Howdy everyone! BossCampers here with a very, very tiny one-shot. Why? Well I wrote this small flashback for Kuma for one of my upcoming Fanfiction's (Pain Comes In Waves). Then Chapter 1095 of One Piece came out and made this entire flashback completely irrelevant!
Sigh, So I thought why not make it a One-Shot, and thus this small nugget was born.
Enjoy!
At the Kingdom of Sorbet, almost 38 years ago, Vegapunk could still remember that brief exchange between them.
"My, you're all beat up squirt. Are you a slave or just flat broke?" asked the much younger Vegapunk bluntly. He was sitting on a rocky beach alongside a boy as the waves battered at the remains of his sub.
"Yes…i'm a slave," the small boy shook his head sadly, but then shook the thoughts out of his head. "That ship looks complicated, did you make it?" he said in awe at the sleek white submersible.
"Why of course! I'm Karakuri's number one thinker! The ingenious Doctor Vegapunk!" he shouted triumphantly with his arms out. "However, I definitely botched up this project. Although the sea stone submarine did work at sailing me right through the calm belt, the distance was all wrong. I only traveled a messally 2,070 kilometers! An absolute failure!" he groaned facepalming at the supposed disgrace.
The child then kowtowed to the Doctor, causing the man to worry that he did something wrong. "Doctor Vegapunk! Please teach me as much as you can for a dopey sack like me!" shouted the boy crying as his tears peppered the small pebbles beneath him.
The Doctor, taken aback, asked the boy three important questions. "First off squirt, what's your name? Secondly, how are you going to pay me? And thirdly, why do you seek knowledge?" asked Vegapunk holding out three fingers.
The boy looked up to the doctor with a look of absolute desperation and resolution. "My name is Bartholomew Kuma! And although all I have is the stones beneath me, I seek your knowledge because…!" the boy took in a deep breath, tears and snot still streaming down his face.
"I WISH TO USE YOUR KNOWLEDGE TO BRING PEACE AND PROSPERITY TO THE KINGDOM OF SORBET!"
Fun Fact!
Vegapunks sub traveled the same distance that's between Iceland and North America!