From The Sea - Dive rgence Chapter 35: Wanted, an one piece fanfic

There's still Garp.

There's still Ace.

And from the title, you guessed it: there's the bounties!

Hope you enjoy :)

By the way this is 60k long (no this is not a joke despite the date) so like please sleep, the chapter isn't going anywhere. Also now you get why I ended up cutting the last chapter short lol

Anyway here *shoves the equivalent of a whole book but make it one chapter in your lap*

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, so anything that you see in this fic and that you can recognise as belonging to One Piece is not mine. If I did own it, I wouldn't have to write fanfiction. Duh. Also, I don't own the picture.

Part One - Dive|rgence

Wanted

If life is about choice,

then choice is about sacrifice.

And sacrifice?

Sacrifice is about loss, regret, and what makes it all worth it.

(You're worth every sacrifice.)

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"So, Franky-san." Elynna begins idly on the day where the Franky Family's Boss finally caves in and agrees to try Sanji's cooking. "Have you given any thought to my request?"

The cyborg snorts.

"No need to be polite about it, Sis. I already said no. I don't trust you one bit to preserve my reputation and my deals if I help you."

"That's such a shame." The girl replies with a slight grin that doesn't look put-off in the least, cutting off Usopp's attempt to ask what request they're talking about and entirely ignoring the incredulous look Zoro sends her for even using that word. "You could have settled your debt by helping me with that, but I guess we can find another w—"

"The hell are you on about?" Franky interrupts her, eyes narrowed suspiciously and voice loud enough that it stops even Nami's negotiations with Chopper over his pocket money and Luffy's drooling over the meal Sanji is putting the finishing touches to. "I ain't ever heard about any debt between us."

Elynna's grin widens until it has hook, line and sinker written all over it, making Robin chuckle as she slides into one of the two last chairs left empty at the table.

"You know... When you punched me in the face."

The entire room falls silent for a moment, and then—

"Mind repeating that?" Zoro orders more than he asks, eyes shifting slowly from the fake skin covering Franky's large fist of steel to the patch of scar tissue on Elynna's face.

Sanji whirls around before either of the two can answer, and slams an extra-hot pot of butternut-carrot purée on the trivet.

"I don't believe I heard you right, Elynna-chan." He says very calmly with a bright smile. "What did you say he did?"

The girl in question aims her smile at him.

"He punched me. In the face."

The cook's smile stays frozen even as Chopper directs a horrified look at the gaping cyborg sitting right next to him.

"Why would you do that?!"

"I don't like you anymore." Luffy says bluntly from the gangster's other side.

"Stop twisting things up!" Franky yells with a finger pointed straight at Elynna. "I thought you were the enemy, and you pissed me off on purpose!"

"Only so that the CP9 wouldn't suspect me, since you couldn't keep your mouth shut when you recognised me. And I seem to remember you liking me before I put on that disguise."

"Well how was I supposed to know you were acting in the Sea Train?!"

Zoro raises a disbelieving eyebrow, and scoffs loudly.

"Her? A Marine?"

"That's stupid." Luffy states with a frown. "It doesn't suit her at all."

"They would throw her out after a week anyway." The swordsman tacks on.

"I take offense to that." Elynna counters idly. "It would take three days at most."

"If even those idiots can see it, that makes it even more stupid." Sanji comments as he starts to serve the food, Chopper nodding emphatically from the other end of the table with his best inadvertently-guilt-tripping frown.

"Sanji-kun is right." Nami nods solemnly. "I thought you were different from the gang leaders we've dealt with so far, but even those would have the decency to help the person who's saved their life—"

"Alright, fine, I get it! I'll help!"

Luffy smacks him hard in the shoulder with a loud laugh.

"So you're a good guy after all! That's real nice, Franky! Hey, are you gonna eat that? Because I can—"

The cyborg's glare is an answer unto itself as he stabs a fork in a piece of pork and aggressively bites into it, face going from shit, this is good to something even more annoyed within the two seconds that follow and making Luffy laugh even louder.

"Thanks, Aniki." Elynna adds with the smile of a cat who's eaten a lot more than just one canary, earning herself another glare.

"Don't push it, brat."

The pirates' First Mate snickers but leaves him to his meal, turning to Zoro and Luffy instead as the two start an argument about which of their respective hometown throws the best summer solstice festival.

It's only when the oldest of their group is about to leave that she turns her attention to him again, waving a hand in the air to catch his eyes.

"Hey, Franky-san! Is 2pm tomorrow okay for you?"

"Yeah, yeah." He sighs, waving back over his shoulder. "Come find me at the Franky House."

"Sure!" She replies as she stands up with one knee still on her chair, and promptly turns towards where Sanji is leaning one hip against the kitchen counter and watching him leave while drying the cookware, propping her joined hands and part of her weight on Zoro's shoulder. "Thanks for the help, guys."

"But of course, Elynna-chan." The cook smiles.

"You did say you would take on my share of the chores for the week. It's a good deal." Nami adds, glinting eyes slanting upwards with the mischievous edge her smile takes on. "Besides, it was pretty fun."

"I better have that sake tomorrow." Zoro tells her as she starts piling up everyone's plate and cutlery, leaning to the side slightly to let her take his.

"Duly noted."

"... Eh?" Chopper blurts out with a wildly confused look while Luffy just blinks at them, looking vaguely curious and entirely unsure of what just happened.

Usopp's eyes roam around the table, and his face falls, Robin looking much too amused with the whole thing right next to him.

"Are you kidding me."

"True. It was pretty funny." Elynna replies with a sage nod as she starts washing the plates.

"Why."

"Hey, he started it."

"And you couldn't, I don't know, be mature about it?"

The look Elynna throws at him over her shoulder is downright offended.

"... Right." He grumbles, and promptly gives up, going right back to the notepad where he was sketching a new story.

Chopper's eyes finally light up in understanding, and he looks vaguely guilty for all of two seconds before he throws one hoof in the air.

"I want cotton candy!"

"And meat!" Luffy adds immediately.

"... I guess you did help."

"No, Chopper! Don't let her sway you to the dark side! Stay strong!"

Elynna thoughtfully mumbles something about toffee apples.

Chopper drools.

Usopp facepalms, and next to him Robin laughs.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Another party?"

"Yeah," Na Yung confirms, panting as she lifts up her shirt to wipe away the sweat of her warm-up routine before reaching for her water bottle.

"There's quite a few people who are pissed that you guys are the ones who paid for the last one when it was supposed to be in your honour, you know." Hayan adds with a grin.

Elynna barely holds back a snort at that.

Oh yeah.

Sea King paid for it alright.

Especially when their navigator realised how empty their safe was the next morning.

"What's that, anyway?" Hyelin asks with a finger pointed at the large paper bag in her right hand.

Elynna looks down at the bag in question.

"Ah."

She lifts it up towards them.

"It's to thank you for letting me dance with you."

Hayan and Juyeon exchange a glance, and then simultaneously lunge forward to snatch it from her grip.

She lets them, and watches as they carefully set it down before tearing the bag open.

"... Oh fuck, is that—"

"Is that the cream puffs from the best bakery in town?! Those things cost a fortune!"

"It's not, actually. Someone from that bakery challenged our cook. He decided to do his own version of their most popular recipe and I helped, so I'm entitled to some of them."

"Oh man, we've got to take new recruits more often—"

"Your cook, as in the hot blond guy who fed everyone during the party and made those killer brochettes? We're blessed, man."

Hyelin rolls her eyes at her fellow dancers' antics, and turns back to Elynna.

"A pirate who comes with thank you gifts? You guys really are strange."

Elynna shrugs.

"Habits."

Habits, or perhaps her father's birthday the day before.

(She made sure to keep herself busy and surrounded, but not thinking about them

—not wanting to think about them—

is… hard.

And at least if it hurts, she knows she still remembers enough to hurt.

Knows that she still cares enough to let it hurt.)

"Well I'm loving those habits!" Juyeon calls out around the pastry he's already stuffing into his mouth.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, you idiot!"

"Thanks, Elynna." Na Yung smiles, ignoring with practiced ease the fight that erupts between both siblings behind her.

Elynna blinks, focusing back on the violet-haired girl, and shoves her hands into the pocket of her large denim jacket.

"Don't mention it. See you around, I guess."

"Sure thing!" Hayan grins with a wave of her free hand —the other trying to hold onto three pastries at the same time. "And if we don't see each other before you guys leave, be sure to drop by if you ever come back to Water Seven!"

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Franky half-expects the Straw Hats' First Mate to be late on purpose, but when Mozu comes to tell him that she's waiting at the door, it's 2pm sharp.

No matter how much the punctuality surprises him, however, it doesn't prevent his face from falling into something disgruntled.

And fine, he might have provoked her just a teeny tiny bit even though he knew exactly the kind of tricks she might pull—

("No."

"... I haven't even asked yet."

"Well it's a no, so don't bother. You'd make a mess, I just know it."

"Which doesn't mean that it can't be a win-win kind of mess."

"But right now it's a win-lose state of order in my favour, so no. Besides, I have work to do."

"I give you permission to take a break from building our new ship."

"Nice try, Sis, but you'll have to make me.")

—but he can still be pissed about it, and he super will!

"I can't believe you're the one who's late when you have so few clothes." Elynna says in lieu of a greeting when he finally joins her.

"I put ten times more work in my hair than you do, kid. Being such a cool man takes time." He grunts in return.

"... I'm fine being a cool woman, thanks."

He ignores her.

"And you're a liar." She goes on anyway. "Hebi told me you just need to have your fill of cola."

Franky grumbles a few choice words under his breath.

He gets why this attracted the Doc's scientific curiosity during his fight with the owl guy, but—

"There's a time and place for everything, damnit."

There's a pause where they both blink at each other.

"Except being cool, obviously." He eventually adds. "That's a full-time job."

She nods in agreement.

"Or a pervert."

He stares at her for a second, caught off-guard, and then looks away to start walking before she can see the grin that's starting to take over his face.

She follows him docilely towards the town, and it's… strange.

To be honest, he expected her to arrive with a shit-eating grin, ready to annoy him into a rage the whole time.

And it's not that she doesn't sass him.

Or what he says.

Or the people in the streets that they overhear.

Or what people are doing.

Or whatever else catches her attention, really.

Sarcastic comments and insolent remarks are thrown his way here and there, but it's so off-handed that it seems less as if she's trying to pick a fight and more as if it's just how she talks, just like her Captain says everything that pops up in his mind and their sharpshooter seems pretty much incapable of saying anything without being incredibly dramatic about it.

(It's… a problem.

He already has to deal with Long Nose, Straw Hat and the little Doc barging in whenever he takes a break from working on their ship to come help his men with rebuilding their home, like they somehow know he's there.

It's enough to have the three of them fawning over his skills and asking to see his weapons like it's the greatest thing ever.

He doesn't need another one of these brats to be entertaining and this close to endearing when he's putting so much effort into avoiding them entirely.

Because he's happy, here.

He's got a family, a job and a city to take care of, along with a few crimes to be absolved of.

The Straw Hats already gave him the chance to build one last ship.

He doesn't need or want anything else.

He's fine with his dream staying just that.

He's not a kid anymore, after all.)

"You know, this is a nice psychological trick you've got."

He lifts an eyebrow in confusion.

"What are you on about?"

"You being dressed like a weirdo." She answers nonchalantly. "Anyone who's too weak to talk to you or walk next to you in town obviously doesn't have what it takes to work with you."

"I dress like a weirdo because I am a weirdo. And don't make everyone out to be as twisted as you. There's no 'psychological trick' to it." He rebukes, regardless of the fact that he has shot down a few business offers for that very reason.

Literally shot down most of the time, because gangsters don't usually take well to being told they're not good enough.

"You're like a responsible-parent-repellant." She adds as a nearby father grabs their kid, hides their eyes and promptly runs off towards the nearest street corner. "This is amazing. Does Iceburg-san use that to know which parents to keep an eye on?"

"If he does, he probably should keep an eye on you, since you haven't stopped Long Nose and Straw Hat from coming to see me."

The look she sends him is clearly disgusted.

He grins back, and makes sure to make it extra mean.

"Ew. I'm not their parent. I'm no one's parent. Gross."

No.

No, she's not.

But all the same, she's the First Mate of a pirate crew whose Captain has an unconventional way to fulfill his role at best.

The kid is so carefree that Franky wouldn't be surprised if people mistook Roronoa as the Captain before or something.

In a difficult situation like the one he inadvertently found himself in with them though, it's easy to see that it's not the case.

Straw Hat is… extraordinarily strong.

In every sense of the word.

He rushes forward towards the greatest threat with so much determination, so much trust in himself to take it down and in his nakama to stay alive, win their own fights and catch up to him that it's ridiculously easy to have utter faith in the idea that it's exactly what will happen, whether he's an ally or not.

He makes those standing by his side stronger, gives everyone the drive and the hope that you can't fight, let alone win without.

Franky saw it when the kid went ahead and attacked the whole island all on his own before the rest of his crew or his own men were even there, when he went straight for Lucci because holding him back and taking him down was the only way to gain enough time for the others, when every twist in the fight between him and Lucci made his crew waver along like a ship in the middle of a tempest.

But it was their First Mate who kept them all steady and together, allowing Straw Hat's charisma to work as well as it did.

She's the one who stuck close to Nico Robin, who made sure despair didn't get the better of the woman before Straw Hat could transform it into hope, who made sure that Long Nose and the cook survived their first encounter with the CP9.

She's the one who went straight for Robin because she was the most vulnerable of their crewmates at that moment, who told everyone to gather in the ship they captured and ensured that they were patched up enough for them to keep going strong, who watched over them on the bridge and got Straw Hat out after his body gave up on him and kept the crew on their toes until they were out of Enies Lobby.

So no, she's not their parent, but still.

She anchors the Straw Hats, keeps them grounded in a way that made it hard to tell who was the oldest between her and Nico Robin, when Franky saw them in Enies Lobby, and it makes him wonder—

"How old are you, anyway?"

She gives a dismissive wave of her hand that shows just how little importance she gives the question.

"Nineteen? Twenty? Something like that."

His first thought at her answer is either an orphan or spent too much time without anyone to celebrate her existence, and he swerves into a street that will take them closer to the seedier parts of Water Seven with no further question.

(But it only reminds him again of how absurdly young these pirates are, Nico Robin aside.

He thought Elynna and Roronoa might be a few years past twenty, at least, but apparently they're not, and—

Is that what allowed them to challenge the entire world for the sake of one person, and come out both alive and victorious?

Is it the recklessness and lack of awareness that people so often associate with youth, the very same faults that made him do the wrong things and fail to do the right things, back when he was their age?)

"But you should be more worried about being seen with us rather than the other way around."

He looks back at her incredulously, not sure yet if he should be amused or offended.

"Nice of you to worry, kid, but no one in this town is going to come and pick a fight with me."

"The townspeople, probably not, but some World Government agents are already starting to roam around." She informs him idly while her eyes browse the facades of the shop on her side of the street. "You're a bit too much of a weirdo to have gone unnoticed in Enies Lobby even if you didn't burn the plans for Pluton, and the consequences of that shitstorm are about to hit us all in the face, you included."

Franky huffs at that.

Of course his let's super not talk about this vibes would work with his own men but not with the very people he's also trying to avoid.

"I already know that. But it's not like I set the World Government's flag on fire, and I don't have the plans they wanted anymore. I'm nowhere near as big a threat for them as you guys."

"Which just gives them another reason not to keep you alive now that you don't have that knowledge to protect you." Elynna replies without missing a beat. "But yeah. Hawk is cool."

This time Franky lifts his glasses to make sure to convey as much did you actually say what you just said? as possible.

"That's all you've got to tell me? You guys declared war on the world, Sis."

But she just shrugs, casually stealing a hot pink cap from the stand they pass in front of and twisting it in one hand to inspect it.

"Sea King wants to be the King of the Pirates, and Sophia wants to know what happened during the Void Century. Whether now or later, it was bound to happen at some point."

"Yeah, well later would have given you at least a bit more time to prepare for having the World Government on your ass."

They turn into another street, and Elynna seems to deem her loot satisfactory, putting it on and proceeding to neatly stuff the strands of hair that escaped from her loose bun under it.

When she looks back at him from under the cap, she cocks an eyebrow at him with a little smirk, and there's more little shit-ness in that one movement than there is any right to be.

"Time to prepare? But I've already had more than a year."

Franky blinks back at her.

Then his mind catches up to her words, and he finds himself amused, too.

Because somehow, this kid found a way to keep the terrible, crushing machine that is the World Government off their back if needed.

There's no way it's a fool-proof tactic, but he's gotten to know this girl through that damn smirk before anything else, and it's enough to know that whatever trick she's got up her sleeve, it's still a pretty damn good one.

(Because of course these brats didn't come out alive and victorious because they're young.

They came out alive and victorious despite being young.

They came out alive and victorious because they're as absurdly determined, skilled and lucky as they are young.

It's not that they don't know how the world works.

It's that the world is made up of people, so the world can change, and they've decided that they'd rather pay the price of changing the world than the price of letting the world change them.

He remembers being like that, once.

The world beat him down for it, nearly killed him for it, and he wasn't lucky and skilled enough to fight back.

But he was determined enough to get back up, and he might not have changed the world, but he changed a city.)

"I guess some people are worth the trouble." He eventually settles for, eyes falling on the woman leaning against the wall a few feet ahead. "Right, Nico Robin?"

(Because after all, if someone is worth fighting the whole world for,

he figures it's gotta be someone who can still be kind after knowing nothing but cruelty.)

"Franky. Elynna." The historian greets them, not seeming the least bit ashamed by how obvious it is that she must have followed them this whole time. "Fancy seeing you here."

He snorts incredulously.

Elynna blinks at her blandly.

"Why, if it's not my favourite stalker. Lucky me."

Franky rolls his eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was curious to know what kind of favour Elynna wanted to ask of you."

"... And you didn't just ask, because?"

The woman just smiles.

"This is a more entertaining alternative."

"This is more fun, duh." Elynna says at the same time.

Franky gives them both a look, and starts walking again.

They're competent weirdos, but at least they're being annoying about it.

If nothing else, it makes things easier for him.

"Any particular reason for the cap, Elynna?" The Straw Hats' historian asks somewhere behind him.

"I'm attracting attention just walking next to him. I'd rather the cap take the brunt of it than my face."

Robin hums in answer.

There's an entire conversation in the space of that sound, and Franky decides that he's not going to ask about it.

With his luck, it would probably be about something either impressive or amusing, and then he would have to find a way to promptly forget about it.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

The bar Franky takes both Straw Hats to is the main information hub of Water Seven's underground.

The place where you can learn pretty much anything you want, as long as you know who to ask, how to ask —and how to tell lies from truth.

It doesn't hurt that all the people coming to Water Seven for business and tourism reflect a similarly intense flow of people among the criminal population, which means fresh information pretty much every week.

Franky supposes that's why the Straw Hats' First Mate asked him to introduce her so she can get the authority needed to get reliable answers —without having to spend the time needed to get people to trust her.

He still watches her suspiciously as she takes a seat at the bar, half-expecting her to suddenly insult one of the big shots present, or the few people busy trash talking the Straw Hats within her hearing range for getting the town so much attention.

But instead she just sits there and talks, mostly with the barman but also with the various customers who come to the counter, flitting from flirting and mundane topics to seemingly random pieces of news like the latest public execution of Impel Down prisoners or the last inter-kingdom trade negotiation —and shamelessly inventing herself what he's sure are fake cousins and ex-lovers from at least six different countries to make herself more relatable depending on the person she's talking to.

If anything, he's more confused about what she's really looking for by the time she joins them at the table he shares with Nico Robin than when she first left them there.

"Stop looking at me so suspiciously."

"Stop being so suspicious, then."

"You hold one hell of a grudge, Aniki."

"Should have thought about that before pranking me in the middle of Enies Lobby, kid."

"I haven't even done anything today."

Robin takes a sip of the tea she somehow managed to get from the barman of a seedy bar, and sets the cup back down with a smile that can only be described as 'inappropriately calm', the curve of it only highlighted by the shadow thrown over her face by the rim of her purple hat.

"You're smiling, my dear."

"... Oops."

Franky's sigh isn't desperate, but it's a close thing.

"I knew this whole thing was a bad id—"

He barely reins in a startled curse when someone suddenly drops in the last free chair of the table, slouching forward on the table until their forehead hits the wood of it.

Franky needs several more seconds to recognise the Straw Hats' sharpshooter.

"One of these days," the boy groans, "I'm really going to kick you out of the Smart Quintet."

"... The what?" Franky asks as a way to remind them all that he is not, in fact, part of the Straw Hats —and thus has no idea what this is about.

"The Smart Quintet." Usopp repeats. "As opposed to the Monster Trio."

Franky thinks over the boy's crewmates for all of two seconds before—

Right.

Good point.

The sharpshooter waves a hand in the air without looking up, which means that the gesture encompasses half of the room rather than the two women he was probably aiming for.

"But these two keep flipping between the Monster Trio and the Smart Quintet. It's messing up the whole thing."

"... Because they do stupid stuff?" Franky eventually inquires, more than a bit confused because stupidity and recklessness is pretty much the last thing he would associate with either of the pirates sitting at the table with them.

"Because of how quick they are to resort to violence." Usopp corrects as he finally looks up. "I'm actually pretty sure that the Monster Trio's condition is a virus instead of a non-communicable disease—"

"Ever heard about conspiracy theories—" Elynna starts to interrupt, only for him to completely ignore her.

"—and I commissioned Chopper with a vaccine, but don't think I'll let you have the first dose—"

Robin takes another sip of her tea.

"So you're going to be a lab rat? You'll have to tell me how you found the experience."

"—because I'll let you have the first ten, actually."

Franky snorts.

"I'm not part of your crew, Long Nose. You'll have to find someone else."

"... Oh, right. Luffy it is, then, I guess."

"I'm afraid his childhood with Garp The Fist as his caretaker might skew the results."

"Yeah, but that's also why he'll be a perfect meat sh— I mean, why he'll have the honour of being the taste tester of Doctor Chopper's brand new magic potion."

"Sure, Hawk. I still don't see what that has to do with me or Sophia right now. Like I told Franky, we haven't done anything Monster Trio-worthy."

That earns her a disbelieving look that Franky profoundly agrees with.

"So you're telling me that your plan isn't to start a fight here and then win it to assert your authority over everyone?"

"No, it's not."

The sound that comes out of the sharpshooter's throat is clearly disbelieving.

"Right—"

"It's a back-up plan if Franky's authority doesn't do the job."

Usopp gives Franky a look that says see what I have to deal with?

Franky nods gravely, and resolves to watch the girl even more closely until they get out of here to be sure that she won't go looking for trouble.

If anything, though, it's trouble that comes looking for them when Alfonso of the Alfieri Family stops by their table, looking right past Usopp and the two women to stare at Franky, in a first attempt at asserting his domination over the three newcomers who came in already graced by the support of the Franky Family's Boss of all people.

"So, Franky. Mind giving us some names?" He asks with a tone that orders more than it requests.

Except coming from this guy, names aren't going to be enough.

He still won't understand that his family is out of the race for influence in the region, and more than that he's probably the one who started bad mouthing the Straw Hats first.

It's the Golden Age of Piracy that caused the downfall of the Alfieri Family's former Boss, after all, and all four of his sons hate pirates on principle as a result.

And it's not like the three Straw Hats won't be able to take care of themselves, Franky knows that better than anyone in the whole damn room.

Nico Robin can probably take down the whole bar by herself, and the two others are far from being incapable in a fight.

But it would cause a whole mess that Franky would rather avoid dealing with, especially with how full his hands already are these days.

So he's about to give the fake names he had in mind and build upon them as he can, cursing the bad luck that put this guy of all people in the bar at the same time as them all the while, but then the heel of a boot nudges his knee under the table, and he finds himself looking at Nico Robin instead, following her gaze to the two others.

… Right.

No need to do it himself and risk getting caught in his attempt at deception when the two Straw Hats who specialise in lies and false identities are right there.

Elynna blinks, seeming to catch onto the silent conversation, and then looks up at Alfonso.

"I'm a translator for the ambassador of an external mafia that wants to open a branch here."

The man looks down his nose at her and raises an eyebrow, something like another bunch of Low Landers again plastered across his sneer at the mention of translation.

"And who is that… ambassador?"

Elynna jabs a thumb over her shoulder and straight at Usopp.

The boy's face falls into something long-suffering and why me? for just a second, before smoothing over into a self-importance more fitting of a high-ranking mafia member.

All things considered, he takes up the role admirably well for someone who had no time to prepare for it, inventing the vague outline of a fictitious criminal group in no time at all and backing it up with an impressive knowledge of the ins and outs of the illegal weapons trade in the Grand Line that would have surprised Franky —if the boy didn't already ask him some detailed questions about the main shops involved in it in Water Seven to stock up on some of his many munitions.

The so-called translator bullshit helps too, because Franky is pretty sure that the few times the three pirates exchange words in that dialect they apparently all speak is just them working out the lies Elynna is about to 'translate'.

Alfonso and his men as well as the customers within earshot seem pretty much convinced by the performance, though, and the former even sits down at their table for further discussion.

Which is really where the trouble starts.

It begins with Alfonso calling Robin Usopp's 'secretary' even after he introduced her as his bodyguard, and escalates into lewd comments directed at the historian about the so-called 'prowess' of 'their kind', prompting a full-body shiver of utter disgust from the sharpshooter, who turns to both of his crewmates as soon as Alfonso is distracted by the arrival of the waiter and the drinks he ordered.

"You two. No killing the opponent, even if he's a criminal, and even if he's disgustingly sexist and racist. This might cause problem for all the Kankols in town, okay?"

Since Franky looks the most pissed off, and pretty much ready to remind the other man of exactly what the rules are in his city, Usopp kicks him hard under the table in a silent warning while he's at it.

Robin blinks at him with a mild smile.

"I'm unsure of whether or not you're joking. I assure you that I'm not this radical."

Usopp blinks dubiously at her, and then turns to stare pointedly at the younger girl, who doesn't look nearly as convinced by his argument despite being the one who interacted the most with the Kankol community.

"Yeah," Elynna nods along anyway, seemingly content to stay put as long as Robin herself does. "If I killed someone every time I heard a comment like this, I would end up rubbing off my own skin trying to clean the blood."

Robin hums in agreement.

"And if you use gloves all the time, they might end up melding with your skin with all the dried blood or making it rot—"

Only sheer determination and what remains of his dignity stops Usopp from smashing his face down onto the table right then and there.

"Shut up." He still groans. "The both of you. For the love of god."

"Don't break character, Hawk, you're supposed to be our boss—"

"I'll kill you."

Robin's smile looks perfectly sincere.

"Congratulations. That's much more convincing."

Usopp closes his eyes, feeling himself this close to outright sobbing.

Where is Zoro when you need him to knock some restraint into Elynna?

And why, for the love of everything that is good in this world, did Elynna have to go and make Robin worse instead of learning some mercy from her?

" … So not even a little bit?" His First Mate tries.

He opens his eyes again to give her an utterly deadpan glare.

"Elynna. You can't kill people just 'a little bit'."

"... You just say that because no one has ever tried."

"Yeah, well don't feel obligated to give it a go. Really."

Somewhere behind him, the Alfieri Family leader whispers something to Franky about Low Landers and I don't see what you think they can bring to the table, Franky and people like them are too lazy and conniving to be trusted.

Elynna and Robin exchange a glance, and Usopp groans.

Seriously, one more comment from that guy, and he's giving them free reign to put the fear of god —and some common decency— into his head.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"How did this even happen?!" Usopp moans in protest as they all hide behind the bar counter less than ten minutes later, the rest of the pub having somehow devolved into an all-out brawl during that time.

And it wasn't even their fault this time!

Although, it came pretty close.

"This place is a favourite of pretty much every local criminal." Franky explains idly from the other end of the line they form and over the racket behind them as he snatches two new bottles of cola, taking advantage of the fact that the barman is busy throwing himself in the fight to try and save his workplace. "It happens often."

Honestly, he's pretty sure the place receives regular subventions from Iceburg in echange for serving as a space for his former co-apprentice to keep an eye on the state of the relations between criminal groups in his city.

Usopp's groan is barely heard above the sounds of yells, profanities and glass and wood breaking.

"God, this is like Jaya all over again."

Franky frowns behind his sunglasses.

"Please. I'm the Boss of this city. I wouldn't let it devolve to the level of these savages."

There's a couple of screams, a loud gunshot, and then a body crashes through the counter right next to him.

Franky's eyebrow twitches at the exceptionally bad timing, feeling Usopp's flat look on him.

"I think I would beg to differ." Robin comments idly from where she sits next to the gangster, following the brawl on the other side of the counter with mild interest thanks to the eye she made appear on the external wall of it, mostly hidden by one of the stools.

Usopp glimpses a man approaching the fallen body next to Franky in one of the bottles that hasn't fallen off the shelves, and promptly shoots a rubber bullet into one of the beams supporting the ceiling so it bounces off it and knocks into the man's right eye, immediately distracting him away from his unconscious opponent.

"I definitely beg to differ—"

Then he feels something move inside his satchel and cuts himself off with a yelp, drawing the attention of the other two.

Next to him, Elynna doesn't look up, too busy rooting through his stuff.

He sputters.

"What are you—"

The girl takes out one of his smaller-grade grenades, and smirks down at it in a way that says mad (and evil) scientist much more than level-headed First Mate.

"No." Usopp immediately tells her, scrambling on his knees to better reach for the weapon. "Elynna, don't you dare, put it dow—"

She pulls out the pin, winds her arm back, and throws it through the room until it bounces just past the doors of the bar where reinforcements for one of the groups who instigated the fight were about to enter.

"Nooooo—" Usopp whimpers.

Then the explosion blasts the group away, and he ducks down to avoid the large pieces of the doors that were sent flying off their hinges by the shockwave, glaring at his First Mate as she surveys the whole thing with one quick glance over the counter and lets out a short whistle like she has nothing to do with the mess in the first place.

"Why the grenade, damnit?!"

She immediately points at Franky.

"Because he likes flashy things."

"Why did I get dragged into this?"

"Exactly what I want to ask!" Usopp snaps as the fight starts up again on the other side of their makeshift shield.

This time Elynna gives him a duh look.

"Are you blind? The Captain obviously wants to recruit him. I'm just doing my part to help."

"By making things explode?!"

A shrug.

"Look, he's smiling."

Usopp looks.

Franky, who just noticed that he was smiling, stares back, wrestling with his rebellious features at the same time.

Robin observes the stare-off with glinting eyes, all the while making one leg appear from the other side of the counter to kick away the flying body of a thug who was about to crash through it right where Elynna is sitting.

"That doesn't reassure me at all!" The sharpshooter hisses in an attempt to keep his voice low as he turns back to Elynna. "It's even the contrary! God, I know you have a thing for violent people, including Luffy's living, walking torch of a brother, but do you have to always give in to your pyromaniac tendencies?!"

"Good to know that you're aware of my thing. I know Ignis is an idiot, but I was starting to think I was also being too subtle for my plan to work."

"Maybe he's just sane."

That earns him a flat look.

"He's Sea King's brother."

"She most likely has a point." Robin notes.

"I'm afraid to ask but… What plan?" Usopp risks anyway, intent on using the answer to the best of his ability so he can get far out of her range of action for said plan.

"My plan to cure his stupidity with the power of love."

"Don't be a dramatic bitch—"

"You're the dramatic bitch—"

"Precisely my point! Stop stealing my place when I'm better at it—"

Robin watches them bicker fondly, turning her smile in Franky's direction with an aren't they adorable? angle to it that earns her a disbelieving look.

"—and besides," Usopp deadpans, "how is love supposed to cure stupidity when it makes people stupid?"

"... Well, it's true that your smile when you're calling Kaya-san is very—"

"Oi!"

"—but Ignis suffers from a very specific kind of stupidity, the cure of which includes bluntness as a necessity of the utmost importance. So I have to make my claim as impossible to ignore as possible."

"What claim? I'm 76.9% sure that you don't care about whether a relationship is exclusive or not."

"Who said anything about exclusivity? Or relationships, for that matter."

"Why are we talking about this." Franky interrupts them flatly.

Usopp gives him a horrified look as he realises that they're talking about this, and worse than that he's the one who started the conversation.

Robin takes advantage of the beat of silence to ask her own question, scientific curiosity peeking out in her crystalline eyes.

"Why 76.9%?"

The sniper's horrified look swivels to her.

"That was obviously a joke—"

"Because you're nosey and a closet pervert." Elynna cuts in. "To both questions."

The rest of Usopp's sentence is reduced to silence as he gapes.

"What—"

"Oh, I see." Robin says mildly with badly hidden mischief.

Usopp notices Franky's look of approval as the gangster flashes him a proud smile and a thumbs up, and he whips up his arm into a cross in front of him, panic shooting his voice to the level of a near-shriek.

"You don't 'see' anything, because there's nothing to see—"

"But don't worry," Elynna goes on ruthlessly, "me and Franky —once he joins the crew— are here to help you get out of the closet."

"I don't need help!"

"It's free of charge."

"That's just suspicious coming from you!"

She smirks.

"One million Berri, then."

"How shameless can you be?!" The sniper snaps loudly. "Wait, don't answer that."

"I'm not joining the crew." Franky feels the need to remind them, prompting the First Mate of said crew to turn to the other woman of their group.

"Does he seriously still think he stands a chance against Sea King?"

Robin leans one cheek in her hand, smile gentle and words merciless.

"I always find people in denial quite cute."

"I don't. They make me want to punch them in the face. Or myself."

"The latter, I beg of you." The sniper whimpers from where he's hiding his burning face in his knees.

"Well, when you say it like that."

"Or me. Please knock me out."

Alfonso of the Alfieri Family comes close to fulfilling his wish when he crashes down right next to him, and Usopp jumps into a fighting stance with a scream at the abruptness of it, freezing as he realises that he drew quite a bit of attention to them in the process.

Behind him the tall and stocky man groans as he pushes himself back, and then freezes as he stares down wide-eyed at Robin, who took off her hat when they hid behind the counter.

Then his eyes jump between all four of them before they stop on Franky, narrowing suddenly.

"You. You brought the Straw Hats here?"

"An impeccable reasoning, if I may." Robin compliments.

She gives a gentle smile when his eyes land on her again, and then with a flick of her wrist there are arms blooming from the shelves behind him to grab his limbs and immobilise him while two others lock him into a chokehold.

"Guess we'll have to finish the job ourselves." Franky grunts as he knocks back the rest of his last bottle of cola.

"Indeed."

"Looks like it." Elynna agrees as stands up, intertwining her fingers and then stretching her arms as far as they can go as she glances at Usopp next to her. "Lend me some grenades?"

"No! Crap, I can't even die of embarassment in peace—" He mutters under his breath, yelping as a woman points her gun at him.

He promptly sidesteps to hide behind Elynna.

"Okay, you're now my meat shield."

"So cruel. I hope you can keep up, then."

"... On second thought, I'll pair up with Robin."

The older woman looks up at him, dispelling her additional limbs away when Alfonso finally faints.

"It would be my pleasure. Let's do our best, Usopp."

"Oh, so Sophia is your partner, but I'm a meat shield?"

"Well I don't know." Usopp grumbles, wincing as she uses a tessen to redirect a bullet away from them just in time and they both duck down. "How do you think her track record of annoying me compares to yours?"

Elynna just snickers.

"Fair point. Hey, Franky—"

"On it." The leader of the Franky Family replies as he gets to his feet, immediately opening fire on the remaining brawlers.

Elynna takes advantage of the cover to move towards the other end of the counter, jumping on top of it and then taking a running jump off its surface and over the line of fire, one kukri already flying to embed itself into one of the beams of the ceiling before she swings herself up to that point with the cord tied to the blade.

She grips the handle to take out the weapon before her feet touch the beam, and swings again as Franky stops shooting to jump over the counter and rush into the brawl.

The flying kukri stabs into the shoulder of a man who still hasn't pushed himself away from the pillar he was leaning against, and then into the wood of it.

She pushes herself off the beam before gravity can rob her of the additional boost, and lands on a sniper hiding behind a row of tables.

Uses his unconscious body as a springboard to reach a wall, she runs across it to kick someone else across the face and lets the cord of her kukri carry her a bit further through the air before she tugs harshly to dislodge it from its anchor point.

She spins on herself, sending the blade lashing through the room in a wide circle before she lands in a slide, kukri snapping into her palm just in time for her to tuck it back in its holster at her back and take out both of her tessen.

Behind the counter, Usopp's keen eyes sweep through the multiple fights occurring in the large room before he winces as he watches the pillar her flying blade cut straight through start to crumble, and then winces harder as Franky incinerates another pillar.

He gives this place five minutes tops before it falls on their heads.

"Hey, Robin?"

The historian's eyes flicker to him.

"How would you feel about taking down those with a gun so these two can do their crazy stuff in peace?"

"A sound idea, dear partner." She smiles as she crosses her arms, her spying eye already busy identifying her targets. "I'll take care of the side of the room on our right. Shall we?"

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

They're the only ones left standing at the end of the fight —building included.

They step out of the remains of said building, brushing dust off their clothes as what is left of the doors groans loudly behind them.

"And so," Elynna says solemnly, "the Mafia Foursome was born."

The wooden sign on which the name of the pub was inscribed falls as the metal bar it was swinging from finally gives in, crashing to the ground.

Usopp gives a full-body shiver, and directs a distinctly horrified look in Elynna's direction that clearly says don't you dare say that word in relation to you and me ever again, which really just makes her smirk bigger.

"... I'm not part of this crew." Franky says again, more out of habit than because he still holds onto the hope that he'll finally get through to her.

"I want out of this." Usopp hisses at the sky, half-way between a threat and a prayer.

"Quite cute, really." Robin hums as Elynna threads one arm through hers and leads the both of them away with an especially mean snicker.

Franky watches them go, concludes that he might have to start thinking seriously about leaving Water Seven until the Straw Hats are gone, and then gives Usopp a look that says good luck surviving whatever they'll throw at you next time before he turns to leave as well —in the opposite direction both women took.

The sharpshooter's shoulders slump in defeat, and then he promptly decides that he's now on the 'get Franky to join the crew' team.

If he's going down, then he's taking that traitor with him.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Breakfast the next morning is an eerily quiet affair at the Straw Hats' table, mostly because Nami is humming under her breath, which has never been and can never be a good thing.

The last time it happened, she dragged them all into the most touristic spot of the island they were at because it was an ancient-palace-slash-grave-for-ancient-and-important-people and dead people don't need all that gold and jewels, Usopp, so they should do the nice thing and let the living have them.

It was all fun and games until Luffy triggered the protection measures of the palace —the ancient ones, not the modern ones they already dealt with— and said palace became a labyrinth.

With traps.

Usopp shudders, notes the worried glances Chopper is shooting at their navigator, and decides that his anxiety over the matter is very much justified, thank you.

It doesn't help that Zoro looks just as suspicious as Usopp feels, regardless of the fact that Sanji looks perfectly normal, if not a bit excited (which just means that Nami roped him into whatever she planned) and that Robin is just smiling (which just means that she's in on it and finds it too entertaining to bother doing anything to stop it).

But they clearly don't have the same definition of what counts as 'entertaining', so it just makes Usopp freak out more.

And since Luffy is not up yet, it only leaves Elynna to save them from The Humming, because given the pensive look she's giving their three crewmates at the moment, she doesn't know what is going on either.

In the periphery of his vision, he sees her tilt her head, less pensive and more like she's come to some sort of conclusion, and he swallows nervously, staring down resolutely at his scrambled eggs as he waits for her to broach the subject and figure out what put Nami in this mood —and then subtly distract her away from whatever she plans to do the same way she manages to do with Luffy sometimes.

"I'm not going to run away, because I totally want some of that carrot cake Hermes was making yesterday, but I want you to know that I definitely feel like escaping right now."

Usopp narrowly stops himself from slamming his head down, but it's solely for the reason that his face would then land in his plate, and even the idea of wasting any of Sanji's cooking feels like something akin to a moral crime.

Goddamnit.

This is not off to a good start.

"Don't be silly, Lynna." Nami grins as she places a thin slice of crispy bacon upon the layer of scrambled eggs she already gathered on a piece of toast and carefully lifts all of it to her mouth. "Why would you want to escape?"

"Obviously, it's because you haven't talked to me about whatever you planned, which means it's something I won't like."

The navigator swallows her bite and pouts, even as she lightly kicks Sanji under the table before he can do something else than swoon over how 'insightful' Elynna is and how 'heart-stopping' Robin's laugh is —like spill the beans on what is going on.

"I don't know what you're talking about. We just decided to go on a little self-care trip with everyone today. The mayor's new secretary got us some tickets at one of the best spas in town."

"Uh huh. And then?"

Nami's smile widens as she pops the last piece of her improvised sandwich into her mouth, swallows, and props her chin in her hand.

"Some pampering for the second party tonight that you didn't mention to me yesterday, even though I'm pretty sure Na Yung wanted to invite you personally. Did you think I wouldn't know about it?"

Elynna's face falls into something vaguely disgruntled, though it has much more to do with what is clearly an upcoming make-up session than with Nami's pointed words.

Next to Robin, Zoro downright scowls, seemingly having understood the same thing —and even less happy about it.

"A spa?! Really?!" Chopper squeaks in delight, eyes staring dreamily into nothing as he remembers the last time they went to one, which was also the first time for him.

He almost fainted from the heat trying to keep up with Zoro and Sanji's contest, but he learned his lesson, okay?

Besides, spas are good for one's overall health.

"What?!" Usopp yelps as he jumps to his feet and slams his hands down on the table for additional dramatic effect, dismissing from his mind the swordsman's failed attempt at getting out of the room only to be stopped by a dozen of Robin's hands as he focuses on the important fact. "Why didn't you just tell me about it?! I freaked out for nothing! And Chopper too!"

"Why would you freak out?" Nami sniffs daintily. "I thought you two of all people would know that I'm reasonable."

"You're never reasonable when it comes to money!"

The navigator sighs delicately.

"And here I even bought a great outfit for you…"

Usopp sits back down primly.

"I'll be in your care, Your Highness."

Even Chopper is too excited about what his outfit might be to pay any attention to Zoro's muffled struggling, throwing question after question at Sanji instead —and then at Robin when Nami sends the cook to 'retrieve' their Captain.

Elynna sighs deeply, and resigns herself, stealing what is left of Zoro and Chopper's breakfast.

The carrot cake and the Fancy Trio's smiles when they're done will be worth it.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"So. Franky."

Robin hums.

Nami blinks.

"What about him?"

Elynna sinks into the water of the thermal baths that attract so many of Water Seven's tourists, taking a moment to appreciate the temperature of it before she answers.

"Sea King wants him on the crew."

Nami lazily moves her limbs to keep herself afloat, a dry smile making its way to her lips.

"We noticed. We talked about it while you two were still out of it, and I'm pretty sure we all agreed that he's definitely a better pick than the ones from Foxy's crew. Plus, he's probably one of the best in the world right now, and we need to put the bar at least that high when we're recruiting for the future King of the Pirates."

Elynna leans a bit more against the wall of the bath and waves a hand through the air, sending drops of water flying into the pool.

"I know. Fang told me."

"Then?" Robin inquires, still wrapped in her towel and legs swinging gently through the water from where she's sitting on the edge of the pool next to her, not quite trusting the other customers present to risk immersing herself in water naked.

"Do you think he wants to join? 'Cause I'm pretty sure he trauma-bonded with the whole freaking town with how much he insists on staying."

Nami flicks water in her direction with a roll of her eyes.

"I don't know about the town, but the Franky Family is probably a big part of why he wants to stay. Those guys couldn't keep a business afloat to save their lives, and their lives pretty much depend on it as it is."

"I'm of the same opinion," Robin agrees quietly, "although I'm sure he and the mayor could work something out together. However, the fact that he went back on his decision to not make a ship again for us —and that he's giving it to us for free— is very telling as far as his opinion of us is concerned."

"For free, my ass." Nami grumbles. "He stole two hundred million from us to buy the wood."

"Which we would have given him anyway for the ship."

Nami grumbles some more, sinking deeper into the water with a light scowl.

"And if I might add," Robin goes on, "he mentioned when offering to give us his ship that being a shipwright used to be his dream. I talked with the mayor when he came to visit the other day, and it seems that beyond that, Franky is the kind of shipwright who would hardly be satisfied with building a ship and then simply giving it to his customer."

Elynna hums pensively for a moment, inching forward to crane her neck back and let her hair dip into the water until it's drenched with it, like taking on a weight and letting it down at the same time.

"Well. Rain's very fine ass aside," she starts, chuckling when that earns her a lot more water thrown in her face, "I guess we just need to find the right motivation to get him to consider joining."

Nami glides closer to her, grabbing her wrist to yank her under the water as she considers their options.

"Let's steal something precious from him so he has to follow us." She eventually offers, leaning heavily against Elynna while the other girl tries to get the heavy, drenched mass of her hair out of her face.

"Let's steal something precious from him and blackmail him with it." Elynna counters.

Robin considers them with a smile.

"At this point, wouldn't we be better off kidnapping him?"

Both girls exchange a look.

"Huh. You know your stuff, Sophia."

"I guess that requires less intel."

"Time for additional opinions, then." Elynna decides as she stands up.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Did you rent out the place or something? There's no one on your side."

"Nah," Usopp replies with a roll of his eyes, "it's just that Zoro and Sanji started a fight pretty much right away, and then Chopper transformed to separate them. I think Chopper scared more people away than the Monster Duo."

"Not a duo." Both males grunt at the same time while glaring at each other.

"Do you think I could be a member of the Monster Trio?!" Chopper asks excitedly.

"You should let him, Usopp! It would be fun!"

"Absolutely not." Usopp huffs, cutting Luffy off before he can pull the Captain's order! card. "He's smart more often than he's scarily strong —and violent. There's no reason for him to leave the Smart Quintet."

Besides, he needs his best friend in order to not be completely outmatched by the three other members of their Quintet during meetings.

The power of cuteness can steamroll over all—

"Wait, what are you doing here?!"

His sputtering makes Luffy burst into laughter just as Sanji also realises that Elynna is right there with them in the men's bath, prompting a high-pitched sound from him that just makes the smirk of amusement on Zoro's face widen.

"... Joining you?" Their First Mate offers, having crossed over from the entrance of the room and now standing on the edge of the pool.

"Why?!"

"To talk about something."

"And it couldn't wait?!"

"... Well it could, but then you wouldn't make the face you just made."

Luffy nods like it's a perfectly valid argument.

Sanji just sinks deeper into the water until the words coming out of his mouth are mostly bubbles.

Usopp screams, prompting Chopper to cross his arms and give Elynna a look that says play nice, I'm here to take a bath, not deal with heart attacks.

The girl raises her hands as a sign of peace.

"Just close your eyes while I get into the water if it bothers you."

The cook immediately turns around, Usopp following him after a suspicious glare that says he's half-convinced she'll drop her towel and tell him he can turn around just to tease him more.

Which kind of makes her want to do it, but—

cold air, warm water.

And that would push the joke a bit too far for these two.

So she gets into the water quickly to chase off the chill that set in almost as soon as she got out of the women's baths, and goes to sit next to where Zoro is sitting against the wall of the pool, the length of the arm he's thrown over the edge of the pool a much more comfortable headrest than the sharply cut stone.

"Alright, you're good."

Sanji obviously trusts her a lot more, turning back towards them at once while Usopp waits a beat longer for a scream of shock just in case.

"So." The sniper grumbles as he crosses his arms with a mild glare. "What did you want to talk about?"

Elynna hums a vaguely questioning sound at the back of her throat, relaxing completely into the wall and Zoro's arm.

"The thing you wanted to talk about. You know, the reason why you came into the men's baths. What is it?"

She waves a hand lazily into the air.

"Can wait."

"Elynna-chan…" Sanji says, just a bit chiding but still mostly amused as Luffy snickers.

That just makes Usopp's frustration worse as he launches water towards her in retaliation, earning himself a glare from Zoro that makes him squeal when the swordsman gets caught in the crossfire.

"Calm down, Zoro!" Chopper jumps in. "It's just water."

"Don't care." The swordsman grumbles as he folds his arm at the elbow, trapping Elynna into a loose chokehold. "And you, just talk already."

Elynna knocks an elbow into his ribs in a half-hearted attempt to get herself out of his hold, before giving up and sinking all her weight into it instead.

"It's about Franky."

"What about Franky?" Sanji asks curiously, glaring at Zoro all the while until the swordsman releases her with a roll of his eyes.

"I want him on the crew!"

"I didn't ask you, shithead."

"That's pretty much it, actually. We were talking about how to get him to hear us out with Rain and Sophia."

"He does seem to be set on not talking to us for a guy who wants to give us the first ship he's made in, like, ten years." The cook comments idly.

"Tsundere reflex."

"Shut up and just get on with it." Usopp huffs.

"... So am I shutting up or talking?"

Luffy laughs again, then yelps when Chopper punches him in the knee while glaring at Elynna, who holds back a snicker out of sheer generosity at the more-adorable-than-anything-else face he's making, and holds up a hand instead, raising a finger for every option.

"Theft. Blackmail. Kidnapping."

There's a moment of silence.

"... Or we could just ask him?" Usopp eventually tries, though he doesn't seem to have much hope.

Elynna dismisses his words with a wave.

"Not nearly as fun."

"Yeah!" Luffy exclaims with a wide grin. "We're pirates, after all!"

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

"We can't do that, Elynna!" Chopper protests at the same time. "That's no way to welcome a new member!"

"I would argue that he would just respect us more."

Zoro snorts at that.

"What would you even steal or blackmail him with?" Sanji asks, mouth twitching and looking just a bit too tempted to give in to the idea for Usopp's taste.

"I was thinking Zanbai-san. Or the girls. Rain said that some of what they told her hinted at their worry over the Enies Lobby fallout, and it's true that there's a risk he'll end up with too high a bounty on his head to be able to stay here. They'd probably work with us."

Chopper's face falls into a sad frown at that, but Usopp just shakes his head at the idea.

"No way. He'll never take it seriously coming from us. If anything, he'll tell Zanbai to deal with it on his own and sit back to watch him try while eating popcorn and laughing at him."

Sanji's mouth twitches wider at the idea.

"Something he always has with him and would need every day, then?" He offers.

"Doesn't leave a lot of options." Zoro scoffs. "That guy walks around half-naked all the time."

"And it can't be his sunglasses." Elynna adds. "That's part of his cool Mafia boss vibes. They stay on."

"And not his tools!" Luffy decides. "He needs them to build our ship."

"Right." Usopp goes on with a nod. "So that lives his shirt, his cola, or—"

His mouth snaps shut at the scolding tone Chopper uses to call out his name.

Elynna picks up on his idea anyway.

"Yeah, no. Humiliation is not my kink, and I'm not bullying someone into joining u—"

And then she pauses.

"Oh wait, it's Franky. He won't care, and it might just work."

"Elynna!" Chopper squeaks with a horrified look, the volume of his voice not quite covering Zoro's sigh of exasperation or Sanji's sigh of adoration.

Luffy stares blankly at her for a few more beats before he seems to catch up on precisely what their new option entails, and then his usual grin near-splits his face in two.

They never did settle their fight.

"Alright! Let's do that!"

"Let's not!" Chopper barks.

The reindeer hurriedly looks towards Zoro, who seems like his best bet for help in reining both Luffy and Elynna in, but the swordsman is just looking blankly away from them, clearly having entirely detached himself spiritually from the incoming catastrophe.

So Chopper skips right over Sanji to stare pleadingly at Usopp.

There's little chance that his best friend will be able to change anything to what is happening, but at least he'll get someone to complain over the situation with—

"Besides," Elynna steamrolls over his silent distress signal, "if we plan it right, Hawk can show off some of his own stuff. Franky loves his job too much to dismiss your inventions or not want to work with you at least a little bit, so it could be another argument in our favour."

Usopp blinks, and in the next moment settles fully into his fanboy mode.

"I'm in."

Chopper's jaw drops in horror.

"Cool. Operation Let's Charm Franky's Pants Off is—"

"We're not using that name." Usopp says firmly with another splash of water in Elynna's face to shut her up more efficiently. "I told you that you're banned from naming anything during group things. You do enough damage to your personal stuff as it is."

"Plus Usopp's names are cool!" Luffy chimes in brightly.

Whatever Elynna is about to say to that never comes out of her mouth, voices reaching them as four boys walk into the room.

"—and then Franky-san managed to run off, even though my dad had three other cops in full anti-Franky gear with him!"

"He's so cool, man."

"Or maybe it's just your dad who sucks. Or bo—"

The only ginger-haired member of the group chokes, suddenly noticing their little group and drawing his friends' attention in the process.

A long staredown ensues between the four gaping boys and the pirates who silently stare back.

And then one of the boys points a finger at Zoro and Elynna, and opens his mouth, looking more than a little bit offended.

"Hey man, since when can we bring our girlfriend in there? How much did you spend to bribe the owner?"

Zoro lets his head fall back against the edge of a bath with an exasperated groan, soon followed by a dark glare directed at where Usopp is failing to hide his snickers behind his fist.

"Goddamnit." He hisses under his breath before raising his voice. "Not my girlfriend."

"... Seriously?" The same boy blinks dubiously.

"We can bring prostitutes?!" The one next to him suddenly brightens.

"Hell yeah!"

Usopp stares blankly at the boys and the conclusion they've somehow come to, internally bracing himself for what is coming and hoping strongly that Sanji will not set himself on fire right there and then, because he does not fancy himself being boiled alive so young.

Epic but painful and early death is the only part of 'being a hero' that he doesn't want to come anywhere close to emulating, please and thank you.

"... The hell did you just say?" Zoro snarls, tightening his hold on Elynna and drawing her closer to him so he can better glare down the four dumbasses across from him.

"Hey—" Chopper starts at the same time, only to squeak when Sanji bristles next to him, features and muscles drawn so tight suddenly that it's impossible to ignore the danger he represents the way it can be most of the time, when it's mostly hidden under his suit and his delicate features and he's not angry or bickering with Zoro.

All in all, Elynna seems to be the least affected as she dismisses the newcomers to look back at her crewmates.

"Have I reached that high a level of sex appeal? My goal in life has been fulfilled."

That earns her a look that screams at her to stop adding fuel to the damn inferno from Usopp as Luffy frowns at her in confusion, because his nakama only have cool dreams, and this sounds like a weird dream, not a cool one.

Chopper and Sanji are too busy getting even more angry over the enthusiastic sounds reaching them from the other side of the bath, but Zoro does pause at her words, looking down at her and then relaxing back in the bath at the utterly unbothered look on her face.

"You have weird tastes, man." The last of the boys comments.

Elynna blinks.

"... Or maybe not." She mumbles dully even as Sanji makes an outraged sound, opening his mouth to aggressively make his opinion on the topic known when the first guy interrupts him.

"Too bad for you, then. Yo, sweetheart, what's your price to come with us after them?"

"Get lost!" Sanji snaps.

"She's not coming with you." Luffy tacks on, giving them a look that makes it clear they've just said the dumbest thing he's heard in the week. "She's ours."

"Shut up, Luffy!" Usopp groans with a hard jab of his elbow in the rubber boy's ribs. "You're just making things worse!"

"Please start a fight naked." Elynna deadpans, immediately making Sanji sit right back down from where he was about to get up and go beat some sense in the four newcomers, who are starting to look a bit uncertain.

"You shut up!" The sniper screeches.

She ignores him, and turns to Zoro.

"How much money do you think I need to bribe my way out of the make-up part in the dress-up session we're heading towards?"

The swordsman rolls his eyes.

"It's Nami. What do you think?"

Across from her, Sanji's features tighten in horror at the thought of any of his female crewmates entertaining such a debasing prospect even if only as a passing thought, and Chopper now looks a second away from transforming.

"Elynna-chan, stop—"

"Chill out, boys." His First Mate cuts him off. "If you start picking fights with every stupid kid out there we're never going to see the end of it."

Then she turns back to the four intruders, and smiles a smile that none of them has seen in a long, long time, one stiff with disuse but that works well enough when she calls out to the group.

"What are your names, sweethearts? I'll be sure to tell my colleagues that our new escort service is gathering some interest."

Two of the four answer eagerly, and then barely get through their next question of when she would next be free before Chopper finally shifts into his biggest form and sends them scampering out of the room.

"Who are you gonna give that to?" He asks grouchily once the screams fade away and he sinks back down into both the water and usual form.

Elynna just smirks a bit at the scowl on his face, and turns to look at Usopp.

"Hawk, you're paying a visit to Franky for lunch, aren't you?"

The sharpshooter blinks in response, and then grins wickedly.

"Yeah. Mozu and Kiwi?"

Her smirk deepens in response.

"You read my mind."

"Why them?" Zoro asks, idly curious.

"Because they're in charge of making sure the sex workers here are as safe as possible. Or the women, at least." Elynna replies.

"And also that they respect Franky's rules." Usopp adds with a nod. "I think he mentioned something about how he wants no one below eighteen in any sex business when I went to see the new Franky House building site the other day."

He's pretty sure these guys don't tick that box, though.

Franky's rules are well-known throughout Water Seven, but they didn't even seem worried about their age being controlled.

If there's a chance that some businesses are breaking the rules, then Mozu and Kiwi will definitely want to know about it.

"Anyway, about Operation Let's Charm Franky's Pants Off—"

"I told you we wouldn't be using that name!"

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Hey, Lynna. Strike a pose."

Elynna gives a dull glance, and raises both middle fingers.

Nami shrieks in protest, but it's too late to stop herself from taking a picture.

"Not that kind of pose!"

The other girl shrugs with just a hint of a smirk.

"You didn't specify. And don't shake Eyeballs around like this, it took her ages to get over her motion sickness."

Nami winces at the Cameko's name like she always does, but pointing out that it's not even a vital point! the first time around only got her a comment about how the way to a man's brain is through his eyeballs in return, so she sticks to making a face at her best friend and sets the snail on her desk, pushing the make-up products spread out on its surface so as to give Eyeballs more space.

She swipes a tube of clear, glittery lip gloss in the process, gold bangles clinking around her left wrist with the movement, and proceeds to apply it on her lips to finish up the long, complicated make-up session she's indulged in for a fairy-like, light pink and gold result that matches her champagne-coloured minidress and the glossy pale pink heels she still has to put on.

"Can I have the mascara, Nami?"

"Sure!" She chirps, picking it up among a bunch of eyeliners of different colours and holding it out behind her for Robin to take. "Thanks for my hair, by the way."

The older woman hums.

"It suits you."

Nami grins back at her in the mirror, putting the lip gloss down to make sure that the pins holding half of her hair in a braided updo will hold.

Then she spins to face where Elynna is sitting in a chair with the newspaper of the day in her hands and Robin is finishing up her own hair.

"How is it?"

Robin smiles.

"Absolutely lovely."

Elynna looks up.

"Too beautiful for this world."

Her lips curl in satisfaction, and she turns on her heel to go pick up her shoes and the ones she bought for Elynna, fancy but wedge-heeled and a simple black to make sure that her best friend will actually agree to wear them.

When she sets them down by Elynna's feet, she blinks at the slight frown on the other girl's face.

"Something wrong?"

"Hm? Nah. Just feeling weird without at least the tessen."

Nami rolls her eyes.

As bad as Zoro.

Well, almost.

She's pretty sure she won't be convincing that idiot to let his katana home any time soon —especially the white-sheathed one.

"Nothing is going to happen. And most of the people you use your blades on are also people you can beat up with your fists, anyway."

"... I was just talking about the weight, though."

Nami waves a dismissive hand.

"Yeah, well bear with it."

She didn't buy that flowy, sleeveless crop top for a fight with the Marines.

Elynna's tessen are elegant, sure, but they're black and silver and wickedly sharp.

It would kind of ruin the fun and pop vibe she's going for with the lagoon green colour she chose for the top, which almost shimmers with the silver threads woven through it and serves to offset the black of her shoes and her shorts, as well as the dark purple of her lipstick. It's the only touch of make-up she allowed herself, given that Elynna strongly dislikes having something layered over her face for long periods of time —not to mention that Chopper said to take it easy on the newly scarred part of her face.

After all, the point this time is to make her First Mate at least a bit less intimidating.

Though now that she thinks about it, putting all those muscles on display might be counter-productive.

Or it will create an entirely different kind of intimidation in those who have good taste.

She grins at the thought, and perks up when she glimpses the gold of Elynna's signet ring on her right hand, hurrying back to her case of hair accessories to retrieve a few golden pins and then walking over to her best friend's side, authoritatively snatching the newspapers out of her hands and dropping herself in her lap.

"Don't move." She orders before proceeding to gently slip the pins in the inky green hair that has for once been let down in order to keep it away from her face, slipping a finger along the chain of Elynna's necklace to slip out from under the top and let it rest over it instead, all the while humming along to the song floating out of one of the Tone Dials.

The click of Robin's white heels alerts her to the fact that the older woman is ready as well, and she looks up to find the historian slipping a shawl of white silk over her shoulders, though it's hardly big enough to cover all the skin left bare by the backless, light mauve dress that flows down to her feet.

Both colours make for a gorgeous contrast with the olive tone of her skin, matching the clear blue of her eyes, and it all makes Nami grin widely, internally thanking whoever created waterproof mascara, because her eyes get a bit misty when she notices the near-invisible chain that holds a little diamond against the hollow of Robin's throat —a late welcome-to-the-crew gift that Nami bought some time ago and that the historian never put on before.

The navigator squeals loudly, jumping back to her feet to admire her crewmate from up close, reaching up to adjust the fake white peony decorating the high, sleek bun of Robin's black hair before moving back to the historian's side so as to not startle her when she places a hand on her right shoulder.

"Look, Lynna! It's even better than what I imagined!"

"Of course it does. Sophia is the one wearing it."

Robin chuckles at that.

"How about we go join the boys?" She suggests when Nami opens her mouth to go on a full rant.

The navigator huffs, but eventually agrees, going to her bed to grab the large shoulder bag on it.

"Let's. You might want to put something a bit warmer in there, there's a chance that it'll rain a bit soon. And no hoodie, Lynna."

Elynna lets out a disappointed sound, but complies easily enough and follows both her crewmates out of Nami and Sanji's room and towards the living room.

Three of their male crewmates are already there, Zoro having apparently been uncooperative enough that things came down to Luffy and Sanji chasing him all the way to the living room to try and shove him into the black leather jacket that is really the only thing truly different from his usual outfit given that Nami just bought him military trousers and a white shirt, knowing how reluctant he would be about the whole dressing up thing.

"Get off me!" The swordsman yells, trying to shake off Luffy even as the rubber boy clings even harder to his back.

"No!" Luffy yells back. "Usopp and Chopper match! I want to match with someone too!"

"I just told you I would put on the damn thing, so get off my back already you little—"

Luffy just keeps yelling over him though, seemingly not even aware that Zoro isn't fighting him about the jacket anymore, and Nami sighs loudly.

Next to her Robin hides a laugh behind her hand, and Elynna cocks her head on one side, eyes falling on the —indeed matching— red jacket that their Captain is wearing over a yellow t-shirt Sanji chose after remembering that it was apparently 'Luffy's colour' when he was a kid, as well as some old trousers that got so torn up in a fight (or a game, who knows) that even Luffy stopped wearing them and forgot them somewhere at the back of his closet, and that Nami then found and brought to a retoucher to mend them with patches.

Including a crown-shaped one, of course.

And even a beetle one.

He's lucky that she loves him so much, really. Anyone else can keep dreaming.

Although right now, the navigator feels more like strangling him for making things even more difficult than they already are with Zoro.

And then Zoro for making things difficult in the first place.

And then Sanji for standing there looking like he's just waiting for an opportunity to kick the jacket on Zoro instead of actually helping —even if the fancier-than-usual three-piece suit he picked for himself demonstrates once again his impeccable taste.

Right as she opens her mouth to start screaming, though, Robin raises her arms, new hands sprouting from thin air to gently manhandle Luffy into getting off their swordsman's back while Elynna steps closer to Sanji, snatching the necktie in his hand to loop it around his neck and tug him into looking away.

"Oh." She pauses for a second with both strands of fabric in her hands before she starts tying them together. "Fancy. That's silk, right?"

"Huh?" The cook mumbles distractedly.

She slides the knot under his collar snugly, and gives the tie a small tug as she looks up, a little amused at how he seems to be trying to look at both her and her two other female crewmates at the same time.

"This. It's silk, isn't it?"

His eyes finally meet hers, startled and sheepish.

"Ah, yes. Nami-chan said I could indulge tonight, so I figured…" He fumbles, clears his throat, and then smiles down at her. "Your hair looks nice when it's down, too."

"Really?"

He hums.

She shrugs.

"It's not very practical when it's this long, but Rain insisted."

"It's a shame, but I suppose that's true." He muses.

Especially since Elynna specialises in close-range combat.

"The lipstick looks very good on you, though."

"Robin's idea." She confirms with a nod, and Sanji nods back in understanding.

Nami-chan has wonderful taste, but she definitely prefers light and bright colours, so it's no surprise.

"It was a good one." He agrees, and carefully stops there, unsure how much he can let his eyes and his words linger when there's so much skin everywhere.

"Yep. You look hella good, by the way." She adds, stepping back and smirking a bit when he gets even redder at that. "Did you match with Rain on purpose, or are you two just that in tune when it comes to fashion?"

Sanji's smile is pleased as he looks down at himself and the light pink and gold colour scheme of his clothes that matches the navigator's.

"Ah, well—"

He rakes a hand through his slicked back hair.

"I offered, and…"

"I said yes." Nami smiles as she joins them. "Looking very dashing, Sanji-kun."

"And you are magnificent, Nami-chan!" The cook beams in return.

"I know." The navigator grins as she flicks a strand of hair over her shoulder. "I think we're primed for flirting night, aren't we?"

Sanji smiles even brighter at that.

Elynna snorts.

Yeah, Water Seven's female population is so not ready.

Just then, Usopp and Chopper enter the room, sporting matching sunglasses with yellow and pink lenses respectively, the reindeer holding a top hat between his hooves while Usopp finishes wrangling his tightly-curled hair into a low ponytail, white gloves held between his teeth.

Elynna stares at the black leather jacket Chopper is wearing.

"Are those—"

"Sakura flowers, yes." Robin smiles as she joins them with a grumbling Zoro in tow. "Sanji told me about Chopper's home, so we brought it to the same retoucher Nami went to for Luffy's outfit."

Elynna smiles as Chopper turns to hold out the hat to Usopp, giving her a glimpse of the snakes decorating the back of what was probably supposed to be a punk-styled jacket initially.

"He does love your nickname for him." Sanji comments lightly when he follows her gaze, before shooting a bright smile towards Robin. "You look absolutely gorgeous, Robin-chan!"

"How very flattering." The historian laughs delicately.

Elynna just huffs in amusement.

"Good job, you two."

It's only when Luffy bounds up to the sniper and the doctor and the duo turn to meet him with just as much enthusiasm that the rest of them find out why they came in later.

The black half-cape that Usopp wears over his suit, and that with his bowtie makes him look very much like some kind of magician or showman, is now adorned with a big, yellow 'U' that matches the yellow of his shirt —and that he definitely stitched there himself given the exasperated glance Nami gives it.

"What?" The sharpshooter grins as he approaches the rest of the crew while tugging on his gloves. "Every hero has his initials somewhere!"

"I rented that, you idiot."

"What?! But everything else has been bought!"

Nami just grins and sticks out her tongue, while Zoro rolls his eyes and mutters something along the lines of dumbass.

"Just kidding. Come on, let's go!"

"But Ann and Robin don't match!" Luffy protests. "They have to match with someone, too!"

Elynna shrugs, about to say that she doesn't particularly care, but Robin threads her own fingers through hers lightly, and lifts both their hands to show the gold ring on Elynna's ring finger and the silver signet ring on the little finger of her own left hand, stamped with a massive-looking tree and three characters which shape the name of an island that hasn't existed for a long time except in books and people's memories.

Luffy whoops, almost sending both Usopp and himself crashing to the ground in an attempt to get closer.

Elynna looks down at their joined hands.

"Never saw that one before."

Robin just smiles at her, and then at Sanji when he looks a bit like he wants to cry.

(The truth is, she never felt worthy of the ring that every Ohara archaeologist is given upon receiving their license, after letting all the others die and letting the Great Tree of Knowledge burn.

It has taken twenty years on the run and another Buster Call and eight other people, but she thinks that maybe now, she is worthy enough.

At the very least, its weight feels lighter.)

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"I'm taller than you again." Elynna notices idly when she falls back at the end of their group where Luffy and Zoro are walking.

Her Captain squints at her, and crosses his arms with a huff when he comes to the same conclusion.

"You're cheating!"

"Pirate." She replies, quickening her steps and then turning to walk backward in front of Zoro, stretching one hand from the top of her head and towards his face.

He bats it away with a roll of his eyes before it can touch his chin.

"We should train with those." He says instead with a flick of his eyes towards her shoes. "You need practice, and you have to learn how to compensate."

She shrugs, spinning again to fall back between them.

"Nah, I'll just ditch them. I don't have Sophia's skills with those, let alone Rain's. I would just faceplant and break my ankle or something."

Luffy laughs.

"It'd be funny, though!"

Zoro scoffs.

Stupid Gomu Gomu no Mi powers.

Elynna reaches out to pinch the rubber boy's cheek.

"... You know I could die if that happens in a fight, right?"

"Of course not," he scowls at her, words a bit slurred by the tug at his cheek, "I'll be there to protect you!"

She releases him with a snort.

"Thanks, but I'd rather not break anything in the first place."

"Hey, Lynna! Come see that!"

She exchanges a glance with her two crewmates, and then shrugs before they join the rest of their crew, huddled around a free newspaper stand and reading one of the daily issue's articles.

Slipping between Nami and Robin, Elynna quickly reads through the article.

It's about a demonstration.

A demonstration of the Kankol community.

Or at least that's what the article assumes, given that the gathering took place not far from the Association for Cultural Preservation's office.

The very Association whose members were apparently involved in tagging threatening and blaming words on the walls of several buildings in a district that houses a big proportion of the Kankol community two nights before, mostly in relation to the damages wrecked by the Aqua Laguna.

Except the Kankol demonstration consisted mostly of foreign songs and clapping, so it's hard to say so far what exactly the demonstration was about.

Nami taps a slender finger on the picture that comes with the article.

"Ah." Elynna says.

"Isn't that guy from the dance group you were in during the last party?"

Elynna looks, and recognises Juyeon's face easily, even on the black and white picture.

"Yep." She confirms.

"What's with that 'yep'?" Usopp immediately asks from where he's reading the newspaper over her shoulder, suspicious glare drilling into the side of her face.

"I passed through that area when it was happening." Robin chimes in with a little smile on her face. "They were singing in English, though, not in Kankol."

The glare intensifies.

Elynna shrugs, unbothered.

"I might have handed out emotional propaganda materia— I mean, revolutionary songs."

"... Why." The sniper groans loudly, forehead dropping heavily on her shoulder.

"They can't sing the traditional anti-racist songs from their home in public anymore because people have learned to recognise them, and a lot of police officers tend to forbid it as a disturbance of public order inscreasingly more often." The historian explains.

Nami scowls.

"How can the mayor allow that to happen in his town?" Chopper pipes up quietly, clearly not having expected such a situation in the city that Iceburg and Franky manage.

"Politics." Sanji answers with a heavy frown of his own. "He's a mayor, so I doubt he has all the power around here, and if that association has a lot of followers…"

Elynna nods.

"Yeah, so I just gave them some songs I knew and translated them. There's a lot of problems with racism where I come from, so."

Usopp tries to roll his eyes in annoyance, but it comes out looking more proud than anything, and he ends up patting her on the shoulder as Sanji makes some comment about how you're as beautiful inside as you are outside, Elynna-chan! at the back of their group.

"That's the spirit, young one—"

"... Literally, I'm older than you."

"Do not hesitate to come to me for advice! I have led more than a few revolutions in my career!"

"Really?!" Chopper perks up, trailing after Usopp when he starts walking again and launches into a new story, Luffy hurrying to join them as Nami rolls her eyes with a fond smile and drags both Sanji and Zoro behind her.

Robin watches them all go with a chuckle, and falls into a more sedate pace next to her First Mate.

Eventually, though, she breaks the quiet between them to ask for the things she's curious to know about.

"Would it be presumptuous to assume that you… encouraged this demonstration to get the public eye away from us?"

The evidence for it might be light, but she still thinks that some credit should be lent to the theory according to which the Kankol, Neerlegan and Portanese communities are only so discriminated to encourage worldwide contempt towards 'foreign' languages and civilisations —and thus lower the probability of people being interested in Poneglyphs and the people who wrote them.

Not to mention that while the Water Seven police is supposed to be independent, its members are often at least trained by World Government soldiers —not to mention that the Marines have the monopoly over the legal weapon trade.

And she did warn her First Mate about the risk of some police officers identifying more with the Marines than with Water Seven or its mayor, and thus potentially causing their crew some problems the longer they stay here.

"Not at all." Elynna answers. "It's fifty percent of it."

"And the other fifty percent?" Robin asks with an amused smile.

Elynna hums thoughtfully.

"One percent because they're fun people, four percent for the dance classes, and forty-five because racist assholes should really be taken down a peg or two. Or ten." She blinks, and grins. "Or however many it takes to get them six feet under, really."

Robin chuckles.

"I think you should add a few more feet to that, just to be sure."

"Preach, sister." Elynna replies, and then stiffens at the same time as Zoro does.

"Ahhhh. And here I was hoping for someone less chaotic."

Luffy is already facing the little street on their right before the newcomer has finished his sentence, features drawn down into an instinctive frown that his crewmates have learned to take as a warning.

Elynna comes to a slow stop before she imitates him, and finds herself staring up at the man looking down at her from the top of a small flight of stairs, salt-like hair gleaming under the afternoon sun and the skin of his wrinkled face heavily tanned with it.

The man who just addressed them in English.

"Who're you, old man?" Luffy immediately asks with his usual complete lack of tact.

It doesn't seem to offend the man much, though.

In fact, he doesn't react at all.

He's still looking straight at Elynna as if there's only the two of them in the street, in a way that doesn't leave a shred of doubt in the rest of them about the fact that they're being excluded on purpose.

"You taught them." He says simply.

Not as a question, but as an affirmation. As if of all of them, he knew she was the one who spoke the language originally.

(Not as a question, but as an accusation.)

She stares and stares and stares, unable to look away or answer, even when Luffy turns to her and repeats his question in a frustrated tone once he realises that the stranger won't answer him.

His voice feels so very far away it's like hearing him all the way from her world, because the man's accent is pronounced enough to be unmistakable, and—

"Je parle français."

There's a startled moment where everyone looks at her.

(And if she could, she would look at herself with the same expression there is on their faces.

Because she's used French to write down so many things since she came into this world, but—

She hasn't spoken it once.

And now she has, but it's infected by the rhythm and pronunciation of the language she's been using for just a bit more than a year.

Eighteen years.

She's spent eighteen years using the same language.

For eighteen years, it's been her home.

And in just one year, it's eroded into making her sound like a foreigner.)

But then the old man throws his head back, and laughs.

"Splendide ! Ah, vraiment, ça rend ton insolence encore plus regrettable. J'ai dû travailler avec bien assez de fauteurs de trouble comme ça."

"... The hell is he saying?" Zoro grunts somewhere behind her.

"I don't know, but I want to kick his ass." Sanji comments, tone light in a way that tells her he's perfectly serious.

The swordsman makes a noise of assent that prompts Usopp to try and calm them with a long-winded explanation on why this guy is bad news, my Trouble Radar is tingling, guys, let's just run which is quickly cut off by Nami and their Captain.

"Lynna? Do you know him?"

"Ann! What's going on?!"

Luffy grabs her hand, and for the first time the man's eyes leave her face to stare at their clasped fingers.

(Her heart beats in her mouth.

It feels like she might puke it out, and she doesn't know if she wants to hold on to her Captain tighter or shake him off, so she stays put and keeps staring.

She's not sure it will save any of them from the potential incoming blow.)

The man smiles as if the thought of any of them 'kicking his ass' can only be amusing, and meets her gaze once again.

"Allez, viens. Il faut qu'on discute. J'ai besoin d'une pause, de toute façon." He tells her, tapping the tyres of his wheelchair eloquently.

There's really no need to think.

She needs any information she can get, and it doesn't seem like she's being given an actual choice, either.

But it still feels like a mistake when she turns to Luffy, if only because she allows herself a single second to grip his fingers as tight as she needs to before she forcefully untangles their hands.

"... Ann."

"I have to go."

His fingers twitch, but still at the hard look she gives him.

(Hard and desperate,

because she won't be able to stop him if he starts a fight.

Can only stop him from starting one, maybe.

And she knows with singular, mind-boggling clarity that he won't win.

She can't lose him.

She can't be the reason why she loses him, either.)

"Give me half an hour."

He frowns hard enough to send shadows skittering across his face, almost like the doubts that make her stomach tight and warm enough to be sickening.

But eventually, he nods.

"... Fine."

She pauses.

(Almost wishes he doesn't trust her this much and refuses.

She doesn't know if she wants to know what she's about to learn.

She doesn't know if she has what it takes to learn it and live knowing it.

She doesn't want to be alone.)

Then she nods back, turns around without looking at the rest of her crewmates, and starts walking up the stairs.

(Looking would be final.

Looking would be like goodbye.

Looking would give away so much to her opponent, and being stared down from the top of those stairs is only a small part of what makes her know she has few chances to win.

She needs time to figure out if the confrontation will get physical

—if she's the only one at risk to be directly hit by the blow or not—

and she needs to get the two of them away in case it does.)

"Par là." The stranger says as she joins him, pointing her down a tiny street on his right.

She slips behind him, hand gripping the handles lightly instead of bending them in her fists like she wants to.

She pushes the two of them in the direction he set.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

They stand there, listening as the sounds of their First Mate's footsteps and the man's wheelchair fade away even after the range of houses hides her from their eyes.

Then Luffy sits down right there on the cobblestones of the street, arms and legs crossed as he stares at the spot where the man appeared with a hard frown and even harder eyes.

"Wait— Luffy? You're really going to let her—"

"Half an hour." The rubber boy says simply, cutting Usopp off.

Half an hour, and I'm getting her back.

"Ugh… Fine!" The sharpshooter grumbles, and promptly starts pacing on the edge of their group as if it can make time go faster, or allow him to actually close the distance between him and the two people who just left.

Nami watches him, arms crossed and nails digging into her biceps, worry digging her features deeper into her flesh.

"Are you sure?" She asks eventually as she turns to her Captain. "Against that guy, I don't… I don't know if Lynna can handle things alone."

"I agree." Sanji grits out through the clench of his teeth, staring down at the cigarette that ended up smushed in his fist before he got the chance to light it.

They all got to feel Elynna's full presence.

While it clearly marks her as other and intense enough to border on scary at first contact, it's not aggressive in and of itself.

Animals and Fish-Men and Little Garden's dinosaurs all have a presence that differs from humans, too, although there's a clear difference between that of prey animals on the one side and that of predators on the other, let alone that of Fish-Men or Elynna, simply because there's a level of power, a potential for danger that brings this awareness that humans aren't the only threat out there —that other species can be just as dangerous.

But that man's presence—

Comparing his and Elynna's presence is like comparing a Fish-Man's presence when he's on land to the one he gives off underwater, and Sanji fought both —he can attest to the sheer difference between the two situations.

The man is simply more powerful than his First Mate, even if that particular fact is not the be all and end all of a potential fight between the two of them, especially where someone like Elynna is concerned.

(Beyond that, though, the man clearly felt some kind of hostility towards them.

Enough for it to leak through his aura into something cold like winter that makes the air heavy and hard to breathe in as if he has to chew through it to be able to do so.

But that is something he doubts any of them will get to feel from their First Mate.)

He's more powerful, and Elynna seemed perfectly aware of it.

But that hasn't been enough to deter her for a long time, now.

So why was she so tense —so clearly scared for someone who knows where to look?

"I don't like him." Chopper concurs. "He smelled scary."

(He smelled scary and suffocating like diluted blood,

and Chopper has wished for his First Mate to find out more about whatever or whoever took her away from her family ever since her almost-death wrenched the secret out of her mouth,

so why did the arrival of this man make her scent shift into something closer to hurt than happy?)

"None of us like him, Chopper." Zoro says, calm and completely unlike the tight grip he still has on two of his katana. "And don't worry about Lynn. If she thinks she can't take him on, she'll find a way to send us a sign."

"And I know where they are if it happens." Robin adds as she uncrosses her arms, the last of the eyes she discreetly conjured all over the district disappearing from the wall next to them in a shower of petals.

"Don't watch." Luffy tells her.

"I'm not. I didn't listen, either. Although I would guess that it might have to do with her… kidnapping."

Kidnapping.

No other word comes in the moment, but it doesn't seem to be quite the right one to describe the way their First Mate was torn away from her entire life in what sounded like a second, only to be stuffed into a body that looks like hers but isn't and then dumped in the sea with no land anywhere close, even if it was the East Blue's seas.

(A body that isn't made for the life she leads, and Chopper wonders if the man is the one Doctorine told him about when he asked about the only other time she encountered Elynna's disease.

He wonders if the man can heal her, and what it says about him as a doctor that a stranger might heal his nakama in a few moments when he's been struggling for months to make sure he simply treads rightly on the line between providing relief and risking addiction.

As a friend, though, he just wants to never see Elynna come into the sick bay normally and then collapse as soon as the door closes the way she did a few times, when they were still figuring out how long one dose of medication lasted at the beginning.)

Usopp's mouth twists with doubt.

He paces faster.

The guy definitely belongs to the same whatever-they-are that Elynna belongs to, even if they don't actually look the same.

There's just something about them that's… shared.

He definitely looks like he might know more about what he is than his crewmate does, too.

And while Usopp doesn't know exactly how much information Elynna has gathered over almost a year of her little secret trips, he knows that it's a lot, and that she managed it because she's gotten very, very good at leading and decrypting conversations.

But if the guy lived through the same thing as her and knows the how and the why of it, then he probably knows exactly how much Elynna wants to know all those things.

Except he didn't seem particularly inclined to share, no matter how much Usopp thinks that any decent person would just spill the beans and spare his crewmate more of the same hardship they've lived through themselves.

And his First Mate looked way too off-balanced to take the information from him.

(That just means the man is probably not a decent person,

and Usopp doesn't trust him one bit with his First Mate when she's like this.

Knowing her and the fact that the people she loved way before them could be involved, she might just be ready to do anything for the chance of getting to see them again.

When it comes to Elynna, anything is really, really scary.)

"Half an hour." Luffy says again, tightly.

"Twenty-six minutes." Nami corrects him, one painted nail between her teeth and foot tapping against the ground and eyes staring almost unblinking at the street her First Mate disappeared in.

Her Captain scowls, fingers stretching and curling into half-fists as if he's considering how to punch time itself into going faster so he can wipe that stupid look off the stupid old man's face.

(He really, really doesn't like him.

Him and the way he feels so much like Ann even though his gut screams danger.

Him and the way he only had to open his mouth to touch a part of Elynna she barely even showed them, let alone talked about

—and touched it like it hurt—

Him and the way he stole her away before they even left, her entire attention stuck on him until it felt like there was an entire world between Luffy and his First Mate that he couldn't ever hope to stretch across,

skin forcefully leaving his for the first time since she gave up on whatever dumb thing made her think she shouldn't touch him and eyes barely meeting his at all.)

They wait, still under the gathering rain clouds as if breathing too loud would break the respect that keeps them tied down more than actual patience.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

For several minutes, there's only the sounds of her footsteps and the squeaking of the wheels to fill the silence around them.

"Not very chatty, are you?" The man eventually concedes.

(It's only then,

—when he switches back to the universal language to talk to her—

that she realises how much she wants to hear him talk with the voice of her home and answer in the same way.)

"You're the one who came looking for me, so you're the one who must have something to say."

"Touché." He chuckles. "So your name is Anne?"

"... No. It's Chloé."

He nods.

"Ah. Much more common for someone of your generation, already. But it's good, it's good." He goes on with just enough approval to feel patronising. "You shouldn't trust people like them too much. And this will be even easier if you didn't get too attached."

She bites her tongue, clenches her jaw, and carefully doesn't tighten her grip on the wheelchair's handles or makes a single sound.

What a fucking joke.

As if she would trust this man with the name of Elynna when he did everything he could to exclude her crewmates.

"Let's stop here. It should be good." He tells her with a jerk of his chin towards where the street they're in comes out into a quay, with a bench looking out towards the other side of the canal.

She pushes the wheelchair until it's aligned with the bench, and then walks around to sit not far from him.

"Before anything else, I believe I owe you an apology for the way our… comrade treated you a few days ago."

It takes her a moment to remember.

Traitorous bitch.

She leans back fully into the bench, throwing both arms over the back seat and craning her neck to stare at the sky.

(Our comrade?

How bold.

If the way he's treated her crew is to be believed, she can only hope he had the gall to say that because he's arrogant rather than because he has a way to force her into some mockery of an alliance that she doubts can ever match the genuineness of family or nakama.)

"I've been treated worse. Do they apologise?"

His answering silence is as eloquent as hers.

If they don't have an apology for me, then I don't need yours.

The man chuckles.

"I'll get straight to the point, then. I'm here to make you an offer."

She can't help the snort that comes out.

"You guys aren't great at first encounters."

His eyes turn to her, but she only takes her attention away from the clouds stretching across the sky above their heads to check that the muscles of her face haven't hardened with tension without her knowledge.

"Well, given the circumstances, I don't believe there's any time to waste."

If she wasn't still expecting this to end up turning into an actual fight, the disappointment would be enough to melt away the last points of tension in her into an utter lack of care.

(It's not often that this world has disappointed her.

She never expected much good from it, and the good she did get is the result of all the efforts she made to deserve the role Sea King offered her and the patience her crew granted her by waiting for her to deserve it.

So really, she shouldn't be so disappointed.

He's right, in a way.

There's no time to waste on meeting other people who can understand what it means to be wordless

—people to whom she should be able to tell everything without making herself sick with what ifs—

if they're not people she can trust her crew to be safe around.)

"Alright, then. Shoot."

"Come with me."

Of course.

Of course it has to be that.

"I already did."

"Don't play daft with me, Chloé. I've dealt with too many kids pretending they don't know what I'm talking about already."

She allows herself to close her eyes for just one second before she forces them open again.

The sky looks the same when she does.

"I don't even get any answers to my questions?"

"You'll get them all after you have given your answer. And when we're home, of course. This isn't the kind of thing we should talk about in the streets. You'll need some details for the Initiation, anyway."

When.

Not if.

She wants to laugh, or maybe cry.

So that's it.

Either she goes with him, finds answers that give sense and purpose to everything that happened —and probably learns to actually use her powers correctly along with passing whatever that initiation is.

Perhaps even finds a way to see her family again.

(Her parents.

Her sister.

Her grandparents.

Her friends—)

Or she stays.

Stays with the people who were there when she broke through the surface of a sea she didn't know to breathe in air through a mouth that wasn't hers, when she was first thrown through a wall and discovered that even if her body won and the wall lost, it still felt like she was the one lying there broken in pieces.

Stays with the people who were there every step of the way, who were there when she needed someone to be.

Stays, and stays with only her memories and her questions to fill the moments where her brain is still awake but no other problem can keep it busy, stays vulnerable with this body that can't sustain the powers she was given along with it and this pain sensitivity that leaves her dependent on medication to be able to even be a pirate.

Stays, and potentially puts these very people in danger, maybe, if the way this man spoke of them is to be taken as a clue.

She can't find a joke to make this sound even just a tiny little bit less crushing.

"But I guess I can let you ask one. My last patriotic act, shall we say."

There's so many things she can, perhaps should ask.

But one question comes out of her mouth before she can start listing the pros and cons of all her options.

(It's perhaps the only one that has no strategic value, and it almost feels like a failure to ask it.)

"Is it possible to be sent back to Earth?"

The dismissive noise she gets in answer makes her stare at the greying clouds until her eyes burn dry instead of wet.

"That's your question?" The man sniffs. "No, don't worry. None of us are ever going back."

Don't worry.

She asked about whether or not she would ever see the people she left behind, was forced to leave behind, and he said—

He said don't worry.

"Your answer? I know that the choice is easy, but I need clear words from you for formality's sake."

The first drop of rain since the Aqua Laguna washed over the city lands on her cheek.

If it's cold, she doesn't feel it.

"Yeah." She agrees.

(She wonders if she'll be able to get to her feet by the time her crew finds her with how heavy she feels,

every crack and crevice in her filled up to the point of drowning.)

"Yeah, it's easy."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

She's standing when they find her.

The rain is still slow and sparse, gradually splashing darkening spots on the ground and everyone's clothes.

She doesn't give any sign that she's aware of their presence, shoulders rising and falling steadily, neck craned just a bit as if she's looking for something, high and far and unreachable in the horizon of the sky.

"Lynna!" Nami blurts out as soon as she rounds the corner, the last to do so with Chopper.

Their First Mate still doesn't move.

"... Oh." She says simply after a pause that feels long enough to let the incoming storm pass them by, voice faded into something weak and quiet like the breeze that drips shivers down their spines under their damp clothes. "Is it time already?"

"What did he do?" Luffy orders more than he asks, because asking if she's okay would get him any answer but the truth, and then he would waste time by punching things instead of the only person he actually wants to smash into a pulp.

Her shoulders rise, pause, then fall back down.

Controlled.

Unnaturally so.

"He asked me to come with him."

Luffy scowls, senses stretching for any remain of the man's presence and fists already clenched tight.

"After that, Ann—"

"He asked me to come with him." She repeats, like she doesn't have it in her to be more precise.

"The fuck?" Zoro half-snarls at his side like a katana being drawn out of its sheath. "Who the hell does that bastard think he is?"

It's what confirms to him that the old man did try to take her away from his crew, and he immediately whirls around, intent on ordering Chopper or Robin to lead him to the man and—

"Don't." Elynna says lightly, even though it does nothing to hide the way she still can't face them. "I'd rather you stay with me."

"Calm down, you shitheads." Sanji tells them at the same time, trying once more to light his sodden cigarette with a lighter that shakes as much as his fingers grip it hard. "Elynna-chan is the most important one here. We'll deal with that asshole later."

And that's it.

The fight leaves him just like that, in the same way that it will rush back up just as swiftly whenever he finds that guy.

This isn't something he can win against with his fists like he did with Robin.

His anger won't help anything or protect anyone here the way it did with Robin.

"Do you want to go?" Chopper asks suddenly. "With him."

"Chopper!" Luffy barks, just angry enough to ignore the reindeer's flinch because that's something only the Captain can say, and he doesn't take people he doesn't want to be his forever. "I won't—"

Nami's fist hits his shoulder, unable to hurt but more than hard enough to be noticed.

"Shut up, you idiot." She interrupts him, face wetter than it should be under rain this weak and voice trembling as much as her voice. "You're not the one who gets to decide that. What if it gets her back to her family, huh?"

But we love her, too.

But she loves us, too.

Neither thought makes it out of his mouth.

Instead they're stopped under the weight of the realisation that there's no winning this.

Ann will get hurt no matter what.

Unless he beats the information out of that guy, except—

Except Elynna won't let him.

She won't let him, and he doesn't get it.

"I can—"

"Sea King."

He stops.

"Do you think you're close to being the King of Pirates, right now?"

It's surprise that makes him pause rather than hesitation, because the answer is obvious.

"No."

They haven't sailed all the seas, yet.

He can still be tied down by too many people.

He's not the freest, yet.

"So for now, there's no use challenging Shanks or Ignis' Captain." His First Mate says, and he hates that she's trying to make her point with people who have never hurt any of his crewmates.

Of course there's no use trying to beat them up.

"Right now, you wouldn't win. None of us would. Even together. Because they're just too strong." Elynna pauses, her three next breaths loud enough in the silence that he can tell just how much shallower they are than usual. "He's too strong, too. Some fights just aren't worth fighting, Sea King. That's all there is to it."

Yeah.

Some fights aren't worth fighting.

The hyena guy wasn't worth fighting in that bar, because he wasn't worth respecting in the first place.

But his nakama are worth every fight.

He doesn't want to give up.

(He doesn't want to get it.

What kind of future Pirate King is he, if he can't make his nakama happy?

He doesn't want to give up on that fight.

He doesn't want to give his First Mate up, even if it's to people she's known and loved way longer than he's even known her to exist for him to have.)

"That doesn't matter." Nami says anyway, breathing in deeply to steady her voice as if Elynna won't be able to tell she's crying even with her back turned. "Do you want to go, Lynna?"

Because she'll let her.

She thinks it might hurt like grieving a dead person, that there'll never be enough people on their crew to fill the hole left behind even if they were to recruit everyone in the world, but she'll let her.

Because back in Cocoyashi, she was ready to give up on this crew for the sake of the people she knew all her life until it was obvious refusing their help wouldn't do anything to save these very people.

But that's not what this is.

So she'll let her.

(She will.

Somehow, she'll find a way to let her go.)

"I said no." Elynna answers, soft like months-long agony and final like death.

The relief in Usopp and Chopper's next breaths matches Nami's and rings out loud against the lengthy pause between the rise and fall of Elynna's shoulders.

(The guilt of that hurts more than the guilt of feeling relieved in the first place.)

Then Usopp frowns, and makes the first step, almost tripping on the increasingly slippery stones of the street as he hurries to his First Mate's side to finally face her.

"Wait—" He breathes. "You mean, that's it? He just comes in from nowhere, tells you to follow him when he never bothered to show up for more than a year, and he just left like that as soon as you said no?!"

"... Did you want a fight?"

"Stop trying to make jokes, damn it!" The sniper screams as he suddenly grabs her, giving her frame a solid shake that makes Nami's breath hitch with the certainty that something will fall and break. "Isn't he supposed to have gone through the same thing?! You're telling me he didn't give you anything to help, even about your family and your frien—"

A hand clasps his mouth firmly shut, the squeeze of its fingers around his lower face almost painful with how hard they hold on.

(—how hard they cling—)

But it's not hard enough to hurt.

It's not hard enough to hide the way her hand shakes either, uncontrollable as much as her voice is held tight.

(Usopp looks at her, at the layer of rain on her face that weighs down her hair and sticks it to her face, and—

he thinks she looks more mortally wounded than when it was blood instead of rain.)

"Hawk—" She cuts herself off, mouth pursing violently as her throat works something down and she breathes in heavily, like there's so much more than just her body to move to make room for the air. "Just… stop talking for a minute. Please."

And he does, feeling as if nothing less than a scream can come out of her mouth, feeling like a scream will knock loose everything she's so obviously struggling to hold back.

(Everything she's holding back,

and then everything she is.)

She breathes in again.

The shaking fades away.

It's only the quivering of fingertips against his skin that tells him it's all a lie.

"I," she says, voice precise as she lets out the words one by one, clear and airtight like they might hurt less if she separates them to let them out individually, "am never going to see them again."

The words are drowned out under the rain.

Her hold tightens before it slips away, and no tear falls.

Usopp stays silent, even when there's no hand to stop him from speaking up anymore.

"But I already suspected it," she goes on in the rush of her next exhale, "so don't worry too much. Besides, it made the decision easier. In the end, it's a good thing that he told me."

"... It's a bit too late for us to not worry, Elynna-chan." Sanji says, voice gentle and shoulders packed so tight with anger that Usopp thinks he might actually use his hands to hurt if the stranger was still here with them.

Their First Mate finally turns around to meet their eyes, mouth moving to form something that looks more like the fracture of a bone than a smile.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You're not the one who should be sorry, Lynna!" Nami snarls, echoing Chopper's pained, angry frown. "You're— He's—"

He should be the one kneeling down in front of you to say sorry—

Elynna just smiles wider.

Then she steps closer, close enough to curl her hand around where Nami's is clenching her fists hard enough to cut, coaxing the curl of her fingers into something just a little less painful before she reaches up to rest the back of her fingers against the rain and the tears that wet the navigator's cheeks.

"It's okay. There's no need to talk about him anymore. He's not worth it."

Usopp's eyes meet Sanji's, stubborn protest clenching the cook's jaw as tight around the sadness of his mouth as it is around Usopp's own fists.

(Because when she says this—

how much distance is there in her mind,

between he's not worth it and the pain he inflicted upon me isn't worth it?)

Chopper blinks hard, but the tears stubbornly fall as he watches Nami throw her arms around Elynna in an attempt to shoulder some of her pain that their First Mate entirely side-steps when she welcomes the hug by wrapping her arms tighter around her best friend in return, holding her the way she does sometimes, when Nami has a bad night and the sunlight isn't quite enough to shake off the memories.

(Until it seems like Nami hurts for herself instead of for Elynna,

and Elynna is the one lending her strength to keep the both of them standing when she looks a step away from falling apart along with the mockery of calm she's still holding on.)

"Elynna-chan—"

"You should go." The girl in question murmurs over Nami's shoulder.

Zoro stares hard at her, and then follows Robin's gaze towards the street that will lead back to the house they're currently living in.

"No." Sanji refuses immediately. "We can't do that. I'm not leaving you alone, Elynna-chan."

"Yeah." Luffy abruptly tacks on in the same way he says I'm taking this guy down and I'm gonna be the Pirate King. "I'm staying with you."

Elynna's hands travel across Nami's back to rest on her shoulders, infinitely gentle as they keep her there while she tears herself out of the hug and steps away from the navigator, even as the tangerine-haired girl's fingers stay clenched in the fabric of her top that draws tight between the two of them.

"We can't just not show up, Sea King. It's a party for us. We still need some rest and the ship isn't done, so this isn't the time to offend the whole town into chasing us off the island. Besides, there'll be meat."

"No! I don't want it! None of it is going to be fun if we're not all there!"

Elynna just stares at him, and suddenly Sanji takes a step forward as if she's about to break out running and disappear on him, the way she did on a sunny day where the night left her surrounded by one-sided strangers.

"Elynna-chan. Stop it. Please—"

A blur of black flies straight past him and at Elynna's face, her hand snapping through the air to catch it before it can hit and revealing Zoro's jacket.

"Put that on first. We don't need you getting sick on top of everything else."

Elynna's lower lip trembles, and she presses tight against her upper lip as if to slow the blood from an open wound.

"... Alright." She says, and Sanji thinks he might just start an actual fight with the swordsman right here and there, and that his Captain might just let him or join in.

"What?! No—"

"This isn't the time for you to forget your brain—"

"Thanks, Fang."

The swordsman scoffs at the three of them without any kind of amusement, crossing the distance between him and Elynna in two large steps.

"Like hell. I'm taking you back, idiot."

"What—"

The surprise that abruptly slices through Elynna's artificial calm is cut off by the hand he fists into the fabric of the jacket to wrench her into following him towards the street where Robin is already waiting.

"You guys just go to that party. I don't care if you only stay half an hour." He throws carelessly over his shoulder.

"I'll go with them." Robin adds softly. "All that noise is a bit hard on me. Besides, we wouldn't want these two to get lost."

Zoro rolls his eyes at that.

"Whatever."

"Wait—"

"Luffy?" Chopper calls out suddenly, sniffling but steady as he turns towards the opposite direction. "Let's just go."

"But—"

Usopp looks at Chopper, then at Elynna, whose shoulders slumped in resignation as soon as Robin stepped in with words that clearly hint at I've lived twenty years with more silence than noise because loneliness is all I've allowed myself until you.

Exactly the kind of argument she'll never be able to win against, or even challenge.

(He looks at her, and sees the way she suddenly looks so very lost now that someone is there to herd her somewhere instead of leaving the reins in her hands.

The way she allows herself to look lost.

And he thinks that maybe this is what will both help her and be acceptable for all of them.

Not some time alone, but some time with the members of their crew who are the least dependent on her to take care of them.

The two people she'll feel the least like she's failing when she fractures down to bleeding point.)

"It's okay, Luffy. They'll handle it." He tells his Captain with a weak smile. "Come on."

He looks over his shoulder at where Elynna stays rooted to the ground like a last attempt at keeping up the lie.

Watches as Robin takes her hand to lead her forward with a slight pull, as Zoro's hand touches the middle of her back to push her into following it, bringing up the rear and hiding Elynna away from view almost completely.

Watches as Elynna's feet fumble for a moment before they fall into the rhythm they're given.

Then he bends down to scoop Chopper in his arms as the reindeer joins him, and nudges Luffy into following as Sanji wraps an hesitant but warm arm around a sullen, heavy-eyed Nami when she drifts to his side.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Let's go, then." The man promptly said as he started to wheel himself away from the bench.

He stopped after just a few feet.

"Come on, get up. I'd rather avoid having to deal with the pirates."

She didn't move.

He finally deigned to manoeuver himself around so he could look at her.

"Could it be that we misunderstood each other?"

"Seems like it." She told the grey sky above both their heads. "I probably would have followed you if you came to me at the beginning, though."

You're too late.

You weren't there.

I needed you, and you weren't there.

"... It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

She dropped her chin to her chest to relieve the strain of the position, neck aching and smile pale and dying even as it stretched across her mouth to meet his eyes.

Monkey D. Luffy was never supposed to happen.

"Then I guess this won't happen like it was supposed to, either."

He looked at her, heaviness like disappointment weighing down his features.

"I thought you were smarter than this. How long do you think you can keep leading this life with that body? How many pills do you take per day right now, girl?"

Her heavy smile faded, and she just sat there and stared at him with no thought and no breath to answer him.

(And in that moment she felt violently bare,

despite all the things they didn't know about each other.

Bare like a snapped bone piercing through skin, or a soldier who let go of his weapons and knelt down in surrender hoping for a humane treatment only to get a kick in the face instead.)

The man's sour expression lightened into something sharper with a fleeting, almost mocking amusement as he came closer to her.

"Is that why you wanted to go back? To get rid of the pain? Don't be stupid. And then what? You could have made a quiet life for yourself, but you had to go and become a pirate of all things. That world would never want what you've become."

A quiet life for herself?

With no skill to get herself a decent job or actually live by herself, with everything that implies?

With no experience in doing anything alone, after a lifetime of being supported and backed by her parents and her family?

With a language she can speak but doesn't know, in a world she heard of but never lived in?

(With nothing to her name but the world-shaped hole in her and the absolute terror of losing everything in the time it takes to close your eyes, foolishly thinking that the world will still be there when you open them next?)

She had been barely eighteen, then, not sixty or however old this man is.

She'd been a little girl, then, not an old man.

She wasn't supposed to make a life for herself.

Whether at her own hands or someone else's or something else's, she would have died long before he found her, if Sea King's hand hadn't been there for her to take.

"I hope you're not usually the first option for recruitment. You suck at it."

"... So that's your final answer, huh?"

"Yeah."

The man sighed, as if she was a child stubbornly holding on to their mistake instead of a kind-of-adult barely holding on to the grief he had shoved into her chest himself.

"Then it seems like this world has no need for you, either."

She couldn't tell if the sound that came out of her mouth was a failed attempt at laughter or a barely choked-off sob.

"Is that the part where you kill me?"

He snorted, and pivoted again to leave.

"I was just here to get your answer. But don't worry. You'll pay the price for your refusal. Soon enough, I wager."

And then he was gone.

Just like that.

She didn't watch him leave.

Simply sat there under the starting rain and stared at the ripples of it in the water of the canal just two feet in front of her.

That world would never want what you've become.

This world has no need for you, either.

Then where did that leave her?

(Where did that leave her pain, after all this time spent foolishly believing that there was a reason why she met this world through Monkey D. Luffy of all people, that she was brought here by someone for a reason

—that she could negotiate at least the goodbye she didn't get and a reassurance that they're alright and an opportunity to actually say the words she should have said—

only to find out that it's sheer luck that landed him in her arms, that perhaps there was no reason why he landed in her arms specifically either?

Where did that leave her anger, with no one at fault and nakama she loved so much it felt like spitting in their faces to be angry in the first place, all for the sake of people who might just hate her for who she became in an effort to get back to them?)

She didn't need a world to want her.

But in the ways that counted, she was still a child, still wanted to come home and hear her dad tell her good job every time she got good marks or feel her grandmother's hand on her head and hear her you and your sister have everything it takes to make it as far as you want, Chloé.

Except she wasn't Chloé anymore.

She was Elynna, and Elynna wore the deaths of those she killed like a fact rather than a sin, weight lightened by a lack of guilt.

She wasn't Chloé anymore, and she didn't think the people who mattered to her in that world would look at her like they did at Chloé.

(If they were still wishing to see Chloé, she didn't think going back would grant their wish.)

She didn't want an entire world to need her either.

Only heroes carried a whole world on their shoulders, and she was neither stupid nor good enough to be a hero.

But even if this world didn't need her, there were people in it who did.

People who needed her, who wanted her.

People who loved her.

And it was enough.

For today, it was enough to breathe.

Tomorrow, it would be enough to get out of bed and smile.

(It had to be.)

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

The last of their crewmates turns around, and Elynna's shoulders slump like falling off a cliff.

By the fourth corner they turn, Robin can't quite help the shiver that wracks through her from the seeping cold of the rain, and Elynna's hand is even colder in hers, limp like ruins that don't remember the shape they used to have.

When they step on the lawn of their temporary refuge, she still hasn't shed a tear, and her breathing is steady again.

The tips of Zoro's fingers slip away from her back as he walks into the house, and she stays there at the bottom of the short flight of stairs leading inside as if she might wait like this until she drops dead.

So Robin takes hold of her shoulders gently, and sits her on the stairs as carefully as she can before doing the same, taking a seat right next to her.

Then she slowly twists the rain out of Elynna's hair, the same way a woman who took her in did after putting her in a warm bath when she found her nearly catatonic with cold and grief, hidden in a cave of a Winter Island —until she found out who she was ten days after and kicked her out in the middle of a snowstorm.

She's tentatively trying to imitate the people she's seen rub a friend or child's back to comfort them over the years when Zoro comes back and drops a thick, white towel on Elynna's head before he sits on her other side, sliding his katana out of their holsters to set them next to him with a quiet, clacking sound.

Their First Mate just tenses up more under the weight of the towel and Robin's hand, but says nothing.

Zoro sighs.

"Stop being an idiot and just cry already."

Elynna jolts away from Robin's hand, curling up just a bit more until there's no way she can meet either of their gazes.

Robin's eyes rise to where the younger girl's hands are mindlessly pressing the towel to her hair to better catch the leftover dampness, and finds that they've started shaking again.

"No." She says, and the tightening of her voice into forced calm just makes the cracks more noticeable. "I've already wasted enough time on… this. I already knew— I already gave up on them, so it's fine. It's fine. I'm fine—"

"You're not fine, and none of this is fine." Zoro cuts her off mercilessly, jaw tight with barely reined-in violence as he glares across the lawn.

"It's about people you love, Elynna." Robin adds, taking hold of one of her hands to gently lower it in the younger girl's lap. "You could never have given up on hoping—"

"But I should have— I should have." Elynna interrupts her, whisper like a scream packed tight as she swallows and hands shaking so hard she can't even return Robin's tentative squeeze that makes her shoulders twitch. "They left me alone in the middle of nowhere, and it should have been enough—"

"Lynn."

Her mouth snaps shut, breath heavy and chin trembling.

Zoro's hand slips under her hair to span the back of her neck, and his hold tightens until her shoulders stiffen defensively around a first silent sob, barely choked in time.

His eyes narrow.

"Stop that." He tells her.

"You can cry as much as you want, Elynna." Robin murmurs, intertwining her fingers with Elynna before she squeezes harder and keeps her hold there. "Sometimes, it's the only thing we have left."

(Sometimes, it's impossible to smile and laugh instead.

Sometimes, it's impossible to think that there's space for anything other than pain inside you.)

The younger girl breathes out shakily, the exhale ripped to pieces halfway through falling off her lips by a first sob that is more painful loss of breath than tears.

Zoro's own grip tightens again, thumb pressing against Elynna's stuttering pulse point.

"You can cry. It's fine."

Elynna's fingers abruptly squeeze around Robin's in response, bringing their joined hands tight against her abdomen.

(As if she's bleeding out and can't hope to stop the blood from leaving the wound of her body all alone.

But even there, at that moment, she doesn't hold on tight enough to hurt.)

Her free hand tugs the towel just a bit lower over her eyes.

They're sitting under the edge of the roof, but the water that drips down onto Robin's thumb as it sweeps across what it can reach of Elynna's hand is too warm and lonely to be the rain battering the grass inches from their feet.

Others follow, and then more, and more, and still more, between quiet sniffles and quaking shoulders and rapid breaths.

(Almost panicked,

like waiting to hurt before a wound that you know you can't avoid,

like trying to let yourself be sad when you've never given your own wounds a good enough look.)

Then she curves just a little tighter, taking her first full breath in, and hacks out an actual sob that rips away another straight from her chest, and then another and another—

It builds up to something that is more scream than tears and startles Elynna so badly that she freezes into complete silence and stillness.

(As if just that is already more grief than she deserves to let out and burden them with.)

The only thing that comes inresponse is another squeeze of Zoro's hand that shoves out the last shreds of her scream as Robin places her other hand on the floor behind Elynna's back to lean a little further against her.

The next scream rattles through Robin's ribs like it's her own.

The three of them sit there without moving, time dripping along the pace of the slowing rain until the sounds of Elynna's grief become too weak to be heard over it.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

The rain stops pretty quickly after a few minutes of straight-up downpour, but it's the worst party Luffy has ever been to all the same, which means that it's not a party at all.

It can't be a party when people who were supposed to be here having fun with him aren't there, especially if they're nakama.

Usopp is worried, Chopper is sad, and neither of them dance.

Nami sits in the same chair she sat on as soon as they arrived, slamming down drink after drink. Usually, her anger is as quick to leave as it is to come, but this time she only seems to get angrier —angry enough to pick a fight with someone else than him or Zoro.

Sanji is with her, but he seems more likely to help than stop her.

It at least gives Luffy something else to focus on than his own anger and his growing frustration as he bites aggressively into the dull-tasting dishes he gets his hands on and fails to find that damn old man among the crowd of the party.

Zanbai is the first one to take a look at his face and still come talk to him.

"Yo, Straw Hat. You look pissed. What happened?"

Luffy's only answer is to clench his teeth and call for Usopp so he can draw the face of the man who hurt his First Mate.

Zanbai squints at it, but shakes his head.

"Doesn't ring a bell. He should be known 'round here if he's got the guts and level to attack you guys." He muses, before holding out a hand. "Gimme that. I'll go ask Aniki and some more people."

The only useful information that comes out of that is that the man probably lives in Water Seven, because some people say that his face looks vaguely familiar in the crossed-paths-with-him-sometime-this-month kind of way.

Then some idiot too drunk to watch his mouth makes a joke about how it's usually old men who look for 'young things like you' instead of the other way around, and Luffy decides that he's done pretending that he wants to be here after breaking his teeth and being stopped from going any further by Franky while his sisters hold back Nami and Sanji before they can take out their wrath on the man and all those who laughed.

The silence is just as grim in the house they step in twenty minutes later as the one wrapped around them during the whole walk back.

Zoro and Robin are sitting at the kitchen table with only silence and the bleeding light of the setting sun to fill the room.

Elynna isn't there.

"She's sleeping." Zoro says without looking away from the spot he's staring at.

"She…" Robin pauses, features tightening and voice going even softer, "cried."

It makes Chopper start to cry as well, and Zoro's face goes dark before he abruptly stands up to stalk out of the room, Nami and Sanji exchanging a glance before they follow him.

Luffy clenches his fists, but eventually turns towards his and Elynna's room rather than the courtyard outside as Robin rises to guide Usopp and Chopper back to their room, tucking one of the Den Den Mushi under his arms when he passes through the living room.

Their room is dimly lit by the rising moon more than what little sunlight remains on this side of the building, but it's still enough to see Elynna's face clearly.

He's never seen her eyes as puffy as this.

(She's never cried that much.

Even when she almost killed herself.

Luffy hates it, and hates the one who made her like this even more.)

He sits next to her, taking one hand in his to make sure she's warm and that her heart beats under her wrist.

Then he takes off his hat to look at one of the pieces of paper sewn into the red band around it, and dials the number written there.

The call is picked up after barely two rounds of ringing.

"Yo, El."

Luffy's fingers twitch tighter around his First Mate's hand.

"Ace." He says.

"... Luffy?" His brother's voice shifts, tension crawling through like it did up his back when they would meet one of the bigger predators of the forest and he would step in front of Luffy, back when they were kids. "You guys okay?"

No.

Elynna's heartbeat is steady under his fingers, and there's no bandage covering her skin, but there's tear tracks on her cheeks, and in the end it all looks the same.

(There's still anger burning behind his teeth and violence snarling in his gut all the same.)

"We met someone like Ann." He tells his brother instead.

"Someone like—"

There's a pause where he isn't sure how much his First Mate told Ace.

(Because she only ever told them what little they know when she didn't think she had a choice.

Because she's not Ace's First Mate, but every time one of their calls ends and Luffy's there next to her, she looks like she wants to call again just to make sure his brother will answer

—like she can only see his hunt end badly even though Ace is so strong—

worried the way she only was when she used to be even more afraid than she was weak.)

"So that's what she meant when she said she had a lead."

Luffy's shoulders slacken, and he nods.

And then—

"He hurt her. And he tried to take her away." He blurts out, letting go of the limp, warm hand in his to clench his fingers into a fist.

But there's no one to hurl it at.

"I shouldn't have let her go alone." He adds quietly, because in the end it all comes down to that.

She would be hurt anyway, but she shouldn't have been alone when it happened.

"He what." Ace snarls, only half-listening like all the times rage took hold of him before, and Luffy thinks that the guy who killed his crewmate is really dumb. "That fucker—"

Then he stops.

Luffy listens through the Den Den Mushi as his brother breathes out loudly, the sound shaking with the ferocity it struggles to expel.

"How… How's El?" Ace eventually asks.

Luffy looks down instinctively.

Elynna's breathing answers him, steady and soft.

She's still, tears dry and their red tracks almost erased in the low lighting of the moonrays.

He wishes she would move and wake up, because this reminds her too much of how she looked like the old man killed something in her, back when they found her.

"... Robin said she cried a lot. She's never going to see her family again." He answers eventually.

But that's not the only reason why he called, so he keeps going before the hiss of fury is fully out of Ace's mouth.

"She won't let me help."

She won't let him protect her.

She won't let him fight for her, and Luffy doesn't know how else to help.

"Shit…" Ace mutters, the sound of skin on skin as he drags a hand down his face loud enough that Luffy can almost believe he's right there before his voice filters through again. "Look, I don't know much about her life from before, but you guys are at least as important to her as her family. Just… stay with her. It'll help."

"But—"

"Trust me, little brother. I'm speaking from experience here. And you know how she is."

Luffy pauses.

Yeah.

Yeah, he knows how she is.

He allows the tension of what he didn't or couldn't do bleed out of him in favour of what he can do now.

It leaves just enough space for the grin he directs at the little snail on the bed sheets.

"You were pretty mean before."

The Den Den Mushi's mouth quirks up just a bit in return as a mild glare is thrown his way.

"Shut it, Lu. Little brothers should respect their elders."

Luffy grins a bit more, and then places the Den Den Mushi on the pillow to flop forward on his stomach and prop his chin on his crossed arms, Elynna's ribs expanding and then deflating against his right side.

He scoots a bit closer still.

He's gonna sleep here anyway, so he might as well get comfortable.

"You're important for Ann, too. And me." He says, because it's important and Ace was always dumb like that, and Elynna has mentionned it often enough for him to know that he's still being dumb about things like this —important things.

The snail avoids his eyes, grumbling something that definitely sounds annoyed.

Luffy snickers.

The snail glares again, and then Ace proceeds to ignore the words altogether.

"... Well, I was planning to call you guys tomorrow, but since I've got you, I might as well tell you now." He says instead, proceeding to launch into an explanation about some big Marine operation where he's heading that will make it hard for him to call anyone, because apparently some Den Den Mushi can eavesdrop on the others.

It's pretty rude, but it sounds pretty cool too.

"Be sure to tell El, alright?" Ace eventually tells him when Luffy yawns for the second time. "She worries enough already. And give her a hug for me. She can give you one in return, too."

Luffy nods sleepily, and then gathers a bit more energy to give his brother an imperious look through the two snails between them.

"Okay, but you have to come visit soon. You promised us a fight."

The snail scoffs lightly.

"Yeah, yeah."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

It's daylight when Elynna opens her eyes.

She wants it to be night still, so she can close her eyes and sleep again.

She wants it to be night still, so she can pretend the dry burn behind her eyes and the heaviness under her skull are the result of a fucked-up sleep schedule instead of the fucked-up expectations a bunch of people have had for her since she was dumped in this fucked-up body.

But it's daylight, and Nami's thumb is running across her knuckles while she reads.

There's no pretending.

So she just lies there, and stares at the ceiling.

The tears come on their own, and their salt hurts the raw dryness of her eyes so sharply they recede on their own, too.

And then, there's no tears.

No thought.

Just her and the man's words looping until they make no sense and the weight of it all, sitting everywhere right under her skin.

(Like she's made of just this.

The weight.

The weight and the skin that does nothing to protect her, and her mind that does nothing but keep chasing the hurt.)

It's only when Nami's hand touches her cheek that she realises her name is being called, blinking to find the navigator's face hovering above her own.

"Lynna." She calls again.

Elynna stares back.

Her touch is warm.

Light.

(She wants to be light like this, too.

Light enough to be crushed under that touch.

Light enough to return that touch.

She…

can't seem to know how.)

"Lynna, please."

She blinks, sight focusing back on the trembling of Nami's lips.

"Just… say something."

And her mouth loosens open right there and then, but nothing comes out, and the weight is just so—

Light reflects off Nami's gold coin earring, making Elynna's eyes flicker to it.

There's a shake of her shoulders, her best friend's knees tightening around her almost painfully where they bracket her hips.

"Ly—"

"Too far." She finally works out of her mouth, more air than voice and throat feeling brittle enough to break on the edges of these two words.

Nami blinks, shoulders slackening with relief even as she frowns in confusion.

Elynna swallows, but it feels like crumpling her throat in her own fist more than it helps.

"... You're too far." She says again.

Nami sighs shakily at that, and lets herself fall to the side next to her, gripping Elynna's shirt in one hand to pull her into facing her and tugging her closer.

Then she throws one leg over Elynna's hip, folds one arm under her own head, and tucks Elynna's face against her collarbone to wrap herself more securely around her, the way Elynna usually does when they sleep together.

(Her back feels a bit cold, like this.

Nami never thought about that before.)

"Better?" She asks.

"Hm."

The navigator exhales, hesitating for a few heartbeats before—

"How… are you feeling?"

Elynna stares at the golden buttons of Nami's shirt for a second longer, and closes her eyes with a sigh.

It's not the kind of question any of the Straw Hats asks often.

When they do, they don't take 'fine' for an answer.

She presses herself closer.

(How is she feeling?

She feels like a healing wound being brutally unstitched open to be salted.

She feels like a desecrated grave.)

"Let down." She eventually mumbles against Nami's skin.

Let down from very, very high.

Nami tightens her hold on her, and this close the weight isn't so daunting, so Elynna does, too —legs wrapping around the leg that isn't curled over her and one arm circling Nami's hips.

"One day, we're going to kick his ass and make it hurt." The navigator hisses, the anger in it seeping in and curling into Elynna's bones like another embrace where her forehead is pressed against Nami's skin, echoing the near-painful tightening of slender fingers in her hair.

Elynna lets her, tipping further into the body lying against hers like she can disappear there and leave the weight behind.

(She lets her, and wishes the anger would sink a bit deeper still,

deep enough to feel like her own and burn through the weight, even if just for a time.

But the weight is too heavy to not drown out any spark, and it's all just a black hole in her that doesn't seem to have left enough of her to burn.)

"Stupid."

The word falls out of her mouth to brush against Nami's left collarbone, slicing through the brewing anger under it at the same time.

"Yeah," Nami agrees, not nearly as darkly as before but still too calm to not snap at any second. "They were very stupid to pick a fight with us."

Elynna thinks of the man's casual dismissal of an entire pirate crew strong enough to lay waste to Enies Lobby and you'll pay the price for your refusal—

Her hand inches higher, fingers spreading wide against Nami's lower back as her shirt bunches up as she brings her that little bit closer, taking in the subtle scent of rose water from the soap the navigator tried that morning and the sound of the heartbeat thumping behind her eyelids.

If only.

But she doesn't think those like her are weak enough for their disregard to be stupid.

"I feel stupid, too." She corrects.

The sound that comes out of Nami's throat this time is half-offended and half-surprised.

"... Why?"

She swallows again, feeling like the sound of her own screams scraped her bleeding inside.

"Hope is a fucking joke." She says simply, gulping back both the cough of her abused throat and the wetness pulling at the raw skin around her eyes.

(A joke that makes no one laugh but itself.

A joke that laughs at the distance she covered looking to reach a destination that doesn't exist.

A joke that mocks the love she kept fighting for when it was already lost.)

"I'm glad you were stupid, then." Nami tells her suddenly.

She doesn't have the time to express her confusion before Nami lets her weight fall on her, pressing her back into the mattress, heaving her own weight on her elbows to better look down at Elynna, hands grasping her face and still close enough that it's hard to separate their breaths.

(Her weight is almost real enough to forget the nightmare inside of herself.)

Elynna blinks her eyes open, and there's nothing to look at except Nami and the steely, pleading shadows lining her delicate features.

"Lynna, tell me honestly. If you hadn't hoped, would you have said yes when Luffy asked you to be his First Mate? Would I have gotten to even meet you? Because if I hadn't been stupid enough to believe in the promise Arlong made, I—"

She pauses, voice wavering and brown eyes hard behind the tears in the same way that there's a brilliant, unwavering fighter of a woman behind her temper and the beauty that wouldn't look out of place on a girl who has known nothing but lace, pearls and the softest furs all her life.

When she speaks up again, there's that flash of her teeth between the twist of her lips and that fire in her eyes behind the ghost fear that escapes her eyelashes and splashes onto Elynna's cheek, and it all makes her think that the point is moot, because really, who would look this girl in the eyes and think that she won't wreck their world like a natural catastrophe before giving up?

"I don't think I would have lived long enough to meet the bunch of loveable dumbasses who saved my life. And I don't think there would have been any village left to save."

Her hands shake faintly against Elynna's cheeks, and Elynna reaches up to grasp them even as another tear touches the corner of her right eye.

"I don't know." She says honestly, because giving up on hope and wanting to die are not the same thing, nor is actually managing to die an easy thing —but also because she knows not to bet on the most expected option where Luffy is concerned. "But I did, and I'm… glad for it."

And Nami smiles.

"See? Being stupid is okay, sometimes. And don't say that to any of the morons outside of that room."

Elynna can't find what it takes to smile at that one, but the hands she's holding aren't shaking anymore, and it's the most important thing in that moment.

"... Lynna?"

She hums.

"Did you… really not want to go with him? Not even a little bit?"

Elynna stares up at one of the faces she so loves, and decides that the hesitation there has no business existing because of her.

"No." She says firmly.

(Because she would never really be able to let go, and so her Captain would never stop chasing her, either.

Because this man and those like him are dangerous, but their distaste for her nakama comes from something else than her presence among them, and if this can only end in bloodshed, then she knows which side she wants to fight for.

Because her nakama love her, she knows that.

She… doesn't know if there would be anyone left to love her if she went with that man, and in the end, that's almost all it comes down to.

The truth is, the choice was so easy that she thinks the weight that feels like it could devour her might be less grief and more shame.)

Nami smiles again, a bit sad and mostly relieved.

"Tell me how we can help?"

Elynna closes her eyes, the aches and the weight too encompassing a reminder of the words that carved them into her to think of any other way out than sleep.

(Like bleeding out of your wounds and trying to find the energy to close them when dying will do the job of stopping the pain just fine.)

She releases Nami's hands, and reaches blindly just a few inches higher for her shoulders.

"Just… don't leave me alone too much." She mumbles.

Just a bit more time.

Just a bit more time to remember the people this weight hurts her for.

Just a bit more time, and she'll move on.

(She just needs someone to hold her hand to make the memories hurt a bit less and make setting down the weight a bit easier.)

"As if we ever would," is Nami's immediate answer as she drops her forehead against Elynna's, sincere and just a bit mock-offended.

Elynna breathes in, then out, and thinks that it's this warmth that will eventually fill the black hole rather than that of anger, whether hers or someone else's.

"I'll be okay." She says.

It's a whisper, but it's not any less of a promise.

(They let her down from very high,

but it can't be high enough to break when you've got people warm like this to catch you at the bottom.

She won't let it be enough either way.)

She's lost her world already.

The grief of it is familiar.

(She just needs to grieve the hope of an easy cure, easy answers and someone's understanding, too.)

Nami's punch against her shoulder is so light it barely qualifies as such, and is immediately replaced by the smile in her voice.

"You idiot. It'll go faster if you just focus on getting better and stop worrying about us for a damn second."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

It's all she focuses on for a long, long while.

(It's all she can allow herself to focus on, when every slip is enough to make her eyes wet and her chest suffocating to breathe from.

If crying just makes the weight heavier and her crewmates more worried, then why would she let it happen?)

It's the back of Sanji's fingers against the scars on her cheek that makes her open her eyes next.

Leaning over Nami to meet her eyes, the cook smiles at her, the curve of it too burdened to make the weight inside her anything else than heavier.

"Elynna-chan. Do you think you can eat something?"

No.

She really doesn't.

But she has to, if she wants to get better and make them all happier.

"... Not a lot."

"Of course. I prepared something light."

She holds out a hand for him to take and help her climb out of the bed, waves off Nami's offer to come with them because no matter how much she manages to put in her mouth it'll never be as much as the navigator hopes, and doesn't let go even after her feet touch the ground.

Sanji doesn't move to release her hand either, chatting lightly about what their crewmates are currently doing as he guides her towards the kitchen and tries to catch her eyes while she does everything to avoid his gaze.

Her plate is already set when they arrive, and she resolutely sets her eyes on it, choking out one question about what he's preparing for the others so she doesn't have to hear his worry and his sadness in the silence —or worse, leave him enough space for questions she doesn't want to hear or consider, let alone answer to.

(Not now.

Not as long as she can't keep herself together long enough doing it that he won't make that face or be tempted to go after someone that none of them can beat.)

It takes nothing, really.

He's talking about some old friend of Zeff he met a few days ago and the Aqua Laguna salt the man uses as she eats the simple rice and tofu preparation he made for her.

Then her fork slips from her weak grip and hits the ground, and she bends down to pick it up with a passing thought for her grandparent's dog that would already be gulping down the piece of tofu on the ground even as her grandfather scolds him and her sister laughs, and suddenly there's tears landing on her hand.

It takes three of them to realise that she's crying again, memories unraveling in her mind like the tears trickling down her cheeks, and she hurriedly snatches up the fork, slamming it down on the table as she abruptly stands up.

"Elynna-ch—"

"I'll finish later." She blurts out, already turning away to march out of the kitchen.

The hallway leading into the different bedrooms is empty.

She crouches down right there against a wall, pressing her forehead into her knees and her palms against her eyes and her lips together.

Closed tight, breath shaking in and out of her nose and shoulders jumping with the grief that stays trapped inside.

She ignores it, forces herself to think only of her breathing, and then of all the people she has in this world when it doesn't work.

Luffy and Zoro and Nami and Usopp—

(not her dad's favourite dishes or her mother's favourite songs—)

and Sanji and Chopper and Ace and Robin and Luffy and Zoro and—

(not Naomi's near-perfect form under the water when she would go meet her at the end of her swimming club lessons

or the way Lucas laughed at her when he first dragged her to one of his tango dancing lessons and she tripped trying to follow the rhythm—

but Sea King's hair under her hands and Fang's breathing when they nap after training and the look in Rain's eyes when she's working on a map and Usopp's screams when one of his experiments explodes and how Hermes draws himself taller when someone compliments his food and Hebi's rambling when he's excited about something and Ignis' voice when he's slept a bit better and she's managed to distract him for a few minutes and Sophia's smiles—)

Her hands shake when she comes to, and she drags them down her cheeks to wipe away the tears that did fall before reaching for the tissues she shoved in one pocket when she left her room, knowing to never trust herself to be strong like this.

She blows her nose as quietly as possible, and then gets to her feet to go to the bathroom and wash away as much evidence of what happened as possible from her face before going back to her room.

But the door to Robin and Zoro's room is open when she passes by even though it was closed when she first arrived, and the call of her name makes her stop before she can consider ignoring it.

Sitting across her bed with her back against a wall and a book in her lap, Robin pats the blanket next to her.

"Come here."

Elynna stays rooted to her spot, fingers trembling where they reach for the doorway to steady herself.

"Is that… okay?" She breathes out hoarsely.

The older woman tilts her head to the side, gently closing her book with one finger marking her page to better look at her, the smile on her face light and the softness in her eyes heavy.

"Nakama support each other, do they not?"

She stays still.

"Not if it hurts too much."

(And fuck, Sophia deserves a break from hurting too much.

From hurting at all.)

She shouldn't have let her come back with her and Zoro the day before.

Robin shouldn't have to care for anyone's wounds but her own.

(And she shouldn't be here, making that even more difficult than it already is.)

"I think it would hurt me more to not be able to do anything for you." Robin says anyway, offering her an even softer smile with another pat of her blanket and another arm hesitantly flowering from the door panel to brush along Elynna's wrist and gently curl open the tight fist of her right hand. "I will be fine, so please let me support you."

But Elynna hesitates, still.

Thinks of going to find Zoro instead.

Except—

(Except Sophia is a kind person, even after everything.

How many times did she offer her hand and felt it be slapped away, because it wasn't her actual hand or because it was her hand?)

Except she can't, so she steps inside the room instead, goes to sit next to the historian, pausing for a second before she lets herself fall to the side and drops her head in the older woman's lap.

Robin remains still for a second before she moves, picking her book back up and resting her other hand on Elynna's head as she starts reading aloud.

The door clicks shut softly, and Elynna shuffles further onto the bed before closing her eyes, sinking into the soft hum and the factual information it carries.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

When Chopper enters the kitchen to find Sanji staring down uncomprehendingly at a still mostly full plate, he remembers what Nami just told him of what their First Mate wants, and knows two things.

Elynna wants to get better.

And she knows she needs help for that, but she won't accept it if she thinks it will hurt them more than they already are by how hurt she is.

It might be a bit less true where Robin and Zoro are concerned, but it definitely is true for Chopper himself.

He doesn't even need to seek her out to know that, and it's… frustrating.

(It's frustrating, how she's his patient and his student as much as his First Mate, but she sees him as someone to protect first and someone to trust second, just like the rest of his crewmates except for Usopp and Luffy.

It's frustrating that she thinks he hasn't seen hard things, as a doctor.

It's frustrating that she thinks he can't be sad for her and still be professional and helpful, the way a good doctor is.

It's frustrating that no one saw him as someone when he was a monster to kill on sight by virtue of what he looked like, but that those who see the heart beating in his chest worry too much about it to remember all the things he's capable of by virtue of his job, even if he specialises in physical health and not mental health.)

It's frustrating, but it's not the time to be having this conversation.

If he has to work from the shadows until Elynna feels steady enough to let him close, then he will —as long as it works to help her get better.

He'll make sure she gets the kind of food she needs and eats enough of it with Sanji.

He'll make sure there's always someone nearby to watch over her.

He'll make sure to check on her through the others if needed, and on how everyone else is feeling, too.

He'll make sure she sleeps enough, but not too much.

And no matter what, he'll make sure she won't get as bad as she already did, once.

Not again.

Not on his watch.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Luffy doesn't ask any question when hands bloom from the wall in front of him to point him towards another hallway than the one he intended to take.

He just follows.

It's not like hands can answer, anyway.

Unless Robin makes mouths appear in her hands.

Can she do that?

That'd be funny.

He decides that he'll ask her later, and pushes the door one of the hands points out, stepping into Robin and Zoro's room.

His oldest crewmate waves at him with a slight smile from where she's sitting on her bed with her back against a wall, hands growing from her blanket to hold and turn the pages of a book.

Her actual hands are threading through Elynna's hair, which is splayed across Robin's lap where she's lying.

Luffy waves back with a grin, moving forward to crouch by the edge of the bed, crossing both arms on the bed cover to observe his First Mate more closely.

She looks to be sleeping, so he moves to poke her awake, her face too smooth for him to get a read on her.

Except her eyes are suddenly open in the next moment, watching him.

Luffy stares back, and pokes her anyway.

Elynna blinks.

Yeah.

She's pretty awake.

It's good.

His First Mate always sleeps too much when she's too sad to deal with the world.

(He doesn't really get why, because sleeping doesn't change anything, but Ann is a weirdo, so he figures it's fine not to understand.

He'll just take care of her until she can do it herself again.)

But still—

"You look tired." He tells her.

She blinks at him again.

"I'll sleep better when I'm okay."

That just makes him scowl.

"I don't want you to be okay, stupid. I want you to be happy." He says forcefully, because he's let her do as she wants and she just got hurt, so now they're going to do things his way. "You too, Robin."

He looks up with the last words to make sure that his historian gets it, and finds her smiling the smile that he's understood a while ago to mean she doesn't really get what he's talking about and that he's going to have to show her.

(It's that smile that made him say yes when she asked to join his crew.

There's also the fact that she's cool, though.

And her games are very funny when he manages to get her to play with him and Chopper.)

"... Well, I don't know if I'm happy," Robin says slowly, "but I've never wanted to keep living as much as I do now."

Luffy stares at her a bit more, and concludes that she's not lying.

It's not what he wants to hear, but as long as she wants to live, it'll get better.

He's not going to let anyone hurt her anymore, after all.

And you don't become the Pirate King with a sad crew.

"How long until you're better?" He asks, turning back to his First Mate.

"... I don't know."

He pouts.

Glances up at Robin.

His historian's smile gets even more confused.

Luffy makes a frustrated sound.

Nami and Chopper couldn't answer either when he asked, so his smartest nakama are stupid when it comes to this.

…

Maybe he should ask Zoro.

"You have five days." He decides eventually, raising five fingers to make sure his First Mate understands and deciding to ignore the it doesn't work like that look she gives him because if it doesn't work like that, you just have to make it work like that. "I want to see you smile again after that."

He pauses for a moment, and then—

"But you can smile before."

"Ah." She says, blinking at him. "I'll aim for that, then."

He nods in satisfaction, and then cocks his head curiously.

"What are you guys doing, though?"

Robin smiles, her Devil Fruit hands propping up her book to reveal a title so long it makes him bored before he's gotten through all of it.

He huffs, squirming with the need to get up and do something just at the idea of sitting there for hours and just… reading.

Gross.

"Sophia is warm." Elynna answers, closing her eyes again and folding herself further into a ball. "I'm taking advantage of it."

Luffy watches her, frowning a bit as he realises she's wearing some of her thicker clothes —or Zoro's, he never knows— even though the weather is so nice and—

"You're cold."

"... Something like that."

He frowns a bit more, and surges forward to grab her into a hug, almost sending Robin crashing backward in the process.

She's quick to steady herself, though, one hand coming up to pat his head hesitantly.

It's the eleventh time since he woke up from his fight against pigeon guy and the fourteenth time since he met her.

He beams against Elynna's shoulder, hold toghtening enthusiastically.

"One could almost think that you're a vampire, Elynna."

"Vampire? Vampires are so cool! I want a vampire on my crew!"

"The blood might be a problem, though."

"A werewolf, then!"

Robin hums, smile turning more relaxed.

"Chopper is kind of a werereindeer already, though, isn't he?"

"Or a wereracoon." Elynna interjects quietly, earning herself a soft pinch of Robin's fingers to her cheek and a burst of giggles from Luffy.

He'll have to repeat that to Chopp—

Ah.

He reaches out to poke Elynna again, and then again when she takes too long opening her eyes.

"Ace said to tell you that he won't be able to call for a few days." He explains once she does. "There's lots of Marines where he is right now and he doesn't want the call to be…"

He frowns, trying to remember the exact word.

"Tricked? Trapped?"

"Tracked." Both of his crewmates say at the same time.

He nods fimly, and flops down on his First Mate again.

"Yeah, that. And he told me to hug you, so this is for him too. Plus he's even warmer than before now, so you'll get better faster, right?"

"... You don't have the Mera Mera no Mi, Sea King."

"So? I'm gonna be the Pirate King."

"A sound reasoning." Robin smiles above him with a congratulatory pat on his head —the fifteenth one! "If you can do the big things, you can do the little things as well."

"See? Robin says so."

Elynna only hums, sounding just a bit amused, and he buries his head close to her ribs to better feel the sound.

Then he stays there because it's comfy, and soon Robin goes back to her reading, hushed words slipping through the air so Elynna can follow along.

It's complicated and boring, but his historian's voice is nice, and Luffy almost falls asleep.

Except he doesn't feel like sleeping, so he shakes his head to throw off the fuzziness in his head.

"Annnnnn, I wanna play with Chopper and Usopp!"

There's a pause, and when he props himself up on one elbow his First Mate is staring at him unblikingly.

"... Wrong person to ask."

"A visit to Chopper might be in order." Robin comments.

Luffy scowls up at the two of them.

"It's not! It's just that Usopp always tries to cheat, so I need someone to be the referee!"

"... Referee or Foxy-style referee?"

"Don't ask stupid questions, Ann." He scowls, wrapping both arms around her several times even as he slides off the bed, stumbling a bit upon heaving her weight against him before he starts to walk backwards towards the door, following the hands that flower here and there to guide him away from the furniture and walls he might bump into otherwise.

He grins.

"Thanks, Robin!"

His nakama just smiles, giving them both a little wave as they turn into the hallway.

(Ann doesn't protest his continued hold like she would usually.

He concludes that walking is hard for now, so he'll carry her until she's rolling her eyes and telling him to let go again.)

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

At dinner, Sanji sets one plate on the table, and goes to look for Elynna.

Chopper takes care of passing along the message to the others that the rest of them will eat later, because if Elynna feels better being able to get out fast, then that's what will happen.

He stays, though.

That's what Nami said Elynna wants, after all.

For someone to stay.

So he finishes the fruit salad for the dessert while she eats, swipes away her plate and cutlery before she can lift them off the table to replace them with a bowl of the salad.

He asks her if she wants to stay.

She looks down at the bowl in her hands, and sets it down gently to rise to her feet, stepping forward to curl her arms around his waist.

His hands are still sticky with fruit juice, so he doesn't return the gesture, but he leans into it all the same.

(And when she steps back to thank him and wish him good night,

he tries not to look too much like he felt her breath shake into his own chest.

Like he doesn't know she'll lie in her room and stare at the wall or try to sleep away the time with whoever stays with her while the rest of them eat and try to ignore the silence sitting in her place.

Like he doesn't want to cry, too.)

The next morning, he comes to get her for breakfast.

Nami meets his eyes, and holds Luffy back when he moves to follow them.

At the end of the meal, he asks her the same question.

He does it all over again at the next meal, and then the one after that, and then again—

It feels like he's always coming to get his First Mate for breakfast, though, because no matter what time of the day it is, he always finds her sleeping, lying somewhere near one or several of their crewmates.

It's only two days after she wakes up, when he gets started on dinner and she comes into the kitchen to sit in one of the chairs and bury her face in her arms, looking up as soon as he moves away from the oven to go smoke a cigarette on the terrace while the setting sun still warms the air and getting to her feet to follow him, that he realises it's not quite the case.

"Elynna-chan?"

Face tucked in her elbow where she's curled into the chair opposite to his, his First Mate hums, barely loud enough to carry over the sounds trickling from the Tone Dial in which the quieter, slower songs are recorded.

"You're not… really sleeping, are you?"

She doesn't open her eyes, but he feels her attention settle more fully on him all the same.

"... No. That would kind of defeat the point of getting out of bed."

Neither of them mention that she has needed help for that during the last few days.

Sanji simply exhales a breath of cigarette smoke, and tries to hide his relief in the thin, grey cloud of it.

That's good.

Chopper said that hypersomnia is often associated with depression or important emotional distress, and Elynna did spend a lot of time sleeping right after they entered the Grand Line, so it's good.

He scans what he can see of her carefully.

There's still the same grief there, gathered as tension that locks her ribs and makes her breathing shallower than usual, but there's no sign that the conversation they're having hurts her more, so he hesitantly allows the question of what, exactly, the point is to come out of his mouth.

"I'm just remembering."

He pauses at that.

"Your family and your friends?"

Most of the people he shares blood with are not people he wants to be reminded of, let alone actively remind himself of.

Ever.

But he thinks of his mother, of his sister—

Thinks of the old geezer and everyone back at the Baratie, and how it would feel to know for certain that he'll never see or hear them again.

It makes him want to call them, right then and there.

(It makes him wonder how Elynna felt, shoving a Den Den Mushi in everyone's hands that first time,

and then all the other times when they had someone to call and she had no one.)

"Yeah. But mostly you." She corrects him quietly, and he goes still, watching dumbly as ashes drop from the end of his cigarette and onto the floor.

"... Elynna-chan?" He chokes.

But Elynna stays silent except for her breathing, looking so close to falling asleep that Sanji doesn't dare to move even as the words tug away the certainty of her I said no, unravelling all the thoughts that the panic sent crashing through his mind during those few minutes under the rain when it felt like his life was on the verge of another break under his feet.

When she finally speaks again, it's nothing like what he braces himself to hear.

(I should have said yes.

I need to leave.

I want to leave.

You're not enough to let them go.)

"I'm just reminding myself that even if I still had some hope, it's been a long time since I've really thought I had any chance to see them again."

She pauses, then.

(Not for long, but long enough for Sanji to know that she's holding back the tears and making sure her voice is still steady.

Long enough to remember all the times he asked questions about her life, achingly happy to know that it was a good one and wanting so badly to be prepared and make a good impression 'when we loop back through East Blue and meet them'.)

"I'm just reminding myself that they haven't been the main reason why I kept going for a long time." She murmurs, opening her eyes to look straight at him with a vague gesture of her hand that aims to encompass the whole suite their nakama are all gathered into. "All of you are the reason I'm here now as I am, and you're the reason why I'll keep going. In the end, that's what matters the most."

And Sanji just stares and stares and stares, cigarette falling from numb fingers as his jaw loosens to let out a breath as shaking as the tremble of his heart and lungs inside his ribcage.

(He stares, and wonders when he became enough to be someone's reason to keep going through so much loss and so much fear,

when he became enough for someone to stay, let alone people like Robin-chan and Elynna-chan.)

He swallows.

"Elynna-chan."

Her eyes drift back to his.

"Can I… Can I hold you?"

She blinks, watching him for a moment, and then—

"... Yeah. Please."

So Sanji stands up, and rounds the table, setting one knee down right in front of her chair as she folds herself forward to return his hug, resting her head on his shoulder.

He brushes his hand down the length of her spine and then back up, before tightening his hold.

"You know that we'll always stay by your side, right?"

Her breathing stills for just a second against his neck.

"... It's okay if you don't. My goal isn't to be a prison or anything."

"Elynna-chan." He scowls, moving to look at her and show her how much he means it but stopping when she draws him back into the hug instead.

"Sorry, sorry." She says, and he feels her mouth quirk up the slightest bit. "I know. Thank you."

He huffs lightly, but he needs to be sure that she knows it.

(That she will never doubt it, or joke about it to hide her doubt from him.)

So he keeps going.

"Just—" He pauses, and forces out the word that she says all the time and that he never said back. "Please know that we'll always… love you. And we'll always come back to you as long as you want us to."

She hums, pulling herself just a bit closer.

"Then… In sickness and in health, for the best and for the worst and everything in between."

He can't quite help his smile at her words, the shape of her signet ring easy to recognise against his back.

"And till death does us part?"

Her mouth curves just a bit more against his skin.

"I'll allow you to have a spouse on the side."

His smile widens—

"Or several, I don't judge."

and he chokes.

"Elynna-chan!"

"What? The more love the better, right?"

"Well yes, but—" He pauses, realises the words that just came out of his mind, and sputters, fumbling in search of some excuse. "Wait, I meant—"

But she just buries another smile in the collar of his shirt, and listens to him trying to dig himself out of the hole he jumped in himself —though she's the one who made it.

That evening, Elynna doesn't leave when he goes to call everyone else for dinner.

She stays.

Still tired, and still sad.

But she eats a bit more, speaks a bit more, and stays until the end.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

When Usopp steps into the living room the next morning, Elynna is the only one there.

She's reading.

It's the most active he's seen her be in the last two days, and he tentatively allows himself to talk to her.

She looks up to meet his eyes.

"Hey." She greets him back, and his shoulders slump in relief as he goes to sit himself in the armchair opposite to the one she's in, wriggling about until he finds the perfect position to both be comfortable and have his drawing supplies within reach.

It's easy to fall into the rhythm of pages being flipped and pencils on paper until he turns the page or his notepad, considers what he wants to draw next and how, and his eyes fall on the coffee table between them.

The relatively thick book that Elynna was first reading —and that Usopp is pretty sure is a government-issued history encyclopedia for some reason— is now on the table, and she's taken to browsing through one of her several notebooks.

Vaguely curious, Usopp spots two with a black cover on the table, which he knows she uses to record the information she finds during what he likes to call her spy trips (and that she likes to call her affairs, but he tries not to think too much about that), as well as a purple-covered one whose usage he isn't quite sure about and another with a dark green cover.

There's another green one in her hands.

He doesn't know what those two are for either.

So he asks.

She's awake, and doing something.

The next step should be having an actual conversation, right?

He should have come with Chopper.

Elynna looks up at him from the pages she's idly reading through, and—

"It's about the people I've killed." She stops for a second, seeming to consider something. "Or hurt in some way, I suppose."

Usopp stares at her, feeling like he very much does not want to be having a conversation about this.

"What." He says.

She silently holds out the notebook.

He looks at it like it's something Luffy just told him was 'funny' —and so has a ninety percent probability of being some instant-death-if-you're-not-rubber thing.

He takes it, though, because if she's collecting creepy mementos or writing creepily detailed renditions of deaths about the people she's killed, then he seriously needs to get the others in on thi—

It's not mementos.

Or well, it is, but less creepy and more like weird.

Just blocks of seemingly random words, some barely a line and others covering half a page.

It takes reading a few of them to understand that it's all personal information about various people that she somehow found out before they died —or while she was busy screwing them over.

Some are probably about people she killed in the middle of a fight, short and consisting mostly of distinctive physical features or accessories, sometimes names that she probably glimpsed on Marine uniforms.

Others are longer, made up of various pieces of whatever personal information she found out, from job to family members or hobbies and food tastes.

There's dozen of pages darkened with her writing, and the thought of what it means makes him feel vaguely sick, especially when—

"That one, too?" He asks with a finger pointed at the similar notebook sitting on the table, trying to not let his voice shake as much as it wants to.

It gets Elynna's eyes away from him for a second, but he wishes it could be more with how steadily she looks at his trembling hands when she's the one who killed or used all these people.

"... No." She says, and it feels like he can breathe fully again until she goes on. "Those are just memories. From… before."

From before she met Luffy, he understands, and—

I… am never going to see them again.

And it's absurd to be stuck on these words two days after still, but—

Elynna isn't the type to beat around the bush when it comes to death. This is about her family, but it still rings strange in his ears how she said I won't see them again instead of they're dead.

And yet… picking a notebook with that colour, even before coming to Water Seven, she's treating the people she used to live with like they're all dead.

But even though her eyes don't waver against his, she barely ate during breakfast and had to be dragged out of her bed for it.

So he doesn't ask.

He takes the conversation to a topic a little safer instead —at least for her.

"Do you…" He hesitates, and then slowly sets the notebook he's still holding back on the table. "Is it because you regret it?"

(Does she regret it, the way he does?

Does she remember the last looks and last words of all these people the way he does those of the four Marines who fell under his shots back in Enies Lobby, darkening pages and pages with the faces he can't quite forget?)

It never looked like she did, but—

A shrug cuts off his thoughts.

"No."

Yeah.

He should have known.

He's the only one too weak to stomach killing people ready to hurt Robin.

Chopper might understand, with that heart of gold he has, but he doesn't remember the soldiers he killed when he went full monster mode, and Usopp isn't so desperate that he's willing to break his best friend's heart just to have someone who will get it.

"Then…"

He waves towards the notebook and drops back in his armchair, suddenly feeling tired.

Elynna's eyes flicker to the dark green cover and then back to him.

"I just reckon it's important to remember that all these people are human." She eventually says. "Their pain or their death mattered to someone, even if it doesn't matter to me."

She pauses, then, but not long enough for Usopp to be sure of whether or not she's trying to tell him that it shouldn't matter to him either.

"It's okay, I think."

He throws her a glance that is as disbelieving as it is confused.

"To not be okay with taking lives. It's fine."

"Of course it's not fine!" He snaps, because how is it fine to not be ready to do anything for his crewmates the way the others are? "They were okay with all that bullshit about Robin deserving to—"

"I know." She cuts him off as she sits more properly to face him fully. "But what I meant is, as long as you make sure that your opponents are out of commission, I don't care how it happens. If the act of killing in itself is what bothers you but you still find a way to do your job, then I have no problem with that. I don't think any of the others would, either. In fact, I'd rather you don't kill anyone if it's going to hurt you more than them."

None of what she says makes sense to him, because how absurd is it for murder to hurt him more than the people he's killed, regardless of the fact that she cares about him and doesn't care about them?

And even if Luffy wanted and still wants him on his crew despite all the things he's failed to do or be, including killing and being a killer, even if Elynna is saying that it's fine when she has never had a problem telling him things straight if she thought he was out of line—

(How many people has his dad killed?

And the Giants of Elbaf?

Can he ever really call himself a hero or a brave man, if he never has the guts to end a life and be fine with it?)

"... Okay." He finds himself saying anyway.

Because he won't place the burden of continuing this conversation on Elynna when she already has all this weight on her shoulders and only a notebook and her tears to grieve the people she'll never get to see again.

(Because he wasn't strong enough to beat that wolf guy, but still strong enough to be useful

because he wasn't talented enough in the crafts to repair the Merry, but still talented enough to make fun games and good munitions and the Clima Tact for Nami

So maybe he can get good enough at something else so that it compensates for the way his hands shake at the idea of ending another life.)

"You're a good guy, Hawk." She tells him, and he tries to pretend that it doesn't sound like you're too nice to be a real pirate in his ears instead of the we need good guys like you too that she's probably aiming for.

"And you're good to us." He answers instead, because it's true, and if she's going to put up with his cowardice, he supposes that he can at least accept her callousness.

Her mouth curves a bit, and it's the closest thing to a smile he's seen in the last two days, so he figures he must have done something right.

"I would hope so. You're the ones who matter to me, after all." She says simply as Sanji pushes the door open with a tray carrying some hot drinks.

"I don't know what brought this on," the cook chimes in as he sets a mug of coffee in front of Usopp, "but I agree."

"Hawk being a good guy brought this on." Elynna answers as Usopp stares into his coffee and avoids the look he just knows he's getting from the other man, who hums and then gives their First Mate a cup of spiced hot chocolate made sirupy and thick with all the chocolate in it.

"Then I agree with both."

Crap.

How do you ignore the smile in someone's voice without being rude about it?

Oh, right.

You play deaf, and use a distraction.

"Ah right, I've got something to show you, Elynna." He says, jumping to his feet and nearly scalding himself when he swipes his mug off the table and almost sends a quarter of the drink over the rim. "Come on, hurry up."

She looks down at her own drink.

"But—"

"You can take it with you, come on!" He yells, already out of the door.

He waits just long enough to let her catch up, slowly and suspiciously watching her mug for any sign that even one drop might escape out of it, and sets off towards his and Chopper's room.

His best friend and Robin are there when he opens the door, looking through the dozens of pictures spread out over every available flat surface that isn't the floor.

"... What's this?" Elynna asks, taking a sip of her hot chocolate and waving at Robin and Chopper when they turn to greet her.

"The pictures we took since we got a Cameko. Maybe a few we got done before that? There's kind of too many, so I figured we should see which ones we throw away."

The sour look she gives him almost makes it easy to ignore the exhaustion on her face.

"You already throw away all the bad ones, so this is fine."

"... Again, we have too many of them right now." He reminds her pointedly, and only gets a shrug and a loud sip in return.

"We can just rotate through them."

Usopp throws his hands in the air, and turns to the historian.

"Robin! Tell her she's being an unreasonable hoarder!"

Elynna turns in the same direction.

"Sophia. I'm sad and pitiful. Side with me."

"But we need space for all the next adventures!" Chopper protests. "And Franky will be here, too, so we'll have to put lots of pictures with him so he won't feel left out!"

She looks back towards Usopp.

"Did you say hoarder? Like a dragon? I accept."

"Let's keep them all!" Chopper chirps, turning to Usopp to put him under the full effect of his starry eyes.

Robin laughs softly, and tells them that they can at least keep one picture for every event where the crew was photographed.

Usopp sniffs, tries to pretend that it's not to stop himself from crying when he suddenly remembers that a single notebook and a silver ring are the only physical things left for two of them to remember their lives by, and primly agrees, marching out of the room with Chopper as dramatically as he can to make up for his sudden surrender.

Elynna and Robin barely spend five minutes choosing the new picture for the former's locket, which in all honesty shouldn't be enough time for Luffy, Chopper and Usopp to focus all their brain energy on coming up with something stupid —and succeed at doing exactly that.

But somehow it is, and when both women walk out of the room, they find the three boys huddled together in the hallway with their backs to them.

Then the door closes, the boys realise they're here, and they suddenly turn around, each settling into their respective, utterly ridiculous pose with their faces distorted by the chopsticks shoved into both their noses and their mouths.

Elynna chokes on what is left of her hot chocolate.

Robin stares, a creepy smile widening on her face.

All three boys stare back, doing a more or less good job at keeping still.

"I can't believe I wasted Hermes' chocolate on this. Were you trying to traumatise me?"

"What?!" Chopper gapes, chopsticks falling to the ground and horror dawning on his face at the idea. "No!"

"Laugh!" Usopp adds as he throws his own accessories on the floor. "We were trying to make you laugh!"

Elynna rolls her eyes, which is clearly not the same as a laugh, but it's still the most expressive she's been since they met that man, and Chopper figures that their attempt isn't a total loss.

"Oh my god, just give me a hug already and let's go discuss the Let's Charm Franky's Pants Off plan."

"Don't call it that, I sai— Luffy, let me go, right— Argh!"

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Zoro is staring at the rusted remains of his broken katana when Elynna joins him outside, plopping down on the grass and slumping forward, half-draping herself over his back.

"Help me out?"

He lowers his blade, eyes flickering to glimpse the strands of inky green hair that have slipped over his shoulder.

"For what."

"Everything is too fucking… slow." She eventually finishes, because heavy is a bit too… difficult a term at the moment.

(And everything is slow.

Like that minimal space between sleep and wakefulness where time doesn't matter and it's impossible to move or even want to move.

Except time matters, and she has to move.)

Zoro sets the blade down, his free hand reaching over his shoulder to grab the fabric of her t-shirt and drag her off him and onto the ground next to him.

"Stay here." He tells her as he gets to his feet.

It's not hard to find Luffy.

He follows the noise, enters the living room where Usopp's attempt at teaching a board game to Luffy has apparently turned into a 'let's pile the game pieces as high as possible while trying to knock down the other's tower' game instead, and snatches his Captain by the collar before marching right back out, ignoring said Captain's screams of protest and the sharpshooter's triumphant laughter.

"Ack!"

Elynna looks at Luffy, who is checking that his hat is still on his head after he was set down roughly on the ground, and then looks up at where Zoro has his arms crossed as he stares them down.

"What the fuck."

"We're training." He replies like it explains anything.

It does make Luffy perk up, though.

"Really?! Me too?!" He grins widely, jumping back to his feet.

"Obviously." Zoro tells him dryly. "I need more training with Devil Fruit users, and she needs to know what it's like when she's not the most unpredictable one."

Luffy nods enthusiastically.

"And me?"

"You deserve it for all the times you annoyed the shit out of me." The swordsman glares.

It still makes Luffy laugh, and he cracks his knuckles against his palms.

"Okay, let's go!"

And then he launches a stretching kick towards Zoro, lets the momentum drag him into a spin, and throws a punch after a full turn.

It hits Elynna straight in the face where she was trying to drag herself to her feet, and she goes flying.

"... Fuck." She mutters absently as she raises a hand to the side of her face, the throb under her skin dulled by the dose of medicine Chopper made sure she took the day before

She didn't come here to get a headache on top of everything else, damnit.

She sits up, watching the blurs of blows being exchanged by her two crewmates, who are getting closer to her by the second.

Well.

At least it's hard to think of anything more than get up and punch back, now.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Garp grumbles vague protests under his breath as he walks into his office with Bogard on his heels.

You would think that the man would learn to loosen up after all these years working with him, but no.

Actually, he was maybe even more of a hardass than when they first started working together.

The kind that didn't let him go take a new pack of biscuits in his office without taking advantage of it to force him to work on all the boring paperwork he left in his office with the window open, hoping that the wind would blow them away or that the humidity in the breeze would make them rot before he has to actually take care of it.

Upon entering the room, however, both he and his right-hand man immediately stop.

There's a sword.

There's a sword in his office.

It's sitting there almost innocently, laid on top of the tall cabinet where he keeps his drinks along with a few souvenirs from some of the people he's met during his life.

There's a sword in his office, and it's certainly not his, or that of anyone on his crew.

He might not have the best memory, but he would know if one of his soldiers had a blade this big and peculiar.

"That," he says with a finger pointed at the weapon, "isn't mine."

He's pretty sure he's seen it somewhere, though.

"Evidently not." Bogard sniffs from next to him. "It belongs to Spandam-san."

Ah.

Garp lets his fist fall into his palm.

"That's it. He's been waving it around like a fool every time he spoke up in the last few meetings."

Bogard makes a noise that sounds like a grunt —but that Garp has learned to know is expertly hidden amusement at the expense of those who outrank him— before he exits the room, calling out to the three Marines who were visibly heading to the mess for lunch.

"Morino!" He barks, prompting the three soldiers to jolt and then whirl around to fall into a salute.

"Captain Bogard, Sir!"

"At ease. Morino, you've been on shift to guard the ship with three others for the past week, haven't you?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Has there been any visitors? A soldier from another branch, perhaps?" Bogard goes on, and Garp grins.

The sword of a man whose death has been confirmed by the CP9 members after they got out of Enies Lobby, in his office?

There's only one person who would both take the sword from the idiot and bring it to him of all people.

"Uh— Yes, Sir. Kyojū Rika, from the closest base. She came not long before we left Water Seven to see the Vice-Admiral, but neither he nor you were there, so I allowed her to leave what she brought with her for Garp-san in his office." Morino explains, a bit hesitant. "I followed the procedure, though. We checked her before letting her in and when she came out to make sure she didn't have anything dangerous on her or stole something."

"By what she brought, do you mean the sword?"

"The sword and the file, Sir. She also had a file with her. Is there… a problem, Sir?"

"No. You three can go."

"Yes, Sir!"

"That's not her name." Garp notes before Bogard is even done closing the door, taking down the sword to inspect it more closely.

"No, but we already know she uses several identities, and I believe one of them is 'Kaji Ryūko', which uses the same sounds as Kyojū Rika, even if the characters are entirely different."

"I think I'll give this to Coby. He'll take good care of it."

"Stop fooling around and look for the file. For all we know, the information in it could help us get you out of the tight spot she got you in."

Garp bursts out laughing as he puts the blade back in its sheath with one last glance at the almost elephant-like decorations on the handle.

"Don't worry so much, Bogard! If those old coots could get rid of me that easily, they would have done so a long time ago. Besides, she's not that late in handing her report considering all the injuries she probably had to recover from first."

"... No one is late to hand in reports compared to you." His long-time friend comments snidely.

Garp laughs again, until Bogard snaps at him to start looking for the file.

He begrudgingly does so, and then promptly forgets about his assigned task after the fourth drawer opened that doesn't reveal what he's looking for, plopping down on his chair instead to open the drawer where his biscuits are stored.

He takes out one pack, opens it without any regard for the Look Bogard throws at him for it, and throws one biscuit in his mouth, munching on it with a wide smirk of amusement.

"The lass really is fun."

"And if you bothered to look for the message she left, we would know if she's useful as well."

Garp just smirks wider, and takes out the file stacked between two packs of biscuits, dropping it on his desk.

Bogard meets his eyes.

She hid the file in a place where only Garp would find it.

But not a place where he would look before a few days after her visit, because there was a stack of snacks in the bowl on his desk, and Garp only emptied it today.

Garp flips the file open as Bogard joins him on the other side of the desk, coming to a stop next to his chair.

Documents.

A lot of them.

Quite obviously stolen from Spandam's office.

Quite obviously stolen without much regard as to what was being stolen, probably because Ryan Alice didn't have much time to be picky or thorough.

A bit more than half of the documents are probably useless, in the sense that they're either mundane, or important and official but done by the book.

The rest?

Elements that suggest that Spandam may have used his position to influence the way some cases were dealt with so it would benefit him or harm innocents.

Proof of repeated and large-scale money embezzlement, as well as evidence hinting at the strong possibility that Spandam bribed and took bribes several times during his career.

And under all those, a hand-written report of what Ryan Alice observed of the way Spandam handled things in Enies Lobby.

"Why is she writing like that?" Bogard mutters to himself even as his mouth twists in disgust at what he reads.

The girl is a Marine.

Every Marine knows how to write a report, and it's not like this, even if the document they're reading is clear and precise enough for the information in it to be exploited.

Something is wrong.

Garp flips over the last page of the report.

There's a note.

Hey Boss,

With everything that happened, an investigation will probably come sooner rather than later, and the CP1 will be contacted as soon as it does. I figured that you deserve the heads up.

At first, I just wanted to get away from all the corruption in the Marines. Meeting Luffy was never planned.

But, well, life is just so much fun with him, you know?

A lot more than in the Marines, to be honest. (Feel free to bring that up with the HR department.)

So yeah.

I don't think I'll be coming back.

But you're one of the few I actually trust to do the job right, so if there's anyone who should get all this to use, it's you.

You better bury those fuckers deep, or I'll have to do it myself. (Literally.)

It was nice knowing you —and doing business with an actual Marine.

See you around,

Ryan Alice.

P.S.: The sword is a bonus for all the trouble I'm probably going to get you in. There's cookies from our chef, too. Fair warning, you won't be able to eat any others after tasting them. You're welcome.

"... Fuck." Bogard mutters.

It's confirmed.

Ryan Alice has betrayed the Marines to side with the very pirates she… was probably never supposed to spy on in the first place, because the CP1 most likely never sent her on that mission —or even recruited her.

She just deserted, period.

The last biscuit of the pack crunches under Garp's teeth in response, the paper of the package crinkling loudly in the clenching of his fist before the Vice-Admiral abruptly stands up, sending his chair sliding backward hard enough that it's a good thing his subordinate sidesteps it.

"We're going back to Water Seven." Garp says, and although most people might expect anger, Bogard isn't surprised to see the anticipatory look on his face.

"Understood." He only says as he follows him out of the office and then up on the deck where Garp shoves the long, curved sword in a passing Coby's arms and then goes to stand at the prow of the ship, where Bogard knows that he won't move until he either sees what he wants or someone forgets to bring him enough snacks to keep his stomach going.

By the time the News Coo drops the newspaper of the day with the bounties of the Straw Hats in their lap and Fleet Admiral Sengoku calls Garp to tell him to get your ass to Water Seven, I don't know what you're doing in the area when your assignment is at least three days away and I don't care to know, but we can't let these brats get off scot-free!, they're already half-way there.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Hooh?" Kokoro hiccups as she barges inside the Straw Hats' temporary lodging to check on them and finds the crew busy packing their stuff. "Is the Log Pose set already?"

"Ah, Kokoro-san!" Nami smiles tightly with a wave from where she's sitting on her suitcase, which she now has trouble closing after buying a few clothes too many. "Yes, it's pointing to our next stop! I was curious about why it's pointing downwards, and Robin said it's probably because we'll be heading to Fish-Man Island. Is that right?"

"Ohhhh! Really?! We're going underwater?!" Luffy yells excitedly as he comes running into the living room with a large backpack so suspiciously not messy that it's obvious Elynna did it for him —or saw his own handiwork and couldn't help but redo the whole thing.

"She didn't confirm anything yet, you dolt!"

The siren laughs, and knocks back a good half of the bottle of wine in her hand in one go.

"The little lady is right! If you follow that direction, you'll be heading straight to that place!"

Luffy whoops loudly, swooping down to take Chopper's hooves and dance across the room with him.

"Wait wait wait—" Usopp steps in with a sudden frown over the background of giggles from the other two before he switches to English. "It's Fish-Man Island, right? Is it gonna be okay, Nami?"

"I don't know." The navigator answers quietly as she studiously works on helping Sanji pack up some of the kitchen appliances he brought in during their stay. "It's not like we've met any other since Cocoyashi."

"These guys were pirates. The others might be strong physically, but I doubt they'll act the same." Zoro's heavily accented voice points out from where he's carefully cleaning the two katana he has left.

"Zoro makes a good point. Besides, you won't be alone." Robin adds with a smile.

"Yeah, Nami! We'll protect you!"

"Yeah!" Chopper echoes.

"Indeed, indeed. The Great Sogeking will eagerly lower himself to the role of a common bodyguard for a friend like you, Nami-kun. Fear not!"

"The idiots are right. And me and Elynna-chan are planning to go see a group of mermaids who are very famous for their underwater dance shows, so you can come with us, if you don't want to spend too much time in the streets." Sanji offers with a smile, even as he places a careful hand in the middle of Nami's back to gently guide her away from the door that Elynna emerges from with the cardboard box where all their toiletries are gathered.

"Totally. Feel free to zap people if it makes you feel better. Pirates don't care about diplomatic incidents."

"You're all dumbasses." Nami laughs softly. "Thanks."

"Well, either way…" Kokoro goes on, one hand patting Chimney's head to stop her from asking any questions and eyes giving them only a single curious look before she shruggs off the foreign words that just bounced through the room. "You shouldn't get too excited for now. Getting there won't be easy."

"Huh." Usopp considers with a frown. "She's right. How the heck are we going to get underwater? If it's an island, it must be pretty far below the surface, right? Plus, a ship is supposed to float, not sink."

"I wasn't even talking about that. Fish-Man Island is a pretty popular destination. You won't have trouble finding information about how to go down with your ship on Sabaody. I was talking more about—" She cuts herself off to grab the newspaper folded under the arm that holds her bottle, and throws it on the nearest table. "Here, check the front page. It's a pretty recent edition."

Robin steps closer to take the newspaper, eyes quickly running over the text.

"It says that fourteen ships disappeared this month alone…" She says pensively.

"In the Grand Line?" Usopp inquires distractedly with his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he rolls some of his gadgets into layers of bubble wrap. "I thought it would be more, with all the crazy stuff that can happen around here."

"No. In a single place." Robin corrects softly before she turns to their guest. "I assume this means we'll be passing through the Florian Triangle soon?"

"Got it in one! You'll have to if you want to get to Fish-Man Island from Water Seven."

Nami and Usopp exchange a nervous glance at the name.

Elynna might have mostly turned control over to Robin for her research project on the future islands and threats they might meet, but both Nami and Usopp are still just as active in said project, and they know perfectly well just why the Florian Triangle is so infamous.

Which is why the two of them are quick to plead occupational retraining, Chopper immediately joining them upon spying the look on their faces until Robin's off-handed comment about ghost ships and treasures prompts a burst of greed-fuelled enthusiasm from the navigator, who immediately hires Zoro for all the grunt work of treasure-hunting as soon as she hears him mutter to himself about the possible presence of spare katana in said treasures.

Luffy only pays attention to Usopp's complaints until he understands what exactly the sharpshooter is so scared about, and then he starts babbling about skeletons and zombies and it would be so cool to have one on the crew!, laughing without a care when his sniper tries to strangle him for even suggesting that.

"I veto the zombie." His First Mate informs him while Sanji finishes packing the last of their bags. "Too much cleaning to do."

"Guys!"

"Straw Hat! Everyone!"

"Can't anyone in this town come in quietly?" Zoro grumbles as Mozu and Kiwi barge into the living room.

Neither of the girls pay any attention to him as they collapse in a panting mess at the door, prompting Sanji to bring them both a glass of water.

"Thank… you…"

"You're welcome. If I may, what brought you two ladies here that is important enough to make you run like this?"

Kiwi beams brightly, jumping to her feet to strike a pose that her sister soon imitates.

"Listen well, Straw Hats!"

"Listen well!"

"We have great news for you today!"

"Super great news, even! Your ship is done!"

There's a moment of silence, and then brightness bursts across Luffy's face, soon followed by most of his crewmates.

"For real?!"

"That was fast…" Sanji muses.

"Isn't it early, actually?"

Both Mozu and Kiwi point a finger at Nami at the exact same time.

"You got it!"

"But it's no surprise. After all, you had five of this world's greatest shipwright working on it day and night!"

"Alright." Elynna states with a clap of her hands loud enough to catch the attention of Chopper and Luffy, who are dancing again under Usopp's wistful smile. "Since we packed everything, might as well bring our stuff along to see the ship."

That gets her suspicious looks from both Zoro and Nami as the others start filing out of the room.

"You're the one who told us to start packing this morning…" The navigator points out with narrowed eyes. "Did you know?"

"Of course not. I'll see the ship anyway, so I have no interest in spying on the guys while they're building it."

"Doesn't mean you did nothing." The swordsman scoffs.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Elynna says idly as she steps out of the room, making the two others groan in exasperation before they follow.

When they join the others outside, however, the rest of the crew hasn't gone far.

In fact, they're standing at the bottom of the few steps that lead into the building and staring at what looks like the entirety of the Franky Family.

"You guys are too late." Luffy tells them while pointing at Mozu and Kiwi. "They already told us that the ship is ready! We're going to see it right now!"

"That's not it, Straw Hat! Look!" Zanbai says loudly as he throws a bunch of papers at their feet. "Those are all the new wanted posters that came in with today's newspaper!"

The Straw Hat Pirates collectively look down at the sheets spread over the grass.

Zoro's satisfied smirk at seeing that his bounty amount doubled only escapes Nami's notice because she's too busy getting furious at Luffy for being so proud that the money for his own head tripled —and lamenting over her own, particularly unwanted bounty poster.

Next to where Usopp seems ready to set up an altar for his own wanted notice, Robin stares with mild amusement at the amount for her capture that increased only by a measly one million purely for the sake of updating her poster with a picture of her as an adult.

(She wonders, too, how much the stagnation of her bounty is due to Aokiji's interference, despite how much more skilled she is now compared to when she was eight years old —and how many crimes she committed since then.

She wonders how she should feel about it, when she never wanted anything from this man in the first place.)

It all leaves Elynna to try and comfort Sanji and Chopper.

"Fifty… Fifty berries?" The little reindeer chokes out for the third time.

He stumbles back into Elynna's legs like the news hit him only then, and she swoops down to pick him up.

"Sorry, Hebi. The Marines aren't very smart, but I didn't think they really wouldn't recognise you."

"But— But I fought as hard as I could!"

She slips a hand under his hat to ruffle his fur gently.

"Don't worry. Next time I'll record you and send the whole thing to the Headquarters. And if they still can't do their job properly, I'll send them a letter of protest."

Chopper sniffles, tucking himself more comfortably in her hold.

"... Really? We can do that?"

"Sure. But you know, if they don't know about your other forms, it means you can help the crew a lot without having to worry about the Marines."

"... Oh. It's true, I guess. Like you?"

"Me?"

"You don't have a wanted poster at all." Chopper points out, looking at her like she's the one who has been gushing about getting their face plastered above a 'wanted dead or alive' mention since they came back from Enies Lobby.

She hums.

"Guess so, huh?"

"My face…" Sanji sniffles next to them where he collapsed on his knees and is now staring down at his poster.

"That's not your face, Hermes. You look much better in reality."

"I know! But now everyone is gonna think I really look like— like—"

He risks another glance at the frankly horrifically bad rendering of his face, and almost chokes on his cigarette.

"How am I supposed to dare to show my face to a woman ever again?!" He whispers, horrified.

"Pretty sure that anyone who sees your actual face will be cured of any preconception regarding your looks real damn fast."

"And the guys at the Baratie—" Sanji goes on, wiping a hand down his face. "The old man is gonna tell every customer that it's actually my face!"

"... Yeah, I can't do anything about that." Elynna tells him, trying to rein in her amusement.

"No, guys!" Zanbai interrupts them with wild gestures of his hands. "I'm sorry, I'm sure you have lots to talk about, but what I wanted to show you was this!"

And then he shoves the wanted poster for 'Cyborg' Franky in their faces.

"Aniki can't stay in town anymore! He'd be risking his life!"

Luffy blinks down at him owlishly.

Elynna picks up the posters, including that of the crime lord, and sighs.

"Welp. If that's not fate, I don't know what is. Makes for a pretty good argument, too."

Zanbai stares at her dumbly along with the rest of the Franky Family.

"Huh?"

"Captain here wants him as shipwright." The pirate crew's First Mate clarifies with a jab of her thumb towards a widely grinning Luffy. "And no one is against it, so we were planning to offer anyway."

"Offer." Zoro grumbles under his breath with a roll of his eyes. "As if."

"... Really?" A few of the gangsters chorus hopefully.

"No. I just enjoy giving people false hope to deny them stuff after."

"What?! That's mean, Ann! You said you agr—"

"I was joking, dumbass."

"Oh, good."

Elynna mutters something like this time under her breath, making Robin laugh softly as Zoro scoffs again while she turns to the rest of them.

"Alright guys, not that this isn't fun, but we might want to hurry up."

"... Why?" Nami asks dubiously.

"I was about to ask the same thing." Usopp grumbles as he crosses his arms with a suspicious look on his face.

"Because those were published early this morning," she starts with a wave of the wad of papers in her hand, "and there's a ship that isn't very far from Water Seven and is full of Marines who know exactly where we are."

"... Wait, you mean Luffy's grandpa?!"

"Yep."

"Gramps? But he said he wouldn't try to lock me up."

"That was when he chose to come here to pay you a visit of his own volition. If he gets an actual order to arrest you, I don't know how much leeway he'll be ready and able to give us, if any. Maybe he won't receive any order at all, I don't know if he told his superiors about his little trip, but there's a chance he did given that he came with his ship and all his soldiers. I'd rather play it safe. Your grandpa is no joke, Sea King."

Luffy nods rapidly, not looking too eager to fight his grandfather either.

"That's why you made us pack so early? You should have said it sooner, you idiot!" Usopp screams as he hurriedly heaves his bags onto his shoulders.

"You would have panicked. It would have taken even more ti—"

"Let's go!" The sniper tells them imperiously without letting her finish.

And then he starts running towards the entrance, leaving everybody else in the dust.

"Usopp! Wait for me!" Nami hollers as she quickly follows, prompting Chopper to jump out of Elynna's arms and into his fastest form so he can catch up to them, almost stumbling when Luffy tries to jump on his back.

Zoro rolls his eyes.

"Figures that's when they would walk fast."

"It seems that they just needed the right motivation." Robin hums in amusement.

"Right. I'll set a few predators after them next time we're trekking anywhere, then."

Elynna snorts.

Sanji scowls.

"Keep your stupid ideas in your stupid brain, seaweed face." He growls before turning to the Franky Family members. "And get up, you idiots. You might as well help with the plan."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"... What are you doing with our Cameko?" Nami asks with a dubious look as soon as Elynna hoists herself aboard the Sunny, the screams of Water Seven's inhabitants now so loud that the boys and Franky (and Franky's briefs) are probably not far.

"Is that a trick question?" Her best friend hums in response, jumping onto the railing of their brand new ship with the visual Den Den Mushi still in her arms.

"Don't tell me you've been running along taking pictures instead of helping."

"Hermes recruited the entire Franky Family, I didn't have to help. Besides, I didn't just take pictures."

"Really." Nami drawls as she eyes her disbelievingly.

"Yeah, really. I also took videos."

The navigator sighs loudly under Usopp's 'you definitely should have expected that' look.

"Did you, now?" Robin prompts with the curious, serene smile of someone who has absolutely nothing to do with the debacle happening just a few miles away.

"Yep. Franky and Sea King were fawning over the ship while chasing each other and half the town was yelling at Franky's exhibitionism. It was just too good to pass up."

Just then the local crime lord sails through the sky, and comes crashing down right next to the ship.

Butt-naked.

Literally.

Iceburg's blank gaze drifts from the clouds of dust rising from the destroyed buildings of his town to his former co-apprentice with a face that says what the heck is this.

There's a flash.

"This is gold." Elynna cackles.

Nami goes from staring blankly down at Franky to staring blankly at her.

"Did you just take a picture of his dick and call it gold? This better be because you're thinking of using it for blackmail."

"Don't think it would work on him. Nah, it's for decoration."

"I'd rather not." Robin shoots down the idea bluntly.

"No." Nami says at the same time. "Lynna, no. We already have all the pictures we used for that when we had Merry."

"This ship is bigger—"

"Enel's face when he met Luffy in all his… Luffy-ness is as low as I'm willing to stoop. If you're planning to put this horror in the girls' room, I swear to—"

"Nope. It's for his personal space." Elynna states with a frankly evil smile considering Chopper's frightened face as Luffy lands on the deck with the reindeer under one arm and the briefs in the other hand.

"... You know he can just take them off, right?"

"Who said I would just make one copy? One day, he'll learn to give up."

"Oh god." Nami suddenly realises. "This is going to become a thing. You two are never going to stop."

"Pretty sure it was already a 'thing'." Usopp mutters as he comes down from the crow's nest.

"This was fun!" Luffy laughs as he steps up on the rail next to Elynna. "We should do it again! Hey, Franky, if you want your briefs back, join our crew!"

"Hah! As if stealing my briefs will be enough to convince me!" Franky yells back, before he runs up a plank of wood jutting out from the mess of the rubbish dump to strike a pose in front of them —and the whole town while he's at it.

"This— This wasn't supposed to happen. You know what? I give up." Nami suddenly decides as she crouches down to hide from the crowd of what looks like the entire town that is gathering to yell at Franky while her Captain keeps raving about the shipwright's 'manliness'. "This can't get any worse."

Elynna steps down from the railing, and next to her Luffy turns to his crew with a helpless face when he realises that Franky is too cool to accept his offer this easily.

Robin's answer is her half of the Twin Smiles of Terror, but even Usopp didn't think she would go that far.

Iceburg gapes, along with pretty much everyone watching.

Paulie loses his cigar in the process.

Elynna takes another round of pictures.

"What the hell, Robin?!"

"Ow ow ow! Robin! I want my manly shipwright, you can't do that!"

"Marry me." Elynna states more than she asks.

Chopper whimpers.

"Fuck." Nami mutters numbly as her head thumps against the railing. "It just got worse. I'm the only sane one in this crew."

Even the scene in front of him isn't distracting enough for Usopp to not send her an offended look.

"How much do you think we could sell those pictures to Franky's fan club?" Elynna asks idly.

"... Do you have their numbers?"

"Nami?!" Chopper squeaks in alarm.

She gives a bright smile in return.

"The damage is already done anyway. We might as well make money out of it, right?"

"Somehow, I'm not surprised that this is what you're talking about." Zoro scoffs as he and Sanji finally join them.

"You just have the worst timing, Zoro-kun."

"I can't believe I got roped into this." The cook mumbles mournfully while the mayor launches into a speech that speedruns through a decade's worth of therapy and that the rest of them try not to overhear.

"I can." Usopp answers snidely with a jab of his thumb over his shoulder at where the three girls of their crew are standing. "They're the ones who asked."

Zoro's face looks like he's seriously asking himself the same question, but he doesn't voice it, so Usopp generously doesn't remind him that he's as likely to say no to something Luffy asks for as Elynna is —which is to say not at all most of the time— and that even if he did, their First Mate is pretty much a master in the art of strong-arming him into doing stuff after all the time spent being his sparring-partner-slash-nurse.

The tone of the conversation rises abruptly as Franky and his gang start yelling at each other from both ends of the dump about idiocy and happiness, until finally Franky stops pretending that his tears have anything to do with Robin and picks up the bag his gang launched at him with their cannon.

Elynna bumps her shoulder against Luffy's, prompting him to grin as he suddenly remembers the briefs he's still holding.

"Come on, Franky, hurry up!" He laughs as he throws them at their brand new shipwright. "It'll be fun, you'll see!"

"Hah! I bet, Straw Hat. And you better be ready for me, too! The great Franky is joining your crew, and you can throw whatever you want at me, but I won't let any of your adventures damage our ship! Until it's the dream ship, baby!"

"Yahoo! You're so coooool!"

"Welcome, Franky!"

"I'll help you with the ship! I already have ideas of other gadgets we can make!"

"I'm pretty sure this is the most dramatic departure we've had yet." Nami sighs with a smile that she can't quite restrain.

"Ridiculous would be more fitting." Robin comments, prompting an amused sound from Zoro.

"There's no 'pretty sure' about it, Nami-chan."

"Uhhhhh… Guys?" Usopp calls out suddenly. "Do you see what I'm seeing?"

"The birth of the Geek Quartet? Yeah, I'm seeing it, totally—"

Usopp grabs Elynna by the elbow, drags her to his side as everyone else leisurely starts preparing to set sail, and points mutely to the starboard side of the ship.

"... Uh oh."

"So you're seeing it, too."

"Stop right there, you little runts!" Vice-Admiral Garp's voice booms across the distance between their two ships.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Lambert Kessler, chief of the CP1, knows before his assistant opens his mouth that this is going to be bad.

Sora just gave him tea.

It can only be bad.

Lambert winces, and pretends that his cup is full of alcohol as he knocks it back in one gulp.

"Alright. What is it?"

"Bogard-san called, Sir."

"Garp The Fist's faithful dog?" Lambert asks just a bit mockingly. "What for? We don't work with those guys. Even if subtlety hit them square in the face, they'd probably just punch back on principle."

"They were asking if Ryan Alice was working undercover for us, Sir."

That makes Lambert pause in the middle of idly reading the last report he received on the situation in the Kingdom of Estodia —now the Revolutionary Army's newest target in the East Blue— and looks up at his assistant.

"How many times do you think you would have had to listen to me boasting about her success if she were, Sora?"

"That's what I thought as well, Sir—"

"Watch your mouth, boy."

"—which is why I asked for details on his reasons to believe she is," Sora goes on without any regard for the glare aimed at him.

"Get to the point, already."

"... Her actions against either traitors or enemies of the Marines led them to believe that she was working to solve the problems that can't be dealt with through the more official channels. This, combined with her presumed death as an unremarkable soldier under former Captain Nezumi in East Blue, which is similar to the extraction strategies we use for those of our members who are recruited on the fly, led them and a handful of other Marines that include the Colonel Smoker to believe that she might be part of our ranks. They found out that she was travelling with the Straw Hats, but given the more proactive stance taken by the Cipher Pol branches with the strengthening of the hardliners these last few years and our success in infiltrating several dangerous criminal groups in that time, they concluded that she was part of a more preventive effort to weed out future powerhouses before they might become a problem, especially in light of the current geopolitical situation. According to a report Bogard-san received from Lieutenant Allan on the Zephrim case, Ryan Alice confirmed these assumptions and added a few details of her own that pointed, I quote, to "a sound strategy regarding the dismantlement of potential threats to the world order we work so hard to maintain". End of quote."

Sora's voice is replaced by silence, but Lambert just stares down at his report, eyes going back and forth over the same words but not taking anything in.

It's probably a good thing as of now.

The Revolutionary Army is starting to become one hell of a headache these days, and he really didn't need their activity to suddenly pick up in the one sea that shouldn't give the Marines too much work.

"I knew the last confidentiality decree would end up biting us in the ass some day."

"You rant about it often, yes." Sora confirms primly.

But Lambert doesn't reply, standing up abruptly instead and sending his chair crashing backward as he rounds his desk and starts pacing with wide gestures that his assistant avoids easily thanks to a lot of practice.

"And besides, I'm a spy, not a damn seer! How would I have known that the Straw Hats would end up causing so many problems and meetings at the time when the most they did in the East Blue was beating some no-name Fish-Man?!"

"I agree, Sir."

Lambert paces some more, grumbles and swears about stupid colleagues and damn pirates and at least she's not a fucking Revolutionary.

Then he sits down again.

"Sora."

"Sir?"

"Get ready. Garp backed her up publicly during the Crocodile case, so he's going to be their main target, but we don't know what she might have said about us since those idiots made her aware of their theory —especially to the CP9. We need an airtight way to prove that she never worked for us without compromising any of our agents or operations, in case this blows up in our faces and we get caught in the shitstorm."

"I'll get started on it, Sir."

"And tell Garp where he can shove his assumptions next time!"

"Yes, Sir. Another tea, Sir?"

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Gramps?!" Luffy yelps, windmilling for a second before he falls from where he was securing the ropes of the mainsail with Zoro, bouncing on the lawn and rolling to his feet. "I thought you said you wouldn't lock us up!"

Garp interrupts himself in the middle of his testing of the loudspeaker in his hand.

"The situation's changed. Sengoku gave me a direct order. Sorry, brat, but I'm putting you all under lock and key —except for Schwarz."

"Who?" Luffy mumbles, head tilting abnormally far in confusion even as his First Mate comes to settle against the railing next to him. "You're not making any sens—"

A hand on his mouth cuts him off, and the voice that replaces his own can only be described as little shit.

"I just knew you'd like my gift, Boss!"

"Laugh while you can, lass! Just you wait until I'm personally dragging your ass to your cell!"

"He's so charming, right?" Elynna comments, pointing towards the Marine ship with a glance towards the rest of her crew.

"Don't antagonise him!" Usopp screeches.

"What did you do?!" Nami hisses at the same time, making Chopper squeak.

"Oh, I tricked him—"

"Yeah, nothing weird so far." Zoro comments dryly from where he's still perched high up above them.

"—and then I told him that I tricked him."

Sanji barely smothers the snicker that would have earned him a dark glare from Nami as the navigator pinches her nose with a near-scream of aggravation.

Franky, on the other hand, doesn't bother to muffle the snicker that comes out at all.

"Quite entertaining when you're not the target of it, isn't it?" Robin smiles next to him.

"Pretty sure you've never been the target of it, Nico Robin."

"Chopper!" Usopp wails as he looks towards the reindeer with a finger pointed at their First Mate. "I told you that Luffy is contagious, see? We have to put the two of them in quarantine before someone else is contaminated!"

"I don't get it." Their Captain cuts in with a frown.

"I pissed him off to have fun." Elynna summarises, prompting the frown to turn into a wide grin.

"Oh, I get it!"

Zoro sighs as Sanji finally moves to grasp his First Mate's wrist to tug her —and his own amusement in the process— away towards a better distraction, like readying the sails of the main mast so they can get the hell out of there.

"I already told you a thousand times to stop playing deaf, Luffy!" Garp's voice slams into them. "You're all under arrest, so stop while you still can!"

"I don't wanna!" Luffy yells back, not as loud given the lack of loudspeaker but definitely loud enough, just like the aw, I'm gonna miss you too! that Elynna still manages to cackle out before Sanji's hand muffles her voice.

"Meteor Fist Shower!"

"Noooooo—" Nami starts to lament, swiftly covered by the scream that Chopper and Usopp let out.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Looks like we're safe." Usopp announces as he comes down from the observation room of the Sunny with his spyglass in hand. "There's no sign of the Marines on the horizon."

They all breathe a collective sigh of relief, spread out on their backs in the short grass of the lawn.

Usopp joins them quickly, collapsing in the first spot with enough space to stretch his gangly limbs as much as he wants.

"It's official. Your grandpa is completely nuts, Luffy."

"It's Lynna's fault."

The girl in question snorts.

"What are you talking about? He was going easy on us."

Usopp sputters at that, propping himself up just enough for everyone to see him blanch.

"You're kidding, right?"

"She's not." Zoro confirms.

"It is Garp The Fist." Robin nods sagely.

"Sis got a point there. Pretty sure he could take us down no problem."

"Oh my god," Nami groans as she throws an arm over her face. "He sucks at the caring thing. So much."

"... Still nuts." Usopp eventually concludes firmly as he flops back down.

"I know, right?" Luffy complains loudly. "We didn't even have the time to throw another party! I was invited by lots of people, too!"

"Maybe it's for the best, then." Nami grouches. "My— Our funds wouldn't have survived another evening like that."

"So Sea King wouldn't have survived the day after, either." Elynna adds.

"Exactly."

"You're scary, Nami." Chopper murmurs, tongue sticking out of his mouth as he tries to pant out all the excess of heat that he can't sweat.

"Oi, Franky. Is it me, or are there individual rooms on the Sunny?" Sanji asks suddenly.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. It's more for personal space. You can totally keep it just to store your stuff and bunk together in the common areas if you prefer. I bought high-quality sofa beds, and we can always move the beds from the rooms if needed. But there was the space to make those since I didn't build them particularly big, and I figured anyone likes having their space sometimes."

"It's great!" Luffy laughs.

"You're never going to use them unless it's to barge in someone else's room, dumbass." Zoro scoffs.

"And you better clean yours." Sanji grumbles from the other side of the deck where he was strategically led by Nami, who definitely didn't want to listen to both boys hurling insults at each other after all the cannonballs she already had to deal with so early in the morning.

"Got it!" Their Captain laughs again, letting everyone else know that he most definitely did not 'get it' in the process. "We can just put our poster on the door of the room we want!"

There's a pause during which they all realise that this is pretty much the only reason why he wants his own room.

Then Chopper whines loudly about fifty berries and I'm a monster, not a pet! while Sanji's grumbling becomes entirely unintelligible and about ten times more irritated, making Zoro snort.

"Usopp gets to choose first!" The rubber boy says loudly before his two crewmates can start a fight.

"... I feel like it's a trap." The sniper comments with the resignation of someone who knows they're going to get pranked for Christmas and won't get any gift worth the name.

"Come on come on come on!"

"Fine, fine."

The sharpshooter drags himself to his feet, snatches his wanted poster from the top of the pile Elynna is holding out, and disappears inside.

Luffy barely muffles the giggles of excitement in his mouth, stretching his arm just a bit to catch Elynna's right hand and squeeze, somehow managing to look like he's bouncing with restlessness even while lying down.

Elynna squeezes back, nodding with a quirk of her mouth when she meets Franky's proud smirk.

"What are you three grinning about over there?" Nami asks with an amused smile, evidently not caring much that Usopp might be heading for an actual trap.

"Shishishi! You'll see—"

The sharpshooter suddenly barges back out from the same door he disappeared behind, rushing down the stairs to throw himself on Luffy and crush him in a hug that would be bruising on anyone else as he bursts into a loud cry that evolves into just-as-loud sobs, startling most of the others into sitting.

"Usopp? Are you okay?" Chopper calls out worriedly.

The curly-haired boy lets out a noise that could very well be interpreted to mean yes or no or ijsdghlzqiuzaefhsdv for all they know.

"You're gonna need to be more specific." Zoro points out.

"He'll be fine." Elynna says idly from where she's still lying down. "Don't worry."

"... How did you prank him for him to be in that state, Elynna-chan?" Sanji blurts out, staring with bewildered and somewhat worried eyes at the duo of entangled limbs.

Usopp starts babbling a long string of thankyouthankyouthankyou, but Luffy just beams brightly and pats his back.

"We didn't prank him, we just asked the mayor guy to keep some wood from Merry to use in our new ship, and to make a room just with it for Usopp! Right, Ann?!"

"Yep. Could've been his experiment room, but I guess a bedroom is better. Won't get as many scorch marks."

"But… I thought she burned?!" Nami exclaims, like a hopeful question rather than a protest.

"Yeah." Franky confirms. "But the bow was almost completely separated from the rest of the ship, so it was barely burning when we went to the sick bay. Bakaburg and his men were able to save it. I used the last of it in some spots of the common areas, too."

"So… Merry is still with us, right?" Chopper asks, barely waiting for Usopp's frantic wail of confirmation to throw himself at Elynna with a loud squeal of joy.

"That's so great! Thanks, you two!" Nami laughs, loud and open in the breeze that brushes between them to cool them down.

"You're welcome!" Luffy beams back from behind Usopp's hair.

"Yeah, that. Just don't go making the Sunny jealous or anything. My tolerance with bullshit stops at dealing with two ships having a pissing contest."

"Stop ruining the moment!" Usopp screams between two series of sniffles as he finally starts to calm down.

"Just give me the posters, Luffy." Zoro tells the rubber boy with a roll of his eyes, holding out a hand to take the wanted notices a stretching arm drops into it after picking them up from Elynna's hand.

The next poster is Sanji's, but he just files it at the bottom of the pile, snorting all the while.

"Care to share what makes you laugh like that, brawn-for-brain?" The cook immediately asks, evidently not trusting the pile containing the object of his current —and greatest— shame in the swordsman's hands.

But Zoro doesn't bother to comment on the insult, squinting balefully down at his own wanted poster instead before he abruptly sits up.

"Why the fuck am I listed here as the crew's First Mate?" He grunts, holding up the pile and jabbing an aggressive finger at the lines of tiny font at the bottom of his poster that list a wanted person's main crimes.

"Because only idiots would think an idiot is our First Mate when we already have an idiot as Captain, and the Marines are idiots." Sanji gripes.

Chopper blinks, trying to work his way through the sentence and all the idiots in it as Franky and Usopp snicker in agreement.

"Because Lynna was busy being the only one of us reasonable and lucky enough to not get their face on a wanted poster." Nami sniffs, clearly still upset about the whole matter.

"Because both pirates and the Marines are very much affected by the patriarchal order of our world. There's nothing obvious about a woman occupying a high rank in either profession." Robin adds sagely.

Nami nods vigorously at that, while Sanji frowns as he goes over the most well-knwon pirates and Marines in his head.

"Alright, now that we've established that the Marines aren't just assholes but sexist assholes, pass the posters." Elynna steps in with a lazy wave of her hand.

Zoro grumbles but does as she asks, dropping the remaining sheets of paper next to Nami as he heads to the door leading under the deck where the rooms are.

He doesn't even get to the door in question.

"Lynna." Nami calls out, voice snapping strangely through the tranquil air and drawing everyone's attention.

"Yeah?"

"What…" The navigator hisses quietly through the bright smile that really means time to run for your life (and your wallet's). "Is the meaning of this?"

This turns out to be the wanted poster she's holding out and on which there is a picture that was obviously taken during the first Water Seven party, since Elynna is wearing the black suit jacket and hat she used as a costume for most of her performances that day.

The picture is clear, but it would be hard to recognise Elynna with just that to go off of for pretty much anyone except them, given that she's tipping the hat low over her face, leaving just a glimpse of the right side of her face that only goes as high as her cheekbone and slanted smile.

More precisely, though, this is the name the bounty notice associates with the picture.

WANTED

DEAD ONLY

Ryan 'The Ghost' Alice

B 90,000,000

There's a long moment of silence, broken only by the quieting sniffles Usopp lets out as he finally untangles himself from Luffy, who sits up and stares at the sheet of paper, head tilting further and further to the side until—

"They got your name wrong real bad, Ann. Do you want a hug?"

His First Mate snorts.

"Sure, Sea King, but I'm not actually sad, you know."

"It's not the name you gave them on the train, is it?" Sanji asks, clearly confused.

"What?" Usopp chimes in as he squints at the paper. "Why did they put Identity Number 1's name? That's not the one you told me you would use."

"If I had to guess," Robin muses, "Luffy's grandfather has probably been interrogated about his ties to what happened, and they've made the link between Schwarz Heidi and Ryan Alice."

"What she said." Elynna agrees with a sleepy yawn from where she's still lounging on the grass, Luffy now half-sprawled over her.

Nami's smile twitches murderously in response.

"You three. Explain. Now."

"... Too much work. I'm gonna take a nap."

"Don't you dare, Lynna—"

"Okay! Don't have nightmares, Ann!"

"Luffy—"

"I don't know how many times I'll have to say it, but you can't actually order someone to not have nightmares, Sea King. That's why people just wish each other nice dreams instead."

"But it's Captain's orders!"

"Yes, yes. Just wake me up if I have one, then. Not by punching me."

"Oh, good idea! I'll protect you!"

"Thanks, Captain."

"Lynna!"

Robin's gentle laugh makes Usopp sigh in relief as Nami's entire attention swivels to the historian, who softly closes the book she was reading after carefully marking the page she was at.

"Let's see… What does the poster say?"

The navigator huffs in irritation, but turns the notice around to read the details.

"'Spymaster of the Straw Hat Pirates. Wanted for desertion from the Marines, multiple accounts of breaching into restricted areas, murder and aggravated assault against former colleagues, including a high-ranking and highly respected member of the World Government.'"

Robin smiles.

"Well. I guess 'desertion' is one way to put it —and as good a start as any."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"... So you're telling me that Lynna actually used her Marine uniform to impersonate a dead Marine, get on the ship of the asshole who tried to steal all my gold, and called Luffy's grandpa to deal with him?"

"It's Sea King's grandpa." Elynna comments. "If he's a Marine, he has to be a damn good one, in every sense of the word."

"And she's the one who gave the Marines the documents they needed to get Crocodile in Impel Down?" Zoro goes on.

"... I mean, they are idiots. They needed all the help they could get, and I was feeling generous."

"Or petty, depending on the point of view." Usopp snickers.

"And all this time, you and Robin-chan have been helping Elynna-chan create fake identities for all the times she went somewhere alone on an island?"

"Well, I've only started to help since I got accidentally involved on Zephrim, but yes."

Usopp's chest puffs out just a bit more in confirmation.

"So Elynna has had a wanted poster for as long as Luffy?" Chopper sniffles, apparently stuck on that particular piece of information.

"Technically, yes." Robin confirms.

"Wait a minute." Sanji frowns in confusion. "What happened on Zephrim? I thought you guys just stormed the local Marine base to help someone?"

"We did." The archaeologist hums with a smile.

"But we stormed it because Elynna tried to infiltrate it first, and got arrested because none of the soldiers there wanted to keep her alive when she was supposed to be a rogue soldier trying to solve all the corruption problems within the Marines."

"One of them did help, though. He was a friend of Smoker, I think."

"Oh yeah, true." Usopp snorts dryly. "Hey, did I tell you guys that Smoker thinks Elynna's a spy sent in our crew by the CP1?"

There's a pause where everyone stares at him, and then Zoro and Sanji scoff simultaneously as Luffy and Chopper start giggling uncontrollably.

"Are you kidding me." Nami deadpans.

"Nope."

She sighs.

"And here I thought he was one of the smart ones."

"I know, right?"

"It's just that Ann is smarter!"

"Thank you for your contribution, Luffy." Nami says dryly with a roll of her eyes that fails to hide the amusement around her mouth, before it quiets into something more solemn as her gaze dawns on the girl her Captain is still hugging. "... Nojiko told me they've been able to rebuil all the towns Arlong and his men wrecked. A new school has been built, too. And a pretty big hospital."

Elynna doesn't open her eyes.

"Oh, yeah. Luffy's grandpa sent one of his friends. Apparently the guy managed to wrangle some more money from the World Government and the Marines as reparation for letting the situation worsen for a decade just because none of the higher-ups care much about East Blue."

"... I don't know if I want to kiss you for what you did or hit you for hiding it all this time."

"... I mean, you can do both."

"At least explain yourself!"

"Your faces are funny right now."

A strangled scream of frustration comes out of Nami's mouth as she throws her hands in the air, Sanji patting her gently on the back as a sign of sympathy.

"Guess I shouldn't have expected better from you."

"Definitely not." Zoro snorts.

"Why do they only want you dead, though?" Chopper asks quietly with a little frown as he smoothes out Elynna's poster with his hooves.

His question brings the emerging bickering to a halt as the rest of them realises the implication of it.

When Robin was captured, they at least had the knowledge that she would be kept alive for the sake of what she's the only one to know.

But Elynna?

They can't afford to make any mistakes.

Whether it's a bounty hunter or a Marine, during a fight or an ambush or whatever else, there will be no capturing her and waiting to decide what will become of her like there might be for a regular bounty.

Most likely, anyone and everyone will be aiming to kill, and will kill her on the spot if they get their hands on her.

Franky sighs as he readjusts his sunglasses.

"I'm not surprised. Desertion isn't something you joke about in the Marines, or the World Government for that matter. They spend a lot of money on propaganda and all that stuff, and even if no one says the word, they're pretty much at war against the Revolutionary Army —and the pirates to some extent— even if it's mostly on the level of discourses rather than all-out physical conflict right now. Plus, Ryan Alice has been talked about for almost a year as someone helping the Marines from the shadows. For her to suddenly turn out to be a pirate is serious stuff."

He pauses, and smirks.

"'Sides, Robin has a point. Doubt any of the old gits who make up most of the higher-ups appreciated finding out they've been fooled by a girl three or four times younger than them."

"You learn something everyday, even at that age." The girl in question comments idly.

You'll pay the price for your refusal, she remembers, and wonders if she'll be forced to leave this ship anyway.

If there's one of them in the Marines or the World Government and they're determined enough to kill her to use the full force of these very institutions against her…

There's a hard flick against her forehead.

"... Ow."

"You're worrying too much again, silly." Luffy's voice brushes against her eyelids.

"I'm not worrying, 'm thinking."

"Stop thinking, then."

"Alright." She murmurs, stuffing the eventuality somewhere among the hard knots in her stomach to plan for later as her eyes flicker open so she can focus on what is actually happening.

"... Why are you looking at me like that?" Usopp finally asks after almost a full minute of feeling Sanji's stare on his face.

The cook only hums.

"So you've known about this for a long time, right?"

"Did you not listen to anything that's been said, or are you just stupid?" Zoro asks mockingly.

"Shut up, cactus head."

"Why are you asking me that?" Usopp grumbles suspiciously.

"Ah, nothing." Sanji answers lightly with a sudden grin. "Just wondering if that whole Sogeking stunt was inspired by Elynna-chan's disguises."

The sharpshooter gapes, horrified.

"How dare you insult my creativity like thi—"

"I'm so touched, really. The tears are flowing from my eyes." Elynna cuts him off blandly, yawning as she does so. "Don't hesitate to ask for advice, young Padawan."

"... Can't we just go back to talking about hitting her?" Usopp bemoans loudly over the laughter that follows.

"How about you explain to me what she does with your fake identities first?" Nami replies with the smile she wears when she's about to rip someone off.

The sniper sniffs.

"How should I know? Robin and I just help her with the disguise, it's not like we come with her once we're done."

All the weight of Nami's smile is instantly reported on their First Mate, who bears it by pretending that it's not even there as she sits up to stretch her spine, Luffy settling himself back on her lap so she can prop her hands behind her and stay seated.

"Lynna."

"Hm?"

Zoro rolls his eyes.

"Just tell us before she bursts a vein."

"Tell you what?"

The question earns her another hard poke from Luffy that makes her snicker, before she waves a hand through the air in the vaguest gesture possible.

"This and that. You know."

"No." Zoro and Usopp deadpan at the same time. "We don't know."

Elynna shrugs nonchalantly in response.

"I just go to some bars and talk to people, mostly."

(So many more people than her social battery wants or needs her to, really.

But it's how she does her job, and most of the time that's enough motivation to get her through all the lies she has to keep track of and the pungent smell of alcohol and all the information to process and those strangers she doesn't care about.)

"About?"

Another shrug.

Something of a smirk.

"This and that. You know."

Nami's increasing frustration borders on pleading as it turns to Robin as a last resort.

The older woman smiles, somehow both indulgent and apologetic at the same time.

"Elynna did ask me to translate a few documents written in the Marines' secret code, but I don't know if it was of any interest to her. I might have an idea about one of the things she's looking for, but I doubt she only has one reason for doing this. Besides, I don't think it really matters, does it?"

Sanji nods in agreement.

"Robin-chan is right, Nami-chan. Elynna-chan will never do anything that doesn't benefit us… and I trust that she'll know to ask us for help if she ever needs it." He finishes, smile turning vaguely threatening as it lands on his First Mate, who gives him a thumbs up in return.

"Got it loud and clear, Hermes."

"I know that!" Nami screams in exasperation, before she gives up with her most childish pout yet. "But you can't just do all that important stuff and not talk to us about it."

"She has a point." Zoro agrees.

"I just did."

The swordsman scoffs.

"Like hell. Usopp and Robin did. And you waited until you had no other choice."

"... It's more fun when you find out about it afterwards, though."

Nami groans in defeat.

Zoro sighs heavily.

Sanji can't quite help the chuckle that slips out, perhaps because Chopper is mournfully comparing his wanted poster with Elynna's next to him.

"On that note," the girl in question says as she gently takes Luffy's head off her lap to get up before she proceeds to take back her poster, "I'll go put a veto on the room with the biggest bed, and I'm telling you right now that the door will always be open, literally and figuratively. Especially for sleepovers."

"I'm coming tonight!" Luffy beams, immediately rising a hand high in the air.

"As long as it's not open while you're undressing…" Usopp grumbles with a suspicious stare.

"It will be."

"What?!"

"This is your first challenge to get you out of the closet, Hawk." Elynna goes on without any regard for the sniper's startled reaction, straight-faced enough to make him sweat with the uncertainty that she might actually be serious about this. "Stop pretending to be uncomfortable just to follow social conventions."

"I approve. This plan is super. I'm gonna do the same." Franky comments with a thumbs up, earning an alarmed look from the sharpshooter.

"I can't believe you would do this to me! I trusted you—"

"I'm glad to know it meets your standards, Franky."

Their Captain stares at the three of them in turn, confusion lining all his features.

"... But Usopp isn't in a closet? You told me not to lock him up in closets anymore!"

"Wrong, Sea King. I told you not to lock him up alone in closets anymore."

"Oh, right."

Usopp sputters as Nami and Franky promptly start to laugh.

"You told him what?! I'm never coming to you to get him scolded again!"

"You're an idiot." Zoro informs him idly as he follows Elynna inside.

"How dare you?! She's the one who went about it all wrong!"

"... Pretty sure you should've known she'd pull something like this, Sniper Bro."

Usopp freezes at that, blankly staring at Franky before he collapses on his back with a loud, not quite intelligible moan of complaint.

"This," Nami tells him with a very bright, very satisfied smile, "is karma for withholding so much information from me."

"Shut up. You're not supposed to throw that kind of karma at me when our Captain isn't even angry in the first place!"

"Fine, I'll just double your interest rate for your next loan, then."

That earns her a wide-eyed look from Chopper and an even louder wail from Usopp.

"Zoro was right, you're a witch!"

Nami glares, and Franky whistles as he pushes up his sunglasses, eyes travelling between the two and clearly wondering if he should really ask what her interest rate is.

The navigator pouts prettily when he seems to give up on asking the question, but figures that he'll need money at some point anyway and so shrugs daintily before she picks her own bounty poster from the ones left, critically assessing the picture from up-close for the first time.

… Well, at least the guy knew his way around a camera, and her tattoos are clearly visible.

Her eyes flit over the rest of the information.

WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE

'Sky Sorceress' Nami

B 38,000,000

"You know," Robin starts from where she's sitting not far from her, the smile on her face just a little bit mischievous, "sorcery and witchcraft has historically been tied to evil and ugliness because history is mostly written by men. It's an accusation that has been used often against women who broke the rules or were too powerful —which usually meant breaking the rules."

Nami hums.

Then she stands up, grin bright enough to stop just shy of actual laughter.

"Maybe they're not completely stupid, then!"

She disappears inside to pick her room, and Elynna steps back out on the upper deck soon after, stretching to try and wake herself up, but her sleep schedule is still fucked up, and she knows she'll need another nap before lunchtime comes.

Messing with people and escaping from a Vice-Admiral's attack make for good distractions, but she doesn't quite have the energy to deal with so much action and all these emotions yet.

"Great bed, Franky."

"Glad you like it, Sis."

"Ah, Ann!"

She changes direction to get closer to Luffy, plops down to sit cross-legged next to where he's still lying on his back, and props an elbow on one knee to rest her unscarred cheek against her fist, leaning forward to meet his eyes as he grins up at her.

"Yeah, Sea King?"

"Why was Gramps so angry with you earlier? Did he try to recruit you in the Marines too?"

She hums, and her mouth slips into a half-asleep, secretive grin that makes her eyes glint and his own, beaming smile stretch even wider.

"Something like that. I didn't really get it either. I mean, I did write that report he asked for. It's not like I promised to convince you to leave your life of piracy and join the Marine or anything, for real. I don't get why he was so pissed at all."

Luffy just laughs, loud and flying under the blue sky and the sunshine that are here to send them off towards the next day of their journey.

"This is the best!"

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"This is the worst." Sengoku tells the rest of the room.

His pet goat bleats loudly in the otherwise empty office, and he decides to interpret it as a sign of sympathy, nodding in thanks at the show of support.

Said show of support doesn't really help with his current predicament, however.

In fact, 'predicament' is itself probably a more than underwhelming term for the situation.

Thousands of men have taken to the seas as pirates since Roger died more than twenty years prior, but this…

It's the first time that so many high-profile rookies are progressing through the Grand Line at the same time, to the point that the collective nickname of the Worst Generation has been popping up more and more often in the Headquarter's hallways —and more worryingly for him it means that he's going to have to deal with twelve Supernovas arriving at Sabaody pretty much at the same time and all the problems that will certainly cause.

It doesn't help that said Supernovas aren't only strong.

They've also shown much less hesitation than regular pirates or even other Supernovas when it comes to challenging the World Government and its authority, which puts them on a whole other scale of 'pains in his behind'.

The worst is that his hands are pretty much tied on the matter.

High-ranked Marines or a high enough number of Marines could take out these rookies easily, but all of them have much bigger problems to deal with trying to handle the pirates of the New World and the Revolutionary Army.

At this rate, no one will listen to him until the members of the Worst Generation graduate from 'pain in his behind' to 'one of the reasons why he often questions his younger self's decision to become Fleet Admiral'.

He glances down at the brand new bounty notices of the Straw Hat Pirates spread out on his desk, and grimaces.

He's been dealing with Monkey D. Dragon for years now, has been dealing with Monkey D. Garp for even longer, and that's exactly why he knows that Monkey D. Luffy and his crew might just be the biggest threat of the bunch, regardless of Eustass Kid's infamous bouts of violence or the fact that Trafalgal Law wields what is considered to be one of the most coveted Devil Fruits.

After all, he can at least manage the way the world talks about and sees the others so that they're considered and treated as both outcasts and threats, because they're pirates and behave the way most people expect a pirate to behave.

Often rudely, almost always violently, and generally with no care given to the discomfort or pain they cause among civilians.

He really doesn't have that much work to do on that front.

But Straw Hat Luffy?

He's a whole other ball game, and Sengoku doesn't need to have met the boy to know that he's probably as charismatic as Garp. As evidenced by how reluctantly the King of Alabasta eventually accepted to let the Marines manage the media coverage of the end of the civil war, despite his wiseness and political experience.

Being able to spin the story in his favour only goes so far when these brats only fight the Marines or the World Government seriously to save people, and inventing bad deeds would leave him and the PR branch with way too many loose ends to deal with.

He can't even say that having worked with Garp for so long gives him an edge in predicting the actions of what most would consider to be the wildest card among the Worst Generation —which for him appears to be by and large a younger, dumber and pirate version of his long-time colleague.

Because he could predict them… if only there wasn't another wild card to add to the equation.

But not only did the rubber boy surround himself with fine talents, including Nico Robin of all people, he also got himself a spymaster.

And one who, according to the reports he received, isn't just good at gathering information, but is also perfectly able and willing to use it for high-level schemes that he's pretty sure her Captain has no hand in.

(One they're struggling to find any information about past her orphan status, her strangely lackluster and short career in the Marines, and her death during a skirmish in the East Blue.)

He doubts that he'll ever find the whole truth about the woman anyway, and doubts even more that knowing the whole truth about her would be useful, since that man got involved and forced him to push back the publication of the bounty poster —and then contacted him again out of the blue demanding that the Dead Only mention be put on her notice.

(He can only hope that her corpse will be brought to him soon.

Because not only did she make them believe she was on their side for months, she also appears to have been using multiple names and identities.

Who's to say what else she has done?

How many Marines she has talked to?

The kind of information she may be aware of?

What she might do with the information Nico Robin does know, but never used because they've done their very best to choke the very idea of it out of her head with fear since she was a child?

The Ghost is a woman none of them know anything about.

Neither what she wants nor what she knows nor who she works for, if she even works for anyone other than herself—

and he fears that depending on the answers to these questions, she might just be a greater threat than any of the new Supernovas.

The kind of threat that he can't alert too loudly about, because putting out a larger bounty than he already has, for a spymaster?

The enemies of the World Government would do everything they can to get their hands on her and her secrets, and the girl is nowhere near as terrified of the possible consequences as Nico Robin has been made to be to not take advantage of it.)

He never thought Garp or anyone so similar to him would find someone like this and like them enough to keep them.

(Someone on the side of cunning that makes trust nigh impossible,

with enough guts to manipulate high-ranking soldiers and World Government agents and not enough heart to be above the psychological decimation of people she once shared a cause with.)

And he's starting to think that a duo like this is the stuff of nightmares.

The Enies Lobby case is proof of that.

He's nowhere close to seeing the end of that mess, and dealing with the multiple debacles Ryan Alice alone left in his hands has already taken more four-hours long meetings than he cares to remember.

He's had to demote the soldier from Zephrim who asked for Ryan's help in stopping the systemic corruption among his colleagues because the girl was most probably already a traitor by that point, and he barely managed to put his foot down when some people put forward the idea of actually freeing the Marines who were sent to jail in the ensuing investigation, as if the fact that it was kickstarted by a traitor automatically meant that the soldiers who picked it up afterwards didn't do a thorough, fair job of it.

On top of that, he will probably have to demobilise some of the soldiers saved from Enies Lobby before the island was lost to the Buster Call and monitor the rest.

He's received reports according to which more than a few of these men have showed signs of paranoia directed specifically towards the top brass of both the Marines and the World Government, symptoms which are much stronger among the few survivors of the fight between Ryan Alice and the entirety of the CP9 trainees, said survivors having apparently straight-up refused to be attended to by a Marine doctor once they were cognizant enough.

The hardline faction jumped on the occasion to finally put a leash on Garp for being led around so easily by a traitor, and even reminding them that keeping silent in the case that one discovers the identity of an undercover agent they shouldn't know about is protocol wasn't enough to fully prevent them from demanding some kind of punishment.

He did try to protect his long-time friend by bringing to the table the topic of Spandam, a notable member of the hardliners who not only failed to stop the Straw Hats despite having the entirety of the CP9 unit and Enies Lobby personnel —not to mention a Buster Call— on hand, but whose closest allies are now also the subject of suspicions given the documents found in his office and revealed after his death.

But that just came back to bite him in the ass in the form of the age-old argument of how this failure was only proof of the fact that too many Marines are too gentle with criminals, which is why they got bold enough to attack Enies Lobby of all places, and that a harder approach and more weapons, fire power and men is the perfect answer to that.

So now the hardliners have been granted a partial right of scrutiny over Garp's actions that they will surely use to further discredit him and the moderates as a whole, and the entire thing has tipped the balance in favour of the hardline faction among some of the more neutral members of the Marines, which doesn't bode well for any major decision he might have to take in the near future.

With a sigh, he takes off his glasses, rubbing at the painful point of stress just between his eyebrows that announces the arrival of yet another godforsaken migraine.

"Sengoku-san." His secretary calls through the door, having mercifully stopped using his mouthful of a title to address him.

Sengoku sighs.

"... Yes."

"The meeting concerning the prevention measures against piracy in East Blue will start in fifteen minutes."

"... Evan. How high are my retirement benefits again?"

"Seventy-five percent of your salary, sir. But it drops to seventy percent of a Rear Admiral's salary in case of early resignation."

He sighs again.

Honestly, how is it that he's the Fleet Admiral and still can't do a thing about this thrice-damned retirement plan?!

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Let's go, guys! Party time! The first criminal of East Blue to get a three hundred million bounty is from Fusha Village, and guess what?! It's our little guy Luffy!"

Pretty much the entirety of Fusha's inhabitants who have somehow managed to cram themselves within Makino's bar burst out laughing at that, holding high their chosen drink.

"Yeah!"

"Kanpai!"

Sitting in the exact same bar with a drink in his own hand, the village's esteemed mayor clenches his cane tighter, and slams it loudly against the floorboards.

"What do you think you're all doing?!" He eventually blurts out loudly, slapping his hand repeatedly on the table he's sitting at. "That little brat becomes a world-renowned criminal and attacks the World Government, and you throw a party of all things?! Have some sense, all of you!"

Some of the villagers blink at him and then go right back to laughing and cheering Luffy on.

The others straight up ignore him.

"Ugh. No one listens to me in this town. You would think being their mayor would make these fools pay attention…"

The clanking of another tankard of beer next to his near-empty one interrupts his grumbling.

"Come on, mister mayor. You know they'd never do any of this if the Marines are around to hear." Makino chides him gently, eyes drifting to the wanted posters spread on the table. "Besides, if it's Luffy, I'm sure he had a good reason to do all of this."

"Or no reason at all." Woop Slap mutters into the end of his first tankard, making the bar owner giggle with gentle amusement as she picks up the poster of the boy in question.

"At any rate, it looks like he has found a few more friends that he didn't even tell me about when I called him to make sure he's okay. That silly boy." She sighs fondly. "They all seem like nice kids though, I'm glad. And there's that adorable animal, too."

"Nice kids?" The mayor repeats dubiously as he glances down at the pictures, most of which were probably taken in the middle of the battle at Enies Lobby. "A bunch of delinquents is more like it. Honestly, I don't know what Garp is waiting for to rein in that grandson of his. Does Dadan even know about it?"

"Oh, I'd wager she does, and that I won't be seeing her here for some time. She and the others are probably packing up to go hide somewhere in case Garp-san comes to berate them like he did when Ace became a Supernova, too."

"Tch. Troublesome brats, the whole lot of them."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"This is... quite rare." David 'Dave' Fern muses as he sits in his office of the Wanted Notices branch of the Marines' PR department. "The Straw Hats are a small crew, but even in crews like this it's... unusual for all members to have a bounty."

The three official photographers standing in front of his desk exchange a glance, but remain silent.

"However, you still haven't explained to me why there is no decent picture —or any picture at all— for these three." Their superior goes on with a wave of his hand towards the posters for 'Black Leg' Sanji, Ryan 'The Ghost' Alice and Sogeking.

The youngest of the photographers flinches, but hesitantly starts to speak after an older colleague slaps him in the back encouragingly.

"I tried to take a picture of Black Leg, but—" He pauses, mouth twisting into a wince, and takes a deep breath before speaking again. "I… forgot to uncover the lens?"

His superior interlaces his fingers together, tips tapping over his knuckles as he stares the younger man down from behind his desk.

"... I beg your pardon?"

"Cut him some slack, Sir." Another photographer intervenes. "It was his first time on the field, it's normal that he was paying more attention to not becoming collateral damage. We all make mistakes at that stage. Besides, Black Leg and Jabura-san's fight was by far the shortest —and the fastest. Less opportunity to do a good job."

David grunts.

"And the others."

"I followed Ryan." The last of the three photographers starts. "But then she got locked in the bunker and it was pretty clear that she wasn't supposed to get out alive, so I didn't follow. Besides, we're paid to risk our lives, not to lose it, and following her in a locked bunker with multiple CP9 rookies seemed like a bad plan. She was pretty much covered in blood when she got out anyway, so a picture wouldn't have done much, and I sure as hell didn't want to draw her attention."

"... And after?"

A shrug.

"We were evacuated pretty quickly after the Buster Call ships sailed from HQ. There weren't a lot of opportunities to take pictures after that. Especially since she still had the Marine uniform on."

"Yeah." His colleague agrees with a jab of his thumb towards his younger teammate. "Jan here managed to take Sogeking's picture, but that's pretty much it."

"And we were able to trick the Sky Sorceress into letting us take hers in Water Seven, but I'm pretty sure at least one member of the crew figured it out, because it was impossible to get the three others to do the same after that."

"Exactly. They didn't get out much, and when they did they were always swarmed by people."

"Can't even tell who got tricked between her and us anyway, given how much she made us pay for the chance to take her picture."

"Definitely asking for a repayment for that one. Which form is it again? C-1936?"

"No, that's the one to fund disguises. I'm pretty sure you're talking about the B-2745 one."

"Well fuck. Isn't that the one Weeld said was worse than a tax report?"

"Yep."

"Should've known. Shit."

"You can say that again."

"Language, gentlemen." Dave finally snaps with an exasperated glare.

"Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir." The two men drawl under their younger colleague's nervous eyes.

Their superior sighs again.

"... And the monster we received reports on?"

Both men snort at the same time as their intern gulps loudly.

"Yeah, we weren't going to get anywhere close to that while it was raging. Didn't see it again after it fell into the water, though."

"Same here. I'm not even sure it was really on the Straw Hats' side. The thing didn't seem all that intelligent."

"Maybe it's dead?" The youngest man of the four suggests hopefully.

That gets him a clap on the shoulder from one senpai and a careful nod from the other.

"I sure hope so, kid. I sure hope so."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Ace stares down once more at the two posters he stole from a pub on the island he visited the day before.

Three hundred million, huh?

His little brother's smile is as bright as ever in the picture, which is identical to the other bounty posters Ace collected and that are now folded carefully somewhere in his bag.

He racked up one hell of a crew, too, for all of them to be willing to follow him and attack Enies Lobby of all places.

Though he already got that impression from them in Alabasta, but still.

Luffy might not be the only interesting rookie on the Grand Line right now, but he's the only one whose entire crew has been declared wanted, and Ace would call Marco and the others to brag about it if he could.

He used to be a bit worried about the presence of someone like Nico Robin being so close to his brother —and somewhat curious as to how that woman ended up on Luffy's crew of all people.

But clearly the whole bunch can handle themselves and the kind of problem her presence brings.

Besides…

His gaze falls on the second poster resting on the floorboards of the Striker.

Some people would probably find it just as weird for someone like 'Ryan Alice' to be part of the Straw Hat Pirates.

"That idiot." He sighs, fond and just a bit exasperated all at once.

He can't even see her face like this, when she's the one friend whose features he struggles to remember the most.

With a sigh, he puts away both sheets of paper with the other ones in his bag, and lithely stands up from his crouch to jump off the Striker and onto the ground of Serzoni Island, leaving his bag on the deck.

One last sweeping glance over his shoulder tells him that Teach's ship really is empty, so he turns to walk towards the small town that is supposed to lie beyond the row of hills that currently block his line of vision.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"—fifty berries! I—"

"Are you done, you stupid son of mine, or are you trying to tell me that I'm getting deaf because of old age?"

Chopper's mouth snaps shut.

A satisfied click of the tongue comes through from the Den Den Mushi in front of him.

"That's what I thought. And I told you plenty of times already that the Marines are idiots. That includes their damn bounties." Doctorine tells him.

"But… Luffy!" He protests. "Three hundred million berries—"

"I could have told you he was worth more within five minutes of meeting him. It's not because that bunch of weirdos you joined have seen your value that everyone is suddenly going to start doing the same." His mentor's voice reminds him sharply as Liver gives him the look Doctorine always did whenever he let his optimism prevent him from keeping the facts in mind. "And if you want them to take out that 'pet' mention, all you gotta do is go all out on them next time."

"Doctorine!" He squeaks, giving the little snail a horrified look. "I can't just hurt people to get a better bounty!"

"That's usually what it's about." The best doctor of the Sakura Kingdom grumbles. "What's with the lass, anyway? That's not her name."

"... Ah." Chopper laughs sheepishly as he reaches up to rub the back of his head. "It's complicated."

Doctrine snorts.

"Not surprising, coming from her. I didn't know she was a fighter, though."

Chopper giggles at that, because he didn't expect it either after meeting her as a patient, but in the end they all have different roles.

Nami is their treasurer as much as she's their navigator, Usopp their resident artist as much as their sniper, Sanji is as much a fighter as he is their cook—

"Well, now that we're clear on how worthless a Marine's opinion of your capability is," his mentor goes on, "how about you tell me what's got you feeling down like this?"

The reindeer gulps.

"I'm not—"

Liver raises a single eyebrow that she doesn't have in echo of Kureha's reaction, and he falls silent.

"I've raised you for longer than that stupid father of yours, Tony Tony Chopper. You think you can hide anything from me?"

He hurriedly shakes his head.

"That's better." She grins. "Now talk."

Chopper talks.

Hesitantly, but he does.

Because he has to know.

"... Is there really no way to lighten the strain on Luffy's body?"

Doctrine gives him a long look, but indulges him despite the long discussion they've already had about this.

"From what you told me, his techniques are all about pushing his body past normal limits. You can try and find a way to reinforce his body before or better compensate for the damage after, but short of finding another way to reach the same result, you can't make the technique itself less damaging."

Chopper slumps in his seat.

"But even that…"

Even that won't be enough, if things keep getting more dangerous and Luffy keeps using these techniques or coming up with even more dangerous ones.

Doctorine sighs.

"Have you ever heard 'with great power comes great responsibility'?"

Chopper blinks back at the snail on his desk, not sure where the question is coming from.

"Yes?"

"Well," she says, "it's bullshit. You only have responsibilities as far as you allow yourself to be responsible. But what's true is that power comes with a price. And if your little friends want to achieve their dreams, they'll have to accept that, and you'll have to accept it too."

His mouth twists in frustration at that, but eventually, Chopper nods.

(He understands.

He does.

But he's a doctor who dreams of being able to cure every wound and every disease, a doctor whose nakama most often don't care to notice their own limits or how many times they break past them.

He understands, but he'll be damned if he lets himself think that not having a cure now, whether partial or complete, means that it won't ever be possible to find one.)

The look Doctorine gives him through their respective Den Den Mushi is suspicious at best, but she lets him show her his new treatment for joint pains based on the Aqua Laguna salt Sanji told him about and a few other ideas he's considering.

They don't often get the opportunity to talk about medicine for so long anymore, though, so Chopper is a bit out of practice in keeping up with his mentor's fast analysis while taking notes, and his wrist is definitely feeling sore after about an hour.

Kureha stops, then, and he allows himself to slow down as he writes the last of her comment on the usefulness of preparing blood bags before going to Fish-Man Island given the legislation that forbids blood transfers between Merfolks and Humans (I already told you a thousand times that medicine is constrained by legal rules as much as by moral ones, you stubborn boy! I don't care what your father had to say about it, he was a total quack!), as much to relieve his wrist as to give himself time to prepare his next question —and the answer that might come with it.

"... Doctorine?"

"What."

He breathes in nervously.

"The man who had the same condition as Elynna… How old was he when you met him?"

That gets him a long, piercing look from the snail next to him and an even longer pause.

"He was in his forties, I guess. Silver hair, blue eyes, and the skin of a guy who's spent most of his life on the sea." Kureha goes on as if she already knows what he's about to say. "Why?"

He blinks, Elynna's face when they found her flashing against the back of his eyelids.

"We… met him, I think." He eventually replies.

"Hmph. You better have given him a piece of your mind for leaving me hanging."

Chopper winces, because he honestly completely forgot about that at the time.

(Because none of them got to give him a piece of their mind, there and gone as soon as he delivered the blow he wanted to.)

"... No. He asked to talk to Elynna alone and—"

He stops, mouth twisting for the seconds it takes to shelve away the memories.

"—it didn't go well."

"... That idiot."

It's all Doctorine says on the matter.

(He can't tell if she's talking about Elynna or the man who should have been there for her but wasn't.)

Eventually, Chopper places the receiver back in its holder to let Liver go back to sleep after asking his mentor to say hello to Dalton and some of his former patients for him.

He doesn't get to reread his notes even once, though, because Liver suddenly wakes up again, the loud and unexpected sound of her ringing startling Chopper into almost knocking over his inkpot.

Breathing a sigh of relief at the catastrophe he just avoided, he slowly pushes the inkwell far away from his research notes before blinking curiously at the Den Den Mushi.

"... Hello?" He eventually greets as he picks up the call.

"Ah. Is it… Chopper-sensei?"

He immediately straightens up with a beaming smile.

"Kaya! How are you doing?"

"I've been doing fine, thank you for asking." His best friend's childhood friend (according to Usopp) and girlfriend (according to Nami and Elynna) answers, voice as gentle as usual. "How about you, sensei?"

The title makes him squirm slightly on his chair, but he's heard it so often from her that he's gotten almost used to it.

Almost.

"Quite good! Everyone had the time to rest before we had to leave Water Seven, and our new ship is great!"

"Really?"

"Yes! But Usopp will probably describe it better than me."

It's true, but it's also because regardless of the fact that Kaya isn't really Usopp's girlfriend, his best friend is still pretty obviously in love with her.

"He is good at that, isn't he?" Kaya agrees softly, and Chopper nods enthusiastically. "He told me the other day you all wanted to invite a new member in your crew. Did you manage to do that?"

The giggles spill out of his mouth before she's even finished asking the question.

"Yeah! It was very funny!"

That makes the doctor-in-training laughs, too.

"I don't doubt it. Is it the man who got a bounty at the same time as you? Franky-san, I think his name was."

Chopper is about to answer when Usopp barges into his room, slamming the door close and collapsing into a sweaty mess on the ground while muttering a string of somewhat incoherent words —but coherent enough for Chopper to understand that he got dragged into another training session with Zoro and Elynna.

He shudders at the thought.

"Chopper-sensei?" Kaya calls, and her voice makes the puddle of sweat that Usopp seems intent on becoming freeze, right before the sniper looks up fast enough to make his neck crack and Chopper wince.

He mouths something like Is that Kaya?, and Chopper nods frantically, making his best friend swear quietly as he scrambles to get back to his feet.

Chopper throws his own water bottle at him, and turns back to Liver to talk some more with Kaya while Usopp pulls himself together.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

The town looks like it's barely standing when he steps into it, and the streets are empty except for faraway screams.

The roof he climbs on is this close to falling apart, but it does nothing to distract him or his balance as he stares at the other side of the town, where a black, wriggling mass of something that isn't really smoke but not really liquid either is receding.

There's no point in going any further when his target will be coming to him to get back to his ship, so he simply crouches there on the edge of the roof, elbows propped on his thighs and fingers intertwined as he settles in to wait.

This is it.

He'll come out of this either with Teach's head in his hand and the rest of him burned to ashes, or—

His jaw clenches, and he exales through his nose as he closes his eyes.

No.

That's the only option.

A familiar voice makes him open his eyes to look down at where his former subordinate and his crewmates are walking down the street.

"—shouldn't be too long before we—"

"Oi. Teach."

The members of the Blackbeard Pirates whirl around at the sound of his voice, but their Captain is slower to meet his gaze.

And then a wide smile slashes across his face, just like the one Ace used to return and trust.

"Commander! You—"

"I told you not to call me that. That title isn't worth anything in the mouth of someone who just wants to make fun of me."

"Oh, don't be like that! I'm just nostalgic. You're the only old friend I got to see since—"

"Let's cut the bullshit, Teach. You know what this is about."

"... Yeah, I guess I do. Let me just ask you just one question, though! How about joining my crew, huh? Ace! Together we could take over the world!"

Ace just stares down at him, disbelief leaving no place for words that might convey his utter disgust at the fact that Teach thought he had a good enough chance of hearing a positive answer to even dare ask him the question.

"Listen!" Teach laughs as he spreads his arms widely. "I've got it all planned out! Look, that Straw Hat rookie is your brother, right? So you must know that there's a Marine traitor in his little crew. Can't trust the likes of them with your little brother's life, eh? So I'll kill her and—"

Ace feels the snarl brutally twists its way across his face as he glares down at the suddenly silent man below.

"Kill Alice?" He spits, and the name tastes wrong in his mouth like being someone who only exists in her eyes for the time it takes her to tell a lie, but he would hate hearing her actual name from the man who just asked him to betray his Pops even more. "What are you going on about?"

Teach's smile fades.

"You know the girl?" He asks, and Ace could kill him a first time for his betrayal and then a second time for even mentioning his brother and Elynna with that voice and that smile.

"She's a friend. But I guess that just gives me one more reason to get rid of you. As for my answer, it's obviously—"

Lafitte takes out a pistol and fires several shots in a row.

One blows harmlessly past Ace.

The two others blow just as harmlessly through him.

He just looks down his nose at the group.

"—no." He finishes. "That's some pretty rude crewmates you found, Teach. Guess I shouldn't be surprised."

He feels the warmth of the sun on his back being cut off by the huge shadow of the house Teach's mask-wearing crewmate is about to throw at him, and unlaces his fingers with a sigh to set the tips of them against the roof at his sides.

"Flame Commandment." He calls, flames flickering to life in a swirling circle around him. "Fire Pillar!"

The gathered fire explodes upwards, reducing the house to cinders but not his attacker, who falls back towards the ground.

The flames scatter away to mere sparks in the leftover heat of the air, ready to be blown into an inferno again.

Teach raises a hand.

"Stop it, you two! You aren't on his level yet, I'm taking care of thi—"

Ace throws a fist forward, and the flames that follow are enough to blow through five rows of houses.

Teach's screams echo through the distance between them along with those of his crewmates as Ace jumps down from the roof, idly thinking that his former subordinate seems a lot more affected than he would have been before.

Now that, is interesting.

But he guesses that all the additional powers granted by the Yami Yami no Mi have to be compensated by something, and Elynna would hardly know about this particular weakness when no one has been able to put up a fight against his former subordinate, who seems to have been picking small islands with little to no protection while getting used to his new powers.

He makes his way to where the two pirates are frantically trying to chase the remaining fire away from their Captain, stepping through the smoking remains of the last house destroyed as his flames flow down from the upper floors to lap at his feet.

"Interesting power you've got here, Teach. That's what you killed Thatch for?"

The man in question flops onto his stomach to stifle the last of Ace's attack before he climbs back to his feet, panting.

"Of course! I even spent decades with the Whitebeard Pirates just to have a better chance at finding it, even though the downsides are this bad!" He heaves out a laugh, as if he hasn't just told him that he's been smiling at Pops and the rest of them while being ready to kill them at any point since he first showed his digusting face and that none of them have ever seen anything. "But maybe you'll understand if I show you what the Yami Yami no Mi is capable of! Black Hole!"

Darkness pours down from his skin and onto the ground, pooling there and creeping slowly outward until it covers the expanse of the entire town.

Then buildings and roads and ruins alike start to shake, collapsing and breaking as the vortex of black slowly digests everything but the patch of ground Ace is standing on.

The darkness recedes, but Teach is still laughing, and so Ace stays still, waiting for—

"Liberation!"

Black surges out of his former subordinate and spits out what remains of the town in the form of a wreckage of snapped wood and crushed stone and distorted metal.

"See?! Darkness has an infinite power of gravity! It swallows and crushes everything! Wasn't that worth killing—"

The idly floating glimmers of Ace's Firefly Lights catch on fire, and the rest of Teach's sentence devolves into screams.

He's about to follow-up with another Fire Fist when his first attack is suddenly swallowed away, and then there's a hand held out towards him and an agonising pull grasping his guts and that laugh—

"Let me show you another thing the Yami Yami no Mi can do—"

Ace snarls, fire whispering inside his clenched fists.

By the time he whips both hands through the air, there's enough of it spinning between his fingers to scorch two spears of fire into existence before he launches them straight into Teach's chest.

Ace hits the ground already rolling to his feet, boots sliding roughly against the uneven ground and closer to his former subordinate before he delivers a solid punch in the man's stomach.

Teach goes flying, crashing into a nearby heap of what was once a post office over the surprised shouts of his crewmates as Ace straightens up, flexing his fingers until his knuckles crack.

Damn.

He forgot how much better it worked to take out his anger on the people responsible for it solely with his fists or a rusted pipe rather than fire.

Looks like all the fights he picked against random thugs did serve their purpose in getting him back into the habit of fighting without his powers, though.

Teach crawls out of the cloud of dust left by his crash before Ace can completely close the distance between them, coughing loudly as he heaves himself onto all fours.

"... You." He says as his eyes suddenly swivel up to Ace. "You already knew, didn't ya?"

And in other circumstances, Ace would never risk drawing his attention to Elynna —and his kid brother in the process.

But she already has it, and in the worst way possible if Teach really has made killing her part of his deluded plan of world domination.

If she's going to have his attention on her, it may as well be for something that might make Teach think twice about killing her.

(But more than that—

Out of all the friends he's made since Sabo first took a look at him, most of whom thought they knew Teach, El is perhaps the one he trusts the most to handle an encounter with him.

She might not have decades of experience as a pirate or the fighting skills of someone who lives in the New World, but she knows what Teach is capable of, probably keeps an eye on where he's going for her own crew just as much as she does it to help him since they met on Jaya, can contact the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates if needed—

and from what he knows of her skillset, she might just be able to keep up with Teach in a fight long enough to get away if it comes down to it.)

"Didn't I tell you already? Alice is a friend."

Teach blinks, and then snickers loudly as he proceeds to get back up.

"The little spy? I'm surprised, Commander. I had enough trouble getting you to trust me before killing Thatch as it is, and then you go and let a Marine traitor help you? Sometimes even I am surprised by how much us traitors can get away wi—"

Ace lunges after the hatred snarling out of his own throat faster than he can think.

"Don't you fucking dare compare yourself to her—"

And then there's the pull and Teach's hand on his arm and his fist hitting in the exact same place Ace hit him just a minute before.

His skin scrapes roughly across gravels and shards of glass the next moment as he rolls, glimpsing the wave of black rushing over the ground just in time to react.

"Shi—"

He scrambles to a stop and slams both fists down, sending fire bursting forward into a wave tall enough to swallow towers for cover.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"What size?"

"The biggest, of course."

Nami drops her head against her desk with a loud groan.

"Why."

Nojiko's laughter rings in her ears.

"He's pretty much our dad, Nami. I think it's a requirement for any good dad. Bellemere-san would've done the same, anyway."

Nami groans again.

"The most embarassing dad ever."

"Could be worse. From what you told me, that Vivi girl set the bar pretty high."

"... I guess so." The navigator eventually relents, because it is hard for her to think of Cobra as an actual King after all the stories Vivi told her.

"Nice tattoo, by the way." Her sister goes on, that familiar smile of hers lighting up the face of the Den Den Mushi she snatched up before Luffy could decide to use all four for his own calls. "And the piercings suit you."

"I know." Nami grins back as she straightens up. "And it looks great, not nice."

Nojiko snickers on the other side of the call.

"Sure thing, sis. Just so you know, Genzo-san is already fearing the day when we start shaving our hair like Bellemere-san and he'll end up putting up pictures of delinquents in his house."

The thought just makes Nami's grin wider.

She can already hear the man's grumbling from where she is.

"Sorry, you'll have to deal with that on your own. Besides, I am a pirate."

"Oh, believe me, he hasn't forgotten. He mentions it pretty much every time he goes up to Bellemere-san's grave." Nojiko muses over the achingly nostalgic sound of tangerines being peeled. "As if she would try to stop you. Besides, she'd love your Captain."

Nami blinks at that, tilting her head where it rests in her open palm as she allows herself to imagine the encounter.

She thinks Bellemere would love even more to share tangerine recipes with Sanji and tease Zoro or Usopp with Elynna, but well—

It's pretty much impossible to hate her Captain, so.

"Yeah, she would." She smiles again after a moment before redirecting the conversation towards her sister. "How's it going at the orchard, by the way? Now that Hayden left."

Brain rolls her eyes in the same way that Nojiko does.

"Don't make it sound so dramatic, we just broke up. It wasn't even messy. Besides, you know he started working full-time at the hair salon last year. He didn't have the time to be helping me all that much anymore."

"He still did on his days off." Nami grumbles, because sure, he fell in love with someone else and was honest about it, and sure, they got together more for the comfort of having someone after years of living under Arlong's rule, but really—

How the hell did he fall in love with someone else after two years of dating her sister?

"Well, it's a bit harder, and I'll probably have to find a solution in the long term, but for now it's fine." Nojiko says firmly, drawing her away from her indignant thoughts. "Remember Mari?"

Nami frowns as she sifts through their childhood memories.

"The girl you hung out with when we were kids?"

"Yeah. We lost contact after Arlong arrived, but we bumped into each other at the last inter-village market day. She opened a bakery, so we're discussing some kind of partnership."

"Really?" Nami perks up, knowing that a stable deal like this would go a long way in securing her sister's income.

She glances down at her wristwatch, noting that it has been almost half an hour since she last went outside to check the weather, and if her calculations are right, they're about to enter a somewhat turbulent zone.

"Tell you what," she goes on, "I'll try to call you sometime this week during the evening so we have more time to talk. You can tell me more about it then, and rant about Hayden all you want."

"I just said it wasn't messy, Nami. It's fine." Her sister huffs with a smile.

"Who cares?" Nami sniffs scornfully. "I'm your sister, I have no problem listening to you being completely unfair when ranting about him —or whatever you feel like ranting about."

"Such a good sister." Nojiko snorts. "I'll be looking forward to it. And then you can also tell me about all the bad stuff you definitely didn't mention today."

Nami's smile immediately turns into a pout, which only makes the snail in front of her look more amused.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, little sis. I was fine hearing about Arlong and his men. I'll be fine hearing about everything else that you have to deal with on the Grand Line."

The navigator winces at that, but well—

There's no one she'd rather talk to about that kind of thing, and when she puts it like that…

"Fine, fine."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"Still… The World Government, Zoro. Did you really have to go that far?"

"Obviously."

In fact, he's of the opinion that these assholes got off lightly, after reducing a woman as strong as Robin to a state where she thought that wanting to die was the only way out.

"Don't worry, Zoro." Norihito's voice cuts in. "Shishō is just pissed that the new recruits want to become pirates too."

Zoro scoffs lightly.

"Not my problem." He dismisses. "And not yours either. They can do whatever they want."

"It's a funding thing, Zoro. A funding thing." His former co-disciple explains patiently. "If more criminals come out of our school, we're gonna have the Marines on our ass, and the elders in the village are already talking about it."

The Den Den Mushi's face suddenly goes from mischievous to something much more solemn and tinged with just a bit of exasperation, signalling a change of speaker.

"Don't listen to him, Zoro. He's only being dramatic." His teacher says, just a tad too stiff for Norihito's words to be only for the sake of teasing. "Tell me, are you well? I don't suppose any of the fights you were involved in recently were easy."

Zoro winces at that, one hand clenching instinctively around the handle of the katana whose rusted remains are hidden by its scabbard.

"'S fine. Lost a blade."

The sharp breath his teacher takes in is loud in the pause that follows.

"... Is it—"

"No." Zoro hurries to correct him, hand moving to settle more loosely around Wado Ichimonji's scabbard.

"... Hard, man." Norihito eventually draws the conversation away from the one topic that is pretty much taboo in the Isshin Dojo. "I heard there's pretty much anything you can need on Sabaody, though. You're reaching it soon, right?"

"Quality is what matters the most, Zoro." Their former mentor interjects before Zoro can answer. "Don't forget that. If the sword is not good, don't buy it. If anything, this will be a good way for you to work on your other techniques."

Zoro huffs at the familiar words.

"Give me a break. I wouldn't let myself get rusty with any of my techniques."

He won't let anything get in the way of him becoming the strongest swordsman in the world, after all.

Arrogance included.

He already made that mistake once, and Elynna still manages to bring it up sometimes.

He's not about to give her more ammunition.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Marshall D. Teach wobbles back to his feet, breathing hard and struggling through the feeling of being set on fire all over again every time his chest rises or falls.

This isn't how things were supposed to go.

He doesn't think anyone has given him this much of a hard time in at least a good ten years.

He's seen his former Commander fight plenty of times, so he thought it would be easy.

But he didn't think the boy would actually accept help, let alone find someone smart enough to figure out the Yami Yami no Mi's powers this well.

Even that doesn't explain how much trouble the brat is giving him, though.

Information this precious is hardly worth anything if you don't know how to use it, and Ace has definitely made good use of the information he was given.

His fighting style hasn't changed per se.

He's still very much an offensive fighter.

But for Teach, who's fought by his side for so long, it's clear that he's made some major adaptations to his usual style to make it more fitting to fighting a Yami Yami no Mi user.

He fights less in close range, feints more often, and uses his Devil Fruit less in favour of hand-to-hand combat and Haki.

His usage of Haki is actually the least bothersome part of it, since he never really took the time to train enough to have a good grasp on either of the forms.

As long as Teach doesn't leave him enough time to concentrate, he's pretty much safe from it.

But Ace already had his Devil Fruit when he joined the Whitebeard Pirates, and so Teach never saw him fight so much without it.

He knew that the boy was resilient and physically strong, but he never expected him to be this good after so long of relying almost exclusively on the Mera Mera no Mi, and he expected him to use the long pipe he picked up from a destroyed house this well even less.

Maybe he should have, though.

One doesn't become a Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates at such a young age without exceptional skills that go beyond simply having a Devil Fruit.

Teach coughs out a smile, watching as his former superior staggers to his feet, muscles twitching under the strain but the baring of his teeth unwavering.

"Come on, Commander!" He laughs. "This is such a waste, innit? Join me!"

Ace's answer is to spit a mouthful of blood on the ground and wipe his mouth, hatefully glaring at him all the while as he slides back into a fighting stance.

"Save your breath, Teach. I don't intend to have any regrets when I die."

Teach blinks at him, and bursts out laughing.

Well, when he puts it like that.

It's time to end this farce, anyway.

"It's funny that you would say that, Commander. 'Cause see—"

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"The other idiots cut out your wanted poster to put it up in the restaurant, by the way. Lots of ladies got a good laugh over it, right boys?"

"That they did, Zeff-san!" Patty laughs loudly, followed by a dozen other voices.

"And not just the ladies!" Carne adds.

Sanji grits his teeth, crushing the cigarette he was about to light in his fist and glaring down at Heart, who leans away from him even as his face stays stuck copying Zeff's smirk.

"You damn geezers…" He growls. "I should have known you'd pull something like that now that you don't have anyone to be the face of the Baratie."

The smirk twists into a glare, and there's the sound of a meat cleaver being brought down hard on a chopping board.

"What was that, brat? Are you implying that this place needs anything other than my cooking to be the best restaurant around?"

Sanji shrugs elegantly at that, hiding the curve of his own smirk behind the lighter he lifts up to start a new cigarette.

"It's not my fault you're turning it into a circus. Have you seen Patty?"

The slew of insults and death threats his words bring about just makes him grin wider.

"You lookin' for a fight, you two-bit pirate?" Heart howls at him with Patty's voice.

"Stop playing with fire!"

"Yeah! We've cut down dozens like you!"

"Stop distracting my cooks, brat." Zeff cuts in. "And you, back to work!"

"Yes, Zeff-san!" His former coworkers chorus.

Heart settles back down into the head chef's grumpy expression, and Sanji immediately comes back to the matter at hand.

"Take that poster down." He demands.

"Don't tell me what to do in my restaurant unless you're a better cook than me, boy." Zeff shoots back.

"I'm twice the cook I was when I left, shitty old man—"

"Congratulations. Maybe you'll get there in less than fifty years, then."

"—and I've gotten my hands on some damn good ingredients, including the best salt there is."

That makes Zeff pause to squint at him in consideration, and Sanji absently wonders if he got himself that prescription for glasses he's been telling the older man to get for at least five years.

"Best salt, huh? So that shitty fool is still alive."

"Sure is." He smiles innocently. "He told me that you were probably still the same brat as ever, too."

"Watch your mouth, Sanji!" Carne yells somewhere in the background.

"Yeah! We'll come kick your ass!" Zakao clamours.

Sanji just lets out an amused huff.

"As if you could."

That just earns him another round of outraged screams that only stop when a waiter barges into the room to ask about the staff meal.

"Hmpf. He probably has one foot in the grave already, speaking nonsense like that." Zeff eventually says even as he gets back to work, the rhythm of his cleaver on the chopping board as familiar to Sanji as his own heartbeat.

"He seemed to be doing fine, actually. Besides, you always tell me that you still have a few decades to go."

Immediately there's a glare landing on his face, but he doesn't budge.

It looks a lot less intimidating coming from a hamster-sized snail, anyway.

"What are you trying to say, you little brat? That decrepit old man's got at least a good thirty years on me."

"Really?" Sanji grins back. "I didn't notice. You two look the same age from where I'm standing."

"Probably still fucked up from Enies Lobby, then!" Another passing waiter yells.

"Don't pick fights you can't win, asshole!"

"Yeah, kid! Know your limits and all that shit!"

Now it's Zeff's turn to grin as Sanji feels his face darken with every taunt.

"You heard your elders, Sanji."

"I won!" He snaps loudly. "And I'm perfectly fine! You're the one with the shitty hearing! Should you even still be in the kitchen?!"

"Watch your mouth, brat. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Well Chopper is perfectly capable of healing us after a big fight!"

"But you're not capable of coming up with an original moniker."

"Shut up, it was the shitty Marines' fault!"

"Stop trying to copy me that badly, then. An original is always better, anyway."

Sanji rolls his eyes over the flush heating his cheeks, but can't find a way to say I can set myself on fire, though without getting mocking remarks and risking an hour-long lecture.

"You're the one who insisted on teaching me! And take down that damn poster before someone makes the connection with you!"

"Fine." Zeff grunts.

"Fine!" Sanji huffs back, and promptly hangs up on him to take several long drags of his cigarette, muttering annoyedly under his breath all the while.

He only stops when a snort draws his eyes towards where Zoro was sleeping on the second curved bench of the aquarium room and is now awake and looking at him.

"What?" He snaps with narrowed eyes. "You got a problem?"

Zoro raises both eyebrows at him, and Sanji generously doesn't kick his face in despite the clear attempt to provoke him into doing just that.

"Yeah." His crewmate grunts. "You're goddamn loud, and that conversation was completely stupid."

Sanji almost bites straight through his cigarette at that.

"What was that? I don't think I heard you right, you stupid gorilla. Say that again to my face and I'll—"

"Nope." Zoro cuts him off, turning to face away from him.

Sanji jumps to his feet, nearly strangling himself on the sheer gall of that—

"You're the absolute last person I want to hear that from, shitty swordsman!"

The swordsman in question flips him off over his shoulder, and goes right back to sleep.

Sanji flips him off as well anyway, and then turns sharply on his heel with a huff to go get started on lunch, already rolling up his sleeves and deciding that it will be his best meal of the week —and that the brainless gorilla will be the one eating whatever remains from the last dinner.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Ace doesn't think a fight has hurt him this much since he was a kid, except when he fought Whitebeard —when he was still Whitebeard instead of Pops.

(The comparison leaves a taste worse than that of his own tainted blood in his mouth.)

But he didn't give up then, and he sure as hell isn't going to give up now—

"'Cause see, I was ready to spare that brother of yours if you joined me. His little spy's bounty might not be Supernova material, but you have to be either stupid or ignorant to think that they gave her that bounty because she really isn't that big of a thorn in their side, especially with that whole traitor thing. I'm sure our dear Marine friends would have accepted her head rather than the one I promised them. But since you insist on fighting me, I guess I might as well kill them both, and the whole crew while I'm at it!"

Ace scoffs, and only gathers more of the spinning flames around him in his hand.

As if he'll let him get out of this island in a good enough condition to hurt his kid broth—

His breath stutters along with his heartbeat, and fire flickers around him like the panic that suddenly grips him is a gust of wind strong enough to knock a star out of its course, the Flame Emperor building in the palm of his hand wavering like a sun about to explode.

"Where the fuck is your sharpshooter, Teach?"

And Teach laughs.

"So you noticed, eh? Your little brother and his crew have made the front page for days after their little stunt, Commander. It wasn't hard to guess they were hiding in Enies Lobby, so I sent Van Augur there. He's probably already in town, actually. And what do you know, Commander? I only take the best of the best, and Van Augur is a marksman like you ain't ever seen. Can shoot down birds miles away, I tell you. Or if you want, I can take your head instead. If anything, when I was telling him that my hunt might take more time with you on my tail, those dear Marines seemed almost more interested in you —and alive, at that."

"Captain." Lafitte says as he suddenly drops down on what is left of a thoroughly destroyed building from wherever he and the rest of Teach's crew was hiding. "If I may?"

"What is it? I told you not to bother me."

"Van Augur called while you were busy. I figured you might want to know, since you and Ace-san seemed to be talking about it just now."

Teach smiles, and the only thing Ace can think of is Luffy's laughter and Elynna's voice and Thatch's dead, dead eyes.

"Perfect! What did he say?!"

"He is still in Water Seven for now. The Straw Hats apparently left yesterday when their bounty posters were published, but they're surely sailing the path of their Log Pose, so it would be no problem for Van Augur to follow them and shoot them down as soon as he sees them." Lafitte says with a thin, tranquil smile. "With that man, the Straw Hats won't even see him before they die."

Teach turns back to him, knowing smile on his bruised face and victory exhuding from every pained breath the same way Ace feels it bleed out from his own wounds.

"So, Commander!" Teach laughs again. "What'cha say?!"

And Ace hates him, hates him so fucking much he could destroy this whole island and all the lives on it just to know him dead and then keep hating him until he dies—

But what is left of the Flame Emperor flickers away to nothing but smoke and heat, and his hand falls back to his side.

Because maybe Teach is lying, but seeing through lies and wielding words is not part of Ace's skillset.

Because Van Augur might be no match for him, and Luffy might be immune to bullets, but the rest of his crew isn't.

And fuck, El—

Because he hates Teach, but only enough to sacrifice himself and people he doesn't care about.

(Because he's already killed his mother and failed to save Sabo and failed to protect Thatch and—

He won't—

He can't be the reason why someone else he loves dies or loses their smile.)

Teach's grin widens as Lafitte lets out an excited giggle, and Ace stands there and doesn't move as his former subordinate gets closer to him, reaching out a hand to suck every spark of fire out of him until there's only flesh left to beat and bones left to break.

(His last thought before the dark takes over is that he knows very well why the Marines would want his head more than his little brother's,

and he wonders if he lost because he promised himself he would come out of this alive enough to go back to the people whose words he's read again and again

—if it all made him hold back—

but most of all, he hopes that these same people remember that he might be worth waiting for, but never dying for.)

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

The woman enters the large, brightly-lit kitchen briskly, beelining for the kettle and the small cupboard above it where all the mugs are put.

It's only when she sets hers down that she notices the slightly wrinkled sheet of paper now pinned under her mug.

Lifting it, she picks up the document, eyes running over it slowly.

"So this is it, then." She murmurs. "What a shame."

"You've always been too soft, especially with kids." The man sitting at the table tells her over the hiss of boiling water, which earns him an amused look.

"But you were the one who told me she could already Shield, weren't you?"

There's a long pause during which the man's mouth purses with blade-thin disappointment, disturbingly bright blue eyes squinting balefully down at his own cup of coffee through his glasses.

"... Then it seems I brought your hopes up along with mine, and that girl let the both of us down."

The woman shakes her head with a small smile as she moves around the kitchen to take a tea bag, a spoon and the sugar bowl.

"Still. It's such a waste. And it will probably take some time until we get a replacement."

"Don't exaggerate. She was done for before that bounty was published. He pushed for that mention with the Marines as a precaution, but I doubt we'll need it. Without having been Initiated and living as a pirate with the reckless fools who serve as her crew? This world will kill her before any bounty hunter can get close to it. And the replacement will come when they come. We can manage in the meantime, but we'll have to make sure the next one doesn't have the time to be picked up by the wrong kind of people."

The kettle switches off automatically, drawing the woman's eyes away from the man as she focuses on making herself a cup, humming gently all the while.

"Well, she survived this far, didn't she?" She eventually replies. "Maybe we shouldn't discredit her chances at survival so easily, Brother."

He shoots her a look that says just what he thinks of her suggestion, and then turns back to reading the newspaper of the day.

"Go back to your flock, Sister. They'll agree with you, I'm sure."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

"So." Franky starts, slow and just a bit suspicious. "What am I doing here, exactly?"

Elynna gives him a weird look.

"You're in the sick bay, Franky. What do you think you're doing here? I brought you for your medical examination. Hebi can't heal you well if he doesn't know your medical history."

Chopper nods enthusiastically at her side before spinning on his brand new chair once again.

Then he seems to register the words and jolts into a straighter position with a flustered sound, scrambling to get what looks like a medical form that he clips onto a small board, before he spins back around with a pen.

"Don't worry, Franky! I won't share anything you say unless you allow me to! And Elynna won't either."

Arms crossed and weight leaning back against the reindeer's desk, the girl in question nods.

"Yeah. Or if it's necessary to save you."

Sitting on the chair she literally dragged him into pretty much as soon as he was done with his first breakfast as a pirate, Franky sighs.

"I appreciate it, Doc, but my body doesn't exactly work like a human's anymore, and I've been taking care of it super well by myself."

The little reindeer's face falls as if Franky just told him he doesn't trust him with his health, and the sight makes the former gangster wince.

"You haven't been taking care of it, you've been maintaining it and upgrading it, because you're a shipwright, not a doctor." Elynna counters matter-of-factly, levelling him with a look that feels more like a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon than the nurse she's supposed to be. "And Hebi can heal humans just as well as any other animal, so he's perfectly capable of learning the intricacies of a cyborg body.'

She pauses, and cuts him off to go on just when he opens his mouth to reply.

"Like, say, the chronic pains you're suffering from and definitely not 'taking care' of."

The words feel bizarrely heavy for how often he feels them down to his bones and how bright the room is, morning sunlight streaming in through the window.

This time Chopper is the one to wince at the blunt approach, giving him an apologetic look.

He doesn't seem surprised, though.

Instead, it's Franky who flinches at the words he never thinks in full before he scowls heavily, eyeing the firmly closed door of the room and then the two of them suspiciously.

"We're the only ones who know." Chopper answers his silent question quietly.

"If you two are aware, I doubt that most of the others aren't going to figure it out, and soon."

(Like Iceburg would have, if Franky didn't tell him about patching up his broken body with scraps of metal and nothing to clean them or his wounds —or the makeshift scalpel and tweezers he used to insert the former under his skin.

Maybe like his subordinates eventually did, noticing that there is something but never daring to ask him.)

The girl and the reindeer exchange a look.

"It's possible." Chopper says eventually.

"But we found out because Hebi is a doctor and I have a similar condition, which isn't the case of the others, so maybe not."

She says it so casually that it takes a moment for the admission to register in Franky's mind, and then his mouth falls open.

(But his first question doesn't come out of it.

What the heck are you doing living as a criminal is a stupid question.

She probably has a big dream like the rest of her crew, but regardless of that, it's plain as day for him after Enies Lobby that pain will hardly be enough to stop the Straw Hats' First Mate from doing what is so much more than just her job.)

For a moment, he's about to point out that that just makes it more likely for his brand new crewmates to know about that particular problem, that he did what he needed to survive and will deal with the consequences and won't accept any patronising comments about it, but then he stops.

Stops, and thinks, and realises that—

"They don't know."

Chopper shoots a chagrined look in Elynna's direction, but she's still looking at Franky.

"No."

He pushes his sunglasses up in his hair to better meet her gaze.

"Then why tell me?"

She tilts her head to the side.

"Because this is the Grand Line, and we're heading to the New World. Without Hebi's treatment, I might have died already. Pain weakens you too, no matter how much you think you've gotten used to it, and we can't afford to be limited like this. Because you're nakama, so it's my job to take care of you, and if telling you makes it easier for you to let Hebi work with you, then that's what I'll do."

Indistinct screaming from behind the door finally draws her gaze away from him, and she sighs, pushing herself away from the desk.

"I'll go make sure that the Captain doesn't burst in here while you two talk. Hebi, feel free to give him more information if he needs it." She says, shoving a piece of paper in Franky's hands and patting him on the shoulder on her way out. "Don't forget to call them."

The door closes on her muttered I'm surrounded by idiots who work on their dramatic exits and forget to pack their stuff, but he's too busy staring down at the Den Den Mushi numbers of Iceburg's private line and the Franky Family.

He blinks, bewildered and a little bit to avoid crying.

"You guys already have a Den Den Mushi? It's pretty rare for pirate crews of your size."

"We have several!" Chopper answers brightly. "Elynna said she needed them for her work, although I've been told she bought the first one so everyone could call home."

Franky stares at him for a moment, and then sags into his seat, sniffling.

"Sis has some cool moves, huh."

"It's great, right?!"

"Yeah. But for someone who does all that," he muses with a wave of the piece of paper in his hand, "she doesn't follow her own orders much. Don't think I've heard her family call her yet."

There's a long silence that eventually makes him look up, only to find Chopper's features tightening under the soft fur of his face.

In that instant, he's suddenly reminded that the reindeer sitting in that chair and ready to take care of his health is the same one that took out a member of the CP9 more easily than any of his other crewmates.

"That's because she has no family left to call."

Franky winces.

He figured there might be something sensitive about the whole issue since no one seemed to find it strange that Elynna was the only one to not receive any call apart from Nico Robin, but somehow he… didn't think it was that bad.

What a bunch of dumb, hurting kids.

Idly, he thinks that he's well and truly fucked.

He's always had a soft spot for those.

"Well," Chopper goes on with a cheer that is visibly forced but still sincere enough to not be a lie, "there's still Luffy's brother, though. They clicked really well in Alabasta! She's helping him for something, but I think they're really good friends, too! Ace is the only one who isn't part of the crew but still has a nickname, after all."

Franky jolts at the name, abruptly looking back up at the reindeer and staring for a long, long moment.

And then he groans loudly.

The doctor tilts his head with a confused blink.

"Franky? Is there a problem?"

"Oi, Doc. That Ace guy… Are you telling me that Fire Fist Ace is part of that crazy family?"

"... Well, I don't know what the Marines call him, but he does have fire powers?"

Franky rolls his eyes.

Unbelievable.

"Guess I super lucked out when choosing my Captain. Ain't no way I'm gonna be bored any time soon."

"Right?!" Chopper beams enthusiastically. "Being here is so much fun! Well, it would be good if Luffy got us a bit less in trouble, but—"

"What kinda pirate are you, Doc? Fighting's half the fun."

That earns him a dubious sniff.

"You're not the one who has to ask Nami for more money after using a month's worth of medical supplies in two weeks because Luffy did something stupid and Zoro started a fight to cure his boredom or his hangover. Or both."

Then there's a pen being jabbed through the air in his direction.

"Consider this your warning to not do that either! I'm not part of the Monster Trio, but I'm still a monster, okay?! I can be plenty scary!"

"... Yeah, not doubting that for a sec, Doc. I saw what you can do." Franky chuckles with both hands raised in defense, noting to himself that the subject of the Straw Hats' treasurer has already come up a few times since he knows them and promptly deciding that he won't borrow money from her unless he really needs to.

Or maybe he should go through the Doc to get it.

He's pretty sure she has a weakness for all things cute —and Elynna, but no way is he going into debt with her of all people.

Then he sags further into his chair with a sigh, wincing as he does so as he considers the way the reindeer set up the sick bay with a frown.

"Are you sure your medication will work on me?" He asks eventually. "Pretty sure Sis ain't a cyborg."

The reindeer's eyes flicker over him for a few moments, but he nods decisively.

"I'll probably have to make some adjustments, but I think it's worth a shot. My hypothesis is that your chronic pains are also a nerve issue —in majority at least— and that they can thus be alleviated with a similar treatment, even if the cause of Elynna's pains is—"

Franky abruptly raises a hand, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"I don't need to know that, especially if Sis only accepted to talk about it to 'do her duty' or some shit like that."

The Straw Hats' doctor considers him for a moment, and then smiles.

"Then I'll just explain what everyone else already knows. It's probably best if you know about it before it comes up in a conversation, and Elynna isn't… really in the mood to talk about it these days."

By the time he's done, Franky is so busy thinking over what he's learned that he answers Chopper's questions almost absently.

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

Elynna isn't resilient to hope.

(Hope has never tasted like hope, to her.

Instead, hope is doubt.

It's her certainties and what should be solid ground under her feet, crumbling.

Hope should be what is left, when knowledge fails you and belief is the only thing you still have.

But the truth is that when knowledge fails her, she's too busy falling down and staring at the bottom to think about looking up.)

So she gives up on it after her Den Den Mushi rings in the empty, constricting air of her brand new room for the third time and the second day in a row.

Instead, she breathes until her voice is steady even if her fingers are not, and makes a series of calls.

Then she sits on her bed, grabs a pillow, and presses her face against it until it chokes her almost as painfully as her failure.

Her heaving, breaking breaths quiet without turning to sobs when she simply resorts to not breathing and wipes away the saliva that dampened her pillow, which she puts back in its place, turned over.

(Like slamming the door shut.

Like forgetting.

Because there's no time.

No time to hope, no time to break, no time to take a break, no time to waste—

There's only time to fight something that can't be written in stone as long as she exists.

But it's maybe already written in ink, and it's not with her tears that she'll rewrite it.)

Then she takes up her Den Den Mushi again, and dials yet another number.

"Marco-san. It's Elynna. Is Whitebeard around? … Good. Tell him Ignis has lost. … Yeah, against Teach. It's barely a few days old, so my sources don't have a lot of information, but apparently Blackbeard handed him over to the Marines. … No, no real info on what they're planning for now. But if I have to make a guess, they're going to execute him and make a big show of it."

〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭

The SH: *being themselves*

Franky: the fuck is this shit

Iceburg: now you know how i felt growing up with you

Franky: I'm sorry.

Iceburg: damn right—

Franky: Not.

Iceburg: …

Still Iceburg: get the fuck outta my town

Also Franky suffers from chronic pains and you will only pry that headcanon out of my cold, dead hands.

(Even that will be hard.

I'll pull a Brook and you'll have your hands trapped in a skeleton's forever and ever, don't try me.)

Me: *spends two weeks thinking up the details for everyone's fancy party outfits*

Still me: *proceeds to ruin it with 30 pages of angst*

Just to be clear on the whole Garp thing, he did recognise Elynna as 'Heidi Schwarz' last chapter. It's just that as far as he was concerned, she was a CP1 member undercover and doing a pretty good job of solving some of the problems the Marines themselves weren't able or willing to solve (and who promised to try and sway Luffy to the Marines' side), so he really had no interest in outing her as a 'Marine' right there and then.

Also, about the documents Elynna stole from Spandam, she did that while Luffy was fighting Blueno :)

#FTSFact16: About Nami's poster. In canon, she's called 'Cat Burglar' Nami and has a first bounty of 16 million Beri. Now read my TED Talk on why this is total bullshit.

1. Nami's a very good thief, so she *could* be called 'Cat Burglar'. Except that if her stealing in East Blue was that noticeable, she would've had a bounty way earlier (and the Marines on her ass before she even got all the money she needed to buy out Cocoyashi). So okay, maybe they knew about it and were just keeping track of her without doing anything because she only targeted pirates, but she didn't steal anything of worth in Enies Lobby, and you can't tell me that her zapping lots of Marines there and literally having a weapon and the knowledge to create and use weather patterns to the point that several background characters call it magic throughout the series isn't more important as far as choosing her epithet is concerned.

2. Apart from Chopper, she has the lowest starting bounty, with Usopp next at 30 million. Which is kind of what the fuck? Because yeah, Usopp burned the World Government flag, but he did it for the whole crew, and he participated in the fight on the bridge but didn't take down a member of the CP9 on his own, which Nami *did*. So not only is it bullshit that her bounty amount was half that of Usopp, I would even argue that it's bullshit for her bounty to be lower than his period. Especially since Usopp having the lowest bounty apart from Chopper also fits into his character development arc (= gaining self-esteem) and gives me more ammo to make him suffer.

To conclude, Nami is a girlboss. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk, and feel free to argue with me about it. I love discussing OP stuff —and chatting in the comments in general.

On another note, the BAMF Women Trio is now fully formed, as is the Fancy Trio. Half of the Mafia Quartet is busy bullying the other half into reaching that stage, and the Geek Quartet shows great potential. Can you feel that Pervert Trio coming up?