PRESENT DAY: MARINE HEADQUARTERS
"Thank you very much for your signature on the petitions regarding the Impel Down cases," said Koby, trying his hardest to appear sincere and cheery to Vice Admiral Strawberry.
"Well, it's an interesting proposal, we'll have to see what Smoker and the others have to say on the matter," said Vice-Admiral Strawberry. "It's a large endeavor you both are undertaking, I'm happy to help in anyway. Shall we head in?"
The meeting with the Koala of the Revolutionary Army and her investigative team (Koby did not particularly like the phrase 'investigative team') was meant to address the need for journalistic integrity and transparency with the public. There was to be no more of the drivel Morgans and his team would put out in the past which was riddled with censorship, falsehoods, and sensationalism.
Koby and Helmeppo had been called in because there had been several requests for more detailed reports on the status of Impel Down to be released publicly.
Indeed, regarding matters of sensationalism, there had been whispers that Koala was due to arrive with none other than the infamous East Army commander, Belo Betty, who was rumored to fight bare breasted. However there was a collective mix of surprise and relief (and also disappointment, Koby noted) when she in fact showed up in a pair of combat pants, steel toed boots and a fur trimmed bomber jacket.
"You perverts couldn't stop putting out stories that I ran around battlefields half-naked," she said, her boots on the table and taking a long drag on her cigarette. "I know gossip and naked ladies sell well, but sheesh, talk about undignified."
"It rather embarrasses me that there is a need to be having this meeting at all," said Fleet Admiral Tsuru. "Back in my day, reading the drivel that came out in the newspaper about the Marine's grand conquests for justice was something you just chuckled at now and again. But it's caused a lot of long term distrust that we need to rebuild."
Koby spent most of the meeting trying to curb his unease around discussion of 'public honesty' and 'troubling histories.'
After Koala and Betty left with their handful of other Revolutionary commanders, Tsuru turned to those assembled.
"I do not want to see anyone's dirty laundry aired on the front page of the morning news," she said, her fingers knitted. "While are working together with the Revolutionary Army and CP0 in this transition, it is also their duty to report on and investigate public figures, and that includes us. I don't want to anyone's hush money to some pirate or secret lovechild to get aired out in the World Economic Times. We are all flawed, but we are at a point in history where those representing justice must be above reproach. Understood?"
Koby's hands were trembling beneath the table. Helmeppo slowly slid his hand onto Koby's.
"Understood?" Tsuru barked.
"YES M'AM!"
"Now get your asses out of here."
Koby stood up to leave, desperate for air. His Observation might be more astute than most, but he was far from the only Marine in the room with the ability to hear the souls of others. He was terrified that his pounding thoughts and racing heart were going to incriminate himself in some way.
"Garp's brats, I'd like a word with you."
Koby froze on the spot.
"Easy," Helmeppo whispered, putting his hand on his shoulder.
"F-Fleet Admiral!" said Koby, brusquely saluting. "What can I do for you?"
"You can stop with the formalities, you look like you're about to have a stroke," she said. "At ease, please. I don't have time for your high-strung drama."
"Y-yes Fleet Admiral, of course. What can we do for you?"
"I'd like a summary of how things in Impel Down have been going on my desk by the end of this week, if you don't mind," she said. "I plan on dropping by within the next month and I'd like a thorough understanding of how the restructuring and new procedures are going. If we're going to be letting the Revolutionaries and other journalists inside, I want to be able to see things first. Do not write me forty-five pages, Koby, a brief report will suffice."
"Yes m'am," said Koby and Helmeppo in unison.
"Christ, Garp trained you well, god rest his soul, but you both have got to learn to relax. Not every old-timer is out to throw you off a cliff" she muttered. "Speaking of which," she reached a gnarled hand into her coat. "I thought you might like these."
She handed Koby and Helmeppo stack of tattered, yellowed newspapers.
"Some old rags from before you lot were born, there's some stuff about the old man in there. I thought he might have liked you to see 'em. Mind you, don't believe everything you read in there - it's full of sensationalism and naked ladies and what have you, but regardless, it's worth a look.
"T-thank you," stammered Koby.
"If you're going to cry don't do it front of me," she said, turning and waving a hand. "I'm too old for this shit."
Helmeppo took reading the newspapers harder than Koby. Garp had been a replacement father to Helmeppo, especially after all that Morgan had done. Koby had loved Garp dearly, but more as a mentor. His own grief for Garp was tangled up in the great black knot in his soul that was Luffy.
There was brandy and tears, perhaps more brandy on Helmeppo's part and tears on Koby's, but they found themselves gasping in awe at at Garp's phenomenal feats, or laughing in astonishment at the ridiculous stories.
"He punched through eight mountains! EIGHT mountains! That wasn't enough? They had to make them a flaming mountains in the article?! Come on!"
"I forgot he fought Chinjao! Look here, where he and Sengoku fought Shiki!"
"Hmm, though somehow I doubt Sengoku's goat took part in the battle," said Koby, skeptically reading the article. "They must have been having a tough day for ideas. It talks about a 'mighty ram Zoan user,' I somehow doubt that was necessary to add."
"What do you mean?" said Helmeppo. "You mean Sengoku's goat wasn't the deadliest Zoan user in the Marines?"
"No, his goat was the true Fleet Admiral!"
"And he knew where One Piece is!" Helmeppo laughed.
They had not laughed like this together in what felt like a lifetime. In the midst of such tragedy, the cloud in Koby's heart that was Luffy, Koby felt as though he was genuinely smiling for the first time in months.
And yet…
"Luffy-san s-should have been able to see these," said Koby, his voice trembling. He had spent the evening crying and drinking, he wasn't bothering trying to mind a middle path between emotion and logic. "He...he would have would have found them funny too."
"I'm sure he and Garp are having a great time, wherever they are, while we're stuck here cleaning up their mess," said Helmeppo, his hand shaking on the article. He sighed. "Heh, they sure didn't make it easy on us."
He turned another one of the articles. "Oh look," Helmeppo said. "Tsuru was right, I found the naked ladies."
"What?" said Koby. "Come on, I know there weren't naked women at the battle against Shiki. Are they trying to claim Belo Betty fought Garp? That's just taking it too far, she wasn't even alive."
"Nah, almost its a comic," said Helmeppo. "I've never seen this, take a look."
Helmeppo turned the page towards him.
The comic header featured a grinning pirate with an eyepatch with long sideburns, wearing a long red jacket. A busty woman with wavy dark hair sat on his lap, extending long, curvy legs; smirking as she lifted a diamond from his coat pocket. A lean man with a goatee and a broad hat stood behind them with a smoking pistol. A fourth man who looked as if he came from Wano sat with a sword. In the background, a grumpy-looking Marine swung a pair of handcuffs and shook his fist.
"Hey! That's...that's Captain Wolf!" said Koby, astounded. "No way!"
"What is it?" said Helmeppo, looking at the comic.
"It's an old series that ran before Sora," said Koby, incredulous at the find. "It's about a crew of pirates that run from the Marines. Apparently they banned it because it made piracy look fun," he added, chuckling.
"I can kind of see why," said Helmeppo, looking over the panels. "Three guys and a woman falling out of her clothes? A stellar example for the youth."
"That's must be Fumiko!" said Koby. "It's got to be!"
"Oh? Since when are you a connoisseur of this sort of thing, Koby?" chuckled Helmeppo. "It doesn't look appropriate for you, I'll have to read it first."
Koby laughed. "Alvida told me about it, she used to read it."
"Really? She must have just been a kid," said Helmeppo. "That's...kind of weird to think about. Also it's definitely not for kids," he added, looking over Fumiko's legs.
Koby looked over the comic. It showed Admiral Zenitaga picking up a small card on his desk with a doodle of Wolf's grinning face. The note read "The famous Laughing Peacock statue from the tombs of Alabasta will be mine!" Zenitaga cursed and stomped around the room before shouting into a den den mushi to send the whole of the Marine fleet to Alabasta.
"It's just funny," said Koby. "She was telling me about this the awhile ago."
Fumiko lay sunbathing in a tiny bikini that had clearly been drawn for the reader's enjoyment, while Wolf professed that he would steal every jewel in the New World for her. Gijen complained that he didn't trust having Fumiko around. Gomen said that Gijen was just jealous, much to Gijen's chagrin.
"You should show them to her," said Helmeppo. "No, nevermind, she'd probably like that. It would probably make her happy. We don't want that. Don't make her happy.
"Her paperwork only just now cleared the Vice-Admirals," said Koby, ruefully. "It will be quite some time before Smoker gets to take a look at it. It might be helpful if I have something distract her. And besides…" he said quietly. "I keep making her upset. I don't want to screw this up."
Yamineftis' version of Belo Betty is the only version of Betty I will get behind. I would put a link in here to her beautiful art, but this is fanfic dot net. She also drew the illustrations for this fic...which are also not here. They are on her blog, twitter, and in the A03 posting.
