Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 311 PARTY CRASHER

We left Zou the next day. Nami, Chopper, Brook, Luffy, and I decided to go after Sanji. The others would head off to Wano with Trafalgar’s Heart Pirates. We took the Thousand Sunny off toward Whole Cake Island. Since the Heart Pirate ship was a submarine they would more easily get to Wano since the country was under a strict no outsider policy. 

“I don’t know how we aren’t dead yet,” Nami mumbled. We were sitting on the deck behind the helm. Leaning against the fore rails of the ship the helm was held in place by a rope. Sitting between my legs she leaned against my chest, enjoying the sun of the day. 

“I agree, but why is that?” I asked. My hands on her shoulders she groaned happily as I massaged her. 

“We went up against pretty much every single Shichibukai. I heard about them back when I first started out working for Arlong. They were spoken of like impossible legends,” she admitted. “Now we are looking at going against one of the Yonkos.” I felt the worry leaking out of her currently bright and hopeful Haki. 

“Do you think it’s normal, what we are doing?” She looked back at me. “We have gone up against one challenge after another. Do you think that every island on the Grand Line has problems like we find?” 

“I don’t. I think of it like…fate,” I admitted. “We were meant to find one another. When you got to the Grand Line you got sick, right? On Drum Island. An Island known for their advanced doctors, and you just happened to run into a doctor that wanted to become a pirate.” I pulled her back to lay on my chest more as my hands ran along her arms. 

“Nami, this isn’t an accident. Everything that has happened to us, and will happen to us, is part of some big plan. A plan that we can’t begin to understand. Each challenge is some step, testing and pushing us to give more of ourselves. Learn more of what we can do. Just a little harder each time, but enough, to make us ready for what is to come.”

“What’s that?” She whispered, goosebumps breaking out on her skin. 

“No idea,” I said. She slapped my hand as it moved for her chest. “What? I don’t know,” I admitted. “I have a guess One Piece will be there. But I think that is only a part of what we will learn. Rayleigh said it to us 2 years ago. The solution they came up with, may be different than we do. All we can do is keep pushing forward until we are at the top.”

“You’re weird,” she mumbled, leaning her head back to lay on my shoulder. “I can feel how excited you get by it. But scared too.” 

“Yep, I am scared,” I admitted. I wasn’t sure if I would be strong enough. We still had a lot of people to beat yet. 

“Good,” she said. “Means I’m not the only one.” I hugged her then, simply enjoying her presence. 

I couldn’t help but feel a little bad. I had made so many promises I wasn’t sure I could keep them all. When I was with Nami, I was Nami’s, Robin, I was Robin’s, Hancock, I was Hancock’s. I wanted to live on in these worlds but I had to make sure I didn’t mess anything up. I pulled up my Status Screen as we sat there.  

Letting out a sigh I tried to use my Summon Choice and Companion Link. Each brought up their own screen. 

I had tried these on random people on Dressrosa. My relationship with them was at Unacceptable and I was unable to click Y. After that I risked trying to use them on Robin and had received the same notifications as I was receiving for Nami. It was…worrying.

I felt like the 2 items were linked somehow. Or maybe they weren’t at all and I was way off. I assumed the Companion Link allowed me to share information with whoever I wanted. Letting them know of the Challenges I faced. I wasn’t sure how that could be helpful, but it would help me prepare if I was to die again. 

The Summon Choice sounded useful as well. I assumed it worked like my Pet Choice. Picking someone to help me fight it could be a huge gain. Would they simply appear out of nowhere like Nibi did? Would they know who to fight right when I summoned them? I had so many questions, but the biggest was, would they kill?

After losing my last Challenge I knew I had been too soft. After winning my first Challenges, I had gotten cocky. In my future ones, one coming up very soon, I had to be ready to kill. If I was going to have a Summon, I needed them to be able to kill as well. I pushed N on both screens. Nami wasn’t a killer. 

But who was? I thought. Robin could kill if she needed to. I was sure of that. Toga could without hesitation, but would her quirk be useful? Then again the door to MHA was locked to me currently, so that was out. In all honesty Zuina from DBZ was my strongest choice, but she wouldn’t kill, and I wasn’t ready to fight Goku. 

There were only 2 options I could think of. Mei from Naruto world. The Mizukage had been killing since she was a child. The top of her village. She was probably my best choice, but my mind always came back to Hancock. 

Hancock had killed men and women before. Not something to brag about, but simply a part of being a pirate. I had awoken Nen and chakra in her. Though weak, she had the potential to become strong, and she had the Devil Fruit. Able to petrify anyone attracted to her, it could really be a broken technique to use in a Challenge. 

For now I wasn’t sure what I would do. I only had a few days until my Challenge, so I could have time to jump out and assign Mei as my summon, and perhaps Companion, whatever that entailed. But I was tempted to keep considering Hancock. Leaving it alone for now I was brought out of my thoughts as Luffy stepped out of the cabin. 

“Weston! Food please!” Luffy yelled.

“Sanji is a freakin saint,” I grumbled as Nami got up. 

“Don’t know what you are missing until it’s gone,” she said in agreement. Luffy had been eating us out of ship and home since we left Zou just that morning. I was pretty sure he was worry eating. He didn’t like having Sanji gone. 

I made a big meal that was far below Sanji’s skills. When Luffy grumbled I threatened to not make dinner and he apologized. It was sad how much I took for granted of the blonde man. He was on his way to his wedding to a girl he had never met. I wondered if there was a way to make sure they ended up together. 

The man would never stop hitting on Robin and Nami of course, but he deserved love as well. At first I had been worried our cook would find out about my relationship with the girls, but that was before I understood him a little better. He treated married women the same as single women. A true chivalrous man he would never harm a woman, that included treating them any differently. If he had learned of us I was sure he wouldn’t have acted any differently to Robin or Nami. That didn’t mean I wanted to announce it though. 

Once the meal was done I was moving back to the helm where Nami was, but she was engrossed in the newspaper.

“What’s up?” I asked, able to feel the bit of fear from her. “Our bounties out?” She jumped. 

“Uh no,” Nami said, hiding the paper behind her back.

“What is it?” I asked, growing worried.

“Nothing,” she said, stepping away. 

“Nami, I can feel your emotions,” I reminded. She bit her lip and cursed. After a few seconds of hesitation she brought the newspaper around and handed it to me. 

On the front page was a full-page article and picture on the World Summit. Held every 4 years at Mariejois, the World Government holy land would act as the meeting point between all world nobles. Kings and Queens from all over the world were expected to arrive at Mariejois, tomorrow.

I whistled as I kept reading. “Looks like Vivi should be there,” I said. It had been a long time since I’d seen the blue haired princess from Alabasta that had been part of our crew. “Shirahoshi too.” I seemed to remember the mermaid princess being attacked at the World Summit. “And…” I read on. 

“Jullian Hephestus,” I eventually said. “My dad’s cousin.” I had forgotten about Leton being there. Hancock had told me that so long ago it had slipped my mind. “The interim-king of Leton is expected to discuss the monarchy becoming a part of the World Government.” 

I stood there stunned for a moment. The part of me from the One Piece World  was aching to know more, but there was no more information. No more news about Leton in the long article, I crumbled up the paper in annoyance. 

“Weston,” Nami said, her hand on my shoulder, bringing me back to the present. 

“What?” I asked. My thoughts all over the place I had forgotten she was there. 

“What are you going to do?” She asked.

I took in a deep breath and exhaled. There was only one answer. “Crash it.”

“What?!” She yelled, but my mind was already made up. 

“Captain! Permission for a few day’s leave?!” I yelled as I ran down the stairs. 

“What? Now?” He asked, looking back from his fishing pole. 

“I gotta go,” I said. “Cause some havoc at a meeting of the nobles. Start a few fights. The usual.”

“Yeah okay,” he said, turning back to the pole. “Bring me a souvenir.” 

I laughed, nodding as I turned. Nami stopped me. I didn't need Haki to know what she was feeling. “It’s alright,” I said. Patting her shoulder. “I’m just going to go say hi to my cousin. Make a few veiled threats, then probably fly straight to Whole Cake Island.”

“But Weston, it’s the world government,” she said, tears in her eyes. “You could get caught.” 

“Luffy and I already escaped from prison,” I said. “You really think they can keep me locked up?” Not waiting for her to answer I pulled her to me. Kissing her deeply she fought for a moment then moved into it. Giving her my best she became weak in the knees. When she was good and lubed up I pulled away. 

“Love you,” I whispered and ran around her. Jumping off the side of the ship I began to float away on a puddle of water. Excited to see what would happen. 

As I flew I received a new quest. 

—

I got to the Red Line the next morning. Finding Mariejois was rather simple. Huge palaces and buildings built on the plateau of the Red Line the government wasn’t too worried about people knowing where the leaders lived. 

The area was also the location that normal people crossed the Red Line. Merchant and civilian ships lined up at the 2 ports on either side of the Red Line. Waiting for their turn on the massive Ship Lifts, they were basically elevators for boats. A large pool filled with water, the elevator moved to just above the large lake on the Red Line. The ships and water were dumped into the lake, then would float off to the other side where another platform would pick them up. 

I was curious why they didn’t just cut a cave through the Red Line, but I was sure there was some special reason. Maybe the World Government wanted the ships to rely on them to get into the New World. 

The new Marine Headquarters was on the New World side of the Red Line. I made sure to stay far from it. The Headquarters right below Mariejois, they too had a large elevator that could take people right into the holy land. I was sure this was where my targets would appear so I made a shadow clone and assigned him to watch the elevator. 

Coated in dark chakra to hide myself I also did something I hadn’t in a while. Back in Hunter x Hunter I had learned that my foes could hide from my Haki with Nen. Able to suppress their lifeforce, the stage of Nen was called Zetsu. I had tested it now and then, but hadn’t really had a big fight with someone that used Haki…or had kind of forgotten to do it. Either way I had won my fights, so it didn’t matter now. 

Pulling my lifeforce into my body I hid from all prying eyes. They were easy to spot on the perimeter of the Holy Land. Crazy strong guards all around the place they kept the Holy Land locked down. But I had otherworldly skills, they weren’t expecting me. Using chakra and Zetsu to hide me I passed between 2 guards and they didn’t react at all. Feeling pretty confident I dropped down and began to run around the massive palaces. 

From what I could remember, the World Government was established by 20 kings 800 years ago or so. The only one of these families to leave Mariejois after establishing the government was the rulers of Alabasta. Other than that I didn’t know much about the place. Except what Hancock told me anyway. 

Enslaved, branded, raped, tortured, brought close to death on the regular, she had confided in me the atrocities committed against her. The sick part was there were those that had it worse when she was held in Mariejois. It was hard to believe such things happened in the gleaming white city. 

The buildings practically glowing, there was an obvious class system in the massive city. The outer part, where the guards were not stationed, held the servants. An inner ring held the butlers and higher stationed servants. Then the inner circle had massive palaces. I counted more than 20. Moving my way in I passed by…actions committed by the Celestial Dragons that I did my best to ignore.

More than one man being ridden upon like a horse in the streets, and more than one woman slave being ridden on behind closed doors. I pushed them out of my mind. The hate and fear they leaked was infectious as I flew. I had sworn to get revenge for my wife, and I planned to, but for now I didn’t risk killing them. 

I didn’t want the Anti-Hero Role in One Piece. For so long I had made sure not to kill. Or at least not go overboard with it. I wanted to get to the end of the canon. I was sure it would include destroying these people somehow. And if it didn’t then I would make it happen. Once One Piece was found and the story ended I could do whatever I wanted. Free to kill any and all that used people how they wanted. 

Holding in my anger I was surprised to find that I could feel someone ahead. Unsure who exactly I had met that could be in Mariejois I didn’t even have a name, but for some reason I could feel them bright as day. 

Moving through the city I passed the fountains, rare groups of people, and marines that went about their day. Coming up to a large palace I made my way inside.

A strong guard set up just inside I felt my Search quirk pointing up. Doubling back I climbed up the side of the palace until I came to a woman’s room. Large bed, ornaments, immaculate pieces of furniture, the woman sat in front of a mirror as she combed her hair.

She was the Tenryuubito that had talked to me back on the Sabaody Archipelago. During the slave auction. Dark hair down to her shoulders she was no longer in her fishtank or weirdly designed spacesuit. Wearing a pale yellow silk nightgown she continued working on her hair. 

“Hello,” I said, forcing her to jump and turn back. She glanced at my face and then my Chikyugi Necklace. Thrown into the Makuramoto I felt it was time to have a chat.