Many thanks to SadEcho, for holding such patience with me and overall support ;)
I don't own One Piece, just like to mess with characters in my own way.
Warnings: none
When the Strawhats are busy sailing through the storm, it offers some space for inner musing of the black passenger, about the recent events.
Flashes of light from the sky illuminated the sadly demolished city behind the window, where water strokes formed their paths down the crystal clear glass, one of the tiny amount of windows in the whole city that had been spared the destruction. The spacious room painted in white, and decorated with golden details, faded into gray shadow when the storm clouds covered the usually bright blue sky and shining sun. Five men were sitting in the middle of this room on comfortably looking sofas and chairs, but no one moved nor anyone made a sound. Only the silent drizzling of raindrops on the window glass disturbed the uneasy silence of the room.
Creaking of the huge door cut through the dark atmosphere as a nervous marine, dressed in pinkish white uniform, bowed down between door jamb before hastily making his path towards the sitting quintet. With another bow he offered a list of paper on the silver plate, and as soon as one of the men took it he backed away as fast as his legs allowed him to before the door closed again.
Seeing the reader crumple the paper into a ball with anger their fist, the others judged that it wasn't the desired information they sought.
"They lost the subject's trace at the end of the undersea path leading to the New World." a bald man with a huge white mustache announced, his voice trembling with anger.
"I think that clearly stated his answer to our proposition. It reminds me of someone similar, almost twenty years ago. Though that time it was considerably less violent, and in the end, that person accepted. Those two hold some surprising similarities."
"That's unfortunate, but I don't think we have lost this opportunity completely. We must carefully decide what to do now, since this is such a delicate matter. Every move we make from now on will be even more dangerous than up till now. The New World is where he is residing."
"We can't afford to go into open war with him right now. After the Marineford incident, with all the consequent events around the world, marines aren't in the state to take him head on right now. A possible success of all-out war is too unsure to be risked. Others might take the opportunity to attack, but they could choose to stay back as well."
"I warned you. Those kind of men means danger, as they continually prove with their actions. We should be glad we don't need to deal with that female, since they are rumored throughout history as a complete disasters. Remember that Portgas girl, she was the cause of one of the severest attacks towards the World Government."
"This is already a disaster. And will grow even bigger, if those two make contact, he will get to know! They can't meet at any cost!" the first one, who spoke, rose their voice again, irritated and maybe a little bit alarmed at such a possibility.
"Still, there is no proof that those two are related. Though if he came to the world in the middle of the sea, he might escape our sight. He even downright deny the relationship with him."
"Running around, pulling out the same quirks and shenanigans like him, and ridiculing marines and World Government at the same time isn't proof enough? Together with those rumors that are steadily spreading through the world? He can deny what he wants but it's obvious that they are related! Even voices from the marines remember the beginning of the Golden pirate's era and clearly remember his rise in power. All of those marines agree, that they must be related! Otherwise it would not be be possible!"
"Those are just rumors! There is no proof!"
"Gentlemen, calm down. Admiral Akainu directly requested the re-distributing of his wanted poster with a raised bounty. Personally I think the suggested amount is more than accurate, given the danger he holds towards the World Government and the world itself, taking into the consideration of his actions, especially the recent ones."
"Those sequence of events were quite unfortunate. No one could predict something like that, and with that delay in communication ..."
"They still don't have better photo?" a blonde young man frowned with distaste, looking at the rough sketch and blurry picture beside it. "Maybe they should change the photographer if he can't even take a picture of one pirate."
"I think its a willful act towards us. He thinks he can play with us like cat and mice. But soon, he will discover, who is the mouse is here. As for the announced name .. I suggest to leave it like this. The last thing we need right now is to alert him. The later he knows, the better for us. It will bring up some complications, but it's better this way for now."
"Like parent, like child. Just like with Fire Fist. Former Fleet admiral Sengoku should have reported his relation with Gold Roger much sooner. It would have probably saved us a lot of problems. Thank God, in the end it turned out like it did. One threat less is better than none less. We can thank God that this time we are more lucky with such a matter."
"But regarding the future threat ... after rejecting the proposal, and the recent events, I don't fear saying that there is a growing and suitable candidate that is probably enough to shake the power ratio within the New World a bit. In the end, it might be good for us, if he gives the Yonkos a headache or a cause to wipe each other out, as well as bad, if he undermines our authority there even further. Only time will tell which one it will be, but I can't see that far; it is all black to me. Though these are just a few of the many unsure possibilities."
Uneasy silence claimed the room again as the men were shot glances towards each other.
"Voice your suggestions." the eldest of the men spoke out in a ceremonial tone.
With another exchange of glances, one of the men finally spoke out in a loud and serious tone.
"Second star speaking: Agree with the suggested bounty and matter of name. Further, I suggest to wipe the perpetrator from the earth the moment the marines will have a chance, even if that means mobilizing the all of the marines, despite the original plan. The danger is far too big to let it carry on any further."
"Third star speaking: Agree with the suggested bounty and matter of name. Further, I suggest to keeping up with the original plan, despite recent events. His value in this matter offers too great of an opportunity to be swept away like this. We can kill him later."
"Fourth star speaking: Agree with the suggested bounty and matter of name. Further I suggest to keeping up with the original plan. His rejection is unfortunate and actions are highly unexpected, but as long as he holds the desired value, I object against killing him. As Third said, we can kill him later, at anytime."
"Fifth star speaking: Agree with the suggested bounty and a matter of name. Further I suggest killing him at the first opportunity, despite his value. The dangers of future events are too severe and great to be overlooked and risked. At the current state of things, we can't afford to continue with the accepted plan."
"First star speaking: Agree with the suggested bounty and a matter of name. In the current state of affairs, I suggest to try and carry out the accepted plan. His recent whereabouts were reported from the middle of the New World, which gives us a little bit of time before it will become too dangerous. Keep him alive, for now." the man stated in ceremonial tone. "In summary: All of us agreed to the request of Fleet admiral Akainu in the matter of the bounty poster. Three of us agreed with carrying out the accepted plan, until it becomes too dangerous. Two of us suggested killing the subject on the spot." the man cleared his throat before continuing, "As for our composited decision ... The bounty poster will be re-distributed along with the rise in bounty to the suggested amount. The Plan will be carried out, for now. Ban all information about the recent event to avoid them from leaking out through the media. If something unexpected happens again, we will discuss it again and see if a change in decision is necessary." The First star tapped on the small table in the middle of group, followed by all four others, some of them reluctantly, but in the end, every one agreed with the decision.
Knocking on the door disturbed the quintet, a marine hastily brought another report with desired ministrations. Two of the men couldn't suppress incredulous quirk of eyebrow at highly unusual color of that uniform. As soon as the nervous marine disappeared again, one of the Stars read the report and visibly paled.
"Gentlemen, it's unfortunate, but I suggest reconsidering our previous decision. Strawhat Luffy, one of the perpetrators of Marineford incident, who has been seen two days ago at Sabaody Archipelago along with eight other people, who has been confirmed as the real one, was briefly seen at the opposite side of the Red Line which means, he's currently in the roughly same location, with his crew, as our problem that we were discussing a minute ago." the Fifth Star announced, looking at the paper.
"I agree with reconsidering." the Third Star spoke with heavy sigh. "If those two will meet, I suspect the world we know, will come to the end."
"ACHOOO!" Two sneezes and one thud, followed right after the handshake, as two heads came hard together, startling the strawhats a bit. For a second, the redhead tensed as a silent wave of renewed pain rolled through his whole body. Redhead tasted a bit of iron on his own tongue, masking it all as the result of a sneeze combined with a head crash.
"Ow ... looks like someone is badmouthing the both of us behind our backs." the redhead rubbed his own bruised forehead, sneezing again. "And pretty badly, at least in my case."
"Why thats not surprising, I could wonder." Zoro grunted out in sarcasm along with his usual grumpiness again, determined to keep a good eye on their dark passenger they just picked up. No one from the strawhat crew questioned Luffy's decisions as they willed to obey them and agree. But sometimes it wasn't bad to fill in for their captain's carelessness with their own caution. Which was probably a good idea in this case too.
"Shishishishishi!" Luffy giggled, grinning from ear to ear, as he rubbed his own nose before jumping up onto his feet.
"Luffy! Go under the deck! Sanji, Zoro! Furl the sails and keep them tied down at all costs!" Nami immediately snapped into ordering mode as soon as the rubber boy moved. "Franky, hold the helm, I'll get the coordinates right away! Usopp! Tie everything on board so we won't loose anything during the storm! Everyone will keep a lifeline around them! Luffy and the others, go under the deck! Luffy, that comes for your too, do you understand?!" It was clear, that mikan-head is in her element, but temporarily forgetting the newest passenger. Still, she doubted, that telling Luffy third time in the row, what he was supposed to do, might not be enough.
"Whew ... that went far better than expected." the redhead sighed inwardly, sweeping the sweat off his forehead when the strawhats, guided by Nami's barking of orders, spread like flock of sparrows that someone just shot a bullet into. "... which could only mean, that my sheer luck has just run out. Great." the pirate grimaced on the inside. Looking with a hint of curiosity at how the ship was being prepared for the storm, the redhead took the opportunity to sort out his own thoughts. It wasn't the first time he had pulled off this highly risky maneuver, but it was the attempt with the best result ever. Marines aside, this was the second crew that had come to agree on terms without yielding a real fight. Though definitely the first one ever that had managed to run over the red-haired pirate's vessel at open sea by accident. This was something the redhead still didn't quite get yet. How exactly could that happen? Although with total beginner behind the steering, anything was quite possible. Sometimes things just need to be experienced in your own skin, and this collision was most probably one of those cases.
This made the pirate slightly frown. The aftereffects of events from two days previous were already taking their toll on the redhead's body. Though it was expected to be more severe, it wasn't the most pleasant feeling either. Abused muscles literally burned with the slightest movement; complaining about the harsh treatment towards them. Maybe swimming in this condition wasn't exactly the best idea either. Muscle fever always hurt like hell, including those few acquired burns, bruises, and cuts from that latest adventure aside.
Light drizzling slowly changed into heavy rain, creating a veil that was almost impossible to see through. It was as if the New World wanted to deter the newcomers before they ventured too far inside, or maybe this part of the Grand Line was too shy to show itself openly. Sweeping water from their face, long, nimble fingers touched the red strands that still stuck at left side of the darkened face, resulted them being swiped at with a bit of annoyed grunt. "And I have been wondering, why the hell I can't see crap." The redhead briefly tucked the dampened fringe behind their ear.
Fast flapping of wings from close above hinted that the falcon had decided to change its location. It didn't surprised the redhead pirate too much since it was already that time of a day. Wiggling inside the faded shirt, using it as under improvised cover, the falcon crawled under the cloth that was drenched by the rain in exchange for a comfortable place to sleep.
"Sleep well, you little kleptomaniac." the pirate whispered softly as the falcon cuddled itself to bare warm belly, falling into a deserved sleep. "And what now ..." the pirate muttered silently for their own ears as the sounds of a brawl reached over the rain. Quirking an eyebrow in shock, and hardly stiffing a laugh afterwards, the redhead watched as Usopp and Chopper tried to stuff Luffy inside of the ship, despite the attempts of said man to do otherwise.
"Luffy! You need to stay inside!" Usopp tried to block the door and reason with his captain, but maybe he would have better luck with the door instead of the stubborn boy.
"I don't want to! I want to be on deck!" the rubberman huffed, trying to sneak past the sharpshooter at almost at any cost.
"You can't, Nami said waves are too high and dangerous during the storms!" the little doctor held captain from behind, only his horns visible with what the redhead assumed as one of the Zoan transformations. "If they splash over, you will drown!"
"Nggggh..." Even without words it was more than enough for a clear answer.
"Luffy!" Usopp yelled out, almost being pushed out from between the door jamb where he had successfully jammed himself.
"Luffy, Nami-san wouldn't be very pleased to see you on deck right now. Do you want to make her angry again?" Robin flashed a wink at the rubberman, sprouting many of her arms to help her nakamas with the hard task. During every major storm it was the same, almost one of many rituals held by the strawhat crew. At least from the time when Luffy was swept overboard by incoming wave that had almost resulted in the captain's death.
Said that, it worked almost like charm when the rubber boy stopped trying to push himself through impossibly tight place and instead pulled out a pout. He wanted to be on board like Franky, Sanji, Zoro and Nami, who were responsible for guiding the ship through storms since they weren't affected by salt water, which splashed over the board in regular intervals, something, that a devil fruit user wouldn't be ever able to pull off. It was the only reason why all anchors gathered down in the underbelly with Usopp acting as the "moral pillar" after he finished his task so that they did not feel discriminated. Though the sharpshooter's I-can't-be-on-board-during-the-storm-disease definitely helped to justify that matter. However, in the time of highest need the sharpshooter would pop up and do whatever was necessary to help out.
Surprised and amused by the scene full of interwined appendages, where no one could tell which ones belonged to who, the pirate twisted their head in slight disbelief. "Captain like hell," were the thoughts running through that head covered by red hair. "I wonder, how they are able to maintain themselves ... even anarchy would be some kind of status, but this isn't even that!" the pirate mused, trying to come with a logical explanation, but completely failing at it. "Maybe that mikan-head is the real captain ... ?" came a stray thought, despite conflicting with what the mikan-head stated about capitancy not so long ago.
Wood under the bare feet creaked almost in pain, as the waves mercilessly crashed into the hull, straining hard wood and making the ship shudder under such force. Redhead stopped in mid step, placing a palm on the white railing at the outer edge of the hull in an apologetic gesture.
"Forgive them since they don't know what the are doing ..." the pirate muttered with a distasteful click of the tongue at such abuse of a ship. Turning away from what had been happening on board, the redhead went to the back of deck to check if the ropes that still secured the little ship behind the larger vessel that had gone unnoticed by the busy crew. It was weird, being accused to carelessness so often, and now to be a witness to such careless behavior at first hand. "They know nothing about me, yet their so-called captain immediately accepted me on board. They don't even pay attention to what I am doing. Crazy crew ... Either that or they are strong as hell. Maybe it is just plain luck and insanity. Guess I don't really want to know which one is the right reason." The redhead shuddered a little at that thought and realization. Firmly fastening the ropes, which were tied around the back railing, before he made the first appearance.
Sitting back on deck to rest his back against the railing, the redhead tried to suppress the excitement from such a beautiful storm. Every time it was a great opportunity to test out ones limits, to go further at along that edge between life and death, to experience that thrilling adrenaline rush held most exclusively for life and death fights. The more danger the situation held, the better it was.
Like with the Greenie, as the redhead nicknamed poor Zoro. Though at that one particular moment they had been dangerously close to loosing their heads, it provided surprising and unexpected amusement and excitement. Not only with the promise of a great fun during the actual fight, judging by the gut feeling the green-haired person induced in redhead, but the temptation to tease the grumpy swordsman was bugging the pirate even now. Such easy prey to this kind of humor just couldn't go unnoticed or spared of at least one attempt, but possibly not the future ones.
Pangs of guilt stabbed the redhead's heart when a memory of their first encounter flow through the pirate's mind. It wasn't so very surprising to see the swordsman so pissed off after .. well, the past string of events they went through together, despite Zoro's involuntariness, but it was promptly silenced and pushed out.
"Serves him right. He shouldn't have stared at me like that." the redhead grunted out in satisfaction, feeling fully justified in what had happened. Perhaps an apology couldn't hurt, but the pirate pushed that thought into a "maybe later" shelf for possible future use, letting memories flowing from the mind and further from the past to the present to one meeting, an unexpected and kind of surprising and shocking for both sides, and right into the latest adventure that had followed shortly after.
Though the redhead didn't want to go to such lengths, it was by pure luck in the chain of misfortunes that had messed up the pirate's life from almost the very beginning. Definitely unexpected action, but that was exactly why it was a success, in a sense. Moment of surprise worked like miracle, when pulled out in the right time, despite it was very difficult in terms of precision of timing, basically redhead considered it as a half of success of strategies. No wonder marines were freaking out, when it came to a clash. But maybe something else was also at fault.
"Proposition like hell ... " the pirate muttered with distaste as the memory flow went to a certain point. "They must be insane to even think about that after all. I hope this explained my opinion to them more clearly, since I really don't want to think about another way to show them what I think of that theater right now." the redhead grunted, pulling the sword out from it's sash and placing both weapons across crossed legs, ignoring the pouring rain and occasional sweep of salty, cold waves across the desk. Not even the barking of angry orders from a female voice disturbed the rare moment of peace aboard the enemy's ship. They had greater problems at hand; they couldn't reach the back of the deck through the howling of wind whipped up by the violent storm.
Redhead silently smiled, replaying the recent adventure again when the pirate thought about the newest souvenir, a hard-earned valuable prize, currently hidden inside the rubber emergency sack around the small ship, despite not being able to swallow the bitter aftertaste. But the belief, that with this had been the right choice was felt again, stronger than the sadness and anger coming from the first cause of that recent event.
As the memories flowed further to the present, the dark, nimble, and long fingers unconsciously touched the grayish-green oval pendant hanging around the scarf covered neck. It was from one of the most surprising moments of fortunately unfortunate (or unfortunately fortunate? Redhead couldn't decide which one it was) encounter.
Shanks. The familiarly unfamiliar name, which the redhead had not heard very many times during past travels, since most people referred to that man with his notoriously known epithet. Time to time the redhead was called that epithet, in what seemed like an honest mistake. In the end, it wasn't that surprising, since a certain similarity in features couldn't be denied, but hearing his less known, real, name from the mouth of a random teenager was suspicious.
With very squinted eyes, the redhead could imagine some similarities in look between raven-haired boy and the notorious Yonko, but making any assumptions just from that one, very old on top of that, picture, would be a foolish thing to do. But the redhead couldn't suppress the feeling from the way the boy had blurted that name out, like he must have had some kind of close relationship with the Yonko. And there was only one theory in the pirate's mind that the redhead classified as highly unlikely, but still possible.
"Maybe he has a son after all ... which means ..." the redhead muttered in serious tone, lost in deep thought about possibilities and their consequences.
Faint wiggling inside of the black shirt disturbed the mind train and reminded the pirate of it's usual role during this time of day. Deciding to fulfill it properly, the redhead huddled further into the drenched yukata, sitting straight with both swords within reach, ready to be pulled out anytime, and patiently waited for the watch to change. Continuing to trying and stomach everything, all that occurred inside the redhead and were assumptions from those raging thoughts.
Illustration: none (not planning any for this chapter for now).
Back again with a new chapter :) Maybe not the strongest one, but there are weak pieces in every chain. It took a bit longer than expected and it's a bit shorter than before, but I hope you will enjoy it nevertheless :) I'll begin to work diligently at the next chapter to pull it out earlier than this one.
I know that I'm throwing around too many uncertain informations which might be confusing, but don't worry, everything will be explained in one way or another at the right time :) Building the base of story is important than revealing everything on the spot ;)
Reviews and constructive criticism is highly appreciated, it helps me grow and further enhance my writing :)
Thanks for reading :)
Jitt