Chapter 3
The day passed with light conversation going back and forth between the pair. Lucky for Nami, Merlin didn't reveal any world altering information to her as they talked. Rather, he asked questions about the current world to get his bearings and maybe figure out a bit more common sense. Despite living in the world of One Piece for sixty years, he knew nothing of it's actual culture but what he could remember from his past life.
He also didn't want to violate any other taboo's like walking around naked without a care in the world. Even though Nami couldn't give him a solid reason as to why it was bad, he decided to just take her word for it... For now.
As the sun was setting, Nami pointed to the horizon, "There it is, that's the cruise liner I planned to board before I found you. I'm pretty certain it'll be attacked while going through Alvida's territory."
What she didn't mention was that she'd planned to rob the rich guests on the cruise liner before doing the same thing to Alvida. Provided Alvida attacked the ship, something she was certain of. Pirates were just rabid dogs that would attack anything if they thought they'd get some form of loot from it.
Merlin looked to the horizon and spotted the ship Nami was pointing out. He scanned the horizon and saw a dark speck that might be an island. If it was, it was possibly where Alvida was currently sitting. He checked the direction the compass he'd made was pointing and it seemed to be pointing in the direction of the speck, "Looks like Alvida is definitely in that direction. Seems like your information was spot on."
Nami smirked, "My information usually is."
Alvida was one of the few pirates she'd felt comfortable trying to rob that was left in the East Blue. Pirates such as Don Krieg were far too big of a target to risk robbing. Although, with Merlin helping her with his little spells, it just might be possible for her to rob some of the bigger names out there.
Alternatively, Merlin seemed to know a lot about the Grand Line, weirdly, and she knew where to get her hands on a map to the Grand Line. Even if the place was as dangerous as he claimed, between her navigational skills and his potential strength, they might be able to get their hands on a fair bit of money there. She might be able to earn the last bit of money she needed on this trip.
Even if she didn't, she still had one more card she was certain she could play. Those weird Devil Fruit's of Merlin's. She was certain that if she asked, he would give her one to trade to Arlong in exchange for Cocoyashi Village. Just one of them was worth far more than the one hundred million Belly that he wanted from her to buy the village. For the first time in a long time, Nami felt some hope for her future.
Merlin, meanwhile, was watching as they quickly approached the cruise liner and the speck, that was quickly becoming an island. His ears twitched as he heard the sound of a whirlpool in the water. Nami expertly changed their heading to stay well away from the whirlpool so it wouldn't drag them down. It wasn't even remotely comparable to one that would exist in the Grand Line. Hell, it wouldn't even be able to sink the cruise ship, but it was definitely big enough to drag their little boat down.
Not that Merlin was even remotely afraid of that happening. All he had to do was pick up Nami and fly away, after all.
As night completely fell and they drew closer, the pair spotted a second ship sailing out from behind the island. Nami lifted up her spy glass and took a look at the monstrously ugly pink ship as it sailed out from its cover, "Yup, that's definitely 'Iron Mace' Alvida's ship. You ready to take her down Merlin?"
As she lowered the spy glass to look at him, Merlin gave her a bright grin and a thumbs up, "No problem. Get us in close and you can use me a a distraction while you rob her blind."
Nami grinned at that, "Sounds like a perfect plan to me!"
Within minutes they were pulling alongside Alvida's ship, which had pulled alongside the cruise liner after getting it to stop via cannon fire. Nami focused on Merlin, "Spell me up!"
Merlin laughed and began waving his hand back and forth casting spells on Nami. Aside from silent footsteps, wall walking, and invisibility, he also covered her in several defensive spells that would keep her from harm. Though he didn't tell her about them. He didn't want her to think he was babying her or something. He just didn't want to risk her getting shot in the back, or something similarly deadly harming her.
He knew this was reality and that just because something went well in the canon story he knew, didn't mean that reality couldn't be changed with a simple little action. All the proof he needed of that was his own presence at what he was certain was Luffy's first steps into the wider world. His own existence and interactions with Nami proved that things could very easily change.
With the spells cast on her, Nami wasted no time in approaching the side of the ship and tentatively placing her sandal clad foot against the ship's hull. She didn't feel anything different and easily pulled her foot away. Frowning, she turned to face Merlin, "My foot didn't stick."
Merlin looked directly at her, he could easily see through his own invisibility spell, "It works based on your desire. Just act as if the hull of the ship is the floor and you should be able to easily walk upon it. You don't have to really think or do anything special, just walk."
Nami eyed him for a moment longer before deciding to give it a try. If it didn't work, she knew how to roll after a fall. She once more placed her foot on the hull of the ship and calmly lifted her other leg, though she tensed in preparation for a fall that never came. A grin spread on Nami's face as she gained belief in the spell working just as Merlin said it would. With glee, she charged up the side of the hull onto the deck of the ship. Despite running, Merlin's spell to silence her footsteps worked perfectly.
Merlin watched Nami run up the side of the ship before following her. Though, rather than run up the side, he gently floated up as he used his flight spell to levitate into the air. He made sure to drag up a rope with himself to tie off their boat so it wouldn't float away.
As he landed he came upon a scene he wasn't expecting. Standing on the deck of the ship, yelling about how ugly Alvida was, was a shivering pink haired kid. Merlin felt like he should know the pipsqueak, but thoughts of the tiny dude left his mind as he spotted more interesting characters. Alvida was there, but he ignored her weak presence. Rather he focused on an individual that he would recognize on sight even if he spent another sixty years on hell island, Luffy!
Standing across from Alvida was the future pirate king himself wearing his classic outfit. Although, rather than fighting each other, even after the pink haired kid called Alvida all sorts of names, everyone was staring at him in shock. Alvida was so surprised when she caught a young man flying onto the deck of her ship out of the corner of her eye that she'd actually stopped her massive mace in mid-swing.
The pink hair kid just stared at him in shock from behind round glasses. Luffy, on the other hand, had the most exaggerated reaction to his flying. Luffy's jaw had, quite literally, fallen down to the deck of the ship while his eyes, also quite literally, bugged out of his head.
A moment of silence passed as even the nameless mooks on the deck stared at Merlin in surprise. Though Merlin broke the atmosphere after just a moment by giving everyone a blindingly happy smile and speaking, "Oh, don't mind me. I'm just here to capture Alvida."
Luffy was the first to break out of his stupor, his eyes practically shining, "THAT WAS SO COOL! Was that a Devil Fruit?! No! Forget that! Join my crew! I'm going to be the king of the pirates and I need someone who can fly on my crew!"
Luffy spoke in a rapid pace, like a kid hopped up on tons of sugar. Merlin chuckled at the very Luffy-like excitement but shook his head, "Sorry future pirate king, but I can't join you at this time."
Luffy instantly crossed his arms to make a big X while making a buzzing sound with his mouth, "Your rejection is rejected! I've already decided that you're joining my crew!"
Merlin laughed, there was the Luffy-like answer that he expected. Just hearing Luffy demand he join his crew after showing he could fly filled Merlin with a feeling of happiness. Yesterday might have been the best day of his life, being rescued and all, but today was definitely a close second.
Before he could reply, Alvida finally recovered from the shock of seeing Merlin flying and then the surprise of Luffy claiming he would become king of the pirates so blatantly. She chose to ignore Luffy and Coby for the time being and focused on Merlin, "So you've come for me have you?" She eyed Merlin closely, "I don't think you're Roronoa Zoro either." She scoffed, "I am Iron Mace Alvida! The most beautiful woman on the sea!"
Merlin gave Alvida a flat stare. If Alvida had been the one to rescue him from his personal hell, he would have happily agreed with any delusions of beauty she had. Hell, he would have gladly used whatever was at his disposal to turn her into the most beautiful woman on the sea. With his Devil Fruit and various treasures it was entirely possible for him to make her even more beautiful than Boa Hancock was supposed to be.
However, she didn't rescue him, "The most beautiful toad on the sea maybe."
Coby and all of Alvida's crew gaped in shock as yet another person willingly insulted Alvida to her face. Alternatively, Luffy was holing his stomach as he laughed like he'd just heard the funniest joke ever told.
Veins bulged on Alvida's face in her fury. She turned away from Coby, his previous insults forgetton in the face of the newest insults. With a roar of unbridled 'feminine' rage, Alvida's large bulk charged directly at Merlin.
All Merlin did in response was lift his hand and aim his palm at Alvida. A simple magic circle that took on the appearance of a pentagram inside of a circle appeared as he cast his intended spell. A golden rope of energy shot out of the center of the magic circle and wrapped around Alvida like a boa constrictor. It started at her feet causing her to trip and before her face could even impact the deck of the ship, it had her arms pinned to her side. Sadly, this left her nothing to cushion her fall with as her face slammed into the deck of the ship with enough force to render her unconscious.
Merlin had no need to say the names of his spells aloud, and preferred not to. Though he did make an exception when he wanted someone to know what he was doing. The spell he'd just cast was a simple binding spell that got stronger as he put more effort into it. For a weakling like Alvida, he put in minimal effort.
As for those watching, everyone was once more rendered shocked and speechless as they all saw what anyone could recognize as 'magic.' Seeing Luffy using his rubber body to have his jaw literally hitting the floor was just as amusing the second time he saw it.
Luffy shook off his surprise as Merlin approached the unconscious Alvida, "Magic! REAL MAGIC! You're definitely joining my crew! A magician is a MUST! It's even more important than a musician!"
Merlin laughed and shook his head, "Sorry, I'm still going to have to refuse your invitation."
Luffy crossed his arms over his chest and turned his head to the side with a petulant look on his face, "I refuse your refusal!"
His pout faded quickly as he smirked at Merlin, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to be king of the pirates! Who're you?"
Coby slapped his forehead and then yelled at Luffy, "You can't invite someone to your crew without knowing their name!"
He was summarily ignored.
Merlin walked over and grabbed a section of the glowing rope binding Alvida then effortlessly hefted her up into the air, "I'm Merlin."
Luffy's eyes once more began to sparkle, "Merlin?! Your name is Merlin and you're a wizard?! You're definitely joining my crew!"
Further conversation was cut off as two things happened simultaneously. First, Merlin spotted Nami coming out of the ships main cabin with a large sack over her shoulder. Anyone else seeing it would have just seen the sack floating in the air by itself. Second, canon fire sounded off in the distance as a Marine ship came close and began firing on Alvida's ship with no care given for the passenger ship full of innocent civilians nearby.
Merlin looked at the Marine ship in the distance with disdain. He already had a poor impression of the Marines from his memories, but seeing something like this in person just made it worse. Truly, the Marines and the Government that supported them were the true villains of the story. There might be a few good people among them, but on the whole they were filled with evil and corruption.
As canon balls rained down around them, everyone on Alvida's crew panicked while Luffy grabbed Coby and leaped onto a small boat to make their escape. Laughing and shouting out as he did so, "I swear you're joining my crew Merlin!"
Merlin chuckled himself before making his escape with Nami into their boat, Alvida still carried on his shoulder like a sack of grain. He canceled the spells on Nami as she went about getting their boat ready to sail. While she did that, Merlin carried the tub of lard he'd captured into his mansion. Sadly the place didn't have a dungeon, but he could throw her into any of the bedrooms and leave her tied up. As long as he didn't cancel the spell, or run out of power to maintain it, it would never end. Thus she had no chance of escape, even if he didn't bother to lock her up somewhere.
It wasn't until he got to the door of the boat's cabin that he realized there was a small problem... Alvida was far too fat to fit through the door. She was so fat she was nearly as wide as the boat they were sailing on. It hadn't occurred to him just how big the whale was. Luckily he had a spell for that! Well, not specifically for fat women, more for shrinking the size of anything. He couldn't remember why he made the spell, but he was glad he did!
With a wave of his hand and a flash of a spell circle, the massive form of Alvida began to shrink. He continued to use the spell to shrink her until she was less than a quarter of her previous size. Alvida shrank from a height of nearly two hundred centimeters (6'6") to less than twenty-five (10"). It made it much easier to fit her through the door so he could toss her in a room. Fortunately, the rope conjured from his spell shrank with her form, a design aspect of the binding spell to restrain people capable of changing their size.
Once he returned outside, they were fully underway. He looked around and smirked a bit when he spotted Luffy and the pink haired kid to their stern. Nami's expert navigation and the much smaller sail on Luffy's boat meant they were outpacing Luffy by a significant margin. It wouldn't be much longer before they were out of sight.
As he joined Nami, he noted the large bag filled with treasure and grinned, "It appears you were quite successful in your endeavors, Nami."
Her reply was a blindingly bright smile, "Yup! You provided an excellent distraction! Between that and your spells, no one even noticed I was there at all! I even walked in front of a guy while carrying the loot and he didn't even pay the slightest bit of attention to me!" She projected genuine happiness, "It was amazing."
She reveled in the feeling of a good heist before she shook herself out of it, "We're heading to Shells Town next. There's a Marine base there where we can drop off Alvida and get paid."
She bit her lower lip as she contemplated if she should continue or not. Eventually, she did, "There's also something there that I want to take from the Marines if possible. A map to the Grand Line."
Merlin nodded in acceptance, not even questioning her choice. If she wanted to go to the Grand Line, that's where they would go. Though he expected they would officially join Luffy long before they ever actually made it there.
She looked at him curiously, "No objections to me stealing something from the Marines?"
Merlin just shrugged his shoulders, "All the Marines are is the biggest pirate group on the planet. Why would I object to you stealing from them if I didn't object to you stealing from Alvida?"
Nami blinked, her voice was laced with confusion as she spoke, "Marines are pirates? No they're not, they're Marines."
Merlin let out a sigh and looked at Nami seriously, "Not all Marines are Marines and not all Pirates are Pirates."
He could see the look of anger quickly forming on Nami's face and knew she was ready to blow after his statement, but he cut her off, "Let me tell you a little story."
Nami continued to glare but didn't say anything. Taking that as his queue Merlin continued, "Once there was a young man. He was a kind soul who was only interested in history. He wanted to know all about the past and everything it contained. However, word of his research into the past made its way to the world government. They don't want people to know the true history of the world, they'd gone to great lengths to hide it from everyone. If this young man found the truth out it would be bad for them. So, they had him labeled as a vicious pirate and placed a bounty on his head. He hadn't done anything wrong, never harmed a soul, yet he was now a hunted man who had to fear for his life daily. He was no pirate, but because the world government deemed his dream as too dangerous, they labeled him one."
He looked deep into Nami's eyes, "He wasn't the only one to ever be labeled a pirate for doing things the government didn't like. Even you could be labeled a pirate if you stole something from another pirate that the government wanted."
As that sank in and Nami looked contemplative, he added, "Of course, the majority of pirates have earned their bounties and should be put to death for their crimes. I'm just saying that labels shouldn't automatically cloud your judgment and that, if possible, you should examine the individual and their actions before applying a label."
Nami let out a sigh and nodded in acceptance. What Merlin said made some sense, though she felt his story was bullshit. Still, she didn't exactly have warm fuzzy feelings for Marines. While she didn't loathe them like she did pirates, they hadn't endeared themselves to her either. After all, he island had been under the rule of a pirate for ten years and not a single marine had ever come to their aid.
As far as pirates went? She was certain she still hated them, but maybe not everyone labeled as a pirate was really a pirate. Maybe.
-Line Break-
Thanks to Nami, it didn't take them all that long to arrive in Shells Town. As they pulled up to the dock, Nami turned to address Merlin, "Alright, I'm going to take my loot and sell off what I can. While I'm doing that, you go and turn in Alvida at the Marine base. Then we'll meet back her and plan your distraction so I can sneak in and get that map. Got it?"
Merlin nodded, "Not a problem."
While Nami departed into the town, Merlin made his way into the mansion to retrieve Alvida. She was still shrunken and tied up with his binding spell. He didn't feel like flaunting his powers in front of the Marines would be a good idea, thus he came prepared. He used a simple spell to make sure Alvida remained out cold. With that taken care of, he dismissed the binding spell and picked up the mini-Alvida and carried her outside. Once on the dock, he reversed the shrinking spell and proceeded to tie her up with a good amount of rope. He made sure to keep the ropes tight so Alvida couldn't marshal any of her strength to break them. Although no one who knew the truth of the world would label Alvida as strong, she was still stronger than the average human so some precaution was needed.
Some odd looks were thrown his way as he easily carried the massive bulk of Alvida down the main street of the town towards the large Marine installation situated at the top of a large hill overlooking the entire town. As he got closer, he drew the attention of the Marines. When he arrived at the main gate, there was a Marine there waiting for him.
As he got close the Marine lifted his hand, "Halt, what business do you have here?"
Merlin, not wanting to start a pointless conflict, did as instructed. He gestured to the limp bloated form on Alvida, "This is 'Iron Mace' Alvida, a pirate with a five million Belly bounty on her head. I'm here to turn her in for the bounty."
To help move things along, Merlin held out a rolled up copy of Alvida's bounty to the marine, "I've got a copy of it right here in case you don't recognize her."
To help even further, he gripped Alvida's hair and used it to lift her head up for the marine to get a good look. The marine compared the thing on Merlin's shoulder to the bounty poster and immediately saw the resemblance, "I see. Welcome to the Marine 153rd Branch. Follow me and I will lead you to the bounty turn in office."
The marine did a smart about face and walked into the compound. Merlin happily followed along, though his head swung about as he took in the layout of the base. He wanted to learn as much of it as he could while he had the chance, it might come in handy later. He couldn't stop smiling though, this was the first island he'd been on with people! The first Marine base he'd ever visited! It was all so exciting and he couldn't wait to get this over with so he could explore the village in depth.
He'd have to sell off some of his standard equipment, simple swords, flintlocks, and rifles, for some spending money. He so wanted to try everything this world had to offer!
When they arrived at the small prison area of the base, they were met with several more marines who took Alvida from Merlin. It took six of them to heft Alvida's bulk and muscle her into a cell. Fortunately for them, it was standard practice for the doors of Marine base jail cells to be rather massive. In a world where normal humans can reach over six meters (20') in height without giant blood, such large doors were a must.
While Alvida was being locked up, a marine behind the counter addressed Merlin, "We've confirmed that the prisoner is 'Iron Mace' Alvida with a bounty of five million Belly. If you'll give me just a moment, I'll collect your reward."
"Don't bother."
The marine manning the desk froze at the sound of the voice coming from behind Merlin. Merlin slowly turned and looked at the man that had walked up behind him. Merlin had noted his approach but didn't feel threatened by the man in the least. The man was taller than usual, muscular, with tanned skin, blonde hair, and a metal plate covered chin that looked like the lower half of a Halloween pumpkin with square teeth. Weirdly, his entire right hand had been replaced with an axe. He wore a captains jacket, though the sleeves had been removed and he didn't wear it like some knock-off cape. How pretentious was draping the coat over the shoulders anyway?
In the background Merlin could hear the marines calling the big guy Captain Morgan.
As the massive man looked down at Merlin, he growled, "A weakling like this..." He gestured at Merlin with his chin, "Isn't worthy of Marine funds." He narrowed his eyes at Merlin, "Leave, or join the pirate in her cell."
For a moment, Merlin contemplated smashing the mans face in. Or perhaps turning him into something tiny and embarrassing? There were so many ways he could embarrass the complete weakling in front of himself.
Sadly, he stayed his hand and postponed the mans execution. Nami planned to rob, what was clearly a sumbag marine base, and he would need to be the distraction once more. Fortunately, he now had the perfect target for his distraction. Beating their boss into the ground aught to get the attention of all the marines, right?
As Captain Morgan continued to stare at Merlin in an attempt to intimidate him, Merlin plastered a congenial smile on his face, "Well, in that case I'll be off."
He slipped past the Captain and whistled a merry tune as he walked away. He was already trying to decide what the best way to humiliate Morgan would be. For a big man like that who clearly thought too much of himself, it had to be something sufficiently humiliating. Merlin was sure he'd think of something.
Unfortunately, he was unable to sell any of his many weapons on the way back to the docks. All the weapon shops had been shut down by Captain Morgan and all the weapons confiscated. It was illegal for the people to buy or sell any weapons. The inability to offload some of his junk weapons was just another reason that Merlin was going to enjoy kicking the crap out of Morgan later.
Merlin was pleasantly surprised when he arrived at the boat to find Nami waiting for him. Though the moment he spotted her he knew something was upsetting her. As he stepped on the boat, she abruptly asked, "Did you get the reward for Alvida?"
Merlin shook his head, "No, the Captain came as one of the lower ranked grunts was going to pay me and said not to. The lower ranks are clearly afraid of their Captain. I even tried to sell some of my stuff, just normal swords and pistols, but it's been made illegal to buy or sell weapons. Captain Morgan has a stranglehold on this island."
Nami grimaced but nodded, "That tracks with what I learned. I couldn't sell anything here. Captain Morgan is taxing these people to death. They barely have enough currency to buy and sell things to each other, let alone buy anything from me."
Merlin smirked a little, "On the bright side, I have an excellent plan for a distraction while you steal the map from the base."
Seeing her curious look, he elaborated, "I'm going to embarrass Morgan in front of his marines and then pound him into the ground. If you hurry, you might get to enjoy the show."
Nami wasn't sure why, but the look of the absolutely vindictive and petty grin Merlin shot her was probably the most attractive look she'd ever seen on a man, "I'll do my best so I don't miss it."
As they were talking, Merlin noticed a familiar pair pulling into one of the docks further away from them. It looked like Luffy and Pinkie had arrived. They would definitely help with causing some chaos at the Marine base. All he and Nami would need to do is wait.
Though... thinking about it, shouldn't Zoro also be at the Marine base? He didn't remember spotting the man. Though he might have been in a different area that his guide didn't take him past. Having a man tied up like that wasn't a good look for Marines, after all. Merlin dismissed that thought and focused back on Nami, "Let's scout the place so you can know where you want to sneak in from. When you're ready I can hit you with my spells and you can sneak in."
Nami smiled brightly, "I love how you think. Let's go!"
As the pair left their boat, they were quite a distance behind Luffy so Merlin didn't need to worry about Luffy spotting him and making a scene. As they walked, Merlin glanced to the side and blinked.
'Oh, right, that's still there.'
Sitting there was the gacha system with one roll still sitting there patiently waiting to be used. The screen never blocked his vision and kind of faded into the background when he didn't focus in its direction or on it specifically. This was not the first time he'd forgotten about the gacha sitting there waiting for him to use his spins. In six decades he'd had well over four thousand spins of the gacha, one more wasn't likely to make much of a difference. Still, best to get it out of the way.
He sent the gacha spinning and blinked in surprise when it stopped.
'An SSR? What the hell is up with my spins lately? Is it because I left the island? Random chance? Ugh, this is annoying to think about.'
So he stopped thinking about it and quietly accepted his prize, a Reject Dial. Surprisingly he didn't have too many dials stored away from previous rolls. He did have a few though. Dials such as Breath Dials, Axe Dials, Jet Dials, and a couple of Lightning Dials. He planned to use those last ones to help wire up electricity in whatever ship he ended up living on the in the future. Between himself and Nami, they had plenty of lightning capability to charge the dials.
He remembered the first time he'd gotten a Jet Dial from the gacha. He'd been... it'd been sometime in his early twenties, when he still had some hope. He'd imagined himself building a small boat, more of a surf board really, and powering it with Jet Dials, similar to Portgas D. Ace's personal craft that was powered by his fire. Having a little personal ship that he could blitz around on would be amazing... Perhaps it wasn't to late to revive that old dream?
He might need to wait until that one island where they build all the good ships though. He doubted anyone in the East Blue could handle building with Jet Dials. Also, he didn't even remember there being any shipyards in the East Blue. He was certain there were, he just didn't know where or if they were any good. It would be something to keep in mind for the future.
As they approached the Marine base, Merlin led Nami around near the path he'd taken previously, the one away from Zoro. He didn't want to run into Luffy just yet. They could all meet up later. He cast his wall walking and invisibility spells on Nami so she could climb the wall and look over it without being spotted. It made gathering information on the base layout so much simpler for her to not have to be sneaky about it.
They spent quite a while scouting, Nami was nothing if not thorough. When she felt she knew enough, she turned to Merlin, "Alright, I've got a good idea where Captain Dickbag's office is. It seems like most of the personnel on the base are elsewhere so this is an excellent time for me to sneak in. With fewer people around on top of your spells this will be even easier than I expected. Are you ready to do your part?"
Merlin smirked, "Ready, able, and very willing. Captain Dickbag stole five million Belly from you, he will pay."
Nami smirked right back, "Let's go!"
Merlin cast the trio of spells on her once more. As long as Nami didn't physically touch anyone, they would never know she was there. He also applied the same protective spells, just to be on the safe side. Nami was, after all, invisible to everyone but him and could easily be caught in crossfire if she got unlucky.
After Nami climbed the wall and dropped onto the other side, Merlin vanished. He rapidly circled the Marine base using Soru, a technique that lets the user dash over short distances at extreme speed. Merlin was so good at it that he actually had to hold back to keep from setting off sonic booms from breaking the sound barrier with each dash.
In seconds, he arrived at the area where Zoro was being restrained. As he arrived, he spotted Luffy already talking to Zoro. Though he must have come at the end of their conversation as Luffy's arms shot out and stretched up to the roof of the building nearby. Luffy's rubber arms retracted as he happily yelled and launched himself toward the roof.
Merlin cast his gaze up to the roof where there was now a loud commotion. Something about Luffy breaking a statue of Captain Dickbag. Meanwhile, Pinky, whose name Merlin still couldn't recall and hadn't been given, was in the yard trying to untie Zoro. Merlin, meanwhile, was sitting on the wall being completely ignored by the pair, even Zoro hadn't noticed him. Of course, the infamous swordsman was busy yelling at Pinkie so he probably didn't have the spare attention.
Merlin didn't make a move until Captain Dickbag and a handful of marines marched out of the building to confront Pinkie and Zoro. As soon as the marines stepped outside, Merlin hopped off of his position on the wall and made sure he landed on the ground with a loud thud. Every eye turned in his direction. Captain Dickbag sneered and glared at Merlin, "What are you doing back here, weakling?"
Merlin slipped his hands in his pockets and casually walked toward the gathered marines, "Ah, I see. You think me weak because I ignored my first impulse to crush your skull when you stole my bounty from me." He cocked an eyebrow at Captain Dickbag, "It's very hard for a bounty hunter to not react violently to pirate actions like that you know."
Morgan grit his teeth as a vein visibly throbbed on his forehead, "Who do you think you're talking to?! I'm Captain Morgan! This is my island! I rule here because I am the strongest with the highest rank! My word is law!" He sneered at Merlin while addressing his marines, "Shoot him."
The marines, terrified of Morgan, leveled there rifles at Merlin with minimal hesitation. There was a pause, until Morgan shouted, "I said shoot him!"
At the same time that the marines began pulling the triggers on their rifles, a body slammed into the ground in front of Merlin and spread its arms wide. Merlin watched, amused, as the bullets fired from the rifles slammed into the person in front of him, Luffy. The bullets dug into Luffy's body but rather than pierce it, the bullets caused his skin to stretch. As they came to a stop and lost all their kinetic energy, Luffy threw his arms up and reversed the stretched parts of his body causing all of the bullets to go flying off in the opposite direction, "No shooting my Magician!"
Merlin snorted at the looks of utter shock on the face of everyone else from seeing Luffy's Devil Fruit ability for the first time. Merlin, meanwhile pat Luffy on the shoulder, "While appreciated, the rescue wasn't necessary. Also, I'm not a member of your crew, please don't give these marines the wrong impression of me."
Luffy gave Merlin a light glare, "I told you, I refuse your refusal!"
Merlin caught Zoro shaking his head in exasperation out of the corner of his eye. He ignored both Zoro and Luffy to focus back on the marines, "Luffy, you go do whatever you were doing. Captain Dickbag over there is mine."
Before anything else could happen, they were once again interrupted. This time it was by an annoying sounding voice shouting from over by Zoro, "That's enough! Nobody move or this kid gets it!"
Everyone looked over and Merlin blinked in mild surprise. Some blonde weirdo with an extremely ugly haircut and a butt for a chin was holding Pinkie hostage with a gun to his head. Before Buttchin could open his mouth again, Merlin pointed his left hand fist at his head, "Beanbag Round."
Instantly there was a soft 'whump' sound and small burst of smoke from Merlin's fist. Microseconds later a magically conjured beanbag slammed violently into Buttchin's face with enough force to shatter his nose and knock his entire body back nearly a meter. There was another moment of silence as everyone stared at Merlin in surprised shock. Except Luffy. Luffy was looking at Merlin with stars in his eyes.
Merlin lowered his fist and tilted his head to the side as a curious gestured, "Where was I? Oh, right! Beating the snot out of Captain Dickbag!"
As soon as he stopped talking, he vanished from sight. The next time anyone saw him, he was already in front of Captain Morgan with his fist slamming into the giant man's metal jaw. Everyone could hear the sounds of metal screeching as it was deformed, bones snapping as they broke, and teeth shattering as they were reduced to shards. Morgan was bodily lifted off of the ground and launched several meters through the air.
Morgan's heavy frame impacted the ground with a loud thud that sent up a small cloud of dust. There was another moment of stunned silence. It didn't last long though and was broken by the marines this time. As one, all of the marines dropped their rifles and threw their hands into the air while letting out a cheer.
"We're free!'
"We're saved!"
"Hurry! Lock him up before he recovers!"
Multiple voices shouted various things in their excitement at regaining their freedom from the tyranny of Morgan. While they continued to cheer, Merlin made his way over to the limp form of the now ex-Captain. He was a little impressed the see that Morgan had managed to maintain a tenuous hold on his consciousness. Though it was clear he would not be getting up anytime soon. Merlin was just glad the man was still alive, for a moment he had feared that he'd not held back his strength enough.
It wasn't so much an aversion to killing that had him sparing Morgan, but rather he didn't want the marines left on the base being forced to tell Marine Headquarters that he'd killed a Marine Captain. They'd slap him with a bounty in an instant. It was simply too soon for him to receive a bounty and could cause him issues he didn't want to deal with just yet.
Merlin stared down at Morgan and smiled warmly, "You know, if you hadn't been such a bag of dicks and just paid me what I was due, this wouldn't have happened."
Technically, Merlin was being truthful. It would have been Luffy kicking the shit out of Morgan, not himself, "Also, this."
Merlin lifted his foot and brought it down with tremendous force to smash it into the axe blade that had replaced Morgan's missing right hand. The massive axe shattered under the force of his stomp and drew attention to him once more. Merlin looked at the Marines and shrugged his shoulders, "Just making sure the prisoner is fully disarmed." He gestured over to Buttchin, "You should also arrest Buttchin there. He did threaten to kill an innocent civilian, after all. Pretty sure that's a hell of a crime."
The marines unconsciously saluted Merlin as if he'd given them orders. They worked quickly and efficiently to gather Morgan and Buttchin, whose name Merlin heard muttered and sounded something like Helmet. Whatever, Merlin didn't care in the least since he had zero recollection of the guy. Clearly he wasn't the least bit important if he couldn't remember his name. Kind of like Pinkie.
As the marines took 'Helmet' and Morgan into custody, Merlin felt a light tap on his shoulder. Though he'd felt her approaching, and could see her, he only then turned his head slightly to glance in Nami's direction. She softly whispered, "Let's go."
Merlin gave a slight nod and quietly made his way to the gate of the base. He'd come back in a bit to collect his bounty for Alvida. Everyone was too busy either celebrating, apprehending, or introducing, to notice Merlin quietly making his escape.
Merlin and an invisible Nami made their way through the town until they arrived at their boat. Merlin opened the cabin door into his mansion. Once safely inside, he removed the spells from Nami.
"Well, the safe inside of the Marine base was a bust." Nami lifted up a piece of paper and held it out to Merlin, "It looks like Buggy the Clown beat us to the map."
Merlin glanced at the note from Buggy and then shrugged, "No problem. We'll just hunt him down next."
Merlin pulled the bounty posters from his storage space and flicked through them until he found the right one, "Buggy the Clown. Bounty, fifteen million. Between him and Alvida, that's twenty million Belly."
"Alvida? I thought they refused to give you the bounty?"
Merlin nodded, "They did. However, I plan to go back in a little bit to demand it. I doubt they'll disagree after seeing me lay out Captain Dickbag in a single blow. For now, how about lunch?"
Nami smiled brightly, "That sounds wonderful!"
Together the pair moved deeper into the mansion. Meanwhile, back at the Marine base, Luffy was looking all around for 'his missing magician' but couldn't find him anywhere, "Why does he keep disappearing?!"