Chapter XLII: Gamer Gamer No Mi

Jaune quickly spun around, all but slapping his hand over Sun's mouth. "Don't ask him that!" Jaune hissed. "And don't you dare tell me," he added to Rayleigh.

"You don't want to know?" Rayleigh's voice feigned curiosity, as if he had already known the answer from the start.

There was no hesitance in the look Jaune gave him. The epitome of determination marked his features with sturdy eyes, unflinching and leaving no room for leeway. "I set out to find the One Piece — not to be told where it is. I won't sully my quest by asking for it."

Rayleigh lifted his glass of whiskey, swirling the amber liquid before sipping it. "Don't ever lose that heart of yours, kid. Physical strength can only take you as far as your heart will guide you."

Jaune then felt his hand vibrate as Sun tried to give a muffled apology behind it. Having completely forgotten where his hand had been, the determination that had marked his face melted away to sheepishness as he pulled it away from Sun.

"Sorry," Sun repeated. "I didn't realize it was so important to you, man."

"See," Blake whispered sharply to Nora. "He didn't lick his hand."

Nora looked at her, then interrupted the conversation at hand. "Hey, Jaune! Wanna know what Blake —"

Jaune shifted his attention, but Nora had already been abducted by the time he looked. "Must have been the wind," Jaune said to himself, not noticing Blake holding Nora captive behind Ren. This time, she used Nora's own hand to cover her mouth.

"You should know," Rayleigh captured their attention once more. "There are several rookies here right now with high bounties — you included, if I'm right. The marines have taken to calling them 'The Most Annoying Fucking Generation.' I would be wary of them, if I were you."

Jaune gently rested his hand on his chin. "I bet that woman was one of them. She was pretty strong, and a bit annoying with how aggressive she was."

Rayleigh shifted, preparing his coating supplies without leaving his stool just yet. "I say this since it will take a few days for me to coat your ship. After that incident, I have no doubt that the marines will be looking for you, so you shouldn't stick around here. So, you'll need to be careful of everyone else here."

"Wait, what about the payment?" asked Ren.

Rayleigh shook his head. "You helped a friend of mine. I couldn't ask anything of you after that."

Oscar had never been in a fight before. The thought alone of confronting the Straw Hats had him on edge as his ship approached the archipelago. Marines began gathering around, which he found odd. Lining the edge of the root before him, forming a blockade that would prevent him from landing. Nervously, Oscar took a step back, earning an annoyed grunt from the goat with him.

"I warned you that they would be upset," chided Ozpin. "It shouldn't be too difficult to clear this all up. Just let them know that you plan on capturing the Straw Hats."

Oscar shook his head, continuing to shuffle backward. "Th-they're pointing their guns at me now," he stated as the blockade came to resemble a firing squad. Ozpin's voice slowly tapered to a whisper in his mind as Oscar stared at the ends of the line of gun barrels. His captured boat hit the root of the giant mangrove tree with a pathetic sound.

"Surrender!" The closest marine shouted at him. "I suggest you come quietly!"

Ozpin was urging him to comply, but Oscar wasn't listening. Everything was beginning to feel distant, his breath quickened, and his heart was thundering in his chest. He took one more step back, and Yagi sounded very upset. Oscar hadn't realized he was backing the goat against the railing of the boat. Oscar suddenly found himself knocked into the air by a sharp pair of horns. He landed ungracefully with his back laying on Yagi as the goat began to charge forward. As Oscar began to slip off, he instinctively twisted around and managed to wrap his arms around Yagi's neck to hold on.

A few rounds of gunfire rang out, and Oscar thought that his heart might burst from how hard it was pounding. Then a voice called out, "Don't shoot! That's the fleet admiral's goat you're firing at!" The guns stopped, but the marines lunged toward him as Yagi leapt onto the root of the mangrove tree. They continued to barrel through the blockade, Yagi pointing his horns forward. The marines, it seemed, were not trained in capturing a cornered goat, and soon Oscar was on his way to the main part of the archipelago. The strangest part of it all was the smile on his face.

Pyrrha stared vacantly at her scroll. Despite her lack of expression, her hand shook greatly, and the sound of metal warping caught Yang's attention.

"Are you good?" asked Yang, looking up from her task of making her uniform look less basic. The shattering death of Pyrrha's scroll answered her question.

"Enough is enough," Pyrrha stood with a grace that belied her anger. "This Adam Taurus' libel is reaching too far, and I can't stand it any longer."

"What did he say this time?"

Pyrrha scrunched her nose, as if smelling something awful. "A racist bigot who is disgusted by zoan devil fruits."

"Sheesh." Yang followed Pyrrha out of the room. "Well, what's the plan? Post your own video to address the claims?"

"We crush the revolutionary army."

Yang nodded as if that made sense, then almost tripped as the realization hit her. "Oi — wait a second there! Never mind the fact that we're missing two teammates right now, what do you plan to do? This army has been fighting the marines for years; do you think we can just track them down and be different?"

Pyrrha stopped in her tracks, causing Yang to nearly collide with her. "Jaune wasn't ready for Beacon, I think we can agree on that. I taught him many things because of that, but there's one lesson that he taught me." Pyrrha turned to stare Yang directly in the eyes. "You won't get anywhere if you don't try."

Yang stopped trying to keep up with Pyrrha, instead letting her friend go talk to Smoker on her own. At Beacon, Pyrrha had often been so collected and calm. Only when it was demanded did this other, more fierce side of her shine through. In Yang's opinion, during their time as marines this side had slowly become more prominent. At least she was sure it would help get her sister back eventually.

At the moment, they still had little information to go on. Smoker was certain they would be going to Sabaody Archipelago, wherever that was. However, they had yet to receive any confirmation. That was the only reason Yang even humored this excursion of Pyrrha's. No amount of slander was worth passing up a chance to get Ruby back.

Yang passed through the halls to where their gear was. Evidence of the escape was still being taken care of. The most prominent were flipper marks still somehow on the ground, being mopped up by vexed marines. Yang was grateful that it was never her duty.

As she packed her things for wherever they were headed, Pyrrha found her. "Still no information," she informed Yang. "It's like they disappeared — again. We're taking a smaller ship, then taking care of this Adam Taurus. That criminal will face justice." While Yang didn't share in her vindication, she didn't argue either.

Luffy dared not whine or complain, lest he earn the wrath of his grandfather. Garp had wasted no time in all but materializing at Sabo's ship. Despite being somewhere in the New World, he had gotten there in mere hours. The man's exhausted crew was the only explanation as to how.

Garp's sharp eye had Luffy's gaze stuck to the ground, which was difficult since Garp was carrying him by his collar. There were times he could struggle against his grandfather and be fine — this was not one of them. They were back on Garp's ship, down in the lower levels below deck. Other higher-ranking marines had accompanied Luffy to the ship to make sure he didn't flee. As soon as he had set foot on the deck, there was no more escape.

"Are you even listening to me?" Garp growled, hoisting Luffy up to eye level. "What you did was reckless and now you're in deep trouble. The celestial dragons are calling for your execution now!"

Garp's rant went on until Ace entered the room, and Garp cut himself off in an instant. Locking the door, Ace turned to them and strode forward with a relaxed grin on his face.

"They're gone?"

"Didn't want to stick around," Ace answered Garp. "They never do."

Luffy was set back down on his feet, far gentler than he was expecting. His confusion heightened as his grandfather dusted him off before firmly squeezing his shoulders. A grin bloomed on Garp's face as he gazed down at Luffy.

"Damn, you really grew up fast; you know that right, brat?" Garp bellowed jovially, leaving Luffy to just blink at him. At their sides, neither Sabo nor Ace offered any explanation, even though they both seemed to know exactly what was going on. "Already punching celestial dragons. You make me so proud!"

Finally deciding that Luffy deserved some sort of elaboration, Sabo interrupted Garp. "Don't worry too much about the celestial dragon, Luffy. Besides, it's not like this isn't a common thing. Marines hit celestial dragons all the time."

"I've already punched seven," Ace added helpfully.

"You put one into a coma."

Ace shrugged. "You act like that's a bad thing."

Sabo shook his head disapprovingly. "The point is, Luffy, that you're not in trouble. Just try not to be too public if this happens again. Unlike someone," Sabo added, glaring at Ace.

"Bastard had it coming."

"I'm sure you're wondering how we'll take care of the execution." Sabo stared at Luffy's blank expression before hanging his head defeatedly. "Who am I kidding, you weren't even worried until Garp got here. The point is, they made a puppet of you, Doflamingo is making it act real, and they're performing a fake execution for the celestial dragons."

"Doffy's a good guy!" Luffy exclaimed, beaming brightly. "I'll have to tell him thanks for the help."

"You can, but later." Garp led him through the hall to another room. "For now, we have something special for the boy who hit one of those annoying assholes!"

The room had a long table placed in its center with a cloth hastily laid out on top of it. Food befitting a king had been piled up, and Luffy's eyes quickly scanned it all: stew, pie, roast duck, steak, and much more. His crew was already there, Zoro, Kobe, Helmeppo, and the dugongs already sitting about the table and roaming the room. The moment his presence was made known, a panic washed over the crew to claim as much of the food as they could.

"We have some of the finest chefs," Garp told him. "They're here to see if they can battle that stomach of yours, so eat to your heart's content."

Kizaru wore his admiral coat like a cape, loosely attached to his shoulders. With his hands tucked into the pockets of his yellow suit pants, he strolled across the mossy roots of Sabaody.

After a relaxed sigh, Kizaru asked, "Where's the boy that hit a celestial dragon?"

"Taken by Garp, sir," the marine next to him answered. "They are preparing an execution for —" Squinting his eyes, the marine read from the report in his hands, "For a Laffy, evidently."

"So, what am I doing?"

"The Straw Hats seem to be a threat to the celestial dragons," the marine reported. "One of them was spotted challenging them and setting their — erm — their property free. However, that isn't the main priority at the moment."

Kizaru fixed the marine with a curious gaze. He tilted his head, peering just over his amber sunglasses. "What was set above the celestial dragons?"

"A hostage situation," answered the marine, sounding just as confused as the admiral.

Grasping his chin between his fingers, Kizaru hummed softly to himself. For a situation like this, Aokiji would have been better suited. Freezing the criminal before they could do harm would have helped better than his devil fruit powers. Perhaps the man was in another Stardew session — that would explain why he hadn't seen him in days.

"Which side are they on?" Asked Kizaru.

"The south end, sir."

With the swipe of his hand, an image of Sabaody Archipelago appeared before Kizaru. It was, to anyone else, invisible. This was just one aspect of his powers: fast travel. So long as he had been somewhere important and was close enough, he could travel there in an instant.

There, by the roots on the south end, was a nice food stall that he visited often enough. The tap of his finger against the image made an audible click, then he vanished from the view of the marine. Kizaru's surroundings shifted, first melting into a bright, blue light, then revealing a hotdog stand with a very perplexed vendor. Of course, Kizaru gave the man some money before taking one of the hotdogs for later. He might need the extra HP.

There was no difficulty finding the situation. Long lines of men in marine uniforms were not daily occurrences — outside of the marines' gun range at least. Walking up behind them, he towered high enough to look over their heads. There, at the end of what might as well have been a firing squad, was a young boy with tanned skin and dark hair. He looked rather uncertain at the situation he was in; however, Kizaru felt the boy should have been more scared.

"What's the situation?" Kizaru asked with a lackadaisical tone.

The marine beneath his gaze flinched at the sudden voice. "He won't give back the goat, sir."

"The goat?"

The marine steadied his gun. "He's holding the fleet admiral's goat hostage, sir."

"I've tried to tell you," the boy called out. "I just want to help with the Straw Hats."

"He wants to help the Straw Hats!" another marine called out.

"No! I—"

"He must have heard about the conflict with the celestial dragons," another marine added. "The bastard probably wants his own pound of flesh."

The boy looked downright confused at this point. "What's a celestial dragon? Is it some sort of grimm — or is it like those sea monsters?"

"See! He doesn't even respect the celestial dragons!"

Squeezing through the line of marines, Kizaru crossed his arms and stood tall before the criminal. "This is a dangerous game you're playing. Do you even know where you are?"

"Not really."

"Well, you —" a loud bleat cut off Kizaru.

"Not again!" Several marines cried in unison, and the boy had said the same. Suddenly, the boy was no longer on his feet. Instead, he was knocked up and onto the back of a charging goat. Instinctively, Kizaru rolled out of the way as the goat cleared through the marines.

"Sir? Sir, please open your door!" The muffled voice went entirely ignored. Aokiji was in a nearly meditative state as he watched his virtual character till the land on his farm. Four years had passed in the game since he had sat down, and he was going to take it from the current year ninety to year one-hundred before he stood back up. No matter what they said about a damn goat, he had his own virtual ones to focus on at the moment.

"Sir, please," persisted the voice. "We need — wait, why is there a crow here? Why is it — shit, get away from me. You winged bastard —" Flapping wings and disgruntled yelling faded down the hall, leaving Aokiji in peace once more.

Qrow was a bit worried about Cqrow. He had sent the little guy out to mess with the marines, but that had been a while ago, and they were already on their way to Vale again. It wasn't as if they could spend too much time, especially since she might be waiting on them already.

"Tell me again why we didn't just steal the body for her?" Junior grunted, playing cards with Ghira.

"Might not have been a bad idea," Qrow conceded. "It just felt weird though. Even if she was going to come back to life, I didn't feel like carrying a corpse through Vale."

"She wasn't dead yet," pointed out Clover. "Just in a coma."

"And that's so much better." Qrow rolled his eyes. "Not to mention what Oz or Jimmy might think about it. I mean, she is the Fall Maiden after all. Would that not have rang any bells?"

"Just use your devil fruit," argued Junior. "You could sneak right by them."

Qrow shook his head. "I can stealth easily when I'm silent and a bird and not dragging anyone with me. Besides, it's all a moot point since she would have to find us sailing around if we took her body. It's better that it stayed somewhere familiar like Beacon."

"Is that how it works?" Port asked. "I figured she would simply wake up again."

"Well," Qrow shrugged. "That's what I got from what Amber told me. I guess we can ask her in a bit ourselves."

Tashigi entered Smoker's room with confusion on her face. "Sir, you let those two head off like that?"

Smoker took a moment before exhaling enough smoke to completely cloud himself from sight. Tashigi coughed, doing her best not to act too bothered. From the center of the smoke, Smoker replied, "She was adamant about leaving, and she's right that we shouldn't ignore a criminal that shows himself to the entire world like that. His face is everywhere at this point."

Frowning, Tashigi asked, "You did tell her that the Straw Hats were reported to be on Sabaody, right?"

"I did." Smoker's face was barely visible through his tobacco sauna. "She seemed adamant that they could wait for now. Not to mention, she seemed confident that we could capture them without her."

AN:

I know that it's taken a long time for me to get this chapter out, but I hope that this proves that I won't abandon these so easily. I've just gotten caught up in other parts of my life as well as some other stories I'm writing. I'm working on a Naruto fanfiction at the moment that I'll probably start uploading soon after finishing this. I have two other original stories that I've been working on, so that's consumed a bit of my brain power.

Anyways, next chapter: Chat, Is This Real?