The familiar scent of burnt tobacco wafted through the ship's deck as Roux exhaled, clouds of smoke leaving his parted, reddish lips. His cheeks were on the pinkish side from the cold sea breeze, but his body remained warm, bundled under layers of thick winter clothes.

With him bent slightly forward, abdomen against the taffrail, and elbows that held his weight, Roux gazed unblinkingly at the vast waters of the beautiful ocean, the moon and stars' reflection so clear, Earth would never.

Witching hour was prime time for thoughts to fester.

Roux, though at times, felt out of place with this world and its culture and rules, could never bring himself to hate the OP universe. Especially the environmental aspects of it. There were no signs of pollution, and everyone was brought up to respect mother nature, particularly the ocean. The only trash that littered the ocean floors were pieces of torn clothing, bones, and leftover meat from uneaten or half-eaten cadavers. Roux was one of the many culprits of body-dumping, but that was a common occurrence – akin to feeding pigeons if he were back on Earth.

One of the main differences between this universe and Earth was the apathy; the desensitization of violence and death for strangers.

Over the years, Roux had seen his fair share of atrocious things, predominantly from the scum of this world – the Celestial Dragons. Occasionally, he would have sudden bouts of realization that he should feel more disgusted by the things he witnessed. However, his sense of right and wrong had become skewered over time – too moulded by his second life's environment; and his high adaptability did not help.

One such example was his body count. It has long reached four digits, and still growing to this day.

On Earth, he would be considered an evil, cruel, and psychopathic criminal/terrorist. In this world, however, many others held body counts much higher than his. After all, Roux tried to avoid senseless killings as much as he could (he often failed. OP made it difficult for pacifists to survive. He needed to adapt; survival of the fittest).

In this regard, he was thankful to Rocinante.

Roci, though born a Celestial Dragon, was by far one of the kindest people he has met, both on Earth and in this world. There were times Roci had to permanently end their enemies, but it was with reluctance and a heavy guilt in his heart. Just by observing his PA's reaction, Roux would know if his actions were considered good or bad, and he would always try to accommodate and lean more towards good despite living in a grey area. His twin used to be his moral compass, now it was Roci.

Roux's lips unwittingly curled into a self-condescending smile. It truly was laughable that despite Roux having lived a full life on Earth and having never once broken the law, the environment here had warped him into something evil by Earth's standard, and chaotic neutral by OP standard. How it happened, he did not know, but on peaceful nights like these, he felt rueful about the choices he has made in the past.

"Boss?" His PA's sleepy voice brought him out of his brooding.

Roux blinked, ruminations pushed to the deepest corners of his mind for inner-Roux to crumple and discard into the 'useless shit' recycling bin. He looked over his shoulder to see Roci in yellow rubber ducky PJs underneath a dishevelled parka jacket, nightcap askew, and a fist rubbing one droopy eye. The only thing missing was a plushie to complete the innocent picture.

Roux snorted at his imagination, wisps of smoke leaving his nostrils whilst he fully turned to lean his back against the taffrail, arms crossed, and cigarette balanced between lips. "You should return to bed; it's still early," he advised, unable to keep the fondness from his voice.

"Boss should take his own advice," Roci murmured, careless fingers fumbling to light his durry.

Not wanting another set of expensive PJs and jacket to be replaced due to untreatable fire damage, Roux hopped onto the taffrail on tippy toes and, with practiced ease, lit the cigarette that dangled between Roci's lips with a snap of his windproof zippo lighter. His PA instinctively took a drag of his death stick, and after confirming that it would remain lit, Roux bodily turned towards the ocean again, uncaring that a monstrously ginormous sea king had arched through the air and back into the waters near their ship's perimeter, causing big waves that rocked their tiny ship. Roux remained steady on the taffrail, unaffected by the ship's turbulent swaying.

"I've still got more work to be done. Just on a smoke break," Roux reasoned, unwilling to admit that his insomnia has been keeping him awake for the past week with power naps in between.

"Oh," was Roci's only intelligent reply, too addle-brained to respond otherwise.

The two men smoked together in silence thereafter, one lost in thought and the other falling asleep on his feet, until Roci mumbled something about water and sleep and drifted off towards the kitchen like a zombie. Roux said nothing, only lighting up his fifth cigarette of the night and making himself comfortable on the taffrail next to his ceramic ashtray, feet dangling overboard as he tipped his head back to gaze at the starry night sky.

Having Katakuri onboard was… disorientating, to put it nicely. Although he had been mentally prepared to have another person on his ship, he was a paranoid person in nature, and said nature would not allow him to rest at night, for now. It used to be that way with Roci too, until he got used to the clumsy yet endearing fool.

It might take longer for Katakuri, however, since the pirate-turned-bodyguard was standoffish and stayed in Roux's-turned-Katakuri's bedroom most of the time and avoided them like they were diseased. It caused Roux to have a feeling of déjà vu since Roci acted that way for the first few months many years ago, too.

Oh, well.

Roux did not blame the man for behaving as such. After all, Katakuri had basically been bullied by his mother into being Roux's bodyguard despite his high standing within the Charlotte family.

Poor Katakuri, Roux inwardly laughed. Not that he felt bad about it. The Charlotte was too talented to let go of. Recruitment had been easy; the hard part would be installing loyalty into him.

But anyway.

Roux planned a detour to Water 7 on their way to the Sabaody Archipelago. The shipwrights there were the best, in his opinion, and all his ships had been made there (he had not had any luck in recruiting a shipwright for his team in the past but maybe this time?).

Whilst he did not have issues with giving Katakuri his bedroom since he barely used it, he needed to think about the other potential subordinates he schemed to recruit in the future. And since he now has an extra pair of hands to help around the ship, he could finally upgrade without the fear of sinking.

It was a great feeling; to have recruited a near-perfect person as a new crewmate. Additionally, Katakuri, although in title was Roux's bodyguard, the Charlotte had taken over the kitchen just recently and became the chef of their tiny yet elite crew.

Funny story, that.

After a week of eating the same meal prepared by Roux, Katakuri took personal offense at their limited menu options and commanded the kitchen since yesterday. Roux did not mind; in fact, he welcomed it. It was less work for him, and it got Katakuri out of his room. Two birds with one stone, and all that crap.

Near silent footsteps made Roux turn to look over his shoulder, wondering if Roci had decided to keep him company tonight.

Unexpectedly, it was his newest crewmate. Katakuri had his hands in his pockets, the baggy shirt and shorts he wore at night despite the freezing weather made Roux shiver from second-hand coldness.

Roux spun so that he was facing the Charlotte and crossed a leg over the other whilst he snuffed his cigarette on the ashtray despite having just lit it. Although he was still in that phase of getting to know Katakuri as a person and not a manga character, from his week of observation, he figured Katakuri disliked the smell of cigarettes. Roux wanted his newest subordinate to feel welcomed, so he made it a habit to extinguish his cigarettes whenever Katakuri drew near.

Despite the added height boost from sitting on the taffrail, Roux still had to tilt his head back to look Katakuri in the eye. Ugh, why do the people in One Piece have to be so inhumanly tall and disproportionate to human size?

"Katakuri. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Roux asked suavely. He even made an effort to show his attention by politely rolling the volume of his earpiece down.

The static voices from the bugs he was listening to decreased into barely-there murmurs – though just enough for inner-Roux to catalogue without disrupting any conversations he might be having soon. Multi-tasking was easy when one had perfect recall and an inner self to record everything being heard and seen.

Katakuri tilted his head to the side, and whilst his eyes were hooded with lethargy, his gaze remained sharp. His lower face continued to be obscured by the scarf even in the dark, which made reading him more difficult than usual.

Roux waited patiently, and his patience was soon rewarded when Katakuri moved to sit on the taffrail next to him, though the space between them was big enough to have another person squeeze between them without feeling claustrophobic. He was pleasantly surprised.

"Where are we heading?" Katakuri questioned, tone flat. He had his arms crossed, and a jellybean flicked up and down every so often, propelled and caught by long fingers.

Roux eyed the jellybean for a few long moments.

"Water 7," he finally responded evenly, golden coloured orbs flickered distractedly towards the vast ocean waters when the previously spotted sea king re-emerged much closer than it should. "We'll stay there for a bit before we set sail for Sabaody. There'll be detours since I'll be meeting several pirates, marines, and in-betweens, to fix a few things my latest imposter had done in my name; so, don't be alarmed if you see unknown vessels heading towards us."

"Do you not fear deception?"

"Deception?" Roux questioned; one eyebrow raised as he returned eye contact with Katakuri. That was completely random. "From my clients, do you mean?"

"Yes."

"Hmm…" His fingers twitched towards the packet of cigarettes next to the ashtray by his side before he clenched them into fists and shrugged. "Most of my clients know better than to scheme against me whilst those that do are… enjoying their time swimming at the bottom of the sea. So, no, deception is not the one I fear, Katakuri, I have ways around it."

"Then what do you fear, Daemon Red?"

Roux blinked, surprised by the unexpected follow-up. He had thought the Charlotte had lost interest when he looked away in what appeared to be boredom.

He took a few moments to ponder at all the fears he held close to his chest –of the never-ending nightmares that turned into sleepless nights; of fire, magma, and a piercing cry– before he gave Katakuri a genteel smile. Was the man trying to fish for weaknesses? Nice try, gold star for effort, though.

"We all have our fears – but perseverance is the key to overcoming it in our most desperate hours, hm?" Roux stated idly in lieu of a response.

Katakuri huffed at his non-answer, looking wholly unsatisfied. Roux was the opposite. This could be considered significant developmental growth in their working relationship. Now seemed like the appropriate time to breach the subject of hidden identities and expectations (and change the topic without making it seem like he was intentionally changing it).

"Katakuri," Roux called for attention.

What he was about to say had been discussed between Roci and him in private, and they had agreed it would be better to bring Katakuri up to speed (bit by bit) with their identities to prevent any misunderstandings that may put a sprain to their tentative relationship.

"I'd like to welcome you to my crew, but before that, I'd like to acknowledge that there will be secrets amongst us – until trust is established," he began, making sure to enunciate his words whilst maintaining eye contact with his newest subordinate. "As a sign of good faith, you are to be made aware that Dapple only goes by that name when we are amongst outsiders. If you are comfortable with it, I'd like to give you a new identity."

"… Why the need?"

Roux turned bodily towards Katakuri, cross-legged, and a serious look in his eyes as he explained, "Because information is power, Katakuri. What I sell can turn heroes into villains, villains into heroes, rich to poor, and poor to rich. I can give a slave their key to escape their cage, but I can also chain a person's fate. I am their grey zone, I am their game changer, I am everyone's eyes and ears beyond their coloured area. Daemon Red is both loved and hated by all. They love that he airs their enemies' dirty laundry, yet they hate him for doing the same to them. He is both an asset and a weakness.

"I know things, Katakuri; most of them, unfortunately, are not pleasant. What do you think keeps me safe from their wrath? My wit? My strengths? My reputation? Heh, none of those; it is my neutrality. I am trustworthy because I never choose sides – I sell my wares to any and all; the rich, the poor, the good, and the bad, from slaves to World Nobles, marines to pirates, civilians to revolutionaries.

"I accept beli. I accept favors. I accept equivalent exchanges. But Daemon Red's favourite has always been debts – irrecusable debts. That list is long, Katakuri, very long; long enough for the Gorosei to greed over my ledger.

"Thus, I must greatly emphasize the importance of anonymity. An entirely new identity keeps us safe, Katakuri; because when the time comes for us to disappear, it is easier for someone who doesn't exist to vanish.

"However, if you agree to a new identity, you must promise to show no favouritism towards any members of the Charlotte family when we encounter them in uniform, Big Mom included. You must remain neutral whilst you wear my badge. All clients are to be treated fairly no matter their notoriety – or a lack thereof."

There was a pregnant silence as Katakuri contemplated his words.

Roux allowed it.

Katakuri needed to know the risk that came with being seen as a part of his crew, and why they needed to sell their identities to be real as possible. Roux's occupation was riddled with danger, and thus, his subordinates' too. If any of his crewmates showed favouritism towards any of his clients, it would be the end of Thousand Eyes Red.

This was why he preferred to put his new subordinates through probation first before he allowed them to debut. Whilst he trained them, he could control what was heard about his recruit to nosy informants. Furthermore, it would allow him time to solidify their identity; paperwork was a bitch as always, but whatever was needed to make them real in the eyes of the law kept them safe. Additionally, it would also give him time to beat any favouritism out of their bones. He had done so with Roci about Law, and now he would have to do so with Katakuri about the Charlotte Family.

Roux, or better yet, Daemon Red, has always been headhunted due to his exceptional skills in espionage and infiltration. If he became owned, so to say, his owner could potentially topple an empire as his ledger –full of names he could blackmail into doing his bidding– contained bigwigs from all corners of the sea. Pirates, marines, and everyone in between lusted not only for the information in his head, but the debts people owed him as a price for his services.

To take on a new crewmate was hazardous for him. But after weighing the pros and cons, Roux felt like Katakuri would be worth that risk.

It took a while for all spoken and non-spoken words to sink into Katakuri's head, but eventually, he nodded. It seemed he had understood the risk that came with being associated with an infamous informant like Daemon Red. Good. Roux has always favoured those who were on the more intellectual side, so to speak.

"What name will I go by?"

"Cato." It was pronounced 'kay-toh', and it meant 'all-knowing' in Latin. Roux thought it fit Katakuri to a tee, what with his particular skill set.

Katakuri spoke the name out a few times, testing it on his tongue, and agreed after a while. "Cato is fine."

"Perfect. Thank you for your cooperation, Katakuri, and welcome, Cato, to our Thousand Eyes Intelligence Agency." Roux finally allowed a genuine smile to emerge as he extended his right hand for a handshake, a vivre card slotted in between his fingers.

The vivre card was accepted but his hand was ignored. He did not mind. He needed more than a week and a few words to tame this wild card. "You are now one of my people, and I will do everything in my power to keep you safe whilst you remain a part of my crew. Don't worry about anything unnecessary and do your best to fulfill your role, hm?"

"Hn."

There was a twinkle in Roux's golden eyes as he looked at his newest nakama. Katakuri's presence on his ship, in his crew, solidified his resolve to never allow the idea of 'ruining the plot' to stop him from living his life ever again. It also solidified the fact that it was not only Roux who had the freedom to distance himself from the 'plot' – anybody in this world of One Piece could if given the right push.

(Which meant, with the right manipulation and action, Ace's death could be prevented. Rouge's could have been- no, stop. Now was not the time for such thoughts.)

"Katakuri may call me however he likes in private, but when you don the name, Cato, please refer to me as Boss. You will hear me call Dapple by another name whilst in private, and if you are curious, you may ask him for his full name – though it depends on him whether he is comfortable to give it or not. Do you have any questions pertaining to this?"

"No."

When Katakuri turned his gaze to the night sky, Roux got curious. "How are you fairing?" He knew Katakuri had never set sail with anyone but the Big Mom pirates. He wondered if Katakuri felt nervous, apathetic, or something when he gazed at the sky, as he had frequented throughout the week.

Unexpectedly, Katakuri returned his curious gaze with a flat one. "That assistant of yours; I've had to stop him from setting the ship on fire a total of twelve times this week. If you include the times when I stopped him from tipping off the ship and the general clumsiness that could perhaps be suicide attempts, I will say I've had a pleasant week of babysitting."

Roux blinked, taken aback by the heavy sarcasm that had taken over Katakuri's dry tone. He had not known Roci and Katakuri were so… well acquainted whilst he busied himself in his office. But, damn, he doubled over laughing. His laugh was unrestrained as tears collected in his eyes.

The klutz sure knew how to be an icebreaker – even if it was unintentional.

Katakuri looked unimpressed by his amusement and returned to staring at the night sky. "Why Red?" The man switched topics, unwilling to allow Roux to poke at him further. Spoilsport. But, he supposed, Daemon Red's true identity would make any man curious.

Shrugging, Roux gave a mysterious smile. It would take more than a funny reply and a pretty face to get him to reveal such intimate knowledge about himself. "It's the current color of my ledger. It used to be white, but now it's dyed in red," he purposefully dodged the hidden question, much to the taller man's annoyance.

However, Katakuri appeared to grudgingly acknowledge Roux's secretive nature and decided to end their frustrating conversation by pushing himself off the taffrail. He turned on his heels without another word, but not before he flicked a jellybean towards the waters.

Roux raised an eyebrow at Katakuri's randomness, but it soon turned into shock when just as the jellybean was about to meet the water's surface, the forgotten sea king jumped with its gaping maw towards their ship, only to be stopped when said jellybean landed in between its eyes like a fucking bullet and pierced through its brain without resistance, akin to a hot blade through butter.

Roux's heart was beating a mile a minute as the sea king sank like the Titanic, soaking their deck (and him) with freezing seawater when it died with a humungous splash.

Holy shit. Roux had completely forgotten about that ballsy sea king. Their discussion had taken priority and sea kings were normally beneath his notice. Underestimating something… Mad-Eye Moody would never. Lesson learned.

Fortunately, Katakuri proved how inhuman his reaction speed and kenbunshoku haki were by literally saving their ship from being eaten whole. He turned to where Katakuri was to thank his bodyguard- cum-chef, but the man was already long gone.

Roux lit a cigarette without reservation, uncaring that his teeth were chattering from the biting cold.

He was left sitting on the taffrails in his drenched clothes with the durries as his only companion, feeling an odd mixture of amusement and exasperation at Katakuri's dramatic exit. Cato would fit right into their crew, no doubt about it.

They arrived at Water 7 in, give or take, four months.

The numerous business stops delayed their journey longer than calculated but needs must if he wanted to ensure his reputation as the world's greatest informant remained intact. It was humiliating when his fellow information brokers snail-called or coo-mailed him just to gloat about how they had heard, through the grapevines, about his latest 'imposter misfortune' which had resulted in an increase in his workload. Dickheads, the lot of them.

Tired from the lack of sleep and irritated from the latest jeers he received from his peers via coo-mail just prior to docking; Roux tilted his fedora down and stalked through the streets with a murderous aura surrounding him, the Thousand Eyes identifying badge perfectly in view. Roci and Katakuri's menacing, large forms contributed to keeping the flies away; the street vendors and pickpockets stayed clear from their trio. Kudos to them for good survival instincts.

Although speaking of Katakuri, Roux took a discreet side glance to his left. The Charlotte looked different with his uniform on, though no less intimidating. Different from Roux's and Roci's fedora-and-suit combo, Katakuri's was sans a vest and blazer.

He wore a pink button-up that had the top three buttons left undone, tucked into a pair of black trousers held up by braces, and the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He had steel-toed boots rather than dress shoes on his feet, and to finish off his semi-formal apparel was a black fedora with a red, smiley face badge on it and a white facemask with slits as eyes and a glasgow smile carved onto it.

Completely unexpected, Katakuri had agreed to remove his scarf when he was Cato. Roux was pleasantly surprised and supported his decision by secretly preparing a mask for Cato, as he already knew why Katakuri did not wish his face to be seen. When Roux gifted Katakuri Cato's mask, he received a narrow-eyed look in return which Roux took with a sly grin on his lips.

Without the pink tattoos, scarf, and the Charlotte leather vest on display, nobody could identify him as Charlotte Katakuri. Especially since he had changed his size to better accommodate their ship, and his appearance was generally unknown to everyone but his family (and secretly Roux due to being a One Piece fan) due to having left no witnesses before.

Since they might be staying here for a while, Roux had planned to officially debut his new crewmate to the world today. During their travels here, Katakuri had to be hidden away whenever they met with clients due to his training period, primarily the lack of a uniform.

Don't get Roux wrong, he had prepared a three-piece suit and fedora combo for Katakuri as soon as the idea of recruitment occurred, but it was made with Katakuri's original height, weight, and measurements in mind. How was Roux supposed to know the Mochi Mochi no Mi was so versatile it was able to semi-permanently alter the user's body shape and mass?! Hence, Roux had to order another suit which only got delivered to them via coo-mail not too long ago.

Bless his regular tailor for their quick hands. Roux had tipped a considerable amount for the rush job.

… Not that Katakuri appreciated all the hard work they had put in. The man never wore the full set. And he even 'borrowed' a few of Roci's braces because he did not want to wear a belt. Fortunately for Roux's mental health, Roci was not one to remember what he owned in the closet – frivolous and spoilt as he was.

"Dapple, get the usual suite," without stopping in his stride, Roux used his chin to gesture at the five-star hotel they had always roomed in during their numerous visits to Water 7. He dropped a beli pouch filled to the brim on Roci's outstretched palm. "You know where we'll be."

"Aye, Boss. I'll meet you and Cato there once I've unpacked our stuff," Roci nodded without question and entered the hotel building with a silver briefcase in hand.

His PA was already used to Roux pre-booking shit without his knowledge, as he was someone who tended to be many steps ahead most of the time. He had long since coo-mailed a reservation for their usual suite in this hotel, though because they were three months late to check in, their bill would be quite hefty this time 'round. Good thing an informant of Daemon Red's status was as rich as they came.

Additionally, he had also contacted his favourite shipwright crew and between now and then, they would have had ample time to build a medium-sized ship three-quarters to completion. If he needed to stay longer than anticipated, Roux would not mind much. He would rather his new ship be of quality than half-assed.

Back in his younger years when he had just started his information broker career, Roux had originally wanted to get shipwright Tom to build a ship for him, but because he was piss-poor (and had not wanted to interfere with the plot), had gone for someone more in his price range. It was a missed opportunity now that he thought about it, but alas, it was no use crying over spilled milk. Roux remained loyal to the group he had gone to and liked the quality of their ships – though they were awfully slow with their hands, unlike his favourite tailor.

Anyway, he would be able to get much more work done on land than on sea, and it would present plentiful opportunities for Roci and him to enforce camaraderie with Katakuri, as well as to flaunt their newest member to the masses.

Two birds, one stone, and all that crap.