Descent

by JustAProblem

Scars are a sign of pride and strength. A sign of survival. Naturally, this only applies to the physical scars and not the mental scars. No, mental scars are almost universally agreed to be negative and for good reason. Physical scars merely change how your body looks. Mental scars change how a person thinks. Rosan just wants to enjoy life. He didn't ask for all this. OC! Not-Si!

26. Chapter 26: The Best Meal

Descent

Chapter 26: The Best Meal

The peaceful lull of the ship, was abruptly broken by loud laughter, courtesy of the Captain of the Straw Hats, Monkey D. Luffy.

"IT'S FINISHED!" He cheered, presenting his project like it were a prize to his crew. "LUFFY'S PIRATE FLAG!"

Rosan looked up from the book (it was about elements) he was reading to observe the pirate flag with a tilted head. Luffy had negative skills when it came to art but he wasn't even slightly surprised that his brother decided to make the flag on his own with no assistance at all.

"Whaddya think? It's nice, huh!" Luffy beamed.

"A pirate flag ought to inspire terror and it is pretty scary," Zoro mused.

"I fear his talent," Nami added.

"You're a little low on design sense," Usopp balked.

"I like it," Rosan offered, clapping at his brother's effort. Everyone had to start somewhere. Modification hadn't made him proficient in art immediately.

"DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM!" They roared at the redhead.

Rosan simply held his hands up in surrender.

"Don't worry, I got this!" Usopp took it upon himself to fix the horrific flag and when they all looked at the much improved skull and crossbones, adorned with Luffy's straw hat, they synonymously agreed that it would be the jolly roger of their ship.

"It's good," Rosan commented. The long nosed had made a flag of himself just before (which had been soundly rejected) and they found out that him being a good artist was not a lie. Maybe there were things he didn't have to lie about.

"I've been drawing graffiti on walls for 50 years! This is nothing to me!" Usopp bragged with a proud smile.

Never mind. Rosan knew he was expecting too much out of him.

"Now paint it on the sail!" Luffy demanded, pleased with how it looked.

"Alright alright!" The liar conceded, getting right to it. Luffy sure was demanding...

The crew watched their newest member work and all nodded in approval. The captain laughed in joy at Usopp's job well done and slapped the exhausted liar's back with far too much force.

Now they felt like actual pirates!

"Ah, I'm tired!" Usopp groaned, lying flat on the deck. Painting the entire sail had taken a lot out of him so now he just wanted to laze about.

The crew went back into a slight lull as Luffy rocketed himself over to his seat on Merry's figurehead.

"Rosan... Do you actually scout like ever?" Nami questioned the silent redhead. He claimed to be the scout of the ship but besides vanishing (how did he do that? His unknown Devil Fruit? He mentioned that he did it by using Luffy's straw hat... which made sense) frequently, they never actually saw him do his job.

"There is hardly a moment where I'm not scouting," Rosan replied in return, not bothering to glance up and flipping a page of his book. "The moment we land on an island I send out a scout and I normally have one slightly ahead of the ship to warn me of anything."

"Ahead… of the ship?" The navigator muttered in confusion and right on cue, a familiar little blue bird landed on his shoulder and trilled happily, rubbing his cheek against the one who created him.

The redhead shut the book and stood up, patting the bird with a single finger the entire time. "We're going to be seeing an island soon," Rosan informed them. "Are you satisfied now, princess?"

"The bird scouts for you?!" Nami asked in surprise, suppressing her annoyance at his mocking words in favor of the boundless curiosity she felt towards the most mysterious member of the crew.

Rosan nodded. "It's not a real bird. It's my little scout that I use to get information. I sometimes have them in the form of a fly too, in case I need them to be smaller and more unnoticeable. But they are mostly birds because birds are more aesthetically pleasing."

There was also the fact that the bird took the form of the toy his mother had given him when he was much younger (the same one he used to scout the pirate crew when he was 4!).

The unaware crewmates awed a bit at that. That was exceedingly useful to have!

"Do you make them?" Zoro questioned. "You gave one to that kid back at Orange town too."

"I do," Rosan nodded and Usopp's eyes sparked in interest.

"You're good at crafting?" The sniper spoke up.

"...Sorta?" The redhead mused. He never actually crafted anything besides Ram. He mostly just modified something else into the object of his desire though that required knowledge of how it was built.

In theory, he should be pretty good at crafting because understanding how to build something made Modification all the more useful. It just wasn't a necessary skill when he had his Devil Fruit. With Modification, he could create them significantly faster then if he went through the hassle of finding and using tools.

This was an opinion Angel vehemently disagreed with him about. She loved using tools to craft whatever it was she was interested in and the satisfaction from completing it was "Something you won't be able to feel by cheating with Modification, stupid Master!"

Her loss. She could take forever to craft what she wanted then. He'd be over here finishing before she could even get ready.

Mod giggled at her son's childishness. It was something Rosan and Angel argued about constantly and she doubted both the redhead's would ever see eye to eye about it. Rosan was too much of a computer man, prioritizing efficiently crafting things and only enjoying modifying them to his image and Angel was too hands on with everything, loving the steps needed to finish her job and only using her small amount of Modification to reinforce her projects.

The two argued about it at least once a week these days. It was hilarious to see how comfortable Angel got with the idea of disagreeing with Rosan.

"My sister is the one who crafts naturally. She's much better at it then I am," Rosan eventually said, with a nod. "She's gotten really good over the years."

He was proud of her. She had managed to turn her duties into a genuine interest and he was pretty sure she even occasionally went to Fregate to learn from Hiroshi, which was a far cry from what his ferocious little sister would have done before. Her tolerance for other people had improved massively once she realized Celadon's citizens didn't hate her whatsoever and he'd say she was even slightly pleasant to be around in their first meeting.

Nevermind, she was still pretty hostile without realizing it.

"You mentioned having a sister before! What's she like?" Nami asked curiously. Was she nicer then Rosan? Did they look alive? A female version of Rosan sounded like quite the gorgeous person (she could begrudgingly admit that Rosan had good looks).

"You also mentioned having a brother named Demon," Zoro pointed out.

The redhead hummed. He didn't see any harm in telling them about the other two triplets.

"Angel and Demon are clones of me," Rosan explained, causing their eyes to bug at the revelation.

"We are all technically the same age, so sometimes I refer to them as triplets, but they are actually twins and younger then me. Angel is a rather haughty person that generally dislikes everyone she speaks to which makes her difficult to get along with. Demon is a kind person with a bit of a mischievous streak who's a very talented doctor. He is much more pleasant to speak to if you're meeting them for the first time."

They sweatdropped. It sounded like their names needed to be inverted.

So the redhead had twin clones that he called his siblings? And they were the same age as him but somehow younger...? Also one was into crafting and the other was a doctor?

That was quite impressive (and weird)... why weren't they in the crew?

"I wonder if we'll meet them one day…" Nami muttered curiously. She was interested in seeing what the redhead's other siblings were like.

"I miss Angel and Demon and Maro too!" Luffy exclaimed wistfully.

"Maro?" Zoro spoke up. Another unfamiliar name…

"She's a queen and Angel's wife," Rosan informed them.

Zoro and Nami's eyes bugged at that reveal. His sister was married to the queen of an island? Holy!

Usopp had to give it to Rosan, he was a pretty good liar too! They had more in common then he first thought! Maybe he wasn't as scary now that he realized they were cut from the same cloth...

Nah, he definitely still was.

"A QUEEN?!" Nami screeched. "YOUR SISTER IS MARRIED TO A QUEEN? IS SHE RICH? DOES SHE HAVE MONEY?"

"That's the same question, Nami."

"ANSWER IT!"

He knew a queen! An actual queen! Was that why he looked so wealthy?! Why weren't they using her money more?! Why didn't they have the biggest ship in the East Blue?!

Before Nami could grill him further, Luffy called their attention by saying, "Are we going the right way? This feels kinda dangerous."

The stormy gray clouds in the distance contrasting with the clear blue sky on their half, was quite the foreboding sight and Usopp was already preparing to suggest they turn around.

Nami looked at her map and her eyes lit up. "This has to be the place! The legendary Treasure Island!"

Turning towards the crew, they all saw the greedy glint in her eye and Rosan sighed.

"They say whoever steps close to the island, incurs Kami's wrath," Nami explained with a devious smile and as if agreeing with her, the weather suddenly turned harsh and a storm formed right above the crew.

Usopp let out a scream of horror at the rapid weather change. There was no way the rumors were true, right?! Was this actually Kami's wrath?!

Rosan had long since shut his book so it didn't get soaked and his little tiny scout found refugee inside of his black shirt, chirping in satisfaction at being safe.

It did know that the rain didn't really affect it right? It's not like his creations ran on electricity... or were real. Maybe he had made it too similar to a bird.

"That sounds kinda fun!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly, much to Usopp's growing horror.

"Y-You don't mean —"

"Yep! We're going there!" Nami beamed in excitement.

"To the treasure island!" The captain demanded.

They steered and maneuvered the ship towards the legendary island and Rosan watched it appear with a tilted head. His spikes paid no mind to the rain and he closed his eyes at the cold droplets dropping against his skin.

He often let rain batter against his body, far too used to it from when his mindscape was a rainforest. He quite missed the rainforest... he even preferred it over the tropical forest that his mindscape had first taken form as but that might have been because he preferred his personality when he was 9 - 12 over when he was 4 - 8.

He idly wondered what form his mindscape would take if he ever received all his emotions back. This current part of him would never vanish so maybe frozen rain in a tropical forest?

That sounded like a natural disaster.

"Thoughts?"

"Keep your guard up just in case but it should generally be fine. Make sure you send out a scout though," Mod chimed.

"If somethings dangerous just use me!" Ram cheered.

Rosan nodded and his little bird chirped in annoyance, turning its head at having to go out. After some mental words of encouragement, it trilled and flew off but not before receiving one more pat on its head.

Honestly, did his little helpers find Angel inspiring? Why were some of them so stubborn sometimes?

The 5 departed from the ship and made their way into the strange forest while observing their surroundings. Rosan was content to walk in the back of the group while Nami led them through with a pep in her step.

Being in the back showed Rosan just how jumpy their newest member was. The liar was very clearly a coward because the slightest noise made him yelp and he had yet to let go of a nonchalant Zoro.

"T-This is one creepy island," Usopp muttered fearfully, looking in every direction.

"Yeah?" Zoro questioned, looking utterly unfazed. He didn't see what was so creepy about it.

"I heard that an amazing treasure is lying somewhere on this island," Nami explained to the group following her. Plenty of pirates had come here but they seemed to flee in terror before even making it to the treasure.

Well not them! They'd get that treasure if it was the last thing Nami did!

"That explains why you wanted to come here so badly," Rosan commented, much to her annoyance. "It's fun to see your cowardice fly out the window when it comes to treasure."

Nami took a deep breath. The redhead did this on purpose and it worked every time but this time, it would be different! She would ignore him and continue along her way until she got her treasure.

Yes, it would be impossible for Rosan to phase her when she was in such spirits.

When Luffy expressed his curiosity about why they fled in terror, Nami explained the stories to him. How one man's face turned into a boar, or how one's mustache turned into a snake and began strangling him.

Usopp had turned blue at that information and he dearly looked like he didn't want to be here anymore. The sniper got even closer to Zoro in hopes that the swordsman would either protect him, or sacrifice himself for the cause.

"So you're here for revenge," Rosan said in realization and Nami looked at him in confusion. She had never been on this island before so what was he talking about —

"This island must be why you're an Ogress, those kids were onto something."

Zoro burst out laughing at the look of shock on Nami's face that quickly morphed into rage.

She flung herself at the redhead with intent to kill and he deftly dodged her. "YOU. ARE. THE. WORST!" Nami snarled at her unsuccessful attack, gearing up to do another one on the asshole of a redhead who just loved to terrorize her.

"You don't mean that," the redhead commented idly. He was about to comment again but he paused at the feeling of being watched.

Zoro yawned and went to lay down. "I'm going to sleep," he said and immediately fell unconscious.

"That must be a skill," Mod commented with a forlorn sigh. She wished Rosan knew it because trying to get the boy to sleep when he was younger, was utterly impossible for her. It was partially the reason why she had used him as a cuddle toy (besides the fact that he was completely nice to cuddle). It completely trapped him and prevented him from blitzing around the room.

It helped that he very much loved being hugged so he didn't struggle in her grip, content to rest against her bust with a happy sigh.

A rustling noise made Rosan and Luffy glance curiously at the sight of some weird rabbit snake hybrid.

Usopp yelped, which caused Nami to shriek, at the feeling of drool landing on him.

She glared at him for scaring her and he hastily came up with a lie to avoid her wrath, only to pause at the feeling of being licked.

"L-Luffy, stop that," Usopp said shakily, looking at the source and realizing that it was in fact not his captain doing that. He froze in disbelief at the sight of a chicken coyote licking his hand.

At the same time, a panda bat burst from the tree behind Nami with a loud shriek.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The two screeched in unison and they promptly fell on the floor, crawling quickly towards their unfazed captain and scout.

That was when they noticed all the eyes.

"W-What's happening?" Nami stammered.

"We're surrounded I think," Rosan replied calmly.

"Leave!" A voice suddenly called out to them.

Luffy began to glance around in confusion. "Who's there?!" The captain yelled.

"Who is it?" Nami was nervous. Were those rumors actually true?!

"Leave!" The voice repeated. "I am this island's protective Kami! Leave this island at once if you value your lives!"

Rosan listened to the voice try and intimidate them with a blank expression on his features. This supposed "protective Kami" sure was saying a bunch of suspicious things.

Threatening them? Just forcefully eject them if you were actually one.

The dozens of eyes revealed themselves and the strangest animals came out, causing everyone to scratch their head at the sight of them.

Were they all some cross hybrids of two animals? How strange…

"Is this a lion?" Luffy asked, picking up a pig with a lion's mane.

"I'm pretty sure that's a pig," Nami replied with a sweatdrop.

The pig-lion began pulling at Luffy's face and their captain hastily dropped it on the floor with a startled yelp.

Clearly the so called Kami of this island wasn't very knowledgeable because he wasn't even aware that Devil Fruits existed, screaming in panic at watching the rubber boy's face stretch.

Rosan glanced in a direction after he slipped up and called himself a pirate before vanishing from his spot.

"Are you really Kami?" A perplexed Nami asked. This person sounded like a phony and this all seemed like an elaborate prank to her.

"S-Shut up! If you won't listen, then receive my divine punishment!"

An array of booby traps were activated and the crew yelped as they were forced to dodge the incoming boulders and sharp logs coming their way.

The Kami smiled. It was only a matter of time before they all got scared off and ran away from this island—

"That's some divine punishment you're dishing out," Rosan commented behind the mobile bush, making the figure screech in surprise.

"Kami" whirled around and tried to aim his pistol, but Rosan was faster and the redhead promptly punted the bush into Luffy's waiting arms.

"Woah! Is this supposed to be some kind of shrub person?" Luffy asked curiously, looking at their attacker and dangling the diminutive man without a care in the world, heedless of the man's embarrassment. After some struggling, the man finally asked to be put down and the rubber boy acquiesced.

It was a man with a notably pear-shaped face, green hair, and a pronounced uni-brow. He seemed to be stuck in a chest and it compressed his body into diminutive levels.

"I've never seen a person stuffed inside of a chest before!" Luffy exclaimed in awe. "Are you a boxed and sheltered son?"

"Yeah, I've been overly pampered since I was a little boy," the man nodded. "OF COURSE I'M NOT!" He roared.

Gaimon, the man trapped in the chest, explained to them about how he had been trapped in the box for 20 years now due to his desire to get the hidden treasures of this island. While climbing up to go retrieve it, he slipped and fell in a chest and his crew left him behind without realizing it happened.

"Stupid," Rosan said and the treasured man collapsed at his blunt insult.

"Rosan, you think you could free him from that chest?" Luffy asked curiously. His brother could probably just modify it away and the problem would be solved!

"Don't be ridiculous! My body has atrophied so much that it completely fits with the chest. If you destroy it, I'll die!" Gaimon said.

Rosan shrugged at that and just let it be. He didn't want to use his ability on this random stranger anyways.

"Who're you guys anyways? I've never met pirates like you!" Gaimon asked with a curious expression. They were surprisingly friendly and not very homicidal like typical pirates...

Not the redhead though. The redhead scared him.

"I'm Luffy! I'm gonna become the King of the Pirates!"

Gaimon's eyes bugged at that announcement. He wanted to go to the Grand Line?! That place was known as the pirate graveyard! It wasn't just a place for anyone to go to. They'd die if they went there!

"You're saying the same thing everyone else says," Rosan told the shrub man. It was pretty annoying to hear the same thing over and over again. He had gotten the message loud and clear the first time. If they weren't apart of this crew, they had no right to judge Luffy's dream.

"Yeah! I'll get it, I have good luck," Luffy beamed.

"Rosan, you think Luffy can do it?" Nami asked curiously.

"If I didn't think he could do it, I wouldn't be apart of his crew," Rosan said bluntly. "He has had the resolve and ambition since he was seven and it has not once wavered, who am I to doubt him?"

If he truly didn't think Luffy would have been Pirate King... he would have just made his own crew because following Ace was a recipe for disaster. The middle brother absolutely would terrorize him and he refused to willingly subject himself to that after all he put the freckled boy through.

Luffy grinned at his brother's words. Rosan never doubted him! Even when they were younger the redhead simply told him that his dream would be difficult to achieve, not impossible! No one else had believed in him like his oldest brother!

Nami looked at the two with a fond smile before a thought occurred to her. "What about you, Rosan? What's your dream?"

Zoro and Usopp perked up at that. That was right, Rosan had never actually stated what his dream was!

"I don't have one," he replied simply, much to their surprise. "I just want to find a reason to live and Luffy promised me that I'd find one on his journey."

They froze at his simple, but dark, declaration. A reason to live…? Did… Did Rosan not want to be alive right now? Did he really have no reason to be alive?

Was that why his gaze was so lifeless? Was that why his emotions were locked away? Just what happened to him?

Rosan saw their curiosity and immediately went to shut it down.

"Don't ask about what happened to me. I won't answer," he told them bluntly. "It's not something I want to talk about so please respect that. Maybe one day but it won't be anytime soon."

They nodded hesitantly and dropped the topic, before focusing back on the conversation between Luffy and Gaimon. Whatever happened to turn Rosan into this, was concerning to think about but they would respect his wishes and leave it be until he trusted them to do so.

"You're just like me! We even look the same, we're practically twins!" Gaimon gaped with shining eyes. This straw hat boy was exactly like him! Having a dream that you strove to complete was just like him! It was like looking in a mirror that went 20 years back—

"You look absolutely nothing like my little brother and I'm not claiming you as my brother so cease that thought process immediately," Rosan interrupted his daydreaming with a blunt and harsh statement, staring a hole into the shrub man with a neutral gaze.

Gaimon abruptly collapsed at the redhead's ruthless words.

W-What a cruel thing to say to him…

"But man, you got stuck here for 20 years!" Luffy exclaimed in surprise.

"All for some treasure," Rosan hummed, utterly unimpressed. He was glad that treasure had never meant much to him. It was just a means to an end to buy resources to survive.

Some people based their whole life around such irrelevant things. Intense desire for one thing... that just showed you weren't capable of getting it normally. Most people cared so much about treasure because of their innate greed along with their inability to naturally get such things.

Perhaps he'd care more about such things if he didn't have Modification.

"So there is a treasure on this island…" Nami mused. She wanted it, but it wasn't her right. Gaimon had been protecting it for 20 years and it clearly meant a lot to him.

"Don't worry, Gaimon. We'll get the treasure for you," the navigator reassured.

A clapping noise grabbed her attention and she regarded Rosan with a thinly veiled glare. She just knew he was trying to piss her off and it always worked because he knew all the right buttons to push.

"Character development," was all he said. "I'm really proud of you. I didn't think someone as greedy as you could ever change."

One of these days, Nami would get her payback on the redhead.

Gaimon thanked them profusely and lead them, along with his strange animals, to the area where the treasure resided.

"You aren't gonna come up here, Rosan?" Luffy called to his scout atop a huge turtle cow.

"No thanks, I'll just walk," the redhead replied, keeping pace with the large animal. He would rather not be that close to all those people. More tolerable of being touched he may be, crowds still weren't his thing (unless you were his utterly demanding family of course).

They all made their way to a massive cliff that looked impossible for a normal person to climb and regarded it with curious gazes.

"I can't believe the day has come!" Gaimon beamed. It had been 20 long years but he'd finally be able to get the treasure he had waited so long for. "The rest is up to you, Straw hat!"

"Sure!" Luffy exclaimed before rearing his arm and flinging it atop the tall cliff.

"Gomu Gomu no Rocket!" he yelled, launching himself to the very top.

"I'm surprised you guys didn't grab onto him this time. I thought you enjoyed it so much the other day," Rosan hummed.

"Shut up," Zoro and Nami deadpanned.

They waited with bated breaths for Luffy to come down and were confused when nothing happened.

"I'll go check," Rosan offered, vanishing from his spot and appearing next to his captain atop the cliff.

Usopp and Gaimon shrieked at the sight of Rosan disappearing. "W-Where'd he go?!" The liar gaped.

What was that?! W-Was Rosan a g-g-g-GHOST?! WAS USOPP BEING HAUNTED BY A GHOST?!

"Probably up there," Zoro pointed. "I don't know what that technique is, but it can bring him right to Luffy."

"It's really useful," Nami muttered, still caught off guard by the display. A technique that let him go right to their captain...

They waited a couple more minutes for Rosan to affirm what was happening before their brows furrowed in confusion.

What were they doing up there?

"Luffy! Rosan! What's going on up there?!" Nami called for the two who hadn't said a word.

"I found em! Six treasure chests!" Luffy's voice called back and he appeared holding one of them in his hand.

Gaimon grinned widely at that. Finally, after all these years! "Toss them down here!" he demanded to his saviors. He'd finally get his treasure chests —

"No!"

They blinked owlishly at his abrupt response.

"Huh?!" Gaimon gasped in shock.

"We aren't tossing it down," Rosan told them, walking into vision and glancing down at them.

Were they serious? Now was not the time to actually act like pirates!

"Rosan, stop telling Luffy to keep the treasure!" Nami growled at the redhead.

"Yeah! Those belong to Gaimon! Bring them down!" Usopp called in disbelief.

Rosan tilted his head and didn't bother replying.

"No, it's alright," Gaimon suddenly said and tears began brimming in his eyes.

"What?! But that's your treasure," Nami complained. She was not going to let those two bully him into losing out on the treasure he had guarded for 20 years. That was seriously messed up of them!

"You two are great people!" The shrub man called out tearfully. "I had a slight feeling that I tried hard to ignore but… They're all empty aren't they?!"

"We've been found out, Luffy," Rosan said and his captain nodded.

"Yeah, they're all empty," the rubber man replied.

Not caring at all for the short man's feelings, Rosan was just going to tell him that they were all empty but Luffy decided otherwise so he just went along with it.

It made sense that they were all empty. Plenty of people must have come to this island before Gaimon and his crew. They probably discovered the treasure long before he did and nabbed it already.

What a stupid man, wasting 20 years for some empty boxes. That was why Rosan didn't care to hunt for treasure. It was a waste of time. There were other ways to get money that didn't involve taking chances. You just had to be strong enough to earn it.

Now he was crying about it… Rosan would probably cry too if 20 years of his life went down the drain for nothing.

That didn't make it any less pathetic. One shouldn't cry so freely in front of other people.

"Don't cry old man! You should be glad that we came in 20 years. If it had been 30 years, you'd probably be dead!" Luffy laughed at him.

Rosan stared at his brother. He couldn't possibly be thinking of…

"You already made a fool out of yourself and all you've got left is the One Piece! Come be a pirate again with us!"

...He was. First the liar, now the shrub? His brother sure was something. Usopp at least seemed to have value that leaned heavily towards resourcefulness but what exactly would this little pathetic shrub do for them?

"His recruiting methods are much more lenient then yours considering you don't ever invite anyone!" Mod teased. If he were captain, Mod doubted Rosan would have invited any of their current crewmates, barring Nami for when he eventually made it to the Grand Line. He would much rather sail solo then gather a crew.

Maro was the exception but that had only been because Rosan sensed the latent potential lying in the dirty little girl and now look at her! She was Queen of one of the most prosperous islands in the North Blue because Rosan chose to invest in her!

It was no wonder he vanished so frequently from his crew. He wasn't a fan of being in groups. It contrasted greatly from the little boy who wanted friends but Rosan wasn't a little boy anymore.

"Father can do it all by himself, he doesn't need anyone but me!" Ram huffed. Deadweight would only slow him down! They didn't need that in their journey because if that deadweight died, it might halt his progress!

"I'd like to think he needs me too but I could be wrong," Mod giggled.

Ram balked at her Auntie's statement, not believing she even implied that! "O-Of course he needs you!" The silver haired woman stammered. "You two are practically one and the same at this point!"

To her, Rosan and Mod were synonymous with each other! He wasn't her father without his Devil Fruit and Mod was meant to be Rosan's Devil Fruit! That's how codependent the two were of each other.

Rosan couldn't disagree with her notion. He couldn't imagine a life without Mod-chan… He was sure that it would shatter his mind to no return if he somehow lost her forever, castle or not.

Mod knew that it wasn't healthy, but there really wasn't much either of them could do about it. They had been together for 20 years now on a level many people would consider more then intimate and that was just the nature of a person who had eaten a Devil Fruit. She knew nearly everything about Rosan and, barring her past, Rosan knew everything about her!

It was just a natural consequence of sharing a body and she wouldn't dwell on it for long. They really had no reason to try and be more independent from each other. Perhaps when Rosan achieved that one goal of his and actually gave her a way to coexist with him in the real world but even then, she'd not want to be separated from him.

Despite Luffy's invitation, Gaimon had actually refused it due to wanting to protect the strange animals on the island.

"Knowing that there's no treasure, somehow makes me feel more free then I've felt in a long time!" Gaimon explained to the crew as they began their departure.

"Isn't the real treasure these animals that you've bonded with?" Rosan asked him softly, glancing at his ring for a moment. "Treasure doesn't only have to be silver and gold. As long as it has value to you, you can call it valuable."

Luffy nodded eagerly and idly grabbed his straw hat.

Gaimon looked at the tall redhead with wonder in his eyes. "Y-You're right! They are my treasure! T-Thank you for helping me realize that, Rosan!"

Rosan hummed in acknowledgment.

"So these weird creatures are your true friends," Zoro mused with a small smile.

It was fitting.

"He's the weirdest creature of them all, though!" Luffy pointed out.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Gaimon roared, causing them all to devolve into laughter.

Soon, the pirate crew boarded their ship and waved farewell to the shrub man and his strange friends.

"See ya! Take care!" Luffy yelled in the distance.

"Bye!" Nami waved.

"Goodbye! I know you all can find the One Piece! Once you do that, BUY THE WORLD!" Gaimon screamed with tears in his eyes.

If anyone could do it, Luffy could.

---

A loud thud brought the lounging straw hats, barring a sleeping Zoro and missing Rosan, attention towards the source.

"What is that?" Nami asked in surprise.

"I found it in the storeroom!" Luffy said excitedly, presenting the box of cannonballs to the crew. "I figured we could test out our cannon!"

"In that case, I think I'm the best candidate," Usopp smugly joined in. "When I was just three, I jumped on a cannonball that flew around the whole world!"

"ROSAN!" Luffy screamed, ignoring Usopp completely. "DO YOU KNOW HOW TO WORK THIS?!" He asked his missing brother.

"LISTEN WHEN SOMEONE'S SPEAKING!" Usopp screamed at the rubber boy.

"I haven't seen Rosan yet today," Nami mused. He was normally the first one awake (sometimes she didn't even think he slept) but on some days, he would wake up last and show up at a random time.

Seemed like today would be one of those days.

"Oh, he must still be sleeping," Luffy sighed sadly at the fact he wasn't available. Modi and Ram must have wanted to spend more time with him and probably refused to let him go.

They were so greedy sometimes!

Mod would certainly have pulled the rubber boy's cheeks red if she heard him utter those words because he had no right to say them.

"There should be a reef further south," Nami said, as she inspected her map. "We can practice there."

"Really?!" Luffy asked in excitement. Having a navigator was the best! "Alright, let's go!"

"You can't shoot a cannon without "Master Cannon Usopp" assisting you… LISTEN TO ME!"

---

"They sound like they're having fun," Rosan muttered. Mod was currently in her never let him go mood (she seemed to get these far more frequently these days) so he had opted to remain in the mindscape until she was satisfied.

Ram decided to be annoying too and joined in. Now he was trapped between them.

Mod hummed in satisfaction but was otherwise content to just snuggle him and Ram cackled at the purple haired woman.

"You know how Auntie is when she's in her moods!" His weapon grinned. It never failed to amuse her because when Mod was in her mood, she always wanted Rosan which meant he got to stay here longer and that was a fantastic plus for the ring!

"Despite my resilience and modification, I would still like to eat," Rosan tried and got promptly ignored.

"You'll live," Mod sighed comfortably, burying herself deeper. He was so warm and the house was so cold right now. It would be a terrible idea to just let her son leave when he could stay here and let her be comfy!

Rosan sighed in return and simply hugged her back. She was ridiculous sometimes.

"You didn't tell Nami and Usopp about me," Mod suddenly said. She knew the reason why but she loved to hear his thought process anyways. "How do you feel about them?"

After a moment's pause, the redhead deigned to answer her.

"Nami's skills as a navigator are invaluable. I've yet to meet someone as talented as her," Rosan offered with a hum that made Mod's head bob. "The only problem is, she doesn't trust us and I won't put my trust in someone who doesn't trust me. I barely want to put my trust in people who do."

He couldn't blame her. Rosan was not a trustworthy person after all and he didn't like trusting others either.

Mod nodded at his explanation. It made perfect sense to her but she dearly hoped that he was wrong.

"And Usopp?" She asked.

Rosan took a bit longer to answer this time. "He is… complicated. I think his potential is being stifled by his cowardice and his penchant for lying makes him untrustworthy in a different way. If things get tough, I can't guarantee that he'll keep my secret."

The liar was a good shot. He was a very good shot and it was clear he inherited that from his father but Rosan couldn't see how a slingshot was a useful weapon in the slightest. He was severely limiting himself by using such a childish weapon but perhaps that was just the liars nature. He wasn't an actual pirate, he was his fairy tale fantasy of one.

If Usopp had a gun and rid himself of that cowardice, he'd be a formidable opponent. He was crafty and resourceful and being resourceful was a great way to remain alive.

Unfortunately, he was a coward and had little aptitude for fighting (as far as he could see). Rosan knew that it was just his nature and so he let it be. He had already trained one student too many; He didn't feel like trying to train another while completely altering their nature in the process.

Doing something like that would require him to be… harsh and Luffy wouldn't appreciate it very much if he did that to one of his friends so he'd let the sniper remain that way. If it ever bit him in the ass, it would be no skin off Rosan's back, he wasn't a fan of liars.

"Neither are quite like Zoro so I can understand your reasoning," Mod nodded. The swordsman had his own set of honor that he followed and she doubted even the threat of death would make him spill Rosan's secret.

Still, she hoped all of them came around and gained enough trust in each other. Rosan's desire to completely stray away from forming bonds wasn't one she liked very much because she knew deep down, that little boy who still wanted friends was still there.

He was just afraid of opening up and being hurt again.

"We just need a chef, a doctor and a shipwright now…" Rosan hummed.

When it came to cooking, that was left to either him or Nami (mostly him since his cooking was better, much to Nami's annoyance) but they weren't chefs and Rosan refused to cook regularly for them all. The two only did it out of convenience and because anyone else would burn the ship down.

"These things take time, especially if you want quality," Mod assured. Rosan would understand this. Quality was much more important to him then quantity when it came to people.

He would be pick a crew of two over a crew of one hundred if that second person was useful and the hundred were not.

"It's not like you need a doctor," Ram shrugged uncaringly. Rosan's healing factor, due to the philosophers stone, was unheard of and it would have even the most skilled of doctors rubbing their paws in greed to get a sample of his blood.

He couldn't get sick naturally, he healed from any injury that wasn't lethal and his body practically had a mind of itself, taking care of all of itself due to his Devil Fruit. Rosan was a genuine freak of nature and would probably not be classified as human by 90% of the world.

"I don't need one, but the others probably will," the redhead told her. "I don't think I'll be making anymore philosophers stones and they don't heal as fast as I do."

Telling this to Ram didn't matter, considering she only cared about Rosan's well being but it was good to make her understand.

"I guess…" The silver haired woman muttered in contemplation. Luffy dying wouldn't be very good. She quite liked the rubber squirt despite the fact that his tendencies would pose a very real danger to her father buuut those tendencies also happened to be very fun as she found out over the years.

"Alright, I can see the benefits of needing a doctor now!" She nodded.

"Good, now will you two let me leave? You had me all night and for a lot of the morning too," Rosan asked calmly.

"Five more minutes… or hours," Mod sighed, content to actually remain there for five hours. She used her monstrous strength to snuggle her son harder and contemplated falling asleep right then and there, holding him the entire time.

Rosan sighed, unbothered by her show of strength, while Ram cackled and followed in her Auntie's footsteps.

Ridiculous.

---

"Oh, hi Rosan!" Luffy waved.

"You were sleeping for pretty long… We thought you were dead," Nami teased the approaching redhead.

"Sorry…" Mod mumbled embarrassingly. The woman was out of her mood now and she was mortified by her own actions like she always was when she got physically affectionate.

"Would you have missed me?" Rosan countered easily. "Don't worry, I can't die just yet. I've got things I need to do."

The first thing was to cook a meal. He was hungry.

The navigator rolled her eyes at that. "I wouldn't have missed you," Nami grumbled in annoyance. "I don't think an Angel would miss someone like you."

"I see you've been taking lying lessons from Usopp. Angel would almost certainly miss me. That girl looks up to me way too much."

"I wasn't talking about your sister you —"

"H-Hey! I don't give those lessons out for free you know!" Usopp interjected between the verbal warfare.

"Shut up," they said at the same time, making the sniper wilt immediately.

"S-Scary…" he muttered, backing away from the two monsters.

"I'd love to continue our pleasant conversation, but I'm hungry," Rosan hummed. The redhead made his way to the kitchen to prepare himself a meal but before he shut the door, a loud crash resounded outside.

"COME OUT, PIRATES!" A voice roared in tangible fury.

Rosan shrugged and shut the door to the kitchen. They could deal with it while he made himself something.

"How many are there?" Zoro asked as Luffy confronted the voice.

"Just one," Nami said. Her and Usopp were currently staring out the small window on the door and saw that the lone individual was causing quite the ruckus.

"Let Luffy deal with it then," the swordsman replied laxly.

The furious man was of average height with short black hair and sunglasses. He wears a blue hooded jacket with a purple undershirt, tan pants, boots, and a watch on his left wrist. There was a tattoo on his left cheek with the kanji for Sea.

"We've taken the heads of many pirates! Are you nameless wannabes trying to kill my partner?!" He growled, gripping his blade and swinging down at Luffy.

"That voice sounds familiar," Zoro mused.

Luffy gained an annoyed look in his eye at seeing the damage caused by this stranger. "I don't know who your partner is, but stop damaging our ship!" He frowned, grabbing the man's head with his stretched arms and brutally tossing him into the wall.

The attack instantly defeated the rather weak bounty hunter and he collapsed with a thud and a groan of pain.

"Johnny, is that you?" A voice called to the defeated man.

"W-Who's calling me with such a familiar tone?!" The now dubbed Johnny, barked. He glanced up at the source and a look of familiarity sparked on his face.

"Big Bro Zoro!" Johnny exclaimed in surprise. What was he doing on a pirate ship?! Was he captured?!

"? You two know each other?" Luffy asked.

Zoro nodded in confirmation, before glancing around in confusion.

"Where's Yosaku?" The swordsman asked.

---

"Who are these people?" Rosan asked, glancing at the two new appearances while eating rice balls. "I heard crashing noises too, are they the cause?"

The black haired one had the decency to look ashamed and Nami explained the situation to him.

Apparently earlier in the day, Luffy and Usopp had been practicing with the cannon on the ship and they had obliterated a rock in the distance. Unfortunately, that rock had been temporarily housing Johnny and Yosaku here and the already sickly Yosaku had gotten even further damaged by the unintentional attack.

"So you know these two?" Rosan asked Zoro.

"Yeah, from my bounty hunting days. We traveled together for a bit," Zoro confirmed, grimly looking at the gravely injured Yosaku.

"Small world," he commented. What were the odds that Zoro would know two people who they had accidentally struck? The East Blue was quite a large sea so running into people repeatedly was a rare occasion.

Rosan looked at the one named Yosaku in contemplation. He certainly did look pretty terrible with the pale face and the blood...

He tilted his head though at what they had said about the sickly man. Those symptoms sounded familiar but because he never got sick, he couldn't pinpoint it.

Demon would know for sure… He really should have asked his youngest clone for medical tips.

Eh, it was fine. He doubted he'd ever regret not knowing more about them.

"I told you to take at least a few lessons. But noo, "the best medicine is making sure your enemies are dead so they can't hurt you," right?" Mod admonished the cocky redhead. That quote didn't even address diseases! He was so full of it sometimes!

"I've never gotten a disease in my life. You purge me of anything dangerous and my body is already strong. Therefore the only thing I'd need medicine for are injuries," Rosan countered.

"You… ugh it's impossible arguing with you sometimes," Mod sighed, holding her face. "It's scurvy by the way. It was one of the first things I taught you about when you were four but I guess it makes sense that you didn't recognize it immediately considering you've only read about it."

Ah, right. Scurvy was pretty common if you were a sailor. Rosan didn't have to worry about it because his body was constantly in top condition due to Modification and he couldn't get sick regardless. Lack of vitamin c wasn't something he'd ever have to worry about and he didn't care about anyone who could catch it so he had stored the information deep in his head.

Luffy and Usopp had tears pouring down their eyes at the mistake they made shooting the cannonball at the two. They repeatedly apologized and Rosan just knew Angel would be upset if she saw the rubber boy bowing.

"Are you all stupid?" Nami asked, crouching down and inspecting the sickly figure.

"How dare you make light of my partner's death?!" Johnny growled but Nami ignored him.

"Luffy! Usopp! We have some limes in the storage. Go get them and turn it into juice," their navigator demanded and the two hastily saluted to do just that.

"Y-Yes Ma'am!" They said in unison, dashing off to make amends for their mistakes.

The two forced the lime juice into Yosaku's mouth as Nami explained scurvy to them.

"You're amazing! You're like a doctor!" Luffy exclaimed in awe.

"I always thought you were impressive!" Usopp bragged.

Nami gaped at their stupidity. "THESE ARE BASIC THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO SURVIVE AT SEA, MORONS!"

"She's right," Rosan nodded in agreement. "Scurvy is quite easy to deal with. Dying because of it is embarrassing."

"You knew it was scurvy?" Nami asked in surprise. She was glad there was at least one other sensible person here… Even if it was the person who annoyed her the most.

"It took me a bit to identify it because I've never actually seen a person with it, but yes," the redhead replied.

Nami sweatdropped. "Were you gonna just not tell them anything and let him die?"

"Yes. Like I said, if you don't even know about something as basic as scurvy, you deserve whatever happens to you."

Everyone listening face planted at his ruthless and to the point statement.

"Harsh…" Nami muttered. She was quickly learning from the things said and seen, that Rosan was quite the ruthless individual behind that emotionless persona.

How him and someone like Luffy managed to successfully become brothers? She would never know.

Yosaku abruptly got up, seemingly healed and he immediately began dancing at the fact that he had been saved, thanking Nami profusely in the process.

"THERE'S NO WAY YOU CAN RECOVER THAT QUICKLY!" Nami barked at all the morons.

Their navigator was proven correct when the bounty hunter duo formally introduced themselves as Johnny and Yosaku and Yosaku promptly fainted again due to the scurvy resurging.

"Dumbass," Ram scoffed.

"Language," Mod chided gently.

"See? You're telling me I should have bothered saving this idiot?" Rosan chimed in blandly.

"You might have a point…" Nami agreed with a suffering sigh.

"I always do," the redhead replied.

---

It was currently night and Yosaku had been put to rest. A majority of the crew were in the lounge room and Rosan had excused himself, choosing to scout himself this time.

"It's a bit too crowded." With people he didn't trust very much. "I'll keep watch while you guys chat about the chef we very much need."

With that, he left his slightly confused, but not at all surprised, crew behind. He was currently standing at the top of the mast of the Going Merry, staring off into the distance.

"It's a beautiful night," Rosan muttered. The full moon was out and the stars shone brightly. Maybe he'd go for a flight when his crew fell asleep?

If only it was raining. Rosan quite enjoyed the sensation of rain.

Currently, he had a bird listening in on the conversation going on in the lounge room. Apparently they were going to a seafaring restaurant called the Baratie to recruit a cook.

That wasn't what caught Rosan's interest though. No, it was something far more concerning.

"A certain hawk-eyed man was said to be near the Baratie," Johnny had said to a visibly excited Zoro.

It didn't take long at all for Rosan to make the obvious connections. Zoro was a swordsman after all and he was striving to be the best. It was only natural who his target was.

Did he really want to kill himself battling the world's strongest swordsman, Hawk-Eye Mihawk though? Rosan was very sure the man could slaughter all the straw hats with minimal effort. Zoro stood no chance one on one but then again, their swordsman probably didn't understand just how large the gap was.

It did not make it any less stupid. Throwing your life away in pursuit of your goal, was just as stupid as not attempting to pursue it. Their swordsman was too arrogant in his skills.

Maybe if he got out that battle alive, he'd be sufficiently humbled.

Rosan sighed, he really didn't want to have to reveal himself to such a formidable foe that he was positive he couldn't kill but he prepared himself for the possibility. It didn't help that Mihawk was one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea and answered to the Marines…

"Look at you! You're already thinking about defending your crewmates!" Mod gushed. He had changed so much! Rosan normally didn't care at all about the wellbeing of others and even though he likely still didn't... he was still thinking of how to keep them alive!

"I'm only thinking of fighting because I know Luffy is going to attack Mihawk when he kills Zoro," Rosan sighed. He would absolutely not let his youngest brother die if he could help it and if that meant incurring his fury at having to flee from Mihawk without avenging Zoro, then so be it.

"Testing me against the strongest swordsman in the world… I'm excited!" Ram grinned psychotically.

They would probably lose horribly but as long as they didn't die, it would be a great learning experience!

"Don't be so eager. We don't want to fight him," Rosan tried but his weapon was clearly not listening, gushing about how the strongest sword in the world looked and wondering if she should transform into it as a show of dominance.

"Who are you talking to up there, Rosan?!" Nami called out curiously. How did he even get all the way up there? He went up there frequently and it was always so fast!

"My inner demons," Rosan replied immediately.

Nami opened her mouth, before closing it and shrugging, choosing to leave it at that. She wouldn't question the strange redhead. It would just end up with her fuming.

"Calling me a demon? How rude," Mod mock frowned.

"You are a Devil Fruit," Rosan pointed out.

"That is true… at least I'm not like Ram, she's an actual demon," the purple haired woman sighed in relief, much to Ram's outrage.

"WHAT?! T-There's no way I'm that bad! Right, Father?!"

"…"

"...Father?"

"We still love you, Ram. Never forget that."

"No matter what!"

"I fucking hate you two sometimes."

"Language."

"Language."

"Lemme show you how much I fucking think about watching my fucking language right about fucking now — OW! Okay, okay! I'm sowwy, Auntie!"

Rosan let out a quiet snort at their antics. He didn't mind Ram's cursing at all. It seemed like with emotions, he was just as bad. Mod was just too proper for her own good and thought that someone as mentally young as Ram, needed to be less vulgar (completely ignoring the fact that she was physically 24).

Honestly, she just wanted an excuse to be a mom. She stopped telling him to watch his language the moment he hit 18. Granted, he didn't curse much at all but it was still a sign that she acknowledged him as an adult.

Ram was clearly not in the same boat and he honestly couldn't fault Mod for treating her like a kid. She certainly did act like one in all aspects.

"Never change, you two."

Ram whined.

---

The Baratie was a fairly large ship. It had an oval shape, with the normal masts and had a fish as a front-piece/head. The fish looked pretty goofy (Rosan personally just wasn't a fan of figureheads on ships) but it fit the restaurant theme well.

"It's impressive," Rosan commented idly.

Everyone was in awe at the sight of the tall ship. Luffy and Usopp were actually drooling and Rosan idly closed the mouth of his rubber captain, lest Mod start complaining.

A loud horn went off and the redhead turned, only to see that it was a Marine ship approaching the same restaurant as them.

"No," Mod said immediately.

"You didn't even give me a chance to contemplate it," Rosan muttered but acquiesced. Perhaps he'd hunt that particular ship down later where there were no witnesses.

"No way! The Marine's way out here?!" Yosaku yelled in shock at the sight of the blue-green ship.

"Surely they won't shoot at us, right?" Usopp pondered nervously.

"That's their job," Rosan said bluntly. "We're pirates, remember?"

"T-That's true…" The sniper stammered. He kind of forgot that little detail...

Johnny was quietly trying to step away from the inevitable confrontation so as to not get confused for being a pirate but he was a step too slow.

A man walked into view, catching their attention. He was an average-sized Marine that wore a white pinstripe suit with pink hair that was well-combed and a scar under his right eye. There were bolts attached to his knuckles.

"I've never seen that pirate flag before," he mused for a moment. "I'm Iron Fist Fullbody, Lieutenant at Navy Headquarters! Who's your captain?! Come out and state your name!" The Marine demanded.

"Monkey D. Luffy!"

"I'm Usopp — OW!"

Rosan gripped the snipers nose and said, "None of that."

"O-Okay! I get it!" Usopp's voice come out nasally and Luffy grinned at his scout.

"We just made our pirate flag the day before yesterday!" The rubber boy announced bluntly.

"And I'm the one who drew…" Usopp's sentence tapered off as he looked back at the neutral Rosan and how close he was. The redhead waved at him and the liar let out a tiny squeak, wisely keeping his mouth shut.

"The day before yesterday?!" Johnny snickered.

"What amateurs!" Yosaku cackled.

Fullbody looked over at the two laughing and raised a brow. "I recognize you two, aren't you the bounty hunters that go after small pirates? Looks like you finally got captured," he mocked.

"Everyone wants to be a bounty hunter like that coward Reaper these days. Even if they don't have the talent for it. I thought you stupid bounty hunters would learn your lesson after seeing even him go into hiding but can't help everyone," Fullbody shrugged.

"Coward?!" Ram snarled. Her father was anything but a coward! He would literally rip this pink haired bastard to shreds in front of a platoon of Marines!

Rosan didn't care. It was all false bravado because no one had heard from Reaper in 10 years. Though, it was true that many people were becoming bounty hunters to try and mimic his success, to little affect.

If he were still active, he doubted this Marine would be saying that so confidently.

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT REAPER LIKE THAT!" Johnny barked, pulling out his sword.

"YEAH DON'T BE MAD THAT HE WAS DOING YOUR JOB BETTER THAN YOU! THAT'S PROBABLY WHY YOU GAVE HIM THAT BOUNTY!" Yosaku snarled, following along.

Johnny and Yosaku clearly didn't appreciate getting insults hurled at them because they immediately tried to challenge Fullbody to a fight and got completely stomped.

"So weak," Luffy frowned at the two.

"You guys should retire," Rosan suggested. Hunting pirates was no joke and these two clearly had no affinity for it.

At least they defended his persona, that slightly raised their point levels.

"Egomaniac."

"You sure do love that word. Perhaps you're projecting."

"I am probably the most humble person you know."

"This is the part where we laugh, Ram."

"I hate you."

Ram cackled.

"He... was... just... strong," the bounty hunters muttered through bloody faces.

During their beating, bounty posters began flying everywhere on the ship and Rosan eyed them all out of habit. Was there anyone here that Reaper would find worthy to kill? He doubted it. The East Blue was always so disappointing.

He wouldn't have bothered hunting anyone here except for one person and that was Shark Tooth…

Oh?

Nami grabbed the one poster Reaper would have gone out of his way to judge and glanced at it with an unreadable look in her eye, that everyone but Rosan missed.

Wasn't this just interesting? What business did Nami have with the Fishman, Arlong? Judging by the way she was minutely shaking, it was probably nothing good.

Arlong was the captain of an entire crew of Fishman. Rosan would only have considered hunting him because apparently, he was someone with Grand Line strength and his entire crew was formidable which would make the battle interesting.

Not that any of that would have mattered to the Angel of Death. He'd have struggled against all of them 10 years ago (likely even losing in the process) but if that ever got close to happening, he'd just reveal more of his cards and burn them to cinders with Ragnarok.

If he fought them now? Well, he'd still be disappointed in the East Blue, that's for sure.

He always did want to fight a Fishman that had access to water. Kenzo was weak to lose to a 9 year old but with water he would have convincingly beaten him. Perhaps when his crew was sleeping, he'd go out for a flight and relieve the sea of some extra pirates... It was food for thought.

"She did say she hated pirates. Perhaps he's the reason why?" Mod offered and Rosan hummed in contemplation.

He'd be keeping an eye on her. He didn't quite think it was that simple because some things never were.

"C'mon, let's go to the restaurant," a pretty blonde in a red dress (who had been staring at Rosan for a good bit, much to Mod's rage) told Fullbody and he nodded in agreement but not before telling his subordinates to attack the crew.

"They're an eyesore, sink em."

They watched the Marine ship take aim at them and the cannon fired with a resounding boom.

"I've got this!" Luffy declared before inhaling. "Gomu Gomu no Balloon!"

The rubber boy turned into a balloon and caught the cannonball but the momentum made him shift —

and he hit the restaurant instead...

"WHAT?!" Everyone, including the Marines, who had never seen Luffy do this exclaimed.

Rosan closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh at the sight of the hole in the roof.

Perhaps it was best if he went with his brother.

"Ow," Luffy groaned with teary eyes.

---

"We brought him in, owner," two chefs said, dragging a resigned Luffy into the room.

Rosan followed at a sedate pace to make sure his brother didn't make things worse.

"I thought he had gained much better control over that technique…" Mod sighed. Some things never changed. Surely Luffy had enough control to just redirect it back at the Marines? The boy never did like planning and just went with the flow so she wouldn't be surprised if the only thought that went into the technique was, "Reflect it!"

Luffy began apologizing profusely to what appeared to be the head chef and then he took one look at his leg, or lack thereof.

"AHHHHHHHH, YOUR LEG!" Luffy screeched with even more tears. He hadn't meant to obliterate the man's leg like that!

"IDIOT!" The head chef roared, planting a foot on his face and Rosan decided now was a good time to intervene.

"I'm sorry for my captain and his actions," Rosan began, catching the head chef's attention. "I'll repair the roof as an apology."

Zeff looked at the dead eyed heterochromatic with a surprised expression on his face. He sure did have no presence to him for someone who looked so unique. It was quite difficult to even tell there was another person in the room!

"Repair? How?"

Rosan had already walked up to the hole and was inspecting the damage dealt with a calculating gaze.

"Modification: Repair," he thought to himself, and Zeff watched with a fascinated gaze, as the roof began molding back into the state it was at before. In no time at all, it was as if the ship had not gotten blasted by a cannonball and he gazed at the redhead with much more interest.

The only sign that there had been a problem, were the injuries currently on the head chef's body.

"A Devil Fruit?" Zeff asked curiously. It was rare to see them around these parts of the seas but he couldn't even begin to tell you what that one was.

"What else could it be?" Rosan retorted calmly, willingly not going into detail.

"Even if Rosan fixed it, I still have to make up for it myself!" Luffy exclaimed, not pleased with his own actions. "I got no money though!"

The redhead closed his eyes in defeat. He tried for his brother. He really did, but he was way too honest.

Zeff rubbed his long beard at that declaration and shrugged. If he wanted to make up for it despite the problem being solved, then fine. "That just means you have to work here."

"Alright! Anything to make it up!"

"One month, unpaid, as a chore boy." He was going to make it one year but the problem was already solved so he settled for a month.

"Okay! One month, unpaid, as a chore boy!"

…

"Eh? O-One month?!"

"Looks like our pirate journey is over," Rosan commented, much to his younger brother's despair.

"Not going to bail him out?"

"Not yet. Let him sweat a little for being an idiot then when we get our chef, I'll convince him to let us go."

Mod giggled at her son's response.

"This has nothing to do with me," Rosan commented, wishing his brother luck and ignoring his pleading gaze.

The idiot should have just let him deal with it instead of speaking up. There was a reason Rosan handled all of the talking between him, Luffy and Ace. The middle brother was a blunt idiot that had terrible social cues (he got much better thanks to Makino) and Luffy would forever be hopeless when it came to anything not fighting related.

"Yeah, just your captain is needed. Thanks for repairing my roof," Zeff nodded. He wouldn't force the one who repaired the roof to do labor.

"Oh, I see Zoro, Nami and Usopp," Rosan commented. "I'm going to join them if they're ordering. Bye, Luffy," the redhead waved and he left the room.

"One week!" He heard Luffy say and Ram burst out laughing.

---

"So Luffy is here for one month?!" Zoro asked in disbelief. That was way too long!

Rosan had just finished informing them of what transpired with the head chef and he nodded in confirmation.

"I repaired the roof but Luffy insisted on opening his mouth so now he has to deal with it for at least until we can find a chef," Rosan hummed. "After that, I'll bail him out. I can't have him trapped here for a month after all."

"He's so stupid," Nami sighed in exasperation. Luffy was seriously lucky that he had Rosan around.

"HEY, WAITER," A familiar voice screamed, making everyone in the restaurant glance up. It was the Marine Lieutenant, Fullbody and he didn't look very happy.

Rosan watched a blonde in a black suit walk towards the man and neutrally watched the exchange. From his position, he could only see the back of the chef but the conversation was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Didn't I tell you I'm not a waiter?" The chef said calmly. He momentarily ignored the Marine in favor of looking at Fullbody's date and the blonde immediately began to flirt with her, much to the annoyance of the Marine and the amusement of the girl being subjected to it.

"They're causing quite the commotion," Rosan muttered, watching the pink haired man make a fuss about there being a bug in his soup.

"Sorry, sir, but I don't know since I don't know much about insects," the blonde smirked. He was clearly not taking him serious and neither were the other patrons, if the laughter meant anything.

The sound of a table shattering, reverberated throughout the room and the patrons of the restaurant let out shocked gasps. The few who were not paying attention, were now and there were eyes all on the Marine who very clearly lost his composure.

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" Fullbody snarled. His fists were clenched and it was clear that he had been the one to shatter the table. This had the added effect of spilling all the soup he had ordered on the floor and the amused chef immediately darkened.

"Waste of good food," Rosan thought idly. This was why he couldn't stand the Marines. Everything was just one big ego trip for them and they never actually thought about doing their job of keeping the peace.

No, all of them just joined for themselves.

The chef bent down and glanced at the soup with an unreadable look in his eyes. "...You could have eaten it if you took that bug out, you know," the blonde eventually said.

That had taken three days to cook and it was wasted, just like that. By some ungrateful guy that just wanted to cause a scene for nothing because he wasn't a fan of being made fun of.

Fullbody placed a foot on the chefs outstretched hand with an annoyed look on his face. "Aren't you acting a bit to big for your britches? I'm a customer! I'm paying you!"

"Fullbody-san!" His date tried calming him down. "Stop, let it go!" She begged but he simply shoved her to the side and she fell to the floor with a pained gasp.

The patrons were dead silent at the altercation, afraid to attract attention to themselves so as to not incite the wrath of the lieutenant.

Well, all but one group.

"He's pretty rude," Rosan commented idly, making no attempt to lower his voice. He was resting a cheek on his fist as he watched the free entertainment. "Pushing his date like that, what a gentleman."

Zoro snorted at that. "I don't see what the big idea is. It's just a bug."

Usopp shrugged helplessly. "Not even Captain Usopp is afraid of a mere bug. I've dealt with the biggest bugs on the planet before!"

Nami giggled at their comments. "Seems he's got too much of an ego to handle being embarrassed."

"That seems to be the norm for the Marines," the redhead muttered. "They just hire anyone to do the job. I'm convinced half of them are mindless idiots and the other half are on a power trip."

The orange haired navigator and swordsman looked at Rosan with a curious gaze. He seemed to harbor quite the dislike for the Marines. Was there a story behind that?

Probably. Rosan seemed to have a lot of unknown stories.

"Can money satisfy your hunger?" The blonde chef suddenly asked Fullbody.

The Marine looked at him with a confused, but annoyed, expression on his face. "What did you say?" He asked.

"I'm saying, can money satisfy your hunger?" He repeated, before spinning into a handstand and delivering a devastating series of kicks to Fullbody's face.

"Ouch," Rosan commentated. He had a strong set of legs on him.

"Don't waste food," the sous chef warned with a hard glare. He was currently holding Fullbody's bloodied body up with one hand and the unconscious Marine could only twitch from the thrashing he received.

"At sea, provoking a cook is the same as committing suicide. Remember that."

Other cooks had shown up the scene by now and watched in horror at what their sous chef had done to the Marine.

"Sous chef?!" One called in disbelief.

"Sanji, again?!" Another one groaned.

The crowd watched the beat down in horror and Fullbody's date looked shocked to see how effortlessly he had been defeated.

Rosan paused as he heard something key and he actually began blinking at the sudden information.

"Sanji?" He said to himself.

---

"Eh, you know him?" Zoro asked. He was sitting closest to Rosan so he had heard the man mutter the blonde's name under his breath.

"...Something like that. Though, I doubt he knows who I am," Rosan replied calmly. He hadn't meant to say his name out loud but he didn't expect to hear that name again.

Now that he had a name, it was impossible for him not to make the obvious connections to that prisoner he had saved so long ago when he raided Germa.

The weak prince who had been disowned by his own father for being deemed a failure. The one who had told the Angel of Death that he wanted to be a cook with such conviction that he had been freed as a result. The one who looked up at him with obvious adoration (that he didn't deserve) through those excessively teary eyes of his...

The one who looked like he could defend himself now despite being so weak before.

Rosan never thought he'd see the blonde again. The world sure was a small place.

"He's grown strong," Mod praised with a proud smile. No longer did he look unsure and weak. Sanji had clearly been following his dreams with fervor if he was now the sous chef of such a popular restaurant and perhaps his brother's treatment had given him the urge to grow strong as well.

It had been 11 years since they had last met. Rosan had been 13, and Sanji 8 so that meant the boy was now 19.

He had gone through many changes; The redhead was impressed by his growth. It was night and day from when he was a child.

A large screaming man was currently reprimanding Sanji about treating their customers correctly, to which Sanji replied, "He insulted the cooks and our food, who gives a damn if he's a customer."

Fullbody clearly wasn't getting the memo that he should keep his mouth shut, because now he was threatening to have the restaurant shut down.

"How embarrassing," Rosan mused, watching the bloodied man rave. Sanji had gotten fed up and looked as if he were about to finish the man off.

It was a shame that the other chefs were trying to stop him.

All current commotion halted, as another commotion began. Namely, the ceiling of the restaurant shattering and dropping two familiar people.

Rosan sighed. "I shouldn't have left them alone."

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO THE CEILING, BRAT!" Zeff roared to the straw hat wearing boy.

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO BROKE IT!" Luffy roared back.

"Owner! Please stop Sanji before he kills the Marine!" A chef begged and Zeff finally noticed the altercation taking place.

"Sanji, what are you doing?! Are you trying to put my restaurant out of business?!" Zeff demanded, walking up to his sous chef with a set frown.

"Shut it you old geezer!" Sanji retorted, only to grunt as a peg leg connected squarely with his cheek and floored him.

Fullbody grinned at the sight of the sous chef finally getting what he deserved, only to cry out in pain as he was similarly struck to the floor.

"And you, get the hell outta here already!" The head chef demanded, glowering at the idiot of a Marine.

Fullbody trembled in disbelief. W-What was wrong with this place?! WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!

"The chefs sure are unique," Nami pointed out with a perplexed expression on her face.

"Pirates probably come here and they likely aren't all compliant like us. You can't own a seafaring restaurant and be like Usopp I would imagine," Rosan countered.

"That's true," she conceded. If the chefs were pushovers, they'd likely not be able to even run a business.

"H-Hey! I'll have you know that when I was only 5 I owned my own seafaring restaurant and when pirates tried to invade me they learned that Captain Usopp was a force to be— LISTEN TO ME!" Usopp roared at the 3 ignoring him.

The sound of the door entrance banging open, caught their attention and a visibly nervous Marine burst into the restaurant.

"C-Captain Fullbody, we've got a problem!" The subordinate hastily called. "The Krieg Pirate we captured escaped after beating all 7 of us in battle!"

The lieutenant gaped at that and patrons of the restaurant who heard of the Krieg Pirates began fearfully muttering to each other.

"W-WHAT?! B-But he was starving when we captured him 3 days ago and we haven't fed him yet!" Fullbody said nervously, sweating buckets right now.

"Krieg pirates?" Zoro muttered in interest. The patrons of the restaurant began panicking at that information, saying things such as how the Krieg Pirates were the most powerful group in the East Blue.

"Most powerful pirate group in East Blue?" Rosan repeated with a raised brow. He had heard of the Krieg Pirates. They were an armada consisting of about 50 ships and around 5,000 men who were led by a man named Don Krieg, a man with a bounty of 17,000,000 beri.

It sounded like a fearsome group but Rosan knew that it was just quantity over quality when it came to them. Not even Don Krieg was very notable and he was the type of man that would never recruit someone stronger than him.

Only sheer numbers made them somewhat formidable but they were truly nothing impressive.

BANG!

Everyone froze at the noise of gunshot and the Marine who was reporting to Fullbody collapsed in a spray of blood.

He did not get back up.

"EEEEEEK!" The customers shrieked in terror.

Usopp and Nami gasped at the gruesome sight while Rosan and Zoro stared, stone faced.

"We have a new customer," Patty said.

"He better not go on a rampage in my place," Zeff grumbled.

"Oh, a pirate!" Luffy grinned.

The wounded pirate was a lanky, average-sized man with short, scruffy hair and slight stubble. His eyes were surrounded by dark rings and he wore an open gray-white jacket lined with twin red sea-serpent designs, a green undershirt, gray trousers, a gray headband with blue stripes, and two round earrings on each ear.

He walked right past a paralyzed Fullbody and sagged into the chair before simply saying, "Bring me food. Anything's fine… This is a restaurant, right?"

Patty stepped up and morphed his face into some type of smile before saying, "Welcome, ya damn crook!"

The gasp of horror the crowd let out at Patty's crass attitude, made Ram scoff.

"Pussies," the weapon snorted.

"Just who is teaching you this language?!" Mod gaped at the taller woman.

"Auntie Angel and Maro!" Ram snitched shamelessly. Angel especially, really had a way with her words that solidified just how much she disliked a particular person.

The horror on her face when Mod confronted her about unintentionally teaching Ram these words, would be absolutely delicious.

"I'll have to teach them about what they should say around you," Mod muttered, crossing her arms with a contemplative expression. Ram was easily the most vulgar of them all with Angel being a solid second and the redhead loved teaching Ram things as her "Cool Auntie".

Well, Mod would need to speak to her about this. She was the one who had to deal with this!

Ram sent out a quick prayer to Angel.

"I'm terribly sorry, sir, but do you have the money for that?" Patty asked, rubbing his head apologetically with a large grin on his face.

The pirate glared at him and aimed his gun at the chef.

"Do you take lead?" He retorted.

The smile was instantly wiped off Patty's face. "So you don't have money, right?"

Before the injured pirate could even react, Patty delivered a double axe handle strike that sent him careening towards the floor and began to ruthlessly beat the starving man.

"That damn Patty broke my chair," Zeff muttered in annoyance.

The crowd cheered loudly at the sight of the pirate getting beaten down and they roared in victory as he was tossed out of the restaurant.

Rosan noticed Luffy disappearing and let out a sigh. "I'll be right back," he informed the crew. "Order whatever, it's on me."

Nami's eyes shone at his words. Only loaded people said that! One day she would find Rosan's secret stash and persuade (beg) him to give her some!

"No you won't, greedy little princess."

With that, Rosan got up and went to go find his captain.

---

"He's still a kind child," Mod smiled fondly at seeing Sanji hand the starving pirate a meal.

Rosan nodded in agreement. Despite not having any money and threatening the chefs, the blonde prince had seen it fit to still give the pirate a meal.

If he did something like that…

"Hey, cook! Join our pirate group!"

...Yep. He managed to get Luffy's attention. That was the last thing you wanted to do and now poor Sanji was definitely apart of the crew.

Sanji looked a bit taken aback by Luffy's abrupt request but recovered admirably. "I refuse. I have a reason for working at this restaurant," he said.

Luffy frowned at that. "No! I refuse!"

Sanji and Gin blinked owlishly. "What?" The chef asked in confusion.

"I refuse your refusal!" Luffy declared. "You're a good cook so let's be pirates together."

What the fuck?! Who was this guy? Who the hell just refused someones refusal? "Listen to what I have to say, damnit!" Sanji replied in disbelief.

"I feel bad for anyone that Luffy gains an interest in," Ram snorted. The youngest brother was quite spoiled and none of them did a thing to reel it in!

Rosan couldn't help but nod in agreement as his captain and the cook got into an argument.

Thankfully, the formerly starving pirate (he introduced himself as Gin of the Krieg pirates) interrupted the two arguing. After verifying that Luffy was in fact a pirate, he asked the straw hat wearing boy if he had any goals and Luffy promptly answered his same answer every time.

"I'm aiming for the One Piece so I'm gonna enter the Grand Line," the rubber boy replied bluntly.

Gin's eyes flashed and he began to sweat nervously. "Since you're looking for a cook, you must not be a big crew," he pointed out grimly.

Luffy nodded. "Yup, he's our sixth member!" The captain exclaimed, pointing a finger at Sanji.

"DON'T COUNT ME!" Sanji roared. Seriously, what was wrong with this moron?!

"You seem like a nice guy, so I'll warn you… Don't go to the Grand Line," Gin told Luffy.

The Krieg pirate proceeded to tell the rubber boy how it was best to avoid the Pirate Graveyard and take his chances exploring any part of the sea besides that one.

"You know something about the Grand Line?" Luffy asked curiously, tilting his head at the scarred pirate with a glimmer of excitement.

Gin clutched his head as the blurry memories began flooding in. "No… I-I don't know anything. I don't understand anything about that place… That's why I fear it."

"For the unprepared, the Grand Line truly deserves its title of the Pirate Graveyard. One mistake is all it takes for an entire crew to sink," Mod warned gently. It's why she had been so adamant on not allowing Rosan to go there when he was younger. When it was just him and Robin, that would have been almost certain death no matter how talented the two partners were.

Rosan hummed. He had very been eager to test his strength there as a child (and with his emotions he was sure that would still have been true) but that desire had vanished. Now, he had other reasons to want to go there.

Though... maybe the oddity of that sea would help him out. The blue seas had been too dull for him even when he was still a child.

"What happened to you in the Grand Line?" The redhead spoke up for the first time, catching the attention of the two who hadn't noticed him.

"Who…?" Sanji asked in confusion at the sight of the redhead staring down at them.

"That's Rosan! He's my scout!" Luffy introduced cheerfully. "Rosan, this is Sanji! He's our new cook!"

"Nice to meet you, Sanji," Rosan nodded. "I hope we can get along."

"I SAID I WASN'T APART OF YOUR CREW!" Sanji barked at the increasingly annoying straw hat.

"We should try his food first then make a final decision, I agree," Rosan hummed.

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Sanji was already tired of these two and they had just met. Was this whole crew full of nutjobs?!

"There are real monsters in the Grand Line," Gin said gravely, grabbing their attention. "He's your captain, right? Maybe you can convince him to sail in any other sea."

Rosan tilted his head. "No, I also have business in the Grand Line and no one can convince Luffy to give up on his dream."

Luffy nodded with a beaming grin and a thumbs up.

The two were not as weak as the Krieg Pirates were. Gin was a pathetic weakling who was apart of a pathetic crew. That's all there was to it and it would never be different.

His rubbery captain was already more then ready for the Grand Line. Rosan had made sure that no one in the East Blue could challenge his strength and he'd blaze through the seas much like Ace did.

If he didn't... Well Rosan would just pick back up with training until he did of course.

"Well, I'm a stranger to you guys so I have no right to stop you," Gin smiled, preparing a boat and getting ready to leave. "I just wanted to warn you."

He then turned towards Sanji and said, "Sanji-san, thank you so much!" The Krieg pirate bowed deeply. "I owe my life to you. The food you gave me was the most delicious! Do you mind if I come back?" He requested.

Sanji smiled at the pirate. "Any time!" He replied kindly.

"There you are, Chore Boy!" A gruff voice called out.

Zeff, who stood next to Rosan, looked down at the exchange with an unreadable look in his eyes. The head chef glanced at the empty plate and cup and grunted.

Gin's face morphed into guilt at the realization that Sanji had fed him for free without consulting anyone else. Now he was going to get in trouble for…

"Get outta here, Gin," Sanji muttered, grabbing the plate and cup. Without any hesitation, he dumped both into the ocean and grinned smugly. "I can't get in any trouble if there's no proof that I did something."

Gin's eyes widened at his action and he bowed to the floor as the ship set sail. "Thank you, Sanji-san! I'll never forget your kindness!"

"Try not to get caught again," Sanji waved and he took a puff out of his cigarette.

"Sanji! Chore boy! Get back to work already!" Zeff barked. His patience had run thin with the two and he had an annoyed look on his face. What a waste of a plate and cup. He could have fixed the issue in any other way.

"Hey, redhead. Could you fix the hole on the ceiling?" The owner asked the chore boy's subordinate. Since he was here, it was best to just ask him instead of having to pay for it.

"I don't work for free," Rosan replied calmly. "I only fixed your roof because my captain blew a hole into it. That other hole was your own doing so I have no obligation to fix it for free."

"How candid," Zeff remarked. He was more similar to his captain then the head chef thought.

Rosan hummed for a moment, coming to a decision on the spot. "I'll fix it, but I want Sanji to cook me his best meal in return," the redhead replied.

"Deal," Zeff nodded immediately, not seeing a problem with that. The best meal from his brat? That would be easy enough and he'd get a repaired roof in return.

While the head chef saw no problem with that, Sanji froze completely at those words. There was something about those words… Something alarmingly familiar. Something that reminded him of a time that not many people alive should know about and this scout shouldn't have been one of them.

Unless...

He looked at the redhead talking to his straw hat captain with a searching gaze. He was tall, much too tall… That was the first thing and he was very clearly missing his signature black wings and that oppressive aura. The next was that he was not covered head to toe in black… Well, he actually was but you get the point! The outfit was much too expensive and looked fitted for leisure and not combat. Reaper would never wear something like this!

But didn't that make sense? Reaper did have a bounty of 500,000,000 after all and they had gone missing for 10 years...

What was stopping the Shinigami from just having no disguise on? It's not like anyone knew who was under the hoodie... Hell, no one even knew Reaper's official gender.

He started wracking his mind at possibility that this Rosan was Reaper…

The two acted startlingly similar. They both had an emotionless disposition and talked in an empty but polite manner… but that wasn't nearly enough to make the connection! The redhead also seemed much more playful (as playful as someone who seemed to display zero emotion could be) then the daunting Shinigami.

Besides, many people admired the Shinigami and opted to act like them. This person could just be one of the thousands who decided to adopt some of Reaper's qualities in hopes of mimicking his success. Others did it just because they thought the Shinigami was cool!

The chef nodded at that. He could only chalk it up as a coincidence right now. He was the sous chef after all and was decently well known in the East Blue as a prominent chef. Of course someone would want to try his best meal over the shitty geezer's own.

Sanji idly made eye contact with the relaxed scout and the chef idly noted that the dead eyed man was heterochromatic. He had quite the set of orbs and they were probably the most notable part of his appearance. His right eye was a dull royal purple and the left was…

The left was…

The... left... was...

A dull blood red.

"Sanji! What are you so spaced out for?! Get back to work!" Zeff demanded.

The chef's cigarette fell out of his mouth at the sheer shock he was currently feeling. There was just no way right? After 11 years… Was it really them? No, it had to have been a coincidence. It had to be!

"Eh? Rosan, do you know him?" Luffy asked in confusion. Sanji had been staring at his brother for a pretty long time now. Was his chef alright?

Rosan hummed and nodded. "We met once when I was 13. I'm surprised he can recognize me," the redhead replied. He wasn't too surprised. Ever since his shift, him and Reaper's personality were practically identical.

"How old are you now?" Zeff asked curiously, interested in knowing when the redhead had met his foolish son and why his sous chef was reacting the way he did.

"24."

Sanji let out a choked noise.

---

"There is no reason for you to have ordered this much food."

Rosan stared at the smug Nami with a neutral expression on his face. Was this her definition of revenge? He had been antagonizing her quite a bit since she joined them so perhaps he should have expected this.

Neither him nor Luffy were at the table currently to order all of the food so this was definitely to try and spite him.

"You said we can order whatever!" Nami beamed and Usopp shot him an apologetic look.

The sniper tried to stop her from provoking the scary redhead but the navigator was not willing to listen to reason, spearing forward with a ruthless smile and a cunning gleam in her eyes.

Since the moment they met, Rosan went out of his way to constantly annoy her and he always got the upper hand on her too. On her! Of course she'd take this opportunity to finally get revenge on him! He was practically begging for it by placing such a tempting offer on the table.

Zoro was drinking away merrily, ignoring everything else but his current task. Clearly he had been the one to order the sake because no one else was touching it.

Their table was fully packed with a wide assortment of food ranging from seafood, rice, meat, soup, sake and pasta.

Rosan sat down and took a bite out of the pasta. He chewed it for a bit and nodded in satisfaction. It was good. The Baratie's reputation was well earned so he'd enjoy everything here.

Nami blinked in confusion at his lack of a reaction and just chalked it up to his emotionless disposition.

There was surely no way he'd be willing to just pay for all of this! Why was he just eating without a care in the world?

Rosan noticed her confusion and made a point to wave at her mockingly. "I did tell you to order whatever, didn't I? If I say that, naturally it means I have the means to pay. And I do happen to eat a lot so you did me a favor."

The redhead had been getting income that increased constantly from Fregate since he was nine years old and Aiko's island was one of the wealthiest in the North Blue. Even now, he went to collect payments from his long time partner and the amount only increased as their island became more prestigious.

Money would never be an issue for him. It was a good thing he had said a percentage instead of a set price. Not only did he get more and more every time their total earnings increased, he forced Aiko to constantly do the math of the island's entire funds and that was something she especially despised doing (he forbade Akemi from doing it) if the way she glowered at him whenever he brought it up meant anything.

Some things would never change and that was the enjoyment of pissing off his surrogate older sister.

He should visit them soon. It was about that time to annoy his long time partner.

When the bill came up to nearly 120,000 beri (about 1,200 USD), Rosan accepted it easily enough and took out the required amount out of his pocket without hesitation, paying for them all and even asking for more so that he didn't have to cook tonight.

Nami watched him effortlessly pay for the entire meal with a dropped jaw and the redhead glanced at her, making a point to raise a brow.

"You'll catch flies," he advised gently. Did she forget how he just casually gave her five million beri all that time ago? Silly little orange girl. You needed to plan a bit more to get revenge on someone like him.

Usopp moved a bit away at the glower on Nami's face. He was not going to get in between what was quickly becoming a daily routine between the navigator and the scout because they were both terrifying.

"Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are?" The orange haired woman growled.

"I've been getting told that since I was four," the redhead answered.

"And you never thought of changing your ways?" She suggested.

"I am infamously stubborn according to some of those same people," he replied dryly.

Nami was about to continue but they were interrupted by Luffy's scream of outrage.

"YOU GUYS ARE EATING WITHOUT ME?!"

"Oh! If it isn't the chore boy!" Zoro called with a teasing grin on his face.

"I heard you have to work here for a month!" Usopp laughed at his plight, much to Luffy's chagrin.

"Should we repaint the flag to something else?" The green haired man laughed.

"Wait… Doesn't that mean Rosan would be the captain now?" Nami asked with barely restrained disgust. He was the first to join Luffy's crew after all. Having to take orders from the redhead seemed like a trip to an early grave for her.

"No/Nope!" Rosan and Luffy said at the same time. "Rosan doesn't wanna be a captain! He wouldn't be in the crew if he did!"

The scout nodded in agreement and watched as Luffy tried to sneak a booger in Zoro's drink.

Usopp and Nami began snickering as they also caught sight of it and Zoro grabbed his cup to take a drink —

And forced the beverage down Luffy's mouth.

"YOU REALLY THOUGHT I DIDN'T NOTICE?!" Zoro roared and Luffy collapsed on the floor, clawing his tongue in the process.

Sanji glanced up from what he was doing to glance at the table the chore boy was at. He saw a head of red hair and was starkly reminded of his current predicament.

Right… he owed the man one of his best prepped meals in exchange for him fixing the hole on the ceiling.

Sanji wouldn't normally mind but there was one big glaring detail.

That redhead could potentially be Reaper. Sanji wasn't completely sold on that fact (it was basically all his denial) because some things just didn't add up.

For one, Reaper, when they were active, traveled with only one other person and that was Grim… he couldn't imagine the Angel of Death traveling with such a loud group because that went against everything he knew about his old hero and he knew a lot more then others!

But maybe it was a cover up? In that case… did that mean one of these people were Grim? He found that a little hard to believe honestly but maybe...

Sanji looked over at the group more deeply and froze as he gazed at Nami. In a blur, he was at the pirate groups table with a rose in hand and presenting it to the laughing navigator.

"Oh, dear ocean! I thank you for today's encounter!" Sanji swooned much to Nami's surprise.

"How odd, he never struck me as a pervert," Mod mused, watching the blonde chef shamelessly flirt with Nami. He was really laying it on thick with exaggerated movements and heart eyes as well.

"It's not like we've seen him interact with a woman before and he was a prisoner… Maybe if he had seen you, he'd be just like this," Rosan countered.

"How embarrassing," Ram snorted at the pathetic sight.

"I'd love to journey with you but alas, the obstacles between us are too great!" Sanji gripped his chest at the reminder and forlornly looked away from the puzzled Nami, starkly doing his best to completely ignore Rosan's presence in the process.

"Are those obstacles you're talking about me?" Zeff called, making the chef scowl in annoyance.

"Tch, damn geezer," Sanji muttered.

The head chef of the Baratie began stroking his ridiculously long mustache.

"This is a good opportunity. Why don't you go become a pirate with them? I don't need you here anymore," the head chef declared.

"What?!" The swirly-browed chef gasped at the audacity of Zeff. "I'm the sous chef here, you damn geezer!"

"And?" Zeff raised a brow at the brat. "You get into trouble too often with the customers, you flair your nostrils the second you see a girl, you can't even cook a decent meal! You're dead weight at this restaurant so you might as well go."

Ram whistled at the verbal lashing Sanji was receiving. She liked this old man, he knew how to hit you where it hurt.

The chef in question, glared at Zeff and said, "I can ignore everything else you just said, but don't go mouthing off about how bad my cooking is."

He gripped the owner by his collar and looked him dead in his eye. "I'm going to stay here as a cook so stop trying to kick me out, you shitty old geezer."

Zeff did not appreciate being grabbed like that because he hoisted Sanji up and slammed him over the pirate's table, knocking it over in the process and gathering the attention of everyone there.

The sous chef slowly clambered back up and glared at the old man who attacked him. He then claimed that he wouldn't leave until the head chef died and Zeff left with some parting words stating that he still had 100 more years left in him.

Sanji took a drag out of his cigarette and calmly picked the table up, before placing a Fruit Macedonia in front of Nami, back to his flirting like nothing happened.

Usopp didn't take kindly to the chef only apologizing to the orange haired woman and when it looked like it was coming to blows, Nami managed to easily placate the blonde man.

"You sure do know how to abuse your good looks, Nami," Rosan commented idly, watching her shamelessly manipulate Sanji.

Nami's eyes narrowed before they lit up. "So you do think I look good!" She pointed out triumphantly. She still remembered their encounter on Orange Island and how effortlessly he had dismissed her advances. It still stung her pride but she began feeling a lot better after watching just how much people's advances he denied (he got a lot).

The redhead tilted his head at her statement. "I would be a fool not to acknowledge how attractive you are. It's unfortunate that you're not my type," Rosan replied, causing her to raise a brow at that.

"You have a type?" Nami asked and they all looked at the redhead for his answer, curious to know just what his type was.

"No."

The navigator flew over the table to try and strangle him, failing like every other time and making her more unhinged as a result.

Luffy was happily munching away at some of the leftovers on the table.

Zoro barked out his laughter, downing even more sake in the process as he watched the altercation.

Usopp tried to break it up but a stray kick from Nami, sent him flying into dreamland.

Sanji watched their interaction and seemingly convinced himself of something.

There was no way this was Reaper. The only one who could have possibly been Grim, had shamelessly attacked him and they didn't seem very familiar at all like him and that Luffy idiot (there was absolutely no chance the straw hat boy was Grim).

Besides, Rosan was too playful (in comparison to the Angel of Death) and seemed to thrive on annoying people. He was much different then Reaper's professional, business like demeanor. The Shinigami didn't deign to do stuff like this.

It was underneath them.

Yes, there was no way this colorful redhead was Reaper.

"Is he still in denial?" Mod asked in amusement.

"I'm in no rush to change his mind," Rosan hummed, repelling Nami's efforts completely. It's not like he had explicitly said he was Reaper, he wouldn't directly tell anyone about his identity like he had done with his family.

Not even Luffy fully knew he was Reaper because he was terrible at keeping secrets.

"Are you still trying to hit me?" The redhead asked curiously, wondering if patting her would make her froth. "Stop, can't you see that you're causing a scene? Look, the people are watching us more then normal and it's not only because of me this time."

That only made the navigator more feral, if the intense struggling meant anything. "It's almost like someone was just thrown through a table!" Nami hissed, desperately trying to wrap her hands around the redhead's neck and failing due to him using his height to repel her.

"I don't understand why you're so upset," Rosan sighed with a shake of his head. "You're pretty, you're getting free food and you have Sanji here eating out of the palm of your hand. To still be so angry... I worry for you, Nami. I hope you know that."

"You are going to make this girl go gray early," Mod giggled. Rosan and Nami had a really amusing dynamic to her and she found it very entertaining. The fact that it was never serious made it all the better for you.

"Haha, Father can be very annoying!" Ram teased.

"I'll see the both of you tonight," Rosan hummed and they immediately began spluttering. Whenever Rosan said that, it never turned out well for them and they had learned that it was best to appease him before he actually did enter the mindscape, lest they get tickled unconscious.

"W-What?! Don't you think this is a bit uncalled for? I didn't do a thing!"

"I-It was Auntie Mod's fault! You should have seen the way she was looking at me! She was practically telling me with her eyes to say it!"

"You little lying demon! I did no such thing!"

Rosan smiled a small smile as they devolved into argument with each other.

It was almost too easy sometimes.

---

"Rosan!" Akemi beamed in joy, flying into his strong arms with a happy sigh.

She had missed the redhead dearly and was glad that he was visiting!

"We saw him two weeks ago," Aiko rolled her eyes but she was happy to see him too. "How's the pirate life, Rosan? Why don't you have a crazy high bounty yet?"

The younger sister nodded vigorously in agreement. He needed to have one upped Reaper by now! 1 billion was a great starting point!

"I'm trying to avoid attracting attention right now, you two. I already have one absurd bounty, I don't need a second one at the moment," the redhead replied calmly, pulling the other sister into a hug and squeezing the two gently.

Akemi melted into it and Aiko tried to protest, despite relishing in the hug, so she could keep up appearances.

She wasn't fooling anyone.

"Here, your money," Aiko grumbled, accepting his reasoning and handing him his stipend. "How's that little squirt Luffy anyways? I would have expected him to have a bounty by now. That kid has no ounce of subtlety."

"We haven't really had much altercations with the Marines and Luffy isn't one to cause harm to innocents so we don't have a real reason to gain bounties," he explained calmly, accepting the money and having it vanish into his pocket dimension with a simple wave of his hand.

His little brother was still slaving away at the Baratie while his crew patiently waited for him to get out of the situation. If he took too long, Rosan would just have a talk with Zeff.

It's not like the head chef had a real reason to keep Luffy there, the Mod Mod no mi user had immediately repaired the roof of the restaurant. They both knew that but Rosan only allowed it to continue because the rubber boy had been asking for it and they had still been unable to sway Sanji to join the crew.

Once he succeeded, then Rosan would allow his dumb captain to be free. There was no way he would allow Luffy to stay there for a month.

"I have some free time since Luffy is occupied, is there anything you guys want to do?" Rosan asked the sisters and Akemi beamed in excitement.

"Have you and Angel updated your wardrobe recently?!" The younger sister asked, causing him to shake his head no. "Great, we can all go shopping and grab a meal! It's on me!"

"Alright. I've been meaning to add a bit of silver to my collection," he nodded. There was no point in offering to pay, it literally never worked.

"Silver? I know just the place! I'll try not to get you too much this time," she grinned.

Rosan nearly snorted. That was absolutely a lie. Angel and Akemi bought him far too much clothes to last a lifetime. He was sure if he put his entire wardrobe on the Going Merry, she wouldn't even make it out of the East Blue before sinking. It was incredibly handy to have a Pocket Dimension to store all that stuff.

"I still have stuff to do but I guess I'll go," Aiko complained. She wasn't even remotely as psychotic as Angel and Akemi when it came to clothing the others but she would never turn down a chance to see the redhead shirtless.

What? She deserved to spoil herself a little!

"Do you honestly still think you're fooling anyone?" Rosan asked with a tilted head, pinching her cheek and getting a growl of aggravation out of her. "Honestly, this tough act of yours has not worked for about 13 years. You're like a little gumball on the inside."

Akemi giggled at the look of outrage on Aiko's face and the older sister launched herself at the redhead.

"I'll show you gumball you little annoying fucking —," The leader of Fregate snarled and Rosan deftly caught the shorter woman, patting her on the head and carrying her bridal style, knowing that it would piss her off all the more being held like this.

"You would like one of my crewmates, she thinks I'm just as annoying," Rosan chimed, effortlessly holding the struggling, suit wearing, woman and walking out of the room with her, Akemi in tow.

The younger sister giggled the entire time at their antics. This was like clockwork between the two and it was great to see Aiko let her guard down when the redhead was here. She was normally calm and strict when on the job and cooled down significantly when it was just the two of them but Rosan made sure it was impossible for her to remain coolheaded.

"I hate you," Aiko growled. He sure did love to lord around that height of his. She tried punching him on the chest but the first one ended up with her fist hurting and she immediately gave up.

Strong, annoying, muscular brat.

"I haven't heard you say you hate me in a while, I kinda missed it," Rosan hummed, patting her mockingly on the head. "It's refreshing to know that some things don't change, like your temper."

Aiko snarled.

Akemi laughed loudly.

---

"You're lucky that you can just go in and out whenever you want while we're stuck here waiting for Luffy," Usopp complained to the redhead that suddenly appeared on the ship.

They had no clue how he did it (and Usopp had screamed the first time) but Rosan had a tendency to vanish for who knows what and just suddenly show up again near Luffy. He didn't deign to explain what it was but apparently Zoro knew about it.

"It's difficult for me to stay in one place for long due to the fact that I've been traveling since I was four," Rosan informed him. "Being on the sea brings that feeling of restlessness back so I move around a lot."

It was hard for him to stay still. As a child, it made him a nightmare for Rouge and then Mod... and then Robin... and then Meiko...

You get the point. He was a free spirit.

The sniper nodded at his lying crewmate (he needed to work on them a bit, maybe Usopp would give him pointers in the future) and said, "I know what you mean, I've been sailing the seas since I was two and settling down was really difficult for me but I managed!"

Rosan stared at him for a long moment. "Are you mocking me?" He asked lowly, tilting his head to the side.

Did their sniper think him sailing the sea at just four was something worth making fun of? There was hardly a good situation where a near toddler should be on the ocean alone.

Usopp froze at the question and immediately hid behind Zoro at those piercing eyes boring into him. "O-Of course not! The great captain Usopp doesn't mock anyone!"

"Hm." Rosan eyed him for a moment longer before gazing away from the sniper. Whatever, some lying coward who knew nothing about him, wasn't worth his attention. Let him continue to lie to himself in peace.

Zoro snorted at their interaction. Did Usopp really think everything that came out of their scouts mouth was a lie? Well, he'd find out eventually that the redhead was an honest person and it was clear he also wasn't a fan of liars.

"Rosan, can't you do something to get Luffy out of this?" The swordsman asked.

"I already did," Rosan interjected. "It's his fault that he's working here currently and like I said, I'll bail him out after a week. It's been two days so we have five more to go."

"I don't see what the big idea is," Nami grinned happily, unfazed by their stay here. "We get free food and drinks and it tastes amazing!"

"That's only you," Usopp replied in annoyance. At least Rosan didn't let them die of starvation... mostly. The redhead was so rude sometimes honestly.

Sanji was firmly in Nami's palm. It was rather amusing because he was doing everything in his power to avoid Rosan in the process despite convincing himself that there was no way he was Reaper.

He had yet to give the redhead his promised meal and Rosan had waved Zeff off when the head chef asked if he wanted intervention.

"I can't have the best meal if it's not readily cooked, I don't mind waiting," he replied calmly, causing the old man to nod in respect.

Luffy had still been unsuccessful in recruiting the blonde chef, which was also apart of the reason he hadn't freed his younger brother. They would have stayed here until the rubber boy managed to convince him regardless.

Speaking of which, his captain was currently walking a huge trash bag when he caught sight of his crew lazing about on the Going Merry.

"Luffyyyy," Usopp whined in exasperation. "Let's hurry up and get outta here!"

"I'll try talking to the owner again today," the rubber boy frowned. Zeff was completely unwilling to change his mind no matter what Luffy asked of him. He was steadfast in his decision to keep the pirate here and when he asked Rosan, the redhead told him to deal with his own stupidity for once.

"No, I won't help you again," Rosan replied out of nowhere, shutting Luffy down before he could even open his mouth.

Bah, Rosan was so mean. He was about to replace Ace as the meanest brother!

Conversation between the crew halted, as a massive shadow loomed over them and Rosan angled his head up slightly to see what the cause was.

It was a very large galleon ship with a saber tooth tiger as a figure head. It was nearly triple the size of the Baratie (which was not small at all) and positively eclipsed the Going Merry. It had a standard jolly roger with two hour glasses on either side.

"Oh?" Rosan hummed.

Screaming and panicking began to ensue inside of the restaurant as the ship's jolly roger was instantly recognized.

The Krieg Pirates. This was no coincidence.

"I find it a bit odd, don't you think?" Mod questioned. "It's a miracle that their ship is even able to move."

Mod's observation was spot on. The ship was a complete wreck and it looked more akin to a ghost ship. How it was able to still sail, was a complete mystery to the redhead.

"Looks like they had quite the fun trip," Rosan commented idly. Whatever natural disaster they had run into, sure did it's job in utterly wrecking them.

The man of the hour, Krieg himself, descended from the ship and everyone watched with bated breaths, as he slowly made his way to the entrance of the Baratie.

He was a large, muscular man, with purple-gray hair and distinct sideburns. There was a thick layer of gauze wrapped around his head and he wore a fur-lined coat over a yellow vest with black spots-like motifs.

Gin was carrying him currently and the two entered the restaurant with haste.

Rosan sent his bird to follow after the duo and his crewmates regarded him with curiosity.

"Don't you all want to listen in?" He asked, extending his palm upwards as it began to glow. "Modification: Stream," Rosan thought and his little birds perspective was suddenly being shown to the straw hats and bounty hunters.

Everyone on the ship gasped at the sight of sudden footage and they clambered around to get a better sight, until Rosan made it larger for them.

"You're all too close to me, I'm not a fan of that."

He didn't trust them (barring Zoro) enough to be comfortable with their proximity. His family had made him far more tolerable but he was just that. Tolerable. He wouldn't go out of his way to be crowded.

They backed a bit away from him and he nodded his head in thanks for the lack of questions, ignoring the curious gazes and focusing on the stream.

The group watched with varying degrees of confusion, as Don Krieg began begging the restaurant for food, even choosing to prostrate himself in the process. It was a far cry from what they had heard about him and his personality.

It was clear that he was in the same boat as Gin had been in before. The captain had not eaten in many days and out of desperation, they had come to the Baratie to fulfill their hunger.

Unfortunately, their reputation was well known and it was said that the Krieg Pirates were a cruel bunch who relied on trickery and deceit.

Gin tried to beg them when Krieg collapsed, but they were not spared a single sympathetic glance.

"Would you have fed them?" Mod asked curiously. She always liked to ask what her charge would do in these situations just to make him think! It was fun imagining what he'd do in certain scenarios and she liked to make poke his brain.

"If I had something to gain out of it," Rosan began, watching the chefs refuse to give Krieg food. "I am not one to trust rumors, but those about pirates hold at least some merit. If Don Krieg had something valuable, I'd feed him in exchange for it but otherwise I'd turn in his bounty. That's probably the most valuable thing about him," he finished.

His armada was weak, he was weak and he doubted the man had something Rosan would want. His 17 million bounty was very likely the best thing about him so the redhead would have just killed him and turned in the body.

"And if he promised to repay you after you fed him and lied about it?" Mod prodded.

"He'd find out what it means to lie to me of course."

She nodded, satisfied at his response. It was what she expected him to say and the purple haired Devil Fruit had no problem with his response. She had almost certainly become much more compassionate over the years but she was still Rosan's mother and they shared many traits. That compassion only extended to people she cared about much like her son and Mod wouldn't bat an eye if a person she cared little for were to die.

She may have acted more human then Rosan these days, but that would never change what she truly was.

They continued to watch the scene unfold in a comfortable silence, interested in seeing what they would do with Krieg. It didn't look like the chefs were planning on feeding the Don and for good reason too. The pirate was a terror in the East Blue and a chance like this, where he was completely vulnerable to capture, didn't appear often.

"This is the best chance they've got to turn in his bounty," Johnny nodded, agreeing with the sentiment of all in the restaurant.

"He's kinda stupid for just showing up in such a weakened condition," Usopp muttered, no longer afraid of the giant galleon after fully taking in its appearance.

The crowd had begun to regain their bravado at the sorry sight of Krieg and they began jeering at the duo, threatening to throw anything near them at the two.

"Once we feed him, he'll pillage us immediately!" A chef growled with his arms crossed. "We shouldn't even give him a drop of water!"

"I won't do anything…" Krieg interrupted, causing them all to pause. He prostrated himself lowly to the ground and weakly said, "Once I eat, I promise I'll leave quietly. So... please... help me."

Gin looked petrified at the sight of his esteemed captain begging and urged him to stop but Krieg remained rooted to his spot.

The group on the Going Merry watched in surprise, as Sanji kicked Patty unconscious, holding a plate of food and a drink in his hand. The blonde chef placed both in front of Don Krieg and urged Gin to have him eat it.

"That wasn't very smart of him," Rosan said softly, much to the confusion of the crew.

"Why? Because he's a pirate?" Nami asked and the redhead shook his head.

"No, because he lied about leaving quietly."

They froze at his blunt declaration.

"W-What do you mean?" Usopp asked in slight fear. If what Rosan was saying was true, then they were all going to be in danger soon!

"I'm good at detecting when a person is lying," the redhead told them. "When Krieg said he was going to leave quietly, that was a lie. I could tell from his tone, but he's probably going to attack the moment he regains his energy."

They, barring Zoro, somewhat doubted his claims (why did everyone doubt his words? Was he that good at being incognito?) but almost like being spoiled to a movie, they watched Krieg devour his meal, slam his bottle on the deck and clothesline the unsuspecting Sanji across the room.

"Still doubting me?" Rosan hummed to the petrified crew.

They glanced at the redhead who correctly predicted it and wondered how he was so easily able to tell, shakily denying his question in the process.

They didn't miss how unbothered he was at the fact that Krieg seemed to be at full strength but the screaming of the fleeing patrons, grabbed their attention.

Rosan's bird chirped at the mass of people and flew out of their way, cutting off the connection to the inside and disappearing from their sight.

"What do we do?!" Usopp asked, tempted to join the fleeing patrons.

"Isn't it obvious? We're going in there," Zoro remarked and the sniper's jaw dropped in disbelief at that.

"Yeah, Luffy's still in there," Rosan agreed. "We can't leave without our captain, idiot."

"Are you scared?" The swordsman asked with a smirk on his face.

"Afraid you might die?" The scout tilted his head curiously.

"D-Don't be silly!" Usopp barked in embarrassment. Who wouldn't be afraid of dying?! These two just had no sense of self preservation!

"Don't worry, I won't protect you," Rosan assured and Usopp relaxed.

Then he registered his words.

"DON'T YOU MEAN YOU WILL?!"

Nami and Zoro couldn't help but laugh at Rosan's silence.

---

When the crew entered the restaurant (sans Johnny, Yosaku and Nami), they were surprised to see every single chef surrounding Sanji with guns.

"Are you a spy for Krieg, Sanji?" One of the chefs asked with fury on his face. "We ain't letting you in the kitchen! We've had enough of your behavior."

Sanji stared at them for a moment and then spread his arms out. "If you want to stop me, then fire," he demanded without a hint of care on his face.

"I know they're irredeemable villains, but my job is to feed people, not to judge them. It gets too complicated otherwise," the chef smirked.

"If a man is hungry, I feed him! That's a cook's job."

Rosan appraised his words with a hum. It seems the boy had been incredibly serious about becoming a chef all those years ago. He had taken his duty as a cook to heart and that resolve he had seen when Sanji was just a prisoner, was still there, looking even stronger than before.

He wondered what happened to the child to strengthen his conviction to this level.

"I think Luffy might see the same thing you saw all those years ago," Mod remarked. It was really quite amusing (and a little suspicious) that the child they had saved 11 years ago, was about to be recruited onto their ship but the world worked in mysterious ways so she wouldn't question it too much.

Rosan hummed curiously. He had figured that Sanji was a kind person, seeing as he was a prince but only wanted to become a chef, but this went past his expectations. He wondered if something happened to the blonde to make him like this.

Clearly it went past his fellow chefs too because Patty sucker punched the back of his head and ordered the remaining cooks to restrain him so that he couldn't do anything else.

The large chef bent over and seemed to be rummaging for something, only to reveal a ridiculous lobster themed bazooka.

"Should we have Ram absorb that?" Mod asked in amusement. It was a weapon and the silver haired woman was the ultimate weapon. It made sense for her to absorb all manner of weapons

"S-Stop messing around, Auntie! I can already transform into a bazooka! W-Who the hell did they even commission to make a lobster themed weapon?!" The ring balked in confusion. It was so, so ugly!

What a complete insult to all weapons out there! She was tempted to eat it just so that it didn't exist anymore!

Patty laughed and taunted Krieg in victory, before firing the bazooka at the pirate captain.

Rosan idly pulled Usopp out of the way of the flying debris that was the broken door and hummed at the lack of blood… and body parts.

"T-Thanks, Rosan," Usopp stammered at the save. Maybe he wasn't as rude as he acted! Yeah, Rosan was just a tsundere! Saying one thing and actually meaning the other!

The redhead nodded at his thanks, before dropping him unceremoniously on the ground with a thud.

"That's my one save for the day, good luck surviving anything else," he said ruthlessly.

"You're the worst," Usopp grumbled in annoyance. Nevermind. Definitely not a tsundere. He was just a genuine asshole.

Seriously, the least he could do was extend a helping hand when they needed it but nooo. He was content to be as annoying as possible!

Once the dust settled, they were surprised to see that the shot had only infuriated a, now revealed, armor wearing Krieg.

The chefs let out gasps of horror, as Krieg revealed his built in weapons and sprayed them all down with bullets... that didn't kill them?

Usopp screeched in fear.

"He's probably over reliant on that armor," Rosan commented, unfazed by what had just happened due to the fact that every single chef was still alive. If Krieg really was as reliant on that armor as the redhead thought, then the Mod Mod no mi user was a terrible matchup for him.

After all, he could just modify the man's armor. Whether it be transforming it into a different material or making it too tight to wear. People who relied on fighting with material items, would find that facing Rosan was never a good time.

"You're not fair, Auntie Mod," Ram tsked at the crimson eyed woman, who only regarded her with a shocked expression.

"A-A lot of Devil Fruits are absurd! I'm just one of many!" Mod tried to defend herself with a look of protest on her. "I actually used to be much more fair before I was combined with the blank zoan but even then, I think I'm much easier to deal with than being completely intangible!"

"Whatever you say, hack," The mix eyed girl scoffed. She remembered her Auntie mentioning how her modifications were temporary before combining with the Zoan but that mattered little to her because she didn't know that version of Auntie.

"You're just trying to irritate me right now!"

Rosan was only half focused on the two children's arguments ("I will seriously end you, Rosan") and watched with a tilted head as Zeff brought a large sack of what could only be food so that Krieg could feed his men.

"There, that should be enough to feed all 100 of them," the gruff owner said.

"Owner?!"

"Chef Zeff?!"

"What are you doing?!"

The chefs were understandably shocked by the owner's display. First Sanji, now him?! What was going on right now?! Were they really that afraid of Don Krieg? Why would they do something so incredibly stupid?!

Krieg's eyes went wide at something the other chef's said.

"Did you say Zeff?!"

"Is that owner famous?" Zoro asked curiously.

"You could say that," Rosan replied. "He used to be a pirate by the name of Red-Leg Zeff. He was quite strong too, they say he never used his hands in battle, only his legs. I'm surprised though... Last I heard, he had been sailing the Grand Line and it's not easy to reenter the Blue Seas once you've left them."

Age had changed his appearance a bit from his bounty poster but it was still unmistakable. Rosan just didn't care enough because unlike Kuro, this man had clearly given up a life of piracy to do something that he loved.

"You know a lot," Usopp pointed out incredulously. Whenever the redhead actually said something that wasn't an insult, it was surprisingly useful and insightful! Perhaps in his quest for knowledge, he had become such a formidable liar like him!

"…" Rosan didn't deign to answer the long nose, idly preparing for the possibility of getting attacked despite how weak everyone here was.

Something told him the Straw Hats weren't leaving here quietly.

"The only thing I lacked in my journey through the Grand Line, was information but with your logbook, I'll be able to conquer that sea easily!" Krieg declared excitedly.

After learning of Zeff's identity, the Don had demanded the owner's logbook of his journey through the Grand Line but the former pirate had refused, claiming that it was a testament to his crew's adventure.

Krieg didn't appreciate that reply.

"Then I'll take it by force! I didn't succeed the first time, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm Don Krieg!" He roared arrogantly.

"I'M THE STRONGEST OF THEM ALL! I HAVE THE AMBITION, THE STRENGTH, THE SHIPS, THE MEN, I JUST LACKED THE KNOWLEDGE!" He roared proudly. "I'll take that log, assemble another armada, conquer the Grand Line, and capture the One Piece!"

"You? Capture the One Piece? Don't be ridiculous, someone as stupid and weak as you could never be King of the Pirates."

Everyone paused in disbelief at the insulting words and Krieg mechanically turned around to see that the unknown speaker was a bronze redhead with heterochromia. He was currently staring at the Don without a hint of fear on his expression, head tilted to the side as they made eye contact.

Usopp's jaw dropped at the redhead's stupidity and he hastily tried to pull him out of the way, to very little success. What the hell was he thinking?! Bringing the attention onto them?! Was he insane?! Why was he so hard to pull?!

"Yeah! I'm the one who's gonna be King of the Pirates!" Luffy declared bluntly, smiling at his brother who nodded in approval.

"Hey, you two should stay out of this! You're no match for him!" Patty exclaimed, taking a step forward to try and dissuade the maniacs from dying so early.

They effortlessly ignored the chef, much to his outrage.

"Gold armor, 50 ships, a massive ego and yet you couldn't even last a week in the Grand Line. Do you really think a log of someone else's book will help with your severe lack of skill? You're as embarrassing as you are stupid, Don Krieg," Rosan said, tilting his head at the Don.

Come on now, surely his arrogance wasn't this prominent. Mod-chan told him that a journey through the Grand Line would be different for everyone because of how random the sea was so what did Krieg think was going to happen?

Everyone looked at Rosan like he had personally signed a death wish while Luffy and Zoro chuckled at his insult.

Krieg felt a vein throb at his words and turned fully towards Rosan, food forgotten at the moment as he took a step forward. "What the fuck did you just say?" He asked threateningly. Who did this no named idiot think he was messing with?

"I said it's impressive how you're still alive despite such a difficult journey," the redhead hummed.

"That's not what you said," The leader of the pirate armada growled.

"So you did hear me. I feared that the Grand Line took more than your dignity away. You shouldn't act dumb, its dangerously similar to your normal personality," the redhead advised wisely.

"Rosan, stop!" Usopp hissed. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" He whispered, urging the redhead to move and scowling at not seeing him budge at all.

He shrieked at the sight of Krieg revealing his weaponry again and hastily moved out of the way of his line of sight, leaving the redhead alone to stare down the man neutrally.

The captain had enough of this dumbasses smartass attitude. "WATCH YOUR MOUTH, WORM!" The man roared and began firing at the lone redhead who made no effort to move out the way.

Rosan stared at the man with a tilted head and instantly turned Ram into a floating shield, blocking every single bullet effortlessly while his hands lay lazily at his side.

Everyone who chose to watch the, presumable, carnage, blinked and then opened their mouths in surprise.

Where… Where did that shield come from?!

Luffy laughed cheerfully at their dumbfounded looks. Did they really think this guy was gonna be able to beat Rosan?! They were all really stupid!

"Shields are lame," Ram pouted. Why didn't he just turn her into his gloves and incinerate every single bullet! Sure the people behind them would have died but who cared about the small details!

"The ultimate weapon shouldn't be complaining about what she turns into," Mod teased.

"I-I'm not complaining! I'm just stating my genuine opinion! Unless Father wants to bludgeon people to death with the shield, I don't see how its useful! The best defense is a good offense!"

"That's not the…" Mod immediately gave up on trying to teach the silver haired woman and just let it be.

Ram was impossible sometimes.

"Quite the temper you have," Rosan commented over the stationary shield, not a scratch on the weapon. "I don't know why your so upset. You're not the one who's going to conquer the Grand Line."

"I am!" Luffy grinned challengingly.

Krieg's eyes bugged in rage at the audacity of these two. "I don't think these jokes are very funny, so how about I crush you both right here and now?"

They thought that they could just sail the seas after Don Krieg himself had managed to fail?! Utterly preposterous! He'd get rid of them then he'd take this ship and its logbook.

Two on one was overkill but apparently Krieg didn't know that.

"I don't need Rosan for this," Luffy agreed confidently. He cocked his fist back in preparation for battle and eyed the tall pirate without a hint of fear on his face.

Krieg looked back and forth at the two crewmates and growled at the sight of the redhead being unarmed again (they weren't taking him serious) but he took another look at Zeff and calmed his temper.

"I'll deal with you two later," he declared, picking up the large sack of food. "I'm going to feed my underlings, anyone who doesn't wanna die can escape the restaurant. The only things I want are the logbook and this ship."

"Anyone who stays… It'll be a bother but I'll bury you into the sea, remember that."

With that, Krieg departed from the restaurant and paused for a long moment to look Rosan in the eye.

The redhead tilted his head and glanced up at the near 8ft man, unfazed by such a silly intimidation tactic. "You shouldn't stare at me for so long. People will get the wrong idea and I for one, would rather die then take you on a date."

Krieg felt his veins throb but scoffed and promised himself that he wouldn't let the redhead escape, before making his way to the beaten Dreadnaught Sabre.

"You seem to relish in antagonizing every single foe we meet."

"It's their fault for making it so easy. I just have to point out a couple of things and they start frothing at the mouth."

"D-Do you have a death wish?!" Usopp gaped at the crazy redhead. Didn't he hear all those things about Krieg?! What was he doing? Was he trying to get their crew annihilated?!

Oh no… W-What if their close proximity made him a target now! He had been right next to Rosan before the bronze man had gotten fired on so it wouldn't be illogical to think that they were allies.

"You worry too much about the stupidest things," Rosan countered, causing Usopp to splutter. "Luffy will you handle this or should I teach that silly pirate a lesson?"

"Leave it to me!" the rubber boy grinned.

They noticed Gin apologizing to Sanji and Luffy recalled something.

"I'm sorry Sanji, I never imagined it would come to this…" A defeated Gin bowed his head.

Surprisingly, Zeff was the one who spoke to him.

"That's not something you should apologize for, underling. Each cook acted as if they were right, that's all."

The chefs, sans Sanji, began protesting loudly at what the owner had to say.

"Don't tell me you're taking Sanji's side?!" Patty roared.

"That's right! He's responsible for this whole thing!" Another exclaimed in anger.

"He's going to put your precious restaurant out of business!"

"That's right isn't it, Sanji?! You'd do anything to be the head chef!"

"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOTS!" Zeff roared in fury.

All the protesting died down at the anger in his voice and the chefs went ramrod straight.

"Have any of you ever felt what it's like to be on the brink of starvation?! Losing food and water on the high seas… Do you know how scary it is?! Do you know how hard it is?!" The owner of the Baratie asked, tone barating them due to their ignorance.

"W-What do you mean, Owner?" Patty asked dumbly.

"The difference between Sanji and you all, is whether you know it or not," Zeff said.

Sanji said nothing, only taking a long drag of his cigarette.

"It seems like just being free from his family didn't end the hardships Sanji had to face," Mod frowned sympathetically. His life was full of difficulties that seemed to never end and it reminded her of Rosan's own struggles.

"He's survived his trials and has become stronger as a result. It's even given him an even stronger resolve that will benefit him," Rosan replied.

When given a trial, there were two choices you could make. Crumble underneath the challenge, or rise and overcome it, becoming a new person in the process and discarding the previous version of you.

Rosan had overcome one challenge when he was nine and he had almost completely crumbled underneath another one when he was twelve. Even now, he was trying to recover from that soul crushing defeat but when you crumbled, it was difficult to piece yourself back together alone.

"You're doing good, Rosan," Mod assured quietly, regal voice soothing as she was filled with a desire to hug her charge. "One step at a time, we're in no rush."

He nodded gently at her words. Mod-chan was the only reason he hadn't fallen into an irreversible despair. She was his foundation and kept him focused, constantly being the voice of reason that did its best to drown out his self loathing nature. If not for her, he'd have died long ago.

He owed the woman more than she knew...

Even despite his doubts about her true intentions.

Mod grinned fondly at her charge, sending him overwhelming amounts of love. They would always have each others back. Nothing could change that and despite the few hiccups that were her fault, the love they had for each other would never falter.

"You two have the most adorable bond ever!" Ram gushed. She hoped that one day she could have a proper father and daughter relationship with her creator like the mother and son relationship these two had!

"Shut up, Ram."

"Y-Yes Ma'am!"

"If you all have time to grumble, leave the restaurant from the back door already!" Zeff declared with a wave of his hand.

The chefs looked conflicted at his order and stared hesitantly at the man. He was just telling them to leave?

"I'll stay and fight," Patty decided. "I couldn't bear it if I was just beaten and didn't fight back."

That seemed to strengthen the resolve of his fellow chefs because they joined him.

"I'll stay too! This is the restaurant where I work!"

"We don't have anywhere else to go anyway!"

"ARE YOU ALL STUPID?!" Gin yelled in disbelief. "YOU SAW HOW POWERFUL THE DON IS, RIGHT?!"

Were they actually planning on fighting the Don?! That was suicidal! They stood no chance against the leader of the Krieg Pirates and he really would bury them in the Sea!

"Hey, Gin," Sanji interrupted his raging.

The man looked up in surprise at the chef who had saved him.

"Let me tell you something. As a cook, it's my duty to feed someone who's hungry. But…"

Sanji effortlessly kicked up a fallen table and sat on it's edges.

"...soon, we'll be facing plunderers with full bellies. If I have to beat your crewmates to death, don't complain. If someone's going to take over this restaurant, I'll slaughter them without hesitation, and that goes for you too!"

Gin remained silent, stunned by his words and resolve.

"Wow, your change is like night and day. I'm impressed to see how much you've grown," Rosan commented and Sanji's gaze snapped to him in surprise.

"What do you mean by that?" The chef asked warily.

"Still playing stubborn? I can respect that, I'm rather stubborn myself," the redhead nodded, dropping the conversation. It wasn't his job to forcefully make someone see something. He much preferred seeing the shock on their face as they came to their own realizations.

Honestly, he wasn't even sure why he revealed his identity to Sanji so boldly in the first place. Perhaps it was a form of curiosity, perhaps he was tired of keeping it secret, perhaps he trusted the blonde who owed him his life to a degree. He didn't know and he didn't care but the fact that Luffy had practically already cemented the chefs role into the crew, probably played a part.

Besides, no one would ever believe someone's claim that Rosan was Reaper unless they had overwhelming evidence. His skillset had so much variety that he fought nothing like the Angel of Death currently.

His controlling the field style was handy but it was wholly unnecessary currently and deep down, he was a showoff and his current style reflected that. Reaper's fighting style was incredibly effective at winning decisively however so if he was ever pushed into a corner, bringing it out would be a bad sign for his opponent.

Sanji clenched his cigarette a bit harder at the redhead and let the conversation drop. He had more things to worry about than the identity of someone, who he admittedly looked up to (practically worshipped) as a kid, who had gone missing for 10 years. Once this battle was over, he could fully dwell on the overwhelming evidence of Rosan being Reaper but until then, he would push it out his mind...

Well, that's what he was telling himself at least.

"Gin, you said you didn't know anything about the Grand Line, but you've been there!" Luffy pointed out in confusion.

Gin gulped and clutched his head. "I… I know nothing. It's all a crazy fog. Something happened on our seventh day out. But was it a dream or reality? It's all mixed up in my head… Just one man, one man wiped out 50 ships!"

Everyone let out noises of disbelief at the revelation.

"WHAT?!"

"JUST ONE PERSON?!"

Gin revealed to them that the only reason the main ship hadn't been completely destroyed, was due to the arrival of a freak storm.

"I don't even want to remember that man! That man's piercing hawk eyes, eyes that could kill with just a glance!"

"What?!"

That was Zoro who said that and at the same time, Rosan paused.

"They had a run in with Hawk-Eye Mihawk?" The redhead mused. It was no wonder they had been nearly wiped out. Few would be capable of escaping from the Worlds Strongest Swordsman and even fewer would make it out alive.

Even a freak storm was seen as more favorable then a run in with that man. Perhaps the Krieg Pirates truly did get unlucky and would have made a much better run if they didn't run into one of the literal worst options on the planet...

"Nah, they suck. They'd have died in 2 weeks instead," Ram shrugged.

He agreed.

As they discussed the identity of the man, Luffy spoke up.

"Who's Hawk-eye, Rosan?"

"The world's strongest swordsman," the redhead replied. "If Zoro wants to be the strongest swordsman, he needs to fight and defeat him."

Which would be impossible right now. Zoro overestimated his abilities currently and wasn't aware of just how strong some people really were.

The green haired man nodded at that. "He's the reason I went out to see. I'm searching for him."

"The Grand Line… what an interesting place," Rosan hummed.

"That's where we have to go to find him then…" Zoro grinned challengingly.

"I'm getting excited just thinking about it!" Luffy laughed happily.

"W-We can still not go there," Usopp cried comically.

"Are you guys stupid or what?" Sanji suddenly asked the group. "Guys like you die before anyone else."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to call us stupid," Zoro replied, making the blonde chef raise a brow. "When I decided to become the world's strongest swordsman, I decided to devote my life to it. Nobody can call me stupid but me."

"Me too, me too!" Luffy agreed, laughing all the while.

"As a man, I must agree," Usopp lied and Zoro hit him with the butt of his sword.

"If I die before achieving my goal, that just means I wasn't good enough to be alive," Rosan stated simply. "I'm not afraid of death. That's all there is to it."

Zoro and Luffy nodded in unison at his words. They were both the exact same way.

"What nonsense," Sanji scoffed.

Unseen to everyone, Zeff smiled a small smile at the interactions going on.

"DO YOU GUYS EVEN UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION?!" Patty screamed at them in disbelief. "Out there is the huge Galleon that belongs to Don Krieg, Commodore of the pirate fleet! If you wanna dream, do it after surviving this life-or-death crisis!"

"How scary," Rosan hummed, utterly unmoved by Patty's words. The burly chef glared at him due to his neutral tone and he waved back, much to the amusement of Luffy and Sanji and the further irritation of Patty.

Honestly, if he were as weak as the chef, he'd be scared too. Rosan was sure even his four year old version would give this guy a run for him money.

"Rosan gets it!" Usopp nodded in agreement.

"That was sarcasm, Usopp. There's no human alive that scares me."

"R-Right! I knew that!" Man, his redheaded crewmate seriously needed to layoff the lying sometimes. Even Usopp had periods of downtime but Rosan had to have been a compulsive liar or something!

"It's a good thing you said human, how is your fear of giant lizards?"

"...Mod-chan, did you know that you're one of the most gorgeous people on the planet but that's only when you aren't talking?"

Mod's jaw dropped at Rosan's sheer audacity, and her sharp red gaze narrowed in disbelief. "T-That is no way to talk to me, you rude —,"

"Language!" Ram chimed in eagerly.

Mod gaped at the two. She wasn't even planning on cursing! "I'll see you both tonight and you can see how gorgeous I am when I'm angry! I wonder how confident you'll be then!" She harrumphed.

Rosan wisely remained silent.

Ram was not as smart. Before the silver haired woman could even utter a syllable, the Devil Fruit ruthlessly gripped her cheek and reduced the ring to just whining.

Honestly, his weapon was such an idiot.

---

It didn't take long for them to hear the battle cries of the, now rejuvenated, pirate crew and the chefs prepared themselves for battle.

"Try not to die, Sanji," Rosan called quietly. "You still owe me that best meal so show me how strong you've gotten."

"Worry about yourself," the blonde muttered in annoyance. He could whip up his best meal for the redhead but he just knew he could get better so he didn't want to do it yet.

"Do you still cry a lot?" The redhead asked softly, tilting his head at the irritated chef.

Sanji bit his cigarette even harder then before. "...No I don't cry. I don't know who told you about that," he bit out. Another piece of evidence in a case that should have long been shut.

Rosan hummed. "Good. I wouldn't want tears on my meal. You certainly did cry a lot when you were a child."

"S-SHUT UP!" Sanji barked, not liking how much this redhead knew about him. "STOP PRETENDING LIKE YOU KNOW ME AND AFTER THIS IS OVER I'LL HAVE YOUR MEAL READY!"

Rosan nearly snorted. What was that one saying? Right. Never meet your heroes. Sanji was learning that first hand because he wasn't a hero in the first place. "Don't worry, I'll accept it sometime during our journey together. There's no rush."

Sanji felt himself gain a tick mark. "I never said I was going with you guys!" He barked in annoyance.

"Right."

Sanji felt his annoyance grow. The more he talked to him, the less he believed that this was Reaper. They were just too different! He didn't even kill Don Krieg for sizing him up like that!

After this was over, he'd just skip all pretenses and ask the man outright because this was ridiculous.

Was he a spy for Judge?! How did he know so much about him? Only Germa knew he cried alot as a kid and after encountering Reaper, he trained himself hard and stopped crying as much.

"GET READY! WE CAN HEAR THEIR WAR CRIES!" Someone called out.

"They're all so worried! I guess this is the despair of being weak," Ram cackled.

Before Rosan could respond, he watched with a blank gaze, as the massive galleon outside was promptly cut into three pieces.

"WHAT?!"

"WHATS GOING ON?!"

"RAISE THE ANCHOR BEFORE WE SINK WITH IT!"

Zoro's eyes widened. "Our ship is still out there!" He barked, already moving to go check on it.

An open mouthed Luffy, quickly followed after him and so did the chefs, curious to see what was happening outside.

Rosan sighed.

"Rest in peace, Zoro."

If that was who he thought it was, things just got a lot more difficult for them. Even if those rumors about him being here had turned out to be false (it was a red eyed man not a hawk eyed man. Johnny was a moron), it seems the real Mihawk had decided to show his presence for some reason.

The World's Strongest Swordsman… A small part of Rosan, the one who had once desired to be the strongest in the world, was curious about just how powerful the man was.

A tinier part, one hidden to even him, wanted to test his own might against that strength.

With that, he followed after them all.

The redhead stared at the sunken ship with a tilted head before two familiar voices screamed for Zoro.

"BIG BRO!" They both screamed in unison, struggling to stay surfaced. The capsized waves were threatening to overwhelm them and they desperately reached out to get grabbed out of it.

"Johnny! Yosaku! You two okay?!" Zoro asked in concern, pulling them both up over the railing. "Where's our ship?! Where's Nami?!"

"T-THEY'RE GONE!" They cried.

"SISTER NAMI, SHE SAILED OFF WITH ALL THE TREASURE AFTER SAYING THIS!"

"Tell them that if we're linked by fate, we'll meet again!"

Usopp, Zoro and Luffy all went pale at the revelation.

"W-WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" They roared.

Rosan hummed at the revelation.

"I guess you were right to not trust her," Mod frowned. She had been hoping that Rosan was overreacting and that the girl was just taking time to warm up to them, but it seems like he was correct in his assumption that she was going to jump ship.

Or well, take their ship in this case.

"Hm." Was all the redhead said, closing his eyes momentarily before snapping them open again, slight glow vanishing. He listened to the two bounty hunters tell the tale about what happened with a neutral expression, not reacting whatsoever at what he was hearing.

They had been fooled by the orange haired woman when she requested they turn around so she could change her clothes. After doing so, Nami had subsequently thrown them overboard before taking off with the ship, the Straw Hats treasure and Johnny and Yosaku's as well.

She betrayed them.

Rosan didn't like traitors.

Mod frowned nervously at that.

"We should've known her behavior was just an act," Zoro scowled.

"Kaya gave that ship to us!" Usopp growled.

"Wait, I can still see the ship!" Luffy called out and true to his words, it was visible in the distance. "Zoro, Usopp, Rosan, go after her!" Their captain said.

"…" Rosan stared at Luffy then nodded his head. "Fine. You'll be staying here?"

"Yeah, I've got it handled and I still gotta finish my business at the restaurant!"

"Alright," the redhead nodded.

"Fine, what a high maintenance captain," Zoro complained.

As Johnny and Yosaku got the boat ready, Rosan actually thought that Zoro was going to make it out of this situation alive.

He was silly to even entertain the notion. This was why he stopped tempting fate so long ago.

Zeff let out a startled gasp, the most emotion he'd shown yet, as a small black boat that resembled a coffin appeared into view and on that small boat, lie one lone individual.

"…" Mod frowned worriedly. This could end up being really, really bad for them if things went out like how Rosan predicted. If Zoro died, Luffy would stop at nothing to beat Mihawk and that might end up jeopardizing all of them because this was the strongest swordsman alive and he could probably kill them in his sleep.

"…!" Ram grinned excitedly. If things went like how Father predicted, they'd be able to test themselves against the world's strongest swordsman! Her goal was the same as what Rosan's had been as a child and that was to make her Father the strongest with her by his side! This would be a great way to test how far they needed to go in the future and this was the person wielding the strongest sword! As the ultimate weapon, she wanted to see how she faced up against him!

"…" Rosan stared blankly. He was hoping things didn't go exactly like how he predicted because if so, they were all dead. Zoro was going to challenge Mihawk and he was going to lose. This was a guarantee.

What was not a guarantee though, was whether or not he'd make it out of it alive. If he did, it would be good for them, if not… the redhead didn't fancy explaining to Ace that Luffy died to the world's strongest swordsman because Rosan was not going to die here, whether he could save Luffy or not.

"THAT SON OF A BITCH!" They heard Don Krieg roar in fury.

"HE'S FOLLOWED US HERE TO KILL US!" One of his pirates screeched.

"WE'RE DONE FOR!" Another sobbed.

Mihawk was a tall, lean, and muscular man with black hair, a short beard, mustache and sideburns that pointed upwards. His attire consisted of a wide-brimmed black hat decorated with a large plume, and a long, open black coat with a red velvet inside with no shirt underneath, with red, flower-patterned sleeves and collar and He wore light purple pants that were held up by a decorated belt. They were tucked neatly in his large boots.

On Mihawk's back, resided his, at the moment, hidden sword and he had the most piercing yellow gaze Rosan had seen yet.

"So that's the world's strongest swordsman…" Zoro whispered. "I didn't think I'd run into him so early!"

"Y-YOU MONSTER!" One of Krieg's members called out, mustering the courage to speak. "WHY DO YOU KEEP PICKING ON US?!"

Mihawk didn't even spare him a glance. "For fun," was all he said.

"...FOR FUN?!" He roared in disbelief, pulling out two flintlocks and firing without hesitation at the pirate.

Mihawk unsheathed the weapon on his back and effortlessly changed the trajectory of the two bullets flying towards him.

"That's an awesome sword," Ram gushed, gleefully soaking in the appearance of it. It was a curved, single-edged black blade in the shape of a latin cross, with a golden crossguard decorated by blue and green cabochons and a hilt wrapped in bandages, with a particularly big cabochon at its extremity.

She knew her father wasn't a fan of using swords very much but that didn't really pertain to things like greatswords, claymores and generally bigger swords! Maybe she'd get him to start using a sword like Mihawk's more...

"B-But I aimed straight for him... did I miss?!"

"No. Shooting at him is useless. He deflected the bullets with his sword," Zoro said, smiling challengingly at the hawk eyed man.

"What the?!"

"Hey, who are you?!"

"Those three swords… could it be?!"

Rosan and Luffy watched Zoro approach Mihawk with stone faced expressions.

"You know he might die, right Luffy?" The redhead told his captain with a tilted head. "What will you do if that happens?"

"..." the rubber boy didn't say anything but he didn't have to. The only one who knew the youngest as much as Rosan, was Ace.

Rosan hummed and continued to watch the exchange. He wanted to see just how capable Mihawk was and Zoro was clearly hellbent on challenging him.

"There's no time for this!" Usopp growled in fury. "The ship's almost out of sight!"

"Shut up, Usopp," Rosan said softly. "Zoro's goal is right in front of him, do you think he'd really let this chance slip by?"

The long nosed boy gulped and wisely remained silent, deciding to watch the situation unfold with a curious glance.

"Hey wait, three sword style?! That's Roronoa Zoro!"

"WHAT?!"

"The pirate hunter?" Krieg frowned.

"That guy?" Sanji called out in surprise.

"Pathetic weakling," Mihawk droned, vanishing and appearing on the remains of the broken Galleon. The world's strongest swordsman stared at Zoro and said, "If you're a competent swordsman, you don't need to cross swords to know the disparity in our skills…"

"...Does the courage to point your blade at me come from confidence or ignorance?" He asked curiously.

"It comes from ambition!" Zoro replied with a savage grin before placing Wado Ichimonji in his mouth. "And from a promise to a dear friend of mine."

"There's no way Big Bro Zoro can lose!" Yosaku said.

"He's the strongest already!" Johnny agreed.

"Idiots," Rosan chided softly, much to their surprise. "If that's what you really think, then you're in for the surprise of a lifetime. I hope you guys aren't ugly criers."

The bounty hunters fought for Zoro's sake, questioning how he could have no faith in his crewmate but Rosan ignored them, staring at the most dangerous person there and trying to think of ways to keep his crew alive.

The redhead could tell at a glance, years of battle experience kicking in, that if Mihawk wanted too, he could kill every single person here with zero effort and be gone before the hour was over. Nobody here could defeat him. It was a suicide mission to even put yourself on this man's radar.

True to his thoughts, the hawk-eyed man pulled out the cross necklace he had and revealed the knife inside of it.

"What's that for?" Zoro asked with a glare set on his features. He couldn't be thinking of...

"I'm not the kind of fool who hunts rabbits with a cannon," Mihawk replied laxly. "You may have a reputation, but you're still just a bunny in the tamest of the four seas."

The swordsman shrugged apologetically and his expression became incredibly patronizing. "Unfortunately, I don't carry a knife smaller then this one," he apologized.

"Damn he's good," Ram whistled. She loved some trash talk and this guy was making it look easy.

"He's already upset," Rosan thought. That was not good. This battle was already over.

"THAT'S ENOUGH MAKING FUN OF ME," Zoro roared, clenching his swords harder before breaking out into a full sprint. "DON'T FEEL STUPID WHEN I KILL YOU!"

"You're just a little frog, croaking in your puddle. It's about time you learned how big the world is," Mihawk sighed with a small shake of his head.

"ONI GIRI!"

Zoro swung using all three of his blades and everyone watched in utter disbelief at the sight of Mihawk effortlessly stopping the attack…

With just his knife.

"B-Big Bro's Oni Giri was stopped?!" Johnny croaked in disbelief.

"I-It's never been stopped by anyone before!" Yosaku gaped.

"I can't say I'm surprised at this outcome," Mod sighed, already writing the battle off as finished. It was clear from previous battles that Zoro was overconfident in his abilities. He had never been truly challenged and it was clear based on the fact that one ability being stopped, had driven him into a frenzy.

Zoro began swinging without any thought or strategy. Right now, he just wanted to hit Mihawk and the more he desired it, the less likely he'd be able to do it.

Hawk-eyes parried every single blow with barely a flinch and knocked the offending attacker back with an almost bored expression on his face.

"This can't be true. The gap between us can't be this large!" Zoro gasped out in despair. He was doing all of this with just a toy?! Was that all he was worthy of in the eyes of the greatest swordsman?! Was this truly the limit of his strength... all those years, all the sweat and blood... this is what that amounted to?

He didn't come all this way to lose! Him and Kuina had shared a dream to become the greatest swordsman and the ticket to that dream was right in front of him.

So why?

Why was he being effortlessly tossed around?! Did all his training mean nothing?!

Absolutely. NOT. HE REFUSED TO ACCEPT THAT.

So Zoro kept swinging with a renewed frenzy and that frenzy only increased as every single attack failed.

"What drives you? Why do you fight so hard when you cannot win, weakling?" Mihawk asked the panting Zoro.

"WEAK? DON'T CALL OUR BROTHER WEAK!" Yosaku roared.

"I'LL TEACH YOU A LESSON!" Johnny roared.

They both leapt over the railing to go confront Mihawk and let out equal yelps as long rubbery arms reached out and forced them to sit down.

"STAY OUT OF IT JOHNNY, YOSAKU! CONTROL YOURSELVES!" Luffy managed to say through grit teeth. It looked more like the rubber boy was trying to restrain himself, not the two bounty hunters.

"I wonder who you're saying that too," Rosan hummed, content to watch it all unfold. He knew this would be one-sided but Mihawk was making this fight look like a chore currently. With such a small weapon too…

What a monster of a man. He could practically hear Ram salivating at the idea of fighting him.

Zoro let out heavy pants as he was repelled again and he rolled across the broken deck before catching himself. "I...can't lose here!" the green haired man gasped out.

"The world's strongest swordsman! The pirate king expects nothing less!"

"TIGER TRAP!" Zoro roared, slashing downwards at the unfazed Mihawk.

Everything went silent for a moment. The only thing they could hear, was Zoro's wet gasp at being stabbed right on the chest, dangerously near his heart.

Luffy grit his teeth even harder and his breathing became palpable.

Rosan side eyed his captain and let out a sigh, eyes beginning to glow slightly in preparation.

Mihawk looked at Zoro in interest. "Do you want me to pierce your heart? Why don't you retreat?" He asked curiously.

Zoro, with blood leaking from his mouth, slowly said, "I can't… If I retreat even one step…my vow, my ambition… Everything I care about...will be shattered. All my dreams will be lost forever."

"Yes, that's defeat," Mihawk retorted bluntly.

"Then I can't retreat."

"Even if it means death?"

"I prefer death to defeat," Zoro said with finality, grinning all the while.

Mihawk's bored expression sparked with interest at that and he mercifully withdrew the knife from Zoro's chest.

"Boy... Speak your name."

Zoro placed two of his swords at an angle, heedless of the blood pouring from his body. "Roronoa Zoro."

"I'll remember it. I haven't met someone so brave in a while so I'll honor the swordsman's code and send you to your death with the strongest black sword."

That was the closest thing to praise Zoro would get from the man.

"Rest in peace, Zoro. Unable to even make it out of the East Blue," Rosan sent off his prayers, Ram already glowing.

"BROTHER PLEASE GIVE UP!" The bounty hunters begged.

It was do or die. Zoro would either win, or he would face death. It was his last chance to achieve victory.

"Three Sword Style Secret Technique:…" Zoro began, spinning his two blades rapidly.

"Fall," Mihawk uttered, soaring over to Zoro, poised to cut him in half.

"...THREE THOUSAND WORLDS!"

The two collided and there was a tense silence until the two swords Zoro was holding in his hands, shattered into dozens of pieces and clanged loudly onto the deck.

There was not a scratch on Mihawk as he assessed the green haired man calmly, Yoru resting lazily by his side.

Zoro spat out a glob of blood and withdrew Wado Ichimonji from his mouth before calmly sheathing it. Contrary to belief, he had never felt more at peace with himself.

He had lost completely. Never in his life, did he think he would lose a fight but he was proven wrong by the world's strongest swordsman.

The green haired swordsman stood up and turned to face a confused Mihawk with his arms outstretched.

"What are you…" the hawk-eyed man trailed off.

Zoro grinned and said, "Wounds on the back are a swordsman's shame."

Mihawk actually grinned at that declaration.

"Magnificent."

With that, he grabbed Yoru and swung diagonally across his chest, letting loose a massive spray of blood and sending Zoro crashing into the sea.

"ZORO!" Luffy screamed in disbelief, tears welling up in his eyes at the sight of the swordsman falling back in the ocean and glaring heatedly at the one who had done it. "DAMN YOU!"

Without any hesitation, Luffy cocked his fist back and launched it at Mihawk. He grabbed onto the railing and soared over to his location to avenge Zoro.

Sanji gaped at the sight of Luffy's arm stretching.

"So he has a Devil Fruit…" Krieg mused. That explained his arrogance but Devil Fruits were not the end all be all. He'd show that idiot Straw Hat what happened when you messed with Krieg.

Rosan sighed at the sight of Mihawk effortlessly sidestepping Luffy's attack and before he could even turn towards his captain, the redhead vanished from his spot and swung Ram (she had taken the form of a silver and purple claymore that looked a lot like Mihawk's own, cocky little shit that she was) at the man who had crushed Zoro.

He was not surprised in the slightest to see his attack get blocked.

"Whatever you do, make sure you make it out of this alive. No matter what," Mod advised worriedly.

The onlookers gawked at the sight of Rosan vanishing in one spot only to appear in another.

What was that?! How was he able to move so fast?! Didn't he have a shield before? Where did that sword come from!

Sanji let out a sigh of relief at seeing his weapon of choice.

"Oh?" Mihawk called out curiously, casually parrying the attack and making Rosan disengage to Luffy's side. "Are you two that young swordsman's crewmates? You did well to let him fight his own battle."

"There's no need to worry, I left him alive."

"Is that so?" Rosan replied, glancing back just in time to see Zoro cough out blood and be escorted to the ship. "How fortunate, Luffy."

"Boooo," Ram whined, stamping her feet petulantly. At least she had seen some of what he was capable of.

"Zoro!" Luffy let out a sigh of relief.

"My name is Dracule Mihawk! It's too soon for you to die. Learn about yourself! Learn about the world! Grow strong, Roronoa Zoro! However long it may take, I shall await you at the top. Strive with your whole heart and mind to best this blade! STRIVE TO SURPASS ME, RORONOA ZORO!" The world's strongest swordsman said.

"Thank Kami. Zoro is still alive," Mod sighed happily. Now Luffy didn't have to die trying to avenge him and Rosan didn't have to die trying to keep Luffy alive!

"Usopp! Is Zoro okay?!" Luffy called.

"No he's not! But he's alive and unconscious!" the sniper replied, panic stricken.

"Say something big bro," Johnny sobbed.

Rosan watched with an almost impressed expression, as Zoro raised his remaining sword into the sky.

"Zoro?" Luffy gasped in shock.

"L-Luffy…? Can you...hear me?"

"Yeah!"

Zoro panted harshly as the injuries took its toll on his body but powered through regardless. "Did I worry you?" He gasped out.

"If I fail… to become the world's greatest swordsman, you'd be disappointed... right?" The green haired man asked.

Luffy watched Zoro with a surprised expression on his face.

The swordsman spat out more blood and Johnny urged him to stop speaking but he wouldn't.

No, he couldn't.

"NEVER AGAIN!" Zoro yelled and everyone was shocked to see the tears running down his eyes. "I WILL NEVER LOSE AGAIN! FROM NOW TO THE DAY I BEAT HIM TO BECOME THE GREATEST SWORDSMAN… I WILL NEVER… LOSE AGAIN! YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT, KING OF THE PIRATES?"

Luffy grinned widely and laughed. "Not at all!"

Rosan felt something stir slightly at the declaration and he gazed at Zoro with a curious look in his eye.

That ambition… it was... admirable.

He would like Zoro just fine.

"Luffy really hit the jackpot with that one," Mod smiled softly, watching the ship sail off in pursuit of Nami. He was able to fully pique Rosan's interest now and that meant her son could see the value in him.

Luffy wasn't the only one he'd bother keeping alive now.

"So you wish to be the King of the Pirates?" Mihawk asked in amusement. "That's even more difficult to achieve then my title."

They made a good duo, him and that Roronoa Zoro.

"Don't care, that's what I'm gonna be!" Luffy declared without any hesitation.

"And you?" Mihawk asked, turning towards the redhead. "You have a sword that looks similar to mine, but you don't seem to desire a fight with me."

"I'm not a swordsman," Rosan replied instantly, much to the slight surprise of Mihawk. "I'm just the humble scout of my little brother… Though, I do have a question for you."

The hawk-eyed man raised a brow at him and inclined his head.

"How is it that you can recognize the two of us?" The redhead tilted his head. "Is it because of Shanks? I don't remember giving that man permission to talk about me."

Mihawk knew the both of them. Maybe for Rosan it would have been easy to recognize him, but to recognize both him and the more unknown Luffy? It was far too suspicious.

Luffy blinked before his jaw dropped. "YOU KNOW SHANKS?!"

Mihawk looked at him in surprise at the fact that he had managed to notice that, before he let loose a low chuckle. "That's correct. You two are as interesting as he said you were but you are much more difficult to get a read on."

Without any warning, Rosan threw up his blade to block a slash from Mihawk, sighing slightly at the power behind it.

"I'd like to see one last thing before I leave," the world's greatest swordsman declared.

Everyone watching, gasped at the sight of Rosan being attacked. What were they talking about over there for the redhead to suddenly be a target? What was going on?!

The redhead himself leapt a safe distance away and gazed neutrally at the man.

"What are you doing?" Rosan asked calmly, unfazed by Mihawk's actions. "I assure you I'm not nearly as interesting as Shanks made me out to be."

That annoying redhead. Why on earth would he tell Mihawk, the world's strongest swordsman, anything about him? This was not someone who's radar he wanted to be on yet.

"You're even more interesting then what he said is all. Red-Haired never mentioned that you used a weapon, I'd simply like to see how adept you are with it… call it curiosity," The hawk-eyed man replied calmly.

With that, he vanished again and Rosan had no choice but to play along with his game. The two appeared in the middle and once again clashed blades. Black met silver in a spray of sparks before Mihawk tossed Rosan back.

"YES! WOOHOO!" Ram cheered. She was actually getting to fight the strongest sword in the world! She was so happy right now that she wouldn't cause Auntie a problem for 2 hours!

"I'm so flattered," Mod said dryly, gazing unimpressed at the excited weapon.

"Alright, I'll spar with you until you're satisfied," Rosan muttered and Ram began glowing, much to everyone's confusion. "But like I said, I'm no swordsman."

His claymore transformed into a set of gloves and Rosan let loose a massive beam of red energy towards the slightly surprised Mihawk.

Sanji went pale at the sight of the redhead's weapon rapidly shifting into the gloves. R-Reaper's scythe wasn't always visible a-and he fought his brothers with his...

With his...

Oh.

Rosan was already on the move before his attack finished (Ram was in the form of a katana now for more speed) and he appeared behind a Mihawk who had just cut through his wave of energy with little to no effort.

He could see how Zoro got annoyed so quickly. Mihawk was making it look easy but Rosan was well aware of the gap between the two unlike his crewmate which was why he was able to keep a cool head.

"So you are not a swordsman because you use all types of weapons?" Mihawk mused, deflecting a swift slash to his stomach. He had never seen a weapon that could so seamlessly transform… It was clear this boy had a Devil Fruit but he didn't know what it could possibly be.

"Limiting myself to such a boring weapon would be no fun," Rosan retorted. "Everyone's a swordsman these days, why would I want to be something so common?"

"Such ego." The amusement in Mihawk's voice was noticeable. To make that claim in front of the world's strongest swordsman… What an interesting person.

Shanks was right to be so interested in these two.

"He's only fighting slightly above my perceived skill level…" Rosan mused. It was similar to what he had done with Ace and Luffy when they were kids. He would steadily increase the level until they reached it, then increased it again.

He did not like that it was being used against him.

"Boost x2," he thought to himself, body pulsing with newfound power and the redhead vanished even faster then before, cracking the wood beneath him, only to appear behind Mihawk. He transformed his katana into a pair of gauntlets and swung with a staggering amount of force, intending to shatter Yoru if he chose to block it.

Mihawk raised a brow at the massive increase in Rosan's speed but he simply deflected the attack with a wave of his sword and finally went on the offensive.

The redhead couldn't leap back in time to avoid the perfectly timed slash to his belly and he frowned at the tear in his silver silk shirt. There was blood pooling down his stomach and it was seeping into his clothing.

"Why does someone of your level still reside in the East Blue?" Mihawk asked curiously, watching his opponent not even flinch at the somewhat deep injury. He was not aiming to kill the redhead but that was still impressive of him.

Based on what the World's Strongest Swordsman could see so far, both the captain and the scout were well out of the league of the East Blue and were probably more then strong enough to sail comfortably in the Grand Line.

Even Roronoa Zoro was strong enough to enter the Grand Line, he just wouldn't have as comfortable as a time as the first two.

"Lack of ambition," Rosan replied softly.

Everyone watched in disbelief as the injury steamed up, before closing as if he had never been cut. "Like I said, I'm just the humble scout of my captain. Where he goes, I go."

"W-Who is he?" Someone whispered.

"W-What is he?" Someone else gawked.

"He just healed that cut like it was nothing!"

"He's keeping up with that hawk-eyed monster!"

"Keeping up?" Rosan commented with a tilted head, shutting up the ones who said it and making them glance nervously at the other monster. "What exactly are you watching? Are you truly that untalented?"

Mihawk had barely put any effort into this fight and he was testing Rosan for some reason. This was all just a game to the world's greatest swordsman and the redhead was its participant today.

He hadn't felt this out of his league since fighting Garp.

"The people out there really are monstrous!" Ram cackled in joy. "If this is what we can expect from the Grand Line, we need to go there now!"

"I've never seen someone toy with Rosan so effortlessly," Mod commented idly. Garp tended to end things quickly when it came to fighting the redhead.

"Shall we continue?" Rosan asked softly.

Mihawk's reply was to shoot a crescent wave of wind towards him that collided with his own wave of wind, giving him enough time to move out of the way of the attack that quickly overpowered his own. He then transformed his katana into a long double bladed curved sword (one side was silver, the other black) with a purple grip in the middle, just in time to collide with the equally beautiful black blade known as Yoru.

A furious dance took place between the two and it was only Rosan's strange choice of weapon (and Mihawk holding back tremendously) that kept him in the battle. They repeatedly clashed over and over again, Rosan using his natural dexterity and speed to make the odd blade work wonders for him. He never remained in one place, moving all over at a pace that would leave anyone dizzy.

Well, almost anyone.

He was like a whirlwind of destruction compared to Mihawk's tranquil swings but nothing he did worked. A slash to his abdomen with one side of his blade, followed by a spin and a swipe to his back were both effortlessly blocked and he was slashed across his chest as a result, injury healing up as he moved to continue his assault.

Against most foes, his sheer flexibility would have been more then enough to overwhelm them but right now, it was giving him nothing but more and more cuts across his body that were swiftly healing up.

Rosan used his double sword as both an offensive and defensive option to avoid being injured too greatly. It was one of the strongest weapons in his arsenal for not just close combat, but far as well due to just how diversely he used it but its full potential was unlocked when he was flying around for different angles.

As if proving his point on how diverse it was, Rosan leapt back, held his weapon in an archer stance and swiftly began forming an arrow of energy, firing off a salvo at the swordsman.

Mihawk held his stance and diverted one of the arrows to the broken down ship that was Kriegs and everyone's eyes bugged at the massive explosion that took place right afterwards.

"M-Monster," they gaped at the terrifying redhead. Just who was this guy?!

It almost looked like a game that Mihawk himself started. With perfect precision, he cut every single destructive arrow that flew his way, not allowing a single one to fly past, or hit him.

Once he grew bored, he dashed forward again and slashed downward, forcing Rosan to hold the attack back with his weapon. The sheer strength Mihawk possessed meant that he wouldn't be able to do this for much longer and Rosan utilized Germa's energy to shoot out a long beam of energy from both sides of his blade that honed in on the swordsman.

Mihawk glanced in interest at the homing beams but like everything else, he simply leapt back a safe distance and swiftly banished them with a swipe of his sword.

He didn't let the redhead rest for long because he quickly dashed back into his guard. Grabbing Ram, Rosan seamlessly transformed her into dual blades, seemingly disconnecting the middle, and their dance began again. Using the advantage of having two weapons now instead of one long one, the redhead was able to go even faster and sparks began flying as they ruthlessly crashed into each other again and again.

Yoru, despite its size, flew so swiftly through the air that it was taking Rosan everything just to keep up, just barely managing to block each heavy, but fast, swing. Rosan transformed Ram into dual blades for more speed but it was almost like he were still using his previous weapon with how he still couldn't land a clean hit.

"You have quite an impressive weapon," Mihawk praised as the two clashed once again. "Most would break clashing with the world's strongest sword for this long."

"What a flatterer!" Ram gushed.

"He's a complete monster," Mod complimented, eyeing Ram warily. She was pretty sure the psychotic silver haired girl had a crush on Mihawk's sword and that was somehow the strangest thing about the sentient ring.

"I personally made Ram to be this impressive," Rosan hummed. "Never once has she been broken."

Maybe he should not have said that.

"Is that so?" Mihawk prodded.

Without any warning, Mihawk increased his strength past what Rosan was expecting and shattered Ram with a diagonal slash that placed a deep cut on his body, drawing out a spurt of blood that began spilling onto the floor and getting gasps of horror out of everyone there, convinced he was going to die.

"?! I ACTUALLY BROKE?!" Ram gaped in disbelief. That had never happened before. S-She was unbreakable! The amount of force needed to break her... Mihawk was seriously super impressive!

Agh! She was fangirling so hard right now! She should be furious that she was actually broken, not gushing!

"That did require a sufficient bit of force," Mihawk complimented. "Against anyone else, I doubt your Ram would be easily broken. You have a praiseworthy weapon."

"Hmph," Rosan grunted, focusing a bit and watching as both he and Ram began regenerating until they were both in perfect condition again.

He just got this shirt and it was already getting shredded. How unfortunate, it would take some time to repair all the cut marks.

"S-Seriously?! HE MANAGED TO HEAL FROM THAT?!" Everyone gawked. Not only could he heal, his weapon could heal too? W-Was this guy even supposed to be human? The Pirate Hunter Zoro was in near death condition and this guy looked perfectly fine right now!

This was the craziest fight they had ever seen! They weren't even able to keep up most of the time and watching the two monsters in action, solidified just how out of their depth they were...

Rosan ignored them, gazing at Mihawk with a tilted head as he prepared to don his Raid Suit.

Ram was not normal. Ram was the most unique weapon that existed on the planet and that extended to what she was made of. She wasn't impossible to break, but she was close and this man had done so effortlessly.

He was strong. Very much so.

Unbeknownst to them all, his body began idly shuddering at the prospect of fighting such a strong opponent in earnest.

If the fight had continued anymore, something would have happened to Rosan but unfortunately, all would remain unaware of that because Mihawk exited his stance and sheathed his blade behind him.

"Both you and your weapon have some of the most impressive healing I've ever witnessed," the man pointed out curiously.

Zoans healed slower then the enigmatic redhead and he wasn't aware that there was a weapon that could regenerate like this Ram could. He was rather interested in her but that was for another time.

"I'm a healthy person. Ram inherited that aspect from me as well," Rosan commented and everyone watched as his weapon transformed into the expensive ring that normally lay on his finger. "Have you seen what you wanted to see? I don't appreciate being toyed with."

Ah, so his weapon normally took the form of a ring.

Shanks undersold how interesting this duo was. Mihawk would be keeping an eye on them.

"Yes, I've had my fun for today," Mihawk decided, already walking back to his single passenger ship. "You have plenty of potential. Despite how much I held back, you kept pace with me admirably and I could sense that you have even more in your arsenal but, your lack of ambition is holding you back greatly."

"No one knows that more than I do," the redhead retorted, glancing down at his positively blood stained shirt. "Thanks for sparring with me, I learned much from this."

This shirt was going to be hard to clean... He hoped Akemi didn't get too upset when he brought it to her, he didn't feel like cleaning it himself.

"I hope when we encounter each other again, you'll have regained all that ambition of yours. I'd like to know more about that Ram of yours and see just how strong you can become," the swordsman replied.

The redhead was much stronger then Shanks made him out to be but then again, it had been 10 years since they saw each other. Before losing it all, Mihawk was very sure the Rosan's own ambition was something to behold because only losing something great, could affect a person so greatly.

Even the so called "Anchor" was much stronger then the weakling in the story. From what little Mihawk had seen of Luffy, he was much stronger then what he initially expected.

Those two would be perfectly fine after entering the Grand Line and Mihawk was curious to see what the Straw Hat pirates could do in the future.

Luffy, Rosan and Zoro... Yes, Mihawk would be keeping an eye on all of them.

"Next time you see Shanks, tell him to stop talking about me," Rosan retorted calmly. He didn't need to be put on anyone else's radar yet. He was pretty sure Mihawk wasn't the only incredibly powerful person who knew about him.

Ace was apart of the Whitebeard Pirates after all. Honestly, if he was going to end up following another captain, he should have just joined their crew. It would have been much more fun and now the strongest man alive knew about him too.

"Tell Shanks I said hi!" Luffy beamed. He was content to watch those two duke it out since he knew Rosan was made of tough stuff and could take quite the beating if he needed to.

"HE WANTS TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ME?!" Ram squealed, jumping on her Auntie with the most excited expression to date. YES! THE WORLD'S STRONGEST SWORDSMAN TOTALLY THOUGHT SHE WAS WORTHY! THAT WAS SO AWESOME!

"You are the ultimate weapon after all," Mod praised, accepting her excitement with a proud smile. Ram being acknowledged by Mihawk was no small thing. She deserved to be happy right now.

"FUCK YEAH I AM!"

"Language."

"YEAH I AM!"

"Where do you think you're going?" Krieg called out to the uninterested Mihawk. "Didn't you come to take the head of the King of East Blue, Don Krieg?"

"That was my intention. But I've had enough fun for now, so I shall take a nap."

Krieg scowled at being disregarded and said, "You may be done, but I'm not. I've had enough of being defeated."

With that, Krieg revealed his entire arsenal of guns and fired at Mihawk, heedless of his crew telling him how bad of an idea it was.

"NOW IT'S MY TURN TO HAVE FUN... DIE!"

"As expected, he never learns a lesson," Mihawk muttered, unsheathing his sword for one last attack.

A massive wave rocked everything and had the benefit of hiding Mihawk's body and ship. The Krieg pirates went flying as even more of their ship was destroyed and Luffy launched himself over to the Baratie.

The retreating ship holding Usopp, Zoro and the bounty hunter duo, rocked back and forth but managed to remain upright.

When the wave settled, Mihawk had vanished.

Krieg scoffed at Mihawk's cowardice and set his sights back on the Baratie. Then he realized something.

"Hey pops, can I stop doing chores if I chase those guys away?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"That's a deal," Zeff said, still reeling a bit at the display from the redhead. It was true that Mihawk had been toying with him, but he had still shown skills far above the East Blue standard. Just like Mihawk (and apparently Straw Hat too!), if he so pleased, all of them would be dead before the day ended.

"You said you were going to be King of the Pirates? Are you serious?" Zeff asked the grinning rubber boy.

"Yeah, of course! I'll definitely be the Pirate King!" Luffy said confidently.

"What about your red haired crewmate? That one doesn't seem to want to attract attention but he managed to interest Mihawk of all people for good reason and he's traveling with you. His expertise with all weapons is a rare sight," the owner of the Baratie praised.

"Rosan? I'm gonna give him a reason to live!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and down in preparation for the upcoming battle. "I want him to become the strongest because that was his dream so we'll go on the best adventure ever until he has it again!"

They listened to his declaration with surprised expressions. That boy didn't want to live? It fit well with his character and his personality but they never expected his emotionless disposition to go that far.

Sanji was no longer fooling himself. That man was without a doubt, Reaper, the Angel of Death, and the one who had freed him from his prison all those years ago. Watching him transform his weapon into a similar set of gloves that he used to beat down his brothers, solidified it.

He wasn't sure what to think about the one who saved him from his own personal hell. He never believed in the rumors spread about the Shinigami but the man did have a bounty of 500 million. No, the Reaper he knew would have a good reason for having such a high price on his head. The Angel of Death wouldn't go out of his way to free one random boy if he was a monster like the world made him out to be.

He would just ask the redhead. After all, he did subtly reveal his identity to him and the curiosity was killing—

"WHERE'S THAT DAMN REDHEAD?!" Krieg roared in fury, grabbing all their attention. The leader of the pirate armada had at least wanted to get his revenge on one of the targets of his ire, but the redhead was nowhere to be seen and it left him frothing at the mouth.

"Huh, where is he?" Zeff asked Luffy curiously.

"I told him to go on!" Luffy replied bluntly. Rosan wasn't needed here, the rubber boy could handle them by himself.

"Wait, so he's not coming back?!" Sanji asked in disbelief. There was no way he found Reaper after all these years and he was gone, just like that.

"Nope!"

But… he had yet to cook for the one who had saved him… DAMN IT! WHY HAD HE BEEN IN DENIAL FOR SO LONG?! IF HE JUST ACCEPTED THE OBVIOUS SIGNS IMMEDIATELY HE WOULDN'T BE IN SUCH A DILEMMA!

"Don't worry, I'll accept it sometime during our journey together. There's no rush."

How bothersome. How was he going to cook him the best meal now?

---

Usopp screamed in realization as their little boat sailed in the direction of the Going Merry.

"WHERE'S ROSAN?!" The sniper asked in disbelief. With Zoro injured, it was up to the redhead to keep them all safe but he was nowhere to be seen!

"We saw him get attacked by that Mihawk guy before we sailed out of sight," Johnny replied.

"What?!" Zoro groaned out in agony. Mihawk attacked Rosan? Why? Rosan claimed that he wasn't a swordsman and knowing him, he would go out of his way to avoid unnecessary battles like going up against the World's Strongest Swordsman.

Just what did he miss?

---

Nami looked off to the horizon with a forlorn expression on her features, tears welling up in her eyes.

"What a bunch of swell guys," the navigator sighed gently at her former crewmates. "If we meet again, I hope they'll let me sail with them…"

She had betrayed them. Taken their ship and ran off with it. It wouldn't surprise her if they were absolutely furious with her and sought to get their revenge. She would definitely deserve it for double crossing them when they had been nothing but pleasant to her.

But, she would still miss them dearly. She desperately hoped that when this was all over, they'd all let her back on board.

Luffy, Zoro, Usopp… even Rosan! They bickered often but it was all in good faith and there wasn't actually any animosity between the two. In fact, she found herself looking forward to the battle of words between them! The redhead forced her to think which the other members severely lacked and everything they did distracted her from her inevitable fate.

Tears began pouring from her eyes at the memories of them all. "I hope we meet again!" she sobbed out.

Once she was free, it would all be over and she could finally make her own decisions. Once that happened, she dearly hoped she'd find the crew again. If by some miracle she did then well...

Nami wiped her tears and smiled softly at the tiny blue bird that just landed on her shoulder. It trilled quietly and she softly stroked its feathers. It seemed to have sensed her distress and was now offering itself up.

What a nice bird. It was rather pretty too.

After fulfilling her mission with Arlong, Nami would find the straw hats and apologize for what she did. Luffy would forgive her, Zoro would be wary of her, she wasn't sure how Usopp would react and Rosan would —

Rosan would…

Rosan would...

Rosan would...

...

...

Nami froze as she looked at little blue jay staring directly at her. This close, the navigator could see the glimmer of intelligence in the animal's eyes and it filled her with a strong sense of foreboding that made her heart squeeze until she felt like she couldn't breathe.

"If we're linked by fate, we'll meet again."

Nami went white as a sheet at that deep voice that normally annoyed her. Right now, it did nothing but fill her with a newfound terror that made her begin to panic internally.

"Didn't I tell you when we met at Orange Town? I don't believe in fate, Nami."

Portgas D. Rosan stared down at Nami with a tilted head on the upper railing of the ship. A pair of black reptilian wings (that had red streaks), lay dormant on his back and gave her no illusion of what allowed him to somehow catch up to her.

He vanished from his spot and appeared right in front of the terrified navigator. The redhead towered over her and bent over slightly to look her directly in her face, showing off those dual eyes of his that were so fascinating to look at.

That handsome face did nothing for her nerves and she began to shake terribly at that lifeless expression of his that didn't even regard her as human right now.

He tutted softly. "If I did believe in fate, I'd be a lot more angry…"

His near invisible pupils were set into slits right now and combined with the red and purple of his eyes, it was one of the scariest things she had seen to date. Nami had never seen his pupils look like that and she didn't even know he could grow wings.

She remembered how brutal he was to his opponents, how merciless he had been, crushing them like they were nothing but trash, and how he had said he'd only ever do that to them, if they gave him a reason to with the most unhinged smile on his face ever.

Looking into those dimly glowing eyes, the navigator realized she might have just given him one.

"...And you'd be a lot more dead."

---

Bonus!

---

The triplets are 20

Maro is 19

Ace is 16

Luffy is 13

---

"Hey, Master, who was your first kiss?" Maro asked curiously, propping her head up to ask that question.

"Hm?" Rosan popped one eye open at that to regard her.

It was currently the three brothers and the rulers of Celadon lounging about in the boys base after a day of sparring and eating a meal.

"Why do you want to know?" The computer man asked, closing his eyes again as Luffy slept haphazardly on his body.

Maro hummed, stroking a curious Angel's hair idly. "Well, I just realized that you were my first kiss and it got me curious on who managed to convince you to kiss them first!"

Her wife blinked in confusion, shooting up at that. "WAIT. YOU AND MASTER KISSED? WHY AM I JUST NOW LEARNING THIS?!"

Ace blinked at that as well. As far as he knew, Angel and Maro had been dating for as long as he knew them.

Rosan nodded in confirmation. "Yes, I gave Maro her first kiss."

The beautiful Queen laughed nervously. "I guess I never did mention that huh?"

They were all rather interested in hearing about it.

Rosan and Maro huh? They could see it.

Demon actually thought Maro and Master would have gotten together at one point, up until he realized that she was more into girls and stared at Angel alot.

Angel could see it too judging by how hard she was holding her wife and glaring at her older brother. "What's the story behind this? I demand answers!" She barked.

Rosan hummed, unbothered by her hostility. "You can relax. This was when Maro was 12 and she wanted to see something that's all."

Demon perked a brow. "See something?"

The Dokkaebi nodded rapidly. "Yeah it went something like this!"

---

Flashback

"You want me to kiss you? Why? Don't you like Angel?" 13 year old Rosan asked calmly, looking at his student (she was a little taller then him currently).

Maro nodded at his question. "Yeah... at least I think I do! But I know for sure that I like you but it's a different way then Angel's and I can't tell which is which so I wanted to kiss you to see if I like-like you or if I like-like Angel."

Ah, right. Maro had no clue about anything remotely romantic. She was attracted to people solely because she was a natural pervert.

"H-Hey!" The bluenette protested with a look of indignation. He was right but still! She just appreciated beauty and all the residents of the White Rose, were beauty!

"Okay that's fine, I'll help you then," Rosan nodded.

"You will?!" Maro gaped. Was it really that easy? Wow, if she knew this then she would have done this ages ago before it was for a serious reason!

"Shameless fucking perv," Ram growled.

"Language," Mod admonished, smiling in amusement at what was going on.

"You asked me so I see no reason why I should say no," Rosan shrugged, closing the distance between the two and promptly locking his lips onto the shellshocked Dokkaebi.

D-Did he really just do that? Seriously?! What was wrong with this guy! At least give her some time to prepare... This was her hot as hell Master after all!

Maro gaped and blushed scarlet at how forward her Master was, blinking in a daze as she kissed her for a moment and then broke it.

"Well?" Rosan asked softly, pulling back and taking in her expression.

Despite the blush, Maro looked much the same and seemed even confused.

"You know, normally I'd be over the moon that you actually kissed me but I'm only really happy. Besides the fact that you're insane forwardness caught me off guard... I dunno I just sorta expected to feel more," Maro mused, cupping her chin in contemplation.

Her attraction to Rosan was probably the most obvious thing on the planet because Maro made no attempt to hide it. She also knew that she loved him dearly but perhaps it wasn't the way she thought it was?

"Now that I've kissed you, can you imagine Angel in my position?" Rosan questioned and the moment he asked, Maro's face turned crimson.

"D-Don't put such thoughts in my head!" She swooned. Oh man, if Angel kissed her like that... Maro might just do everything the redhead wanted without a single complaint.

Ah, Angel~ She seriously needed to confess to her one of these days before someone else managed to steal her attention... She thanked the stars that the girl was so hostile to everyone.

"Well then now we know that you definitely like Angel," her teacher hummed.

"Honestly, I feel like you only did this to get a free kiss from Father," Ram scowled.

Maro spluttered at that. "H-Hey! I'm not that big of a pervert! I've never felt these things before so I just wanted to be sure."

"Rosan was much the same though... He didn't ask me to kiss him to be sure though," Mod laughed.

Maro thought Rosan missed out by not doing that. She would gladly take up the chance to kiss Mod-chan but maybe that was just her.

Yeah, no way. She was sure 99% of the human population would want a piece of the Devil Fruit.

"Sooooo, wanna keep practicing?" Maro asked with an unsavory gleam in her eyes.

Hey, he was compliant! Might as well cash in!

Rosan tilted his head. "Very well, I don't mind—"

"No," Ram denied with a scowl.

The bluenette shrugged, not bothered by it.

Couldn't hurt to try.

---

Flashback End

"Oh so you kissed because you couldn't tell who you were romantically interested in?" Demon questioned.

"And even after kissing Master you chose me?" Angel gaped, blushing rosily with an unsavory gleam in her eye.

She didn't think anyone would ever pick her over Master! She was merely a clone of him after all! But her awesome, gorgeous wife actually kissed him and still chose her!

Oh she was going to so get rewarded for that!

Maro beamed at that.

"Now what about you, Master? Who was your first kiss?!" The Queen prodded.

"Isn't it Meiko?" Angel raised a brow. That was the most obvious choice considering they were lovers and Rosan had been super embarrassed when she first kissed him on the lips.

Demon nodded in agreement. Master getting kissed by Meiko was one of the funniest days ever (right next to when he transformed into a girl) because of how embarrassed he had been.

Rosan surprisingly shook his head no. "My first kiss was Mod-chan but she doesn't count so it was Robin."

"Oh you mean that day..." Mod blushed in embarrassment, remembering that time.

They blinked dumbly at that.

"Huh?" Everyone said dumbly.

---

Flashback

"Robin-neeeeeeeeee!" 7 year old Rosan yelled excitedly. "There's something I just learned that I need to do with you!"

11 year old Robin glanced up from the book she was reading and regarded the charging redhead warily. At the speed he was running at, he was surely going to crash into her but these days he was careful enough not to make it painful.

Aka, they now had carpet in the interior of the ship.

"What is it, Rosan—"

The redhead promptly tackled her out of her comfy seat with an excited squeal and Robin let out a tiny oomph as the much smaller boy crashed into her with a hug.

But that was not all.

Robin's eyes widened in pure confusion as Rosan excitedly locked lips with her without an ounce of prompting. He hummed in excitement and as the kiss dragged on, Robin's face turned progressively more and more red, the implications of what he was doing catching up very quickly with her.

It was then that she realized that Rosan could talk for years if he wanted to. He had an incredibly strong set of lungs and could keep this going for a long time.

Unfortunately, she was too shocked to do anything about it.

"R-Rosan! Just because I accepted it without complaint doesn't mean you can do it to anyone," a flustered Mod said.

The redhead blinked at that and reluctantly broke the kiss, hoisting a stunned, crimson faced, Robin to her feet.

"Really?" Rosan asked in confusion, scratching his head. "But when I asked what a kiss was you said, I do it when I really love someone! Then I kissed you for a realllllly long time, Mod-chan and now I kissed Robin-nee for a really long time because I love you both a lot!"

Robin flushed even deeper, refusing to make eye contact with the confused boy and making the redhead grow worried.

"I-I... you have to ask them first Rosan and when I meant someone you really love... I-I meant someone you want to like, marry and have kids with!" Mod panicked.

The Devil Child sweatdropped at Mod, embarrassment momentarily forgotten due to her words.

Wasn't that a bit of an extreme response to tell someone like Rosan? The logical Devil Fruit was panicking very hard right now from also being smooched by Rosan and it made Robin feel much better that she wasn't the only one floored by the little menace's actions.

Rosan's eyes bugged as his jaw dropped. "W-W-W-WHAAAAATTTT?!" He screeched, sweating nervously as tears formed in his eyes. He looked towards Robin and immediately crashed into her, beginning to sob loudly.

"Y-YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU TWO WOULD GET PREGNANT?! P-PLEASE DON'T DIE! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU TWO IF YOU DIE!" The boy cried, soaking Robin's shirt with his genuine tears, looking up at her so helplessly, she forgot that she was about to reprimand him.

"O-Oh dear," Mod said, holding her red face in exasperation. She was so embarrassed at being kissed so abruptly on the lips that she didn't think of what she said to Rosan in the moment. Of course the eccentric redhead was going to jump to the worst conclusion off of her words.

Robin never expected her first kiss to be taken like that but at least it was by Rosan... and he was remorseful?

It could have been worse...?

"It's okay Rosan," she assured, face still burning. "I won't get pregnant off of a kiss! Mod-chan didn't explain everything in detail but I'm fine," she finished, grabbing the panicking boy and steadying him.

Rosan blinked. "Really?" He asked, voice full of relief. "So you guys won't get pregnant if I kiss you?"

"No, we won't," Mod replied, sighing at her mistake. She thought Rosan would stop at complimenting her appearance but the moment she told him about the specifics of a kiss, he had happily jumped on her and proceeded to practice what he learned.

The shock and embarrassment had stopped her from telling him that he couldn't just do that whenever he wanted and he summarily charged Robin next and now they were here with her little boy thinking you could get pregnant off of a kiss.

Looking at her genius idiot, Mod realized she was not looking forward to the day she had to explain the birds and the bees.

"You should probably not kiss a person without their permission though... Mod-chan and I are just accepting of everything you do," Robin sighed in defeat.

"So it's not good if a person kisses me without my permission... but if I have permission I can kiss them?" Rosan asked, getting a nod out of the two.

"That means I can kiss you guys whenever I want! Yes!" He cheered, jumping around ecstatically and tackling Robin to the floor again.

"W-Wait! Rosan I didn't—" Robin's brain quickly shut off as Rosan resumed where he left off with a pleased hum.

"I-I don't even know where he got the curiosity to learn about kisses from," Mod moaned in misery, watching him pepper his best friend. Wasn't he mortified to learn about Shizuka all those years ago? Why did he suddenly want to kiss them so badly!

Robin had gone nearly comatose by now, not used whatsoever by such physical affection and Mod wanted to save her, but Rosan would just go after her next and she was in the same boat as the Devil Child.

At least she had a crush on him? Yes, it wasn't even Mod sacrificing her! She was giving her daughter what she wanted!

"This is fun!" Rosan beamed obliviously.

---

Flashback End

They looked at the redhead with dropped jaws, not believing his tale until remembering how much of a menace he was when he was younger.

"You sounded like the most adorable terror ever, Master," Maro finished. He really got to kiss Mod-chan for free?! The world just wasn't fair!

"The more I hear about your journey with Robin, the more bad I feel for her," Ace snorted. That girl was too intelligent to be stuck with his carefree older brother.

"Y-You thought she was gonna get pregnant off of a kiss?" Angel cackled, holding her stomach and rolling on the floor at that.

"I can't believe your first official kiss was Master Mod," Demon said with a shake of his head.

"...It was unexpected," an embarrassed Mod replied, holding her head at the memory. She really wasn't expecting Rosan to just start throwing out kisses so casually but he had been a menace all the way up until he turned 8 and neither her or Robin were safe.

"I was told to kiss people that I love without any extra details," Rosan replied calmly, closing both his eyes again. "I love Mod-chan so I kissed her. I love Robin so I kissed her. If you were all there too, I'd have kissed each one of you as well."

They blinked at his bluntness before every single person, barring a dozing Luffy, blushed for various reasons.

Ugh, Rosan was so embarrassing sometimes but it was super endearing.

"Don't worry, Father!" Ram chirped happily. "I will accept any and all kisses from you as your amazing daughter!"

"Ditto," Maro said, yelping as Angel punched her on the skull.

"Don't give him any ideas," Ace groaned in annoyance. "He's already super annoying with his possessive streak, we don't need him to start marking us now."

They all nodded sagely. Their oldest brother was one of the most selfish people around and would do whatever it took for them to understand that they were his.

"That's not a bad idea," Rosan remarked idly. He didn't mind kissing them all so that they understood.

"I accept it!" Ram beamed.

"L-Let's not," Mod stammered. She did not think she could handle such physical affection again.

"Rejected," everyone else said (Maro reluctantly joined after getting glared at).

The second oldest there simply shrugged his shoulders. "Fine. Not like it will change anything. You all already know your mine."

"NO WE'RE NOT!" Ace roared, tackling his older brother and beginning a tussle that Luffy immediately joined, waking up at hearing being collateral of the two brothers fighting.

"BRAWL!" Maro cheered, jumping into the pile to get her fair share of action.

"At least take it outside! I don't wanna have to repair this base because of your stupidity!" Angel scowled, urging them to leave.

"GET EM FATHER!"

"They're all so stupid," Mod sighed forlornly. "At least you're normal, Demon. Please never allow them to shatter your sanity."

Demon smiled at the Devil Fruit's words. "I try my best every day, Master Mod. But, I'm curious... Why was Master so embarrassed when Meiko kissed him?"

The Devil Fruit held her head. "Besides the fact that Rosan is terrible at receiving a taste of his own medicine and was unused to being on the receiving end of such physical affection, I told him that if a girl kisses him without his permission, he'll die."

The doctor had a massive sweatdrop at that reveal. "W-Why would you tell him that?"

"T-To protect his chastity! After a firm glare from Robin, I quickly took it back b-but he fully believed me when I said it at first and I think a part of him never forgot the slight possibility," Mod said, visibly embarrassed.

"Master Mod... you're just as messed up as them," Demon sighed, holding his head at her actions.

"I-I don't wanna hear it! You'd never understand a mother's plight!" She whined.

Demon wasn't sure he wanted to but he wouldn't say that out loud because of his undying respect for Mod.

---

Hi everyone! We're back with Chapter 26 and nearing the end of East Blue saga!

After so long, Rosan and Sanji meet again but poor Sanji was in denial for too long because of his hero worship of Reaper. When he finally accepted that Rosan was the Shinigami, the redhead left to go pursue his traitorous navigator.

It's a good thing he didn't tell Nami anything about himself huh? She likely never would have risked betraying them if she knew Rosan could fly. All she knows is that Rosan can instantly appear at Luffy's location so she thought she'd be free to escape since Luffy was not on the ship.

Unfortunately for her, our resident redhead is a big fan of flying and not a big fan of traitors so it looks like Nami is in a bit of trouble.

Hopefully you guys enjoyed the Mihawk vs Rosan fight! I actually extended it by quite a bit since there was no real combat this chapter and hopefully I gave them both a good showing without making it seem remotely close because Mihawk oneshots Rosan and everyone there.

We're almost done with the East Blue and you know what that means! The Grand Line is where I'm going to have a whole lot of fun but even then, these last few arcs will be good... I think.

Unfortunately, Baratie and Arlong are pretty long arcs so I couldn't do them in one chapter. Next chapter will be the end of Baratie and the start of Arlong, and the chapter after will be the end of Arlong then we head to Loguetown! Look forward to it.

Oh! Also some small little changes to the Blue Seas due to Rosan's existence that have happened so far (I won't list them all but maybe in future chapters).

Robin entered the Grand Line the moment she hit 18, due to Reaper's terrifying presence and Mod's words, instead of 23 in canon so she's been there for 5 years longer. Rosan assumed she entered the Grand Line much earlier due to not hearing any info about her but it was actually because she was unintentionally avoiding alerting him. If she had a clue that Rosan was Reaper, they'd have probably met much sooner.

Morgan was unable to escape Garp this time around because Rosan shattered every single bone in his body when he crashed into his back.

Fullbody dies due to Jango not being there to save him from that hostage situation and the Tulip Pirates were able to wreak havoc (search Jango's Dance Paradise if your curious)

And the most obvious, Kuro is dead :).

There's another thing Rosan has done that's affected something quite a bit but you'll see that next chapter! You can try predicting it now but it'll probably be really difficult. It's a small detail that I planted very long ago for this moment haha.

Now, here's the title for the next chapter (may be subject to change).

Chapter 27: The Price For Freedom