Chapter Text
No matter how focused they had been on their own fight, how much the situation had devolved into chaos, all of the Straw Hats reacted when the sound of a gunshot was followed by a pained intake of breath from Nami.
They had been too focused on keeping the guards and auction house employees back to pay attention to the small group of World Nobles near the back of the room, not seeing them as an immediate threat. That gunshot had quickly readjusted their worldview.
There was one person however that had never forgotten the danger they posed and had kept a worried eye on them even as he followed Luffy, rushing toward the stage. Hatchi had just climbed up on the wooden platform when he had seen the Tenryubito get over his outrage at someone daring to interrupt his purchases and pull out a gun.
He had followed its aim to see Nami right in the path of the bullet and hadn’t needed to think before throwing himself forward, crossing the space between them in one leap, his body slamming into hers and throwing them both on the floor.
It took a few more moments for the rest of the room to react, their attention split between the Tenryubito—keeping track of their reaction in case they started blasting in their direction—and Hatchan’s prone form, a pool of blood forming under his body.
Nami managed to push his arm away from her and tried to move away from under him. “Hatchi!” She gasped when her hand slipped in his blood, before she managed to grab at his clothes and roll him away from her and onto his back. She knelt next to him, hands pressing over the gunshot wound.
The bullet had torn a path through his torso, just a few centimeters under his heart. The Tenryubito had been aimed straight at her head, only the fact that he was so much taller than her had saved his life.
“Hang on, hang on!” She cried as he took a breath, the sound too wet for her liking. She needed to see the wound—she ripped the jacket open, tearing the buttons off.
She ignored the sounds of disgust that came from all corners of the room, too focused on the wound to care. It looked like the bullet had gone straight through, which was good, but there was still so much blood—and then she registered the words the audience was shouting.
“That’s a Fishman!” “How could it get so close to me without anyone stopping it?” “Disgusting-” “Get that thing away from me!” “Look at the color of its skin!”
She found herself frozen for a moment at the amount of hatred filling the room until another wet exhale made her move again. Her gaze fleeted around the room, looking for Chopper, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. Her eyes found Luffy’s however, and she gasped out his name.
Luffy opened his mouth, maybe to call for Chopper, maybe to give an order to the rest of the crew, she would never know; another shot rang out, and she threw herself down, pressing against Hatchan’s body, the bullet wheezing over them.
The gun was knocked out of the World Noble’s hand before he could try to shoot a third time, Usopp’s hand as ever steady as he protected them from afar.
Murder intent swept over the place as Luffy raised dark eyes toward the Noble. The veins on his forehead were bulging, his face filled with anger as he started walking purposefully toward him.
(If you asked her later, after the dust had settled, Nami would say that she had only one regret about her actions that day. As Chopper joined her and started dressing Hatchan’s wound, her attention was taken away from Luffy for a few moments, and when she next lifted her head it was to see a Tenryubito-shaped hole in the far wall of the room and her captain standing where he had been, blood dripping from his fist.)
~~One Piece~~
Drake ended up with an armful of weeping mermaid as he helped her get out of the aquarium she had been trapped in, her arms wrapping around his neck.
Having to focus on her distress made it easier for him to ignore his own. No one touched the Tenryubito. No one. No matter what they did.
“Sorry guys.” Luffy apologized. “I know we weren’t supposed to get the Marines’ attention.”
“Can’t have made the situation any worse.” Zoro shrugged.
It took a moment for the crowd to get over their shock at Luffy’s action. Once they did, all of the non-fighters scrambled to leave, well aware that they would find themselves in the crossfire of the Tenryubito’s retaliation if they stayed around.
The auction house guards started fighting the Straw Hats all the harder in the hope of avoiding consequences, half of the Tenryubito’s guards joining them while the other half closed ranks around the two other World Nobles to protect them as best as they could.
Keeping their master safe wasn’t their only duty, however. It came second to following the orders they were given, so when Saint Shalria ordered them to step aside so she could point her own gun in the crew’s direction, they didn’t try to hold her back.
This time, the Straw Hats were all paying attention. Drake turned away, putting his body between Camie and her, not willing to risk a stray shot hitting her. As soon as she fired, Zoro was in the way, cutting the bullet in half. There was a cold rage in his eyes as he started walking toward her, and she paled in fear, before her outrage outweighed her anger and she flushed red in anger at his defiance.
“Hatchi-” Camie sobbed, and Drake stopped paying attention to the situation to walk over to where Hatchan was being treated by Chopper. Harming one more World Noble wouldn’t change anything at this point.
“I got the remote!” Franky yelled, jumping on the stage with the small object in his hand. “Nobody can use this collar to harm you any further now, alright?” He told Camie. The skin around her throat was bruised, already turning shades of red and purple where the metal dug into her collarbone. “Give us a few minutes and we’ll remove it.” Nami had dropped the keys at one point, and with Camie’s life not being at risk with the remote in his possession he didn’t want to risk disrupting Chopper to find them.
“You didn’t just catch the attention of the Marines,” Law said, smooth voice attracting the attention of the Straw Hats and reminding Drake of his presence. “Marine Headquarters has already been called, and by now an Admiral is en route. Are you willing to face the consequences?” He asked, looking straight at Luffy.
“We’d have one going after us in just a few days anyway.” Sanji pointed out. “The mosshead is right for once.”
Luffy blinked once in Law’s direction. “Yeah, I am.” He answered seriously, before looking away, dismissing him without words, turning his gaze toward Drake.
“I can take care of that for you.” The voice came out of nowhere and he whirled around, startled. Luffy hadn’t been looking at Drake, but at the man that had been standing right behind him.
His hair might have turned from blond to white, and the years since he had gotten his wanted poster had left their mark on his face, but there was no mistaking the newcomer. Drake’s breath caught in his throat at the sight of Silvers Rayleigh standing less than two meters away from him.
“Don’t worry, young lady.” He told Camie as he grabbed the side of her collar with one hand, hooked two fingers under it with the other, and before Drake had the time to react—to do what, he knew not—he wrenched his hands away, the collar snapping cleanly in two under his strength. It flew through the air, far enough away from everyone in the room not to harm them when the explosive mechanism stored in the front exploded half a second later.
“Thanks, old man,” Luffy said, and Drake couldn’t quite keep his distress off his face at the casual address. Still, the way his captain was looking at Rayleigh clued him that his captain wasn’t entirely unaware of how dangerous he was.
“I’ve been waiting to meet you, Monkey D. Luffy.”
“Can it wait?” Luffy asked. “We’re busy here.”
Someone far in the back of the room made an outraged noise. Drake hadn’t paid them much attention since the group seemed more interested in watching than in interrupting what was happening, but he hadn’t missed the presence of Eustass Kid and his crew.
“Luffy,” Robin said, the hint of a smile playing on her lips. “This is Silvers Rayleigh.” Those who weren’t totally uninformed about the history of the world reacted to his name with the appropriate amount of shock and awe. “The right hand of the Pirate King.” She added to provide more context for those who needed it.
Zoro thumbed the hilt of his swords, interest shining in his eyes.
“You sailed with Gol D. Roger?” Luffy asked, the information shocking enough to knock his mind out of the one track it had been on since the beginning of the afternoon.
“Gol D?” One of the Kid pirates repeated under their breath.
“I did,” Rayleigh smirked. He looked around the room, taking in the Straw Hats standing protectively near each other, the Heart and Kid pirates watching the situation unfold, and the fuming Tenryubito—singular now, Zoro hadn’t even needed to touch Shalria to make her faint. Their retinue of guards had to be aware that none of them would make it past the end of the day and were reduced to standing uselessly around.
A sizable part of the crowd hadn’t escaped yet, the exit door too small to allow the panicked crowd to pass through them at once.
“We don’t need bystanders for this conversation,” Rayleigh said, and then-
A wave of pressure swept over the room. It went knocking against Drake’s mind, a demand that he drop that he fought not to obey, and he was glad that he had put Camie down next to Hatchan, now behind Rayleigh, so she didn’t get impacted.
He had felt something like this only once before. A similar power, only a hundred times stronger, sweeping over the battlefield. The one and only time he had seen the Fleet Admiral in battle, his anger at the Marine’s previous loss almost tangible. He had folded under the pressure, losing consciousness, as had most of his fellow Marines and the Yonko’s crew they had been facing. Only the most powerful fighters had been left standing.
Conqueror’s Haki. The Haki of the Supreme King.
A watered-down version, that left most of the pirates standing—he saw Penguin slide down in his seat, still conscious but with his eyes glazed over—yet took down everyone else in the room.
Drake tried not to be delusional about his strength and that of his crew; if Rayleigh had wanted to make them fall unconscious as well, none of them would have held out. If Rayleigh was half as strong as Sengoku, and Drake would bet that you didn’t get called “Dark King” if you couldn’t hold your own against the Fleet Admiral, then he was able to knock out the entire island at once.
This was just a taste of what the old generation was capable of, and for him a harsh reminder that for all that he had been in the New World before, the Marines only picked a fight with the strongest crews in that sea if they couldn’t avoid it. He had only seen glimpses of what those standing at the top were capable of.
“What the fuck was that?” Zoro asked, a bead of sweat running down the side of his face.
“Conqueror’s Haki,” Drake answered, voice tight. “The last kind of Haki.”
Rayleigh smirked at them, taking in all the remaining pirates in the room. “You’ve done well staying awake. Not everyone can withstand that power.”
Luffy looked more intrigued than threatened by Rayleigh’s appearance. From what Drake could see of Law and Kid, the other two captains had gotten far more anxious after that casual display of power.
“Rayleigh…” Hatchan spoke softly, having regained consciousness. Chopper was finishing putting the last bandages around his torso, Nami holding one hand and Camie the other.
“Hatchi!” Rayleigh exclaimed. “Will you be alright?”
“I’ll be fine, Ray-san. Don’t worry about me.” He answered, voice tight in pain but still strong.
Drake stumbled over his own feet—a feat, as he had been standing still—before turning to look at Rayleigh with disbelief. Ray-san. He felt like an idiot.
“Ray-san?” Sanji repeated, the same incredulity that Drake was feeling in his tone. “The mechanic?”
“I may have retired as a pirate, but I still have to earn my keep.” He explained. “As far as most people are aware, nowadays I’m only a ship coater from the thirteenth grove, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
A crackling sound prevented anyone from responding. “Criminals scums hiding inside the auction house!” A loud voice, amplified by a Den Den Mushi, called out.
“Uh oh, the Marines are here,” Usopp said with a worried frown.
“Do they all get taught to speak like righteous jerks, or is that something that comes to them naturally?” Franky wondered.
“They’re all like that.” Zoro snorted. “Even back when I was turning in bounties, they had that particular tone of voice that said I was scum.”
“How did they get here so fast?” Brook wondered.
“They had surrounded the auction house even before Straw Hat-ya showed up,” Law answered them. “I’m afraid the World Government doesn’t recognize retirement as a viable pirate choice.” He said pointedly.
“An admiral has been called on the island and will arrive soon.” The marine droned on. “Lay down your weapons, release the Tenryubito, and you might just stay alive.”
“Don’t worry your pretty face.” Kid’s roguish tone got the room’s attention. “I’ll beat up all the Marines waiting outside. Y’all can escape before more arrive.”
Luffy’s head jerked up to glare at him, and Law’s scowl was impressive as he turned around to look over his shoulder toward the back of the room, where Kid was standing in front of a few of his crewmates.
Law was the first to regain his composure. “I’m not surprised you’re so eager to go outside.” His tone turned mean. “All the better to run away as soon as possible.”
Kid audibly gritted his teeth, one hand coming to rest on one of the daggers strapped to his chest, the other pointing toward them, finger curled—and oh, he had a Devil Fruit, Drake suddenly remembered. His masked first mate moved behind him, hands curling around the strange mechanisms that surrounded his wrists, ready to support his captain if a fight broke out.
Kid visibly restrained himself from his instinctual first reaction—violence—and answered the taunt with his own. “I’m opening the path for all of you weaklings. It’s not like you’d be able to beat up a regiment of Marines on your own.”
Law and Luffy jerked up like they had been electrocuted—if electricity actually worked on Luffy—the twin glares they were aiming up at Kid darkening further. “Oh, you didn’t just say this,” Luffy growled, punching his open palm with a fist and cracking his neck. Law jumped up from his seat, grabbing his swords in passing from Bepo, and stalked toward the entrance of the auction house with his head held high.
“We’ll settle things here, we can follow you in a minute,” Zoro told Luffy, anticipating that he wasn’t going to take the insult lying down.
Luffy bound up the stairs, catching up with Law and Kid as they reached the door, the three captains stepping over the bodies of those having been knocked out by Rayleigh’s Haki to leave the room.
Drake glanced toward Rayleigh, worried about his reaction after having been basically ignored by Luffy. He hadn’t needed to; the old man was looking at where they had disappeared through the door, a fond look on his face.
Two white blurs rushing in his direction distracted him from his musings, and he clamped down on his instinctive violent reaction when he recognized them, letting them both collide with him.
“Shachi.” He glanced down at the body hanging off his side, the smaller man grinning up at him.
“Long time no see,” Penguin commented from next to his comrade.
“It has been.” Drake agreed. “They’re old acquaintances, from the Heart Pirates.” He explained, noticing the look some members of the crew were sending him.
“We knew him since he was a kid!” Shachi said, reaching up to ruffle Drake’s hair—or at least try to as Drake grabbed his wrist before he could mess it up.
“Regrettably,” Drake added.
“Ehh.” Penguin shrugged, not refuting the comment.
“You know, you made me lose ten thousand beri,” Shachi said.
“Did I?”
“We had bets going on after we last saw you. Most of us were sure you were going to create your own crew, become a captain.”
“Law was sure you wouldn’t become a Revolutionary, so the only option left was pirate,” Penguin added. Everyone knew living in hiding as a civilian had never been an option for Drake.
“He was right about that.” Drake agreed. Law had seen him not long after he had left the Marines, tracking him down to a lawless island in the North Blue. Despite the years they had spent fighting on opposite sides—Drake chasing after him, always a step behind, Law far too clever to ever get cornered—the Heart Captain had been a sympathetic ear. When Drake had been feeling low, the hurt and betrayal he felt toward the Marines clashing against his shame at feeling like he was following in his father’s footsteps, he had helped Drake put his situation into perspective. He had seen both sides after all—Marines killing everyone he knew as a child, pirates killing his one chance at a normal life as a teenager.
“Most of us were betting on the name of your future crew, and meanwhile Ikkaku cleaned us all, betting that you would join someone else.”
“I don’t think I’ve met him before,” Drake said. Other than Shachi and Penguin, who he had had the displeasure of interacting with regularly as a kid since his father had settled on Minion Island within sailing distance of where the pair of them had lived, he only knew most of Law’s crew from having faced them on the battlefield. Their captain always grabbed his attention too quickly for him to do much more than remember their faces, but he didn’t think it was a name he’d heard before.
“Her.” Shachi corrected. “She’s the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. She can break me in half without breaking a sweat.” He sighed dreamily.
‘He’s in love.’ Penguin mouthed, rolling his eyes so hard it could be seen from behind his hat. There was, however, something far more pressing than Shachi’s love life he needed to know about.
“Do I want to know what you thought I’d name my crew?”
“No.” They both answered at once.
“Do you think we should join the captain outside?” A high-pitched voice asked.
“Why the hell is that polar bear talking?” Nami asked. She had finished talking with Hatchan and explaining to Camie why they needed to leave the island, and had rejoined the rest of the group, using a water bottle Robin had handed her from one of the deserted rows of seats to clean the blood from her arms.
“Sorry…” Bepo muttered.
“They’re not done yet, as far as I can tell. Externalizing some tension will do him good.” Sanji said, before introducing himself. “I’m Sanji, the Straw Hat’s chef. Glad to meet someone who’d known Drake for long. How was he as a kid?”
“Penguin, I’m the first mate. Shachi is the second mate and Bepo our navigator.” He pointed at them both.
“Did you eat a Devil Fruit?” Sanji asked, looking up at the bear.
“Sorry.”
“Nah, he’s just like that,” Penguin explained. “If you want stories of Dory, we got a few ones from back in the days…” He continued with a sly smile.
“Dory?” Robin repeated, and Sanji’s lips curled around his cigarette.
“No.” Drake poked Sanji harshly on the shoulder when he looked up at him with a delighted look on his face. “I hate that name. No one gets to call me that.”
“And we don’t care.” Shachi sing-songed.
“He was smaller than us as kids, so we get to keep on bullying him mercilessly even if he’s now twice our size and four times as heavy,” Penguin said.
Sanji’s smile faded, but before he could reply he glanced over Penguin’s shoulder, shifting his stance to put more weight on one foot.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m going to get my captain back before he does something too stupid.”
Drake let Shachi fall back to the floor as he turned to face Killer, who was standing a few feet away.
“And we need to get ours back before he destroys so much of the island we can no longer leave,” Nami said, pushing Zoro up. “Tell him to stop playing around if he hasn’t taken care of the Marines by now.” She ordered.
After a silent exchange, Penguin jerked his head up and Bepo followed the two first mates up the stairs.
“Look at those muscles…” Penguin sighed dreamily as soon as they were out of earshot.
“Zoro or Killer?” Drake asked.
“Yes.”
Sanji started choking on his spit, which everyone ignored as Rayleigh moved toward them.
“How about we reconvene to Shakky’s bar.” He offered, talking to Nami but encompassing the rest of the Straw Hats in the room with a glance. “I’d be interested in talking to your captain, and Hatchan said you have need of my talents.”
“Ah, sorry…” Nami hesitated, before shoring herself up. “We’d love to, but we have to leave the island as soon as possible and we really can’t afford to spend any more time here.” She didn’t feel very confident talking to such a legend, but she had seen the way he had talked to Hatchan and Camie to reassure them they would be safe with him for a few days while he healed, and the way he had softened his voice to reassure the distressed mermaid had done a lot to make him look more human in her eyes.
“Before you got your ship coated?” Penguin asked. “What? Everyone knows you reached the island just today, and that’s not enough time to get the full work done.”
“Why does everyone know that?” Usopp asked, looking disturbed.
“Your captain has the biggest bounty of every Supernova, the entire island knew it as soon as you landed. Or at least the pirate crews did.”
“What can be more interesting than the opportunity to listen to the rambles of an old man?” Rayleigh asked, and despite the joke they could feel he was serious about the question.
“Sometimes, the present is more important than the past,” Robin answered. “But if that offer is still open when we come back, we’ll gladly take you up on it.”