"If there is one thing that can bring anyone together, from this island or any other in any world no matter how distant, is probably the one phrase that expresses the most pure sentiment we can all agree upon."
"And what would that phrase be, o captain my captain?"
"Oh, that is one we all know!"
All the pirates and non-pirates looked at each other for a moment, nodded, and they all then raised a fist in the air.
"FUCK THE GOVERNMENT!"
"-out of all their money!" Drake added cheekily.
Lee cleared his throat. "Anyway, thus starts the very first meeting for our 'Fuck The Marines' committee, and as the officiating leader because none of you lazy assholes wanted to do it," he spoke, slamming his open palm on the hard wood table like it was a gavel, "I demand order! Or, more like controlled chaos!"
Everyone laughed.
"Let us begin. Now, Miss Bell-mére," Lee said, using the same hand he'd used as a gavel to gesture to her, giving her the turn to speak, "I believe you should be the first to be given the opportunity to speak. Anyone who does not respect the speaker shall be punished by having to eat Kuina's cooking."
"That's a low blow!!"
Bell-mére cleared her throat. "Right, so this is where we start. I'm certain most, if not all of you, understand the reason why anyone would want the marine presence off their island. We're not rich, we're not important, we're not worthy of any actual legitimate supervision, so we have the dregs of an organization that's already host to the dregs of many an island. We've got a cheap, greedy and frankly genuinely stupid officer currently in command of the Marine garrison that's closest to us and acting as governors," she explained, "and we want him out."
"All very normal," Lee responded, nodding.
"A poor captain invites mutiny," Anne quipped. "Trust me."
"We would fucking know," Mary added, laughing.
"Excuse me this has been bothering me for a while, but where did all these people come from?" Nojiko asked. "They weren't here earlier!"
"It's best not to ask, if they're here, then you just accept it," Kuina responded, patting her shoulder.
"So, here's how it works. The garrison is pretty far away from this island, but not so much that they can't send any sort of backup, and while the Marines don't really give a shit about Cocoyasi or pretty much anything that goes on in here short of smuggling of highly valuable cargo," the former marine explained, pulling a rolled up map from somewhere and placing it on the table, "they certainly care about them having a reputation as weaklings and losers," she said, puffing smoke from her cigar and moving it along her mouth, spreading the map open.
It already had markers for the village and the garrison, in another island of the archipelago, as well as a multitude of marked routes nearby, the ends of the map marked with whether they were commercial routes or the marines' boat routes.
"Oh that's handy," Lee muttered, looking at the map, and specifically at where he kinda suspected Arlong Park would've been had it ever been constructed. "Hm – this island's smaller than I thought."
"It's bigger when you're walking it really," Bell-mére responded, chuckling. "Anyway, here's the basics. Obviously, we can't get there by land," she said, tapping the location of the island the garrison was in. "Does anyone have anything we can use as a marker?"
Everyone looked at each other, then Drake stepped up, putting her hand in her pocket and then pulling out a bunch of coins, none of which were current, modern or even recognizable currency. "I'm gonna want those back," she said.
"This is real gold isn't it?" Bell-Mére whistled, then she placed several of the coins near the marked island, setting a few of the smaller ones in formations to either side of the island, on the open ocean, and grabbing three of the bigger coins and placing them near the island on a triangular formation. "Right, these are the defenses of the garrison, the big coins are watchtowers erected on small islands roughly in these positions," she explained, "these are usually manned by a regular lookout, and communicate via shortwave radio to the main island. If they see you, assume the entire garrison knows you're coming."
"Right. I assume these smaller ones are patrol fleets?" Lee asked.
"Yeah. They patrol the perimeter between here," she tapped one of the towers, "and here," she dragged her finger a ways way, then drew a circle, "so roughly this area," she modified her circle into an oval, mostly covering the east, northeast and north, "and the other fleet does the same on the south, southwest and west," she explained, gesturing to the other half.
"What about here?" Lee asked, tapping the southeast, where there was no watchtower, or a patrolling fleet.
"Right, this here is a no go," she said, "this side of the island is a large, sheer cliff, and at the top of it is the lighthouse and watchtower of the island itself. They'll see you coming and then you still have a vertical climb ahead of you."
"We'll mark it as a possibility then," Lee said, rubbing under his nose.
Kuina raised her hand.
"Right, the miss over there has a question," Lee said. "Go ahead."
"That's dumb. Also, why are we sneaking in?" she asked. "Wouldn't it just be faster and easier to go in straightforward and just attack them normally?" she asked. "We're picking a fight with the Marines."
"Wow, I wouldn't have expected you to be the one to suggest that," Drake said, patting her head, "I'm so proud of you, you're already growing into a proper pirate!"
"Well, just because we're pirates doesn't mean we're dumb," Lee responded. "See if they see us coming, they might send off a request for back-up, and they might just get it, plus they might spread out and then we'll have to hunt them all down, it'll be a total mess."
"Sometimes the reason you launch a sneak attack is so that nobody has time to flee, and more importantly, so that nobody has time to grab their valuables and flee," Mary explained, adopting a sagely tone, looking for a moment like she would've put on a fake moustache if she had one.
"There's only so many you can snipe when they're all scattering too," Anne suggested. "And before you know it the base you just took over is now crawling with lawmen again, and this time, they brought the big guns with them!"
"Normally I'd relish the challenge!" Lee called, "but let's be real here, even if we beat up the marines, they'll come back, and if any of them flees and reports that the people here helped us or had any hand in what happened…"
"They'd get punished for it instead of us as they wouldn't be able to reach us if we left," Kuina finished. "Yeah that makes sense."
"Right in one," Bell-Mére agreed. "Looking like cruel monsters is preferable to looking like weaklings that will tolerate sedition and rebellious behavior," she said, gesturing with her finger. "Rather cut off their nose to spite their face than let us go unpunished methinks," she finished, her finger doing a slicing motion along her face. "So, ideas?"
"Right. Who's gonna be the distraction?" Lee asked, looking around.
The seasoned pirates of the group laughed. "Guess that's us," Anne said, winking. "I'm sure I can call a lot of attention!" she said, shaking her chest hypnotically.
"Right, I guess I can get you a boat for this, then you guys will go over the cliff and climb it, right?" Bell-Mére stated, moving the cigar in her mouth and tapping at the sheer cliff side of the island.
"Precisely!" Lee called. "We need something small, we'll be rowing there so lighter is better."
"Yeah there's some fishing boats that'll do the trick," the former Marine said. "Nojiko, can you get them there?"
"I've never been," the young woman admitted. "I'm not exactly the adventurous type that constantly gets into danger, you know? That would be-"
"Me!"
Someone burst into the house, and it was quite a familiar someone. Even many years separated, Lee wouldn't forget arguably the most well known of the women related to this world, among the first crew members for the protagonists and perhaps among the most important, if only because she was practically the reason why they got anywhere to begin with… that said…
Lee hadn't remembered her being quite THAT big. Short haired redhead, wearing a sleeveless blue and white striped shirt and an orange skirt, removing the hat she was wearing and artfully tossing it aside, seemingly trying to hit an heroic pose of some sort, with a bright, confident smile on her face. Right, this was a Nami who had never lost her mother figure, a Nami who had never been enslaved by Arlong, a Nami who didn't have to hide the tattoo… and also one who had never met Luffy, as a result. Because apparently Drake really got around.
Lee hummed. "New house, who this?" he asked, pretending not to know her.
"I'm the greatest thief and explorer this world has ever seen!" called, the young girl, pointing a finger at him. "And I!" she said, "am the solution to your problem!" she said.
"Nami, where'd you come from?" Bell-Mére asked, crossing her arms. "And where have you been young lady! You know how much trouble you're in!? And what happened to your hair!?"
"You mean how much trouble I skillfully dodged!" Nami countered, a confident smirk on her face, raising a hand to her face to run it along her hair. "I found a buyer, and guess what," she said, "I also got this," she said, pulling out a map from behind her back, where Lee spied she had pouches attached to her skirt. She unfolded the map and showed it to Bell-Mére. "With this-" she said, pointing at the X that marked the spot on the map. "I'll finally get to find the Treasure I've been seeking, and once we have it, I'll finally be able to have my own clothes and not Nojiko's hand me downs!"
Bell-Mére's hand met her face.
"Well, that's nice," Lee said, "but how does that relate to us?"
"Well, unlike the boring scaredy cat over there," Nami said, tapping two of her fingers against her chest, just under her throat, "I've been everywhere in these islands, I know how to get you wherever you need to go, and I can do that quicker than anyone else, I know all the routes, I've got all the best routes, and I'll even give you a good price for the service," she said, winking and giving a thumbs up. "So, wha'dya say?"
"How much do you even know about what we're doing?" asked Bell-Mére.
"Well I was listening in for a while there," Nami said. "So yeah you guys gonna bust up that rat's hideyhole right? Betcha he's got a ton of his corruption money stashed there, he strikes me as the hoarder type, and there's nothing to buy in this place anyway!" she called, balling her hands up into fists and placing them against her hips, grinning. "I'll be taking my share of course!"
"She's fun, I like her," Mary said. "Always like a feisty girl, they're the kittens that purr the best," she said, wagging her eyebrows, leaning forward on the table and looking Nami up and down.
"What's with this sassy kid?" Nami asked, eyes narrowed as she glared at Mary.
Mary giggled. "Oh I'm going to enjoy showing you just how much of an adult I am," the small pirate said.
Anne bonked her in the head with her extremely long rifle, while at the same time, Bell-Mére hit Nami on the back of the head with a smack, both of them moved so swiftly as if to make it seem like they teleported into place, and the simultaneous impacts matched beautifully.
"No horny until we're done with serious time!" Anne said, grabbing Mary's white hair roughly.
"Stop picking a fight with our guests you fool!" Bell-Mére shouted at Nami, pulling at her ear as if to open it up.
"Never a dull moment with you guys huh?" Nojiko joked.
"Would hate nothing more than a boring life," Lee said. "When you're gonna be sailing for days, weeks, maybe even months on end with the same people, within the confines of a single boat, it better be with people who aren't boring!"
Kuina scoffed. "Says the man with only a singular thought in his head."
"Oi! I have more than one thought, just one at a time! It's called compartmentalization, and it's efficient, maybe you should learn about it some time instead of trying to have multiple rivals!"
"I'm not taking that from someone who picks a fight with Sanji every time you guys meet!" argued back Kuina.
"I've told you that's not the same, that is strictly restaurant-business related," Lee fired back.
"Yeah, well, then you're my regular fighting rival, and what I have with Zoro is a swordsmanship rivalry! So there!"
"I am surrounded by idiots," Drake mused. "Feels like home," she added, pulling one of her guns from her pocket and then firing it, careful to make it so it only produced noise and a flash of light rather than blowing a hole in a wall, destroying a window or breaking something important, though it still left a slight mark of soot on the ceiling. "Let's get back on track, you people are making me play the straight man and that's just not right!"
The sound of the gunshot wasn't just loud like a regular gunshot, it was many times louder, and it left everyone's ears ringing though not enough to not hear Drake shouting at them to get back on track, reminding everyone present that she was by far the most experienced person involved, demonstrating only a little of the commanding, frightening presence that had made her a terror of the seas.
"Right, so first we need to make sure we're all on the same page," Lee said. "Right?"
"Right," Drake said, "last thing you want is to reach the end of a battle only to realize you wanted to make away with all the booty and you're partnering with a bunch of landlubbers that wanted to put a fortress on a rock for some god forsaken reason," she said, "next thing you know you're stuck there for three weeks without any of the proper equipment or supplies to be there."
"Right, so let's make sure that doesn't happen," Kuina said. "What are we after?"
Bell-Mére was first, her finger stabbing onto the map on the table, her nail actually creating a small rip on it as she poked the base. "I want this gone," she said. "Ideally, I want the Marines to fuck off to somewhere else," she said, "but I'll be happy if we just get rid of the corrupt thief hoarding stolen wealth, preventing maritime trade and being a general creep, and they send us someone who isn't a buffoon."
"Also I want some of that cash!" Nami said, wringing her hands together. "Acquired through the totally legitimate means of beating him up and stealing it!"
"I'll at least respect that more than fraudulent taxation," Lee said. "Right, so what about us?"
"I'm just after the booty, and for once I'm not talking about money," Drake said, wagging her eyebrows and looking at Bell-Mére, giving her a lascivious grin as she did. "Also fun, can't forget that."
"Right, fun's important… I guess I'm just in because the crew's in?" Kuina said. "Testing myself in live combat against opponents that have at least been somewhat trained is important once in a while, I can't just spar with Lee all the time."
"You girls?" Lee asked, looking at Anne Mary.
"Eh? Well, you just seem invested in this, soooo," Anne said, leaning back and linking her hands behind her head. "I guess I'm okay doing it for the fun of it too?" she asked. "To be honest I've never really thought about needing a reason to give a black eye to maritime authorities. Comes with the territory you know?"
Mary nodded, her eye almost glinting. "You had me at beating up Marines!" she nearly shouted.
"Then what about you?" Kuina asked. "What's really in this for you?" she spoke, crossing her arms, eyes narrowing. "I know what motivates you," she said, eyes narrowing.
Lee grinned.
"What's that?" Nojiko asked.
Lee hummed. "Well, we can make this easy," he said. "You're an adventurer, explorer and thief right?" he asked, turning to Nami. "That means you're good with maps, navigation and money right?"
"You could say that yeah," Nami said. "What's this all about?"
"And she also happens to be a good looking girl," Kuina said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Ugh, I know where this is going already."
"What I want is you," Lee said, pointing at Nami, "I want you for my crew!"
"No fucking way, I ain't splitting my booty!" Nami countered immediately.
"You'll have included Healthcare, three paid weeks of vacation a year, all expenses taken care of, a guaranteed, fixed and competitive salary as well as a percentage of our profits whenever we make'em in addition to that, and we'll also pay for your birthday cake if and when applicable!"
"Where do I sign up?" the redhead asked, eyes turned into Belly signs at the very idea that crossed through her skull. "And when can I get started?"
"Right here, and right now," Lee answered.
"You realize he's going to be trying to sleep with you, right?" Kuina asked. "He's not exactly subtle about it."
"Eh, everything's got a price on it," Nami said. "I mean I'm not about to prostitute myself, but I'll let you try to charm my pants off of me at least."
Lee snorted. "A chance's all I ask for," he said. "So you're in on it then?"
"Get me the benefits you promised me and I'm yours," Nami said, "for as long as you'll continue to be a profitable business partner," she said, smiling brightly.
"Ah, they grow up so fast," Drake said, "one day they're still little kids slapping each other, the next, they're full fledged corsairs and sellswords," she said, speaking with undue fondness. "Ready to shoot, cut or otherwise kill each other for coin like true adults!"
"You know, usually I would expect someone's parental figure to be upset about their daughter possibly going off the island on a boat with someone they don't really know," Lee said, gesturing at Nami, while looking at Bell-Mére.
"We're talking about my wildcat of a daughter," Bell-Mére said, laughing. "If she couldn't take care of herself I'd be a failure of a parent," the former Marine said, letting out a puff of smoke from her cigar, grabbing it and beating it with a finger to get rid of the excess ash from its tip, "plus it's not like I'm letting her go with some rando loser," she said. "You've been acknowledged by Drake and that means something around here."
"Oh, you're gonna make me blush," Drake said, smirking.
"Mhm! If you're with Auntie Drake, that means you're definitely someone worth following," Nami said, raising a hand to her chest closing her eyes and smiling before continuing, "she wouldn't be in if there wasn't profit to be made!"
"You really do know her well huh," Lee said.
"Well that makes it easy," Kuina said. "So… I guess it's me, you and her on a boat, get them from behind while the distraction's going on with everyone else?"
"Yep, as soon as we've cut them off and made sure they can't get away, we'll send a signal," Lee said. "My ki manipulation's not much good for blasts like the Lion's Roar yet, but I can at least make a flash," he added, raising his hand, the air shimmering slightly as he gathered the energy he had learned to manipulate through years of training.
"Alright, then we'll gather up and come finish them off," Drake said. "I'll handle command of that while you're gone," she said.
"That seems like a doable plan. It's not too complex, I like it," Bell-Mére said.
"The more moving parts a plan has the higher the chance one of them'll be screwed up," Lee said.
"KISS!" Mary said, and Anne grabbed her and planted a kiss on her lips. "No not that!"
"Oh! Keep it simple, stupid!" Anne said.
"She was just looking for an excuse…"
Nami cleared her throat. "Right, so, I can take you there, I've got a small rowboat we can use," she said. "Totally legit, bought, and definitely not stolen from the marines to begin with," she said, giving a thumbs up.
"Then that's also settled," Bell-Mére said. "When are we starting?"
"Ideally it'd be at day, no point in a distraction if they can't see it coming," Lee said, crossing his arms. "But I'll take suggestions on the exact timing."
"The tides around the area are calm through most of the day," Nojiko said, "though it's calmest near noon."
"Ah, right! Noon," Nami said, "that's the best time. The supply boat arrives in three days, and that one's gonna carry the bulk of the bribe and tax collection money at this time of the month," she explained, "it arrives every other week at noon," she said, "so it would be the best time to strike."
Bell-Mére raised an eyebrow at her, "do I want to know why you know that?" she asked.
"Probably not, plausible deniability and all that," Nami responded.
"Fair enough," Bell-Mére said. "Can't have you guys stay here for three days though. No offense but I can't room all of you, and the Marines do check around for unusual boats," she explained. "You might need to go do a round trip elsewhere and come back in three days."
"We could do that, sure," Lee said, "but that feels silly…"
"If we've got time to waste, I know exactly where we can go to pass the time," Nami said, waving the map she had brought in her hand. "If your ship's decently fast, we're only one day away," she said, "and it'll be a good trial run to see if we're a good fit as a crew too."
"What's that map leading to anyway?" Kuina asked, crossing her arms.
"Treasure?" Mary asked. "That's silly."
"Buried treasure," Anne reasserted. "It's a classic!"
"That's a silly legend, we're actual pirates, you know! We carried our loot with us in order to actually spend it!" Mary protested. "The only thing we buried was idiots who didn't earn a burial at sea!"
"There's some kinds of treasure that you just can't keep with you, too dangerous, too tempting," Nami said, rubbing her hands together, a perverse smile coming over her face. "A kind of treasure that, when the right buyer's found, could be worth millions, dozens of millions even! And if we find the right market… over a hundred million!"
"A devil fruit," Lee said. "You're saying you might have the possible location of a Devil Fruit?"
It was at that moment that the mood was broken by the blue haired Nojiko, who angrily huffed. "She's been saying that for years. Every treasure she goes after, she always thinks is gonna have a Devil Fruit," she explained, gesturing with a hand at the map. "You think if anyone knew where a Devil Fruit was, they wouldn't go find it? Either to eat or to just sell it, there's no way someone would just bury it and leave it there."
"They would if it was any normal pirates that left it there!" Nami said, unrolling her map, then putting it over the one already laid on the table, "see these writings?" she asked. "I spent all afternoon decoding this, and I've reason to believe this was left behind by the Roger Pirates before the Final Voyage to the End of the Line!"
Lee's ears perked. "You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. I've not heard that. What final voyage?" he asked, almost demanding.
"You didn't know? Rumor is that the Roger Pirates made one final trip towards the end of the Grand Line," Nami explained, "nobody really knows why but it's said that the Oro Jackson carried only Gold Roger and Silvers Rayleigh and was lost in the horizon, neither of them has been seen since, but it's said that whoever follows in the Pirate King's wake and finds him at the end of the world, he'll bestow his full fortune and title on!"
"Alright, now THAT's interesting," Lee said, "okay, you know what, I didn't care about knowing what the fuck was going on anyway," he said. "And I didn't remember that much anyway," he laughed.
"What's he talking about?" Nami asked.
"Nothing important," Lee said. "so, cave, possibly with a treasure from the Roger Pirates," he said. "Alright, I want to know what they could've possibly left too," he said, clenching his fist.
"Just so we're clear, this is my treasure, I found it," she said, "and I put all the legwork except actually getting there, so I get to keep it!"
"Yeah, that's fine, I don't really care about money anyway," Lee said, opening his arms wide and shrugging his shoulders. "It's only good for what it can get us, and we can get what we need, and what we want, with what we've got," he said. "You want to eat a Devil Fruit that badly though?"
"Nah, no way. You know how useful swimming is for a thief?" Nami asked. "I don't wanna lose the ability to do that," she said.
"So we're going somewhere else first?"
"Hm, why don't you guys go?" Drake asked, crossing her arms. "I'll stay and keep an eye on the island, y'know, make sure no one muscles in while you're gone, bang a hottie milf like a drum, the works," the pink haired pirate called, winking at her captain.
"Sounds fine by me," the captain responded. "You guys?"
"Oh! I'm not missing a treasure hunt," Anne said, "right Mary?"
"Yeah! No way we're missing it," Mary said. "I just gotta know," she finished.
"I'm sure you'll do something dumb," Kuina said, "and I want to be there to see it, so I'm in too."
"Alright, then all that remains is getting back to the ship, telling Cologne, Reiju and Sura about it, and then setting sail," Lee said, "and of course, you'll guide us there, right, miss navigator?"
"You betcha," Nami said, "alright then, let's go!!" she called, immediately grabbing the map, rolling it up, and leaving first, each step almost a skip and a stomp, clearly excited beyond belief over the chance she had found.
"Someone's excited," Kuina said, "come on, she doesn't even know where our ship is," she called.
"Alright, you guys have fun, and remember, booty is booty, and booty is life," Drake called.
Lee snorted, and then followed after the two girls, himself being trailed by the lesbian pirates, the taller and voluptuous blonde looking giddy and excited, and the scarred albino-like girl looking determined and almost angry.
The adventure they set on promised to be a short one, but by no means less exciting for it, at least, for those interested in experiencing the world around them, and as they caught up to Nami and Kuina, Lee couldn't help but think that every new thing he learned about the world just made everything even more exciting… he had never expected that simply existing somewhere, casting a pebble into the infinite oceans of this world, would create such incredibly immense ripples.
"Come on, Lee, you're wasting daylight hours," Kuina called.
Lee sped up to catch up with them, and soon, the small party was gathered together and heading towards the ship that could lead them to a potentially great adventure, and who knew, maybe even to great riches or untold power!