Italics indicate thinking
Bold is for attacks
Steve's POV
"Look I'm not really that interested in an assassination attempt." Sanji said blowing out smoke "But is Big Mom even the type of person who can be killed by guns and bullets?"
"Yeah, the impression I got when she came into the treasure room when Brook and I were there was that she was like a walking tank." Wyper said borrowing Sanji's lighter "She took a shot from my Burn Bazooka and didn't even flinch. If you don't hit her hard and fast, she'll dodge or just tank the blow like it's nothing."
Sanji, Pedro, Wyper, and Bege, this rooms a damn smoke box.
"We nearly died trying to get Brook from her." Nami said "And she was sleeping."
"Emperors are something else huh?" Luffy laughed.
"And there are three more just like her." I said.
"Honest questions, I can't blame ya." Bege said moving her cigar around with his lips "Here's the thing, if we make the conditions just right, we can kill her in five seconds."
"Five?" I asked for clarification.
"The problem is creating the Five Second Opening." Vito laughed "Even a millisecond misstep and one of her commanders will kill you!"
"If it falls apart into an all-out battle, we have no chance of winning." Bege said "But we've already increased a little of our odds cause you two made such havoc taking down Cracker, there's only two Sweet Commanders at the moment."
"Oh, glad we could help." I scoffed.
"The plan starts with Caesar."
"Don't call me that!" he yelled "If you say that in front of Big Mom I'm screwed! Once this whole thing is over, you're giving me my heart back and I'm allowed to leave, that was the deal!"
"I can't say I'm crazy about letting Caesar out into the world unchecked." I told Bege "But if that's the deal you two have that's fine, frankly I'd like him out of my hair, we've already gotten what we needed out of him on Dressrosa."
"His job is the most important." Bege said.
"I created these!" Caesar picked up a rocked "The KX Launcher!"
"Whoa that's badass!" Wyper said.
"Don't compliment him!" Nami scolded "You're like a child when it comes to weapons"
"But it's a missile." He frowned.
"We've got three." Caesar said "Each cartridge delivers five grams of Organophosphate directly to the body."
"So it's like an injection gas bomb?" Wyper asked.
"Yeah, but even that won't penetrate that hog's hide." Bege said "she may be old but she's hearty, there ain't a weapon in the world that could pierce her."
"Then how are we gonna use the rocket?" I asked.
"We'll need to prep the strike." He said "And we'll also need to weaken Big Mom's body and those conditions can only line up at the tea party. I've been working for her for a year and only once have I seen her get scratched. At the Tea Parties the seat across from Mama is always reserved for a special photograph, that picture is important to Big Mom ya see, it's of Mother Caramel, it's her one weakness."
"A picture?" Monet asked.
"Mother Caramel is apparently Big Mom's life saver but information about her is scarce." Bege said.
"Is she dead?" Nami asked.
"No one's sure." Lola's twin sister, Chiffon, said "She apparently disappeared some time ago, even the family doesn't know much about her. Last time the photo got damaged Mama fell to her knees and scrapped herself, she bled when it happened, her face turned blue like she wasn't breathing then she let out this terrifying wailing sound, it was almost alien. It was similar to when she goes into one of her hunger fits but…it was different you know? Workers all around the place collapsed."
"In addition to that wailing of hers she's liable to activate her Conqueror's Haki as well." Bege said.
"All this over some picture?" I said reaching to my chest "I love my family but I don't think I'd fly into a rage if someone damaged my locked."
I popped it open and saw the picture of Me, Robin and Lil.
I miss you two, I hope you're okay.
"As you've seen Big Mom is no ordinary lady." Bege said.
"It's strange don't you think." I said "Big Mom is a legendary pirate, she's the matriarch of a huge family but her personality, it's like that of a petulant child, throwing fits over objects, rampaging over food."
"Yes, it's as though she never mentally progressed passed early childhood. I'm not well versed in Psychology but she must has suffered some sort of major trauma." Monet said "Damaging that photo will shake her mental state and lower her guard."
"Exactly, while that happens, we'll need 5 seconds to arm ourselves and deliver the payload of the KX's right to her, that'll kill her." Bege said.
"And the voice?" Chopper said "If she lets out that wail we'll be frozen in place."
"Problem solved." Bege held up some ear plugs.
"Will such a simple solution work?" Monet asked.
"If that big of a freak out happens we can use that time to free Sanji's family." Luffy said.
"You're getting ahead of yourself." Bege said "There'll be a three second delay after seeing the photo to the start of the fit. Those three seconds are when nothing will happen and we'll be completely surrounded. That's why you need to play your part right Strawhat, Torturer."
"You want Luffy and I to be the decoy?" I asked "You're asking us to look death in the eye…I like it."
"Steve!" Nami said.
"It's fine." I said "I already talked enough crap to that hag, I might as well back it up."
"I just thought up a killer entrance." Luffy laughed.
"See I like this enthusiasm." Bege smirked "The signal will be the kiss between Sanji and Pudding."
"Hold on." Sanji said "We're not gonna kiss, if we do, she's gonna shoot me right before we do, it's already gonna be hard to dodge it. The gunshot has to be the signal."
"We can get it done either way." I said.
"That's fine" Bege said "Once you hear Big Mom scream that'll mean the ball moved to our court, that's your chance to pull off your rescue while we pull off the assassination, at worst we'll have ten seconds. Once that's up, this idiot-."
"HEY!" Caesar yelled when he was pointed at "I'm a genius! When she's dead I'll fly in with a mirror we can use to escape with that woman."
"Why am I part of this plan?!" Brulee yelled.
"The fact you have Brulee was a stroke of pure luck." Bege said "Her ability is useful for escaping. As soon as you complete your job jump into the mirror while the others are under the effect of Mama's scream after that we just use the mirror world to escape, I'd suggest preparing one on your ship."
"As soon as we reach the ships this alliance ends." I said "We're partners for now but once we're off this island it's every crew for themselves."
"Exactly, we'll go our separate ways and that'll be that." Bege said "May fortune be with you."
"Alright." I looked at the clock "We've got two and a half hours, Sanji you should get back before they realize you're gone. Get ready, this isn't gonna be easy."
"Shame Rose didn't come." Luffy laughed "She would love this!"
"She is always saying she's a Ninja Assassin!" I laughed "This is right up her alley, probably too loud for her style though."
LATER
"Alright you know what to do right Luffy?" I whispered.
"HMPH." He mumbled in his sleep.
We've all barely slept but I can't blame them…it's make or break right now.
"You should sleep too." Jinbei told me "I can wake everyone when there's ten minutes to go.'
"I stayed up nearly two straight days to save Robin." I told him "Besides I'm too nervous to sleep."
"Hmm?"
"Jinbei can I ask you for some advice?" I asked.
"Any time." He nodded.
"Is it okay to be unsure of your own strength?" I looked at him "I want to protect my friends, I want to protect Robin and Lil…I want to protect Luffy but…"
"It never feels like your strong enough." He said "They say there's always someone stronger, but I know the feeling, like no matter what the world always spins out of your control."
"Yeah. After everything that happened with the war and me gaining Devil Fruit powers I felt I had no control." I nodded "When we agreed to spend two years apart Luffy and I spent eighteen months training with Rayleigh then the last six moths he left and we each agreed to train alone, but I wanted to get stronger to protect him, so I went to the only person I knew who would want to protect Luffy even more and I swallowed my pride and begged her to train me for six months."
"Her?"
When there were Six months left till the Strawhats reunited.
"Men are not permitted on this Island, especially not you urchin."
"Please I'm begging you here!" I yelled "I need your help!"
"Sis he's on his hands and knees here."
"I can use the Six Powers now, but if I can't master this Devil Fruit power, I can't protect Luffy!" I looked up "I need you and your sisters to train me, please Hancock! If I can't protect Luffy then there's no point!"
She stared down at me while sitting on her snake "…Fine."
She stood up and walked over to me, still staring down at me "But let's make something clear you urchin, I am not doing this for you, I am doing this for Luffy. Because if you die on him then..."
"I don't care what your reasons are." I stood up "If it can make me strong enough so I never have to see Luffy like that again I don't care what it takes."
"HMPH!" she suddenly shot her foot out and I blocked it with my forearm.
"GRR." I growled feeling a stiffness in my arm, it hadn't turned to stone but it had stiffened under her attack.
"Your Armament needs work." She put her leg down "You're trying to supplement it with the Iron Body technique, aren't you?"
"I thought combining them would work well together." I explained.
"You're not wrong." She rolled her eyes "But it's made you lazy."
"Hmm?"
"HMPH!" She drilled me with another kick, this one sending me flying across the room.
I slammed into a wall, kicking up a tone of dust and debris. I had moved to fast it was like I got whiplash.
"What the hell." I pulled myself off the wall.
"Don't blame me if my training kills you, urchin, it means you should have done better." She said raising her leg "We have six months, you will spend them tirelessly training, you will work with Sonia and Mari to master your Zoan powers, and I will beat my skills into you, and if I hear a single complaint I will expel you from this island is that clear?"
"Hmm…" I stood up "When do we start?"
PRESENT DAY
"Hancock put me through the ringer." I said "But even with all that I still don't feel strong enough. Luffy used an extreme technique against Doflamingo, odds are we'll need more and more power to even have a snowball's chance in hell against some like Big Mom or Kaido, the two of us combined struggled with Cracker and he was a subordinate. I still have a trick or two up my sleeve but after that I don't know what's left."
"Sometimes when we reach the peak of the mountain, we can see the horizon." Jinbei said "Then we see that we're not as high up as we thought and there's an even bigger mountain in the distance. If you think you've reached the top of this mountain, simply start looking for the next one."
"Yeah." I smiled "I don't want to feel complacent and useless again, not like I was back then."
AN
Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.
Pick Up- Chapter 862
I don't normally address reviews in my notes but I got one the other day that I just have to address. Someone said that Steve is a bad name for an OC in this series cause "this isn't the modern world it's One piece"
I just wanted to take the second and say, dude what are you talking about. I'm sorry, but this is a series where three of the Main cast have the names Robin, Brook and Franky. The guy responsible for the whole pirate era is named Roger. There are characters named Rob Lucci, Paulie, Coby, Marco and dozens of other totally normal "Modern" names. So stop, that complaint makes no sense. I'll agree it's not the most creative name, but it was my first OC so I really wasn't all that creative with the name cause I was new to writing fanfiction, but saying the name doesn't fit is silly when there are characters with totally "Normal" names all over the place in One Piece.
Anyway
Till Next Time!