Alright! Welcome to Chapter 7 of Death's Gift! I touched this chapter up a bit because there was a lot of consecutive dialogue which was a bit iffy for me. I also had to touch it up because originally in this chapter, Arlong was dead and beheaded for the bounty. So instead they randomly had collected items for random bounties along the way. In this chapter you get to have your first look into my non-canon Harry Potter interpretation of the Void Century. This piece of lore in this chapter will be slowly building until it reaches its penultimate in the Marineford War. As we progress you'll get bits of information piece by piece. Also, even though everything's going to be revealed in Marineford War this does not nullify Robin's dream. Rather, Luffy only knows of the Void Century from Harry's point of view, which in hindsight is rather big. The Rio Poneglyph is from the point of view of the citizens of the Great Kingdom. Also! Uh, I got distracted yesterday and couldn't finish chapter 5 of Donquixote Prince which makes me sad. For context, I usually complete a chapter a day, sometimes two if I'm really focused. Facebook gets too distracting. OH YEAH! If you want to see sneak peaks and stuff of things for my stories add my Author account on Facebook. It's Rikaeus Author and the current picture is of Franziska Von Karma (I haven't changed it from when I was hyped about the Ace Attorney Anime). Just, when you add me send me a message on there saying that you're adding me because of my stories. That way I don't decline the add when I'm confused about why I'm getting added by someone with 0 mutual friends.
Disclaimer: Don't own HP, don't own OP. But, we are getting close to owning that Event Ace in One Piece Treasure Cruise. I'm pretty damn happy about that.
Death's Gift to His Master
About a week or so later the Commanders were lounging on the lush green grass of Nami's tangerine grove that she had brought from Cocoyashi. After seeing the fact that the Going Merry had lush grass on it they decided to outfit the other two ships with it. On the Goddess Styx, the name they chose for the ship that was originally Alvida's, the entire back part was outfitted with grass and dirt and was filled with a grove of Nami's tangerine trees as well as a garden off to the side. On the Going Merry there were tiny trees beginning to grow, having planted seeds in that one. On the Kerberos, the tiny ship that Luffy started out on, there was a small patch of grass that was also used for farming. The reason behind the gardens was for self-sufficiency. If they could grow a lot of their crops they could cut down on how much they spent on food. Also it didn't help that regulating the temperature and weather around the crops was really good training for Nami.
The group was enjoying the nice weather that Nami was giving them, telling them that after they head out from Loguetown she'd make it rain so the crops could get some water. Soon though there was a bird with a pouch that read 'Newspapers' that was looking at Nami.
"Oh, cool it's here." Nami said, getting up and stretching before walking over to the bird.
"What is it Nami-swan?" Sanji said, laying on the lawn as well.
"It's the newest newspaper. I usually get it to check the new bounties or what's happened in the past week or so. It seemed the bird finally managed to find me." Nami said before taking a newspaper, the bird seeming to want more money.
"Gah! I swear if you keep increasing the price I won't buy from you." Nami said before paying the bird the amount it wanted.
Opening it up six pieces of paper slipped out on the ground, revealing what they were. They were six new wanted posters each with familiar faces, because they were their own faces. The first one was Luffy's reading 'Monkey D. 'Straw Hat' Luffy' and his bounty was surprisingly at sixty million Belly.
"What, that's an outrageous amount for a first bounty." Nami said.
"Maybe the Marines are just frustrated that Luffy's been doing all the work they couldn't? I mean he's been saving towns left and right." Zoro said.
"Shishishi. I mean that isn't false." Luffy said, laughing.
The next one was actually Nami's and not Zoro's like the others thought. Hers read 'The Storm Witch Nami' and her bounty was at fifty million Belly.
"… Wow, they got creative with the name." Nami said.
"You're not surprised at the bounty?" Alvida asked.
"Nah, if Luffy got sixty million then ours would have to be up there too. They probably made it fifty million because I'm a Devil Fruit user." Nami said.
Following Nami's was Zoro's which read 'Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro'. Zoro's bounty was just below Nami's at forty-five million Belly.
"… They do know that marimo's not a pirate hunter anymore right?" Sanji asked, making Zoro mad.
"Shut up curly brow." Sanji snarked back.
However, before the two could even start fighting both Nami and Alvida slammed their fists on their heads. After Zoro's was Alvida's and Sanji's at forty million Belly. Sanji's epithet was 'Black-Leg Sanji'.
"Thank the Blue they changed my picture. This one looks so much better." Alvida said.
"It looks as beautiful as ever Alvida-swan!" Sanji said, causing Alvida to roll her eyes.
The last one was Usopp's which read 'Usopp the Killshot Sniper.'. His bounty was only a tiny bit less than Alvida's and Sanji's at thirty-five million Belly.
"That's… actually a really nice epithet, really fitting of an awesome sniper like me. Although why is it the lowest and why doesn't Kaya have one?" Usopp asked.
"It's probably because in a battle where somebody knows where you are would be one you might lose. Also, Kaya didn't get one because she wasn't seen really. The only thing she did was steal." Luffy said, lying back down on the grass.
"Should we throw a party for the bounties?" Sanji asked, curious as to know whether he'd need to prepare a lot of food.
"Hmm, nah we'll save it for after we get into the Grand Line. That way we don't exhaust our supplies by throwing consecutive parties." Luffy said, putting his hat over his eyes.
"So, Nami how long do you think it'll be till we get to Loguetown?" Zoro asked, laying back down.
"Shouldn't be long actually, we should get there in maybe an hour." Nami said.
"Speaking of Loguetown, brother how are we going to split up?" Kaya asked, laying right by Usopp.
"Well, I figured that Nami could turn in the random bounties with Alvida and Kaya and afterwards make their way to the market to buy the necessities like medical supplies, toiletries, books and the such." Luffy started.
"That sounds like a good idea, we do need more medical supplies and the library needs more medical books." Kaya said.
"Mhm, and Sanji can head off to get food supplies and although I'll regret this… recruit someone for me." Luffy said.
"Why would you regret it?" Gin asked, having arrived a few minutes ago from finishing his training session with some of the Heavy Combat Division members.
"It's probably because the person's a female." Zoro scoffed.
"Zoro's actually right. The person I'm having him recruit is his Vice-Commander. Her name's Carmen. Specifically, 'Five-Alarm' Carmen." Luffy said.
"Why her?" Alvida asked, curious.
"I heard she's been looking for a challenge and that she's a good fighter with her fan." Luffy said.
"You also probably want her to taper off Sanji's flirting with every female he serves food to." Nami said.
Luffy gave a chuckle at that. Nami was telling the truth about that, every time come food time Sanji would flirt with the women and glare at the men. Carmen would hopefully balance that out.
"That too." Luffy said over Sanji's protests.
"Just be glad you got him out of the phase where he'd refuse to fight females." Alvida said.
"Hey, that was all you." Luffy said, causing Sanji to wince at the memories of Alvida beating the crap out of him.
He still had bruises from the last training session.
"What about me, Usopp, Zorro, and you?" Gin asked.
"Mmm well I'm actually going to have you and Usopp stay here. Logistically you two are the best to guard the ship. Usopp because he can pick off anyone from the crow's nest. You because you can easily overwhelm anyone." Luffy said.
Luffy then got up into a sitting position, putting his hat back on. He then gestured to Zoro.
"As for Zoro, he needs to pick up two new swords, the swords that he's been using from the ship's stock hasn't exactly been working for him." Luffy said, Zoro nodding at that.
"Yeah they're a bit off balance." Zoro said.
"I'll be heading straight to the execution site. I wanna have a look at it. Please try not to cause too much trouble. There are Marines here." Luffy said.
Soon after Luffy finished saying that, one of the lookouts in the crow's nest yelled that they saw Loguetown ahead. With that they got ready with Nami handing out a set amount of money, telling them she wanted them to make the most and hopefully come back with some left over. From there they all went their separate ways.
With Nami, Alvida, and Kaya they quickly made their way to the bounty office. It was there they were met by a man sitting at a desk with wanted posters behind him. He seemed a bit shocked at first when he saw them but gladly handed over the money for the random bounties that the crew had collected over the past month or so. Nami was just glad that the bounty office accepted other forms of identification other than body parts. Sure, Luffy could preserve them with a preservation spell but… it was the principle of the thing you know? The three gladly walked out of the office twelve million Belly richer. From there they made their way to the shopping district where they first stopped at the nearest pharmacy.
"Hmm, let's see what do I need.." Kaya said, browsing the shelves.
"You're really smart you know Kaya. I can't even understand half of this." Nami said, causing Kaya to blush.
"Ah but sis is the best at navigating and handling money. I wouldn't even know the first thing about those things." Kaya said.
"Well, we're all smart in our own ways. It's why Cap'n picked us to be Commanders. Nami-sis has got her skills in navigation and finances, Kaya-sis has her skills in the medical field, and I have my skills in Heavy Combat." Alvida said with a smile, causing the others to smile.
As Kaya was looking through the medicine section though she had a wistful smile on her face.
"You know, I'm really glad big brother picked me and Usopp up that day in Syrup Village. Life was never this exciting and it's really nice having this big a family." Kaya said.
Nami and Alvida smiled and nodded at that.
"Yeah, I'm glad Cap'n found me that day and gave me my Devil Fruit. Not only do I look amazingly beautiful, I also have a family as well." Alvida said.
"Same here, I don't know where I'd be if he'd never found me that day. I'd probably still be working for Arlong." Nami said.
It didn't take long after that though for Kaya to find everything that she needed and purchased it all. Their next destination was one that Nami knew they needed before they even got on the Grand Line, Log Poses. So with that Nami took them into a navigation store where they saw a large collection of Log Poses. There were even ones with three needles. That one Nami decided to ask the manager what they were.
"Hey sir, what's the difference between the single needle Log Poses and the triple needle ones?" Nami asked.
"Oh those? The three needle Log Poses are for the New World, the second half of the Grand Line. The islands there have much wilder magnetic pulls so each needle will point to a different island." The man said.
"Ah, thanks, that'll be useful to know for later. Well then, I think I'll take these five Log Poses, the stack of navigation paper, and the pens." Nami said, paying the man.
After that they made stops at different places to pick up various supplies for the ship, very thankful that Luffy had given them expanded bags to carry everything. Their last stop was the book store as they knew it'd take them a while there.
With Sanji though it was a bit different. Sanji made his way first to the food market so that he could stock up on food, also very grateful for the expanded bag. It was buying ingredients for food that he actually picked up a bit of information.
"Did you hear that there's going to be a cooking competition in about ten minutes?" A woman said.
"Yeah, there's about five minutes before the deadline to register." Said the man the woman was talking to.
"Well, I heard that 'Five Alarm' Carmen was participating." The woman said.
That caught Sanji's attention. He did need to see if he could recruit Carmen. So, his best bet was to enter the cooking competition. With a sigh Sanji made his way over to where the cooking competition was taking place and signed up. The first few rounds were a joke to Sanji. The opponents were pathetically easy to beat, probably entering just for the prize which was a high quality tuna which would probably make a wonderful dish. However, soon enough Sanji reached the final round where he met his target, a beautiful pink haired woman wearing a stunning red flamenco dress.
"You must be the beautiful Carmen." Sanji said, holding back his swooning.
"I've been waiting for this moment actually, to prove myself to be the best chef in the East Blue. I'd cement my place if I can beat the infamous Black Leg Sanji." Carmen said, waving her fan.
"Oh? Then how about a bet. If you win I'll proclaim you the best chef in the East Blue but if I win you join my Captain's crew." Sanji said.
"Hmm, join an up and coming crew? That does sound like a nice challenge… And if I win the rumored second best chef in the East Blue proclaiming me to be the best would boost my popularity. I agree." Carmen said.
"Great! Your intelligence definitely matches your beauty." Sanji said, catching himself from swooning, again remembering the pain from the last sparring match with Alvida.
The final match then began. Carmen dazzled the audience with her unique style of cooking which consisted of dancing and catching the ingredients in the pan and chopping them mid-air with her fan which seemed to have razor sharp blades at the end. To Sanji though he was able to tell what her specialty was. Carmen's specialty was true to her epithet, she specialized in spicy-type dishes, though he could tell that she was good at other kinds as well. Sanji's style of cooking however seemed pretty simple to everyone as he didn't really do any flair other than seemingly juggling and tossing in the ingredients. When they finished cooking they presented their dishes to the judges. In the end it was a unanimous vote and they chose Sanji as the winner.
"Well.. I guess you are the best chef in the East Blue… and I guess I'm joining your pirate crew. What's my position? Low chef?" She asked, expecting the worse.
"Nope! A beauty like you, according to my Captain, is getting the Vice-Commander spot in the Cook Division. You'll be heading the division with me." Sanji said, shocking her.
"I'm helping you lead a division? Your captain trusts me that much?" She asked.
"Ah, well Luffy's an easy trusting person. While normally that'd get most people in trouble he seems to know who to trust. Also, according to said captain I'm supposed to give you this speech…" Sanji said before rolling his eyes.
Sanji stood straight and coughed before he spoke.
"The Straw Hat Armada is a family. Which makes us all brothers and sisters in arms. So, don't be shocked when the crew members call you big sis." Sanji said.
"Oh, well… this seems like it'll be fun." Carmen said with a smile.
Over with Zoro the first thing he encountered was a woman managing to beat up two guys and then somehow trip on thin air afterwards. What shocked Zoro however was the fact that the woman looked exactly like his childhood friend Kuina. He helped her up, to which she promptly thanked him.
"Thanks! I don't know why I'm so clumsy. My name's Tashigi." Tashigi said.
"Ah, uh no problem. My name's Zoro." He said.
He really was trying not to be uncomfortable with looking at this woman. The resemblance really was tripping him up.
"Oh, you have the same name as the pirate hunter, what a coincidence. I see you're a swordsman." Tashigi said, looking at his sword.
"Yeah, I'm looking for two more swords." Zoro said, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable around the woman who looked like his dead childhood friend.
Yeah, his previous efforts to remain unperturbed from her appearance was not working.
"Huh, you also use the same three sword style as him… Well, I know the perfect place, follow me." Tashigi said with a smile.
The woman led him through the crowd before they ended up at a sword store. The store was filled to the brim with different swords in barrels, racks, and even on the wall. At the counter was a black haired man who seemed to recognize Tashigi.
"Ah, Tashigi-san you're here to pick up your sword?" the man asked.
"Yes Ippon-matsu-san. I'm sorry it was in the condition I brought it to you." She said, bowing.
"It's no problem, but you really need to stop being so clumsy." The man said.
He had remembered how she told him how the sword had ended up like that. Apparently she had tripped and somehow lodged her sword in a wall, chipping it all over.
"It's not my fault I'm clumsy outside of battle." Tashigi whined.
"Well… oh who's this?" Ippon-matsu asked.
"Oh this is Zoro, he said he needed two swords." Tashigi said.
The man gave Zoro a calculating look before he nodded. Zoro was clearly a good swordsman judging by the three swords, he observed. It takes a lot of effort to be able to use that many.
"How much do you have?" He asked.
"Ah, I have like maybe six hundred thousand belly? Though the person who watches the money in our group told me to make sure to come back with some money left over if I can." Zoro said.
"Hmmm, you won't be able to find two good swords for six hundred, maybe one good sword and one from the bargain bin over there." Ippon-matsu said pointing over to a bin in the corner.
While Zoro was looking through the bin he overheard the shopkeeper talking to Tashigi. The conversation was consisting about talk about her boss.
"Ahh, your boss Smoker has made it hard for me to do business. Saying it's illegal to do business with pirates." The man groaned.
"Well, pirates shouldn't be able to use swords anyways. They'll just use it for nefarious deeds. Swords should be in the hands of people who fight for justice." Tashigi said.
"But still, it's hard not to do business with pirates. This is Loguetown after all, pirates are here a lot." The man said.
"Which is why he tends to overlook a lot of businesses who are just trying to make a living." Tashigi said.
However, Zoro soon found a sword that caught the attention of the shop manager. The man seemed to have a panicked look on his face as Zoro was reaching for it.
"I wouldn't pick that sword if I were you." The man said.
"Why not?" Zoro asked.
"Well, it's the Sandai Kitetsu, a cursed blade. Anyone who's had that sword has ended up dead one way or another. I've been having a hard time selling it." The man said.
Zoro just scoffed before speaking.
"Well, let's see whose luck is better. My luck or the sword's luck." Zoro said.
Zoro then took the blade, unsheathed it and tossed it in the air causing the other two to panic. However, the sword harmlessly missed Zoro and landed blade first into the floor.
"Well, it seems like it won't be cursed for me, I'll take it. How much?" Zoro asked.
"Nothing! For a swordsman like you it's free! Also, take this." The man said, heading upstairs before coming down with a sword.
Zoro was really, really, confused about it. Nobody just gave a sword they had in their attic to just anyone.
"What's this?" Zoro asked, telling it was a good sword by the quality.
"It's a family heirloom, Yubashiri. A swordsman like you would do it proud." The man said, handing Zoro the sword.
"Uh, thanks a lot." Zoro said, bowing and taking the sword, holstering it on his hip with his other sword and Sandai Kitetsu.
From there he said goodbye to the two people and left the store, making his way back to the ship.
Luffy's journey to the execution stand was uneventful. When he got there, it was surrounded by people who seemed to be chatting to each other. With a smile, he launched himself up onto the stand with a smile and sat down at the edge. That seemed to shock everyone there, causing people to stare at him. Not ten minutes later was he surrounded by Marines who were yelling at him to get off. Soon enough though a gray-haired man smoking a cigar with a large sword at his back was walking forward.
"Straw Hat, I've been looking for you." The man said.
"Hmm? And you might be?" Luffy asked, swinging his legs at the edge of the execution stand.
"Captain Smoker of the Marines." The man said, staring firmly at Luffy.
"Let me ask you a question then, Smoker-san. Why are you a Marine?" Luffy asked.
He was hoping he'd get a good answer from the man. I mean, there has to be good Marines, right? From personal experience the world wasn't as black and white as people wanted it.
"To capture pirates like you for justice." The man said gruffly.
Suddenly there was a dark laughter coming from Luffy. This wasn't the answer he was looking for at all. In fact, it was complete opposite. This was a man who bought into the justice of the Marines but didn't question the ideals themselves.
"Justice? You fight for justice? Is it your justice or the justice of the people like the World Government who condone slavery and cruel experiments?" Luffy said, as a memory flashed in his mind.
"By order of the United Nations, All Magicals are to be either enslaved for experiments or put to death. Anyone caught aiding a magical will be executed in kind."
"The Justice of the Marines isn't like that." Smoker argued.
Luffy scoffed at the man, rolling his eyes. The man was half-heartedly trying to argue against him. But Luffy was pretty damn sure that the man knew he was right.
"You're just lying to yourself. Most citizens know that the Marines answer to the World Government who in turn answer to the Tenryuubito, the Celestial Dragons. Why do you think so many citizens choose to become pirates over Marines?" Luffy asked, as another memory flashed in his head.
"We, the citizens of this world will not let this inhumanity stand! We will free the magicals who are people just like us, just with special skills! We will not let the United Nations, no the Twenty Kingdoms stop us, the Great Kingdom!"
"But still! Marines help people!" Smoker yelled, getting desperate as the citizens around them seemed to be agreeing with Luffy.
While Smoker had a point, it wasn't enough. Especially because Luffy knew that things can end bad if you end up helping a person that becomes an enemy of the government.
"Help? What good does that do when you end up helping the wrong person who ends up a target of the World Government because they're doing something like help slaves? What happens when you end up getting executed for helping that person?" Luffy said, another memory flashing in his mind.
"For their crimes against the World Government for helping the threat called magicals these traitors will be executed in public in three days!"
"Gol D. Rogers was a martyr to inspire the freedom and rebellion against the World Government you know?" Luffy asked.
"Everyone listen! I have completed a ritual that will have mass changes in the environment on the Earth. It will change the lands and seas and will erase the history of the past one hundred years and make anyone unable to speak of, remember, or write down that history except for a select family that I have picked. With my execution, I, Harry James Potter, will activate the ritual and end the war!"
That ritual had changed everything. But at the same time, it seemed to change nothing. Powerful magic like that had a drawback and it seemed like it picked the twenty enemies that Luffy had, as Harry, to remember as well. But nevertheless, it did its job and the threat was less than it was back then.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Smoker asked.
"Simple, will you fight for your own Justice or fight for the corrupt Justice of the World Government. A long, long, time ago a young man fought a war, a war that was being fought between two groups. One group wanted to enslave and experiment on or execute the people that the other were protecting. In order to end the war, the man willingly allowed himself to be executed in order save everyone. With his death, the war was ended and billions were saved." Luffy said.
But at the same time, a lot of people were dead. It was times like then that Luffy wondered if the rewards outweighed the consequences.
"Why would the war end if the man was executed?" Smoker asked.
"Because, with his death, something had happened that caused everyone to forget what the war was about. Of course, the second group was thrown to the winds but at least the war had ended. Now, that first group used to be the governmental body of the world. Would you have fought with the second?" Luffy asked.
Luffy was really hoping that the man would choose the right option.
"Of course!" Smoker yelled.
"Shishishi. Well Smoker-san, you're better than most Marines. While this was fun and all, I'm sorry to say but I must get going." Luffy said, standing up on the stand.
Luffy then smiled, spun on the spot, and suddenly disappeared in front of everyone's eyes, shocking everyone there. Elsewhere, while everyone was back on the ship, the crew and Commanders jumped in shock when a loud crack rang out and Luffy appeared on his ass on the ship.
"Wha- How the hell did you do that Cap'n?" Alvida asked.
"Magic, and ooh boy do I have to get used to Apparition again. It's been forever since I've actually used it." Luffy said, groaning and dry heaving.
He hadn't used it since he was a kid back with Ace and Sabo. Well, more like since he was with Ace. He remembered using Apparition to escape people chasing after them. Ace never did like it, Sabo somehow got used to it in a day. That had prompted an angry spar between the two because Ace was jealous. Sabo, of course, won. But anyways, three years of not apparating tends to make the body forget the procedure.
"Apparition? If it's that bad why do you use it?" Nami asked.
"Gah, Apparition is the magical ability of being able to teleport from one place to another. In order to use it you must understand the three D's. Determination, the want or need to be in that place, Destination, you must have the location firmly in mind and know what it looks like, and Deliberation, you cannot do it in a rush or you will risk splinching." Luffy said.
Boy was Luffy grateful that as a kid he made sure to prepare potions that could heal splinching. He can't really remember the amount of times he ended up splinched when he was retraining his body to apparate.
"What's splinching?" Kaya asked, as it sound like something medical.
"It's basically losing a piece of your body in the process of apparition." Luffy said, shocking the others.
Really, it wasn't that bad. You'd think they'd realize that with magicals, if there's a problem they'd use magic to solve it.
"Then you shouldn't use it!" Kaya shouted in shock, however Luffy just waved her off.
"It's not that bad, I know a potion and a spell that fixes it." Luffy said.
"Potions?" Kaya asked, curious.
"Oh yeah, I forgot I have something for you, give me a second." Luffy said before disappearing into the ship.
About a ten minutes later Luffy came back with two journals and handed them to Kaya. The first one read 'Monkey D. Luffy's Guide to Magical Plant Interaction' while the second one said 'Monkey D. Luffy's Guide to Potionmaking'. It had taken him a while to make these and hilariously it was actually Sabo who had written the books. Despite the years he had mentally, his handwriting still sucked. Having Sabo write the books was interesting because every other line Sabo would ask a question about how it worked. Luffy was glad at that moment that he had learned everything about potion theory after leaving Hogwarts.
"Wouldn't I need magic to make these?" She asked.
"Nope. Potionmaking is the one aspect of magic that actually doesn't need it." Luffy said.
"Then what makes it magic?" Usopp asked, not understanding.
"It's the plants, isn't it?" Kaya asked, glancing back at the first book.
Luffy gave her a smile, as she had gotten it right.
"Yes, for reasons I won't exactly explain yet, every single plant and animal in the world has magic in it." Luffy said.
"Why won't you explain?" Nami asked, perturbed by lack of information.
"Ah, let's just say I'll explain when we get closer to the New World. The information is rather life-changing." Luffy said.
Luffy really didn't want to tell them yet. It wasn't just the fact that the information was life-changing. It was the fact that if he told them and the World Government found out they knew… Then the World Government would waste no resources trying to kill them. However, the Commanders and crew didn't like it but they agreed. They knew that if Luffy wouldn't tell them something yet he had a good reason for it.
"Anywho, Gin, Usopp, did you have any problems while we were gone?" Luffy asked.
"Uh, I don't know if it's noteworthy but there was this guy named Buggy who kept demanding to see you so he could kill you. I just batted him away with my weapons. I was shocked when he split into pieces." Gin said, causing Luffy's mouth to twitch.
"Wait, you batted him like a baseball?" Luffy asked, Alvida's and Nami's mouths twitching.
"Yeah.. why?" Gin asked, not getting the joke.
Suddenly Luffy, Alvida, and Nami all broke into laughter, all muttering the words 'Buggy' and 'Baseball'. Soon they calmed down but when they looked at each other they broke out into laughter again.
"I don't get it, why are you guys laughing?" Carmen, the new Vice-Commander asked.
"Ah, well when me and Alvida here first met Nami we fought Buggy. And uh.." Luffy started.
"Haha! We got rid of him by batting his body parts away. Luffy was the pitcher and I was the batter." Alvida said with a giggle, dropping formality for a second.
That caused the rest of the crew to laugh too. After that Carmen walked over to Luffy and saluted.
"Carmen reporting for duty, sir!" She said.
"Shishishi. You don't have to be so formal! Sanji did tell you we're all family here right? He didn't just flirt with you the whole time?" Luffy asked.
"Ah, uh no he did. Actually surprisingly he did both. But I guess I didn't fully understand it, ya know?" She said, smirking when she saw Alvida and Nami smack Sanji for being a pervert, they were really trying hard to tone it down.
Sure, you could be a slight pervert and admire women. But when it gets to you being a womanizer and thinking you had to protect every woman and not fight them… Well, Alvida and Nami were just happy that Sanji wasn't a pervert who thought of every women as a piece of meat to be drooled over. His perverseness was more of the extreme admiration, gentlemanly kind.
"Well, basically, we're all brothers and sisters. To the crew members you're their big sister but to us you're just our sister. Although Kaya seems to call me big brother." Luffy said with a smile aimed at Kaya who turned beet red.
"H-hey I figured since you're the captain that you'd be our big brother." Kaya said, causing Usopp to chuckle.
Usopp thought it rather adorable when Kaya got flustered.
"Kaya-chan, I don't think brother minds at all." He said, before giving her a kiss on the cheek, having not moved that far in their relationship beyond pecks on the cheek and handholding.
"Well… I guess I understand now… Big brother." She said with a smirk and a wink to Kaya.
Kaya smiled at her, glad to have something to distract herself from. Of course, that's not to say that Usopp's cheek kiss wasn't enough.
"Shishishi! Great!" Luffy said.
"Hey! Before we leave you forgot to explain the reason you still use Apparition." Kaya said, using her 'Doctor' voice that the entire crew dubbed.
Kaya as a Doctor didn't have the 'scariness' that they normally had when they used their 'Doctor' voice. Rather, she had a voice that commanded respect and attention rather than fear. Luffy liked that better because fear was no way to get the attention of your patients.
"Eheheh… The only way that a person will splinch is if they do not have the visual of the place fully in mind or are looking at a picture of it, if they aren't determined enough to go there, or if they rush the Apparition." Luffy said.
"Then why were you dry heaving?" Kaya asked.
"Well, thing of Apparition as being pulled through a tube at high speeds. It doesn't hurt the body or mind but it's still very disorienting. I was dry heaving because it had been a while since I used it so I wasn't used to the disorientation. I'll be training it back up to shape though." Luffy said.
He really needed to, because apparition is dead useful when you need to escape and he was sure at one point he'd need to use it consecutively and dry heaving wouldn't help at all.
"A-Alright, though I want someone to be with you when you do this, or I will put you on bedrest with only soup and no meat." Kaya said sternly.
"Y-yes mam." Luffy said, stuttering a bit.
While Kaya wasn't scary she did know what to say to get people to agree. Forcing Luffy to stay put and denying him meat was the best way.
"Anyways, so you can apparate with just a picture? We'll need to get Den Den Mushi that can take pictures and send them to each other. Just in case we get separated… you can teleport another person with you, right?" Nami asked.
"Uh, yeah. It's called Side-Along Apparition. I'll however only use that in emergencies because it's extremely disorienting on the passenger. And on the topic of something that can take pictures and send them… I might have an idea but I'll need Usopp's help." Luffy said.
A certain piece of technology from the past would really come in handy.
"Why my help?" Usopp asked confused.
"Because it requires making something and I'm not exactly the best when it comes to making what I'm thinking about. But one thing, if Usopp manages to make this item DO NOT, I repeat do not let it fall into enemy hands. Although I'll be putting a failsafe on it that'll destroy it if it falls into the hands of someone other than us better safe than sorry." Luffy said.
He really really didn't need that piece of technology to be reverse engineered by the Marines or anybody else really.
"Why do you not want it to fall into enemy hands?" Zoro asked, interested.
"Because, it's a very advanced piece of technology. One that probably doesn't exist. And no I can't explain how I know about it as it has to do with the reason why magic exists in plants and animals." Luffy said.
The crew sighed but agreed yet again. Whatever Luffy refused to tell them had to be big as there was a lot of information involved. With that however, everyone set off to their positions on the ship as they set sail to leave Loguetown and make their way to Reverse Mountain, the place where they'd enter the Grand Line.
WOO! What did you think about that piece of information? Okay now concerning a few things. Dragon did not show up because Luffy apparated directly to his ship, before the storm hit. Buggy and gang appeared at the Straw Hats ship because he wanted automatic revenge and hadn't heard that Luffy went to the execution platform. Yes, Buggy being hit by a baseball bat is going to be a running gag. Err, if you're curious about the plant and animal having magic think I can actually explain right now rather than later because it's something that gets implied and inferred by Marineford War rather than completely explained. Basically, the ritual that Harry did unleashed buttloads of magic into the world, as expected by a ritual that can completely rewrite history, change the landmasses, and etc. This magic infused itself into the plants and animals themselves. But not the humans because that was a condition of the ritual. Harry didn't want even more people getting magic. And I'm not sure if I explained this before in the story but try to infer what plants getting infused with a lot of magic would exactly create? You get a cookie if you guess correctly. It's explained later on I think. Anyways! Review if you can with suggestions! As proved by my Cocoyashi chapter I can change what I have already written! I like your suggestions and it makes the writing process better! See you next Wednesday! Well, Friday if you read To Save A Brother's Life.
