Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 81 CASINO ROYALE

“It’s so hot,” Luffy said. 

“I’m going to die!” Usopp moaned. 

“I am literally making it drop by like 20 degrees,” I said. 

“Make it drop more,” Chopper groaned. “The sun is scorching.” 

“I can’t, even I have a limit,” I mumbled. It had been fine at the start, but as we continued to walk toward Rainbase and Crocodile, even I got tired. I treated it like training. Forcing myself to continuously use my power it was a balancing act. Pulling energy out of the air within 10 feet of me and expelling it out of my head was causing a nice breeze, but the sun was still a pain. 

“There it is! We made it!” Luffy said excitedly as we crested another sand dune. Rainbase appeared ahead. Chopper and Usopp joined in the celebration. “Crocodile, your ass is grass!” 

“By the way, Usopp, how is that thing coming along?” Nami asked. 

“Thing?” I asked, intrigued. 

“Right here,” Usopp said showing off the pipes. They were the metal pipes that she threaded together to make her bow staff. “Your new weapon, the Climatact.” 

“Fancy,” I said remembering them then. “What do they do?” 

“They’re her new weapon. I made it so they can kind of do what you can. Cool the area down, heat it up,” he said. 

“Amazing,” Nami said with a wide smile on. I knew she needed the weapon for when she fought Mr. 1s partner. 

“So I shouldn’t piss you off anymore?” I asked. 

“You should never do that,” Nami said with a flat glare as she stored the rods. We hadn’t been able to get some alone time since we all slept in a building the old man Toto had cleared out. 

“So what’s our plan?” Luffy asked. 

“You’re the captain,” Nami said. “You wanted to kick this guy’s ass.” 

“Yep, that’s my plan,” he said. “How do we make that happen?” 

“Well, Crocodile runs a casino in Rainbase ahead. I spent most of my time around there,” I said. “I might be able to sneak us in. I’m sure Crocodile is in there somewhere.”

“What about the other members of Baroque Works?” Vivi asked. 

“Hmm there is Mr. 1. He ate the steel-steel fruit.” 

“So he can steal stuff easily?” Luffy asked. 

“No, as in the metal. He is basically a walking swordsman,” I said. 

“Dibs,” Zoro said. I nodded. 

“Then Mr. 2. He can change his face to anyone,” I said. 

“Anyone?” Sanji asked. “We met a guy that could do that.” 

“He had swans on his feet and act very …loud?” 

“Yep,” Sanji sneered. 

“That’s him. He practices some kind of karate,” I said. “I can’t remember the others.” 

“What about their women partners?” 

“I only know about All Sunday and Double Fudge, or whatever her name was,” I said. “We don’t need to worry about All Sunday. Double Fudge has an afro. And she ate the Spike fruit or something.” 

“So many people with devil fruits,” Nami grumbled. 

“Yeah, I don’t get it. Just carry a bathtub with you, and you can deal with them,” I said. 

“Oy, that’s not funny. Bathes are scary,” Luffy said. We crested another dune and were almost upon Rainbase already. “I need water!” He yelled. 

“Me too!” Usopp yelled. The duo began running to the town. 

“Oy, get enough for all of us!” Sanji yelled. They yelled back and got into town. 

“Alright, Zoro, Sanji, weights please,” I said. 

“What? I’m just getting used to it,” Sanji said. 

“I know, but the fighting could start. You really want to risk dropping them somewhere mid-fight. You can have them back when we aren’t fighting,” I said. The 2 fighters grumbled but soon threw me the weights. I began storing them in the screen. 

“Where do you put all that stuff?” Vivi asked, amazed.

“Ancient ninja secret,” I said with a wink.

“Weston has more mysteries than the Grand Line,” Nami grumbled. 

“I don’t have that many. I just have a lot of little tricks I can’t explain,” I said. “You all wrap your heads around the Haki book?” 

“Kind of,” Zoro said, drawing his blade. “It mentioned pushing your spiritual energy into your weapons, but I can’t figure it out.”

“Me either,” I grumbled. I really needed to get the rest of the books. “Wish we had a trainer or something.” 

“Eh, we will figure it out,” Sanji said as we walked into town. It was busy. Plenty of water in the town Crocodile ran, it was much better off then Yuba was. “You think those 2 will be alright getting water?” 

“I hope so,” Nami said. “As long as they don’t run into-” 

“Marines!” Luffy and Usopp yelled as they ran up to us. “It’s Smoker!” 

“Fuck,” I said. “I thought you said he was by the shore.” 

“He must have knew we were coming,” Nami said. We all turned to see Smoker, his right-hand woman Tashigi, and a line of marines behind them. 

“You really pissed them off Weston!” Luffy laughed. 

“Crap. I’ll distract Smoker. Let’s split up and meet at the casino,” I said pointing at the large golden pyramid ahead. I pulled the Seastone Jitte out of my inventory.

“Be careful!” Nami said, but was soon running off like the others. I waited for Smoker. His men quickly dispersed in all directions going after my crew. I channeled water chakra into the weapon. 

“Finally!” Smoker said as he stared at me. He pulled his own Jitte out. The same shape as the one I stole it was fully metal. The rounded tip was blue seastone though. “I’ve been looking forward to this.”

“I haven’t,” I said. “Why are you so obsessed with me?” 

“You stole my weapon,” he said as he stopped a few paces away. 

“Mine now,” I said. “Let’s let bygones be bygones Smoker. There is a lot of bad stuff going on here.” 

“Don’t care,” he said as he gnawed on his cigars. 

“You should, you’re a marine. Didn’t you take an oath to protect the peace or whatever?” I asked. 

“You’re a pirate. This is protecting the peace,” he growled and went at me. Unlike last time, I actually knew what I was doing. In the correct stance I blocked his Jitte. My grip strength firm we stayed like that a moment, crossing Jitte’s. 

“You’re stronger than last time,” Smoker said with a smile. His arm began to turn into smoke and go for me. My weapon covered in sea water I struck at the smoke, causing it to reform into an arm.

“More tricks too,” I said with a smile. The fight began. He didn’t bother with the smoke anymore as we fought. Crossing Jitte’s I felt much more sure of myself, but not fully ready. He caught my weapon in the fork of his own. Locking it up I moved the seawater to splash him in the face as I punched him hard. Forced to spit out his cigars he looked pretty angry, but I was on him again. Pushing more chakra to the weapon as I learned his way of using the jitte. 

It was an interesting style. At first I thought he was simply bashing, slashing, and thrusting. But there was more to it. Planting his feet firmly in the ground he had actual training in the weapon, and I soaked up his moves as we fought. Channeling chakra into my body to strengthen me he was much stronger than I expected, but the gap was closing as it went on. 

When I noticed more marines coming to reinforce him I decided I had learned enough. Moving the water on my blade to him he became weaker and couldn’t turn into smoke. Punching him with all I had I stored my jitte and ran. Smoker was a good guy, just misguided. I didn’t see any reason to hurt him too bad. I needed to catch up with the others. 

“Coward!” Smoker said as I turned down an alley. 

“Pirate!” I corrected. Tactically retreating I hoped I didn’t change the canon too much. I couldn’t remember Smoker being in town for some reason. I ran down alleys in different directions in hopes of losing Smoker. By the time I was done I got lost myself. I came out into an open area to find a bunch of people knocked out. They weren’t marines, they looked more like thugs. 

No one around I was confused about what was going on but then noticed the women on the roof straight ahead. One wore a distinct cowgirl hat. I smiled, running toward them I channeled chakra into my feet as I ran up the wall. 

On top of the building was the confident Nico Robin. She stood next to Vivi who looked rather beat up. On the other side of the building was a man-bird. He was knocked out and bloody. I thought he looked like Vivi’s guardian. Some kind of hawk man that ate a devil fruit. 

“Shall we go?” Robin asked, Vivi. “The boss wants to meet you. Your friends are there already.” 

Vivi appeared to shake with fear. Her back to me. “Sure,” I said standing up. 

Robin and Vivi turned to me. “You,” Robin groaned. 

“Weston!” Vivi said happily. 

“Me,” I said with a big smile. Stopping off the ledge of the roof I walked between them to the bird guy. Feeling his pulse he groaned, but was out. “Seems okay.” I turned. “Where are you going, Miss All Sunday?” She had been trying to sneak away, no longer her confident self. 

“Just leave me alone,” Robin said as she turned to me. 

“I thought you wanted us to meet the boss?” I asked. 

“Not you,” she said. “He wants you dead.” 

“That’s fine,” I said. “Come on. You said he has our friends. Let’s go see what he wants.” I walked over, extending my hand to Vivi. I helped her to her feet. 

“Is Pell really okay?” She asked, looking to the hawk man. 

“He will be fine. I’m more worried about the others,” I said. “Lead the way All Sunday.”

Robin sneered but walked away. Heading into the building below us I could feel her anger at me. I decided to make some chitchat. 

“What are we doing?” Vivi asked, scared as we followed the 2nd in charge of Baroque Works

“Getting our friends,” I said. “I’m sure they are trapped, so they need us to save them.” She slowly nodded. 

“Vivi, have you ever heard of a poneglyph?” I asked. Robin didn’t stiffen, but she was listening intently. 

“No, what does that have to do with anything?” 

“Just hear me out,” I said. “A long time ago, I can’t remember how long. Robin, do you know?” I asked. She didn’t answer. “Anyway, there was this ancient civilization that wrote down history, knowledge, and maps. They wrote them down on these giant monolith cubes called poneglyphs. These poneglyphs are scattered all throughout the Grand Line. Not too big of a deal right? Except these histories, knowledge, and maps are all information that certain people don’t want out in the world.” 

“Who?” Vivi asked, intrigued. 

“The world government,” I stage whispered. “Now a question you might have, is why haven’t you heard of them? Because they are hidden. But that shouldn’t keep knowledge away, right? Not only are they hidden, but they are written in a language that no one knows. No one except one person.”

“One person?” Vivi asked. “How?” 

“The government killed the rest that knew how to read it,” I said sadly. 

“Killed them?” Vivi asked. “Why?” 

“Because they didn’t want this knowledge to get out,” I said. “Knowledge that could shake the world.” Robin stopped walking, so we did too. We were in the middle of the street, just outside the side entrance to the casino. 

“Why are you telling me this?” Vivi asked. 

“Because there is a poneglyph near your palace,” I said. “A secret one. I can’t remember where exactly, but it’s there.” 

“And it has this information?” 

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s a weapon, but maybe. That’s one of the reasons Crocodile is going after your kingdom. Someone made him think he could learn of ancient weapons written on the poneglyph. Then once he stole this kingdom he could build the weapon. Stopping anyone from taking it back from him.” 

“Why haven’t you talked about this before with the others?” Vivi asked. 

I eyed her. “Do you really think Luffy would have listened?” She frowned but shook her head. “I speak now, for other people’s sake. As a princess, I thought you should know what the world is really like.” 

“What?”

“Ruthless and mean,” I said. “Can you imagine a world government that would use a Buster Call on an island, just because they could learn things that the government didn’t want known?” 

“Stop talking,” Robin said through gritted teeth. She turned to stare at me, tears in her eyes. “Why are you playing this game?” 

“Because it isn’t too late Robin,” I said. “Stop playing this game. Help us stop the rebellion. I don’t care what I have to do. We can get you access to the poneglyph. Do you really think that this princess wouldn’t do anything to stop the fighting? She could easily ask her father to give you access. That’s all you care about, right?” She was openly crying now. “Do you really want the deaths of a bunch of people on your conscience?”

I took a step toward her. Putting my arm on her shoulder. “I pretended to be the type of monster you act to be,” I said. “Killing without care. Unbothered by who got hurt. And you couldn’t look at me. I know about what you went through. I know about all of it, but there is another way,” I said. 

“How?” She asked. 

I pulled the Chikyugi Necklace out of my inventory. Raising it up there was fear in her eyes. She had seen what I did to Mr. 1 with it. I really didn’t need the necklace, a simple touch would do it, but I wanted to know. “Trust me. And look at the heart.” She stared at me for a while, then slowly her eyes drifted down to the heart. I poured chakra into it and then into her. 

“Where are we?” Robin asked, fear in her voice as she looked around. 

“Your mind,” I said. “Sit,” I waved to the cushion next to me. 

“Is this what you did to Mr. 1?” She asked, still fearful. 

“What I did to him was torture, this… hopefully a little less painful,” I said. “Come on. I won’t bite. Sit.” She studied me, then slowly walked over to sit on the cushion next to me. I turned on the TV. 

“I don’t remember much. But this is the island you grew up on, right?” I asked. There was an island with a giant tall tree on it. One of the tallest and strongest trees in the world. The Adam Tree. 

“How-”

“Don’t bother asking how,” I said. I showed her what I could remember of her friends at the university. She was only 8 years old when she went there. Learning to read the poneglyphs. “I know a little bit of everything. Mainly about those around me. Crewmates of the Straw hats. Current and future.” 

“But how?” She asked again. 

I frowned. “My ninja powers,” I said. “Like reading a book. I can know a lot about certain people. Like you, I know you learned the ancient language. But I can’t remember simple stuff. Like what the hell was the name of the island you grew up on?” 

“Ohara,” she mumbled.

“Right, damn. I knew I was thinking of Gone with the Wind for some reason.” I changed the channel to show her mother. Just a white haired version of herself…and a cartoon. Nico began crying again as she saw Nico Olivia on the screen. “Your mom went on some expedition to find the poneglyphs. The world government didn’t like that. So they decided to kill her, and everyone on Ohara to make sure they didn’t find out the secret?” 

She turned to me. “Do you know the secret?” 

I frowned. “No,” I said. “I have theories of course. My best guess is the World Government used to be a pirate crew that took over. They wouldn’t like random people finding out about that, which is why they try to stop pirates from getting too powerful. But how the hell did they make everyone forget the void century? It’s like Attack on Titan where the ruler made people forget…I digress. I don’t know. But that’s why we need to find it out.” 

“We do?” She asked slowly. 

“Of course,” I said. “Luffy is going to be the Pirate King.” I grew excited as I talked about it. “Do you really think he could do that without taking on the 4 Pirate Emperors?” I asked. 

“What does that matter?” She asked. 

“Because they have the Road Poneglyphs,” I said. “The Poneglyphs you need to tell you how to get to the end of the Grand Line and One Piece.”

“How-” I raised my hand. She frowned. “How am I to believe this?” She asked instead. 

“You don’t have to, Robin. It’s up to you. You make the choice. You make the conscious effort to end this stupid war. If I have to break every wall of the palace myself so you can see the poneglyph, I will. Then you need to come with us.” 

“Come with you?” 

“Of course. I said that we need you to read the poneglyphs. They’re all over the Grand Line. Almost every island we go to will have one. We are pirates. What do we care about the world government? What do we care about your bounty? I have great friends, and if you tried, I bet they would welcome you with open arms.” 

“Why?” She asked. “Why are you doing this?” 

“Because you aren’t the monster they make you out to be,” I said. “You care about people. You went out of your way to protect the Straw Hats, though you barely knew them. We want someone like you on our crew. We need someone like you. You’re strong and smart. We need that as much as possible if we are going to make Luffy the pirate king.” 

She was crying again. Deep tears that racked her body with sobs. I let her cry for a minute. Moving my arm over her shoulder, she stiffened but slowly relaxed. The real tears came then. Big sobs that took it out of her quickly. She turned her face to my shirt, drenching it as she pulled at the cloth. I patted her back and let her cry it out. It took almost an hour for her to calm down again. 

Her head on my lap she eventually let out a long sigh. “Do you want to see it?” I asked. 

She looked up at me. “See what?” 

“The adventure we will have,” I said. “Not all of it of course. But glimpses. You can’t tell anyone about it though, alright?” She bit her lip but nodded. 

I began to show our adventure, fast glimpses that no one could make out. Simple things that I remembered from the crew. The ship falling from the sky. Attaching wings to the Going Merry. Robin digging out the clouds to find the ancient civilization. The gold poneglyph on Sky Island. I left out sad stuff from Water Seven. Showing the train, shopping around the town. The party after getting Robin back. Getting to the Archipelago. The Sunny. Fishman Island. Pretty much everything I could think of. 

“Why weren’t you in any of it?” Robin asked as she sat up. 

“Because I can’t see my future,” I said. “Just those friends around me.” 

“And you see me there?” She asked. I nodded. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to tell me if you’re up for the adventure of a lifetime,” I said. I doubted she was past her trauma of a Buster Call. But I thought maybe I really did have her ready to give up on the war. 

“I think so,” Robin said, a small smile on her lips. 

“That’s all I wanted to hear. Alright, this is my plan,” I said.