AN: Ok, I'm back! First off, sorry for the long wait everybody, this one took forever. Here's hoping the next one will be a bit quicker! Before we get started, Reviewer Replies!
Xanxouz: Very glad you're still enjoying, sorry to have made you wait so long. This one was difficult. Yes it promises to be one hell of a reunion. (^_^)
RebelTreecko: Very glad you're still enjoying! And yes, Sanji is indeed set for an appearance soon. Not this chapter though.
Monxu Aki: Well I'm certainly glad to hear you're still enjoying (^_^)
Sargent Epsilon: I'm glad you like it, Reiju is a very fun character to write. (^_^)
NoaRien: Glad you're still enjoying
Lazymanjones96: Look no further for more has arrived!
GJO1088: Yes actually. It's not impossible. No, Roxanne hasn't put in an appearance yet, thank you for the recommendation btw, I quite enjoyed it. (awkward laughs about that 'soon' thing) Uh, well anyway, it got here eventually!
Mekyaku: I think the reveal of Buggy's strength is something best left for a more climactic episode. Yep, Reiju's a very dedicated actress when it comes to maintaining a cover. Bit of a professional pride thing. Yep and yep, glad you're still enjoying and sorry for the wait (^_^)
Guest: Yes that was my plan.
: I'm very glad you've enjoyed thus far. Yes while updates may be sporadic with lots of space between them, they are still coming until I say they're not. (^_^)
Also, to help myself and everyone else keep track of time in story, I'm going to start including time and location stamps when we change scenes.
And now without further ado...
...
Chapter 4
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…May 10th, East Blue…
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"So, how'd it go?" the mountainous man in white asked into the transponder snail's receiver as he calmly plucked a donut from the box on the desk next to him. He'd eaten well over a thousand by this point and was honestly about to grow tired of his favorite treat, but he'd decided to beat the world record and by golly he was going to. Especially since the current holder was a pirate.
"Estimated casualties are numbering in the tens of thousands at minimum," the equally sized man on the other end replied grimly, "Apparently Kaido can move very quickly when he feels like it. We'll have to organize efforts to intercept him much quicker in case this ever happens again. That coward Doflamingo turned tail and ran within five minutes of engaging, but at least now we know what caused Kaido to go on a rampage like that."
"Eh? You mean he wasn't just drunk? Something actually set him off that bad?" the donut eating man asked in surprise, "I mean him going on a rampage is nothing new, but this one was…"
"I'm afraid so," the man on the other end sighed, "And while I hate to be grimly satisfied by the death of a child, I do find myself taking some small solace that Kaido's bloodline ended itself. Heaven knows whether the world would be able to withstand two of that monster."
"I know that's the official position Senny, but you're still an ass for saying so," Vice Admiral Garp informed his best friend.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku grunted, "Be that as it may, I have to wonder if the consequences might not have been worse than the little monster living. Damage reports are still streaming in from across the New World. Seems like Kaido ran into Red Haired Shanks before he could find Whitebeard. Apparently Kaido blames Fire Fist Ace for his daughter's death."
Garp froze, a donut halfway to his mouth and then turned his suddenly thunderous expression on the snail that had just relayed his best friend's words, "Excuse me?"
Sengoku grimaced, "According to what Doflamingo has been able to dig up, Ace visited Wano a little over a year ago and befriended Kaido's daughter. Kaido apparently had said daughter restrained with exploding manacles designed to incapacitate her if she ever tried to run away from home. What Doflamingo is telling us is that the cuffs went off, which Kaido believes means the girl must've tried to tamper with them. According to Doflamingo's sources, the blast didn't even leave a body, just a fire that nearly burned down Kaido's entire base of operations."
"Any chance she could've escaped somehow?" Garp asked, "And what's this got to do with Ace aside from him being her friend?"
"Kaido seemed certain his daughter was dead," Sengoku replied, "And frankly it doesn't really matter to me. Unless the girl pops up alive somewhere, then it might be a problem. It relates back to Ace because apparently some of Kaido's subordinates overheard Ace promising to come back and take Kaido's daughter out to sea with him."
If Garp had been chewing he'd have spewed donut across his office, "THEY WERE DATING?!"
Sengoku shrugged, "Who knows? Whatever the case, that grandson of yours has even more of a giant target on his back now."
"Remind me again why I can't go pulverize that punk Kaido?" Garp snarled.
"It would require too much of our forces to crush his entire crew and leave us open to attacks from the other three Emperors, not to mention stripping our garrisons to the bone across the entire world and hanging basically every island under our protection out to dry," Sengoku replied flatly, "I know you're angry Garp, but remember that if Kaido goes after Ace he'll have to get through Whitebeard first."
Garp's expression twitched and went through a very interesting set of emotions before settling on resignation, "You've got a point. Any other bad news you want to give me while we're sharing?"
"You know the Germa Double 6?" Sengoku asked with a narrowly repressed groan.
"What did they do now?"
"Apparently Judge Vinsmoke's daughter, the crown princess, has also gone missing," Sengoku declared exasperatedly, "and unlike Kaido's daughter, Reiju was not on an exploding leash and as far as I or Judge know had no reason to leave."
"So on top of the aftermath of Kaido's rampage we've also got a case of kidnapped royalty huh?" Garp mused, "Have there been any ransom demands?"
"None," Sengoku declared, "Judge has kicked up one hell of a stink though. Cipher Pol's in an uproar trying to figure out how she could've been kidnapped and who could've pulled it off. I'm quite puzzled by it myself, Reiju isn't some helpless damsel in distress type by any stretch of the imagination."
"You know her?" Garp asked in surprise.
"She's been Germa's liaison to the Navy for the last five years," Sengoku replied dryly, "Same sort of 'we're getting involved stay out of our way' messages Judge has always sent, but she's actually got some manners. I've only met her in person twice, but I hear from her every time Germa takes a job. Judge has her trained pretty well, she'd be at the very barest minimum a Commodore if we could ever recruit her. On top of her tactical and physical capability, she's also got some kind of power that reminds me of a watered down Magellan, but I don't think I'm wrong when I say she's got a sense of Justice even if she's not allowed to act on it. I was kind of looking forward to seeing how she'd run Germa, so I've thrown out an order to every Navy base in the New World and Paradise to keep an eye and ear out for her. If she's alive, I'd certainly prefer to have her in charge of Germa rather than one of those brothers of hers."
"The brothers are that bad huh?" Garp asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Worse than Judge by half," Sengoku declared flatly, "If they're anything like they were at the last Reverie, and every report I've received about them indicates they've only gotten worse, they've got the same temperament as a few pirates I could name, not soft ones either."
"Definitely need to find the girl then," Garp nodded, "Anything else while I've got ya?"
There was a sound of rustling paper and then Sengoku asked, "On your way home could you swing by Shellstown? We just got a report from one Commander Ripper that Captain Axe-Hand Morgan has been abusing his authority, in gross violation of Marine Code and killing people for offending him. They've recently managed to contain him and have plenty of evidence for a court martial built up. I'd say Axe-Hand Morgan's got a date with Judge Baskerville at Enies Lobby, would you make sure he doesn't miss it?"
Garp's expression darkened at the mention of someone abusing the Marine's authority to act like a pirate, "My pleasure."
.
…May 15th, Hightown, Goa Kingdom…
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The guards raised an eyebrow as the blonde man in the yellow coat and top hat strolled up like he owned the place. The man himself wasn't that out of place, the yellow coat was a bit tasteless and certainly not a fashionable color, but the style was rather commonplace among the nobles of Hightown. No, what gave the guards pause were the man's compatriots.
A slender but well endowed beauty with raven hair and sunglasses, a top that exposed a scandalous amount of her midriff beneath her black and white jacket, and matching pants tucked into black boots. She looked every bit the harlot to the sensibilities of Hightown, but for all that she'd drawn the eyes of many men who'd seen her ride through town with her friends that morning, she was not what drew them the most stares.
No, that honor belonged to the wagon driver. He was in no uncertain terms huge, and as he stepped from the wagon and tugged a white coat from the back, he was revealed to be even more massive, easily a head taller than the guards, broad shouldered and with muscles as thick as a normal man's head. His own head was a mess of straw blonde hair and his face was obscured beneath a white mustache so perfectly sickle shaped it had to be fake and a large white bicorn that looked to be of rather poor make.
That said, the guards didn't realize they were in trouble until the massive man swung on his white coat and reached into the wagon to withdraw what looked like a metal headed oar as something enormous rose from beneath a tarp laid in the back. That was when they saw the Jolly Roger on his back. Unfortunately for them, that was also about the point where the blonde man reached them and suddenly had them both by the throat, casually lifting them off the ground.
"Good morning gentlemen," the blonde man declared with a smile, "My name is Sabo. Sabo Outlook III. My friends and I are here to make a sizable withdrawal. Do please let everyone know to get out of our way."
Sabo then hurled the guards through the open doors to the First Bank of High Town and Royal Treasury before stepping through, pulling a pistol from within his coat and shooting the base of the chain holding the lobby's grand chandelier. The ceiling around the point of impact shattered, sending the chandelier plummeting to the floor below.
In the stunned silence after the massive tangle of crystal, candles and metal crashed to the floor, Sabo shouted, "In case I didn't make myself clear, THIS IS A BANK ROBBERY!"
Pandemonium ensued both in the bank and the street as a black and white wolf the size of a rhino erupted out of the back of the wagon.
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…May 17th, Foosha Village…
.
Garp accepted the snail mic his aide Bogart had dialed for him as he looked at the paper in his hand and raised an eyebrow as the call was answered, "Hey Senny, you remember that kid Kaido went on that rampage about last week? Just out of curiosity, do we have any idea what the kid looked like or how old they were?"
On the other end of the call, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, as well as Admiral Aokiji, Vice Admiral Tsuru and Commodore Brannew froze, their eyes suddenly riveted on the thoughtful expression the snail was relaying to them from arguably the Marines' greatest hero. Any time Garp looked thoughtful, something bad was about to come out of his mouth.
Sengoku took a deep breath, and slowly let it out, "Garp. Why do you sound like you're looking at the child who Kaido just went on a rampage that devastated thirty nine cities across seven different countries, killing over forty thousand people with nearly twice that many again injured, and nearly starting a war with Whitebeard and Red Haired Shanks at the same time over the death of?"
"Well I was just reading the paper I borrowed from Mayor Woop Slap, you see Luffy made the front page beating up Buggy the Clown in a brawl that knocked down Orange Town last week," Garp explained, "You know, I think I will have this framed…"
"Well that is certainly good news," Sengoku replied, "But what does it have to do with…" he trailed off and then asked very flatly, "Garp, are you about to tell me that Luffy has made friends with Kaido's daughter?"
Garp shot a very surprised look at him through the snail, "Eh? No, no, nothing like that. Does look like he's made some new friends though, and if that girl's who I think she is, then I just found that missing princess Judge Vinsmoke was raising hell over."
A loud chorus of "WHAT?!" was audible down the hall.
"You mean Princess Vinsmoke is with your grandson in the East Blue?!" Sengoku demanded.
"But how? She was reported missing in the New World less than two weeks ago!" Tsuru asked, "There's not a ship in the world that fast!"
They couldn't see Garp shrug, but they could tell from his expression that he had, "How should I know? Chalk it up to New World bullshit, but if that picture you sent me is anything to go by then I'm pretty sure that's her. Anyway, as I was saying…"
"Nonono, hold up Garp," Sengoku interrupted, "You're seriously telling me that the missing princess of the Germa Double 6, who routinely calls me to give me updates that Germa's about to turn some poor battlefield into a mass grave with hints that she wants me to organize humanitarian aid for anyone left in the aftermath, sends me very nice Christmas cards every year despite knowing full well that I hate hearing from any of her family, and has the entirety of Cipher Pol losing their minds right now trying to figure out how, when and why she was abducted, is in the East Blue, beating up pirates with your grandson?"
"Well, like I said I'm not completely sure it's her, but I'd about bet money it is," Garp declared dryly, "Got some guy named Zoro with them that Bogart tells me is a big deal in the East Blue. Can't say I like the idea of Luffy being a bounty hunter, but it's a lot better than a pirate. Of course, this Axe-Hand Morgan clown I just picked up for his court martial claims Luffy was the one to kick his ass too so…" He mulled that over for a second and then shrugged again, "Ah whatever. Luffy knows what a Marine's not supposed to be like, so I guess it's just good judgment on his part, and from what this clown's former subordinates are telling me, I would've hit him too."
Sengoku's eye twitched and Tsuru sighed. Aokiji sat forward, "Um, excuse me Garp, but shouldn't you maybe not tell us your grandson committed a serious offense by punching a Marine Officer?"
"Fucker was in blatant violation of over two dozen Marine statutes. That makes him a criminal and completely viable for punching, kicking and biting with or without false teeth," Garp countered offhandedly, "Along with quite a few other things that I'm sure Impel Down will be overjoyed to introduce him to. Luffy may be a few pinecones short of a balanced breakfast, but I guarantee you that I managed to drum that much into his and his brother's heads."
Sengoku cut off Aokiji's reply with a small hand gesture and shake of the head, his expression clearly declaring that the argument wasn't worth it. Knowing Garp, Aokiji mused, It's probably one they've had plenty of times already.
Sengoku sat forward, "Okay Garp, we'll let it slide this time. Do you want to tell us what it was you were saying about maybe having spotted the supposedly deceased daughter of Kaido?"
Garp raised his eyebrows and the sound of paper rustling could be heard, "Well according to Woop Slap and Makino, my third idiot grandson, the one we all thought a Celestial Dragon blew up ten years ago, came home four days ago. Claims he's had amnesia and just got his memory back. Apparently, he had the scars to back it up and came in at a dead sprint before breaking down in tears when Makino realized who he was. Hate that I missed him," Garp mused, "Apparently, he's gone and gotten himself a girlfriend. Makino claims she's the sweetest, most adorable girl she's ever seen, was very excited about it. Even Woop Slap liked her, so she must be a good kid."
"That's wonderful Garp," Tsuru declared with an honest smile, "We're very happy for you."
Garp made a slightly disgruntled face, "Mmm…I'd be a lot happier if he and his friends hadn't cleaned out the Goa Kingdom's Royal Treasury two days ago. Surprised you haven't asked me about it yet, nearly two billion beris snatched in broad daylight and half a kingdom's capitol city knocked down when every member of the city's law enforcement and the Royal Guard tried to stop 'em. Not like they had to either, by all accounts the guards couldn't touch 'em, seems to have been done out of pure spite. Oh, and one of them threw a rock through the head of the prince that was Sabo's adopted brother. Splattered the ugly git's skull like an egg. Usually you'd all be flipping out over something like that and demanding I go chase 'em down." He mused before adding nonchalantly, "Of course, I guess the whole 'cleaning up from Kaido on a rampage' thing kinda takes precedence."
Commodore Brannew choked on his tea as Sengoku put his face in his hands with a groan. "I seem to recall you mentioning he hated the nobility of Goa," Tsuru mused, "I take it this was an act of revenge for the Gray Terminal Incident and blackmailing him?"
"That's my guess," Garp mused, "All that aside though, the interesting bit is the picture the reporters got of them while they were making their escape. I'm about to send it to you, take one look at it and tell me who springs to mind."
Sengoku paled slightly and as soon as the Vis-Snail Printer finished copying the picture, Sengoku reminded everyone present that he had been a sailor for longer than most people had been alive and had the vocabulary to prove it.
Tsuru opened her mouth to scold him and Sengoku just shot his hand out to show her the picture. Tsuru accepted the picture and upon seeing it went nearly as white as her hair. It really said something that her hand was trembling ever so slightly as she extended it silently to Aokiji and Brannew to look. Brannew's eyes got very wide behind his ever present sunglasses, "With your permission Fleet Admiral, I'm gonna go get started on those bounty posters."
"I think that would be a good idea," Aokiji declared grimly.
"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF MONSTERS DID YOU RAISE GARP?!" Sengoku roared into the snail-mic, "FIRST ACE JOINS THE WHITEBEARDS AND BECOMES THEIR SECOND DIVISION COMMANDER, THEN YOU TELL ME LUFFY'S RUNNING AROUND WITH THE ELDEST OF JUDGE VINSMOKE'S LITTLE MONSTERS AND THE TOUGHEST BOUNTY HUNTER IN THE EAST BLUE, AND NOW THIS?! WHAT KIND OF HELL DID YOU RAISE THOSE BRATS IN THAT MADE THEM TURN OUT LIKE THIS?!"
"Same one I grew up in," Garp replied bluntly.
"That…actually explains too much…" Aokiji grumbled as Sengoku threw himself back into his chair in exasperation.
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…May 18th, East Blue…
.
"Yama-chan, how exactly did we wind up in this position?"
"Uhhh…"
"Because I was certain I had procured and packed enough food for a month," Bones declared in a calm but clearly irritated voice.
"W-w-well…Makino-san's cooking is really good…"
"Yes it was," Bones replied, "And now we are trying to catch our dinner floating in the middle of the ocean because you ate it all in two days while I wasn't looking, and apparently the fish here are smarter than we are."
"I'm sorry," Yamato declared quietly, hanging her head and refusing to meet Bones's gaze.
Bones left his flat disapproving stare on her for a moment more and then let it abate, "Why are you so damn adorable that I can't stay mad at you?" He turned his gaze back to the water and completely missed the neon blush that graced Yamato's face, "Plenty of treasure but we can't eat that, and it's no good as bait either." He sighed, "I wish Lil'Outback or Twist were here. Outback could've just dived right in and punched a shark to death or something."
Yamato started to agree and then her nose twitched and she sat bolt upright, her head swiveling ninety degrees, "Lunch."
Bones leaned over and a vicious grin settled into place, "I'm on it." A split second later three very unlucky pirates, one dressed as a scruffy Elvis impersonator, one wearing the top half of a filthy tuxedo and one bum wearing a striped shirt, found themselves jumping from their seats as Bones appeared among them.
"Goood morning gentlemen!" Bones crooned in a too-nice tone with a clearly fake friendly smile, "I am an extremely hungry pirate, and my partner is too. We're both bottomless pits who haven't eaten in three days. Would you like to help us out, or would you prefer I help myself?"
The pirates' response was to grab pistols from a box and shoot him. Bones was completely unfazed by the half dozen bullets which crumpled against his skin with barely more effect than a hard poke. Bones cracked his knuckles as his polite and friendly smile turned into something very frightening, "Help myself you say? How generous of you!" His hands flickered out between blinks and the three pirates were promptly knocked unconscious. Only unconscious though, Bones was pulling his strikes.
Bones turned and headed for the little ship's cabin with a grin as he chuckled, "Oh yes, I am loving this new job." He tugged open the door, ducked his head to get through the comparatively small entry, and found a small boy covered in half healed bruises tied to the wall with a rope like a dog on a leash steering the ship. They locked eyes and then Bones's gaze followed the rope to the wall before tracing back down it to the kid. Bones didn't say anything, instead he just closed the door, nodding. The boy heard three splashes a moment later.
A few minutes later he opened the door back and came in, "Let's get you untied kid." He casually tugged the rope and yanked the bracket it was tied to out of the wall, "Where's home for ya?"
"Um…I don't really have a home," the boy replied, "My grandpa runs a floating oden shop though…"
The boy flinched as Bones's head snapped around from the sack he was busily stuffing food into, "Did you just say 'floating oden shop'?"
.
…
.
"Ahhh!" Yamato sighed happily as she patted her slightly distended belly two hours later, "That was great Ojii-san!"
"How much do we owe ya chef?" Bones added as he finished his own bowl with a smile before glancing at Yamato's meter high stacks of bowls and growing concerned. If it wasn't every bowl the man owned aside from the one in Bones's hand, it had to be close.
The old man who had been cooking nonstop since they pulled up gained a sinister look in his eye and whipped out an abacus and started moving the beads at lightning speeds, "2500 kamodaki, 2560 seaweed, 6040 fishballs, 2040 white radishes, konjac, fishcakes, eggs…" he trailed off muttering rapid fire for almost a minute and it suddenly dawned on Yamato just how much she'd eaten.
Then the old man slammed the abacus down on the counter, "I Ganzo, prepared this oden with my heart and soul. Added up, it totals 250 beris."
Yamato and Bones blinked in surprise at him and then glanced at the stacks and stacks of plates before swapping a glance. "Please hang on a moment," Bones asked politely before hopping back across to their ship. Ganzo looked at Yamato inquisitively.
Yamato sat forward with an earnest smile, "Ojii-san, your cooking is way better than 250 beris. That was absolutely delicious, and not just because oden's one of my two favorite things and I was hungry."
"Heartily seconded," Bones agreed as he hopped back over to the bar with a newspaper clenched in his fist, "According to the going average price of the ingredients you listed on the local markets, the actual price of that meal was more like a hundred and seventy seven thousand beris. Your cooking skills and the service were more than good enough to merit a hearty tip on top of that. Plus we're in a good mood. SO." He handed over a stack of 10,000 beri bills with a warm smile, "Thank you very much for the meal."
Ganzo's jaw hit the deck in shock, "T-that's…" Then he shook his head and straightened up, "You don't understand. I don't do this for money, I do this because it's what I love to do. I'll not accept such a ridiculous amount."
Yamato opened her mouth to argue, closed it, thought for a moment and then a small smile spread across her face, "That's actually pretty cool of you Ojii-san. Are you sure though? We don't need the money either, and you can do a lot more good with it than we can."
Ganzo crossed his arms and gave a small dignified huff with a smile, "The only reward I require is getting to make people happy. Food brings people together, if my cooking brings a little bit more joy into the world, then that's all I can really ask."
Bones quickly started rummaging in his pockets and a moment later yanked out a wad of considerably smaller notes. He quickly sorted through them and, "Aha! I have a thousand beri note, would that be alright?"
"That's four times what I asked for!" Ganzo protested.
"It's the smallest bill I've got," Bones replied flatly as he held out the note to Ganzo.
Ganzo visibly fought with the decision and then sighed and accepted the bill, "Alright fine." He barked out a small laugh, "You kids. You're just like Woona..."
He caught himself a moment too late and his grandson, who Bones had learned to be named Tobio, popped up like a jack in the box, "WOONAN?! YOU KNEW THE GREAT GOLD PIRATE WOONAN?!"
Ganzo cringed and frowned at Bones and Yamato, "Now look what you've done." Then he sighed and turned to his grandson, "Yes, Woonan was my best friend prior to becoming a pirate. I still consider him a dear friend even though I haven't seen him in fifty years."
"Then, then if I knew where he was, could we go meet him?!" Tobio asked eagerly.
Ganzo's eyebrows rose until they disappeared behind his bandana, "You know where Woonan is?!"
"Those three pirates that caught me worked for the pirate El Drago! He's going after Woonan's treasure! I was hoping to join Woonan's crew when I ran into them and found out they've got a map to where Woonan's treasure is buried! I managed to get a look at it! It's actually really close to here! I can get us there, I know I can!"
Ganzo crossed his arms, "El Drago huh? That guy's bad news, I hear he's got a ten million beri bounty." He made a face, "I'm sure Woonan could handle the punk, his bounty was six times that last time I saw a poster for him, but if they catch him by surprise…" He visibly fought with himself for a moment and then, "I have to warn him."
Yamato and Bones swapped a glance and a grin, then Yamato turned to Ganzo, "Hey, Ojii-san, since you won't let us pay you back for the meal in money, how about we take care of this El Drago guy for you so you can go see your old friend?"
Ganzo looked up at them in surprise and then nodded, "If you could help us then yes. Are you sure you can take him though? You seem strong, I can see that plain as day, but El Drago is the sixth highest bounty in the East Blue."
Yamato chuckled, "I'm sure he is, but we're from the Grand Line. A big fish here is a small fish there."
Ganzo actually flinched ever so slightly, "Ah. Yes, I suppose that does make a difference. Ah, Tobio, which way did you say it was?"
.
…Two Hours Later…
.
The island was a very beautiful one, ringed with white sandy beaches and rolling hills covered in lush forest. At one end was a massive flat topped mountain with sheer sides that would be hellishly difficult to climb. There were smaller rocky outcroppings all across the island, and the forest was filled with the sounds of birds and bugs. Under the clear East Blue sky, dotted with wisps of puffy white clouds, it was like something right out of a postcard.
All this beauty was lost on the immense leonine figure known as El Drago and his crew. El Drago was a very large man, nearly ten feet tall and clad in a golden breast plate and shoulder pads over his clothes. He also had gold painted onto his overgrown and sharpened fingernails so that they could function as effective claws, eschewing any other weapons in favor of his Devil Fruit power. He would be considered a very formidable opponent by most anybody in the East Blue.
Yamato and Bones were on top of El Drago and his crew before the unfortunate pirates knew there was anybody in the area. El Drago and his right hand Gorashi went down first, one to Yamato's club, the other to Bones' Yon Shigan. The rest of the small crew were dead before they could react.
"Ganzo-ojiichan said this guy was the sixth toughest in the East Blue?" Yamato asked with a hint of disappointment.
Bones flicked his hand out to the side with enough speed that the blood was yanked off by the momentum. He took a moment to grin at his now clean hand and replied, "They might've been decently strong if we'd given them a moment to realize we were here. We weren't here for entertainment though."
Yamato looked at him, "Well of course not, killing's no fun. I know we told Ganzo-ojiichan we'd take care of these guys, but I was kind of hoping to at least work up a little bit of a sweat." She sat down and rested her club on the ground with a frustrated grimace, "Is this what Father feels like all the time?"
"Probably," Bones declared as he started checking pockets and confiscating money and weapons, "When the strength difference is this much, it can't even be called a fight. It's just pest extermination."
"Bones, we knocked down half a city last week and nobody who could fight us showed up!" Yamato complained.
"Are you trying to make freakin' Garp come crawling out of the woodworks?!" Bones demanded, "Because that's what that kind of talk invites, and he is in the area."
Yamato's eyes went wide, "You're right, that would be bad."
Bones nodded, "It certainly would, so after we get these clods buried, how's about helping me hunt?"
"Hunt?" Yamato asked curiously as Bones straightened up.
Bones nodded with a grin, "This guy had a Devil Fruit."
Yamato's eyes lit up with understanding, "And since you can't swim anyway…"
"Exactly," Bones replied with a grin, "And even though he used it as a ship sinking sonic cannon, I really doubt this idiot knew what he was doing with it, so if it's here..."
"Then a genius like you can make it really scary!" Yamato finished excitedly as she jumped to her feet, "Let's go find it!"
"Hang on Yama-chan, due to the dead," Bones chided her gently, "We gotta bury these guys. I don't know about you, but I don't want ghosts following me around."
Yamato went slightly pale, "Ghosts?"
"Ghosts," Bones declared firmly, "I don't know if leaving them unburied would incite a haunting, and I've no desire to find out!"
Yamato stared at him for a moment and then smiled, "Good one Bones, you had me going for a moment there. There's no such thing as ghosts!"
"The poltergeists I met five years ago, Humming Brook who ate the Yomi-yomi no mi, Big Mom's Soru-soru no mi, and the spirits known as Klabautermen would all like to firmly disagree with you," Bones replied matter of factly as he started to dig, sweeping his hands through the ground and scooping it clear one platter sized but lightning quick handful at a time.
Yamato's heart skipped a beat as she realized once again that Bones was not joking, "Oh my god, you're actually serious…again!"
Bones nodded, "I usually am."
"So a…poltergeist huh?" Yamato asked as she started hauling bodies over to the rapidly forming pit Bones was making, "What's that?"
"An incredibly pissed off ghost," Bones explained, "A lot of times it's something like the spirit of someone killed by betrayal or in a cruel and unusual manner. Someone whose life was ended so horrifically that their spirit was forever rooted to the place where they died, like a screaming prisoner trapped and suffering even after their body's long since expired. Other times it can be when a grave is defiled, or more often a whole cemetery just gets built right on top of."
"That…that can actually happen?" Yamato asked nervously.
"I expect Impel Down is riddled with the spooks. Mariejois too," Bones replied grimly, "Surprised you've never seen one. Animals are usually more sensitive to the supernatural, I'd have thought Zoans would be too."
Yamato tried hard to repress the memories of every inexplicable bump and shadow she'd seen in her father's fortress, "Yeah, if that's a thing then they're almost certainly like that. What uh, what happened with the one you met?"
Bones actually paused digging and glanced up at the sky, "We've got time before dark or I'd never tell you this story."
"What's it being dark have to do with it?" Yamato asked nervously.
Bones shot her a look that made her wonder just how horrible the story he was about to tell was, "It's been five years and I'm still not comfortable in the dark."
Yamato's eyes were wide, "So uh, you…probably don't wanna talk about it huh?" Please-don't-talk-about-it-please-don't-talk-about-it-please-don't-talk-about-it…
"I had a part time job working at a casino," Bones explained, "It was summer break and I was a night owl anyway, so I had no problem with working nights when it was asked of me. The casino was built on top of an ancient burial ground, the local tribe has to send in their shaman every year to try and exorcise the angry spirits. I saw the guy do it that year right after I started, thought it was a load of hokum at the time. Thought for sure there was something I had missed, some trick. You see he had this bowl of water, when he went and started his walk through, it was just as clear as glass. When he came back out, it was jet black, like it had turned into oil."
"There were actually a couple of instances," Bones continued, "First, when I was looking around in the back of house one afternoon, all the lights were out, and I couldn't find the light switch. The back of house was tight and cramped and like a maze, well I was still new, so I'm searching high and low for this damn…ah shit I can't even remember what I was hunting, anyway, so I'm opening every door I can find trying to find the table cloths, table cloths that's what it was! Anyway, I'm on the ground floor, technically even a little underground, there's not supposed to be anything under the floor I'm on. Well I opened up one door, and I swear there was a staircase leading down into a darkness I couldn't see through." Bones looked up and met Yamato's gaze, "Then something looked back at me."
Yamato felt like the East Blue warmth had suddenly dissipated, "What was it?"
Bones shrugged, "Hell if I know. I slammed the door and high tailed it the fuck up out of there! I went back a few hours later with a club and back up, my buddy Cody knows I don't spook easy so he believed me when I said there was something nasty back there. We found the lights, and when we got to the door, I snatched it open…" Bones paused for a brief second and shook his head slightly, "Nothing, it was just a broom cupboard again. That was the first incident."
Yamato gulped lightly, "First?"
A cloud passed over the sun, and Bones's hat shadowed his eyes, "Oh yeah, and it only got worse. Cleaning a vacant floor of rooms one night, there was a hotel and convention center attached to the casino ya see, well it was close to midnight and it was an off season. Cody was out sick that night so I was all by myself. I'm just going through doing my thing, then I step out on the third floor and I get this…this feeling. You know how sometimes you know there's danger nearby even if you don't know what it is?"
"You mean Observation Haki?" Yamato asked, "I thought you said you didn't have that where you were from."
Bones paused digging for a moment and blinked, "Huh…ya know it does kind of seem similar now that I think about it. Ok, so um…imagine like, feeling the danger from your father being legitimately out to kill you." Yamato flinched back in shock and Bones nodded, "Yeah! Just like that! Except you know he's not, he's not even anywhere close by, and there's not supposed to be anything nearby which could even begin to be that big of a threat, but your Haki is screaming at you that something every bit of that bad is close by and out to get you."
"You felt something like that and didn't run for your life?!" Yamato demanded, "Were you suicidal or something?!"
"Nah that was Jerry's malfunction not mine," Bones replied, "Anyway, since we didn't have Haki, or if we did it wasn't strong enough to rely on or even realize we had it, I tried to write it off as just my imagination. I did start treading extremely carefully though, and I was ready to haul ass if I got the slightest reason to because the last time I'd gotten that feeling was when I was a little kid. My friend and I were running through the woods and that feeling just suddenly screamed at me to stop. I grabbed my friend by the back of the shirt to stop him and about a second later a deadly poisonous snake picked its head up on the log we were about to jump over."
"Are you sure you didn't have Haki?" Yamato asked skeptically.
"Like I said, if we did, we couldn't measure, rely on or prove it," Bones declared, "So anyway, it's dark as a stack of cats again, and the only light is moonlight through the windows and my little light that I carried with me. The lights were always being worked on in that place and the electrician was in the process of trying to fix the lights on that floor, so the power was out, that's why all the rooms were vacant. So, I've tried to write off this bad feeling as just my imagination, but it's getting stronger with every step I take. I get halfway down the hall, I shit you not Room 313, and the door's ajar. It's not supposed to be open, so I push it open to see if someone's in there. I open my mouth to call out to whoever it might be as I open the door, and the instant the door was out from between me and whatever the hell was in that room, I swear there was…"
He held his hand up and gestured to his face, "There was no wind but I felt like I was getting a gale force right in my face, my heart seized up, my muscles tried to lock down…I wanted to scream, just…there was no stimulus but suddenly I felt like I was about to die!" He looked like it too as he continued, gesturing wildly now, "So I snatch the door shut, 'NOPE! NOPE! NOT TONIGHT! WE ARE NOT DOING THIS TONIGHT!' and start just marching away from there as fast as I can back towards the elevator. I get to the elevator and thank god the stairs were right next to it because when I looked back over my shoulder, SOMETHING WAS LEANING OUT OF THE DOOR LOOKING AT ME!"
Yamato was profoundly glad Bones had not left this story until after sundown, "A-are you serious?!"
"That was the next to last straw," Bones exclaimed, "The final straw was two or three weeks later when me and Cody thought there was a damned goat in one of the bathroom stalls. I'm just going through, mopping, wiping the countertops, the usual stuff ya know? Outta nowhere I hear this little 'baaa'. I start lookin' around like 'what the hell?', I thought someone was playing a prank on me.
Bones made a face, "Then I hear it again. I look under the counters, nothing. Turn around and look under the doors to the stalls, and I see freakin' hooves under there. We didn't have zoans back home, the only things with hooves should be actual animals, so I'm thinking somehow a goat's gotten in. Probably one of the guests brought a pet or somebody's playing a prank or something inane like that. I go get Cody because if there's a goat I'm going to need some help corralling it. We get back in there, duck down to make sure its still there and hasn't gotten out, shove the door open and it's the literal fucking devil staring back at us!"
Yamato's eyes bugged out as Bones continued, quick and breathless as the old fear reared its head, "Me and Cody hauled ass up outta there so fast that if the front doors hadn'ta been open we woulda gone right through 'em and kept goin'! Manager called us up fifteen minutes later and demanded to know what the hell had gotten into us. We were freakin' out so bad I don't know if he could understand us or not, but we made it crystal clear that we were tendering our resignations! As if us already being two or three miles away wasn't a dead giveaway!"
He finally slowed down and drew a breath, still clearly shaken, "I didn't believe in ghosts, the supernatural, none of that shit when I started that job. Ever since then?" He shook his head, "I ain't messin' with no damn spooks. I'm not sure even Haki could hurt a ghost. So hurry up and help me bury these guys, then we need to go check on Ganzo and the kid, meet Woonan if he's still alive, see if we can round up that Devil Fruit, and then I want to be far, far away from here when the sun goes down."
.
…Forty Five Minutes Later
.
"Race you to the top!" Yamato declared excitedly before bounding up the nearly vertical rock face at break neck speed, Tobio clinging to her back in the harness Bones had tied him there with.
Bones and Ganzo watched her go. Ganzo was tied to Bones' back the same way Tobio was tied to Yamato's. Ganzo looked over his shoulder at the white form ascending the rock face he was certain they'd find Woonan at the top of as easily as running along flat open ground with his grandson tied to her back. He held the hot pot of oden he'd made for his old friend a little more tightly, "That's some energetic girlfriend you've got there kid."
"Energetic is putting it lightly," Bones replied calmly before crouching down, "and she's not my girlfriend. I've only know her for…" he tilted his head in thought for a moment, "has it really only been a week and a half? Hmm…" he shook his head, "Keep a tight grip on that pot and one hand on the lid. We don't want it spilling."
"Why are we crouching?" Ganzo asked nervously as he moved his hands to hold the pot as instructed.
"I doubt I can beat her to the top," Bones replied, "But I want to try something."
Before Ganzo could ask what Bones had in mind, the massive pirate seemed to vibrate, and then there was no air except for what was trying to hammer Ganzo back to the ground. The tremendous rush of air lasted for only a moment and then gravity took hold. Ganzo drew a breath to scream as he realized how high they were, then he was jerked sideways with a sound like a gunshot.
An instant later he felt Bones skid to a halt on the ground and collapse to one hand and knee coughing furiously. The harness was quickly ripped apart as Yamato and Tobio came over. Bones felt Yamato's hand on his back as Ganzo and Tobio looked on in concern. "I'm…fine…" Bones coughed out, "Threw…kyuhuuu…threw my breathing off…I'll…I'll be fine…"
He started trying to stagger back to his feet and Yamato immediately pushed him back into a sitting position before sitting and wrapping herself around him protectively from behind. He seemed very small in that moment, but maybe that was a good thing Yamato mused, he'd be hard to hold still otherwise. It still worried her though, Bones was strong. She knew he was strong, but whatever he'd just done had him shaking from exertion under that big coat he wore.
She gently bonked the back of his head with the curve of one of her horns, "Like hell you're okay, that's the first time I've heard anything less than getting shot in the back of the head point blank get a physical reaction out of you. What the hell did you do to get up here that fast?"
"It's called Kamisori," Bones huffed out, "It's a combination of Geppo and Soru."
"That thing you use to run on the top of water?" Yamato asked with a frown.
Bones nodded, "Geppo is the flying version. It's normally much slower, but by combining it with Soru you get Kamisori, which can allow three dimensional movement at the same speeds as Soru."
They sat there for a moment and Yamato set her chin on his shoulder, subtly listening to his pulse still hammering through his carotid artery next to her ear, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Need to train that more," Bones declared as he settled back into her a little bit, "If I got like this in a fight with someone strong, it wouldn't be good."
Yamato gave him a little squeeze, "Try not to overdo it, 'kay? I know you want to be strong for everybody, but you don't have to break yourself to pieces getting that way. You said it yourself, this is all really new to you, and even if your body's changed a lot, you still have to give it time to adjust. Sasaki nearly snapped his own neck trying to learn how to spin his crest, and Maria had so many ridiculous screw ups trying to get her hybrid form how she liked it that it stopped being funny after a while. You said it yourself, about the only thing around here that can hurt you or me is you or me, so try not to hurt yourself. …Please?" she added as an afterthought.
"Hrmm…when you put it like that how can I refuse?" Bones grumbled with a small smile. Then he glanced up towards Ganzo and his grandson as they headed towards the rundown house in the center of the plateau, "Do you hear anybody in there?"
"Nnnope," Yamato replied quietly, "and judging by the smell, that house hasn't had anyone in it for a long time." Then she suddenly blushed so red that Bones saw it out the corner of his eye.
"What?" he asked curiously.
"It's…it's nothing," Yamato lied weakly, "Just something I wasn't supposed to hear."
Bones thought for a moment, then decided to leave it be and instead gently placed his hands over Yamato's with a small smile. "Ya know something?"
Yamato looked at him in surprise, "Hmm?"
Bones shot her a grin, "I'm glad I'm getting to travel like this with you. You're bright and innocent and a little bit of a goofball, but you're my bright innocent goofball, and I can't think of anybody I'd prefer to follow around."
Yamato's blush returned in force and then, "But, I thought I was following you?"
Bones smiled, "Nah. Like I said the other day, I want to make my rendezvous with Reiju and the others in Loguetown, especially since I all but promised I would, but other than that, anywhere you want to go, I'm happy to follow. Even after Loguetown, if…if you somehow don't get along with Luffy and the others and don't want to join them," Bones chewed it over for a second, "I think I would follow you instead."
Yamato's heart skipped a beat, "You…are you serious?"
Bones nodded, "Aye. I'd like for us to join Luffy and the others, but…" he smiled, "You've really grown on me. I'm with you and if you'll have me, I will be 'til the end." A moment passed as his words sunk in, and he then made a very interesting squeaky sound as Yamato buried her face in his shoulder and hugged him so tight that a less durable person would've been crushed like an egg.
.
…May 19th, Northeast of Gecko Islands…
.
Nami paused flipping through the pages of the World Economic Journal that the News Coo had just delivered as a name caught her eye in the bounties section, "Wait a minute…" She opened the paper to the bounty posters and her eyes went wide as she saw the amount written on it.
"Hey Reiju?"
Reiju looked up from where she was reviewing the notes Bones had left her, "Did you say something Nami?"
Nami held up the wanted poster in question with a wary expression on her face, "Is this that Bones guy you keep talking about?"
Reiju tucked the papers that she had come to regard as her most important possession back into a stack and folded them under her arm before crossing the deck and springing up the steps to the forecastle in a single effortless bounce. She walked over to where Nami was kicked back in a deck chair and took the wanted poster, her breath catching as she saw the name and bounty that had been paired with the face of the most enigmatic person she'd ever met, "Bones, what the hell did you do?"
"YOU MEAN THAT'S ACTUALLY HIM?!"
"Well I'm pretty sure that mustache is fake," Reiju replied, "He was clean shaven a week and a half ago, but yes, that's definitely him. My question is what the hell possessed him to pull a stunt like this?! There is no way he doesn't know who he's provoking with this!"
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
"WHITEBEARD JR." BONES
100,000,000 BERIS
Just then Luffy, who had been peering over Reiju's shoulder caught sight of the next wanted poster in line and snatched it from Nami's hand, his face almost glued to it immediately, "That's…"
.
…Meanwhile, Somewhere in the New World…
.
"HEY POPS! LOOK AT THIS!" shouted one of the pirates aboard the most infamous ship in the world as he waved a wanted poster in one hand with the newspaper clutched in the other.
He quickly ran across the deck to the absolute mountain of a man reclining in the center of the deck. The captain of this ship, The Moby Dick, put down his sake jug, "Thatch, what is it?"
"Look at this wanted poster!" Whitebeard Pirates' Fourth Division Commander Thatch exclaimed, the normally unflappable chef completely in a snit, "The government's calling some jackass Whitebeard JUNIOR!"
Whitebeard blinked in surprise and leaned forward to accept the wanted poster Thatch was trying to show him as the entire crew's heads swiveled, the focus of every man, woman and in-between aboard suddenly zeroed in on their Captain and Fourth Division Commander. He lifted it up to get a better look at it and raised an eyebrow, "Huh. Ballsy little punk isn't he? What did he do to get a bounty and name like that on his head as a first time offender?"
"It says he and three of his friends tore open some royal treasury in the East Blue and made off with nearly two billion beris in the process of knocking half the city down, apparently he killed some prince or other too," Thatch explained.
A nearby head in an orange cowboy hat picked itself up out of its owners' breakfast, "Where in East Blue?"
Thatch jumped slightly and then, "That's right! Ace! You're from Goa Kingdom right?! Take a look at this! Some jackass impersonatin' Pops just cleaned out Goa Kingdom's Royal Treasury and offed their prince!"
"WHAT?!" An explosion of flame accompanied the hasty approach of the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander. Ace snatched the paper up and had to shake his hand to put the flames licking across his fingers out before he torched the paper. That did nothing about the miniature bonfire cheerfully dancing on top of his hat.
His eyes quickly darted back and forth across the story that had only made international headlines three days after the fact until he reached the picture from which the bounty posters had taken their portraits, "Wait a minute…"
He flipped open to the bounty posters and froze as he saw the poster that had been right behind Bones'. He dropped the rest of the paper in shock as he held the wanted poster in both hands, "That's…" Tears welled in his eyes, "That's impossible…" A grin spread across his face as the tears started streaming, "Sabo…"
The strongest man in the world leaned down, "Oh? Somebody you know Ace?"
Ace turned around the wanted poster, now smiling ear to ear and outright bawling as he and his little brother half a world away shouted for joy at the same time, "THAT'S MY BROTHER! HE'S ALIVE!"
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
"THE TWISTER" SABO OUTLOOK III
100,000,000 BERIS
.
…Meanwhile, A Certain Restaurant in the East Blue…
.
Sabo sneezed and a grin spread across his face despite the ass chewing he was receiving over the snail mic. Koala elbowed him gently to remind him they were supposed to be looking remorseful.
.
…Elsewhere…
.
A very tall blonde woman froze and then reached down to tap the woman she considered her sister on the shoulder, "Ulti. Look at this, tell me if I'm dreaming."
A minute and a half later a purple tipped cannonball shot through the fortress the two women lived in, a newspaper and brand new bounty poster clutched in her hand, "KAIDO-SAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
"WORLD TOUR" YAMATO
100,000,000 BERIS