at Vivi as she opened the door into the small kitchen where the others had sought refuge, the chef pushed these thoughts aside in an instant. Sanji swallowed as the beautiful play of light coming off the princess' skin and hair, the playfulness in her eyes, the smile on her face, the shine as the light hit the princess's clothes, it's folds and curves, the highlight on her chest and finally the sparkling smiles of Carrot and Rebecca-chan as they spotted the pair through the door (he instantly credited the disapproving look on the pinkhaired womans' face to jealousy (she'd noticed that he was mainly looking at Vivi) though he was perfectly willing to think it was because she wanted him to be with her aunty Viola). Naturally, his grin widened immediately.
I can give the guys less food if it means Vivi-chan will be happy… he smiled and followed the bluehaired princess into the kitchen, pushing the thought of Luffy losing his mind over less meat for him to the far back of his mind (about the same place he put the memories from Momoiro island, whatever Mosshead liked to eat and his family memories).
And although Chopper chewed him out for disturbing the reindeer's patients without good reason (before the little doctor took up vigil at their side once more, employing what he called anti-Sanji equipment to be on the safe side) with Vivi-chan admitting it wasn't wise, the chef worried more about what he was going to feed them later, when Nami-schwaann and the others arrived with that scummy guy.
(The plaza)
It was hard enough to see anything around him due to the smoke, keeping Zoro or Luffy from storming off, one into combat the other to find Nami and his Fruncle, and from yelling at him, was something he quickly found to be an overwhelming task.
All that Jinbe could do was grumble in return as either of the young men protested as loudly as they could.
So glad I put my hands over their mouths the fishman breathed in relief and gritted his teeth when Luffy began to bite his fingers.
It was nothing compared to being dipped in boiling water like back in Impel Down, but the surprise coupled with the sensitivity of his webbed fingers being almost chewed through was still excruciating.
Don't yell, don't yell! he repeated mentally over and over again Don't give off your position until we can get out of this damn smoke! And then Zoro started to emulate his captain.
Oh for the love of ….!? Jinbes' cheeks puffed up and his face turned crimson at the agony of the swordsmans' teeth going into his fingers, Does his damn constant workout include making bubble-gum out of iron bars?! It made an awful lot of sense that the swordsman had good gums to hold his blades, but it wasn't something that Jinbe had ever wanted to experience.
And we had such a nice discussion about what new scars we'd be getting during this adventure! He managed to think before the pain became too excruciating, he could already feel his massive cheeks begin to burst as the scream wanted out of his mouth.
Luck was on his side though, as he noted that there was something that was removing the smoke and letting the air become clearer and giving them more visibility. Which almost meant that they had less cower and would be discovered soon.
Yet when he couldn't keep the howl in any longer, another scream pieced the dissipating smoke.
Turning in the direction, Jinbe was surprised to see that the Big Mom brute, Durum or something, was the screamer.
Considering the spray of dark blood that was erupting from his chest, it was very understandable that the big man was howling in pain. The source was something that Jinbe hadn't expected.
The man in the trenchcoat was standing right infront of Durum and from what Jinbe could see, the wound on the large brute's body corresponded roughly with the shoulder and arm of the trenchcoatman.
The bloody smear on the shoulder definitively pointed in that direction too.
The trench-coat-man stood more than 10 meters away from them, and not far from the man, some 6-7 meters or so, the fishman could see the Big Mom Pirates looked as surprised at the sight as Jinbe felt he did himself.
Durum himself didn't take long to recuperate from the strange attack, his piggish face contorted, his eyes narrowed, he clamped his teeth together, except the humongous ones in front, and withdrew his arm for a piledriver punch.
The trenchcoat-man took a moment and held a hand to his chest and staggered away, Jinbe assumed it was to catch his breath, and didn't see the strike coming.
WHACK!
The punch would've demolished a cannon. Jinbe knew from experience that Durums punches could do that, his jaw remained sore after their brief scuffle earlier (Authors note, That was in chapter 20) and part of him longed to return the favour.
As expected, the man was forced back by the blow, the fedora flying high and revealing a closely shaved head, small strands of grey hair being the only thing that prevented the man from being completely bald.
The former shichibukai stared at him for less than a split-second, all thoughts of pained fingers forgotten, mostly because his two charges were as surprised to see the man as Jinbe were.
All three recognised the man instantly.
The voice should've been the first hint, but it had been some time since last they'd met, neither Jinbe nor Luffy had seen the huge man since Marineford after they'd broken out of Impel Down. The fishman vaguely remembered the man getting cut down during the battle, but he'd obviously gotten better.
The cold expression, big lips and unibrow expelled any doubts who they were dealing with.
Regardless, his presence there was neither expected nor currently wanted.
As such, instead of the howl of pain he'd expected, Jinbe yelled at the assassin:
"What the hell are you doing here ?!"
(Tottoland, The rebuilding of Whole Cake Plateau)
Smoothie sighed deeply. The last few days had been insufferable.
With Mama still ill from whatever it was Strawhat had fed her, some foolish, and now also very dead, pirate and marine captains had thought that Tottoland was an easy target.
Don't the realise that the Crew still have all the sweet commanders?
With some of the most powerful non-yonko pirates on the same crew in one country it should be an obvious death sentence to challenge them. Somehow the On Air crew (flying Kaido's colours, they'd escaped before half their numbers were wiped out), the Germ Pirates (Cracker found them particularly disgusting) or Amber Pirates (whom Smoothie had never even heard of) didn't get that simply piece of logic.
But the increased attacks were starting to take its toll and the populace was starting to get affected. Even her own 100% island was starting to get nervous.
The 14th daughter of the Charlotte family grumbled under her breath. Fighting was one thing to being in power she could handle, it was easy and straightforward (most of the time), it was unexpectantly harder to address her charges' fear when they were too scared to talk about it themselves. Under her last visit Smoothie had heard the sound of mothers hushing their crying babies and rushing away, fearing that another attack was imminent rather than Smoothie simply checking up on the island. Normally they'd bow respectfully, smile in appreciation for the protection she offered, kids would point in awe at her…
Well I am a looker:) Smoothie shrugged with a small confident smile playing upon her lips and continued down the partially demolished corridor, the glum thoughts returning swiftly.
The kids would talk about becoming members of the crew one day, fighting for their homes and not have to give part of their souls to Mama. But now… Smoothie could imagine those same gutsy children trembling in their beds dreaming of going to one of the blues where there were less mad pirates baying for their blood and no evil World Government to steal all their money.
But those thoughts had to be put on hold when she entered Mama's private quarters. Naturally, they'd been some of the first parts rebuilt, especially after Mama's… incident, it had been deemed important that she was in a familiar environment. And what better than her own bedroom?
The massive doors were guarded by some of her own siblings and they greeted her when she came closer, neither moving much. To protect Mama when she was bedridden was an impressive position, but it was also one that was tremendously boring, because who'd be insane enough to attack a sick Yonko? Sadly, it was a long list, but one which they fortunately had and kept meticulously close tabs on each and every person on it.
"Hi big sis!" Poire greeted her happily, her metal teeth had her face stuck in a semi constant smile, but when you knew her long enough you could tell when it was genuine. Right now, it was a 50/50 smile, she was being kind and also happy to see her, but it was laced with a nervous hope for what had brought the Sweet Commander to Mama's bed. The younger woman didn't hold the questions back, preventing their elder brother from being heard.
"Who was it this time? Marines, pirates or some little stupid country? Did you get hurt? Did any of ours get hurt? Have you heard from anyone? Was it Galette and Amande-nee?"
"Relax!" Smoothie raised a large hand to silence the younger woman "Your jaw might dislocate again"
The redheaded woman with the pandacap rubbed her cheek gingerly, Smoothie assumed she felt a pang of phantom pain in her mouth "Why'd you remind me of that? It hurts like hell just to think about it!"
While their elder brother scolded Poire for the language, Smoothie formulated an answer that'd satisfy Poires' incessant inquiries (preferably before there came more of them).
"It was some little country, no one got hurt severely and Yes, I have indeed heard from Galette and Amande-nee" she paused, expecting another string of questions, but, as he had also anticipated this, Daifuku held a very firm hand over their little sisters' motormouth, preventing her from saying anything. The only sound that came out of her mouth was grumbling and then grumbling that sounded like questions, complaints and most likely more harsh language.
"They said they've found Strawhat and is trying to deal with him"
"THEY WHA-OOUUUUWOOUUUOOWOOUWWWHUHU!" Daifuku began angrily, as Poire bit down hard on his fingers.
"ARE THEY OKAY? How may troops are we sending to aid them? When do I leave? Have they packed enough weapons? I knew we shouldn't have sent just the two of them there! Why'd you only send an idiot, a winged pervie and a damned slow homie to aid them? It can't possibly be enough against Jinbe! What are…"
Twack!
As soon as Smoothie had registered what Poire had said about Kato, her hand had slapped the redhead across the cheek instantly. Not hard enough to knock her out, or even dislocate her metal dentures (which fortunately was extremely hard to do), but hard enough to be felt for a while.
While Poire rubbed her reddening cheek, Smoothie composed herself enough to apologize "You know I love you little sister, but I don't want you to talk about Kato that way!" Smoothie sternly told her younger sibling "Yeah" grunted Daifuku through the pain as he shook his hand to get some feeling back into his mangled fingers, giving Pooire the stink eye before he began to give some backstory for the oblivious little sister of theirs "He's a good kid, it ain't his fault that…"
A rumble from within Mama's bedchamber stopped the trio from bickering further, they all knew what'd come next:
"CAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?" Big Mom complained/demanded of her children and subjects, the difference was minimal to the matriarch of the Charlotte family, but whichever heard the command had better obey it or risk Mama's anger. And most could hear it when the Yonko's voice had drowned out foghorns and cannon fire (not to mention the crash of a ship she'd thrown down hard on a hostile vessel) during her cravings.
The next sound was ana ll too familiar rumble from the opposite direction of Mama's bedroom.
Smoothie had just enough time to step to the side and save Poire from being run over by a train of confectionary filled carts aiming straight for Big Mom's waiting maw. Afterwards she put her metal-jawed sister down and they helped up Daifuku who hadn't been so swift.
Before Smoothie entered Big Mom's bedchambers she gave a very hurried consolation to Poire "They've made allies and aren't dealing with all the Strawhats and their Allies are Hangan and Blondie"
She closed the door swiftly to avoid another barrage of questions, the last thing she heard was Daifuku chewing out Poire for all her latest infractions, fingerbiting, language, calling people damn, interrupting Daifuku himself with reckless Fingerbiting, not respecting her older siblings enough (if at all), not retaining her selfcontrol, almost giving orders to a sweet Commander, letting him get run over….
Smoothie didn't doubt that Daifuku would come up with more on the fly and she dearly wished she could stay to hear it all, her older brother always had some farfetched accusation so he could blame others when things went wrong. Food late: It was Nougat that'd halted the server, reports not forthcoming: Wafers had told the scribes to do something else, candytaxes not as big as they should be: Flampe had tried to bribe one of her older siblings with it, most likely Katakuri (the list could be extremely long and was almost unique to each of their younger siblings, not always unwarranted).
Besides, even bickering siblings were a hundred times better than dealing with a peckish Mama, who even after consuming 4 trucks of sweets, still wanted more:
"CAAAAAAAAAAAKE!"
When that sort of thing came from a toddler, it was bratty and could even be cute,
But when it came from Big Mom it was basically a death threat for anyone within earshot.
Smoothie swallowed and stepped forward ready to address her mother.
She'd been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed that the doors had swung open again and was promptly floored by a regiment of bakers carrying four types of chocolate Devils' food cake (Each type compromising 4 layers of 58 kilogram each) and an 8 wagon caravan hauling caramelised gooseberries that rolled after them.
(The plaza)
"Oh come one…" she breathed as she saw who the huge man was.
Of all the rotten luck!
"Nami!"
The navigator turned towards the voice, relieved that she'd been spotted by Luffy and not one of the Big Mom pirates first, one of whom, thanks to the call, unfortunately had noted her too. The pumpkin headed pirate was pointing at her and trying to alert the large blue woman with the big blade and nasty attitude.
Nami didn't fancy getting in that one's claws again.
That cold, evil hand! The navigator shivered as she recalled their first meeting in Tottoland and instinctively zipped up her black jacket, not that it'd stop the blue harridan, Nami was certain that behind those cold eyes dwelled a full on pervert (which made her convinced that Sanji would've had a rather good relationship with her, that is, if the chef had married Pudding and Big Mom hadn't wanted to kill the entire Vinsmoke family).
The big guy in the trenchcoat had seen her too, she could feel it in the hairs at the back of her neck. Her nakama had seen him too, Jinbe reacted with surprise, Luffy was squinting (no doubt not recognising the man) and Zoro… Nami swallowed at the expression the swordsman produced, she knew it'd make the entire situation worse. The swordsman's entire face was dominated by a huge, exhilarated, bloodhungry smile (part of her could swear his teeth were high-fiving the lips).
Nami instinctively sprinted as fast as she could towards Jinbe and their captain, feeling relative safety behind the trio, while Zoro saw an opportunity and made full use of the former shichibukai being temporarily distracted to get out of his grip.
She was thankful that the smoke was coming back, it might provide them with some cover, but then she noticed what else was in the air.
Petals.
Blasted little pink-white petals dancing in the air!
That Vice-admiral is still out there!
"We've got to get going!" Nami looked around, trying to figure out what to do next, her eyes settling on the scared man in the trenchcoat, hoping for dear life he wasn't there for her crew (or remembered that she and Luffy had stolen his dinner) "Why's he here?" she pointed at the man with a finger, she didn't know whether or not it was from stress or fear, considering her last few days both were possible, especially the former.
Jinbe shrugged "Dunno, but it could be a huge help"
"I wanna fight him again"
"Shut up Zoro!" both the fishman and navigator responded sharply, though neither seemed to get through to the swordsman, who was flexing his fingers over the swords in his hands, gingerly hoping for a good fight. The one in his mouth though…
"Is…is he licking the handle?" Nami managed nervously, the last thing they needed was for one of them getting caught up in bloodlust and ruin everything, it was bad enough the marines could be charging them at any moment and that the Big Mom pirates would attack too, not to mention all the other crews in the town that were working for them.
"…Better not ask too many questions" Jinbe responded "At least not him" he nodded at their greenhaired nakama who was looking intently at the man in the trenchcoat. Jinbe followed Zoro's gaze and his expression grew more serious and decisive "But he…" he nodded at the newcomer "Is fair game"
He took a step forward the tall imposing man, making sure neither Luffy, whom he was still holding onto (and Nami was urgently telling to stay quiet, more than once contemplating pulling at his elastic tongue and tying the muscle in a bow around his throat like a necktie, and regretting not having done it before… all that food lost!) nor Zoro would do something insanely bold, stupid and awesome which make the whole precarious situation become chaotic and completely unpredictable.
"Hello there…" Jinbe greeted the man casually "It's been a while"
The trenchcoat man shook his head one more time, squinted at the larger fishman and his deadpan expression returned, at least around the eyes, the mouth still looked like it was going to scowl at them and erupt into a battlecry.
Yeah as if that'd happen Nami pressed her lips together as she remembered the first time she'd met the assassin in Alabasta two years ago.
Meanwhile Jinbe began his line of questioning.
"What are you doing here Mr. One? Still working for Crocodile?"
The assassin didn't say a word, in fact, he barely reacted to the question, the only change that came upon him, was that his eyes narrowed and the unibrow began to take a vague V-shape.
Almost nothing gave away any hint of emotion or intention and for a moment, no one were certain that he was even alive.
Luffy began to open his mouth, his voice taking on an accusatory tone, but he never got to finish a word as the assassin moved to strike!
(Outside the plaza)
Hangan looked at the figures at the edge of the smokecloud, now another person had joined them and was trying to make them do something, but the most lithe one wasn't having any of it.
Must be the Vice-admiral he mused and crept closer, trying to remain as unnoticeable as possible. He couldn't deal with a whole platoon of marines on his own, not with the Vice-admiral present. He didn't have the bullets to counter a Logia user, and he never got good enough with armament Haki to imbue ranged weaponry with it.
The lithe one seemed to be concentrating on something, small pieces of… whatever it was, was coming off her cloak.
Must definitely be the vice-admiral… those are her petals, but what the hell is the girl doing? He asked himself before he heard her say something, loud enough that even he could hear, and he was standing quite a bit away. If he got any closer, he was certain that he'd be noticed, all higher officers in the Marine could use Haki, and the observation type was a must for anyone that wanted to survive in the New World. Without it, you might as well be dead.
Good thing Snakenecks are hard to track with that he smiled, silently thanking his ancestry for that particular feature, which sadly meant that his people had also been enslaved for many dark, grim and miserable years.
Those blasted Devil Tribers got lucky with their deals with the World Government! he frowned, remembering how disgusted he'd been when he found out those demon look-a-likes constituted most of Impel Downs staff and officers, including the former Chief Warden Magellan.
Brushing those thoughts aside, Hangan focussed on what the Vice-admiral was saying, fortunately, he wasn't the only one that'd been inattentive, as one of the Vice-admiral's original companions sneered at the newcomer.
"What the Vice-admiral said Commodore Durkey!" a shrill voice began, the words containing more than a simple death threat, but somehow managed to cram the implication of a whole kangaroo court to judge on everything from minor misdemeanours to downright terrorism and genocide into it, and, should Durkey choose to blab more, then he wouldn't have a change for a hearing since he'd be dead anyway. Hangan was disappointed when the angry voice was immediately silenced by a large marine put a hand over the speakers' mouth. Despite the loud muffled protests of the original speaker, a much more mellow voice could be heard "Sorry about Cliffy's tone, he's a bit high strung these days, too many pirates about you know, erh" the new speaker cleared his throat "The Vice-admiral said she could sense that something was going on in the smoke… some sort of wind erupting or something…"
"Exactly Captain Jolland" Gion glowered at him, a little satisfaction settling in her tone. Hangan wasn't in doubt it was because at least one of her subordinates could remain civilized. Hangan didn't blame Cliffy, the infamous pirate captain had heard about Commodore Durkey and it wasn't anything good. He wasn't strong in anyway or known to be even halfway decent at his job, but he'd eaten a devilfruit that made him useful for the marines and, while much could be said about their organisation, they didn't let people go to waste. Hangan vaguely remembered a marine with the most silly devilfruit ever, who'd still managed to become a captain…. Sharing-a-guru or something like that. Not to forget that the World Government had had the rare good idea to offer Buggy the Clown the rank and privileges of a Shichibukai.
Admittedly, Hangan hadn't seen the clown take any of the major players down at Marineford, but he'd survived a battle against Mihawk and that counted for a lot in the New World.
Forcing his mind back to Durkey, the snakeneck pirate captain, pursed his lips and gazed at the hunched figure, remembering the stories of torture and making pirates disappear from the occasional survivor. Not to mention that Durkey had a knack for survival, rear admirals and vice-admirals would take charge, and die on the front lines, but Durkey would go on to serve some other Hangan, it reeked of cowardice, or perhaps that was just the simple posture the man kept.
Then something else caught Hangan's attention.
Another figure was walking through the smoke, and not in the way a warrior would do it, this person was cautious in the way that they didn't want to get discovered and wanted to use it to flee. Hangan had seen enough thieves and fleeing slaves to recognise the walk on sight. He could tell the person was looking for something in the smoke but didn't want to attract attention of any kind.
Which was hampered quite a bit by the suitcase the person was hauling along.
(The Plaza)
Amande gritted her teeth as she intercepted the attack.
From what she could tell of the unibrowed man, he wielded some sort of bladed glove, which connected with her own blow with a loud
K-Ching! The sound made her grind her teeth.
If it had connected, Durum would've been decapitated instantaneously! The brute had moved towards the trenchcoated man, no doubt wanting to return the favour of wounding him. Good thing for him that Amande was faster than he was. She could feel the strength behind it as her own strike struggled to connect with the man's torso. Though it wouldn't have affected Durum's intelligence to lose his head, his ability to take orders would be somewhat impeded.
Amande remembered once in particular when someone didn't obey the Yonko immediately, and it had cost them… and the family, dearly!
But that wasn't what she had to be thinking about, but the little odd man with the ridiculous face in front of her.
Or tall… Amande guessed her opponent, this Mr. One, was tall when compared to normal people. But to her, he was just another smallfry that needed to be dealt with, whatever reservations the Knight of the Sea had about fighting him.
The swordswoman didn't care about that, the man was an opponent that'd been getting on her nerves for a while: He'd warned Strawhats' swordsman, been extremely rude in the process and finally attacked one of the few comrades she had on this damned island! If he'd attacked Galette or another of her siblings she'd have cut up the entire town to punish him properly!
She kicked him in the stomach, catching him enough by surprise to both put a bit of distance between them and create an opening for her to slash at his unprotected side.
He didn't dodge,
For a brief moment she thought he was a slowpoke, especially considering her own sluggish fighting style (which several of her siblings continued to give her grief about, "Why don't you slash a bit faster Amande-nee?", "Big sis please cut the cake faster, Mama is going to be angry!" or "Little sister… if you don't hurry up that Marine won't be dead until after Big Mom has found One Piece!") then her strike connected with his rips with another loud
T-Ching!
Amande stood stunned when she realised her attack had no effect. Both during her training and the Big Mom crews' constant battles against... pretty much everybody in the New World, she'd cut through enough steel and rock and wood and flesh to be able to know the difference in hardness without mulling over anything, but somehow, this guy was harder than any of that! It felt like striking diamond. She knew Diamond Jozu from the Whitebeard crew was still kicking somewhere in the New World, so what the hell was going on?
And what was worse, Amande realised as the man drew his arms back: her momentary surprise had given this Mr. One an opening!
He lunged straight at her head.
In the split second before it hit, Amanda could see how outstretched fingers turning into sharpened, multy-edged blades, 5 screwdriver-shaped knives coming straight at her face that'd no doubt leave one humongous lethal hole in her head when it connected.
She quickly twisted her long neck to her left and the attack failed to connect, at least with her head.
I'm going to need a new set of earrings she thought with a scowl, right before she kneed the man in the gut, thankful that it seemingly hadn't the same qualities as his fingers and ribs.
The man coughed at the unexpected attack, bending over ever so slightly as he regained his breath, which enabled Amande to make another strike at the man. She concentrated, and her Meito blade became black with Haki.
She was going to cut that bladeskinned baldy into…
"Amande-nee! Wait!"
The towering woman turned her head slightly at her sister's yell "In the middle of something here!"
"That's Daz Bones!" Kato yelled back at her "Sir Crocodile's right hand servant..thing…man… he works for him!" the homie gave up finding the right word and just waved his arms at the Big Mom officer, hoping he could stop her from slicing up her opponent.
"Remember when we discussed that guy?" Galette chimed in (Authors note, that was in the epilogue of the previous fic) not taking her eyes off the bald assassin as if her fixation would petrify him.
It didn't.
Naturally
Killers tended not to stop simply because they'd been spotted.
They struck!
(Just outside The plaza)
"Please tell me my nephew haven't dated you too" Coyle said, a note of worry in his voice and more than a tang of disappointment, as he regarded the Vice-admiral who stood before him, Gion's eyes looking furiously at the smuggler, a hand holding her swords so tightly it was shaking. If she'd drawn it, she knew the creature in front of her would be dead before the blade had parted the monstrous head from his body.
"You're just trying to distract me again!" she simply responded to the man's incoherent nonsense, remaining calm and collected, despite how much she wanted to cut the man down for his crimes. As he refused to shut his mouth, that became exponentially harder.
"You sure about that? I'm pretty sure neffie is, despite being dumb as a stump, a ladykiller without knowing it, just look at the birds that's on his crew already and all those princess birds that're sailing with them these days"
"That's just a coincidence that the Strawhats have found the missing princesses" a hunchbacked marine next to Gion piped out, pointing an angry finger at the smuggler "They're prisoners!"
"Could you imagine Strawhat Luffy taking prisoners? I Sure can't and I've just met the little twit" Coyle gave the marine a look that all but spelled out: are you an idiot too?
"Stop changing the subject!"
"Let me consider that one for a moment…" Coyle scratched his chin in obvious mock contemplation, he got to do it exactly twice before Gion's fist slammed into it and sent him tumbling over cobbles and debris.
"Vice-admiral!" the captains' protested "At least leave him alive for the interrogators"
"Bird, that hurt!" the smuggler complained a moment and rubbed his jaw "And my headache is even worse now, do you have any idea what…." the smuggler howled in pain and landed on the ground clutching his head in pain.
"Stop playing Coyle" the Vice admiral snarled at him "We're not going to fall for your tricks"
"Vice-admiral…" Jolland began, a worried note in his voice "I don't think the guy's faking this" he was on the verge of putting down his rifle and go help the man "I've had a lot of headaches recently, so I know when it's real and this one look really bad"
"What could you possible get headaches from?!" Redcliff began with a raised eyebrow, to which Jolland could only feign an innocent look and not answer him out of politeness.
"Shall I make him stop?" the marines' eyes turned to the shortest amongst them, though that was more based on extremely bad posture than height, the man in the green tuxedo with the marine-cloak was rubbing his hands gleefully against each other, his simian face contorted in a wicked smile as he contemplated the possibilities.
"That won't' be necessary Commodore Durkey"
"But, Vice-admiral" the commodore pleaded, crooked smile still on his face, trying to ingrate himself with his superior, but the small bead of sweat that ran down his temple spoke another language "I just want him to stop being such a pain!" he gestured to the smuggler "He's just going to be mouthing off for hours on end! That's better saved for interrogation in a cell!" he gave the smuggler an angry look, who was looking at him with befuddlement. Durkey just went on with a small carnivorous smile "I can't wait…"
Gion was silent for a moment, pondering her subordinates' reasonings "Yes… the base" she balled her fist and looked up the hill, the fortress that crowned the isle standing "I have questions about that crazy blast earlier…"
"B-blast?" the commodore repeated, confused or nervous, it was hard to tell with him.
"The Cannonball from before had to be ordered by someone!" She explained "There could be more…" While Durkey looked ever more jittery, Gion stroked her chin, ignoring the looks either captain gave the commodore.
Somebody else noticed it instead.
"Wonder whose head's gonna roll? My bet it's-"
Durkey immediately smashed a fist into Coyle's jeering face, preventing him from coming up with another smart remark. Gion didn't stop him.
That smuggler needs to shut up anyway… she waved off the scenario, more concerned with the mystery of the barrage. But she also reasoned that, as Durkey continued to batter Coyle, it was better to kee an eye on the smuggler than on dissent in her own ranks.
Durkey grabbed Coyle by the collar and shook him rigorously.
The smuggler cringed as the commodore got up in his face "Oh PLEASE NO! DON'T! MERCY!" Coyle pleaded and tried to turn away but the two marine captains held him down "You're even uglier up close!"
The commodore backhanded him roughly across the face, a lip splitting at the impact "Silence!" he leaned in closer "You will tell me-US" he corrected himself rapidly, a hint of panic in his voice "Everything!"
The commodore breathed excitedly, before adding a hasty (and excited) "Later."
"What's in it for me?" the smuggler responded bluntly and spat a wat of blood next to the marine's shoe, his face shining with a strange brew of defiance, confidence and a bit of mockery. Gion reckoned that it was the expression of a veteran of underworld brokering.
"Not being in pain" the commodore responded a condescending smile spreading across his mirthful face "Not going to Impel Down for…." He looked questionably at the vice admiral who pinched the bridge of her nose and opened the sluice gates for how much she despised their newly acquired prisoner, her tone dripping with venom and getting progressively faster as she went "He's a smuggler, a thief, a no-good marauder, scum, murderer, ter-"
"Those I've killed was in self-defence!" the smuggler protested through a bloodied mouth at the Vice-admiral before Durkey backhanded him again.
"You speak when spoken to!" he admonished the man, getting up in his personal space again, Coyle recoiling from the man, cringing, though whether because he feared another blow or it was the Commodore's breath was impossible to tell "And now you've got blood on my hand!" Durkey scowled menacingly at the smuggler "I'll have to teach you a lesson for that!"
"Commodore Durkey" The Vice-admirals' tone cut through to the man, drowning out any arrogant need for respect with sheer cold sternness, the man might as well have been struck with an icebreaker thrown by Big Mom "You need to get back on track"
The bound man raised an eyebrow at the Commodore, still not showing much fear for the marines as he shook his head and made a face, disgusted for sure but also with a strange empathy "Man…for some reason you're starting to remind me of Hoodie"
"Who?" the Commodore managed before The Vice Admiral's tone was heard again, this time not cutting but hammering the man down like a nail through a marshmallow.
"Rear Admiral Aurelious Hoodie was a marine in charge of dealing with notorious figures in the Underworld" she looked down at the Commodore who was starting to realise he'd be safer if he'd cartwheeled through a minefield instead of being ignorant around the Vice-admiral again "He was particularly concerned with the threat The Fruit Merchant posed to the World Government" she gestured so stiffly to the restrained smuggler in front of her that none of the three officers present could misunderstand it as anything else than polite anger that was barely being held back "And The late Rear Admiral hounded this smuggler relentlessly before cornering him at Bald King's Hill" she glared at the smuggler who could only give her a rare confused look in return. It did nothing to improve her mood.
"Another good man whose death you caused." The Vice-admiral sneered at the bound smuggler, fighting to keep her calm and not simply execute him where he stood. The Fruit Merchant's expression began to change, from honest confusion to an annoyed and tired I'm-going-to-have-to-set-things-straight-for-you-aren't-I-you-sad-little-idiot? expression, which, from ancient times to present day, remains universally known by every semi intelligent individual on the planet who'd ever had the misfortune to be forced to explain why the world is indeed round and not flat, a rhombus or banana-shaped.
"First off bird" Coye began, his tone silencing any retort the Marines might've had by sheer force of authority (Marines, even deranged, lazy, arrogant or righteously furious ones, regardless of rank, has an ingrained respect for a suitably commanding presence, and it translated surprisingly well from a smuggler to law enforcement) "Hoodie, a good man? Sorry to burst you little hero-worship bubble" He shook his head hitherto in mockery at the woman in front of him "But he wasn't like that" the smuggler rolled his eyes disapprovingly, an unfamiliar expression of sadness coming over his features as he continued with a tone which was both contemplative, reminiscing and regretful "I've heard a lot about Hoodie over the years, before I ever even met the guy! He was an ass through and through, on and off duty" Coyle elaborated with an outraged expression on his face, which managed to perfectly mirror the look on the Vice Admiral's own. The irrevocable fact that she could beat him to death, didn't stop him from continuing for even a moment "Second: Why'd I ever need to kill him?" the marines gave him confused stares, which quickly turned to stunned anger when the smuggler concluded "Hoodie was an incompetent, self-centred, glory hound. That bastardly scumbag only cared about his next promotion and wasn't ever even able to harm my livelihood in the slightest!" Coyle straightened up and met the angry eyes of Vice Admiral Gion eyes unflinching as he concluded his critique of the fallen Rear Admiral "Even if Hoodie had proper marine backing, worst he could've done was mess up one of my runs!"
The crack of fists should've told Coyle that the Vice Admiral in front of him was running out of patience and was about to slug him again. The smuggler listened, and did not heed the warning.
"Bird, if that's the best you can do to intimidate me, I'm going to go back and piss off Big Mom's daughters some more" He sounded insulted and Gion was just about to throttle him when he added yet another insult to the vast repertoire "At least that redhaired bird looks like she knows how to use her devilfruit!"
Gion lost it.
(In the smoke)
Ichiji coughed and showed the soldier that had kept him upright away, if the clone had expected gratitude he was surprised to be met with a smouldering curse and a stinging backhand across his masked face.
Not that it mattered to his master what a clone would ever expect.
"I don't need any help!" the redhaired prince snarled and tripped on the uneven terrain, landing him face first in the clone's chest.
The only thing that kept Ichiji from executing the clone for his mistake, was that he needed the clonepower for dealing with the pirates. A quick headcount of the few troops he had left, told him he had less than a dozen of the regiment he'd brought along for his trip to town.
If I'd known they were this incompetent and weak I might as well have brought a legion! Then again, those stupid pirates just got lucky that's all! The redhaired prince told himself and that Vice-admiral just couldn't understand who was the one in charge here! Not some chick with flowerpowers but a real royal prince! Him!
He turned to the one he'd struck "get a messenger to the harbour I want the other regiments to start roaming the streets, if they find any pirates, they're to shoot them immediately!"
"But sir…" the clone saluted him "What about the ship? If no one's there to defend it then…"
"If it's lost then so be it! We can commandeer another as easy as executing insubordination, got it?" Ichiji told the clone with a grinding malice, fully meaning every word.
The soldier saluted instinctively, and the redhead turned around and led his men into the smoke once more.
Knowing that whomever he ran into first would regret it.
(Outside the plaza)
Hangan gulped when the Vice Admiral drew her blade and raised it to strike at the man in front of her. The pirate captain didn't know him, but anyone that was against the marines were okay at some level.
The pirate captain had just enough time to aim his rifle at the woman.
The shot rang true across the street and Hangan was relieved to see that he hadn't missed his target.
By much at least.
The bullet caught the Vice-admiral in the arm and forced her to stagger forward and drop her sword with a surprised yelp.
Hangan was very disappointed to note that the woman had avoided any permanent damage, possible employing Haki as soon as she heard the gunshot. Clutching her lower arm, the Vice-admiral seemed to only suffer momentary pain and soreness.
However, the shot was enough for the marines to get into alert mode, the two captains hurried to stand in front of the Vice-admiral, making certain she was shielded from another attack and keep a look out for any more attackers. Hangan was almost amused to see that the fourth marine had thrown himself down on the ground and was crawling away.
Which the kneeling figure that the Vice-admiral had almost struck had capitalized on and was sneaking off as quietly as possible. Still with that big suitcase.
Hangan's mouth dropped open as something rammed into the man and sent him flailing into the smoke with a very surprised "What the hell?!"
(Tottoland)
Fire all over.
That's what it felt like.
It gradually turned in a dull throbbing pain running across her skin. Smoothie's hips, thighs, ribs, torso, knees, calves, arms and the side of her head was harangued by this feeling.
This banging soreness.
As if she'd just been trampled by a crush of Rhinos with steel covered high-heels and each dragging a triple-bladed plough behind them, just for the hell of it.
That was what it felt like after the bakers had retreated out of the room again, trampling her completely one more time for good measure. Smoothie estimated she must've been kicked a thousand times in her life, but the indignity of being stomped all over her body made it worse than just being caught in a battle. That the bakers had apologized profusely as they fled the bedroom had taken some of the sting off of it though. It reminded her they were good people… just very scared.
They didn't want to be anywhere near Mama when another food urge hit her. Thinking of her older brother Moscato made Smoothie understand it all too well, after trying to stop Mama, who had taken numerous decades form his lifespan, the poor guy only had a few precious years left with his siblings and children (and her darling little niece and nephews deserved better than only having their father until they were teenagers). With that in mind it was strange that the bakers were even still on the same hemisphere as Big Mom. The day some scientist invented a ship that could go to the moon, the bakers would invade wherever it was, steal the prototype and take it on a maiden voyage, even if it crashed into the sun, or the Red Line itself.
"Want help little sister?"
Smoothie gratefully took the hand Perospero offered her and let him help her up. Her eldest brother wasn't as tall as her (or as physically strong), so she didn't get that far up, but enough to be balanced and stand straight on her own.
"Thank you" she nodded with a slight groan and the siblings approached the opulent bed that dominated the room, itself dominated by the corpulent form of Big Mom in her nightgown and sleeping cap, who was also very enthusiastically dominating a huge cake with a gusto that a sick woman should not be able to muster.
"Mama seems to be getting better" Smoothie half groaned, and half mumbled as they got nearer, relieved that her soreness was gradually going way. Perhaps it was because her body instinctively knew that she might have to run for her life and couldn't allow Smoothie to stay around in case Mama got one of her moods.
"Indeed, her appetite has returned in masse as of late… I think she's trying to make up for lost teatime" Perospero responded, a note of satisfaction in his voice, but also bewilderment over the rate their mother was devouring the cake, cookies and bonbons, and then calling for more tea a moment later.
The pair, having learnt a valuable lesson, quickly stepped aside as another wagon entered, bearing not only a huge steaming cup but a similarly big teapot. It was then that mama noticed the two.
"Well what is it?" she thundered, showering the two with a combination of crumbs, tea and a revolting moist, mushy mixture of the former two and corrosive yonko saliva. For this reason, many of her underlings had petitioned Big Mom to make reinforced umbrellas standard equipment over the years, over the much more impractical teaspoon and cakefork combination, but the pleas had gone unheeded (or been viciously, and literally, crushed underneath mama's size 200 slippers, it depended fully on whether or not the malcontents asked before or after Mama had had her post-breakfast snack (which itself was actually a full three course dinner)).
Thankfully for the two, Perospero's candy powers were an adequate substitute for the umbrellas and much cheaper to produce.
"We've come to report Mama, there's been a…" Perospero began as he ducked under the rapidly disintegrating mass of sugar, which he quickly flung off to the side, careful as not to hit any of Big Mom's belongings with it and more importantly, his sister Smoothie (who herself took special care not to let her hair get stuck in it).
"Is the candy tax late?" the humongous woman interrupted her firstborn, almost as if by reflex or animalistic instinct "Go burn a city or something" Big Mom waved her hand at Smoothie and Perospero, the crumbling leftovers from her cake raining down upon them "That'll teach 'em to not be so selfish all the time!" she sipped her tea, a small smile creasing her face.
"No, it's about the most recent attacks on our borders" her eldest child corrected her gently, earning a happy grin in response "Good! I can get the candy faster then" the Yonko looked around, a hopeful twinkle in her eyes as she scanned the room "Where's the cookies?"
The chefs panicked and scampered off as fast as they could, but Big Mom had already sicked Zeus on them. A few moments later, after the ZZAPP and screams had died down, the smell of electrocuted humanoids swiftly filled the bedroom.
"That'll teach them" Big Mom took a sip of her tea "Can't have that kind of selfishness around here" she held up a huge finger, her expression reminiscent of a stern schoolteacher teaching the whole world a new and valuable lesson that'd save its' life multiple times over "NOT when there's sweets involved."
Neither of the siblings said anything before Big Mom told them to, her mood could obviously be a bit volatile at the moment.
"So who attacked this time?" the Yonko sipped her tea with an air of indifference that could only have been outdone by a Tenryobito hearing about a mass famine with thousands of dead and millions begging neighbouring countries for food which'd incite a vicious border war, and then writing it off as yet another case of the lesser peoples' pathetic little trivial problems.
Perospero was the first to speak, his long tongue flapping up and down as he recounted the most recent attacks on both Cocoa- and Ice island and how the Big Mom pirates had dealt with either incursion (Smoothie was unsurprised that they were being targeted, they must've been seen as weaker targets since the former didn't have an official minister and the minister of the latter, Moscato, wasn't in the best of shapes) "It was just some Marines initially, a captain named Sharinguru that attempted to penetrate the defences on Ice Island" the first son of the family stated simply and then shrugged indifferently "He lost his ship, all valuables, weapons, intel, entire crew and his head" Perospero licked his candystaff absentmindedly before he continued. To Smoothie it didn't look like he wanted to take credit for the victory for some reason, but she could always ask about that later on, for now it was more interesting (and far more important) to hear the rest of his report "The next attack was on Cocoa Island by two former subordinates of Whitebeard" he cleared his throat and licked his staff again "The captains Delacuaji and Vitan with their crews and all their ships, 7 in total… they apparently tried to raid the island for supplies and riches"
Big Mom's face lit up at the names, before her eyes narrowed and a large scheming smile began to spread across her cake-crusted lips, disturbingly prominent against the red lipstick, making it look like a large thin poisonous mushroom had settled around her mouth "Ah yeeees…" Big Mom scratched her multitude of chins with a painted nail, a covetous shine emerging in her eyes "I remember those two, funny looking, exotic… but good fighters… Veeeeeeeerry unique looking in fact…."
"Katakuri killed them both" Perospero responded bluntly, not letting his mama continued pondering about the pair, more eager to complete his report than pander to Mama's whims (perhaps it was the privilege of being the firstborn that made him more bold than others, Smoothie didn't know, but it was both terrifying that someone would directly give bad news to Mama and refreshing that it happened for a change. Big Mom's personality considered, none of the Charlotte siblings had ever expressed much in the way of typical teenage rebellion where they fought with their parents. Some scholars in Tottoland had (privately) theorized that survival instinct was something the Charlotte siblings developed before they learned how to walk. That, and how to wolf down sweets before their mother took them away).
"Aww" Big Moms' shoulders sagged, and she tipped her cup, dropping most of the black tea onto the bed, a dark lake she wouldn't care about until much later "I wanted those two for my collection."
"I have something you might want instead Mama" Smoothie offered instantly, hoping to stave off Mama's bad mood "The recent attack on Unique Island was carried out by soldiers from the Black Drum Kingdom"
"And?" Big Mom raised an eyebrow at her fourteenth daughter, the Yonko's tone making it abundantly clear that she didn't recognise the country and that it therefore almost wasn't worth any attention whatsoever, which was nothing out of the ordinary when Big Mom was anywhere near cake, sweets or the subject of fun came up.
"I've brought one" Smoothie dug into her bag and produced a still moving soldier, feeling like a little girl that was presenting her mother with a beetle she'd found, which wasn't far from the truth "There were hundreds of them Mama"
Big Mom eyed the warrior, an interested gleam returning to her features as she examined the tiny contraption. Body like a can, thin arms holding a sword and shield (bearing some sort of emblem) "Why that looks like a little toy…" she snatched the contraption from Smoothie expecting it closer "A teensy itty bitty, robot toy…." She continued to study it, when suddenly, the tiny contraption swung its' little arm at her, hitting her nose with a dull metallic sound, the mechanism within the toy soldier obviously wasn't strong enough to harm Big Mom, but sadly it had been enough to terrorise Unique Island when it'd been whole. Big Mom didn't consider that and her face split into a huge grin "I like it!" and she looked down at Perospero and Smoothie, her demeanour that of a birthday child who'd received a silly new toy "Get Mont'D'Or" she waved an excited hand at the door with a happy squeal "I need to put it in the collection right away!"
"I'll do it!" Perospero turned towards the door in one swift motion "I'm done with my report anyway and I bet Smoothie has news from Runny Rum, after all, it was your idea"
Smoothie noted her oldest brother's tone, he had been silently disapproving of sending anyone there, splitting up the family never boded well in his eyes, and sending two of his sisters off to a known marine base run by a vice admiral was certain to twist his lollipop out of shape. But since Smoothie was a Sweet Commander, she outranked him and he hadn't undermined her authority, at least not intentionally, since then. Though, naturally, that still didn't stop him from being disgruntled about it.
"I'll be calling up some of our siblings to hear all about our next move from here and discuss strategy" Perospero called over his shoulder before he left the bedroom completely. She breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't causing a ruckus about this now. Even if she was stronger, the eldest son of the family was a firm believer in birth order being the most important margin of authority amongst the siblings. Smoothie wasn't entirely against this, considering that her oldest siblings were all smart and powerful enough to lead several ships on their own, but she had worked very hard for her position and Mama trusted her too, to an extent, and that counted for more than birth order, especially the latter.
"Well?" Smoothie was yanked out of her thoughts by Big Mom's authoritarian voice and, looking up at the deluded, draconian and gluttonous eyes behind the bucketload of pink-purple mascara, she, despite towering over most people she'd ever met (Smoothie's recent encounter with giants not included) and beating hundreds in combat at a time, felt very small and vulnerable.
Charlotte Linlin did not notice this, she was far more concerned with wondering when her cookies would arrive, whether or not if the bakers had remembered to decorate them with little pieces of chocolate meringue (if not she could feel a craving coming on), why her bed wasn't as soft as it should be, if she should have Mont'd'Or bring up the species collection, so she could take stock of how much damage Jinbe had done to it, if … lots of if's and uncertainties that didn't bode well and which was starting to make her angry. At that moment, there was only one absolute, unmistakeable, and undeniable fact that Big Mom was absolutely certain of:
Smoothie hadn't obeyed her yet.
"Spit it out already" she glared down at the Sweet Commander with an angry glint in her shaded eyes, the younger woman visibly shrinking under the Yonkos' demanding gaze. Big Mom had no empathy for that sort of thing.
"Are you being selfish with me? I don't have all day!"
(The plaza)
"There you are!"
"Fruncle!"
"Neffie! How are you two?" the smuggler waved at the group, Nami and particularly his nephew, and appeared more like a tourist than a man on the run (except for the bruised face), hauling his luggage behind him like a toddler would their favourite toy, even if broken, battered and completely unfitting for movement, which was exactly that state the suitcase was in. It had even lost a wheel.
"Where've you been?" Nami began, before she was tackled to the ground with a yelp.
"Stay down!" Jinbe hollered and a barrage of bullets flew over their heads, leaving them both unharmed, even though Nami was horrified at the experience.
Zoro wasn't as fast, instead opting to slice up the bullets or deflect them with his swords. Luffy simply didn't move and the bullets hammered into his body, leaving it briefly misshapen and oddlooking, a piece of dough being stretched, before the rubber element kicked in and the bullets flew back to sender without doing any damage to the rubberman himself.
The shooter wasn't in the same situation.
"Dacquoise you idiot!" the redheaded daughter of Big Mom called out, a split moment after she'd dived to the ground, her arms covering her head "Aim for the others! Not Strawhat!"
"I repeat" Nami snarled at the Smuggler when he kneeled down beside her "Where've you been?" Coyle helped her (and to a much lesser extent the larger fishman) to stand.
"Well I ran into that Marine bird again" the smuggler explained offhandedly, much to Nami's horror, Luffy's excitement and Jinbe's consternation.
"How are you still alive?"
"Was it funny?"
"Someone had a lucky shot and I escaped" Coyle shrugged at Nami and added "Even though someone bolted into me on the way" before he turned to answer his nephew "Not much fun going on I'm sad to say, had to set the bird straight on a few topics" Coyle scoffed, more than a hint of annoyance, disbelief and lingering anger in his voice, then his eyes lit up as if remembering something and he pointed a thumb behind him "Guy who charged me was screaming a lot though, so he might come after us too"
Nami facepalmed "One More!" she furiously glared at the smuggler, wishing she could throttle him like she'd done Luffy when he was stupid or Sanji when the chef had peeked on her in the shower (and not paid her!), but the thought of Rindo and Marguerite held her back, Have to keep you in one piece…. She reminded herself, repeatedly, before imagining her beating the smuggler up like Fran had done Luffy when the mother and son reunited on Dvorak (authors note: that was chapter 17), for now. She settled for admonishing the old smuggler in front of her, sadly knowing that it'd have a very limited effect "Can't you have five minutes where you don't make an enemy of someone?"
"Not my fault the guy ran around like a headless chicken" Luffy's uncle responded with a shrug "Kinda looked like one with that red hair of his too"
Nami groaned as Luffy explained that it was Sanji's brother Ichiji and cracking his knuckles, wanting to find the redheaired prince and pound him into mush, the navigator didn't know why her captain was so beligerent and frankly didn't care at this point. That the crew were already fighting Germa's troops didn't make it any better, it only added to the stress of the situation.
"I want to fight that guy too!"
"Focus Zoro-kun!" Nami dragged the uncle and nephew off to the side as Jinbe beat her to the punch of scolding the crews' main swordsman. She hoped that both of the frontline battlers were sound enough to make a hasty retreat when they were able, but thought better of it, either were too proud to ever take the easy way out and Zoro in particular was too stubborn and bloodcrazed to leave their opponents unfought. Besides there was one more thing Nami could think of which'd keep the swordsman fighting:
"I want to Beat him and smear it all over shitty-chefs' stupid curly eyebrowed-face!" the swordsman elaborated, much to no ones' surprise.
Of course he'll fight just to spite Sanji later… Nami mentally grumbled, though part of her wanted to do the same, but knowing Sanji, it'd most likely make the chef happy if she brought him proof of beating up his elder sibling. In fact he'd probably think she'd forgiven him his transgressions in Tottoland and go on a stupid rant about how lucky he was to have the love of two women-chans (the other was Viola-san, who no doubt did love the chef, at least from Nami's point of view, but when the Dressrosan princess contracted that disease, it meant she hadn't been able to romance the amorous chef like she'd most likely planned) and would in the future have the love of all the other women that'd sailed with them. Nami knew how presumptuous the chef could be and how positive and had no reasons second guess her verdict. But that was because she was still angry with him. Right now wasn't the time for that, but to be angry with Zoro. A man who, sadly, didn't fancy anything but to fight the strongest opponent he could find, have verbal fights with Sanji and vehemently deny he couldn't find "up" by lying on his back. Her only hope was to get him to listen to reason.
And the best way to do that, was with a wildcard.
"Luffy, tell Zoro we can't wait for him to get beaten up!"
"NO! Zoro wouldn't Lose Nami!" the captain corrected her, arms folded stubbornly and his lower lip sticking out.
Dammit! The navigator thought, assuming their captain would be as pigheaded as usual.
"But we can't wait for you to win either!" the captain turned to Zoro, who blinked in confusion at the commanding tone he was met with, but also a bit impressed at the sheer authority that was radiating off the pirate in that moment. Even the smuggler uncle was silent as the Strawhat captain gave a very clear command to get a move on so they could save his cousins.
Sure, he only pointed straight ahead, but the crew got it,
Even if it technically wasn't in the direction of the harbour either...
(Germa Kingdom, Vinsmoke Castle)
King Neptune debarked the vessel with a grunt and began the trek to the lift that'd take him and his companions to the top of the main castle in Germa Kingdom.
He'd been told it was named after the Royal family: Vinsmoke Castle, at some point of another, but whenever his royal pompousness King Judge Vinsmoke had started babbling about his family history and the strength of the nation and yada yada yada (he even did it when remembering the mans' chattiness) Neptune had started to tune out and fantasized instead (one of his favourites was that Shirahoshi would be found safe and well, had gained courage (and perhaps found a perfect son-in-law that could protect her, be part of the army, get along with Neptune's sons and etc.) while another was about answering the question "Who'd win in a punching match? me or King Elizabello? Which led to the very important question: How far could we smack one of the Vinsmokes? Or that guy that infiltrated the place? Neptune would love to have a go at him, not because the person had attacked the Vinsmokes, but because the guy simply irked him).
In the darkness of early night, it didn't look very impressive, a bit imposing for outsiders with it's four leaning towers surrounding a central straight one, but the soldiers that had escorted Neptune to meet up with his daughter Shirahoshi paid it no mind, their focus solely on their duties.
Part of Neptune could appreciate that quality about the near identical regiment. The rest of him could hardly contain his disgust for the place and their king, who was basically a selfcentered warmongering elitist with less than no empathy for his subjects.
"King Neptune" the voice of one of the soldiers brought the king of Fishman Island back to reality and he looked down at the much smaller soldier next to him "Yes, what is it lieutenant?"
"We can take the elevator to the main castle shortly"
"That all?"
The lieutenant opened his mouth before he closed it again, this happened again a few times and Neptune started getting annoyed "Well?"
"Erhm" the lieutenant got nervous at the kings' annoyed expression, but finally managed to respond "We don't know if…" he glanced behind Neptune. The king knew exactly what was behind him and he could tell by the blush on the lieutenant's face that he was thinking the same as many young men when they faced his daughter. He could tell that even when the huge young mermaid was weakened and had to be carried on a giant stretcher (not because Neptune didn't want to carry his own daughter, but because the soldiers had insisted that it was more right that they do it).
They're good kids Neptune reminded himself noting the strained looks on the soldiers faces, it was hard to see for the halfmasks the Germa 66 wore, but the sweat the formed rivers on their faces spoke of the strain of shouldering Shirahoshi's prodigious weight And she might grow larger still! Neptune chuckled to himself and gave his daughter a warm smile when she opened her eyes. The poor thing was tired, not surprising after days of suffering from that horrible disease, and barely managed to return the smile with one of her own, warming the heart of her aging father.
"Don't worry" Neptune reassured the lieutenant "I'm certain that my daughter won't be affected by the elevator ride, she's a tough girl, how could my daughter be anything else?" the king laughed heartily "I can't wait to introduce her properly to the other kings! I especially look forward to show her to your king."
He winked at the lieutenant and beneath his massive beard, smirked knowingly "I have a huge surprise for him"
The lieutenant managed a nervous smile at the king's bravado "That wasn't what I meant…"
"Huh?" Neptune blinked in confusion "Then what is it?"
"We don't know if…" the lieutenant swallowed "If the elevator can carry both of your… Combined weights"
Less than 5 minutes later, the lieutenant heralded the arrival of King Neptune of Ryugu Kingdom and princess Shirahoshi, his daughter, who were both still on their way up via elevator.
Judge was pleased with the news, but had to ask why the lieutenant had arrived so much earlier than his guests, why he'd crashed through the ceiling and just why they'd heard someone yell about "YOU CALLING US FAT?!"
The king of Germa Kingdom mulled over the broken roof for a second before he looked back at the lieutenant "Why aren't you making prepara-..."
beneath his golden helm, Judge raised an eyebrow at his unconscious subject.
"King Vinsmoke" Judge turned to Elizabello II who waas scratching his chin and gave him a sideways glance, laced with disapproval "Your guy just fell from the sky."
Nodding understandingly the vinsmoke king exhaled slowly "Yes, it is indeed too hard to get propper help now a days" he choose not to question why Elizabello rubbed his face behind a massive boxing glowe with a deep groan.
(The Plaza)
Luffy sensed it before it happened.
He didn't care. He'd deal with it. Nothing was going to stop them.
The four Strawhat pirates, and one hanger-on with a suitcase, had made it several meters across the plaza, accompanied by the angry shouts of some of the Big Mom pirates as they realised their enemies were making a run for it, before something barrelled out of the dusty smoke cloud ahead of the small crew.
Even though the hair was unmistakeable, it still took Luffy a moment to recognise the red dressed man.
"Hey' you're Sanji's brother!" he shouted at Ichiji, who stood with arms folded and imposing as only a champion could be (the prince's mental self-image).
"That's rig-" the prince began boasting, a triumphant and condescending smile plastered across his face, which died down as Luffy interrupted him with another shout, this time laced with even more angry recognition:
"ROOSTER-JI!"
"IT'S ICH-" the prince howled back in protest but again he was interrupted by the Strawhat captain, who hammered a fist into his face with enough force to bend iron.
"GET OUT OF OUR WAY!"
Luffy didn't care about what sort of things the prince yelled furiously at them as they continued to storm through the smokescreen. He'd beaten tons of suckers like that, on Fishman island, at Marineford, Sabaody… it was literally all he ever did when people got between him and his friends! Luffy also didn't care about Zoro's complaints that he wanted to beat Sanji's brother and that it was unfair Luffy got to kick his ass when the swordsman had waited to settle the score for so long. Luffy did however care about Nami and Jinbe's silent approval. Fruncle was laughing his ass off at the whole thing.
He cared about that too.
And the wall of Germa Soldiers that rammed straight into the five people a moment later.
It barely managed to slow them down.
If Luffy had been the contemplative type (and if he'd known what it meant), the Strawhat captain would have reasoned, that standing in front of two members of his crews' monster trio, both powerful fighters in their own right, who could dispatch normal mooks faster than Zoro could empty sake bottles (which Chopper and Robin had, for fun, calculated to be about a third of the speed that Usopp could muster when he was running away from a fight (or the surprise appearance of a particularly big grasshopper)), and then a more than 300 kilo fishman would be exceptionally suicidal. Nami and Coyle didn't add as much battle prowess and weight to the bullrush of warriors as it torpedoed the wall of Germa soldiers, sending the already battered men flying left and right.
But the mass of men did slow them….
Eventually.
Just enough for the redhaired prince to attack the from behind.
"DAHAI U 'OWLY STUPIT BILLEIN!?" he howled at them, small gobs of blood dripping from his face as he continued "HE BOKE BY NOSE!" he howled again, with even more outrage as he stretched his arms and punched repeatedly at their exposed backs "BY 'OIAL NOSE!"
Red rays of energy flashed around the pirates, threatening to incinerate them as several of the Germa soldiers were when they tried to surround the pirates, their dying screams making Luffy grit his teeth. Not because it was gruesome, but because they were the Germa Prince's own soldiers, and the evil redhead shouldn't hurt them. They weren't fighting him!
Jinbe barely had the time to intercept the cowardly attack when one of the rays almost rammed into Zoro's unprotected back. Throwing half a dozen of Germa 66 soldiers off to the side with a mighty grunt, the huge fishman stepped in front of the blazing blast of pure red light.
With his arms crossed in an X-shape, Jinbe met the energybeam straight on.
It rammed into him with enough force to push him back and rattle his teeth even as Jinbe ground them together to withstand the urge to howl. Luffy got the impression that it wasn't from pain though, more annoyance and shock (gods knew Luffy had experience with this mindset from his crew) than from any real discomfort.
Standing there, withstanding the attack like a knife cutting through a cheese, red rays parting from his forearms, Luffy couldn't help but gush over how cool his new helmsman was. He'd seen the fishman bash his way through Impel Down and a dozen dozen dozen (which to Luffy had to be at least as many as his own crew) scummy marines at Marineford, but he could still be amazed by the toughness of the former shichibukai.
"I want more like Jinbe on the crew!" he laughed much to Nami's surprise, who gave him a shocked look "Whaaaa?!" then the orangehaired woman smiled broadly at him "You're finally starting to make sense Captain"
"So…" Luffy gave her a worried look and nervously continued, offhandedly punching a germa soldier into a building "… You're not going to hit me?"
"Not when you're right!" his friend and navigator half snapped and laughed at him, just as she bashed a soldier that was trying to get back up over the head with her old climatact, making the weapon elicit a small hollow dong-sound.
Despite that he didn't know what she meant by that, Luffy felt that he was off the hook and smiled broadly, just as he pulled another soldier, one that'd been fortunate enough to avoid Zoro's blades, out if his way and into some of his mates.
"Hey Jinbe, are you ok?"
The large fishman had taken a knee, and his only response to Luffys' question was to groan deeply. He didn't take his eyes off the redhaired prince that had begun to charge at them his face set in a scowl.
Luffy didn't wait for the prince to land another blow on Jinbe and drew his arm back and quickly threw a punch, aimed directly at Sanji's eldest brother.
Though he felt it connect and saw the Germa prince stop in his tracks and be flung backwards by the force of his blow, Luffy could tell his opponent wasn't affected much by it.
He took some satisfaction that hitting him again fixed the issue.
And made a funny crunching sound too. It reminded him of that yummy chicken skin Sanji had made one time. All crisp and salty.
But remembering he had places to be, Luffy left it at that, despite wanting to pound the redhaired guy into paste, both for how he'd treated Sanji (Even if he wasn't the captain, there was no way Luffy would have let his friends get beat up) and what he'd said after the whole thing with Big Mom (Authors note: that was the epilogue of the previous story) about wanting Nami to join his crew.
Luffy'd been stewing over that one for a while, not cognitively, but emotionally. He didn't want his friends to leave him, but if pressured, his crew could do as they liked.
"Stupid rooster guy wouldn't let you do that"
"Huh?" Nami looked at him as they continued to run "You talking to me?"
Luffy trudged on, Nami shaking her head behind him, cursing under her breath about her birdbrained captain.
(The Pleasure District, Stussy's residence)
Evening was giving way to night, the streets below the massive towers still bustling with life, singing, carousing, the loud proclamations of love for the local entertainers and courtesans and the dozen different types of musical numbers that were taking place at all evening and the vast majority of the night. Some patrons had complained that it wasn't enough and the bands and minstrels had to be available for them at all given times. In fact they were, for an exuberant amount of money most people would never know ever exists. And then only to the most august of clientele.
But fortunately the Tenryobito never showed up in the pleasure district, the rulers of the world expected things to come to them at a moment's notice. Which left a surprising large amount of spare time open for the different staff members that the pleasure district employed.
And that was the way Stussy liked it.
Easy, simple and efficient. Time off meant that the employees could cool off, have a little fun themselves, spend their hard-earned money (in the pleasure district) and most importantly: Last for years, even decades.
She looked over at the stern looking Beliworth, a shining (or rather ancient) example of the last one He'd been in her family since before she was born. Her father hadn't maintained him as well, but as soon as she'd taken over, Beliworths' decline in health had improved… albeit slowly. But now he was fit enough to bring Stussy anything, as fast as a Tenryobito could demand it.
Right now, that was a pile of her discarded dossiers. She gave him an approving look in response.
"Thank you"
It was her usual reports. This pirate had stolen that, beaten that other crew, this marine had gotten promoted etc. Her girls deserved a raise for getting her all that intel, but two in a month might be a bit much.
Stussy's higher ups would certainly think so, they always did complain about money being tight.
"I wonder…" she mused as she flipped open another dossier, this one containing a report on the latest movements of one of Kaido's lieutenants, not the Disasters, those reports could cover entire books on their own, but the beastly Yonko's officers in Tobi Roppo, the one called Black Maria. Scanning the pages Stussy noted how the pirate giantess had attacked a convoy of ships containing weapons from the kingdom of Bourgeois, headed for Marineford and made off with a massive part of the cargo. This in itself wasn't a problem. The problem was that it had also contained the tribute to the Tenryobito. Some stupid cannons weren't even worth an afterthought when over a billion Beli had been caught up in the web of one of Kaido's subordinates (Stussy immediately recalled Black Maria's devil fruit and reminded herself not to use pitiful puns in the future).
The Tenryobito wouldn't care that much about it as they'd just demand the money from the World Governments' military budget because they'd failed to protect the tribute in the first place, which in turn would mean that a vast part of the Marines would be without funding, possibly for years to come. It was an unmitigated disaster.
Stussy yawned and felt her instincts dismiss the idea.
No, that wasn't it…. She thought disappointed.
It wasn't that it was uninteresting, far from it, this made her job all the more exciting and her task even more important. But it didn't hold that little odd fingerprint that she'd been looking for ever since the Strawhats returned to the stage and entered The Grandline. She didn't care about the crew as a general rule, they were a bunch of misfits no doubt, and their captain a foo. But they'd had so much luck in their endeavours, both on the Grandline and now in the New World that there had to be something behind it. And Stussy was hellbent on finding out what. She'd seen Strawhat in action in Tottoland barely a month ago: he was a chaotic, bewildering and greedy creature.
He and his crew lived to throw wrenches into other peoples' plans, case in point: Doflamingo in Dressrosa. The shichibukai/tenryobito hybrid had his toy kingdom up and running, but the emergence of the Strawhats and the Surgeon of Death, Trafalgar Law, had destroyed his whole system by targeting the weak links. Like that little girl the Donquixote pirates had make the people of Dressrosa into toys. The Strawhats weren't tactical enough to have done research on their opponents' skills and weaknesses, let alone how many they were, so the information regarding whom to target had to come from other sources. Their sources were doubtlessly the allies the crew had made on Dressrosa.
She'd done extensive research and had noted the pattern repeated on the several of the Crews' exploits. The covered up case on Thrillerbark could be chalked up to the Strawhats convenient alliance with Linlins' daughter Lola and her subordinates. The same could be argued about when the crew challenged the World Government (not just those menial shipwrights from Water Seven, but how they'd managed to make the giants that guarded the gates join their side was mesmerizingly odd), or in Punk Hazard where they'd sided with Trafalgar Law and it definitively was the case when the crew had infiltrated Tottoland where Capone Bege, the Sun Pirates and the New Giant Warrior pirates had been a massive boon for the crews' escape, attacking from below and within at different points (the Vinsmokes had been promptly discarded as they'd basically been fodder for the Big Mom crews' wrath (Authors Note: that was the previous fic: Out of The Jaws of Death chapter 4)).
In all three instances, their success could be attributed to the allies they'd made and joined up with. It might be their quaint amateurish teenage charm (most of them were still mere children in Stussy's eyes), but there was the very prominent chance that it wasn't just that. That some ingeniously malevolent mind had planned major parts of it. And if Stussy was right, then there was something pulling the strings behind the latest major events, and some of the minor ones too.
Everything pointed towards it.
The Revolutionaries had gotten into Reverie of all places, it evidently wasn't impossible but exceptionally rare and unprecedented. A number of princesses disappeared thanks to a combination of hotblooded idiocy and a malfunction in a robot. Then several kings had set sail to try and get their darling daughters (and one granddaughter) back, but they'd run across some problems. It was disturbingly transparent why the Vinsmokes had offered their aid in the hunt. Judge just wanted the daughters to marry his semi-human sons. Stussy had laughed when she heard that one of the sons had been pounded into dust by some random restaurant guest (authors note: that was chapter 7-9) over mistreating one of his subjects, allegedly the headchef of Vinsmoke Castle no less.
What kind of idiot antagonises the one in charge of their food? The blonde shook her head and scolded herself for even asking the question I know exactly whom, a royal, what else?
Everything above that station (which counted anything tenryobito related) was fundamentally a god in their own mind, and normal royalty wasn't much further behind. For some at Reverie, it was a chance to one-up each other in arrogance, pompousness, wealth, taste, trophy wives (some of which Stussy had lined up for them) and military might (mainly by the size of their navies, weaponry, quality of soldiers etc.). Admittedly, they all partook in their duties and didn't just throw them to the wind, but outside of the conference room, the kings and queens were only there to agree on how good it was to be royalty and above the rabble that were their subjects. And, naturally, be scumbags towards each other. Stussy vividly remembered how one king had gone so far as to strike the princess Vivi during Reverie years before.
She hadn't been allowed to act at the time, but whenever king Wapol of Drum kingdom had needed anything from the Pleasure District prior to losing his kingdom (which, given his looks, was quite often), she'd drawn it out. Some might have charged him double, but that would just have impoverished the brute's subjects. Stussy did exactly that when the king abandoned his territory two years prior when the Blackbeard crew attacked the island. Unsurprisingly, the fool had required some lady attention after his loss. Stussy had briefly considered that the bill she'd sent Wapol was the reason he'd decided to retake his old kingdom, paying it off with emergency taxes, but matters of greater import than a minor kingdom in Paradise had come knocking and she had discarded it completely. Especially after that new king took over. She didn't fancy getting involved with that situation. Besides, she'd been busy enough with causing a war on Broc Coli Island at the word of her superiors. It'd recently ended when the forces of Germa 66 got involved and ended the war. But that didn't matter, thanks to Stussy the Tenryobito had been entertained and other forces had been kept busy with that conflict. By starting a war there, under controlled circumstances, Stussy prided herself on having spared more populous islands and realms the horror of more casualty heavy conflicts and battles.
She knew exactly why it had to happen: since two shichibukai had been in the war business at the time (the Clown and the Heavenly Yaksha, one of whom was now very much imprisoned within Impel Down) it wouldn't have been that long before either began to covertly create uprisings, civil wars and the like to get their livelihoods an adrenaline rush.
And since the WG couldn't outright go in and stop one of their dogs, it was deemed safer to create markets for them. He could even profit from it themselves by targeting the kingdoms unaffiliated with the WG. And Broc Coli had had weird ideas about democracy brewing for a while. Neither the royals and world Nobles liked that sort of thing and wanted it squashed as soon as it saw daylight.
Stussy could see the logic, a regime ruled by it's people rarely had lineage to consider. No gratitude for favours done to their ancestors were to be found in a guy or girl that got elected based on how well they talked or looked. That sort of thing was more prevalent in royalty than in the average joe on the street. Not because the everyday guy didn't have love for their relatives, Stussy had very good experiences with that, but royalty had that pride in their ancestry that prevented them from forgetting any favour or slight done to their great-grandfathers' second cousin thrice removed (this was surprisingly regular and often coincided with the descendants of said relative having a large fortune when the ruling house were in dire straits financially and had a spare wedding-ready princess (as had happened with Nerfetari Cobra's father and mother or with the sister of King Elizabello II) whom was usually drop dead gorgeous (not the case with Elizabello's sister). And then there was the peer pressure from other royal houses that'd rather see royalty stick to their own. Effectively it meant the kings lived in the past in order to look good in the future. More than they already did that was. The World Nobles had that disease and the Kings in their odd emulation of the corrupt descendants of founders and heroes had contracted it as well.
The middleaged woman sighed and leaned back on the large, soft burgundy couch, letting herself sink into the pillows and relish the warm luxury it was to have a couch stuffed with phoenix feathers. It'd been a gift she'd received years ago, not as a thank you for a job well done, that was the World Governments' usual deal (if they ever bothered remembering who, or what, they should be thankful for), but a genuine thank-you-for-being-you kind of thing. Even now the feathers kept their warmth, after 30 odd years.
And I've only had it for 28! She smiled and closed her eyes, her mouth gradually forming a straight line again.
"Living in the past is such a horrible thing" she mused and wondered if her future would ever let her have some unforeseen excitement like in her wild youth some twenty years in the past. And what a youth!
The sheer memory of it made her tremble and get goosebumps all over. Daring rescues, even more daring infiltrations, parties like there was no tomorrow or tragedies of yesterday.
It had been wild, vibrant and colourful for the young woman she'd been then.
Now her existence revolved mainly around work.
A lot of work.
It got tedious fast when Big Mom didn't call for a party or something regularly.
There has to be something exciting going on right now… she thought as she rubbed her face, feeling ten years of boredom and stress in her palm Thank goodness I don't get wrinkles…
"Beliworth"
The butler stood at her side in an instant, tray in hand with a refreshment and a den den mushi, which looked unusually docile for one of its' kind.
"Falco hasn't called, has he?" Stussy looked at the stonefaced butler with an impatient look, despite knowing the answer already. If the annoying royalty-worshipping little man had made his report, Beliworth would have jogged through Magma to let her to know, still with a newly poured drink that hadn't spilled a drop or (if carbonated) gone flat with nay a melted ice cube. Just like she expected of him and had been for the better part of 40 years.
"What could be taking that stupid little man?" Stussy grumbled and accepted the refreshment, sangria with peach, lime, strawberries, grapes and dragon fruit under a small covering of crushed ice and sugar (and probably a ton of other more subtle things she couldn't recognise without tasting it) "Thank you Beliworth"
At this point her young guest arrived, ladened with bags from her shopping spree, Charlotte Pudding was almost hidden behind her purchases (technically not her purchases, Stussy had, as the hostess, gracefully offered to pay any of Pudding's expenses, while she was in the Pleasure District. This was in part because she liked seeing the younger woman happy, but also because it was an immensely poor idea to send Big Mom a bill for anything, since she would reason they were better spent on candy and sweets than other important wares, such as water in the desert, after which the female yonko would decide it was easier to beat the debt collector to death rather than to pay them a single beli. The Pirate Captain John had found out about that the hard way (or at least that's what the rumours said at the time of his disappearance and Big Mom never bothered to comment on it) while Shiki had lost three ships that tried to collect what was owed).
"I'm sorry we're late" Pudding bowed before her host, who nodded politely in return, allowing her guest to continue "there were just so many shops and things to see that I completely lost track of time… all that clothes…" Stussy smiled at Puddings' embarrassed confession, although she already knew the 35th daughter of Big Mom had spent even more time in the different kitchens than the clothiers, hairdressers, shoe shops, cafes or the beaty salons. The flour stains at the hem of the young womans' dress was more than enough proof, the hint of chocolate on the bottom of her shoe and then the fact that the bags contained quite a bit of chocolatier equipment.
"It seems you borrowed some tools from the locals" she smiled and took a sip of her drink before pointing at the huge bags "Is my desert going to be late until they're returned? Or just the whole meal?"
Pudding blushed at the comment and tried to hide the utensil filled bags behind her, easier said than done since all three bags were the size of her, and nervously tried to justify her theft "I-um-I….They didn't know how to use them right!"
"And You do I suppose?"
"I DO!" she confirmed hastily
"Spoken like a bri-ide" Stussy drew out the last word and chuckled as Puddings' face turned an even deeper shade of red and she lost her ability to talk, the stuttering mess of words that erupted from her mouth couldn't have been deemed speech by a VERY pretentious and baby-crazy new parent. At some point Stussy got tired of what, assumingly, was a loud stream of denying statements, takebacks, declarations of hatred for the Vinsmoke prince turned chef, muttered comments (how that was accomplished by a woman in panic-mode wasn't something Stussy could grasp, perhaps it was a young girl thing, or just the sign of someone that had way too much on their mind) about not hating him really, but just having a massive hatred for the man anyway for leaving her at the altar and what his captain had pulled against Big Mom.
"But if you know how better to use those things" she pointed at the bags behind Pudding and shrugged at what was essentially nothing (to her at least, to Pudding this was basically her entire character, outside of trying to spy on Stussy for Big Mom (and failing miserably), having insecurities about that third eye (Which Stussy found adorable) or being a chocolatier) "I guess it's okay"
Pudding immediately jumped at the subject change "YES. I'M BETTER!" she gulped and regained some composure, though still shaking from a combination of dread and excitement, the former because someone had caught her and the latter over (Stussy assumed) fantasizing about the pirate chef and Pudding's dream wedding with him (no doubt beating a hundred other women to the position, leaving them green with envy and rage) "I am a very good chocolatier" she reiterated with her hands on her hips, upturned chin and closed eyes, it was that certain proud smugness that was only possible to achieve for a teenager (specifically the kind that was still in touch with their inner child) or were one of Big Mom's massive brood. Pudding checked out in both boxes.
"I'm looking forward to try your work tomorrow then" Stussy smiled Because I really don't want to listen to your boasts right now… Pudding would most likely prove to be even better than Stussy's own employees, as Big Mom didn't allow for poor cookery in her kingdom, likely a reason several of Big Mom's sons didn't weren't in Tottoland regularly (Stussy had never met the one called Gala for example, in fact she wasn't sure the man even had a wanted poster).
"But until then" Stussy smiled at Pudding and then clapped her hands sharply "Bellyworth"
As soon as Stussy had spoken his name, her stonefaced butler stood beside her, as any good servant he had entered the room neither seen nor heard, which freaked out Pudding to no end.
"Would you like some refreshments?"
As soon as she'd asked, the butler had already moved to get them something, and Pudding was looking at the servant with a certain nervousness, part disgust at his features, part fear of his taciturn mannerism.
"Don't be alarmed, Beliworth is the perfect butler" Stussy reassured her guest, mentally adding and shadow before she continued "He knows not to make a racket" and to make it look like an accident when necessary.
The older woman motioned for the young girl to sit beside her on the couch with a smile
"Come, it's been a long day and I'm simply dying to hear what goes on downtown…"
(The Plaza)
Ichiji snorted and spat.
The sensation of dull, throbbing pain was not familiar to him (nor was the feeling of a broken nose which the soldiers were resetting with a hammer).
It shouldn't be, he was a prince, far removed from such mundane things.
And even then, he'd been attacked dozens of times, and never felt a thing when bullets hammered into his skin or swords clanged off it.
"Stupid soldiers…" he grumbled and rubbed his broken and bloodied nose tenderly Now I have to execute the ones that're left to make certain they don't fail me like that again he bent his nose back into position and snorted out any remaining blood and ichor out of it.
"Yeah, this'll work" he smiled a bloodthirsty grin But I'll execute those idiots after I've dealt with those stupid little peasants… They know they don't have a chance against me, why else would they flee? The prince discarded any memory of the blow he'd just received, or the fight he'd had against the pirate swordsmen (arrogance demanded it, pride and a twisted logic made Ichiji disregard the wounds his subordinates had received as merely natural, Soldiers died in war, what was important to the big picture was what the officers were up to).
He jumped up and went after the pirates
Determined to return the blow he'd been dealt
And take all of them prisoner.
Or simply kill them,
The bounty said "Dead or Alive" after all.
And either were good gifts to his father or the World Government.
Not to mention,
As he was bound to get a reward from his father for his accomplishment,
Ichiji knew exactly what he wanted for himself.
(Elsewhere on the Plaza)
Amande cursed as the Strawhats disappeared into the smoke and dust, their pursuer hot on their heels, shouting for them to come back and stop running like cowards.
It was bad enough that that royal ginger twit had returned (not Galette! Amande mentally reminded herself, her precious little sister wasn't a leering creep nor a tool, though she admittedly did have some sense of grandeur that prevented her from succeeding), but he was trying to snatch the Big Mom pirates' prey!
Unacceptable!
She was just about to sprint after them, and hopefully take a few heads whilst catching up, when she felt a hand grasp her arm.
Looking back at Galette, the Demon Lady followed to where her little sister was pointing. At first it was nothing, just the air and smoke. Then Amande noticed the petals flying in the air, sticking to any and all surfaces they touched. Such as the corpses that lay on the ground.
And to the Big Mom pirates' bodies.
The longnecked woman had little doubt that it wasn't happenstance.
That pesky Vice-admiral has made her move it seems… Amande pondered inwardly as the pink-red petals began to cover more of their bodies, the small flower fragments tugging at their clothes, ever so slightly. It was obvious that the petals were trying to restrain their movements and pin them down, making the Pirates on the plaza easier targets for the marines when they finally decided to strike.
However, the third daughter of the Charlotte family had no intention of letting a badgering marine get in her way.
Especially not when it meant that her younger siblings got to be in danger.
Drawing her blade behind her head, Amande gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes "Get behind me" she simply said. Her sister and their subordinates obeyed immediately. The third daughter of the Charlotte family then concentrated for the faintest of moments, before she turned the grip of her sword in her hands and swung it in a wide arc, the blade's side, not its' edge, thrashing through the air.
"Slow Contra"
The swing was anything but slow, in addition to that, it was powerful, strong enough to whip up a storm within the plaza, which didn't just blow the petals away from them, but also dispelled the pestering dustcloud that'd hung over them for far too long.
Amande smirked with closed eyes, enjoying the silence for the briefest of moments before her lips parted in a bloodthirsty grin and gazed at the destruction before her.
The sliced-up cobbles had been cleansed as if a thousand brooms had been over it three times over, and the cut up corpses had been brushed away too,
"I like things clean, don't' you agree little sister?"
The tall, willowy pirate did not anticipate the response:
More silence
"Galette?" Amande turned around in confusion and her eyes widened in shock at what she saw. The longnecked woman looked at the absolutely nobody that had hidden behind her a moment before.
After narrowing her eyes and taking a slow, angry and annoyed huff on her cigarette "I… have to hold back when I'm angry…" and then she added apologetically
"And put less power into my swings…"
(Outside the plaza)
Luffy didn't know where that sudden storm had come from.
In the back of his head a weak thought reasoned that since Nami hadn't said anything about there being winds, it wasn't part of the weather report for the archipelago.
The young pirate captain had seen his group of friends get split up by the sudden wind.
Himself, Nami and Fruncle had been blown out of the plaza, legs flailing and yelling in surprise, while Jinbe as the only one had managed to remain standing and had even caught Zoro and prevented the swordsman from flying off into the distance.
The green haired swordsman had protested and demanded to be let go so he could fight… hough Luffy honestly didn't know whom he'd fight, though there were plenty of marines and Big Mom pirates around, not to mention Sanji's loud and weird looking brother (That or he smelled like he would eat a salad over meat, Luffy wasn't sure, but the feeling disturbed him and also made him hungry).
If Zoro went for him, Luffy would stop him, because he wanted to fight that guy personally.
But even Luffy knew it was hard to do when he didn't know where anybody were. Nami and Fruncle had been blown off alongside Luffy, but the sudden emergence of something red and purple had divided them. It had screaming about "NEEEE-SAAAAN! TOO MUCH SWIIIIING!" before it had slammed into Nami and Fruncle, Luffy's uncle frantically yelling through coughs "WATCH THE SUITCASE!" while his navigator just screamed in shock.
Luffy' assumed the red-purple thing had been a person, but he didn't know who it was or if they were a friend or an enemy.
There was one thing he was certain of though:
That the longnecked person in front of him, whom were both sneering at him and taking aim at him with a rifle, wasn't one of his friends, nor a marine (he wasn't wearing the navy cap nor any white, so that was a dead giveaway).
One question jumped out of the young pirate captains' mouth a split second after the longnecked pirate commanded him, with a voice as stern as Garps', to stand still or he'd shoot, the barrel of the riffle aimed directly at Luffy's face, the man's finger shaking as he prepared to press the trigger:
"Who're you?"
The trigger went in and the bullet hurtled towards Luffy's chest.
(The Plaza)
"Would you stand still and listen for two damn seconds?"
Galette shook her head clear from the fall and looked in the direction of her big sisters' annoyed voice.
Spotting the towering, blue-dressed woman, Galette would see Amande grit her teeth as she parried another attack.
The near-bald assassin didn't show any signs of discomfort, a good sign in an ally, a horrible sign in an enemy.
"What is it?" the man responded with an unnerving serenity.
That's it keep talking… Galette looked around, noting that both Kato and Dacquise had landed not far from her. Grabbing the pumpkin headed homie she pulled him to his feet. Don't notice that we're getting back up!
"Big Mom has a proposition for your master" Amande kept her sword up, her guard ever valiant against the murderous man in front of her.
"You'd do well to hear it out."
(On Dvorak)
Vivi relaxed as she took in a deep breath of the crisp night air.
She had gone outside to get a little change of pace and do something other than hearing about all the adventures she'd missed ever since she split from the Strawhat crew after Alabasta.
Sky Islands…. She mused and longingly looked at the night sky, the crescent moon shining brightly behind a few stray clouds Perhaps I'll get to go there with them later?
Usopp had told her about them in the hours after Luffy and Nami had left, going to get the rubbermans' uncle and Zoro too. And the former shichibukai… Vivi reminded herself, sticking out her lowerlip at the thought of one of those people on the Strawhat crew. As much as she'd like to listen to Nami's, and Shirahoshi's, assurances that the fishman was a strong man with a good heart that was as strong as his sense of honour, she just couldn't believe that of a shichibukai (especially not when Sanji seemed to distrust him almost as much as she did, the chef having mentioned the mistake the huge pirate had made with Arlong in East Blue).
Pushing the thought of the fishman aside, Vivi looked up at the clouds again the stories of the crews' sniper running through her head again. The logia user in the sky, his monks, how an entire island had been blasted up there hundreds of years ago. It all seemed so unreal.
She could feel a knot form in her belly, and instantly knew what it meant.
I wanted to be there with them…
To gaze upon the White Sea, to taste the food of the Skypians, see their customs, feel the wind up there far above them. Vivi wanted that sort of life, but she had been forced to attend to Alabasta and her fathers' deteriorating health for the past two years, though part of her was certain that at least some of it was to make certain she didn't leave the nation. The same reason her father had showered her with eligible bachelors of good repute, wealth, and breeding (usually the heirs of neighbouring kingdoms, except in one case where it was a young king, or a high ranking noble with a pedigree set in gold or carved in seastone). It was all just a chain, a different sort than what they used in Impel Down, it came with pillows and parties, but it was a chain nonetheless.
And she hated it.
Knowing about what her friends had been doing since Alabasta filled her with a dreadful envy, she wanted to visit each place the crew had been, Water Seven, Sabaody Archipelago, Amazon Lily, Weatheria, Kamabaka Kingdom (regardless of how utterly horrible and terrifying Sanji said it's denizens were), and all the other places her friends had gone to train and hone themselves for their reunion and entry into the New World. And then she wanted to visit each place they'd gone since then.
To experience more than what she'd did in Alabasta, where her father was getting more and more ill. To do so before she had to ascend the throne and be bound as a queen for years to come destined to marry some stuck up idiot that didn't know what hunger meant or that sweat could come from something else than heat and nervousness.
Godness I've turned so many of those down! She groaned inwardly, knowing there'd be more than triple of suitors the second she got back to the palace if her dad didn't get better, and even then, they'd still show up. That was a definitive downside to having been blasted to the new world, every royal house had gotten their eyes on the Nefertari family, and she'd seen enough kings to know that they'd think her father didn't have long simply because he got a little cough and was using a wheelchair.
"Damn vultures…" she wrinkled her nose as the words left her lips.
"Pardon?"
Vivi was snapped out of her pondering with the slap of a whip. Though it was the quiet and kind sort, specifically, it was the voice of Rebecca, her younger friend with the long pink braid.
"Did…you talk to me?"
Vivi straightened up and brushed her dress off "Oh no, I was just thinking out loud" she waved it off "Nothing to do with you" a heavy sigh escaped her lips "But everything with me unfortunately" Explaining the situation to Rebecca felt quite relieving. As good friends as she was with Nami, the orangette could only compare it to men that ogled her on the street or in the harbours, there was no way the temperamental navigator knew what it meant to be that desired a bachelorette.
"Um…" Rebecca hung her head a little and glanced at her, a heavy blush on her features
"What is it?"
"You're not interested in any of the… guys on the crew?"
Vivi blinked and her face froze in an inquisitive half-smile "Whaaa…" she began, her mind trying to process the question, not to mention what the pinkhaired gladiator turned lady-in-waiting meant by "interest" and "Guys".
"What do you mean?"
"I saw you speaking with Chef-san earlier and…" Rebecca pursed her lips and gave Vivi a quizzical look "Perhaps you thought he could help you with your problem..." the girl sounded like she knew what it meant to have unwanted suitors, but not enough experience with letting them down easily (by contrast, The Alabastan princess liked to think she had that down to an artform, courtesy of several years of training).
Vivi waved the whole thing off "Sanji's just a good, attentive friend"
This seemed to calm the pinkette, who looked up at the sky with relief, a barely audible sentence on her lips "Viola-san certainly thinks so too…"
"You think you might have an uncle there?" Vivi smiled at the former gladiator, nudging the flushed pinkette gently in the side with an elbow, not thinking too much of it personally, but it didn't harm to be diplomatic and avoid dousing the young womans' hopes (she knew that Sanji was interested in many women on the seas, Vivi wasn't ignorant of his passions, plus, she'd accidentally seen his magazine/calendar collection in the kitchen). But Vivi had noted how the Princess of Dressrosa had taken a particular liking to the blonde chef, so perhaps it wasn't so farfetched.
"Maybe" Rebecca responded, looked wistfully up at the clouds. But a dark cloud came over her features after a while, and she looked down at her feet "Hey… do you think…"
"Yeah?"
"That… Rindo-san and Marguerite-san will make it?"
"What sort of thinking is that?" Vivi scoffed "Luffy and Nami and Zoro will fix this no problem"
Rebecca was silent for a moment "I know Lucy-san and Zoro-san will make it with Lucy-sans' uncle… But what about Marguerite-san and Rindo-san? Will they? Can they?"
Biting her lip, Vivi understood, no matter how powerful and heroic a force, if the goal was to save someone sick, then it depended as much on the constitution of the afflicted. Nami had been in that situation as well, back in Drum kingdom, Sakura kingdom! Vivi reminded herself, She'd briefly chatted with the new king Dalton, before he'd been forced to deal with his crude, rude and smelly predecessor, Wapol, now king of Black Drum Kingdom... what the World Nobles had been drinking when they decided to recrown that one, Vivi didn't want to know. Nami and Zoro might though…
"I hope they do, but given that they're in better shape than Shirahoshi-chan…" Vivi had a small pang of regret for riding on the giant mermaids' back along with the others, big as she was, the princess of Fishman island was not used to physical labour (same could be said of several princesses at Reverie in fact, Vivi could vaguely remember seeing some have a debate over whom could best abuse their servants) " I think they'll manage especially since neither has really done that much on this adventure" Vivi smiled dismissively at Rebecca, who didn't return the gesture
"Didn't Rindo-san help you infiltrate Cavendish-sans' ship?"
"Well..yeah" Vivi admitted reluctantly, a small blush starting to come across her cheeks
"And didn't Marguerite-san sew all those clothes for us?"
Vivi nodded, unwilling to admit to her premature conclusion, the two halfsisters had done about as much as Vivi herself had on this adventure. She had infiltrated Cavendish's ship with one of them for starters and afterwards she'd… not done as much as she'd like.
It had mostly been worrying about getting caught by slavers, random pirate crews (one whom allegedly was allied with the Strawhats, but most didn't know them) and distrusting her companions because she didn't know if she could trust them or not (a horrible downside with having the Strawhats as friends: you can't brag about it).
Then after her friends saved them from the Long Long Pirates, the most special thing Vivi had taken part in was a giant party (where they ended up eating through most of the ships' stores, much to Nami's chagrin) bathing with the others (until Sanji had somehow ruined the bath, that story still puzzled her), accidentally throw away Nami's weapon (Vivi was certain that she'd be given a bill as soon as the navigator found the time to write one, and Usopp had made a new one, with more gadgets and thingamabobs in it) and now be worried for Rindo and Marguerite (and deal with the temperamental aunt).
"This hasn't been much of an adventure for me…" the bluenette hugged herself when a breeze made her shiver "I haven't done nearly enough…"
"I know…" Rebecca patted her on the back "Let's hope we can help Reindeer-san with his patients"
Vivi turned and smiled at the younger woman, then winked at her "I think Sanji got that one covered"
Laughing the two women began to walk a bit further from the crooked house and towards the small village that dominated the isle, chatting lightly on the way. Amall things, like admiring their fathers' actions and character, the values of a king and their brave soldiers, while in typical fashion for teenage daughters that were the least bit independent, also taking the time to poked fun at their dads for either Cobra's perverted tendencies or Kyros who'd refused to touch his daughter with his bloodstained hands.
Eventually the subject turned to what they wanted in the future, that their loved ones were well, foreign dishes they'd like to try (both had heard very good things about Vierno Oilsoup and Tottoland Chocolate tea) and places they'd like to visit. Vivi had a whole slew of those.
"Why'd you like to see Kamabake Kingdom?"
Vivi smiled knowingly, she had no doubt why she'd want to visit the island of Men "From what I've heard… I think it's the one place where I won't be pestered by suitors"
Rebecca burst out laughing and Vivi joined her on reflex, convinced that the younger woman definitively knew what she was talking about. Even if the former gladiator had abandoned her royal rank and princess duties, her fair face and full figure would spur the attention of many a man, no matter where she went. Vivi knew how that felt, she'd gathered more than a few looks from some of the crew (A certain blonde and longnosed young man came to mind) even before she'd revealed she was the princess of Alabasta. In retrospect she guessed she could appreciate it, a lot of teenage girls would if they were in her shoes (when the boys weren't overstepping any bounds that is and simply stuck to occasionally drooling a bit), but it was a bit weird now.
The pair was brought out of their chatting by a figure waving at them in the distance.
"Is that… Usopp?"
"God-san?"
Vivi gave the girl a sympathetic look, God.., it was hardly a word she'd use to describe Usopp, except to ask which one held their hand over the sniper in a tough situation.
When the longnosed pirate reached them, he looked absolutely normal, that is, wide eyed, mouth open to yell, sweating and waving his arms around like the world was about to end "There you are, You'v got to come in, FAST!"
"What's going on?" the sniper grabbed both women around the waist and ran for the house, Vivi barely managing to finish the sentence before the sniper was halfway back to the house, huffing like a horse that'd run for miles.
"Is it Fran-san?" Rebecca yelped as the sniper grabbed her around the waist and threw her over his shoulders, before he snatched Vivi up in his arms and picked up the pace back to the house, the bluehaired princess squaeling in his arms.
His breath was ragged and heavy when he answered her, not made better by carrying the two women "I don't know yet!"
"Whaaaat?"
The sniper looked deep into Vivi's eyes "I can just feel something's about to get really bad!"
Is he serious right now?! The princess looked disbelievingly at the worried pirate A feeling?
"Well something bad is going to happen"
"Glad you're listening to me" Usopp responded in happy relief.
"It's not how you think" Vivi shook her head and looked up ahead spotting a figure just outside Fran's house, shaking and pointing at them
"Because I think Sanji-san can see you holding us like this…"
(A ware house on the Main island of Runny Rum Archiepelago)
Nami coughed as she got out of the pile of debris, dragging Luffy's cackling uncle after her.
How can he laugh now?! The navigator asked herself repeatedly the constant Guhahaha starting to drive her nut, is he deranged? Does he like being slammed through buildings AND be in mortal danger?! Nami started to see where some of her own captains' mentality and love for adventure came from and part of Nami wondered if this meant that Rindo and Marguerite would take after their aunt, very temperamental (at times emphasise on the Mental), blunt singlemindedness and commanding nature. Nami dreaded how things would go once they returned to Amazon Lily.
While she hadn't met Boa Hancock, the navigator doubted that the Kuja Queen would take lightly to two underlings coming back to snap at her for every little thing, that is, IF, Fran was successful at teaching them to, in Fran's words "be women", which to the matron meant a feminine tyrant. Despite these thoughts, it was another question that made it past her lips:
"Why're you still holding onto that suitcase?!" she snarled at him, noting that even though his left hand had taken some gashes, it still remained clenched around that damn piece of travel gear.
"I don't know" his voice was flat and certain, horrifying in its' own way without being menacing.
"Then lose it!" she pleaded, feeling the weight of the damn thing straining her arm "It's only slowing us down"
"Wish I could Bird" the smuggler replied, and to Nami it actually sounded like he was sorry, and underneath that, there was a feeling he was in some sort of pain "I just don't think my older self would want to lose this for some reason"
Nami didn't notice the last part, as she was far more interested in ducking to the side and avoid the red flashing form that slammed into Coyle and rammed him into a nearby wall.
Starring at the body of her charge, Nami fought the urge to duck for cover and opted instead to face the attacker head on.
She'd been sailing with Luffy and the others for a while now, she'd taken on fishmen and pirates alike, she could manage a few marines or Germa soldiers.
But, looking at Sanji's older brother, who was advancing towards her with a smile, Nami had her doubts that she could handle this one.
And get away.
"Hi there sweety" the redhead prince's smile deepened, not in the charming way, but the way any winner would after they'd won an easy victory and were about to part the spoils of war.
"How about you just come quietly" despite the darkness of the packhouse, Nami was certain she saw him wink "You know how this'll end don't you?" he stepped over a piece of debris, still smiling "So it'll be way easier to just do as you're told isn't it?"
The worst part wasn't his sleaziness and the disgusting arrogance however: even as Nami gripped her original climatact tightly and held it in front of her, she had a feeling he wasn't completely wrong in assuming victory already.
The stone that connected with the back of the prince's head begged to differ.
(The plaza)
"The president is unavailable"
The deadpan delivery wasn't something Galette was used to hearing, at least directed to her or her siblings. Though she was very familiar with it, as the redhead had used to exact same tone several times to turn down unwanted advances, requests for this and that thing back on Margarine Island or even the odd request for someone to see Mama (Galette had a strict anti-suicide-protocol for those exact situations and her subjects appreciated it earnestly) for something that absolutely had to go to the utmost top in the power hierarchy within Tottoland. The tone literally amounted to the bureaucratic equivalent of take a hike loser with the added flair of an unspoken death threat if they should remain nearby. The recipient might as well be trapped in limbo for eternity.
Big Sister Amande had heard it too, and attempted to cut the mans' almost bald head off at the shoulders a split second later.
It went approximately as well as was expected, the afterblow cut up the building behind her target, and Galette was certain the some of her hairs were cut in two by the mere sound of metal against metal, but:
Tching!
Big sister Amande's sword stopped the second it met the man's broad neck. Amande was as surprised as Galette when it didn't manage to cut straight through it.
The assassin himself, barely flinched as the blow connected and retaliated immediately with his leg sweeping up and went down in one swift move, the bladed-heel aiming directly at Amandes' head.
"Supa Hiru! (Super Heel/hero)" the assassin said simply, before the heel came whistling down, a lightning bolt whose thunder was a simple hum through the air.
The swordswoman raised her sword to block it, but as her senses screeched at her that it was a bad move, Amande twisted her blade and pointed the tip downwards, deflecting the slash into the cobbles.
The attack left a long squeaky-clean cut in the ground, more like a small ravine than a slash, carving through cobbles, limbs and bodies as easily as Amande's own attack would've done if her target hadn't been made of freaking steel.
"Miss Amande, He's a fruit user." Kato yelled at her "He can turn his entire body into blades!"
So my attacks are pretty useless then. Amande gritted her teeth and blocked a blade-covered fist from the near-bald man before her.
"You want to try a diplomatic approach?"
"Yes miss" Kato responded and stepped forward arms extended and showing his
"Please Mr. One, eh… sir" Kato addressed the assassin nervously, unaccustomed to taking the lead "The Charlotte family has discussed this at length and they'd like to suggest an alliance with your boss"
"If the president was interested in your crew" Mr. 1 stared the homie down with dead little eyes, neither the black orbs nor face displaying even a flicker of emotion "Then he'd have sought you out earlier"
"Uh… an oversight no doubt" the pumpkin head began, trying to wave off the stony response, but it went about as well as if he'd try to blow out a lit candle by playing solitaire next to it "I'm certain that Sir Crocodile would want to ally with as strong a crew as Big Mom's" he tried to give the assassin a charming smile, but on his pumpkin head it looked more like a gash that was starting to rot or a tear on a piece of cloth, neither of which could convince even the dumbest child (except maybe Luffy) of anything. With a smile like that: people would've doubted him if Kato had said the sky was blue.
"Strong huh?"
"Indeed Mr. 1!" Galette added in, capitalizing on the opening "Mama's a Yonko, The ruler of Tottoland, our crew is one of the strongest in the entire world!"
"Funny…." The assassin responded slowly, his eyes seemingly far away for a split second, before turning as hard and cold as knives "I don't recall seeing any of your crew at Marineford, while all the other yonko had their hands in the event somehow"
Silence followed
The man might as well have spat in the collective face of the Big Mom pirates.
"Watch your tone blady-boy" Amande scolded the assassin "Or do you want to feel the full wrath of the Big Mom pirates?"
"Why not?" his response took her off guard "Angry opponents make more mistakes, makes them that much easier to take out" he lunged at the swordswoman, his fingers turning into curved blades as they neared her face.
Tching!
Thanks to her reflexes, the only thing that got sliced was her cigarette.
Her own counterattack slammed into the assassins' chest and, if her opponent had been normal, would have slashed right through half his ribs and one shoulder blade.
It was a sore spot for Amande that she couldn't slice the man up slowly like she preferred, but his skin turned to steel the instant her blade got close. It was dreadfully annoying.
Amande took a step backwards "Dacquoise!"
Behind her she could hear the winged goon stand at attention, and move in to outflank the opponent, off to the side that wasn't near the Strawhats' she noted.
"Get me another cigarette"
The goon stood silent for a moment, then gawked at her with his mouth hanging wide open, voice more than a bit confused "Whaaaa…"
"You use the same brand as me and I need another smoke" she snapped at him, her usual cool temper giving way to uncharacteristic rage. How can he be this slow and dense? She pondered, as her winged underling found the package and shook it, something rattling within.
"But I'm almost out!" he complained as he fished out another cigarette from the crumbled packet.
"And you'll be out a hand if you don't do as you're told!" Amande didn't take her eyes off the man in front of her, likewise, the near bald assassin didn't blink, unwilling to miss any opening or to create one for her to exploit.
An admirable trait the third daughter of the Charlotte family admitted reluctantly before adding a happy and bloodthirsty: If this one won't see reason, I want to kill him myself.
"But what should we do about him?" the underling pointed at the assassin "He's being a bit of trouble right now" Dacquise grunted "Guy's even insulting the crew! Can't have that"
"Do I have to tell you everything?" she grumbled displeased, her tone all but spelling out idiot to the ambitious underling "I can handle this guy myself, there's plenty of other foes to deal with around us"
"But isn't it better that we take out the little guys like this one!" Dacquoise protested vehemently, a balled fist raised threateningly at Charlotte Amande's back, before a furious (and a little hopeful) look from Galette made him realise what he was doing and swiftly scampered to find his packet and the zippo. Amande used his silence to continue.
"You can help Galette" the tall blue woman ignored the redhead gnashing her teeth in protest behind her "You two should go find Strawhat and take out his orange girlfriend and that Coyle looking person, shouldn't be a problem when it's both of you" she turned to her last comrade "Kato, hold up the Strawhats on the plaza, keep them close so they don't escape."
"Yes Ma'am." The pumpkin-headed homie nodded grimly, gripping his sword tighter with both hands.
"See to it that Durum can still fight too" she spat out the butt of her last smoke "If he can, you two deal with the kelp-haired swordsman and that traitor Jinbe"
Off to the side, Amande noted the sound of the swordsman wanting to attack her and at the fishman holding him back.
So many curse words coming from one person, men should know to wait their turn she thought, her eyes never leaving the assassin in front of her.
"That smoke coming?"
(Germa Kingdom, deep within the bowels of Judge's grand palace)
Falco breathed heavily, despite himself and his surroundings.
The gallery he was in was a long row of paintings of Germa Kingdoms' many victories over the years, including one of his most esteemed host, King Judge himself, after he'd beheaded four other kings.
Why King Judge had received them just beneath it, Falco didn't like to ponder too long. Then the Vinsmoke king had aired his ideas about an alliance with Dressrosa, sealed by marriage, but it had been pushed into the background by Princess Viola-chan-samas' father.
Falco liked weddings, seeing the happy couple, drink and toast to them and then to the happiness they'd have.
And if he could ever attend a royal one, he just knew he could die happy. If it was Viola-chan-sama then he could more than die happy, he could say he'd lived a happy life.
But she wasn't perfect, he was forced to admit, he'd seen the way she had looked at the Strawhat pirate, that black dressed blonde haired young man, who carried quite a few disturbing similarities to the paintings Falco had seen in Germa kingdoms' royal galleries.
Those disturbing eyebrows…. He shook his head silently at the sight, he'd heard a lot about weird looks over the years, but there was no way anyone would curl their eyebrows to look like little piles of poo, though he reckoned it was to signify Germa 66, or the humongous den den mushi that their nation travelled upon.
Or it could be a sign of how twisted their minds are… Falco silently scolded himself as soon as the thought entered his mind, such ideas had no place in a gentleman's heart, but as he passed yet another group of Germa soldiers, all with the same line to their mouths, height, build, stride and even their voices, Falco couldn't shake the feeling it was warranted. He'd heard the rumours about Germa kingdom employing illegal cloning and to him, all the near identical soldiers were a confirmation. That, or germa employed surgery to make them identical, even down to the way they moved. Which didn't make his impression of the kingdom any better.
As soon as they'd set foot on the nomadic kingdom, he and the marine had practically been showed off to the side, not important enough for the royals to concern themselves with. At least that was what Falco thought when the princess was rushed to the infirmary to join princess Shirahoshi in being treated for their disease, while he and the Rear Admiral had been left behind. He didn't blame the Dressrosan king his priorities, if anything Falco admired him for it, showed that kings weren't as rotten as many in the general population made them out to be. King Neptune was seemingly thae same way, not leaving his childs' side.
That, sadly, didn't stop them from being rather eccentric in Falco's eyes.
The Germa king seemingly didn't ever take off that tacky golden helm that served as his crown whilst also looking as if he had a plan for everyone in the vicinity. That much had been evident from his brief greeting consisting of "You're here, finally!" then "Get the princess to the infirmary immediately" and finally "My eldest son Ichiji will want her to be taken well care of before they meet".
Naturally, King Riku had been harder to read, as the elderly king was more concerned with his daughters' wellbeing than with such trivial things like socialising or even getting a report of what had transpired.
In a sharp contrast to either of his colleagues, the king of Providence, Elizabello II, hadn't simply greeted the dressrosan princess and her escort warmly when they'd arrived, he'd taken time for smalltalk and to challenge Rear Admiral Malta to a punching match, to "finally do something fun!" as the huge man had put it. Falco didn't for the life of him understand why she'd accepted. The one wise thing Malta had done, was to request postponing it until after the Princess Viola-chan-sama had been handed over to her most noble father and rushed to the infirmary to be cured. But to no avail and the match had taken place mere moments later, which to the surprise of no one, had resulted in Malta being knocked out (Falco hope it was the case after she'd been slammed through the first wall, while his highness Elizabello gave the Rear Admiral more credit and was certain she'd lost consciousness between the fifth and sixth wall).
But there was something that felt out of place in the whole situation, something that the museum director hadn't noticed because of the whole rush.
What was it?...
Oh!
"If you do not mind me asking…" Falco turned to his companion, nervously locking eyes with the tall warrior, whose near-alabaster skin made him resemble one of the living dead, the dark lines running from his eyes only accentuated it "I did not see your king in the group" he swallowed before continuing "I hope that King Nefertari isn't unwell"
"Sadly…" the pale warrior responded grimly, his head nodding as if in shame "His highness isn't well" he eventually revealed "My king has been sick for a long time, and his health have deteriorated rapidly as of late"
Falco knew exactly what the tall bodyguard meant. He'd kept up to date with the newspaper over the disappeared princesses for the last few weeks. He hadn't known them personally, but the museum director had read about what they'd been through, Crocodile, Doflamingo and those disturbing stories of fishman terrorists and of Jinbe. To Falco it seemed that each of the princesses were involved with Shichibukai, but when he'd voiced his observations on the trip there Viola-chan-sama had waved them off, stating that boss Jinbe had nothing to do with the trouble on Fishman island or the New Fishman pirates (though she'd conceded that Vivi-chan-sama, the daughter of King Nefertari, was very apprehensive about the former shichibukai being part of the Strawhat crew, more so than anything else on their journey). The dressrosan princess also briefly mentioned her own dislike of dealing with the two Kuja. But again, not for their relation to a shichibukai (or, very surprisingly, their father Coyle for that matter), more because they were ignorant or uneducated of the outside world.
Part of Falco had been saddened by this revelation, since their father (and he used that word as broadly as possible) had proven himself to be surprisingly intelligent. That the smuggler used this gift for evil and illegal activities was however very shameful. And deeply regrettable.
This naturally led him to the question of how many pirates that could have been productive members of society if they had gotten a proper education or a better chance in life, a little kindness early on and supportive role models. Whitebeard as a farmer, Kaido as a mailman or Big Mom as a dietician…that Strawhat could be a… Falco struggled for a moment, unsure what that particular pirate's intelligence enabled him to, his lack of imagination forced him to eventually give up: poststamp licker… the list could be infinite.
But Falco was pulled back to reality when the white-dressed bodyguard cleared his throat and continued, Falco concluded that the warrior was deeply concerned about the fate of his liege but that there was also something else on his mind.
"The doctors… doesn't believe he is long for this world…" he hung his head and Falco was surprised to note the redness of his eyes and the quivering lower lip.
I expected a more stoic man… the museum director thought as he patted the bodyguard on the shoulder (he was happy that there was a small stool nearby so he could reach) before he realised what he'd done and bowed "I'm sorry" he began to apologize "I've overstepped my bounds"
A pat on the back made him look up into the, surprisingly kind, eyes of the bodyguard "You don't need to apologize, it's not a shame to show kindness to strangers, it's a rarity that should be cultivated in this world, not quieted down"
Falco straightened up and returned the smile "I… honestly didn't expect this level of familiarity from a king's bodyguard" he admitted
The taller man simply chuckled "We are rather tightknit in Alabasta" he smiled "And my name is Pell Director"
"Falco" he simply replied with a grateful nod "Technically it's Hercule Valorius Falco, but…" he smiled sheepishly "I usually just go by Falco" his face turned a bit embarrassed "Bit ostentatious, I admit, but it's my name"
"Yeah, but it's really not a problem Falco-san" Pell smirked at him, a light chuckle in his voice "No one is in control of that sort of thing"
What a kind person Falco mused I hope king Nefertari is that way as well, a kingdom deserves that kind of rulers, especially one that has been through as much as Alabasta… and Dressrosa as well
A sudden wet muffled sound broke the silence.
Falco's eyes widened at it and a blush crept over his face in an instant as the director tried to ignore the sound, it didn't get better when Pell looked at him in surprise and burst out laughing.
"Hungry?" though the chuckle was devoid of mockery Falco continued to grow more red and tried to hide his face in his hands.
Pell didn't care.
"Come with me" Falco complied reluctantly as the Bodyguard led him down the hall, a small smile on his face "I think you'll like to meet a young lady named Cosette who works here"
(The seas)
"So… what next captain?" Blue Gilly scratched his neck and watched Ideo hold the railing so tightly that he might as well be strangling it.
Man, I really hope he starts to lighten up soon…
The longarmed captain huffed and growled, he'd been like that practically since they'd split from King Neptune and the rest of the crew (both of them) had opted to maintain the ship under deck, the Strawhats' musician keeping them company and providing entertainment, even out in the open they could hear the violin and faint singing, despite the winds picking up by the second.
"Don't know…." Ideo grumbled and slumped against the railing, jaw pushed forward as he stared out on the darkening waters, the last few rays of sun dying against the waves. In a few minutes, it would be night and they'd be forced below deck if they didn't want to freeze. They'd been lucky to find a little cove to wait out in, but the other wait was starting to affect the captain's mood.
"What do you guys usually do?" the captain turned to look at the third person out on the bridge. In stark contrast to him, the ravenhaired woman in the large coat looked like she hadn't a care in the world, and at the most expected flowers from friends and they were a bit late.
Got to be because she's more used to this kind of thing… Blue Gilly mused as Nico Robin simple turned and smiled slightly at the two other pirates and pulled the coat a little tighter around her slender frame. Gilly could emphasise, he'd closed his hoodie long ago and dearly wanted to get back inside, coffee, tea, cocoa, soup, all the good things to keep a man warm during times like these (which was coincidentally the same times he hated walking around in swimming briefs, but he liked showing off his legs). It beat the donor kebabs that Ideo loved so much, or anything that Jeet could make, there were only so much that could be acceptable to eat after it'd been diced and charred. Naturally, a deep hope of his was that they'd get some new crewmembers that could cook.
"Well Ideo-san, Gilly-san…" the archaeologist responded with a voice like a purring cat, soothing and calm, despite the weather and the waiting (and the food available) "We usually don't get to wait" she chuckled and turned her eyes back to the seas "Normally there's a ton of other things that keeps us occupied, like dealing with underlings and liutenants while Luffy fights the strongest opponent"
"If we could have fought the Marines and Big Mom's kids, we should have stayed!" Ideo folded his arms and scoffed "How can we prove ourselves by taking a breather out here?" he waved a frustrated hand at the clashing waves "Hajrudin went out and did something!" he started to rant "Cavendish is out there searching for the princesses too, probably fighting some other pirates crew and getting all the glory!"
"Relax Ideo-san" the woman simply told him, voice still as gentle as a kitten "We all agreed with King Neptune's plan"
"Hide and wait" Ideo sulked and folded his arms again "That big headed guy left too, we could've fought him!"
"Captain…" Gilly began "You saw what he did to that greenhaired germa officer…right?"
"Yeah he gave him boobs, so what?" the captain grunted "You say women can't fight?" he pointed at Robin, who continued to smile in amusement, a cat watching a pair of feuding kittens "She managed a bit more than us at Dressrosa! I didn't even get to beat one of the officers!" he lamented again (Gilly had heard his captain complain about it several times already, it was honestly starting to get on his nerves, though he understood perfectly why Ideo was annoyed he didn't get to settle things with Sai either, that fight would have been fun to watch).
"Men being envious isn't very attractive Ideo-san" the woman said, berating him slightly for his behaviour, but the way she tilted her head told Gilly she wasn't completely dismissive about his frustrations, and he half suspected the darkhaired woman wasn't demeaning them in any way contrary to her previous actions "But I'd much rather that you or one of the others fought instead of me" she turned and smiled at him with half-closed eyes, her face was the very picture of contagious tranquillity "I hope that takes the edge off"
"…It doesn't… do much" the captain grunted annoyed and sulked even more.
Gilly had a hard time not chuckling at Ideo's chagrin "How about we get back inside" he pointed at the door with a thumb "I'm dying for some heat and.." he turned to Robin "I really wouldn't mind hearing about how you know Dragon so well?"
"Well" Robin began and linked her arms with the two pirates dragging them along "There's not much to that story actually…"
Gilly smiled as a thought occurred to him, something that was sure to pull Ideo from his sulkiness, and it'd provide some entertainment for both the crew and guests alike. He snickered and gave Nico Robin a saucy grin as he leaned in close to her ear "Then perhaps you could tell us a few stories from your dating life?"
Moments later, the long-leg wondered if there had ever been others that had ever had to retrieve their speedos from the top of a mast in ice cold sea winds, all the while his nakama laughed so hard they might as well have been partying with the other divisions again, including having been drunk under the table by Pirate Hunter. Another obvious question ran through his head as he climbed the mast and simultaneously shielded his privates from the chilling winds: How did Nico Robin get so good at swiftly stealing a guys' underwear? Was it some sort of habit of hers, or had it come in handy on some adventures? Or: Did she learn that trick to get her own undies back from pervs and had simply applied it to others instead?
He wasn't stupid enough to ask her any of this directly, however. Gilly had learnt his lesson (and would continue to do so, because a slender feminine hand appeared at the top of the mast, like a skin-coloured branch contrasting the brown bough that held the sails. Much to Gilly's chagrin, the limb grabbed his speedos and threw them to another hand on the second mast, even further out of his reach).
Down below him on the deck, the Strawhat musician was giddily asking if the archaeologist could teach him how to do it on women.
Gilly was happy to get some company and his up the other mast, even if the skeleton was more concerned about getting his violin back.
Well, at least no one's sulking…
This thought did little to comfort Gilly as a particularly cold wind licked his body and gave him goosebumps in some very exposed places.
(The Plaza)
Mr. 1 rushed at Amande, raised one leg high above his head, and turned his heel into a sharp blade.
But his tone remained the same ice cold and fatalistic like it always was, even as the heel came crashing down against his opponent's waiting blade.
"Sisu isu Suparata! (This is Sparta!)"
The attack sent Amande backwards. She hadn't been anchored well enough and her highheels slipped across the ground as she tried to find a foothold, any kind, that could save her life. Until then the slash was pushing her back like a tornado would a ship. The vessel was intact all right, but the second it toppled, that vessel was a thing of the past.
Once more she gritted her teeth and tried to withstand the attack whose shockwave was bound to reach her soon, and then the third daughter of the Charlotte family would be no more.
Amande cursed under her breath and dug in her heels, cracking the cobbles underneath and finally getting enough foundation to withstand the slash and push back against it.
Blade screeched against blade, and both refused to let the other gain as much as an inch.
Naturally, watching the exchange left Zoro very visibly and vocally annoyed "Aren't we going to do something? They're hogging all the fun!"
Jinbe wasn't late to smack him over the head "Are you crazy, this is great! It's better that Mr. 1 is against them than against us."
"He could still be against us" the greenhair argued and clutched his blades, an almost hopeful gleam in his eye "We could be struck down when our backs are turned!"
"Yes, he'd do that" Jinbe nodded in agreement "But right now, he's a potential ally"
"Potential enemy too" Zoro argued greatly annoyed, his whole being emanating belligerence, his zeal for combat all too clear.
"The two are often interchangeable" Jinbe grumbled and grabbed the swordsman by the hem of his shirt.
"Hey! What're you.." the greenhaired man sputtered angrily
"Getting us away from those two" he hawked and rushed out of the plaza, Zoro starting to yell obscenities as he was pulled further away from the two combatants, internally debating who was more annoying and obstructing in his quest to have a good fight, the former shichibukai that dragged him away from danger before he'd even been wounded, or, the chef with the stupid eyebrows and the insufferable girl-craziness.
His debate was somewhat swayed when Zoro a moment later watched the fishman level a trio of Germa soldiers with a singly punch, ignore being stabbed in the shoulder and throwing the marine assailant over his head and through a wall and into another.
"Got to be the chef"
(The seas within Runny Rum)
The storm kept pushing the vessel in whatever direction it pleased, but it didn't matter to Reiju one bit.
"Have you got the coordinates?"
"Yes your highness" the captain of the little vessel confirmed with a nod "We're locked in on the location, despite the marines' interference" he pointed at a map of Runny Rum Archiepelago, outlining the different islands, the Main island, nearby Chess Island where pirates would go after visiting the pirate museum (apparently to pay their respect though others thought it was to get ideas for their own campaigns): The three little insignificant isles of C-Minor, Antonin, Dvorak and Symphony that were only big enough to support two villages and their livestock. Rumpelstiltskin that boasted a huge orphanage (which had a history of providing for either the marines or Pirate crews, as they were the only ones tha'd ever come near the place). The other islands Reiju didn't care for. Mainly beach resorts and vacation spots, but as a royal, she didn't need any pampering, it was part of her upbringing, and indeed her daily routine.
Pushing her ponderings aside, Reiju smiled confidently
"Inform me when we're within range"
"As you command your Highness"
Reiju's smile disappeared, and she pursed her lips and did a very small nod. The internationally known sign amongst royalty that said is-that-how-it-is?
"… You can just say Roger…" she turned to the captain who looked at her slightly confused, her smile a bit stiff and commanding "...It saves time"
"But… your father…" Reiju knew what'd be coming next, some lame courtly procedure her father insisted upon.
"Do I look like my father?" she gave him a challenging look and smiled inwardly when the captain looked down and blushed faintly "No, your highness"
"Good" she turned towards the horizon, awaiting the inevitable news.
That they'd finally reached their target.
(The ware house)
"Hey, get off that bird!" Coyle pointed a finger at the prince "She's not interested in you!"
Ichiji turned towards the gangly looking man
and laughed.
He'd dealt with many problems over the course of the last few days, dirty, stinking and worthless commoners that popped up everywhere, stupid, disrespectful marines unaware that they should obey any and all commands he could give them at any point, weaker royals than him that Ichiji was forced to play nice with because his father Judge told him to and then finally, obnoxious lowlife, worthless pirates from either the Big Mom or the Strawhat crew who might be considered strong amongst other of their pitiful ilk, but to a perfect specimen like him (courtesy of his fathers' research and experiments as well as suprior Lineage Factor), were nothing.
The man in front of him, looking to be wearing a rag from some bygone age in a similarly faded burgundy colour (which Ichiji suspected of becoming pink if left out in the sun a few moments longer), a matching elderly tricorne and a little suitcase firmly secured in his hands, was giving him (HIM!) orders!
He'd be angry, if fact Ichiji would be absolutely furious at the massive lack of disrespect of the lowly creature, he'd complete and utterly destroy the sad sight before his eyes, make everyone regret that they'd ever denied him his due right, leaving them in the feeling of bubbling endless dread for just a dire horrible few moments before the firstborn prince of Germa Kingdom would come for them as well. He'd have made the disrespectful creature suffer like no one ever had… if only the man wasn't so:
"You're pathetic" he laughed at the man in front of him, wondering briefly if the creature was demented or didn't know who he was "Have you seen yourself in a mirror? Ever?!" the prince snorted at the man, barely managing to hold back the laughter "You look like a jester!" he managed after a short while, though the cramps from laughing still rippled through his entire body. Ichiji was barely aware that the warmblooded navigator behind him was trying to scamper off.
"Don't move little hottie" he snickered and turned to flash the furious woman a saucy smirk "I'll catch you anyways, so it's easier for you to just stay here and we'll go when I'm done with that loser captain you've been sai-"
The suitcase hit him hard over the head with a crash. It didn't hurt, Ichiji's skin was too tough for some normal human to ever penetrate it with blunt force trauma, at least when it was as light as the luggage. He was more surprised that someone was stupid enough to attack him, and so readily.
The jesterman had realised that he didn't do any damage to Ichiji, in fact, from the way the fool held his head, he seemed to have somehow hurt himself.
"Amateur" Ichiji snickered his thoughts of How stupid can you be to hurt yourself? Going unsaid. At any other time, he would've been angry over some commoner being near him, that the peasant had attacked him should make him excessively furious, but the sight of the jester being this incompetent and every act he did turned up futile was hilarious.
And so was the gutpunch that sent the jester flying into the wall.
The pitiful man hit it with a wet crunch that Ichiji detested hearing on the battlefield, the sound of dislocated shoulders and broken ribs mixing with the crack of mortar and brick, the man ending up as part of a heap of partially collapsed wall.
"Now…" he turned to the horrified and apprehensive orangehaired hottie again, his smile growing deeper and more wolfen "Where were we?"
This time it was a brick that collided with the back of his head.
"This is starting to get tiresome" he pursed his lips before he opened his mouth, not bothering with turning around to relish in the jester's inevitable fear "I'm about to lose my good mood…" the redhaired prince explained, counting on his royal presence and the slow delivery to penetrate the suicidal fool's thick skull "And I don't want my girl here to see me break you in two, so ho-"
Another brick struck into the small of his back with a dull thud. Ichiji licked his lips, both to flirt with the retreating woman before him, whom he knew would return his special attentions later (it wasn't like she had much choice, all women were instinctively subservient to a prince after a while, especially when they were as handsom as he), but also to prevent himself from losing his cool.
"Listen" he said as he turned to the heap and the man buried in it. The jester looked as idiotic as he always had, but now he also looked angrier than before, Ichiji scoffed and shook his head at the sight.
"Angry you can't hurt me loser?"
To his surprise the man looked like he was mulling it over "Nah, not just that…" he looked at the woman Ichiji had been pursuing "More annoyed that she hasn't run yet"
"I'm not leaving you here!" the woman protested and got up with her staff poised at Ichiji "We just found you!" she gritted her teeth and flexed her fingers "We can hold this guy until Luffy arrives"
Ichiji smiled "I like a woman with some fire in her" he turned back to the jesterman "But you" he pointed at the man "Not so…"
The jester raised a finger at him and it started turning black. Ichiji snickered again, he'd seen Haki many times before.
How pathetic can you be? He thought, as he resumed snickering. He can't even use Haki properly! Ichiji stopped laughing immediately when a black ray shot straight at him from the tip of the jesters' jet black finger. Ichiji saw where it was headed before it hit, but it was too fast and he instantly knew he wouldn't be able to dodge.
The black ray hit him straight in the groin.
Even if Ichiji knew where he'd be hit within a split second, the shock of it made him instinctively hold the attacked region and cry out in horror.
WHO DOES THIS SORT OF THING?! He screamed internally, his thoughts circling around the future of his family line and how horrible it'd be if he couldn't marry one of the princesses as his father had planned it because of this cowardly injury.
When the pain didn't settle in, he looked up relieved, before he remembered that a commoner had dared to attack him, a royal, he bared his teeth and sneered at the dirty attacker "You Little Blasphemous Wormhearte-"
"GUST SWORD!"
Ichiji was instantly lifted off his feet by a strong wind, his balance gone, briefly disoriented, and lost in a state of weightlessness as he floated through the air. Ichiji was then hammered through one of the packhouse's undemolished walls, the debris scraping his skin and only his googles prevented the mortar-dust getting into his eyes. Less than a second later, the violent windstorm sent the prince straight across the adjacent street and into the side of a building.
Which then collapsed on top of him with a loud resonating crash
And forcing upon the firstborn son of Germa Kingdom
a world of darkness…
(The Streets)
"Sorry about this Strawhat-san"
"Who're you!" Luffy blurted out, still upset from almost being shot a moment prior, before ducking under another attack, letting the butt of the rifle swing harmlessly over his head. "Oh doesn't matter! I've got to get Nami and Fruncle!"
"Sadly for those two, you will stay here…" His longnecked opponent scoffed with a dour tone and Luffy was surprised to feel a kick in the stomach that both sent him reeling backwards and forced the air from his lungs.
"I couldn't sense it!" the Strawhat captain coughed and took a step backwards "How'd you do that?"
The longneck person in front of him scoffed again, eyes narrowing and making a grim face, a mask of disdain and disappointment, lunging at the Rubberman once more a moment later, a snarl dominating his old parched lips and a burning in his eyes that suppressed any reasonable character the man had displayed barely a moment before "How can anyone be this ignorant?"
"Ign-ant?" Luffy repeated confused, evaded another wild swing from his opponent and withdrew his arm to strike back as his anger flared "I'm not a bug! I'm gonna be Pirate King!"
His opponent snarled at him, his whole body trembling with barely contained rage "How dumb are you?" the man dodged to the side as Luffy's attack swung past him. Luffy was forced to admit his opponent was fast and that there was something about his weird ability to avoid Haki detection, but the Strawhat captain didn't have time to deal with that. He had more important things on his mind, which was a very hard place for anything to stay for long, given the young mans' tendency to look at anything that came near him as if he'd never seen anything as amazing as that and to wonder where his next meat-meal would come from (not to mention his massive desire for fun, friends and adventure).
"I called you ignorant!" he yelled at Luffy "That has nothing to do with ants! Or even animals!" the longnecked man shook his head and pulled a knife at the Strawhat captain, slashed and cursing at him like only a sailor could: excessively and with great variation.
"Snotnosed, mudbrained, fleaball-covered sweatbather!" the man yelled at Luffy, swinging his knife left and right in a desperate attempt to strike the pirate captain, who evaded each attack, thought it got very close a few times to a very vital part of him:
"Hey watch the HAT!"
"Small bladdered obnoxious choirsinger, constipated, toilet-paper-dragging troglodyte, goblin-kissing, mildew-breathing, wheelbarrow pushing tenth-rate farmhand!" the attacker ranted on, ignoring the captain's warning complete and utterly.
Luffy was starting to lose his patience, not only from the whole got-to-save-my-two-awesome-cousins-and-Fruncle-is-being-a-problem (though he is also great), but this ranting person was threatening his precious hat! Whoever the long-necked grey and bristled man was. The only thing Luffy was certain of was that it was angry and mad!
"HEY! Stop talking about my hat like that!"
And where was Nami and Fruncle?! They'd been right next to him a few moments ago before Sanji's whichever-number brother had shown up and wanted to throw down for no good reason.
Luffy hadn't forgotten what those bastards had said after Tottoland (authors' note: That was the previous fic in the epilogue), that his crew could keep Sanji and his brothers would take Nami instead. He'd wanted to beat the lot of them to a pulp even more than after he found out Sanji'd been beaten by them, just for being nice to some girl. That was what the chef did when he wasn't cooking or fighting with Zoro!
As a captain, Luffy was bound to deal with people that attacked his comrades, and deal with them harshly, like at Water 7, with Franky's friends and Usopp. And if those guys got hold of Nami he'd no doubt they'd beat her too for being greedy or helping a kid she'd met. Not that he'd ever let her get hurt or captured by them willingly, or anyone for that matter, but the feeling (not thought, ideas tended to overheat his head very fast) of that happening, was starting to make him very, very angry. The stress of the past few weeks didn't help either.
Luffy desperately wanted to punch the old guy in front of him to let some of it out.
But knocking the geezer out was just too cruel for the young pirate captains' tastes.
Even if he kept saying bad things about his beloved hat!
"Please stop" Luffy tried "I'm really in a hurry and I don't have time for this!"
The long necked man didn't listen, a wild expression coming over his face as a bit of froth was starting to form at the edges of his mouth, which still spewed all manner of insults "Unworthy paediatrician! Staphylococcus! Rogue noserunner! GAAAAAAH!" he drew back his arm to throw another punch, just as the rubberman ducked under his previous one, even without his Haki, it wouldn't have been that hard, since the old guy was getting more and more winded "Whitebeard believed in you!"
"What does that old guy have to do with this?" Luffy responded in bewilderment, dodging yet another wild swing as the attacker grew more and more furious at each passing second, which roughly corresponded with each missed attack and the amounts of colourful semi-curses he could spew at Luffy , whom were getting more and more confused "And how do you know him anyway?"
The attacked stopped, the trembling that went over his body and his eyes blinked rapidly "I fought for him at Marineford!" he roared at Luffy, who was taken aback by the ferocity of the older man as he dived deep into a well of outrage and frustration "Didn't you see who was on your side?!"
"I just beat marines and tried to save Ace!" Luffy yelled back at the man, his voice turning whiny at having to explain this, but there was something else. He could feel the pain of that tragedy coming back. The one thing that'd kept Luffy going was his friends and the absolute certainty they were out there, somewhere on the seas, above or below them, and that they'd find each other again, soon. Jinbe had reminded him of it, and it'd given him resolve.
Purpose.
It was a feeling the young pirate captain could draw upon when remembering his cousins on Dvorak. He didn't help them because they were family, they were first and foremost his friends and that was all he needed to move the very heavens for them, no matter how long he'd known them. But if he let down Rindo and Marguerite, if he lost them, somehow Luffy felt that it'd hurt so much more than if it was a friend he'd known just for as long…
But Luffy wasn't about to spew that in the face of this… whatever tribe, or fleet, or city or restaurant his attacker belonged to. He just wanted to finish this, find his Fruncle and Nami and the others and get off this island and leave all of its' stupid marines and weirdoes behind!
But the one in front of him was frustratingly determined to fight him no matter what.
The man tried to swing at him again, his breath coming in short gasps and coughs. That the rubberman continued to dodge the attacks only made it worse.
"Hey if you're tired…" Luffy began, dodging another, slower and more inaccurate attack "We can fight later"
The longnecked man looked stunned for a second before he regained his composure "I don't have a choice"
"Why?" Luffy gave him a confused look "Can't you do what you want?"
"I've allied with Big Mom boy" the old man responded and lunged at the strawhat captain once more "My daughter marries one of her sons, then both she and my crew are protected"
"One of my friends almost married her daughter" Luffy dodged under the blow "She tried to kill him and his family!"
"The Vinsmokes' strengths are all in their technology" the man huffed ignoring Luffy's outrage and tried to strike at the other captain once more, his movements becoming ever more sluggish "My crew has it in their arms and hearts!" he lunged at Luffy again who effortlessly evaded it. A small part of Luffy wanted to hear the rest of the man's reasons for joining Big Mom, an absolute majority of him wanted to punch him and run away, looking for Nami and Fruncle.
True to form, Luffy paid more attention to the little stuff in life and stuck around. Though he had a feeling that the battle wouldn't be much longer anyway. The other man was grunting like crazy and sweating even more than Brook when Robin caught him going through the girls' laundry basket.
"But you don't get that it's still not enough in the New World!" the man swung at him again, missed and cursed some more, but he evidently wasn't done with the Strawhat captain "Do ya boy?"
Luffy could only grunt in response and sidestep the ever more clumsy attacks "What's there to get?"
The man stopped to catch his breath, looking angrily at the younger pirate before he cleared his throat and spat at Luffy's feet. The captain only looked at the older angry man in confusion.
"What've I done to you?"
"You…" the man breathed heavily, taking a moment to catch his breath "Didn't help…. the Whitebeard crew…(HUFF!) during the Payback…(HUFF!) War…"
"My crew was training!" Luffy grumbled at the wheezing man "We weren't strong enough for the New World…" he wasn't happy to admit it, but looking back at his decision, it was probably the best piece of "captains' orders" he'd ever given. After they entered the New World, Luffy's friends hadn't been in as bad a pinch as they'd used to, like in Thrillerbark or in Skypiea, hell, Usopp fled less these days, Zoro wasn't getting wounded as badly as he'd used to (Luffy didn't get why he was so sore about that) and Nami wasn't all about avoiding fight anymore (even if she still demanded money for no reason).
At the end of it all, each of his friends had gotten stronger.
But the world had gone on while they were training.
People had obviously gotten hurt. That was no surprise, Luffy had learnt that from Lucky Roo back in his hometown. A bullet to the head of a mountain bandit was a lesson that stayed with you, even one as stupid as Luffy. That naturally didn't mean everyone had the same outlook as the young pirate captain.
But he didn't think about that. He heard about it and dealt with things as they popped up.
Planning for stuff sounded like reading a book, and Luffy reasoned that it meant he could skip ahead and read the ending immediately.
And that wasn't adventure.
And that's where it ended.
The time Luffy'd spent reminiscing, the other captain had used to punch him in the face, hard enough to bruise despite the rubbermans' powers and durability.
"You can't fight at all can you?" the longnecked captain wheezed, managing a condescending and cocky smile despite his fatigue "You were just a kid that gets in the way of other more competent pirates"
The older pirate took another step forward, fists at the ready,
only to be handed a massive jawbreaker when Luffy had finally had enough and struck back.
(The ware house)
"Not one for honourable combat, are you?" Nami breathed as she helped the smuggler out of the debris heap, his clothes stained and dusty, breath slightly uneven and strained.
"You aren't that much better bird" Coyle responded with a pained cough and gave her a sharp smile and an approving nod before he held his head and groaned, eyes shut tightly together while he ground his teeth "Ugh!"
"What's wrong?" Nami looked at him with worried eyes, despite the hurry they were in, she could still muster a surprising amount of empathy, even for a guy that drove her nuts with nonsense and sudden bouts of insane courage (for anyone that had known Luffy for years, indeed even a few hours, this wasn't unsurprising). The concern made the old smuggler chuckle, despite the pain he was in.
"My headaches are getting worse" Coyle shut his eyes trying to soldier through the pain. It didn't work for a number of reasons, for one he'd never been a soldier (the one army he'd stolen from broke down due to the quartermasters adopting his laidback mannerisms, or it might've been because the soldiers lost respect for their officers after Coyle had been interrogated and given them lip the entire time, he hadn't really cared about it to be honest) while another reason was that whatever person Coyle would be in the future, was far more persistent than a mere headache. A third was that Coyle suspected that the older him indeed had spent time with an army or two, judging from the roaring rage that was starting to remodel the inside of Coyle's skull with a crowbar, future Ile D. Francisco had probably spent this time beating said armies up for the standing in his way, or simply for interrupting his meals. Coyle did not like either scenario one bit.
"That's the least of your worries right now" Nami responded dismissively and dragged him along, obviously eager to get out before another attacker found them.
"I kinda think it's… my older personality that's coming out and about again…" he admitted reluctantly
Nami gave him a horrified look and dragged him along faster "I hope not, he was scary, older you insisted on hunting down the marine who'd turned you young again and kill her…"
"Oh future me can't be that bad" Coyle managed, despite his very recent experiences, not fully believing her words "I've never killed anyone if it could be avoided…(Cough)" He gave her a reassuring smile "No reason to change that…"
"Your sister is afraid of you." Nami simply responded.
Coyle was silent for a moment, his face a mask of disbelief, but then he shook his head "Can't be, I'd never harm family"
"Well… Fran definitely doesn't share that sentiment." Nami responded with a certainty that took the smuggler back "She was very insistent that we didn't make you angry"
Coyle blinked several times "Are you certain we're talking about the same woman here?" he started "Black hair, smokes a pipe, gluttonous, no table manners…" he shook his head and his whole body trembled "Shouldn't, for the love of any god you can imagine, be anywhere near anything that even remotely resembles chores, like cleaning or folding laundry?"
"Yeah and she also blames it on the weather when freaky stuff starts to happen" Nami looked back at him "Has she always been like that?"
"You mean…" Coyle began, his voice one of bewilderment and confusion "Fran still doesn't believe she ate a devil fruit?"
Nami stopped pulling at him for the briefest of seconds, the words sinking in "That'd actually explain so much…" and then blinked "Which one did she eat?"
"Well funny you ask that…" Coyle snickered and rubbed the back of his head with sheepish smile "I don't think I should talk about it even if you one day married into the family"
"That's never going to happen" if Nami hadn't been dragging the smuggler along, he knew she'd be folding her arms in annoyance at his near-constant matchmaking attempts, though she seemed a little happy he didn't treat it as an unavoidable eventuality at the moment "And why the secrecy?"
Coyle didn't answer immediately, somewhat taken aback by the question, but eventually managed: "Why not the secrecy you mean"
Now it was Nami's turn to be silent as the wheels in her head turned to make sense of the smugglers' logic "You think it'll make her a target, don't you?"
"I knew you were smarter than Neffie" Coyle smiled at her and gave her shoulder a light squeeze.
The navigator's first reaction was to give him a weird look, her second was to haul him along, a slight irritated and uncertain question forming on her lips: "Is this some sort of weird set up for another annoying attempt at shipping me and Luffy?"
"Shipping you?" Coyle repeated surprised, before a note of offence swiftly entered his voice "You're not cargo! And even if you somehow were, I. Don't. Deal. In. Slaves!" he gave her a harsh look before he continued admonishing her, briefly making the woman stop in her tracks "And Luffy's my beloved nephew! I'd never harm him!?" before adding with a revulsed shudder "Putting people through that sick sort of thing…"
For a moment, the navigator was silent, taking in all he'd just said "You're not up to date with the current slang terms huh?"
"Was that what it was?" the former smuggler looked at her, searching for hints of deceit and duplicity in Nami's voice, but finding none, he stated his mind on the most recent matter at hand "It sounded weird Bird"
Shaking her head, Nami dragged him along, nearing the first hole they'd made in the building "How come you're so fixed on pairing me with Luffy anyway?" she muttered, hoping to make a little sense of the chaotic man.
"Well…" the smuggler drew out his response before he finally admitted with a shrug "Part of it is just plain fun off course…"
Nami fumed at the response, and she had to squeeze her lips tightly together so as not to yell so loudly at at Coyle that his eardrums burst and everyone knew where they were, while she seethed, her instincts telling her to hit him, but since a conscious man had been proven to flee faster than the unconscious ones, she forced herself to opt for something else.
Which gave Coyle a chance to continue "But mainly…" he smiled contently "I really just want you guys to be happy"
"You could show that differently you know"
"Possibly" Coyle shrugged and was silent for a moment, letting Nami shoulder him on the way to the hole out and into sweet, sweeeeeet escape.
"There's something I don't get…"
"What?"
"You ate a devilfruit"
"Yes…"
"Why don't' you use the powers then?" the navigator looked at him with a truly confused look "In your notes, you wrote so much about Devil Fruits so you should basically be able weaponize it in every way possible!"
"Weeeeeell…." Coyle began and Nami's face dropped, same with her mood, as she swiftly concluded what was going on.
"You stole them?!"
The smuggler looked back at her with wide offended eyes "NO! Most of those notes I got from scientists, historians, philosophers and what not" he pursed his lips and calmed enough down to muse a little "Quite a lot I learnt from intellectuals, the way most smart guys do it!"
"….Okay I can see your point on that one" Nami agreed and stepped over a piece of rubble "I was trained on Weatheria to be ready for the New World"
"Does those guys still dress in age old robes and smell like even older socks?"
The navigator looked at him with silent amazement for the briefest moments "…Is there any place you haven't been?!"
"Alabasta, Nuffalo Bridge, North Blue, Wano, the Pleasure District, Posordion, Nappa's Bald Spot, though I heard good things about it, Impel Down, Germa Kingdom (king's weirder than the norm), Avalon, God Valley, Sphinx, Glaze Island, Maryjois, last island on Grand Line…"
"You don't need to list all of them!"
"I'm done"
"Wha…? Seriously?" Coyle shot Nami a cheeky grin, and the navigator groaned deeply before she whipped him around and held Coyle by the hem of his old mouldy jacket.
"You haven't answered my question" the orangette glared at him "I've had it with your attitude, your jokes and your behaviour. IF. You can help us with your devil fruit powers, then you damn well ought to do it!"
Coyle struggled a bit "You don't get it. Logia powers are different from the Paramecia you've seen so far, and from Zoan too. It's a whole environment we draw our abilities from, have you any idea what can be done by an out of control Logia-user?" He gave her a searching look, but didn't give himself time to find anything and continued almost immediately (nor allowing Nami to answer the question) "Cataclysmic stuff! And with that Marine Bird around, things could turn bad in a heartbeat! You think those admirals going at it on Punk Hazard was bad? Imagine one incompetent user against one with some practiced!"
"…And you're the latter, right?"
"Only enough to hide it and not get into more trouble, haven't even told the Radiant One abou-…" Coyle stopped immediately, his lips pursed to form a "t" and "it" sound, but instead his mouth quickly closed with an audible clap and he got a shaky look in his eyes. Nami noticed it all.
"You know at some point we're going to find out who this Radiant One is" Coyle kept having the shaking look in his eyes, not quite focussing, but not quite gone "But that's not tonight." Nami followed up and helped him out of the hole in the wall "Tonight, we have to stay alive and get back to Luffy's cousins before it's too late"
"…Lets do that" Coyle agreed readily, better that you don't ask those questions until later, I don't think you'd understand it…. He gave her a nervous look, but the smuggler calmed himself with a rushed conclusion of: at least not yet…
A moment later, someone struck him in the back, and he was flung back into the warehouse where he subsequently slammed into one of the walls with a loud Crash!
Nami looked at him in shock.
And then spun around to face their assailant.
Dirty, dusty and annoyed, the man didn't cut a dashing figure, even accentuated by the once pristine uniform, only a menacing one.
"Well then…" Ichiji started out with a smile at her, which only made the navigator take another step backwards her clima tact held ready.
"Now, where were we sweetheart?"
(The streets)
Luffy pouted a little as he punched the old man in the jaw, his fist connecting hard with the left side of the geezer's face. The longnecked man's head involuntarily snapped to the side like a baseball being struck by a bat, pulling the whole body across the cobbles and straight into a pile of debris.
He landed with a dire curse, a heavy thud and the sound of stones hitting each other, and him.
Followed by more, louder, and more vicious, curses.
Luffy didn't plan to stick around to beat the geezer some more. He immediately snapped his head around trying to locate Nami and Fruncle. It left just enough time for the longnecked guy too get up.
"Come here you little dietician" he rasped and wiped the sweat off his wrinkled, angular face a lot of it still clinging to his bluish grey hair "I'm not done with you" Luffy watched as the man managed to stand up on shaky legs "You little elephantitis-ridden, scurvy-faced, honorificabilitydinitatibus-abusing, vegetarian washl-"
Luffy punched him again, hard enough to bend the lightning post the ranting man slammed into at the other end of the street.
"I know that word!" the captain yelled back at him eyes flaring with rage "That last one means they don't eat meat!" Luffy had a vague memory about Robin once suggesting a pure vegetable meal. He only remembered it because Nami told him he'd passed out and they'd waited for him to come to. The concept confused him almost as what had been going on at the time. For some reason, his head was on Nami's lab, Sanji complained about it a lot, Zoro asking when the chef would begin cooking already instead of wasting time, Robin had held a hand to stifle a giggle (Luffy still didn't know about what, he'd asked because he wanted to know what was so funny, so he could laugh at it too, but the archaeologist had waved the whole thing off instead) and Brook, who'd just joined at that point, had said he was so jealous of him (the skeleton hadn't answered why either, and Luffy had started to consider keelhauling their musician, though he didn't know what that actually meant, it had just been something Beckman had said once). The young pirate captain had soon brushed it all off and said nothing had happened too (internally he dearly hoped no one would ever say something like that again). Chopper hadn't been so easy to convince of this though, and the doctor began to insist that they take his temperature, producing a large thermometer from his bag. The captain didn't know where the odd thing was supposed to go and he didn't intend to find out, after all, he wasn't sick. The look of absolute horror on Sanji's face when the chef saw the thermometer, had told the dim-witted pirate all he needed to know. The blush on Nami's face, the disdain on Zoro's and Robin admonishing the reindeer for doing it out in the open and not in the infirmary had convinced their captain that he'd made the right call and gotten the hell away from the ship's doctor.
Just like he had to do at this very moment:
Luffy knew he needed to find Nami and Fruncle faster than Usopp could find an emergency exit, or Franky would build one for that matter (with rocket launchers to deal with pursuers and fully stocked lunchboxes in case they got hungry while running).
In a rarely used corner of Luffy's mind that wasn't reserved for meat, his friends and adventure, a place that'd be dominated by cobwebs if it was in a building and air so stale it'd kill any fly that got in there anyway, something even rarer thing than Luffy having leftovers was taking place: Luffy had an idea.
And it very quickly overheated his head.
"GAAAAH!" Luffy fanned his face rapidly with his signature Strawhat, his head feeling like one of Sanji's pans just before breakfast, especially when the chef hadn't been fast enough to stop Luffy from snatching one and trying to down its steaming contents. After about a dozen flaps, he was relieved to feel the burning sensation subsiding, just enough for him to function properly and wonder if he could roast meat that way in the future. He put the hat back on and got serious, he knew how he could find both his nutty Fruncle (Uncle Francis) and his mouthy navigator. He also knew that Nami would not be happy about it, not at all.
He took a deep breath before yelling
"ALL OF THAT GOLD! IT MUST BE A BILLION JUST IN JEWELS! ALL THOSE DIAMONDS AND RUBIES! AND IT'S IN A WEDDING DRESS! JUST NAMI'S SIZE! AND THERE'S A SUIT IN MY SIZE NEXT TO IT!"
When nothing happened after a moment, the captain sighed loudly, and uttered a confused "They should've come running now, what's taking them?"
He frowned and shrugged "Guess I've got to go find them now"
Luffy started to run, looking frantically around for the telltale signs of either person, his Fruncle Francis would be mouthing off around pretty much everything (and anger people along the way too) and Nami would try and get herself, and him, out of trouble, yelling at the smuggler for his behaviour.
There was neither.
Rounding a corner, the captain came across yet another figure.
Whose sword was dangerously close to his neck….
(The ware house)
Coyle was starting to sweat, for some reason the pain in his head had disappeared, replaced with the murky shades of some sort of memory…and it all started when he'd been captured by that annoying redheaded scumbag prince. And he'd hurt his hand too.
But his hand shouldn't hurt, it wasn't that big an injury, not compared to….
Why didn't he remember? It felt like it was so important, but he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was….
Instead, he remembered clinging to some flotsam, tying it together with rope…or was that someone's guts he'd used for rope? Coyle didn't know, somehow, he didn't call himself Coyle anymore either….
He called himself….
He couldn't grasp it.
Instead of a name, he remembered a knife, big and sharp at some places and dull at others… the type that'd make an uneven and painful cut, the kind of instrument that was used by impoverished, backyard hooligans… and torturers.
The Cartel would send both types if they got angry enough with their captains.
Hey! Those aren't mine! Or… will they be?
Coyle didn't get it, he'd broken plenty of smaller Cartel rules, but they'd gotten more than recompensated for each and every one of them (in fact they owed him money!), so what was going on?
The next memory was him on some makeshift raft…. In the middle of the ocean, it was dusk…or dawn? Or had some huge cloud passed over the sea and cloaked it in a bleak blackness that made the water as dark as ink? One thing was for sure, the Him in his suddenly very invasive memories could make out a huge sharkfin coming closer, the triangular shape had the same colour as the water, but instead of casting a faint reflection of some far-off light, the skin was dull, absorbing the light like the emthyness of space did the stars, and he could definitively see a gruesome sawtoothed maw about to open just beneath the waves, the predator hungry for his blood.
He could taste his own blood too…. And bile… and something else….. he could recognise the consistency without a problem: a disturbingly thick horse sashimi or tartar with strings in it, but without any delicious rich egg yolk or soy to marinate the meat in…only his own blood. At that point, Coyle was suddenly incredibly happy he'd impulsively eaten the Charlotte girls' butter, it took the sting off the nausea that hit him when he realised what exactly it was that his memory-self could taste.
And then the shark attacked him! And it did it again, and again…. Then it did it some more….
The next thing he remembered was the taste of shark… hot, wet and raw… then cold and dried… and finally rotten.
But that couldn't have been me! My devilfruit means I'd be weak and useless in the water… so why am I still here now? Alive?! Did some fishman or mermaid save me? And where's my friends…my crew?
And why aren't they here now either?
Another memory forced its way into his mind, he could feel this one was earlier then the others…but somehow more painful than some implausible hardship.
What the….
(Flashback begins)
He was on some beach, nearly sunset, the wind was fierce, but his crew wanted to set out anyway… but he was against it, there was something he had to do, something he wanted more than anything… and he wanted them all to be there with him…
"Boss come on! This is too dangerous" Coyle involuntarily shuddered at the sound of Giggz' voice, as if it had happened years ago and not since. His friend and second-in-command ever since he got his own ship and crew, the female snakeneck with the voluminous green hair looked unsettled, afraid, on the verge of panic, her whole willowy form trembling like a leaf in a fierce storm. Coyle didn't understand, because…
He could feel that he had just given his closest friends the best news ever!
"This is crazy Coyle!" he turned around, Gnocci was standing there, big guy Gnocci, a man that knew all about the gangs in his native west blue and where to fence anything, also a man that with horrible table manners and socks so dirty they had started to attract grease, earth, sand, dust and dandruff from a mile away (Gnocci wasn't happy about being put to cleaning the ship, even if he could do it simply by walking across the deck a few times) "Crazier than when we went to that Sky Island!"
"This is actually going to be a lot like that" Coyle smiled enthusiastically and clapped the man on the shoulder with an encouraging expression, but the big brute didn't reciprocate his happiness.
Instead Gnocci punched him, hard enough to dislocate the jaw and send him to the ground with a thud. While the rest of the crew, or some of them (but the Coyle in the memory didn't notice that) berated Gnocci for striking their boss and going against some very serious cartel rules (the kind that included executions), Coyles' devilfruit allowed him to recuperate and make himself presentable again at a moment's notice.
He couldn't allow himself to look too shabby that day.
The crew tried one more time to convince Coyle to not go through with his latest plan. Their helmswoman Beck, a wonderful drunkard from West Blue, dressed in rags and a silly hat larger than her baldhead pleaded the strongest, holding up her daughter for him to see.
"Think of little Buck! You want her to lose her capo?"
Coyle had laughed at the idea of dying, and made Buck laugh too, promising the three-year old another gold coin for her necklace when he came back.
Then one of the men, a gaunt middle-aged man with clover tattoos across his cheeks and bare shoulders, grasped his harpoon and left for the pier with a barely muttered curse.
"Harris!" Coyle called after him "Harry, this isn't that bad!"
"Not that bad!" Gnocci pointed an angry finger at him "This is the most batshit insane thing you've ever even thought of!" the big guy pointed at a mountain not far off, his eyes wide and wild "Aurelius Hoodie! The Marines!"
Coyle had tried to calm his friend's nerves, reminding him of all the times they'd run circles around that particular commodore on the seas, emphasising that Hoodie didn't even deserve to be a Marine Captain and that they'd benefit off that fool for years to come on many more of their adventures.
For some reason it hadn't helped.
And his crew had all looked at him sadly after Gnocci had punched him to the ground again once more, Beck and Giggz had tears in their eyes… Lil' Buck had sensed something was wrong and asked innocent questions that no one answered, only shaking their heads and bowed them in sorrow and resignation.
Then, just like his maps and charts had predicted, it began to rain, with a strong northern wind, in the next moment the smuggler captain was alone… but not for long,
but what should have been….
Amazing, nothing short of spectacular…
Had turned to endless darkness and pain.
Everything changed in an instant!
An explosion…
Ten thousand cannons couldn't match that power as it had rattled Coyle's entire body,
and pulverized his surroundings.
Coyle knew one thing though…
He wasn't the first to scream….
(flashback end)
Coyle blinked at the memory… he couldn't figure out what had gone wrong back then, but now, aside from the pain in his hand… he could chill coming from head to toe… an expanding feeling in the roof of his mouth, stinging in his eyes… it was as if his whole body was going in every direction at once and colliding with itself.
He was silica being heated up and allowed to cool, the then glass was shattered by hammer and sword,
and the process would continue indefinitely…
the only change being escalating pain…
Until the shards learned to fight back!
Or were turned to slag,
molten droplets of orange, red and black covering a floor where the workmen walked all over it, to be forgotten, dirty and trampled underneath while all the useful parts were turned into windows in a dollhouse or made into some gaudy vase that Hoodie would put over his mantlepiece as an undeserved trophy.
Why the hell am I thinking of Hoodie? That idiot couldn't get the best of me if he had a thousand years to get smarter!
Then the pain in his head returned and all Coyle could think of was this Sorry…Neffie… I don't think I can help save Nami from that freaky scumbag…
Not far away from him, Coyle could see Nami struggle to get away from the redhaired man, even giving him a good kick in the crown jewels. But it didn't help her, the navigator simply wasn't strong enough physically and she'd eventually be caught and taken away by the royal twat,
to do whatever he pleased…
I'm sorry…. You have to save her neffie! I'm too weak to help you… before another thought he deeply lamented entered his mind
I always were….
One last bit of him managed a single prayer before his world turned a deep, dark, bloody red
Radiant one… please help them….
Dark clouds have been massing,
a storm threatening the engulf the world itself.
Vicious minds have been behind many a scene over the decades,
pent on gaining and keeping secrets,
to sheathe these most dangerous of blades and keep them from the unskilled hands of the foolish.
But now all that hard work is endangered,
Blood will flow, nations fall and courage turn to dread
as the most secretive bare their teeth...
and seek vengeance!
(End of this chapter)
This chapter took insanely long to finish, sadly I haven't been in the mood to write much on this fic for a long time and this means I have been very late with the updates for this long fic.
But fortunately, I now have about 41.000+words to show for it.
Due to circumstances out of my control, Covid, restrictions, work and so forth, I don't know when the next chapter will be, but I'll try to put one out as soon as I can. It will be more simplified and shorter than this one, as all these extra little details I've added in make the story much longer to write.
Really amped up the villainous factor this time around, both Ichiji and Durkey being given very little good characterisation (not that I'd ever consider it for either one, as the particular brand of evil and level of dirtbag I've given them is rarely being allowed the depth of having positive traits in the real world, and I won't grant it in a fictitious one. And to clarify a bit, I'm not talking about simple misogyny).
On a more positive note, I've also managed to work a bit with some subplots that came to me since the last update, but that'll be up for later what they'll amount to for the Big Mom pirates inner workings and Luffy's crews' future adventures.
I also added a bit of characterisation for some minor antagonists, namely for Kato and Hangan, the latter whom I gave the captain Haddock Expletive-curse trait. It all adds a bit of Character that'll help flesh out the story with some colour and nuttiness rather than what I've peddled off lately.
Note: To those who're wondering, I used Capo in the previous fic Out Of The Jaws of Death, specifically in the epilogue to illustrate a godfather relationship, Luffy for example is the godfather of Capone Pez in this fic universe (with Nami as the godmother to the wee tyke). So now it returns to link Coyle a bit more to West Blue and give a bit of a parallel to Luffy and something to explore more later on.
But that will be in a follow up fic.
Yes, I am indeed gearing for a trinity with this particular fic universe.
RNR if you'd be so kind.