Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 310 PONED

An alarm blared in the village. A loud piercing howl rang out over and over. We stiffened. “The village is being attacked!” Carrot said. The bunny girl in the background she ran outside without another word.

“Might as well help,” I said. 

“Do you think it’s the Beast Pirates?” Nami asked, fear in her voice. 

“No idea,” I admitted as we ran out. The few Mink Tribe members still on their feet ran out into the jungle. Sporting weapons they were tired but ready to defend their land. We ran out to find 2 large Mink fighting. 

“How dare you! This is my time!” One yelled. He was a tall Mink. A mix between a lion and a racoon, he had yellow face, a yellow mane, and a yellow and brown striped tail like a racoon. 

“We need all the help we can get!” The Mink he was fighting yelled. Bandaged up he was a canine Mink. Long snout, drooping ears, the dog-man was rather beat up. His Left leg missing he still fought the lion/racoon with a rapier. 

“The kings,” Nami said, letting out a sigh. “They’re fighting again.”

“There are 2 kings?” I asked. Trafalgar mentioned it, but I was surprised they were fighting. “They married?”

“No, Inuarashi there,” she pointed at the canine, “rules the kingdom during the day. Nekomamushi,“ she pointed at the lion/coon, “rules the kingdom at night. Carrot said they were once friends, but…” 

Carrot and other Minks were trying to calm the 2 men down. The alarm had stopped going off, so I assumed it was a false alarm. Feeling Kinemon get closer I walked toward where he would join us. I guessed he and my clone were attracted by the yelling. 

“There he is!” A Mink yelled, pointing at Kinemon as the man walked out. “A samurai!”

“Crap,” Nami said quickly. “I forgot, they hate samurai here.”

“Why?” I asked, looking around, ready to fight to protect him. 

“Kaidou’s troops are samurai, they are from Wano,” she said. 

“Oh right,” I said, bringing my Jitte out as Kinemon and my clone ran to us. But instead of worrying about the samurai the kings continued to fight, that was until Kinemon stepped in. 

“How dare you!” He yelled getting in between the 2 kings. His blade blocking theirs, the men appeared shocked to be seeing the man. “Oden would not forgive you 2 fighting!” 

“Kinemon,” the men said, their eyes wide. “What are you doing here?!” 

“I would ask the same of you,” Kinemon said, not dropping his katana. “You 2 were my masters vassals. How dare you fight.” The kings had enough sense to look ashamed at one another. Dropping to the ground they kneeled to Kinemon. 

“I apologize,” the men said as one, presenting their weapons.

“Good, but I am not our master. Where is Momonosuke?” He asked. 

“Momonosuke is here?” Inuarashi asked. 

“He is sleeping in one of the tents,” Nami interjected. 

“We had no idea,” Nekomamushi admitted. 

“Because you were too busy fighting one another,” Kinemon said, sickened. “Take me to him. There is much we need to discuss.” He eyed me and nodded. I turned and we began heading back toward the village. The alarm no longer going on I couldn’t remember why the Mink’s were so subservient to Kinemon, but I guessed I would remember soon enough. Sometimes it sucked trying to do this all 6 years after I read my last One Piece manga. I felt like I forgot more and more. 

When we were in a large building Kinemon woke up Momonosuke. The small boy having gone with the Zou crew, he appeared better off than the last time I saw him. But he was still a boy, I couldn’t imagine what he was going through. 

“I have been lying to you all,” Kinemon said, standing up. Momonosuke looked up at the man, worried for a moment, but Kinemon continued on. “I am not Momonosuke’s father. Momonosuke is the son of my master,  Kozuki Oden. Me and 2 other samurais were sent…to protect him. We had been separated. I found Kanjuro on Dressrosa.” He locked eyes with me. I left my face placid. “Kanjuro has decided to go on to Wano.” 

I wasn’t too surprised Kinemon wanted to keep the man’s treachery a secret. We hadn’t talked about it since making him confess, but I left it in Kinemon’s hands with what to do.

“We had been on our way to here, to find our companion,” Kinemon said. “Tell me, did the Beast Pirates attack you because of Raizou? Is Raizou safe?” He asked the 2 kings. 

“We would never have given Raizou up,” the 2 kings said in unison. 

“I assumed as much,” Kinemon said. He turned to Luffy. “I know I have no right to ask you since I have lied to you. But we need your help. Will you assist us in getting back to Wano?”

“Why?” Luffy asked. The samurai looked at him confused. “Why should I risk my crew?”

“I thought-” Kinemon stopped as Luffy turned to Momonosuke.

“We would be helping you, Momonosuke,” he said. “Weston has told me some of your story.” I was a little surprised Luffy had listened. I had told Nami and Robin of course, but I wanted Luffy to go in with at least some knowledge. “Are you willing to fight for what is yours?”

“Of course,” Momonosuke said. “I am a samurai.”

“A crybaby samurai?” Luffy asked. There were tears in Momonosuke’s eyes as everyone focused on him. 

“I’m not a crybaby,” Momonosuke cried. “I am the son of the great Oden!” 

“I’ve heard,” Luffy said. “A man I had never heard of before a few days ago. So will he be doing the fighting for you?” 

“No!” Momonosuke yelled. “I will.” 

“Can you though?” Luffy asked. Stepping closer to the short boy they had fought now and then on the ship, but this felt more serious. Momonosuke trying to distract himself from the pain he felt I could feel the anguish of his past bubble to the surface of his Spiritual Energy. “You look like a little child to me.”

Momonosuke growled, yelling he punched Luffy in the stomach. Luffy took it with a smile. Bending down he punched the small boy in the stomach causing him to fly back. Kinemon and the Mink’s stepped forward, ready to attack Luffy but Momonosuke stopped them. 

“I will fight my own fights!” He yelled, getting back up. Wiping some dirt on his face he stared Luffy down. They stayed like that for a moment until Luffy cracked a wider smile and laughed. 

“Fine, we will help,” Luffy said. Moving his hands to behind his head he chuckled as he walked away. Momonosuke dropped to the ground, relief washing over him. 

When the others calmed down a little Kinemon asked, “Where is Raizou?”

“Safe,” Nekomamushi said. He turned around, waving all of us to follow. We moved through the town until we noticed a large tree far ahead. It was a massive tree that was the size and shape of a humpback whale. The tree branches growing out of the whale’s face it was yet another marvel of the One Piece world. We made our way toward it. 

“What’s going on?” Nami asked. 

“Wait and you will find out,” I whispered out of the side of my mouth. 

“Or you could just tell me, and I know now,” she counter offered.

“Have I made you so lazy that you don’t want to be surprised?” I asked. 

“Just tell me.”

“I am assuming we will meet a guy named Raizou.” 

“I’ll kill you,” she said. “Come on, Weston. I’m tired.”

“Then he can carry you,” I said pointing to my clone. I hadn’t ended him just because I was sure I would need him for a reason. 

Nami smiled wide and happily jumped on the clone's back. “You have a twin?” Carrot asked, intrigued.

“No, I just multiply…like rabbits,” I said, side eyeing her. The rabbit humanoid woman was much more animal than the cat girl I had sex with in DBZ world. I wondered if she would have a high libido since she was a rabbit. 

“Stop,” Robin said as we walked. 

“What?”

“I can practically feel you thinking,” Robin said. “Think stuff like that when we don’t have something serious going on.”
 

“Maybe we can step away,” I said. “I doubt there is anything interesting up ahead.”

“Save it for the ship,” Robin said. “These Mink’s can hear very well.” She got closer though, holding my hand while we hung back at the group. Nami apparently fell asleep on the back of my clone as we continued on. 

When we were at the base of the giant whale tree one of the king’s retainers opened a secret passage inside. Filing in I was more than a little surprised to see a giant poneglyph in the center of the room. While Kinemon ran to a black clad man with a giant face, who I guessed was Raizou, I was dragged along by Robin to the poneglyph as she gasped. 

“It’s a red poneglyph?!” She yelled, her voice echoing in the large room. “I’ve never seen one. Why is it red?” She asked questions a mile a minute as she released my hand and began to scan the large poneglyph. A huge stone cube about 20 feet by 20 feet wide there were weird writings on the front that looked like Japanese to me, but I doubted they were. Robin didn’t hesitate to begin deciphering it. 

Inuarashi stepped up as Kinemon caught up with his friend that called himself a ninja. Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp were peppering Raizou with the same ninja move questions they asked me, but he wasn’t able to supply the moves like I had been able to. 

“This is called a Road Poneglyph,” the canine man said. Bringing Robin away from the poneglyph he had her full attention. “Nekomamushi and I were with Oden on the Pirate King’s crew. Though we didn’t go all the way to Raftalia with them, we knew of this poneglyph.” 

“Why is it different than the others?” Robin asked. 

“There are 4 Road Poneglyphs. This is one. Big Mom and Kaidou have access to the other 2, and the 4th has been lost for a long time,” the man said. “All together, they can help lead you to Raftalia.” 

“Right to it?” Usopp asked, excited by the idea. 

“No, each supposedly takes you to an island, which then leads you to One Piece,” he said. 

“I would like to make a copy of this,” Robin said, pulling out a large parchment paper and some chalk. No one stopped her as she began to run the chalk over the paper. The carved in letters on the stone appeared on the paper as she moved around quickly. 

“Guess we have another reason to take Big Mom down,” I said.

“Why’s that?” Nami asked, tired as she forced herself awake. 

“Gonna need her poneglyph if we are to get to One Piece,” I reminded. 

“That’s true,” Luffy said. “Think it’s time we-” He stopped as the island shook. Everyone thrown to the ground we stumbled back up only to be thrown the other way. 

“What’s going on!?” Kinemon yelled. 

“We must be under attack again!” Inuarashi yelled. “The Beast Pirates!” It wasn’t long until we were all running out, except Robin anyway who had her life’s purpose sitting in the tree. 

“Where are they attacking from?” 

“They must be attacking Zunesha himself!” Inuarashi yelled. To show the truth of his words a loud bellowing yell was let out from the front of the elephant. The island shifted again, this time far worse than before. We were thrown far to the side this time before the elephant caught itself. 

“Send troops to-” A king yelled but I lost his words as my Spiritual Energy was bombarded with the pain. 

At first I thought it was my own, but the pain was actually emitting from the island itself. The monstrous elephant was in excruciating pain, screaming for help as it tried to understand what was happening to it. I was brought out of the thoughts a moment later.

“What was that?” Luffy asked, breathing in and out heavily. 

“I don’t know,” Momonosuke said. “I-I thought Zunesha was trying to speak to me.” I didn’t say anything, surprised I too had felt the call. 

Angiea had trained me for years on Haki. On the Isle of the Sea Kings the huge monsters had come to her for help. Able to read their Spiritual Energy she knew what was wrong with them and tried to teach me how to do it. Only recently was I able to tell the true thoughts of people, and I had assumed it was related to my Search Quirk, but maybe my Haki had progressed enough. 

“What-” Luffy was cut off as I saw a vision leak out from the Haki below me. 

It was a night covered ocean. But down below was a large ship, firing cannons at me. As a cannonball hit me I was brought out of the vision as the island tilted again. 

“Zunesha needs an order to act!” Nekomamushi growled. “No one has been able to do that for centuries!” 

“We have to try,” I mumbled. Letting out a long sigh I looked down to the soil covered ground below me. Down there was the largest Spiritual Energy I had ever felt. Taking calming breaths I wasn’t sure how to speak to it, but it knew how to speak with us. 

Focusing on the energy inside of me the Haki reacted. Able to move it to my skin to act as armor I did just that, but didn’t stop there. Pushing my hands against the ground at my feet I continued to move the energy down below. My eyes closed, I focused with all I had until my Haki touched Zunesha’s. 

As it did I sent one thought. “Attack!” With a great bellow the massive elephant shared it’s vision with me. The long trunk swung wide and swiped the large Beast Pirate ship, breaking it into pieces easily. 

I released my Spiritual Energy, and dropped back to sit down. Sweating profusely I was surprised how much of my power that took. Taking in deep breaths Luffy and Momonosuke had apparently tried as well.

“It’s done,” Luffy said. “They’re gone.”

“Who spoke to Zunesha?” Inuarashi asked. 

“I tried, but I don’t know if it worked,” Momonosuke admitted. I didn’t offer my own input. Amazed that speaking to the elephant had worked I was curious how this skill could be used. Leaving it for another day though we had to move onto the next arc and continue our adventure.