Welcome to Chapter 8! Alright, there's a slight chance that there won't be a chapter for TSABL this week cause I rented Mass Effect Andromeda and I'm loving it. I need to write some more chapters for these stories soon, and I'm tempted to put them on hiatus until May as that'll allow me to work on Camp Nanowrimo for the SPN/HP story and get more chapters for them, I unno. Anyways, this chapter covers meeting the Dwarves and the meeting with Big Mom and Pudding. So, this means spoilers start here. They're OC when regarded to their canon counterparts but I gave semi-explanations for it so hopefully you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: Don't own OP
Donquixote Prince
Getting used to being royalty took a bit of time for Luffy. First of all, he had servants now. Of course, that was quickly gotten used to after a week or so, having gotten to know all of them. Ace though took a bit longer, seemingly unnerved by people waiting on him hand and foot. Sabo took the least bit of time as he was already used to it from his time as a noble child. The second thing he had to get used to was less time with his Papa, as the man had a lot of paperwork to do. But thankfully he set aside time for Luffy to spend time with him. Third, and not really last but we'll stop there, is the citizens. While it was not necessarily something he had to get used to it was still a bit odd for Luffy. All the citizens seemed pretty happy to see him and some of the kids would walk up to him and ask questions. Nothing too invasive, as the parents would stop them before they did so, but still they asked questions. It was odd because back in Spider Miles, Luffy was used to the people ignoring him because he was Doflamingo's son. Ace seemed to revel in the attention that he gained by association with Luffy. Luffy and Sabo figured it was because people were acknowledging him positively rather than the negativity he was expecting.
Nevertheless, at the end of the first week they were invited to dinner at Scarlett's place, the eldest daughter of the old king and the one who had falsified her death. It was there that they met Scarlett, her husband Kyros, and her daughter Rebecca. Luffy thought Kyros was rather silly with his attitude that he wasn't pure enough to be meeting with someone like Luffy who made a nice man out of Doflamingo. His wife seemed to share the sentiment as she giggled when Luffy called the man weird to his face. Rebecca was nice too and seemed to want to follow in her father's footsteps as a warrior. Dold, as he was going by now, was there as well, planning on having a house built right by Scarlett's house. Viola wasn't there though, saying that she was planning on getting a house in town, wanting to take up dancing and maybe a job of keeping an eye on the border. About a month after the dinner, Princess Mansherry visited with a friend named Leo.
"Luffy, Ace, Sabo!" A familiar female voice echoed from their window.
The trio, who were all sitting on their bed each with a different book, turned towards the window. There was Princess Mansherry and a male dwarf wearing a green spikey hat that had goggles, a green suspender-like jumper that held a needle in one of the belt loops, and had a large bushy tail. That caught Luffy's attention instantly as he pointed at that.
"You have a tail!" Luffy shouted.
That caused the dwarf to blush and Mansherry to giggle. Mansherry then moved her hair to show a bushy blonde tail.
"All dwarves have tails, you just haven't seen mine because my hair hides it." She said, giggling again.
The male dwarf coughed before trying to lose the blush in his cheeks that remained.
"I'm Leo, nice to meet you. Princess Mansherry told me a lot about you." He said, bowing.
Luffy rolled his eyes at that before coughing to get the dwarf to leave his bowing stance that he hadn't left yet.
"Please don't bow, it's really awkward and slightly irritating." Luffy said, Ace and Sabo nodding as well.
That caused Leo to blush and glare at Mansherry.
"Why didn't you tell me he didn't like bowing." He yelled (read: whined) out.
Mansherry just simply giggled before she spoke.
"I did say he's not like most royalty." She said with a raised brow.
"Hmph! Mansherry is so mean!" He said, harrumphing.
That promptly caused Mansherry's eye to twitch violently before she punched him in the head.
"I'm only mean to you because you're a jerk!" She said.
She then turned so that only the three boys could see her face. She then sighed and dragged her hand down her face. She then mouthed 'See what I have to deal with?'. That caused the three boys to chuckle. After that she readjusted herself before she spoke.
"Anyways, my father has invited you guys to come visit our tribe. He wants to meet the boy who, for a lack of better words, tamed a Donquixote." She said.
The boys got excited looks on their faces as they promptly agreed to the offer. It'd be really cool to see the Tontatta Kingdom. Luffy though had a question.
"Ahh, how did you get up here? This is the third floor and you came through the window." Luffy said.
That seemed to cause Leo to puff up in pride before he pulled out his needle.
"That's because of my Nui Nui no Chikara or Stitch Stitch Power! With it I can sew anything and everything!" He said eagerly.
"Nui Nui no Chikara? Don't you mean Nui Nui no Mi?" Ace asked, confused.
That prompted a confused look on Leo's face and Mansherry to let out a sigh as she realized she had forgotten to explain something to Leo.
"It's not a fruit." He said, confused.
Mansherry turned to Leo and sighed again.
"Leo, you remember that weird and nasty fruit you ate?" She asked.
Leo winced and gagged at the mental reminder of said fruit. It had been absolutely disgusting. That made Mansherry giggle before she continued.
"That was what is known as an Akuma no Mi, a Devil Fruit. They grant special powers based on what the fruit is. I ate the Chiyu Chiyu no Mi, a Paramecia type." She said.
Leo ah'ed before Mansherry began to explain the rest of it. The brothers had heard this conversation a dozen times so they tuned it out for a few minutes until they caught the end of the explanation. Mansherry then turned to them and spoke.
"Alright, we should get going." She said as she hopped off the windowsill and onto the floor, Leo doing the same
The three boys got up and followed after Mansherry as she led them through the castle and to the outside. They were surprised when Mansherry and Leo brought them to a random part of the city where she promptly pushed aside a metal grate. Shrugging their shoulders, they jumped in after the two Dwarves, interested in finding themselves in a passageway.
"What's this place?" Sabo asked, curious.
It's part of the secret passageways of Dressrosa. This one leads to Green Bit island where our village is." Leo said, using his needle and thread to close the grate.
Ace perked up at that because he had been interested in the bridge that led to the island.
"Isn't that the island that hasn't been accessed for two hundred or so years because of the fighting fish that inhabit the sea by the bridge?" Ace asked.
"Yep, thankfully this passageway exists or we'd have been trapped on the island." Mansherry said, nodding.
Leo nodded his head in ascent as well before he added onto what Manshery said.
"It's not that we can't defeat the Fighting Fish, it's just that there's too many to deal with for a single Dwarf." Leo said.
"Then why don't you just collectively wipe out the school of fish?" Sabo asked.
The dwarf hummed at that question before shaking his head.
"That wouldn't work because while the fish prevent us from using the bridge, they're also pretty helpful." Leo said.
Luffy was wondering how gigantic ferocious fish would be useful for tiny dwarves. I mean, Luffy had seen the fish and they were huge, they dwarfed the bridge that led to Green Bit.
"Well, for one we have a relationship with them. Despite them, for a lack of a better term, looking psychotic and insane, they are very community based. They help us get seafood to feed ourselves with and protect us." Mansherry said.
The next part, Leo seemed pretty eager to talk about and by the look of Mansherry's face she knew exactly what he was going to say.
"And, and! Every so often we have duels between us and the Fighting Fish! If we manage to kill one, they let us have the fish as food! Of course, that's only during the trimonthly death match, every other match is till one's knocked unconscious." Leo said eagerly.
Mansherry sighed before face palming. Leo was one of the select dwarves that reveled in sparring with the fighting fish, he even somehow had a few friends among them. Something about him being strong enough to hang out with. Sabo however had a concerned look on his face.
"Death Matches? Isn't that a bit extreme?" He asked.
Leo shook his head quickly at that.
"Not at all! Like I said it's every three months and even then, it's only one month and only between warriors of our two species. And even then, it's only between warriors who feel like they're nearing the end of their ropes. It's a way for them to have, more or less, fun before they die." Leo said.
Mansherry sighed, as Leo had left out the most important part that would have instantly soothed Sabo's worries. So, she felt that it was her duty to explain.
"What Leo forgot to add, is that the entire thing is willing. We sometimes don't even have a match if there's nobody who wants to do it. Instead we hold a festival between our two species with a normal duel tournament." She said.
Leo pinked a bit at having forgotten that part, especially when Sabo seemed to relax at that. Though Luffy had a question that he immediately asked.
"What do the Fighting Fish get if they win the Death Match?" Luffy asked.
Mansherry perked up at that, as that was something she could answer right away.
"Ah, actually, the winner gets three of my dandelions." She said.
"Dandelions?" Ace asked.
She nodded before pulling a dandelion out of her pack that they just know noticed she had. Though to be honest they hadn't noticed it because it was hidden by all her hair.
"These are created by my Devil Fruit through the help of donors. What happens is I grow them out of the donor's body. With one of these, it will completely heal any wound, with three it'll rejuvenate the body and give them more years to live, but only once. In the case of Fighting Fish it's ten years, for Dwarves because we live much longer, it's twenty five years." She said.
All three boys whistled at that, causing Mansherry to blush at it, interpreting it as praise.
"I'm surprised nobody has tried to abuse your ability for that." Ace commented.
Mansherry smiled, as did Leo, she was really happy that these boys had come to Dressrosa.
"Well, to be honest you can't abuse it. For one, it only works once. For two, I need willing donors to create the dandelions and even then, the body can only create so many dandelions before it crashes. So basically, nobody can really force me to make them." Mansherry said.
As they were walking along, getting closer to the exit, Luffy thought of something.
"How would the Fighting Fish feel about somebody who's half human, half fighting fish fishman?" He asked, thinking of Dellinger.
What he wasn't expecting was the complete eagerness on the two dwarves' faces as soon as he mentioned it.
"Do you actually know someone like that?" Mansherry asked.
"Mhm, one of the members of the Donquixote Family, who's like three years younger than me, is a human, fighting fish fishman hybrid." Luffy said.
"That's perfect! They'd actually love it. They've always been interested in Fighting Fish Fishmen but have never encountered one." She said.
Luffy filed that away for later so as to introduce Dellinger to the Fighting Fish. Soon enough though, they reached the exit and come out to a beautiful miniature village that had hundreds of dwarves all over the place. As soon as they exited, the dwarves noticed them and swarmed all over them, eager to get to know them. One of them was wearing a large crown, sunglasses, and a robe. Mansherry ran up to that one and hugged him.
"Papa, I've brought the three boys." She said.
The dwarf seemed to look over the three boys before nodding.
"It is nice to meet the boy and his friends who have purified a Donquixote's heart." He said.
The three boys blushed at the attention the dwarves were giving them. Though, Luffy quickly coughed to get rid of his blush.
"Ah, thank you but really he's my Papa." Luffy said, causing the man to chuckle.
"Well, I'm known as the Tonta Chief but my name is Gancho." The man said.
Gancho then led them to a large open area which was filled with various tiny tables and chairs and a gigantic table with various kinds of foods on it. Apparently the dwarves had thrown a feast for them which they were happy to partake. Normally though Luffy wasn't that fond of vegetables but these vegetables were downright delicious to Luffy. He even asked why they were so delicious which caused Cotton, one of the Reconnaissance Squad members, to giggle.
"It's because it's grown by us. We dwarves can grow almost anything in any type of climate and make it taste amazing." She said.
That caused Sabo to hum before he asked her a question that he know would make Luffy pout a bit.
"So… could you supply us with some of those vegetables? Luffy would eat nothing but meat if he could but…" Sabo said, trailing off, holding back a snicker at Luffy's pout.
"But it's not exactly healthy, gotchya. It's no problem at all." Cotton said nodding.
Sabo solved Luffy's pouting by slipping a piece of meat into his mouth, causing him to hum in pleasure at the taste. They continued eating for a while before everyone was full. After that they were redirected to the Tontatta Guard where they met Kabu and Bian, two more Dwarves who had eaten Devil Fruits. Kabu had eaten the Mushi Mushi no Mi, Model: Kabutomushi which allowed him to transform into a Rhinoceros Beetle. Bian had eaten the Mushi Mushi no Mi, Model: Suzumebachi which allowed her to transform into a hornet. The two were part of the Aviation Corps but weren't the only two members. There was Ryu who had eaten the Mushi Mushi no Mi, Model: Tonbo and Chou who had eaten the Mushi Mushi no Mi, Model: Chouchou. Ryu, he could turn into a dragonfly at will and Chou, she could transform into a butterfly at will. The trio found it really interesting and cool because they could all fly, which they wish they could do. Sure, Luffy's chariot could fly but it wasn't like flying unaided by a vehicle. Soon enough though it was time to go so they headed back home.
Within a few weeks, Luffy had introduced Dellinger to the Fighting Fish. The boy enjoyed it really well because it turned out he could talk to them and enjoyed spending time around them. It ended up allowing Dellinger to convince the fish not to attack anyone as long as they don't attempt to cross the bridge, any other way was fine, just not the bridge as it was their territory.
About six months in, Doflamingo had decided it time for them to finally approach Big Mom. The woman had agreed to a neutral meeting place in the form of Applenine island. It was a wintery island that had a gigantic apple in the center of it with smaller, but still large, apples on it. At first Doflamingo hadn't wanted to bring the boys but they had insisted and also the fact that Big Mom had mentioned bringing one of her daughters, Charlotte Pudding who was Luffy's age give or take a year. Also, Doflamingo had figured that bringing Luffy, who could sense emotions, would be pretty helpful. Nevertheless, it didn't take long to reach Applenine as it was pretty close to Dressrosa. About three hours later, Big Mom's ship arrived and sure enough the woman was on it. Doflamingo made sure to bring the crate with the Tecula Mecula in it. When they reached each other Luffy and the other two boys noticed Pudding. The girl had long blonde hair that obscured her forehead and seemed to be wearing a pink kimono of sorts. From what Luffy could sense from her, she seemed curious about them but held her judgement. From Big Mom, or Charlotte Linlin herself, Luffy sensed interest, curiosity, and hunger? He wasn't exactly sure but somehow the woman had hunger as an emotion which he had never felt from anyone before as it was a feeling that originated from the stomach not emotions.
"Doflamingo." The woman said firmly.
"Linlin." He said, pushing the crate forward.
She ordered her crew to open up the crate, revealing the tarts inside. Linlin seemed to sigh in delight at the smell of it before she picked up the largest one and tossed it into her mouth. That once again prompted another sigh of delight before she nodded.
"Very well, what is it that you want in order to export these to my kingdom?" She asked.
Doflamingo wasn't surprised at her directness. The woman was a businesswoman before a pirate which was proven by how she ran her kingdom.
"I wish to form a sense of neutrality between us as well as a form of trade between our two Kingdoms." He said, watching as Luffy and the boys went over to play with Pudding.
Pudding seemed to have pulled a deck of cards out of nowhere and they had started playing various card games. Content that his son and his friends were fine he turned back to Linlin who had seemed to have finished thinking on the matter.
"Very well, I agree. These tarts are magnificent and worth opening a trade and agreeing to such neutrality." Linlin said, nodding.
She then saw that Doflamingo didn't seem to be finished with the conversation so she raised a brow as if to ask what he wanted to ask.
"Well, I hear on the grapevine that you want a way to eat with your children at the same height." Doflamingo said.
Linlin guessed that she shouldn't be surprised. Despite Doflamingo's connections to the World Government, the man was an excellent info broker to the point that she had indirectly used him before. But still that didn't explain what the man wanted.
"Your point is?" She asked.
Doflamingo nodded at that before he shuffled into a pouch he carried and pulled out documents and handed them to Linlin.
"This is a contract I've drawn up. It basically says that we'll help you research a way to allow that to happen for you. In return if we succeed, you'll agree to an alliance and possibly to becoming a Shichibukai." Doflamingo said.
She once again rose a brow at that. But then again Doffy expected her to be a bit wary considering he was asking her to tie herself to the World Government, she did say as much.
"Shichibukai? Why would I wish to tie myself to the World Government, people who are subject to the whims of the Celestial Dragons?" She asked.
Doflamingo chuckled at that, as he had expected that kind of answer.
"Because, my son and his friends had come up with a plan to get rid of the Celestial Dragons." Doflamingo said.
Instantly Linlin perked up at that. Getting rid of the Celestial Dragons would make her a kind of famous that becoming Pirate King wouldn't.
"I'm listening." She said, eating some more tarts.
"Perfect. My son and his friends believe that if we can draw the Marines away from the grips of the Celestial Dragons, into their own organization, then there'd be nobody stopping us from getting rid of them." Doflamingo said.
Linlin blinked at that before she smiled widely.
"That is a brilliant plan. Seduce the Marines to our side? That'll be a hard task to do so though…" She muttered.
Suddenly there was crying and they turned to the source. It seems that Pudding had lost and she started crying. Linlin knew exactly what her daughter was doing but held back to see what would happen. Ace and Sabo did exactly what she expected, rushing to comfort her, but Luffy didn't. What he did shocked her, he glared at her.
"You're faking it." Luffy said.
"I-I'm n-n-ot!" She cried.
The glare got even colder.
"I can feel your emotions. You are feeling curious and intrigued, not sad." Luffy said.
Instantly the tears stopped and she smiled widely before launching herself at Luffy into a hug.
"I like you! You're not like most men!" She said.
Well… Linlin was interested now. Her daughter held a dislike for men that was surprising even to Linlin herself but then again these boys weren't men yet. Though… how can the boy sense emotions? She outright asked that to Doflamingo.
"Well, we don't know really. Somehow he's able to sense emotions from people using Kenbunshoku Haki." He said.
"I can also sometimes hear things from plants around me…" Luffy added hesitantly.
That seemed to be the right thing to say as Pudding and Linlin both perked up at that in curiosity. In fact, Linlin began to explain something to them.
"I think I know how now. Your boy has the ability to hear the Voice of All Things." She said, sounding eager.
Doflamingo seemed a bit confused at that, having not heard it, even in his decades of experience as an information broker. He voiced his confusion which caused Linlin to chuckle.
"I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it. It's an obscure thing that only select few people know. I only know because people with that ability can hear the voices of Poneglyphs. And that my daughter's father was part of a race that had the ability." She said.
Pudding nodded and picked up for her mother.
"I'm part of a race called the Three-Eye Tribe. As it says, we have three eyes, I hide my third one, but we can also have the ability to hear the Voice of All Things. But I don't know if I'll get it." She said.
Luffy quirked his head, not exactly understanding. Suddenly there was a whisper in the air that seemed to explain something to him. This hadn't happened before so he was a bit shocked when it did. When the whisper disappeared he spoke what it said.
"Uh… I think the wind just told me that you need empathy." Luffy said, drawing all the attention to him.
Everyone in their own way gestured for him to continue, causing him to blush.
"W-well. It said that the Voice of All Things is a dangerous ability because it can tell you things that nobody should know. So, to balance it out and prevent people from abusing it, you need empathy. The ability to understand another person's pain and emotions." Luffy said.
Linlin chuckled sheepishly at that before she spoke.
"Well, that would explain a lot. My family isn't the most empathetic of families. Which I guess would partially be my fault. This size of mine isn't natural thus it affects my temper and attitude. I can easily go from nice to mean and downright cruel. It made a problem raising the kids." She said.
That just caused Doflamingo to nod then.
"Alright, then we'll just have to find a cure." He said.
From there they started to discuss what they would do for the cure. At first Linlin wanted to increase her family member's sizes but Doflamingo stopped her there. He then said that it may be better to instead, decrease her size. That would in turn get rid of her disability. So, that prompted Doflamingo to have Law come over to the island which again didn't take long. When he did examine Linlin he found out the problem. He explained that she had a rare version of gigantism that had to deal with a strain of Giant blood. That led to Linlin saying that she was half-human half giant. Her mother had been a giant and her father a human but her mother had dwarfism which diminished her size as a giant and her father was pretty tall. Law nodded at that and said it did explain it as gigantism type G can also be inherited if the person's giant parent had dwarfism. Gigantism type G also created a mental disorder in such way that Linlin had described. It made the person easy to anger and had a tendency to be cruel. That prompted Pudding to mention that her mother had blackouts where she demanded certain foods which caused Law to say that it was probably caused by the Gigantism. He then as a side note mentioned that dwarfism type G caused the opposite of gigantism type G, making the person a complete saint. So, Law agreed to begin working on a cure but he did warn that it would possibly take ten years to make. Linlin then said it didn't matter, as long as she could eat beside her family.
Alrighty! The next chapter, which will either be release next Monday or the first Monday of May, will cover the Reverie. This will introduce Vivi, Wapol, Vivi's father, and Momonosuke's father, Oden. It won't be introducing Momonosuke as the kid would just be born around this time as he was 8 by the time he was introduced. Ace and Sabo will be present as will Sarie. Please give suggestions cause I like em! Also, I'll let you know by Wednesday if I will postpone updating anything until May.