Chopper had to admit it was a little weird being hugged so much. He had gotten used to the idea of being the 'weird creature' on Drum Island, where his presence was barely tolerated except by Doctorine and Lambo.
Now though... he found it really nice to be part of a proper herd where he was not only accepted, but loved as an equal member. That, and Luffy really knew where to rub to get his back leg to go nuts and was good at brushing his fur.
I-Pin had taken one look at him before letting out a sound of delight and hugging him without a second thought.
"So is he part of the crew too, Xie Xie?" she asked eagerly.
Luffy grinned.
"This is Chopper, he's our ship's doctor."
"He's too cute! The only other time I've seen anything like him was when Reborn was visiting his son Law and he brought Bepo with him!" said I-Pin.
Luffy suddenly had a very odd look on her face.
"Hold up... did you say son?" said Luffy.
I-Pin nodded.
"One of Reborn's flings became pregnant and she had a son, but she married someone else. He barely got there in time to save him and his half-sister when the Marines attacked. Law wasn't happy finding out his father wasn't who he thought he was, but at least he stopped trying to beat Reborn."
"Law, as in Trafalgar Law, the Surgeon of Death? That Law?" said Luffy with an odd tone in her voice. "As in the captain of the Heart pirates who's ship happens to be a yellow submarine of all things?"
I-Pin nodded, not understanding why her big sister was acting so funny or how she knew so much about Law.
Luffy muttered something under her breath in Italian, shaking her head in disbelief. I-Pin never would get the full story on how Luffy knew Law.
"So Big Sister, when can I expect little nieces and nephews out of you and Zoro?" asked I-Pin impishly.
Viper raised a glass to I-Pin for that flawlessly delivered quiry. It hadn't taken much to guess that Luffy was sleeping with her first mate.
Luffy didn't so much as stumble. She smirked at I-Pin.
"Not anytime soon, if Chopper's medicine holds up. I want to at least reach the New World and establish myself as a major player before I even consider kids."
Zoro blushed upon hearing that, as he hadn't really thought much of having kids when he started sleeping with his captain. Now that she said it though, he couldn't not think of the repercussions if the medicine failed.
He downed his beer and promptly got another. He needed to get very drunk to get the mental images out of his head.
Luffy beamed at him, which made it even worse.
"Now, about the contents of the Rainbow Mist," said Viper, changing the subject with ease.
Luffy smirked and went straight into "boss mode" as Reborn had once called it.
"You get all the big items and we'll focus more on the books and the sea stones. We're going to need them more than you will in the near future, especially once we run into that traitor Teach on Jaya."
"You still haven't explained your grievance with the former member of Whitebeard's crew."
"Long story short, he was part of the same division Xanxus was under his supervision and he nearly killed a division commander over a Devil Fruit. If Xanxus hadn't gotten to him in time, he would have died and Blackbeard's crime would have taken much longer to be found out," said Luffy simply.
Viper's eyes hardened at that.
"Teach nearly killed a member of his former crew over a Devil Fruit? While under Xanxus' command?"
Luffy nodded.
"Thatch had possession of the Dark Dark fruit, which can replicate the effects of an Earth Flame from what I can tell on top of making things dark. Teach had been looking for it for a long time, so when the opportunity arose he didn't hesitate to take it even though it meant murder of a crewmember he had served with for years," said Luffy. "I also have it on good authority he intends to work with the Marines and take over the now open position of Warlord since I took out Crocodile and refused the offer."
Viper's eyes turned hard at that.
"Do you think the one chasing him would be amendable to a compromise of sorts in exchange for some...assistance?"
"I'm fairly certain Xanxus would have no problem with his Mist helping him capture the traitor and claim the bounty on his corpse, so long as he runs it by Whitebeard first," said Luffy.
Luffy took out a snail and called her big brother.
"What?" he demanded annoyed.
"I have a surprise for you~! Guess who's offering to help you take out Teach in exchange for his bounty?"
"Who did you find this time, Bunny boss?"
Viper smirked and went to the snail.
"Time is money. Don't waste more of mine than you have to... Boss," she said in familiar Italian.
"...Mammy?" said Belphegor with hope.
"Apparently the Arcobaleno...except the Sky for some reason, are in the New World acting as a bounty hunting crew. We ran into Viper on the island where the Rainbow Mist is supposed to manifest, along with Verde and I-Pin,"said Luffy.
"Tell Whitebeard I would be more than happy to offer some...assistance...in capturing the traitor so long as I get the bounty on Teach and his crew," said Viper.
"I won't have to. He knows I'm getting outside help since I confirmed Luffy's information the bastard is working with the Marines. So long I deal the finishing blow, he doesn't have much of a problem with it. However he doesn't want the Devil Fruit that caused this mess anywhere near the crew."
"In other words he'd be willing to ignore it if one of our crew happens to get it and obtains the power instead," summed up Luffy.
"Just so we're clear, boss, I have no intention of leaving the crew I'm with now. However an alliance would be possible once I alert Reborn to the full situation. At best you can tell Whitebeard that he won't have to fear any of us going after his men from now on so long as they remain loyal," said Viper.
"Fair enough. He's still confused why the son of a Celestial Dragon was so eager to follow me, and why I keep exchanging cups of friendship with other pirate crews in Paradise. Hell, Marco has no idea why he keeps getting info packets from the Revolutionaries on a regular basis on the islands that are claimed by Whitebeard!"
Luffy snorted at that.
She highly doubted the Marines would ever figure out the source of the odd 'friendship' between the pirates and the Revolutionaries as an agreement between three siblings to stay in touch that were lucky enough to be placed in useful areas.
Viper took notice of the way Luffy said that.
"Are you telling me that you have an active information network fully established?" she said intently.
"I'm saying Dino has an informant network and is making use of the contacts we've been making to get word out in a timely manner as well as supplies. So long as you know the right passcodes and phrases, you can get information on almost anything you need as well as supplies to reach the next island on the chain, depending on the boat you use. Drives Dragon crazy because he has no idea how the hell the entire thing works or how Sabo pulled it off so quickly."
Viper looked at Luffy intently.
"I'll give you Dino's number if you agree to combine your informant network with his and make it more efficient," said Luffy.
"Deal," said Viper without hesitation.
Information was power, and they had found their network sadly lacking in several areas. Finding out Reborn's first student had made one efficient enough to create data packets and have a supply chain going on was very valuable indeed, and combining what they had established already with one they hadn't known was there was only sensible.
Besides, this meant she could hold the location of Reborn's other student over his head.
Luffy gave Viper the number, and within minutes the miser was already dialing up Sabo.
"Who is this?"
"Hi, Dino-nii, guess who I found?" said Luffy cheerfully in Italian.
"Did something happen to your snail?" asked Dino confused in the same language.
He had the numbers of the snails he gave Luffy, and this wasn't one of them.
"No, but I found someone who could help you make your informant network even better."
"Time is money, Bucking Horse. Do not waste mine or I will make you suffer," said Viper crisply in Italian.
The shock on the snail's face was hilarious.
"No way... you found VIPER?" he said in disbelief.
"Even better... she's Nami's mother. And Fon is her father!" said Luffy with glee.
"Does that mean..."
"Reborn is here too. I'll let you talk to Viper for a bit, Dino-nii."
There was an intense discussion in Italian between the two, which culminated with Viper agreeing to share their informant network with Dino's own and vice versa. The power of information was not something to be taken lightly, as Dino had quickly realized, and the odd agreement between him, the Whitebeard pirates and Luffy was not something to be dismissed.
Luffy had successfully helped him to make contact with actual royalty who had access to information that had previously been cut off from him after he abandoned his noble titles.
Since Vivi was still pissed that the Marines had done exactly nothing to deal with Crocodile and the atrocities of the World Government that she had privately confirmed when Dino pointed them out, she was putting every effort into reconnecting with the rest of the nobles and the World Government in order to pass on critical information to the others.
Having actual royalty in their network helped immensely as Vivi had access to books that the World Government normally banned in the hands of private citizens. Besides, it made her feel useful to the crew that saved her kingdom, which was all the motivation she needed.
Viper was exceedingly pleased upon learning Luffy had added actual royalty to the informant network on top of the information that was open to them having a Celestial Dragon's son with the Whitebeard crew.
As far as they were concerned, anyone willing to put up with Belphegor's boredom deserved a damn medal. His fickle nature and the fact he tended to get rather bloodthirsty when the mood struck him was well known among the World Government.
Odds were they were hoping he'd have another one of his "Prince the Ripper" moments while with the Whitebeards and removed several nuisances before being taken down for them. Like Whitebeard himself for instance.
Anything to keep him from causing them any more headaches.
Fortunately for Dino, the Rainbow Mist makes it's grand appearance.
Luffy grins and was the first on the Merry. Easier to rob the place blind if you already have the ship to put it on with you after all.
Luffy takes one look at the 'Guardian' of the Rainbow Mists...before she face-palms.
"Gods dammit Daemon, you better not give me as many headaches as you did last time! And stop it with that damn laugh of yours!" shouted Luffy in Italian.
Daemon Spade stops his "Nufufufu" laugh and stares at her.
"How do you know my name, pirate?" he demands in the same language.
She glares at him.
"The same way I know Elena would have been ashamed of the mess you created with the Vongola," deadpanned Luffy. She let a little bit of Sky out, and recognition hit.
"Nufufufufu...So the Vongola Decimo was reincarnated!"
"Actually I'm fairly certain Gol D. Roger was Giotto's reincarnation. No one could possibly mimic his piss poor 'cipher' otherwise," deadpanned Luffy. "And it explains why the Pirate King left such a mess behind."
Daemon growled at the reminder of his former Sky. He always liked Tsunami better than Giotto.
"What do you mean, mimic his 'cipher'?"
"I mean the Poneglyphs all have a 'secret code' on them, and I know for a fact one of them was written by Gol D. Roger himself. Took me only five seconds to recognize the Primo's so called 'cipher', which only those close to the Vongola knew was actually a result of Giotto's less than stellar education considering the time period."
Only nobles got a real education in those days. The fact Giotto knew how to read and spell enough to be understood was something of a miracle.
Daemon looked irritable now.
"What are they doing?" he demanded.
"Robbing the place of anything of worth... or in the case of Verde getting measurements. Want to join my crew and cause no end of headaches to the so-called World Government?" asked Luffy.
"Luffy, you can't be seriously asking a ghost to join our crew," said Nojiko in disbelief.
"We find some poor twit compatible enough and he'll take care of the rest," shrugged Luffy. "I'd rather have someone like him on our side than against us and it means Nami would have someone to practice her Mist flames with. Daemon could be quite...vicious... when he felt the need."
Takeshi and Lambo winced. They remember the whole headache of dealing with Daemon the first time...and how the ghost somehow came back a lot less 'murderous' than before only to attach himself to Tsunami and stick around to annoy the hell out of Mukuro.
After a while they learned to ignore him, but it was really annoying having to deal with the weird laugh contests Daemon and Mukuro kept getting into.
They never did figure out if Daemon somehow knocked a woman up while possessed or if Mukuro really was his descendant with Elena.
Either way the fact he was still around now did not surprise them in the least. Daemon was tenacious like that.
"Who knows, we might run into Elena's reincarnation later anyway. Besides... Daemon would know how to train flames better than I could considering my own education was half-assed at best," said Luffy with a shrug.
Nojiko had a headache. Gin could relate.
Daemon lead Luffy to an area where an odd necklace was, and once she put it on she felt her Sky 'click' into harmony with Daemon's ghost.
"You attached youself to a necklace?" she said incredulous.
Daemon shrugged.
"It was easier than having to maintain myself without a body to possess and the stone is one of the few that remained that could channel my flames properly."
Luffy had learned a long time ago that sometimes, it wasn't worth the explanation of asking "how" or "why". This was clearly one of those times.