Chapter 11
Secrets of the Pirate King
"See you later! Really, call me for anything!" Duval tried another painful wink. His lips were skewing from the effort and he could barely keep the other eye open. "Until you all safely depart of Fishman Island, we'll be your arms and legs!"
"Okay! Thanks you guys!" "Just stop winking already." Luffy and Sanji waved from the shore. They had arrived at Grove 13 in record time, weaving through the numbered trees so the marines couldn't track them.
Duval and the Rosy Life Riders will continue to fly around the archipelagos for the time being though. They'll draw away any marine activity away from Grove 13 and 41, so the Straw-Hats will have a safe haven, for now. Plus, they didn't want the navy to commandeer their ship.
Duval then reached into the saddlebags of Motobaro's saddle, "Ah, also, Ms. Mermaid, that bastard Peterman had this!"
"Ah! My backpack!" Camie cheered as she received the shell shaped pack. "Th-Thank you!"
Duval grinned then spun around on the bison's saddle. He struck a pose and Motobaro started swimming. "Let's go, Rosy Life Riders!"
"Yes! Handsome Rose!" The flying fish kicked up water as they all sped away to the canals.
"Their shouts sure change a lot," said Luffy.
"They're probably trying to find one that clicks," Sanji deadpanned.
"Well then, let's hurry inside," said Rayleigh. He still had Hachi on his back and was pointing up the stairway towards Shakky's bar.
"Right! Hachi needs some rest!" Chopper transformed into his human form. "Maxwell would you please start healing him when we get inside?"
"Of course," Maxwell nodded.
They carried the three sea-folk up the stairs, and Rayleigh was the first to call out, "Hey Shakky! I'm back!"
Shakky opened the door, greeting them, "Oh, welcome back Ray. That was quick! Monkey boy, you guys did well finding him."
"Hachi's been pretty injured. We're going to need a bed," Rayleigh told her.
"Oh no! What happened, Hatchan!?" Shakky ushered them in, making sure nothing was following them. She flipped her open sign to closed for good measure.
Maxwell and Chopper were told where to find a spare bed, and brought it down from up stairs. Everyone else moved the few remaining tables so they could place it safely in the middle of the floor. Rayleigh then put Hachi on the bed and Maxwell got to work.
It was a different biology, but Maxwell was able to start mending the wounds. Chopper was sorting through his bag for all of his powders and elixirs. Camie and Pappagu, being the closest with Hachi, were allowed a seat at his bedside while he recovered.
"Oh~ …That feels a lot better…!" Hachi sighed as he felt the magic flow through him.
"Hachi…" Camie held onto one of Hachi's six hands as Maxwell worked his magic on him.
"Hachi will be fine Camie," Nami assured the mermaid. "Between Maxwell's magic and Chopper's expertise, he'll be fine in no time!" She was sitting at one of the booths with Sanji, Franky, Robin and Usopp. Brook had taken a stool at the counter, and Luffy was going towards the fridge again.
Luffy stopped for a moment and turned back to face Rayleigh, "Oh yeah, you said you had something to talk about later." He sitting on another stool with Shakky pouring him a drink.
"Heheh. Well, let's just say I have an interest in rookies since my time on Roger's ship."
"Oh, okay." Luffy turned around, but then realized just what the old guy had said. "EEEEEHHHHH!? ON THE PIRATE KING'S SHIP!?"
"Yeah. My full name is Silvers Rayleigh, and I was the Vice-Captain for the Roger Pirates. Nice to meet you."
"VICE CAPTAIN!?" all the Straw-Hats, minus Brook and Robin, yelled aloud. Usopp even did a spit-take from the shock of it.
"Hatchan, you didn't tell them?" Shakky asked, holding her cigarette.
"Nyu… we just needed him for the coating," Hachi responded.
"Oh my, you didn't notice?" Robin asked the crew.
"I KNOW THAT NAME ALL TOO WELL!" Usopp started crying realizing just who they were with.
"It's in so many books!" Nami also cried, embarrassed at not realizing sooner.
Sanji stared in slight awe, "It's definitely a name that everyone's heard of at least once."
"Speak for yourself Sanji! This is news to me!" Maxwell looked between both the chef and the living legend. Luffy had told Maxwell the story of the Pirate King's death plenty of times, back when they sailed together on the East Blue. The fact they were with a member of Gold Roger's crew was astounding enough. But the Vice-Captain—!?
"Gold Roger…" Brook taste the name on his lips, not that he had any, as he ate more cold beans. "I remember a rookie by that name many years ago… Or maybe not." It was 50 years ago. "Beans beans beans…"
"Why does Octopus know a legend like you?" Zoro asked. He was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the room. Hands relaxing behind his head.
Rayleigh put down his drink, "Over twenty years ago… Hachi saved my life when I was shipwrecked."
"He owes Hachi his life," Shakky continued. "He was just a kid at the time though."
"Since then, we had been friends up until he joined the Sun Pirates."
"Arlong, right?" Luffy asked, going through the fridge again.
"But Gold Roger was executed 22 years ago. Wouldn't they have taken your head for being the vice captain?" Sanji asked the old pirates. "The crew was captured by the marine, weren't they?"
Rayleigh only smiled. "We weren't caught. Roger gave himself up."
"WHAT!?"
"The Government may have acted like they captured him, but it was nothing but a show of power." Rayleigh took a drink.
Nami stood from the table, "The Pirate King gave himself up!? Why!?"
"…Because he could see the end of our journey."
Rayleigh put his drink down. "About four years before his public execution, Roger came down with a terminal disease. A disease that nobody could cure. Nobody could do anything about it. Even Roger was suffering… At the time, the only man who could relieve his suffering was a man name Crocus, who was both a doctor and a lighthouse keeper at the Twin Capes. We asked him to come with us as the ship's doctor, on our Last Voyage."
"Then, tree years later, out-pacing death itself, Roger achieved what everyone told us was impossible and conquered the Grand Line."
"…C-C—Crocus!?" Brook stuttered out. "From the Twin Capes…!? How nostalgic." Brook held his head in his hands realizing just what his friend had been through, waiting for him.
"EH!? Wasn't that the old man on the for 50 years!?" Usopp exclaimed. "And he was on the Pirate King's crew!?"
Nami thought about it for a moments. "Now that you mention it, he did say he was a ship's doctor for a few years… So for those three years he was a pirate!"
"You all met him? That must mean he's doing well!" Rayleigh played with a bottle, "He was taking care of a whale… And came with us to look for another group pirates, more than anything."
"Brook! He must have gone to look for you guys!" "C-Crocus… You went that far…!?"
"Heheh. He was only with us for 3 years, but make no mistake. He was our nakama! …I still want to see him, even in this day and age." He could still see that silly flower headdress on his head.
"…So after you conquered the seas—?"
"That's where it really started," Rayleigh both answered and cut off Sanji's question.
"The world began to call Roger the Pirate King… It's not like he was always the Pirate King. Titles don't mean anything for a man about to die."
Rayleigh took another drink. "But Roger was happy. He was a man who loved doing things in the flashiest way possible… That was how he partied. How he fought… He didn't have a future, but he didn't seem to care. He looked like he was just enjoying himself."
"But, before long, on our captain's orders, the Roger Pirates secretly disbanded. The entire crew split up, and one by one, they disappeared… I put my life on the line with those men. But even now, I don't even know where all of them are, or what they're doing…"
"And then, about a year after we disbanded, Roger gave himself up. He was arrested, and set to be publicly executed in his hometown of Lougetown in the East Blue. On that day, in that square…" Rayleigh pause for a moment. "I heard that there were lots of men, who would later become famous pirates today, who showed their faces. The whole world watched as the Pirate King was executed."
"I didn't go," Rayleigh admitted. "The last words he said to me seemed to be like, 'I'm not gonna die, partner…'"
"The government and the marines must have been shocked. They intended the execution to be a warning to other pirates. But with one word, before his death, Roger set off what would be called the Great Pirate Era…!"
Maxwell thought about the famous words.
"My treasure? If you want it, you can have it! Try to find it! I left everything the world has to offer, is there! In One Piece!"
"In the last few seconds, with the fading spark of his life, he set the whole world ablaze. I never laughed more—cried more—and drank more than after that night…! He was my captain, and lived a magnificent life…!"
…Envy…
…Why did he feel envy when he heard about the Pirate King, Gold Roger?
Was it because of the freedom Roger enjoyed? That he single-handedly changed the world before his death? That a man could live happily with death hanging over his shoulder?
Maxwell thought about his own world. Could such a man have ever existed in Thedas? A revolutionary for the elves, rebuilding Arlethan? A paragon for the dwarves, driving back the darkspawn? Maybe even an uprising within the Qun, overthrowing the Triumverate and finally becoming their true selves! Mages living free… without Tevinter…
…Or was it because Maxwell didn't meet the man himself? How Rayleigh spoke about him…
"I feel like I just heard something amazing… It's totally differhearing it from someone who lived through it," said Nami. Both her and Usopp sat on the edge of their seats, staring at the former Vice Captain.
"Then… It' almost like Roger planned this era!"
Rayleigh only smiled, "…Well, I don't know about that… Roger is dead. The only people who can create an era are the people living in it." Rayleigh then took the bottle of rum from behind the counter and started drinking it. Straight from the bottle.
"…I'm certain that the people in the plaza that day received something from Roger. You know one of them pretty well." Rayleigh looked over at Luffy, "Red-Hair Shanks."
Luffy paused while eating, "Eh? You know Shanks, gramps?"
Rayleigh kept smiling, "And if you're from East Blue, then maybe you probably know a pirate named Buggy?"
"Buggy," Maxwell, Nami, and Zoro all grimaced. He was clown that could separate himself into floating body parts. One of the first pirates they ever fought together. He later tried to get revenge on Luffy, but was thwarted by a stray thunderbolt.
"Those two were cabin boys on our ship."
"EH!?" Both Maxwell and Luffy both went bug-eyed at the former pirate. "SHANKS WAS—" "BUGGY WAS—" "ON THE PIRATE KING'S SHIP!?"
"What, you didn't know?" Rayleigh started pouring another glass, "Just about 10 years ago, I ran into him on this island. He was missing his trademark straw hat, and his left arm." Luffy tried to speak again, but instead swallowed the mass of food that was in his mouth.
"When I asked him about it, he looked happy and talked about you…"
Maxwell blinked. By the Maker, that was one huge coincidence. A legacy of Gold Roger, now one of the 4 most powerful pirates in the world, inspiring Luffy to become a pirate? It almost sounded like something out of a children's tale.
"Now, I can't go running off about things Shanks hasn't talked to you about. But you've done well coming this far…! I'm sure he's waiting for you in the New World."
Luffy slowly grinned, "…I see! Okay. I've wanted to see him too!"
Rayleigh reached over and put away his glass, "Well then, what's the situation? You wanted me to coat your ship, right? I'll get right on that."
"Nyu~ Now that you mention it, coating is really expensive," Hachi moaned from the bed.
"No, it's fine Hachi." Rayleigh looked back at the fishman, "You're my friend, so I won't take any money."
Hachi smiled back, "That's great! Thanks, Rayleigh."
"Yahoo!" Usopp raised his arm in the air, "I'm not really sure what happened, but if we're getting it for free, that's great!"
"How generous of you. Thanks old man." Sanji smiled at the Dark King.
"…Rayleigh, I have a question…!" Robin stood up and faced the old pirate. "Just what is the Will of D?" Rayleigh paused, clearly understanding her question.
"Roger's name was carved into the poneglyph I saw on the sky island in an ancient language. How did he know that language…? Do you know what happened in the world 900 years ago, during the Void Century!?"
Maxwell looked between the two. This was a question Robin had been wanting an answer to for 20 years. Her entire island burned because of that question. If the Roger Pirates knew—
"Yeah, I know…"
Rayleigh looked at her directly, "We knew, all of history…"
Everyone froze. Could Robin actually get her answers here!?
"…But, little lady… you can't just rush things. Just go forwards one step at a time, on you ship. Maybe we… Maybe Ohara… Maybe we all just tried going a little too fast…" Rayleigh looked away.
"Even if I told you everything. Everything I know about the history of the world. As you are now, you won't be able to do anything about it… Take your time, and after you see the world, perhaps you'll find a different answer…"
Rayleigh smiled, despite hanging his head. "But if you must ask, I can tell you everything I know."
…
…
…
Robin dipped her own head. "No… I'll stop asking here. I will continue my journey."
Rayleigh nodded. "Someday you'll know everything… It makes me sick, what happened to your homeland, Ohara… But it's not like Roger understood those words." Robin blinked hearing that admission.
"We were pirates. We didn't have intellects like the genius Clover or the scholars of Ohara. He just… heard the Voice of All Things. That was it…"
The Voice of All Things…? What was that? Another unique power on the high seas?
"Are you okay with this Robin!?" Usopp looked between her and the old man. "Aren't you letting a huge opportunity go here!?"
Usopp decided to step out from behind the table, "Um, old man! I have a question too!"
"The Legendary Great Treasure! The One Piece! It's it really on the last—!?"
"UUUUUSSSSSOOOOOPPPPPPPPPP!"
Luffy stood on the top of the counter, cutting off his sniper before he could finish his question.
"I don't want to hear where the treasure is!" He looked Usopp dead in the eye, with a serious expression Maxwell had never seen him use before.
"I don't even want to know if it exists or not! I don't know anything about it! But that's how we all set out on this journey!"
"If that old man tells you anything here, I'll stop being a pirate! I am not going on a boring adventure!"
…
…
…
…By the Maker! "HAHAHAHAHA!" Maxwell couldn't help but laugh. That was so like Luffy to say something like that!
Usopp was too busy backpedaling, "I—I'm sorry! I get it! My mouth just—went off on it's own! I… I don't want to hear about it either! Yeah, that's right! I've got a I'lldieifIhearabouttheOnePiece disease! Hey! Old man! Don't you say anything!"
"…Can you do it?" Rayleigh's question suddenly got everyone quiet.
"What the Grand Line has in store for you is beyond your imagination! Your enemies will be strong. Can you control this wild sea?"
Luffy looked back at him…
"I don't want to control it," Luffy told him. "The Pirate King is just the Freest Man in the world!"
Maxwell's mind froze at that… The freest man in the world?
"Is that so…?"
…Maxwell just realized. Luffy always said how he wanted to be the Pirate King. But as Maxwell thought back, he never really questioned why Luffy wanted to be King of the Pirates.
Rayleigh just grinned.
Shakky gave out a little laugh, "I'm definitely a fan of yours Monkey boy."
Rayleigh started heading out the door. "Your ship's at Grove 41, right? I'll go check it out. What will you guys do? And admiral might already be on these island."
Crap! Maxwell had nearly forgotten about that! And Luffy's brother—
"If we stay here, we'll just attract trouble… So, why don't we go shopping somewhere?"
"WHAT KIND OF EASYGOING LIFE ARE YOU LEADING!?" Usopp yelled at Nami. Normally it was Luffy pulling this kind of stunt. "WE'RE BEING PURSUED HERE! WE'VE GOT TO HIDE, YOU IDIOT!"
Franky nodded, "That's true. If we're with you, then they might come after us. If we want this to go smoothly, it would be best for us to escape into town."
"Then let's split up," Zoro suggested. "When the coating is finished, we can all meet up again."
"Where do you get off talking about meeting up…?" Sanji looked at their swordsman. If they did that they'll never be able to find Zoro again!
Rayleigh looked back at his partner in life, "Shakky, do we still have any of that stuff left?"
Shakky smiled and nodded, "Yes we do. One sheet, actually." She went into the back and grabbed what looked like to be a sheet of paper and scissors. Rayleigh went out the door, and everyone followed him to an old shed. There, he grabbed a giant rucksack, and an equally giant pair of painting brushes.
"I'm pretty notorious myself. So I think I'll move the ship from Grove 41 and work somewhere else."
Nami looked at the paper as Shakky cut it, "This… This is a Vivre Card!"
"Oh, if you know what this is, then this'll be quick." She was cutting it into 10 equal pieces. Each ribbon about 3 inches in length.
Chopper showed his vivre card to Zoro. "Zoro, this is how you use a vivre card."
"I KNOW HOW TO USE IT! SHUT UP!"
"Give me three day to do the coating."
"It takes three whole days!?" Luffy gawked at Rayleigh.
"This coating is going to protect your lives, so that's the fastest I can go."
"So we need to survive for those three days," Brook summerised. "Yohohoho! That's scary!"
"It's decided then," Rayleigh hefted the pack and brushes onto his back. "In three days, in the evening. I don't know which grove I'll be at, but the vivre card will guide you to where I am with your ship, with the coating done. You should gather whatever you need for the journey to Fishman Island."
Camie addressed the pirates, "Luffy-chin, everyone, thank you!"
"Seriously!" Pappagu shed a few tears showing just how grateful he was.
Even Hachi called out from inside the bar. "I'm sorry that something so bad happened because of me! I'm so grateful to you guys! We'll guide you too Fishman Island, so don't worry about it! Just look out for the navy over the next three days!"
Shakky let out a puff from her cigarette, "See you in three days boys and girls. I'll go see you off."
Everybody had a vivre card now.
"We're up against an admiral, make sure nobody dies!" Luffy grinned.
"IT'S BAD LUCK IF YOU SAY THINGS LIKE THAT OUT LOUD!" Usopp shouted at his captain.
Chopper called back to inside the bar, "Hachi, make sure you get plenty of rest!"
"Three days huh?" Franky wondered. Everyone else was looking at their piece of the vivre card.
"Ah, I can just pretend that I'm dead," said Brook.
They waved goodbye as they reached the end of the step. Rayleigh headed off in another direction also waving his farewells.
Now they had to figure out how to hide…
"Who would have thought we'd meet some of the Pirate King's crew here."
"Hm?" Both Maxwell and Usopp looked at Franky who had his arms crossed.
"I'm shocked! I mean—How should I say this… Even though he was an old man, he really was intimidating…"
"…Well, he is the most famous member of Roger's crew," Usopp pointed out.
"Heh," Franky grinned. "I'm glad I met him."
And if Maxwell was being honest… He did too.