Chapter XLI: Accidental Not Accident

Ruby blinked, looking rather surprised. The celestial dragon laid unconscious on the ground, a small trail of crimson leaking from his nose. Luffy, for what it was worth, managed to look sheepish at the result of his actions. In fact, he began to make the worst mockery of feigning innocence that Ruby had ever seen; he shuffled to the side, trying to escape, while whistling and letting his eyes roam everywhere but the celestial dragon.

Ruby, for her part, was nearly forgotten. If she mimicked Luffy's actions, she would likely be successful. However, the sight of the mermaid still with a metal collar around her neck had Ruby inching in that direction instead. Luffy's act, as she guessed, was not at all effective. Those who had been with the celestial dragon turned to him and shouting ensued. Ruby even spotted one pull out a responder snail and make a call.

When they reached the mermaid, Ruby began to investigate the metal collar. "Stop," the mermaid hissed, pushing Ruby back. "Please, it will explode." Ruby flinched back. The collars were designed to kill the person if taken off? She shook her head; they couldn't just leave her here.

Penny's voice by her side made her jump. "Weddit user AnonymousRat has posted several secrets they found by hacking into —"

"Get to the point, Penny," Ruby urged, glancing over to the men still shouting at Luffy.

Penny skipped forward in her monologue. "Their account was deleted and posts wiped, but I managed to uncover what they had uploaded about these collars. They are designed with —"

"Penny," Ruby snapped as she watched a group of marines rush into the scene. "Just do it!"

With a nod, Penny picked up a rock and swiftly struck the collar. The mermaid grew terrified, shutting her eyes tightly as she waited for the collar to go off. When there was no reaction, Penny continued by unlatching the collar and letting it fall to the ground with a soft thunk. The mermaid marveled at the device fallen onto the mossy ground. Tears, once unshed, began to run down her cheeks as she rushed forward to hug Penny.

Now that the immediate threat was gone, Ruby had enough time to process the fact that she was looking at a mermaid. Moreso that this mermaid was on land.

"Hey!" Ruby's eyes locked onto one of the men pointing in her direction. "They freed the mermaid!"

Without hesitation, Ruby rushed between Penny and the crowd across from them. Crescent Rose found its way into her hands, and she steadied her stance. This had been what she was waiting for, wasn't it? She was fighting for justice, standing against corruption, but she was surrounded and outnumbered.

"Three Mace Style: Exploding Nevermore!" Momentary confusion washed over the crowd before marines were sent flying.

"Ruby!" Blake somersaulted, landing in a crouch near her. "I knew that was your voice."

"You heard me?"

Blake shook her head. "Not exactly. What's the situation?"

Ruby's gaze hardened. "They're selling people, Blake." While Blake kept her gaze forward, Ruby's words took her off guard.

The ground rippled by them, and Jaune emerged from the root. "I'm guessing that's someone you saved?" Jaune nodded toward Penny who was standing protectively in front of the mermaid. Jaune grinned widely. "Get her to the ship. We'll take care of this."

Ruby grimaced at the slowly growing group of marines. This was her fault, and now her friends were cleaning up for her. "But I started this. I can help —"

Jaune cut her off by placing a hand firmly on her shoulder. "You're part of my crew. As your captain, your actions are my responsibility. Right now, though, you need to get her somewhere safe."

Sabo rushed as fast as he could. Leave it to his little brother to cause yet another mess. The dugong with him waddled as fast as it could, but Sabo had quickly left it behind. There were more important matters at hand, especially more apparent as he neared the growing chaos. Watching the whirlwind of a fight, he just knew that Luffy was in the center of it all.

"Man, that's a big fight," Luffy said beside him.

"Of course it is, my — Luffy!" Sabo whipped around to his side where his troublesome brother stood as if nothing was the matter. "What happened?"

Sabo knew his brother well, and he was very aware of the 'I'm guilty but don't want to admit it' face that Luffy suddenly made. Luffy began to ramble on about running into some pirates but seemed to be purposefully missing Sabo's point. Then, the crowd seemed to take notice of Luffy, and their shouts told Sabo everything he needed to know.

"A celestial dragon, Luffy?" Sabo wanted to say more, and there was much that could have been said, but he was interrupted.

Glass shattered next to him, and flames swelled. Faintly, Sabo caught the smell of a piña colada. Swiveling around, he saw a woman wearing a sun hat over a mane of dark hair. While he couldn't see her eyes past her sunglasses, he could tell her gaze was locked on him. Another tropical molotov came flying over her shoulder at him. This was he was able to easily dodge while frowning at the rowdy group gathering before him.

The woman in the front drew her sword. "It seems someone started a party without us. Well, take what you can and give nothing back!" A roar followed her words as her crew charged forward. Sabo greeted the front line with a strong kick that threw them into those behind them. The marines that had followed him from his ship joined the charge, as did Luffy. Any excuse to get away from the trouble he had caused, he was willing to take.

Metal sang as Jaune clashed with the marine before him. Others were closing in behind him, so he rushed forward. He made contact with the marine and activated his devil fruit, and the man's skin began to ripple. The marine let out a panicked yelp as Jaune swam through him, much to the surprise of the other marines. Without hesitation, Jaune delivered a swift kick to the marine's back. The marines didn't hesitate to rush him, and his blade clashed with those around him while his aura guarded him from their bullets until he was able to close the distance. Swimming through the ground had given him an advantage, especially when it had taken his opponents off guard. Now they had begun to predict his movements.

Gazing across the crowd, Jaune pondered their escape. The planning was difficult when he was still stuck in the motions of battle, but the horde of marines was only growing in size by the second, and this wasn't a fight they had to be part of. The issue was figuring out how to lose the angry hornets' nest they had just hit. Shifting to the side to dodge a slashing sword, he spotted another group rushing in. A white-haired boy followed by rough looking pirates dashed into the fray, beaming with excitement as he did. Then, to his right, he noticed another crew that resembled vicious vacationers. The tides had turned in a matter of seconds as the marines were quickly overwhelmed.

Whitley rushed toward Jaune, parrying those he passed nearby. "It seems that we've crossed paths again so soon."

Jaune nodded, taking time to knock a musket out of a soldier's hands before responding. "Can't say I'm surprised. Blake said that all of the routes led here."

Whitley stood by him now ready to fight the marines. "Well, you can always consider me and my crew your allies. I would not let you be in this fight alone."

A yelp sounded as a flailing body flew over them. Jaune spun around to see the head vacationer charging at them. Instinctively, Jaune sunk into the ground, letting her trample over where he had been as she crashed into the marines behind them. Jaune resurfaced in time to hear her cocky scoff.

"Are you two brats trying to hog all the fun," she sneered at them.

"This isn't exactly my favorite pastime," Jaune retorted. "I'm here to help my crew." Whitley echoed something along a similar line of helping friends.

At first the woman simply snorted, then she laughed loudly. "You two pansies sound a bit too honorable for pirates. If you kids want to play around at this stuff, get a raft and paddle around a kiddy-pool."

Jaune felt his temper seeping through. "Don't underestimate me. I'm going to become King of the Pirates someday!"

"King of what?" The woman asked. "I don't know about this King of the Pirates business, but I'll be damned if I kneel to someone like you."

"Kneel? It isn't about anything like that," Jaune insisted. "It's about freedom and not letting anyone tell you what to do."

Whitley perked up at that. "If that's the case, then I might want to be the King of the Pirates." Jaune sent him a look that said, 'don't even start right now.'

The woman just shrugged off his words. "If you want to be called a king, you have to be strong — only the strongest can be rulers."

"Well, yeah. I plan to get stronger. I don't see why not fighting to fight means I'm not strong."

The marines around them looked a bit nonplussed at the situation evolving before them. "Do you think they forgot about us?" one of them asked. Moments later Cardin's third mace struck him in the back of his head while his second mace hit the gut of the soldier he had been speaking to.

"Well, if you want this fight, have it," Jaune said, sinking into the ground once more. Whitley followed suit, calling in his crew to bring their chaos elsewhere.

The woman growled and muttered, "Cowards," to herself. However, as she turned to the marines, she saw that they too were running away. As rage flared within her, she caught one of the marines by his collar and hefted him into the air. "Why are you running? Have you lost your will to fight so easily?"

"U-um, we received more pressing orders," replied the frightened soldier.

The woman shook him in the air. "More pressing? Are you saying there's someone stronger than me here?"

The marine gulped and averted his gaze. "I can't just tell a pirate what our orders are."

Kizaru hummed lightly as the door to his room opened. The brief distraction led to the text 'You Died' to print across his screen in bold red letters. Kizaru hardly minded, calmly setting his control down to observe the soldier that had entered his room.

"Sir, the fleet admiral was trying to reach you."

Kizaru blinked, then turned to his new device that he had been given not too long ago. "Oh, I guess I put it on silent to better focus on this game. I didn't realize it would block out calls too."

The marine held out a responder snail to Kizaru. "He ended up calling the old way since you didn't pick up."

Kizaru took the snail and was promptly greeted by the voice of Sengoku. "Kizaru, there's been two incidents involving Sabaody. I need you to go there promptly. First, I received a report of a celestial dragon being attacked — in public no less. I hope I don't have to explain further."

Stretching his legs, Kizaru stood to his full, towering height. "Not at all; I'll be there soon enough. What was the second incident that happened?"

Sengoku growled. "This one is more personal…"

Oscar did his best to keep calm as the ship teetered in the rough water. The weather had been chaotic before, but the vast majority of his time on the Grand Line had been sanctioned by marine soldiers. Now on his own, he was stuck trying to navigate the choppy seas on his own while the skies pelted him with unpredictable storms. All the while, he dealt with constant bleating from his unexpected companion.

"No; don't eat that!" Oscar lunged forward, pulling the goat away from the sails it had tried to gnaw on. "Yagi, leave the sails alone. No, not my shirt either. I get that there's not much food for both of us, but please."

Yagi snorted in frustration before wandering back to the other side of the boat to stand in the sunlight. Oscar did his best to adjust the torn sails, but it was difficult when he barely knew what he was doing in the first place. While Ozpin might have been able to help, Oscar really dreaded asking the voice for anything. He could already hear him rambling on about how he needed to save the coffee — that was because he already was hearing it.

At this point, he was beginning to doubt his choices. The rope digging into his hands as he pulled against the masts made it all feel more real. Ozpin's voice, for a while, had made him feel almost like he was in a dream. It was as if he had woken up into some sort of crazy story with some grand adventure set before him. No matter what reasons he had for setting out, it had felt as if nothing could go wrong. Even when dealing with those sea monsters, he wasn't really worried for his life. It didn't feel real. The longer he stayed though, the more it set in that this was very much actually happening and was quite dangerous at that.

Yagi began making a ruckus at the front of the boat. Oscar quickly tied down the rope the best he could before investigating. The goat had spotted land, or at least something similar. To Oscar, it looked more like a cluster of trees rising out of the middle of the sea.

"Already to Sabaody," Ozpin pondered within his head. "Meeting with Sengoku must have brought us closer to the Red Line than I thought. This is good; if the Straw Hats haven't left yet, we still have a chance to catch them."

"And why would I want to do that?" asked Oscar as he tried to figure out the best way to prepare for docking.

"Perhaps the marines might forgive you if you help them with this. They have made similar choices with the warlords."

Oscar hesitated. The thought of not being on the run anymore was very tantalizing. It might give him a chance to get out of the deep end before it got too deep for him.

"Fine," he said, not entirely enjoying agreeing with Ozpin. "I-I guess I can try, but this doesn't mean I'll become a marine either. I'm using this as a ticket back home."

Ozpin, for once, was uncomfortably quiet.

Jaune arrived back at The Barrel with the rest of his crew behind him. Ruby and Penny were busy comforting the mermaid while Neo stood guard. For some reason, she looked strangely protective of the mermaid. Rayleigh too was speaking with the mermaid, keeping a firm hand on her shoulder.

Stepping forward, Jaune asked, "Is everything alright?"

"It's better now," Rayleigh said, standing up to greet them. "I'm glad that your friends were there to help. This is actually a friend of mine, Camie."

"Thank you," sniffled the mermaid. "I might have snuck off from Hatchan, but — I just wanted to see the theme park."

Rayleigh looked at her with a sad expression. "You should know to be more careful, Camie. The celestial dragons will pay a higher price for mermaids, and the auction house knows this."

Camie looked down, fidgeting with her fingers. "I wore a dress to hide my tail though."

Stroking the tuft of hair on his chin, Rayleigh sighed. "Let's go back to the bar. The navy will be on a strong lookout for anyone involved with any incident involving the celestial dragons. If you're lucky, you can lay your heads low for long enough."

Rayleigh began rummaging through his equipment before pulling out what appeared to be a large hoop attached to a stick. After dipping it in a large container near the ship, he moved the hoop quickly to create a bubble. He then lassoed the bubble and brought it closer to Camie who shifted onto it.

"Woah," Sun exclaimed. "Those bubbles are pretty sturdy."

Rayleigh chuckled lightly at his comment, beginning to lead them back to the bar. "Yes; as I've told your captain, the sap from these trees is very powerful. In fact, I can coat your ship in it, allowing you to sail underwater within a bubble."

"Wait," Neptune jogged forward to be in line with Rayleigh. "You're saying that we're going underwater?" As Rayleigh nodded, Neptune slowed down and began muttering a mantra of, "The water's my friend; the water's my friend; the water's…"

"Is he —"

"He's fine," Sun assured their guide. "He just has a strange relationship with water in general. On a different note, do you think we'll see more mermaids and stuff? My mind's still reeling at actually meeting one; it's just like some sort of fairy tale." Camie waved happily at Sun, and he cheerily waved back.

"Actually, you will," Rayleigh supplied. "Your next destination will be Fishman Island. It will serve as your halfway point to the end of the Grand Line."

Jaune's hushed voice cut through the air. "Halfway." Something about his tone stirred his crew. "That's halfway to the One Piece; halfway to achieving my dreams."

The rest of the walk was in near silence alongside the white noise of Neptune's mantra. Arriving back at the bar, they crowded into the almost empty space filling the vacant bar. Ruby was quick to order the finest milk and cookies that they had, and Blake was just as quick to remind her that they didn't really have any money. However, Shakky brought one out anyways, giving the glass a gentle slide to Ruby. Zwei hopped into her lap while she drank it.

"Ooo, whatcha doing?" Nora looked over Neptune's shoulder with a curious look.

"Uh, we found these ruins while we were up in the sky. They seemed sort of interesting, so I've been looking to see if anyone can help me figure them out — and also figure out how the hell I can read them."

Nora peered closer, spotting the contact's name of who Neptune was speaking to. "Professor Oobleck?"

Somewhere else on Remnant, a certain green-haired man gave a cough that sounded oddly like the word 'doctor.'

"Do you know him?"

Nora shrugged. "He's just a guy that gave me bad grades. Anyways, continue."

Deciding it was easier to ignore her comment, Neptune did as asked. "Well, we've been discussing when to have some sort of video call. He says that he needs to have an interpreter for it, which I don't get. He's texting me in — wait, can you read this?"

Neptune all but shoved his scroll into Nora's face. She didn't so much as flinch. "Well, I can read it," she affirmed.

Returning his scroll to the bar, he clarified, "Sorry, I guess I can just read anything for some reason. I have no way of knowing if this guy is texting me in Valean or some ancient tongue. Well, all I know is he mentioned speaking too fast, but how fast do you need to speak to require an interpreter."

"Renny says I talk really fast very often. He has to clarify to others what I mean when I do."

"Right," Neptune said, mostly to fill the void of silence. "Well, I hope this guy will be able to help me."

"You were what!" Jaune's outburst stole everyone's attention, leaving the bar silent and watching him and Rayleigh. The old man seemed to find humor in Jaune's shocked expression.

"The vice-captain of Gol D. Roger, the King of the Pirates." The statement, spoken so matter-of-factly, belied the weight it carried. To be a mere part of the most notorious pirate's crew was no simple matter, and there before them was his right hand.

"What was he like," asked Ren, his voice reverent and calm.

Rayleigh took a whiskey glass that Shakky offered him. "Kind, stubborn, and both selfless and selfish. Most of all, he was a man that did everything on his terms. That's why the marines didn't really kill him."

"There are plenty of records regarding his execution," Penny offered.

Rayleigh shook his head, his eyes lowering with the weight of memories. "No, it wasn't the marines that killed him. They might have finished him off, but it wasn't theirs to claim. Roger was sick, and he knew he wouldn't make it. When he discovered this, he disbanded our crew, and he turned himself in."

There was not a sound save the creaking wood of the bar. Slowly, Jaune shuffled back to his stool and sat down next to Rayleigh. "So, the marines couldn't even catch him until he was sick and turning himself in?"

Rayleigh let out a bitter chuckle, but it slowly morphed into a heartier, reminiscent sort. "No, they couldn't. He was a powerful man, and we were quite the strong crew. They never truly caught the King of the Pirates."

"Hold on," Sun moved closer to them. "If I'm understanding all of this correctly, you being on his crew means you saw the One Piece, right. You could tell us where it is!"

AN:

So, first of all I want to say yes — it was the same celestial dragon. It was way too satisfying to leave out of this, and can you blame me? I also couldn't take it away from Luffy, even if he is a marine now…the only question is what consequences he will face.

Also, people have noticed that I've been gathering a worst generation…all I'll say is that they won't be called the same in this.

Anyways, next chapter: Gamer Gamer No Mi