Tesoro looked around and said "Kind of shabby." Zeus waved and said "I get the funds and goods myself for now. What I lack is a secure network of information, staff, and a little bit of liquid assets. This will all come in time, especially without you blocking my goods from entering the market."
Tesoro nodded and Zeus continued "Can I assume we have a partnership?" Tesoro said "I want to know your goals first. I don't do small time." Zeus cleared his throat and said "My apatite is quite big. I already have an assassin branch and an underworld market branch, all I'm missing in an entertainment branch."
Tesoro said "So you want me to work for you?" Zeus shook his head and said "Not a subordinate relationship. I changed my mind, originally I wanted a slow partnership until eventually devouring the Gran Tesoro." Tesoro's face turned ugly, but Zeus spoke again "Because I like you, I changed my mind. You were going to charge into Mariejoie for Stella right?"
Tesoro nodded and said "I don't see how that-" Zeus cut him off and said "Someone did the same for me. I would still be there if not for her, so I have a soft spot for you reckless types." Bonney felt warm in her heart and Tesoro was shocked "You were?!"
Zeus nodded and said "I was, for about a month. But that's neither here nor there. What I want to talk about is you. I have two affiliated departments and both leaders are on the same status level as me. Basically, you are the dark side and I am the light. I wouldn't say we're a family as I cannot trust you or the other two enough but with time anything is possible. I will say this however, if you do decide to join and are threatened I will personally take action and protect you. I do not treat my people poorly, I and I alone can threaten my people. Anyone else.."
His eyes flashed a vicious light and he added "Will be eliminated, thoroughly."
Tesoro thought about it and said "What about a Yonko?" Zeus sighed and said "I'd prefer if you don't provoke any of them for a while, but even so I will still fight. I won't abandon you no matter what." Tesoro had a playful smile in his eyes as he said "Not a very good way to be an Underworld King."
Zeus got serious and said "If you treat me honestly, I will do the same. If you burn me, I will eliminate you. It might be a bit stupid from your point of view to fight a losing battle but if I don't have a shred of backbone and cower in fear of every person stronger than me, then I should just jump in the sea right now and kill myself."
Tesoro laughed and clapped "Well said! I like it, so tell me, what if I have already provoked a Yonko?" Zeus smiled wryly and said "Which one?" Tesoro waved and said "Big Mom." Zeus sniffed and said "That fat old bitch. I'll slaughter her kids if she touches you." Zeus grinned like a mad man and said "My life for the lives of all her children sounds pretty good no?"
Tesoro and the others were stunned, before Tesoro started laughing, the others had wry smiled under their masks. Zeus smiled slightly and tapped on the table patiently, Tesoro nodded and said "Good, I agree. Also I don't have anything with Big Mom at the moment."
Zeus chuckled and said "Take them off." the others took off their masks and Zeus introduced them one by one to Tesoro before saying "These are all the leaders and my woman." Tesoro nodded and Zeus said "I want you to hold off on your plans." Tesoro was confused and Zeus grinned "The flamingo will be taken down and swallowed whole but we need to prepare to devour his forces."
Tesoro was spooked and said "You knew?!" Zeus tapped his temple and said "I know a lot. Monkey D. Zeus, the dead man." as he stretched out his hand, Tesoro chuckled and shook his hand saying "Gild Tesoro, the lover boy." The duo chuckled together and Persephone slapped her forehead and muttered "There's another one..." Lucci and Crocodile chuckled slightly.
Zeus handed Tesoro the same contraption he gave Crocodile as well as a white snail with a red streak and a book before sitting back down and saying "Your code name is Midas. Also do you have connections for ship builders?" Tesoro nodded and said "I have the guy that made the Gran Tesoro."
Zeus nodded and pointed at Crocodile before saying "Keep in touch with Croc and we'll get those ready. Also, don't announce anything that would make Doflamingo suspicious. Act as if everything is fine, maybe even use his means to clear out Cipher Pol from the Gran Tesoro. I don't mind being pinned as the mastermind behind Tartarus but not now."
Tesoro nodded and Zeus said "You don't sell drugs on your ship do you?" Tesoro nodded and said "Mostly from different suppliers affiliated with Joker." Zeus nodded and rubbed his chin saying "Start selling our drugs and get me in touch with a drug synthesizer. Merely re-branding stolen goods won't be good enough forever." Tesoro nodded and said "No problem."
Zeus nodded and said "That's all for now. I'll call you if I need anything..." he grinned slyly and said "Go see your woman, lover boy." Tesoro grinned and stood up. while he was leaving Zeus suddenly said "Oh yeah! And don't go too hard on her, she can't train if she can barely walk."
Tesoro almost fell down, before chuckling and leaving quickly. Zeus chuckled and Persephone shook her head and said "Why do you do that? I hate it when you do that." as she stood up to leave, Zeus watched her go and said "I know you love it.. Sister~"
Persephone almost tripped before running away, Crocodile and Lucci both left as well and Zeus said "Tiger! Get Rat to come see me!" Lucci nodded and left.
Zeus sagged in the chair and Bonney sat on his lap before saying "Tired?" Zeus sighed and said "Exhausted. Playing mind games all day is tough work!" Bonney giggled and kissed him before saying "You need to relieve your stress." Zeus looked her up and down before saying "I have a few ideas for that actually."
Bonney blushed and covered her body with her hands but smiled sweetly. Zeus laughed and hugged her waist before kissing her lips, in no time at all Bonney's arms were around Zeus' neck and their tongues were dancing with each other.
Suddenly the door opened and Bonney jumped off of Zeus, surprised and embarrassed.
Zeus sighed and said "Carina, couldn't you be a little slower?" Carina scoffed and said "You wish. What do you want me for?" Zeus said "Obviously to play around with you!" Carina's face turned ugly and Zeus said "Sit down. You're a special case."
Carina didn't want to listen but considering Zeus' strength she didn't really have an option. So she sat down as she was told.
Zeus nodded and said "Do you know why I wanted you?" Carina shook her head and Zeus cleared his throat and said "Nami is like a little sister to me." Carina was stunned and said "You know Nami?!" Zeus nodded and said "Her captain is my brother, I was with them for practically their whole adventure. From Cocoyasi to Sabaody. Me and Nami have a.." his face scrunched up and he continued "Special, relationship."
Carina was dubious and Bonney raised her trembling fist slowly as she said "Special?" Zeus said quickly "Not sexual!" Bonney slowly brought her fist down menacingly, Carina giggled and said "Since you know sister Nami then why aren't you with them?"
Zeus smiled wryly and threw her a newspaper, she looked at it and make a funny face as she said "You're dead? Am I talking to a ghost?" Zeus rubbed his forehead and said "Well you have the same sarcastic attitudes that's for sure." Carina passed the newspaper back and made a 'V' with her fingers as she giggled.
Zeus put the newspaper back and said seriously "I want you to be my assassin. I don't know how you feel about killing people but it doesn't have to be bloody, you can poison, suffocate, drug, etc." Carina thought about it and said "I guess I don't have a problem with it, it's just I don't like it too bloody."
Zeus thought for a moment and said "Do you want a devil fruit?" Carina was interested and said "What do you have?" Zeus smiled slightly and pulled out a white fruit before rolling it over and saying "Cloud-Cloud fruit. Logia." Carina was interested and said "Any clouds?" Zeus nodded and said "Any clouds." he also threw over a New World meteorology book, she caught it and grinned before eating the fruit.
Zeus smiled and said "Persephone will train you. She told you everything else right?" Carina nodded and a cloud appeared on her open palm, Zeus shot lightning through the cloud and chuckled as he said "Nami is currently on Weatheria. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell her that I am alive."
Carina was confused and Zeus said "None of them know, even my own brother. It would disrupt their training and they might slack off. She has a book just like you do, my death will stimulate them all to work harder." Carina looked at Zeus and licked her lips as she said "It's a pity you're taken, I would have pounced on you."
Zeus smiled wryly and waved her out of the room before Bonney turned her into a toddler indefinitely. Carina giggled and ran out, Zeus remembered and said "Tell Tesoro and Stella to come and see me!" Carina saluted and left.
Bonney crossed her arms and said annoyingly "You're quite the hot commodity eh?" Zeus started to sweat and said "Well, I am the most handsome man on the sea, what can you do?" Bonney snorted and laughed before resting her elbows on his shoulders from behind and leaning her face next to his as she said "Oh yeah?"
Zeus turned and kissed her lips as he grinned and replied "Oh yeah." their kissing session was interrupted again by Tesoro and Stella walking inside. Zeus groaned and said quickly "Sit down. I need Tesoro's opinion." Stella and Tesoro sat side by side and Zeus rolled out 5 devil fruits as he said "If you want a devil fruit pick one. I assume you have your own connections but these are the ones I picked for my assassins. If you have a different opinion or suggestion I don't mind, maybe we have them in the devil fruit storages."
Tesoro looked at the fruits and said to Stella "Do you want one?" Stella looked at Tesoro and smile sweetly as she said "You choose for me honey" Tesoro almost melted at her words, not to mention him, even Zeus trembled and looked at Bonney, who looked at him before turning away with a red face.
Zeus smiled slight and winked at her before turning back to Tesoro and saying "1 Logia, 3 Zoan, and 1 Paramecia." Tesoro rubbed his chin and said "What Logia is it?" Zeus said "Paper. The Zoans are Velociraptor, Lynx, and Mythical Moonwolf. The Paramecia is Sleep Sleep fruit, makes whoever you touch fall asleep instantly, unless they are many times more powerful than you."
Stella perked up at the Sleep fruit and said "Honey, I want the sleep fruit!" Tesoro smiled and Zeus threw it over, Tesoro looked over and gave Zeus a grateful look. Zeus smiled and waved before saying "Now get out of here. I need to do something." Tesoro chuckled and left with Stella.
Zeus put all the fruit back and grabbed Bonney's waist before sitting her on his lap and saying "No more interruptions." Bonney smiled shyly and Zeus kissed her once again.
A while later
Zeus was sleeping outside on his cloud again with Bonney, when he pulled out an Eternal Pose and looked at it for a while before looking at Bonney and making a decision. Everything was running smoothly and it was time to let others take over and grow themselves. He can't be constantly watching over them all the time, besides, Crocodile, Lucci, and Persephone were smart enough to handle it on their own.
Zeus fiddled with the Eternal Pose in his hand and kept thinking to himself. With Tesoro backing Tartarus, there was no issue on the financial side. Crocodile could get more ships and start building his underworld network through Tesoro. Tesoro was tied to Tartarus whether he liked it or not, because of Stella, and she wouldn't leave because she owed Zeus her life. Stella wasn't the type of person to skip out on debts either.
Zeus thought long and hard about any potential problems that may arise and only found two. The first was the prisoners abandoning ship when he left, and two, Crocodile and Lucci working together to flee. The second problem was the least likely, at almost a 0% chance but the first.. Zeus gave it a 10% to happen. After all HE subdued them, not Crocodile.
He flipped the Eternal pose in his hand before dropping it into the cloud and deciding to see what happens, if anything Trent stays and the rest leave. They won't cause a splash either way and they were all marked, if they did jump ship, he would take care of them.
He already left Crocodile with a book about Haki and there were a few copies around the ship. With all his bases covered he fell asleep peacefully, ready to finally leave for the Island he wanted to go to a long time ago.
(Author's Note)
This ends the Underworld arc, for real this time. I'll be visiting it every now and then to check up on the statuses but most of the next chapter or two will be training and finding out about his mom and probably a little surprise for Bonney-chwan.
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
DISCORD LINK: https://discord.gg/VUJYbRX7Ej (IT NEVER EXPIRES)
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