Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Around the world, every transponder snail began ringing with a call from an unknown number. 

Some people stared at their snails as they answered for the first time in decades. Others answered without thinking, as they spoke more via snail than in person. Most of those who answered were somewhere in the middle, from people expecting calls to those who were pleasantly surprised that their kids were finally calling. Those people would be disappointed, because when they answered, their snails began speaking in a smooth, buttery female voice as they adopted a slightly manic, excited expression. 

“Testing, testing, testing, 1 2 3! That worked? Thanks Robin! Hello hello hello people of the world! You’re probably wondering who I am! That’s quite simple really. I am Roxie D. Toussa, and that’s using the same name order as Whitebeard, so just call me Roxie! Your next question is probably how this is possible. Well, a couple months ago I ate a Devil Fruit, specifically the Mollusk Mollusk fruit model Den Den, which means I can turn into a transponder snail, like the one you're listening to right now! You can thank Dr. Vegapunk for the wonderful bit of technology that makes this all possible, by the way.”

Most people would accept that easily. Vegapunk was the smartest man on the planet and was featured in the newspaper every 3 months like clockwork with some new invention or discovery. Of course he would be able to invent something like this. However, there were a few people, mostly in the government, who were not pleased that this had been rushed out without consulting them. The Fleet Admiral specifically was busy yelling at the Hero of the Marines. 

“I come to you from the deck of the Going Merry, my home for the last few months during my time as a member of the Straw Hat pirates! She’s a wonderful ship, but now you’re all probably wondering why the World Government would let a pirate like me talk to the world like this. Well, that’s a very long story, and it involves some things a lot of people would probably keep private, but we’ll never finish if I never start, so from the top!” 

And thus, the world began to change a bit faster than before, but it was still quite different from the one we know. Let’s take a look at how we got here, shall we? 

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“Newgate. No, Edward, I need a favor, before I go.”

“Of course, ‘your majesty’, anything.”

“Rouge is pregnant, and I won’t live to see my kid.”

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“Garp, why are you holding another baby.” 

“Look, I know I didn’t explain much last time, but I really don’t have time, the boys and I need to get goi-”

“You’re not leaving until you explain where you found this kid and why I’m apparently a better choice than your actual son.”

“So about that…”

“It runs in the family doesn't it?”

“Yeah, this one’s Dragon’s. I really don’t have time, we just got a tip on-” 

“Half the village already think Dragon’s Sakazuki’s father after you dropped him in my lap 5 years ago! I was 17, what were you thinking! At this point I might as well find a revolutionary and ask for child support.”

“Look, I’ll send some of my paycheck, call yourself Monkey D Makino for all I care, there’s a lead on Shiki and he needs to be recaptured.”

“Alright alright go, I’ll take care of the kid. What’s his name anyway?”

“Monkey D Luffy. Tell Woop Slap he still owes me!”

There was a beat of silence as Makino stared down at the baby that had been shoved into her arms before Garp dashed off back towards the coast. Despite the rough treatment Luffy looked like he was mostly just curious about the world and eager to look around at his new home town.

One of her friends, who had been watching the exchange, was staring dumbly at Makino. “Did you just fast talk your way into being adopted by the Hero of the Marines?”

It took several seconds for Makino to realize what she had done. “I think I did.” 

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There were Marines everywhere. The entire island was covered in them, because someone had noticed the kid.

“OPEN UP, THIS IS THE MARINES!”

“Kid. Go. I’ll hold them off.”

“But Mr. Silver, they’ve got a giant! You can’t fight them all on your own!”

“I said go, kid. Survive. Make them regret what they did to you, Devil Child.” 

The kid slipped through the trap door that led to his personal dingy. She’d make it out alive, that he was sure about. He’d only known her for a week, but no one should have a bounty that high at her age. No one should be saddled with being the only survivor of a Buster Call at her age.

Silvers Rayleigh unsheathed his sword as the giant Vice Admiral tore off his roof. He was going to have fun today. 

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“I left for one year to deal with an upstart former Divine Dragon, and I came back to find Sakazuki trying to awaken Haki, Luffy trying to figure out his new Devil Fruit while shouting about becoming the next pirate king, and a new middle grandson who came from who knows where. What happened? What did you do? Are you trying to make up for lost time or something?” 

“‘Red Haired’ Shanks decided to swing by on his way to the Grand Line and then stuck around for a year because his daughter hit it off with the kids. I’m pretty sure they kidnapped Sabo from the palace, but he hated it up there, so he’s mine now.” 

The old vice admiral sighed. “Oh well, he wouldn’t be the first royal to run off to join the Marines.”

“He wants to be a pirate.”

“It’s just a phase, like with Luffy. I’m sure it’ll pass, and then they’ll come to Marineford to learn at the officer academy when they’re old enough.” 

(It may shock you to learn that it didn’t pass, at least not for Luffy. Sabo didn’t get much choice in the matter. On the upside, Dragon got to help raise at least one of the kids Fusha village were split on calling his kids or nephews.)

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Monkey D Sakazuki was trying very hard not to destroy something. 

"Hey kiddo." 

His grandfather's attempts to help were not successful. 

"Brat." 

"What?"

"I came to make sure you aren't considering doing something stupid." 

"I am not Luffy." 

"Good! That means you want to train to be a marine, right?" 

Sakazuki nearly tore his scrapbook in half. He carefully put the last memory of Sabo aside. 

"How can you serve them?" 

"Well, Senny's a dick sometimes but-" 

"Not him. Them." 

"Do you know why I have refused a promotion every time?" 

"What does that have to do with anything?" 

"Admirals are directly accountable to the World Nobles. I became a Marine to protect people, not make those arrogant bastards richer. If they want to yell at me for that, they’re welcome to get off their high horses and do it in person."

The preteen took a deep breath. “I understand why the revolutionaries fight, and I understand why Luffy wants to be a pirate.”

“But?”

“I’ve listened to your stories, and I read the papers. The world needs the Marines, even if they mess up sometimes. Justice still needs to be maintained.” 

The old man laughed. “It’s good to see Roger’s brat didn’t corrupt one of my grandsons! You’ll make a great marine, Sakazuki!”

“On three conditions.”

The laughter stopped. “What?”

“I will never arrest my brother, and you’ll take me back here with you when you take vacations while I train at the academy.”

“Yeah, I can do that. Wait, what was the third condition?”

“You get me more of that West Blue hot sauce you brought back last time.”

The laughter came back. “Oh you dramatic little shit!“

For the first time since Sabo died, Sakazuki laughed too. 

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Queen Otohime of the Ryugu Kingdom’s funeral was a nationwide event. Practically the whole island was in attendance, to the point even the pirates passing through to and from the New World were respectful. Those that tried to disturb the peace were forced into submission by the many angry, demoralized fishmen that had believed in their queen’s dreams. There was also an unofficial gap in the crowd around one of the few human guests that no one was sure how to handle. 

One would not expect a Divine Dragon to be attending such an event, much less the fact he was openly sobbing. 

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Jewelry ‘The Tyrant’ Bonney stood at attention in Marineford as she watched the Officer Academy’s graduation ceremony. Strictly speaking, she did not need to be there, but Vegapunk had told him to take it easy before her next round of surgery, and so she was ostensibly guarding Marineford for a month. No, she was here for another reason. Kuma would have graduated from the Royal Sorbet Academy this year, and she wanted to describe a graduation ceremony of some kind in her next letter. Besides, the feast was free food.

“-And finally, before the feast, we have one final award to present! For graduating at the top of his class and in acknowledgement of his potential, we are hereby awarding Monkey D Sakazuki the Magma-Magma fruit!”

The crowd cheered as the instructor held out the Devil Fruit and the black haired marine came up to the podium to accept it. Vice Admiral Garp was one of the loudest. Admiral John Giant was also overseeing the proceedings, but his serious, formal expression did nothing to reign in the crowd of freshly graduated officers who were ready to party before heading off on assignment.

The adopted member of the Monkey family exchanged a few words with the instructor before the old man handed the bullhorn transponder snail’s microphone to him. “I would like to say a few words before we leave.” The crowd slowly fell silent. “I like to think I would have earned this even without sharing my grandfather’s last name. I like to think the Marines are above petty nepotism like that. We are not above the world, that is a privilege reserved for the Divine Dragons. No. We are on islands, wading through sea foam. As much as the government might preach it, Absolute Justice is not possible down here in the foam.”

As Sakazuki took a moment to consume the Devil Fruit, which took the form of a red pepper, Bonney remembered that Dragon had used an opportunity like this to defect and take half his graduating class with him. Based on Garp’s expression, the old marine remembered it too. 

“I will not tell you what justice to follow. My own creed is that we must be thorough, and we must be careful. No crime, no matter how hidden, should go unpunished. No victim should be left without catharsis. No corruption or injustice should be allowed.” Sakazuki saluted as his right arm became a flowing, dripping mass of lava and he raised his voice. “FOR JUSTICE!”

“FOR JUSTICE!” 

(And thus, the Red Dog was let loose.) 

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‘FIRE FIST’ ACE D NEWGATE AND YAMATO ‘HOLY WOLF’ ODEN MAKE AN EXPLOSIVE DEBUT WITH DUAL RAID ON PUNK HAZARD 

As many of our readers are aware, the New World is the home of four exceedingly powerful pirates known as the Emperors of the Seas. Of those four, half of them had known children, Charlotte ‘Big Mom’ Linlin and Edward ‘Whitebeard’ Newgate. We recently learned that a third Emperor, Kaido of the Beasts, pirate king of Wano, has been training a son in secret this entire time. 

Many of Whitebeard’s crew consider their captain to be their father, but it is rare for them to take his family name. An anonymous source claimed that this goes beyond the usual level, with Fire Fist Ace possibly being an actual blood relation of the Emperor. He certainly was able to match Yamato Oden, so this paper believes there is some validity to this claim. His starting bounty of B5,000,000 seems to imply the government agrees with us. 

Both of these pirate heirs made their debut during a raid on Punk Hazard, the jungle island home of three World Government Research Institutes, collectively run by Dr. Vegapunk, a high ranking government scientist and winner of the Ibel Peace Prize. It is currently unknown what their exact goal was, but the current estimates put the total losses at 4 billion Beris worth of damages, stolen technology, and ships sunk. The Marines declined to share the exact casualties, but it is known that five hospital ships were seen transporting the injured after the raid.

Some of these casualties were sadly caught in the crossfire of the scientists' attempts to defend themselves. Ultimately, these attempts were unsuccessful, forcing Dr. Caesar Clown, Punk Hazard’s head chemist, to create an impromptu chemical bomb to drive off the pirates. ‘Fire Fist’ Ace D Newgate lit the resulting chemical gas on fire, bathing the entire island in poisonous flames. It is expected that it will take years to clean up the fallout, to the point that the island has been largely abandoned.

This is a tragedy, and a worrying sign for the future. The Emperors are notorious for their power struggles, but this is the first time in a decade that any of them have worked together for something like this. This paper chooses to take Vice Admiral Garp the Fist’s refusal to comment on this as a sign that the Marines have their hands full preparing to retaliate.

For comments from Marines on the scene, in depth explorations of what we know about these two heirs, and Dr. Vegapunk’s plans for the future, turn to page 5.

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“So, my rebellious son has finally returned.” 

“Father, I did what you asked. Punk Hazard is gone.”

“Good. You may now ask for your gift.”

“Open the country.”

“I told you I would not fulfill that fool’s last wish, Oden.”

“While I was away, I was contacted by a group that might be able to help you with your warmongering, Father.”

“Oh? And what does this have to do with opening the country?”

“It was one of the conditions the Revolution asked for. They aim to start a civil war in the World Government itself.” 

The old Zoan took a long drink of his sake. This was going to be a long day, but the shogun might be able to last a couple minutes. The riots should be fun, at least. 

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Kaya and her family were taking a walk along the beach of Syrup village. She liked being outside, with the sea and the sand and the grass. Her room was stuffy, especially in winter. It had been so long since the black spots began appearing and she was stuck in bed, but she was fine for now. The doctor said it was in ‘remission’ whatever that meant. 

The young lady’s thoughts left her head as she noticed something further down the shore. “Daddy! There’s two guys in the water!”

“Oh dear, there must have been a shipwreck. Merry, go call for some help, we must get these two to the mansion, I fear that is a shark bite.”

Kaya suddenly noticed all the red in the sand by the blue haired guy's side. She felt sick again.

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I woke up with a pounding headache, a weight on my chest that made it hard to breathe, a lot of hair on my face, and unfamiliar clothes on my body. The sun wasn’t up, the world was swaying, and the room was only lit by a single small lantern on the bedside table. I didn’t recognize anything, and there wasn’t even a mirror. I gave up trying to get my hair off my face after a while of trying before using my blanket as a toga while getting out of bed. I nearly fell right back in bed, but something helped me counterbalance forward as I caught myself on the wall. 

I kept a hand on the wall to keep my balance as I stumbled my way to the door. I couldn’t see anything through the window other than a case of double vision ‘cause there were two mostly full moons in that sky. I swear, if I knew getting drunk for the first time was this bad I wouldn’t have gone to that party, or tried on that kilt. 

The door wasn’t locked, thankfully. I emerged into a hallway with a dozen other doors, with a stairwell on one side and a living room on the other side. Was this some kind of hotel? What did I do before I blacked out? Where did I go? 

The sound of footsteps drew my attention to the stairwell, where a blond guy was coming up the stairs with a bowl of fruit and something that smelled like the herbal tea my grandmother drank religiously. Well this should be easy. 

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Sanji Vismoke was busy bringing Zeff his breakfast when he found the girl they fished out of the ocean wandering the living quarters while using her blanket as a robe. She clearly didn’t have sea legs of any kind and looked hungover, which answered some of the questions regarding what a naked woman was doing in the middle of the ocean.

“Hey, you.” The lady said.

“Yes, my dear?” Sanji asked, ready and willing to serve.

Something crossed the lady’s face before she continued. “Where the fuck in the world am I?” She frowned and worked her jaw for a few moments after she finished speaking. Her smooth, buttery voice was the best thing Sanji had heard in years. 

“It is my honor to welcome you to the Baratie, the premier floating restaurant of the East Blue, my gorgeous castaway.” Sanji said smoothly. 

Now, most of the women Sanji tried his hand at flirting with politely turned him down at best. Multiple beautiful pirates had tried to kill him, and one harrowing encounter with an Amazon had prompted Zeff to give him a terrifyingly blunt version of The Talk. The farthest he’d ever gotten was a couple heated kisses with a fishwoman he’d thought was a mermaid. That relationship hadn’t exactly ended well, but he was confident she’d survived Zeff kicking her over the horizon. 

All of this was to say that Sanji was singularly unprepared for her to freeze in place, gape like a fish for nearly a minute, look at her chest under the robe, and then break down sobbing. 

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Heedless of the internal crisis I had caused in the guy who had to be Sanji, I continued crying. All of the realizations and stress from before I woke up came crashing back just as I realized what was going on. The euphoria hit me in waves as my mind slowly took in what the boy’s statement implied. I had only realized I was a girl last night, after I got drunk enough for one of my friends to convince me to wear a kilt and started crying. Now I didn’t even have to deal with transitioning, at least biologically, the isekai had taken care of that, which was a whole other can of worms, and I wasn’t just a girl, I was at least decent looking too. My voice was so much better now too, I could actually bear the sound of it without wanting to snort helium or something. No, that was an understatement, I loved it.

Sanji, the poor boy, didn’t look like he knew what to do with himself. I doubted he’d ever managed to reduce a girl to tears with just two sentences, but here we were. Apparently he decided that when in doubt, respond with food, because as I slowly composed myself he offered me the fruit bowl. I made sure my robe blanket was secure before picking out an orange, which my hands automatically began peeling as I began explaining. “Sorry, sorry, I cry easily and I really needed that.” That was a thing with trans girls, right? “Could you be a dear and get me a hangover cure after telling me where the nearest bathroom with a shower is? I need to wash up.” 

Sanji began explaining and directing me as I continued eating the orange. It must have been a weird One Piece variety, because it tasted off and I doubted the cook would have picked up moldy fruit for his fruit bowl. My new body might have just come with a fresh set of taste buds. The peel looked a bit weird, but it was hard to tell in the darkness, so I just tossed it in a trash bin we passed on the way to get me some actual clothes for the day. The whole process gave me time to confirm that yeah, the male form still didn’t do anything for me. Sanji was still cute though. 

“Where’d you guys find me, anyway?” I asked as Sanji dug through a storage closet in the laundry room for something I could wear.

“You were just floating naked in the ocean.” I gave him a pointed look. “I didn’t look, I swear!”

“Good boy.” I said, trying to think up a backstory for myself. I mean, I’d probably end up telling him and the Straw Hats my origins if I ended up tagging along, but I wanted to leave my options open. Maybe Dragon was looking for a secretary or something. “Last I remember, I was on a yacht on the other side of the Red Line, so your guess is as good as mine.” 

Sanji made an inquisitive noise as he finally found what he was looking for and handed me the stack of clothes. “The bath is right next door, my dear. Now, I must finish my delivery and prepare your breakfast~!” The boy bowed before dashing towards the stairs leading further up the ship.

I laid the clothes and my blanket on the sink counter after I entered the bathroom. The large mirror finally let me look at myself. The wave of euphoria was enough to make my green eyes water. I had long black hair that ended at about the bottom of my shoulders and practically my entire face was covered in freckles. Now, this was reality, not a manga with a lot of fanservice, so I couldn’t be entirely sure of what was average for this society, but I at least had what felt like D cups, using the pancake scale. I had retained most of my height, placing me at about five foot eleven inches tall, along with a semi thick build and broad shoulders. That probably should have caused discomfort, but it was a bit of familiarity, along with hints in my face. I felt like this could have been my sister, or who I could have turned out to be, if I hadn’t been born a guy. 

After spending an embarrassing amount of time exploring my new body in the bath, I finally got out, and then nearly screamed when I looked in the mirror. 

(It is common for someone who is unaware they have eaten a Devil Fruit to freak out when they first use their powers, after all, especially for Zoans.)

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“Hey, do you know anything about the Devil Child?”

The crowd immediately turned to look at the boy in the straw hat as if he had asked where the nearest cannibal’s restaurant was.

“I think that name’s a taboo here, Luffy.”

The pair continued through Shells Town until they reached the marine base.

“I guess this is where we part ways. Thanks for everything you’ve- Why are you climbing the wall?!”

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Nico Robin was cursing herself for being careless. 

This was the East Blue, the calmest sea. The most powerful person in the area was a fat commodore who kept close to the Calm Belt anyway. No one and nothing should have been a threat to her here, not after so long on the run. It was supposed to be a vacation, or at least a short break while she pursued rumors of a Poneyglyph near the Red Line. No one should have recognized her, much less been able to capture her like this. 

They cuffed her in her sleep. The Seastone was chafing her wrists. The captain of the base claimed Garp the Fist was coming to personally escort her to Marineford for execution, which gave her a hard deadline. At most she had a week or two to escape, assuming he set out from Marineford itself. Robin had escaped under harsher deadlines, and this was the East, so that was easily doable. 

The universe seemed to agree with her, because a teenager immediately popped his head through the bars of her small window to the outside window. Literally, it squashed and stretched in a way no human head should have, which told her this kid had a Devil Fruit. “Hi!” 

"Who are you?" Robin asked. 

"I'm Monkey D Luffy! I'm going to be the next King of Pirates! I heard they had a legendary pirate in here! Join my crew!" The teen said with a wide grin. 

It warmed Robin's heart that someone so naïve could still exist. "You're going to have to get me out first, of course, Mr. Captain." 

"You got it!" The teen said before popping his head back out. There was a short delay before a fist burst through the wall next to the door, which promptly collapsed.  

Robin stepped through and took the opportunity to do a full body stretch for two reasons. First of all, that cell was cramped and consisted of enough space for a toilet and futon. Second, the boy was looking at her, and she noted he had absolutely no reaction to her stretch, so he wasn’t into women, or at least not like that. Oh well, she had other methods. Robin yawned and presented her cuffed hands.

“We need to find the base’s captain, he should have the key to my cuffs.” Robin explained.

“Nah, we can just break them, like this!” Luffy grabbed the chain between her cuffs and began pulling, only to suddenly sag as if all the energy had left him. “Whoa, what’s this? I’m all tired now.” He let go. “Wait, I’m ok now?”

“Yes, Mr. Captain. These are Seastone cuffs. Sea Prism Stone, or Seastone, is dangerous for us Devil Fruit users.” How did she lose him already? “Touching it is like touching the sea.”

The boy’s confused face cleared out. “Oh, I get it. Where’s this captain guy?”

He didn’t even ask about her fruit. He was refreshingly empty headed. “I heard he was overseeing the raising of a statue to himself on the roof of the base.” Robin said. Well, he’d bragged about it in front of her cell, but that counted. “He is a large man with an iron jaw and an ax as his right hand. The key will be around his neck.” 

“I’ll be right back, Devil girl! Then you can be my first mate!” Her straw hatted rescuer declared before dashing off into the depths of the base. 

Oh my, did he not even know her name? He really might have just heard about her capture and come straight here. For all his potential, this boy didn’t have a single plan between his ears, it seemed. He didn’t even have a crew yet! This was wonderful. She was honestly kind of curious what else she could make him do, assuming he made it out of here alive. 

Robin followed the boy through the base mostly out of curiosity. He had a Devil Fruit, but he hadn’t mentioned it, so she was now trying to puzzle out what its name might be. All the marines left in his path were knocked out through blunt means, so some sort of movement or enhancement fruit? A Zoan was out, there were no feathers, fur patches, or scales on the ground as she may have expected from a hybrid or full transformation. She could not have gotten quite lucky enough to run into a Logia, so it seemed her new captain was a Paramecia of some sort. 

The boy could handle himself, so Robin took a short detour to retrieve her things from the captain’s office. The combination lock was easy to pick by ear even with her restricted movement. Oh my, they hadn’t even gone through her bag yet, they truly were incompetent. Everything from her notes to her wallet to her ma- that wasn’t her map.

(Well, she knew where they were going next.)

A commotion from outside the window caught her attention. The upper half of a statue that resembled the base’s captain had slammed into the courtyard, followed almost immediately by the man himself. Her new captain jumped down from the tower as well, landing squarely on the captain’s chest and then shamelessly rooting around for the key. Perfect timing.

There was a cable of some sort that extended from just below the window to some sort of watch tower near the gate. Robin carefully positioned her hands such that she could use a loop of her handcuff’s seastone chain to slide down the cable like a zipline. She let go and rolled with the fall as she passed over where the Marine captain was trying to get up. He really was a convenient landing pad, wasn’t he.

“Oh, you’re here! Here, the key!” The boy said as he held out the key.

She smiled at him. “Thank you, captain.”

“Surrender, we’ve got you surrounded!” A marine shouted as a whole platoon emerged from a doorway into the base and quickly assembled into battle formation. He was technically correct, but most of the marines surrounding them were standing around like gormless idiots. The marine apparently realized this, as he immediately followed up by shouting “Fire!”

Robin instinctively ducked, only to find the boy was standing as if to guard her. Where there should have been bullet holes were instead spikes of flesh protruding from the boy’s back, which rapidly retreated back to where they came from. The bullets inside came shooting back out, wounding a couple marines and freaking out the rest of them. He took advantage of the situation by rearing back with a foot that went far beyond when a normal leg should have stopped. He launched it forward in a stretchy side kick with a cry of “Gum Gum Sweep!”

The kick bowled over all of the marines in the courtyard. Robin concluded her captain probably had something like the Stretch Stretch fruit to be able to do all of this as she finally unlocked her cuffs and stood up. “Thank you, Mr. Captain. Now, may I show you what I can do?” Robin asked as the marine captain finally stood up. 

“Oh please, what can you do, Devil Child, against the famous captain ‘Ax Hand’ Morgan?” The marine boasted as he approached.

Robin almost laughed. Her strength came back as the cuffs fell off her wrists. “Oh, I can do quite a bit, and for the record, my name isn’t Devil Child. It’s Nico Robin of Ohara.” The last scholar of the Tree of Knowledge snapped her fingers. “Fleur Snap.”

Dozens of arms sprouted from across Morgan’s body before grabbing onto every joint the man had from the neck down and twisting until a series of sickening crunches and snaps echoed across the courtyard. Robin didn’t kill him, of course. The boy was probably idealistic enough that he wouldn’t like that. No, she just crippled him for life. He passed out from the pain after giving a short scream of pain as the arms dissolved into flowers. 

The other marines began cheering for some reason. Some of them began shooting the statue. Ah, the captain must have been a corrupt tyrant of some kind, that explained it. The giant statue probably should have been a clue. This was frighteningly common, in Robin’s experience, but not all of them went quite that far. The fewer pirates an area had to deal with, the more likely that area’s marine bases were to be corrupt, as far as Robin knew. There had been a paper on it circulating through the illegal academics society a few years back that had been quite interesting, actually. 

Her new captain was looking at her with stars in his eyes. “Whoa! That was awesome! How did you do that?”

She idly used a few extra hands to dust herself off as she explained. “I ate the Flower-Flower fruit when I was a child, which lets me spawn and control extra limbs wherever I wish. When did you get yours?”

“I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit when I was 7 after I stole it from some pirates! Now I’m made of rubber!” The boy demonstrated it by tugging on his finger farther than would have been possible on anyone else and letting go.

(Oh my, she had actually managed to find a Logia. Rubber wasn’t the best material, but they couldn’t all be Kizaru and his overpowered lightspeed kicks. Oh, she might even try to keep this one, he was useful.) 

Robin hummed in acknowledgement. “We should probably leave before the base realizes we are still criminals, and I have a request as to our destination. A pirate stole my map of the Grand Line while the marines had it, and we’re going to need it if you want to have any hope of becoming the King of Pirates, Mr. Captain.”

The boy’s bright smile almost made her feel bad for manipulating him. Almost. “Anything for my nakama!”

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Despite my new abilities, I was able to take a bath the next morning, as an experiment. I wasn’t sure if this was true for other Devil Fruit users, but for me at least being in the water didn’t just make me tired, it made me pleasantly sleepy, which meant I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from falling asleep in the tub. It made me legitimately consider buying a seastone weighted blanket if such a thing existed, because that sounded heavenly.

Actually, hold on, let’s go back a bit and explore that, because it was wild. This wasn’t the world I saw in the manga or the anime, or even any of the movies, and I knew that from one simple change. Wano was open. No, it wasn’t just open, Kaido had full on taken over, declared himself shogun, and plunged the country into a short civil war before having the audacity to send in an application to join the World Government. The fact that application was accompanied by a preemptive payment of his first Heavenly Tribute in pure seastone probably had something to do with the fact they accepted, and now there were only three Emperors. There wasn’t exactly a precedent for an Emperor going straight like that, so no one quite knew how to claim his old spot. 

How did I know this? I spent the last day reading the Baratie’s decade old stockpile of newspapers while being served a near endless stream of drinks and snacks by various chefs, and not just Sanji either, as much as he probably wanted to. Collectively, they told a very different story from the one I was familiar with, although most of the players were still around. Big Mom was still in Totland and had apparently recently offered to host a tea party for the World Nobles, but if any planned to show up was still in question. Shanks was wandering around the world as usual, and was most recently spotted assaulting a four hundred year old brewery in the North Blue. Whitebeard was still chugging along, letting Fishman Island and half the New World live in peace mostly by just existing.

It wasn’t just the Emperors either! Portgas D Ace was straight up just not a Portgas here, he was Ace D Newgate, which was wild to think about. His big debut was during a raid on Punk Hazard with Yamato of all people and the catalyst for the initial disaster there, and he made it worse by lighting all the poisonous smoke on fire, so now the island was a burning, toxic wasteland. 

Most of the Warlords were still wandering around, with two very notable exceptions. Kuma had been replaced by Bonney, who apparently really didn’t get along with Hancock. Did that mean Kuma was wandering around as a pirate right now? Was Bonney the basis for the Pacifista now? Could she teleport people around somehow or was something else going to happen? Was the story even going to follow the same beats? I didn’t know, and that was before getting into all of the other nonsense going on in the world, including the other exception.

Nami had replaced Jinbe. Yes, Nami, ‘Golden Cartographer’ Nami, was a warlord. Not only was she a warlord, she was 40, had an even more advanced climatact, and rode around mapping the world on a golden cloud that had apparently been a birthday gift from her ‘aunt Linlin’. What the actual fuck. Where had I ended up? Legitimately, where? I was clearly in the One Piece world, but I didn’t have the same kind of foreknowledge as I hoped, and especially not like some characters in the self insert fics I read on occasion.

Moving on from my ongoing existential crisis, Doflamigo still ruled Dressrosa but like, legitimately? He had married into the royal family and everything, he even cried during his wedding with Viola, who for some reason looked distinctly smug? Crocodile was being praised as the Hero of Alabasta, and I legitimately couldn’t tell if he was faking it for the poneyglyph here. All the papers knew about Moria was that he had gotten wrecked in an ill fated attempt to capture Dory and Broggy and had since vanished to recover. Mihawk and Hancock were the same, and honestly their continuity was a much needed break from all the other chaos.

Akainu was only a Marine captain. Akainu was cleaning the North Blue of pirates. Akainu was a FUCKING MONKEY D. What the actual fuck. There was a giant, the first to join the marines actually, in his place, and that was nice and inclusive and whatever, but what the fuck. Did that mean Ace was just given to Whitebeard? Why was Akainu so young? Why was he Luffy’s brother? Where did he come from? Where did Garp find this kid? Did Oda plan on giving Akainu some tragic backstory or something?! WAS DRAGON RAISING LUFFY?! 

(To be fair to the man, Admiral John Giant was apparently just as incredibly effective as his coworkers even without a Logia fruit, or any Devil Fruit powers whatsoever. He had Conqueror's Haki, and the effects scaled with size, so he could knock down an entire island if he decided to go full blast. That held true for Armament and Observation too, so he was an absolute monster on the battlefield and deserved the title. His promotion had actually led to so many giants trying to join the marines that they had to build an appropriately sized marine base on Elbaf to train and house them all.) 

It was at this point I needed a break, because my constant screaming into pillows was worrying pretty much everyone and I was getting sick of honey tea.

I took over one of the balconies to practice my Zoan transformations. It was weird, but the process was fast and smooth, and I hadn’t had any problems so far, so it was perfectly safe. In terms of changes to my ‘base’ form, I now had messy, rainbow colored hair, as if I had put my hair in an automatic hair dying machine and set it to random for each lock. It looked good, actually, but it was still kinda weird. My ‘hybrid’ form gave me a snail shell on my back, a slight hunch, eye stalks, and a more expressive mouth.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, my ‘full’ form should give the final clue. It was a 7 foot tall at the shell transponder snail with rainbow hair. According to Zeff, I had eaten the Mollusk Mollusk fruit model Den Den, meaning I was now the transponder snail Zoan. My full form was specifically a Telesnail, or the kind of giant transponder snails countries used to communicate across the entire planet. My shell was the same rainbow color as my hair, which was confusing but fine for now. I was slow, bulky, and clunky like that, but it all felt natural, as natural as my new body. None of what I now knew was dysphoria like with my old male body.

The transformations weren’t exactly what I had to practice, it was the immense amount of available sensory input that came with them. In my hybrid form, I could sense what I instinctively knew was the transponder snail population of Paradise and the East Blue. In my full Telesnail form, I instinctively knew I had access to just about every snail on the planet. That isn’t to say I could pick out an individual snail and listen in, or choose who to call, no. Instead, all I could do was shout into the void with my personal signal. The only response I got was from an ancient sounding Telesnail from what felt like Little Garden scolding me for being rude by polluting the psychic airwaves with internal screaming. I promptly asked how to stop doing that, thanked him politely, and shut up because that was a deeply weird experience. 

As far as I could tell, I didn’t exactly have a divine benefactor like Cross did in his adventure, so my hopes for custom made equipment appearing out of thin air were dashed. I did ask, however, and received absolutely no answer. Nothing dramatic, nothing meaningful, nothing. I was on my own, or maybe the free gender switch had been the extent of random divine intervention in my life. There was probably someone watching my life, if only because of the apparent endless multiverse, but I had no idea who beyond some very confused iteration of Oda who just had me inserted, unless I was intentional?

(No, bad thoughts, get out of my head.)

I needed a distraction, and I could hear the distinctive sound of Zeff coming up the stairs to provide it, however unknowingly. Honestly, given all of the random people I’d seen disembark onto the Baratie from a window in the library, Zeff was one person the Live Action iteration of the show had gotten right, along with Sanji and some of the photos in the newspapers. My new body’s ‘Uncanny Valley’ instincts had probably been suppressed or removed, because this world was closer to the anime than the live action, and fishmen especially showed that. I got the distinct feeling I should have found that weird, like the echo of the uncanny valley, but it was gone. Did that make this body a native of this world?

“Oi, girl, you still alive?”

“Yes, ‘Red Leg,’ I’m still out here. These powers are weird y’know.”

“Meh, I’ve seen weirder than that. Once I saw a guy who could turn into a ship. Worst ship I've ever sailed on, lass. Don’t take risks with the sea.”

“I do have a name, y’know.”

“I’ll use it when you tell someone on the crew what it is.”

I nearly facepalmed, because I forgot I hadn’t given myself a name yet, and I couldn’t exactly use my deadname. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound I guess. “Sorry sir, I’m Roxie D Toussa.” If I didn’t have a deity watching over me, I may as well try to tap into the Will of D, whatever that was exactly. “Oh yeah, and I need to actually do something to pay you all back, and I need some money anyway since I lost my wallet. I heard one of the cooks mention you were looking for a waitress?”

========================================================================

“You two! Please, before you leave, I need to ask you something.”

“What do you want, fish guy?”

“I am a fishman. You just defeated Buggy, and he was rumored to have traveled in the New World. I have to ask for your help with a personal mission of mine.”

“Sure, what’s your dream?”

“It’s my uncle Arlong. He’s turned into a monster, he’s trying to start an empire and he’s already taken over a town, Cocoyashi village. I can’t stop him myself, but you might be able to. I can be your helmsman for however long it takes to repay you for this, but you might be my only option.” The young whale shark fishman pressed his forehead to the ground as he kneeled in front of the young captain who had just saved Orange Town. “Please, help me stop my uncle.”

Jinbe of Fishman Island found himself back on his feet as a few of the captain’s first mate’s extra hands brushed the dust off his clothes.

“Sure, welcome to the crew!”

========================================================================

Monkey D Garp was too late. He had intended to get back to Dawn Island before his grandson set out to get himself killed, but things kept getting in his way.

As usual when he took time off, he stockpiled some extra vacation days on the way by going ‘on patrol’ in the East Blue. This turned out to be a mistake, because he had to deal with people stealing his ship, a pirate high on his new Devil Fruit, and a wild colony of megaphone transponder snails worshiping an old fog horn. The snails were now on his ship, and he was having fun yelling at people with one of them. It was great stress relief over all the other bullshit he had to deal with this month. 

Someone had found Nico Robin. They hadn’t just found her, they’d arrested her in her sleep with seastone cuffs and locked her in a secure cell. The captain of the base had called while celebrating his victory and outright asked for his promotion to commodore while drunk. That had been a couple days ago, and now Garp was far too late to stop Luffy from trying to go through Reverse Mountain in a bucket or something equally stupid. Besides that, they’d lost Shiki again somewhere in the South Blue and no one had any idea where he’d gone, besides the fact a solid half of an island had just vanished somewhere near where he was last spotted.

But that was Sengoku’s problem. Right now, Garp was in Shells Town listening to the acting base commander give an infuriatingly familiar report.

“You lost her.”

“Yes sir.”

“How did she escape? You had her in seastone cuffs for god's sake.”

“A young pirate in a straw hat was key to her escape, and eye witness reports claim the captain claimed her as his first mate while fleeing the island.” 

“I don’t suppose this straw hat pirate seemed to stretch a lot?”

“Yes sir, we can confirm he had a Devil Fruit of some kind.”

Garp’s fist left a crack in the table as he growled. Of course Luffy had to go big for his first act of piracy. He was a Monkey, Garp didn’t know why he’d expected anything else from his grandson. This was going to make it even harder to catch the boy, too. Nico Robin had escaped marine custody all 14, now 15, times she had been captured, and escaped concentrated searches for her even more often.

“Where did they go?”

“They reportedly were last seen sailing towards Orange Town, sir.”

“I want my ship resupplied as soon as possible, and I want any recruits you received recently transferred as well. I don’t want this base’s incompetence to infect them, and you can expect an official inspection by the end of the month. Am I understood?”

“Yes sir.” 

========================================================================

Robin had sailed on her own before. Her Fruit made it easier to control larger vessels, but it was somewhat reassuring to have a talented helmsman on board to take over for her. The fishman was handily controlling their stolen dingy with a precision that she had last seen from a helmsman twice his age. They were currently on their way to a relatively small village in the Gecko Islands to resupply, because their captain managed to eat all of their decent food in near record time. The only things left were hardtack and the emergency jerky, both of which only barely counted as food in Robin’s opinion. 

“STOP! THIS ISLAND IS PROTECTED. TURN BACK NOW IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES, OR YOU’RE GETTING SUPER BLOWN AWAY!” 

Their peaceful voyage towards the island was interrupted by a very loud man shouting from the top of the smallest battleship Robin had ever seen. It was a lifeboat that was positively brimming with relatively small cannons, guns, and even a small catapult. There was a tall, blue haired man in an open jacket and speedo with a metal nose,standing at the helm, which was barely visible past the gun emplacements. The sail had the words “BATTLE FRANKY 35.5” emblazoned on it. 

No one else seemed to hear the splash of water that came from their helmsman jumping off the back of the ship.

“Your ship’s tiny!” Luffy responded. 

“But it’s packing some Super firepower! Go away, pirates, and I’ll let you live!” The blue haired man said. 

“But we just want some meat!” Luffy yelled back.

“We aren’t here to attack, just resupply.” Robin explained.

“I’m calling your bluff! I know that flag on your sail! It’s Buggy the Immortal’s! Prepare to be blown away!” The man declared as he reached for something. 

Their fishman crewmate burst from the water and landed right behind the blue haired man. He pinned the man’s arm against his back before he could react. “I’d recommend you let us pass.” 

The man gulped. 

========================================================================

Cutty Flam Franky of Syrup Village felt kind of embarrassed after the ‘pirates’ forced him to listen to them. They had stolen the ship because their own ship was destroyed, and they just wanted some food. He’d teared up at the image of this small group of travelers evading the infamous Buggy the Immortal, scourge of the East, but now he had to repay them. He’d threatened such brave travelers! It went even farther than that!

“So, let me get this straight, you not only got away from Buggy, but you also managed to free Orange Town from his control? And now you’re on your way to free another village from your new helmsman’s evil uncle?”

They were in Syrup Village’s only bar, because the market didn’t really start for another couple hours and Franky had to feed them to say he was sorry for nearly blowing them all the way to the Red Line.

The young captain nodded enthusiastically while he continued downing enough meat to feed an entire battleship’s worth of shipwrights. “Yeah! My first bounty’s gonna be huge! Shanks is gonna be proud I’m starting my journey to be Pirate King off strong!” 

Franky made a mental note to do some diagnostics when he got back to the mansion, because he could not have heard this kid correctly. “Pirate KIng? Shanks?”

“Yeah! Becoming the King of Pirates has been my dream since I was a kid! I can’t give my hat back to Shanks until then!” Luffy said

Franky took a sly glance at the old bounty board in the bar. The local bounties weren’t anything special, but there was an old, old bounty held in a place of honor on the top right corner. It was from before ‘Red Haired’ Shanks entered the Grand Line, when he was still an East Blue pirate. He had a straw hat. He never had that hat again in his later bounty pictures. By Pluton, this kid was serious. What did an Emperor see in this lanky mass of chaos?!

“So you are pirates!” Franky said as he pounded on the table, rattling the stack of plates in the center.

“All I said was that we weren’t Buggy pirates, if you will remember, Mr. Pompadour. Besides, we are the good kind of pirates.” Robin pointed out. “Nothing we’ve done so far would be illegal if we were wearing Marine uniforms.”

“I don’t think they’d have taken assaulting a captain well.” Jinbe said.

“He was resisting arrest, of course we had to respond with force.” Robin responded innocently. 

“What exactly is a ‘good pirate’ by your standards, just going around fighting people?” Franky asked.

“We’re out on the seas to be as free as can be! The bad pirates are the ones who go around being mean to people!” Luffy declared. 

There was… a lot wrong with that statement, but Franky decided to move on. “It sounds like you want to be a hero, not a pirate.”

“No!” Luffy said with more force than Franky was expecting. “Heroes have to share their meat! I’m not sharing my food!” The young captain then somehow started eating even faster than before. 

As much as he hated to admit it, Franky sympathized with the deep sigh that came from the fishman before he changed the subject. “I recognized some of the designs on your ship. Did you commission one of my people to build it?” 

Of course he had to run into the one fishman in the East that knew anything about shipbuilding. “Yeah, I apprenticed under an old squid shipwright. Pretty sure he’s dead now, ‘cause I haven’t gotten a call in years.” He’d never quite figured out what kind of fishman old Tom was, but he was pretty sure a squid fishman wouldn’t have had horns, so that should throw them off the scent.

The captain was looking at him with stars in his eyes. “Whoa, you’re a shipwright? I need one of those! Join my crew!” 

“I’m not going to become a pirate!” Franky refused. 

“But I need a great ship to become a great pirate, and a great ship needs a great shipwright!” Luffy declared. 

“NO!” Franky barely held himself back from roaring. Building a pirate ship had gotten Tom killed, forced Iceberg to work with their mentor’s murderers, and forced Franky to accidentally fake his own death just to get away from that madman with a slingshot. “You’re going to get yourself killed, and I’m not sticking around to die with you when that happens!”

“I would never let that happen!” Luffy refused, suddenly looking serious.

Sorry kid, but he had to do this. “Thinking like that is going to get you in trouble, with the law of the world itself. A storm doesn’t care about your optimism! You’re going to kill someone, or steal something important, or kill someone important, and then you’ll get a big bounty. Then the government or other pirates will hunt you and your crew down, break your ship, and either kill you and your crew or shove you in a prison you can’t break out of, and it’s going to be all your fault because you dragged them onto the high seas by thinking like that!” Franky slammed his palms down on the table as he got up. The stack of tableware would have fallen if the first mate hadn’t held it up with more of her extra arms. “Grow up or die. Those are your options, kid.” 

Franky didn’t look back. He didn’t know if he could handle seeing all of the light his words had sucked out of the captain’s face. It was for his own good. 

=======================================================================

Luffy knew he needed to think, dammit, he just wasn’t good at it. He used to have his big brother for that, and Mom, and aunt Dadan, and now he had Robin, but he just wasn’t good at thinking things through. There weren’t anything better than wolves on this island, and they weren’t satisfying to fight. He needed the distraction, but there wasn’t anything here that was good enough other than the food, and he wasn’t hungry.

Remembering Sabo always killed his appetite. 

========================================================================

Kaya felt like shit.

She knew that wasn’t a word her parents would have approved of a proper lady using, but she honestly couldn’t think of a better word. Merry tried, but there really was no changing the vocabulary of the shipwrights in her family’s shipyard in the capitol. It had been almost a year since she was healthy enough to visit, and Franky occasionally went over to lend a hand, but it wasn’t the same.

The black spots were almost everywhere now, hidden under her dress and makeup. They made her feel exhausted, as if she had done a thousand pushups before waking up, but she’d never exactly been healthy enough to attempt such a thing. It went beyond that, beyond the normal symptoms, at least recently. She used to be able to at least get up, go to the library, maybe watch Franky and Merry work on their ship. As of 6 months ago, she couldn’t even do that as her mind slowly became cloudier and cloudier.

None of the doctors ever had a solution for the black spots. They couldn’t even identify it, not even the expensive ones that went to the World Government funded academies her parents asked to visit. Kaya had honestly given up on ever being cured, but Franky had mentioned that a Grand Line doctor might know something, but they were even more expensive. Profits had been declining anyway and she couldn’t even look through the records without getting a headache these days. 

(Kaya had a will. She didn’t like thinking about it, but she had one. She’d split her inheritance three ways for her two butlers and Franky, who had honestly become something between her big brother and a weird uncle since washing up along with Klahadore three years ago. Franky was going to get the shipyard. Maybe his fishman techniques would be enough of a selling point to keep things going.)

There was an unfamiliar mast on the beach, visible over the treeline. She didn’t have a telescope, but a black flag never meant anything good, based on what she’d heard. There was a commotion somewhere in the mansion. Maybe the mast was from a ship, and they were friends of Franky before he washed up? That made some sense, but she couldn’t help but feel like there was something missing there. Oh well, she wanted to meet these friends of his.

It was agonizingly slow, but Kaya managed to swing herself out of bed, untangle herself from the sheets, and grab onto her bedside table to help her get up. It was shaky, but she was standing. Merry had ensured there were a lot of handholds anyone could use around the mansion, so she put on a long jacket over her bedclothes and slowly picked her way through the mansion towards the commotion. She’d need to get down the stairs, but Franky had rebuilt the old, broken dumbwaiter into a chair she could use to get up and down. 

It sounded like they were in the dining hall, and the dumbwaiter led to the kitchen, so the sound gradually became clearer as she descended. It sounded quite violent, Merry was going to be angry at Franky for letting ‘ruffians’ in again. There was glass shattering, a lot of yelling, and even the sound of a table cracking as she finally reached the kitchen.

Merry was lying in a pool of his own blood. 

Kaya couldn’t focus on anything else in the dining room. Merry was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. She was breathing too quickly.

“Kaya! You need to run!” 

She forced her eyes off Merry and took in the rest of the chaos. Klahadore was wearing weird gloves with blades on the end of the fingers and he was fighting Franky. The metal man’s jacket was torn and he was missing his sunglasses. Her butler looked viscous and more bloodthirsty than she thought possible. The room was chaos, with nearly the entire china cabinet lying on the floor in shards and half the table cut into pieces. 

“What’s going on?!”  Kaya asked in shock.

“Klahadore’s trying to kill us! You need to get out of here!” Franky said as he blocked another slash from the butler.

“Don’t believe him, young mistress! This ruffian is drunk and tried to kill Merry over his ship!” Klahadore claimed as he continued the fight. 

Both of them moved faster than she could pay attention to as the sound of steel on iron echoed through the hall and Franky’s left arm’s star tattoo expanded into a shield. Kaya was paralyzed with indecision. The smell of blood was making her head swim, and she was too in shock to think things through properly. 

(It was all she could do to stay standing, much less make a decision. Why was she so weak? Why couldn’t she even ask them to stop fighting?) 

Kaya was so busy cursing herself that she didn’t notice the fighting was heading towards her until Franky was standing in front of her and looking over his shoulder back at her while holding both of Klahadore’s gloves.

“Kaya! You have to get out of here! Get to the inn, there are some-”

Franky didn’t get any farther, because the butler slipped a hand out of his gloves, grabbed onto Franky’s neck, and heaved. The metal man went down before Klahadore slashed through Franky’s unprotected back as he screamed in pain. 

Everything was numb. That was probably the only reason Kaya didn’t faint on the spot. She watched dumbly as Klahadore wiped the blood off of his blades using Franky’s shirt before pushing up his glasses as he looked disdainfully at her.

The murderer sighed. “The brute refused to go down, I swear. As for you.” He glanced down at the glove still in Franky’s hand. The blades snapped when he tried to take it back. “I expected you to be in a coma by now. Oh well, I suppose I won’t need you for much longer anyway, no need to keep up this farce.” There were blades at her neck. “Come with me if you want to live long enough to die in your sleep, pathetic girl.”

========================================================================

Franky cursed himself as he heard Klahadore drag Kaya off somewhere. 

Franky felt like he was back on that wrecked ship outside Water 7. He began desperately crawling towards the fridge. He needed to refuel with cola. Merry was bleeding out and he wasn’t in a much better state, but Franky could boost himself to help try and stop anyone else from dying today.

(His adoptive father was dead and he’d been forced to leave behind his adoptive mother and brother. He wasn’t going to let his family die because he was weak, not again. Never again.)

It felt like it took years, but he finally got to the fridge, but he couldn’t reach the handle. It would drain him even more, but it was his only option. “Strong Right.” His right hand shot off and grabbed the handle, which forced the fridge open as he retracted his fist. Franky reached for a cola bottle on the bottom shelf, uncorked it with his teeth, and began chugging. It wasn’t as effective as putting it in his stomach fridge, but it worked in a pinch. 

After he finished chugging, he filled his stomach with three bottles of cola and sighed as his strength slowly came back. He was still bleeding, but blood was less important for him than the average human, after all. His first priority was helping Merry, He quickly gathered some towels and the remnants of the tablecloth and got to work. 

The older man began groaning as Franky was tying off the bandages. “Urgh, what happened?”

“Klahadore tried to kill us and kidnapped Kaya.” Franky explained, which made the butler shoot awake only to groan as his wounds registered. “You need to call the doctor. I’m going to take the Battle Franky 35.5 and try to intercept his ship.”

“Ship?” Merry asked as Franky helped him sit up against the wall and handed him a terrified snail.

“I heard him mutter something about his crew being on their way after he stabbed you. He’s probably after Kaya’s family fortune.” Franky explained as he rotated his head such that he could check the makeshift bandages on his back. They were bloodsoaked, but still working. It was only a problem if he made it to the morning.

“To think he was a pirate after all these years.” Merry muttered as he started dialing. They all had the doctor’s number memorized in case Kaya had a medical issue or something.

“I know, that bastard’s been playing the long game. I’m going to save Kaya, you make sure he can’t try to claim she left him her money or something.” Franky said.

“I will, go!” Merry declared as the phone rang. The sun was barely rising, his call was probably waking up the old doctor in the village.

Franky left the mansion by a back door, entered a small shed near the garden, and descended down the stairs to the hidden dock behind the mansion. It was in a sea cave, but the torches were still lit from when he was down here an hour ago. He’d come up for some well earned sleep only to find that bastard skewering Merry. He’d been doing maintenance on the Battle Franky 35.5, which was good, because he had a pirate ship to blow into a thousand pieces. 

Hold on Kaya, Big Bro Franky was coming. 

========================================================================

There was a battle on the beach. Some drunk teenagers in the village had barged into the inn saying there were pirates coming to pillage the island, and Luffy had jumped at the chance to prove he was the good kind of pirate. There was finally something to punch! 

The pirates had a hypnotist, and Luffy was as gullible as he was strong. This turned what should have been an easy fight for the crew into a game of keep away as they tried to keep the hypnotized Luffy distracted long enough to deal with the pirates that kept pouring out of the ship. 

Eventually, Franky arrived on his tiny battleship and began bombarding the ship and the beach, which helped immensely. He stopped when Klahadore appeared on the path to the village with a gun to Kaya’s head. Demands were made, people got angry, and Luffy tried to punch his way out of the problem. His punch wasn’t fast enough to stop the pirate’s true captain from pulling the trigger.

“KAYA! NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

========================================================================

Kaya wasn’t dead. Her ears were ringing and she had been blown to the ground, but she was still alive. She touched her face where the bullet should have blown through her skull. It felt hard and dense, like the black spots on her skin. Honestly, she felt better than she had in months. What just happened? 

Franky was screaming. The teen that Kaya recognized as the Straw Hat captain Franky met yesterday was screaming and had begun steaming. A fishman was trying to break free from a dogpile of pirates. Klahadore, or as he had revealed himself to be, Kuro, was fending off a dozen arms that had sprouted across his body while the only woman in the Straw Hat’s crew was clutching an arm that was becoming more and more bloody. 

(No one else could see the black. They could feel its effects, but they could never see it. The doctors chalked it up as a psychological symptom of her chronic illness and left it at that. Something about the fact it managed to stop a bullet told her there was more to it than that, but she had more important things to focus on right now.)

Kuro was so busy fending off arms he never expected the (to Kaya’s eyes) pure black leg that nailed him in the groin from behind so hard he went sailing down the hill to land face first in the sand at the straw hat guy’s feet. The teen had stopped steaming at this point, but he was certainly cracking his knuckles with a grin on his face that was just a little too wide.

After he beached his ship and helped the captain deal with the rest of the pirates, Franky came running up and gave Kaya a crushing hug. “KAYA! You’re okay! I can’t believe it!” He abruptly pulled back, grabbed her face, and turned it every which way to inspect it for damage. “Wait, he shot you. Where’s the wound?”

“I don’t know, the black spots covered my entire face and the bullet just kind of bounced off? It stopped covering my face after that, and then it covered my leg while I kicked Kuro. I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel better than I have in years, Franky, years!” Kaya said as she bounced in place. She abruptly realized she had forgotten something. “Wait, what happened to Merry? Is he okay? Are you okay?!” 

The metal man laughed. “I’m fine, a little blood loss was nothing after I got some good cola in me. Merry should be fine, I bandaged him up and then had him call the doctor.” 

“Oh thank god.” Kaya said, feeling abruptly woozy for some reason.

(It was at this moment that Kaya’s first adrenaline high wore off and she fainted. This left Jinbe, Robin, and Luffy with the task of building a makeshift prison for the pirates as Franky frantically carried Kaya off to the village doctor, who had just finished treating Merry. The sheriff went off to help the Straw Hats and call the marines to come pick up the entire ship of pirates Franky had just taken down ‘single handedly’ without the help of any random travelers.)

========================================================================

Garp was too late to Orange Town. Buggy had already escaped again, and apparently his grandson now had a fishman on his crew, somehow. The townsfolk refused to tell him where the boy had gone because he’d apparently ‘vanished into the night,’ and no amount of shouting could get anyone to talk, so he eventually went back out to sea. They got a timely call from the nearest marine base that a small village had fended off a pirate attack and were calling for pick up, so he diverted to grab them for transport.

“Well these are a bunch of nobodies, aren’t they? Anyone notable, lieutenant?”

“We finally found Kuro of a Thousand Plans, sir. That Franky guy is going to be a rich man once he turns in that slip for the bounty.”

“That bastard? We thought he was dead! Shove him in the seastone iron maiden and give me the key, I don’t care if the reports say he doesn’t have a devil fruit, that bastard figured out how to Shave on his own and I’m not taking any chances here. Who knows what he ate in the last three years.” 

(Much later, Garp would crack his desk again when he learned his grandson had literally been on that island, sleeping off his wounds in the mansion and being celebrated as a hero.) 

========================================================================

“This is the Going Merry, the ship Merry and Franky have been working on for the last three years. I had the staff stock it with everything we might need for our voyage.”

“Wait, we? Our? Kaya, we aren’t going with them.”

“Maybe you aren’t, Franky, but I’m leaving. I could run a lap around the mansion this morning and I wasn’t exhausted! It’s been my dream to see the world beyond these islands for a long time!”

“Merry, back me up here! She’s just recovered!”

“I am sorry, but I agree with the young mistress.”

“WHAT?!”

“It is clear that participating in the action and excitement these pirates expect to run into is a far better treatment of her strange illness than anything we’ve been able to come up with. You have to see that, Franky.”

Franky fully stopped and thought about it for a moment. He still didn’t like it. “Can’t she just come to the shipyards and get some exercise building boats instead?”

“We tried that when I was fourteen, Franky, remember? It was the first thing you suggested.” Kaya pointed out. 

“Why does it have to be this crew? I stand by what I told Luffy when he came here!” Franky objected.

Luffy abruptly coughed. “So, about that…” He had a serious expression on his face. “I still want you to be my shipwright! My crew does what I can’t, and I do what they can’t! If I can’t think right, then that’s what my crew is for!” He turned to Kaya. “Oh yeah, and what can you do?”

“Oh uh…” Kaya looked like a deer in the headlights. “I’ve studied charts and maps of the seas for a long time, so I know some stuff about navigation? I’ve tried to manage my family’s shipyards and finances for the last year so I’m also good with money? I also wanted to be a doctor, so I read a lot about medicine?” 

“Awesome! Welcome to the crew!” Luffy declared, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

Said arm was immediately thrown off by Franky. “Whoa whoa whoa, I didn’t approve of this!”

Kaya rolled her eyes. “If you can’t handle the idea of me being out of your sight, you can just come with, y’know.” 

Franky’s distrust of pirates warred with what these pirates had just done for his new home and the fact Kaya looked happier than he’d seen her in ages. Eventually, family won out over his old grudge. “Fine, but I won’t like it. This isn’t Super at all.” He crossed his arms as he grumbled.

“He’ll be singing your praises by the end of the month.” Kaya stage whispered to the rest of his new crew.

“Oi! Can it!”

========================================================================

“Welcome to the Baratie, I’m Roxie, the only waitress in a hundred miles. What can I get you?”

“I’ll have the espresso special.”

“A glass of orange juice and a fried egg, sunny side up, steamed with salt, thank you.”

“The crab legs and cider, thank you.”

“Three orders of as much meat as I can eat!”

“The four patty triple cheeseburger sounds like it would go Super good with that fancy cola!”

My mind abruptly shifted out of food service mode and actually looked at who had shown up today. I instantly clocked a couple details about the group in front of me now that I was actually paying attention. A whale shark fishman, an olive skinned woman in a cowboy hat, a blue haired guy with a metal nose and blue star tattoos on his forearms, and a teen in a distinctive straw hat. 

What the fuck? 

Chapter Text

The Baratie is a must see location for those passing through the southern East Blue. This unique floating restaurant follows a consistent route throughout the year, with most islands it passes by offering a ferry service to and from the restaurant while it is in the area. The staff are prepared for any of the difficulties of operating on the seas, from storms to pirates, and if they have to deal with a Sea King attack, you might even be able to get the Sea King special. This guide chooses to ignore the rumors regarding the captain and head chef of the restaurant, as the delicious food, quality service, and one of a kind dining experience far outweigh any detractor’s claims of piracy or pillaging for ingredients.

-Excerpt from A Trip To The East by Bradt Blue, a popular travel guide for the East Blue 

~~~~~~~~~~~

“And would you like to order dessert now, or wait until after your meal?” I asked as I wrote down the Straw Hat Pirates orders, defaulting to old food service instincts while I both panicked and ran down a mental checklist. 

Luffy lacked his iconic chest scar and I definitely would have seen a news article about him punching a World Noble in the face, so this was most likely his first visit to the Baratie. Franky and Robin looked about how I would have expected the live action iteration of the show to portray their pre-timeskip designs, barring the fact that Franky’s proportions were beyond Earth human possibilities, which matched up with that assessment but didn’t answer why they were in the East Blue at the moment. Franky should have been dismantling pirate ships in Water 7 and Robin should have been off killing someone for Crocodile.

“Just the meat for me!” 

“One slice of the lemon cheesecake, thank you.”

“Oh, I’ll take a Super ice cream float.”

The fishman was harder to identify until he shifted, which revealed the sun tattoo across his chest. I suppose I should have expected this with Nami as a Warlord, but Jinbe looked so much younger than I expected. If Luffy was going to follow his canon path at least vaguely he was going to end up assaulting Arlong Park pretty soon, but was Jinbe going to pull a Nami and vanish with the ship or was he a genuine crew member? He didn’t look particularly shifty, but Nami had waited a week before stealing the Going Merry, so I still couldn’t be sure. 

“Nothing for me.” 

Now on to the one member that honestly left me more baffled than I had been since reading about Kaido becoming Shogun of Wano. The live action had gotten Kaya almost exactly right, although she was currently wearing her hair in a tight braid, along with a trench coat over a grey sundress. All of that made sense, but it left the question of why in the name of Nikka was she here?! Didn’t she have like, doctor or heiress things to do back in Syrup Village? What happened with Kuro? Was there a disabled or sickly Ussop wandering around Syrup?! 

“The breadsticks with sea salt caramel dipping sauce sounds amazing, one order of that please.”

I finished writing down their orders. “Alright, your food shouldn’t take too long, and if you start any fights we’re kicking you out, so behave, alright?”

I didn’t wait for an answer as I flipped the clipboard over to the next page and went to the next table as my mind scrambled to make sense of the information. Thankfully it was a rather slow day, so taking down the rest of the orders didn’t take very long. I did note a certain Marine lieutenant had arrived in time for his reservation with his date, which was a sure sign things were right on track.

I delivered the orders to the kitchen and yelled “Oi, I’m taking my lunch break ya lazy bastards!” 

Sanji, simp that he was, appeared before me almost immediately with a boxed lunch. “For you, darling~”

“Thanks. The eye candies are at tables 4 and 9, my friend.” I informed him as I accepted the bento box with a smile. 

I headed off to one of the break balconies off the kitchen to eat my lunch as Sanji thanked me, grabbed the food Fullbody had ordered ahead of time via snail and waited for the chaos to begin. 

========================================================================

“Sir! The mizzenmast cracked down the middle!” The man’s words were nearly lost to the wind and rain.

“Damn Grand Line weather! We can’t take much more!”

“I see the edge of the storm! Two o’clock, I repeat, Two o’clock!” The lookout yelled down from the crows nest.

“We might make it out alive yet! Crew, begin rowing!”

The roars of acknowledgement were lost to the lightning that struck the main mast. 

========================================================================

I smiled as I tore through the bento box. Honestly, Sanji and Zeff’s food was unlike anything I had ever eaten back on Earth, and that wasn’t just the sheer skill involved either. There were special types of spices and ingredients my homeworld just didn’t have, such as the extremely rare meat of seakings. I was allowed to have some of the Baratie’s small supply to celebrate my survival, and the best way I could describe it was if you mixed bear and shark meat. I was told this varied from seaking to seaking, of course, but it was delicious all the same!

I watched Fullbody’s ship leave after Zeff kicked him out. There wasn’t a hole anywhere in the Baratie, the Marine ship, or the Merry, so I wondered what excuse Luffy would use to wait until Sanji joined his crew. Speaking of the Merry, it was bigger than I expected. Then again, maybe I should have expected it to be a bigger and grander ship if Franky was part of the East Blue members of the crew. Were they going to get the Sunny?  This ship honestly looked like a Grand Line capable vessel, so what were they going to do once they got to Water 7?

That actually brought up an important question, which order did they come in? Was Robin hiding out in Syrup for a couple years? Did Morgan try to capture Franky for whatever he was doing in the East? I couldn’t imagine how Shells Town could have captured Robin other than someone important just happened to be passing through that day, but if that were the case she would be well on her way to an execution platform by now. It was also possible Morgan managed to capture Jinbe and thus Luffy’s first mate was the fishman, but something told me I was wrong about that. 

Let me be clear, if it was a choice between Sanji or me joining the Straw Hats, I was going to let them have their cook. I didn’t want to steal his role, partially because my cooking skills amounted to basically nothing compared to his and partially because without him, so much of the story would be so much harder. I wasn’t a fighter, at least pre-timeskip, if that even happened. I probably could learn to fight, but guns were practically nothing on the Grand Line without Armament, and my ideas for gaining access to Haki amounted to meditating in my shell until something happened. 

I didn’t strictly have to join them, to be honest. There was other stuff I could do, like vanish into the East to go find a way to ‘Big News’ Morgan, get a job as a reporter, and steal all of the headlines, or find the nearest Revolutionary base, join them, and figure out if Sabo was even there. If I still wanted to be a pirate, I probably could go find Law or Kuma and join their crews, assuming Kuma wasn’t just dead and in the ground by now. If all else fails, I might be able to head off to Egghead and get a cushy job pioneering various insights from my world, assuming I wanted my degree to be useful at all here. Who knows, the Seraphim might already exist and I might get a couple cloned children to look after. 

Oh, by Nikka’s rubbery fists, Sanji was screwed. The Pacifistas of this world, assuming Bonney was in Kuma’s role of course, were going to be hot chicks. It’d be like Bon Clay and Kalifa over and over again. Maybe I should have asked for some training after watching Zeff and Sanji spar. Maybe it was for the best if I replaced Sanji after all, that poor boy wouldn’t survive a full squad of Bonney-esque Pacifistas marching on him. 

No, they had plenty of other options, although that did bring up the fact that Zoro wasn’t in the East, unless he was wandering around Log Town. Of the Monster Trio, if Sanji was left behind, the crew would only have Luffy, and the threats tended to be scaled for the Monster Trio, not just Luffy. Then again, there was Jinbe, but I had no idea how skilled in Fishman Karate he was at this point. Maybe Kaya was secretly an absolute monster under her soft and huggable exterior, although that last part was just me being gay. How was she going to fight, now that I mention it, did she have a gun in that dress? Did she steal Kuro’s gloves? 

“-And stay out! We only serve paying pirates here!” I heard Patty yell as he summarily tossed someone out of the dining hall.

I leaned over the railing of the balcony as I finished off the last rice ball in the bento. I always did enjoy a show after a meal. It took a bit, but eventually Sanji emerged from the same door with a plate of fried rice and orange juice. Sanji told the pirate below me to eat, and the starved man didn’t even hesitate before methodically devouring the entire plate and chugging the glass of juice. 

“Thank you, I thought this was my last voyage. I am in your debt.” The pirate said as he finished cleaning his plate. “This is the best food I’ve ever had.”

Sanji gave a dark chuckle. “It really is, that first taste of food after so long. It is a pleasure no one should need to feel.”

There was a beat of silence as the pirate downed the last of the juice, and then-

“Now that’s a good cook!”

I flailed and nearly screamed as someone shouted in my ear and accidentally smacked the figure in the face with the bento box as I toppled over the railing. Thankfully, Sanji caught me before I smacked face first into the deck and helped me to my feet.

“Watch it, you jerk! Look what you did!” Sanji yelled up at Luffy, who looked positively unrepentant.

“Join my crew!” Luffy declared.

“Eh?” Both Sanji and the pirate asked.

The way Luffy’s body flexed and stretched as he jumped down from the balcony was interesting, and certainly smoother than the live action managed to capture. He had a wide, determined grin and a look in his eye that I couldn’t quite place. He looked very unassuming, for a demigod in disguise. 

“I’m Monkey D Luffy, and I’m going to be king of the pirates! Be my cook, cook!” Luffy declared while pointing at Sanji, who looked mildly flabbergasted at the sheer boldness of the action.

“Well, you’re in luck, my dear pirate prince! Sanji here isn’t just a cook, he’s the apprentice of ‘Red Leg’ Zeff, someone from Roger’s own era.” I said, adopting a pose as if I was presenting the boy in a commercial. “He set out to find the All Blue, an ocean with fish from all the seas, and while he never quite found it, he did found this restaurant!” 

“Whoa!” Luffy had stars in his eyes. “You really have to join my crew now, cook! That’s so cool!” 

“What, no! I can’t be your cook, I’m tied to this place!” Sanji refused before turning to me. “ And don’t try to sell me!”

“No!” Luffy responded passionately.

“What do you mean, no?!” Sanji asked.

“I refuse your refusal!” Luffy said. 

“You can’t do that!” Sanji yelled.

I sighed and shook my head. “Well, that’s that. Zeff will understand why you had to leave without a goodbye.”

“I’m not going with him!” Sanji continued.

“You must be pretty new if you’re still looking for a cook.” The pirate Sanji had fed said to Luffy.

“Yeah! He’s the 6th member of the crew!” Luffy said.

“Don’t count me as one of you!” Sanji yelled.

“If you want to be pirate king, you must be looking for Roger’s treasure, right?” The pirate asked.

“Yeah! It’s in the Grand Line, right?” Luffy said.

The pirate grabbed Luffy by the shoulders. “I’m Gin, first mate of the Krieg pirates. I’ve been there, and it’s not worth it for a kid like you. We had 50 ships, and only one made it back to the East. Stay here for a while, train, whatever, just don’t go into the Grand Line.” Gin began shaking Luffy back and forth with a mad look in his eye. “You’ll die if you go in there! Do you understand?!” 

Luffy looked like he was enjoying the experience more than anything else, so I jumped in. “There’s no saving this kid, Gin. Out of curiosity, what ended your attempt to join the Grand Search?” I asked, curious if Mihawk was in the area. 

Gin stopped shaking Luffy as he turned to look at me with a haunted look on his face. “The weather was insane, it hailed for a day straight before it began raining boiling water! There was a blizzard like a hurricane, throwing glaciers around like nothing! We were nearly eaten by a giant catfish when we tried to escape! Sea monsters chased us the entire way back to the East!” 

Huh, so they didn’t even make it to Mihawk, if he was even around. 

“It sounds like an adventure!” Luffy declared with a defiant grin that was a bit too wide for anyone else. 

Gin let out a defeated sigh. “Let the world know I tried.” He turned to Sanji. “Thank you, kind chef. I owe you my life.” He bowed. 

Sanji scoffed. “It was nothing, now get outta here and come back when you can be a paying customer for once.” 

“You got here on a ship, right? We can probably spare enough supplies to get you to the nearest island.” I asked.

“He just escaped from that Marine ship.” Sanji pointed out. “We could give him that old skiff that one pervert left behind last week.” 

“That should work.” I nodded.

“What?” Gin asked, looking between the two of us. “Why are you being this generous?! I tried to shoot one of your crewmates!” 

“Yeah, cause you were starving.” I pointed out, Sanji nodding along with me. “Zeff would probably do the same, and I know that from personal experience. He has a soft spot for castaways.” 

“Come on, Gin. I’ll get you to your new boat.” Sanji said, gesturing for the pirate to follow him.

I turned to Luffy as those two left. “So, you’ve got a Devil Fruit too?” 

“Yeah!” Luffy smiled. “I’m a rubber man! How did you know?”

“You move like your bones are flexible.” I said honestly. It was kind of weird to see in person, to be honest. “Wanna see mine?”

“Sure!”

I shifted into my hybrid form. The change in point of view took a second to get used to, but suddenly gaining eyestalks would do that to a person. The back of my clothes became a raised dome-esque snail shell, and my face shifted to accommodate the larger and more expressive mouth that formed on it. I was getting better at ignoring the vast amount of sudden mental noise that became available to me, but I was still forced to overhear three ongoing conversations on nearby ships.

“Whoa! You’re a snail!” Luffy said.

“Yeah! I’m the transponder snail Zoan! I only got these powers like, last week, so I’m not that good at the whole telepathic calling thing, but I can make do. I even got a free dye job out of it!” I ran a hand through my rainbow colored hair. I was still getting used to having this much of it, but I would also probably gut anyone who tried to give me a haircut, so it was sticking around. 

“Oh, Gramps has one of those mystery snails! He said it was important! Join my crew!” Luffy asked in the sort of tone that wasn’t so much a question as a declaration. 

Well, that was about as easy as I expected it to be. “I will! I’ve been looking for a decent crew to join since I washed up here anyway. Just one condition, though.”

“What?” The rubber boy asked.

“Get Sanji to stop stubbornly clinging to this boat. Zeff’s been trying to get him outta here for the last couple years, and you might be the best shot at that.” I asked. 

“I was gonna do that anyway! Welcome to the crew, rock girl!” Luffy said before dashing off.

“It’s Roxie!” I called after him before heading back into the ship. I had already stretched my lunch break, and I had to tell Zeff the good news. 

========================================================================

“Luffy’s been gone a while. His food’s getting cold.” 

“500 Berries on him recruiting that starved pirate.”

“1000 Berries on him raiding the meat locker.” 

“I am not taking either of those bets, you hooligans.”

========================================================================

“Zeff!”

“Castaway. Your lunch break ended 15 minutes ago.”

“Yeah I figured, but I’ve got good news! Sanji and I will be leaving to join a pirate crew within the week!”

“How in the name of the All Blue did you manage to finally convince that eggplant to leave?”

“Well, I didn’t convince him exactly, but I did make him accepting the captain’s offer as a condition of me joining said captain’s offer to join his crew. The boy’s persistent enough that Sanji will either accept or kill him, and Luffy’s made of rubber, so that isn’t happening any time soon.”

“That would be the crew at table 9?”

“Yeah.”

“The crew with two pretty girls on it?”

“Soon to be three, but yeah.”

“Maybe the eggplant won’t force me into retirement after all.”

========================================================================

“You’re saying they fed you and gave you a boat?”

“Yes sir, they saved my life.”

“And they’ll save the rest of us, whether they want to or not. Gin, man the helm. MEN! MAN THE OARS! WE’RE GETTING DINNER!”  

The roar of the crew had never sounded weaker to Gin, not with only a hundred men left of their fleet.

========================================================================

I cast my line back out into the waves as the sun set behind me.

This was a hobby from before my isekai, and one I was glad to be able to continue in this world. It felt good to sit back and relax with a fishing rod and some bait after the revelation about Luffy’s crew. I’d already had my freakout about it, so now all that was left was to accept it and move on. I had to accept where I was, and that my knowledge wasn’t as useful as I might have liked. Zeff, Sanji, and Luffy seemed relatively similar to who they had been in the show, but I had no way of knowing if that held true for everyone.

Could the changes have come from different circumstances, at least for some? Robin being in the East was odd, but I could see her fleeing to the weakest of the Blues if it meant an escape from the navy. The question for her was why she would join Luffy in the first place. Franky washing up in the East made both more and less sense. Sure, he was adrift at sea after trying to stop the Puffing Tom, but then he’d just washed back up on Water 7 in the story I knew. I couldn’t quite see him managing to drift all the way across the Calm Belt after that, despite the fact the Going Merry clearly showed evidence of Franky’s style.

I knew the Going Merry, but this was a bigger ship. It was still the Merry, but it was like Franky had taken ‘build a caravel’ as a challenge. It was pushing the limits of what could reasonably be called a caravel at this point. Franky’s influence was very clear, to the point I couldn’t tell if this Merry was going to break. I was kind of sad I may never see the Sunny, if I was perfectly honest. I may not even see her Wood Fairy until the New World.

Ace was definitely given to Whitebeard, but why? Did he not trust Garp? Was Garp a worse person here, or did Roger just not want Ace to go into the Marines? What did that imply for who he had become today? Ace certainly didn’t do any sort of raids with Yamato in the world I knew, that was for sure, even if they did meet. How did that raid lead to Kaido taking over Wano? Was it a show of force, or just a whim?

Why was I thinking about Ace when I was supposed to be reflecting on the new Straw Hat lineup? Well, Ace wasn’t Luffy’s brother in this timeline, which had wild implications for Luffy’s childhood. Not only was Akainu Luffy’s brother, he was a Monkey D! That told me Garp gave him to Makino, not Dadan, but in that case did Luffy even meet those mountain bandits and Sabo? Did Dragon have anything to do with this mess?

For the sake of my own sanity, I had to separate Akainu and Sakazuki in my mind. Akainu was the ‘Absolute Justice’ Fleet Admiral from One Piece, the Dog of the Government, the man who burned Ohara. He was a monster who Luffy would probably beat into submission at some point for killing Ace. His only saving grace was that he probably made a point of cracking down on corruption across the ranks, and even that was hard to believe because he never got Vergo, or any of the other corrupt New World marines the series showed. 

Sakazuki was Luffy’s brother in this timeline and probably Garp’s favorite descendant, if I was being completely honest with myself. If you asked someone from this world to describe Garp the Hero’s grandson without knowing Sakazuki exists, they would probably end up describing him anyway. As far as I could tell from the newspapers, he was a model marine, a man who followed orders until he didn’t and the mission turned out better for it, although that last part was probably Garp’s influence. He kept ending up in the newspaper as he cleaned up the North Blue, and the sheer volume of articles told me it wasn’t just because he was Garp’s grandson.

I was pleased to find that the Sora, Warrior of the Seas comic strip was here as well. It was a pretty standard superhero comic, even if it was supposedly based on real Marine missions. To my shock, it actually had a canon, and you could buy whole volumes of it. He had a Black Cat style love interest in the form of a fictional Warlord who seemed to be an amalgamation of them all. She drew more from Bonney, Hancock, and Nami than the rest, but that was to be expected. Both her and Sora mimicked Devil Fruit powers via various ‘Punk-tech’ gadgets, and the magma gauntlets Sora kept using told me the authors were keen on adapting Sakazuki’s adventures, particularly because they were a gift from his mentor, who was explicitly based on Garp. 

I did have to wonder if said love interest existed in the canon iteration of the comic, because if so she was probably based purely on Hancock, which meant she was probably popular over there. Honestly, reading Sora, Warrior of the Seas was somewhat surreal, because it felt like reading One Piece while in One Piece. Oh well, that’d be useful for nostalgia’s sake once I got older. I was getting distracted, and there was still a Straw Hat I hadn’t reflected on.

Kaya was-

“Why are you talking about me?” A voice suddenly said from near me.

“What?!” I cried as I scrambled to keep my fishing rod from falling off the side. 

“I asked why you were muttering about me.” A voice I abruptly identified as Kaya asked as I finally got things under control once again.

“Ah, still have to break that habit.” I said as I went red with embarrassment. “I was just thinking about your crew. Quite the motley bunch, arentcha.”  

“Yeah, but they’re fun. I heard Luffy asked you to join?” Kaya’s questioning smile against the sunset was nearly enough to kill me right then and there, gods I was useless now without dysphoria getting in the way, huh. 

I nodded, thankful that my blush was hidden by my prior flush of embarrassment. “I was looking for a way to see the world, and Luffy seemed like a good option.”

“So good you tried to bring someone with you?” Kaya asked.

“Zeff’s been trying to get Sanji off this ship for years. If Luffy’s good enough for me, he’s good enough for him.” I said.

Kaya shook her head. “I talked to him earlier, I think. He was… a bit much?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, he’s like that, but he means well. Sanji might come off like a pervert, but he’s more likely to wine and dine a girl than bar and bed her, if that makes any sense.” 

I was rewarded with a giggle. “Strangely enough, it does.”

We fell into silence as Kaya leaned against the railing. I felt a tug on the line, but when I reeled it in all I found was that something had eaten most of my bait. I replaced it and sent the line back into the waves. That gave me time to think again, which made me wonder why Kaya was here.

“So, how’d you join?” I asked.

Kaya didn’t turn to look at me. “Luffy punched my butler in the face.”

“Aahahaha!” I laughed, because it was so blunt and nonchalant. It really got me for some reason. “Really?”

“Yep. He was trying to kill me, but Luffy and his crew saved me and my brother. I gave them a ship so they could keep sailing, and here we are.”

Wait a second- “You have a brother?” I asked, barely keeping my incredulity out of my voice.

Kaya made a so-so gesture. “I’d probably be dead by now if Franky hadn’t been there, so he’s close enough.”

I actively bit my tongue to make sure I didn’t mutter while speculating. So that’s how Franky got here, huh. Was Usopp with Uta then, or somewhere else? “Ah, I was about to ask where your tail was.”

“Tail?” Kaya asked, turning to face me with a confused expression.

“Well, the only guy left on the crew would have been the fishman, and you’re pretty enough to be a mermaid.” I said honestly.

Kaya blushed a bright red, and covered her face. She looked like she was about to say something, and I was getting ready to tease her about her blush, but we were both interrupted by a loud male voice from above.

“Oi, Roxie! Stop flirting and get back in here, the 5:30 ferry from Cozia just got here!” Patty called from one of the balconies.

I thrust my fishing rod into Kaya’s hands as I got up. “Alright alright, I’m coming!” I yelled up before muttering to myself. “Damn spoilsport.” I headed inside as Kaya struggled with the fishing rod for some reason. “Good luck, and see you tomorrow!” I called back before closing the door.

(I slyly offered her an extra towel when she came into the dining hall a couple of minutes later, holding a large fish and with a somewhat soaked top.) 

========================================================================

Ka-lick “Yes, this is Nami. I charge by the minute for spam callers, so get talking.”

“Cocoyashi is being occupied.”

“Alright, fees waived, explain.”

========================================================================

‘Red Leg’ Zeff stared at the cloud covered horizon as the Baratie shifted to its late night menu. There weren’t that many captains that dared brave the waves at night, but Zeff believed that anyone that did arrive while the moon was in the sky deserved to be fed regardless. Some of the chefs had to keep watch at night anyway, so it was just efficient business either way. They’d already made a killing off of that straw hat pirate’s late night snack runs. 

It wasn’t unusual for a crew to dock at the Baratie for a couple days to prepare for their next move or just rest in a neutral location. They served everyone, be they Marine, pirate, civilian, or anyone in between, and that usually kept them in business. Hosting events like Buggy the Immortal’s birthday party or Garp the Hero celebrating his grandson being promoted to Marine Captain helped cover everything else. The Arlong Pirates booking the dining hall for half a week a couple weeks ago meant they didn’t need to worry about supplies or repair costs for a while.

The Straw Hat’s crew seemed like a decent place for Sanji and the castaway. Zeff had never had the privilege of meeting Gol D Roger, but he’d been around the world enough times to know that a D, and especially one with a straw hat and a big dream, was not someone to ignore. Ds in general were dangerous, from Rocks D Xebec to Monkey D Garp.

A lot of things suddenly made sense after the castaway revealed her name. Her story matched up with what he knew of Ds too. Supposedly, she was born in the North and listened to old retired marines ramble on about their days in the Grand Line for practically her entire childhood. It explained why he heard her mumbling to herself about Haki and Wano. It didn’t explain why she kept screaming into pillows while reading his newspaper collection, but Ds were weird. As for how she got to the East, supposedly she snuck onto a World Noble’s pleasure yacht and joined the party until she got blackout drunk and ended up naked on the other side of the Red Line, drifting along the ocean’s surface. She didn’t have the Dragon’s Foot anywhere, which meant she’d gotten very lucky. 

Two Ds on a single crew was always trouble, and that wasn’t even counting the rest of the boy’s crew so far. The metal man was crazier than any East Blue native, which told Zeff he was from the Grand Line, or his parents were. The fishman had the Sun mark and claimed Arlong as his uncle, which meant it was truly extraordinary the kid had ended up willingly following a human. He recognized Nico Robin, not that he believed a lick of the rumors he’d heard about her. That bounty was originally given out of spite, and Zeff didn’t care to know why. The other girl was clearly trying to learn Haki, but her control was still horrible. Still, it was another mark towards the boy that he’d managed to snag the one girl his age in the East that had any progress in Haki at all.

His journal could have told you all of this, if you read between the lines. Some secrets were important to keep, after all, and the Will of D was one of those. It was the only such secret he’d found, and even then he’d only walked on the surface. There was always more to it than that, but Zeff didn’t want any part of it. Maybe if Sanji had been a D, or if that castaway had been with them since the rock, but as it was, he was fine with leaving some things a mystery. 

(God forbid that crew got a third D. The world wouldn’t stand a chance after that.)

The clouds could tell stories, and Zeff didn’t like what they were telling him as the sun set. The weather was never his specialty, but he had gotten old enough that his body had learned the signs for him. His stump hurt in the way that told him this was going to be a particularly bad storm, and one that wouldn’t give up without a fight. The truly worrying thing was where the clouds were coming from. The Calm Belt’s perpetual cloudless skies, windless oceans, and currentless depths were where the twin bands around the planet got their name, after all. It took a truly hardy cloud to make it all the way from the Grand Line to one of the Blues, and these weren’t any normal clouds. 

There was a storm coming. 

Chapter Text

While the circumstances that cause the Calm Belts are poorly understood even to this day, the effects are clear as day. Wind and surface currents are exceedingly rare within these four strips of ocean that separate the Grand Line from the four Blues, resulting in them being nigh impossible to sail across without alternative means of propulsion, such as rowing or engine driven paddles. Our own research into these regions has been somewhat hindered by the fact that the same factors that prevent clouds from entering the Calm Belts work against our research base.

-Excerpt from ‘The Calm Mystery’, a research paper from the Weatherian Research Institute regarding the Calm Belts. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

The storm struck at noon.

It wasn’t any normal storm.

It was as if the weather itself objected to the Baratie’s continued existence.

========================================================================

I felt someone knock on my shell. The storm had been tossing the Baratie and the Going Merry around the waves since yesterday, and everyone had to help keep the ships together, literally and figuratively. They’d tied the two ships together to help prevent either of them capsizing. I was pretty sure it was one of the only things keeping us all alive at this point.

I emerged from my shell bleary eyed and with a dry mouth, which felt especially uncomfortable in my full Telesnail form. My shell was shockingly comfortable, and it had felt even better when I had collapsed into this form and curled right up after my last shift on the ropes. One of the chefs was grabbing a box of nails from the hold and was trying to get my attention.

“What?”

“We’ve hit a lull in the storm, and Zeff wants everyone in the dining room for a meeting.” The cook explained. 

I waved him off. “Yeah, I’m coming. Anything break while I was asleep?”

He hefted the box of nails. “It started hailing, so we had to board up the windows.”

My mind stalled for a moment. “But we’re near the Calm Belt.” Those were essentially this worlds Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. There shouldn’t have been hail anywhere near here, except on mountains or winter islands down in the Grand Line. 

“Zeff said he’d explain.” The chef shrugged before heading up the stairs. 

I yawned and stretched as I returned to base form. My clothes were all stiff and moist, but I’d rather ruin one outfit during this storm than have to wash my entire wardrobe. It wasn’t like I was going to have much need for my spare waitress uniform when the storm cleared up, after all.

I had to run through the pouring rain to get from the entrance into the hold to the dining hall. Apparently what the chef meant by ‘lull in the storm’ was that the wind had calmed down to the levels of a wind logia toddler throwing a tantrum. When I fell asleep, it had been closer to a wind logia Enel personally trying to kill us all. I’d take what I could get.

The dining hall had turned into somewhat of a war room. Kaya and a chef were arguing over a map, Franky was standing in a bucket as he drained water from his systems, and Robin had her arms in a bucket of ice water. There were limits to how much second hand rope burn she could take, apparently. Zeff was waiting near the central pillar, sitting in a big armchair without his peg leg on and with ice packs on the old injury. I looked around for Luffy, only to realize he was laying on the floor with a nasty bump on his head, which was itself covered with an ice pack. Sanji came down the spiral stairs from the kitchen along with some of the other chefs carrying platters of food. 

(All the customers and Marines left yesterday, right before the storm really started trying to kill us. It was just us out here.)

I grabbed a grilled cheese crab melt as Zeff used his peg leg like a gavel against the pillar to get everyone’s attention. “I have good news and bad news. I know exactly what’s going on.”

There was a moment of silence. “Is that good or bad?” someone asked.

“It’s both. This is a Grand Line hurricane. We’re lucky the most it's done so far was snow and hail.” Zeff continued.

“Wait, how’d it get over the Calm Belt? Isn’t it always calm in there?” I asked.

“It takes a truly horrible storm to make it from the Grand Line to the Blues. This storm used to be much worse before it crossed over, and should blow itself out within the next couple of days. They’re more common in the North and West due to the New World, but this is the first time I’ve seen one form in Paradise. As is, this is a taste of what Grand Line weather is like, brat, so pay attention.” Zeff said, staring at Luffy, who was suddenly standing.

“That Krieg pirate said his fleet was destroyed by a storm.” I remembered.

“This is probably the same storm.” Zeff said. 

“Can we get to an island?” Franky asked.

“That’s what we’ve been trying to do, but the compass isn’t leading anywhere!” Kaya said in frustration, holding up three different compasses, all of which were spinning wildly. 

“The storm is magnetically charged. We aren’t going to find a port unless we crash into one.” Zeff said grimly. 

“What’re you saying old man, we’re stuck in the middle of some weird storm without any hope of rescue?” Sanji asked.

“All we can do is try to outlast it.” Zeff said with an air of finality. “Eat and rest while you can, because this might be the last break we’re getting until the end.”

I finished my sandwich and grabbed another, along with a drink. Was this replacing Krieg? Luffy hadn’t become a chore boy because he didn’t have to repay Zeff for the damage done to the ship, but the universe still conspired to keep us here. Fucking fate, why did it have to come into play already? Was some author, some equivalent of Oda, desperately trying to make money off of this in Shonen Jump?

(Bad thoughts, get out, even if I kinda wanted to see myself in the manga/anime style now.)

I had to learn how to help a ship sail at some point, at least. Better now than before I accidentally crashed us into Reverse Mountain. 

========================================================================

“Would gloves help?”

Robin looked up from her meal to see someone offering her a pair of work gloves. It was the rainbow haired waitress that Luffy had recruited. They hadn’t had a chance for a proper introduction yet, but his reasoning was something about transponder snails? If she had a garden of the mollusks that was a fine reason, as they didn’t have any snails onboard yet, but she suspected there was more to it.

There had been more to recruiting Franky and Kaya than just needing a shipwright and quartermistress, after all. Luffy had insisted that they defend Syrup to prove they were good pirates. Kaya had begged to tag along, but she’d also survived a gunshot to the head and then helped take down a notorious pirate captain after having been bedridden for a long, long time. There was something going on inside her captain’s mind. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which should have made it easy to figure out what was going on in there, but he never wore sleeves! 

(A more apt metaphor would perhaps have been a clear, concise statement in a language she didn't speak, but her arms were currently aching too much for that to spring to mind.) 

This was the grandson of the Hero of the Marines and the brother of the Red Dog. Robin refused to believe he had ended up this naïve, this childish, this simple minded. She’d have him wrapped around her finger as soon as she could figure out where all that competence actually went.

Robin waved off the offered assistance. “No, sadly, clothes don’t transfer when I spawn new limbs.”

“Well, I tried.” The young woman slipped the gloves into a pocket. “You’re uh, Robin, right?”

“Yes, first mate of the Straw Hat pirates. I believe the captain mentioned he recruited you because of snails?” Robin asked, 

“You could say that.” Roxie said with a smirk as her mouth widened and her eyes flowed up her face until they became a pair of eye stalks. “I’m the transponder snail Zoan.” 

“Oh my.” Robin said. The implications! “What type?”

Roxie blinked. “It might be the Telesnail variant? My full transformation is about that size, and I can feel about that range. I don’t know the name of the fruit, if it was like the ‘transponder transponder fruit: type Telesnail’ or just the general ‘mollusk mollusk fruit: type transponder’ or something else.” 

Robin rested her chin on her hand. “Why does a waitress know so much about devil fruits?”

“My hometown was on one of the islands where old high ranking marines go to retire. I’m pretty sure I’ve overheard enough operational and state secrets while working as a waitress that I’d get a decent bounty if I listed off everything I knew to whoever sets those prices.” Roxie explained. 

“Oh? Do tell.” Robin asked.

“Well, for one, I know it probably doesn’t mean much, but I’d like to offer my condolences for what happened to Ohara.” Roxie said. With how expressive transponder snail faces could be, it was very easy to tell the Zoan was sincere. “No one deserves to have to survive a Buster Call.” 

“Thank you. How much do you know?” Robin asked. It had been quite a while since anyone had the courage to mention her homeland to her face, if they even knew it existed. 

Roxie rubbed her chin. “The marine who was there wasn’t that high ranked, but he got high enough to ask why he was forced to help destroy an island. I know it involved a ship full of civilians being sunk, and that it involved research into the Void Century, but he never got quite drunk enough to explain what was so dangerous about that. I also know that you certainly didn’t sink any marine battleships with an ancient superweapon the island supposedly had.” 

“That is about the gist of it, yes. Would you like to increase your theoretical bounty by learning more?” Robin inquired. 

“I mean, I’m going to be on a crew with you and the Pirate King, so yes. It’s not like the government could want my head anymore than that, after all.” Roxie said.

“Very well then. Clover, the head of the Tree of Knowledge, knew the name of the kingdom the World Government fought during the Void Century. The leader of the investigation into Ohara shot my teacher right as he was about to say that name, which was supposed to tie everything together. The man who would go on to become Admiral Aokiji let me escape the island after he watched the giant vice admiral John Giant personally turn the Tree of Knowledge into kindling and used part of it to sink the ship carrying the civilians away. You probably know exactly how hard the government has been chasing me ever since.” Robin explained with an air of detachment. It still stung to recall, but she believed that history should be remembered more than she believed in avoiding her own pain. She’d have given up a long time ago if that wasn’t the case.

“Oh my god.” Roxie said, covering her mouth. “Now I’m worried I’m gonna seem like a dick.”

“Why?”

“I was going to lead into the fact I kind of wanted to learn Poneglyphic-”

Robin’s brain stalled out so hard she didn’t hear the rest of Roxie’s statement. “What?”

“I said I wanted to learn how to read and write the language on the Poneglyphs, and you were my best shot at it.” The rainbow haired girl repeated. 

“But I just told you what this knowledge did to my homeland. You know how long I’ve been hunted for this.” Robin stressed.

“Yeah.” She said it so nonchalantly too, like this wasn’t anything special.

“Then why do you want this curse?” Robin asked, a hint of desperation and confusion leaking through her usual calm mask.

“Knowledge isn’t a curse, I like learning, and history is important. I’m already saddling myself with being hunted down. Besides, it’d be pretty awkward if I found some world shattering revelation and couldn’t read the fucking thing.” Roxie said with a smile. 

Robin sighed and shook her head. “I suppose you are right. It may be time to finally organize my notes into something resembling a lesson plan, after we survive the storm, of course.” 

“Yeah, I think being splattered across the Red Line wouldn’t make for a very good learning experience.” Roxie said.

Robin had to suppress a laugh as she finished her food and the Zoan left the dining hall to help outside. What was it with Ds and knocking on her walls? 

 ========================================================================

The storm followed them. It was the only explanation. Even in the throes of hunger and thirst, the last of the Krieg pirates could tell that this was the same storm. They had to brave it one last time, just for one or two more days. If this floating restaurant turned out to be a lie, they might just have to eat Gin, but that was a distant thought at the moment. Everyone was far more focused on survival.

========================================================================

There was so much to fix that Franky found himself remembering all the repairs the entire city needed every year after the Aqua Laguna. This wasn’t the first time he’d been homesick for Water 7, but it was the first time in a while. It was somewhat of a cycle that kept itself going, because whenever he’d remember Water 7, he’d try to distract himself with working on a ship or repairing something, but that would just bring back more memories. At least he kept remembering good advice this time around.

(“Do you see, boys? Feel that flex and sway. Even ships swim through the ocean.”)

“Oi! Cook! Pass the wrench!” Franky called as he stuck an arm out from the crawl space within the Baratie he had shimmied into. 

“I’m not joining your crew, you damn robot!” Sanji said as he handed Franky the wrench all the same.

“I never said ya would.” Franky said. “Besides, “I’m a cyborg, not a robot, get it straight.” He activated one of his nipple flashlights to get more light. Lighting a candle would have just done more damage, as he was investigating an issue with the gas tanks.

The cook took a long puff on his cigarette. “Damn stubborn monkey can’t even take no for an answer. Then Roxie joins him like it isn’t anything and even tries to get me to accept his offer! I have more important things to do here than run off to join a pirate crew.” 

“Y’know, I was in your position just a couple days ago.” Franky said. 

“What, did he eventually break down your iron spine or whatever’s in there?” Sanji asked. 

“Worse, he recruited my sister.”

“Roxie isn’t my sister!” Sanji objected.

“That wasn’t my point. Years ago, her family saved me from a shipwreck, and I was in their debt, building ships for them until their deaths. Then it was just us and her butlers, and one of them was a pirate gunning for her fortune. He tried to kill all of us the night after Luffy and his crew arrived. They helped me take down the Black Cat pirates that were coming to take the fortune.” Franky said as he moved a pipe out of the way so he could get a better look at what he’d identified as the fuel main.

“So what, he’s not as shitty as most pirates.” Sanji scoffed. 

“What I’m saying is that it wasn’t until Kaya tried to run off with Luffy that I accepted maybe tying myself down to repaying some kind of debt instead of trying to fulfill my dream was a mistake.” Franky concluded. “Hand me the epoxy, I think I found the problem.”

“But you’re still with that family. Kaya’s on the crew with you.” Sanji pointed out as he handed Franky a jar.

“Yeah, but that’s not because I’m trying to repay a debt to her parents for helping save my life. It’s because our dreams are compatible, along with the captain’s dream. Building a ship to see the entire world goes well with becoming the Pirate King, don’t you think?” Franky said as he applied a rough fix to the problem. It would be better to replace the pipe wholesale, but covering the hole with a metal patch would work until after the storm had blown over. 

“Why would you go and become a criminal for something as childish as a dream?”

“Take it from a guy in his mid 30s who installed flashlights into his nipples because he thought it’d be funny, kid, being childish isn’t that bad. Accepting that is one of the most mature things you can do, far as I can tell.” Franky advised. “Everyone has a dream, even if they don’t realize it. If your dream is to take over this restaurant, I wouldn’t blame you for staying here and trying to do that. If it’s anything else on the seas, Luffy already made the offer.” 

Sanji didn’t respond. By the time Franky had wormed his way back out into the kitchen, the cook was gone. Franky went off to find something else to try and fix. He hoped he’d given the boy plenty to think about. 

========================================================================

A pirate with only his feet, head, and hands left to his name drifts on the East Blue on a small raft, desperately searching for his body or his crew. He encounters a small island and helps an old man discover that the treasure he had been searching for all his life was a lie, but that the real treasure was the friends he made along the way. The pirate spends the night on the island before moving on in his quest. 

========================================================================

As Jinbe took a short break from the chaos, he found himself remembering better times. He remembered the days when he could trust that his uncle’s words were right. The days when Fisher Tiger and Queen Otohime were alive and the dream of free fishmen on the surface didn’t seem so impossible. Then things began to go wrong, and there wasn’t anything he could do to stop it. 

(He remembered the days before his captain’s death. Koala had bunked with him while they took her home, and he would never forget the constant, disturbingly permanent smile on her face. Watching it slowly melt and break over her days on the ship taught him something. Koala was enough to convince him that humans as a species weren’t the problem, but his uncle never seemed to get that.)

A smell drew Jinbe’s attention. The chef that Luffy kept trying to recruit was approaching him with a steaming pot that smelled amazing. “When was the last time you ate?” 

“I…” Jinbe tried to remember, but the last meal he could remember was when Zeff was explaining why they couldn’t find a port. That had been nearly two days ago, hadn’t it?

“I thought so. Here, I remembered your order from the party.” Sanji said, handing the fishman the pot.  A couple weeks ago, Arlong had hosted a party at the Baratie as a gathering for Fishmen from across the East.

“Oh, thank you.” Jinbe said before taking the lid off of the pot to reveal a whole slow roasted coconut crab resting on a bed of rice. The delicious smell reminded his appetite of its job, and Jinbe began devouring the crab, using shards of the shell to scoop up the rice. 

The cook lit up a new cigarette with a thoughtful expression as Jinbe ate. He looked out the window as the storm raged outside. They were in another calmer period, and Jinbe hoped it was a sign that the storm was finally dying.

“You looked happy during the party.” Sanji said, breaking the silence as Jinbe cleaned his teeth with the thin end of one of the crab’s feet.

“It was fun, and you were great hosts.” Jinbe said. He’d been able to forget they were so far from home, at least for a couple days.

“Why did you leave that crew?” Sanji asked. 

Jinbe was quiet for a few moments as he thought about his answer. “I realized my uncle was too far gone.” The cook made a ‘go on’ gesture with his cigarette. “Queen Otohime, the queen of Fishman Island, tried her best to make fishmen accepted above the waves, it was her dream. Fisher Tiger, leader of the Fishman Pirates wanted the same, but he was far more focused on fighting our oppressors than gaining equality. I was the cabin boy on the ship, and my uncle Arlong was an officer on the crew. When Fisher Tiger died, the crew fell apart, and my uncle was only able to keep a small portion of the crew together to form a new crew, the Arlong Pirates.” 

“That’s why a bunch of you had that sun tattoo, yeah?” Sanji asked.

“It was to replace the Dragon’s Foot mark on the former slaves among us and keep anyone from figuring out which of us had been enslaved before. It was Fisher Tiger’s flag. It’s a mark of pride that I don’t regret accepting.” Jinbe explained, pulling aside his shirt to show the mark on his chest. “My uncle insisted we all get new tattoos to mark us as the Arlong Pirates after we set out. That, however, I regret.”

Sanji took a long drag on his cigarette. “This is where it all goes wrong, isn’t it.”

“Fisher Tiger went after marines, slavers, anyone who had an anti-fishman reputation. My uncle went farther.” Jinbe explained. “We attacked civilian ships, ports without marine bases, and more. It wasn’t all at once, but over the years he became worse and worse. He started talking about how we were supposedly superior to humans in every way and thus should have been the ones on top. I argued with him, but he was the captain, and I convinced myself that all of the random harm we were causing was necessary, that my Queen’s dream couldn’t be fulfilled without a threat behind it.”

(He cursed himself for it, sometimes. For being young and taking the easy option of believing that it would all work out, that his uncle was right because he had been in all those meetings with Fisher Tiger that JInbe had been too young to attend. Jinbe knew it was unfair to blame his younger self for having faith in his family, but sometimes, in the dead of night, he didn’t care.)

“What changed?”

“After the party, my uncle gathered everyone below your ship.” There was a flash of lightning. “He said this wasn’t just a party, that he had gathered everyone together for something bigger. He wanted to found a Fishman Empire, so that we could walk on the surface without worrying about slavery or prejudice. It was a wonderful idea, but then he said he already had a target, a village on a remote island, far from any marine bases and with easy access to the sea.” Jinbe explained, memories flashing through his mind. “It was the last straw. I couldn’t take any more, and Queen Otohime would never have approved of founding an empire just to treat humans as horribly as we were treated. I left the Arlong Pirates and searched for someone who might be able to take down my uncle ”

“And you really think that idiot can do that?” Sanji asked skeptically.

“Luffy may be somewhat simple at times, but he is pure of heart. I have seen him fight, and I have watched him battle and win against two of the strongest pirates in the East Blue purely because someone asked him to. I am confident that we may be able to defeat Arlong and end an empire before it starts.” That was saying nothing of Franky and Robin, but the captain’s ideals were just as important as the rest of the crew’s fighting capability.

Sanji was silent for a few moments, and before he could respond, one of the chefs came bursting into the dining hall. “There’s a ship coming, off the port bow!”

========================================================================

“That’s the Baratie alright, although I thought those other pirates would have left by now.”

“They don’t matter, and even if they do, they’ll make a great start on the Krieg Fleet once again.”

========================================================================

A galleon with a dragon figurehead slowly approached the Baratie and Going Merry. Zeff and I got a good look at it from the top deck, where I had just finished helping the old man fix a hole in his ceiling after lightning struck the Baratie. The figurehead nearly hit the railing as it stared us in the face. I somewhat wished I had access to what a visual snail could have done, because I kind of wanted to frame the supremely unimpressed expression on Zeff’s face as he stared down the massive flagship. 

I could just barely make out the jolly roger of the Krieg Pirates flapping in the wind far above our heads. The moans of the starved crew echoed from across the deck. This was definitely Don Krieg’s ship, and the damage matched a storm just like this one. They may have even been hit by this storm before it was weakened in the trip over the Calm Belt.

(A part of me I was still trying to kill asked if Zeff’s roof being broken and a galleon approaching the ship, just as in the timeline I knew, was a sign that it was all preordained.)

It was at this moment I remembered that Zeff had been to the Grand Line and nearly smacked myself. “Oh yeah, could you teach me Haki?”

Zeff turned to begin heading for the stairs as he answered my question. “I suppose none of the marines would teach you?”

“No, and it was very frustrating because they never talked about how they got it, just that training it was grueling. Every time I tried to ask they refused because I didn’t have clearance.” I claimed, pumping all of my frustration about my own, private failed attempts into my voice.

“Well, they were right, only commodores and above get Haki training, and it’s mandatory for vice admirals. They were also complaining because Haki isn’t something you can be taught in a day, or even a week. It can take years to cover the basics, like learning to cook pufferfish or similar delicacies.” Zeff explained. “There is no quick or easy way to learn how to bring your soul to bear against your opponents. You will need to find a teacher on the Grand Line, and either stay with them for training or convince them to join your crew. I don't even know how to use Haki, or I would have taught Sanji, and he could have taught you.” 

I let out a deep sigh as we descended through the ship. “That makes sense, even if I don’t like it. Is there any way to tell who has it?”

“One of the most basic techniques of Haki is using it to sense others using the other two most basic techniques, which can look like a pulse of power or a black coating to the trained eye respectively. The former makes people pass out, and the latter strengthens whatever the user puts their Haki into.” Zeff explained. “You won’t be able to tell just by looking unless someone is using enough Haki that even someone without that technique can see the black covering their skin, but keep an eye out for anyone who could, say, fight off a swordsman with a fork. You should be able to figure it out from there.”

Fuck. “Thank you for the advice.” I knew it wouldn’t be that simple, but I had to try. At least that explained how inconsistent the visuals for Haki were before the timeskip.

We got to the kitchen just as the front doors for the dining hall slammed open. Zeff began preparing to cook a large feast as I went down the spiral staircase and rested my elbows on the railing to watch the proceedings unfold.

Don Krieg was a large man, and his large cloak and well hidden golden armor helped sell that image of him. He also looked more battered and weary than I had expected, but I suppose being chased by the very storm that took them down was more difficult than just fleeing Mihawk. Gin was supporting him and begging for aid from the chefs taking a break in the dining hall, along with a few of my fellow Straw Hats.

“Please, my captain hasn’t eaten in days, he needs food!”

“Shove it, pirate. We’re not serving customers during a storm like this!” Patty retorted, to a general murmur of support from the gathered chefs.

I felt Sanji pass behind me as he went up to the kitchen. “We have money this time!” Gin said desperately. “Please, the storm ruined all our food and water!” Krieg abruptly crashed to the ground. “Captain!”

The pirate admiral rose to a shaky bow on his knees with his head pressed to the ground. “Please… We’ve been drifting for days, I’ll take leftovers, anything…”

Intellectually, I knew what this man had probably done. I knew his reputation just from how everyone was treating him. What I also knew was that I could hear both Sanji and Zeff cooking up a storm in the kitchen above me, and that there was a basket of freshly baked flatbread and a pitcher of water waiting for me to pick up in the area where the chefs left dishes for the waiters. It was pretty clear what they intended for me to do.

“I swear, I’m the new girl around here and even I know this isn’t what the old man wanted when he founded this place. Y'all should be ashamed.” I said as I pushed through the crowd of chefs and began setting up a place setting on the table closest to the front doors.

“What are you doing, Roxie?!” Patty yelled from his place at the forefront of the crowd.

“What one of you should have done when a starving man walked in here. You’re chefs aren’t you?” I crouched down on the other side of the pirate captain from Gin. “Help me get him up to the table.”

Gin blinked at me for a couple seconds. “What?”

“I said help me lift him up so he can sit at the table. This is a restaurant, people eat at tables, not on the ground.” I said.

“Thank…. You…” Don Krieg said, and it honestly made me question just how much of this was an act. Either he was a better actor than I expected, or he was at least partially reduced to this state by sheer hunger. 

“Alright, one, two, three!” I counted out the signal to lift the very heavy pirate off the ground and back onto his feet. It took a few heavy steps, but we got him to the table, where he immediately began scarfing down the appetizer of flatbread.

“Your real meal should be here shortly, of course, but this should tide you over till then.” I said, partially slipping into waitress mode.

“What, no, don’t feed him! He’s a dangerous pirate!” Someone in the crowd of chefs objected.

“He’s a starved man out on the open ocean during a storm, with who knows how many others out there on that ship. I swear, am I the only one who actually asked why the old man founded this place?!” I said.

“She’s right.” Sanji said as he descended the stairs, carrying a large bowl of fried rice and a bottle of rum. The crowd of chefs parted to let him approach the table. “I will take it from here, mademoiselle Roxie.”

I barely held back a snort. “As you wish, good sir. I will leave you to it.” I walked off to stand with Jinbe, who was watching the pirate eat with an expression I couldn’t quite read. Luffy was off in the crowd, and I guessed the rest of the crew were dealing with the storm while we all dealt with the pirates. 

“What did you mean, that this was why this restaurant was founded?” Jinbe asked.

“I never heard the full story, but Zeff told me it was because he nearly starved after being shipwrecked. One of his dreams during that time was for a floating restaurant to pass by and rescue them.” I explained quietly. 

“Most of the employees don’t seem to care about that.” Jinbe pointed out.

“About two weeks ago, I was in the North Blue. I boarded a party ship and got so drunk that when I woke up, I was in the East, on this ship. They fished me out of the ocean, naked and hungover. The story stuck with me.” I explained. 

“Why did you want to join our crew?” Jinbe asked.

“Luffy’s brother is cleaning the North. Besides, I had to help the old man get Sanji off this boat somehow.” I said. 

“What does Luffy’s brother have to do with this?”

“Don’t you read the newsp-”

My statement was cut off by Krieg slamming down the empty bottle of rum and belching like a king. The sheer improvement the meal had made for him really made me wonder what was going on in this world’s human biology. Just how fast could we absorb nutrients? There was never a concern of forcing the body into shock by suddenly eating too much. I really had to go look at some medical textbooks at some point, if only to know what was going on in my own body. 

(Oh by Nikka I was going to have to deal with periods, that was something I hadn’t thought about yet. I promptly locked that thought away until it would eventually be relevant.)

“Ah, that was a great meal. Of course, I expect the rest of my crew to get similar treatment.” Krieg was saying as I zoned back in.

“Of course, sir. Our head chef is preparing a feast as we speak.” I said, attempting to placate the captain, who was eyeing us as if evaluating our fighting capabilities. He hadn’t lashed out quite yet, but that didn’t mean he was docile. 

“Good. I’ll expect similar promptness when you are all part of my new fleet.” Krieg said.

I made sure I was standing mostly behind Jinbe as the entire dining hall erupted in objections. The boy wasn’t as large as he would be in his 40s, but he was still a whale shark fishman, and that brought both strength and size.

“This wasn’t what we agreed to, Don Krieg!” Gin said, shouting over the crowd.

“I told you when we approached that we needed more men, Gin. The entire fleet needs to be rebuilt, and this will be a fine start. The rest can come from finer, Grand Line stock during our second attempt to enter that hell of an ocean.” Krieg stated.

“Hey Luffy!” I called across the hall.

“What, snail girl?” Luffy asked as everyone turned to watch the exchange.

“That guy’s got the second highest bounty in the East, I bet you’ll get a pretty big starting bounty if you beat his face in for trying to recruit you.” I said. 

“Oh, nice!” was all I got in response before Luffy launched himself at Krieg.

“Did you have to do that?” Sanji asked as he got out of the way of the two brawling captains.

“Yes.” I said, utterly unashamed. They would have started fighting anyway, after all.  

“You do realize they’re going to destroy all of our tables, right?” Sanji pointed out, motioning to the already destroyed table that Krieg had been eating at moments before.

“Right.” I nodded. “Luffy! Take him outside!”

“Alright!” Luffy called back as he used the handles on the front door to do a Gum Gum Rocket, which launched both him and Krieg out onto the deck.

“The doors weren’t much better!” Sanji said in frustration.

“Hold on.” I said as the dust cleared. There was suddenly sunlight streaming in through the open doors, and the sky outside showed a mildly cloudy day, but the storm was gone. “Where’d the storm go?”

Before anyone could answer, there was a sound like a thunderclap from outside before a tall, red haired woman in shorts, a tight tshirt, and a cloudy shawl walked through the ruins of the front door. She was dragging Luffy and Krieg by the back of their shirts, and both of them were smoking as if they had just been electrocuted. Krieg was dazed, and Luffy was pouting with an egg sized lump on his forehead. She let them drop to the ground before dusting off her hands, which made me notice her left arm was an advanced metal prosthetic.

“Alright, I need a quick bite before heading off to deal with the chucklefucks who decided to mess with my hometown. Consider dealing with the storm and these lunatics for you as your payment.”

The Golden Cartographer had arrived. 

Chapter Text

Alongside ‘Desert King’ Sir Crocodile and “The Tyrant” Jewelry Bonney, “The Golden Cartographer’ Nami is one of the few modern Warlords to commonly work with the government, rather than use their position to act as a ‘legal’ pirate. Most attribute this to her famed greed, as Warlords, unlike normal pirates, can freely claim the bounties of their opponents. While she lacks any sort of Devil Fruit abilities, her absurd understanding of weather science, incredibly advanced prosthetic arm, and living cloud companion more than make up for this, allowing her to stand toe to toe with Dracule Mihawk, the Greatest Swordsman, who stands as the only other modern Warlord without a Devil Fruit. 

Many pirates, bounty hunters, and sea beasts have fallen to the former Weather Witch’s ability to manipulate the weather as a conductor would manipulate their orchestra. Just as many islands have been saved from natural disasters such as typhoons and droughts by the Golden Cartographer, often at absurd prices. Despite this, most of her clients claim that the prices they paid were more than worth it, as the lives saved were worth more than any amount of gold they were forced to pay. 

-Excerpt from ‘The Three Great Powers, 10th edition’, a guide to some of the most powerful people in the modern world. The author remains unknown despite the fact that some of the information on the Warlords and Emperors of the Sea could only have been obtained from personal interviews. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Here is your food, Ma’am.”

“Thank you, dear.” Nami took the food from the young waitress with a smile and a wink.

The girl flushed and looked away, which made Nami smile into her drink as she took a sip. It was fun to tease people like this, especially the gay kids. Now, she couldn’t tell if someone was gay the same way she could tell it was going to be foggy in about an hour, but the waitress had stared at her chest for far too long to be fully straight.  It might not have been nearly as bad as when Nami was a kid but geez girl, combined with that dye job, and she might as well have been screaming it to the heavens.

The warlord turned her attention to the large wooden space that now surrounded the Baratie after Zeff had pulled a lever. She had a good view of the two pirates tied up on opposite ends of the semi-circle from her place in one of the VIP balcony seats. The goose egg she’d given the rubbery kid was long gone and Krieg had mostly recovered from being struck by a Thunder Tempo. 

She’d originally been in the first half of Paradise because Garp had called and ordered her to go deal with a pirate fleet headed into the Grand Line, but by the time she got there, the situation was preparing to take care of itself. The area around Reverse Mountain was meteorologically antagonistic on the best of days, but the storm the Krieg Fleet sailed into was one of the rare typhoons Weatheria called Catastrophes. They were Grand Line storms strong enough to make it into the Blues and could wipe out small islands.

While Nami was confident the fleet of East Blue ships wouldn’t survive the storm, she had kept an eye on them from within the eye of the storm to make sure. The flagship, a converted Marine Battle, was the only one to make it back into the East due to the Seastone coating on the bottom of the hull. It was child's play to keep the storm going vaguely in their direction as it lost power, even if she did briefly lose track of them.

It was now a couple days later, and the storm was getting into inhabited waters, so she decided to break it and deal with the pirates herself. The 17 million bounty on the captain’s head was chump change to her at this point, but every Berri counted. Some of the bounty for him would have gone to the Marines, given she was a Warlord, but Arlong’s bounty would more than cover the difference.

Nami stood up and snapped her prosthetic left hand, creating a small thunderclap which drew the attention of everyone waiting to see why she had them drag these two pirates out there. She leaned against the railing as she began speaking. “Alright, Straw Hat Luffy and Pirate Commodore Krieg, you two are going to fight. I’m told you both want to go to the Grand Line. Whoever wins gets some tips for the journey and a map of the world better than any you’re going to get any time soon. Whoever loses gets turned in to the Marines.”

Both of the pirates stiffened at the threat before eyeing each other, clearly sizing their opponent up. Honestly, for Nami, the fight was a foregone conclusion. Krieg might have had one of the highest bounties in the East, but frankly most of that came from his fleet rather than just himself. By contrast, his opponent was Monkey D Luffy, one of Garp’s grandsons. She’d known the old bastard since she was still in the Marine Survey Corp, and frankly some of the stories her mother had told her from his younger days would have gotten him a bounty if he wasn’t a Marine Cadet already.

Luffy was going to win this, obviously. This whole competition was just an excuse to have lunch and a show. “As for the rules, standard Davy Back Captain Fight guidelines. The platform you two are currently on is the arena, and the first person to touch the rest of the boat or the water loses. It’s not quite fifty meters, but I have things to do. No tricks, no trying to loophole your way out of this, Krieg. Zeff’s the referee. I want a quick, clean fight that’s over by the time I finish lunch.” She gave a quick double clap, which made Hera unwind herself from around the two pirates and return to his usual position within her prosthetic providing just the right amount of heat to ease her aching stump of a shoulder. “Go!” 

The two captains launched into combat, but Nami lost interest relatively quickly. She’d expected as much, but these were just two East Blue pirates going at it. Don Krieg had some decent tricks, but she’d seen better the few times she’d happened to be in the area when the Foxy Pirates were doing their thing. Luffy’s devil fruit was interesting, but she’d seen Katakuri use a similar fighting style in more interesting ways before. He definitely had potential, Don Krieg wasn’t enough to make him show most of it. 

As she sat down and began to work her way through the fish and sea salad Zeff had prepared for her, Nami noticed the waitress had stayed on the balcony. She was still holding the bottle of wine she’d used to pour Nami’s drink, which justified her presence. Or rather, it would have if she wasn’t so blatantly trying not to stare at the Warlord.

“You aren’t being very subtle, you know.” Nami said after a minute or so.

“Sorry, sorry, I just, as a young pirate I can only dream of ending up as awesome as you are.” The waitress rambled out. 

Nami hummed. “I didn’t think Zeff was acting as a pirate captain anymore.”

“Oh, no, I’m currently waiting for Luffy to finish convincing Sanji to join his crew before joining myself.” She explained.

“Good, Zeff’s been trying to get rid of that boy for years now.” Nami agreed. “For a member of his crew, you don’t seem too interested in your captain’s fight.”

The waitress shrugged. “Luffy’s, well, Monkey D Luffy.” She said, as if that explained everything, which it did.

“You put the pieces together.” Nami said approvingly. “Good. A mind like that will take you far.” 

Wild cheering from Don Krieg’s ship drew both of the women’s attention to the fight, where Luffy had been knocked high into the air by a golf swing from the commodore, who was using some sort of spear now. The boy managed to grab onto the platform and land safely, but it was a near thing. Luffy had nearly gone straight through the commodore’s ship’s sail.

“We were actually on our way to Cocoyashi, before the storm hit and everything.” The waitress said.

“I hope you weren’t planning on a raid or something stupid like that.” Nami said, a hint of threat in her voice.

“No, no, no!” the young pirate frantically denied. “Our helmsman knew about the occupation and asked Luffy to help on his way to the Grand Line.”

“Now isn’t that convenient.” Nami said as something resembling a plan began forming in the back of her head. “Leave the wine here and go make sure your crew’s gathered. The fight shouldn’t last much longer.”

“Yes, Maam!” The waitress said before dashing off. Nami caught the wine bottle before it fell off the table. It was good to see the next generation had so much energy. 

Nami finished off the last of her meal as she flushed out her plan. The village had already been under Arlong’s thumb for a few weeks at this point; they could survive another day. She chugged the rest of the wine, a cheap tangerine wine, just like always.

“GUM GUM CROSSBOW!”

The boy’s shout drew her attention back to the fight, where Luffy had grabbed hold of Don Krieg’s legs and was swinging the man around in a circle as his body unwound from the tight coil it had been in. The commodore went faster and faster until Luffy let go, which made him sail up and over his own flagship. A loud splash told everyone exactly what had happened to the man.

Everyone on the Baratie began cheering wildly for Luffy as those on the galleon had roughly the opposite reaction. Nami snapped her left hand once again, drawing out Hera. “Go deal with them, would you?”

“Of course, Nami dear.” The Homie said lazily as she floated off to collect Don Krieg and incapacitate the rest of his crew. 

“And Straw Hat Luffy wins!” Nami announced as she stood up. “Someone call the marines.”

She had a monkey to make an offer to.

========================================================================

Kaya shook her hand out as her latest attempts to move the black spots around gave her cramps. 

She’d been on the edge of her seat the whole fight, because seeing Luffy fight was a spectacle. Sure, he bounced around all the time, but her captain seemed to start taking things a bit more seriously when the match started, and that was awesome. It was great to see that Luffy would have been able to take down Kalhadore Kuro even if she hadn’t helped. She’d chosen to follow the right man.

Now the Straw Hats were waiting for the Warlord to explain why she had them all gather on the platform while Luffy got medical treatment from his fight. She had helped, of course, and tried to learn all she could, but now the doctor was trying to figure out what poison Krieg had used on those weird poisoned suction cup darts of his, and that was way beyond her textbook knowledge. That part wasn’t just confusing her, either.

“But why are they suction cups?” Jinbe was asking.

“Perhaps he ran out of more traditional ammunition on his journey through the Calm Belt?” Robin suggested.

“No, darts like this-” Franky held up one of the darts for reference. “-can’t be fired from a normal gun, they need a special launching mechanism. He chose to use these as a standard part of his arsenal.”

“And his ship’s a converted Marine transport ship, so it’s coated with seastone on the bottom. That means he wouldn’t have wasted all of his real ammo on Sea Kings on the way over the Calm Belt anyway.” Roxie said.

“Could one of you hold this brat down? I need to inject the anti-venom and he’s squirming too much!” The ship’s doctor called over.

“Allow me.” Robin said as she crossed her arms. “Veinte Fleur, Hold.”

Twenty or so arms suddenly sprouted from the deck, holding down Luffy’s right arm.

“Thank you.”

“Maybe it’s because he’s cruel.” Roxie suggested, rubbing her chin. “Y’know, leaving opponents to die slowly even if they escape?” 

Their attention was drawn to Luffy as he screamed at the sky. The doctor was backing away with the used up needle, and Luffy was apparently trying to scream in victory or something, but the effect was somewhat ruined by Robin still holding down his right arm. When she let her arms fade into petals, the force of Luffy’s arm suddenly being released sent the rubber man up into the sky.

“I’ve got him!” Roxie said as she held out her arms to catch the boy. She got the location right, but the force of his landing sent both of them to the ground in a heap. “Ow.”

“I survived!” Luffy declared as he shot right back up.

“Do you not like needles, Luffy?” Kaya asked.

“No! They hurt and make my arm feel weird!” Luffy pouted as the purplish marks from the suction cups began fading.

Roxie got up while muttering darkly about something, but they never found out what it was, because at the same time the front doors of the Baratie slammed open.

“Good, you all are together.” Nami said. “I heard you were on your way to Cocoyashi after this?”

“Yes, Ma’am. I need to help free the town from my uncle’s tyranny.” Jinbe said.

The warlord clapped. “Well, kid, you’re in luck, because Cocoyashi happens to be my home town.”

“I am so sorry for what my uncle has done, Ma’am.” Jinbe said as he pressed his forehead into the deck.

“No, you’re not in trouble. You wanted to help.” Nami pointed out. “Because of that, I wanted to offer you and your captain a deal.”

“What do you want?” Luffy asked bluntly.

“You have first claim on beating Arlong into the ground, I can accept that. I was going to just fly over, but I think my home can survive the day’s journey it would take for you to sail over. What I want you to do when you get there is simple.” Nami said. “I want you to break Arlong Park.”

“What has my uncle done?” Jinbe asked, his face pale.

“He has forced the population of my home town to start building him a palace. I want you to destroy it before I get there.”

“We were probably already going to do that.” Robin pointed out.

“And why aren’t you just going to fry Arlong to a crisp in a couple hours?” Roxie asked.

“That’s easy. If I don’t stay here to escort the Krieg Pirates to the nearest Marine base, Luffy’s grandfather will catch up to you.” 

Robin, Roxie, and Luffy’s faces turn pale at that revelation. 

“Why is that important?” Kaya asked.

“You don’t know?” Nami raised an eyebrow. “Garp the Fist’s full name is ‘Monkey D Garp.’” 

Kaya joined Jinbe and Franky in a collective “WHAT?!” 

Franky was the first to recover, and he grabbed Kaya’s wrist. “Come on, Kaya, we don’t have bounties yet, we can get back to Syrup before the Marine Hero arrests us for humoring his grandson.”

“No! I’m staying here, I refuse to let my adventure end before we even dock at a real island!” Kaya said, ripping her wrist out of Franky’s grip. She noted her hand was pure black.

Meanwhile, Jinbe was solemnly nodding. “Even if I am captured, I will have upheld Fisher Tiger’s legacy.” 

“Come on guys, we just need to outrun him! We’ll be fine.” Roxie said. 

“Yeah!” Luffy says, but it's noticeably less enthusiastic than normal.

“Of course, if Arlong isn’t ready for me to haul straight to Impel Down by the time I get back home in a couple days, or if any of you harm my home town, I might end up at least 80 million berries richer.” Nami said nonchalantly.

Kaya hesitantly raised her hand. “Isn’t the consolation bounty only 100K berries?”

“You can ask your First Mate about that when you get out to sea, little lady.” Nami said before turning to Luffy. “Do we have a deal, Monkey?”

Luffy suddenly looked serious again, like he had during the fight, and Kaya felt a chill go down her spine despite not even being the target of the look. “Yes.”

Nami clapped again. “Great! Now, there should be just enough time for you to have a quick victory party before heading off. You kids have fun, I’m going to go get paid for dealing with these idiots.” 

The Warlord was turning towards the Krieg flagship when Roxie spoke up. “Hold on, can I just ask one question before you go?” 

Nami rolled her eyes. “Sure, but if it’s stupid I’m charging you per letter.”

“Why did a cartographer like you become a Warlord? Aren’t they meant to be pirates?”

Nami chuckled at that as she shrugged. “My uncle Senny and I disagreed on whether or not an island existed. Nothing more than that.”

Roxie and Robin had the exact same look of revelation on their faces as a tendril of golden clouds pulled Nami up into the flagship and out of sight.

“Oh.”

“Oh my.”

Kaya pointed at both of the long haired girls. “You two know something.”

“Who cares, it's time to PARTY!” Luffy shot off like a cheetah into the Baratie before anyone could stop him. 

“It’s Robin’s story to tell.” Roxie said, gesturing to their First mate. 

A pained expression crossed Robin’s face before she took a deep breath and began explaining. “My bounty stems from the same incident that made the Golden Cartographer a criminal, it seems.” 

“But aren’t you wanted for destroying some battleships?” Jinbe asked skeptically.

“I was 8 at the time, Jinbe. You should be smart enough to realize I couldn’t have done that with my fruit at the time.” Robin retorted.

“Of course, you and Luffy could probably take out most of the Eastern Fleet in an afternoon if you really tried.” Roxie said.

Robin rolled her eyes. “Yes, but I’ve had over twenty years to practice, and Luffy has had a decade. Given the strength of the Eastern Fleet, most pairs of Devil Fruit users could feasibly do the same with enough practice.” 

“Even two people with models of the Fish Fish fruit?”

“There’s a Fish Fish fruit? How does that work?” Franky asked.

“Kaido has one of the mythical models, so presumably normal ones exist.” Roxie claimed. 

“Why do you know the specific name of Kaido’s Devil Fruit? How?!” Kaya asked.

“One of the older Marines in my hometown worked at Punk Hazard when Kaido was being experimented on there.” Roxie said.

“What in the name of-”

“GUYS, THERE’S FOOD IN HERE, COME EAT!” Luffy called from the dining hall, interrupting Kaya’s incredulous question.

Kaya sighed as she followed the group inside. She was learning too much today, and it was great, but there was only so much she could take at once.

========================================================================

I had discovered just one small problem with my new body.

I couldn’t get drunk. 

This was a problem because I’d intended to give some big drunken declaration to Sanji to push him over the edge of joining the crew, because there hadn’t been any big ‘Zoro nearly dies for his dream to show Sanji dreams are worth pursuing’ moment yet. I thought it was going to be easy, because I knew that old trick of putting out a cup of beer and waiting for snails to dive in and die, but apparently that was for other reasons than drunkenly falling in, or I was just wrong entirely. How did I figure all of this out, you might ask? Well, I was currently on my second full bottle of the highest proof whiskey Zeff had, the kind that could be used as a medical disinfectant in an emergency. 

This was also my first indication that some of my snail traits leaked through to my fully human form, because I wasn’t in either of my snail forms for the second bottle. This made sense, because of what I knew of Chopper and his experimentation, but it was interesting to notice this detail for myself. It was also possible this was a trait unique to Transponder Snails, or this universe’s snails in general, which seemed plausible, but I couldn’t be sure. I wasn’t an expert on snails. I hadn’t exactly expected to be able to turn into one. 

My musings were interrupted by Luffy crashing through the ceiling and landing at my feet. I leaned over him and saw that he had a distinctly shoe shaped crater in his face.

“Did you try to steal food from the kitchen? There’s plenty in here, you know.”

“No! I was asking Sanji to join, because we’re leaving soon, but he refused again!” Luffy whined before pulling his face back to normal. 

I rolled my eyes. “Here, let me try. Also, I think Zeff wanted to talk to you?”

“Alright, thanks!” Luffy said before he vanished into the crowd.

I finished off my bottle of whiskey and made my way to the kitchen through the party. I sidestepped Jinbe and Franky’s arm wrestling competition, jumped over Kaya failing at limbo, and waved at Robin, who was discussing recipes with one of the older chefs. Luffy was busy refusing Zeff’s log book, which I could respect. Granted, between Robin and I, he’d have more information available than Zeff could have ever recorded in such a small book, but that was different. 

Sanji was the only chef in the kitchen, and he was juggling at least three different dishes between various pots and pans. It didn’t make any sense, but it smelled good, so she didn’t question it much. He also had to step around the hole in the floor where Luffy had crashed down into the dining hall. The blond boy was so immersed in his cooking that he didn’t notice when I leaned against the counter beside him. 

It took a few minutes, but Sanji eventually noticed I was there, although he didn’t acknowledge me beyond a side-eye as he put something in an oven. 

“Are you just going to ignore me this entire time?”

“Well, as we learned on Tuesday, you can’t cook, so I couldn’t exactly ask you to help.” Sanji said dryly.

“I just wanted to thank you all for saving me, and cookies seemed like a great way to do that. It was an honest mistake.” I defended myself.

“I would have appreciated it more if we didn’t have to chisel the cookies out of the cooling rack.”

“They were always on one of those racks when my grandmother made cookies!”

“Yes, because she took them off of the cookie sheet after they were finished baking.” 

I tried to push down the embarrassment as Sanji turned his attention back to his cooking.

“So, what’s on your mind? Normally by now you’d have gone full loverboy.”

“Why did you choose to go with that kid?”

“I left my homeland to see more of the world, and Luffy is going to get to the end of the Grand Line.”

(I’d been kidnapped to another dimension, but he didn’t need to know that, not yet.)

“Why are you so confident in that? You’ve known him for less than a week.”

“It’s complicated, and he’s Garp the Fist’s grandson.” 

Sanji stared at me in disbelief for a few seconds before he turned back again.

“I meant what I said. I’m not leaving this ship without you.”

“I have a debt to repay.”

“I’m pretty sure Zeff would prefer if you paid him back with a life well lived instead of being tied down to your childhood home.”

(Germa might have been where he lived as a kid, but he didn’t have a childhood there. Zeff was his father in all but biology, and my knowledge of another world only confirmed what I could have figured out from my time here.) 

“And what if I want to stay here? What if I’m happy here?”

“Then the prospect of leaving wouldn’t be so tempting for you.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Don’t make me go get Zeff’s permission to kidnap you.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Watch me!” I stepped around him and stuck my head through the hole in the floor. “Hey Zeff, can we kidnap Sanji? He’s being an idiot.”

“Go ahead! The eggplant needs to get out of here before he starts getting moldy.”

I dusted off my pants as I stood up. “See! He clearly wants you to come with, not stick around here.”

“Listen to the girl, brat! I didn’t save your life to see you waste away full instead of starving to death!”

If it weren’t for the food, I think Sanji would have whipped out a cigarette there and then. As it was, he instead aggressively began stir frying something, abandoning a pot he had been stirring as he shifted the pot off the stove to make space for his wok. 

“Tell me honestly, Sanji. Do you have a dream, or do you plan to spend the rest of your father’s life arguing with him over the fact you gave up on having a dream in favor of this ship?” 

Sanji flicked his wrist, and the contents of the wok went flying in an arc towards a large bowl. When the stir fry assembled itself perfectly in the bowl, Sanji finished it off with a ladle of sauce from the pot. The oven dinged, and Sanji used his feet to open the oven, slide out the tray, and kick the contents up onto a plate. He used the stir fry bowl to crack open the coconut he had just kicked out of the oven and slid a straw inside just in time.

“FINE!” Sanji yelled as he slammed the food down onto a serving tray. “I’ll leave this shitty restaurant, I’ll be your damned cook, and I’ll find the All Blue! Is that good enough for you?!”

I laughed. “Well, captain, is it?”

“Yeah!” Two rubbery arms shot through the hole in the floor and wrapped around Sanji, who had approximately a single second to realize what was about to happen to him before he was pulled through the hole. There was a crash before Luffy continued. “Hey guys, look! We got a cook!”

I smiled as cheering erupted from beneath my feet. That could have gone better, but Sanji was on the crew! It was my first major success, even if I technically didn’t become a Straw Hat until a few seconds ago, per my own agreement with Luffy. This was going to be awesome, I was going to learn so much, I was going to almost die a dozen times in the next year but that was fine because I had a shell.

It was at this point that the magnitude of what I had agreed to while having literally no combat experience whatsoever hit me. I desperately needed to learn some form of combat, ideally before we got to Alabasta, because otherwise I got the distinct feeling I was going to end up dead. Half a dozen plans rattled through my brain like rickety trains, but the best idea I had at the moment was asking Jinbe for some Fishman Karate lessons. That had its own problems, because frankly speaking I wasn’t Robin, and so couldn’t hope to use a dozen arms to execute the techniques on air with the same effectiveness a Fishman could in the sea. There was also Rokushiki, the human equivalent of Fishman Karate, but I only knew how to perform two of the Six Powers, and I wasn’t nearly physically fit enough to perform either Moonwalk or Shave at the moment. 

(I’d have to train like Zoro to have a chance, even if I was apparently filling the role of one of the weakest crew members for now. I’d have to think up how to apply my Zoan transformations to combat…. Oooh that’s an idea, I’ll have to try that in Cocoyashi.)

I idly took the food Sanji had been making out onto the balcony and sat down. On the Robin-Franky Party Spectrum™ I was solidly on the Robin side, so I was just going to make sure this food didn’t go to waste while I tried to process what had just happened. Had Sanji been making this for himself? Oh well, he’d be glad to know someone put it to good use. 

(My first bite was like heaven, as always.)

So, Nami was… both awesome and terrifying. I’d insisted on doing my job as a waitress despite Sanji’s protests, because both Zeff and I knew that if that boy served her, he’d end up some kind of permanent debt slave. She seemed less greedy but still money hungry, if that made sense, which was easily explained by the fact she hadn’t had to pay off Arlong in this timeline. To make things easier on myself, I began putting together a rudimentary mental timeline of what in the name of Nika made Nami into a Warlord.

If Arlong never attacked Cocoyashi, then Nami would probably have become a cartographer, and her mother probably recommended her to the Marines survey corps, or some sort of equivalent. She called Sengoku “uncle Senny” which meant Bellmere was in Sengoku’s generation, and she knew him personally. Given that Nami looked to be in about her forties, this made sense. SIde note, she looked drop dead gorgeous for someone in her forties, but that wasn’t overly relevant to her timeline.

Getting back on track, the revelation about her path to being a Warlord explained exactly why she became a criminal. Her dream was to draw a complete map of the world, and the ‘wipe this island from all maps’ part of a properly executed Buster Call conflicted with that dream. Given her arm and the burn scar I saw peeking through her tshirt’s collar near her prosthetic, it was easy to conclude that she had likely been forced to participate in the Burning of Ohara, or at least been injured while trying to stop it. That didn’t explain where she got the arm or Hera, but something else I’d seen might.

There was a MADS logo on Nami’s prosthetic arm. 

MADS was the illegal research group Vegapunk was a part of before joining the World Government. It had been dissolved at some point, but apparently Nami managed to get her artificial arm from them before that point, maybe even when Dragon and Vegapunk met on Ohara for a funeral service after the Buster Call. Ohara was in the West Blue, which was just a trip across the Calm Belt from Tottoland, which meant Nami might have recovered under the care of Big Mom, and been granted Hera for her services. I couldn’t pin down a good year for when exactly she became a Warlord, but it had to have been over a decade ago, since her ascension to their ranks wasn’t in any of the newspapers I’d read in the Baratie’s collection. 

Thinking about her dream also brought into stark clarity the fact that I hadn’t decided on my own dream yet. I’d read a few in my time, mostly either getting home, finding the One Piece, or just having an adventure, but I wasn’t too bothered by all of those. Getting home was the most appealing, but that was because I liked the internet. Dr. Vegapunk was literally building that on Egghead, because he’d still built Punk Records based on the photos the newspaper showed of Egghead Isle. I’d have the internet within a decade, assuming I could butterfly away the government assault on Egghead. Adventuring was probably Kaya’s dream, and I didn’t want to copy her. Finding the One Piece was just a rewording of Luffy’s dream, so that was out as well. 

Eh, I had until Reverse Mountain to figure out what exactly I wanted to dream about for now, so it wasn’t a big deal. 

Garp following us was a problem, but live action Luffy had dealt with that, so my iteration could just as easily. Sakazuki was still in the North Blue, and I honestly didn't expect to see him in person until Alabasta or Drum. My biggest worry was that we would encounter one of the early movies, or a filler arc. I was less obsessed with those parts of the franchise, and had never even read the Law or Ace novels, so if any elements from them showed up, I was in trouble. That also gave me a very important reminder.

My knowledge wasn’t perfect, and it was probably already degrading. I had to write down everything I could remember, and hope I didn’t miss anything. Ideally it would be in a language no one else could read, but I didn’t know much about what languages anyone spoke even in the East, so my best bet was anything other than English, or as it was known here, Linian, because that was the language of the World Government in this universe, and thus universal. Traditional Eastern, or as I knew it, Japanese, was my second best bet, because it was the only other language I was fluent in. I’d have loved to write it all in Poneglyphic, but I didn’t expect to reach any degree of fluency with that language until Water 7. I’d have to rewrite all my notes and burn the original, but that was for later. 

For now, I had writing to do. 

========================================================================

Robin was… conflicted. 

The Golden Cartographer’s words kept echoing through her mind at the worst times. The idea that anyone could turn against the World Government after seeing what had been done to her home was obvious, self evident, even. The idea that someone could do that and then agree to work with them again, even as one of the relatively free Warlords, was difficult to accept. There was so much wrong with the idea that it felt like a paradox. She had tried to distract herself with the party, but that was long gone.

(The fires, Saul’s final laugh, Clover’s death. It all swirled in her mind over and over again, but she had to focus. They had a job to get back to doing.)

Now, they were returning the Going Merry to its normal state after the storm, which included carefully untying all of the many ropes holding it to the Baratie. Robin was taking care of most of that, spawning arms and eyes directly on the ropes to untie the majority of the knots. Luffy was having some sort of serious conversation with their helmsman, but she was too focused on her task to overhear much of it. They were separating as she spawned an ear nearby, which made her give up on the effort.

Their two newest crewmates were exempt from the efforts, as they were busy moving their stuff into their cabins. Robin had expected to have to share a room, when she first saw the Going Merry, but Franky had managed to fit ten decently sized personal cabins in various places across the ship, which was very comforting for her. Via the eyes she spawned to keep track of them, Robin could see which cabins Sanji and Roxie were claiming. Sanji had claimed the cabin directly next to the kitchen, fitting his role as the cook. Roxie had claimed the room under the cannon and anchor room. 

(Luffy had, of course, claimed the cabin within the figurehead. Robin’s was accessed from the meeting room. Franky and Jinbe’s cabins were next to each other, near the helm. Kaya’s was accessed from the storage room.)

Roxie’s luggage had been essentially one backpack of clothes, which gave her plenty of time to do something that Robin found interesting. She was currently journaling, or at least writing at a furious pace within a rather thick notebook. Robin wasn’t reading over her shoulder, she could respect another woman’s privacy, but it did make her curious. From the looks of things, this was a fresh book, so were the others in her backpack, or was this a new habit?

It occurred to her that she did not know what role Roxie would be fulfilling on their crew. It was time to rectify that.

“Ms. Snail?”

Roxie jolted from her seat with enough force to send her notebook nearly out of the room. The girl herself, however, was in her snail form, and had retreated into her shell. A single eye stalk emerged from the shell and spotted the mouth and ear she had spawned for this conversation.

“Ah.” Roxie emerged fully from her shell, and Robin noted she had more developed hands than more Transponder Snails she had seen. Perhaps a side effect of the Zoan transformation? “Sorry, I’m just not used to that yet. What did you need, Robin?”

“I wished to ask about your abilities. Luffy’s description of you amounted to ‘cool transforming snail lady’.”

The snail chuckled. “Well, you know that I know a lot of somewhat random, secret information, what else… I don’t have any combat experience or training. I have steady hands, good handwriting, and an artistic eye. I’m good at detective work, but that will probably end up a joint duty between the two of us… I think that’s about it, aside from my future capabilities as a Transponder Snail, once I’ve worked out how this whole thing works.”

Robin hummed. “I would have assumed that would be instinctual.”

“Only in the same way speaking is instinctual for us. There are so many social rules and calls going on that it’s hard to focus on any one frequency and know how to call anyone specific. I need a Den Den rig, probably, to help focus my abilities.” Roxie claimed. 

“Social rules?”

“I got told off by another Telesnail for accidentally screaming into the network the first time I tried to glance through the network. It’s complicated.”

“I see.” Robin thought for a bit. “If your handwriting is one of your strengths, would you like to make an attempt at writing our log? So far our attempts have been… of varying quality.”

“Luffy drew a picture book, didn’t he?”

“No, shockingly, his writing is so full of misspellings that it reads like a different dialect entirely. The rest of us have been rotating the duty, but it would be nice to have a dedicated scribe.”

“That makes sense. Where is the log?”

“Come up to the deck and I will show you, it’s near the main mast.”

“Alright, coming.”

Robin let most of her extra body parts fade into petals as she went to meet their scribe on the deck. So far, Roxie seemed just as trustworthy as the rest of the crew, and a good addition. Adding consistency to their logbook would be useful when looking back, and it was an easy duty to get the girl used to her place on the crew. Even if her fruit required some training, the possibilities for information gathering and communication were unheard of, as far as Robin was aware of. Roxie would be very useful going forward, as far as Robin could tell, but she kept her expectations low, in terms of abilities and trust.

She had been burned before.

Chapter Text

The Jolly Roger is a staple of modern piracy, dating back to the Pirate King himself, Gold Roger. There is a clear boundary in Pirate Flag design before and after the Roger Pirates reached prominence. Their flag, a Jolly Roger with a blond mustache, changed the standards for what made an iconic pirate flag. I will take a brief moment to describe the standards before Roger.

Before, the typical Pirate Flag consisted of a pure black flag, with the most prominent crews distinguishing themselves with a personal symbol only after reaching a certain total Bounty, which varied over time. Generally, this would coincide with those who would be known as Supernovas today. Even then, variations on a skull were considered a mark of pride for those who had reached Hachinosu, the pirate island, and traditional neutral space between the Emperors.

There is evidence of this particular tradition dying out before Roger, notably with the Rumbar Pirates that Laboon has made famous and the Rocks Pirates, possibly the only pirate crew to rival Roger in sheer evil, producing no less than 5 of the Emperors of the Sea of the last 50 years.

This changed after Gold Roger’s execution. Nearly every new pirate crew, unaware of the traditions or uncaring, used a variation of what would come to be called the Jolly Roger, to attempt to tie themselves to Gold Roger’s legacy. There was push back, of course, but this largely died out as the modern Age of Piracy overtook the old traditions….

-excerpt from the conclusion of ‘On the Jolly Roger,’ a World Government funded research paper attempting to catalog and research trends within pirate flags and similar symbols.

~~~~~~~~~~~

For the second time this month, I woke up on an unfamiliar boat. 

This time, it only took me a few seconds to figure out where in Nika’s name I was. I was in my bed, on the Going Merry, in my cabin, because apparently Franky had used some of the extra space in his expanded iteration of the Going Merry to ditch communal cabins and go for personal rooms. My room was mostly empty, barring the clothes in the closet. My journal, which would eventually contain all of my knowledge about the canon universe and what I’d figured out in relation to this one, was tucked away in my pillow, both because that was a good hiding place for it and I liked a hard pillow.

(I’d gotten to the end of the East Blue Saga before I turned in for the night, which I felt pretty good about. I was going to need a few more notebooks to contain all of my notes, but that was a given with how I was basically transcribing a more haphazard equivalent of the One Piece wiki.)

I had claimed the room under the cannon and anchor room because I liked the sounds of the waves crashing against the hull and I’d be able to hear if we were ever in a situation that required the use of the cannon. My main reservations were that someone would hit my room while trying to hit our cannon, and the large exercise bike hooked up to the cannon. My mind jumped to a discount Gaon Cannon, because Franky had built this ship. That had been cola powered, and apparently whatever special move this cannon could do was pedal powered. 

I blinked into the sunlight as I emerged onto the deck. The sun was just cresting the horizon, and it happened to be right in my eyes as we sailed northwest, towards the Conomi Islands Nami had been kind enough to provide us with our exact location before she headed off to intercept Garp’s ship with the Krieg flagship to get her paycheck. We had gotten a fair distance before dropping the anchor for the night, but I had no idea how close we were to Cocyashi. 

The sea breeze was nice as always, but my stomach was rumbling, so I headed for the kitchen. Sanji was already cooking, and it smelled delicious.

“Good morning, Sanji.”

“Good morning, beautiful.”

I suppressed a blush at the compliment, even if I knew he meant it. I sat backwards in a chair at the table and yawned. “You should probably double that.”

“This should be more than enough for the seven of us.” Sanji said, gesturing to the large stack of bacon and eggs he already had under a heating lamp, which Franky had apparently decided to add for some reason.

“One of the old commodores on my home island once told a story about how Garp the Fist accidentally caused a one man famine on an island after he saved it from pirates.” I said offhandedly.

The cook slumped. Despite this, he was still expertly flipping pancakes. “I’m going to have to use up all the flour, aren’t I?” 

“Get cookin, sauce boy.”

“I was the sous chef! Sous, not sauce! I keep telling you this.”

“I have no respect for the Frauce kingdom or the Frauce dialect!”

(I had forgotten that France had an equivalent here until someone showed up to the Baratie with the thickest French accent I had ever heard. Most of the kingdoms like it had been introduced during the Reverie arc, and only via their monarchs, so it had been an abrupt reminder that places like that actually existed. Their language counted as an extreme dialect of Linian.)

Case in point, Franky entered the kitchen and copied how I had chosen to sit. “Isn’t that where champagne’s from?” 

I rolled my eyes. “I think? That doesn’t change my opinion on them, they eat snails over there, and frogs.” A thought. “Wait, you’re cola powered, right? I saw you put a bottle of it in your stomach, what happens if you do that with champagne?” 

“I get drunk and started speaking with a Fraunch accent, but not much other than that. It’s still carbonated, after all.” Franky’s eyes narrowed as he took a sip of the coffee Sanji handed him. “You changed the settings on the coffee machine.”

“I didn’t like the cup your machine made, so I made a pot of coffee myself. You are tasting quality cooking, not your machine’s madness.” Sanji said.

Franky took another sip and seemed to consider something for a few moments. “As long as you didn’t mess with my presets.”

“So, is Syrup village full of cyborgs shipwrights, or did you just wake up one day and decide to make yourself cola powered?” I asked as Sanji handed me a cup of fruit punch, which I sipped appreciatively. “I don’t think Kaya’s a cyborg, is she?”

Robin had been right that the crew needed a consistent scribe. The log entries over the past two weeks were… less than informative. I’d have to rewrite them based on crew interviews. The most information I could glean from them was that apparently Robin had been captured because someone snuck up on her while sleeping and Jinbe hadn’t been involved in fighting Buggy, acting more as a guardian for the villagers of Orange Town. I couldn’t tell if the fact Luffy didn’t mention Alvida was because he didn’t care about her or if just didn’t encounter her in the first place. Despite this, Coby was mentioned once, so I knew he was kicking around somewhere.

“No, she’s all natural. I washed up near the village a few years ago and lived with her for a while after her parents helped save my life.” Franky explained. 

Wait, so did he wash up there after the sea train, or for some other reason? Did he actually run away from home like Iceberg recommended, or did something force him out? Did he even have Pluton’s blueprints? I couldn’t exactly ask him any of this, because I didn’t want to reveal how I knew what I knew, not yet, so my brain just kind of stalled out as I kept sipping my drink. Luckily, Sanji picked up the conversation.

“So, where are you from then?”

“Baldimore, actually. Cybernetics are a big thing back home, so I was able to save myself after an experiment went wrong.” Franky explained, casually breaking my brain.

“That’s Vegapunk’s home island, right?” Sanji asked.

Franky lit up. “Yeah! He’s a national hero, and a personal inspiration. He’s SUPER!”

Thankfully, Franky did his signature pose away from me, so I didn’t have to dodge as my brain slowly rebooted. Was this just a cover, or was he actually from Vegapunk’s homeland? I knew he’d gone there during the timeskip in canon, but this just brought up even more questions. Had he originally become a shipwright to build an icebreaker to make travel to Baldimore easier? It was the only motivation I could think of, assuming he became one before washing up in Syrup. It also didn’t answer how he’d gotten across the Calm Belt, unless it had been an attempt to field test his latest Battle Franky against a Sea King. 

(Hadn’t Iceberg given him the nickname of Franky in the first place, when he was originally called Cutty Flam? Did he have a similar friend in Baldimore, or was he just straight up named Franky from birth?) 

“BREAAAAAAAAAAKFAAAAAAAAST!!!!!!!!!!”

Thankfully, Luffy’s extremely loud arrival snapped me out of my speculative spiral, which had been done while eating breakfast so I didn’t mutter anything. 

The rubber boy crashed through the door and caught himself on a chair. It said something about Franky’s skills as a carpenter that both objects survived that maneuver. “Food, food, food-” Sanji gave the boy the largest stack of pancakes as I quickly shoveled the last of my food into my mouth. “-FOOOD! Thanks!”

I carefully avoided looking at the blatant disregard of physics that was my captain’s eating habits and saw that Franky had also just finished his breakfast. We nodded to each other, acknowledging that great minds thought alike. Franky had clearly learned how to deal with Luffy’s rather… kleptomaniac eating habits since the Straw Hats had left Syrup. I was about to ask about that, but then the door opened.

“Good morning.” Jinbe said as he bravely took the seat across from Luffy.

Sanji looked just as skeptical as I was, but he still gave the fishman his breakfast. Jinbe then began deflecting Luffy’s attempts to steal his food with one hand while eating with the other. I watched in fascination as this continued for several minutes. I had to pick up my jaw by the time Jinbe finished his food with a resounding belch that abruptly reminded me he was a whale shark fishman. 

“Did you just… use Luffy as training?” I asked as I slowly realized what had just happened.

Jinbe dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. “Yes. He’s a good morning warm up, like fighting a squid.”

“I’m not a squid! Sanji, seconds!” Luffy demanded.

“No, save some for the rest of the crew, stomach for brains.” Sanji refused. 

“But I need to fight that long arm guy later! I need meat!” Luffy whined.

“Arlong, Luffy, Arlong.” Jinbe corrected long-sufferingly, as if he’d had to make this correction ever since meeting the boy. 

“It would be much easier if he was a member of the Long Arm tribe, I’d imagine.” Robin said, seamlessly entering the conversation as if she hadn’t been listening in ever since she woke up. I couldn’t prove that, but it would have made sense.

Luffy stretched out an arm in a silent question, and I shook my head. “No, Luffy, they aren’t just people with long arms, or well, they are, but not like that. They have a second elbow.” 

“Unlike the Long leg tribe, who genuinely just have much longer legs than average.” Robin added.

“I thought they were just a kid’s story?” Franky asked. “Like, the one about how you shouldn’t pick on people because they look funny?”

“No, they genuinely hate each other.” Robin explained. “Sadly, the original reason for their thousand year long war has been lost to history, reduced to myth and legend by time itself.” 

“I wonder if Big Mom’s Long Arm and Long Leg kids fight too.” I said idly. 

“Who’s Big Mom?” Luffy asked blanky.

“You want to be the Pirate King, and you don’t even know who Big Mom is?” Franky said skeptically.

“All hail our captain, Luffy the Ignorant.” I declared in the most official, heraldic voice I could muster.

“Hey!” Luffy objected. “I can beat her! Who is she, anyway?”

“She’s one of the Emperors of the Sea, although Empress might be more accurate.” Robin explained.

“Eh?”

“She’s on the same level as Shanks.” I said.

Luffy pounded his fist into his open palm. “Oh!” He then slumped dramatically. “Then I can’t beat her yet.”

“She’s Big Mom, right? He might be able to beat one of her sons.” Sanji suggested.

“The son closest to Luffy’s age is either Nougat or one of the sons in that batch of ten she had that broke the record.” I suggested.

“Yeah! I’ll fight all her kids!” Luffy said enthusiastically.

“All 85 of them?” 

“What are all of you yelling about?” Kaya asked blearily. She was still in her nightgown, which totally wasn’t putting both me and Sanji out of commission for a few moments. 

“Luffy wants to fight all of Big Mom’s kids, gauntlet style.” Franky explained.

“Isn’t Totto Land on the other side of the planet?” Kaya asked as she ignored Sanji’s offer of a cup of coffee in favor of pressing a button on Franky’s coffee maker, which spat out a shot glass full of pure black coffee, which Kaya downed in one gulp. “Ah, now I’m awake.”

“What was that?” I asked, because seeing all of Kaya’s sleepiness abruptly vanish shocked me out of my gay stupor.

“Expresso! It’s one of my inventions. Enough caffeine to wake someone up from a coma.” Franky said passionately.

“That doesn’t seem healthy.” Sanji said skeptically.

“I’ve been drinking these things for three years, they’re fine.” Kaya waved off our concern.

Robin casually spawned a hand on the machine and expertly batted away Luffy’s attempts to try the beverage. “I will trust your judgment, ms. nurse, even if I will not be having one of those. I do not want my heart to beat itself into a pile of pulsating organ meat.” 

“I believe it is time to get underway, as my remaining appetite has vanished.” Jinbe said as he got up.

“I live to please.” Robin said mischievously.

“How long until we get to Cocoyashi anyway?” I asked.

“We should arrive just before lunch.” Jinbe answered before leaving the kitchen.

“Then I really need that meat, Sanji!” Luffy demanded.

“I know, I know, calm down.” Sanji said, sliding over a plate of breakfast sausage that had been cooking while they talked. 

“Yosh!” Luffy cheered before digging in.

I laughed and followed Jinbe out. I had more notes to jot down. Franky possibly being from Baldimore had implications that could break my entire knowledge of Water 7. I knew Iceberg was the mayor of the city because he’d done an interview with the World Economic Journal to mark the tenth anniversary of the Sea Train entering public use, which was two years ago. Tom’s arrest had still been attacked by ‘a fleet of small-time pirates’ that I had previously assumed was Franky’s Battle Frankys, because what else could they have been, but this complicated things.

I had very little evidence as to what exactly the pattern was for changes from this world to the one I knew, but Jinbe joining in the East Blue and Nami being a Warlord pointed strongly to at least some people being swapped in terms of roles. This was all assuming we weren’t going to get Mihawk or Boa to join for some reason, although Boa joining would make sense given her canon self’s crush on Luffy, now that I thought about it.

All of this led me to question if Usopp could have been in Water 7, but I couldn’t think of a viable reason. Had he been a cabin boy on Shank’s crew until they got to Water 7 and he had to be abandoned in safety for some reason, like what happened to Uta in Film Red? I’d have to look for some sign of Usopp over there, but a certain quirk of the World Economic Journal was beginning to bite me in the ass the more I tried to confirm what I knew. Each Blue and the two halves of the Grand Line had their own iteration of the WEJ, tailored to local issues, and the international edition, which covered the entire world. 

As if the universe was listening to my silent plea, a bird landed on a specialized perch jutting out from the mast, marked with the WEJ symbol. 

I shifted into my hybrid form, cleared my throat, and shouted back towards the kitchen. “OI! News Coo’s here!”

As I waited to see who was interested, I turned to the bird itself, who was looking at me curiously. “Could I have a subscription pricing sheet, please?” The gull cawed at me before digging in one of the pouches on its vest and handing me a sheet of paper. “Thanks!”

I idly gave the bird a scratch under the chin as I looked over the prices before wincing.

“What’s with the long face?” Sanji asked as he approached, with Robin close behind.

“Well, we’re pirates, and Luffy wants to go to the Grand Line, so I was looking at the prices for a subscription to the other editions of the WEJ, and uh, take a look.” I explained, handing off the sheet to Robin.

The Devil Child grimaced as well. “We will have to dip into Kuro’s bounty, but I believe the ‘All Blue’ subscription should be worth it. You are right, it is good to keep up with current events and potential rivals.”

Sanji’s head shot up at that. “All Blue?”

“The name of the subscription to all seven of the WEJ’s editions. For now, here.” Robin handed the News Coo a couple of coins, which it tucked into a pouch and exchanged for a newspaper. “Please hold on, I will have the payment for the plan soon.”

The bird cawed again and then went back to leaning into my scratches. I was so distracted by how soft and fluffy the bird’s feathers were that I nearly missed how Robin said we were paying for this.

“Kuro’s bounty?” I asked.

“Ah, yes, we encountered ‘Black Cat’ Kuro in Syrup Village. “ Robin explained. “We were able to subdue him and his crew, and Franky claimed his bounty when the Marines came to pick him up. It gave us a fairly solid economic foundation.”

“Nice!” I cheered. Luffy never claimed anyone’s bounties, but I guess Robin had insisted? Maybe that only worked because the Straw Hats didn’t have any bounties yet, aside from Robin, and Franky wasn’t a Straw Hat at the time? That was something to look out for in the future, at least. 

Robin caught a wallet that a disembodied hand had thrown from the direction of the storage room. She drew out a rather thick stack of bills and handed them to the News Coo. “Here is the payment for the All Blue subscription.”

The bird cawed before putting the money into a pouch and giving Robin a flag. Robin unscrewed the flag on the end of the News Coo’s perch and replaced it with the new flag. The bird cawed again and flew off after accepting the old flag.

“Anything interesting?” I asked as Robin began reading the newspaper.

“It appears that I have found what was distracting Garp the Fist while we were in Nami’s storm. He apparently was busy destroying Clockwork Isle after their reigning pirates tried to steal his ship a second time.” Robin explained, handing me the newspaper. “The residents are being resettled on Gold Island, if that means anything to you.”

I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from going off on a muttering spree, because that meant Garp had utterly stomped the first two One Piece movies. Skimming the article revealed that my first impression was somewhat incorrect. “Huh, looks like Garp has some new apprentices.” I said, trying to keep my freakout off of my face.

Robin looked at the page I was indicating. “So he does. Luffy! You might be interested in this.”

The captain fell from the sky and landed in a handstand before springing back up onto his feet. “What is it, Robin?”

“Your grandfather has taken on some new apprentices. You might recognize them.”

Luffy looked at the picture on the second page and his jaw dropped. “COBY?!”

“You know these guys?” I asked curiously. I hadn’t been sure if Coby and Helmeppo had been part of this world’s iteration of Shells Town, if I was honest.

“Yes, Coby pointed Luffy in my direction, and Helmeppo was the one to capture me in the first place.” Robin explained.

“Oh no, this is bad.” Luffy said, abruptly serious.

“Eh? What’s so bad about your grandfather taking on some apprentices?” Sanji asked.

“Aunty Dadan warned me about this. I’m going to have cousins soon, because Grandpa didn’t have anyone to train anymore after I left.” Luffy said, a haunted look on his face. 

“Cousins?” I echoed.

“Grandpa gets attached quickly. That's why he wasn’t a good farmer. Woop Slap always said so.” Luffy explained.

“I believe Helmeppo was the son of the base captain.” Robin pointed out.

“Grandpa won’t care. If he says someone’s a Monkey, they’re a Monkey.” Luffy said, as if this was some kind of family knowledge. 

“So you and Coby need to duel at some point, to determine the superior branch of the family.” I suggested.

“I think Sakazuki already proved that.” Sanji said.

“I mean, that depends, Luffy, is Sakazuki your brother or your cousin?” I asked.

“He’s my big brother, and he’s awesome, even if he’s a party pooper sometimes.” Luffy said honestly, still lost in thoughts of Garp’s training regimes.

“Alright, then Luffy’s branch is the dominant branch of the Monkey family.” I nodded with mock seriousness. While nodding, I noticed a glaring absence from the mast. “Luffy, where’s the flag?”

“Flag?” Luffy said before he abruptly became shocked. “I FORGOT TO DRAW A FLAG!”

Robin giggled, which nearly gave me heart palpitations. “Forgive him, we’ve only had this ship for about a week.”

I bit my tongue to keep from mentioning her reaction. I didn’t know where she was in her character development, and if we were even going to have an Enies Lobby type situation anytime soon. I couldn’t afford to mess that up, because if she was just using him or something like that, then mentioning that she was beginning to get attached could ruin everything. She’d noticed on her own in canon, even if she’d used that realization to justify one of the most stupid self sacrifice plays I’d ever read.

(I didn’t know if we would even take that path through the Grand Line, but I had to cling to what I knew, or else I’d be adrift at sea.)

In the time I’d spent thinking, we had lapsed into silence. Thankfully, Luffy returned with a section of black cloth before it could get awkward. He was also so covered in paint that we could trace his path from the storage room via the newly painted sections of the deck.

“I DREW A FLAG!” Luffy declared as he opened the flag to reveal a familiar abomination, the same abomination that would likely greet visitors to the Grand Line via Laboon for years to come.

The chaos had drawn the rest of the crew’s attention as well, especially Kaya, who was almost as paint splattered as Luffy was. 

“LUFFY! Why the fuck did you just ruin half of our entire supply of paint?!”

I gasped along with Franky, who had emerged from below decks just in time to hear Kaya’s shout. “Language, little sis!” 

“You talk like this all the time, Franky, and that isn’t even important!” Kaya said, brushing right past Franky’s attempts to constrain his influence on Kaya’s vocabulary.

“I made a flag!” Luffy declared shamelessly as he turned to show the rest of the crew his abomination.

We all collectively stared at the flag for a few seconds before Jinbe raised a hand from the helm. “Say ‘Aye’ if we should burn that and start again.”

Luffy deflated as we collectively said “Aye!” 

“Come on, it’s not that bad!”

I put a hand on Luffy’s shoulder. “You are a man of many talents, Luffy, but art is not one of them. How about this, I take this-” I grabbed the flag. “-and use it as a reference, so we have a flag to fly when we sail into Cocoyashi?” 

“This is especially important, as we are likely to get our first round of bounties after this, and a sketch of the crew’s Jolly Roger is typically included.” Robin added.

“YEAH! That sounds awesome!” Luffy exclaimed.

“Alright! Kaya, if you could show me where the red, yellow, and white paints are?” I asked.

“And while we wait, you should take a bath, captain.” Robin said.

“But I took a bath two days ago!” Luffy whined.

“Then it is even more important!”

I left them to it as Kaya led me to the storage room and pointed out the relevant buckets.

(To answer that particular SBS question, I took a bath every day, or when something disgusting happened, like a normal person.) 

I spread the large, pure black cloth out before me, wet my large brush with white ink, and promptly froze. I’d drawn this Jolly Roger thousands of times, I’d doodled it even more, and it was second nature to me at this point. I could have done this blindfolded, if I was perfectly honest. So, why did I freeze?

Because it hit me just what I was doing. I was altering this universe’s Straw Hats journey with my knowledge. I was disrupting the natural course of events, except, no I wasn’t. Something had put me here for a reason, and I had to trust that. I had to trust that I was as natural a part of this world as any other, and that this was never going to be canon anyway. To do otherwise was to needlessly angst about it, and there was no point brooding about things like that.

(I tried to hold back a tear at the instant level of trust I was shown, that I was being trusted to draw the first decent version of the Pirate King’s Jolly Roger, something that would echo through the ages, even if only Luffy and I probably really thought he’d go all the way at this point.) 

I began painting anyway, because what kind of pirate flag would it really be if it wasn’t born of at least a few tears?

========================================================================

“Oh yeah, and before I go, uncle Garp?”

“What is it, brat?”

“I ran into your grandon, Luccy, I think?”

“You met Luffy?! Where is he?”

“He said that since he survived my storm, he was going to cross the Calm Belt to get into the Grand Line as soon as possible. He might already be at Cozia Island by now, assuming he hasn’t already crossed into the Belt. I think his first mate said something about a pitstop at Amazon Lily?”

“Goddam brat, he’s going to get himself killed! MEN, GET BACK IN THE SHIP, AND GET OUT THE TOWING CABLES! I’M PULLING THE SHIP MYSELF!”

========================================================================

Despite the relative luxury of her stay at ‘Arlong Park’, Nojiko of Cocoyashi had not been having a fun month away from home. 

About a month ago, the Arlong Pirates had swept into town like a force of nature, completely ignoring Nami’s flag flying over the village. They hadn’t suffered a serious pirate attack in years, both because of her sister’s flag and the nearby Marine base, so they were utterly unprepared. To make things worse, the entire crew were fishmen. Now, Nojiko wasn’t racist, but she could acknowledge that this fact made the attack even more overwhelming and devastating.

The entire island was conquered in less than half an hour.

The captain of the pirates had demanded everyone pay to justify their own continued existence, 50K berries per child and 100K berries per adult, with the elderly fishman who lived by the docks getting to live for free. Nojiko herself didn’t have to pay either, because the fishmen apparently knew that this was Nami’s hometown, and had kidnapped her instead. They’d kept her in her house for the first few weeks, but after the first month they had moved her into a room in ‘Arlong Park.’

She’d seen the columns of people that were marched in and out of the village every day, people who couldn’t pay the toll for their lives. She felt disgusted that she was now living in a building that everyone else had built against their will. Nojiko would have tried to break free, but she couldn’t move like she used to. She’d chosen to stay in the village and manage the family orchard, not join the Marines like Nami, so she didn’t even have any military training to fall back on. She was just stuck, being treated like a bird in a gilded cage. 

Part of her regretted refusing that offer of a house on Whole Cake Island, after her mother died, but this was home, no matter what her cousins in Totto Land said in their letters. Arlong wouldn’t have lasted a day if any of them were here, but they never came to the East. The Marines hated when anyone powerful came here. It hadn’t been long enough for anyone to notice that she wasn’t responding to letters anymore, and she didn’t have access to a snail, so it could be even longer before anyone came to help.

(She’d seen the local base captain, Nezumi, talking with Arlong. She’d seen the thick stack of money they exchanged. There was a reason Nami left the Marines, and why their mother wasn’t surprised when the officer came to tell them that Nami had been spotted on Big Mom’s flagship.)

Nojiko should have let her little sister teach her some of that ‘applied weather science’ she’d learned, but it was all nonsense to her. She’d be just as likely to kill herself trying to build a Climatact than help anyone. She’d never been able to awaken any of that Haki her cousins talked about in their letters either. She was just helpless. 

(Her sister was a Warlord. Her mother had been friends with Garp the Fist and the current Fleet Admiral as a Vice Admiral. She should have been able to help resist, somehow. She’d just… never needed to. Now that was coming back to bite her.)

She didn’t even know what they planned to do when Nami got back home, but the fact she hadn’t been harmed told her something. The fact Arlong had preached about turning their village ‘into a place for Merfolk to walk free under the sun’ told her even more. There was a reason she didn’t like aunt Linlin, and it was because of hypocritical stuff like that. She claimed to want to rule a land where everyone could live equally, but she’d seen what happened to people who tried to leave.

(Like what the pirates did to the ship of people who tried to leave the village.)

Her room in Arlong’s palace faced the east and the coast. Thus, she could perfectly see the cow Sea Beast that the pirates had brought with them racing towards the palace, dragging a large caravel behind it. There was a fishman standing on the Sea Beast’s head, which was tied to the caravel via two pale ropes wrapped around its horns. Nojiko would have thought this was reinforcements, except for two facts. 

She could see humans on the deck of the ship, and the Sea Beast wasn’t stopping. 

Arlong didn’t sound happy about it either, based on the tone of his indistinct yelling from outside. This made her remember a certain conversation she’d overheard. Arlong’s nephew had vanished shortly before the attack, and no one knew where he’d gone. As far as Arlong was concerned, he’d deserted the cause and was good as dead as soon as the Marines caught him. 

(No one expected Nami to last very long either.) 

Nojiko gathered her tea set and moved from her spot by the window to the balcony. She wanted a good view of what was about to happen.

“GUM GUM-!”

Her efforts were rewarded immediately as the ‘ropes’ on the Sea Beast’s horns revealed that they were rubber bands, or rather the arms of a boy in a straw hat who had used the Sea Beast to gain momentum.

“-MISSILE!”

The entire palace shuddered under her feet as the boy crashed feet sandal into Arlong’s face and continued right on, landing somewhere in the lobby far below her. The newly constructed structure could barely handle it, and dust was already falling from the ceiling. They must have hit one of the load bearing walls. 

Nojiko quickly estimated that if the building began collapsing, she would be able to dive from her balcony into the pool. She began doing her pre-dive stretches.

This was going to be fun.

Chapter Text

“Seeking Settlers for Lower Wano: All professions welcome. Explore the ruins of Old Wano, live under the Wanoan sun, and survive in the Land of the Strong, where strength is more important than one’s origins.”

“Ask at the Wannoan embassy for more information, including passage and employment opportunities.”

-Text of a poster spread across the Fishman District of Fishman Island, depicting Jack ‘The Drought’, the highest ranked Fishman member of the Wanoan Navy, formerly known as the Beast Pirates. He is sitting within an old, decaying pagoda, directing other fishmen and merfolk as they attempt to turn an ancient village into a viable living space once again.

(A careful observer may notice the fact that, as a Devil Fruit user, Jack is unable to do much more than that while underwater despite being able to breathe.)

~~~~~~~~~~~

The plan was simple, full frontal assault. 

Luffy had never fought a fishman before, but the feeling of Arlong’s face under his sandals as they crashed through the big Eastern style tower was just as satisfying as any other opponent, so it couldn’t be that different.

They crashed through three walls and were finally stopped by a large brick wall that was still being built. The workers ran for their lives as Luffy hopped off of Arlong’s body. He didn’t believe in kicking an opponent while they were down, no matter how bad they were.

“Come on, fish guy! I came for a fight!”

The fishman staggered to his feet and spat out his teeth. Like, all of them at once, and they kinda looked like a bear trap when they landed. His saw nose was broken and hanging limp too, and his forehead was bleeding. Luffy would have commented on that if he hadn’t made a promise to Jinbe to take this seriously.

“Who the fuck are you, human scum?!”

“I’m Jinbe’s new captain, Monkey D Luffy, and I’m going to be the next King of the Pirates. He asked me to beat you up.” Luffy said while cracking his neck.

Arlong snarled. “I knew that brat was no good! He was always so disobe-”

Luffy punched him in the stomach to cut him off. “Don’t talk like that about my nakama.”

Arlong didn’t waste any more time talking, and Luffy was happy to get things started..

========================================================================

There was something nostalgic about having to stop the Going Merry before it could crash right into the dock. It reminded her of the smuggling ring she had stayed with when she was 14.

But she could reminisce later, because the fishmen were shouting and jumping onto the deck. Robin and Franky threw them off. She had to readjust her usual strategies to account for the average strength of the fishmen, which was harder than she expected. Franky looked like he was having the same amount of trouble, but then he began pulling out more weapons from within his body, which evened the playing field. Kaya was going to stay behind to guard the ship.

(Their scribe was below decks, in her shell. They’d discussed dropping her off in Cocoyashi itself, but that would have given away the element of surprise.)

At least they didn’t have to deal with that cow Sea Beast anymore. It was apparently the pet of the Arlong Pirates, and would have made this much more difficult. Thankfully, Jinbe was able to convince it to help them. Jinbe and Sanji had led it away after Luffy performed his opening attack, and he should be returning right about-

Jinbe leapt from the water and landed on the figurehead. “Fellow Fishmen! Stop this madness!”

The crowd stopped at his voice, and a few people said his name, but one voice stood out in the crowd. “JInbe! Why are you working with some damn humans!”

“I tried to get you all to stop a month ago, but you didn’t listen! I had to go get help, to force you to stop this! Queen Otohime and Fisher Tiger would have never wanted this! Please, lay down your weapons! I don’t want to have to hurt you!” 

“The boss was right! Jinbe’s turned race traitor! Get him!”

Robin grimaced as the helmsman’s words fell on deaf ears. She hadn’t expected his plea to work, but they’d all agreed to let him try. It might have worked if he’d done it at the party he’d mentioned, but that was too long ago. Anyone who agreed with him wouldn’t have come along for the occupation anyway. These were Fishman Supremacists, a group she’d had to deal with before, when she was younger.

(A summer spent on Fishman Island as a teenager had been… very revealing. She’d been unlucky enough to be on the island when the news of Fisher Tiger’s death began circulating. Thankfully she’d run into Rayleigh again, so she didn’t get lynched, but she never did find that Poneyglyph they were supposed to have, somewhere near the island under the waves.)

“I think those who would have listened to you are long gone, Helmsman.” Robin said as she landed on the docks themselves.

Jinbe nodded as he knocked out a thin looking fishman with a punch. “You’re right, but I don’t like it. I think other members of Arlong’s crew deserted as well, like uncle Hatchi. He’d probably have been upset that you have more arms than he does.” Jinbe had a brief, fond look on his face before he went back to combat.

“And why is that?” Robin asked idly, to keep the mood light despite the situation.

“He’s an octopus fishman, so his six arms are a point of pride for him. He uses the six swo-” Jinbe was interrupted by a wave of water that nearly knocked them both off of the dock. “I’ll deal with Kurobi, he knows too much Fishman Karate to be allowed to do whatever he wants. You and Franky should be enough for the rest, with Hatchi gone.”

“Good luck.” Robin said as Jinbe dived into the water again. 

As she continued to cripple the various fishmen around the compound, Robin vaguely wondered what was taking Luffy so long. He should have brought down the pagoda by now, unless Arlong hadn’t been able to take the opening attack. But if that were true, Luffy would have started helping them deal with the rest of the fishmen, so that couldn’t be true either.

An eye spawned on the outer back wall of the pagoda answered her questions. Luffy and Arlong were indeed brawling, they had just taken it outside the compound. The forest, already diminished by the construction projects' lumber requirements, was not holding up well. Arlong was not doing well either, although he was lasting longer than she expected him to. But then again, he was a former Sun Pirate, like Jinbe, so it made some amount of sense.

Robin hoped this wouldn’t take too much longer. She was looking forward to the feast, and then getting away before Garp arrived.

========================================================================

“You’re just like all the rest of your DAMN SPECIES! COMING IN HERE TO RUIN ALL OUR HARD WORK AND-!”

Luffy interrupted the fishman again with another punch to the jaw.

“SHUT UP AND STAY DOWN!”

They were getting too far away, and he’d promised to destroy that place. It was time for a good old fashioned Bazooka.

========================================================================

Kaya was slowly getting better at controlling the black spots.

She was at least good enough to keep enough of them on her fists as she dealt with the fishmen that tried to get up onto the Merry. It was a bit spotty, but the parts that were covered hurt less than the parts that weren’t, and seemed to be more effective when she hit the fishmen with them. She accidentally cut one of their gills when her completely black finger dug into it. She hadn’t meant to do that, but Robin took care of him after she punched him off the Merry, so it was fine.

A crash drew her attention to the pagoda, which had begun to collapse. Someone dived off of one of the upper balconies and landed in the water. She could hear them grab onto the ladder on the side of the Merry. Robin didn’t knock them off, so either she didn’t notice or she thought Kaya could handle them. With all of that in mind, Kaya readied herself to kick whoever it was off the ladder as soon as their head poked above the deck.

Instead of some high ranking fishman, an older lady who looked to be in her 50s climbed onto the deck and just kind of laid there for a few seconds. Long enough for Kaya to get concerned as the entire central pagoda collapsed in the background and Luffy screamed something. 

“Are you okay?” Kaya asked tentatively as the lady turned over.

The woman gave a shuddering cough before sitting up. “Yeah, just need to catch my breath. It’s been a while since I’ve had to do something like that.”

“Were you… captured or something?” Kaya asked.

“Pretty much, yeah. I think they were going to try to hold me hostage or something for when my sister gets back, thinking about it.”

“Your sister?” Kaya echoed.

“Yeah, this is Nami’s hometown, and I'm her older sister, Nojiko.” The newly introduced Nojiko said as she wrung out her long hair into the water. “That fishman guy you had with you, that’s Arlong’s nephew, right?”

“Yep! He asked Luffy for help, so here we are.” Kaya answered.

“Where’d he find this guy, across the Calm Belt?” Nojiko asked.

“No, he found Luffy in Orange Town, apparently.”

“I see. Do you have a snail? I need to call my sister.”

Kaya rubbed the back of her neck. “That’s… more complicated than it should be. Knock on that door and you’ll see.”

Nojiko gave her a bemused look and knocked on the door of Roxie’s cabin before stepping back. It took a minute, but then Roxie, in her full snail form, opened the door and sighed in relief. “Okay good, you aren’t a particularly polite Arlong Pirate. Who’s this, Kaya?”

“This is Nojiko, Nami’s sister. She needs to call Nami. Have you figured out how to do that yet?” Kaya asked.

“Uh, I don’t know, but I might be able to relay a call? What’s her snail number?” Roxie asked while rubbing her chin.

Nojiko blinked at Roxie for a few seconds before a light of realization hit her. “Zoan fruit?” Roxie nodded. “It’s 555-3455.”

“Please hold, I need to figure out if this even works.” Roxie said before she began looking into the middle distance and mumbling under her breath. After about 30 seconds, Roxie spoke up again. “Got it! Now, could you call this number? Thanks!” Roxie turned back to them. “Hold on a moment, the snail is calling Nami’s snail, and…”

Roxie’s face abruptly shifted to Nami’s face and her hair changed to Nami’s exact length, hairstyle, and color. Roxie began speaking with Nami’s voice as she adopted a calm, bored expression. “Yes, this is Nami. I charge by the minute for spam callers, so get talking.”

“Nami!” Nojiko said. “The village was occupied, but-”

“I know, some pirates should be on their way to help.” Nami interrupted.

“Luffy and the rest are already fighting off the Arlong Pirates, ma’am.” Kaya said. 

“Wait, you were sent by my sister? I thought you said Arlong’s nephew asked you to help.” Nojiko said.

“I ran into them, and we made a deal. How’s the fight going?” Nami asked.

“The big palace Arlong had the rest of town build is rubble now, and there aren’t many fishmen left standing that I can see.” Nojiko said. 

“Perfect! I’m on my way along with Captain Gorilla and one of the newest models of prison barges. It should be enough to hold all of the fishmen. Pirate girl, please tell your crewmates to make sure none of the fishmen escape, it’d be annoying to track them all down.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“We should get there in a couple hours, so just hang tight. Also, if you find any Marines on the island who didn’t try to fight, feel free to arrest them too.”

“Tell that Marine captain your with that Captain Nezumi, the local base commander, was taking bribes from Arlong. I saw them make the exchange.” Nojiko said.

“I’ll just take care of that right now. See you for the feast, Nojiko!” 

“Bye, Nami!”

Roxie made the sound of the other end of a Transponder call disconnecting before coughing and rubbing her temples. Her face and hair shifted back to their usual look as well. When she spoke, it was with her smooth, buttery voice once again. “Wow, that is so weird. That is going to take some getting used to.”

“Well, that was productive. Nojiko, would you like some tea while we wait for Robin, Franky, and Luffy to finish up?” Kaya asked, the picture of a good host.

Nojiko laughed. “I see why Nami sent you ahead, you’re so polite! Yes, I would love some tea.” 

“I could go for some as well, doing that made my throat feel weird.” Roxie chimed in, shifting back to her human form. 

The sounds of combat and snapping bones had mostly subsided, so they were safe to go make some tea in the kitchen as Robin and Franky dealt with the dregs. Sanji would probably have made some better tea, but he was busy doing something else.

========================================================================

Sanji took a long drag of his cigarette as the last fishman in Cocoyashi collapsed with a shoe shaped impression in his forehead.

It had taken a couple minutes to get to Cocoyashi on the back of the Sea Beast cow Jinbe had called Momoo, but after that it had been fairly easy to get into town and start kicking fishmen. They kept coming at him in waves as more and more of them heard about what he was doing, but that just meant he didn’t have to go find them. Even the weird commander guy who said ‘chu’ at the end of every sentence wasn’t much of a challenge. He’d just taken 8 kicks instead of 4. 

He’d objected to his part in the plan, because it meant that the lovely Kaya of Syrup would have to guard the ship, but Robin had been very persuasive. They could handle themselves, and they had chosen this. Besides, he could save plenty of noncombatant women by going to Cocoyashi, so this was a better idea. That had been enough for him.

(Roxie was still on the Merry, and she wasn’t a combatant yet, but it had been even more dangerous of an idea to bring her with him.)

Sanji heard a line of gunshots and ducked as bullets whizzed by him. He turned towards their source to see a small group of marines led by a Marine in an officer’s coat, who looked a bit like a mouse.

“Hands in the air! You are under arrest for kicking everyone in sight and causing a disturbance!” The Marine officer declared. His voice was annoying, like the tiny dogs nobles brought to the Baratie sometimes.

“Oh, so you’re the shitty Marines that let this island be occupied. I get it now.”

“What? No! These are native citizens of this island, and you are still under arrest!”

“You’re in luck, rush hour at the Crap Cafe just finished, so we have plenty of free tables. Would you prefer the expedited or the deluxe course?” 

“Take your hands out of your pockets and into the air! If you do not surrender, we will shoot you!”

“The deluxe course, you say? A fine choice. It will be out in just a moment, you shitty bastard.” 

The sound of steel-toed dress shoes impacting flesh echoed across Cocoyashi for a few more minutes. 

Once they were all down and either groaning or fully unconscious, Sanji pulled out a new cigarette and lit it. There was a problem there, that these Marines were so easy to bribe that these fishmen had been able to take over an entire island. The Marines had never been the most pure institution, but stuff like this was just too damn common. There was a reason Revolutionaries ate for half off at the Baratie.

“Go! Get those bastards tied up, boys!”

An elderly man’s voice echoed across the plaza as a bunch of villagers ran around with chains and ropes and handcuffs, tying up everyone Sanji had kicked to the ground. The source was an old man wearing a typical sheriff’s uniform, with a pinwheel in his cap. Almost none of his skin was visible, between the outfit and the bandages criss-crossing his body, but his eyes and his mouth were uncovered, and that told Sanji all he needed to know about this guy, and the sheer vindication this man was feeling at the moment.

One of the villagers wheeled the old man’s wheelchair closer. “Well done lad! If I had a few deputies like you, we wouldn’t have been in this situation to begin with. Who do we have to thank for the help?”

“Sanji, of the Straw Hat Pirates. My crewmates and captain are already fighting Arlong and his crew. I came ahead to free the village.” Sanji explained.

“If they’re all as strong as you, lad, I’m sure we’ll be free from those damn invaders by tomorrow. As the sheriff of Cocoyashi Village, and head sheriff of the Conomi Islands, I would like to thank you for this.” The old man bowed his head. Sanji got the impression the old man would have bowed at the waist if he could. 

“Nami should be arriving either today or tomorrow. She agreed to let us have a shot at Arlong first because our helmsman is his nephew.” Sanji said, avoiding the thanks.

“I knew she’d be back! I told you brats she didn’t abandon us!” The old man cheered. “These idiots were worried because the fishmen killed all our snails on the day of the attack, so we couldn’t call Nami for help. It’s great to hear she found out anyway.”

“Are there any other towns to save?” Sanji asked.

“Yeah, Gosa village. Run along the beach for a few miles to the east and you should hit a fishing hut. Turn left from there, climb the cliff path, and you’ll be in the village. We have these guys covered, go!”

“Yes, sir!” Sanji said before dashing off towards the beach.

He wasn’t done, but he could get used to this. Maybe becoming a pirate hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. 

========================================================================

“GUM GUM RIFLE!”

“5,000 BRICK FIST!” 

Luffy’s and Jinbe’s fists struck Arlong’s cheeks at the same time, sending him flying back down into the ground and burying him a foot deep.

He didn’t get back up. 

========================================================================

“Land ahoy!”

“I’ll go ahead. Remember, Gorilla, don’t arrest the whale shark fishman with the boy in the straw hat.”

Nami ignored the Captain’s response as she hopped off the ship. Hera spread into a full cloud that she began riding straight towards home. 

The so-called “Arlong Park” didn’t count as part of her home. It was a blemish, a scar on the land. As she got closer, she could see that it was little more than a large pile of rubble with some houses under the water and a stone dock. She’d have to use a tidal wave to finish the job, of course, but the rookies had done better than she expected. Nami had thought they’d need another day to do this. This called for a bonus. 

There was a single building still standing, a jail of some kind. The blue haired guy pirate in a speedo was putting the finishing touches on a door as the fishman inside raged against the bars. Luffy and Jinbe were standing outside the prison as well, with a bound and gagged sawshark fishman kneeling in front of them. 

“You did good work, kids. Who’s this?” Nami asked as she hopped off of Hera. She came to a sliding stop right in front of Garp’s grandson, her heels sparking against the stone dock. 

Jinbe grabbed the other fishman by the hair and made him look at her. “Warlord Nami of Cocoyashi, may I introduce to you Arlong of the Ryugu Kingdom, the racist fool who decided to invade your home.”

“Oh, and you even gift wrapped him for me! The next generation is so polite.” 

“Where did you send Grandpa?” Luffy asked.

“Garp thinks you’re crossing the Calm Belt because you got cocky after surviving my storm and wanted to skip Reverse Mountain. He should be distracted for a while.”

“Reverse Mountain?” Luffy cocked his head.

“The massive mountain that acts as the main entrance to the Grand Line. Have you ever rode a roller coaster? It’s like that, but for ships, and 20 times more dangerous.” Nami said.

Luffy had stars in his eyes. “That sounds awesome! I’d never skip that!” 

“Now, I just need to get this idiot into the barge, and he’ll never see the light of day aga-” The sound of chains snapping and hair tearing were the only hints Nami’s Observation Haki needed for her to counter Arlong’s desperate, rage fueled attack with her arm and Hera in her battleax form. “None of that, now. Hera, make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Hera’s battle ax form was essentially a large battle ax made of storm clouds and with an edge made of lightning. Those same storm clouds became chains that hogtied and gagged Arlong more effectively than any metal or ropes could.

“Please, please don’t blame all of us for his behavior. He doesn’t represent the rest of us, or even all of Fishman Island. He’s just angry and trying to get revenge.” Jinbe said with a hard look in his eyes.

“I know that, guppy. I’d treat anyone who did the same things to my homeland like this. I agree with my aunt Linlin’s dream, even if she’s gone a bit crazy by now.” Nami shrugged. “Every species has its fair share of shitheads. I don’t hate all humans just because the Celestials exist.” 

“Thank you.” Jinbe bowed at the waist.

“Now, the informant who told me about this occupation mentioned these idiots were going to use the safety of my sister and most of the natives as a way to keep me from killing them, so I honestly don’t care much about how the courts decide to punish them, besides forcing them to rebuild whatever they destroyed.” Nami explained. “You two have the next best claim, as far as I can see things. Any preferences?”

Both Jinbe and Luffy responded in sync. “Death is a mercy after your dreams are broken.”

“Alright, no executions, although Arlong is going to be locked up in Impel Down till he dies of old age.”

“Thank you for allowing me to deal with him, ma’am. I would not have complained if you decided to skip us and take care of him yourself, but this was a Sun Pirate matter. Fisher Tiger would have wanted me to at least try to help.” Jinbe said while bowing again.

“He was your uncle, I had to let you try. Besides, you're a crewmate of my nephew, and this whole story should make Morgans very happy.” Nami said.

“Nephew? You’re related to Grandpa?” Luffy asked.

“Well, it’s not like we swore over sake or anything, but he listens when I call him my uncle, because he knew my mother, so there’s that. You don’t have to call me an aunt if you don’t want to.” Nami explained.

Luffy looked briefly constipated before he put his fist into his hand. “So you’re a mystery aunt!”

Nami laughed. “Yeah!” 

“The rest of the crew are keeping an eye on the villages.” Jinbe said. 

“Great!”

The prison barge dwarfed Luffy’s ship as it docked outside the ruined compound. Captain Gorilla leapt down from the deck onto the dock and joined them near the prison. 

“Golden Cartographer, what is the situation?”

“This is the main leader.” Nami kicked Arlong, who’s screams of rage were muffled by his gag. “And you can just transfer everyone from the cells over there into the barge, and then repeat that with the villages. My deputies took care of the invaders.”

“Deputies?” Luffy echoed.

“Warlords can deputize other crews in an emergency, so you don’t get arrested just for being here when the Marines come to pick up the prisoners after the fighting’s done. It’s nothing permanent.” Nami explained, which the boy accepted. She turned back to Gorilla. “The blue haired guy has the keys.”

“Understood. We’ll have your payment calculated by the end of the week, depending on if anyone else in the invading force had bounties.” Gorilla said as two Marines bound Arlong in strong enough cuffs that she could recall Hera. “Put him in one of the high security cells.” Gorilla said to the two troops, who saluted.

“Thank you, always a pleasure to work with the 77th Branch.” Nami said with a smile. “Now, I’m going to go catch up with my sister.” Nami said.

“She should be in Cocoyashi, with Robin and Roxie.” Jinbe supplied.

“Thank you, guppy.” Nami said before hopping onto Hera for a quick flight. “The party in Cocoyashi starts pretty soon! Don’t be late!” She called back as Hera carried her towards her hometown.

She flipped a panel on her arm and began dialing up a snail number. Vegapunk had figured out how to replicate the type of signals Transponder Snails used to communicate, and her latest model of prosthetic had been outfitted with a prototype. It was so much easier than carrying around an adult snail. “Yes, Zeff? I’d like to order some catering for a victory party.”

This party was going to be awesome.

========================================================================

Jinbe watched the Golden Cartographer fly off for a few seconds before turning towards the cells. He still had someone he wanted to talk to, before everything was said and done. 

Arlong had a sister. His aunt Shyarly acted as the navigator and occasional fortune teller of the Arlong Pirates. She was a Mako Shark mermaid, and was not happy with being stranded on land. Thankfully, she was old enough that her tail could split into two humanoid legs, but she was currently keeping them together in an act of spite. Franky had not been kind to her when she tried to attack him from behind, as most of her hair was a frazzled, burned mess and her face was covered in ash from when Franky had demonstrated his ability to breath, and more importantly fart, fire. 

“You! You traitor! You ruined everything! This was supposed to be a paradise! I saw it!” Shyarly screamed at him as soon as she noticed him approaching.

“Arlong went too far, and I had to stop him.” Jinbe said, defending his actions. “You would have agreed with me, back on Fishman Island.”

“That was before my brother showed me that the present was as bad as anything my gift has shown me! We had to do something, or things would never get better! Now you ruined that!”

“Fisher Tiger never would have approved of this. Queen Otohime never would have wanted this! Things like this would never have worked because they just make the land dwellers hate and fear us even more! Why can’t you see that?” 

“They should fear us! We are better than them! None of them could ever have true fortune telling! The entire planet is covered in water, and they can’t even breathe in it!”

“You hate your fortune telling, that isn’t even a benefit! You didn’t see Fisher Tiger’s death, you didn’t see Queen Otohime’s assassination, and you didn’t even see me coming to ruin this dream you saw. If I could break your vision, how many others were wrong?!”

“None of them!” Shyarly said desperately. “I don’t understand, I saw this place, with canals and games, fishmen and merfolk! It was going to be perfect! You did this, you basta-!”

Jinbe shook his head as Shyarly cut herself off and put her head in her hands. “Arlong changed you. You chose this path, you chose to stop being the kind, loving person I knew when you chose to join Arlong, back when this crew was formed. I tried to get you to leave with me, but you were too busy preaching about a new utopia to listen to me!”

“SHUT UP!”

JInbe took a step back in shock. When Shyarly finally looked him in the eye again, her eyes were glazed over. He’d seen this before. There was a prophecy coming.

“I see your captain, that boy in the straw hat, destroying Fishman Island!” She laughed, a haughty, spiteful laugh. “See! I told you siding with the humans would kill you! Now you have ruined us, and everyone else who lives under the waves!”

“Really? Are you being spiteful, or is that actually what you saw?!” Jinbe had to be sure.

“Yes, you traitorous excuse of a fishman! It’s clear to me now! You have ruined everything! Your fool of a captain is going to destroy Fishman Island!” Shyarly’s voice was a mad combination of pure insanity, desperation, and spite. The insanity was normal after her visions, but the rest still hurt, after so many years of her helping raise him.

“You said the same thing about Queen Otohime.” Jinbe said simply.

He didn’t listen to her rant any further as he walked away. Jinbe didn’t want to watch the Marines take her away. 

Chapter Text

“How a crew acts during the victory party can tell you almost as much about them as how they acted during the raid.”

-A saying overheard in a Hachinosan bar, the Broken Tooth, set into the skull mountain that dominates the island’s landscape.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Cozia was a relatively calm island, with a decent economy that had boomed after it became a common stop over for Marine ships coming over the Calm Belt. This practice had started after a long series of raids about a decade ago, started by mysterious raiders on giant snails. Ever since, Marine ships had been coming in and out of the port, which was quickly shifting to accommodating the Marines and officers that were constantly passing through . There was even talk of building a new Marine base on the island. 

Thus, no one really questioned the Marine Battleship that pulled alongside the harbor on one calm afternoon. What they did question was the old man who climbed out of the water with a dog hat on, having apparently personally dragged the ship to the island.

The old man pointed at the nearest official looking person, a harbor guard, and barked out a question. “You! Did you see a boy in a straw hat and a tall woman with multiple limbs pass through here?”

“Yeah! They stole tons of supplies and dined and dashed at half of the restaurants in the town! Their ship had a sheep’s head figurehead too.”

The old man nodded before turning back to the ship. “Alright boys, we need to get moving again! Luffy’s already left! Set sail for Amazon Lily!”

The guard tried to shout after the old man, but he had already dived into the water, picked up a massive chain, and began swimming off again. The ship was now moving backwards through the water, but turned around after about a nautical mile.

“Why are they going to the Calm Belt? Didn’t that boy head towards the Baratie?” 

“Yeah, he was looking for a cook after they dropped off those two bounty hunters who had scurvy, right?” 

The guards shrugged. It wasn’t their business to correct Garp the Fist. 

========================================================================

Cocoyashi had fared the best out of all of the small towns on the island, which wasn’t saying much..

According to Sanji, who had visited all three of them, Gosa village had been practically burned to the ground, and the third, Coconut village, had been looted and ransacked, but the buildings were intact. Apparently, this was due to the Arlong Pirates’ ship docking in Gosa, while a secondary ship docked in Coconut village, and Momoo leading the charge in Cocoyashi. I needed a moment to process that, because Coconut village was one of the wrong translations of Cocoyashi used by one of the dubs, which was weird, but not too weird, at least. 

While I didn’t exactly enjoy parties for various reasons, it was fun pumping people for information during drinking competitions. I learned more about at least what the East Blue knew of the world. Devil Fruits weren’t quite a myth, because they were reported on in the newspaper, but they were rare enough that most had only seen one or two users in their lives. What was a myth was Haki, and it never went by that name. Even the middle tiers of swordsmanship like cutting steel were incredibly rare. The only confirmed story I could find of anyone doing it was in Shimotsuki village, Zoro’s hometown.

Speaking of the swordsman, he had just vanished from the public eye years ago, around when he first became known as the Pirate Hunter. I really had to dig for even that much, which told me a lot. Zoro hadn’t stayed in the East long, although he was a bounty hunter, which was helping confirm a few things for me. As Robin was the First Mate, that meant that Zoro was probably with Baroque Works. Except, that raised even more questions.

How did Crocodile plan to read the Alabastan Poneglyph? Did he just plan to take a rubbing and work out how to read it later? Did he have an awakened member of the Three Eyed tribe as his right hand woman? Could he just straight up read Poneglyphic? How had Zoro joined Baroque Works? What was his role in the organization?  Had his presence messed up the officer agent designations I knew?

I also confirmed that at least no one had heard of a Kuina, which told me Zoro’s backstory had probably not changed before he left his hometown. I knew this because Kuina would probably have ended up being an absurd prodigy of some kind and managed to cut Buggy or something ridiculous like that. Tashigi and Saga were still mysteries, but I was less concerned about them. Sure, Movie 5 was a problem, but we’d have Zoro by that point, since it took place after Alabasta anyway. 

More careful questions told me that Bellemere, Nami and Nojiko’s mother, had died in her sleep at the ripe old age of 80. I let some of the older villagers describe her feats, how she had been a wonderful Vice Admiral, and gone around with Garp the Fist and Sengoku back in the day. Then she’d semi-retired, because she found two orphaned girls in a kingdom that had been ravaged by war. She’d become a tangerine farmer and did paperwork or recruit training on the side until she died a couple years ago.

This led me to Genzo, who had clearly seen better days. He was old, and in a wheelchair with pinwheel designs on the wheels. I honestly tried to avoid him, because he was catching up with Nami. I didn’t have much I wanted to talk to them about. Still, it was interesting to see how the old man had still outlived Bellemere, even in this weird timeline. 

(Curiously, I couldn’t find any reference to Tsuru, who had been the canon member of Garp and Sengoku’s trio of famous marines. Whether this was because Tsuru wasn’t a Marine, was dead of some far off pirate attack that was an equivalent of the Arlong Pirates invasion of Cocoyashi, or just never became as famous was not clear. I also didn’t really care, despite how… ethically terrifying her Devil Fruit’s ability to ‘clean the evil off of people’ was.)

I didn’t get to try out that trick I’d thought up back on the Baratie, because I’d avoided combat, but I did get to try it on a couple drunks that wouldn’t leave me alone. Sadly, I wasn’t quite good enough at the whole psychic snail communication thing to perform a Psychic Scream as a sort of knock off Conqueror's Haki while in my hybrid form. It all worked out because Franky dealt with them for me, but it still reinforced how helpless I currently was. I had a hard deadline too in the form of Alabasta to figure something out, or I might end up dead.

By Nika, I was a coward, my main strengths were my mind and my craftiness, and any serious opponent would paste me if I wasn’t careful. Was I just Usopp? At least Kaya had her weird super strength disease. Then again, Usopp at least had a few fights before Alabasta, and even saved the day on Little Garden, and a certain other crew member didn’t become truly combat ready until Alabasta. Did that make me Nami?!

(Oh that was a big spike of gender euphoria right there, Roxie Likey.)

I may or may not have wandered around town grinning like an idiot after I let some of the village women give me a hair care and shopping session, because trying on that many dresses in a row may or may not have broken my brain a bit. All of it was free of course, I was a Straw Hat, but as a reward I couldn’t have asked for more. 

How did I do that and pump people for information at the same time? Well, the party lasted for three days straight.

I will freely admit that I spent most of those three days sitting in my cabin, filling out my notebooks with information and sipping on citrus based wines. It felt good to get the information out of my head, even if anyone fluent in Traditional Eastern or Japanese could read it fairly easily. I marked the two days of pure party as ‘the celebrations continued’ in the Log, and made sure to interview the rest of the crew over the course of the party to write the Log for the assault itself, and to fill in some gaps before that. Admittedly some of their testimonies weren’t that useful given the amount of alcohol flowing through them, but it was better than nothing. 

Sanji and I had a brief reunion with Zeff. It wasn’t anything world shattering, but it was nice to get an extra chance to catch up and say goodbye. They left with the high tide on the third day of partying, as they desperately needed to actually resupply at an island that hadn’t been pillaged. It was nice to see the Baratie one last time before moving on with things. 

On our fourth day in Cocoyashi, pretty much everyone else on the island had some flavor of hangover, except for the children and I. This made it somewhat harder to purchase a few trees from Nojiko and a few other orchard keepers on the island, but I got it done with permission from Robin. I consulted with Franky on where they would stand on the deck and how many we should bring. I also consulted with Sanji on what trees would be useful for the voyage. By the end of the day, the Merry was finally completed in my eyes as fruit trees stood on the quarterdeck. 

It was around this time that I got enough time to go over the newspapers from the last three days, not counting the day we arrived, but counting today. The News Coo that delivered our six newspapers each day looked particularly fancy, with a special hat and vest denoting it as an All Blue Coo. A letter had come with the first delivery, congratulating us on joining ‘an exclusive club of the informed few’ that Robin gave a funny look. There might have been more to it than that, but Robin asked me not to worry, so I was letting her handle it. 

In terms of bounty posters, there wasn’t anyone I recognized, and no one over 15 million berries, at least from the Blues. The Paradise edition included a poster for ‘Silver Fox’ Foxy, who had apparently just entered the Grand Line and absorbed an entire Grand Line crew at Reverse Mountain, getting a bounty of… 15 million, which wasn’t his canon bounty, but had plenty of time to grow, I guess? The New World was similar, as the only bounty poster included was a bounty increase for Charlotte Snack, from 400 million to 600 million, although that was in fact his canon bounty, attributed to being promoted to a Sweet Commander of the Big Mom Pirates. 

The news was far more interesting, at least, as it nearly gave me a heart attack. Princess Nefretari Vivi of Alabasta was on the front page of the Paradise edition, because she had officially been missing for two years. The photo the WEJ used was apparently from her 14th birthday party, and she would have been 16 years old, as of this year. King Cobra hadn’t made a statement, but the Alabastan flag continued to be hung upside down, as it had been since she vanished.

There were persistent rumors, apparently, that the Rebel Army had kidnapped her, and had been holding her hostage for the past two years, or that the Rebel Army itself was a plot by Vivi to take over the country. There was even a quote from Crocodile on the matter, although it was mostly that he was more loyal to the people of his adoptive home than the monarchs. His public persona, at least, disapproved of the oncoming Civil War, but would step in ‘if the Royal Army made any more provocative attacks on the citizenry.’ 

All of this made me suspect what I knew, despite the fact I knew Crocodile had to have put on a public persona to set himself up to become the new King of Alabasta or whatever his plan had been. I couldn’t quite remember if he’d wanted the country, or just the Poneglyph. Vivi going missing could be easily explained away by her going undercover as Ms Wednesday within Baroque Works itself, but the rumors were worrying. For all that Baroque Works was an organization of bounty hunters, any organization that large could easily influence the public opinion of an island nation.

The other editions didn’t tell me much, sadly. Shanks had been spotted in the South Blue, and partied with a nation's navy. A few Celestials were on a tour of the West Blue, with their route ending in the Ballywood Kingdom. A special edition of the Sora comic was for sale in World Government affiliated book stores to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the comic. Vegapunk had released a scientific paper on selective breeding, furthering his research into ‘lineage factor’, or as I knew it, DNA. 

(I also indulged in some star gazing, but I didn’t have a star chart and had never really been able to see constellations anyway. The multiple moons in the sky implied the old theory that the One Piece world had 6 moons might not have been canon to the story, but it was certainly real here. I wondered which one Enel would try to claim was Fairy Vearth.) 

As I was admiring the trees and relaxing in the sun, a mouth sprouted from one of the tree trunks and spoke with Robin’s voice. “Nami would like to speak to all of us again. Please join us on the shore.”

I briefly stretched before complying with the request as the mouth vanished into flower petals. I had to wonder what she might have wanted. We’d celebrated, and we’d done everything she asked. Had something gone wrong? There wasn’t anything I could think of.

Nami looked worse for wear, and somehow still had a hangover even as the sun was setting. “Alright, you’re all here, let's get this done quick so I can go sleep for the next couple days.”

I raised a hand. “Is this about the trees? We paid for those.”

“No, it isn’t about the trees. It’s about your reward.”

“But we already partie-” Robin cut Luffy off with a pair of spawned hands.

“Our reward, Ma’am?”

“Here, before this takes any longer. Your first reward is a full set of world maps, for each of the major seas, drawn by me. The Calm Belt maps are still spotty, but you are all too young to be wandering around in there anyway.” Nami handed Robin a large bag. “Your other reward is this, as thanks for getting rid of Arlong in about half a day, not counting travel time.”

I gaped at the wrist watch-esque thing Nami dangled from her hand. “Is that a New World level Log Pose?”

Nami smirked at me. “And the smart girl gets it wrong for once! Nope, this is a prototype for my own invention, the Log Rose.”

“Hold on, what’s a Log Pose?” Kaya asked.

“You remember how the compases broke during the storm?” Robin asked, and Kaya nodded. “Log Poses are one of the primary ways to navigate in the Grand Line, as they use an island’s inherent magnetic field as their marker, rather than the north or south pole.”

“Got it in one. Log Poses allow for travel along the magnetic tracks of the Grand Line, but I don’t like following tracks, so I found a workaround. The idea behind a Log Rose is very simple, it’s just four Eternal Poses strapped together.” Nami explained.

Luffy opened his mouth.

“An Eternal Pose is a Log Pose that always points at a single island.” I explained absently as my mind tried to figure out what Nami had invented. On closer inspection, there were only two Log Pose-esque spheres of glass set into the wristband.

Luffy closed his mouth.

“How does that solve the problem?” Franky asked.

“This prototype contains an Eternal Pose for Reverse Mountain and Fishman Island. It should get the job done, and you get to beta test this for me! I expect detailed notes from you, guppy, over your journey.” Nami said, and Jinbe nodded seriously.

“What does the full version look like?” Franky asked.

“That version is going to add Eternal Poses for the north and south poles.” Nami explained. “With that, you won’t have anything to worry about, for navigation at least.”

“How much do you plan to charge for this?” I asked curiously as my brain tried to process the implications of such an invention.

“Not counting my normal mark up, about a billion berries.” Nami said casually as our collective jaws dropped.

“WHAT?!”

“Do you know how complicated and expensive it is to make an Eternal Pose for anything outside the Grand line? There isn’t even any land under the north pole! That makes it even more complicated!” Nami said, full of exasperation. “It doesn't help that the Magnet Magnet fruit user I had planned to consult with died a couple years ago and now some punk brat has been running around with it.” 

(So Kidd existed. That was good to know.)

“I don’t want to sound ungrateful, Ma’am, but this is more than we, no, I deserve.” Jinbe said with his head hung. “All we did was the bare minimum.”

Nami began laughing as Jinbe stared at her in shock. “No, kid, no you really didn’t. The bare minimum would have been participating in the attack.  Instead, you did the best you could to bring the Arlong Pirates down for what they did. I am rewarding you for your morals, and the rest of this crew for enthusiastically following through on those morals.”

Jinbe bowed at a perfect 45 degree angle. A tear fell from his face. “I cannot express how much this chance meant and continues to mean to me. Thank you, both for not hating my kind and for allowing me to attempt to make things right.” 

“You’re welcome, guppy. You can thank me by continuing to prove Arlong wrong as many times as possible.” Nami said before looking Luffy in the eyes. “As for you, take care of him, alright?”

Luffy nodded seriously. “Of course, he’s my nakama!”

“You’re good kids, all of you.” Nami chuckled.

Hera popped out of her shoulder. “You are taking after Mama, dear.”

“Shut up, Hera.” Nami batted at the cloud as it retreated into her arm. “Guppy, catch!” Nami tossed Jinbe the Log Rose prototype. “Keep that on you at all times. Your crew doesn’t have a proper navigator, but that should help offset it once you hit the Grand Line. Still, it isn’t a substitute for the Log Pose itself, it’s just a navigation aid.” She yawned. “Now, I’m gonna sleep like the dead. The snail girl has my number if you want to call. See you when I see you.”

I followed the rest of the crew up the gangplank and onto the Merry as Jinbe strapped the Log Rose to his arm. He still looked like he needed a hug, but Luffy took care of that once we got onto the deck proper, so I took the moment to slip away to my cabin again. I needed more time to think.

Nami was right, we didn’t have a navigator. Kaya claimed the role, but as far as I knew that just meant she could read maps and knew some bare bones theory. Canon’s iteration of Nami had been a large part of how the Straw Hats survived the Grand Line with such a small crew. I trusted Jinbe, he was a prodigy of a helmsman, but he wasn’t Nami. I had to hope that her invention was good enough to compensate for that lack.

The conversation also reminded me that I had called Nami, back during the assault on Arlong Park. I had honestly gotten lucky that my powers worked like I thought they did and that there was another snail hidden on the island. The other snail took care of most of the effort, and I just had to piggyback off of its work. I’d have loved to get a Transponder rig of some kind during the party, but the only snail shop on the island had been in Gosa village, which was still too much of a wreck to get anything done. Franky had talked to the guy who ran it, but he’d said it would be a while before he got something working well enough to risk connecting it to me.

I had tried to place normal calls before, and it hadn’t worked well. The calls almost never connected, and never outside the East Blue. I could get a vague sense of where a given snail group was, but nothing more than that, and calling a specific snail outside the East was a nightmare that never worked. There wasn’t even anything or anyone worth calling in the East, because we’d end up in logtown anyway, and I didn’t know anything about the Revolutionary Army in this world, or where they would be even if I did.

(At least that was my second arc done without a scratch.)

I went to bed feeling an odd combination of frustration and expectation, because tomorrow was when things would get interesting again. 

========================================================================

Robin sighed as she took another sip of her morning coffee. Sanji truly had been a good choice for the crew. For all that Luffy was a bit simple at times, he had good taste in food.

“I know we’re leaving, but I think I missed the meeting. Where are we going, exactly?” Roxie asked from her place at the table within the kitchen. Most of the crew was busy getting ready for their departure, so it was just Roxie, Robin, and Luffy in the kitchen. 

“Ah, yes, we discussed this during the party, while you were on the ship.” Robin said. “I originally came to the East in search of a Poneglyph, out of archeological interest. Sadly, I haven’t been able to find it, or any other rumors of it, since crossing over from the South. We were going to head to Shimotsuki, despite the captain’s protests.”

Roxie was giving her an odd look, but Robin was used to that by now. The snail girl gave more strange looks than normal looks, it seemed.

“I wanna go to the Grand Line!” Luffy whined.

“And you agreed to help at least find out if I was chasing a false rumor first, remember?” Robin said gently.

Luffy pouted but nodded. 

“Well, I might have an idea, actually. I overheard a rumor while waiting tables at the Baratie. Have you heard of Warship Island?” Roxie asked.

Robin raised an eyebrow. “I have not.”

“It is one of the closest islands in the East to the Calm Belt, but it has a certain legend associated with it. A moment, please.” Roxie cleared her throat, put a hand below her chin, and spoke in an authoritative and ancient voice. “The Warship sails towards the Lost Kingdom.”

“Lost Kingdom?” Robin asked.

“Yep!” Roxie said in her normal voice once again. “That’s a very rough summary, but I didn’t listen to the entire story the old coot was telling, so that was the gist I got. Now, if there was a hidden history rock that had been lost to time, what better place for it than an island with a long abandoned kingdom on it?”

“That sounds like an adventure!” Luffy said with a gleam in his eye. It seemed he had already chosen for her, despite her doubts about this random legend.

“But what does the rest of the line mean?” Robin asked.

Roxie rubbed her chin in thought. “Well, Warship Island gets its name from the fact the mountain in the middle looks like a bunch of warships stacked on top of each other. The old coot’s companion was a treasure hunter, who was probably using the meal to bribe him into telling the story. She mentioned to the old man that the island’s ships seemed to point to the east. You see what I mean, right?” 

“We’d have to consult the maps, but if we approach from the west, we should find that lost kingdom.” Robin realized.

Luffy was practically vibrating in his seat at this point, which inevitably led to him bolting out of the room screaming “JINNNNNNNNNNNNNBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!”

Robin found herself smiling and didn’t immediately suppress it as Roxie followed the captain out of the kitchen. A spawned eye told her the News Coo was coming, and another cup of coffee sounded absolutely lovely while she read the newspaper. Their All Blue subscription meant her relatively small collection of books were taking longer to get through due to having quite a few more newspapers to read each day, but it was worth it.

They hadn’t gone through hell, and Robin was sure her presence would bring it someday, but there was something nice about relaxing with people she could trust to at least not stab her in the back. 

========================================================================

The entire crew of Garp’s personal Marine Battleship were below deck as Garp himself climbed out of the water and onto the beach of Amazon Lily, where Boa Hancock happened to be relaxing. If he had to guess, she had been sunbathing.

“What has brought a disgusting navy man to my island?”

“Did a ship with a sheep figurehead or a boy with a straw hat show up here recently?”

“No. You are the first and only man to walk on these shores this year, you abominable old man.”

“Thank you. I’ll get out of your hair.”

Garp felt the Warlord’s somewhat confused gaze on his back as he went right back into the water.

He swam back to his ship and told the boys to get rowing towards Rusukaina. It was relatively close by, so maybe Luffy had gotten shipwrecked or something. If he wasn’t there, he’d get the boys to comb the waters between Cozia and Amazon Lily a few times. There was every chance they’d ended up becalmed because they ran out of oars or something. It sounded like something Luffy would do. 

(It had been half a week since the last sighting of his grandson.)

The Calm Belts were some of the most dangerous places on the planet. The Demon Child could have gotten them over the hurdle of rowing through without a large crew, but she wasn’t an answer to the Sea Kings. Luffy had beaten the Lord of the Coast on the way out of Foosha, but that Sea King was practically nothing compared to some of the monsters in the Calm Belt. Maybe he thought he could fight his way through because he beat the Lord of the Coast?

(If Garp found a straw hat somewhere on these waves, it wouldn’t matter what Sengoku said or what he’d promised Roger. That red haired brat of an Emperor would die.) 

Garp was tired.

========================================================================

Thankfully, I was able to confirm with Jinbe that Warship Island did, in fact, exist in this timeline.

(It would have been really embarrassing if it didn’t, but frankly that was what I got for pulling things out of my ass like that. Robin wasn’t supposed to be that blase about Poneyglyphs, not with this crew, not yet!)

It took us about a day to get to an island roughly directly east of Warship Island, which just happened to be Gold Island, from the first One Piece movie. We stuck around just long enough for Luffy to hear about what Coby had done on Clockwork Island from the newly settled locals and for Sanji and Kaya to restock before we were off again, following a legend I had made up on the spot. Granted, the island we were heading towards served literally no purpose other than as a hint towards knowledge I already knew, but Robin would probably get a kick out of an unspoiled ruin, so it was worth it.

(I’d worry about the timeline, but frankly I didn’t know anything about it. I had to trust to the nature of the world itself and of narrative structures that we’d get there at the right moment for something interesting to happen, before or after Operation Utopia kicked off.)

I took to acting as our unofficial lookout for the voyage, because I knew what I was looking for, and I saw it after another day and a half of sailing. In the distance, a small mirror of the Merry was slowly getting bigger. I didn’t say anything, but I did smile to myself. A small commotion arose on deck, as we got closer. As in canon, no one really noticed until it was too late, and Luffy ordered us to keep going anyway.

(Did that count as canon? This was from non canon material. I knew we weren’t exclusively going through every single adventure the Straw Hats had ever done in the world I knew, because Garp had helpfully stomped the first two movies under his heel while searching for Luffy, but this was raising questions I couldn’t answer. Uncomfortable questions.) 

As we passed through the weird mirage mirror thing, we were buffeted by a storm. It wasn’t even the nice kind of storm, this was actively trying to sink us. Thankfully, I knew exactly how to justify moving forward.

“I see it! The island! In the eye of the storm!”

A round of cheers from below told me I’d succeeded, so I climbed down to help keep the ship from capsizing. There was something immensely satisfying about doing hard labor in the pouring rain, even as I tried to avoid rope burn. I could practically feel myself getting stronger, which probably said more about how weak I’d been when I spawned in this world than anything else. At least now I could open pickle jars without having to go find Jinbe or Sanji.

The weather cleared up as we approached the island, until it was a normal sunny day, albeit with a lot of wind. I took a moment to admire the ruins, because on Earth there weren’t any ruins like this, not really. They were all touched and prodded and excavated. These hadn’t been touched by anyone since the people of Warship Island left who knows how long ago. This might have been entirely unique in the history of the world, if I was being honest.

“It appears you were right, Ms Scribe.” Robin said as Franky dropped the anchor. 

I didn’t say anything, I just smiled at her as I dropped the rope ladder and climbed down onto what had probably once been a port of some kind. Now it was just a few broken blocks of stone set into the beach. The rest of the crew followed me. Luffy looked like he was about to go harrying off into the distance, but then he looked me in the eye and stopped, because he was a nice little empath like that.

“So, fun fact, I didn’t actually overhear any legends about this place, or Warship Island. I made that whole thing up.” I said honestly as I stood on a block as a makeshift platform.

“Then how did you know this place existed, Ms Scribe?” Robin asked with a raised eyebrow.

“This place was behind a storm and an illusion thing, you couldn’t have found this before us.” Franky pointed out.

“Especially because you were in the North Blue until you washed up near the Baratie.” Sanji said.

“Oh, that’s easy. I’m from another world.”

Chapter Text

“What people want to know and what they need to know can be two very different things.” 

-A line from ‘A Quiet Northern Morning’, a popular book set during the Germa conquest of the North Blue.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A bit of context, I had never cared for the way the characters in the fics I’d read felt the need to keep their origin a secret from the Straw Hats for so long, be it until they were forced to explain it or until something traumatic forced them to trust the crew with their souls. I just didn’t see the point, beyond some vague distrust or character development. With all of that said, I still didn’t want anyone to overhear, which left me with a few options. What better place to reveal an earth shattering secret than on an island that no human has set foot on since before the Void Century? 

(If it hadn’t existed… I trusted Crocus and Laboon.) 

“Oh, that’s easy. I’m from another world.”

Most of the crew’s jaws dropped to the floor, except for Robin and Luffy, which was interesting. Robin was giving me a strange look of realization and worry that I couldn’t interpret. Luffy, however, looked like he was thinking hard on what I’d said, which was weird. I didn’t even know he could really do that.

Ultimately, it culminated in Luffy pointing an accusing finger at me with stars in his eyes. “You’re an alien!”

I face palmed as everyone else stared at Luffy. “No, Luffy, no. I’m not from another planet, I meant ‘world’ as in dimension. I’m from another iteration of the Blue Planet, if that’s what you call this world.”

“It is.” Robin said absently.

“So you’re a mystery alien!” Luffy said with just as much conviction as before.

“No! I’m a human, one native to this planet, although my mind is from another dimension. The best term would probably be planeswalker, although that implies I had any choice or influence over where I was sent. I just kind of woke up in this dimension one day in the Baratie after they fished my unconscious body out of the water.” I explained.

“Roxie.” We all turned to Jinbe, who had recovered from his shock the quickest out of the other four members of the crew. “Are you being serious? This isn’t a prank of some kind?”

I nodded. “May Nika strike me down if I say anything but the unrestrained truth during this conversation.”

Luffy looked strange for a moment, but nobody else really noticed as Jinbe continued. “Then how did you know this, and so much about this world? I wouldn’t have been able to tell you weren’t a native.”

“That’s simple too. In my homeworld, there’s a very popular story about the boy who will be the World’s Freest Man, or as everyone else knows it, the Pirate King.” 

“Oh my.” Robin said, her face carefully blank. “This is why you knew about… my past, is it not?”

“It is. When I told you the World Government would want my head if they knew everything that was in there, I wasn’t kidding.”

“This is absurd! Are you all listening to yourselves?!” Sanji said.

“It isn’t anywhere near as absurd as some other things on this planet, Son of Sora.” I said simply. Sanji’s cigarette fell out of his mouth as he froze like I had turned him to stone.

Franky made an odd sound, like his internal processor was rebooting. “Yeah, I can believe that.”

(He was a Grand Line native. I should have expected that he’d know how to deal with this.)

“He’s really gonna go all the way, isn’t he?” Kaya said quietly. We all turned to her. “If Luffy’s that famous, then he has to claim the title.”

I raised two fingers. “Uh, two caveats on that. One, the story I know was fictional and published serially, so by the time I got here, it hadn’t finished yet. Two, it wasn’t quite…. Accurate. I think I ended up in some form of alternate timeline.” 

(Luffy hadn’t spoken a word in a bit, and that was worrying me. He was just staring, like he was casually looking at my soul.) 

“How different?” Jinbe asked.

“Basically none of you were on the crew, at this point of the story. Anything more about that would be spoilers, I'd have to ask Luffy’s permission to share.”

“I think the mystery differences are fine, but no specifications.” Luffy said.

“Specifics, captain, not specifications.” Robin corrected. 

“On that topic, I’d like one on one interviews with each of you before I go further into explaining things, because I’d like to confirm how different this world is to the story I was obsessed with.” I asked. “Captain, I’d like to talk with you first.”

Luffy nodded, but he still didn’t say anything beyond his order from before.

“The rest of you, please trust me.” 

========================================================================

Luffy’s instinctual reaction to his Scribe’s declaration that she knew a lot about the journey he hadn’t even been on yet was negative.

That part of him was then told to sit down and think by the tiny iteration of his big brother in his head. 

(“If you mean to go beyond everyone else to have ever shared your goal, you need to apply the same creative thinking to this as you did to learning to fight with your Fruit. That means thinking things through occasionally, like how you pull your arm back for maximum impact when you punch.”)

Roxie sat down at the kitchen table. Luffy sat across from her and swung his feet.

“How do you want to do this? LIke, do you want to ask me some questions first, or do you want me to ask first? I don’t want to make this seem like I’m trying to take over, I just want to help.”

This was also why he’d squashed his negative reaction. Roxie was sincere. He’d felt it in his heart, especially when she made that weird oath. He needed to take this seriously.

“I don’t want spoilers. I didn’t want that old chef guy’s book, and I don’t want to hear the whole story of this other version of me either.”

“Yes, I expected that, an Adventure has to have a degree of mystery, or it isn’t a true Adventure.”

Luffy could hear the capital letter. “Yeah! It’s no fun if I know what’s going to happen!”

Roxie laughed. “Oh trust me, I have no idea what’s going to happen. Things are so different here, it’s like someone tossed the world like a salad. I know another story, not this one. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t tell you how exactly this will go.”

Part of that initial negative weight on his shoulders vanished. “Great!”

“But there is some stuff I do want to confirm, one of which is a name.” Roxie said, back to seriousness. “Did you once have a brother named Sabo?” 

(The royal army. A tiny fishing boat with a familiar Jolly Roger. A cannon shot.)

“Yeah. He died when I was little.”

Roxie nodded seriously. “Please, I don’t want to give you false hope, because I genuinely have little idea if this is true or not here, but…”

Luffy stood up. “SABO’S ALIVE?!”

“He might be. He might not be. I don’t know.” Roxie didn’t stand up. She didn’t shout, she didn’t exclaim, she didn’t do any of that. “I don’t know. I can’t know. There’s so much that’s different here. Normally, when characters in stories end up in situations like this, at least they know what’s going on. I don’t have that comfort, I just have to try and try to make the knowledge in my head useful, or I’ll get something wrong and suffer for it. That’s what these interviews are for, and why I wanted those newspapers. I didn’t give up much to come here, so I have to use my gift as best I can.”

Luffy walked around the table and gave Roxie a hug, because there were tears in her eyes. She leaned into it for a few seconds. He didn’t need to totally understand the context to know that she needed comfort, and that was all he needed to do. He let her pull away when she was ready, and sat down next to her.

“What was Sabo like, in the story?” Luffy asked, because he could see she needed to move on.

“Oh, he was awesome. He got picked up by the Revolutionary Army. Do you know who those are?” Luffy shook his head. “Ok, to confirm something again, he got shot out of the water after the Grey Terminal burned, right?” Luffy nodded. “They fight people like the guy who fired that shot, and that ordered the Grey Terminal burned to the ground.” 

“Then why didn’t he come back?”

“Because he got amnesia, he didn’t remember you. He wouldn’t remember until he’d climbed the ranks so far that he was leading his own missions, a general in the Army. You didn’t know he’d survived until…” Luffy nodded, he was fine with stuff like this, it didn’t matter for the adventure. “...you met him again when you were 19, fighting in a colosseum on an island on the other side of the Red Line. Yes, he still fought with a pipe, just like you did as kids.”

“Awesome!”

“I prepared some drawings, would you like to see him?”

“YES!”

“Here.” Roxie pulled out a folded piece of paper from her coat pocket and handed it to him. He unfolded it.

“I…”

The page was wet, and getting fuzzy. Roxie gently took it out of his hands and put it on the table, which he appreciated, because he was crying, because that was Sabo.

(His older brother and grandfather came back to Dawn every year for Sabo’s birthday. He would be 20 now.) 

“He looks AWESOME!” Luffy yelled as he wiped the tears from his eyes. 

“I know, right! He is! Do I have permission to try and arrange a meeting, as soon as I get calling figured out?”

“Of course!”

She pressed the drawing into his chest. “Keep the drawing, because the rest is going to be a bit more complicated. Your other brother wasn’t Sakazuki, in the story I knew.”

Luffy’s brain stalled out, because he was still riding the high of finding out Sabo might be alive. “What?”

“You know your brother is adopted, right?” Luffy nodded. “Good. Well, Garp brought back a different kid in the timeline I know. I don’t know where he got Sakazuki, but I know that your brother in the timeline I know has done incredibly well for himself anyway.”

“Who is he?” Luffy was curious, but he couldn’t put into words why. This was someone he had never even heard of, someone his alternate self cared about. He didn’t know who he’d be without his big brother. “Where is he now?”

“Ok, so, context, Whitebeard is another one of the Emperors of the Sea, and he’s even stronger than Shanks and your grandfather.” Luffy’s eyes bulged. “Yeah, I know. Whitebeard, or Edward Newgate, is the Strongest Man in the World, and was one of your grandfather and Roger’s rivals in their days. The boy who Roger would have given to Garp in the timeline I knew was instead given to Whitebeard, becoming Ace D Newgate. If Garp took him, he’d have been Portgas D Ace.”

“He sounds cool.”

“He is! He has the Flame Flame fruit, meaning he’s made of and can manipulate fire. You badgered him into becoming your brother about a year after you found him in the middle of the woods, because Garp stashed him with mountain bandits instead of giving him to Makino.”

“Oh, he was with Aunty Dadan instead of Mom?”

Roxie gave him a brief strange look. At least he knew why she did that all the time now, and why she seemed to look past people sometimes, as if looking for who she knew, instead of who was actually there.

“He became a pirate like you, in the world I knew. You’d meet him a couple times over the course of the journey until… it isn’t important, that’s an actual spoiler.”

Something more spoilerish than his dead brother maybe being alive?! “What? Tell me!”

“One of the biggest events in the story of One Piece, the story I read, was the execution of Portgas D Ace.” 

“That isn’t a spoiler.”

“I know, because your big brother is a Marine, and he’s awesome at it, and already famous, so they’d never do it, but still. I don’t know if that execution is still going to happen. You fought through hell and back to prevent it, and you failed, and it nearly broke you in half.” Roxie hesitated before continuing.  “A lot of Marines died that day.”

“Oh.” Then it sunk in exactly what that meant. “ Oh.”

“Yeah, I’m going to work my ass off to prevent it, like everyone who ends up in an iteration of this world does, but it almost never works fully. I-”

Luffy hugged her again. “I trust you.”

Roxie wiped a tear from her eye again as he pulled back. “Thank you. What else was there….” Roxie thought for a second. “Oh yeah, did Shanks have a daughter?”

“Yeah! Uta was awesome, even if Sakazuki got weird whenever she was around.”

Roxie put her head in her hands. “Oh, by the sun, Luffy, you just accidentally gave me the most horrible mental image. I need to scrub my brain now. Ugh.” She groaned. “I should be able to find her, eventually. Would you like to call her or Shanks himself at some point?”

Luffy had to think again. “I don’t know. I’d love to talk to Uta again, but I don’t know if I’m ready to talk to Shanks yet. I’m not a great pirate yet.”

“How about I call Shanks and ask if he wants to wait until you're ready to give back his hat, or if he wants to talk to you before then?”

Luffy nodded. “That sounds good.” 

“Would you like to see yourself, near the end of what I read? No spoilers, just the design.” 

“Sure!” Roxie handed over the second piece of paper. He just had a cool scar, black cape, and a purple belt, that wasn’t cool! “This isn’t cool! I thought I’d look cool!”

“That’s because I didn’t include anything spoilerish, duh. Those are the cool parts.”

“Alright, thanks.” 

“I can’t think of anything else you need to know. Did you have anything you wanted to ask me?”

Luffy put his hand on his chin and thought. He didn’t want any spoilers, so was there anything he wanted to know? Was there anything he wanted to be reassured about? Oh yeah!

“Did that other me have fun?”

Roxie smiled at him. “Yeah, you had fun. It was an amazing adventure. How about we try and top it?”

“YEAH!”

========================================================================

Sanji rolled his shoulder as he walked into the kitchen, where Roxie was sitting at the table, waiting for him with a few folded pieces of paper on the table. Luffy had not been easy on him when he pulled Sanji onto the deck.

(Why him next, and not Robin? Surely she was more important.)

“I-”

Roxie interrupted him. “Everything I did on the Baratie was genuine, for the record.”

“You know my mother.”

“I know a lot about you, Sanji. It was nice to see you were still as nice as the one I read about.”

He had worried, when she’d said that the crew had been different, that he hadn’t been on the crew by now. That he wasn’t with Zeff, in this other timeline, that he had remained in the Germa kingdom. That was a weight off his shoulders as he sat down.

(He hadn’t brought his lighter or his cigarettes.)

“How much do you know?”

“I know that Judge has no right to call himself a father, and that at least for the iteration I know, the women of your family were the only ones that treated you well.”

Reiju was still a good older sister, that was great. “I don’t want to talk about that part of my life.”

“That is perfectly fine, I’m sorry for bringing it up, but I had to prove to you I knew impossible things.”

Sanji sat down heavily across from Roxie. “Then what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Well, before we get into it, do you have any questions for me?”

He needed a mood lifter, so what the heck, if this was seriously what his life was now. “You said this was a story, right? Did I have any love interests?”

(He couldn’t even put in the effort for his usual antics. Fuck, this was affecting him more than he thought.)

Roxie’s wince didn’t help. “Well, yes, and you even had a wedding.”

“I take it that didn’t go well? Let me guess, monster bride?”

“Worse, arranged marriage.”

“Oh.” Sanji felt sick to his stomach.

“When your bounty poster was published, it told Judge you were still alive, and he decided that if you weren’t dead already, you might as well be useful somehow.” Roxie said distantly. “SANJI, BREATHE!”

Sanji came back to himself, and realized he had been shaking. Roxie was frozen in her seat too. “Who was the bride?” He needed to know how screwed he was.

“Charlotte Pudding, 35th daughter of Charlotte Linlin, and 76th in line for the throne of Totto Land.” Roxie said.

“My mother in law was going to be Big Mom herself, of course, why should I expect anything different.” Sanji said, slightly hysteric.

“If it makes you feel any better, Luffy and the others rescued you, although you tried to sacrifice yourself because you didn’t want to put the rest of the crew in danger.”

He couldn’t believe it, but he was still partially in the denial stage. It would pass. He needed a cigarette. “Of course. Did they chase us?”

“Big Mom did, although mostly because Luffy joined a plot to assassinate her in the process of crashing your wedding. Germa was mostly ruined when Linlin took what she wanted anyway.”

Sanji took a deep breath. He could handle that. “That’s… good.”

“Would you like to see a picture of either Reiju or Pudding?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Alright. I’ll save these for you if you change your mind.”

“What is the third picture?”

“Your other love interest, although you didn’t go very far with her, and it was kind of a gag.”

“Show it to me.”

She handed over the picture after she put the other two into her coat again.

He opened the picture. He closed it again.

“Roxie?”

“Yes, dear nakama?”

“This is Queen Viola of Dressrosa.” 

“She is, yes.”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” 

Roxie burst out laughing. “I know! If it makes you feel any better, she wasn’t married, and I don’t think she ever seriously considered you as a long term romantic partner.” 

“So I was a FLING?” Sanji pounded the table.

“Yes!” Roxie confirmed.

“This is a mess.” Sanji said as he slumped.

“It is.”

“I don’t know what to do with this information.”

“Neither do I, although I’m sure we’ll be able to prepare somehow.” Roxie said. “...Would you like to call Reiju, eventually?”

“No.”

“That’s alright.”

“Do you want to see your design from the end of the series as I knew it?”

“Still no.”

“Let me show you my art, you depressed cook!”

“No!” 

========================================================================

Franky grabbed a bottle of whiskey from below deck and took a swig before he went to the kitchen. He was going to need it, based on how Sanji looked after he came back outside and wandered off into the ruins.

(Luffy had ordered them to not talk about their conversations with Roxie until they were all done. It hadn’t helped anyone’s anxiety.)

He was glad he took that swig, because Roxie hit him with a question as soon as he saw down at the table.

“Are you actually from Baldimore?”

“No, I’m from Water 7.”

“Oh thank Nika.” Roxie said, slumping against the table before shaking a fist at him. “Do you know how close I came to a heart attack when you claimed that? I thought I’d have to throw out basically my entire file on you!”

“So, you know that my original name was Cutty Flam?”

“Yes!” 

“How did Luffy get the Going Merry if I wasn’t on the crew at this point?”

“You didn’t build it. It was built by Merry, hence the name, and gifted to Luffy after he saved the island from Kuro.” 

He couldn’t imagine the Going Merry without his hand, without the countless hours he’d spent hammering away. “What was she like?”

“See for yourself.” Roxie passed over one of the pieces of paper on the table.

“She’s so cute!” Franky said, because she was! It was practically a chibi version of the Merry! “I’m not crying, it’s just a malfunction!”

“This version of the Merry is awesome, Franky.”

“This is why you brought the trees on, it really completes the look.”

“I know, right?!”

Franky wiped the totally not tears from his face and really examined the ship in the picture. “Hold on. This isn’t a Grand Line ship.” He looked up, and Roxie was looking at him sadly. “How far did she get?” 

“By the time the crew got to Water 7, she was on life support, and her Wood Fairy had shown up twice.”

Franky could feel his eyes tearing up again. “Oh, she got so far. The little lamb that could.”

“You were in Water 7 at the time.” He looked up, and Roxie was looking into the middle distance. “One of the crew didn’t accept that the Merry was dying despite a cracked keel.” Franky winced. “You were a shipbreaker, effectively hiding as the face of the criminal underworld of the city. It wasn’t pretty.” 

“Was it Kaya?” He couldn’t imagine his little sister on these seas without him, going all those years without him to accidentally counterbalance Kuro. 

Roxie shook her head. “Kaya wasn’t a member of the crew at all. She decided to stay in Syrup after she recovered and became a doctor. Someone else joined in Syrup, although I doubt you’d have heard of him if he wasn’t there when you arrived.” 

“Have you noticed a pattern, with how this world is different from the one you know? I might be able to help.” Franky suggested. He was relieved that Kaya hadn’t been in danger without him to keep an eye on her. 

“Some things are different just because, as far as I can tell, but with some things, it's because they were swapped.”

“Did this guy from Syrup happen to be the orphaned son of a famous sniper?”

Roxie blinked. “Luffy?”

“Yeah, Luffy said it was strange he didn’t run into Yasopp’s kid in Syrup.” Franky said, thinking back to a conversation he’d had with the boy while waiting for the Marines to get off the island. “I’ll let Kaya tell the whole story, but if he was swapped with me, I think he might have tried to kill me.”

Roxie blinked again. “Excuse me?” 

“You know about Pluton, right?”

“Yeah, that’s why I freaked out when you said you were from Baldimore.”

“Well, after Iceberg gave me the blueprints, I wandered the city for a few days, trying to figure out if I was willing to flee for my life or try to stay on the island. Some madman with a long nose and a slingshot tried to kill me after recognizing me as the guy who built the Battle Frankies. I accidentally faked my death and ended up drifting to Syrup on the ruins of the Battle Franky 35.” Franky explained. “I still don’t know how I got across the Calm Belt on that thing, but it was Seastone coated, so that probably helped.”

Roxie was gaping at him like a fish at this point. “Congratulations, Franky, you survived an encounter with the youngest member of CP9, the World Government’s personal assassin organization, or at least a branch of it.”

“And you think this guy was Yasopp’s son, Usopp?”

“Yeah, it fits the bill. They recruit from promising young orphans, and Usopp was always a crack shot, and a good liar. This is kind of spoilers, but you figured this out basically on your own. He was the one Luffy recruited on Syrup, and was the Straw Hat’s sniper. If I had to guess, and the Paradise edition of the WEJ might confirm it for me, Usopp is currently undercover in Water 7’s underworld, using the alias of Sogeking.”

“And that means the World Government is still after Pluton, dammit.” Franky pounded a fist into the table and took another swig of his whiskey. 

“You burned the blueprints shortly before you joined as Luffy’s shipwright, for the record, although I don’t know if you’ll still want to do that after talking with Robin and what I’m about to say.”

“Yeah, I know Robin cares more about archeology than taking over the world.” Franky said dismissively. “But given the topic, what else do you know about Pluton?”

“It’s under Wano.” Franky took another swig. “Exactly. Thankfully, I don’t think Kaido or the World Government knows this. Only the old royal family knows about it, and the only other clue is unreadable to everyone except for Robin. You can’t even get to it without bringing down the massive walls of that fortress island.” 

“Ya sure this doesn’t count as spoilers?”

“Luffy never gave a shit about the Ancient Weapons in the story.” 

Fair enough. “I need some good news. You said I joined the crew in Water 7. Is that other picture what I think it is?” 

“Are you sure you want to see your future creation? Aren’t you worried it might ruin something for you?”

“Oh, little sister, no. This was the first ship I built since the Battle Frankies in that world, right?”

“Yeah, although you had help from Iceberg and your respective groups.”

“It would already be different, because I used the Going Merry as a prototype for some of my ideas that I would have put into this thing. Hand it over.”

Roxie handed over the picture.

Oh, it was perfect. She’d drawn it from multiple angles too, so he got a full view. The Docking System, the Gaon Cannon, everything he’d dreamed and more. He hadn’t been able to squeeze in as much as he’d have liked into the Going Merry, but even then he could already see ways to improve this ship. He needed to get to his blueprint paper, and soon.

“Thank you, this is amazing.” He didn’t even notice he’d started crying until he had to move the paper out of the way,

“Hold on, do you want to see your personal upgrade, the Battle Franky 38?”

“I’ll pass for now, I can only handle so much SUPER in one conversation.” He got up.

“You’ll want to talk to Iceberg and Kokoro after I figure out calling, right?” Roxie called after him as he was leaving. 

“That sounds SUPER!”

========================================================================

The reversal from Sanji to Franky was massive, because he’d seemed extremely excited before rushing to his room.

Kaya was nervous, but she put on a brave face as she went through the door into the kitchen and sat down.

“Alright, any questions before we begin?” Roxie asked. There was a single piece of paper on the table, along with a bottle of whiskey. Franky must have left it behind.

“Why was Franky so excited?”

“I showed him one of his future creations, on his request. He was desperate to get going.”

Kaya giggled. “Yeah, that sounds like him.”

“Anything else?” Kaya shook her head. “Then let me begin by saying you weren’t even on the crew in the story I know, someone else from your village was, and it wasn’t Franky, because he never went to Syrup there.”

“Then what did I do?”

“You decided to become a doctor after helping treat the crew’s injuries from fighting Kuro.”

“But why?” She couldn’t imagine deciding to stay in Syrup. That mansion felt so claustrophobic near the end, when all she wanted to do was move and explore the world.

“Because you were told different stories. Do you remember a boy with a long nose, from when you were a kid?”

“Oh yeah, Usopp!” Wait. “Did his uncle not come to pick him up in your story?”

“Uncle?”

“Yeah, a couple weeks after his mother died, Usopp’s uncle on his mother’s side came to pick him up. He had a little boy with a nose just like Usopp’s with him, so no one really questioned it.” 

Roxie put her hands together. “So… about that.”

Kaya gave her a flat look. “That wasn't his uncle, was it?” 

“He was a recruitment officer from CP9, and that kid just happened to look the part.” 

“My parents thought there was something off because he didn’t have the nose, but Usopp himself was all for it, so my parents were shot down by the village elders.” Kaya hung her head. “I lost a friend that day.”

“It gets worse.”

“No, please no.”

“He tried to kill Franky, but failed, which is why Franky washed up on your island.” 

Kaya laughed involuntarily. “Yeah, that sounds like Usopp.”

Roxie smiled. “I think describing how he was on the crew would be spoilers, but he was great. He basically kept you going with dozens of tall tales a day, from that-”

“-branch that sticks out near my bedroom window.” Kaya finished with Roxie. “Yeah, that sounds like Usopp, alright.”

“Here’s what he looks like as an adult, and probably as a CP9 agent if I had to guess.”

Roxie handed over the drawing, which looked a bit hasty, but oh… oh he had grown up into a fine young man. A fine, muscular man.

“I’m keeping this.” Kaya said, folding the picture up into her pocket as her face went red.

“I’ll try to arrange a call eventually!” Roxie called after her as she left the room. 

She’d like that.

========================================================================

Jinbe had determined that Sanji was an outlier, as the other three had been happy about their meetings with Roxie. Kaya was even blushing when she came to get him.

Jinbe sat down across from Roxie, who had a few pieces of paper on the table between them. Roxie was also holding a bottle of whiskey.

“Alright, so you were a Sun Pirate, right?”

“Yes, I was the cabin boy on the ship. I had nowhere else to go after Fisher Tiger freed me.”

(He’d just wanted to try the food in Sabaody, he didn’t go anywhere near the park. Sadly, he was kidnapped while enjoying his ice cream. He didn’t like it anymore.) 

“Would you like to see some art of Koala?”

Jinbe’s eyes widened. “She’s okay?”

“See for yourself!”

Jinbe started crying almost as soon as he unfolded the paper. He couldn’t believe it, but that was Koala. She had grown up so well. He didn’t know how Roxie had done it, but she was even smiling just like he remembered.

“Tell me about her, please.” Jinbe said. He didn’t even try to stop crying, but he did keep the picture safe.

“Three years after Fisher Tiger died, the Koala I knew joined the Revolutionary Army, and began helping out as an assistant Fishman Karate instructor.”

“We sparred together on the deck every day.” Jinbe remembered.

“She was basically the second in command to their Chief of Staff by now. If she was with you, I don’t see why it would have changed.” 

“Fisher Tiger would be proud.” Jinbe said before finally wiping his eyes.

“I’ll try to get you in contact with her, once I can call people.”

“I would appreciate that, thank you.” Jinbe bowed.

“Now, do you have any questions for me?”

“What happened to the Sun Pirates? Did they survive?”

“They did! You actually were a large part of that, because you weren’t a kid in that timeline. You were in your 30s at the time.”

“I don’t understand. How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. One principle I’ve theorized about is that this world has a few swaps from the usual timeline, and you were swapped with Nami.”

“I was a Warlord.”

Roxie slid over another of the pieces of paper. “Jinbe, ‘Knight of the Sea’, or as some translated it, ‘First Son of the Sea’. I assume the pun on ‘sun’ was intentional, because you were the captain of the Sun Pirates, and worked to fight the slave trade and protect Fishman Island.”

He couldn’t comprehend the art. He looked so strong, like a true master of Fishman Karate. This alternate version of himself would have been able to single handedly free Cocoyashi. He folded it up and put it into a pocket. “If I was a Warlord, who was Nami?”

“Behold, ‘Cat Burglar’ Nami.” Roxie said, handing over the last piece of paper, which depicted a much younger Nami. She must have been a teenager in this. “You were too busy protecting Fishman Island to check on what Arlong had been doing, and he got the idea to conquer his own kingdom years earlier than in this timeline.”

“Don’t tell me. Please.” Jinbe felt sick to his stomach.

“He invaded the Conomi archipelago 8 years ago, just a few months after Queen Otohime was assassinated. He personally shot Nami and Nojiko’s mother in front of them, because she only had enough money to pay for either herself or her daughters, and she chose her daughters. Nami was forced to work as his cartographer for 8 years, while slowly stealing the 100 million berries that would allow her to buy her village back from him. Luffy saved her after she was forced to return, and she rejoined the crew soon after.” 

Jinbe had his head in his hands. “Please tell me that’s it. I don’t think I can handle much more.”

“Oh, it gets worse. That’s just what’s been happening on the surface.”

“But if I was protecting Fishman Island, and I was as strong as Nami, what could have gone wrong?”

“Does the name Hody Jones ring a bell?” 

“What did that supremacist bastard do?” Jinbe said, his composure beginning to break.

“Based on your reaction, he hasn’t changed at all, and thus this hasn’t changed at all.” Roxie said, and the bad feeling in his stomach got even worse. “Hody Jones was the one to shoot Queen Otohime, not that human. He just happened to be there.” 

Jinbe lost his composure.

========================================================================

The table was broken.

They had all heard Jinbe’s scream of pure rage and anguish before he dove into the ocean and swam away. He killed a Sea Beast out near the storm when she last saw him before climbing onto the deck, and now she was sitting across from Roxie, who was awkwardly holding a piece of paper that would probably have been on the table, along with the bottle of whiskey in her other hand.

“What prompted that reaction? Did you graphically describe how Fishman Island was murdered wholesale?” Roxie winced. “Oh dear, how close was I?”

“Not quite that close, but it was intensely personal Fishman Island politics, yes. I think he’ll understand if I share a bit with you, as you’re the First Mate. Does the name Hody Jones ring a bell?”

“I had the misfortune to be on Fishman Island when news of Fisher Tiger’s death began circulating. Yes, I remember him and his lynch mob.” Robin said mildly.

“It’s something like that. I’ll let Jinbe tell the whole tale, if he wishes to.” Roxie said. “Do you have any questions, before we begin?”

“You made a point of asking after Ohara. What happened in your timeline?” 

“John Giant was not an Admiral in that timeline. As far as I know, his main achievement was holding back Whitebeard for a few seconds during a public execution of a Whitebeard pirate. Instead, the man who in this timeline is Luffy’s big brother was part of the Buster Call.” 

(The entire island shook when that man brought down his ax for the final time and the Tree of Knowledge fell to the ground.)

“I see.”

“Sakazuki, or as I knew him, Akainu, would go on to become an Admiral in his 50s, but in his 30s, he personally ordered all the warships in the Buster Call to fire on the civilian transports after he heard a single report that a Scholar of Ohara had escaped the raid on the Tree.” 

(Kuzan’s icey canal led past the Tree of Knowledge that was slowly sinking below the waves. There was blood leaking from the window that led to her favorite alcove.)

“Just to confirm, Kuzan, or, well, Aokiji, was the one to save your life, right?”

“Yes. To say I have mixed feelings on him would be a drastic understatement.” 

“To end the talk of Ohara on a lighter note, I would like to give you hope. In the final arc of the story I read before ending up here, it was revealed that Dr. Vegapunk had continued the research of the Scholars of Ohara, because of a large group of giants, who had recovered as many books as they could from the ruins of the island. Here is some art of the leader of that group.”

Robin gasped, and felt a tear stream down her face before she realized what she was hearing.

“Saul is alive?” Robin said quietly. 

“He might be. This world is different, but you have gone without hope for so long, that I needed to share that with you. The smartest man on the planet continues the legacy of Ohara to this day. I can attempt to arrange a call with both him and Saul, as soon as I’m able.”

Robin was crying, but she was also laughing, truly laughing for the first time in nearly twenty years. It sounded a bit like this. “Dereshishishishi!”

Roxie came over to offer a hug, which Robin accepted. There wasn’t much point to sitting back down once they were finished, as the table was destroyed, but Robin followed the other girl’s lead anyway. “Thank you for that. I cannot say that enough.”

“You can thank me by listening to what I’m about to say next.” Roxie said ominously. “I am going to be less stringent with spoilers with you. Luffy will understand, because he already views you as the brains on the crew after you outright claimed First Mate status, which the person in your spot never quite did in the story I knew. I’d try to use that to segue into a threat, but I trust you and who you showed yourself to be in the story I knew. As such, there is one specific location the crew visited that bears special mention to you, specifically.”

“I did something profoundly stupid, didn’t I?” Robin asked rhetorically. She was riding the high from the revelation that Saul was alive, and it was a glorious feeling.

“You turned yourself over to CP9, so they wouldn’t Buster Call Water 7 while the Straw Hats couldn’t sail away, because the Going Merry was dying.” 

(Oh, she had tempted fate. There it was, like always.) 

“I was alive to learn of Saul’s survival, was I not? It turned out fine, yes?”

“Yes, Robin, but that isn’t my point. You did that because despite the fact you had grown attached to the crew over the course of an adventure through the clouds themselves, you didn’t truly understand what it meant when Luffy allowed you to join after he saved your life. I don’t know if something similar will happen when we get to Alabasta, or Logtown, or just Water 7 itself. What I do know is that when something like that happens, it doesn’t matter how much you want to sacrifice yourself. It doesn’t matter the circumstances. Luffy and the rest of us will be following behind to drag your ass right back out into the sun, and whoever you tried to sacrifice yourself to won’t be standing to try again anytime soon by the time we’re done with them.”

Robin felt like she was going to cry again. It was too much in a row. “What was the end result of my kidnapping?” She asked absently.

“By the end of the Egghead Island arc, the arc I mentioned before, you had survived three Buster Calls in your life. The Buster Call on Enies Lobby was the second.” 

“Oh.” Robin said, then the statement fully sank in. “The World Government found out, didn’t they?”

“Yes, and you arrived on the same day as CP0. It took one of the Five Elders coming to Egghead personally to kill Dr. Vegapunk, and even then it wasn’t enough, because he had a dead man’s switch, which broadcast his final message to every Transponder Snail on the planet.”

He had learned from Clover’s death! “What was the message?”

“He said a lot of things. For now, I have to ask, do you want a break, even just to make a cup of coffee. I have dropped a lot on your head, and it would be entirely fair if you want to take a nap and then explore the ruins outside for a solid week.”

Robin waved her off, although she did spawn a hand to configure the coffee machine and another to steal Roxie’s whiskey. “I think this will be enough.” 

“Alright then. First, some things that are tangentially related to it, hitting on things we already discussed. Did you know that the blueprints for Pluton have been handed down between master and apprentice in Water 7 since the Void Century, in case anyone ever found the original and something was needed to fight it?”

“Where are these blueprints?”

“In a hidden compartment within Franky’s internal fridge.” Robin stared at her for several seconds. “Yes, really.”

“Then, Franky was lying about being from Baldimore?”

“Correct, and he nearly gave me a heart attack when he claimed that. In the story I know, he ended up burning them in front of the son of the CP9 director who summoned the Buster Call on Ohara. If you still want him to do that, feel free to talk to him, he is waiting for you.”

“If it involved the blueprints, it would be a narrative faux pas to not mention the actual location of Pluton, and presumably the other Ancient Weapons, if only for their use as plot devices. How much do you know about them?” Robin asked.

“I know where two of them are, and I have seen demonstrations of what two of them can do. These are not the same statements.”

“You saw two.” Robin said. The dread was beginning to make itself known.

“Pluton itself is buried under Wano, unknown to all but you, Franky, me, and the former Shogun. Retrieving it would require bringing down the walls of that fortress island, something that is nigh impossible without Pluton itself.”

“So the blueprints are useless, for now?”

“I’m sure they have plenty of archeological value, but I understand if you don’t want to risk things. Again, that is entirely up to you and Franky.”

Robin nodded. “And the other Ancient Weapon?”

“Poseidon is not, precisely, a weapon. It is an ability passed down through the female line of the Ryugu Kingdom’s royal family, and the current holder of the ability is Princess Shirahoshi.”

“That is two within World Government kingdoms.” Robin pointed out.

“Yes, it is quite ironic that they haven’t found Poseidon yet, but then it is rare. Shirahoshi is the first in generations to unlock it. As for her special ability, instead of being able to control fish, she can control Sea Kings.”

“I see the legends do not exaggerate.” Robin said faintly.

“They do not. Thankfully, Shirahoshi is a pacifist. I also had the… ‘pleasure’ of seeing Uranos being fired.” Roxie shuddered. “It was able to turn the kingdom of Lulusia into a crater in 15 minutes. It is currently under the direct control of the Five Elders, although they do not have a way to power it yet.” Robin took a swig of the whiskey. “My thoughts exactly.”

“You said they do not have a way to power it ‘yet’. Is this finally leading into Vegapunk’s message?” Robin said as she grabbed her coffee from the machine.

“Vegapunk was able to reverse engineer the power source of a robot from the Void Century. This power source essentially uses the same method that the sun itself does to produce energy. A relatively small sample of that power source was enough to power Uranos for a single full bombardment. He set up his message and the dead man’s switch soon after realizing exactly what he had accidentally done. In his pursuit of infinite free energy, he had wiped a kingdom off the map, literally.”

“That is… quite a bit farther than Clover and the rest of us ever got.”

“Yes, he has been embezzling World Government funding for stuff like this for decades at this point. In terms of archeological significance, he was able to prove that extremely advanced technology had begun to become widespread during the Void Century, and that he was not able to replicate all of it.”

“I…” Robin took another swig of the whiskey. “I believe I will leave that side of archeology to the good doctor. I also believe I would like to apply Luffy’s ‘spoiler’ logic to this. I am sure you know a lot about this, but I would rather hear it from the man himself, or find it out for myself, instead of hearing Vegapunk’s no doubt compressed version.”

Roxie sighed but nodded. “That’s fair.”

“Now, was there anything else?”

“Yes! This isn’t spoilers, this is my own theory, based on two facts. I know what happens to an island that is hit by a bombardment from Uranos, and I know the likely Devil Fruit of a prominent figure from the Void Century. First, tell me what you know about the deity I tend to swear by, Nika.”

Robin blinked at the abrupt change in subject. “I am aware that Nika is a deity of freedom, joy, and the sun, worshiped as part of a crypto religion, primarily practiced by slaves and former victims of the slave trade. Due to this, the World Government attempts to stamp it out whenever they find it, and there is no one concrete system of beliefs.”

“Alright, here’s the second logical leap. Based on a theory from Dr Vegapunk, Devil Fruits are born when enough people share a dream, or one person wants to do something enough, like control lightning. They are born from the strength of dreams. Mythical Zoans are a particular example of this, and especially a subtype I like to call the Divine Zoans.”

“Ah, like Sengoku’s fruit, the War Buddha model of the Human Human fruit.”

“Exactly. Now, imagine someone with the Nika model. What might the peak of their Awakening look like?”

Ah yes, Devil Fruit Awakening, that mysterious concept, the ability to surpass the limits of your Fruit. “Presumably it would… make the sun… shine.” Oh.

“I believe that Uranos was last fired to kill a user of the Nika fruit on the island that is now known as Enies Lobby, during potentially the final battle of the Void Century. The fact they turned it into the primary court house, where millions are sentenced to death, prison, or worse is emblematic of how petty the Five Elders can be.”

“You speak as if they are the same people from back then.”

“They are, yes. As is their master.”

“So someone does sit on the Empty Throne.” Robin said smugly.

“You predicted this?” Roxie asked with an eyebrow raised.

“It has long circulated that even the Five Elders answer to someone. What is their name?”

“Im.”

“Ah.”

“You recognize the name!?”

“Yes. What happened to cause that reaction?”

“Uranos was fired to prevent that name being spoken to Dragon, the leader of the Revolution, by one of his agents, who had snuck into and out of Pangea Castle itself.”

“That would make sense, yes. It allows several pieces to slot together, notably for the one crypto religion the World Government seems to like, or at least doesn’t kill on sight, a very small subsect of the Cult of the Celestial Dragons.”

“What is Im said to be the god of, out of curiosity?”

“The Night, Order, and Gardening.”

“Could I have the whiskey?”

“You can’t get drunk, remember?”

“It is for the sake of it.”

Robin rolled her eyes and handed over the whiskey, which Roxie took a swig of. It was beginning to run out.

“It occurs to me, did you have any reason to believe there was a Poneglyph here at all? Or did you bring us here purely for this?”

“The second. It does, actually, lead to something potentially better than the Poneglyphs.”

“And what would that be?”

“The only thing better than a secondary source, a primary source. Tell me, have you ever heard the legend of the Millenium Dragons?” 

Chapter Text

“May you choke on the smoke of the knowledge you burned.”

-Graffiti painted onto the front gates of Marine Headquarters shortly after the Burning of Ohara.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, now we can get onto the generally important information, because now I’m more confident in my knowledge!” I smacked the blackboard we had dragged out of the Merry and onto the beach with my pointer stick for emphasis. It had a lot of notes on it.

Jinbe had returned and apologized for his behavior, but honestly it was perfectly understandable. I hadn’t done that quite right, but I couldn’t think up a better method to tell him what I wanted him to know. Robin had called Sanji back soon after, and then we’d brought out the blackboard. I’d also had a quick conversation with Luffy about a few edge cases, and got the OK for my planning sessions with Robin.

“Does anyone have any burning questions about our world, before we begin?”

There was a distinct silence for a few seconds before Kaya raised her hand. “Is there an actual afterlife?”

I pointed my stick at her. “Yes, and souls do too, due to both the Soul Soul Fruit and the Reborn Reborn Fruit. The story featured the users of both fairly prominently, and the latter mentions being ejected from it due to his powers. Parts of it are apparently very cold. That’s pretty much all I know.”

“If there’s an afterlife, are there gods?” Franky asked.

“Unclear, no matter what the World Government says. There are Divine Zoan Fruits, a subset of Mythical Zoans, which allow you to become mythical beings, like Kaido, but that’s more complicated.” 

“Is there life on other planets, or are we alone?” Robin asked.

“Space pirates were shown in a side story featuring someone walking on one of the moons, so yes.”

“How did you arrive in this world?” Jinbe asked.

“No idea, as far as I know, some random eldritch being decided to give me a gift or is currently watching all of us for their own entertainment, or potentially thousands. It’s a common plot device to make Isekai stories like mine work, assuming that’s what’s going on. I don’t expect to talk to them for a long, long time, or unless I go on a drug trip.”

There was silence for a few seconds again. “I believe that is it.” Robin said. 

“Then we can get into things.” I smacked a section of the board. “D.”

“D?”

“D!”

“D!?”

“Yes, D!” I said with a laugh at the exchange. “Luffy has the D initial. So does Garp, and so did Gol D Roger. The World Government doesn’t like the D initial, and it is said those with it are the sworn enemies of the gods themselves. In most cases, this means the Celestials.”

Luffy nodded along. “Pirates and nobles don’t tend to get along.”

“Exactly!” I agreed. “This is an exceptionally rare initial, due to the World Government hunting the bearers down. There were only 13 members of the so-called D clan, bearers of the Will of D confirmed in the story, and as of right now, I know of 10 living Ds, counting myself. Frankly speaking, I have explained everything I know about the Will of D already, and gave myself the middle initial while renaming myself because I thought it’d help somehow. This was one of the biggest mysteries in the story, and I don’t expect to be able to sweet talk my way into finding the answer no matter who I call.”

“What does the D stand for?” Kaya asked before hearing herself and blushing furiously.

“No idea. The most common theories amongst the fanbase were Demon, Devil, Deserter, and Destroyer. This mystery led to many jokes in the fanbase, like calling the guy who asked Roger the famous question about the One Piece ‘Ask D Question’.” I thought for a second. “What happened to that guy anyway? The story never said.”

“I believe he was publicly executed a few hours later.” Robin supplied.

“I see.” I smacked the board again, this time in a different section. “The One Piece! What is it? Who made it? Why is it important? These questions were left unknown, because it was another of the greatest mysteries in the story despite first being mentioned in the literal first chapter. I know five things about it. Roger was the first person to find it since the Void Century. The World Government doesn’t want anyone to find it. The Roger Pirates learned a brief summary of the true state of the world on the island. The overwhelming reaction amongst the Roger Pirates was to burst out laughing, to the point the island was named Laugh Tale, which has been corrupted over the years into Raftel." I left out the fact that It was legitimately important in regards to the fate of the world, since that counted as spoilers.

“So it does exist?” Sanji asked as he puffed on a cigarette.

“Yes. The author of the series, which was also known as One Piece, for the record, confirmed that it was not something intangible like ‘the friends we made along the way’ or anything like that, as that is a commonly hated trope in my world. His name is Eiichiro Oda, and many fans call him Goda, due to One Piece being one of the best written series on the planet. It was published serially as a comic, like Sora, Warrior of the Sea. It had just finished the first section of the Final Saga, the end of the story, when I got here.” 

“Did any of us have love interests?” Kaya asked hopefully.

(Sanji nearly inhaled his cigarette.)

“A few, Oda never really put focus on relationships for the main crew. Luffy had one, of course, but it was mostly a gag because Luffy didn’t care.”

“Yeah, I want adventure, not that lovey dovey stuff!” Luffy agreed.

“Moving on!” I said, smacking a third section of the board. “The Roger Pirates were not, in fact, the evilest pirates on the planet. Almost all of that was World Government propaganda. Roger himself was actually a lot like Luffy. He also was never captured.”

“But they executed him.” Franky pointed out.

“He turned himself in, because he was going to die of a terminal illness pretty soon anyway. I’m fairly sure he did that purely to go out with a bang by doing that big declaration.” 

Luffy snrked, which set off a bark of laughter through the crowd. 

I smacked the board in a fourth spot to get us back on track. “The Revolutionary Army is important. I already got Luffy’s permission to share this, because he doesn’t care.” Luffy nodded. “Dragon, the Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary Army, is also important. His full name is ‘Monkey D Dragon’.” The revelation left most of the crew with dropped jaws, except for Robin, who just smiled. “In One Piece, literally none of Garp’s descendants, adopted or not, became Marines. All three of his grandchildren became pirates, and his son became the biggest pain in their ass in modern history. Luffy, do you have any explanation for why Sakazuki joined the Marines?”

Luffy thought about it for a moment. “He had a big argument with Grandpa about it when we were kids, but then he agreed. He said it was something about arresting dragons.”

A ton of puzzle pieces about that boy slotted into place with that statement, and I had a feeling he had already started something I had planned to steal from Cross himself. That argument probably happened soon after Sabo was shot out of the water as a kid. I nodded. “Alright, that explains things. For the rest of you, Sakazuki has such a thorough sense of justice that he wants to put even the Celestial Dragons on trial.”

“But that’s impossible.” Sanji said.

“Yeah, the-” Franky began.

“So is becoming the Pirate King.” I interrupted. “The Monkey family doesn’t do things by halves. He joined the Marines, and the Marines ostensibly subscribe to Absolute Justice. It isn’t truly ‘Absolute’ if there are those above the law, now is it?”

“The Red Dog will bite the hand that feeds him.” Robin said with a smile as the rest of the crew processed that.

“Next!” I said, pointing my pointer at Robin herself. “Nico Robin. I know it goes against your instincts, but please stop holding back, and call us by our names, or at least nicknames. I already explained that we’d come get you no matter the situation, so there isn’t any point to it.”

Robin sighed. “No, I suppose there isn’t, is there, Roxie?”

“Nope!” I gave her a glowing smile. I then flipped the blackboard over and smacked the large word written on it a few times. “A quick disclaimer! The story I know and this world are already incredibly different. The newspapers, conversations like this one and the personal interviews  have and will continue to help confirm or deny what I know, but I am still able to be wrong. I am still human, just like any scientist or informant. Nearly everything I said today should be taken with a grain of salt, because I have seen barely any of it to be true with my own eyes. I appreciate the trust you all have shown me today more than I could ever express, and so I need you to trust me when I say I could be wrong.”

The round of enthusiastic assent and nods I received were hard to hear specifically because everyone was shouting over each other, but the gist I got made me nearly tear up.

“Now, does anyone have any questions before we move on from the general and world lore sections of my presentation?” I said in my best thesis presenting voice once I had recovered. “I’d have to run some by Luffy, of course, but ask away.”

“What were some of the most Super moments?” Franky asked before doing his pose.

“Those are also some of the most spoilery, but I can go abstract, right, Luffy?” The boy nodded. “Alrighty! Well, not counting any of your big moments, Franky, because that would be cheating-” Franky struck his pose again. “-Luffy’s Awakening was pretty up there, and anything more is actual spoilers about that. Sorry, Franky, that’s really not easy to answer without going into the specifics.”

Franky didn’t look too put out, but he certainly had a question. “Awakening?”

“Devil Fruit users can ‘Awaken’ their powers by channeling the parts of themselves that most line up with the concepts the Fruit invokes. Generally an Awakening means that the user can, at their peak, permanently affect a large scale area with their powers. For example, Luffy’s big brother has the Magma Magma fruit, so if he were to Awaken, he would be able to create volcanoes, or potentially control them.”

“Whoah! So when I wake up my fruit, I can make trampolines?” Luffy said with stars in his eyes.

“Well, your fruit is right on the line between Logia and Paramecia, so you would be able to make the entire world around you work like your body does, just as rubbery as ever.” I said, choosing my words carefully. “Actually, can you-”

Luffy pouted. “No, I can’t eat rubber. I tried. It wasn’t any good,”

I nodded. “And that, folks, is one easy way to figure it out. Logias can normally control the element they are made of and incorporate it into their body, using it to heal or attack, while those on the edge like Luffy have to wait until they Awaken to do that.”

“What about Zoans, like you?” Kaya asked.

“It’s more complicated, because Zoan fruits have their own wills. This is normally not a problem, and just causes some minor changes to the personality of those who eat them. For example, I used to lack quite a bit of confidence and had social anxiety. Now, I can talk to people easily.” I said, taking a moment to appreciate my new voice. “Zoans of predators, known as Carnivorous Zoans, tend to become more aggressive and competitive, for example. When a Zoan Awakens, the user enters a battle of wills with their Fruit’s will. If you lose too badly, you lose control entirely, staying in your Awakened form until you’re either defeated in combat or knocked into the ocean.” 

“It would be quite a shame to lose you to a mere snail, Roxie.” Robin said.

“Indeed.” I agreed. “Now, there’s actually something else you can do with a Zoan fruit, because they have their own wills as animals. Would anyone like to guess?”

“You could… feed one to an animal?” Sanji suggested.

“Yeah, you could make monsters!” Luffy agreed.

“No, that’s possible for all the types.” I pointed out.

“What else is there? It’s not like you could feed it to an object.” JInbe said.

I smiled. “That’s actually what you can do! It creates an animal with the properties of the object you fed the fruit to, entirely different from if you fed that same animal the corresponding Paramecia or Logia.” 

“I believe I’ve heard about this, actually.” Robin commented. “Dr Vegapunk is rumored to have done something similar, although I assumed it was merely a rumor rather than something the man had actually done.”

“How cool were the people I recruited?” Luffy suddenly asked, dragging us all off track.

“The crew you recruited in the timeline I know?” Luffy nodded. “Well, I have to assume you don’t want exact spoilers, so allow me to be dramatic.” I cleared my throat and put on a suitably epic voice. “A man who could stare the reaper in the face and win, a woman that would sail through a storm on a dingy if it meant saving a child, a musician who could touch your very soul with his music, a doctor that had broken the limits of Devil Fruits themselves in his pursuit of medical research, and a man who the Marines gave the epithet of ‘God’.” 

“WHOAH!”

The rest of the crew were looking at me with a small amount of awe and a lot of curiosity. “Look, I’d love to say more, but any more would be spoilers about them. Some of you already know some of this, although I’d ask that you keep what you know a bit of a secret until we get there.”

“What she said.” Luffy pointed at me. 

“Any other questions before I move on to combat knowledge?” I asked, glancing around.

“Why did you join the crew?” Robin asked. I stared at her. “It occurs to me you could have made quite a bit of money from all of this information, or given it to, say, Dragon himself. Why join the crew?”

“The story followed the crew, so most of my knowledge is more directly useful on our most likely path. I also wanted to help Luffy, because he punches some very dangerous people along the way, and the one big event I want to prevent is directly related to him.” I answered honestly. “If I didn’t have the Transponder Snail Zoan, I might have gone to Dragon, yes, but as is I can just call him about it, once I figure that out.”

“Fair enough, I suppose.” Robin said.

“What’s your dream?” We all turned to Kaya. “Well, it’s just, you started answering questions about yourself, and I know everyone else’s dreams on the crew except yours.”

“Well, I haven’t quite decided yet, to be honest.” I once again answered honestly. “My dream in my old world was to live a nice life, but I’ve found myself craving something more since I got here. For now, swimming sounds like a nice goal.”

“You do realize that is impossible, yes?” Robin asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Exactly.” I said before sending the blackboard spinning wildly and thrusting my pointer in the air. “Now, to combat!” 

“Yosh!” Luffy cheered.

“Across the world, there are many varied fighting styles. Amongst those thousand and thousand of styles, three have emerged as what I would consider the most broadly applicable and effective. The first is Fishman Karate, a martial art that revolves around manipulating fluids. It is most effective underwater, but the same principles can be applied to air pressure as well, on land. Jinbe, would you like to demonstrate?”

“Of course.” Jinbe stepped out of the crowd and approached the blackboard. He adopted a pose, took a deep breath, and threw a punch towards the upper half of the still spinning blackboard. I felt my ears pop, and the blackboard stopped on a dime. Jinbe turned around and bowed as we applauded his demonstration.

“Now, if anyone would like to learn, I am sure Jinbe would be happy to help. I, for one, will be attempting to learn Fishman Karate, if only as a base fighting style, because I have no combat experience.” I said as Jinbe returned to the crowd.

“I would indeed love to help.” Jinbe agreed.

“Us land dwellers also have an equivalent, helpfully collated by the World Government, known as Rokushiki, or the Six Powers. This is the World Government’s own martial art, and what Cipher Pol agents train to use. I heavily suspect it is cobbled together from what they determined were the six most effective techniques on the planet.”

“Is this why that CP guy I fought a few years back could double jump?” Franky asked.

“Yep!” I nodded. “That technique is known as Moon Walk, and is essentially the ability to kick off of the air itself as if it were the ground. Sanji even figured it out on his own in the story, actually.” 

“I did?” Sanji pointed at himself.

“You did! You even figured out how to do it underwater.” I said. “Now, moving on to the technique Luffy figured out mid fight with a CP agent, Shave.” A thought. “An example most of you have seen is Kuro’s Pussyfoot technique, which I suspect utilizes a similar idea. To Shave, one must kick off the ground or sky 10 times in a second, launching themselves faster than the eye can see for a few seconds.”

Robin’s eyes widened. “Huh, it does sound similar to what Kuro could do. I wonder why…”

“No idea, honestly, Kuro never appeared again after Syrup.” I shrugged. “That’s also the last one any of you figured out how to do or explained. The next is Iron Body, or in the original Eastern, Tekkai. Punching someone who is blocking with Tekkai is like punching a steel statue. I suspect this is based on how you can brace your gut for a hit, but that’s just speculation. It’s the main defensive technique of the bunch.”

“No need for that, I’m already made of iron!” Franky boasted, patting his stomach. Kaya poked his back, which annoyed him. “What’d you do that for?!”

“You still need to train defensively, Franky.” Kaya said. “Or else you will never survive the Back Tickle Assault.”

The way Franky shuddered, you’d think Kaya had just said the name of a deeply traumatizing torture technique.

“Moving on! The other defensive technique is the Paper Arts, which Luffy technically figured out a variation of, now that I think about it. You allow yourself to become like paper, bending and dodging attacks like a flag in the wind.” I described.

“How did Luffy do it?” Jinbe asked.

“He emptied his mind relying purely on instinct.” I answered.

“Doesn’t he do that already?” Sanji asked.

“Hey!” Luffy objected.

“The first offensive technique of the Rokushiki is the Finger Pistol, or Shigan. It allows you to pierce almost anything with just your finger. “ I said, holding up a finger. “Some other variations could be done with a staff or spear. I suspect it operates under the same ideas as a One Inch Punch.”

“So that’s why that guy broke his finger when he poked my stomach.” Franky said, a look of dawning realization crossing his face.

“That’s the main drawback of the technique, yep. If you try to go above your limits with it, you break your finger.” I agreed. “As for the main projectile attack, Tempest Kick, or Rankyaku, involves kicking hard and fast enough to create a blade of air to launch at the target. You can technically do this with a sword, or any particularly long appendage. One guy with the Giraffe Zoan was able to cut a tower in half with just his neck.”

“Hmmm.”

We all turned to Sanji, who was staring at his own leg in contemplation.

“You never used it in the story, but it’s a leg based technique, so I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to do it. It was, like, a spinning kick, at its most basic.” I threw out.

“I’ll look into it.” Sanji said.

“Good luck.” I encouraged. “The final technique is also the most difficult, with only one character ever showing it. The Six King Gun, or the Rokuogan.” I did the pose. “The guy did a pose like this, and it sent out a shockwave that seriously injured Luffy when it was used on him. Once again, this is purely a theory, but I suspect it relies on lessons learned from all of the other techniques, and involves applying those lessons to your fists all at once.”

“I kept fighting, right?” Luffy asked with a serious expression on his face.

“Of course you did. If I’m being honest, there was only one opponent you never beat, or went back and beat after they beat you. Well, there was another, but you didn’t exactly fight them, you just ran away, because you were trying to escape.”

Luffy actually looked conflicted for a moment before he nodded. I suspect I had gotten very close to an edge case where he might have actually wanted to know the general idea of the foe, so he could train ahead of time. The rest of the crew were looking at Luffy with a newfound level of respect, as well. 

“I will also be attempting to use at least Moon Walk and Shave, once I have trained my lower body enough to do it. Sanji, I would also like training in the Black Leg style, I didn’t have time to ask Zeff for training.” I asked.

“You’re from the Baratie, darling. Of course I will teach you.”

“That is greatly appreciated. Now, we move on to the final power system, the only one able to truly rival the sheer variety of Devil Fruits, and the one that allows Shanks to stand as the only Emperor without one and with only one arm.” I said, building up to it. Luffy already had stars in his eyes. “Haki, the power of the soul made manifest.”

“I have heard the term before, but lacked context for it.” Robin commented.

“Indeed. This is one of the fundamental power differences between the rest of the world, and the second half of the Grand Line. It allows you to do everything from sense your opponent’s attacks before they happen to punch Logias without access to their elemental weakness. It is the one defense Devil Fruit users have against Seastone.”

“How does it work?” Luffy asked.

“I don’t know.” I said honestly.

“But… you know so much about all the other stuff.” Kaya said.

“This is why I gave you that disclaimer, earlier. My knowledge isn’t perfect, and this topic is especially opaque because most of the Straw Hats who learned how to use it learned off screen, during a period when the entire crew were training their asses off for the New World.” 

“So we’re just screwed?” Franky asked.

“No, no, they never really needed it until then, but it would have been very helpful. It is split into three parts, Armament, Observation, and Conquerors Haki. The first two can be learned by anyone through enough effort, but the last requires a specific outlook on life, a specific worldview that only about one in a million people can achieve.”

The crew turned as one to look at Luffy. “What?”

“Yes, Luffy has that talent, and so does almost everyone else at the top of the power scale. It can enhance Armament, although that isn’t well explained. Luffy, you actually saw Shanks use it once before, when he saved your life as a kid.” Luffy nodded, thinking back. “For the rest of you, it essentially acts as a pressure wave that knocks out anyone who can’t resist the user’s willpower. When Luffy first unlocked it, he knocked out a small army.”

“Did anyone else on the crew have it?” Sanji asked.

“The person who Luffy recruited first in that timeline, the unofficial First Mate, although he didn’t unlock his until near the end of what I read.” 

“And what about the two the rest of us can learn?” Franky asked.

“Well, that’s complicated, again, so I’ll start with Observation, which we did see unlocked on screen by three separate characters. The best way to describe it would be that it is our sixth sense. Luffy unlocked it while dodging attacks that would have killed him. Another person unlocked it in the middle of a war, and it nearly traumatized him. The third, the crew’s sniper, unlocked it while trying to make the most difficult shot of his life that he could not afford to miss.” I described.

“So it manifests differently for everyone?” Robin asked.

“Beyond the basics, yeah, everyone appears to have their own flavor, or talent, within Observation, I suspect based on how they see the world. A blind man could use it to see the souls of those around him, while those who are particularly talented can use it to see a few seconds into the future. Sanji’s allowed him to hear a woman’s scream from across an island.”

Sanji choked on his cigarette for real this time.

“This is also one I have a tentative training method for.” I said, before everyone could dog pile the man.

“Do tell.” Robin implored.

“In terms of specific training, blindfolded sparring. In terms of general training for anyone up for it, Robin poking people out of nowhere.” I seriously suggested. 

“The three examples you gave implied it would be a lot more harrowing.” Jinbe pointed out.

“Sure, but those were natural unlocks. I highly doubt the Marines don’t have a method to unlock Observation and rely purely on natural unlocks in the heat of the moment. Having both the basics of Observation and Armament down is one of the base requirements to become a Vice Admiral, after all.” 

“I promise to use this power responsibly.” Robin claimed with a mischievous grin. 

“Armament Haki is the only one no one unlocked on screen, and is annoyingly the most useful as a power multiplier. By coating yourself with your Haki, you strengthen your defenses while also being able to hit harder. It even allows you to hit Logias without worrying about if they’re going to turn into their element first, assuming you’re fast enough.”

“So that’s how Grandpa was able to hit Sakazuki in spars!” Luffy exclaimed.

“He had his Devil Fruit before he left the island?” I asked.

“Oh, no, he left to attend the Marine Academy a while back, but he would come back to Dawn every chance he could. He got his fruit for being top of his class, I think?” Luffy said.

“How did you hit him in your own spars, then?” Jinbe asked.

“He didn’t use his lava powers when he fought me, said I hadn’t earned it yet.” Luffy pouted. “I guess I know why, now.”

“What does Armament Haki look like?” Kaya asked, suddenly.

“According to Zeff, you need the absolute basics of Observation to see it, but past a certain point of strength everyone can see it. Regardless, it looks like a pure black sheen on your skin, like ultra skin tight leather gloves. The series didn’t have a consistent look for it until a certain point, but past that, everyone could see it.”

“Then I might already have it.” Kaya said, mildly rocking my world.

“Ex-fucking-scuse me?!”

“So, for as long as I can remember, I've had these black spots on my body that moved around on their own that were ultra hard, but no one else could see them. It was just another part of how sick I always was, but none of the doctors my parents brought in knew what it was.” Kaya explained as I desperately tried to slot this into my worldview. “I used to hate them, because they were killing me, but then Kuro shot me in the face. I survived because all of the black marks had vanished from the rest of my body and the left half of my face was pure black. Then I just kicked him, and the black moved to my leg. He went flying. I’ve felt much better ever since I started being able to move the black around, even if it gives me headaches when I try too much.”

“I know people can unlock Haki at birth, because there was a little girl who had Observation at birth, but I hadn’t considered what natural Armament might look like.” I said, stunned. “Of course you were sick, constant overuse of Haki will make anyone sick. It put Luffy out of commission multiple times in the story, when he overused it during big fights. I need a second opinion, and luckily one is coming up almost as soon as we enter the Grand Line, assuming he’s still the Lighthouse Keeper at the Twin Capes, but yes, you have natural Armament Haki, Kaya.”

“It doesn’t help that Kuro was poisoning me.” Kaya added.

“Yeah, thankfully that Marine doctor had some medicine for it.” Franky agreed.

“I…” Oh, I needed to go lay down, this was huge. “Could you try concentrating it on, say, your thumb or your nose? I want to confirm.”

“Sure, but I’m going to need headache meds after this.”

We all watched as Kaya’s expression grew constipated as she concentrated on her thumb. My jaw dropped as, before our eyes, her thumb gradually grew darker in the afternoon light until it was a solid pale grey. She was even able to handle that for a few seconds before clutching her head in pain.

“I can’t hold it anymore.” Kaya said as her thumb went back to normal instantly.

“That’s Armament alright. Certainly explains why you were able to guard the ship in Arlong Park.” I confirmed. “I’d recommend you get it to stop, so you can truly rest, but I worry you wouldn’t know how to start it back up again.”

“Better not to risk it, I think.” Robin agreed.

“Ok, so, last notes, Armament is also known as the ‘Inner Flow’ in Wano, which might help you visualize it, Kaya. You can potentially imbue an object you are holding with your Haki, which would have the same effect as using it normally. There are two advanced techniques, being able to fire it as a projectile and being able to use it to destroy something from the inside, but both are beyond your skill level. Also, don’t try to coat your entire body in Haki, it’s purely a presentation thing, and it never worked out well for anyone who wasted energy doing it in the show.” Roxie finished somewhat hysterically, because this had been a long day, and she was starting to crack.

“Sanji, would you be a dear and fetch a few sets of our beach supplies, and some medicine for Kaya? I believe a relaxing afternoon on the beach is in order for our Scribe and Quartermistress.” Robin suggested.

“Would you like a set as well, madam?”

“No, I will be exploring the ruins.” Robin said.

“Understood. Oi, Luffy, bring the blackboard back up to the deck!”

“OK, Sanji!!”  

I could have resisted the hands that gently led me to sit down, or the ones that passed my notebooks and pencils between them from my room to where I was now sitting, but I was too busy pulling my mind together to really do that. No one was supposed to have Armament yet, but I guess it was the only way Kaya could fight, because without it she was just as untrained as I was. At least I had my shell and my words.

As soon as Sanji brought down the lawn chair, I flopped onto my back, placed my sun hat on my face, and passed out in the sun.

========================================================================

Franky built a new kitchen table.

“Pluton.”

“So, she told you.” Franky said.

“Yes. I am the First Mate, and the only one who can read them besides.” Robin said. She had meticulously wiped her hands and was holding a jewelers lens. “I’m told you burned them in an act of spite, in the other timeline.”

“It’s something I’ve thought about doing for years.” Franky confessed. “I’ve been having second thoughts since Roxie said it was within arms reach of Kaido.”

“Given how she talks about him, I get the impression Kaido was different in the timeline she knows. I plan to ask her about the specifics eventually, especially as the other two Ancient Weapons were used in the modern era, in the other timeline.” Robin said.

Franky put his head in his hands. “Of course they were.”

“Thankfully, one of them should be easy to take control of, and Roxie has promised to do her best to ensure the other is never given a sufficient power source again.” Robin claimed. “I believe that Pluton’s blueprints were not passed down purely to counter itself, but the other Ancient Weapons, should they awaken again.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Thus, we cannot destroy these blueprints. They hold too much value, even beyond combat.”

“Eh?”

“These are documents that have been painstakingly copied by hand over and over again since the Void Century, there is almost nothing like them across the world.” Robin said. “Do you know when they were last remade?”

“Tom never mentioned that, and I don’t know enough about paper to tell. You could probably figure it out.”

“Then, may I see them?”

Franky was faced with a choice. How much did he trust Robin and Roxie?

(Did he trust them enough to hand over the documents that had been entrusted to him by 800 years of master shipwrights? Would they all have approved? Would Tom approve?)

Franky sighed and opened his stomach fridge. He took out two of the bottles of cola and reached deeper within himself than he had in years, flicking the mental switch that turned off the systems that would have burned the pages if anyone opened the compartment. For the first time since Franky had left the Grand Line, the blueprints of Pluton itself were out in the open. 

Robin didn’t even touch them, at first, she just spawned an arm which took the jewelers lens, held it between its fingers, and looked at the page by holding it up to an eye on its palm. While this was happening, she asked a question. “How did you plan to make use of this, if you couldn’t read it?”

“I can read it, sure, I just can’t read the notes in the margins or any of the specifications. I’d have to figure out the scale of everything, first, and then try and duplicate everything from these blueprints. I barely understood any of it as an apprentice, and I only know enough now that I’m confident I would blow myself up trying to rebuild it.” Franky said. “There’s a reason Pluton hasn’t been built again, and it’s not because everyone respected the original shipwright's wishes.”

(Tom had told them a story, once. One of his own master’s apprentices had tried to reproduce what he thought was Pluton’s power source. The man was crippled for life when it launched him all the way from the scrapyard to the massive fountain at the top of the city.)

“Interesting.” Robin said as her hand despawned, dropping the lens into her outstretched hand. “The text below the Linian name of Pluton is, I suspect, the term for Pluton in Poneglyphic, what Roxie has termed the name of the language in question. It works well enough for a placeholder. The original shipwright’s name is not present, as the only other text on the front states that this is kept for emergency purposes only. That part is common on Poneyglyphs.”

“And how old is it?”

“The paper itself is about 200 years old, made from Yagara gills, as would have been common in Water 7 at the time.” Robin claimed, before turning the first page.

Franky watched as she used her lens to carefully inspect the text that he had always ignored, because he could never read it. He expected her to be happy, but her frown gradually grew more and more severe as she kept turning the pages. She finally stopped once she had reached the section that he was pretty sure described the rudder system.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can barely read this, sadly.” Robin claimed with a sigh.

“But, you can read the language.” Franky said.

“I can read the Poneyglyphs themselves, which are historical records, not highly technical instructions for an Ancient Weapon far beyond current ship building techniques.” Robin corrected. “There is a significant difference between the two, as many of the words and phrases within this manual are near complete unknowns to me. I suspect my lack of knowledge as a shipwright isn’t helping me here either.”

“So, even if we wanted to, we can’t read this?”

“Fully translating this would require potentially decades of work by an expert team of linguists, shipwrights, and scientists of all sorts. I consider myself barely fluent in the language of the Poneglyphs, enough to get the gist of each. That is because of nearly a century of work by the Scholars of Ohara, who painstakingly attempted to reconstruct the language from a scant few examples in secret, without help from the wider scientific community.” Robin slumped after her frustrated rant, as if all of the energy had left her. “To answer your question, Franky, no.”

“So, reading this is like a 5 year old trying to read one of Vegapunk’s papers?” Franky summarized.

“Yes, essentially.”

“So these are useless?” Franky asked.

“No.” Robin said firmly. “This is still one of the largest and most broad examples of the language I know of. Even just the text on the front, with the direct translation of Pluton’s name from Linian to Poneglyphic, is immensely valuable. Confirmed nouns are one of the most important parts of translating any unknown language, as they provide a starting point from which everything else can be extrapolated. The fact this has been copied over and over again means some of this might have drifted, but assuming this only happened a few times, and each scribe was as careful as their duties demanded, then this is more valuable from a linguistics standpoint than any individual Poneglyph.”

Franky was staring at her slack jaw at this point. Once he had brought himself together again, he could speak. “Now I feel secondhand embarrassment for what my other self did.”

Robin waved off his concerns while closing the blueprints. “No, your other self did it to ensure these would never fall into World Government hands, who would not have cared about that value anyway. You also likely did not realize how valuable these could be, even if my other self told you after the fact. She likely felt saddened at the loss, but would come to understand the choice. I certainly do”

“Thank you.”

“No, thank you.” Robin said while handing him the blueprints, which he put back into their vault within his stomach. 

“You’re welcome.”

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have had a very long day, so I am going to drink myself senseless and sleep until tomorrow. I am then going to spend the entire day exploring these ruins that Roxie has so kindly gifted to me. Good day.” 

Y'know, that didn't sound like such a bad idea.

Chapter Text

“Sir, I have served alcohol to Shanks, Newgate, Shiki, Rocks, and Roger. You are not intimidating. You are not impressive. Let go of my tie, put away your knife, and pay for your meal like everyone else.”

-A now famous quote from a tavern keeper on Lodestar Island, long thought to be the final island on the Grand Line.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Garp had nearly traumatized the poor Transponder Snails in the communications room on his ship when a Marine on Gold Island reported that he’d seen Luffy’s ship.

Luffy hadn’t done what Garp had expected and had turned back, instead of braving the Calm Belt. He decided to do that, and Luffy didn’t back down easily.  It was a stupid choice, but he’d assumed the Demon Child had encouraged it and had some way across. Apparently his grandson was capable of changing his mind, however, because they’d spotted him heading west from Gold, which meant he was steadily approaching Reverse Mountain. Garp had initially wanted to sail straight for the island Luffy was headed towards, Warship Island, but Coby had a better idea.

(He had a good head on him, smart, and with a strong sense of Justice. It reminded Garp of Dragon, when he was a kid.)

On their way back into the East, they ran into the flagship of the 8th branch of the Eastern High Command. Each Blue, including both sides of the Grand Line, had a local overall High Command, their equivalent of Marineford, which acted as both overall headquarters and Paradise High Command. Each of the Blue’s High Commands were led by a council of Vice Admirals. He had actually been on the Eastern High Command’s leading council for a bit, when Luffy and Sakazuki were toddlers, so he remembered Commodore Nelson. 

(He had needed a break from chasing every single rumor that someone had seen Shiki again, especially after Bellemere died. Seeing his nieces at the funeral had made him want to keep an eye on his grandkids.) 

Oh yes, he remembered this disgrace. Nelson could barely get out of his throne on his own, much less do anything in combat. He’d even hired a mercenary using his personal combat budget instead of training! The morbidly obese man had always been emblematic of the corruption that was in the East Blue’s Marines, and now that Garp had seen him in person after a long week, he had frankly had enough. It was time to cleanse some corruption.

(Coby and Helmeppo got a brief break from their training to see Garp put someone else through his incredibly harsh but effective training regimes. They realized he had been going easy on them.)

========================================================================

The crew needed a break after what Roxie had told them, Luffy knew that.

He’d tried to give everyone the space he could see they needed, while making sure not to damage the ruins, because Robin would tie him in a knot again if he did that again. It helped that he also needed space, because he needed to think about what Roxie had said, and how he wanted to go forward.

Luffy wasn’t against learning things, he just didn’t want to spoil the adventure ahead. Sabo being alive was probably something his other self learned as part of the adventure, but that kind of thing didn’t count. He didn’t know how long it took his other self to find out that Sabo was alive, but it was nice to have that fact in the back of his head. It wasn’t like seeing his brother in person, but the picture Roxie had drawn was sitting in his vest pocket. It was apparently drawn like the rest of the story she’d read, because that was how she’d learned to draw, and it made Sabo look so cool!

(He didn’t ask about who Sakazuki was, in One Piece. The way Roxie was constantly shocked by Sakazuki being his big brother told him they didn’t have a good relationship, in that other world, and that hurt to imagine.) 

Luffy had accepted the other interviews because Roxie promised that most of the stuff she was going to discuss with the crew were just as personal and important. He didn’t ask, and he didn’t want anyone hounding each other for what they’d talked about, especially with how Sanji looked when he came out. He didn’t ask any of them, either. Being as personal as Sabo possibly being alive meant they could also be talking about stuff like Sakazuki possibly dying in the future. He guessed that Jinbe got that kind of news.

Roxie had asked him about Rokushiki, and he’d given his approval for learning about it. It was used against them when one of his Nakama was kidnapped and on their way to be executed. That wasn’t an adventure, that was war. His other self probably felt the same way about Ace being executed.

He couldn’t imagine it. He hadn’t been able to help Sabo. His other self had lost his big brother, if Ace was anything like Sakazuki was to Luffy, then yeah, that would have broken him in half. Ace being executed wasn’t spoilers, but if the Marines tried to execute Sakazuki for some stupid reason, he would attempt to learn from his other self’s mistakes. Besides, Grandpa would never let them do that to Sakazuki!

(But then, he’d let them execute Ace, in that other timeline, and Ace had been his brother there. Even if he wasn’t a Monkey, Grandpa should have protected him. It didn’t make any sense.)

Luffy trusted Robin. He didn’t know who his other self had recruited first, but he knew himself. His other self probably chose someone just as amazing, and he couldn’t wait to meet them. Robin was smart, resourceful, and experienced. She knew so much more than he did, and could look out for dangers he hadn’t even considered. She’d pointed out that Jinbe’s request for help could have been a trap, even if it wasn’t. She was the one who pointed out they needed a cook, after those two bounty hunters tried to capture them while dying from scurvy.

(Had Ace been like Robin, hunted down just because of where they were from or who raised them? Did Sakazuki have a secret like that? He’d have told Luffy, unless it was one of those Marine secrets. Maybe he did, but Grandpa never told him?)

Luffy had never asked why Robin had a bounty, but he knew she’d had it since she was a kid. Kids didn’t deserve bounties, no matter what they did, he knew that much. He was sure she’d tell him when she was ready, but that was her choice to make. People’s pasts were theirs to share. They might need help with something today, and he’d love to help his Nakama, but Robin’s problems had been going on for so long they’d left scars. He didn’t know how to help with that, other than to keep helping her out of her shell.

(Roxie was still in her shell, only poking out when she wanted to, but that made sense. She was a snail. He could wait with her too.)

Luffy not wanting spoilers was one thing, but his crew getting hurt because of that was not okay. This was why he’d accepted when Roxie asked about planning sessions with Robin. Telling them to not do that would have been like telling Sabo not to help plan those pranks on the nobles just because Sabo had grown up in the palace. He couldn’t wait to see what they planned, because it was going to be so cool!

They’d shared some of the pictures at dinner, and they’d all looked so cool. Franky and Sanji hadn’t wanted to see what they’d be like in the future, but still! Jinbe was so big and cool, and Robin looked so happy. She was wearing the same small smile in the art as she had ever since her talk with Roxie. It was nice to see her walls crack even more.

Roxie had asked for requests after that, for anyone they knew and wanted to see art of, and had shown them at breakfast. It was nice to see Aunt Dadan and Mom again, in the same style as Sabo. Some of the art was more private stuff, but others showed their requests off. The Fisher Tiger guy Jinbe talked about looked so cool! Robin had asked for Buggy and Kuro, and they looked awesome too! Franky had cried when Roxie had handed him his master's art.

(Sanji cried too, even if he’d tried to hide it. His request was one of those private pictures. Luffy doubted he had asked for Zeff, so it had to be related to why he’d looked so down after his interview. At least this time it was the good kind of sad.)

While thinking, Luffy was doing something he hadn’t done in years. He was re-examining how his body worked. Roxie had mentioned that his future self looked kind of boring because all the cool stuff was spoilers, beyond that scar, which he probably got during Ace’s execution. That meant he could change his appearance, either through his Devil Fruit or that Haki stuff. He had to wait for Kaya to explain stuff to try the Haki stuff, so he was focusing on his Devil Fruit.

As Luffy laid on the Merry’s figurehead, he began to steam.

========================================================================

The art requests had been kind of spontaneous, if I was being honest. 

Franky got Iceberg, Kokoro, the frog who’s name I could never remember, and Tom, of course, they were his family. Robin got a portrait of her mother and Clover. Kaya asked for a single panel from the ‘canon’ iteration of Syrup Village, and I gave her one from Usopp telling her stories. Jinbe requested Fisher Tiger, which Luffy loved as well, because I’d copied the scene of him attacking the World Capitol. Luffy himself had gotten Dadan and Makino, who I was surprised to hear him refer to as his aunt and mother, but I certainly wasn’t going to judge.

Sanji hadn’t requested anything, but I gave him a picture anyway. He seemed very reluctant to accept any art, but I wanted to apologize for bringing up the whole Vinsmoke ordeal. I spent easily the longest on his piece. Sanji didn’t have any photos of his mother, and couldn’t even visit her grave, so I decided to fix that mistake. I recreated the panel of Sora complimenting Sanji’s ruined cooking as a kid.

(Was it kind of fucked that I enjoyed driving people to tears? It was only the good kind of tears so far…)

“Not that I don’t appreciate the company, but is there a reason you have been following me?” Robin asked, knocking me out of my thoughts

This shocked me, as I’d just been wandering towards the large dome at the top of the island. I couldn’t even see Robin. “I have? Where are you?”

“Over here.” Robin said, emerging from around a corner. “Is there a reason for your stroll?”

“I was going to see if I could listen in on any nearby frequencies like a Black Snail, and the top of the island is the best place for that.” I answered honestly.

“Ah.” Robin nodded.

“Now that I think about it, you hesitated last night. Did you want art of anyone else?”

Robin tapped her chin. “Tell me, was Silvers Rayleigh still alive, in the story?”

“Yeah, he’s a ship coater in Sabaody.” I answered.

“Did my other self have a history with him?” Robin asked.

“Not that I can think of. Why do you ask?”

“I have run into him a few times, over the years. I believe I first met him when I was still a child, he sheltered me for a time, while John Giant was still directly hunting me.” 

Interesting. “And when did you last see him?”

“Last year, on my birthday. He gave me a collection of banned books he’d ‘had lying around for a while’ in his cellar.” Robin said fondly. “I suspect he stole them and was unwilling to admit he’d done it for me.”

“Interesting. It’s nice that you had someone in your corner, all these years.”

“Indeed. I shudder to think of where she ended up, before joining the crew.” Robin said. “Perhaps she had lost all hope and was attempting to kill herself after spending years within a criminal organization to find a Poneglyph that said nothing of the true history?”

“Robin, I love your sense of humor, but your imagination is somehow very good at predicting exactly what I’m about to say.” 

Robin laughed. “Oh dear, it had gotten that bad?”

“Yes, you had attached yourself to a criminal organization whose goal was overthrowing a kingdom that happened to have a Poneglyph, and as a result spent about four years working as a very highly paid assassin and administrator within said organization.” I said. “The Poneglyph described Pluton’s location and some of its abilities, although you never described exactly what it said.”

“Ah.” Robin nodded sadly. “I attempted to bring down my employer, failed, Luffy brought them down, and saved my life when I refused to leave the incredibly dangerous location?”

“You are startlingly good at this.” I said.

“I know myself.” Robin said simply. “If you’ll excuse me, I believe I have your challenge to get back to?”

“Good luck.” I said as I went back to wandering up the island. 

As the legend of the Millennium Dragon was innately tied to this place, and Robin didn’t want archaeological spoilers, I decided to challenge her to find exactly what the Straw Hats had learned here. This should be fairly easy for her, given how focused the entire culture of this civilization was on the answer to that mystery. The main clue was in the dome, of course, but Robin was smart. She should be able to figure it out even without that, if she decided to avoid me for whatever reason.

Now, the Straw Hats fell through the floor because they took a who knows how heavy dragon on a cart and put that cart above an ancient cavern. I made sure to sidestep that issue by estimating where the cavern ended and standing beyond that point. With my safety thus secured, I shifted into my full snail form and waited for a few seconds. With my confidence in my safety confirmed, I closed my eyes and let my new senses wander. 

This was easily the highest I had ever been while using my powers, and the difference was immediately clear. The air was thick with signals from all over the world, crossing through the sky, bouncing from snail to snail and broadcasting on countless frequencies. I made sure I wasn’t broadcasting my thoughts, as I’d been told that was rude, and instead tried to peruse the network. What I found was fascinating, from a sensory perspective.

It made me really appreciate one of the aspects of Zoan fruits that wasn’t quite explored in the series, that of the additional senses you get. Humans on Earth had no way to experience what I was experiencing, due to not having the sensory capacity for detecting radio waves or however all of this really worked. My understanding of what I was feeling was far more instinctual than anything I’d experienced before showing up here, like how this body somehow came with the knowledge of how to care for all of my new hair.

(It made me wonder if I’d taken over someone’s body, or if whatever had taken me here included that knowledge as part of the gift. It probably should have bothered me more, but I was too happy with the gift to care.)

Because humans didn’t experience stuff like this directly, there wasn’t really a good way to describe it. Telecommunications terms worked well enough, and they were what I used, but they weren’t perfect. The signals in the air were like distant conversations, or chat rooms online. I could ‘tap into’ them, but the signal strength was noticeably weaker than when I’d done that chain call to Nami. There was a reason the Black Snails in the show could be spotty at best, depending on the signal and location. 

(That call had only worked because it was the only snail on the island. I shuddered to imagine what the Arlong Pirates did to the rest, after hearing what state Gosa was in.)

There were a few signals that I only noticed because I was letting my senses wander, unfocused and undirected. Trying to listen in on these signals was like listening to radio static, and I broke off when it began to give me a headache. Thinking on it, I had to conclude these were signals sent via White Snails, the type that sent calls that couldn’t be tapped by Black Snails. It was like encryption, and presumably only another White Snail could decrypt the signal. 

Trying to actually listen in on a conversation was annoying, because it meant ‘tuning’ my mind to a frequency without broadcasting at all, purely receiving, which was almost harder than not broadcasting my thoughts into the void. This reinforced what I had learned from calling Nojiko’s snail, which was that each Transponder Snail had their own unique frequency, and a call involved each snail finding a middle ground between those frequencies, creating a new dual frequency for the call. Again, these weren’t quite the right terms, but English was a language developed by a species without access to what I was sensing. As it was, one of the best analogies I could make was that this was something between telepathy and radio signals, but neither of those were correct. 

A new signal cropped up, and it was stronger than all of the others. It was going directly above the island, and it was strong. I tried to tune myself to the signal and catch on, ride the radio waves with my mind as best I could. There was almost a degree of resistance, but after a moment of pushing, I was suddenly seeing through another two sets of eyes, and hearing through two extra sets of ears.

“Hello, this is the records office of South Blue Marine HQ, please state your business and today’s code phrase.” A relatively generic woman in some kind of archive said.

“I want everything you have on the incident that gave Nico Robin her bounty. The Celestial’s pancakes are made of dreams.” A man with two cigarettes in his mouth said as he took out a notepad and pencil.

The archivist asked for the man’s credentials, which was good, because I wouldn’t have heard what she said properly anyway. That was Smoker. I hadn’t gotten to see his live action design, but he certainly looked like his manga counterpart, although in person his hair kind of looked like it was partially gaseous. Tracing the two ends of the signal confirmed that he was indeed based in Logue Town, while the archivist was deep in the South Blue. I took a moment to calm myself, because this was actually important, and I couldn’t afford to freak out or infect the call.

“Your credentials are in order, sir. You wished for the file on Nico Robin, yes?”

“Yes. I know she won’t stay in the East for long, and that means I need to be ready for when she gets here.”

“Just a moment, then, sir.” The archivist’s snail was on a cart, which she was moving deep into the rows and rows of shelves. Eventually, she stopped in front of a particularly overflowing shelf and carefully extracted a file. The snail didn’t have a good angle, but I could just about make out the name when she opened it. This was the Ohara Incident Report, specifically the Captain clearance level iteration of it.  

“Well?” Smoker said impatiently.

“During the Ohara Incident, at the age of 8, shortly after consuming the Flower Devil Fruit, Nico Robin was able to sink 8 of the 16 warships sent to subdue the rogue scholars of the Tree of Knowledge, including the warship designated for civilian evacuation.”

“I know what her poster says! I need something more specific.”

“Cipher Pol agents involved in the initial investigation before she was taken in by a group of smugglers were able to glean she used her fruit to turn the various ships guns against each other, specifically aiming for the gunpowder stores within.” She paused for a moment as she turned the page. “She is reported to have laughed long enough to give several survivors Shell Shock.” 

Wow, Spandine really wanted to paint Robin as an utter menace, didn’t he.

Smoker growled. “Yes, I got that from Eastern HQ! Do you have anything else?!” 

The woman didn’t even flinch. “There are no further details or eyewitness reports at your clearance level. Nico Robin’s personal file is above your clearance level.” The archivist said as she picked through the files within the cabinet. The file she was looking at had a big warning on the front about being Rear Admiral level and above.

“Damn it!” Smoker pounded a fist on his table, making the snail rattle. “Is there anyone else I could contact?”

“Vice Admiral Garp, Admiral Aokiji, and Admiral John Giant have each taken interest in Nico Robin before, with Admiral John Giant in particular considering it a matter of personal honor. You may find better luck with contacting them directly.” The archivist said.

“Thank you.” Smoker ground out before aggressively hanging up, closing the connection. 

As I blinked back to my normal perspective and tried to get rid of the lingering afterimages, I realized just what I could do, in theory. Everyone used Transponder Snails, they weren’t quite a part of daily life for most people, this world wasn’t modern Earth, but they were still an immensely useful form of instant, long distance communication, and humanity had always exploited that kind of thing as much as they could. The World Government had a postal system, but it wasn’t even a secret that they held the legal right to read mail. It was outright advertised as the price of mostly free mail for World Government countries and affiliates. Mail wasn’t as good as a call, and Black Snails weren’t all powerful in comparison, so why wouldn’t you just call?

(I’d heard a rumor on the Baratie that another private mail service had failed, in the northern East Blue. I had a feeling the World Government was behind that trend.) 

I could listen in on conversations, and see who was talking, which was a massive form of information gathering. This could have told me almost everything I wanted to know about current events, if even listening to that one conversation didn’t give me a splitting headache. Calling anyone directly was also out of the question for now, because the sheer forest of signals on most inhabited islands made it impossible to pick out a particular frequency. I got extremely lucky to hear that conversation out of Logtown, even if I’d gone looking in the first place. I suspected a full rig would help, but I had no idea how much. It might be a while before I could call people.

That was still a massive new thing, because no one else really had the ability to call people out of the blue without their numbers. Or rather, no other snails could understand why they might want to do so, beyond inter-snail personal gossip or a Telesnail ordering them. Telesnails, as I was becoming increasingly aware, acted as the nodes or administrators of the network, keeping things from going wrong and being smart enough to understand how to enforce things like number blocking. That was about the extent of how the network normally worked, because most snails didn’t care or know enough about the world to care about doing stuff like calling people out of the blue.

I brought human intelligence and an intimate knowledge of the world to that equation, which meant I could use and abuse the network in new, fun ways. Of course, with the potential for abuse also came the responsibilities of using it ethically. As much as I may have wanted to call King and tell him about the Seraphim project, I was self aware enough to realize that would have triggered an all out assault on Egghead Island by Kaido’s entire fleet, now known as the Wanoan Navy. That could end with Punk Records burning to the ground and science itself being set back by as much as 500 years if the Vegapunks resisted to the death. I didn’t want that, so I’d have to think about how to do that properly. I also didn’t even know if I trusted Kaido with the Seraphim, although King would probably handle that for me. Thankfully, King wasn’t in Totto Land, because I’d seen him standing next to Kaido in a picture of Kaido’s celebratory feast after overthrowing Orochi. If he had been, I’d have had to call Big Mom, and I knew she would go buck wild for the chance to add Lunarians to her kingdom.

If Kaido refused to let King rescue the Seraphim, or refused to attack Egghead, then I’d send King to Big Mom, because then the entire kingdom would be dedicated to helping bring the race back from the brink of extinction. Shanks and Whitebeard were more moral, sure, but Whitebeard was showing his age, and I knew literally nothing about Shank’s territory. There wasn’t anything against either of them, I just didn’t think they were suited to the task.

(I would have worried about Big Mom forcing herself on King, but she was past menopause at this point. Her last kid was born 6 years ago.)

WIth that decided, I decided to go back to the Merry for some meds. I could have walked, but that was boring. I’d spent the vast majority of my time in my snail form stationary. It was time to rectify that with a bit of exercise.

I gave up after a few feet, because by whatever the Five Elders were, there was a reason snails weren’t known for their speed. 

========================================================================

The island, which Robin had not been able to find a name for, was utterly fascinating.

An untouched ruin of an island nation was a dream, a fantasy, something that should not have existed. It was something every archeologist asked for, wished for in the back of their mind, but never actually expected to find. And yet, that was exactly where Robin was walking through, examining everything as one of the first humans to step foot on the island since before the Void Century. It was an unprecedented archeological opportunity.

Were it not for the fact the entire world would immediately attempt to exploit the legend of the Millenium Dragons for their own ends, she would have immediately begun writing a paper to send off to the Illegal Academics Society. As it was, she had retrieved a fresh journal from the lounge and was taking notes on everything she could see, theorizing on the history and how it related to the legend Roxie had told her. Robin did her best to avoid disturbing the ruins, spawning eyes and arms to move plants and see into collapsed rooms instead of moving the rubble. She doubted the Straw Hats of the other timeline had been as kind to the island.

(She had believed at least part of Roxie’s story purely based on the feat of knowing this island existed, given the weather anomalies around it. The pictures of her mother, Saul, and Clover had cemented it, along with all of the personal information she knew. Extraordinary claims required an equal quality of evidence, and this was more than sufficient.)

She was drawn to the structure at the highest point of the island, but she was taking her time. From a narrative perspective, the top of the island was the most striking place for a visual medium, and as such the likely location of any overt clues or information towards the Millennium Dragons. If Robin had to guess, she’d say Roxie skipping the steps required to actually find this island had also allowed them to skip meeting whoever was supposed to follow them here. A fight in the big dome would be suitably theatrical, even if it made her cringe at the thought of combat damaging the ruins.

The idea of seeing the world through the lens of a work of fiction, and especially a visual medium such as a comic, was… troubling. Robin would never claim to have an eidetic memory, she didn’t remember everything that had ever happened to her, but she could certainly remember most of her life quite well, and that meant she could see how certain moments were particularly good for, say, a flashback. She could see the paneling in her head for when she was forced to flee the Illisia Kingdom as a child after spending a week with Rayleigh because John Giant caught up to her. 

(He’d hunted her down for over a year before his appointment as an Admiral meant he had better things to do than satisfy his honor.)

If she was on the crew of the future Pirate King in both timelines, then clearly getting to Laugh Tale would require the reading of at least one Poneglyph, even beyond reading what was on the island itself. It would certainly explain why it took over 500 years for anyone to find the island past Lodestar, which was previously thought to be the final island in the Grand Line. Perhaps its location was recorded on a singular Poneglyph, or it was alluded to as some grand, final stronghold of the kingdom the World Government’s founders defeated, and her other self had put the pieces together given context.

That did not answer how exactly Roger had found the island, but he was the previous Pirate King. He had visited every single island on the Grand Line, or so the tales went. It was easy to assume he’d found a way to read the Poneglyphs at some point during those adventures. Perhaps one of his crew members was from a civilization that had preserved a translation of their Poneglyph, and thus knew how to read the script? Or, more likely, he had recruited someone who could hear the legendary Voice of All Things, similar to how Kaya could access Haki naturally despite that supposedly being incredibly rare. 

(Robin had encountered the term Haki before, and it hadn’t led anywhere. She had previously assumed it was pseudoscience, similar to the old ideas of humors or bloodletting.)

She’d had nightmares about the World Government having access to an Ancient Weapon. It was one of her most common night terrors, right up there with John Giant catching up with her again and waking up back on Ohara. If her mind felt particularly cruel, it would involve the giant admiral using one of the Ancient Weapons on Ohara as part of the Buster Call. Robin briefly shuddered as her mind decided to remind her of one of her more common nightmares, that of John Giant throwing the Tree of Knowledge directly at her and Saul instead of the civilians, because Saul had managed to fight off Kuzan. She likely would have had one of those dreams again, especially as she now knew what two of the Ancient Weapons were capable of, if it were not for what else she had learned.

Saul was alive. She had found a place to belong, even if part of her didn’t quite believe it yet. Dr Vegapunk had been continuing Ohara’s legacy in secret, and using World Government funds to do so. Robin was going to learn the true history, and the World Government was going to pay if they tried to stop them. She’d been grinning all day, and even the mouths she made to talk to the other crew members grinned. 

It took a while for Robin to realize that she was feeling hopeful for the first time in a long, long time. 

========================================================================

Jump, kick, nothing.

Sanji’s mind refused to shut up.

Jump, kick, nothing. 

Sanji had barely gotten any sleep last night. When he did eventually fall asleep, he woke up to a cold sweat soaking through his sheets and a desperate need for a cigarette, sugar, caffeine, something to get his mind off of his nightmares.

Jump, kick, nothing.

They hadn’t been this bad since he was a preteen, when he was just beginning to actually heal from everything he’d been put through. He had once stayed awake for a week, and it nearly killed him, but it meant he didn’t have to deal with the nightmares. Sanji knew he needed less sleep than most people, but he fucking hated that fact, and every other remnant of his bastard of a sperm donor. He still couldn’t wear masks or hats without smelling iron and feeling like he was trapped in that damn cell again.

Jumpe, kick, nothing.

Zeff knew. Of course Zeff knew. He was Sanji’s father, and it had all tumbled out after Sanji had a panic attack when he heard a Germa contingent was seen a few islands over from the Baratie. They’d worked hard over the years to get him past that state, and now he could handle the general concept of the Vinsmoke family’s existence. That was where his combat training had started actually, as a way to get his mind off of things when he wasn’t cooking.

Jump, kick, nothing. 

His mother in law was going to be Charlotte Linlin. Or at least, she would have if Big Mom didn’t decide to take what she wanted anyway, after the wedding fell through. As fates went, crushed by Big Mom’s vast family had not occurred to him as an endpoint to Germa, but he certainly didn’t object to it. Reiju would probably escape, she was good at that. That was pretty much all he could ask for.

Jump, kick, nothing.

(He never wanted to see any of them again, not even Reiju, but she didn’t deserve to die for Judge’s failures as a person.)

Jump, kick, nothing.

Roxie’s art gave him something he’d never had, even in Germa. He had one of his best memories tucked into his breast pocket, and he would need to get it made into a locket or some kind. Seeing his mother’s face again, much less that moment, was a good apology for forcing him to relive his memories, and creating a new nightmare. He didn’t care if it was art and not a photo, it was good enough, and better than anything he could have hoped for. Sanji’s mind desperately clung to that, and tried to ignore the horrors his imagination had been trying to conjure ever since he’d found out about the wedding.

Jump, kick, nothing.

He had never considered a wedding, never even gotten farther than a few dates. Sanji found himself wondering what form of arranged marriage it would have been. Would he have been killed in his bed with the rest of Germa when Big Mom got what she wanted? Would his wife ask for him to be spared? Would he be forced to watch as his wife went on an affair, or would they just die, having never gotten farther than the kiss at the altar? Could he even bring himself to consider the possibility of children, when his very biology was such a core source of what he hated about his heritage?

Jump, kick, nothing.

(Sanji had this crisis every time he got further than flirting. Did he deserve it? Was he going to turn out like Judge?)

Jump, kick, nothing.

It was times like this that he wished Zeff had a last name, so he could take it and not have to deal with having a blank space that his mind always filled with that hated name. He had at various points considered taking on Baratie or Zeffson as a last name, but he’d always chickened out before proposing it to Zeff. Roxie could arguably claim the Baratie as her birthplace, depending on how one considered that, and she had given herself a last name. Toussa was a bit strange, but it was Eastern enough, and he was going to teach her the Black Leg style anyway. 

Jump, kick, nothing. 

Now to figure out if he could work up the courage to suggest it, this time.

Jump, kick, nothing. 

(The air had started shimmering around Sanji’s leg with every kick.) 

========================================================================

Jinbe punched the air above the tides and watched as a small path was carved into the sea for a moment. 

There were portraits of Fisher Tiger on Fishman Island, of course. Paintings of him sold well, and photos of the man himself were some of the most expensive things you could buy on the island. That should have meant the picture in Jinbe’s room, on the other side of the island, should not have been as special as it felt. It should have just been yet another painting of Fisher Tiger attacking the World Capitol.

(“I burned a quarter of the city before the God’s Knights forced us to retreat and get as many people through the Red Ports as possible. My only regret is I couldn’t save more.”)

And yet, it felt different. It was in the same style as the art of his other self, a version of himself who would have been strong enough to stop Arlong, if he’d had the time to do it. His other self looked just as strong as Fisher Tiger. It was a visual representation of everything he kept striving for, to be strong enough to achieve even a fraction of his success. He would give so much to have a conversation with the First Son of the Sea, to learn what his other self had, to be prepared for the hardship ahead.

(There was a reason he called the other Sun Pirates his uncles and aunts, but never his father. There was no blood between them, but that barely mattered.) 

He needed to practice his Fishman Karate above the waves, because half of the crew couldn’t use the techniques underwater due to their Devil Fruits. He was technically past the Dan required to teach others, but he had never tried. The base principals were even the same, as far as he could tell, but there was a difference between doing it himself and showing what he was doing to someone else. It was especially different, because he’d been taught underwater, in Mer, instead of teaching on a beach, in Linian. 

Jinbe still had so much he could learn, if he could find a master or a book from an ancient master of Fishman Karate, but all of them were on Fishman Island, and he hadn’t been to his homeland in years. He’d have to create his own style if he wanted to improve on his own, which was going to be necessary if Luffy was truly going to go all the way. He couldn’t just coast along on his own power until something or someone left him beaten and broken. He needed to start training for the future.

Jinbe could already see the shape of some of that training in his mind. Rokushiki certainly sounded like it would pair well with Fishman Karate, as parts of it relied on a fundamental principle of dry Fishman Karate, that of treating the air itself as a medium to be affected and used to your advantage. The Sanji of the other timeline had shown this quite effectively, as he’d been able to use Moon Walk underwater. Jinbe should be able to do the same in reverse, and apply the lessons he had learned over the years to learning Rokushiki. 

(A part of Jinbe that he wasn’t proud of reveled at the idea of using the World Government’s own hidden martial art against them, combined with the primary martial art of those they had oppressed for centuries.)

Jinbe had been called a prodigy, in both helmsmanship and Fishman Karate. He would gladly put those skills to work, if it meant a better future for Merfolk and Humans both. 

========================================================================

Honestly, Kaya thought Roxie was a bit strange, even before learning she was from another world. 

Her first one on one conversation with the other girl had involved flirting, fishing for information, and had ended with Kaya frantically reeling in a fish because she’d had a fishing rod shoved into her arms and would have been pulled overboard otherwise. She looked at both her and Robin like Sanji did, sometimes, and yet didn’t treat them with the same kind of chivalry. She muttered about strange, random things like trains, gods, fish, and foxes, and then turned around with a coherent but not quite truthful explanation for whatever she’d been talking about.  Sometimes she’d spend entire days in her cabin, and others trying to learn to do some seemingly inane skill, like rope braiding or how to use a sextant.

“What do you think Roxie’s homeworld is like?”

“No idea, but they’ve got good taste.”

Kaya glanced over at Franky from where she was laying on the boiler deep in the Merry. He was working on the pipes, and she’d decided to follow him.

“I mean, sure, they liked Luffy’s story, but what else?” Kaya asked. “You’re smart, any theories?”

“Well, I don’t think they have a Grand Line, or a Red Line.” Franky said.

“But that’s absurd!”

“And they’re absurd to a world without them. You remember when I washed up in Syrup?”

“Yeah.” Kaya thought back. “Oh, are you talking about when you asked what type of island it was, and none of us had any idea what you meant?”

“Exactly. Water 7 is a Spring Island, so I was able to adjust to Syrup easily, but I still had to adjust in the first place.” Franky said. “Now, think about everything Roxie has had to adjust to since coming here, even with what she knows, and you can work out how her world is different.”

(They’d had a long conversation, last night, about where Franky was actually from. Kaya never said it, but she felt even more justified in her past self’s choice to name him as the new owner of the family shipyards in her will.)

“How does that lead to her world not having a Grand Line or Red Line?”

“Well, it’s what she reacts to, and what she assumes. It’s how she talks about things like Devil Fruits or when I overheard her muttering about a Sky Island. The Grand Line is absurd to the Blues, I know that, but it’s probably even more absurd to someone who’s from a world where it’s all only in fiction.” Franky gestured with his wrench. “That isn’t even mentioning how her hand keeps twitching towards her pockets, in a way she probably doesn’t even notice. I’d bet good money she’s still trying to reach for something that’s commonplace in her world, but that might not have even been invented here yet.”

“She accepted the idea of Transponder Snails really easily, so maybe her world has something similar? If her world didn’t, then she wouldn’t think of it as something that’s so important.” Kaya suggested.