Out for Karma: One Piece

Chapter 131: At the end of the world

“I can see the resemblance between Grandpa and uncle now.”

Everyone agreed with Eri when they looked at Garp and Luffy's eating habits. Their stomachs were bottomless pits.

“Is it alright?” asked Usopp out of the blue.
“What is?”
“A former admiral who was after Robin who is also a member of the Blackbeard’s pirates and a Vice-admiral who tried to kill us, free to roam the ship?Aren’t they prisoners?” the sniper of the crew pointed out.
“There.” Rick sprouted some arms in the storage room, took two pieces of ropes and brought them back to the dining room to put them around the two men’s wrists. Loosely and with a lot of leeway. “Now they’re tied up.” he joked.
“That’s not what I meant!”
“It’s not like they can do anything but come with us. Rick destroyed all the ships on the island.” reproached Nami with a glare towards her husband. Something that Mihawk did too from his corner of the table. The man wanted to be out of this ship and far from this insane crew and fast. His hopes were dashed now.
“It was an accident! I don’t choose where the meteors fall, you know!”
“Then don’t summon them in the first place!”
“But it wouldn’t have made a flashy entr…” and he was sent flying against the wall by Nami’s love punch.
“That was both scary and really cool, dad.”
“Thank you, Eri. At least my daughter is supportive!” he faked the hurt at the implied notion that his wife was abusive.
“The ship is getting crowded though.” remarked Zoro after finishing his mug of ale.

He was right. The Sunny could hold a crew of twenty people and they were currently seventeen. Add to that, Garp and Aokiji were rather big men…

“It’s temporary. Mihawk is leaving as soon as he can. Grandpa is our prisoner for now and… actually, Uncle you could just leave with your ice.”
“I’d rather not.” replied the iceman, taking a piece of sausage from his plate.
“Not to change the subject but what do we do now? We’re still not any closer to getting Robin back.”

What Franky said was the truth. They had no idea where she and the Shanks pirates were. And while dealing with Blackbeard had set Rick into a better frame of mind he wasn’t quite alright. He would never be, not

 without her.

“Teach was preparing to make a move on Shanks himself soon. Old debts to settle, apparently. Last I heard, the Shanks pirates were making their way to Lodestar.” Aokiji revealed.
“And I destroyed the one and only known Eternal Pose leading to the island.” thought out loud Rick who facepalmed.
“Not the only one.”

Everyone stopped doing what they were doing and turned to Mihawk. Even Garp and Luffy.

“With Doflamingo’s demise, greatly in part thanks to you all, the Cross Guild through Crocodile, took over most of his share of the black market. Among many things an Eternal Pose to Lodestar got into our hands.”

At the news, Rick and Nami looked at each other with eyes as big as saucers. As if they were one, they got up from their seats and ran outside the dining room towards the treasure room. They had yet to take a look at everything they took when they were on Karai Bari island. The search for the pose was chaotic but quick, thanks to Rick sprouting a dozen clones. Soon enough, they came back running to the dining room and Nami triumphantly presented a small object in her hands.

“We got it!”
“How in the blaze does a second one exist in the first place?” asked Usopp. “I thought that Roger and his crew were the only ones who reached that island?”
“Someone who got their hands on the original must have done a copy.”  supposed Nami.
“That’s possible?” wondered Sanji.
“I don’t know. The guy Koala recommended only taught me how to make them not copy them but why not?”
“It doesn’t matter, what matters now is what we’re going to do.” remarked Zoro and everyone turned to Luffy.
“We’re going, duh!” provoked a wave of relief washed over Nami and Rick at the declaration.

~~~~~

Back at the Navy HQ, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki was fuming. Both figuratively and literally. News of the downfall of a second Emperor had reached the World’s Government and the public. It wasn't a pretty picture, especially when it happened less than two months apart and done by the same pirate crew and not the Marine. Even worse, one was defeated by a thirteen year old little girl, the daughter of now the most wanted man in the world and the other by the said man. Said man who alone, charged the home base of the second Emperor, killed half his officers then the Emperor himself in a eleven versus one fight. In less than forty minutes after completely obliterating every building standing on the island. The word ‘unhappy’ was an understatement. The whole Gorosei was on Akainu’s back, breathing down his neck and ordering him to do something.

“I’m glad to be retired.” Sengoku commented as he enjoyed his coffee with Tsuru in the latter’s office.
“Regretting even more to not have taken the deal?”
“You have no idea, Tsuru. No. Idea.” was one bitter answer. “And now the world is in chaos. The pirate's side is organizing itself like never before; even under Roger’s time such a thing didn’t happen. More and more ships are arboring the Strawhats’ jolly roger above theirs and I’m pretty sure that Garp’s grandson has no idea about it! Then there is the Revolutionary Army! Their morale is at an all time high with Rick’s actions. The power balance is tilting, Tsuru, not in favor of the World Government and I could have prevented all if I had taken the fucking deal! Heck! I would have reversed the scale!”
“There is no need to get upset, Sengoku. Not when you can’t do anything about any of that anymore.” tried Tsuru. It worked a bit especially when she changed topics. “What you can do is give a word or two to Cypher Pol about gathering information. There is no way Eri is strong enough to take down an Emperor.”
“Maybe not. Big Mom was a great treat when she was younger than this one is.” commented her long time friend.
“She wasn’t that strong a year ago. No, if anything, I think…”
“That Buggy wasn’t strong enough to be an Emperor to begin with. Sure, he had had the connections. Roger, Shanks, Whitebeard, but he was never seen fighting much. He was an Emperor in name only and I’m pretty sure Crocodile and Mihawk were the ones pulling the strings behind him.” Sengoku finished the explanation. “What makes me wonder is, how Eri found herself sailing with her father?”
“I don’t know. I had no contact with her or her mother since we separated on Sabaody a year ago. Wherever they hid, Rick had found them.” lied the Vice-admiral.
“Kaza was nowhere to be seen, do you think…”
“Sengoku, really?!”
“I can’t put aside the possibility, Tsuru.”
“You’re a fool, then. Regardless, 3 Billions is way too much. ”
“You’re right, though she does have a lot of power at her disposal. Her father for once, her adoptive uncle for two then the rest of the strawhats crew. She could create a lot of trouble if she was inclined to do so.”
“That’s not from her where the trouble is coming from.” she said mysteriously and explained herself at the look the former Fleet Admiral was giving her. “Issho called me a few days ago. He confirmed that red-haired Shanks had captured Nico Robin during the battle at Karai Bari island. Under Sakazuki’s order, he is in pursuit.”
“No doubt the strawhats are after him too. Or rather, Issho is after them. And of course a pissed off Rick is in the mix because that stupid red hair took his wife. Ugh! Honestly I wonder what Sakazuki is thinking by sending Issho with just a fleet. What does he expect? That a simple fleet led by an Admiral would take them all out? It can’t be to monitor them either, a small ship would have been better.”

”I don’t know but I agree that sending Issho alone against all of them is ill advised. Even just for one crew.”

Someone outside Tsuru’s office knocked on the door. Calling out for the person behind it to enter they were met with Brannew.

“Sir, Ma’am, I just heard good news.” the man said with a grin. “From the survivors of Hachinosu we heard that Vice-Admiral Garp had been taken prisoner by the strawhats along with former admiral Kuzan. A statement from multiple eye-witnesses; all say the same thing.”
“Good news indeed.” nodded Tsuru, happy to have information about her friends.
“How is it good? Garp is still…”
“Sir, I believe after studying the actions of the strawhats since their creation that Vice-Admiral Garp is in… He would not be ill treated.”

Sengoku pondered that for a moment. Garp was the prisoner of his grandsons and despite them being pirates, were the third good kind of pirates. The second being locked up and the first being dead.

“... You’re right.”
“There is also… an unverified rumor that the missing princess of the Alabasta kingdom, Nefertari Vivi, is a prisoner too.”
“Princess Vivi?” repeated Tsuru with an eyebrow slightly raised.
“Now that’s… Why? And how? They were on their way to Wano when… That doesn’t make sense. Why would they take her in the first place?”

Nobody in the room with Sengoku had an answer to give.

~~~~~

On their way to Lodestar, the crew came across an Autumn island. It was rather big with two mountains of respectable height and pine trees everywhere. Luffy, not one to miss an opportunity for adventure, wanted to stop there and explore it for one day. Rick had nearly lost it when he heard that but kept his mouth shut and busied himself with the garden. Because the island was under constant rain, many decided to stay on the Sunny. Among them was Eri who was too tired from her training to go exploring despite her wanting it. Instead she decided to spend the time with Garp and her father in the garden. More of the former, since the latter was busy tending his plants and making sure the water tank Franky had installed was being filled by rain water.

“Ew, that fruit is awful!”
“Mine too! Where the heck did you find them?!”

“What fru…” His neurons connecting, Rick turned immediately around to look at the both of them, hoping that they did not do what he thought they did.

Indeed, they did do it. Right there in front of them, both his Grandfather and daughter had a devil fruit in hand with a missing part. Right in the middle of the table was the bowl with other devil fruit in it. He had put them in there because he had developed the hobby of watching his collection of devil fruits that he had started ever since he bought most of them after killing their previous owner on Hachinosu. Of course, he wasn’t a mad man, he didn’t leave the bowl in the middle of the table for anyone to see and more importantly have a taste. No, the bowl was on his side of the room on the shelf behind and on the right of his desk.
When he saw Eri, trying to go for another, he quickly attracted the bowl to him.

“Hey!” the redhead protested.
“ARE YOU MAD! THOSE ARE DEVIL FRUITS!”
““... WHAT?!””
“For fuck sake! How did you get that bowl?! Grandpa, how the hell didn’t you recognize those were devil fruits?!”
“I thought they were just weird fruits that you found during your travels or some of your experiments! Who the hell has a whole collection of them and put them in a freaking fruit bowl?!”
“I do! Thanks to Diana…”
‘I will allow it this time but leave me out of this.’ commented the goddess to Rick using her for his lie.
“... I can get the devil fruit of a user that dies in proximity. I’m using her ability to make a better encyclopedia than the one currently existing!”
“...Thanks to who?” inquired a clueless Garp.

Rick sighed and began to explain who Diana was with a small demonstration. The goddess wasn't happy about that but she was more interested in going back to reading the Return of the king so she let it go.

“...It’s always something with you.” Garp stated with a deadpan face.
“Who do you think I get that from?!”
“We’re not blood related, idiot!”
“It’s phenotypic!”
“Pheno-what-now?”
“It means that a trait one developed because of the environment they are in and not because of his blood from his ancestors.” the voice of Nami answered from the garden’s door. “What did I miss?”
“They somehow got hold of my devil fruit bowl and ate one of them.” her husband replied as calmly as he could.
“Oh.” she simply said before changing the subject slightly “Anyway, what do they do?”
“... I don’t know. Do any of you feel different? A tug in your mind?” Both new users shook their heads negatively.
“Not really, dad.”
“Hmm… I’m thirsty?”
“... That doesn’t help one bit.” Rick sighed and opened his desk’s drawer to take the encyclopedia he was working on then joined them at the table.
“This one is the Mori Mori no Mi.”
“That’s Ryukugyu…”
“Not anymore. The bastard invaded Wano and set on killing everyone in his way to take Luffy’s and mine heads.”
“Oh… So I’m a forest man now?”
“Yes. Try to… I don’t know, make flowers bloom or put your finger in your cup and see if you can drink it with it.”

Garp did the latter first and a few seconds later the cup was empty.

“I could taste the coffee.”
“Do you…”

He stopped himself when Garp made flowers bloom on the ground all around him.

“You know, I never wanted to eat a devil fruit in my life. I didn’t want to rely on its power instead of my own but now… I admit this power is pretty neat.” he confessed with a smile.
“You could do a lot of good by simply walking around, Grandpa. How is that for retirement?” Rick smiled back then turned to his daughter. “Okay, yours is…” he said as he turned the pages of the book and stopped at the correct page. “Oh, thank god.”
“What?!” asked the teen.
“It’s the Wapu Wapu no Mi. You can teleport and if you touch someone teleport them with you.”
“That’s awe…” she said then disappeared. “...Some!!!” her voice came from behind Rick’s desk.
“How did you…”
“I just wished to be there and I suddenly was.” she replied, teleporting back to her chair.
“…Your genius aside, I’m glad it’s this fruit, you can protect yourself from danger by teleporting away.”
“Don’t rely on that ability, work on yourself first.” Garp advised and warned.
“Yes. The previous user died because I predicted where he would teleport with my observation haki.” added Rick and Eri nodded, taking to heart what they told her.
“You know… It’s surreal that between the three of you and Luffy, you all ate a devil fruit unknowingly. Two for you.” She looked at her husband at the end.
“Once again, it’s his fault!”

When Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Reiju came back the news of what had happened a bit earlier was shared with everyone. After a short discussion with a bit of laughing, blaming, eating and in the case of Garp and Luffy, beating and sleeping, everyone went to bed to be ready to leave in the morning. Mihawk was still unhappy with his situation as the island was deserted.

~~~~~~

“It’s them!” Usopp said from the crow nest as he watched with his binoculars the Red Force being anchored.

Luffy thanked him and ordered everyone to be ready. With the exception of Jimbei and Reiju who stayed on watch on the Sunny, every member of the crew disembarked. Lodestar was clearly a spring island. The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold. The flora was lush and the animals were just… there, either eating grass or drinking at the lake in the middle of the island. Ruins of buildings whose architecture was unknown to Rick could be seen here and there, covered in either moss, vines or both. Following the trail of the Shanks pirates, they arrived at a clearing on the lake’s side. At their sight the enemy crew prepared themselves. At a good ten meters distance, Luffy and Shanks faced each other.

“Long time no see.” said the older man.
“It was but I promised you.”
“You did and here you are with a fearsome crew. I guess it’s time for you to give me my hat back.”
“Not yet. I’m not the pirate king so not yet.”
“I’m afraid that’s going to be impossible, Luffy.”

The refusal, spoken with a kind but firm tone raised the tension between the crews, several notches. Each member slowly reached their weapons with their hands.

“...The hat for Robin.”
“What?” asked Shanks in surprise and was imitated by many from both sides.
“You heard me. I give you the hat, you give us Robin back.”
“I can’t do that either. I need her to reach Laugh Tale. She’s the only one who can read the rio poneglyphs. Speaking of, I’d like the one you found on Zhou. It’s the only one that I didn’t find. As for Robin, you’ll get her back afterward. I give you my word.”

Before Luffy could formulate an answer, Rick leaned towards him and whispered in his ear for a short moment. The future pirate king grinned widely. A grin that his crewmates knew very well and usually announced lots and lots of trouble or complete insanity. Signaling his agreement to Rick with a nod, the gravity man attracted a gun from one of Shanks’ crew. While the red haired pirates drew their pistols ready for a fight, Luffy caught the gun and shot in the air.

“I challenge you to a Davy Back Fight!”