It has been fifty-seven years since the execution of the Second Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy, and he has left a legacy in his wake so great that some say he was more legendary than the First King, Gol D. Rogers. But like the last Pirate King, at his execution, he told the world that he had again hidden the One Piece for the world to find. Many saying it was the start of the next Age of Piracy, but then, war broke out among two families: the Monkey family and the Cobra family. After four decades of bloodshed, the war finally subsided. And nineteen years later, a member of the Cobra family set out on a quest to obtain the One Piece, his name is Cobra D. Red.
Chapter 10: The Joy of Freedom, Goodbye Doeter!
As the three men made their way somewhat groggily back down the road, they were met with a fanfare of excited shouts, with many people coming up to them and thanking them for saving them from their oppressors. They were quite unnerved by the amount of excitement directed at them – that is until they saw the food. Apparently the three towns had come together to put together a feast so that they could celebrate, and they came through too. The tables were covered in food, from fruit to meat, there was no shortage, and the reluctant heroes happily dug in.
Red, who had a liking to fruit, immediately went for an uncut watermelon, calling over to Miles, "Can you cut this for me?" and Miles responding with a smile, gripping the handle of the sword. Red tossed the melon up into the air and Miles lashed out at it, but was only met with a solid thunk as he wacked it to the ground. Confused, Miles looked at the blade and was shocked to see that the blade was flat. Bede looked over from where he was sitting to see Miles confused face, then he looked at his sword. "Maybe when you did your finishing move on Monaku, the heat caused the blade to reshape to the shape of the scabbard." Seeing Miles was still confused, he explained further, "Your blade slightly melted, becoming flatter." The smile of realization gave Bede satisfaction.
Red however just picked up the watermelon, "Whatever, I'll break it myself," then smashed the melon with his hand, splitting it into several pieces. As some adults gawked at Red's strength, little children rushed forward, grabbing some of the chunks of melon, and running off laughing. Red chuckled to himself as he watched them go, knowing that it would be some time before those kids were ready for bed.
One of the older townspeople walked up to him as his smile returned, gave him a look-over, then said, "Son, didn't you have a coat and hat before?" Red, who jumped at the man's sudden question, answered, "Yeah, but they got destroyed during the fight," to this, the old man's smile played across his face as his eyes sparkled. "I can make you a new coat and hat if you want. I am the town's tailor." Red, acknowledging this, replied, "Thanks geezer, but I really don't need a new coat, I kind of just had it as a reminder of where I came from," but seeing his crestfallen face, added, "But I could use a new hat. Specifically, something with a wide brim. Before my hair got bitten, it was long enough to shield the back of my neck, so now I need a wider hat." The tailor's smile returned, and ignoring the comment about his age, told him to wait while he got one from his shop.
Looking down, Red realized that now that he didn't have a jacket, it would look somewhat unseemly if he only had one button buttoned on his shirt, so he decided to button it up halfway, untucking it so that it covered his holstered gun. Running his hand through his hair, he thought to himself that he would have to get used to having short hair again. Reaching over to the table, he grabbed a pint of booze and an apple. As he crunched into it, a small group of children walked up to him. To get his attention, one of them tugged on his pants, to which he looked down at their smiling and awed faces, one of which told him, "Your friend told us you had a devil fruit power, can you show us?" The children, if possible, became more excited when the matter was out in the open. Red, not wishing to disappoint them, turned his hand and forearm into water, to the excited cries of the children, who had never seen a devil fruit, other than Skyler's, of course.
After the children being thoroughly proving that he had a devil fruit, with some even reaching their hands into his watered parts, he walked away, looking around at the merriment of people dancing, laughing, and altogether having a good time. He saw Miles red-faced, sharing some of his stories of raising himself on the streets to some sketchy looking people, but who for the most part looked like they were genuinely interested in his stories. As Miles took another swig out of a bottle, he saw Red walking by and waved drunkenly to him, which caused him to fall off the barrel he was sitting on. As the men laughed at the fallen Miles, Red chuckled to himself, knowing Miles was gonna have a hard time getting up in the morning. Especially after he tells him that they would have to set up the ship. Thinking about the ship, he looked around to try and find Bede, and found him sitting at the mouth of an alley. Red, thinking he was sitting down after a few to many drinks walked over and plopped next to him.
"How's it going? You ready for tomorrow?" Bede looked up, a little disheartened, then looking back down, replied, "Yeah." Red knowing there was something wrong, decided to prod, "Look, you don't have to join my crew if you don't want to…" To this, Bede replied, "It's not that, it's just that – I feel a sort of obligation to this town, that I need to help out, but I do want to join your crew, there's too many bad memories on this island…" saying this, flashbacks played out in Bede's mind. The Monkeys first coming here and torching the place, the public execution of the king, and his teacher, a man who had taken him in after he was left an orphan, who had taught him all that he knew about medicine, stood and called out their tyranny, and was shot to death, his body riddled with bullet holes, left to rot until Bede, who was only nine at the time, grew the courage to try and bury him, but was only met with a swift kick to his scrawny and tiny body, as he watched them drag away his teacher's body and toss it into the ocean. Red, knowing that remnants of broken past were playing in his head, waited until he could see Bede's eyes refocus to reality. Red sighed, "Look, Bede, I won't force you into becoming a part of my crew, I may act like a dumbass sometimes, but I can think, and I know you've seen some shit, I've seen the look before," then looking at where the sun was in the sky, and seeing it was nearly down added, "I'll give you 'til morning to decide, if you've not chosen by then, we're leaving without you." With that Red got up to leave, and started walking out of the alley.
As he walked out of the alley, someone walked up to him, holding something very suspicious looking. "Here you go sonny," said the old tailor with a smile while handing him a hat, "It was one of the last ones in stock, you're very lucky." Looking down at it, Red could tell some effort was poured into the hat, with a brim that was about a half foot wide, a white plume stuck into it, and (this Red laughed at slightly) a stitching that resembled a snake, wrapping around the band. Smiling Red plopped it on his head, "Thanks geezer!" Ignoring the comment about his age, the tailor strode away with a smile on his face. Tapped on the shoulder, he looked at Bede, who asked, "When you said you've seen the face before, what do you mean by that?" Red looked back at him, his new hat casting his face in shadow, as he answered, "What face do you think I saw in the mirror every time before I met you guys." With that, Red walked out of the alley, leaving Bede with so many unanswered questions. He strode out, asking someone along the way where the inn was. Thanking them, he walked into the building, asking for a room, he was given a key to a room on the upper floor. Striding up the stairs, Red fell into bed, realizing at that point that he had had a very long day.
The next morning
As Bede hurried around his shop, trying to clean things as best as he could, he heard a knock on the door. Surprised, as no one usually came to him during that time, he walked over to the door, expecting some of his neighbors to thank him, but instead was even more surprised to see Red and a very hungover Miles. Seeing the question mark over Bede's head, Red answered, "About the whole 'leaving you behind thing', we can't, because we kind of pushed our sinking boat out into the harbor," seeing that Bede already knew where this was going, he asked, "So, about that boat…"
"There she is, the boat I've kept hidden for nearly three years," said Bede, looking proud at what he accomplished. Red would've said otherwise. It was altogether an unimpressive sight, with Red expecting a secret cave lair that required a combination, he was a little disappointed to see just a boat covered in reeds. It wasn't even that much bigger than they're first boat, with the only major difference being a place where a small sail could be hung so that the people rowing could have a break.
As Red looked at it, a person tapped him from behind, and spinning around, it was revealed to be a townsperson holding a sack of food. "It was the least we could do, enough provisions and some money to help start your journey." Taking the sacks of food and money, Red grinned in thanks, but then stopped and turned back, "Wait, we can't take your food, didn't they take most of it." To this, the townsperson smiled, "Not even, sure they oppressed us, but we kept our wits about us, and we managed to hide most of the food, and that money came from the Monkey's personal storage," seeing Red was confused, the townsperson explained, "Some of the men here got daring and went up to the fortress, finding some of the beli they taxed us out of, and finding Skyler as well! We bound him in the only sea-prism stone handcuffs we had, we dumped him in one our prisons, where he belongs." Seeing Red was satisfied, the townsperson smiled again and went on their way.
Getting in the boat, Red started pushing off, as a reluctant Miles got in, unprepared for the sea while dealing with a bout of hangover. However, Bede grabbed out of the stern, making Red look up at him from where he was sitting. "I don't want to leave this town, but I have a patient to look after," then looking at Miles' face full of turmoil, "Make that two. But if those two are going to go and travel halfway around the world, then so will I, it is my code to never leave an untreated person." With that Red smiled, then grabbing a hold of Bede's hand, shook it, welcoming him to the crew. As Bede got into the boat, he reached into the brush to find the cord to his bag of medical supplies, plopping it in between his feet. Then reaching to an area in the boat, he pulled out a sealed bag, and opened it, pulling a folded sheet of fabric. Realizing what it was, Red helped him hook the sail onto the small mast. Immediately, the winds, almost beckoning to begin, started pulling the ship slowly off the shore, but when they were finally out of the muck, they started making better headway. Red, controlling the rudder, took one more turn around the island. Bede looking out to it, could see people on the shore waving at them, yelling goodbye. Bede looked at his two new friends and crewmates, smiling as he laid back against the hull of the boat, closing his eyes as the slow rocking of the boat caused him to fall asleep, the first of many on his journey with friends.
Two days later
As the townspeople were finishing the cleanup, they looked over at the dark windows of Bede's house and workplace. Someone would have to take over for being the town doctor, but for now all they had to do was do their best to get by. But suddenly, the silent morning air was slapped away by an explosion. The terrified townspeople looked over to see a ship coming into the harbor. People started rushing away as it pulled in. It's flag flailing in the breeze as a straw hatted skull smiled down on them, almost sadistically. Pirates started rushing off the bow of the ship, cutting down any person that tried to stand against them. One however, stood out from all the rest, going at a walking pace, hands in coat pockets as he looked at the town. Whenever he pointed at a building, one of the pirates that stood next to him would light a pitch covered stick and chuck it at the pointed building, setting it ablaze. When they were passing Bede's house, the man stopped and looked at the store with contempt, but then started walking on again. But that didn't stop him from pointing at it, as a blazing rod was sent soaring through the broken window a few seconds later, causing the store to smoke.
Finally, they arrived at what they had been looking for. Stepping into the jailhouse, the man grabbed the watchman by the throat and threw him into the wall, where he fell to the ground. He left a small trail of blood where he had slid down. Reaching for the ring of keys on the corpse, he walked over to the cell doors, where he stuck the key in the lock. Hearing a faint click, the man swung the door open. Stepping in and lifting up his cousin, the boss brushed him off. Giving a weak smile, Skyler looked at his cousin, "Hello cousin, did you get my message?" The man replied, "Yes although, I was not expecting to find you in a jail cell." Laughing at his failure, Skyler smiled, saying, "Some things went wrong and…" but was unable to answer as a dagger was stabbed into him.
Staring at his cousin in horror, Skyler was unable to speak as suddenly the blade was pulled out of his flesh. Falling to the floor, Skyler could only look up as he watched his cousin clean the blade, with a red handkerchief. Looking down at Skyler, he kicked him in the stomach, saying, "That's for your failure." Suddenly a pirate came into the building, a look of terror on his face. "Captain! The Marines are here!" Shocked to hear this, the man looked down at the dying Skyler, a look of loathing on his face. "Damn it," muttered the boss, "We can't leave him here, he's too much of a liability," then saying out loud, "We'll take him with us, and as soon as we're far out at sea, we'll dump his body."
Rushing to get out of town, the pirates cleared out with the bloody Skyler on the backs of two men, and were just in time getting out as the Marine ship pulled into the harbor. Cursing their luck, a lieutenant asked their Captain if they should go after them. The Captain, holding up a hand to stop his men from working, replied, "No, we have a burning town to deal with." With that, Marines jumped from the boat, helping as much as they could. Finally, when all the fires were put out, the Marine Captain walked over to the head off the town, who looked uncomfortable with his situation. Looking down at the man, the Captain said, "I'm sorry we couldn't be here any sooner, we saw their ship coming here a day ago and decided to tail them. Why would they attack this place?" The head, still uncomfortable with his situation, replied, "Well it might be because their man here was beaten." Confused at this, the Captain called over to a lieutenant, who told him that nothing had been reported of the sorts. Deciding to deal with the lack of communication later, the Captain motioned for the head to continue. As the head continued the story, a slow sweat starting to trickle down the Captain's head. Realizing what could happen if conflicts like this escalated, he called over the lieutenant, telling him to call in HQ. "But why sir? What could be so important about this island's troubles that we must call in head-" but was interrupted as the Captain yelled back, "Just do it! And if they don't think anything of it, just tell them this. Cobra D. Red is on the move, and it looks like he's heading for Raftel."
