Roddie sighed, dragging a thumb over his teeth impatiently. "Everything in order?"
"From the looks of it? Yeah. Everything seems to be going perfectly."
"Update on the Vice-Admiral?"
The blonde closed his eyes, eyebrows pulling downward in concentration. "You'll hear for yourself in a second-" Neither had to wait long before a commotion erupted somewhere outside the Marine base. Signaling to everyone that the Marine vessel carrying the aforementioned-Vice Admiral was pulling to shore. "The welcoming committee is in action."
"Okay." He rubbed his temples, "And I have the fruit right here. We're already working on a tight schedule with some Vice-Admiral showing up, so let's hope that nothing else goes wrong."
"Cross my fingers, hope to die." The Marine deadpanned, holding up a gloved hand with crossed fingers.
"Fufufu. Don't be so dramatic."
"Cross my fingers, hope to get sick?"
"Better."
"Doesn't roll off the tongue as well as the first though."
"Or, in your case, teeth," he teased.
If it wasn't for the sick mask covering up the majority of his face Roddie would have been able to spot the blush that popped up at the job. The blonde ducked his head and scrapes a hand through his hair and over his face, dark orange eyes flickering in annoyance, dabbing at the cloth shyly. "Hey," he grumbled, "don't bring that up! That can't be getting out while we're here."
"Well, it's a good thing we won't be here for long then! I want to see your pretty face~" Roddie sung, skipping down the hallway. "Let's gather the guards and perform a proper Marine-style execution- it'll be just like all those private execution that they don't want the world to know about!"
"I think you're thinking more Word Government-style."
"Ehh~ either or. They both suck. Let's not discriminate."
"Of course not, that would be rude."
They had returned to the Marine base, now with a plant in tow. Making their way back to Quinn's cell block with a surprising lack of Marines waiting for them, much to their surprise. Even as they continued down the hall there wasn't a single white-uniformed soldier in sight.
Roddie bit down on a digit of his finger, gnawing nervously on it. "Where the hell are they? Did something happen? They're supposed to be here to execute her." This wasn't apart of the plan.
"You're getting anxious again. Calm down."
"I'm not!" Roddie huffed. "Those losers never do their job correctly, even when they're being manipulated to do my bidding!"
"Just-" his partner stopped abruptly, tilting his head. "You hear that?"
Roddie froze, glancing back at the blonde, following his gaze to a split in the hallway they had just passed. He narrowed his eyes, "Yeah… what the hell are those two doing here?" He wrinkled his nose.
They backpedaled, catching sight of the pair failing to hide behind a pair of barrels.
"Psst- did Roddie just go by?"
"Yeah- with some hot blonde!"
Said 'hot blonde' flashed Roddie a peace sign and got a mouthed "screw you" in return.
There was a loud thwack.
"Owie."
"You're twelve- don't be such a pervert! Wait a few years."
"But Ace was cute and he let me feel him up…."
"What?!"
"I m-mean- I don't think Varley-nee will approve of you hitting me-"
"Well, she's not here! And I'm the older sister… I think. I'm mid-twenties, and she's… early twenties at least."
"Yeesh. You're both so old
They glanced at each other, approaching quietly as another loud thwack sounded. Listening intently to the horribly-whispered conversation as it slowly picked up in volume.
"Do you think they're gone?"
"Yeah. I don't hear anything."
"Good. We can get to saving Varela now-"
Okay, they were done, Roddie decided. Not wanting to hear another word, he coughed into his fist and watched as their heads went popping up to meet his grin.
"Hi."
Both their jaws dropped- equal parts horror and shock.
"Wha-"
"Where-?"
"Jones." He clapped his hands together, smile tight. "Sic' em."
...
...
Roddie crossed his arms with an annoyed pout, contemplating his options. "Oh, what to do… what to do…?" Next to him Jones was finishing up on the bindings and glaring at their new companions. Looking rumpled and uncomfortable, as he always did when forced into the steam-cleaned and pressed Marine uniform and mask. Though he was still too handsome for his own good in it. Roddie glanced at the ceiling, letting out a sigh.
This was tiring, by this point. And the only thing to rectify the situation was…
He scowled.
"I think that's enough hiding then."
Jones perked up.
"Let's change up the plan a bit. Be like normal pirates." Roddie made a face. He hated when the plan went awry and they had to cut things short. "Damn it... I wanted to keep this up!"
Jones, however, let out a relieved laugh and stretched out his arms, whipping off the medical mask and revealing a sharp grin. "Goddamnit, finally. Been wanting to get out of this place for months now."
"You've barely been here for one." Roddie deadpanned, uncrossing his arms and tossing him a jacket buried somewhere deep in his shirt. "And you didn't even do anything, Jones."
The jacket was a simple deep red, bright and striking. Made of a thick, coarse material with an asymmetrical zipper, long sleeves and high collar- the printed image of a bowl of ramen crested on his breast and the words Noodle Man stood proud over another image on his back. Jones shrugged on the jacket with an air of relief, feeling right at home in the fabric.
Jones slid a long flat tongue over his rows of sharp, terrifying teeth- they protruding like needles, clamping around each other where a mouth should be. He wiped a gloved hand across his chin, flicking away a bit of off color, almost orange, drool. "Felt like a year honestly! I don't know how you do it."
Roddie's lips quirked up in an amused smirk. "Patience, I guess. Besides it's fun seeing people's faces when they figure out it was us the whole time."
Jones barked a laugh. "Nuhu! You bet! You think they would learn by now, you know?"
There was a high squeal, they ignored it.
"Good to see you as yourself." Roddie smiled, uncrossing his arms and patting the blonde on the back. "Now that we can talk freely: How have the rest of the crew been?"
"Since you last saw them? Eh… Antsy, I guess." He fiddled with the guard of a sword- a slick black rapier- and pulled from a bag a long connecting cord, fastening it to the hilt. It looked like a hose.
Dahlia and Maple flinched back as he went about connecting the sword and hose to a large clear vial with a turnable top, placed in a metal and leather backpack-like binding. He heaved the heavy object over his shoulders and strapped the many bells and whistles down around his torso. The final piece wrapping around his mouth- a cage of metal, glass, tubes and fixtures -all connecting back to the vial.
"Geez, I know how they feel! Feels good to get back in my gear~" Jones stretched, letting out a self satisfied groan. "It's a good thing the Marines think we're dead after we escaped through the Calm Belt because otherwise they would have been on our asses after that stunt we pulled back in Mariejois."
Roddie smirked. "Yeah…" He drawled and hefted up an incredibly large book. He ran a finger along its old, weathered spine delicately. "But it was worth it, wasn't it?"
There came a muffled shout.
"Oh, right. Them." Roddie spat distastefully.
Jones hummed, leaning into their faces until their noses were practically touching. "I can always just take care of them?"
Dahlia glared at them and shoved the squirming Maple behind her protectively.
Bound by ropes. Mouths duct taped shut.
"Leave them." Roddie sniffed. "They're not worth any more time than what we've already wasted on them."
Jones nodded and turned his back on them. It gave Dahlia and Maple the chance to see the steady drip of orange falling into the bottom of the vial slowly, gooping up the base at a steady and rhythmic pace. It looked… unsettling.
Saliva, they realized with a shiver.
And it was even more unnerving thinking about just how much he was drooling in order to create that amount of liquid.
Dahlia growled and managed to tear the tape off her mouth after a minute of frustration, spitting and biting at the pair. She whipped her arms back and forth, wincing when the ropes only tightened. "You- You won't get away with this!"
"Aw~ don't worry about me, I will." Roddie grinned down at her cheerily, already pulling out some more duct tape. "Sorry, Dahlia, but you were trying to run off with our cash cow."
"Cash cow…?" She blinked, eyes crinkling in thought. Trying to figure out what he meant. When the realization finally came her mouth fell open and she stared at him in horror, "You… You're talking about Varela?"
"Yep, Little Miss Quinn is worth a lot of money." He smirked, "Who do you think turned her into the Marines? It only took some poking and prodding but I eventually managed to convince the Marine Captain to execute her to get the Devil Fruit back. Of course, they can't even do that right, but all I have to do is kill her before the Vice Admiral arrives, create some chaos, and run away with it and my crew!"
"The Devil Fruit?!" Dahlia shrieked. "You're gonna kill her over a Devil Fruit?!"
"Yep!"
"Of all the vile, nasty, criminal-!"
Jones slid the tip off his sword to her throat, muttering a deadly, "Shut up," at the same time that Roddie poked at the edges of his wide smile and purred out, "Pirate~!"
Dahlia instantly choked and lost every hint of color. Jones glared, face darkening, "That's my Captain you're speaking to," he spat, "don't you dare insult him. Show some respect, lest you face the consequences, sweet cheeks." His thumb hovered over a switch hidden along the shoulder of his rapiers quillon-
There came a loud, overly dramatic gasp.
"Jones-" Roddie squealed, "-you're my hero~!"
Maple jumped at the noise, shuddering. He sounded like a lovestruck schoolgirl.
Said "heroic" Jones slowly glanced back over his shoulder to give his captain a disgruntled, peeved look. Nonplussed by the reaction. Roddie chuckled at the expression, "Fufufu- stand down, Jone~sy! I don't mind... After all my agenda is far from ethical and it does end with a murder, of her friend nonetheless!"
The blonde sighed, pulling his sword away from her neck and sliding it back into its sheath, walking away with a grumble to stand against the furthest wall. Dahlia swallowed nervously. Wondering if she could speak without… eliciting the pirates guard dog. But, now that he had backed off, and the terror was slowly ebbing away to a frightened chill, her lack of self control was already forming more words. Roddie grinned indulgently, amused. "Why? What Devil Fruit could she possibly have that you would want to kill her over-?!"
The book he cradled was shoved in front of her face.
"Do you know what this is?"
"I- a book?"
"Yes," he rolled his eyes, "but more specifically?"
"...no?"
"This right here is a special book, a little thing that we went through quite a bit of trouble picking up. An important piece of text that the Government and many others would kill for," he announced, "all the way from the Holy City, a piece written by the infamous Vegapunk- The Complete Devil Fruit Encyclopedia. Well, only those known, but still invaluable in its own right…"
"So you know what Varela's Devil Fruit is?! We've been trying for forever and couldn't figure it out- if you knew, why didn't you tell us-?!"
"Didn't want to. Obviously." Roddie snorted. "If it hasn't gotten through your thick skull already… I don't like you. Besides I owed you no favors."
Dahlia gaped.
"But, as I was monologuing, this particular book is a pretty little amalgamation of information: from powers, to previous users, to little descriptions of how they can be used, but~ I find the most important bit in here is this!"
She felt her face drain of all color, eyes blown wide in shock.
"The Blackmarket Prices!"
Roddie thrust the book forward without a thought, flipped open to a familiar fruit.
"Worth an astounding 1 Billion Berries- The Luck Luck Fruit!"
...
...
It strangely wasn't a hard decision to come to, Ace realized before he'd asked. It wasn't even that he had thought all that hard about it, he was just asking before he could really form a coherent thought, focused more on the gut feeling that told him that Varela seemed like she'd make a decent pirate. Which was weird because he was pretty sure that most people relied on more than guts to decide their crew- especially their first ever crewmate- and even Luffy would probably put more thought into who he'd choose but… He pursed his lips. Varela looked… pretty pathetic if he was being honest. But there was a clear defiance in her eyes and the way she spoke held a contempt for the Marines in an unbridled fury that Ace could definitely relate to.
Well, she could always say no, and if she did say yes and turned out to be a waste of space- he was the Captain and could kick her out if need be. Call it her lucky day or whatever, but Ace decided it couldn't hurt to ask.
But Quinn's answer was more or less unintelligible nonsense.
Ace blinked.
That was… not what he was expecting.
She pumped a fist against her chest, catching her breath, and coughed out a shocked, "W-What?"
"Join my crew!" He repeated. Not knowing whether or not to laugh. "I'm starting up a pirate crew and could use some new members."
"No, I got that much. But- like, why?"
"Why?" He parroted. "'Cause I asked you to. Isn't that obvious?"
It must have shown on her face because Ace scrunched up his nose at her dubious stare. And Quinn, slowly, spoke up, "I am in jail. And have a pending execution. I wouldn't say that I'm exactly the best person to ask. And so soon after meeting too."
"So you want to die?" He returned, equally slow. "I mean, sure, if you want, but I'm pretty much offering to help break you out here."
Quinn shrugged, pressing her lips together thinly.
"Uhh- can I give you some advice first?" She tried hesitantly.
He blinked. Once, twice, then again. Clearly more than a little bemused before tilting his head and offering a reluctant, "...Sure?"
"I don't think... blackmailing future crewmates is good for business. You might want to switch it up a bit." She deadpanned.
Ace at least had the decency to rub the back of his neck sheepishly, "Chehehe- is that a yes?"
"I-"
It wasn't as if she had much of a choice in the matter, she ran a hand through her hair. Ew. Gross. She needed a shower. And taking a look back at the cell behind her the decision was pretty obvious- but Quinn was nothing if not stubborn at the worst of times. "I guess, but- uh, again, why?"
He tilted his head, confused.
"I mean- I'm not exactly worth anything. I'm stuck in a cell. Sure the Marines were jerks to me but I'm pretty sure they're like that with everybody who isn't writing their paycheck-" she rambled, "It would be more trouble going out of your way to help me than it would be finding your original crew… errr, someone else. Not that I would know. And even though I would like to think that I got all the luck in the world... let's face it, I'm stuck in a dark cell halfway underground and that's not even counting the fact that I most definitely smell something rank right now-"
This was all so freaking weird.
Ace chortled, "You talk too much."
She gapes, mouth hanging open. Not knowing quite what to say. "Thanks," she eventually squeaks before she's biting down on her lip, "Excuse me if I'm hesitant-"
"You have a dream?"
Quinn jumped, thrown for a loop. "Huh. I- yeah? I mean." Her teeth tightened in its hold and she reddened- "Kinda lame though. Please don't ask."
Ace raised a brow but luckily didn't comment. He didn't look like he believed her. But a grin still spread across his face, strong and blinding.
Goddamnit, Quinn had sunspots in her eyes now.
"Then, come on, it'll be fun~" He smirked. "Let's live without any regrets, yeah?! ...I mean, if you don't, you'll probably die."
She finally slumped. Accepting him as her best route out with a sigh and a brush of her hand over her face which had Ace stopping and blinking at her curiously. A gold mark lighting up over her cheek. "This cell was beginning to become a sight for sore eyes anyways. Besides I don't think I have much time left before-"
Quinn froze.
You know that feeling you get when you have the desperate urge to do something- like when you suddenly need to walk around, go for a run, grab something, or have an itch that you need to scratch? Well, that's the closest thing that Quinn could describe it as. A feeling. Only it happened after the fact, leaving her feeling especially strange and anxious. Like whatever happened beforehand was something entirely under her control and, at the same time, wasn't.
In this case- it was her slipping.
A good thing she did too. Otherwise she would have a bullet buried in the back of her skull.
"Varela?! What the hell was that?!" Ace shouted from behind the bars, squeezing his face in as best he could to try and get a good look at the scene. Yeah, Quinn dizzily placed a hand on her head, eyes finding the chink of rock where the bullet had shattered, she definitely didn't have much time left at all. "Who shot-?"
"Whoops."
Came a very obnoxious voice, airy and with a nonchalance to match her levels of annoyance.
"I missed. That hasn't happened in awhile."
"You!" Ace snapped, stabbing a finger in his direction. "You're that… that…" He rubbed his fingers together when a name failed to come to mind.
"Roddie."
"Right!" He snapped his fingers. "The rude-guy!"
He looked faintly amused.
Quinn groaned, "Yeah, him." When she slipped she must have hit her head incredibly hard because she could feel herself choking back her own nausea. "Ow…" She shook her head, which was a bad idea considering it sent a tremor throughout her limbs, and stared back at Roddie and his bodyguard-companion.
A fine dust filtered over her vision. Making her blink wildly, a mark covered her hand, a gold and bright smudge of color. It fluttered into the air- than, like it was never there, it disappeared.
"Ooh- looks like the Devil Fruit's finally at play."
Oh. So that's what that was.
Her vision tunneled a bit, and she leaned back to press herself against the wall of her cell, more than a little swept off her game. The pistol clicked and she swallowed nervously. "You know, how about you not kill me?" She tried. "That seems like a pretty reasonable option don't you think?"
"Ha." Roddie deadpanned. "Funny."
"Well, have you tried it?" Quinn asked, voice dry. "I- I go long periods of time without killing anybody and its worked out pretty well for me-"
She glanced back at Ace, panicking, they needed to get out of here now. Thankfully he'd realized her attempt to stall for what it was and was pulling violently on the windows bars. They bent further beneath each jerk.
Roddie snorted, undeterred. "Heh- we all have our dry seasons Quinn! I wouldn't worry about it!"
He aimed.
"A-Ace, now would be a good time to-!"
Whatever she way going to say she didn't get time to finish.
There was an explosion of dust and rubble. The wall to their left ruptured.
In the same moment that Ace managed to rip the bars out of place a low, slowly building sound coming from a place somewhere deep, deep down, rumbled into the room. As if hearing the noise the dust that billowed and stung quivered in the air, dropping to settle on the now dirt covered floor. Roddie and Jones took a step back. And if Quinn was seeing things correctly they suddenly looked like their worst nightmare had been realized and Ace himself got the fabulous experience of feeling all the color draining from his body trying to take his soul out along with it, letting out a high pitched strangled noise.
The room hushed before- "BWAHAHA! NOW WHAT'S THIS I HEAR ABOUT PIRATES?!"
Ladies and gents. Garp has entered the building.
The resulting silence was deafening.
Ace was the first to speak.
"Varela…" Ace breathed, sweat running down his face and looking, dare she say, nervous. "Take my hand. Now."
He offered his hand slowly, like a deer caught in headlights, and shifted anxiously while he waited. Quinn took a moment to take in the gaping Roddie and Jones, the goliath of a man that stood before them, and the cackling Maple and Dahlia that strutted into the room after him with all the canash they could manage- She slapped her hand down on top of Ace's without another second's hesitation. "Good idea!"
She was hefted through the window without having to so much as move, feeling like her arm was gonna fall off as her and Ace bolted from the scene like the dogs of hell were on their heels.
Which, given the booming laughter behind them, and Ace's horrified mutters, they might as well have been.
"Why is he here? Why is he here? Why is he here?!"
-0-
Roughly two minutes earlier:
They were in a storage closet.
Locked away from wandering eyes and prying ears all they could really do was make muffled squeaks and squirm wildly in their bindings. Dahlia squealed something that sounded suspiciously like cursing. The fresh piece of duct tape on her mouth itched and she snapped what part of her jaw she could make work to try and get a firm hold on it. If she could just chew through it, or lick it enough that the sticky bits started to loosen, then she could call for help from the Marines and tell them about Roddie's undercover piracy.
But the new tape on her face held strong and proud. It just wanted to piss her off.
Dahlia tugged harshly against the ropes, thrashing wildly. The action something that she stopped almost immediately with a strangled whine- her back cramping and her shoulders aching.
"Ooooagh…" she moaned a whine into the tape.
Maple whipped her head around at the low complaint, eyes wide. "Mnff- Dah- don't mofshh-!" She squeaked.
Don't move!
She nodded. Varela was probably curled up in her prison cell awaiting her death sentence at the hands of a backstabbing Pirate, they needed to get out of here quick to help her! For that, they needed a plan. Maple shifted, lips and teeth curling around the tape. She sucked it in and rolled it down until it was at her chin- "There!"
She huffed, breathing heavily, "I-hoof- did it-huff! I'm gonna- phaa-!"
Maple made a face, sticking her tongue out.
"GAH! That tastes so gross!" She spat and sputtered, screaming about the disgustingly bitter taste the tape left on her lips.
Dahlia snorted a laugh from around her tape- Her face shifted three different shades of green in the span of a second and contorted in such a comically way that Dahlia couldn't stop the shudders of giggling.
But finally, Dahlia breathed a sigh of relief, they could get some help.
"Heyoooooo!" Maple bellowed, "HELP! WE'RE TIED UP! THERE'RE PIRATES HERE SO WE NEED YOU TO HURRY! On the double, damn it!"
She clapped her hands behind her back as if it would make somebody hurry to their rescue.
They waited a moment.
Nothing.
Dahlia let out a muffled shout.
Not to be outdone, Maple chirped up determinedly. "...Imma just gonna be as loud as I can then!"
Dahlia nodded, eyes glaring at the door and willing it to open with a helping hand on the other side while Maple opened her mouth and let out a high pitched shriek, screeching and hollering to the point that Dahlia could only pick out a few words from the mess of shouts. She yipped and snorted and screamed and-
There was a crash.
-Maple slammed her mouth shut. The snap of her jaw closing made a painful creak when her teeth slammed together and she ground them together awkwardly, trying to roll the uncomfortable feeling away.
"Did somebody hear us?" She muttered, ear pressed against the wall. "Hey-! Hello-! Anybody there?!"
What they expected was to hear footsteps slowly approaching their place and for some nervous Marine to call out to them. Then, they would call him forth and he could help them out of their frightening circumstances so that they could continue on with their main journey- to save Quinn! What they didn't expect however…
...was this.
"Grah!" The wall crumbled into pieces before their very eyes in a man shaped hole as a bulldog appeared from the rumble. "What's this I hear?!"
Okay, so not a bulldog then. Maple let out a shriek and Dahlia just blinked her eyes rapidly as her brain tried to come to terms with what she was seeing.
It was… a man, alright. But his shoulders were so broad, his chest built like a barrel of rippling muscle alone, and his fists were seemingly almost as large as his head. He was wearing some hilarious hat that hooked around his jaw and covered his eyes, letting his grin spread freely across his face for all to see- the head of a bulldog.
"Hah?" He froze, feet skidding to a halt on the floor and Dahlia's mind trying to compute the fact that there was a trail of flames left in his wake from the sheer speed his was going at. Quinn would be having a heart attack at the impossibility of it all. But Dahlia had been hanging around Quinn for a little too long- so instead of freaking out like a… ahem, *cough cough*... "Normal person" she simply let out a sharp breath through her nose, blinked once to let it pass through her mind and than out her ear, and moved on. "Who're you?!"
"I'm Maple!" Maple shouted her introductions, twisting around to try and get a good look at the Marine. "This is Dahlia-nee! You gotta help us- there's a pirate that's gonna kill Varley-nee."
Dahlia blinked at the swaying coat on the Marines back. Those were only issued to certain ranks and… Why~ ! Didn't a little birdie tell her that a Vice Admiral was coming? She smiled into her tape triumphantly.
He leaned down, shoulders bumping against the man-hole he had created. "Pirates- you say?" From out of nowhere a bag of rice crackers appeared in his hands and he stuffed a handful into his mouth.
Dahlia nodded exuberantly, explaining. "Mnfhh! Mn! MnShhphahhfnnhn!"
"Ehhh?! They're planning on killing your friend for her Devil Fruit, have been working undercover for the past year and have the Marines holding the execution?!" He practically covered them with crumbs when he spat out the words in shock.
"Mnhm!"
Maple's mouth fell open. "Woah~ I wasn't able to understand her at all! How did you do that?!"
The Vice Admiral grinned, wide and toothy.
"With…" He leant down on one knee, waves crashing behind him as the sun set behind him. Sparkles rained supreme. "...the Power of Justice."
"...That's so totally rad." Maple's eyes gleamed wide, mouth falling open in pure awe. Dahlia shifted uncomfortably. She felt like she was intruding in on a some powerful moment. That and she was being blinded by some sort of illusion. A sun and crashing waves behind them.
"BWAHAHAHAHA! It is, isn't it?" He bellowed out another laugh, "I like you kid! Now."
He cracked his knuckles.
"Let's go save your sister."
-0-
Jones sucked in a deep breath from in between his teeth.
"So it was Garp."
"Yeah."
"The whole time… the Vice Admiral who you've known was coming for weeks now…" Jones continued. "Was Monkey D. Garp. The one marine… that was our top priority to avoid."
"I know."
"How could you not have known-?!"
"Jones. Please. Let's just focus." Roddie groaned, slumping as he ran.
"Just sayin'," he looked ahead, amused, "I take it this means the plan is gonna need a change? Again?"
He wasn't surprised to see Roddie throw up his arms and let out a low whine, "Noooo. I don't wanna change it!" He cried childishly, puffing out his cheeks and ignoring the blondes chuckle. "I hate changin' plans. We already had to once today! The Marines were just too incompetent to execute her themselves-"
"You say that but we currently have a pretty goddamn competent Marine on our tail."
"I… noticed, Jones." He rubbed a hand over his forehead, pointing his gun over his shoulder without so much as a glance and firing away. Garp laughed at the futile attempt to ward him off, making sure to keep the cackled Maple and Dahlia hanging off his shoulders out of harm's way. "What a pain…! Fine, fine, let's do this quick and lickity-split."
"I- That gives me no information, Captain."
"What- isn't it obvious?"
Jones raised a brow.
Roddie huffed, "You go after the twits and see if you can get the fruit. If not… urk. Fine, we'll lose one. Just make sure you don't get hit and I'll try to run Garp away and gather the others so we can blow this joint. I know when to dip. "
"See. Those are terms I can actually understand."
"Whatever, Jonesy." He rolled his eyes, "Here!"
Jones blinked in momentary surprise when the blunette reached into his jacket and tossed something at him, though he quickly understood when he pulled out a potted plant covered with cherries. Catching it and groaning at its size, leaves tickling his nose. "Captain… you know that I'll follow you anywhere right?"
Roddie pursed his lips, wondering where he was going with it. "Yeah?"
His tongue poked out from between his teeth for a moment, not that anybody could see much beneath his mask, before giving him an incredulous look. "This is a tree. You had… a tree. In your jacket. How?"
"Please, you don't know everything about me." Roddie snorted, winking. "I could have a raccoon in my shirt and you wouldn't even know, man."
"...Do you have a raccoon in your jacket?"
"Maybe." He hummed, "But that's not important. We meet back up in ten, with or without the fruit. So let's get to it-!"
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!"
They turned just in time to spot Garp bearing down on them with a fist reared back. Paling, they glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes in unison, nodding. Garp's fist came down between them, leaving an uncomfortably large crater beneath them as they dodged. Maple yipped and cackled, "Go, go, go! Oh~ the power of justice is so totally rad!"
"Hehehehehe." Dahlia giggled darkly into her hand. "Destroy them, Garp-san!"
Roddie shook his head, shooting Jones a thumbs up, with a winning smirk, "Do your best!"
Jones sighed. This was a huge mess. Well, he let his gaze follow the ripped open wall in the Marine Bases structure, a path of groaning Marines still lying about, he had a pair to trail so he better hurry to follow his Captain's command.
What a day.
...
...
She said it once she'll say it again. "Today is not a good day." She declared loudly this time, to no one in particular. Except maybe Ace. Who turned to check back on her with a bemused look-
Or, it would have looked bemused if he didn't immediately flinch when the whole island seemed to shake. Eye twitching and looking like he half expected his grandfather to jump out in front of them and throw them both through the gates of hell before dragging their asses into an even deeper pit of hellfire and misery. Ah- rampant paranoia, how she missed it. The actuality of someone potentially coming to get them did wonders for her psyche. But, hey, it's not paranoia if they're actually coming to get you, right? Right?!
Yeah, so like she said, it was not a good day.
"I'd ask what makes you say that but…" Ace trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck and letting out a strained laugh. "I really didn't expect him to be here if that helps?"
"Not really." She sighed.
Oh, wait, she shouldn't actually know who he is, should she? Well… damn. Now there was the question of whether or not she should play stupid and-
-that seemed like a whole lot of work. And she was not about that right now.
Still, "Sooo~" she drawled, "You haven't properly introduced me to your… should I say, friend?" There was teasing to be had and watching Ace squirm under her dry stare was oddly satisfying. Ha! And he couldn't refute her question either! 'Cause she shouldn't know it automatically.
Ace shuddered visibly. "Hell no."
"Keheh." Her eyes gleamed, and Ace knew that she was definitely messing with him. Somehow. He just couldn't figure out in what way.
"He's my grandfather." He explained simply, brow twitching. "And as you can see…"
There was another tremor.
"He's a bit of a monster." She finished for him succinctly.
"Yep."
"Honestly? You have my sympathies." She clasped a hand over her heart dramatically, or as dramatically as she could manage. Which wasn't a lot. "Woah-" Distracted she almost stumbled over her own feet and went careening into the street, "Oof. Ow." Quinn grimaced and fell into a roll until she was sliding down the last little bit of roof on her back and planting her foot at the edge of the gutter to make the jump to another, thankfully flatter, roof. "Don't mean to pry- no, actually I do. But- uh- why did we take to the roofs?"
"Shortcut." And the explanation is short and stupid but Quinn just shrugs and follows his lead because he goes back to being twitchy once they both realize there hasn't been a peep from Garp in a hot minute. Ace is looking ahead darkly, well not darkly per se, determinedly is probably a better word for it, but its such a turn from the bright smiles and grins he'd been pumping out before that Quinn can't help but feel a little unsettled. So she pursed her lips and focuses on the direction they were heading instead and was unpleasantly surprised to see the crowd still gathered at the docks.
"You're trying to lose him in the crowd." She realizes and Ace blushes for some reason, shoulders coming up to hung his neck.
"Tch. I ain't runnin' or anything, I just don't think it'd be good to fight him on his turf if I have to-" He tried- and failed -to deny the pretty damn obvious reason for them turning tail. Ooh, big manly man who doesn't want to seem like he's on the run.
Quinn nearly rolled her eyes- not that she blamed his running but there's a heat to his words that almost has her snickering until she raises her hands in a sort of 'I get it' fashion- a mistake because she nearly misses a grip and has to practically whip herself over the edge of another roof and slide to her feet in such an uncomfortable move that she's cringing while hopping on one foot.
With a huff of relief once she rights herself she says, "No, no. It's a good idea actually."
Maybe not for the reason that he thinks but, yeah, it's a pretty solid plan. Though, Quinn wondered if that's where his ship is… or if he even had one…
Ace pauses in his running.
Ha. If you could even call it that, he was practically bouncing from rooftop to rooftop.
"Really?" He sounds dubious so Quinn raises a brow at him and completely blows past to scale a wall on one of the taller buildings- hey, wait…
"Yeah. Easier to get lost in crowds. And since he's a Marine he'll have to hold back to not catch any civilians in the mix or do property damage- but from the look on your face I take it he doesn't care." She has to backtrack her thought process almost immediately and can't help but sigh at the uncomfortable and grim set to Ace's face. He grins and pinches the bridge of his hat to nod. "That's great… Need a new plan now."
"Yep." Ace confirmed faltering just a tad.
"Damn it. Ugh. Well, I need to pick up my stuff anyways?" She gestures to a roof that's thankfully not too far away. "Maybe we can come up with something there?"
They can deal with Garp on their tail and potentially Roddie and his little friend later, right now she had some things to pick up.
And since Ace doesn't have any better ideas he readily agreed.
And perks up at the sight she pointed out, "This your place?"
Quinn scowled as they stopped on top of the roof of the East Mail, thankfully with a roof access. It was certainly not a sight he'd been wanting to see but, in this case, it wasn't the worse it could've been.
"You could say that. I bunked here when I could or had to. Most of my stuff is at Dahlia's but…" she shrugs, searching for the roof door. "I don't own much in the first place so I won't really be missing out. Ah- Bingo!"
And there was the door.
There was a unsatisfying click as she went to pull it open… and it was locked. Of course. She closed her eyes for one long, suffering moment. Grumbling and reaching a hand up to pick through her hair, "Great. There goes my bobby pins…"
Ace, who was taking his sweet time in joining her, turned around to find her crouched and hands shaking, eyes narrowed furiously and teeth gnawing on her lip.
All in all, looking like an angry gremlin.
"What're you doing?"
"Picking-" she fumbled and swore, losing her place, "Picking the lock."
Quinn jumped when Ace was suddenly bearing down on her shoulder with such an intense gaze she felt a shiver run down her spine. "The hell-?"
"You can actually do that?!" He exclaimed. "I thought you had to have like a set or kit or something? I heard that you could do it with pins but whenever I tried they'd just snap before I could do anything!"
Cringing and leaning away at his closeness Quinn focused back on getting through the lock as quickly as possible. "Y-Yeah. I haven't practiced in awhile so I'm a bit slow but it's not that hard once you know how to do it… uh."
There's a relieving click and Ace is looking absolutely awestruck at the now open lock and scraped bobby pins.
"If you wanna grab the lock I can probably show you how to do it later…?" She offers nervously. It seems to be the right thing to say because Ace gives her both an enthusiastic nod and a delightfully surprised look, grabbing the lock and stuffing it in his pants pocket.
"That's so cool!" He jumps in as she opens the door and slides down the small ladder leading into the attic, "Hey, were you lying earlier about not doing anything to get executed? You're not like… a master thief are you?!" He seemed to sparkle at the prospect.
Quinn almost felt bad crushing his hopes. Almost.
"No."
Ace actually booed.
"Kehe- sorry? I just thought it was cool when I was like… twelve, I think, and picked it up using old locks." She frowned, kicking a pile out of the way of the door to finally get to the stairwell leading down to the main room. "Uup- Watch your head."
"Geh-" Ace barely ducked in time to avoid ramming his forehead into the overhang, hissing, "Wait- if you can pick locks then why didn't you just escape from your cell?"
"They usually had a guard posted and I'm not that great at it. The only reason I did the door so fast is because I've done it before." He scowled at the answer. Quinn shuffled a few papers out of the way, "Damn. Where is it?"
Ace looked around the room and whistled. "This place is a mess…" Quinn cringed, nodding her agreement easily enough, eyeing all the garbage around them with clear disgust and went to rifle through drawers and papers quicker. It felt like every new thing she touched was crumpled, stained, or had some other problem.
"Whatcha looking for?"
"Huh? Oh, I had a bag here somewhere with all my stuff. But its been like a week since I've been here and Roddie probably moved it… or threw it out…" She muttered darkly. "It's kinda weird looking; black and white and has Pandaman written on it?"
Ace nodded, beginning to look around himself.
Quinn's chewing on her lip turned thoughtful, "So… pirates, right? That's what we're doing from here on out?"
His head popped up from beneath a desk, "Yffshh!"
Did- Did he start eating one of the old, half eaten burgers-?
Okay. Ew. Gross.
He swallows it whole, chewing lightly. "I mean- yes." He coughed into his fist awkwardly. "We're pirates."
Quinn purses her lips. "Alright, then it's nice to meet you, Captain." It wasn't like she had other plans.
Ace brightened visibly at the title. He cast a quick look around the room, spotting another stairwell leading down, and leant over it. "Oy, you said this bag of yours was black and white right?"
"Right."
"That it?" Quinn got up to look over his head, not a hard thing to do considering he was surprisingly shorter than her, and followed his finger to spot the opened flap of her shoulder bag on Roddie's desk with part of its contents spilling out among the papers. She hissed at the sight, eyes narrowing.
"That ass- he went through my shit."
"Did he take anything?" Ace glared at the bag as if it was going to jump up and bite her hand when she went to quickly search through.
There didn't seem to be anything missing but her clothes were a crumpled, wrinkly mess and what little money she had in the weird One Piece currency was strewn around the bottoms of the pockets and torn. Everything else was in similar states of disarray but it wasn't as if she had much or anything of particular value on her- Quinn still didn't like people going through her stuff and touching it. Hell, even Ace had the decency to look away but she thought that was more because she was shoving undergarments back inside than anything.
"No, doesn't look like it." Quinn sighed lightly. "Thanks for helping me find it."
He gave her a lazy thumbs up, hand covering the upper half of his face. "No problem."
"...Dude, I don't care if you see my things." Quinn deadpanned at the reaction. "Don't be a prude."
"Oh," Ace dropped the hand almost immediately, "Really? The last time I ended up seeing a woman's wardrobe I got called a pervert and pepper sprayed." He twitched. Luffy had laughed at him while he rolled around on the ground while holding his face. His expression darkened sourly, "It was not fun."
Quinn's mouth fell open. "That seems like a bit of an overreaction. What happened?" She raised a brow, going through Roddie's drawers without a seconds hesitation and rifling through his stuff. Hey, if he was going through hers than she'd go through his no questions asked. "You're not a closet pervert are you?" She asked more to get him riled up than anything.
And rile he did. Hair practically standing on end as he snarled out a no before seeing the quirk of her smile and gave her a dry stare. "Har, har, very funny." He rolled his eyes before explaining, "I ended up getting punted through her window and destroying her dresser. Long story short she thought I was a pervert and pepper sprayed me until I fell back out the hole I made and into a rose bush." The thorns were not great. "Makino said that it was rude to go through women's clothes, specifically. And that she probably thought I was gonna harass or hurt her." He scratched the back of his head. "Don't know how you'd get that idea from clothes though…"
Quinn contemplated facepalming but no, Ace seemed to honestly fail at putting together any connection so instead she settled on patting him on the shoulder and saying, "I don' know man. I don't know. Girls are weird."
"But you are a…" Ace shook his head, "Oh, hey! What's this?" He pointed to a microphone and red button, made out of some weird shells and sticking out of a box.
"Island wide intercom. Roddie made it out of a bunch of shells and wires apparently."
Ace hummed, contemplating pressing it before deciding against letting everyone know where they were and instead rapping his knuckles against the desk excitedly, "Can we go now? We gotta grab a ship and take off before we get found out! I ain't gonna be no Marine and I'm pretty sure you don't want to get executed- so can we go?!"
"Yeah," she smirked as she pulled out a handful of crumpled bills from inside Roddie's drawers, "I think I got every- woah. Shit!" She swore, ducking down. Just in time to not be seen by the blonde stepping into the building.
There was a surprised grunt.
"Ah- you're that guy from earlier aren't you?"
Ace narrowed his eyes at the new arrival but didn't move an inch, instead glaring. "Who the hell are you?"
Quinn swore under her breath, barely above a whisper and pressed herself close to the desk while mouthing 'holy shit' over and over again.
There was the distinct sound of a sword being slid in-and-out of its sheath, as if methodically, and Ace thankfully didn't offer so much as a glance in her direction- looking absolutely nonchalant and like he was supposed to be there; a completely neutral expression on his face.
She had only just caught the blonde man out of the corner of her eye from the large window facing the outside and it had taken her nearly half a second too long to recognize the frightening individual and throw herself down.
"Jones." He yawned into his hand, apparently bored. "Hey, you haven't seen a chick with black hair recently? Looks like she took a swan dive off a cliff?"
Quinn pursed her lips at the description, before giving a dry nod: That's fair.
"Nope." Ace lied, popping his letters.
"Hm… how about this? She ate a Devil Fruit that my crew called dibs on. The Luck Luck Fruit."
Quinn froze, mouthing the title in shock.
"And we'd really, really like it back."
She shook her head. She could think on that later.
(But really… luck? That was her power? That's… so lame.)
"Sorry. Can't help you."
"Urk- that's too bad." Jones sighed and fingered the hilt of his sword, watching as Ace tensed. "You were with her earlier weren't you?"
Ace's jaw clenched slightly while he eyed the odd sword and contraption. Something told him he definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of that blade in particular. So, rigidly, he strained out a forced, "No. I think you got me mixed up with someone else." It sounded bland to even his own ears.
"Do I? Do I really?" Jones blinked in obvious disbelief. "It's kinda hard to forget the bright orange cowboy hat."
"What orange hat?"
Ace blinked, slapping his hat off and letting it plop down onto the table. Quinn facepalmed.
"...That one." Jones pointed. "That one right there. On the desk. That you just took off."
Ace didn't so much as falter. "I don't know what you're talking about." Slapping the hat into Quinn's hands. If it was possible, she facepalmed harder.
His shoulders shook, "Nuhuuhuhu. Sorry, but I think you're lying."
"About the hat?" Ace sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Sorry. It is mine." He picked it back up, ignoring Quinn's incredulousness. "Neat, isn't it?! My brother gave it to me!" Ace chirped, spinning it on a finger. "It's the coolest! It's got-"
"I know what its got! I can see it!" Jones snapped, hand gripping his sword. "And that's not what I'm talking about and you know it!"
"Do I? Do I really?" Ace returned mockingly.
"You do!" He accused. "Now how're we plannin' on doing this then?"
There was a long pause.
Ace and Quinn shared a glance and she reached a hand up over the edge of the desk to grasp the first thing she could get her hands on.
"Now you could hand the girl over-"
He ducked.
"Bitch-! Was that food?!"
Quinn glared. "Yeah. It was." Still in a throwing position. She had thrown- something at him. She wasn't exactly sure in all honesty but she was pretty sure that she didn't want to find out. It was a container of something… weird and goopy. Jones wiped an arm across his cheek and grimaced, muttering disgusted curses under his breath and seemingly less than impressed by the turn of events. "Tell your ass of a Captain to quit being a pig next time and maybe I wouldn't have shit to throw." Quinn snarled.
Apparently fed up Jones growled.
"Nuhu- you assume there's going to be a next time."
"Yeah, I do. You know why?" A rather cruel smirk played itself over her lips and even Ace froze at the dark tone of her voice, a feeling of dread coming over him. Quinn, taking a deep breath, offered him an apologetic smile, watching as his expression morphed into one of horror. "Sorry, Ace…"
He flung his hands up to stop her, "W-W-Wait-?!"
"Shit! What're you-"
She slammed her hand down on the intercom button- a high pitched whine filling the room and subsequently the whole island. The trio in the mail station weren't witness to the groans as people slammed their hands over their ears and jerked up at the loud noise, followed by the colorful swearing of a blue haired man ushering his companions onto a stolen marine vessel, and a man with the silhouette of a mammoth and a bulldog lifting his head and following directions of two people perched on each of his shoulders. No, instead of seeing that, Ace and Jones watched in varying amounts of horror and anger as Quinn felt a wide grin spread over her face and said, as clearly as she could:
"Pirates in the Mail Station! Requesting two person ship be prepared for hostage citizens to flee with at the docks! This is not a drill! I repeat, Pirates in the Mail Station! This is an authorized request, all able bodied Marines to the East Mail and a ship be prepared for long journey- By order of Monkey D. Garp! I repeat, Pirates in the-"
"VARELA WHY WOULD YOU DO TH-?!" Ace began to shout, throwing his hands up to his head, but Quinn just shook her head and snatched him by the wrist.
"Less talk, more run! Up the stairs! Up the stairs-!" Quinn frantically yanked him along. "We gotta go-!"
Jones let out a furious shout, teeth clicking together angrily, and lunged. Quinn yelped at the move, crouching as the blonde brought his sword down to meet them-
Jones was forced to turn mid-attack, just in time for Ace to take the lead at the first step of the stairs, dragging Quinn up after him, and the building to erupt behind them in a flurry of movement and rubble.
"HERE'S GARP-Y!"
Frick.
Of all times for him to show up and block his blow.
Quinn was pretty sure Ace would deny the yelp that managed to make its way out of his throat before he could clamp his hand down over his mouth. He glared at her from the corner of his eye, "What the hell was that?! He's gonna destroy everything!"
"Sorry but I'd prefer dealing with him than what's-his-face-Jones or whatever!" Quinn returned, nearly tripping back down the stairs. "I just didn't realize he'd get here so fast!"
Ace snorted, "Trust me, he is wayy worse than anything you could think of-"
There was a tremor.
"Shit!" Ace looked over his shoulder and seemed to burst forward with renewed speed, "Run! Run! Run! Ru-!"
"Oh, what the fu…" Quinn trailed off when she went to look behind them as well, eyes wide. "How is the floor crumbling?!"
It was if the stairs were being eaten at their heels.
Quinn whipped around to look back ahead. Ace looked like he wanted to say 'I told you so' but focused more on climbing stairs. "I-" she swallowed, "I think I'm experiencing a new kind of fear. This is some supernatural shit!"
"Chehahaha-!" Ace couldn't help but laugh at the reaction. "Welcome to my world! This way!"
"Urk-"
Quinn grumbled loosely, running a hand through her hair.
Well… wasn't this a turn of events?
There was a click as the door to the roof opened up. There was also the building beneath them collapsing a few feet but Quinn wasn't exactly focused on that. No, it was a bit easier to focus on the remaining daylight blinding her and jumping to the next roof just in time to leave behind the now entirely collapsed Mail Station.
"If it isn't a pirates life for me?" She mumbled, ignoring the weird look that Ace gave her.
It was certainly an idea to play with.
-0-
Jones yelped.
"Damn it, what the hell man?!"
He yelped again.
"Maybe if someone wasn't an idiot for not telling us that Monkey D. Garp was going to be on this island you wouldn't be injured right now-"
"Look, I said I was sorry already Fischer." Roddie sighed, rubbing a fist against his chest. "They don't exactly hand me a slip that tells me every little detail I need to know-"
"Excuses! We're the Creep Pirates!" Fischer hissed. There was another yelp and Jones swallowed a whimper. "We're known for infiltration and stealing information from anybody and everybody! We damn well better have known- anything else but that is a failure!"
Roddie and Jones flinched away from the short, hunchbacked man's glower.
Fischer, the Creep Pirates Doctor, who had taken the place of the island's Doctor, was a dark, gremlin of a man with haunting, droopy eyes that looked like something from nightmares. He was patching up the bruised and beaten Jones they had managed to snatch back onto their ship mid-fight with Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp- a fight that had not been in his favor. Now, sporting a plethora of injuries Jones sat shirtless on Fischer's table and was sadistically being poked and prodded at.
"And you didn't even get the Devil Fruit! That was the only reason we stayed this long on this damned island and you know it!" Fischer growled, stabbing him in the side harshly- there was an especially anguished shout and Roddie cringed. "That's cracked… This whole excursion was a massive failure and we missed out on a major payday!"
"Fischer… stop." Roddie growled finally, turning to the patient. "Jones, report."
"You heard the announcement…" The blonde began with a slightly impressed grin. "I don't know what you're talkin' about when you complained about her being a pathetic weakling: She's definitely got balls for pulling a stunt like that."
Roddie pulled a face, "I never said she wasn't smart. Though I use that term loosely in this case."
"Really? After sicing Garp on my ass she also called for an escape ship for her and Mister Cowboy, Ace, we got anything on him?"
"Plenty. He's… his kid." Roddie hummed. "But that's not important. I expected him to make a mess eventually, as all D's do."
Jones choked. "No way! You found out about that from…?"
"When we infiltrated Aokiji." Roddie nodded. "That icy bastards got more than enough secrets to keep us full for years. Continue."
A bit put out at having to drop that interesting tidbit Jones slumped and grumbled, "Well, I can't measure up to Garp, I'm lucky he couldn't fight seriously 'cause of those two hanging off his shoulders- the ones we tied up earlier, you remember? But I managed to move the fight by the docks and see that pair jump onto their waiting ship and take off. I would've gone after them too but then ya'll showed up and-" He gestured around them, wincing at the pain it brought. "Here we are!"
"Here we are…" Roddie repeated gently and groaned. "Great."
The Doctor clicked his teeth together. "You better have another cash cow. You owe me for putting up with those idiotic villagers this past year."
He sagged. "Yeah, I'll throw something together. We'll have to extort something and see if we can get a little extra on the side."
Jones huffed, "You're the one who refuses to pillage even though we're Pirates."
"We're Pirates." He deadpanned. "That doesn't mean we don't have morals. Well…"
He glanced at the frightening Doctor sadistically prodding Jones injuries way longer than was necessary.
"Some of us."
Jones let out a high pitched whine from the back of his throat. "Fischer, ow! Don't make me spit on you!"
"Try it and I'll cut you."
Roddie sweatdropped.
"Oh, and that little Varrie-girl skipped out on her medical bills, I will be expecting compensation."
"Of course you are."
"Woman didn't even need much work. All she did was have a bruise on her spine, and I can barely call it that, and she was such a whiner- complaining about neck pain." Fischer scoffed. "Only use she had was screwing up our plans…" He gave Roddie an annoyed look.
Who raised his hands up defensively, "Not my fault!"
There was a long sigh from him and Roddie buried his face in the crux of his thumb, glaring up at the ceiling. "Well, who knows what's in store for us from here on out- at least we can go back to piracy now that everyone's back on their feet."
Jones knocked a hand against his head, "Finally- after the mess that was Mariejois I thought we'd never get back out there!"
"And the Devil Fruit?"
"Leave it. I'm not opening that particular box of horrors today-" Roddie waved him off. "For now, the Creep Pirates are back in action. Our destination: The Grand Line!"
"Jonesy~" Roddie suddenly whipped around, tears pricking at his eyes, stomping on the ground like a petulant child, "My plans got ruined!"
"Please, don't start whining-"
"But Jonesy!"
