Chapter 32: Tesoro
Zeus landed on the deck and brought Stella into the room before sitting down, Crocodile, Lucci, Persephone, and Bonney were already inside. Zeus sat at the table and threw a pig mask with a cloak, book, token, and snail next to him and said "You are now my pig. Welcome to the Zodiac assassins." he took off his mask and cloak and threw them into the cloud about waving and filling the room with the stolen goods.
Stella looked at the cloak and mask and said "Assassin?" Zeus lit a cigarette and put his hat back on before saying "Is that a problem? Remember you owe me your life. If you don't like it I can send Tesoro a corpse and let you reunite in the after life."
Stella trembled and said "No, it's not that. It's just I don't have any experience, I've never even killed a person before." Zeus said "Croc bring one of the marine prisoners here." Crocodile grinned slightly and snapped his fingers.
A few minutes later
Daz Bones dragged a marine in cuffs into the room and threw him on the ground. Zeus gave Stella a knife and said "Kill him." Stella held the knife and looked at the marine, who looked back with pleading eyes full of will to live.
Zeus waved and said "You have 10 seconds before I kill him and send you to Tesoro in a body bag. 10." Stella started shaking "9" her complexion turned white "8" tears pooled in her eyes "7" she didn't move "6" Zeus went on until he finally said '1' and stood up.
Stella finally moved and stabbed the marine in the head, lodging the knife in his skull and killing him immediately. She let go of the knife and backed away slowly before falling on her ass and trembling.
Zeus looked down at Stella and nodded as he said "Good job." Stella cried and Zeus said "This marine was corrupt and captured children to sell to the Celestial Dragons as slaves. He kept a few women on his ship as slaves and violated them everyday." Stella looked up at Zeus and said "Is that true?" Zeus nodded and said "The women are outside, go look if you don't believe me."
Stella stood up and wiped her tears before saying "I believe you. Are all the people going to be like this?" Zeus thought about it and said "Maybe not all of them. The rest will be worse." Stella nodded and the snail in front of Zeus started ringing again. He didn't answer it immediately but looked at Crocodile and said "How many times has it been now?"
Crocodile said "At least a few hundred." Zeus grinned and exhaled a mouthful of smoke before picking up the call and saying "Am I still speaking to the slut that thinks she can talk back to me because she's a little lucky?"
A man's voice sounded "No." Stella gasped and covered her mouth as tears resurfaced in her eyes and she muttered "Tesoro!" Zeus smiled and said "I hear you've been blocking me from the market?" Tesoro didn't answer and instead said "Where's Stella?"
Zeus smirked and said "I don't know what your talking about, but I remember asking you a question. I see you still don't understand, good bye." he was about to hang up when Tesoro said quickly "I was told to block you by someone else."
Zeus picked the phone back up and said "Now you're talking, tell me what you know." Tesoro said "I want to know where Stella is first." Stella opened her mouth but Zeus blocked it with his hand and said "She's still alive in Mariejoie." the others were confused and Stella glared at Zeus angrily.
Tesoro said "Alright, how do I know you're telling the truth?" Zeus said "Upupupup, it's my turn Golden boy. What do you know about my organization." Tesoro said "I don't know who you are, but I do know that you're relatively new and just broke into the market. The guy from before should be the one you put in charge of things. I have intel that you have another affiliated organization separate from Tartarus, you should be Kronos, correct?"
Zeus nodded with a frown and said "What type of affiliated organization have you heard about." Tesoro replied "It should be assassinations but my intel provider wasn't 100% sure. For the record, it's not a rat if that's what your worried about. You should be able to answer my question now right?"
Zeus nodded and said "I appreciate your honesty Tesoro and I'll do you a favor. How does physical proof sound?" Tesoro said "What do you mean?" Zeus grinned and said "How much are you living to pay to have her back?" the others all sucked a cold breath of air and Tesoro said "Anything."
Stella cried and felt extremely warm in her heart. Zeus laughed and said "Tell you what, meet me at Coconut Island in 2 days. I don't care how you get there but I want to see you, Lucky, and that little girl Carina."
Tesoro said "Lucky and Carina?" Zeus sneered and said "I want to see if that little assistant has the balls to threaten me face to face. As for Carina, she's payment for the first bit of information, as for 2 days from now... Bring your brain with you, I want to talk business." Tesoro said "Good." and hung up.
Zeus put down the snail and said to Crocodile "To Coconut island, I just hooked a big fish." Stella snorted and Zeus pinched her cheeks and said "Don't worry piggy. It's just business. Go train with Bonney, Olive, and Kalifa. After I talk with your leader, you'll find out the conditions and you won't be glaring at me all day."
Stella nodded and wordlessly left the room. Bonney followed her and clenched her fists, she got put on the back burner.. again. She wasn't liking it, at all. She glared at Zeus before she left and slammed the door on her way out.
Zeus stretched his arms and sighed, Persephone giggled and said "Tired?" Zeus chuckled and said "Hey! I'm doing all the work here! All you do is sit on your ass and look pretty." Persephone gave him the finger and Crocodile said "You really want to suck this poor guy dry eh?"
Zeus tapped on the table and said "Not dry. I want him to be connected to us, we can use his resources for our own uses. Eventually I want him to be an affiliated part of us. Tartarus will have three sub groups, Underworld trade, Assassination, and Entertainment. That's what Tesoro's for, because of his past, Tesoro's view of money is twisted and he just stockpiles it."
Zeus tapped his chin and said "This type of person.. You have to crush them before dangling a sweet piece of meat in front of them. He also has a god complex. I will do all the talking when we meet him. Sail to Coconut Island now."
Crocodile nodded and left, Zeus turned to Lucci and Persephone before saying "Status?" Lucci said "My group is going fine but Persephone's... Well you went and got her rookies if I'm being honest." Persephone nodded and said "I appreciate the task but seriously brother.." Zeus nodded and tapped the table again before saying "It must be done, we have two years to train and stabilize before making big moves. I know a few people who can become almost Yonko level strength in 2 years, from basically nothing. Learn Haki, Six Powers, and Devil fruit things all from scratch and become proficient in everything in only 2 years."
Lucci slammed the table and said "That's Impossible!" Zeus grinned and threw a newspaper in front of him from his cloud. Lucci looked at the newspaper, it said 'Straw Hat rings Ox bell 24 times! Sign of war?!'
Lucci was confused and Zeus said "Look at his arm, my brother doesn't have tattoos." Lucci looked and saw 3D2Y with the '3D' crossed out, his eyes opened wide and said "No! It's impossible, none of them even knew soru on Water 7!"
Zeus coughed and said "Well I gave them books long before I gave you yours, but they still hasn't made any significant progress at the time. It was around 2-ish weeks after Water 7 that they got separated?" Lucci was really stunned now and looked at Zeus incredibly, Persephone looked at the paper and said "Ah! This is my little brother? He's cute!"
Zeus frowned and said "Oi! I'm handsome understand?" Persephone giggled and said "You look exactly the same, except the scars under your eyes are reversed." Zeus held up the news paper to his face and said seriously "Entirely different! Look! He's a child and I'm the most handsome man you've ever seen!"
Persephone rolled her eyes and said "Yeah, yeah, I'm in love." Zeus folded the newspaper carefully and put it back before grinning "I have that effect on woman." Persephone laughed and Lucci was still stunned before saying "I'm going to train." Persephone left and said "I need to start training too!"
Zeus said from behind her "Don't forget the new recruits!" Persephone almost fell before sulking away as Zeus laughed. He leaned back in the chair and fell asleep, thinking about the future. He woke up with a start when he felt some one pressing against himself, he looked at saw Bonney pouting in his face.
Zeus said quickly "Are you okay?! I swear if someone made you upset, I'll-" Bonney kissed him and said "Nothing happened.. I.. uhh.. just missed you I guess." her face turned red and Zeus smiled before hugging her and saying softly "I'm sorry, so many things happened and I don't want you to be in any danger that I can prevent."
He lifted her chin and said "Stay with me tonight?" Bonney reddened even further and said "You mean like.." Zeus shook his head and said "Normal." Bonney smiled and nodded softly, Zeus picked her up and left the room, he brought down his cloud and floated up before making a cloud bed on top of the crow's nest and laying down with Bonney in his arms.
He made a cloud blanket and covered both of them before looking up at the stars and saying "Do you have any dreams Bonney?" Bonney nestled into his chest and said "I would like to save someone if I have the chance." Zeus was silent and Bonney looked up before saying "You don't want to know who?"
Zeus stared at the sky and rubbed her back as he said with a smile "You'll tell me when you want to." Bonney looked at Zeus and felt warm inside, she wiggled up and kissed him softly before going back down and snuggling into his chest. Zeus touched his lips with his free hand and smiled softly, he hugged her tightly and closed his eyes to fall asleep.
2 days later
Zeus was sitting in a chair on the beach of Coconut Island in his jumpsuit outfit and hat. He practically never took the hat off to be honest, it was classified as a treasure now. His white hair poked out of the sides and bottom of the hat and he was smoking, looking out in the distance.
Crocodile, Lucci, Persephone, Bonney, and the rest pf the assassins were standing behind him. Stella's palms were sweaty and she was extremely nervous, she was also wearing her assassin clothes. She wasn't a very good assassin yet, but she was an excellent learner. In the 2 days that she was training, she made incredible progress. Zeus was considering giving her a devil fruit but out of respect for Tesoro he would ask him first.
After all, Tesoro might start out as a business partner, but it would hopefully change. Zeus already had decent relations with Crocodile and Lucci, Tesoro being the next candidate, Zeus naturally wanted to have good relations with him as well.
Zeus flipped a coin in his hands to pass the time, they never agreed on a time, so he couldn't get angry with Tesoro. Fortunately he didn't have to wait long, as he saw Tesoro walking towards him with two women behind him.
Tesoro was a tall man with slicked back green hair and star earrings. He saw Zeus and was surprised, Zeus didn't stand and said "Sit." Tesoro had a straight face and sat down. Zeus looked at Lucky and sneered "What do you have to say now? I can imagine you had a bad week?"
Lucky grit her teeth and kept silent before smiling and stretching out her hand and saying "I'm sorry, please accept my apology." Zeus looked at her hand before laughing hysterically, he waved and said "How stupid do you think I am?" he slowed down to chuckles and wiped his eyes, secretly looking at Tesoro's expression and noticing he was annoyed at himself.
Zeus grinned and said "I'll take you arms from you if you keep it there, do you believe it?" Lucky took back her hands quickly and Zeus laughed. Tesoro couldn't take it anymore and said "Enough! Talk or I'm leaving."
Zeus waved and Stella stepped forward and put two cups of coffee on the table, trembling slightly before going back to her position and rubbing her sweaty palms. Zeus told her to not say anything but she was to serve coffee when he waved.
Tesoro looked at Stella before saying "A little weak minded for an assassin no?" Zeus smiled mysteriously and said "Oh? Tell me more, I want you expert opinion on my 'weak' assassin." Tesoro snorted and said "I don't have that kind of time."
Zeus laughed meaningfully and said "Your right, she's still in training. Anyway, let's talk about what you came here for yea?" Tesoro didn't have time to contemplate Zeus' words and just nodded directly.
Zeus grinned and pointed at Carina with the cigarette in his fingers and said as he blew smoke from his nose "I'm here to acquire my rat. You are here to talk business, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to see me. I hope we can have a civilized conversation."
Carina frowned and said "Rat?" Zeus waved and said "Welcome to the Zodiacs, you're an assassin now. It's the same as stealing, just instead of money, it's lives." Carina paled and looked at Tesoro, who closed his eyes and said nothing.
Carina clenched her fists and Zeus said "I'm protecting you, first of all. We have a mutual friend.." he rubbed his chin and said "More like sister actually.." Carina was confused and Zeus said "Get in line, Boar will brief you and give you your welcome package." Carina walked over to Persephone, who pulled her away and started talking to her softly and giving her, her things.
Zeus turned back to Tesoro and said "Quite heartless to your subordinates no? Not even a moment of hesitation. It really makes me wonder, will you be so heartless towards me? Honestly Tesoro, I'm quite scared!"
Zeus pretended to wipe sweat off his forehead and looked nervous. Tesoro frowned and said "If you just wanted to waste my time, you could've said so." he stood up and turned, Zeus smiled and said "Where you going?" Tesoro scoffed and said "Stella is probably waiting for me to save her, I can't be wasting time here with you."
Zeus spread out his hands and said "Who said I'm wasting time? I still want to talk business, but you aren't being sincere. You think you're above me, when I can crush you with a single finger. Your assistant is lucky I didn't rip her arms off when she pulled that stunt before. It was respect to you, not fear." Zeus stood up and said "I don't think you understand. I hold all the cards here. What I do and do not do, isn't for you to control."
Zeus surged with lightning and said "Don't misread my respect for fear, you don't have the luck to get a second meeting with me. I suggest you reel back your shitty ego and talk to me like a normal person. Maybe I'll do you a favor and get rid of that mark on you."
Tesoro stopped and Zeus said with a sneer "You escape and become what you escaped from? What a joke, if Stella were to see you like this what would she say? Hmm perhaps you don't even care about her anymore, I mean you have this woman with you all the time. Is she a replacement?"
Tesoro turned around and his fist turned gold as he punched at Zeus and screamed "SHUT UP!" Zeus held up a hand and stopped the rest before spreading his other hand and transforming it into a dragon arm before turning black with black lightning surrounding it.
Zeus caught Tesoro's fist and his arm pulled back, softening the blow, before he channeled lightning into Tesoro shocking him. Zeus pushed Tesoro's arm back and said "I don't appreciate your attitude, though I'll let you off this once because I purposely provoked you." Zeus sat back down and said "We can talk like normal people now right?"
Tesoro sat down and crossed his arms before saying "What kind of business?" Zeus smiled and said "Very simple, you provide funds, resources, and connections for my organization." Tesoro was stunned before laughing.
Zeus smiled slightly, what he said was pretty unreasonable, he basically just asked for everything Tesoro had. Zeus stirred his coffee slowly and sipped it while he waited for Tesoro to calm down. Eventually Tesoro, let out a chuckle and said "Continue, I want to hear what I get before laughing again." Zeus smiled slightly and said "I can give you a wife, how does that sound?"
Tesoro was confused and said "A wife?" Zeus whistled and Stella stepped out with her pig mask, Zeus held out his hand and said "You are familiar with my assassin organization correct?" Tesoro nodded and Zeus smiled mysteriously and said "Well I only have 12 spots and I recently recruited my pig spot. Pardon her nervousness, she has only killed once before and has close to no combat experience, but she is an excellent learner. I estimate within 2 years she will be able to contend with the rest easily, excluding my two leaders of course."
Tesoro was still confused and said "What does that have to do with me?" Zeus cleared his throat and said "After your secretary, spoke to me so rudely did you think I sat on my ass by the snail for a week? Naturally I didn't, instead I went out recruiting and found my Pig about to be violated by a terrible man." Zeus sighed and shook his head before continuing "Being the kind person I am, I saved and recruited her, now she owes me her life."
Tesoro said "And?" Zeus grinned and said "Would you like to know where I got this particular assassin of mine?" Tesoro waved and said "Sure." Zeus snapped his fingers and Stella took off her mask as Zeus said "Mariejoie."
Tesoro was stunned silly and stared at Stella in a daze, Lucky was stunned but for a different reason, did he just say he snuck into Mariejoie and kidnapped a slave?! Zeus smiled and said "Wake up Tesoro. We're still talking here." he snapped his fingers again and Stella put her mask back on before stepping back.
Tesoro straightened out his back and said "This is how you want to control me?" Zeus shook his head and said "Control you? No. I don't want to control you. I want your loyalty. I had Stella when we talked over the snail. I wasn't kidding when I said that she was a good learner."
Tesoro took a deep breath and said "You made her into an assassin!?" Zeus chuckled and said "Calm down, she's quite suitable and I provide my people with good benefits. She won't be harmed, I guarantee it with my life. Well, not when she's training anyway. As for missions I can't quite say for sure but I will arrange a guide for her until she is capable of carrying out a task by herself."
Zeus sipped his coffee and said "After all I carefully picked these 10 myself, I would be heart broken if even one of them died." Tesoro clenched his teeth and said "I want to speak with her alone." Zeus waved and said "Be my guest." Tesoro stood up and walked away, Stella ran after him.
Zeus sipped his coffee and hummed to himself before looking at Lucky again and saying "Want to come work for me? I lack a maid." Lucky snorted and turned her head in another direction, Zeus snickered and kept silent.
A while later
Tesoro came back and sat down, looking a little more relieved. Stella came back and her ears were noticeably red as she stood in line with the rest. Zeus smiled and said "I take it you like the conditions I give my people?"
Tesoro nodded and said "I have a condition of my own, specifically for Stella. I can leave her with you for a maximum of 4 months starting now, to train, after that she comes with me and I train her myself." Zeus rubbed his chin and said "I will not be polite if her training falls behind the rest."
Tesoro shook his head and said "I guarantee it won't, also if I think the mission is too dangerous, I will accompany her myself." Zeus gave him a long hard look and said "I can't afford to lose my credibility. If the mission fails I will come to you for an explanation."
Tesoro nodded and Zeus clapped and said "I agree to these terms of yours." he put down the coffee and said seriously "Now let's talk about our cooperation. First I want to clean up the Gran Tesoro, I don't know what kind of show you run, but I will not allow Cipher Pols crawling around feeding information back to their 5 senile masters."
Tesoro looked behind Zeus and Zeus stood up and said "Are you comfortable continuing in my ship?" Tesoro nodded and the group left. Zeus stepped into the room and said "Tiger, Boar, Hera, and Hades come inside, the rest of you continue your training." Tesoro followed him and told Lucky to watch over Stella and they all entered the room and sat down.
(Author's Note)
Probs a chap right after this one because I cut the chapter in half.
You can check out my OTHER books while you wait:
One Piece: Another Chance (Completed)
Saiyan in Marvel (Completed)
My Hero Academia: Quirkless
One Piece: Price of Freedom
One Piece: Shadow King
Another Dragonball Adventure
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