Descent

by JustAProblem

Scars are a sign of pride and strength. A sign of survival. Naturally, this only applies to the physical scars and not the mental scars. No, mental scars are almost universally agreed to be negative and for good reason. Physical scars merely change how your body looks. Mental scars change how a person thinks. Rosan just wants to enjoy life. He didn't ask for all this.

43. Chapter 43: Life is A

Descent

Chapter 43: Life is A

It was of no surprise to Rosan at all, that the first one to wake was Robin.

He blankly watched her shoot up, tears streaming down her face that caused a pang to course through his body.

His girlfriend began frantically glancing around, before locking eyes onto him... and it caused him to wither a bit.

The speed at which she rushed him, jolted him out of his numbness and he instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist as she crashed into him.

Rosan steadied the teary eyed Robin with a look of concern.

"Are you alright, Robin?" He asked softly, noting the way she was shaking in his grasp.

Of course she wasn't alright. None of them would be alright. They had seen his darkest memories. They had seen his horrific past…

All of it. They saw all of it. They saw the monster he was, the monster he had been forced to become.

They all knew his secrets now… They knew how horrible of a person he was —

Rosan was forced out of his musings as Robin suddenly kissed him.

His eyes widened in surprise at the action and he felt his expression waver, as a moment of weakness coursed through his body.

He didn't deserve this... what was she doing? Why wasn't...

"It's okay, Rosan. Please calm down. You know they won't hate you after this..."

"But... how do you know that? How do you know how they'll react to seeing my memories?" He asked quietly.

"We don't know, but we have to trust them. Won't you please just trust them, Rosan?"

...He wanted to. Rosan wanted to trust them but... but Rosan was so afraid of being hurt by the people he trust.

He didn't want to put trust in them... just so they could turn their backs on him, That was a pain worse than loneliness. Rosan was someone who loved too much, so when he was hurt by the ones he loved...

That wasn't something he could handle. He'd never be able to handle that.

Mod frowned in distraught. Hearing Rosan's true reasonings be something besides he can't afford to trust others hurt so much... to hear him fully acknowledge that he can't be hurt by people he trusts...

"That… Kami, just seeing it all in one go feels so awful," Robin suddenly said, pulling back and gazing at the redhead with nothing but sorrow in her gaze.

Rosan's gaze wavered as he saw that look and he gazed away.

Robin was not having it. She forced him to gaze at her and felt the utter shame coursing through his body.

"Rosan… you have nothing to be ashamed of," she said softly, even as the tears refused to stop flowing.

Robin didn't think she'd be able to get them to stop anytime soon. There was no feasible way she could ever get them to stop after what she just saw.

To relive Rosan's life through his eyes… to feel everything he felt, to learn everything he did…

To lose all that he lost. Rosan's memories were painful but the most agonizing part of it all, was the sheer apathy that had washed over her at the point of Meiko's death.

Robin thought she understood Rosan's pain when viewing the memories but... but it felt like every emotion she felt had been dialed up to 10 after actually experiencing it.

Everything Rosan felt was amplified to such a dreadful degree. When Rosan had first met her, when he had first latched onto her, the sheer love he felt for Robin was almost overwhelming...

Robin didn't know Rosan had loved her so unconditionally so early on... it was no wonder he had been almost irrevocably broken when he realized she wasn't coming.

It was as painful as it was endearing, to know that from the very beginning, Rosan always loved her for being Nico Robin. If anything, viewing his memories like this showed Robin just how human Rosan was.

He was hurting and hiding because he didn't like being hurt... and the best way to not get hurt any longer, was to hide his heavy emotions that were so bared to the world.

That soul crushing apathy... the complete void of emotions... moments from Rosan's memories that made her smile, or gasp in horror, or cry...

Rosan felt none of that. Not a thing. How could he ever fault himself for becoming a monster if he lost the emotions that showed him these things?

To know that Rosan felt that for a majority of his life… Robin felt suffocated just thinking about it. She didn't know how she could possibly live like that.

She clutched Rosan tightly and just held him. The anguish in her heart at how he had suffered was rooted deep so for now, she'd at least let him know that he'd never be alone as long as she was alive.

Just like how he'd be the only person if he had to, to view her as human... she'd always be by his side.

"You're even stronger than I thought you were before," she whispered gently, burying into the defeated redhead. "I still love you, Rosan. Nothing will change that. I promise."

Rosan's eyes widened at that, before a small smile formed on his face.

He cursed himself for his eyes going foggy but… but he was just so happy to hear something like that.

At least Robin still loved him. Even if the rest of the crew rightfully hated him, he would always have her.

"I love you too," he whispered softly, clutching her to his frame as he tried to calm his nerves.

Robin knew he was still expecting the worst out of all of this but Rosan just didn't understand who their crew was.

"I saw... everything," Robin informed him. "In that moment, I wasn't viewing your memories, Rosan. I was you."

If anything, that just made Rosan feel worse.

"You shouldn't… you shouldn't have ever bore that. Becoming me is a sin no one should ever bear," Rosan said quietly, feeling his fury at Kuma rising.

None of them deserved that. Rosan was… Rosan wasn't normal. He wasn't human so other humans shouldn't have had the misfortune of becoming him.

"You're wrong."

Robin glared up at the resigned Rosan, feeling a passion she didn't think she had before.

Maybe the effects of glimpsing into Rosan's memories, were still affecting her.

"I don't know why Kuma did this… but I'm thankful because I've learned things about you that even I didn't know before. There is so much more to Portgas D. Rosan than meets the eye and… I know exactly how to help you," Robin said resolutely, clutching his cheek and pulling him close.

"You didn't want them to view your memories… because you didn't want them to abandon you. You think that the life you've lived is so bad, that even people you trust would turn their backs on you," she pointed out.

Rosan said nothing. He just averted those bright eyes of his.

Robin shook her head at that. "They won't Rosan… and deep down you know that they won't but you love to expect the worst out of people, because you think you're the worst."

Rosan was… he was such a complex person. He was in a never ending war with himself.

One half of Rosan, wanted nothing more than to love and be loved by everyone around him. He wanted to trust, be happy, be free.

But he couldn't.

He couldn't because there was another half of Rosan who thought he didn't deserve any of that because he wouldn't be able to protect it. This half of Rosan was afraid to love everything he worked so hard to protect, so he kept his heart shut and allowed them to leave each other... but never allowed himself to love them.

And he never allowed them to truly love him. It was self inflicted torture, disguised as a form of self protection...

Before they began dating, or even before his second and third chains unlocked… Robin simply thought his depression played such a huge part but no, it truly felt like Rosan was divided on how he should be treated.

It seemed to have started right after... right after she shattered him at Daybreak. Rosan was an enigma through and through... it almost felt like he was completely split.

Robin didn't care what it took, she'd drown out the noise of the half that wanted him to be all alone, because that was never something Rosan would want.

But still… she had to wonder, if Rosan really was so divided, why was it that he was almost constantly erring to the side of negativity?

Since they had been reunited, only with coaxing, would Rosan see the worth in himself… in a way that didn't seem like it was actually divided. It felt like one half completely dominated the other...

Well that didn't matter to her. What mattered was that Robin would help Rosan no matter what. He never gave up on her so she'd never give up on him.

Rosan looked down at her, noticing how her grip never loosened on his person.

Even if they hated him… he still had her. Even if they abandoned him, he still had Robin.

Rosan gently kissed her on the head and held her tight. "C'mon, you're exhausted… you can rest on me while I wait for the others to wake up."

Robin was thankful he offered it because she truly didn't feel like releasing him.

Her heart ached at his memories. The worst one to her, was the memory of witnessing Rouge's death because Robin had never seen that memory before.

She would never ask Rosan to replay that memory. It was completely unnecessary to see and Robin would feel like she were torturing Rosan if she asked him to view it...

And it was torture.

It was awful. The soul crushing agony coursing through Rosan's body, as he tried so hard to be strong for Mod-chan… Rosan had loved Rouge so much... everything he did, he would tell her. He wanted to be so strong for everyone at just the tender age of 4.

To Rosan who had only had Rouge for as long as he knew... he viewed her as his whole world and to suddenly lose that.

It was no wonder he latched onto both her and Mod-chan so strongly... he needed that support...

Never forget that mama loves you.

Rosan looked down in worry, as he felt more tears spilling on his person and clutched her tightly.

"I'm fine, Rosan," Robin choked out, feeling his soothing hands on her person. "It's just a lot to take in."

She took a deep breath. "Did you put everyone on the ship?"

He blinked before nodding slowly. "Yeah… you guys have been unconscious for a while… so I placed you all on the ship. I also took all the treasure from Thriller Bark and said farewell to the people who got their shadows stolen."

"What about Moria?" Robin asked.

Mod frowned. She had spent the whole time reassuring Rosan so that he didn't freak out further and guiding the redhead through the motions. It had been her idea for him to do all the things he did because he had been so close to having a complete breakdown and being unresponsive.

"Moria escaped while we were all regrouping… either that or Kuma saved him.. Regardless, we only managed to secure one person but at least their Devil Fruit was quite useful."

"Moria's Devil Fruit wasn't as great as I wanted it to be anyways," Rosan grunted. "I don't want anyone's shadow, and I don't want my own personal zombies… but maybe they don't have to be zombies."

Suddenly, his expression turned pondering.

"Damn never mind, I have plenty of ideas for his Devil Fruit," Rosan scowled.

If he encountered Moria again, he'd be sure to capture the man. Rosan already royally fucked up by killing the invisible man, he needed to be more careful in the future.

Robin sighed fondly. At least for the moment, he was taking his mind off current things. Rosan just needed to wait for the Straw Hats to wake up so that he could have his worries assuaged.

"Could you bathe me? I got quite dirty in the encounter with Moria and the tears are making a mess of my face," Robin requested in hopes of fully distracting him and herself.

She really did need the distraction...

Judging by the way his gaze lit up at the idea of helping her, it had worked.

It was adorable how innocent the murderous Rosan could be at times. Just the idea that he was able to help her in some way, was able to fill him with an almost childish glee.

She made no fuss as he lifted her up bridal and simply wrapped her arms around his neck.

He really was too adorable sometimes.

---

A tired Robin snoozed on the vigilante Rosan, wearing one of his purple silk sweaters as she drifted on and off.

Being bathed and pampered after a tough battle was just divine and Robin forgot that she had asked him for this to take his mind off things.

She sighed in bliss as the redhead ran a hand through her damp hair and burrowed deeper into his black tee.

Rosan idly massaged her with one hand as he kept watch of his still unconscious crew and the ship as well.

He wasn't quite confident in sailing without Nami's expertise and the Sunny was a big ship but despite that, he did set them back on course with the help of the Log Pose.

If anything happened, he would deal with it while his crew slept. The only part of him that was injured, was his ego at the one-sided affair against Kuma.

The Nikyu Nikyu no Mi… Rosan would love to get his hands on that fruit and he'd love to get his hands on Bartholomew Kuma too.

Stupid bastard. Who the hell did he think he was? Rosan would make him pay tenfold for his transgressions.

"I'm with you Father! We'll destroy that piece of trash," Ram snarled violently, glad that Rosan was finally back to working levels.

When Father was stressed, she got stressed and when Ram got stressed, she got violent and teary... and Ram hated being teary because Ram hated crying.

"Thank you, Ram," Rosan said softly. "I know I can always rely on you."

Ram beamed at that.

Rosan was brought out of his musings, as groans began ringing out of the clear.

Robin's eyes opened as Rosan's grip on her tightened and a small wave of trepidation coursed through his body.

At once, the Straw Hats began to all awaken and the redhead frowned.

"Now that they are all awake, I have business to attend to —"

"Rosan."

"Rosan."

"Father."

Rosan paused at the firmness in their voices and reluctantly canceled the Save Point he was planning on using.

"Fooood," Luffy whined, shooting up first and rubbing his belly.

"I need a drink," Zoro groaned, holding his head as he fruitlessly wiped at his eyes.

"Forget that for a second," Sanji grunted, wiping the tears from his eyes to the best of his ability. "After what I just saw, I'm really not equipped to cook something right now."

"Y-You're telling me," Nami choked out, unable to even think straight as tears continuously fell down her face.

Chopper and Usopp couldn't even properly muster a response, just letting out sobs from what they saw.

Franky was also sobbing, wiping his eyes repeatedly as he pulled out a guitar to begin playing.

"My word that was..." Brook muttered, placing a skeletal hand over where his heart would be.

"So you're all awake…"

Everyone snapped to attention at the very familiar and resigned voice.

They all gazed at one Portgas D. Rosan, their scout… whose life they had just bore witness to…

They saw it all… from when Rosan was the young and innocent age of 4… to the angry and violent 9 year old… to the lifeless and resigned 18 year old who had been that way since he were just 12...

Rosan's life was a nightmare and suddenly, everything had been cleared up to them.

All of his problems… all his fears and concerns… They finally understood why he acted the way he did..

To see the life Rosan lived through his own eyes…

Rosan grunted in surprise as he was tackled to the floor.

What...?

"R-Rosan!" Nami cried, holding the redhead like her life depended on it. "I-I can't believe you saw your mom die like that! Mam — I mean Rouge was so precious and I can't believe you had to..."

To think that he had watched his mother die too… They really were so similar. The screaming pain of having to watch it was all too familiar to Nami and she felt her copious tears somehow renew.

Rosan recovered quickly and wrapped an arm around her with soft eyes.

"It was really hard… I wanted to —"

"Crawl in a hole and give up," Nami finished, eyes just as soft as she ran a hand through the precious redhead's hair. "But you didn't because you wanted to protect Mod-chan."

The small little child, holding in all his tears until he could no longer hold it in... all because he wanted to protect his first friend.

Those large innocent eyes, glowing purple with such joy... only for that joy to be replaced with anguish.

Rosan was even more of an adorable kid than he and Robin made him out to be... the boy was downright precious.

He shone as bright as the sun with his endless optimism and joy... to know that he had gone through that.

"The bravery to give up assured comfort and go sailing on your own…" Usopp sighed, gazing at the redhead in awe.

"The strength needed to keep moving forward," Chopper sniffed, wiping his eyes as he recalled all that he had seen.

Rosan flinched in surprise at that, noticing that none of them were displaying fear or horror like they should.

"You aren't… disgusted with me?" He asked quietly, sounding genuinely confused.

Every single Straw Hat gazed at Rosan like he were a complete idiot.

"What?" They asked in confusion.

Robin felt a smile form on her face.

Rosan wasn't quite as pleased.

"You saw it all," Rosan said with a frown, unable to believe what he was hearing. "You saw the hell that is my life… you saw how I embraced the hell I lived in and became a demon… why are you so confused at my question?! Don't play dumb with me!"

They saw the slight hysteria in his gaze and frowned.

"I'm sure Robin-chan already explained it to you," Sanji said, reeling from the memories still.

It was awful truth be told. No child should ever have to go through that… the sight of Rosan being tortured so callously... to see him imprisoned...

But the worst part was the lack of emotions… It crushed Sanji from all angles and he nearly buckled underneath the crushing weight of Rosan's apathy.

The fact that Rosan still saw it fit to free him, it made Sanji find the redhead all the more inspiring. He didn't have a single reason to free Sanji. There was no sympathy in Rosan's stance, no empathy for his goal... just a sheer contempt for a small child being imprisoned... and a belief that anyone with the determination to so strongly proclaim their dreams, should have the right to seek those dreams out.

That... was really cool of him. The shitty redhead was way too cool for his own good.

Sanji wondered if that apathy was how his brothers felt at all times. If so, suddenly Sanji sympathized with them. His envy at their conditions when they were younger had practically vanished if they were even remotely similar to how Rosan had been.

"We felt what you felt, Rosan," the chef explained with a sad frown. "We felt the loss of Rouge-san, felt you getting tortured… felt you losing Meiko-chan and we felt you feel nothing. So you did a bunch of stuff we wouldn't do... you're getting better now aren't you? It's not like you were always like this!"

Sanji frowned sadly. It was getting very hard to ignore these tears but at least thankfully, he wasn't the only one. Not a single person, barring Luffy, seemed to be unaffected by what they just saw.

"If you thought for even a second, we'd hate or despise you because of the hell you lived, you're even dumber than I thought, shitty redhead," he declared, glaring at the redhead.

Rosan was stunned at that and the Straw Hats knew now that he genuinely couldn't believe that they didn't view him like the Devil.

"But the people I've killed… the damage I've dealt… the hate I feel… you've seen me at my lowest so why? You know I'm a demon… so why won't you look at me like I'm one?" He whispered.

Chopper shook his head, never removing himself from the redhead's person. "You're not a bad person Rosan! You did bad things… but you did so many good things too! You've been dealing with so much things since you were a child… the fact you turned out this way, into someone capable of raising an orphan into such a passionate queen… you're amazing!"

Sure he had done bad things but... but Rosan hadn't always been bad! No at one point, Rosan was just like them, with wide and wondrous eyes that just wanted to be happy with the ones he loved.

But those bright wondrous eyes... had been forced to witness the darkness of the world until they snuffed out the light in his.

Rosan tried and tried but he... he couldn't do it on his own. Chopper would be a failure of a doctor if he condemned Rosan for the trauma he had suffered...

Especially considering it had been a doctor who set Rosan firmly down this path... he understood fully where Rosan's hatred for doctors came from and the fact that he trusted Chopper enough to continuously work on his body.

Not once had Rosan shown discomfort when Chopper touched him. He accepted it with the same ease he had accepted Meiko and Demon's treatments and that thought moved the reindeer to fresh tears.

"You're the best, Rosan! I'm sorry I couldn't have met and helped you sooner!" Chopper wailed.

Rosan reeled back at that, eyes going wide as his emotions began flaring.

"You have to be one of the strongest people I know, bro!" Franky sobbed, failing to rub his tears away as he bear hugged the faltering Rosan. "After everything you've been through... you still have such a super spirit inside of you! You never fully gave up no matter what!"

The cyborg burst out into tears again at the redhead. "No matter what happens to you, you just keep moving forward and now look! You're finding what you've set out for! You're doing Meiko super proud! I know she's smiling down at you!"

"Finding what you set out for."

"You're doing Meiko super proud!"

Tears pricked his eyes but he didn't notice.

"I'm… finding what I've set out for? Meiko... she's proud of me?" He asked quietly, so quietly that they strained to hear him.

"Of course!" Nami nodded like it were obvious. "You really thought we'd hate you after this?! We've always loved you Rosan! We had no idea you didn't know! Don't think something like this would ever make us change our minds because you've shown us way too much for us to ever think you were unredeemable!"

Zoro snorted. "He's supposed to be one of the smarter members of the crew and he didn't know something as simple as that? I've killed people too. It's not like you go around murdering innocents, dumbass."

"Shishishi! Rosan's been through a lot," Luffy laughed cheerfully. "He's really stupid so he doesn't understand simple things. That's what Ace told me so we have to help him a lot!"

"You're not wrong… he's got a very creative mind," Usopp nodded sagely, thinking back to the redhead's way of thinking.

Rosan watched them, stunned as they conversed like they hadn't just peered into his twisted past… into his never ending nightmare.

They didn't… they didn't think he was disgusting… they didn't see him as the demon he thought he was.

A bony hand laid on his shoulder and Rosan turned towards the skeletal face of Brook.

"As someone who has only known you for a few days... I would like you to know that not once, have I ever thought of condemning you after what I saw," Brook said earnestly. "You are a powerful young man. One of the most powerful I've ever met and... I'm glad that we get to be in a crew together! Yohohoho!"

None of them were lying... not a single lie had been told here. Everything they said... they meant it. They meant all of it.

Even Brook... the newest member spoke so earnestly... he had the least to go with. He didn't know Rosan past a few conversations. He knew Mod-chan more than he knew Rosan but... but he saw all those memories and he said such kind things to him.

T-That was... t-that was s-so...

"You're looking for something you already found, Rosan. You already have plenty reason to live but you're scared to open your heart up like you did with me."

Robin's smile at their infallible crew, turned into a gasp as she felt something wet drop on her.

Was that... were these tears?

She slowly glanced up at Rosan and couldn't stop her own tears from forming once more, as she saw tears streaming down his face.

He gazed at the crew with wide and stunningly innocent eyes, looking as if their words had shown him a side of the world he should have been subjected to first.

For the redhead who had been plunged in darkness for so long... the beacon that the Straw Hats shown to him, was something that he didn't think he could still find.

For the boy who just wanted to love and be loved... to finally realize that no matter what he did, he was still capable of being loved...

Rosan was a person who was afraid to open his heart because his heart was so big and he was so lovable... but he was terrified of being burned.

But he wasn't being burned right now... no the fire the Straw Hats lit, was one that filled him with an indescribable warmth.

Her gasp brought the attention back to them and everyone gazed at the crying redhead with shocked eyes.

After all, he hadn't cried since he was 12! This was a momentous occasion! Rosan was capable of still shedding tears!

"Are you okay, Rosan?" Robin asked in concern, holding his cheek as the tears continued to spill from his body.

"Something I already found. I... I already found it. I found it so long ago but I was too blind to see," Rosan thought to himself, clutching the hand holding his cheek.

They watched as the redhead grinned brilliantly, despite the tears falling down his face. His abnormally sharp fangs gleamed, as his eyes shone the brightest they had seen yet.

The redhead stared at them all, an emotion that they immediately identified as love in his gaze, as he let out a watery laugh.

"Kahaha… I'm so sorry you all… I can be really stupid so it takes longer for me to notice things. I... I'm glad everyone is so patient with me because... because I'm not very patient with myself. Meiko said the same thing to me," Rosan said to them, face glowing in the most innocent display they had seen from him yet.

"We know!" they chirped.

"She was right," Nami sighed incredulously. "You're so ridiculous Rosan."

He really was so stupid. Rosan thought Meiko had been talking about just Robin but no… she had been talking about everyone in his life.

All of them were worth living for and he had never seen that because he was too in his own head. For so long, Rosan had firmly believed someone like him could never truly be loved because the moment a person learned everything about him... they'd want nothing to do with him.

Even with his family... he thought that. The only ones Rosan truly thought could ever actually love him, were Luffy and Ace but... but he was wrong.

They were right, he was really stupid and that removed a burden off his shoulder he had been battling for years.

"R-Rosan," Mod sobbed, holding a hand over her mouth. "I-I told you that you could trust them! I'm so happy you finally made these realizations."

They'd all been telling them haven't they? He owed everyone an apology, Rosan's head was way too up his own ass.

Guess he really was royalty. He had the royal douche down to a t.

"I'm sorry Mod-chan, really," Rosan said sincerely, trying and failing to wipe the tears away. "I'm sorry for making you feel so inadequate over the years. You've been trying so hard to make me see how dumb I've been..."

"Y-You never have to apologize to me for something out of your hand, Rosan. I've been with you from the beginning, I know exactly why you were the way you were and I'm just glad we finally found the people that can free you," Mod smiled brilliantly, rubbing the tears from her eyes.

"I'm sorry to you too, Ram. It took me too long to acknowledge that you were my daughter and you didn't deserve that neglect."

Ram gasped at that and nodded eagerly. "You've never neglected me Father! It... it hurt that you didn't see me as your daughter, but that's not your fault!"

He smiled softly at that. "You are my daughter first and then my weapon, don't ever forget that. Even when I eventually have kids with Robin. You can be big sis Ram like you wanted, to them."

Mod's jaw dropped and a brilliant flush covered her cheeks at his shameless words. "Could you stop being so shameless for just a few hours?!"

"Kids?" Robin thought in shock, an unseen red on her cheek as well at how shameless he was.

D-Didn't Rosan want 4 children?! She forgot about that possible prospect!

Ram beamed in happiness. "That's so gross Father!"

Rosan cackled and stood up, before bowing to his crew.

"I'm sorry," he began earnestly. "I've been a terrible crewmate to you all. I've kept secrets, operated on my own… it's not what I should have been doing and I'll do my best to be better to you all…"

They deserved it. Rosan would become better to them. He would confide his plans with all of them now... no more operating in the shadows. He would be a good crewmate.

"What are you talking about Rosan?" Chopper asked in confusion.

"Yeah, we're totally fine with the way you act! It'd be weird if you stopped!" Nami beamed, forcing the redhead up from his bowing position.

"It would be way too strange if you stopped acting like the secretive asshole you are," Sanji nodded in agreement.

Rosan laughed lightheartedly and ran a hand through his red hair. "You guys are so weird," he said softly.

The redhead shook his head and took a seat, grabbing Robin and placing the elated woman atop him.

"At the very least, you guys should rest more… no matter how well you guys are handling it, my memories are still jarring," he informed them. "Take it easy, I'll make sure we don't sink for a few hours... and please don't hesitate to come to me if you have nightmares."

The Straw Hats gazed at the redhead and nodded, accepting his offer.

"So what happened after we fell unconscious?" Nami asked, as Sanji darted to the kitchen to go make them all food.

They were starving after the events that transpired... and honestly some food would be a great distraction. Despite the much more uplifting mood around the ship, that did not change that Rosan's memories were very... scarring to witness.

Seriously... how could he stand here and still grin and smile so freely? They knew it had taken him a while but... seeing that Rosan was even still capable of being saved was incredible!

Rosan explained everything that happened.

After screaming in frustration and rounding his crew onto the ship, Mod-chan had told him to take everything of value from Thriller Bark, requesting that he give some to the pirates that helped them so that they could at least sustain themselves.

The leader of the troupe... Lola was her name, had been so tearful at his kindness, that she had asked to marry him...

Rosan was so out of sorts he couldn't even deny or accept her request, but Ram had transformed into human form to give the woman a firm lashing about how "Father's already taken you stupid cow! Mother is 3000 times cuter and smarter and hotter!"

He would have laughed at the events... if he hadn't felt like a zombie.

Ah that reminded him.

"Nami, the woman named Lola wanted you to have this. I don't know why but here," he muttered, pulling a sheet of paper and handing it to her.

"A vivre card?" Nami muttered in surprise, remembering the piece of paper Ace handed to Luffy and Sabo.

"Yeah," Rosan nodded. "I dunno why she picked you, but she mentioned trusting you for some reason."

Nami blinked before a look of realization crossed her features. "It's a long story… I ran into her zombie... we became friends. I guess Lola remembered at least a little?"

Funny how that worked...

Rosan nodded, easily accepting that explanation, and adjusted the yawning Robin. "Tired?" he asked her softly.

"Mentally exhausted," she told him truthfully. "I can't believe you had the nerve to say you're mentally weak. For someone as arrogant as you, it's ridiculous how much you downplay yourself."

Such arrogance and self doubt should not exist in one person. Rosan truly was an anomaly and even being him for a moment didn't make it any easier to understand.

What a strange redhead he was.

"It took me too long to realize I'm not the worst person in the world," Rosan admitted with a soft laugh. "I'm... it's hard for me to change my mind about something once I've made it huh?"

The most prime example was with the World Government. Rosan knew they weren't all terrible people, yet he still hated them all...

He couldn't help but feel slight guilt now at his actions towards Commodore Emma...

That was... not right of him. She had unjustifiably been scapegoated for Smoker's actions...

Rosan, wouldn't become a good person, but he would try to become better.

"Rest up some," he murmured. "Thank you for never giving up on me."

Robin sighed happily and tucked into him. "Idiot. Thank you for never giving up on me."

He grinned fondly.

He was… so glad that he met this crew. Time and time again, they managed to impress and catch him by surprise… and this one was the greatest surprise yet.

Rosan didn't like being surprised. He liked having all the details so he could prepare accordingly… but he would let it slide this time.

"Oh that reminds me!" Nami suddenly said. "Rosan! Transform into Mod-chan! Bring out Ram too!"

"M-Me?" Mod asked in confusion.

"Huh?" Ram blinked.

Rosan blinked at that and nodded slowly, gazing at the suddenly energetic Robin.

"I'll sleep afterwards, I promise," Robin assured, pushing herself up.

The redhead nodded and stood up, quickly taking the form of his mother in the process.

Almost as soon as Mod gained clarity, she was swamped by nearly all the Straw Hats (Luffy dragged Zoro who fruitlessly protested) hugging both her and Ram.

"!" Her eyes widened in shock and a brilliant red marred her cheeks at all the people hugging her.

"W-What?!" Ram gaped, squirming at all the people hugging her.

"You're amazing, Mod-chan," Nami said warmly, squeezing the woman with all her might. "From the beginning to the end, you've been an amazing mother to everyone, especially Rosan and Robin. This probably won't compare to when Rosan finally manages to hug you, but hopefully this is enough for now."

Throughout everything, Mod had been trying her best to keep everything together. If not for her, Rosan would have gone off the deep end as early as 4 years old. Her calm, rational and kind soul had done everyone so many favors.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say the reason Rosan could be saved in the first place, was majorly because of Mod-chan. She was the perfect pillar and mother that Rosan needed.

Mod's eyes turned foggy at that and she whimpered. "Y-You all..." she whispered.

"You remind me of my mother, Mod-chan. She was the kindest soul on the planet and made me believe that I really could be a cook... Rosan's lucky to have you," Sanji said earnestly, fondness in his eyes.

"He's right. I don't know what I'd do without you Mod-chan... you're the reason that I'm able to be reasoned with. Without you... I'd be dead or all alone," Rosan said genuinely, joy in his eyes.

Mod began sniffing at that, big red eyes showcasing just how human she had become over the years... to compensate how lifeless Rosan had been.

"You too Ram! You both added a lot of life to everyone struggling. You were like a breath of fresh air," Usopp beamed truthfully.

"Just existing managed to give Mod-chan especially, so much vitality. She really needed you in her life," Chopper nodded enthusiastically.

Ram's cheeks burned red in mortification at that. "I-I don't need your compliments! I only live for Father and I acted accordingly! Of course I'm a breath of fresh air! Look who you're talking to!" she squeaked.

W-Who did they think they were, giving her earnest compliments?! She didn't ask for this! Ram only lived to serve father so who did they think they were making her feel all warm inside?!

Tears sprung in Mod's eyes at their words and she sobbed happily, trying to return the hugs to everyone to the best of her ability.

Even the bony body of Brook!

"I'm so thankful for you all!" Mod sobbed. "I've been pleading with Rosan and Robin to both trust you all from the moment we all met and I'm so so glad that I was right."

"Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, for saving both my son and daughter," she finished tearfully, looking at the crew with love in her eyes.

"Of course, Modi," Luffy laughed wrapping both arms around her. "They're our friends! We'll always help them!"

Mod laughed in joy and nodded tearfully before finally breaking the group hug.

It was a long time coming and even despite her urging Rosan... she had had some doubts that maybe not everyone in the crew was trustworthy... but she was wrong!

They were all such lovely people and Mod was so glad that Rosan got to meet them.

"So you're Ram…" Brook mused, remembering the unhinged girl well from the memories. "It's a pleasure to meet you in the flesh. Might I see your panties?"

A tan fist floored him with extreme strength and Ram glowered at the flattened skeleton.

"S-Such strength! Yohohoho!" Brook wheezed.

"I don't wear panties, pervert. If you ask that again, I'll unlock a bone transformation by absorbing you," she snarled.

"Duly noted! You make my skin crawl... oh but I don't have skin! Yohohoho!" Brook laughed joyously.

Ram sighed. Morons all of them. This was why she stayed in the mindscape, everyone was so dumb.

Sanji's eyes bugged out of his head. "Y-You don't wear panties?!" He balked in disbelief, a lecherous grin slowly forming.

The belligerent ring sneered at the blonde. "Of course not! Not enough freedom! I wear boy shorts!"

Mod sighed. "Ram, please don't tell them that. Rosan just apologized to them and now you want him to commit murder?"

Ram's eyes lit up. "Father will commit murder in my honor if I mention what I wear?!" She asked excitedly.

Robin sighed. "Ram, please don't. Rosan really will do it."

The ring pouted at that. "Fineeee," she mumbled.

Everyone sweatdropped.

---

"Looks like the hunger got the best of you."

Perona let out a loud shriek at that, jumping 10 feet in the air at the deep voice behind her.

After pacing about and realizing she had no idea where she was... Perona had attempted to send her ghost out to inspect the area she was in...

And that's when she saw the outside of the castle. The never ending darkness, had frozen her up to the core and caused her to shudder in horror, even in her ghost form.

Wherever she was, was utterly unnatural in nature and she took the woman's words to heart about not exploring too much because this place was horrific.

So Perona sat tight in the strange castle, until she was no longer able to ignore her rumbling stomach and the girl decided it was time to take that woman's offer of eating something if she were hungry...

Well, that offer had flown out of the window (along with her soul) at hearing the deep and amused voice of the demon in human flesh.

Rosan looked at the girl tentatively cooking a sandwich for herself and rolled his eyes.

"Go sit down. I don't like when people cook in my kitchen. My student tried it once and nearly burned it all down."

The pink haired woman nodded hastily at the commanding voice and took a seat, going completely pale at seeing Nico Robin stare daggers into her.

"So I take it you don't often stare at people's naked bodies like the other dead one, right?" Rosan asked conversationally, deftly moving through the kitchen as he made a meal.

Perona shuddered at being in a room alone with two dangerous predators and went pale at his very obvious point of mentioning Absalom's state.

Seeing Nico Robin keep eyes on her, was one of the most terrifying things she didn't know she'd be terrified of.

There was a disarming smile on her face, as those icy blue eyes peered at her. Her only reprieve, was that Nico Robin frequently focused on the Red Devil, taking her eyes off Perona in quick intervals.

Where was the purple haired woman? At least she radiated warmth and kindness!

Perona shook her head rapidly. All she could think of was Absalom's body on the floor... from this man's treatment.

She could not let that happen to her.

"N-No… I'm not a pervert! Honest! I was just checking to see what Absalom was doing because we had a very specific set of orders that we normally do. I didn't think he would be stupid enough to attack you two while naked!"

"You're lying," Rosan said easily, not even glancing back at her. "Don't lie to me again. I'm not as nice as Mod-chan or Robin."

Perona squeaked in terror and began to sweat as Robin's eyes once more roamed over to her.

"O-Okay okay! I did think Absalom would do something like that but I didn't realize he was that stupid! I knew he was dumb but attacking you two with your bounties… You two have such high bounties and it was unprecedented to see such a strong crew show up! I wanted to wait for Moria to awaken before deciding our course of action but he decided it for us!"

Rosan chuckled darkly and placed a plate of rice in front of her. "So one of you are smarter than the rest."

It seems there truly was intelligence in cowardice. Maybe he owed Usopp an apology.

"Attacking my crew and I… it was the dumbest mistake you could have made and your freak of a friend paid the price."

Perona looked at the plate like death itself had given it to her and gazed up into the piercing eyes of a truly terrifying entity.

As someone who lived on Thriller Bark, a place full of the supernatural... Perona found herself reassessing the definition of the word horror.

"Are you going to be as dumb as he was?" Rosan asked quietly, eyes sparking in fury as he forced her to hold his glowing gaze.

Perona shook her head hastily. "Nope! Nuh uh! I have no intention of being stupid like him! I give up completely! It's your win!" she practically vomited the words out at the speed she was talking.

Rosan looked pleased. "Good. You've lost this battle. I don't quite know where Moria is but he has vanished. I don't believe in needless torture and you're useful, so I think it would be a waste to kill you."

Perona let out a sigh of relief at that. Hopefully it stayed like this... with the Red Devil not wanting to kill her. The redhead looked very unstable and she did not want to be the trigger for that.

"So what do you want?" she asked hesitantly, taking a tentative bite out of the food offered to her and feeling her eyes light up at the delicious taste.

She very much doubted he poisoned her. He could literally crush her skull with his fists. Poisoning was completely unnecessary.

Rosan hummed and took a seat next to Robin. "You are useful. Your ability allows for a safe way to have eyes and ears in places and not to mention they can incapacitate just about anyone with their negative abilities."

Perona puffed up at that.

"If you used that ghost on me, by the time I recovered, I'd probably be so mad that I'd rip you apart," Rosan said truthfully.

Without his emotions, they wouldn't have worked but right now? Rosan would be a complete sitting duck at the face of Perona's abilities.

Perona balked at that, dropping her utensils as she nervously gazed up at Rosan again.

"I want you to work for my student. She could use someone like you. You could easily become one of her most important assets," he finished.

Robin let out a small laugh at that. "Always thinking of Maro. Should I be concerned?"

The redhead glanced at her. "Well she wouldn't be so opposed to my public displays of affection like a certain someone I know, that's for sure. I bet she'd be happy if I was saying the unhinged things I said about you," he grunted, pinching her cheek.

Robin let out a noise of annoyance. "Well please take her then. I don't want to deal with you! Let someone else do it!"

Rosan snorted. "No way. After all the effort I went through, you think I'm going to just give you up? Keep dreaming, babe."

The Devil Child let out a noise of misery. "You hear my clones say that once and use it to mock me forever. You're unreal…"

"Am I getting thirdwheeled in a situation that could decide my future from now on?" Perona thought in disbelief.

Considering what Rosan had done to Absalom… It would really be in her best interest to not piss the Red Devil off.

"I'll… I'll work with you?" She interrupted the two. "What does your student do…?"

Rosan and Robin stopped conversing to look at her.

"She's a Queen in the North Blue. As long as you don't irritate her, you will live a good life," Rosan grunted.

"It's very hard to do so anyways. Maro's a sweetheart," Robin smiled fondly.

That smile turned into a yelp as Rosan's hand gripped her cheeks again.

"Don't even think about it," he growled warningly.

Robin raised an incredulous brow and growled back, summoning multiple hands. "Are you serious?! She is a married woman, Rosan! Why do you think I'd even attempt to do that?!"

"So if she wasn't married you would?!" Rosan asked in return.

"Well maybe! She might be a pervert but at least she isn't as insufferable as you are!"

"Oh fucking yeah?!"

"C-Can we just go now?!" Perona blurted out, sweating at the two gearing to attack each other.

She went pale as those angry eyes glared at her.

"When you want of course," she squeaked.

Hopefully the Queen wasn't as scary as these two.

---

"Hey Maro."

Maro perked up, a big grin on her face as she launched herself over the table into Rosan's waiting arms.

She eagerly dragged Robin into the hug as well and let out a happy noise.

"Are you guys happy to see me? Believe it or not, I was actually thinking of you two for some reason! I felt a few shivers going down my spine and began to worry for my safety," Maro rambled to the duo.

"If you're Maro… then they were arguing with each other nonstop because they kept accusing the other of wanting to date you."

The goblin perked up at the unknown voice and peered over Rosan's shoulder to find a tired pink haired girl.

Whatever fear Perona felt at the two, had completely vanished as she watched them escalate their argument until it came to blows.

Watching the two roll around and claw at each other was fairly funny and terrifying... only for all that to be replaced with disgust at watching them suddenly —

Never mind. She should just purge that memory from her head.

"Who's this?" Maro asked curiously, waving cheerfully at the pink haired girl. "Another soldier for me?"

"Yeah," Rosan said, glancing back at her. "She was apart of Gecko Moria's crew. Her ability is very useful so I thought to give her over to you."

"I'm not some type of toy that you can just give away you know," Perona deadpanned.

Rosan raised a brow. "Where did all your fear go? You were terrified earlier," he pointed out.

"Hard to be afraid when I was forced to watch you and your girlfriend lock lips for 30 minutes while I ate," Perona replied dryly. "I just want to bleach my eyes and go to sleep. You two are cute, but I don't appreciate the free show."

"I'm jealous," Maro sighed morosely. "Can you two repeat it for me?"

"Please don't," Perona sighed.

Robin rolled her eyes. "This is what I meant by public displays, Rosan," she chastised.

"You say that like you're not the one who initiated," Rosan accused.

Maro sweatdropped at the two and focused on Perona.

"It's nice to meet you Perona, I'm Queen Maro of Celadon. I'm a little interested in seeing why Master thinks you're so useful!" she grinned cheerfully, gazing at the girl.

She was cute and short, with a head of pink hair and big, round black eyes.

What a uniquely cute girl!

Perona paused as she digested, before her eyes bugged out of her head.

"Y-You're Queen Maro of Celadon?!" She asked in disbelief.

"You know of me?!" Maro beamed happily.

She'd be psychotic to not know about the woman! She was one of, the most famous people outside of the Grand Line!

How the hell did the Red Devil know her? Did he say she was his student?!

How did the Queen of an island like this one, know of a demonic pirate? What the hell...

"Hello?" The beautiful queen asked, waving her hand curiously.

Perona jolted and nodded hastily.

Rosan was giving her an opportunity to work for one of the most prestigious islands in the North Blue! She'd be a dumbass to not accept it!

It was much better than... the other option. Perona may have lost much of her fear for the Red Devil... but that didn't change the fact that he was terrifying and he only stopped being scary because she agreed to be allies with him.

"I'm Perona... I'm 23 and I ate the Horo Horo no Mi so I'm a ghost girl! I can send out ghosts that are very good at immobilizing threats and scouting!"

Maro's eyes widened in joy. "Hey I'm 23 too! Woah! You look so young!"

She didn't have an actual scout! She mostly used Mikita or Drophy for that but having someone who was actually apedt at the job, would be amazing!

Perona saw the joy in the woman's eyes and let out a sigh of relief. She summoned her Hollows and demonstrated them to the awed Queen.

"I won't show you because I don't want to die to that demon over there… but I can send this through anyone and take away their will to live," she explained. "I can also make them explode too!"

Maro ooh'd and awe'd at that.

"I can also turn myself into a ghost! It makes my actual body susceptible but it's great if no one knows where my body is!"

The Queen's eyes widened at that. Perona was a goldmine!

Master got this girl for her?! Amazing! Incredible! 10 points!

"I hope you know I have high hopes for you but I won't push you hard," Maro beamed. "You're so impressive! You already have the potential to be one of the most important pieces of the island!"

Perona beamed in return. The Queen's personality was very cute! Much cuter than those demon's getting ready to lock lips agai —

Oh hell no.

"AHEM!" Perona coughed loudly, making the two jump in surprise.

Rosan glared daggers at her while Robin sighed in exasperation.

Perona was so tired of them.

"Do you have any place for me to stay, Queen Maro? I can set up my ghost network as well but you should warn the people about me to not cause widespread panic."

Maro nodded in excitement. "I especially need to warn Angel… she's super afraid of ghosts. I'll set up some arrangements for you to live somewhere that leaves you secured and safe!"

Perona smiled at that. This was certainly better than being massacred by the Red Devil.

She did miss Moria though… she wondered how he was doing.

With pleasantries finished, Maro had Kanna and Kaori escort Perona to her new place with a pleased smile.

Robin and Rosan both watched the queen turn towards them with a coy smile.

"Arguing about me eh?" Maro cooed, waggling her eyebrows perversely as she pulled the both of them close. "My oh my you little perverts! I realize I'm super hot and you two are also super hot but I'm also married you know!"

Rosan rolled his eyes. "Shut up you goblin. I'd never date you for various reasons."

"Me as well. You're beautiful but I would rather not," Robin nodded with a small smile.

Maro spluttered, before curling into herself in depression.

"You guys are so mean," she mumbled as she drew a circle on the ground with her finger.

Why did they always bully her? What did she do to deserve this! She was queen damnit!

Bah, no one had any respect these days.

The two laughed at her reaction and Maro eventually shot up with a look of curiosity.

"You guys fought another Warlord?" She asked.

Wasn't this a little ridiculous? The Straw Hats never seemed to have any respite at all! All their journeys were just chaos after chaos!

Rosan's smile vanished a bit. "Not just one. We saw Bartholomew Kuma as well," he muttered with a deep frown.

Maro's eyes widened in shock. "You met Bartholomew Kuma and Gecko Moriah at the same time?!"

Robin nodded. "We did, it was quite the difficult battle and we were very ill prepared for Kuma's sudden arrival."

Maro frowned at that. "So how did you guys manage to get away? Did anyone… die?"

She didn't like the way Master was looking right now. He was rather grim while explaining it all so something had to have happened...

Rosan shook his head. "After we beat Moriah… Kuma and I fought and he… pushed out a bubble full of my memories."

The Queen's eyes widened in dread at that. "Your… memories? He can do that?"

Master's memories? What the hell… Maro would be lying if she said she didn't want to know more about Master's past but she also knew that alot of bad things happened to him... so for someone to forcefully extract those memories from him were just...

"He said… if my crew touches that bubbles and sees my memories, he'd let us go and they did," Rosan told her. "At first, I was terrified. I didn't want them to see my past, I didn't want them to see my own personal hell… but they still accepted me despite everything they saw."

He still couldn't believe that they... would be able to look past all that.

Maro's eyes softened at that. It seems like Master was finally beginning to realize how much they valued him.

"Of course they did, you dumbass," she said quietly, pulling Rosan into a deep hug. "I can't believe I fully trusted them before you did, you were being extremely stupid, Master."

Rosan let out a deep sigh, hugging his student back and taking in the little details about her.

It was a fun little thing that he began doing since gaining all his emotions, just fully taking in details about a person for no other reason than to learn more.

"I'm an idiot," he agreed. "I've been… very afraid to open my heart again and… it's been hurting me and the people around me. That's another reason I'm here, I wanted to apologize to you specifically."

Maro blinked in surprise. "For what you did to me when I was a kid? Don't worry Master, I understood exactly why you did it and Ram even told me Robin gave you a firm lashing that I wish I saw!"

Rosan shook his head. "I know but I never formally apologized to you. Doing it without my emotions… it's not sincere enough so I'm here now to make things right."

The redhead took a step back and bowed deeply to the queen, making Maro's eyes bug out of her head.

"Queen Maro of Celadon, my prized student… I'm sorry for what I forced you to go through. No one regrets my decisions more than I did and I'm so glad you turned out the way you did, despite what I made you do. Truly, if there's anything you want me to do to make it up to you, just say the word," Rosan said truthfully.

Robin just watched with fond eyes as genuine remorse rolled off Rosan's frame.

He truly was trying to just be better. You couldn't undo the past... but Rosan was trying to make sure it truly stopped shackling him.

There was a tense silence, before Rosan let out a tiny grunt, at being bonked in the head by Daisy.

"For one, I want you to stop bowing to me!" Maro barked, forcing the redhead up with a stern frown. "Are you kidding me Rosan?!"

Rosan winced at hearing Maro call him by his actual name. She rarely ever called him that when speaking directly to him.

He stared into the angry orange eyes of Maro and flinched back, but the Dokkaebi grabbed him in that impossibly strong grip of hers and pulled him into a fierce hug, causing him to recoil in surprise.

"I knew how much you regret what you did to me even when you had no emotions! I saw the way you eased up on my training, saw you let me hang out with Angel and Demon more, saw you give me random spur of the moment gifts… Even now, every time you give me something for Celadon, you do it with my best intentions in mind," Maro ranted, personally offended that he still felt the need to apologize to her.

Rosan's eyes widened. She noticed all of that?!

"Of course I noticed! Just who do you think I'm the student of?!" She growled, glaring at the redhead with indignant fury at the fact that he still held such regret.

When he had first started doing these things... Maro had thought it was a trick. The first time he told her to go hang out with Angel and Demon, she had denied in hopes that she had passed his test...

But it wasn't a test. Rosan was still as expressionless as ever but something had changed in their relationship and... and he wanted her to have fun and grow up while retaining some of her kid qualities.

It was surreal. He would listen to all her woes, get her gifts of whatever she was interested in... soothe her when she was moody...

To Maro, it felt like Master had begun to actually care for her. How did he think she wasn't going to notice that?

"I was raised by the most observing, strict and ruthless teacher I could have asked for…" Maro began bluntly.

Rosan withered at the accuracy of his words.

"...But behind that… behind that cyborg of a teacher, was the most caring and amazing man on the planet who never once doubted his hopeless student. Behind the cold facade, was a man who's heart was so big, he didn't want his loved ones to be taken advantage of again. Behind those all knowing eyes, was someone who wanted everyone else to love like he had once did," Maro said softly.

Rosan's expression wavered at that and he heard Mod-chan begin sniffing, already ready to bust out the waterworks.

"You're extreme Master, you always have been," Maro whispered passionately to him. "You express yourself by going above and beyond, be it positive or negative. You tried to make me kill that man, not out of unnecessary cruelty, but because you genuinely wanted me to have the guts to stand up and steel my heart and even though you regret it… and even though I was so scared back then…"

Maro took a deep breath and her fierce hug turned into something tender.

"I don't regret having you as my teacher for a second. I'm not scared anymore. I'm brave, I'm strong, I'm happy, I'm loved… and it's thanks to everything you've done for me."

"Your methods are extreme… but that's just one of your charms, Rosan. I don't regret getting strong under your teaching because now I can protect the ones I love without relying on you. You wanted me to be your right hand, an extension of you, a weapon… yet you're the one who pushed for me to become this independent. Even when I didn't want to become Queen, you told me to do so and I'm so glad you did because I love this island, I love my people and I love you," Maro whispered, tears springing in her eyes.

"Don't you dare ever regret what you did for me because that's spitting on everything I've ever become, Portgas D. Rosan. If you continue to regret, I won't forgive you," the queen finished.

…

What was with everyone today, making him try and cry? It's like they were hellbent on abusing his new emotional status.

Rosan fiercely hugged his precious student and let out a soft laugh of disbelief. "This is why you're my prized student… because even despite the adversity you faced, you still ended up like this. You deserve nothing else but the role of Queen. Anything lower would be an insult to you."

Maro let out a watery laugh herself and beamed. "That's because I was raised properly by a King!"

"Fuck you."

"Anytime~"

Robin let out a snort and joined the hug, unable to resist. "I can't praise you enough with how you turned out Maro, I was proud just watching the memories. Even with how shameless and perverted you were."

Maro spluttered at that. "C-Can you blame me?! Master and Angel are so hot!" She exclaimed with wide eyes. "You're hot too, Robin! Hey, you wanna —"

The Dokkaebi squealed in distress as Rosan summarily hoisted her up by the leg and placed her upside down.

"I don't mind if you're a pervert to me, but hands off Robin! Keep your perversion at a minimum!" Rosan barked, shaking her up and down as if he were trying to steal her coins.

"O-OKAY I'M SORRY! I'LL JUST BE A PERVERT TO YOU!" Maro stammered.

A set of hands began tickling the helpless queen and Maro's shouts of distress got more panicked.

"I also would prefer you to not make too many blatant comments about Rosan. I'm far more tolerant but I have my limits too," Robin said, smiling softly at the helpless queen.

"S-STOP!" Maro shouted. "M-MY KIMONO IS SHORT TODAY YOU PERVERTS! PUT ME DOWN! A-AND STOP TICKLING ME, I'M SUPER TICKLISH!"

"Aww did you hear that," Rosan mocked. "The super pervert is calling us perverts! How adorable! Seeing your panties is only the tip of the iceberg for all you've done to me! Nice color by the way, you never struck me as a pink type."

"I thought she would have worn white or blue," Robin added with a small smile.

"ANGEL HELP ME! MY CHASTITY IS IN DANGER!" Maro shouted with a strangled gasp.

Somehow, Angel heard that and showed up to the door in record times. She kicked open the door with a fierce expression and was met face to face with two demons torturing her upside down wife.

Angel's fierce expression slowly melted away, at the twin smiles from Robin and Rosan and she chanced a glance at the blushing and squealing Maro.

She slowly glanced back at Robin and Rosan, before gazing at Maro once more.

"...Sweetheart, I love you so much but I don't want to get caught up in this," Angel said wisely, backing away from the dangerous vibes she was getting from them.

Maro balked as her wife made a run for it in her time of need.

"YOU'RE SLEEPING ON THE FUCKING COUCH TODAY!" Maro roared with razor sharp teeth.

"All this because they were both arguing about the other wanting Maro? The poor girl," Mod laughed disbelievingly.

"Mother and Father are so scary," Ram muttered in shock.

---

"Hey Rosan."

Rosan paused in his workout and turned towards the voice.

"What's up Nami —" he tried, only to finish with a grunt as arms wrapped around his neck.

Nami squeezed him tightly with a small smile on her face. "I just wanted to thank you again for everything at Cocoyashi. I... saw what you did afterwards with those corrupt Marines. I'm glad you felt the need to defend me to such an extent, big bro."

Rosan blinked, before his eyes softened and he wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Sorry you had to see what I did to him. I was extra brutal with those guys," he said truthfully.

"Tell me about it," Nami complained, shuddering a bit at the memory. "I had no idea you went after them! I'm just so surprised you did all that on my behalf... not to mention with the 100 million and everything."

Even without emotions, Rosan was quite the sweetheart in his own way. He just had a funny way of expressing it.

"I'm surprised though... you gave the fishman to Aiko to clone," she mentioned with furrowed brows.

Rosan paused at that.

Right... she did know that now.

"Do you have a problem with that?" He asked seriously. "I can tell her to plug it if you want me to. I have no sympathy for those fishmen but I won't make your decisions for you."

To his surprise, Nami just shrugged.

"I don't really care what happens to them honestly. I just hope I never have to see them again," she replied truthfully.

Rosan laughed slightly at that. "Are you sure my personality hasn't affected you a bit? Robin said it felt like she was me for a bit so I wouldn't be surprised."

Nami thought about it. "I'm definitely desensitized to killing after what I watched. When you told me you fought a fishman, I didn't realize you were already in your kill as brutally as possible phase," she shuddered.

She had no clue Rosan was so strong as a child. To be able to go toe to toe and overwhelm a Fishman at his age, was nothing short of incredible.

What a battle maniac. Even just remembering any memory where Rosan fought got her blood pumping.

"That reminds me! I want Mod-chan to train with me more when you manage to get her a body!" Nami exclaimed.

Mod perked up at that.

"Really?" Rosan mused. "Your use of the elements is pretty similar to hers. You two are alot more surgical with them."

Nami nodded in agreement. "Hurry up and find a way to bring her into the real world! I want the both of you out and about," she demanded.

Rosan let out a tiny snort and nodded. "I'll definitely find a way. I've accomplished almost everything I've been looking for... but I still need to give Mod-chan a hug."

Mod glowed, turning a brilliant shade of red and she began poking a wall in her happiness.

Her pokes turned progressively more aggressive... until she punched a hole into the wall but she didn't notice in her happiness.

"There's just something about how you remember such a little thing... after all these years that truly fills me with far too much love," Mod muttered happily.

It wasn't even that important! Rosan just wanted to hug her in real life but the importance to him... for him to remember even after all these years touched her soul so much.

She really did love Rosan.

"I'm a little afraid to train with her though. I thought you were joking when you said she was a maniac but you weren't. She practically tortured you!"

Rosan nodded sagely. "I told you. Keep in mind I'm not normal either. Imagine her training someone that was way more regular than I am."

Nami shivered. "Yeah, I think I'll die."

Mod spluttered. "I had no idea my training was so bad... but Rosan did learn how to train someone from me so..."

She had seen how Rosan trained Maro... the boy was just as effective as she was... oh dear. She really had tortured her poor son with training.

"Don't worry Mod-chan. Like a good son, I passed on all your teachings!" Rosan reassured.

Now Maro could torture any future student she got!

Mod groaned in misery and Rosan simply laughed at her.

"Mod-chan would love to train with you," Rosan said to Nami. "She says she'll try not to be a maniac."

Nami beamed and tapped Rosan in a way that instinctively made him link to her.

Rosan blinked. How the hell did she do that?

"I love you Mod-chan but I'm not your son! I'm way more regular so don't kill me," Nami said shamelessly.

Mod flushed red. "O-Okay, Nami. I get it!" she whined.

"I'll be more careful. Please stop teasing me!"

Nami couldn't stop her laughter.

Wow, it really was easy to get Mod-chan all flushed!

"No wonder Rosan is so overprotective of you. I feel the same way!" she said.

Mod had a look of horror on her face and Rosan grinned smugly.

"No wait Nami! Don't say such a damning sentence! Don't you understand that Rosan is the type of person who grows more egotistical when someone agrees with him?!"

The redhead shrugged helplessly. "What can I say? No one wants you to date for good reason. At this rate, everyone will disagree with the notion that you should be seeing someone."

Mod spluttered and Nami felt the heavy glare on her person.

The navigator suddenly laughed nervously. "W-Where's Robin anyways?"

"In the library with Ram. They want to find a book that the both of them can enjoy and read it together," Rosan informed her, flashing his ringless finger.

Nami thought that was extremely adorable. "Why didn't you go with them?" she asked.

"I said they could read historical porn since that fulfills both their requirements and got kicked out because of it. Pretty sure I'm sleeping on the couch too."

Ram had turned a rather funny shade of red at that and Robin had glared at him so yeahhh... he was probably in trouble.

Nami sweatdropped at the utterly infuriating grin on Rosan's face. "There's something deeply wrong with you. There's no way you can handle sleeping on the couch. You'll miss her too much."

Rosan nodded easily. "There's no way the punishment will stick... Robin likes using me as a pillow too much but if it does stick, I am not adverse to using my charms to weaken her defense."

Utterly shameless.

"One day it will fail, Rosan."

"I play life on the edge," he said freely.

Nami laughed earnestly at that. Seeing Rosan so at ease was a joyous sight.

He looked so alive. Watching him grin and laugh and seeing the way his eyes glowed in mirth...

All because he knew that no matter what his past was like, he'd still have people to accept him.

Nami couldn't help herself and hugged the redhead again.

Rosan blinked and hugged her back with a look of slight confusion.

"Hey just because Robin is mad at me, doesn't mean I'm suddenly available. I'm still a proudly taken man."

"I wouldn't date you in a dozen years," Nami replied easily.

"...Why wasn't that a lie?"

Nami snorted loudly.

She knew how Rosan's inner lie detector worked now. You just had to say a truth that you believed.

While attractive, the redhead was all Robin's and Nami had no interest in dating him so she truly did mean that.

Besides, Rosan was annoying. Only someone as patient as Robin and Meiko could handle the redhead.

---

Rosan leapt back with a grunt, avoiding the swords flying towards him with narrowed eyes.

Before he could retaliate, a flurry of arms wrapped his body tightly, holding him long enough for a leg to smash into him.

He held up his arms and blocked the kick but he didn't need to for long, as a fist forced the offender to step back.

Sanji grunted in annoyance and kicked away, only for his eyes to widen as a furious wind wrapped around and forced him towards the charging Luffy.

As Luffy attempted to punch the hell out of Sanji, a flurry of arms spawned underneath him, grabbing his legs and halting his movements long enough for Sanji to get away.

Luffy grunted in annoyance and ignored the lightning smashing into him that forced the arms to swiftly vanish and turned towards the ever vigilant Robin.

Before he could make up the mind to go after her, Zoro made his presence known and dashed towards the rubber boy with grim determination.

Luffy didn't even flinch as the ground surged from underneath him, pushing him well out of range of Zoro's attack.

Using the elevated ground to his advantage, Luffy cracked the floor and rocketed towards Robin at immense speeds...

Only for a kick to intercept him.

Sanji's kick did not connect because the ground surged once more and blocked it, allowing Luffy to ignore him and continue his flight.

Before the chef could shoot forward to intercept him once more, he was forced to block a staff that crashed against him.

Nami grinned coyly and Clima surged with electricity.

She was taking full advantage of the fact that Sanji was not keen on hitting her.

Normally she'd be out of sight of Robin because the woman could disarm her easily, but she was being occupied with Luffy so she was free to do so.

Sanji grunted as the sparks began surging across his body. He swiftly dashed away from Nami and shook off the effects of the lightning, before being forced on the move again as the ground began chasing him.

As Luffy closed the distance between him and Robin, the calm woman suddenly let loose a violent grin.

Raven summoned a flurry of arms that restrained Luffy, long enough for Zoro to close the distance.

Rosan attempted to ward the swordsman off, but a mass of arms were currently doing a great job at making sure he couldn't move and he eyed the apologetic Crow with a thin veil of annoyance.

Luffy saw Zoro approaching with his swords poised and huffed in annoyance but fortunately for him, Nami was there to provide support when Rosan wasn't.

Zoro let out a true snarl of annoyance, as he was bombarded with heavy winds and an iron cloud that protected Luffy.

At the same time, Rosan exploded in electricity and shot a bolt of lightning directly towards Zoro and Luffy, forcing Raven to release the rubber boy as well.

Then, he soared over to the real Robin to get her out of the fight.

Nami scowled at the feeling the very strong hands grappling her to the floor, before she forced Clima to explode in electricity, much like Rosan was doing this fight.

To her delight, the hands swiftly vanished off her person and she huffed, before nodding to herself.

Rosan's eyes narrowed as he launched himself towards Robin, but before he could capture Robin, Zoro made his presence known.

At the same time, Sanji swiftly closed the distance between him and Luffy and the two began exchanging furious blows, observations clashing with each other nonstop as they tried to get the upper hand.

Ram transformed into a broadblade, immediately clashing with all 3 of Zoro's blades and the two began a furious dance...

Except Robin continued to make her presence known. The clones and original would pester them nonstop and Rosan's scowl was out in full force.

Just as it seemed like his temper was going to fully erupt, as he was put on the backfoot of his duel with Zoro, the redhead suddenly grinned violently and soared into the sky.

At the same time, Luffy kicked back and launched himself into the air.

Robin's confusion only lasted a split second before her eyes widened.

Before she could open her mouth to warn the other two of what was about to happen, Nami made her presence known.

"Flood!"

A great surge of water suddenly flooded the room, capturing the three in it.

"The Water Dial is no joke," Nami said in awe, floating on Clima like he were a broom.

Rosan nodded in agreement, watching as Sanji and Zoro both burst out of the water with the Robins.

"Cheap," Robin coughed, spitting out the water.

"I didn't know she could flood a room," Zoro grunted in annoyance, ensuring the Robin's didn't go under again.

"She's getting scary," Sanji swooned.

"Asshole," Raven snarled, coughing in spades.

"They got us," Canary complained.

"We never saw it coming," Crow sighed forlornly.

Luffy laughed cheerfully. "That was hard! Fighting Robin is so annoying!" he exclaimed.

"Tell me about it," Rosan and Nami grunted in unison.

The Navigator floated down and stuck Clima in the large pool she created, absorbing all the water back into the weapon with a shake of her head.

"For how fast that fight was, it was utterly terrifying," Nami said, wiping the sweat off her brow. "Robin alone could have ended me within the first few seconds!"

Rosan snorted and grabbed all the Robin's with his tail, bringing them close so he could dry them off. "Robin is a bad matchup for you. You can't really take a hit and she's good at ending things quickly," he explained.

Luffy, Robin, Rosan, Zoro and Sanji had wanted to all spar and due to their incredible teamwork, it was decided that the couple of Robin and Rosan should not be on a team together.

Not to mention the numbers were uneven, so they decided that it would be Rosan and Luffy vs Robin, Sanji and Zoro...

But to their surprise, Nami had wanted to join in on the spar.

Seeing as she was the weakest of the 6, they saw no problem adding her to Rosan and Luffy's team (those two were the definitive strongest which was why the 2v3 was decided) but perhaps she tipped the scales in their favor more.

Rosan landed on the floor and gently pat all 4 of the Robin's outfits down, before pulling the downtrodden Crow into a hug.

"Don't be upset. You did a good job restraining me. But Robin and I have been through this song and dance a lot. I'm not a very good matchup for you all," Rosan soothed.

Crow sighed sadly and tucked herself into him. "Did I really do a good job?"

The redhead snorted and pat her. "Course you did. Imagine if we all weren't holding back so much? I'd have to deal with healing my body while fighting Zoro. Nami would be dead too."

"Don't remind me!" Nami scowled.

Crow nodded at that. "That makes sense... you're right."

"I always am," Rosan cackled.

Raven scowled. "Hey, I'm pissed that I lost! Where's my attention?!" she demanded.

Crow cowered at the scariest of the Robins and Rosan just rolled his eyes, pulling her into the hug.

"You did good too, Raven," Rosan said in amusement. "I'm sure if we weren't holding back, I'd have holes in my body because for some reason, you're the only Robin who wants to use Shigan."

Raven hmphed. "You're damn right. Now pat me."

Rosan conceded easily, just amused to see someone with Robin's face demand something like pats from him.

"No fair! I want attention too!" Canary complained, leaping into the group hug.

Rosan grunted as he was summarily dropped to the floor by the clones.

"Y-You guys are crushing me," Crow said quietly.

Robin watched with a befuddled expression as Rosan was swamped by her clones.

She had no idea how versions of her would so freely stroke this annoying redhead's ego yet here she was...

The worst part was that he would forever think this is what she wanted too... and was just too shy to ask for it.

Utterly ridiculous. Robin was just more dignified and refused to do so in public. Shyness had nothing to do with it!

"That spar was awesome!" Chopper gushed in awe.

"Truly! Why my eyes nearly popped out of my head by seeing what you all could do... but I don't have any eyes! Yohohoho!" Brook clapped in awe.

"I wanna get in on that eventually!" Franky grinned challengingly.

"I can't believe Nami was brave enough to join those monsters," Usopp muttered.

Nami laughed at that. "I was terrified but Rosan is surprisingly really good at playing a more supportive role!" she exclaimed.

Rosan chuckled under the pile. "You can thank Maro and Luffy for that. Maro made me good at supporting, Luffy made me great."

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed. "Rosan supports me all the time!"

"That's because you only know how to go forward. If I want to keep you alive, I have to take a backseat," Rosan complained.

Luffy wouldn't be able to support even if his entire fruit was based around supporting.

"Modification is a supportive fruit and you primarily use it as offense."

Rosan ignored her and continued his train of thought.

His little brother was just a fighter through and through. His idea of supporting, was punching someone in the face.

"This is why Robin's my favorite partner. She's fine letting me take charge," Rosan sighed forlornly.

Robin smiled at that, finally growing tired of her clones hogging all of Rosan's attention and banishing them.

"You should all join next time. Rosan and I would be happy to show you how proficient we are in combat together and we could do an entire crew team up," she added, pulling Rosan up.

Usopp and Chopper shuddered. "I'll be on Rosan's team!" they both blurted.

"There's no way I'm going against big bro!" Nami beamed.

Rosan blinked. "What the hell? Why do I have the weakling trio on my team? You're telling me I have to go against Luffy, Zoro and Sanji? Give me a break guys."

Zoro shrugged. "Least you don't have to go against Maro and Luffy."

The redhead snorted. "Fighting Maro and Luffy is basically a game of seeing which one of them are gonna hit the other first. They both refuse to support each other."

They would always accuse the other of running into their respective attacks and then it devolved into arguments.

Needless to say, Robin and Rosan rarely lost to the duo. Though, when the two were in sync, even Rosan had difficulty stopping them. Maro and Luffy were both monsters after all and if they put their minds to it, they'd probably be able to comfortably beat Rosan and Robin.

Too bad they were both idiots.

---

"So... Crocodile and CP9, huh?"

Rosan wasn't too surprised that they were questioning him about that so he nodded his head.

"Yeah. Crocodile was just a matter of me wanting to make all of Baroque Works submit. CP9 was because of Izumi making a deal with me," he explained truthfully, even though they already knew his reasoning.

Usopp shook his head disbelievingly. "You are terrifying. My CP9 opponent nearly killed me and you took him out in one hit," he recalled, shivering at the way Rosan had killed Nero.

"Tell me about it!" Franky said in disbelief. "My opponent gave me a lot of trouble and you treated him like yesterday's trash."

Rosan huffed. "Yeah, I wasn't very happy about CP9 but I already made a deal with Izumi so I didn't kill anymore of them."

Izumi... how could Rosan even stand her presence after all that she had done to him?

Meiko that's how. That girl truly was as precious as everyone viewed her...

It was no wonder Rosan had found it so difficult to move on from her. She was a gentle and incredibly kind soul... one who had managed to even break through Rosan.

"Well, it's not like we have a problem with it," Sanji shrugged.

"They probably hate taking orders from you and you're unstable as hell, so I'm fine with it," Nami laughed, thinking back at the hatred in Crocodile's eyes at being forced to listen to Rosan.

Deserved for scum like him.

Rosan hummed at that. "You guys are oddly accepting of everything you've seen in my memories. Do you guys seriously not have any issues with my decisions?"

"Not really," Zoro shrugged.

"The only problem I had, besides your brutal murder spree, was your manipulation tactics on my village," Usopp said truthfully.

Rosan nodded at that. "That's fair... well why haven't you mentioned it before?"

Usopp blushed and shot him a thumbs up. "Because the entire time I thought you were flirting with Kaya but you were just vouching for me! You called me her boyfriend! Nice job, Rosan!"

"Dumbass," Rosan thought with a sweatdrop. "Kaya's 17, sickly and not my type at all, Usopp. You never had to worry about that. She likes you anyways. I actually thought you two were dating."

Usopp blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Y-You think she likes me?"

"If you had asked her to come with us, she would have said yes in a heartbeat despite being sick. Then you'd have your girlfriend traveling with us and you'd stop being insecure," Rosan shrugged.

The sniper fell. "Y-You didn't have to say all that," he muttered.

Robin laughed slightly at that. "You shouldn't accuse him of being oblivious. You're even worse," she pointed out.

Rosan glanced at her. "Aren't you just as bad as me? I was in love with you too you know."

"I'm not as bad as you," she replied easily.

"...Are you going to explain why?" he asked in confusion.

"No."

He thought about her response and nodded to himself.

This was one of those things where he'd be in trouble no matter what if they argued so best to not.

"Actually, I have a problem! How come you never introduced us to Aiko and Akemi?" Nami scowled, crossing her arms.

"Aiko is a busy person. You would have met her at the girls day but she was doing something," Rosan replied. "If you guys wanna meet them, I'll set up a meeting alright?"

They were all so demanding suddenly...

Rosan sighed with a wry smile.

He supposed it was fine. His family was also very demanding and the Straw Hats had officially become his family... so he was fine with it.

---

Rosan blinked slowly and glanced down.

Robin blinked slowly and glanced down.

Then, the redhead turned towards Sanji with a concerned glint.

"Sanji, are you alright? Did Chopper already run a transfusion on you?"

Sanji, who was perfectly healthy, felt a tick form on his head. "If I weren't so happy right now at the situation, I'd be attempting to kick your skull off."

Robin and Rosan had both been off in the Pocket Dimension for a bit longer than usual to deal with matters... only to show up onto the ship to see something rather peculiar.

The reason Rosan was so concerned for Sanji's wellbeing, was simply because of what he and Robin were looking at currently.

It was a young girl who looked a little airheaded (Rosan was thinking of a much harsher word) with green hair and dark purple eyes…

But the reason Rosan and Robin were so perplexed, was due to the lower half of the woman… which was… a fish's tail.

"What's the story behind this?" Rosan asked in amusement.

"Hi! I'm Camie!" The Mermaid greeted happily. "Nice to… WAIT DID YOU JUST APPEAR OUT OF MIDAIR?!"

Her eyes bugged out of her skull as realization hit her like a truck and she gazed at the two humans with a dropped jaw.

"You're a little slow aren't you?" Rosan sweatdropped, tilting his head at the idiot.

"Don't be rude to guests," Robin chastised with a small smile. "Can someone explain what's happening? Why is there a mermaid here? The starfish too..."

Nami nodded and began explaining to the interested duo.

Their crew had been preparing to head to Fishman Island, but they had no idea how to do that, so Franky had employed one of his submarines that he and Rosan had tampered with to go underwater… but they had not seen any hint of the island despite submerging 5000 feet to get there.

Then they encountered some type of Rabbit sea monster that had chased them to the surface… and it got summarily beat by Luffy, before spitting out the mermaid and her pet… starfish Papag.

What a fascinating tale. If anyone else told it, Rosan wouldn't have believed them for a second.

But this was just another day with the Straw Hats.

"You guys don't know how to get to Fishman Island?" Rosan asked with a raised brow. "You shoulda told me, I know how. Sabo helped me out."

The Straw Hats blinked, before slapping their hands against their heads.

Right, they had an all knowing scout… They really should just start asking him if he knew something. It would save them a lot of time and stress.

"Wait! Before we do that… Camie promised us Takoyaki… I want Takoyaki," Luffy said bluntly.

Rosan blinked, before nodding his head. "Okay, we can get Takoyaki first," he conceded easily.

"Luffy is way too spoiled," the Straw Hats sweatdropped.

Camie grinned and began to call Hatchin (Rosan and Nami furrowed their brow at that name).

What followed next, was a strange series of events.

Apparently, Hatchin had been kidnapped by a group known as the Flying Fish Riders, along with the Idiotic Makuro Gang and they were planning on selling him for a high price.

As this Hatchin spoke, Rosan's eyes widened in shock.

"Wait," Rosan said coldly, eyes narrowed as his crew prepared to go save him.

Everyone went stiff at that and gazed at the redhead. "Camie, this Hatchin… is he a fishman?" Rosan asked seriously, gazing at the mermaid and starfish.

Pappag was the one who answered. "...Yes? He's an Octopus Fishman."

Rosan scowled in annoyance as he met Nami's gaze.

"Nami, you recognize that voice don't you?" He asked the bothered navigator.

"…" The navigator sighed and nodded. "I thought I recognized it… yeah that's him alright."

"Nami? Who is that?" Sanji asked in concern.

"It's not our call if we save him anymore," Rosan said suddenly, gazing at the crew with a no nonsense expression. "Nami is the one who makes that decision. It's her right."

The crew looked puzzled, unable to gather what was happening.

Despite that, they would always respect Nami's decision and they gazed at their navigator.

Nami was touched that Rosan was looking out for her and she gave him a soft hug with a small smile.

"We should save him," she said softly.

Rosan snorted and pat her on the head. "I expected that out of you. You're way too nice, y'know?"

"Don't be stupid! If anyone's gonna decide what happens to him, I should have that right! That's the only reason!" Nami grinned eagerly.

Rosan cackled easily and high fived her. "That's what I'm talking about. You really did get way too influenced by me!"

None could hide the sweatdrop at the two and they just thought it was better to leave it be.

"Alright," Rosan grunted. "Since Nami agreed, I'm willing to help."

Camie let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much, Nami!"

Nami smiled and waved her off. "Don't worry about it. As long as you can help us get to Fishman Island, we'll call it even!"

With that, the crew set off.

They watched in interest as Camie summoned a legion of fish and began communicating with them about the whereabouts of the Flying Fish Riders.

"This is in the direction of the Sabaody Archipelago?" Rosan asked. "Perfect, that lines up with what Sabo told me."

Sabo had said that anyone planning on going into the New World, needed to stop at Sabaody in order to get work done on their ship. If they opted to not do that, then they could not go to the New World without dying a horrible death.

So this happened to line up well for them. Wouldn't even be a hitch in their plans.

"By the way, are you guys sure about this?" Pappag asked curiously. "I'm grateful that you guys are helping but... we aren't messing with ordinary people. These are people who make a living off buying and selling people."

Rosan's eyes darkened. "What did you say?" He asked quietly, clenching his fist in fury.

The starfish seized up at that, feeling an ominous aura wash over him. For some reason, he felt like death themself, was currently watching his every move and with great willpower, he managed to say what he was about to say.

"Word... around the sea is, if you're being targeted by the Flying Fish Gang, you're done for. They capture and trade you in, it's a huge business in Sabaody," he said hesitantly, never taking his eyes off the predatory gaze of Rosan.

All the Straw Hats paused at that and glanced at the frozen statue that was Rosan, remembering vividly what he had gone through when he was just 9 years old.

"What is your name?"

They all flinched back at that sinister voice and gazed in horror at the redhead forced to bear it all.

"Robin... Mod-chan... please, I can't take this for much longer. P-Please help me!"

The memory of him getting tortured was probably the most difficult one to watch. To be forced to watch the small and innocent child get tormented by that demon of a doctor... his cries of agony, the tears, the hope that got shattered into millions of pieces...

Rosan's life on Daybreak, was the point in his life where they truly began regretting touching that memory bubble because the horrors they had to witness... Kami it was so awful and they each wished they could have gotten their hands on that scumbag piece of garbage Doc.

To be so young and so afraid… all while being tortured by a madman. Their hearts went out to Rosan far too many times to count.

It was no wonder he had been so afraid to reveal his past... things like that were better left far back.

"So slavery is legal in Sabaody," Rosan muttered, filing that away for later.

Looks like he was going to hate this place. Not a surprise… he was beginning to hate a lot of the islands he stopped on.

"Will you be alright, Rosan?" Nami asked in concern, placing a hand on the tall redhead's shoulder.

"Yeah, if you wanna sit this one out, we'll handle it!" Chopper assured.

Rosan glanced at them and flashed them a genuine smile, shaking his head fondly. "You don't have to worry. I've dealt with my trauma of that man during my battle with Enel. He doesn't chain me down anymore."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief at that.

The battle with Enel had managed to help him and they were glad it held strong…

Conquering such trauma wasn't easy... after all, Rosan fainted on their trip to Skypiea! To recover and deal with his past like that was inspiring!

"Let's focus up. We're almost there," Rosan clapped once, summoning his birds and having them fly off. "I don't feel like wasting too much time, so I'll probably deal with this. You guys tend to have too much fun."

They sweatdropped at the redhead but simply nodded in acceptance.

The Straw Hats, guided by the fish made their way over to the base of the Flying Fish Riders, before their guides suddenly turned tail and began running away.

At the same time, Rosan's eyes narrowed and wings sprouted from his back.

A group of people, on flying fish of all things, began soaring towards their ship with less than savory intentions.

One of them hoisted up a cannon to fire at their ship but was unable to do so, due to an explosion hitting him instead.

The other fish riders could only balk in horror at seeing their smoking ally, unconscious on the fish and that horror turned into sheer terror, as a figure soared over to their location at tremendous speeds.

They went white, as heterochromatic eyes bored into them with a cruel gaze.

"Alright, I don't got all day…" Rosan said warningly, holding up a glowing hand to get his point across.

"Let's have a nice and easy chat."

The riders went pale.

---

"Master Duval…"

Duval perked up, iron mask gazing intimidatingly at his nervous subordinate.

"What is it?" He asked, growing weary at seeing the comatose state of one of his people.

"...We encountered the Straw Hats and they also have the mermaid, Camie," the man said simply, nervously wringing his hands.

Duval's eyes widened behind his mask and a pulse of rage coursed through his body. "YOU DID?! WHERE RE' THEY?! OH JUST THINKIN OF EM IS GETTIN ME SO MAD!"

"His accent came out again," someone whispered.

"It's so thick! I can barely understand him!"

The nervous looking subordinate gazed at the ground. "Well… uh… they're already here."

Everyone blinked.

"The Straw Hats?!" Hachi thought in horror. He didn't even know what happened to the other Fishman on Cocoyashi but it couldn't have been anything good.

All he remembered, was getting decimated by Roronoa Zoro but he had managed to escape at the last second from the hands of the World Government...

Now the same Straw Hats who destroyed him were here and Hachi was sure that they were going to not only obliterate this place... but obliterate him too—

Right on cue, an explosion resounded through the base…

But that wasn't all, no to their horror, a shadow suddenly appeared over them in broad daylight.

Slowly, they all gazed up into the menacing gaze of the dragon snarling down at them.

"Crap," someone squeaked.

"Holy shit," someone agreed in a whimper.

"RAOGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!" The creature roared loudly, causing a great gust of heavy and hot wind to blow against them.

Camie and Pappag's eyes bugged out of their skulls in horror, at the terrifying roar the dragon let out.

"H-He can do something like that?!" Camie gaped in sheer horror.

"N-No wonder I was so afraid of him. Those were my instincts telling me he can eat me whole," Papag stammered.

"You get used to it," Usopp said offhandedly. "I stopped thinking he was going to eat me just now."

"I still think he's gonna eat me if he gets too hungry!" Chopper exclaimed.

The two did not feel reassured by those words at all.

Rosan's giant eyes began glancing around, making everyone seize up whenever his gaze landed on them.

It felt like an eternity but truly, it was but a few seconds because finally, the dragon seemed to snort in acceptance, before vanishing from their view altogether.

"We're so fucked," someone whispered.

"Can we make a run for it?"

"How the hell are we gonna run from a dragon?!"

Rosan floated back to his crew with an amused expression.

"I found him," he told them. "He's chained up by this guy with an iron mask on."

"Why didn't you burn them all?" Franky asked curiously.

"...Luffy wants to ride one of the Flying Fish," Rosan said simply.

Everyone sweatdropped.

Right on cue, they were suddenly attacked by what was likely the entirety of the Flying Fish Gang, along with a few Fishman themselves.

"Go crazy, I wanna practice defense so I'll guard the ship," Rosan told them, taking a seat and transforming Ram into his customary gloves.

Luffy wasted no time and despite being able to fly or use Rosan's draconic transformation, he still found the idea of riding a flying fish exciting.

The rubber boy launched himself through the air and drop kicked a poor soul into the ocean below, before stealing the flying fish and mounting it.

"WOOOO AWESOME!" Luffy cheered, happily taking a seat as the fish soared through the air.

Rosan would almost be jealous… but he already knew Luffy thought he was the coolest sibling so he wasn't that jealous…

"IT'S JUST A FUCKING FISH, LUFFY, STOP BEING SO EXCITED!" Rosan roared to his stupid little brother.

Why the fuck was he so excited to ride a fish?! Rosan was a goddamn dragon! He could do this for sport and he could burn everything down while he were at it!

Robin giggled and took a seat next to him. "So you're not just jealous when it comes to me. You are just a jealous person in general."

"Did you think I was kidding when I said all of you belong to me?" Rosan asked in disbelief, idly summoning a barrier to block cannonfire.

"No but I didn't realize jealousy was apart of the package too. Just insane possessiveness."

"What possessive person wouldn't get jealous?"

Robin shrugged. "You've already proven to be an anomaly. I never quite know with you."

Rosan grunted and rolled his eyes. "Stop being so lazy, get out there and work up a sweat."

The Devil Child shrugged and summoned her clones, before resting her head on Rosan's shoulder.

"They can handle it," Robin said, waving at the three.

Rosan let out a disbelieving laugh and hugged each of the clones and accepted their kisses on his cheek, before sending them off. "You're so lazy. When will you stop being such a bum?"

Robin's smile vanished and she glared daggers at the redhead. "Fine, let's go then. If I'm not allowed to be lazy, you aren't either."

The redhead sighed and stood up. "Fine fine," he grunted, sprouting his wings.

Idly, he held out a hand and sniped the flying fish Luffy was riding, sending the rubber boy flailing directly towards the ocean.

"AHHHHH!" Luffy shouted in horror as he was sent plummeting towards the ocean.

The captain was snatched out of midair by his oldest brother and let out a relieved laugh.

"Rosan! You saved me!" Luffy beamed.

"Of course. I'm way better than those fish," Rosan preened, acting like he didn't just send his own brother plummeting.

"Yeah you are!" the captain agreed completely.

Robin's mouth was left open, stunned at what she just witnessed her boyfriend do.

Did he... did he just pretend like he had saved Luffy's life after being the one to put him in danger.

"You are genuinely still a psychopath. What is wrong with you?" she asked in genuine shock.

"Everything. Everything is wrong with him."

"Why do you think I have so many problems, Mother?! Father is a psycho!"

"I dunno what you mean. Is it so wrong that I saved my littlest brother?" Rosan mused.

"Is being so willfully ignorant a skill?" Robin asked curiously.

"Yes."

"Yep!"

"Yeah."

Robin sweatdropped.

"GIRLS, STOP WALKING, I'LL PICK YOU UP!" He shouted to the clones of Robin.

"This is why I love you!" Canary beamed.

"You don't love him more than me," Raven sneered.

"Wanna bet?!" Canary replied, smile turning strained immediately.

"How do you guys find a way to argue over anything?" Crow sighed.

---

The Straw Hats made very quick work of the Flying Fish Gang and their rampage brought them to the main threat of the island.

It had been almost pitifully easy. Rosan had just floated around, terrorizing anyone he felt like and causing more than one heart attack in the process...

But at least there was something interesting out of this.

Duval was the boss of this whole operation… and he had quite the problem with the Straw Hats… in particular, Sanji.

That confused the chef and the rest of the crew as well… up until he finally removed that iron mask from his head.

That's when things got bad.

But it didn't get bad for Duval.

No, it got terrible for Sanji.

"Pfft, Kahahahaha!" Rosan roared in laughter, falling on the floor and letting out genuine tears at Duval's face. "H-He looks just like you! How is this possible?" the redhead rasped.

"Told you it was a spitting imagine. Now you even have a brother," Zoro joined Rosan's laughter.

The two continued laughing in unison, completely ignoring Sanji's utterly blank face.

Let it be known, Rosan had a very contagious laugh that made situations all the worse.

It was something the Straw Hats were now learning and it was something Robin knew for a very long time and was pleased to see still remained true.

"I'm sorry Sanji," Robin apologized on Rosan's behalf, unable to hide her smile despite the horror on Sanji's face.

Rosan wheezed as he got up and closed the distance between himself and Duval. "L-Look!" He cackled, pulling out Sanji's bounty poster from who knows where. "It's literally a spitting image! How did they manage to do this?!"

He forcefully grabbed Duval's body and dragged him down, forcing the taller man to go face to face with the poster.

Duval's face was red in embarrassment as the redhead laughed directly in his face and attempted to break out of the grip, but found that it was impossible.

The Straw Hats were glad to see that Rosan was still as much of a menace as when he had been a small child.

He was also still a bully.

"…" Sanji's jaw remained dropped for the longest of times as he gazed at the person who looked exactly like his failed bounty poster.

Coupled with the fact that Rosan was making everyone laugh, it was no surprise at all that he completely broke.

"RAHHHHHH!" Sanji screamed, planting a foot directly on Duval's face and launching the man away.

"Brother on brother violence," Rosan sighed wistfully, wiping the tears from his eyes as he finally settled down. "I get that. Ace and I fought all the time you know. I kicked his ass every time too."

"SHUT UP!" Sanji roared as he began pummeling Duval's face with his kicks.

"You are just terrible Rosan," Robin sighed in exasperation. He was cute when he laughed like that.

"It's not everyday brothers of fate meet up. It was so surreal I had to laugh," Rosan retorted, placing his head against Robin's shoulder. "That made me tired. I'm going back to the ship to get some sleep."

"IT WON'T BE FOR LONG! YOU'RE NEXT, SHITTY REDHEAD!" Sanji roared as he continued pummeling Duval's face.

"Robin, protect me while I'm sleeping."

"No."

"...I'll just sleep as Mod-chan then."

"You're a sociopath and a villain and one day you will receive the help you need. You are not sleeping as me."

"...Ram, wanna come out and sleep on top of me?"

"Of course Father!"

Mod held her head at his antics. What was wrong with him?

Sanji huffed and stepped back, looking at his handiwork with a scowl of rage.

The Straw Hats gaped in disbelief, as they took sight of Duval and realized… he didn't look anything like the wanted poster anymore because somehow, their chef had completely reconfigured his face.

As Duval finally realized his hellish beatdown was done... a mirror was helpfully placed in his face and he gawked at the sight.

"I-I'M SO HANDSOME?!" his jaw dropped.

Rosan blinked. "Does he have Modification in his legs? How the hell did he do that?" the redhead thought in wonder.

Robin sweatdropped deeply. "Please go to sleep."

---

Rosan idly bit into the Takoyaki, while staring coolly ahead of him.

Hachi tried very hard to ignore the piercing glance but it was extremely impossible because Rosan was directly in front of him.

Those heterochromatic eyes bore into him boredly, idly glowing in warning.

"This Takoyaki isn't burn enough," Rosan said idly, opening his mouth.

Hachi's sweat grew to worrying degrees as a hellish amount of fire left the redhead's mouth and burned the Takoyaki into a crisp.

Then, Rosan ate it all with a single bite.

"Yum," he said flatly, gaze never leaving the octopus fishman.

Camie and Pappag wisely backed away, jaws dropping at the terrifying display from the intimidating redhead.

"W-Why's he so scary?" Camie whispered to him.

"I don't know but I don't wanna be near him!" Pappag whispered back.

"Rosan it's okay," Nami laughed in disbelief, putting a hand on her intimidating brother's shoulder.

It was really sweet that he was upset on her behalf so she watched it mostly in amusement but Hachi looked like he was about to faint and it wasn't just because of the intense heat of his flames!

"You sure?" Rosan asked calmly, eyes narrowed slightly. "I can break a limb if you want me too, he's got plenty to spare."

Hachi, Camie and Pappag squealed at that statement and Nami sighed fondly.

"It's fine, really! I forgive him just like I forgave Kaori. Those two were the most harmless so I bear no grudges," she assured.

"Nami…" Hachi said in shock, tearing up at the kind woman.

Rosan mulled over her response and nodded. "Alright, if you insist. I'll ease up on him."

The fishman let out a sigh of relief, as Rosan stood up and made his way to the amused Robin.

"That reminds me, Rosan you said you know how to get to Fishman Island right?" Sanji asked the redhead.

The chef felt much better after rearranging Duval's facial structure, though that came with the unfortunate side effect of Duval now calling him Young Master.

Rosan nodded, eating his platter with a contemplative expression. "We need to go to Sabaody Archipelago and get our ship coated, so that we can dive to Fishman Island."

The redhead yawned. "There's also the option of me trying to fly us over the Red Line to just head straight into the New World but judging by how Sanji, Franky, Usopp and Luffy's face are getting progressively worse as I speak, I think that's not an option."

Sanji looked like hell was about to unleash at that option. "We have to go to Fishman Island!"

Usopp and Franky nodded. "Yeah, we need to see mermaids!"

Rosan tilted his head. What was the appeal with mermaids? Based on Camie here... they were just girls with a fish bottom...

Was he missing something? Did living underwater give them a good skincare routine? Why were they so appealing?

Robin giggled at the genuinely confused look on Rosan's face and just left him to his musings.

Nami sweatdropped at the ghastly expressions the four idiots were making. "What's coating?"

"Oh I know someone who can coat your ship!" Camie beamed.

Rosan perked a brow at that. "Really? That would make our lives a lot easier if you do."

Pappag nodded. "We can show you! It'll be easier to explain what coating is when you finally see Sabaody."

The crew nodded curiously and continued to eat their platters.

Hachi suddenly spoke up. "That reminds me! There's someone at Sabaody that I trust to coat your ship and I'll ask him for help but just promise me not to touch the World Nobles."

Rosan perked up at that. "World Nobles? They frequent this place?" He asked calmly, eyes narrowed.

"Yes. Since it's so close to Mary Geoise, they often come here to purchase new slaves," the fishman explained.

"Ah. I see..." he muttered.

Every Straw Hat went pale at that.

"My name is Reaper, the Angel of Death, and though I don't feel like I'm qualified to do this, I am Death and just this once, I am about to deliver justice onto justice itself."

Rosan blinked as every single one of his crewmates, barring Luffy and Zoro, gazed at him with a stern gaze.

"You have to restrain yourself, Rosan! Nothing reckless, alright?!" Nami demanded.

Luffy, Zoro and Rosan were the crewmembers who didn't give a single damn who their opposition was. If they felt slighted in anyway, they would retaliate.

The problem with Rosan though, was that his retaliation meant that he was going to kill you. At least Luffy and Zoro would just severely injure you... their scout always jumped to the most maniacal action first and foremost.

Trigger happy was one way to describe Rosan.

The redhead blinked again. "I'll do my best," was all he offered.

Their eyes narrowed suspiciously but they dropped it for now.

"I'm watching you," Usopp said, repeatedly swapping two of his fingers between his and Rosan's eyes.

Rosan sighed. For the sake of his crew, he really would try to restrain himself.

They were dangerously close to Mary Geoise and Marine Headquarters so an Admiral would be here very quickly unlike in the 4 seas.

He didn't want them to suffer from his actions, so Rosan would be good today.

"I'm proud of you," Mod smiled. It was so surreal seeing how swiftly Rosan was changing because of his revelations but that was just one of the most impressive things about him.

Robin nodded along with Mod's words. "It's incredible how vastly you're improving."

"I'm trying to be better," Rosan said with an exasperated smile.

"You're already the best!" Ram beamed.

The redhead rolled his eyes and continued eating his food.

"Thank you Ram, no one else ever says it so it's good to know someone isn't afraid to admit it."

"Why on Earth would I want to boost your ego even more? I'm honestly doing you a favor by keeping it at current levels. Anymore will be very dangerous for us."

"I agree with Mod-chan. I know how you are, Rosan… there's no way you're getting free compliments from me."

"You're my fucking girlfriend and you refuse to give me free compliments? Do you hear yourself? My ego isn't even that bad!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Rosan let out a groan.

He hated them all.

---

Sabaody Archipelago was a stunning sight to behold… which meant Rosan was probably going to hate it.

The entire land, was a massive mangrove forest growing out from the middle of the ocean, with each tree of the forest serving as an "island" on which the people lived. Considering it was just a group of trees and not an actual island, it actually had no magnetic pull so their Log Pose was still set for Fishman Island.

How were you supposed to find Sabaody without a log pose? It was a good thing they had the fish trio helping them.

Hachi had given them a nice rundown on the archipelago and Rosan figured as long as he didn't do anything to stand out, he'd be fine.

He was pretty good at lying low so that's what he'd do for now.

Robin sighed miserably. Rosan may have had a lot of ego, but sometimes it was warranted and the fact of the matter was, her boyfriend had an exotic appearance and as Maro would so often say, he was hot.

She needed to ensure he avoided trouble. Rosan was a magnet for it and he refused to see that it was almost entirely his fault.

"Rosan, put this on," she said, removing her cowgirl hat and giving it to him.

The redhead blinked, a little stupefied by her sudden request, but he easily grabbed the hat out of her hand and placed it atop his head, modifying it a bit to make it fit.

"Comfy," was all he said, managing to hide some of his striking red hair.

"Don't stray too far from me," she informed him. If she left Rosan alone for a second, something would happen so it was up to her to ward off the danger.

Rosan had a confused expression on his face but nodded all the same. "Am I in trouble? Did I do something wrong?" he asked genuinely, gazing at her with those large irises of his.

It was adorable how concerned he was acting but he wasn't in trouble.

"No. I just don't want you out of my sight. I like accounting for you," she replied easily.

"Yes boss," the redhead saluted, keeping pace with her as they traversed Sabaody.

Despite not being an actual island, you wouldn't think that upon seeing all Sabaody had.

It was made up of 79 Groves and each one was filled with something…

For instance, Grove 30 had a shopping mall and Rosan was currently being dragged into it by one Robin and Nami…

Bullshit, this sucked. Why did they even have to go shopping? This was absurd!

Franky, Usopp, Sanji and Zoro were back on the ship while the rest had gone to find the ship coater… before Rosan had been forced to accompany his girlfriend (who already had so much goddamn clothes mind you!) to this mall.

Now, he was boredly watching them go through outfits that they probably weren't going to actually buy because the quality in here wasn't even great.

"You sure have Rosan on quite the leash right now," Nami mused to Robin as they inspected the products in the store.

Robin sighed. "Rosan is strange and at times he can be very oblivious. He doesn't realize how much attention he attracts, so I'm making sure he doesn't do anything he deems as normal."

She nodded. "Completely fair. I still feel so much sympathy for what you had to go through when you were both kids. He was ridiculously adorable, but Kami he was ridiculous."

The memories of little Robin and Rosan were probably some of the most precious she had seen.

Patient little Robin, being forced out of her shell by hyperactive and eager Rosan. They were like yin and yang and Nami knew wholeheartedly why they loved each other so much.

It was no wonder Rosan nearly lost his mind back at Water 7... Robin was incredibly important to him and for good reason. For so long, those two really only had each other and Rosan was a person who attached himself very hard.

He practically imprinted to Robin! It was so cute!

"I was already a patient person, but Rosan may have turned me into the most patient person on the planet," Robin exhaled tiredly, fondly remembering those memories.

Robin underestimated how much Rosan loved her when they were kids but to him, she was practically his world. It was incredibly flattering to know that not once when they were together, did Rosan ever think less of her. She was always Robin-nee to him and besides Mod-chan, Rosan looked up to her the most.

It was also heavily ego boosting (no matter how bad she felt feeling it) to see him feel the most amount of emotion with her. Robin felt silly ever being insecure about it because Rosan truly loved her with all his heart.

"Unfortunately for me, Rosan is not as patient as I am, so we should wrap up soon," she finished with a exasperated smile.

Nami smiled mischievously. "Are you sure you're saying that because of his patience or because of the girl currently speaking to him?"

"I don't know what you mean," Robin said neutrally.

True to Nami's words, the employee there seemed to be talking to the bored Rosan, all while fluttering her eyes at him.

Rosan glanced over at the employee approaching him with a neutral glance.

"I'm hungry," he thought idly. They should stop at a place to eat, Rosan wanted to grab a quick meal.

"Hello, sir!" she chirped, stopping directly in front of him with a suggestive smile. "Is there anything you need help with?"

"Nah," Rosan said blandly, brows furrowed as Ram let out a warning snarl. "I'm good over here. Thanks for asking."

The clear dismissal, seemed to have only been heard by Rosan because the cute employee did not walk away from him.

"I'm surprised you're even in here but I'm not complaining! You do look good," she said coyly, stepping just a little closer.

"I'm surprised I'm in here too," Rosan replied bluntly. "I wouldn't buy anything, yet somehow I'm in this store."

He then finally glanced at her. "Thanks for the compliments, though… my girlfriend probably wouldn't appreciate them."

The employee blinked, before a chill washed over her and she hesitantly turned around to see quite a tall woman staring down at her.

Robin smiled gently. "There's nothing here I want Rosan, we can go."

"The quality just isn't that good," Nami sighed forlornly.

"Let's stop at a restaurant for a quick bite," Rosan offered, turning away and marching out of the store. "I dunno why we stopped here in the first place. You both have a million outfits already."

"Habit," Nami replied instinctively with a small shrug.

The redhead snorted and they vanished out the store.

The employee fell on her butt, sweat falling down her features as the three made their way out of the store.

"F-For some reason… I feel like I was very close to dying," she muttered to herself in worry.

---

"Where are the others headed?" Nami asked curiously.

"Grove 13," Robin replied immediately.

"We can head there then instead of looking for a restaurant here. They're headed to a bar," Rosan said.

"They're so useful!" Nami thought with comical tears. If she had just traveled with these two half the time, she wouldn't run into half the problems they did!

The three were currently traversing through Grove 24, due to hearing that there was a rather nice restaurant here but they decided to shelf the idea and instead go to the bar their crew was at.

Rosan hummed a tune as they walked and he raised a brow, at seeing a commotion taking place.

What was going on here? Wait... was that...

"Zoro?" He called out in confusion.

The swordsman perked up at that, wiping the tomato sauce off his head and turning to see his confused scout.

"Oh, Rosan, Robin and Nami," he greeted.

"The Red Devil?! He's here too?!"

Everyone gazed at the hat wearing pirate with a shocked gaze, gazing at the redhead who was at ease.

The redhead looked much like his bounty poster... but that lifeless expression was gone, a raised brow adorning his handsome features instead.

Even worst, Ohara's Devil and the Sorceress were with him too…

3 of the most dangerous Straw Hats were currently here and just one of them nearly caused untold mayhem...

They could only thank the stars that the crisis was already averted.

"…" Rosan said nothing, ignoring the gazes of the people for now.

"What? Are you confused about the tomato sauce?" Zoro asked curiously. "It's a long story —"

"Is there something you want to tell us…?" Rosan asked in concern, pointing a finger at the small pink haired child.

Zoro blankly followed the finger, then gazed back at his scout.

"It's a long story," he explained slowly, not liking the way Rosan was gazing at him.

What the hell did he do?

"Right…" the redhead drawled, gazing at the scene. "What happened here? You killed that guy?" He asked, pointing at the bleeding body of some man in an apron.

"I didn't kill anyone. I wasn't even able to cut the person I wanted to because this brat tackled me," Zoro grunted, jabbing a finger at the little girl.

"I WAS SAVING ALL OUR ASSES FROM YOU, IDIOT!" The child roared, transforming into a young adult.

"Oh, she can age and deage herself like you," Robin pointed out with an interested eye.

Saving all our asses?

Rosan glanced around the entire area and narrowed his eyes slightly, at seeing a figure walking away into the distance.

His eyes sharpened even further and he distantly made out a human atop a crawling one... along with a strange bubble on their head

"Are you traveling by yourself?" Rosan asked suddenly, conjuring a small wind to blow the tomato sauce off the swordsman.

Everyone shuddered at the sight of the winds.

"Yeah, why?"

The redhead rolled his eyes. "You were about to kill a World Noble… and you shouldn't be traveling by yourself. You need the buddy system."

Zoro felt a tick form at that, before registering the first part of Rosan's statement. "Oh I was about to attack one?"

Nami smashed her fist into his skull. "WE TALKED ABOUT THIS! WE EVEN KNOW HOW THEY DRESS!"

Robin sighed. "At least it wasn't Rosan. I fear we would have already had an Admiral breathing down on us if it were."

The redhead shrugged. "I've been good today. Can't get mad at me for whatever happens…"

"But I might just get in trouble if all these people keep staring," he muttered darkly, eyes narrowed as he caught all their gazes.

Nami slapped a hand against her head.

Kami they were so ridiculous.

"We're gonna keep going, Zoro. You coming with?" Rosan asked.

The swordsman hoisted up the bleeding man and shook his head. "Nah, I'm gonna get this guy to a hospital."

The redhead glanced at the bleeding body in disinterest. "You do that… Actually, one second."

He held out a finger and the onlookers watched, as a beautiful blue bird landed on it. Rosan pat it once before having it land on Zoro's shoulder.

"That's your new buddy. You won't get lost again with him guiding you," Rosan assured.

"Fuck off!" Zoro snarled, marching off with the man and bird in tow.

Robin giggled and Rosan snorted, while Nami shook her head in exasperation.

"Thank you for stopping him…" Nami began, gazing at Bonney.

Before Bonney could inform Nami of who she was, someone else did it for her.

"The Glutton, Jewelry Bonney of the Bonney Pirates. She has a bounty of 140 million," Rosan listed easily, gazing at the pirate with a bored expression. "She has the Toshi Toshi no Mi."

The Bonney Pirates went stiff at that dissection, gazing at the Red Devil with cautious eyes.

Rosan merely smirked sardonically and shot them an easy wave.

"You recognize her?" Nami asked in surprise. She knew Rosan was Reaper, but she didn't think he still kept up with current bounty posters like that!

"I recognize all these big shot pirates staring at us like we stole the show," Rosan snorted, eyeing each of them fearlessly.

The redhead's eyes roved over Capone Bege, Basil Hawkins, Scratchmen Apoo and Mad Monk Urouge, assessing them all before shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, we're not here to cause any trouble anyways and they don't seem like they want any, so we should continue our course," Rosan said simply.

Rosan didn't know them beyond their bounties but none of the current pirates were too interesting to him.

Robin rolled her eyes. "Asserting your superiority even during a time like this… you are a trip."

"You don't have to be afraid to call me hot."

"That has nothing to do with the conversation."

"Why do you always try and cause problems? Is it in your blood?" Nami sighed tiredly, following after the confident redhead.

"Aww, is little Nami scared?" Rosan mocked, tugging her cheek innocently, much to her annoyance.

"Don't worry. You don't have to be such a pussy when you're around me, I'm good at resolving issues."

Nami snarled and attempted to bat his hand away, only for her growl to turn feral as his grip remained true. "I fucking hate the words that come out of your mouth. You say them so confidently too, with no regards of anyone else."

"Why should I have regard for anyone else with my words? I'm always right anyways. The world would be a better place if everyone listened to me."

"I hate that you genuinely believe that. Robin, say something!"

"I'd rather not get sucked into this."

Rosan and Nami continued to argue, all while trailing behind the amused Robin and the watching pirates, let out an unknown breath as they steadily vanished.

"Those Straw Hats are as nuts as I expected them to be," Bege grunted, thinking back to the encounter with those 4 members.

It's almost like they didn't actually care about what happened to the World Noble... in fact, it seemed like the Red Devil would have handled the situation even worse.

Why on earth did he have to arrive to this island at the same time as them? Nothing good could come from them.

"Roronoa Zoro was bound to be safe, there was no death in his fate but the Red Devil… to be safe from the death that their shrouded in," Hawkins stated, gazing at the back of Rosan with a look of fascination.

What a fascinating person the Red Devil was... Hawkins could not get a proper read on him.

"That Roronoa was bloodthirsty for a second… but the Red Devil seems saturated in it. Monsters, all of them," Apoo shook his head.

Even now, the lingering presence of the Red Devil's bloodthirsty nature seemed to remain. For how casual he acted, it was quite off putting.

He supposed the bounty posters weren't just for show.

"To think none of them are in charge… Neither Roronoa or Red Devil seem like the type to obey anyone so their captain must be something else," Urouge laughed.

Straw Hat Luffy... just what type of man was he to earn the loyalty of those two monsters?

"That redhead is scary," Bonney said bluntly, scratching her head as she gazed at their retreating backs. "I feel like if he were the one there instead of Roronoa, we'd already be trying to escape from an Admiral…"

Was his name Rosan? Bonney didn't think anything good could come from hanging around a guy as dangerous as that.

The Straw Hats were freaks...

---

Shakky perked up, clear interest on her face as the entrance to her bar was once again pushed open and very familiar faces made their way through.

Her small smirk widened as she instantly recognized them.

"My, the Straw Hats do seem to enjoy my bar," she mused, smiling at the Red Devil, Devil of Ohara and the Sorceress.

"I guess so," Rosan replied, glancing at her with searching eyes. "Are you the coater? Did my crew already set a date?"

"Introduce yourself first," Nami admonished with a sigh. Did he always have to be so rude?

The redhead shook his head. "No point, she already met the crew and she knows us too. Might as well get straight to the important stuff."

"So this is Rosan," Shakky thought, smiling at the redhead. "So I finally get to meet the second in command to the Straw Hats. After meeting your captain, I just had to meet you. Take a seat, you all look hungry."

"Your bar has rip-off in the name… Are you going to scam us?" Nami asked in visible concern.

"I won't scam friends," she laughed. "It's free of charge, don't worry."

"Hm? Finally get to meet?" Rosan's brows furrowed. "Are you another weirdo interested in me? Please just give me a break," he sighed.

What was with everyone being so obsessed with him? Was Rosan born under an unlucky star? Nobody ever wanted to leave him alone.

"Nothing like that. You don't have to be so worried," Shakky waved him off, placing a plate of rice in front of the suspicious redhead. "I just heard a lot about you. The newspapers mention you quite a bit."

Rosan didn't quite look appeased by that statement and Shakky watched those bright glowing eyes of his shift in brightness sporadically.

"So he really is an Iris," she thought to herself. "Your crew went ahead to go look for the actual coater. I just run this bar."

"As for my interest in you, it's nothing so heinous. I've met some of your family is all," she mentioned to him.

"His family?" Robin perked up in interest. "Are you speaking about the Iris?" she asked curiously.

Nami also looked visibly interested at that.

Rosan, after verifying that his food was healthy, dug into his rice and just opted to listen in.

Shakky nodded with a small smile. "I know things about them. Curious?"

The owner of the bar noted that Robin and Nami were the only ones to nod, while Rosan was utterly disinterested in the conversation.

"I'm very interested," Robin said truthfully, unable to hide her curiosity. Learning anything of Rosan's lineage was always something that she'd be very vested in.

Once again, Rosan said nothing and Shakky gazed at him curiously.

Did he perhaps already know, which was why he saw no need to be curious? It would make sense, he seemed to be the only Iris of his generation.

"My knowledge on them doesn't go very far back, but I do know that a few generations ago, the Empress of Amazon Island at the time, fell in love with the king at the time of Wisteria and they got married," Shakky began.

Now, Rosan perked up at that. "Amazon Island? The island full of just woman?" He asked curiously.

He wasn't aware of that? But why? This wasn't secret knowledge so long as you were an Iris... he should know this...

"That's right," Shakky nodded, pleased that he at least knew about Amazon Island. "Wisteria was fairly notable Kingdom with a great wealth, but with the addition of Empress Allium, they not only became wealthy but they learned how to properly defend themselves as well," Shakky informed the interested group.

Robin's eyes were wide as she greedily soaked in the information being granted to her and she glanced at her scout with a fascinated gaze.

Mod too, was taking in the information in with wide eyes because she was learning things about Rosan of all people! She thought she knew everything about her son but learning of his heritage was so fascinating!

Rosan hummed in contemplation and placed his utensils down. "You know quite a lot about the Iris. Why?" He asked curiously.

Shakky smiled mysteriously. "Who is your parent on the Iris side? Is it Dalia? Oren?"

The redhead's brow furrowed at that. "Who?" Rosan asked in confusion. "I don't know a Dalia or Oren."

More Iris? How much family did Rosan have?

The owner of the bar felt her eyes widen at that slightly. "Then… are you Raisa's?"

He inclined his head at the familiar name. "Yeah, she's the one who birthed me," he answered easily.

"That makes sense. You're practically the spitting image of her," Shakky mentioned. "I haven't seen her in quite a while. She was around 18 last we talked."

"You know Raisa?" Robin asked curiously.

The bartender nodded her head with a fond smile. "Dalia is Raisa's younger sister. Oren is Raisa's older brother… I've spoken to them quite a bit over the years in comparison to Raisa. They like to visit me."

"So you have an aunt and an uncle too?" Nami muttered in surprise.

This was so interesting to listen to! They thought Rosan's past began with his memories but there was even more!

Rosan eyed the seemingly normal bartender for a little longer. This woman knew all three of his relatives and she was on seemingly friendly terms with them?

Is that why she was interested in him? Just who was she?

Robin was thinking the same thing. Information on the Iris didn't seem readily available at all so how did this woman know that Rosan's bloodline on his mother's side, had someone who hailed from Amazon Island?

"They're smart kids," Shakky thought with an amused smile. "I don't know much about the Iris themselves, but they possess quite a bit of potential that lie in their emotional capacity. The Kuja tribe are born capable… but there was only one Kuja on Wisteria so naturally, Allium's blood was steadily diluted as time passed."

Rosan sighed and Shakky felt her smile widen.

"Raisa was born with the full blood of the Kuja and Iris," she explained. "A prodigy in every way… unfortunately, Oren and Dalia weren't as lucky and it caused bad blood between them."

"She knows too much."

Rosan and Robin agreed wholeheartedly.

"Forget them for a second," Rosan said suddenly. "What's our relationship, Shakky? You know a lot, more than a friend should know. What's the relationship between you and my supposed family, and you and I."

She laughed. "I was wondering when you were going to ask. It's nothing so convoluted, I'm their cousin… so I guess we're cousins too, though you can probably just call me auntie."

"…"

Rosan blinked slowly. "Huh?" He said slowly.

Robin gazed at Shakky with wide eyes. "Are you a Kuja as well then? You're related to Rosan?!"

"That's… not what I was expecting," Mod thought in surprise, gazing at the woman with wide eyes.

"We're very distant relatives," she informed him with a small smile. "Imagine my surprise, when I saw my cousin who I didn't know existed, with a bounty on his head. I wasn't fully sure if you were an Iris, but seeing you in person confirmed it to me."

Rosan pursed his lips as he digested that information.

Finally, he opened his mouth.

"No wonder everyone is so obsessed with my female form. I'm part amazon," he said with a sigh of exasperation.

Robin sweatdropped heavily. W-Well she supposed that made sense.

"Maybe that's why I predicted your first born would be a girl. Maybe I really do have a mother's instinct!" Mod mused with a bright smile.

"You totally do, Auntie! You are the biggest mother I've met yet!"

Mod flushed and grumbled under her breath.

Shakky raised a brow at that comment but said nothing, just smiling at the redhead.

Rosan snorted and shook his head. "It's cool that we're cousins but I don't really embrace my Iris side at all. I was abandoned at birth by Raisa."

That got a surprised reaction out of his cousin.

"You were… abandoned?" Shakky couldn't help but ask in some shock, perking a brow at that.

"Yep," Rosan said, popping his lips with an amused expression. "I don't even know where Wisteria is so I know nothing of my lineage. Everything you told me, I'm just now learning."

So that was why he didn't know... Rosan didn't even know anyone from his family!

That was… a surprise. Raisa abandoned Rosan?

"That's not… something I ever expected her to do," Shakky stated in genuine surprise.

Everyone said that. They never expected Raisa to abandon him. Hmph, Rosan never expected to become a demon in human flesh but these things happened he supposed.

Guess he couldn't blame her for that.

"Can you tell us about Raisa?" Robin asked, noting Rosan's disinterest in the entire topic.

It was unreal how little curiosity he had on the entire matter.

"Of course but I have to ask… do you know who your father is by any chance?" Shakky asked, confusion on her face.

Rosan stared at her with a piercing gaze but Robin shot him a look.

"You haven't detected a lie from her yet, I think we can afford some trust."

"You only say that because of your curiosity. You are so lucky I love you."

"Love you too. Now tell her."

Rosan rolled his eyes.

"Pretty sure she was raped by someone named Rocks D. Cutter," he told her.

"Rocks?!" Shakky thought in shock. She didn't know a Cutter. That name didn't ring a single bell to her...

But Rocks? She knew that name from Rayleigh's stories... Someone like that was Rosan's father?

"...I suppose hearing that puts a little light on the situation. Raisa would never abandon her child normally. She's a stubborn and headstrong girl, but she's very kind too. Honestly, I didn't think you were her child because she would probably never want you out of her sight," she informed them.

"That's…" Mod looked conflicted at that, frowning at what she just heard.

"You said you last saw her when she was 18? How long ago was that?" Robin asked curiously, brows furrowing as she.

"Around 24 years ago," she immediately replied. "It's been so long, maybe I should give her a visit…"

"So she was raped at the age of 18…" Mod stated, visibly disturbed by that statement.

No matter her issues, Mod would never wish such a horrible fate onto anyone. Raisa may have been horrible in her eyes, but Cutter was even worse.

Nami frowned as well. "That's horrible… she was…"

To be violated like that... what a horrific thing to go through.

Rosan mulled over the information, before his eyes suddenly began glowing.

"Hold on," he suddenly said, standing up. "We'll have to postpone this conversation. Camie was kidnapped."

Nami's and Robin's eyes widened. "What?!" the navigator exclaimed in shock.

"The mermaid?" Shakky asked in some concern. "That's no good. Mermaids are one of the hottest commodity in Sabaody. She'll be sold into slavery without a doubt."

"Let's prevent that," the redhead muttered, eyes flashing sporadically as he made his way out of the building. "If you don't mind, I'd like to continue this conversation later because I have a very annoying girlfriend who wants to learn too much, aunt."

"Someone has to learn something about your past. You know I love history," Robin chastised, rushing after the urgent Nami.

Shakky waved them off. "I'll be happy to explain. We're family after all."

"Family by blood… Never thought I'd see the day," Rosan snorted, waving his hand.

A large black tiger materialized in front of him and he idly sat on it, beckoning the others to get on as well.

"Try Grove 1," Shakky offered, gazing curiously at his display.

"Thanks," Rosan thanked his cousin.

With that, the group of three were off.

Shakky watched them go with a smile, before glancing back at a Den Den Mushi.

"Maybe I should give them a call… it's been a few months since I last saw Oren and Dalia… been even longer since I saw Raisa," she muttered to herself.

Maybe she'd actually pay the Queen a visit. She quite missed Raisa and the fact that she had gotten raped…

Shakky just hoped she got the proper support from that traumatic experience but... she probably hadn't.

---

When the group of Nami, Rosan and Robin arrived to Grove 1, the first thing they saw, was their crew arguing with the people who presumably owned the auction house.

Camie had been kidnapped while her group was at an amusement park. They had let their guard down and as a result, she had been taken and handed over to the auction house because Mermaids were the best selling commodity of Sabaody.

"It's not good," Rosan frowned. "They've already got her in a cage, with a collar around her neck too."

"Why don't we just break in there and get her? Or blow it all up!" Nami exclaimed, stressing her point by jabbing a finger towards Rosan.

Hachi shook his head in horror at the sight of Rosan gearing up to do just that. "There's a Celestial Dragon in there! Don't even think about it!"

The redhead frowned at that and dismissed his energy blast.

Bummer.

"That makes things more difficult. Well, what do we do then?"

Nami shook her head. "We just have to play by the rules of the Auction House then. We'll buy Camie and get her back."

Hachi and Pappag looked stunned by that. "But… Really?"

"Alright," Rosan grunted, nodding his head. "I'll pitch in then. Mermaids are popular so they should sell for a lot. We have 400 million on the ship right now but if we need more I'll cover it."

Everyone gazed at the two greed machines in shock.

"You can't put a price on a friend!" Nami growled, marching into the building.

Rosan didn't actually care to save the mermaid, but he would do whatever his crew wanted and they wanted to save her… so he'd save her.

Besides, that Camie girl was an earnest idiot and she was a kid too. Kids didn't deserve to be enslaved.

As they made their way into the Auction House, Rosan felt two sets of eyes on him and glanced back to the first set.

It was a pirate, with flame red hair flame red eyes and no eyebrows.

"Eustass Kid. He has a 5 million higher bounty than you."

Kid looked at Rosan with a violent grin, that turned into a scowl as the redhead barely spared him another glance.

"He's also from the South Blue right? I heard he attacks people without regard. A true scumbag Pirate. He should be glad he became active when I retired or he'd be the first person I hunted and killed," Rosan snorted, losing interest in the only pirate besides Luffy of the new generation, to have a higher bounty of him.

"Who does he think he is?!" Kid snarled. "How about I go introduce myself?"

Killer held his captain with a shake of his head. "That's not a good idea captain. Those are the Straw Hats and we're in the Auction House too. Best to not cause a scene."

Kid scoffed and dropped it for now.

"Where's Luffy and Zoro?" Nami asked in concern.

"Zoro is on his way here. Luffy should be too," Rosan assured, linking to the bird that was with the swordsman.

He stared at the back of the head of the second person who had been staring only for a moment and tilted his head at seeing them looking ahead again.

"Trafalgar Law. Bounty of 200 million."

"The Surgeon of Death. Maro mentioned meeting him. Said he had a similar fruit to mine," Rosan thought in vague interest, idly listening to the people being sold off.

Modification could honestly pose as any fruit if Rosan really put his mind and creativity to it.

Law sensed eyes on the back of his head and turned around slightly, meeting the bored glowing gaze of the Red Devil he had been inspecting earlier.

The Surgeon of Death smirked at the redhead but on the inside, he was slightly confused.

"He looks vaguely familiar," Law thought to himself.

He had seen that face before and it wasn't from his bounty poster, but Law couldn't recall where...

It was a distant memory. Long ago but not too long... months at least.

He'd have to dwell on it more. Where had he seen the Red Devil?

Rosan flashed a smirk back at the pirate but didn't spare him anything else.

"How much money do you plan on spending?" Robin asked Rosan, watching as people bid for each slave.

"However much it takes. You would all be sad otherwise, if I didn't give my best effort to get Camie back," Rosan replied easily.

Robin smiled at that and squeezed his hand, pleased to see him squeeze back.

The crew watched anxiously, as more and more people were sold off with no signs of Camie anywhere.

Finally, things managed to finally gain traction as a pirate captain who was about to be sold into slavery, bit his tongue and killed himself, causing murmurs of discomfort to ring through the Auction.

The curtains came down after the display. After a few more minutes, it began to raise once more and all the Straw Hats tensed up at the sight before them.

A heavy air rushed through them and they gazed at the mermaid with resolve.

"Alright, we have 400 million on the ship. Not to mention a few gold bars too, we can probably get her back easily with that amount," Nami muttered.

Sanji nodded. "With that much, it'll be hard to be conteste —"

"500 MILLION BERIS FOR THE MERMAID!" An obnoxious voice screamed.

The Straw Hats went completely white at that offer and gazed at the one who made it.

Gaudy, large and with that oh so familiar outfit…

A Celestial Dragon.

500 million… as his starting offer? How were they ever going to —

"600 million beris."

Everyone in the auction house, felt their jaw drop to the floor at the deep voice and they gazed at the tanned man wearing a black hat on his head.

Rosan looked utterly at ease despite all the eyes on his person. He ignored the nervous air and looked straight ahead, a cocky smirk on his face.

"Did that guy just bid against a Celestial Dragon?" Someone whispered.

"Is he insane?!"

"Doesn't he look kind of familiar?!"

Saint Charlos looked dumbly at the one who dared to bid against him.

"600 MILLION?!" Disco shouted in disbelief, looking at the insane person who said that.

"Did I stutter?" Rosan replied in amusement. "It's been a few seconds and no one else has spoken up, call it. I won."

Disco spluttered at that. "W-Well that's true but that's because —"

"700 MILLION!" Charlos screamed indignantly, gazing back at the one who dared to bid against him in fury.

Even if someone had the money to bid against them, it was an unspoken rule to allow the Celestial Dragons to get whoever they were interested in. Bidding against them would only earn their ire and the moment the auctions were over, you and your slave would probably go to them...

"800 million," Rosan replied instantly, looking utterly at ease.

...Unfortunately, Portgas D. Rosan did not care.

Charlos, who was not used to anyone ever pushing back against him, could only gaze dumbly at the staunch Rosan, as if this commoner were an unknown puzzle.

Unfortunately for him, that silence cost him big.

"Seeing as 800 million is not being contested, the mermaid has been sold to the gentleman in the black hat!"

The silence was deafening. Everyone's jaw dropped slowly to the ground at the events that just transpired.

Was this... was this real? D-Did someone just out bid the Celestial Dragons?

Law gazed back at the redhead with an even wider smirk.

What an interesting guy. Hearing him fling around so much money, finally clued him into why he seemed so familiar.

The Straw Hats... no wonder that Queen was so powerful if this guy was her brother.

"And that's that. Problem solved," Rosan said smugly, smirking insufferably.

He didn't see why they had to go through all this. Rosan could have just retrieved her but this was fine too. 800 million wasn't even that much... though Aiko would be pissed seeing him throw that around.

"HAH! The Straw Hats really are nuts," Kid snorted loudly.

This was bound to go well.

"UNACCEPTABLE!"

All the citizens went pale at that outraged voice, expecting this outcome.

"I WON'T LET A COMMONER TAKE WHAT'S MINE! SHE'S MINE! MINE! MINE!" Charlos screeched.

"I expected this," Rosan sighed, looking unbothered by the outrage. "Rules are rules. You agreed to abide by the rules of the Auction House and you los —"

"SILENCE FILTHY COMMONER!"

Rosan's mouth slowly closed and a dark look crossed his face.

"Just who do you think you're interrupting?" he asked darkly, eyes glowing in warning.

Everyone shuddered at that tone and gazed at the redhead with wild eyes.

Was he serious?!

Rosan felt his temper flare irrationally but managed to calm down slightly at the hand holding his own.

"I won you lost. Get over it. Better luck next time," he waved him off.

"Rosan, I don't think you should be talking to a Celestial Dragon like that!" Nami hissed in a whisper.

"I want him dead but we can't all get what we want. If I can't do that, then I'll do this," Rosan hissed back just as quietly.

Charlos looked as if he were about to pull out his gun to shoot the filthy commoner but he was interrupted in the process.

"Father! I want that one!" Saint Shalria stated, pointing a finger at the redhead. "I want that man! Bring him to me at once! I want him right this instance!"

Rosan's eyes turned towards that voice and he blinked slowly at seeing a finger pointing directly at him, courtesy of the female World Noble.

"Oh, she wants me… no wonder she's been eyeing me the whole time," he mused.

Robin's gaze darkened at the blatant attraction in the Celestial Dragon's eyes.

Seriously? He didn't even do anything!

"Are you kidding me?" Mod sighed in misery. "This is why I wanted to make you just a little uglier."

"Sorry, I'm not interested in being a slave. Remove those thoughts from your head for your own sake," Rosan said bluntly.

The crowd who heard him balked in terror at hearing his blatant denial and threat.

"Someone stop him! He's mad!"

"I thought we established that when he outbid a Celestial Dragon!"

"I knew all redhead's were crazy!"

The Celestial Dragons did not hear him unfortunately.

"Are you sure you want that one, Shalria?" Rosward asked, gazing at the figure with a frown.

She nodded without hesitation. "He will make a fine first husband for me! His features are perfect!" She claimed.

"First husband?" Rosan and Robin thought in disbelief.

"Can father kill them all yet? Please say yes. Please say yes. Please say yes. Look into my eyes while I'm saying this. Please say yes."

"No. Stop trying to hypnotize me."

"Bah, so boring!"

Rosan let out a sigh of aggravation, as guards began approaching him with actual intent to capture him.

Both Law and Kid watched the redhead with blatant interest, wondering exactly what he was going to do in this current situation.

"Seriously? I was being so good too," Rosan said forlornly, sparks beginning to fly off his body. "I didn't attack anyone, I didn't cause trouble… I just tried to save a friend and once again, my hotness is is getting me in trouble. This isn't on me."

"Is he thinking of?!" Everyone thought in horror, watching the sparks beginning to fly off the redhead.

Oh please don't tell them he was going to do what they thought he was doing.

"I… don't think we can even blame you for this?" Nami said in confusion.

The rest of the Straw Hats nodded with sweatdrops. For once, their scout didn't actually do much to warrant what was about to happen.

He really did attract chaos huh?

Before Rosan could deep fry the approaching guards, a large hand frantically held onto him.

"Wait! You can't attack them!" Hachi said desperately. "We can just leave and find something else to save her! Please!"

"Will they really let us escape? That girl seems set on capturing me," Rosan replied calmly, gazing at the Fishman with a bored expression.

"I didn't do anything wrong. I outbid him, I didn't hurt anyone… my crime is being hot," he stated with an amused expression.

Everyone sweatdropped at that statement.

But eventually, Rosan's expression darkened once more. "I won't allow anyone to enslave me. I don't care who you are. If they are intent on capturing me, they will learn," he said coldly.

Hachi understood exactly what Rosan was saying but this was just too insane —

A massive explosion rocked the auction house, halting all actions and Rosan banished his sparks at the boisterous noise of his littlest brother.

"CAMIEEEE WE CAME TO GET YOU!" Luffy cheered, marching towards the mermaid with a purpose.

Hachi, who was already trying to stop Rosan from doing anything reckless, instinctively used his other set of arms to grab at Luffy.

Only the sound of someone shrieking in disgust, made the fishman realize his errors and he went white in horror.

"A fishman on land?!"

"Disgusting! Why does it have so many arms?!"

"Why is it that color?!"

Hachi tried to salvage the situation by showing that he meant no harm but everything he did, merely made the crowd more uncomfortable.

Rosan frowned slightly at the negative emotions roiling off the people there.

They were all the disgusting ones. These humans sat here, auctioning for slaves, buying people off and judging others solely by their appearance… and they had the gall to be disgusted?

Utterly repulsive of them. Did they not realize how hypocritical they were?

Luffy ignored everything around him, running towards Camie with full intents of breaking her out of her shackles...

Only to freeze in spot, as a gunshot rang through the air and the screams of the citizens rang out.

Hachi collapsed on the floor, blood pooling underneath him from the bullet wound he just received courtesy of Charlos himself.

"HACHI!"

"I got him!" Charlos laughed. "I got the fishman! Since I captured him, he's free right?! Look, he must have been plotting something! He's a fishman!"

"…" Rosan said nothing, gazing at Hachi's body with a neutral expression and a tilted head.

"Wait…" Hachi rasped out to the two brothers. "You promised you wouldn't do anything to the Celestial, even if someone got shot! Please don't do anything!" He begged the crew.

"I was a pirate once and this is just my punishment for everything we did to Nami! I'm sorry but I didn't mean for this to happen… I just wanted to make it up to her even a little… it was the least I could do for all the pain she went through."

Nami bit her lip, tears forming in her eyes at his words.

"…" Rosan stayed silent, before he shrugged Hachi's hand off his foot.

Then, he took a single step and a small pressure formed in the room.

After a second step, the pressure got slightly heavier and they were beginning to note that with every step Rosan took, it became more and more crushing.

The Kid and Heart pirates went stiff at that pressure, gazing warily at the calm redhead.

"You humans are so disgusting," Rosan said softly. "You enslave, steal, kill… you do the most atrocious acts on the planet and then label it as justice… but have the gall to discriminate and hate people who are not even half as terrible as you."

Everyone froze as his words carried throughout the entire auction.

"Oh no, he's in speech mode," the Straw Hats thought in horror. Things never got good when Rosan was giving one of his speeches.

"You Celestial Dragons are the epitome of disgust," the redhead announced, slowly but surely making his way towards Charlos, deadly aura growing heavier and heavier until it was completely suffocating.

Charlos attempted to speak but found that he couldn't, pressure choking him completely. His droopy eyes were wide in an unexplainable feeling and try as he might, it seemed to only get worse.

"W-What is this?!"

"Free to do anything you want with no repercussion. No human should have that type of power because a human with that power, will look no different than a Devil..." he said bluntly.

"...But you're not human right?"

Everyone stared, utterly petrified, as the Red Devil stopped directly in front of a Celestial Dragon.

Surely he wasn't… Surely the Red Devil wasn't this demonic, was he?

"Gods… that's what you call yourselves," Rosan whispered quietly, grabbing the frozen World Nobles hand. "How stupid are you to call yourself a god, when you can die just as easily as any other human?"

Everyone went white as Rosan grabbed the gun out of his hand and aimed it directly at Charlos' head.

"How arrogant must you be, to call yourself a God in the presence of a Devil?" Rosan hissed, finger on the trigger as he placed the butt of the gun directly on the man's forehead.

"No surely he's not going to actually do it. Is he actually insane?!"

This was what everyone in the Auction House thought, sweat falling down their paralyzed bodies as Rosan's finger hovered over the trigger to the gun aimed directly at Charlos skull.

If he pressed that… if he pulled the trigger, Charlos would die.

A Celestial Dragon… would die on Sabaody.

"We need to get out of here!"

But none could move, all trapped by that stifling pressure the Red Devil seemed to exude. No, they were all frozen in spot as they were practically forced to watch the upcoming execution.

"You may think yourself a God but never forget, there are always people who will be unsatisfied with how the world is ran. You will never satisfy everyone," Rosan said gently. "I hope you remember those words in your final moments."

"NO DON'T DO IT!"

Rosan's finger pressed down on the trigger.

"Bang."

A fist crashed directly on Charlos' cheek, sending the man sprawling. A fountain of blood spurted from the Celestial Dragon as he was instantly knocked unconscious from the punch.

Monkey D. Luffy stared down at the Celestial Dragon with a furious expression, fist clenched as blood dripped from it.

"Just kidding," Rosan laughed cockily, disintegrating the gun in his hands. "Look at the look on your faces, you actually thought I was gonna kill him? I did say I was going to be good."

…

"THIS IS STILL HORRIBLE! LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE!" Everyone roared in disbelief.

Rosan shrugged. "At least he's still alive. I really did want to kill him."

Everyone's jaw dropped uselessly onto the floor, eyes bugging out of their head at the actions of the Captain and his shadow of the Straw Hats.

"Sorry guys, an Admiral is gonna come now," Luffy apologized.

"Let's wrap up our business quick," Rosan grunted, crouching lowly. "Let's finish up guys. Leave Camie to me."

"Right!" The Straw Hats chorused, only a fond exasperation rolling off them.

"Wait she has the bomb collar on!" Pappag shouted in worry.

Rosan glanced back at him, sparking red. "And? What does that have to do with me?" He grinned cockily, vanishing from his spot.

Disco's eyes bugged out of his head, as Rosan appeared directly in front of Camie's tank and punched it.

The glass shattered everywhere and the redhead grabbed the mermaid.

"Y-You guys came!" Camie sobbed in relief, hugging the redhead to the best of her abilities.

Rosan ignored how wet she was (it was messing with his outfit) and focused on the bomb collar on her neck.

"Stay still," he instructed, gazing at the collar and chain combo.

She nodded shakily, looking at his hand in fear.

"It's not sea stone?" Rosan thought in surprise.

Well, that made his job a lot easier.

He ignored the Auction House employees surrounding him and hummed in contemplation.

"Modification," he thought to himself, making the collar too large for her neck and pulling it off.

Then, a tail lashed out and wrapped around Disco's neck.

Rosan dragged the owner of the Auction House to his location and summarily wrapped the bomb collar around his neck, before tightening it with his Devil Fruit.

"A taste of your own medicine," the redhead smiled.

Disco let out a strangled yell, before a punch smashed against his face and knocked him unconscious.

Camie looked on in awe, watching at how easily he had gotten the collar off her neck and gazing at the redhead with stars in her eyes.

Rosan hummed and stood up, before the cocking of a gun stopped him in his tracks.

He raised a brow at seeing that one Celestial Dragon girl who was attempting to enslave him.

"Not another step!" Shalria said confidently, aiming the gun directly at him.

Rosan rolled his eyes. "A gun. I'm so scared," he said dryly.

To his slight disbelief, she thought he was being serious.

"As you should be! You're all going to die here but I don't want you dead specifically, so surrender now and come back to Mariejois with me!" she demanded.

Rosan tilted his head. "Well, you sound very reasonable..."

The redhead vanished from his spot and appeared directly in front of her.

"But I'll pass."

Shalria had no time to react, to getting chopped in the neck and she couldn't even scream in rage at her bubble being popped by the swift blow.

Rosan stared at her unconscious body with a sneer of disgust, before a contemplative expression replaced it.

He idly tapped her on the head for a few seconds, before finally disregarding her.

The redhead was about to deal with all the pests but it appeared that there was no need because an unseen force slammed into all of them and their eyes rolled to the back of their skulls.

"So you're Portgas D. Rosan and Monkey D. Luffy…"

Silvers Rayleigh gazed at both Rosan and Luffy with a grin on his face.

"I've been waiting to meet you both! That Straw Hat suits a fearless man like you, Luffy."

Rosan's eyes widened and then a scowl formed on his face.

"Silvers Rayleigh," the redhead frowned deeply.

"So you know of me?" Rayleigh laughed halfheartedly, despite knowing how Rosan probably felt about him.

The redhead shook his head and scowled. "To think this is where one of you were hiding. Whatever," he scoffed.

They had more pressing matters to attend to.

Rayleigh gazed at Roger's oldest boy with an unreadable look.

"I'd like to talk to you later, if you don't mind," the old man said kindly.

"So long as you understand my boundaries, I will not have issue with you," Rosan grunted, bringing Camie over to the Hachi and Pappag.

"Outside is full of Marines," Robin stated as he stood next to her.

"Anyone of note?" He asked back, drying himself off.

"None that I know of," she replied.

"You Straw Hats sure live up to your reputation," Trafalgar Law said with an amused smile.

"They really are nuts," Kid snorted. "I'm satisfied with what I saw, let's head out… as a reward for keeping us entertained, I'll save you from those Marines out there."

Rosan twitched slightly at that, while Luffy and Law scowled deeply.

"Don't tell me what to do," Law said bluntly, clutching his sword and making his way out of the building. "I'll clear the way."

"No I will!" Luffy declared, cracking his fists as he marched out.

The redhead shook his head. "Let them clear the way. We have other things to worry about. An Admiral is on the way."

Idiots. All of them.

---

Outside was utter mayhem for the Marines.

Rosan watched with an interested eye, as Luffy, Law and Kid utterly dismantled the Marines they were up against.

"I'm surprised you didn't join," Robin said with a smile.

"I don't need to flex my superiority right now," Rosan said truthfully. "I'm going to make sure we all make it out of here. Let them deal with the crowd. The more energy I save, the better."

Robin's smile widened. This was the second time Rosan was prioritizing escaping in such a short span! It was incredible!

Rosan gazed at both Kid and Law's abilities with a curious eye.

Eustass was using his fruit to gather all manner of metallic objects to his side, forming a gigantic fist that he used to pulverize his opponents.

"Jiki Jiki no mi."

On the other hand, Trafalgar Law was using his ability to make a mockery of his enemies. He summoned a blue circle and within that circle, he was free to do as he pleased to a person without actually killing them.

Rosan idly grabbed the disembodied head of the screaming person and caught Trafalgar Law's eyes once more.

"Op Op no mi. Very prized. Its as important as a Logia in some peoples eyes."

Magnetism… and the ability to Modify the human body.

"That's an interesting fruit you have, Trafalgar Law," Rosan commented.

Rosan met a lot of fruits that could do what he did with Modification, but the Op Op no Mi seemed to be the closest fruit to his own when it came to base capabilities.

Law's fruit delved into modification of the body as well... but it operated differently.

The easiest way to put it, was that Law's fruit was one for a doctor and Rosan's was one for a scientist.

Law glanced back at the redhead and smirked.

"The Red Devil… you've got quite the interesting fruit yourself," he commented.

After all, Rosan could easily remove the bomb collar from that mermaids neck. Law was also very capable of doing the same thing with his own Devil Fruit.

Rosan gazed at the captain of the Heart pirates with those piercing eyes of his and nodded.

"You're interesting. I hope you don't die in the New World," the redhead laughed.

Law couldn't help but think that garnering the attention of someone like the Red Devil seemed more akin to a curse than a blessing.

"I'm getting real tired of you disregarding me, Red Devil."

Rosan paused at that and raised a brow, turning towards the irritated Eustass Kid with a tilted head.

"What about it, no brows? You want me to pay attention to you?" the redhead asked incredulously.

"What? Horny or something? Those are the only people who ever want attention from me," Rosan said in amusement.

Kid sneered, turning that gigantic fist towards him and lunging.

Rosan sighed. "Wow, maybe redheads do have a temper," he muttered.

The scout raised a wall, blocking the massive punch, before placing a palm on the metallic fist.

The Kid pirates watched in disbelief, as the metal was summarily turned into wood, dropping uselessly to the ground as Kid's ability failed to hold it.

"I'm a bad matchup for you," Rosan said with a cruel gleam in his eyes.

The redhead rocketed from his spot and effortlessly ducked into the shellshocked Kid's guard, before lunging forward and socking him right on the jaw.

"A really bad matchup," Rosan cackled, launching his fellow redhead away with the force of the blow.

"CAPTAIN!" the Kid Pirates shouted in horror.

Rosan rolled his eyes. "He'll be fine. I didn't go for the kill or anything. He can consider this my thanks for cleaning up the Marines. I have quite the temper myself after all."

The redhead snorted in laughter and began walking off. "Don't be a dumbass like him, Trafalgar Law. You've left a much better first impression off on me."

Law, who was looking at the spot Kid was just at, gazed back at the redhead who had effortlessly dealt with him warily.

"Tell your queen sister to be a little more secretive in the future, Red Devil-ya," Law fired back.

Rosan paused at that, before slapping his head against his palm.

"Noted. But if you ever mention that again, you're probably going to die. C'mon Robin, stop lagging behind!"

With that, the redhead fully departed.

Law watched Rosan go catch up with his crew and ran through the conversation.

"You're far smarter than most of the people here, so do heed his warning. Rosan's really quite vengeful!" Robin informed him with a small smile, moving just a little faster at seeing Rosan stop to glance back at her.

"I have no interest in telling anyone her business. It's not like she's my enemy," Law said boredly, turning away to catch up with his crew.

On the contrary, his conversation with Maro was quite enjoyable. He just found it surprising that she was allies with the Red Devil... that was literally the last thing he was expecting.

The Straw Hats... every time he learned something new, he grew more interested.

Monkey D. Luffy and Portgas D. Rosan...

Those two...

---

"WHAT?! THIS LADY IS YOUR COUSIN?!"

Rosan nodded his head as his crew gaped at Shakky. "Allegedly. She knows a lot about my heritage and seems to personally know my mother as well."

Shakky smiled at them. "That reminds me, Rayleigh, do you know of someone named Rocks D. Cutter?"

Rayleigh went stiff at that, much to the Straw Hats burning curiosity.

"Cutter?" Rayleigh murmured, gazing at Rosan with calculating eyes.

"My biological father," Rosan replied, gazing coolly at the first mate of Roger.

Rayleigh nodded slowly. "I met him a very long time ago. He was just a really young kid at the time when Roger and I encountered him back then. His older brother was a real problem so we dealt with him… he probably held a grudge because of what we did..."

Cutter... that wasn't a name Rayleigh was ever expecting to hear again.

Rosan actually did snort this time. "Oh the irony. The person I reluctantly acknowledge as my father, is hated deeply by my actual father."

Wonder how Cutter would feel about that. The idea was very funny to Rosan.

"So you really do have issue with Roger…" Rayleigh mused.

The redhead scowled furiously. "Issue?! Sure, let's call it an issue. Of course I have issue with him. He killed my mother," Rosan snarled, eyes narrowed in pure rage.

Rosan had never quite reached his closure with the cause of his mother's death. To him, the World Government and Roger would always be to blame and he wasn't sure how to come to terms with that.

"…" Rayleigh cupped his beard, an unreadable look in his eyes. "He had a terminal illness. It was incurable and he didn't have very long to live."

"I don't give a fuck if Kami themself told him to land on that island to find a cure," Rosan hissed, eyes violent. "His actions brought the World Government to my island and no one was there to help me or my mother so she was forced to hold a baby in her stomach for 20 fucking months and she died because of it!"

The Straw Hats had intimately felt how angry Rosan had been at Roger's actions... and truthfully, that anger managed to seep into them with almost no resistance.

There was no one to save Rouge. No one to help her escape from that island. Roger's actions carried the heaviest of consequences and their poor scout was one of the only people alive who suffered from those choices.

The only one who truly cared about saving her, had been a 4 year old boy who really didn't know what he could do to make things better.

It was heartbreaking to know that everyone cared more about Roger... while Rosan was the only one who truly wanted Rouge saved no matter what.

They'd be just as angry as he was.

Shakky's brows furrowed in some concern at that. "Are you talking about your adoptive mother?" she asked quietly, gazing at the hurting redhead.

Rosan clenched his fist. "Yes, Portgas D. Rouge. She was Roger's lover and his last memento before fucking off into the afterlife, was getting her pregnant and having the Marines converge onto our island. Because of my mother's love she managed to hide the baby for 20 months but died because of it."

He hadn't been this angry in a long time when thinking about Roger, but just the thought that there were people who respected and loved him unconditionally, pissed him off to no end.

These people didn't get to praise Roger in front of him. Rosan didn't want to hear it, he refused to hear it.

They stood here, with fond smiles on their faces, talking about how great of a man Roger was, or how fearless he had been but no one ever mentioned that Rosan's mother died because of his stupid actions.

No one ever talked about how his mother spent 20 months crying in pain and trying to hide it from her perceptive child.

No one talked about how Roger's children grew up in hell. It was only Roger this and Roger that.

Rosan fucking hated that. Rosan hated those rose tinted glasses.

"First Shanks, now you. I don't give a fuck how any of you feel about him. I don't care if you can't stand the thought that his son hates him!" Rosan hissed.

"Roger committed the greatest crime on the planet in my eyes by taking my mother away from me. He wasn't there to see my mother crying in pain because holding a baby for so long was too much for her, He wasn't there to see my mother fear the safety of her unborn and born child, HE WASN'T THERE TO SEE MY MOTHER DIE BUT I WAS THERE! I WAS THERE FOR ALL OF IT!"

Everyone flinched back as Rosan crashed a fist through the counter, breaking it completely through. The redhead heaved in pure rage, before sagging into the comforting hold of Robin.

"I saw it all," Rosan whispered. "I saw my mother hide her tears of pain whenever I asked if she was alright, I saw my mother panic about whether or not she'd be able to protect both me and my little brother, I saw my mother give birth to a healthy baby boy after 20 months… and I saw my mother breathe her last breath, before succumbing to the agony of childbirth."

…

Shakky frowned sadly at her cousin, not expecting that he had gone through that.

It must have been... so hard to hear everyone talk about Gol D. Roger the pirate... but never talk about Gol D. Roger the father.

Rosan was one of the only ones alive, who knew about Roger the father and he had nothing good to say.

"Nothing fills me with more anger than hearing someone sing that man's praises, because I wasn't there to experience all his conquest or victories. I was only there to experience the consequence of the legacy he built. I will forever hate Roger with all my heart because he took the person who loved him with all of hers," Rosan promised.

"None of you probably knew I existed so I hold no grudge against the Roger Pirates. My problem only lies with Roger himself and his complete failure as a father."

Rosan's gaze darkened. "But understand this. You may sing your praises to the Pirate King. But if you ever stand in front of me and sing your praises to my father, I will hunt you down until I die."

Rayleigh gazed at the hurting redhead, smile wiped off his face.

Shanks had not mentioned all of that. It was likely that his former cabin boy wasn't even aware of all the details.

What could the Dark King say to that? Shanks had mentioned that he hadn't been able to defend Roger on what he had done and after meeting the redhead, he found himself in complete agreement.

Roger messed up badly and the result was the Red Devil. It would be utterly disgusting of him to sit here and defend the man because Rosan was right.

He knew Roger the Pirate King... but he didn't have a good idea of who Roger the father was.

Rayleigh got onto his knees and bowed deeply, head touching the wooden floor of the bar.

"I know this won't make up for it at all, but as Roger's closest companion and right hand, it's only right that I apologize in his stead. I know him well and I know that the only person who would blame Roger more than you, is Roger himself. I know for a fact he didn't want this to ever happen, please believe me when I say that. Your hate of him is completely justified… I don't even think he'd blame you. Roger's the type to have done everything in his power to earn your forgiveness."

Rosan stared coldly at Rayleigh, fist clenched.

"I won't forgive him. No matter how many of you apologize for him. I will never forgive him. I will never forgive the people who took my innocent mother away from me," he said fervently.

"This is not something you can change, so understand my boundaries, Silvers Rayleigh. I have no problems with you, so do not make any."

This was Rosan's resolve. Earlier, when he was younger, he told himself that he couldn't hate someone that mom loved but he was wrong.

Rosan was done using other people to decide how he felt about something, even mom.

The redhead shook his head and repaired the wooden counter.

"Sorry," he said quietly to Shakky. "It's hard to control my anger."

She watched him repair the counter in some fascination, still not quite sure what his Devil Fruit was, before nodding. "That's okay. I realize I don't quite know your past."

"It's too much to tell in one sitting. Maybe one day, when I trust you more, I'll tell you," Rosan said softly.

The Straw Hats nodded sagely. It really was too much.

"Pick your head up, my gripe is not with you and Roger has been dead for years. I have no more desire to beat on a dead horse. I just wanted you to understand my point of view," the redhead demanded.

Rayleigh did so and gazed at the redhead with a curious eye.

"You're a strange one, Rosan," he commented.

"I know," Rosan said bluntly. "We need our ship coated… can we rely on you?"

The Dark King nodded easily. "You helped out a friend of mine so naturally I'll help you all out too."

Perfect.

"I have a question for you," Robin spoke up suddenly. "What is the Will of D?"

Rayleigh perked up at that and gazed back at the Devil Child.

Robin took that as her cue to continue.

"We went to the Sky Island and I encountered a Poneglyph there that had Roger's name signed onto it. How does he know that language? Do you… know what happened to the world in the blank 100 years?!"

It was impossible for her to hide her anticipation.

"Is this really how you wanna figure it out, Robin?"

She jumped at that and gazed at Rosan in confusion, noting the way his brows furrowed.

"Is this how you want to find out what you've been researching for years? By hearing it from him?" Rosan pointed out, gazing at her with a searching expression.

"Would that really satisfy you?"

Robin opened her mouth and closed it.

No, no it wouldn't. Robin had been on this journey of hers for years so for her to learn it all from this man right here...

It wouldn't be fulfilling. Besides, she was having so much fun traveling with the Straw Hats.

"I change my mind, Rayleigh… I don't want to know anymore," she replied with a fond smile, making her way over to the redhead.

Rayleigh laughed at that and nodded his head. "A smart choice, though I will tell you… Roger couldn't read Poneglyphs, he could merely hear the voice of all things."

Rosan and Luffy both perked up at that.

"Voice of all things? Is that the reason I hear too much?" Rosan mused with a frown.

What was this voice of all things?

"We really don't wanna ask him anything?!" Usopp shouted incredulously. "We could just ask him if the One Piece really does exist —"

"USOPP!"

The sniper went stiff at that shout and gazed at Luffy with wide eyes.

"I don't want to hear where it is! I don't want to know where it is! If he tells us anything about it right now, I'll quit being a pirate! There's no point going on an adventure that isn't fun!"

Usopp spluttered and nodded hastily. "You're right! I don't wanna hear where it is either! Where's the fun in that?!"

Rayleigh smiled at that. "Do you think you can do it? The New World is unlike anything you've ever seen. Do you have what it takes to conquer that powerful sea?"

Luffy laughed. "I don't care about conquering anything! The Pirate King is the one who is most free!"

Rosan snorted at that. "Never change, Luffy."

Shakky smiled at that. "I'm becoming quite the big fan of your crew!"

---

After being each given a Vivre Card of Rayleigh, the Straw Hats were informed that they would need to wait 3 days before the coating process was completed.

Considering there was currently an Admiral on Sabaody, that was disastrous to hear.

But it didn't stop there.

As they conversed on their next course of action, someone seemed to make it for them.

The Straw Hats paused in shock, as before their very eyes, two Bartholomew Kumas showed up.

"You again?" Rosan snarled in hatred, eyes bright in fury.

The redhead took a single step forward, but swiftly transformed Ram into a buster sword, as a giant axe came crashing down on his person.

Rosan grunted as he was launched back from the attack and he held himself.

"The Red Devil Rosan…" Sentomaru called out. "I've been told to be most wary about you."

The redhead grinned violently. "Then you should have brought more people."

With that, he dashed forward and they clashed once more.

At the same time, the Straw Hats squared off against both the Kuma's with various amounts of confusion.

"I can't feel these two!" Luffy shouted to them, rocketing forward and landing a blow on the emotionless Kuma.

The rubber boy grunted at not making contact with human flesh and leapt back before the laser could pierce a hole through his belly.

"There's two of them too! Are these some type of robots?" Sanji shouted in confusion, wincing at the throbbing pain in his leg after connecting with the robot.

"They might just be!" Robin called out, frowning at having literally no effect on the robots. "I could somewhat feel the real Kuma but he also had some type of metallic skin!"

Seeing as she had no effect on the robots, she would play a more supportive role and keep the crew active.

"Robots? If it isn't the real one, then it's fine! Just beat these two!" Zoro grunted, applying armament and successfully cutting into one of the robots.

Unfortunately, that left him vulnerable for a retaliation...

Only for a flurry of hands to grab him and drag him out of range.

Zoro landed by Robin's side and shot her a nod.

"Be careful, those lasers look deadly," Robin warned.

The swordsman nodded and dashed forward again.

"Focus on supporting Luffy and Zoro. As we are, only armament can get through them!" Robin instructed them, summoning all three of her clones.

Rosan was keeping that large man occupied so they'd have to pull their weight and deal with these two.

The redhead in question, already sprouted his wings and soared towards Sentomaru, blood in his eyes as he exchanged in a furious dance with the man.

Despite his size, Sentomaru was fast. Rosan could not just blitz the man because not only did his speed bely him, he had observation and armament as well.

He grunted in annoyance, as Sentomaru whirled around to catch his swing aimed for his back.

Buster sword met axe once more, before Rosan exploded in electricity that Sentomaru grunted at.

He was not yet adept at applying armament to his entire body but it was enough to weather the worst of it.

As the Marine weathered the attack, he suddenly slapped an open palm towards the redhead that Rosan effortlessly weaved...

Only for him to let out a grunt of surprise as a shockwave smashed into his gut.

As he was sent flying, he immediately righted himself and clutched the ground.

"Ranged options with Armament Haki? Noted."

His bruises healed up instantly and he transformed Ram into a set of gauntlets, before smashing his fists to the ground.

Sentomaru glanced warily at the strange weapon that could transform at a whim, but poised himself to deal with the surging ground chasing after him.

Coincidentally, that same ground managed to protect Chopper from a laser aimed at him, allowing the doctor enough time to scramble away.

"Thanks Rosan!" Chopper said thankfully, transforming into walk point to dash away.

Rosan said nothing, eyes sharpening as his mouth opened.

Sentomaru, who was still dodging the chasing ground, scowled in annoyance as his formidable defense was being pushed by this man.

A giant gout of flames rushed towards him, glowing an unnatural shade of red that made him violently swing his haki imbued axe.

The shockwave gave him enough time to evade the flames, but the grounds made their presence known once more.

Deciding that he had enough, Sentomaru gripped the handle of his axe with both hands and slammed it towards the ground, causing the earth to crack in every direction.

The ensuing shockwave managed to stop the earth momentarily, but it did nothing to stop the redhead from exploiting the opening he just got.

Rosan, powered by boost, launched himself towards Sentomaru at immense speeds.

Sentomaru was quick to respond. Seeing as his axe was currently a little occupied, he lifted his arm up to block the gauntlet and met the violent punch with grit teeth—

Only for it to let loose a hellish explosion a few seconds later.

Rosan sneered at the cloud of smoke, only for his eyes to widen as the axe smashed into him with no hesitation at all.

"You're stronger than your bounty suggests," Sentomaru huffed, wiping the blood from his mouth and glancing at his battered arm.

Blood leaked from his axe at the direct hit and the sumo man watched the trail of blood that eventually led to Rosan.

The redhead in question huffed, spitting out some blood as his leaking midsection sealed up.

Sentomaru couldn't help but look at the action with wide eyes.

"What is this man?" he asked in some confusion.

He wasn't given much thought to ponder the question, because Rosan was already charging back into battle.

While the two had both exchanged devastating blows to each other, Sentomaru was the one on the backfoot now because unlike Rosan, his wound wasn't capable of healing up that quickly.

It wasn't useless, but Rosan was hellbent on making it so.

Sentomaru's observation flared constantly, as multiple attacks came at him from every angle.

The ground came back to life again, the winds got heavier and Rosan's body began sparking with electricity as he threw out all signs of defense in favor of hitting the Marine.

Transforming Ram into a hammer, Rosan clutched it and began battering at Sentomaru's defense, trying to overwhelm it with pure offense.

But the pure offense wasn't the problem.

The problem was the Red Devil's complete lack of concern for his health, supplementing that offense into something horrific.

They were repeatedly inflicting injuries onto each other. Sentomaru took advantage of every opening he saw, to batter Rosan with palms or his axe but they only momentarily paused the whirlwind of trouble he was in.

The grounds continued halting him every chance they got, the winds remained heavy and battering and the Red Devil continued flying around him like an annoying bug, sparks lashing out into his body with the occasional flame.

Rosan huffed in annoyance. Despite the advantage he was steadily building, Sentomaru was still far too formidable and it would take a lot more effort to take him out.

Effort that he did not have. There was an Admiral on the way.

They clashed once more, Ram a katana this time, and Rosan grunted at the sheer strength the sumo man had, even with that broken arm of his.

His eyes widened as Sentomaru suddenly released his good arm from the handle and jammed a palm directly into his chest.

Rosan spit out blood but his tail suddenly sprouted and lashed out, wrapping around Sentomaru's good arm. The sharp spikes of his tail dug into the arm but didn't do much, considering the haki guarding them.

Before Sentomaru could consider the idea of cutting his tail off. Rosan scowled and placed a palm on the axe, transforming it into a wooden version of itself and rendering it useless.

The Marine's eyes widened in disbelief at that, before a blaze of flames crashed into him, tail keeping him close so he could take it.

Not one to let such an attack cow him, Sentomaru fought through the pain and utilized his free, albeit broken, arm to land a devastating punch to Rosan's face that broke his nose.

Sentomaru was beginning to realize why the Red Devil was so dangerous. His offense was off the charts! Even his defense was suffering at the hands of it and his beloved axe had been reduced to mere wood!

What was... what was this man's Devil Fruit? He was a one man army! It was no wonder the Straw Hats were no dangerous...

Even if the others managed to escape, he'd have to at least ensure the Red Devil did not get away.

Sentomaru lunged forward and tried to let loose a heavy swing to knock out the Red Devil but to his surprise, a plethora of arms spawned and held him down.

"What? But?!" He said aloud.

Rosan huffed and violently snapped his nose back into place, before dashing forward to meet Sentomaru head on, gloves at the ready.

Sentomaru took a second too long, to break out of the grasp because a palm rested gently against his midsection.

"A taste of your own medicine," Rosan snarled victoriously.

"Rejection."

Despite applying Haki to himself, Sentomaru wasn't able to fully protect himself from the internal damage Rejection did and he was launched back from the concussive blow.

The man's eyes rolled to the back of his head as the shockwave reverberated throughout his body and he collapsed without making a single noise.

"He was strong. Thanks Robin," Rosan said, gazing at the bleeding man.

"Anytime, Rosan. We're done over here too."

The two Kuma's had done a lot of damage to the crew. They all had their fair share of injuries but Robin and her clones had done a great job at keeping them alive.

Zoro and Luffy suffered the most injuries. They had to deal with the brunt of the Pacifista's attention due to being the only two capable of dealing lasting damage to them.

The Kuma's were very telegraphed however and once you had the damage to deal with them (not to mention Robin providing fantastic support) it was only a matter of time before the duo managed to destroy them.

Luffy huffed, steam disappearing from his body as the effects of Gear Second dissipated and he gazed to make sure his crew was fine.

They needed to get outta here. Who knew how many Kumas they had in store? Not to mention, the Admiral was here too —

No sooner did Luffy have that thought, a strange sound began ringing through the air.

Everyone froze in horror as Rosan let out a rasp of pain, due to the laser piercing his belly.

He glanced down in disbelief and watched as the hole began shutting once more.

"Wowwww that's some scary healing," a voice drawled boredly.

The Straw Hats went cold at that, a terrible feeling coursing through their bodies.

Hesitantly, they glanced up just in time for an explosion of light to slam into them all.

Rosan had no time to react, to a kick landing directly on his face, breaking his recently healed nose once more.

The devastating kick rattled his brain completely, sending the redhead flying through the clearing into one of the massive trees that littered Sabaody.

"You did quite the damage to Sentomaru, eh Red Devil?" Kizaru asked boredly, leg still raised and showing exactly who had kicked the redhead.

Rosan's body screamed in pain and he spat out a glob of blood.

"Rosan! Are you alright?!" Mod asked in concern, eyes wide in terror as the situation went from bad, to nightmare levels.

He kneeled over again and threw up a bit, still heavily disoriented from that kick and Kizaru raised a brow at seeing the redhead steadily push himself up.

"Won't... touch them," Rosan huffed, glaring at Kizaru with slightly unfocused eyes.

"Wow, you really are scary!" the Admiral stated, not looking scared at all. "Guess I should take you out first."

Before Kizaru could push his advantage, a blur showed up and forced the Admiral into the defensive.

When he saw who it was, even the Admiral couldn't help but show a genuine reaction.

"The Dark King?" Kizaru asked, brow lazily perked up. "To think you really were in hiding over here. Coming out of hiding for these greenhorns?"

"You shouldn't stop young plants from sprouting early!" Rayleigh laughed, clashing with the light man and sufficiently distracting him.

"...Robin, are you alright?" Rosan huffed, trying to focus and finding it incredibly difficult. The Philosopher's Stone was currently focused on his head so he was pretty sure he had a concussion.

"...I'm fine Rosan… it just hurts," Robin gasped, nursing her burns and gazing at the redhead. "I should be asking you that. You took quite the hit and your eyes are glassy. Do you have a concussion?"

The redhead panted, wounds healing slowly as he gazed at the utterly lax Admiral.

"I think so... but I'll be fine," he said slowly, blinking the stars away.

"Are you guys okay?" Rosan asked in concern, gazing at his recovering crew.

They let out weak grunts themselves and Rosan shut his eyes as a wave vertigo crashed into him once more.

This was really bad. This was a terrible situation.

They needed to get out of her —

"So we meet again, Portgas D. Rosan."

Rosan went utterly still at that familiar voice and glanced back to see yet another Bartholomew Kuma gazing at him…

Except this one felt real. There was still a bit of humanity in this one, compared to the other two that had been defeated.

This was the real Kuma and that meant the nightmare situation had turned into actual hell.

"I see your crew still accepts you… good," Kuma whispered, removing his glove from his hand.

"Kuma…" Rosan snarled furiously, eyes transforming into slits as smoke poured out of his mouth. "I won't forgive you for what you subjected my crew to. You had no right to violate me like that so I'll make you pay!"

"No, Rosan please wait!" Robin shouted in concern, noting the horrible situation. "We need to get out of here! We have to escape!"

"You have to bring us all into your Save Point! We'll get back here in 3 days and no one can catch us there!" Robin informed him.

That snapped Rosan out of his rage and he glanced back to see his crew struggling to stay up.

Right, escape. He needed to get them out of here. Hiding would be nothing if he just brought them to the Pocket Dimension!

Rosan turned his back to Kuma and prepared to grab his entire crew —

Only for a popping noise to appear directly behind him.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that," Kuma said quietly.

Then he swung his palm towards the stunned Rosan.

"...Fuck," Rosan said helplessly as the hand connected.

Pop.

Every single Straw Hat froze in sheer shock, as Rosan vanished from their sight.

Robin and Luffy's eyes went wide in utter horror.

"R-ROSAN!" They screamed.

---

Robin felt lightheaded, as she watched Rosan vanish from their sight.

She felt the urge to throw up. One second Rosan was there, the next... gone.

"ROSANNN!" Luffy shouted in utter despair, eyes going wide in horror as his oldest brother disappeared from his sight.

The Straw Hats watched in horror, as Luffy let out a scream of genuine anguish. Not once had they ever seen their captain have such a reaction and it was bringing to light, how terrible the situation was.

Was Rosan... was... was he gone...?

A second scream, this one of pure distress, brought them to the petrified Robin and they watched as the woman clutched her chest in agony, looking at the spot Rosan was just at in pure shock.

No... no no no. Not again. Robin couldn't lose Rosan again. In the blink of an eye, he was gone and there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

Not... not again...

As the first signs of a panic attack began forming in for Robin, Kuma suddenly appeared directly in front of her.

"Goodbye," Kuma said coolly, tapping the collapsed woman with his palm.

And just like that, Robin was gone.

"ROBIN!" The Straw Hats shouted in horror, watching as she vanished as well.

That scream knocked the almost lifeless Luffy out of his stupor and the rubber boys eyes widened in horror, as he saw Kuma begin targeting the rest of his crew.

Robin... was gone too?

The rubber boy desperately pushed himself up, ignoring the way his heart was being squeezed and ran towards Kuma in a panic, steam beginning to roll off his skin.

"DON'T TOUCH THEM!" Luffy screeched in rage, closing the distance between him and Kuma with a wild swing...

Only for it to fail, as the giant man vanished from his spot.

Zoro grunted, eyes going wide as Kuma appeared directly in front of him.

"Fast," the swordsman thought, urgently gripping his swords.

He lunged forward, intent on buying the rest of his crew time. "ALL OF YOU! SCATTER! GET AWAY —"

Before Zoro could even finish, much less connect his attack, Kuma rebounded the blow with one palm and slapped his palm into Zoro with the other...

And he was gone, just like that.

The Straw Hats were growing steadily more hopeless, as 3 of their members vanished in the blink of an eye with almost no resistance.

Luffy was the worst of all. His mental was already in a terrible place at seeing his oldest and infallible brother gone so easily and it was only getting worse.

"No no no," Luffy chanted in horror, whirling around as he continued trying to land a blow on Kuma.

But it always failed.

"GUYS! RUN!" Sanji shouted. "HE'S GOING AFTER EVERYONE BUT LUF—"

Pop.

Gone. In an instant.

Chopper eyes widened in terror as Kuma didn't miss a step, immediately disappearing from his spot and towering over the positively tiny Reindeer.

He tried to find the best form to transform to in that moment. Tried to see what would help him get out of this situation. Tried to see how he could save himself and the rest of his crew...

But he found no answer to that question and the terror at that realization froze him solid.

Pop.

Nami attempted to run. She clutched Clima to her chest and ran as fast as she could with tears running down her eyes.

Never in her life had she felt so useless. Crying and running away like a coward. This was... this was so pathetic —

Her eyes widened helplessly as her course was cut off by Kuma himself and she fell on her butt, trying to crawl away.

"L-Luffy... help me—"

Pop.

Franky grit his teeth grimly and held out his hands, firing at the back of the man to almost no effect at all.

Kuma didn't even glance back at him, merely moving in that infuriating display of teleportation.

The cyborg saw it coming and geared up a fist, launching it towards Kuma and landing a direct hit to his face...

To zero effect at all. Kuma's expression didn't even change as he swung his palm towards the shipwright.

Pop.

A bony figure dashed towards him, sword poised to stab into him and Kuma glanced downward at the skeleton.

He ignored the repeated stabbings, merely raising a hand and swinging it...

Brook saw it coming and immediately dashed away, successfully dodging the palm.

Before he could dash back in to continue his valiant effort at stalling Kuma, a looming shadow appeared behind him and Brook realized that Kuma was gone.

"Oh dear —"

Pop.

Usopp froze in a moment of true terror as Kuma's gaze finally focused on him. The sniper began backing away steadily, as Kuma approached and aimed his slingshot at the man.

"D-Don't get any closer! I'm not afraid to use this!" Usopp shouted. "The Great Captain Usopp has felled many people with this one pellet so don't even think about it!"

Not even a shift in expression. Kuma just continued walking towards him with those same deliberate steps... even despite the fact that he showed he could teleport easily.

Usopp grit his teeth and fired the Explosive Mine Star.

A great explosion ensued from the fiery pellet and Usopp panted as his tremors steadily abated.

Was that enough? Surely a pellet fueled by Rosan would be more than enough to —

Kuma walked out of the smoke as if he hadn't been hit by it, smoking body still moving at that same deliberate pace.

Usopp could only freeze in horror at seeing how unaffected the man was. He remained rooted to his spot, even as Kuma steadily closed the distance...

Even as Kuma stopped directly in front of him, terror kept Usopp still...

Kuma didn't swing his palm. He merely rested it atop Usopp's head and the sniper was gone.

Pop.

With each pop, Luffy unraveled further and further. No matter what he tried, Kuma ignored him like he were a fly buzzing around, taking out his crew left and right.

And now there was none left. It was just him.

The rubber boy collapsed onto his knees, as tears began falling from his face.

"You... why?" Luffy rasped, clutching his chest as an unexplainable pain began consuming him.

"I couldn't save any of them. Not a single one. I lost them all and there wasn't a thing I could do about it!"

Kuma stared at the captain of the Straw Hats. Throughout the entire exchange, his expression had remained as vacant as ever, eerily reminiscent to Luffy's oldest brother.

"Goodbye, Monkey D. Luffy. We will never meet again."

With that, he swung his palm at the rubber boy and watched as the final member of the Straw Hats disappeared.

Kizaru furrowed his brows at that. "You better have an explanation for this Kuma. We had orders to capture them," he drawled.

Kuma said nothing.

The Admiral sighed at that and shook his head, disentangling from his duel with Rayleigh.

"There's no point staying here any longer, Sentomaru needs medical attention."

With that, he appeared next to the sumo man, hoisted him up and began walking away.

Rayleigh didn't bother interrupting him, merely watching the Admiral vanish, before turning his attention towards Kuma.

"What's the meaning of this, Bartholomew Kuma?" Rayleigh asked patiently.

"..." Kuma once again said nothing, he merely placed his gloves back on and began walking away.

"I'm merely giving them a better chance to succeed," he said finally.

With that, he vanished.

---

Rosan wasn't sure what was going on but he was completely incapacitated.

But all he could think about was his crew. Were they alright? Were they fine?

"Do you think Kuma did this with all of them?"

"I believe so. I... do not think he is our enemy. He may have violated your privacy, but I think it came from a place of... care?"

Rosan let out a sigh of relief in the confines of this paw bubble.

If they were alive, if they were fine… then he would thank Kuma.

He wasn't sure what the man's plan was… but this technique had possibly saved all of their lives from that Admiral.

Rosan wasn't confident in outspeeding light but even so…

The redhead sighed.

How long was he going to be in here for?

---

Three days. That's how long Rosan had been stuck flying through the air.

He couldn't activate his Save Point. He couldn't really move his limbs. All he could do was just allow his body to rest as he spent time soothing the nervous Mod and Ram in attempt to soothe himself.

It was hard, considering how nervous he himself was, but his crew would be fine.

They would survive. They had to.

He was more concerned for Robin and Luffy… if those two thought he was dead, it'd be terrible. He needed to get out of here quickly and assure them that he was fine.

Thankfully, it seemed that his trip was finally over. He suddenly stopped flying straight and instead began descending towards the floor.

Opening his eyes, the redhead swiftly donned his Raid Suit and sprouted his draconic wings but the momentum was too much and he was unable to set himself straight.

As a result, he crashed directly onto the ground and caused a paw shaped crater to appear.

At the very least, the bubble protected him from the fall.

Rosan scowled and immediately stood up, inspecting his surroundings.

He was at the edge of an island. As he gazed out to the sea, he noted that there seemed to be heavy whirlpools at certain points.

Where was he?

He turned away and gazed at the island he had been sent to.

It was beautiful. Large trees, full of unique and beautiful leaves, flowers and the sorts seemed to dominate the island.

If it was inhabited, the trees did a perfect job protecting him from seeing anything else. They weren't quite as large as Sabaody, but they were still enormous and he had to strain his neck to gaze at the top.

Rosan summoned one of his birds and sent it off to inspect the island further.

His crew should be landing just about now if Kuma really did do the exact same thing as them.

Where they were? Rosan had no clue. He could only go to Robin and Luffy.

Rosan frowned deeply.

Was he still in the Grand Line? The whirlpools surrounding the island meant that it was possible that he was but he couldn't be too sure —

Rosan's eyes snapped to attention at the rustling of footsteps and he immediately had Ram seep into his gloves.

Seems like he truly was at an inhabited place. What type of people resided here? Enemies?

Rosan wasn't so cruel to attack people on their island, but he was cruel enough to defend himself by any means possible so even if he was a trespasser, if they refused to hear him out, he'd kill them.

"What do you think that noise was?" A soft and smooth voice asked. They sounded distinctively feminine in nature and Rosan's brows furrowed.

"No idea, but we might as well check it out since we're nearby."

This voice was far deeper, near Rosan's in octave.

"Two individuals. One male. One female…" he thought.

"Verify if they are enemies first before firing. We wouldn't want to cause issues."

"I just want to get out of here and find out the status of everyone else," Rosan scowled, listening to the rustling of leaves.

The colorful bush was parted to the side and two people made their way out.

The first person Rosan took note of, was the male. He was a tall and handsome man, looking to be just a tad shorter than the redhead, with a head of smooth black hair that reached his shoulders.

He was bulkier than Rosan's more lean muscles and he had bronze skin the exact same shade as Rosan's own, with royal purples eyes that glowed.

Rosan froze completely at that little detail and his eye moved over to the second person.

She was very pretty and also incredibly short. Rosan was a solid foot taller than the woman with curly red hair… bronze skin the exact same shade as his, with ocean blue eyes that glowed.

Mod was stunned silent.

Rosan said nothing, as the two individuals went stock still. They gazed at him with wide eyes that steadily began growing wider and wider.

Unlike him, they were far worse at hiding their expressions. He saw both their eyes widen as they took in his features… that were also disturbingly similar to theirs. He saw as realization began hitting them and he saw as the woman tensed up like a coiled spring.

"Kuma you stupid son of a bi —"

"KYAAAAA! OH MY KAMI!" Dalia squealed in disbelief, launching herself at the redhead with wide eyes.

Rosan's hand, which was about to instinctively crash into her skull and knock her out, went still as the short woman crashed into him with a fierce hug, lifting the taller redhead off the floor with a wide grin.

"I can't believe it! Oren Oren look! This is Rosan isn't it?! LOOK AT HIM! THIS HAS TO BE HIM!" Dalia rambled, gazing up at the redhead with glistening blue eyes.

Her nephew was right here in front of her! Holy shit, she never thought she'd see him in person! Just look at how tall and handsome he was! Her little nephew was a walking heartbreaker!

"Dalia, he doesn't know us," Oren sighed in exasperation, looking at his nephew with a shocked gaze.

The very last thing he was expecting to see, was his estranged nephew gazing at them with wary eyes, as he resisted the urge to attack Dalia.

His glowing (heterochromatic! He was the first in the family!) eyes shifted from him to Dalia repeatedly, fist still clenched but at the very least, he hadn't outright attacked them.

"I know but it's just so different seeing him in person than on a bounty poster! Look at him! Just look! He's so handsome and tall and he looks just like us too!" She gushed, refusing to remove the redhead from her grip.

"Yeah… but he doesn't know us," Oren stressed. "I'm sorry about her. It's probably a lot to take in so quickly but we're your —"

"Aunt and uncle," Rosan answered for him, taking his gaze off the Dalia poking at his body in wonder. "I just learned about you today, from someone named Shakky."

So Kuma sent Rosan to the location of his biological aunt and uncle? For what reasons? Was this some kind of fucking joke?

Was Kuma suddenly a goddamn therapist?

Oren and Dalia shuddered at the deep voice of their nephew.

To think that he was an adult now and they had never even seen him as a child...

"You spoke to Shakky?!" Dalia awed. "It's been a long time since we spoke to her! We need to give her a call!"

"Could you stop touching me?" Rosan asked suddenly. "I don't like being touched by people I don't know. Bad memories."

Dalia flinched back at that and released her hold onto the redhead, looking a little burned at those cold eyes gazing at both her and Oren.

There was not a hint of recognition in them. Just pure suspicion as they sporadically shifted in intensity.

"I-I'm sorry. I got a little eager," she mumbled, looking utterly dejected at his offputting nature.

"…" Rosan sighed at the heartbroken expression on his aunt's face.

Curse his bleeding heart.

"...You can hug me. I don't really feel anything bad from you so I don't mind much."

Dalia squealed happily and immediately jumped into his arms.

"My nephew is so goddamn adorable! Look at him Oren! He's even taller than you!"

Oren sighed in exasperation at her antics. "Sorry about her. She's understandably excited to be meeting you, Dalia never thought we'd get to see you so this has gotten her all happy."

"The happiest!" Dalia gushed. "How did you get here? It's not easy to navigate to this island you know!"

"I don't even know where we are," Rosan said idly, ignoring Dalia's antics mostly. "I was in an altercation and I lost. Now I'm here. Where is here exactly?"

He lost an altercation and ended up here? How was that possible? Last they checked, Rosan had been destroying Enies Lobby which was deep into the Grand Line...

How did he end up in the South Blue?

"Well, you're on Wisteria Island," Oren explained. "It's the island where we were born and raised. We're currently in the South Blue."

Rosan paused at that.

Mod went cold.

"Did you just say Wisteria?" Rosan asked with furrowed brows.

Didn't that mean —

Flapping interrupted the conversation, before a figure descended onto the floor.

"What exactly was that figure rapidly approaching my island. Have you dealt with them —"

Rosan watched the person speaking, go utterly still in pure disbelief.

She hid it well but no one could hide anything from his eyes and he saw raw panic flit across her features for a moment, as they landed upon his person.

He supposed he couldn't blame her for looking so surprised, she was practically looking at a male version of herself after all because Rosan was looking at a person who looked nearly identical to his female transformation.

Tall, beautiful and stunning. Those were the words he would use to describe the person standing across from him.

She had smooth red hair that flowed to her butt, bronze skin the exact shade as his own and two bright royal purple eyes that glowed even in broad daylight.

Raisa had to do everything in her power, to stop from collapsing right then and there, as she laid eyes upon her son of all people. She hid the tremor in her legs, she hid the tremor through her body and she hid the distress in her mind.

Tall, beautiful and stunning. If she had to use words to describe him, those would be the ones she used.

He had spiky red hair that stopped at his shoulder, bronze skin the exact shade as her own and two bright eyes that glowed.

One was royal purple… the other was blood red.

Dalia nervously removed her hands around Rosan's waist, as he stared down Raisa with an expressionless face.

Raisa felt her breath get knocked away, as she stared at the boy she had abandoned at birth. The man who was taller than her.

The pirate who was making waves across the world in the Grand Line.

What the hell was he doing here?!

Rosan gazed at his birth mother, looking her up and down.

"No wonder I'm so hot," he said idly, taking in the features of the woman with a neutral face.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Mod cursed violently, expression shifting into one of pure outrage.

Ram's jaw dropped at hearing Auntie curse without hesitation.

Rosan abruptly snorted at the fact that Mod-chan actually cursed, watching as Raisa resisted the urge to flinch back at that noise.

That about summed up this situation right now.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Raisa thought to herself as she gazed at her son with a stunned expression, drinking in all his features in an instant as she roved every inch of his body.

"I have to have the worst luck on the planet," Rosan and Raisa thought at the exact same time.

Life really was a bitch wasn't it?

---

Hello! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Lotta stuff went on, lotta stuff happened and we're here.

It's been long awaited but finally! Mother and son have finally met and we can all thank Kuma for that :). Fun chapter to write so I hope it was fun to read!

There's going to be a lot going on next chapter haha. If ya ever wanna chat with me in real time, you can join my discord server discord. gg/ BFFtXAXFU7

That's all from me! Happy reading!