Out for Karma: One Piece

Chapter 96: One doesn’t simply name their children

The strawhat crew has been sailing for a few days now towards the island named Zou, where the rest of their crewmates and Sunny fled to when they were attacked by Doflamingo then some Big Mom’s subordinates.

Bartolomeo and his crew were a fun bunch. They all may have been dropped on their head once or twice when they were babies, but they were fun to have around.

“Mistah Luffy! Mistah Luffy!” yelled Bartolomeo.
“Yeah?”
“They arrived! The new bounties arrived!”

Suddenly a red carpet was unrolled in front of the strawhat captain and led to a board on one of the walls of the ship. On it were the new bounties for every member of the crew.

Luffy was ecstatic when he saw he was now worth 600 Millions Berries. It wasn’t the only one though as Rick’s new bounty was the same amount.

“Eh! You finally caught up” the vice-captain teased.
“YES! Next time I’ll win though.” replied Luffy.
“I won’t make it easy for you.”
“You better not! That won’t be any fun otherwise.”

Truth was Rick’s small gain of 150 Millions to his previous bounty was because he didn’t really fight on Dressrosa. He had taken down Sugar but the credit went to Usopp. The gain actually came for his stunt at Marie-Geoise. It only came this late because the navy wasn’t sure it was actually Rick who had freed the slaves, despite the message he left since he was confirmed dead two years prior. His meeting with Tsuru and Sengoku confirmed that he was indeed alive and a new bounty was issued.

Zoro was smiling delightfully on the side. He had every reason to, as he went from 120  millions to 320 Millions Berries Rick couldn’t help but rain on his parade.

“Happy with your results, number four?” the ex-marine said, referring to the time on Water Seven when the new bounties were issued.
“Nu-huh. I’m number three now.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Robin’s bounty is 250 Millions Berries.”
“So?”
“So I beat her!”
“Yeah but Nami beat you.”
“What?!” Zoro replied astonished. Nami, was worth more than him? The scaredy cat? A member of the weak trio? The notion was impossible to him and for a moment thought it was a joke.

Until Rick pointed out her bounty. She had gone from a small 16 Millions to a whooping 400 Millions.

“HOW?!”
“My guess is, someone from the navy saw her use her devil fruit abilities when they fled Dressrosa. The Tenki Tenki no mi is really powerful. Controlling the weather in a world mostly composed of water? She’s like the mistress of the seas.”
“Ugh.”
“Don’t be so bitter, in a way you’re right. Since Luffy and I have the same bounty we’re both number one, Nami is number two and that makes you number three.”
“That’s.. Not really a great consolation.”
“Perhaps the fact that you surpassed Robin’s when Sanji did not will? And did you see his portrait? It’s even worse than the last one!” Rick joked.

Zoro seemed to agree as the smile on his face was back. Sanji’s picture was of him, with his eyes heart shaped, his mouth wide opened. That was the picture of a pervert.

Rick took a look at the rest of the bounties. Most had passed the 100 Millions mark. The exception being Chopper who had double his worth making it a sad 100 Berries.

“It’s really not right. He should be way over the 100 Millions milestone.”

Everyone’s bounty had jumped up a lot. Usopp or ‘God Usopp” as he was now called, reached 200 Millions when it was only 20 previously. That was ten times more. ‘Soul King” Brook was now worth 110 Millions and Franky ‘the cyborg’ 150. Robin was now 250 Millions.

“If the navy knew she was aware of where Pluto, and Poseidon are, she’d probably be in the Billion. Yet again, me too.”

Surprisingly his picture and Robin's were the same. He was holding her from the back and both were smiling.

"How did they get that?"

One thing surprised him though. It was the bounty of someone new.

“I-I have a bounty?” said Baby-5.
“100 Millions, that’s not bad for a first time!” Luffy said.
“It’s actually quite good.” added Rick.
“How come it is so high?” asked Franky.
“Since Dofus was a shichibukai, none of his subordinates the navy got to know afterwards were given a bounty. He’s not one anymore so that was rectified. I mean you worked for him for years, Baby-5.”
“Ever since I was a small kid.”
“Then that’s why.”

Rick walked to the side where no one would pay attention to him and opened the system.

[USER’S KARMA : 123 456 201 ]

“That’s not bad. It isn’t as much as I earn with Alabasta but considering Dressorosa is just one big city as a kingdom and Alabast an actual kingdom with multiple cities that’s normal.”

He looked at the shop for any devil fruit that could be useful for the R.A. but didn’t find anything interesting that was available. With the fruit’s search done it was now the turn of the item shop. That’s where he got the cap and the snake plushie for Lynda, maybe he’d find something for  his daughter he just learned about. He scrolled and scrolled until his eyes caught a familiar object.

“That’s perfect for her.”

Without any hesitation he bought the shooting stars earrings, the same ones Kaza had offered him all those years ago and lost when he died as he was wearing them back then. It was actually the gift he had received that meant the most to him. Sengoku’s cap, Aokiji’s sleep mask, even Ryusei… those earrings came for someone who despite being unhealthily obsessed, never turned her back on him. He took them out from his inventory and put them in his hands. As he was taking a good look and reminiscing about the day he got them, he was hugged from behind by Robin who put her head on his shoulder and tried to take a look.

“That’s your earrings.”
“They are.”
“Found new ones on Dressrosa?” She asked knowing that he died with them on.
“Uh-uh.”
“Why didn’t you put them on yet? They suit you.”

He thought about telling her another lie since he just got them now but decided against it. He was tired of lying to her and felt wrong about it. And while he will always have too because of his situation he didn’t want to do it more than necessary.

“I… I don’t think I deserve to wear them anymore.”
“Why?” Robin asked, intrigued.
“Those earrings… well the ones from before, they were a birthday gift from Kaza.”
“Your ex?” replied Robin, surprised, without any hint of any other emotion in her voice.
“Yes. Despite our… weird relationship, she always had my well being and happiness in mind first. Sometimes too much.”
“Like you with me.” this wasn’t a question, this was a statement Robin made.
“Like me with you.” Rick replied with a small smile before adding more.
“I let her down. I left the navy without a word. Left her with our baby…”
“You didn’t know.” Robin said, hugging her tighter.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I wasn’t there for her, for them. She had to leave the navy too because of it and carry and raise our daughter for twelve years… Alone. And what was I doing for ten of those? Wasting my time on O’hara.”
“Okay enough! First: you didn’t waste your time on O’hara; you rebuilt my home, our future home. Second: Had you known, you would have done your best to find them and take responsibility for your daughter.”
“...”
“You did for Lynda. You went to see her as soon as you could when you learned of her existence.”
“...”
“...”
“Goddess, I know you’re right but I still feel like a crappy father.”
“You shouldn’t. Situations happened that prevented you from being the good father I know you can be, that I know you are. They were out of your control.”
“... You always know how to make me feel better.” Rick replied putting his hands on hers while leaning his back on her.
“Of course, I’m your wife after all.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works.” he laughed softly.
“Perhaps, but that's the explanation I chose.”

Moving her hands she took the earrings from his and put them on his ears.

“There, that’s better.”
“Thank you.” Rick replied then turned around and took her in his arms while giving her a loving kiss.
“You’re going to leave to find them.”
“I… have too. I can’t go on as if I didn’t know. Could you, if you were in my shoes?”
“No I couldn’t and I won’t stop you from going. I know how hard it is to grow up knowing your parents have been out there since you were born.When I finally saw my mother after all those years, I… I felt relief when she hugged me. All the doubts were gone. Despite how scared I was with what was happening around me I felt happy. I’m sure she would feel the same.”
“She may react differently, she had Kaza with her growing up. Though She may not even know who I am. If her mother left to keep her safe she probably wouldn’t have told her of me, or told her a lie. What if… What if she hates me? Or worse, just doesn’t want anything to do with me?”
“Then you don’t give up and keep going relentlessly. She will accept you, it’s just a matter of when.”
“Do you also know that because you’re my wife?” he smiled.
“Yes, but I’m more speaking from experience. That’s what you did with me and now take a look, can’t live without you.”

Rick shook his head at the silliness.

“Speaking of children…” Robin began.
“Back in the inn, when you said legacy…”
“I meant O’hara’s library but also the knowledge about the poneglyphs. You’re the only one with that knowledge. Once you pass away no one else would know. It would be their birthright and duty to not let that knowledge disappear from the world. I’m not gonna lie, I’d be jealous as hell.”
“You want to know how to read …”
“No. I mean… in a way yes, because I’d be sharing something special with you and only you in the whole world, that no one else could. But it’s yours and yours alone. Besides any history you’d find you’d share with me and the rest of the world, as for the antic weapon? I don’t need to read poneglyphs to know where two are and have a guess at the location of the third.”

That last information made Robin’s eyes grow big.

“You know  about… How?!”
“Back on O’hara I read a book about a forgotten religion, dating farther than a thousand years ago. This religion had  a full pantheon of gods. Among them were Poseidon, god of the seas, living at the bottom of the ocean; Pluto, the god of death, living in the underworld; and Uranus, god of the sky. I remembered about it back on Fishman-island and saw Shirahoshi order the sea kings.”
“That’s…” Robin didn’t quite know what to say.
“Hilarious.”
“What?”
“The World Government wants those weapons in their control and yet almost destroy the only way for them to find them without the knowledge of the poneglyph. They basically shot themselves in the foot. What’s even more hilarious is Shirahoshi being an ancient weapon. I mean Shirahoshi? Like… Come on!”

That made Robin’s laugh, as it was spot on. The mermaid princess was way too naive and kind hearted to be an ancient weapon.

“You said you know the location of two and have a guess at the third, please enlighten me.”
“As if you didn’t know where Pluto was.”
“I do but I want to see how right you are.”
“I’m always…”
“Right, I know but please humor me.”
“Since Poseidon was at the bottom of the sea like the god was, Pluto who is the god of the dead, should be in the land of the dead. I don’t know which island or kingdom it is but I know it’s there.”
“... That’s correct.” Robin replied impressed.
“What about Uranus?” she asked.
“Since he’s the god of the sky… A sky island? Or the moon.”
“The moon?”
“Yes. It’s more than far-fetched but… Remember the origins of the Skypiean and the Shandia ?”
“The moon.”
“Yes, but back then you said that they left the moon one thousand years ago and that Shandora disappeared.”
“During the void century, 800 years ago, Norland found it again a bit more than 400 years ago. You think that the disappearance is linked to Uranus?”
“I don’t know, but if Uranus is a mechanical weapon, hiding it on the moon would be one hell of a hiding place. And if it’s a person… They are linked to the moon, just like Shirahoshi is linked to the sea. It would make sense to disappear in both cases.”
“It is far-fetched but it makes sense. I’m amazed you arrived at those conclusions without knowing how to read poneglyphs.”
“Of course, I’m your husband.” He replied , smirking at the fact he turned her words against her.
“Haha.. Do you have any more knowledge about the poneglyphs to share, Mister smart ass?”
“Actually, I do.”

Robin was surprised once again.

“Really?”
“Uh-huh. It’s about why your mom joined Roger on his ship, or to be more exact why he took her in.”
“What do you mean he took her in?”
“Roger had reached Lodestar, the last…”
“Island the log pose leads to.”
“Yes but how did he get to Laugh Tale? No pose leads there. Rayleigh said that on this island….”
“They found what happened during the void century. You think that Roger understood he needed the knowledge contained on the poneglyphs to get there; that’s why he welcomed my mother into his crew.” Robin said in realization.
“Yes, and that implies that…”
“There may be more types of Poneglyph, besides the one recording history and the ones pointing to the former.”
“Now who’s being smart?”
“I have always been smart.”
“True, and that’s really sexy and arousing.” he said, reaching for her ass.
“Arousing?”
“Uh-huh” was his only reply as he kissed her.
“That gives some credit to my discovery.”
“What discovery?”
“On fishman island I found a poneglyph but it wasn’t like the normal type, it was an apology letter from a man named Joy Boy. He apologized for not coming back to fishman island and keeping his promise regarding Noah.”
“Wait! If he didn’t get back to Fishman island how did he…”

“I think it was Roger. Remember the text he left back on Shandora?”
“The one who said that he’d brought the message to the destination or something like that.”
“Yes, this one. I think that he was talking about the Poneglyph on Fishman island.”
“We’d have to ask Rayleigh the next time we see him.”
“By then Luffy would be pirate king and we would have found the missing history.”
“We?”
“You and I.”
“You and I.” he repeated nodding.

They stayed like that embracing each other looking at the sea when Rick had a random thought.

“You know, we never really talked about what happened in that inn.” he opened the conversation with.
“We had our first threesome.” Robin replied in a matter of factly way.
“It was more than that Robin.”
“I know.”
“I don’t really know what to feel about it. It’s all…mixed up.”
“I do.”
“You do?”
“Uh-huh. I felt in control. At the top of the world, like a queen.”
“I don’t understand.”
“When Viola was riding you like a stallion, I felt in control. That the only reason she could do that was because I allowed it. That if I had said only one word, you would have stopped immediately.”
“I would have.”
“Yes, because you love me, because you’re devoted to me at 100%. I felt in control, of me, of you, of her, of the whole situation… just like a queen. And it made me so hot, the simple fact that I had this power over everything in this room. That and the two of you going at it. God, you were good together.”
“Not as much as you and me.”
“That’s correct, but I can’t watch… Actually I can! Why didn’t I think of blooming eyes to look at us?!”
“Too busy feeling good?”
“Perhaps. We’re definitely trying it next time.”
“Only if it’s with one of your clones and not just eyes.”
“You got yourself a deal, Mister. And a date.”
“Great.”
“Back to the topic though, what did it make you feel?”
“I… A part of me felt wrong. To have sex with someone else right in front of you. I mean, it didn’t bother me with Nami because I didn’t know you were there and because I knew you were okay with it when I saw you. But having you there watching…. I don’t know… Somehow it was different. Like… Like I was showing you I’d rather fuck someone else than you. Then you joined us and that made me feel worse. Like my thoughts were spot on and it made you jealous.
“Is that why you were so eager?”
“Yes.”
“There is nothing further from the truth. I joined because I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. I’m not scared of losing you to someone else anymore.”
“I realized that afterwards, when I was pounding Viola from behind why she ate the creampie I gave you”. Laughed Rick.
“God, she’s really good at it. She’s no Nami, and certainly not you. But I was very pleased.”
“Her eagerness played a lot in it I think. Anyway, I saw you there, lying on your back with your eyes focused on me. One hand playing with a nipple while you were sucking the other. You were in bliss… and somewhat… somewhat I loved it, because you loved it, if that makes any sense.”
“It does, that’s what I felt both times.”
“I don’t know if one day this feeling of wrongness will go away, but I know that I want to try it again. With Nami this time.”
“Or with a clone of me?”
“I don’t think I’m ready to handle two of you yet.” Rick joked.
“Only one way to find out. But I do agree, our next threesome is with Nami.”

~~~~~

A day later they arrived at Zou, which to the surprise of everyone was an island on the back of giant elephants walking aimlessly in the sea.

“No wonder finding the island is almost impossible, it’s not stationary.” Rick said.
“I wonder how old that elephant is.” Robin spoke up.
“The legend says that Zunesha was born more than one thousand years ago and that he walks the seas because of a crime he committed 800 years ago.” Kin’emon replied to the brunette.

Rick and Robin looked at each other and had the same thought. Zunesha was perhaps linked someway to the void century.

“Well, it’s time for us to go, is everyo…”

He was cut off when exclamations of awe came from the people around him. Turning around he saw a pink chinese dragon in the middle of the deck.

“Sorry Rick, but I want to ride the dragon!” Luffy announced.
“Ryunosuke” Robin corrected him.
“What?” asked Usopp.
“His name is Ryonosuke.” she said firmly to her captain, who seems to be fine with it.

Turning to Robin, Rick made a comment.

“Ryunosuke?”
“Ryunosuke.” she replied with the same fitness she did Luffy with a face saying ‘It’s Ryunosuke and nothing else.’
“Do you always name things that fast?”
“Only the cute things.”
“... I won’t have a say in our children's name, right?”
“Absolutely none.” the brunette answered still with her special face on, making him sigh.
“Well… At least you have good taste, so I won’t have to worry.” he smiled and kissed her cheek.

The strawhat crew along with Kin’emon, Kanjuro and Law, that Rick began to affectionately call ‘Trafy’, to his annoyance, got on Ryunosuke. He moved fast out of the ship and grabbed onto Zunesha’s leg. Luffy thanked Bartolomeo and his crew and promised to meet again.

The climb of Zunesha’s leg was hard and around the middle of it, something fell from the sky. Everyone dodged except Kin’emon who was blinded by Kanjuro behind him, playing a stupid game of guess who. The collision made the two samurai from Wano fall off Ryunosuke, sending them back down.

“Umm. Rick?” asked Usopp.
“Yes?”
“Why didn’t you make them float?”
“They wanted to climb; I didn’t want to go against their wish.” Rick said with an evil smirk.”
“That’s so petty!” Trafy noted to himself, just like everyone else.
“... Does that mean that if we fall we’re on our own? You won’t make us float?” Usopp asked as he began to sweat bullets.
“Usop, of course not, you won’t be on your own.” Rick replied with a friendly smile this time making the sniper relax.
“Good to kn…”
“You’ll be with Kin’emon and Kanjuro.” and the evil smirk was back.

Usopp grabbed Ryunosuke as hard as he could, trying to fuse with the dragon. The joke made Robin laugh, melting in his embrace as she was sitting on her lap. Perhaps the safest place on this ride.

“It’s not like they won’t join us later, they are capable warriors. It would take them until the night though.”

They got higher and near the end of the leg, Ryunosuke began to struggle, he had been climbing non-stop for a while now and was reaching his limit. Everyone encouraged him to hold on as the end was in sight and he did. Once on solid ground, the most sensitive of the crew had tears in their eyes. Ryunosuke had gone beyond his limit and was slowly disappearing, his time at an end. Rick took Robin in his arms and comforted her.

“You really liked him, didn’t you?” he asked in a whisper to which Robin replied by a simple nod,her head buried in his chest.
“It’s alright, he was happy and a cheerful guy. I’m sure he wouldn’t want you to keep mourning him. And if you’re missing him that much I’ll find you a dragon.” that made her look at him with a look of disbelief.
“A dragon? Really?”
“I promised you a cat on Thriller Bark and I found you a cat.”
“No you didn’t.” she replied, frowning. She had forgotten about that.
“Is Nami chop liver for you? I even got her the collar and everything.”
“...”
“...”
“Fair enough. But a dragon?”
“That’s for me to worry about.” Rick replied with a smile.

“There was a western dragon on Punk Hazard and Momonosuke is proof enough that eastern dragons exist too. I’m sure there are some of the latter left. I just have to find where.”

The group began to walk inside the island. Rick had never seen such flora before and intended to take back some specimens on Sunny with him. The plants on Dressrosa were already known to him so he didn’t bother to pick some as there was no need to do even a bit of research on it. But the vegetation here? It fueled him with the desire to experiment and discover new things.

After half an hour of journeying, they passed under some arch and saw beyond a gigantic city. It was really a wonder to see forests, rivers and a town that big on the back of a thousand years old Elephant, 35Km tall and wandering the seas.

“This is not an arch but a door.” Trafy said.

Rick turned around and looked at what the captain of the heart pirates was pointing at. There,on the inside walls of the arch were badly damaged hinges.

“Something or someone burst the door open.” Trafy added.
“It seems recent.” Rick observed.

Zoro put his hands on his swords ready to welcome any attackers coming their way. They kept on making their way towards the center of the city when from the foliage rushed out a white blur, targeting the swordsman. He tried to slice it but the blur dodged mid-air by doing a flip and ended up behind him. Zoro blocked the hit coming but the blur who turned out to be a humanoïd bunny sent electricity through his sword from her claws.
As the fight was about to escalate. A huge crocodile came out from the same place the big bunny had come. On it was riding a humanoïd female dog.

“That’s Nami’s clothes!” exclaimed Usopp fearing the worst.

Rick’s reaction was instant. He was on her in a fraction of a second, grabbing her by the throat and choking her with his horns on display.

“That’s my kitten’s clothes. What have you done to her?”