Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 308 DEALING WITH IT

Turns out Bartolomeo was obsessed with Luffy. I already knew that, but I didn’t realize how much that transferred to the rest of the Straw Hats, including myself. He practically worshiped the ground we walked on. I wasn’t quite sure how to react to the attention so I typically ignored him. 

With my Search quirk as a guide I kept us on track for the other Straw Hats on Zou. It wasn’t long until I noticed that Sanji was separated from the rest of the group. I guessed canon had stuck and he was being kidnapped by the Big Mom Pirates. 

But I had more important concerns. Namely a traitor in our midst. The last arc in One Piece I had read was the Wano arc. One of the biggest twists was someone that had been with us the whole time was a traitor. Kanjuro. 

As one of Momonosuke’s guards he had traveled into the future with…wait no that can be explained later. Basically Kanjuro was entrusted by Momonosuke’s dad to protect the small boy. But when the Straw Hats were about to attack the man had revealed himself to be a traitor, feeding the Shogun of Wano information the whole time. 

If there was one thing I didn’t like, it was traitors. Unless I was the treacherous one of course, then I didn’t mind it. I watched Kinemon and Kanjuro interact for the first day after we left Dressrosa. Thinking about what to do. In the end I decided to put it in someone else’s wheel house. Pulling Kinemon into my Makuramoto he sputtered as he looked around. 

“Where am I?” He raged as I appeared in front of him. Going for his sword he hesitated when he noticed it was gone. “This is that thing, that place you took Momonosuke when he was being a brat.” 

“Yes, this is our minds linked together,” I said. “Nothing here is real. Simply a figment of my imagination.”

“Why did you bring me here?” He asked, calming down slightly. 

“I know you are not Momonosuke’s father,” I said. The man stiffened but didn’t deny it. “I also know that you are from the past. Well everyone is from the past, but you like skipped years, or whatever. You Kanjuro, Momonosuke, and that other ninja friend.”

“How do you know this?” Kinemon asked. 

“Doesn’t matter. I know things. Important things,” I said walking closer. “But one thing I especially know is that Kanjuro is a traitor.” 

“What?!” Kinemon yelled, his anger focused on me. I flicked my wrist and he was thrown into the wall. No chains, but enough to show he was powerless. 

“Kanjuro has been working with Kaido and the Shogun for a long time,” I said. “I don’t know why, but he is. And he will betray you.”

“He wouldn’t-”

“He would,” I said. “Not all samurais are honorable, and not everyone liked Oden. I didn’t know the man but supposedly my father did.”

“Your father?”

“Copper Walters Watanabe,” I said. “He was on the Jolly Roger crew, with Momonosuke’s dad.” 

“Yes,” Kinemon said slowly. “I have heard of him. He is your father?” I nodded. “Oden spoke of him once. When things got bad he considered asking him for help because his island was so close to Wano.”

“I’m sorry that he didn’t and for what happened to Oden,” I said. “But trust me now when I say Kanjuro is a liar and a traitor and he has to go.” 

Kinemon thought for a long time. When he did speak he was in a far worse mood. “I apologize, but I do not know you. I have known Kanjuro for years. The only way I could believe it is if I heard it from his own lips.” 

“Does …torture make you squeamish?” I asked. But before he could answer I pulled Kanjuro into the Makuramoto. 

“What is going on?” The man asked. His eyes wide as he was chained to the wall. 

“I know you are a traitor to your people,” I said. “You are currently in my mind right now. Everything I do to you here will not cause permanent damage. Not physical anyway, maybe psychological though.” And with that I started on the torture. 

Kinemon tried to step in many times as Kanjuro yelled for his help. Talking of the years they spent together, the good times and bad. Whenever he moved to help though, he stopped himself. Praying that I was wrong. 

When Kanjuro did break he was a babbling mess. “Yes! I hate Oden! I have been the traitor in your midst all this time!” He cried out through bloody tears. With that I pulled us out of the Makuramoto. 

Kanjuro dropped to the ground, too exhausted from the ordeal. Kinemon drew his blade and moved it to the man’s throat.

“Why?” He asked in anguish. Tears streaming down his cheeks. 

“What does it matter? I don’t regret it! I would do it all over again.”

“Would you have killed Momonosuke?” Kinemon asked. The man on the ground hesitated. Both staring at one another for a long time. With a roar Kinemon sliced down cutting off the man’s hand. Kanjuro yelled out in pain. 

“I will not kill you, but nor shall I look upon you again. With your hand gone, I pray that your devil fruit becomes as useless as you have proven to be,” he said. With that Kinemon grabbed Kanjuro and threw him over the side of the ship with a roar of anguish. 

Kanjuro moved quickly though. Using the blood from his severed hand he drew a blood red bird. His devil fruit bringing his drawings to life he flew away on it just before it struck the water. 

“That’s going to bite you in the ass,” I said. 

“Unlike you, I do not kill unarmed men,” Kinemon spat. 

I whistled. “Well, you disarmed him, that’s for sure,” I said. But the man didn’t get the joke and walked away. Still night out I looked around but no one was around. Whistling I went off to wake up Robin. Maybe we could find somewhere that there weren’t a bunch of people sleeping to make our own fun. The problem out of my hands, I felt a whole lot better. 

—

We arrived at Zou days later. It was a city that was formed on the back of a giant elephant. By giant I meant that it was the biggest thing I’d ever seen. Rivaling Kame from Naruto World in size. It’s 4 long legs walking it slowly through the ocean, the back of the beast was approaching the height of the clouds. 

“Do you have to go?” Bartolomeo asked again. 

“Yep, that’s where the crew is,” I assured. “Go out there and have fun, Bart.”

“I will, Pirate Ninja Weston,” he said, happy tears in his eyes. 

“There’s the Sunny,” Luffy said excitedly as we got closer to the elephant. The Sunny was tied to one of the legs, dragged along as the elephant shambled in what I guess was a giant circle. “Think they’re on the ship?” 

“Feels like they’re on the elephant,” I said, not bothering to tell them that Sanji wasn’t there. “Remember on Fishman Island when you tamed the kraken to drag us around. Should we do the same for the elephant?” 

“No, it looks so sad,” Luffy said, staring up at the thing. I moved my eyes to it and had to agree. Dark gray skin, it groaned as it moved. Feeling the immense Spiritual Energy the thing didn’t feel very…happy. Almost a gloomy nature covered it, conveying a depressed tone. I watched it as we drew closer, and couldn’t help but feel sorry for the thing.

When we got to the Sunny we said our goodbyes. After a quick shower, meal, and change of clothes we were ready to go. Franky opted to watch the ship. Luffy, Usopp, Trafalgar, Robin, Zoro, Kinemon, and I chose to go up and check things out. Bringing up a platform of water I froze it and began lifting us off. 

Marveling at the behemoth of an elephant we moved up in shocked awe until we were floating far behind it’s back. Growing out of the beast was a massive forest. Every square inch of it was covered in trees and foliage. Basically a jungle on the back of an elephant, Zou was far wilder than I imagined. 

“And your crew is on here?” I asked Trafalgar.

“My first mate was born here,” he said.

“The bear?” I asked. 

“A bear? Where?” Luffy asked. 

“No, his first mate, a white bear.”

“Wait a minute,” Luffy said. “Didn’t we have a teddy bear crewmate?” He asked.

“That was me,” I said for the 2nd time. “Remember, I was turned into a toy.” 

“Oh right,” Luffy said, disappointment clear in his voice, but then jumped off the platform, landing in the forest. Laughing he ran in without worry. The others were less enthusiastic in such a new place but we jumped off the platform and began heading in. 

“Know anything about Zou?” I asked.

“Well this is where the Mink Tribe is from,” Trafalgar said. 

“Mink Tribe?” Zoro asked. 

“Yes, they are human and animal hybrids. Like the Fishmen or merfolk. They have human bodies but their features resemble mammals.” 

“Whales and dolphins too?” I asked. 

Trafalgar sighed. “Only land animals,” he corrected. 

“And they only live here?” I asked. 

“Mostly. They are ruled by 2 kings.” 

“Sounds fun,” I said, eyeing Usopp. “You’re awfully quiet.” The sniper huffed, turning away. “What?” 

“You never apologized!” Usopp yelled, tears in his eyes. “You made me think we were married.”

“Because it was funny,” I said, cracking a smile. But Usopp wasn’t in a laughing mood. “Usopp, I am sorry. I promise that if you lose your memory again I will not convince you that we are in a homosexual relationship.” 

“Don’t put it like that!” He whined.

I laughed loudly. “Come on, I am really sorry. And I want to thank you for saving me from the fate of living my life as a cute teddy bear. You really stepped up this time.” 

“You think?” He asked, showing a little pride. 

“I know you did,” I assured. “Kiss?” 

“No!” He yelled pulling away. I laughed as I chased after him. Running ahead of the others Usopp wasn’t fast enough to dodge the white foot that went for us. Powerful legs kicked him in the nose. I ducked down, grabbing the leg and throwing who they were attached to away. 

A very white bunny rabbit woman absorbed the throw and bounced back into me. Moving Usopp to not get hit again I kicked her leg as she met mine. Our hits were nullified, making her drop to the ground but I met her with a punch. 

She absorbed the blow, moving much faster than expected. Turning her body in a roundhouse kick I grabbed Usopp’s collar and pulled him out of the way. Dropping back to the ground she lept back toward us. 

“Weston! Save me,” Usopp whined. 

“Of course, my love,” I said, grabbing his arm and swinging him like a weapon to hit the rabbit. She was knocked back into a tree, hitting it hard this time. As she got back up I pulled out my necklace and put her to sleep. 

“Well that was fun,” I said as I walked toward her. 

“You hit her with me!” Usopp yelled, crying. 

“It worked, you’re strong remember, Usopp? What happened to God Usopp I heard about on the last island?” I asked picking up the rabbit and throwing her over my shoulder. 

Looking around I noticed that the others hadn’t followed us. Feeling them with my Search quirk I moved over to find Robin being attacked by a wolf man. 

But I didn’t much worry about her. The man made the mistake of getting close to her. Using Gyo I watched as she charged Nen in her hand and hit him in the snout. Blood spurt out of his nose as she struck him in the gut. Howling in pain he was soon knocked out. 

“Beautiful as always,” I said walking forward. 

“Why did they attack?” She asked. 

“Territorial maybe?” I turned to show my prize. “I caught me a bunny rabbit.”

“She’s cute,” Robin noted, getting a look at her face she appeared ready for another go. I was starting to think she rather enjoyed the nature of bringing more people to the bedroom. 

“I agree,” I said and moved to see Trafalgar down the way finishing up his fight with a ferret man. We found Franky and Zoro soon enough. 

“What happened to Kinnemon?” 

“A bird man took him,” Trafalgar said in his normal bored tone. 

“Crap,” I said. Making a shadow clone I sent him off to retrieve the samurai. 

“What’s with the rabbit?” Zoro asked as he studied the girl on my shoulder. 

“I’m gonna make a rabbit skin hat,” I said, slapping her ass. She did a good job pretending to be asleep. “Make some stew out of her.”

“No, don't!” The rabbit girl squeaked, kicking wildly. I grabbed her bushy tail and pulled it. Pushing her into the trunk of a tree she still kicked but I held her up. White fluffy fur, long ears over her head, she wore a yellow shirt dress. Closing her eyes as she tried to punch and kick me I chuckled. 

“Then tell me why you’re wearing Nami’s dress,” I said. 

She paused. Stopping her attack for a moment. “You know Nami?”

“Of course, we are her crew,” I said. 

“Hey guys!” Luffy yelled from ahead. “I found a town!”