Capítulo 47: Chapter 26: The Best Meal
The peaceful lull of the ship, was abruptly broken by loud laughter, courtesy of the Captain of the Straw Hats, Monkey D. Luffy.
"IT'S FINISHED!" He cheered, presenting his project like it were a prize to his crew. "LUFFY'S PIRATE FLAG!"
Rosan looked up from the book (it was about elements) he was reading to observe the pirate flag with a tilted head. Luffy had negative skills when it came to art but he wasn't even slightly surprised that his brother decided to make the flag on his own with no assistance at all.
"Whaddya think? It's nice, huh!" Luffy beamed.
"A pirate flag ought to inspire terror and it is pretty scary," Zoro mused.
"I fear his talent," Nami added.
"You're a little low on design sense," Usopp balked.
"I like it," Rosan offered, clapping at his brother's effort. Everyone had to start somewhere. Modification hadn't made him proficient in art immediately.
"DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM!" They roared at the redhead.
Rosan simply held his hands up in surrender.
"Don't worry, I got this!" Usopp took it upon himself to fix the horrific flag and when they all looked at the much improved skull and crossbones, adorned with Luffy's straw hat, they synonymously agreed that it would be the jolly roger of their ship.
"It's good," Rosan commented. The long nosed had made a flag of himself just before (which had been soundly rejected) and they found out that him being a good artist was not a lie. Maybe there were things he didn't have to lie about.
"I've been drawing graffiti on walls for 50 years! This is nothing to me!" Usopp bragged with a proud smile.
Never mind. Rosan knew he was expecting too much out of him.
"Now paint it on the sail!" Luffy demanded, pleased with how it looked.
"Alright alright!" The liar conceded, getting right to it. Luffy sure was demanding...
The crew watched their newest member work and all nodded in approval. The captain laughed in joy at Usopp's job well done and slapped the exhausted liar's back with far too much force.
Now they felt like actual pirates!
"Ah, I'm tired!" Usopp groaned, lying flat on the deck. Painting the entire sail had taken a lot out of him so now he just wanted to laze about.
The crew went back into a slight lull as Luffy rocketed himself over to his seat on Merry's figurehead.
"Rosan... Do you actually scout like ever?" Nami questioned the silent redhead. He claimed to be the scout of the ship but besides vanishing (how did he do that? His unknown Devil Fruit? He mentioned that he did it by using Luffy's straw hat... which made sense) frequently, they never actually saw him do his job.
"There is hardly a moment where I'm not scouting," Rosan replied in return, not bothering to glance up and flipping a page of his book. "The moment we land on an island I send out a scout and I normally have one slightly ahead of the ship to warn me of anything."
"Ahead… of the ship?" The navigator muttered in confusion and right on cue, a familiar little blue bird landed on his shoulder and trilled happily, rubbing his cheek against the one who created him.
The redhead shut the book and stood up, patting the bird with a single finger the entire time. "We're going to be seeing an island soon," Rosan informed them. "Are you satisfied now, princess?"
"The bird scouts for you?!" Nami asked in surprise, suppressing her annoyance at his mocking words in favor of the boundless curiosity she felt towards the most mysterious member of the crew.
Rosan nodded. "It's not a real bird. It's my little scout that I use to get information. I sometimes have them in the form of a fly too, in case I need them to be smaller and more unnoticeable. But they are mostly birds because birds are more aesthetically pleasing."
There was also the fact that the bird took the form of the toy his mother had given him when he was much younger (the same one he used to scout the pirate crew when he was 4!).
The unaware crewmates awed a bit at that. That was exceedingly useful to have!
"Do you make them?" Zoro questioned. "You gave one to that kid back at Orange town too."
"I do," Rosan nodded and Usopp's eyes sparked in interest.
"You're good at crafting?" The sniper spoke up.
"...Sorta?" The redhead mused. He never actually crafted anything besides Ram. He mostly just modified something else into the object of his desire though that required knowledge of how it was built.
In theory, he should be pretty good at crafting because understanding how to build something made Modification all the more useful. It just wasn't a necessary skill when he had his Devil Fruit. With Modification, he could create them significantly faster then if he went through the hassle of finding and using tools.
This was an opinion Angel vehemently disagreed with him about. She loved using tools to craft whatever it was she was interested in and the satisfaction from completing it was "Something you won't be able to feel by cheating with Modification, stupid Master!"
Her loss. She could take forever to craft what she wanted then. He'd be over here finishing before she could even get ready.
Mod giggled at her son's childishness. It was something Rosan and Angel argued about constantly and she doubted both the redhead's would ever see eye to eye about it. Rosan was too much of a computer man, prioritizing efficiently crafting things and only enjoying modifying them to his image and Angel was too hands on with everything, loving the steps needed to finish her job and only using her small amount of Modification to reinforce her projects.
The two argued about it at least once a week these days. It was hilarious to see how comfortable Angel got with the idea of disagreeing with Rosan.
"My sister is the one who crafts naturally. She's much better at it then I am," Rosan eventually said, with a nod. "She's gotten really good over the years."
He was proud of her. She had managed to turn her duties into a genuine interest and he was pretty sure she even occasionally went to Fregate to learn from Hiroshi, which was a far cry from what his ferocious little sister would have done before. Her tolerance for other people had improved massively once she realized Celadon's citizens didn't hate her whatsoever and he'd say she was even slightly pleasant to be around in their first meeting.
Nevermind, she was still pretty hostile without realizing it.
"You mentioned having a sister before! What's she like?" Nami asked curiously. Was she nicer then Rosan? Did they look alive? A female version of Rosan sounded like quite the gorgeous person (she could begrudgingly admit that Rosan had good looks).
"You also mentioned having a brother named Demon," Zoro pointed out.
The redhead hummed. He didn't see any harm in telling them about the other two triplets.
"Angel and Demon are clones of me," Rosan explained, causing their eyes to bug at the revelation.
"We are all technically the same age, so sometimes I refer to them as triplets, but they are actually twins and younger then me. Angel is a rather haughty person that generally dislikes everyone she speaks to which makes her difficult to get along with. Demon is a kind person with a bit of a mischievous streak who's a very talented doctor. He is much more pleasant to speak to if you're meeting them for the first time."
They sweatdropped. It sounded like their names needed to be inverted.
So the redhead had twin clones that he called his siblings? And they were the same age as him but somehow younger...? Also one was into crafting and the other was a doctor?
That was quite impressive (and weird)... why weren't they in the crew?
"I wonder if we'll meet them one day…" Nami muttered curiously. She was interested in seeing what the redhead's other siblings were like.
"I miss Angel and Demon and Maro too!" Luffy exclaimed wistfully.
"Maro?" Zoro spoke up. Another unfamiliar name…
"She's a queen and Angel's wife," Rosan informed them.
Zoro and Nami's eyes bugged at that reveal. His sister was married to the queen of an island? Holy!
Usopp had to give it to Rosan, he was a pretty good liar too! They had more in common then he first thought! Maybe he wasn't as scary now that he realized they were cut from the same cloth...
Nah, he definitely still was.
"A QUEEN?!" Nami screeched. "YOUR SISTER IS MARRIED TO A QUEEN? IS SHE RICH? DOES SHE HAVE MONEY?"
"That's the same question, Nami."
"ANSWER IT!"
He knew a queen! An actual queen! Was that why he looked so wealthy?! Why weren't they using her money more?! Why didn't they have the biggest ship in the East Blue?!
Before Nami could grill him further, Luffy called their attention by saying, "Are we going the right way? This feels kinda dangerous."
The stormy gray clouds in the distance contrasting with the clear blue sky on their half, was quite the foreboding sight and Usopp was already preparing to suggest they turn around.
Nami looked at her map and her eyes lit up. "This has to be the place! The legendary Treasure Island!"
Turning towards the crew, they all saw the greedy glint in her eye and Rosan sighed.
"They say whoever steps close to the island, incurs Kami's wrath," Nami explained with a devious smile and as if agreeing with her, the weather suddenly turned harsh and a storm formed right above the crew.
Usopp let out a scream of horror at the rapid weather change. There was no way the rumors were true, right?! Was this actually Kami's wrath?!
Rosan had long since shut his book so it didn't get soaked and his little tiny scout found refugee inside of his black shirt, chirping in satisfaction at being safe.
It did know that the rain didn't really affect it right? It's not like his creations ran on electricity... or were real. Maybe he had made it too similar to a bird.
"That sounds kinda fun!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly, much to Usopp's growing horror.
"Y-You don't mean —"
"Yep! We're going there!" Nami beamed in excitement.
"To the treasure island!" The captain demanded.
They steered and maneuvered the ship towards the legendary island and Rosan watched it appear with a tilted head. His spikes paid no mind to the rain and he closed his eyes at the cold droplets dropping against his skin.
He often let rain batter against his body, far too used to it from when his mindscape was a rainforest. He quite missed the rainforest... he even preferred it over the tropical forest that his mindscape had first taken form as but that might have been because he preferred his personality when he was 9 - 12 over when he was 4 - 8.
He idly wondered what form his mindscape would take if he ever received all his emotions back. This current part of him would never vanish so maybe frozen rain in a tropical forest?
That sounded like a natural disaster.
"Thoughts?"
"Keep your guard up just in case but it should generally be fine. Make sure you send out a scout though," Mod chimed.
"If somethings dangerous just use me!" Ram cheered.
Rosan nodded and his little bird chirped in annoyance, turning its head at having to go out. After some mental words of encouragement, it trilled and flew off but not before receiving one more pat on its head.
Honestly, did his little helpers find Angel inspiring? Why were some of them so stubborn sometimes?
The 5 departed from the ship and made their way into the strange forest while observing their surroundings. Rosan was content to walk in the back of the group while Nami led them through with a pep in her step.
Being in the back showed Rosan just how jumpy their newest member was. The liar was very clearly a coward because the slightest noise made him yelp and he had yet to let go of a nonchalant Zoro.
"T-This is one creepy island," Usopp muttered fearfully, looking in every direction.
"Yeah?" Zoro questioned, looking utterly unfazed. He didn't see what was so creepy about it.
"I heard that an amazing treasure is lying somewhere on this island," Nami explained to the group following her. Plenty of pirates had come here but they seemed to flee in terror before even making it to the treasure.
Well not them! They'd get that treasure if it was the last thing Nami did!
"That explains why you wanted to come here so badly," Rosan commented, much to her annoyance. "It's fun to see your cowardice fly out the window when it comes to treasure."
Nami took a deep breath. The redhead did this on purpose and it worked every time but this time, it would be different! She would ignore him and continue along her way until she got her treasure.
Yes, it would be impossible for Rosan to phase her when she was in such spirits.
When Luffy expressed his curiosity about why they fled in terror, Nami explained the stories to him. How one man's face turned into a boar, or how one's mustache turned into a snake and began strangling him.
Usopp had turned blue at that information and he dearly looked like he didn't want to be here anymore. The sniper got even closer to Zoro in hopes that the swordsman would either protect him, or sacrifice himself for the cause.
"So you're here for revenge," Rosan said in realization and Nami looked at him in confusion. She had never been on this island before so what was he talking about —
"This island must be why you're an Ogress, those kids were onto something."
Zoro burst out laughing at the look of shock on Nami's face that quickly morphed into rage.
She flung herself at the redhead with intent to kill and he deftly dodged her. "YOU. ARE. THE. WORST!" Nami snarled at her unsuccessful attack, gearing up to do another one on the asshole of a redhead who just loved to terrorize her.
"You don't mean that," the redhead commented idly. He was about to comment again but he paused at the feeling of being watched.
Zoro yawned and went to lay down. "I'm going to sleep," he said and immediately fell unconscious.
"That must be a skill," Mod commented with a forlorn sigh. She wished Rosan knew it because trying to get the boy to sleep when he was younger, was utterly impossible for her. It was partially the reason why she had used him as a cuddle toy (besides the fact that he was completely nice to cuddle). It completely trapped him and prevented him from blitzing around the room.
It helped that he very much loved being hugged so he didn't struggle in her grip, content to rest against her bust with a happy sigh.
A rustling noise made Rosan and Luffy glance curiously at the sight of some weird rabbit snake hybrid.
Usopp yelped, which caused Nami to shriek, at the feeling of drool landing on him.
She glared at him for scaring her and he hastily came up with a lie to avoid her wrath, only to pause at the feeling of being licked.
"L-Luffy, stop that," Usopp said shakily, looking at the source and realizing that it was in fact not his captain doing that. He froze in disbelief at the sight of a chicken coyote licking his hand.
At the same time, a panda bat burst from the tree behind Nami with a loud shriek.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The two screeched in unison and they promptly fell on the floor, crawling quickly towards their unfazed captain and scout.
That was when they noticed all the eyes.
"W-What's happening?" Nami stammered.
"We're surrounded I think," Rosan replied calmly.
"Leave!" A voice suddenly called out to them.
Luffy began to glance around in confusion. "Who's there?!" The captain yelled.
"Who is it?" Nami was nervous. Were those rumors actually true?!
"Leave!" The voice repeated. "I am this island's protective Kami! Leave this island at once if you value your lives!"
Rosan listened to the voice try and intimidate them with a blank expression on his features. This supposed "protective Kami" sure was saying a bunch of suspicious things.
Threatening them? Just forcefully eject them if you were actually one.
The dozens of eyes revealed themselves and the strangest animals came out, causing everyone to scratch their head at the sight of them.
Were they all some cross hybrids of two animals? How strange…
"Is this a lion?" Luffy asked, picking up a pig with a lion's mane.
"I'm pretty sure that's a pig," Nami replied with a sweatdrop.
The pig-lion began pulling at Luffy's face and their captain hastily dropped it on the floor with a startled yelp.
Clearly the so called Kami of this island wasn't very knowledgeable because he wasn't even aware that Devil Fruits existed, screaming in panic at watching the rubber boy's face stretch.
Rosan glanced in a direction after he slipped up and called himself a pirate before vanishing from his spot.
"Are you really Kami?" A perplexed Nami asked. This person sounded like a phony and this all seemed like an elaborate prank to her.
"S-Shut up! If you won't listen, then receive my divine punishment!"
An array of booby traps were activated and the crew yelped as they were forced to dodge the incoming boulders and sharp logs coming their way.
The Kami smiled. It was only a matter of time before they all got scared off and ran away from this island—
"That's some divine punishment you're dishing out," Rosan commented behind the mobile bush, making the figure screech in surprise.
"Kami" whirled around and tried to aim his pistol, but Rosan was faster and the redhead promptly punted the bush into Luffy's waiting arms.
"Woah! Is this supposed to be some kind of shrub person?" Luffy asked curiously, looking at their attacker and dangling the diminutive man without a care in the world, heedless of the man's embarrassment. After some struggling, the man finally asked to be put down and the rubber boy acquiesced.
It was a man with a notably pear-shaped face, green hair, and a pronounced uni-brow. He seemed to be stuck in a chest and it compressed his body into diminutive levels.
"I've never seen a person stuffed inside of a chest before!" Luffy exclaimed in awe. "Are you a boxed and sheltered son?"
"Yeah, I've been overly pampered since I was a little boy," the man nodded. "OF COURSE I'M NOT!" He roared.
Gaimon, the man trapped in the chest, explained to them about how he had been trapped in the box for 20 years now due to his desire to get the hidden treasures of this island. While climbing up to go retrieve it, he slipped and fell in a chest and his crew left him behind without realizing it happened.
"Stupid," Rosan said and the treasured man collapsed at his blunt insult.
"Rosan, you think you could free him from that chest?" Luffy asked curiously. His brother could probably just modify it away and the problem would be solved!
"Don't be ridiculous! My body has atrophied so much that it completely fits with the chest. If you destroy it, I'll die!" Gaimon said.
Rosan shrugged at that and just let it be. He didn't want to use his ability on this random stranger anyways.
"Who're you guys anyways? I've never met pirates like you!" Gaimon asked with a curious expression. They were surprisingly friendly and not very homicidal like typical pirates...
Not the redhead though. The redhead scared him.
"I'm Luffy! I'm gonna become the King of the Pirates!"
Gaimon's eyes bugged at that announcement. He wanted to go to the Grand Line?! That place was known as the pirate graveyard! It wasn't just a place for anyone to go to. They'd die if they went there!
"You're saying the same thing everyone else says," Rosan told the shrub man. It was pretty annoying to hear the same thing over and over again. He had gotten the message loud and clear the first time. If they weren't apart of this crew, they had no right to judge Luffy's dream.
"Yeah! I'll get it, I have good luck," Luffy beamed.
"Rosan, you think Luffy can do it?" Nami asked curiously.
"If I didn't think he could do it, I wouldn't be apart of his crew," Rosan said bluntly. "He has had the resolve and ambition since he was seven and it has not once wavered, who am I to doubt him?"
If he truly didn't think Luffy would have been Pirate King... he would have just made his own crew because following Ace was a recipe for disaster. The middle brother absolutely would terrorize him and he refused to willingly subject himself to that after all he put the freckled boy through.
Luffy grinned at his brother's words. Rosan never doubted him! Even when they were younger the redhead simply told him that his dream would be difficult to achieve, not impossible! No one else had believed in him like his oldest brother!
Nami looked at the two with a fond smile before a thought occurred to her. "What about you, Rosan? What's your dream?"
Zoro and Usopp perked up at that. That was right, Rosan had never actually stated what his dream was!
"I don't have one," he replied simply, much to their surprise. "I just want to find a reason to live and Luffy promised me that I'd find one on his journey."
They froze at his simple, but dark, declaration. A reason to live…? Did… Did Rosan not want to be alive right now? Did he really have no reason to be alive?
Was that why his gaze was so lifeless? Was that why his emotions were locked away? Just what happened to him?
Rosan saw their curiosity and immediately went to shut it down.
"Don't ask about what happened to me. I won't answer," he told them bluntly. "It's not something I want to talk about so please respect that. Maybe one day but it won't be anytime soon."
They nodded hesitantly and dropped the topic, before focusing back on the conversation between Luffy and Gaimon. Whatever happened to turn Rosan into this, was concerning to think about but they would respect his wishes and leave it be until he trusted them to do so.
"You're just like me! We even look the same, we're practically twins!" Gaimon gaped with shining eyes. This straw hat boy was exactly like him! Having a dream that you strove to complete was just like him! It was like looking in a mirror that went 20 years back—
"You look absolutely nothing like my little brother and I'm not claiming you as my brother so cease that thought process immediately," Rosan interrupted his daydreaming with a blunt and harsh statement, staring a hole into the shrub man with a neutral gaze.
Gaimon abruptly collapsed at the redhead's ruthless words.
W-What a cruel thing to say to him…
"But man, you got stuck here for 20 years!" Luffy exclaimed in surprise.
"All for some treasure," Rosan hummed, utterly unimpressed. He was glad that treasure had never meant much to him. It was just a means to an end to buy resources to survive.
Some people based their whole life around such irrelevant things. Intense desire for one thing... that just showed you weren't capable of getting it normally. Most people cared so much about treasure because of their innate greed along with their inability to naturally get such things.
Perhaps he'd care more about such things if he didn't have Modification.
"So there is a treasure on this island…" Nami mused. She wanted it, but it wasn't her right. Gaimon had been protecting it for 20 years and it clearly meant a lot to him.
"Don't worry, Gaimon. We'll get the treasure for you," the navigator reassured.
A clapping noise grabbed her attention and she regarded Rosan with a thinly veiled glare. She just knew he was trying to piss her off and it always worked because he knew all the right buttons to push.
"Character development," was all he said. "I'm really proud of you. I didn't think someone as greedy as you could ever change."
One of these days, Nami would get her payback on the redhead.
Gaimon thanked them profusely and lead them, along with his strange animals, to the area where the treasure resided.
"You aren't gonna come up here, Rosan?" Luffy called to his scout atop a huge turtle cow.
"No thanks, I'll just walk," the redhead replied, keeping pace with the large animal. He would rather not be that close to all those people. More tolerable of being touched he may be, crowds still weren't his thing (unless you were his utterly demanding family of course).
They all made their way to a massive cliff that looked impossible for a normal person to climb and regarded it with curious gazes.
"I can't believe the day has come!" Gaimon beamed. It had been 20 long years but he'd finally be able to get the treasure he had waited so long for. "The rest is up to you, Straw hat!"
"Sure!" Luffy exclaimed before rearing his arm and flinging it atop the tall cliff.
"Gomu Gomu no Rocket!" he yelled, launching himself to the very top.
"I'm surprised you guys didn't grab onto him this time. I thought you enjoyed it so much the other day," Rosan hummed.
"Shut up," Zoro and Nami deadpanned.
They waited with bated breaths for Luffy to come down and were confused when nothing happened.
"I'll go check," Rosan offered, vanishing from his spot and appearing next to his captain atop the cliff.
Usopp and Gaimon shrieked at the sight of Rosan disappearing. "W-Where'd he go?!" The liar gaped.
What was that?! W-Was Rosan a g-g-g-GHOST?! WAS USOPP BEING HAUNTED BY A GHOST?!
"Probably up there," Zoro pointed. "I don't know what that technique is, but it can bring him right to Luffy."
"It's really useful," Nami muttered, still caught off guard by the display. A technique that let him go right to their captain...
They waited a couple more minutes for Rosan to affirm what was happening before their brows furrowed in confusion.
What were they doing up there?
"Luffy! Rosan! What's going on up there?!" Nami called for the two who hadn't said a word.
"I found em! Six treasure chests!" Luffy's voice called back and he appeared holding one of them in his hand.
Gaimon grinned widely at that. Finally, after all these years! "Toss them down here!" he demanded to his saviors. He'd finally get his treasure chests —
"No!"
They blinked owlishly at his abrupt response.
"Huh?!" Gaimon gasped in shock.
"We aren't tossing it down," Rosan told them, walking into vision and glancing down at them.
Were they serious? Now was not the time to actually act like pirates!
"Rosan, stop telling Luffy to keep the treasure!" Nami growled at the redhead.
"Yeah! Those belong to Gaimon! Bring them down!" Usopp called in disbelief.
Rosan tilted his head and didn't bother replying.
"No, it's alright," Gaimon suddenly said and tears began brimming in his eyes.
"What?! But that's your treasure," Nami complained. She was not going to let those two bully him into losing out on the treasure he had guarded for 20 years. That was seriously messed up of them!
"You two are great people!" The shrub man called out tearfully. "I had a slight feeling that I tried hard to ignore but… They're all empty aren't they?!"
"We've been found out, Luffy," Rosan said and his captain nodded.
"Yeah, they're all empty," the rubber man replied.
Not caring at all for the short man's feelings, Rosan was just going to tell him that they were all empty but Luffy decided otherwise so he just went along with it.
It made sense that they were all empty. Plenty of people must have come to this island before Gaimon and his crew. They probably discovered the treasure long before he did and nabbed it already.
What a stupid man, wasting 20 years for some empty boxes. That was why Rosan didn't care to hunt for treasure. It was a waste of time. There were other ways to get money that didn't involve taking chances. You just had to be strong enough to earn it.
Now he was crying about it… Rosan would probably cry too if 20 years of his life went down the drain for nothing.
That didn't make it any less pathetic. One shouldn't cry so freely in front of other people.
"Don't cry old man! You should be glad that we came in 20 years. If it had been 30 years, you'd probably be dead!" Luffy laughed at him.
Rosan stared at his brother. He couldn't possibly be thinking of…
"You already made a fool out of yourself and all you've got left is the One Piece! Come be a pirate again with us!"
...He was. First the liar, now the shrub? His brother sure was something. Usopp at least seemed to have value that leaned heavily towards resourcefulness but what exactly would this little pathetic shrub do for them?
"His recruiting methods are much more lenient then yours considering you don't ever invite anyone!" Mod teased. If he were captain, Mod doubted Rosan would have invited any of their current crewmates, barring Nami for when he eventually made it to the Grand Line. He would much rather sail solo then gather a crew.
Maro was the exception but that had only been because Rosan sensed the latent potential lying in the dirty little girl and now look at her! She was Queen of one of the most prosperous islands in the North Blue because Rosan chose to invest in her!
It was no wonder he vanished so frequently from his crew. He wasn't a fan of being in groups. It contrasted greatly from the little boy who wanted friends but Rosan wasn't a little boy anymore.
"Father can do it all by himself, he doesn't need anyone but me!" Ram huffed. Deadweight would only slow him down! They didn't need that in their journey because if that deadweight died, it might halt his progress!
"I'd like to think he needs me too but I could be wrong," Mod giggled.
Ram balked at her Auntie's statement, not believing she even implied that! "O-Of course he needs you!" The silver haired woman stammered. "You two are practically one and the same at this point!"
To her, Rosan and Mod were synonymous with each other! He wasn't her father without his Devil Fruit and Mod was meant to be Rosan's Devil Fruit! That's how codependent the two were of each other.
Rosan couldn't disagree with her notion. He couldn't imagine a life without Mod-chan… He was sure that it would shatter his mind to no return if he somehow lost her forever, castle or not.
Mod knew that it wasn't healthy, but there really wasn't much either of them could do about it. They had been together for 20 years now on a level many people would consider more then intimate and that was just the nature of a person who had eaten a Devil Fruit. She knew nearly everything about Rosan and, barring her past, Rosan knew everything about her!
It was just a natural consequence of sharing a body and she wouldn't dwell on it for long. They really had no reason to try and be more independent from each other. Perhaps when Rosan achieved that one goal of his and actually gave her a way to coexist with him in the real world but even then, she'd not want to be separated from him.
Despite Luffy's invitation, Gaimon had actually refused it due to wanting to protect the strange animals on the island.
"Knowing that there's no treasure, somehow makes me feel more free then I've felt in a long time!" Gaimon explained to the crew as they began their departure.
"Isn't the real treasure these animals that you've bonded with?" Rosan asked him softly, glancing at his ring for a moment. "Treasure doesn't only have to be silver and gold. As long as it has value to you, you can call it valuable."
Luffy nodded eagerly and idly grabbed his straw hat.
Gaimon looked at the tall redhead with wonder in his eyes. "Y-You're right! They are my treasure! T-Thank you for helping me realize that, Rosan!"
Rosan hummed in acknowledgment.
"So these weird creatures are your true friends," Zoro mused with a small smile.
It was fitting.
"He's the weirdest creature of them all, though!" Luffy pointed out.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Gaimon roared, causing them all to devolve into laughter.
Soon, the pirate crew boarded their ship and waved farewell to the shrub man and his strange friends.
"See ya! Take care!" Luffy yelled in the distance.
"Bye!" Nami waved.
"Goodbye! I know you all can find the One Piece! Once you do that, BUY THE WORLD!" Gaimon screamed with tears in his eyes.
If anyone could do it, Luffy could.
A loud thud brought the lounging straw hats, barring a sleeping Zoro and missing Rosan, attention towards the source.
"What is that?" Nami asked in surprise.
"I found it in the storeroom!" Luffy said excitedly, presenting the box of cannonballs to the crew. "I figured we could test out our cannon!"
"In that case, I think I'm the best candidate," Usopp smugly joined in. "When I was just three, I jumped on a cannonball that flew around the whole world!"
"ROSAN!" Luffy screamed, ignoring Usopp completely. "DO YOU KNOW HOW TO WORK THIS?!" He asked his missing brother.
"LISTEN WHEN SOMEONE'S SPEAKING!" Usopp screamed at the rubber boy.
"I haven't seen Rosan yet today," Nami mused. He was normally the first one awake (sometimes she didn't even think he slept) but on some days, he would wake up last and show up at a random time.
Seemed like today would be one of those days.
"Oh, he must still be sleeping," Luffy sighed sadly at the fact he wasn't available. Modi and Ram must have wanted to spend more time with him and probably refused to let him go.
They were so greedy sometimes!
Mod would certainly have pulled the rubber boy's cheeks red if she heard him utter those words because he had no right to say them.
"There should be a reef further south," Nami said, as she inspected her map. "We can practice there."
"Really?!" Luffy asked in excitement. Having a navigator was the best! "Alright, let's go!"
"You can't shoot a cannon without "Master Cannon Usopp" assisting you… LISTEN TO ME!"
"They sound like they're having fun," Rosan muttered. Mod was currently in her never let him go mood (she seemed to get these far more frequently these days) so he had opted to remain in the mindscape until she was satisfied.
Ram decided to be annoying too and joined in. Now he was trapped between them.
Mod hummed in satisfaction but was otherwise content to just snuggle him and Ram cackled at the purple haired woman.
"You know how Auntie is when she's in her moods!" His weapon grinned. It never failed to amuse her because when Mod was in her mood, she always wanted Rosan which meant he got to stay here longer and that was a fantastic plus for the ring!
"Despite my resilience and modification, I would still like to eat," Rosan tried and got promptly ignored.
"You'll live," Mod sighed comfortably, burying herself deeper. He was so warm and the house was so cold right now. It would be a terrible idea to just let her son leave when he could stay here and let her be comfy!
Rosan sighed in return and simply hugged her back. She was ridiculous sometimes.
"You didn't tell Nami and Usopp about me," Mod suddenly said. She knew the reason why but she loved to hear his thought process anyways. "How do you feel about them?"
After a moment's pause, the redhead deigned to answer her.
"Nami's skills as a navigator are invaluable. I've yet to meet someone as talented as her," Rosan offered with a hum that made Mod's head bob. "The only problem is, she doesn't trust us and I won't put my trust in someone who doesn't trust me. I barely want to put my trust in people who do."
He couldn't blame her. Rosan was not a trustworthy person after all and he didn't like trusting others either.
Mod nodded at his explanation. It made perfect sense to her but she dearly hoped that he was wrong.
"And Usopp?" She asked.
Rosan took a bit longer to answer this time. "He is… complicated. I think his potential is being stifled by his cowardice and his penchant for lying makes him untrustworthy in a different way. If things get tough, I can't guarantee that he'll keep my secret."
The liar was a good shot. He was a very good shot and it was clear he inherited that from his father but Rosan couldn't see how a slingshot was a useful weapon in the slightest. He was severely limiting himself by using such a childish weapon but perhaps that was just the liars nature. He wasn't an actual pirate, he was his fairy tale fantasy of one.
If Usopp had a gun and rid himself of that cowardice, he'd be a formidable opponent. He was crafty and resourceful and being resourceful was a great way to remain alive.
Unfortunately, he was a coward and had little aptitude for fighting (as far as he could see). Rosan knew that it was just his nature and so he let it be. He had already trained one student too many; He didn't feel like trying to train another while completely altering their nature in the process.
Doing something like that would require him to be… harsh and Luffy wouldn't appreciate it very much if he did that to one of his friends so he'd let the sniper remain that way. If it ever bit him in the ass, it would be no skin off Rosan's back, he wasn't a fan of liars.
"Neither are quite like Zoro so I can understand your reasoning," Mod nodded. The swordsman had his own set of honor that he followed and she doubted even the threat of death would make him spill Rosan's secret.
Still, she hoped all of them came around and gained enough trust in each other. Rosan's desire to completely stray away from forming bonds wasn't one she liked very much because she knew deep down, that little boy who still wanted friends was still there.
He was just afraid of opening up and being hurt again.
"We just need a chef, a doctor and a shipwright now…" Rosan hummed.
When it came to cooking, that was left to either him or Nami (mostly him since his cooking was better, much to Nami's annoyance) but they weren't chefs and Rosan refused to cook regularly for them all. The two only did it out of convenience and because anyone else would burn the ship down.
"These things take time, especially if you want quality," Mod assured. Rosan would understand this. Quality was much more important to him then quantity when it came to people.
He would be pick a crew of two over a crew of one hundred if that second person was useful and the hundred were not.
"It's not like you need a doctor," Ram shrugged uncaringly. Rosan's healing factor, due to the philosophers stone, was unheard of and it would have even the most skilled of doctors rubbing their paws in greed to get a sample of his blood.
He couldn't get sick naturally, he healed from any injury that wasn't lethal and his body practically had a mind of itself, taking care of all of itself due to his Devil Fruit. Rosan was a genuine freak of nature and would probably not be classified as human by 90% of the world.
"I don't need one, but the others probably will," the redhead told her. "I don't think I'll be making anymore philosophers stones and they don't heal as fast as I do."
Telling this to Ram didn't matter, considering she only cared about Rosan's well being but it was good to make her understand.
"I guess…" The silver haired woman muttered in contemplation. Luffy dying wouldn't be very good. She quite liked the rubber squirt despite the fact that his tendencies would pose a very real danger to her father buuut those tendencies also happened to be very fun as she found out over the years.
"Alright, I can see the benefits of needing a doctor now!" She nodded.
"Good, now will you two let me leave? You had me all night and for a lot of the morning too," Rosan asked calmly.
"Five more minutes… or hours," Mod sighed, content to actually remain there for five hours. She used her monstrous strength to snuggle her son harder and contemplated falling asleep right then and there, holding him the entire time.
Rosan sighed, unbothered by her show of strength, while Ram cackled and followed in her Auntie's footsteps.
Ridiculous.
"Oh, hi Rosan!" Luffy waved.
"You were sleeping for pretty long… We thought you were dead," Nami teased the approaching redhead.
"Sorry…" Mod mumbled embarrassingly. The woman was out of her mood now and she was mortified by her own actions like she always was when she got physically affectionate.
"Would you have missed me?" Rosan countered easily. "Don't worry, I can't die just yet. I've got things I need to do."
The first thing was to cook a meal. He was hungry.
The navigator rolled her eyes at that. "I wouldn't have missed you," Nami grumbled in annoyance. "I don't think an Angel would miss someone like you."
"I see you've been taking lying lessons from Usopp. Angel would almost certainly miss me. That girl looks up to me way too much."
"I wasn't talking about your sister you —"
"H-Hey! I don't give those lessons out for free you know!" Usopp interjected between the verbal warfare.
"Shut up," they said at the same time, making the sniper wilt immediately.
"S-Scary…" he muttered, backing away from the two monsters.
"I'd love to continue our pleasant conversation, but I'm hungry," Rosan hummed. The redhead made his way to the kitchen to prepare himself a meal but before he shut the door, a loud crash resounded outside.
"COME OUT, PIRATES!" A voice roared in tangible fury.
Rosan shrugged and shut the door to the kitchen. They could deal with it while he made himself something.
"How many are there?" Zoro asked as Luffy confronted the voice.
"Just one," Nami said. Her and Usopp were currently staring out the small window on the door and saw that the lone individual was causing quite the ruckus.
"Let Luffy deal with it then," the swordsman replied laxly.
The furious man was of average height with short black hair and sunglasses. He wears a blue hooded jacket with a purple undershirt, tan pants, boots, and a watch on his left wrist. There was a tattoo on his left cheek with the kanji for Sea.
"We've taken the heads of many pirates! Are you nameless wannabes trying to kill my partner?!" He growled, gripping his blade and swinging down at Luffy.
"That voice sounds familiar," Zoro mused.
Luffy gained an annoyed look in his eye at seeing the damage caused by this stranger. "I don't know who your partner is, but stop damaging our ship!" He frowned, grabbing the man's head with his stretched arms and brutally tossing him into the wall.
The attack instantly defeated the rather weak bounty hunter and he collapsed with a thud and a groan of pain.
"Johnny, is that you?" A voice called to the defeated man.
"W-Who's calling me with such a familiar tone?!" The now dubbed Johnny, barked. He glanced up at the source and a look of familiarity sparked on his face.
"Big Bro Zoro!" Johnny exclaimed in surprise. What was he doing on a pirate ship?! Was he captured?!
"? You two know each other?" Luffy asked.
Zoro nodded in confirmation, before glancing around in confusion.
"Where's Yosaku?" The swordsman asked.
"Who are these people?" Rosan asked, glancing at the two new appearances while eating rice balls. "I heard crashing noises too, are they the cause?"
The black haired one had the decency to look ashamed and Nami explained the situation to him.
Apparently earlier in the day, Luffy and Usopp had been practicing with the cannon on the ship and they had obliterated a rock in the distance. Unfortunately, that rock had been temporarily housing Johnny and Yosaku here and the already sickly Yosaku had gotten even further damaged by the unintentional attack.
"So you know these two?" Rosan asked Zoro.
"Yeah, from my bounty hunting days. We traveled together for a bit," Zoro confirmed, grimly looking at the gravely injured Yosaku.
"Small world," he commented. What were the odds that Zoro would know two people who they had accidentally struck? The East Blue was quite a large sea so running into people repeatedly was a rare occasion.
Rosan looked at the one named Yosaku in contemplation. He certainly did look pretty terrible with the pale face and the blood...
He tilted his head though at what they had said about the sickly man. Those symptoms sounded familiar but because he never got sick, he couldn't pinpoint it.
Demon would know for sure… He really should have asked his youngest clone for medical tips.
Eh, it was fine. He doubted he'd ever regret not knowing more about them.
"I told you to take at least a few lessons. But noo, "the best medicine is making sure your enemies are dead so they can't hurt you," right?" Mod admonished the cocky redhead. That quote didn't even address diseases! He was so full of it sometimes!
"I've never gotten a disease in my life. You purge me of anything dangerous and my body is already strong. Therefore the only thing I'd need medicine for are injuries," Rosan countered.
"You… ugh it's impossible arguing with you sometimes," Mod sighed, holding her face. "It's scurvy by the way. It was one of the first things I taught you about when you were four but I guess it makes sense that you didn't recognize it immediately considering you've only read about it."
Ah, right. Scurvy was pretty common if you were a sailor. Rosan didn't have to worry about it because his body was constantly in top condition due to Modification and he couldn't get sick regardless. Lack of vitamin c wasn't something he'd ever have to worry about and he didn't care about anyone who could catch it so he had stored the information deep in his head.
Luffy and Usopp had tears pouring down their eyes at the mistake they made shooting the cannonball at the two. They repeatedly apologized and Rosan just knew Angel would be upset if she saw the rubber boy bowing.
"Are you all stupid?" Nami asked, crouching down and inspecting the sickly figure.
"How dare you make light of my partner's death?!" Johnny growled but Nami ignored him.
"Luffy! Usopp! We have some limes in the storage. Go get them and turn it into juice," their navigator demanded and the two hastily saluted to do just that.
"Y-Yes Ma'am!" They said in unison, dashing off to make amends for their mistakes.
The two forced the lime juice into Yosaku's mouth as Nami explained scurvy to them.
"You're amazing! You're like a doctor!" Luffy exclaimed in awe.
"I always thought you were impressive!" Usopp bragged.
Nami gaped at their stupidity. "THESE ARE BASIC THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO SURVIVE AT SEA, MORONS!"
"She's right," Rosan nodded in agreement. "Scurvy is quite easy to deal with. Dying because of it is embarrassing."
"You knew it was scurvy?" Nami asked in surprise. She was glad there was at least one other sensible person here… Even if it was the person who annoyed her the most.
"It took me a bit to identify it because I've never actually seen a person with it, but yes," the redhead replied.
Nami sweatdropped. "Were you gonna just not tell them anything and let him die?"
"Yes. Like I said, if you don't even know about something as basic as scurvy, you deserve whatever happens to you."
Everyone listening face planted at his ruthless and to the point statement.
"Harsh…" Nami muttered. She was quickly learning from the things said and seen, that Rosan was quite the ruthless individual behind that emotionless persona.
How him and someone like Luffy managed to successfully become brothers? She would never know.
Yosaku abruptly got up, seemingly healed and he immediately began dancing at the fact that he had been saved, thanking Nami profusely in the process.
"THERE'S NO WAY YOU CAN RECOVER THAT QUICKLY!" Nami barked at all the morons.
Their navigator was proven correct when the bounty hunter duo formally introduced themselves as Johnny and Yosaku and Yosaku promptly fainted again due to the scurvy resurging.
"Dumbass," Ram scoffed.
"Language," Mod chided gently.
"See? You're telling me I should have bothered saving this idiot?" Rosan chimed in blandly.
"You might have a point…" Nami agreed with a suffering sigh.
"I always do," the redhead replied.
It was currently night and Yosaku had been put to rest. A majority of the crew were in the lounge room and Rosan had excused himself, choosing to scout himself this time.
"It's a bit too crowded." With people he didn't trust very much. "I'll keep watch while you guys chat about the chef we very much need."
With that, he left his slightly confused, but not at all surprised, crew behind. He was currently standing at the top of the mast of the Going Merry, staring off into the distance.
"It's a beautiful night," Rosan muttered. The full moon was out and the stars shone brightly. Maybe he'd go for a flight when his crew fell asleep?
If only it was raining. Rosan quite enjoyed the sensation of rain.
Currently, he had a bird listening in on the conversation going on in the lounge room. Apparently they were going to a seafaring restaurant called the Baratie to recruit a cook.
That wasn't what caught Rosan's interest though. No, it was something far more concerning.
"A certain hawk-eyed man was said to be near the Baratie," Johnny had said to a visibly excited Zoro.
It didn't take long at all for Rosan to make the obvious connections. Zoro was a swordsman after all and he was striving to be the best. It was only natural who his target was.
Did he really want to kill himself battling the world's strongest swordsman, Hawk-Eye Mihawk though? Rosan was very sure the man could slaughter all the straw hats with minimal effort. Zoro stood no chance one on one but then again, their swordsman probably didn't understand just how large the gap was.
It did not make it any less stupid. Throwing your life away in pursuit of your goal, was just as stupid as not attempting to pursue it. Their swordsman was too arrogant in his skills.
Maybe if he got out that battle alive, he'd be sufficiently humbled.
Rosan sighed, he really didn't want to have to reveal himself to such a formidable foe that he was positive he couldn't kill but he prepared himself for the possibility. It didn't help that Mihawk was one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea and answered to the Marines…
"Look at you! You're already thinking about defending your crewmates!" Mod gushed. He had changed so much! Rosan normally didn't care at all about the wellbeing of others and even though he likely still didn't... he was still thinking of how to keep them alive!
"I'm only thinking of fighting because I know Luffy is going to attack Mihawk when he kills Zoro," Rosan sighed. He would absolutely not let his youngest brother die if he could help it and if that meant incurring his fury at having to flee from Mihawk without avenging Zoro, then so be it.
"Testing me against the strongest swordsman in the world… I'm excited!" Ram grinned psychotically.
They would probably lose horribly but as long as they didn't die, it would be a great learning experience!
"Don't be so eager. We don't want to fight him," Rosan tried but his weapon was clearly not listening, gushing about how the strongest sword in the world looked and wondering if she should transform into it as a show of dominance.
"Who are you talking to up there, Rosan?!" Nami called out curiously. How did he even get all the way up there? He went up there frequently and it was always so fast!
"My inner demons," Rosan replied immediately.
Nami opened her mouth, before closing it and shrugging, choosing to leave it at that. She wouldn't question the strange redhead. It would just end up with her fuming.
"Calling me a demon? How rude," Mod mock frowned.
"You are a Devil Fruit," Rosan pointed out.
"That is true… at least I'm not like Ram, she's an actual demon," the purple haired woman sighed in relief, much to Ram's outrage.
"WHAT?! T-There's no way I'm that bad! Right, Father?!"
"…"
"...Father?"
"We still love you, Ram. Never forget that."
"No matter what!"
"I fucking hate you two sometimes."
"Language."
"Language."
"Lemme show you how much I fucking think about watching my fucking language right about fucking now — OW! Okay, okay! I'm sowwy, Auntie!"
Rosan let out a quiet snort at their antics. He didn't mind Ram's cursing at all. It seemed like with emotions, he was just as bad. Mod was just too proper for her own good and thought that someone as mentally young as Ram, needed to be less vulgar (completely ignoring the fact that she was physically 24).
Honestly, she just wanted an excuse to be a mom. She stopped telling him to watch his language the moment he hit 18. Granted, he didn't curse much at all but it was still a sign that she acknowledged him as an adult.
Ram was clearly not in the same boat and he honestly couldn't fault Mod for treating her like a kid. She certainly did act like one in all aspects.
"Never change, you two."
Ram whined.
The Baratie was a fairly large ship. It had an oval shape, with the normal masts and had a fish as a front-piece/head. The fish looked pretty goofy (Rosan personally just wasn't a fan of figureheads on ships) but it fit the restaurant theme well.
"It's impressive," Rosan commented idly.
Everyone was in awe at the sight of the tall ship. Luffy and Usopp were actually drooling and Rosan idly closed the mouth of his rubber captain, lest Mod start complaining.
A loud horn went off and the redhead turned, only to see that it was a Marine ship approaching the same restaurant as them.
"No," Mod said immediately.
"You didn't even give me a chance to contemplate it," Rosan muttered but acquiesced. Perhaps he'd hunt that particular ship down later where there were no witnesses.
"No way! The Marine's way out here?!" Yosaku yelled in shock at the sight of the blue-green ship.
"Surely they won't shoot at us, right?" Usopp pondered nervously.
"That's their job," Rosan said bluntly. "We're pirates, remember?"
"T-That's true…" The sniper stammered. He kind of forgot that little detail...
Johnny was quietly trying to step away from the inevitable confrontation so as to not get confused for being a pirate but he was a step too slow.
A man walked into view, catching their attention. He was an average-sized Marine that wore a white pinstripe suit with pink hair that was well-combed and a scar under his right eye. There were bolts attached to his knuckles.
"I've never seen that pirate flag before," he mused for a moment. "I'm Iron Fist Fullbody, Lieutenant at Navy Headquarters! Who's your captain?! Come out and state your name!" The Marine demanded.
"Monkey D. Luffy!"
"I'm Usopp — OW!"
Rosan gripped the snipers nose and said, "None of that."
"O-Okay! I get it!" Usopp's voice come out nasally and Luffy grinned at his scout.
"We just made our pirate flag the day before yesterday!" The rubber boy announced bluntly.
"And I'm the one who drew…" Usopp's sentence tapered off as he looked back at the neutral Rosan and how close he was. The redhead waved at him and the liar let out a tiny squeak, wisely keeping his mouth shut.
"The day before yesterday?!" Johnny snickered.
"What amateurs!" Yosaku cackled.
Fullbody looked over at the two laughing and raised a brow. "I recognize you two, aren't you the bounty hunters that go after small pirates? Looks like you finally got captured," he mocked.
"Everyone wants to be a bounty hunter like that coward Reaper these days. Even if they don't have the talent for it. I thought you stupid bounty hunters would learn your lesson after seeing even him go into hiding but can't help everyone," Fullbody shrugged.
"Coward?!" Ram snarled. Her father was anything but a coward! He would literally rip this pink haired bastard to shreds in front of a platoon of Marines!
Rosan didn't care. It was all false bravado because no one had heard from Reaper in 10 years. Though, it was true that many people were becoming bounty hunters to try and mimic his success, to little affect.
If he were still active, he doubted this Marine would be saying that so confidently.
"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT REAPER LIKE THAT!" Johnny barked, pulling out his sword.
"YEAH DON'T BE MAD THAT HE WAS DOING YOUR JOB BETTER THAN YOU! THAT'S PROBABLY WHY YOU GAVE HIM THAT BOUNTY!" Yosaku snarled, following along.
Johnny and Yosaku clearly didn't appreciate getting insults hurled at them because they immediately tried to challenge Fullbody to a fight and got completely stomped.
"So weak," Luffy frowned at the two.
"You guys should retire," Rosan suggested. Hunting pirates was no joke and these two clearly had no affinity for it.
At least they defended his persona, that slightly raised their point levels.
"Egomaniac."
"You sure do love that word. Perhaps you're projecting."
"I am probably the most humble person you know."
"This is the part where we laugh, Ram."
"I hate you."
Ram cackled.
"He... was... just... strong," the bounty hunters muttered through bloody faces.
During their beating, bounty posters began flying everywhere on the ship and Rosan eyed them all out of habit. Was there anyone here that Reaper would find worthy to kill? He doubted it. The East Blue was always so disappointing.
He wouldn't have bothered hunting anyone here except for one person and that was Shark Tooth…
Oh?
Nami grabbed the one poster Reaper would have gone out of his way to judge and glanced at it with an unreadable look in her eye, that everyone but Rosan missed.
Wasn't this just interesting? What business did Nami have with the Fishman, Arlong? Judging by the way she was minutely shaking, it was probably nothing good.
Arlong was the captain of an entire crew of Fishman. Rosan would only have considered hunting him because apparently, he was someone with Grand Line strength and his entire crew was formidable which would make the battle interesting.
Not that any of that would have mattered to the Angel of Death. He'd have struggled against all of them 10 years ago (likely even losing in the process) but if that ever got close to happening, he'd just reveal more of his cards and burn them to cinders with Ragnarok.
If he fought them now? Well, he'd still be disappointed in the East Blue, that's for sure.
He always did want to fight a Fishman that had access to water. Kenzo was weak to lose to a 9 year old but with water he would have convincingly beaten him. Perhaps when his crew was sleeping, he'd go out for a flight and relieve the sea of some extra pirates... It was food for thought.
"She did say she hated pirates. Perhaps he's the reason why?" Mod offered and Rosan hummed in contemplation.
He'd be keeping an eye on her. He didn't quite think it was that simple because some things never were.
"C'mon, let's go to the restaurant," a pretty blonde in a red dress (who had been staring at Rosan for a good bit, much to Mod's rage) told Fullbody and he nodded in agreement but not before telling his subordinates to attack the crew.
"They're an eyesore, sink em."
They watched the Marine ship take aim at them and the cannon fired with a resounding boom.
"I've got this!" Luffy declared before inhaling. "Gomu Gomu no Balloon!"
The rubber boy turned into a balloon and caught the cannonball but the momentum made him shift —
and he hit the restaurant instead...
"WHAT?!" Everyone, including the Marines, who had never seen Luffy do this exclaimed.
Rosan closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh at the sight of the hole in the roof.
Perhaps it was best if he went with his brother.
"Ow," Luffy groaned with teary eyes.
"We brought him in, owner," two chefs said, dragging a resigned Luffy into the room.
Rosan followed at a sedate pace to make sure his brother didn't make things worse.
"I thought he had gained much better control over that technique…" Mod sighed. Some things never changed. Surely Luffy had enough control to just redirect it back at the Marines? The boy never did like planning and just went with the flow so she wouldn't be surprised if the only thought that went into the technique was, "Reflect it!"
Luffy began apologizing profusely to what appeared to be the head chef and then he took one look at his leg, or lack thereof.
"AHHHHHHHH, YOUR LEG!" Luffy screeched with even more tears. He hadn't meant to obliterate the man's leg like that!
"IDIOT!" The head chef roared, planting a foot on his face and Rosan decided now was a good time to intervene.
"I'm sorry for my captain and his actions," Rosan began, catching the head chef's attention. "I'll repair the roof as an apology."
Zeff looked at the dead eyed heterochromatic with a surprised expression on his face. He sure did have no presence to him for someone who looked so unique. It was quite difficult to even tell there was another person in the room!
"Repair? How?"
Rosan had already walked up to the hole and was inspecting the damage dealt with a calculating gaze.
"Modification: Repair," he thought to himself, and Zeff watched with a fascinated gaze, as the roof began molding back into the state it was at before. In no time at all, it was as if the ship had not gotten blasted by a cannonball and he gazed at the redhead with much more interest.
The only sign that there had been a problem, were the injuries currently on the head chef's body.
"A Devil Fruit?" Zeff asked curiously. It was rare to see them around these parts of the seas but he couldn't even begin to tell you what that one was.
"What else could it be?" Rosan retorted calmly, willingly not going into detail.
"Even if Rosan fixed it, I still have to make up for it myself!" Luffy exclaimed, not pleased with his own actions. "I got no money though!"
The redhead closed his eyes in defeat. He tried for his brother. He really did, but he was way too honest.
Zeff rubbed his long beard at that declaration and shrugged. If he wanted to make up for it despite the problem being solved, then fine. "That just means you have to work here."
"Alright! Anything to make it up!"
"One month, unpaid, as a chore boy." He was going to make it one year but the problem was already solved so he settled for a month.
"Okay! One month, unpaid, as a chore boy!"
…
"Eh? O-One month?!"
"Looks like our pirate journey is over," Rosan commented, much to his younger brother's despair.
"Not going to bail him out?"
"Not yet. Let him sweat a little for being an idiot then when we get our chef, I'll convince him to let us go."
Mod giggled at her son's response.
"This has nothing to do with me," Rosan commented, wishing his brother luck and ignoring his pleading gaze.
The idiot should have just let him deal with it instead of speaking up. There was a reason Rosan handled all of the talking between him, Luffy and Ace. The middle brother was a blunt idiot that had terrible social cues (he got much better thanks to Makino) and Luffy would forever be hopeless when it came to anything not fighting related.
"Yeah, just your captain is needed. Thanks for repairing my roof," Zeff nodded. He wouldn't force the one who repaired the roof to do labor.
"Oh, I see Zoro, Nami and Usopp," Rosan commented. "I'm going to join them if they're ordering. Bye, Luffy," the redhead waved and he left the room.
"One week!" He heard Luffy say and Ram burst out laughing.
"So Luffy is here for one month?!" Zoro asked in disbelief. That was way too long!
Rosan had just finished informing them of what transpired with the head chef and he nodded in confirmation.
"I repaired the roof but Luffy insisted on opening his mouth so now he has to deal with it for at least until we can find a chef," Rosan hummed. "After that, I'll bail him out. I can't have him trapped here for a month after all."
"He's so stupid," Nami sighed in exasperation. Luffy was seriously lucky that he had Rosan around.
"HEY, WAITER," A familiar voice screamed, making everyone in the restaurant glance up. It was the Marine Lieutenant, Fullbody and he didn't look very happy.
Rosan watched a blonde in a black suit walk towards the man and neutrally watched the exchange. From his position, he could only see the back of the chef but the conversation was loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Didn't I tell you I'm not a waiter?" The chef said calmly. He momentarily ignored the Marine in favor of looking at Fullbody's date and the blonde immediately began to flirt with her, much to the annoyance of the Marine and the amusement of the girl being subjected to it.
"They're causing quite the commotion," Rosan muttered, watching the pink haired man make a fuss about there being a bug in his soup.
"Sorry, sir, but I don't know since I don't know much about insects," the blonde smirked. He was clearly not taking him serious and neither were the other patrons, if the laughter meant anything.
The sound of a table shattering, reverberated throughout the room and the patrons of the restaurant let out shocked gasps. The few who were not paying attention, were now and there were eyes all on the Marine who very clearly lost his composure.
"DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" Fullbody snarled. His fists were clenched and it was clear that he had been the one to shatter the table. This had the added effect of spilling all the soup he had ordered on the floor and the amused chef immediately darkened.
"Waste of good food," Rosan thought idly. This was why he couldn't stand the Marines. Everything was just one big ego trip for them and they never actually thought about doing their job of keeping the peace.
No, all of them just joined for themselves.
The chef bent down and glanced at the soup with an unreadable look in his eyes. "...You could have eaten it if you took that bug out, you know," the blonde eventually said.
That had taken three days to cook and it was wasted, just like that. By some ungrateful guy that just wanted to cause a scene for nothing because he wasn't a fan of being made fun of.
Fullbody placed a foot on the chefs outstretched hand with an annoyed look on his face. "Aren't you acting a bit to big for your britches? I'm a customer! I'm paying you!"
"Fullbody-san!" His date tried calming him down. "Stop, let it go!" She begged but he simply shoved her to the side and she fell to the floor with a pained gasp.
The patrons were dead silent at the altercation, afraid to attract attention to themselves so as to not incite the wrath of the lieutenant.
Well, all but one group.
"He's pretty rude," Rosan commented idly, making no attempt to lower his voice. He was resting a cheek on his fist as he watched the free entertainment. "Pushing his date like that, what a gentleman."
Zoro snorted at that. "I don't see what the big idea is. It's just a bug."
Usopp shrugged helplessly. "Not even Captain Usopp is afraid of a mere bug. I've dealt with the biggest bugs on the planet before!"
Nami giggled at their comments. "Seems he's got too much of an ego to handle being embarrassed."
"That seems to be the norm for the Marines," the redhead muttered. "They just hire anyone to do the job. I'm convinced half of them are mindless idiots and the other half are on a power trip."
The orange haired navigator and swordsman looked at Rosan with a curious gaze. He seemed to harbor quite the dislike for the Marines. Was there a story behind that?
Probably. Rosan seemed to have a lot of unknown stories.
"Can money satisfy your hunger?" The blonde chef suddenly asked Fullbody.
The Marine looked at him with a confused, but annoyed, expression on his face. "What did you say?" He asked.
"I'm saying, can money satisfy your hunger?" He repeated, before spinning into a handstand and delivering a devastating series of kicks to Fullbody's face.
"Ouch," Rosan commentated. He had a strong set of legs on him.
"Don't waste food," the sous chef warned with a hard glare. He was currently holding Fullbody's bloodied body up with one hand and the unconscious Marine could only twitch from the thrashing he received.
"At sea, provoking a cook is the same as committing suicide. Remember that."
Other cooks had shown up the scene by now and watched in horror at what their sous chef had done to the Marine.
"Sous chef?!" One called in disbelief.
"Sanji, again?!" Another one groaned.
The crowd watched the beat down in horror and Fullbody's date looked shocked to see how effortlessly he had been defeated.
Rosan paused as he heard something key and he actually began blinking at the sudden information.
"Sanji?" He said to himself.
"Eh, you know him?" Zoro asked. He was sitting closest to Rosan so he had heard the man mutter the blonde's name under his breath.
"...Something like that. Though, I doubt he knows who I am," Rosan replied calmly. He hadn't meant to say his name out loud but he didn't expect to hear that name again.
Now that he had a name, it was impossible for him not to make the obvious connections to that prisoner he had saved so long ago when he raided Germa.
The weak prince who had been disowned by his own father for being deemed a failure. The one who had told the Angel of Death that he wanted to be a cook with such conviction that he had been freed as a result. The one who looked up at him with obvious adoration (that he didn't deserve) through those excessively teary eyes of his...
The one who looked like he could defend himself now despite being so weak before.
Rosan never thought he'd see the blonde again. The world sure was a small place.
"He's grown strong," Mod praised with a proud smile. No longer did he look unsure and weak. Sanji had clearly been following his dreams with fervor if he was now the sous chef of such a popular restaurant and perhaps his brother's treatment had given him the urge to grow strong as well.
It had been 11 years since they had last met. Rosan had been 13, and Sanji 8 so that meant the boy was now 19.
He had gone through many changes; The redhead was impressed by his growth. It was night and day from when he was a child.
A large screaming man was currently reprimanding Sanji about treating their customers correctly, to which Sanji replied, "He insulted the cooks and our food, who gives a damn if he's a customer."
Fullbody clearly wasn't getting the memo that he should keep his mouth shut, because now he was threatening to have the restaurant shut down.
"How embarrassing," Rosan mused, watching the bloodied man rave. Sanji had gotten fed up and looked as if he were about to finish the man off.
It was a shame that the other chefs were trying to stop him.
All current commotion halted, as another commotion began. Namely, the ceiling of the restaurant shattering and dropping two familiar people.
Rosan sighed. "I shouldn't have left them alone."
"LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO THE CEILING, BRAT!" Zeff roared to the straw hat wearing boy.
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO BROKE IT!" Luffy roared back.
"Owner! Please stop Sanji before he kills the Marine!" A chef begged and Zeff finally noticed the altercation taking place.
"Sanji, what are you doing?! Are you trying to put my restaurant out of business?!" Zeff demanded, walking up to his sous chef with a set frown.
"Shut it you old geezer!" Sanji retorted, only to grunt as a peg leg connected squarely with his cheek and floored him.
Fullbody grinned at the sight of the sous chef finally getting what he deserved, only to cry out in pain as he was similarly struck to the floor.
"And you, get the hell outta here already!" The head chef demanded, glowering at the idiot of a Marine.
Fullbody trembled in disbelief. W-What was wrong with this place?! WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!
"The chefs sure are unique," Nami pointed out with a perplexed expression on her face.
"Pirates probably come here and they likely aren't all compliant like us. You can't own a seafaring restaurant and be like Usopp I would imagine," Rosan countered.
"That's true," she conceded. If the chefs were pushovers, they'd likely not be able to even run a business.
"H-Hey! I'll have you know that when I was only 5 I owned my own seafaring restaurant and when pirates tried to invade me they learned that Captain Usopp was a force to be— LISTEN TO ME!" Usopp roared at the 3 ignoring him.
The sound of the door entrance banging open, caught their attention and a visibly nervous Marine burst into the restaurant.
"C-Captain Fullbody, we've got a problem!" The subordinate hastily called. "The Krieg Pirate we captured escaped after beating all 7 of us in battle!"
The lieutenant gaped at that and patrons of the restaurant who heard of the Krieg Pirates began fearfully muttering to each other.
"W-WHAT?! B-But he was starving when we captured him 3 days ago and we haven't fed him yet!" Fullbody said nervously, sweating buckets right now.
"Krieg pirates?" Zoro muttered in interest. The patrons of the restaurant began panicking at that information, saying things such as how the Krieg Pirates were the most powerful group in the East Blue.
"Most powerful pirate group in East Blue?" Rosan repeated with a raised brow. He had heard of the Krieg Pirates. They were an armada consisting of about 50 ships and around 5,000 men who were led by a man named Don Krieg, a man with a bounty of 17,000,000 beri.
It sounded like a fearsome group but Rosan knew that it was just quantity over quality when it came to them. Not even Don Krieg was very notable and he was the type of man that would never recruit someone stronger than him.
Only sheer numbers made them somewhat formidable but they were truly nothing impressive.
BANG!
Everyone froze at the noise of gunshot and the Marine who was reporting to Fullbody collapsed in a spray of blood.
He did not get back up.
"EEEEEEK!" The customers shrieked in terror.
Usopp and Nami gasped at the gruesome sight while Rosan and Zoro stared, stone faced.
"We have a new customer," Patty said.
"He better not go on a rampage in my place," Zeff grumbled.
"Oh, a pirate!" Luffy grinned.
The wounded pirate was a lanky, average-sized man with short, scruffy hair and slight stubble. His eyes were surrounded by dark rings and he wore an open gray-white jacket lined with twin red sea-serpent designs, a green undershirt, gray trousers, a gray headband with blue stripes, and two round earrings on each ear.
He walked right past a paralyzed Fullbody and sagged into the chair before simply saying, "Bring me food. Anything's fine… This is a restaurant, right?"
Patty stepped up and morphed his face into some type of smile before saying, "Welcome, ya damn crook!"
The gasp of horror the crowd let out at Patty's crass attitude, made Ram scoff.
"Pussies," the weapon snorted.
"Just who is teaching you this language?!" Mod gaped at the taller woman.
"Auntie Angel and Maro!" Ram snitched shamelessly. Angel especially, really had a way with her words that solidified just how much she disliked a particular person.
The horror on her face when Mod confronted her about unintentionally teaching Ram these words, would be absolutely delicious.
"I'll have to teach them about what they should say around you," Mod muttered, crossing her arms with a contemplative expression. Ram was easily the most vulgar of them all with Angel being a solid second and the redhead loved teaching Ram things as her "Cool Auntie".
Well, Mod would need to speak to her about this. She was the one who had to deal with this!
Ram sent out a quick prayer to Angel.
"I'm terribly sorry, sir, but do you have the money for that?" Patty asked, rubbing his head apologetically with a large grin on his face.
The pirate glared at him and aimed his gun at the chef.
"Do you take lead?" He retorted.
The smile was instantly wiped off Patty's face. "So you don't have money, right?"
Before the injured pirate could even react, Patty delivered a double axe handle strike that sent him careening towards the floor and began to ruthlessly beat the starving man.
"That damn Patty broke my chair," Zeff muttered in annoyance.
The crowd cheered loudly at the sight of the pirate getting beaten down and they roared in victory as he was tossed out of the restaurant.
Rosan noticed Luffy disappearing and let out a sigh. "I'll be right back," he informed the crew. "Order whatever, it's on me."
Nami's eyes shone at his words. Only loaded people said that! One day she would find Rosan's secret stash and persuade (beg) him to give her some!
"No you won't, greedy little princess."
With that, Rosan got up and went to go find his captain.
"He's still a kind child," Mod smiled fondly at seeing Sanji hand the starving pirate a meal.
Rosan nodded in agreement. Despite not having any money and threatening the chefs, the blonde prince had seen it fit to still give the pirate a meal.
If he did something like that…
"Hey, cook! Join our pirate group!"
...Yep. He managed to get Luffy's attention. That was the last thing you wanted to do and now poor Sanji was definitely apart of the crew.
Sanji looked a bit taken aback by Luffy's abrupt request but recovered admirably. "I refuse. I have a reason for working at this restaurant," he said.
Luffy frowned at that. "No! I refuse!"
Sanji and Gin blinked owlishly. "What?" The chef asked in confusion.
"I refuse your refusal!" Luffy declared. "You're a good cook so let's be pirates together."
What the fuck?! Who was this guy? Who the hell just refused someones refusal? "Listen to what I have to say, damnit!" Sanji replied in disbelief.
"I feel bad for anyone that Luffy gains an interest in," Ram snorted. The youngest brother was quite spoiled and none of them did a thing to reel it in!
Rosan couldn't help but nod in agreement as his captain and the cook got into an argument.
Thankfully, the formerly starving pirate (he introduced himself as Gin of the Krieg pirates) interrupted the two arguing. After verifying that Luffy was in fact a pirate, he asked the straw hat wearing boy if he had any goals and Luffy promptly answered his same answer every time.
"I'm aiming for the One Piece so I'm gonna enter the Grand Line," the rubber boy replied bluntly.
Gin's eyes flashed and he began to sweat nervously. "Since you're looking for a cook, you must not be a big crew," he pointed out grimly.
Luffy nodded. "Yup, he's our sixth member!" The captain exclaimed, pointing a finger at Sanji.
"DON'T COUNT ME!" Sanji roared. Seriously, what was wrong with this moron?!
"You seem like a nice guy, so I'll warn you… Don't go to the Grand Line," Gin told Luffy.
The Krieg pirate proceeded to tell the rubber boy how it was best to avoid the Pirate Graveyard and take his chances exploring any part of the sea besides that one.
"You know something about the Grand Line?" Luffy asked curiously, tilting his head at the scarred pirate with a glimmer of excitement.
Gin clutched his head as the blurry memories began flooding in. "No… I-I don't know anything. I don't understand anything about that place… That's why I fear it."
"For the unprepared, the Grand Line truly deserves its title of the Pirate Graveyard. One mistake is all it takes for an entire crew to sink," Mod warned gently. It's why she had been so adamant on not allowing Rosan to go there when he was younger. When it was just him and Robin, that would have been almost certain death no matter how talented the two partners were.
Rosan hummed. He had very been eager to test his strength there as a child (and with his emotions he was sure that would still have been true) but that desire had vanished. Now, he had other reasons to want to go there.
Though... maybe the oddity of that sea would help him out. The blue seas had been too dull for him even when he was still a child.
"What happened to you in the Grand Line?" The redhead spoke up for the first time, catching the attention of the two who hadn't noticed him.
"Who…?" Sanji asked in confusion at the sight of the redhead staring down at them.
"That's Rosan! He's my scout!" Luffy introduced cheerfully. "Rosan, this is Sanji! He's our new cook!"
"Nice to meet you, Sanji," Rosan nodded. "I hope we can get along."
"I SAID I WASN'T APART OF YOUR CREW!" Sanji barked at the increasingly annoying straw hat.
"We should try his food first then make a final decision, I agree," Rosan hummed.
"Yeah!" Luffy agreed.
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Sanji was already tired of these two and they had just met. Was this whole crew full of nutjobs?!
"There are real monsters in the Grand Line," Gin said gravely, grabbing their attention. "He's your captain, right? Maybe you can convince him to sail in any other sea."
Rosan tilted his head. "No, I also have business in the Grand Line and no one can convince Luffy to give up on his dream."
Luffy nodded with a beaming grin and a thumbs up.
The two were not as weak as the Krieg Pirates were. Gin was a pathetic weakling who was apart of a pathetic crew. That's all there was to it and it would never be different.
His rubbery captain was already more then ready for the Grand Line. Rosan had made sure that no one in the East Blue could challenge his strength and he'd blaze through the seas much like Ace did.
If he didn't... Well Rosan would just pick back up with training until he did of course.
"Well, I'm a stranger to you guys so I have no right to stop you," Gin smiled, preparing a boat and getting ready to leave. "I just wanted to warn you."
He then turned towards Sanji and said, "Sanji-san, thank you so much!" The Krieg pirate bowed deeply. "I owe my life to you. The food you gave me was the most delicious! Do you mind if I come back?" He requested.
Sanji smiled at the pirate. "Any time!" He replied kindly.
"There you are, Chore Boy!" A gruff voice called out.
Zeff, who stood next to Rosan, looked down at the exchange with an unreadable look in his eyes. The head chef glanced at the empty plate and cup and grunted.
Gin's face morphed into guilt at the realization that Sanji had fed him for free without consulting anyone else. Now he was going to get in trouble for…
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