บท 55: Chapter 29: Grand Line
Rosan idly gave a coin to the News Coo currently being harassed by Nami and accepted the newspaper out of the bird's talon.
"Stop harassing the bird, Nami. It's just doing its job," Rosan reprimanded quietly. He grabbed and tossed a spare fish in the gull's mouth and got a squawk of happiness out of it.
The News Coo handed him another newspaper for his hospitality and flew off from the crew to continue its duties.
Nami grabbed the newspaper offered to her and grumbled, sitting down to read it. "If it keeps raising the prices like that, I'll just steal your newspapers."
"You can have them after I read it," Rosan countered. He sat on the chair next to her and flipped open his own, gazing through the pages with a bored gaze.
"Just let me read them first! You always make everything so much more difficult then it has to be!"
"I make it more difficult? I read much faster than you. There's no reason I should let you have it first."
Usopp, who was working on his Tabasco Star, interrupted their argument. "Can you guys argue somewhere else?! I'm focusing on making my special attack and need to concentrate."
"Maybe you shouldn't do that in the middle of the deck then," Rosan suggested, flipping another page of his newspaper.
"It'll be fine! The Great Captain Usopp has worked on many dangerous things before —"
A flying figure crashed into the liar and spilled all the hot sauce in his eyes.
The effects were immediate.
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH WATER, WATER!" Usopp screeched, running back and forth due to the burning sensation in his eyes. The liar's screeching woke up the napping Zoro and he glanced over at the idiot with a bleary glare.
The figure who crashed into him was revealed to be one Monkey D. Luffy and he was staring at the tangerine orchard in displeasure, not noticing the great agony he just put Usopp in.
"Moron," Rosan muttered as he flipped another page, not even bothering to glance or help the sniper.
That would teach him not to do something so stupid with Luffy in the vicinity.
The rubber boy in question, had been making half hearted attempts to steal a tangerine but the lover boy chef repelled him nonstop due to it being Nami's personal garden.
It was incredible to see how whipped he was already.
Nami laughed at his statement and thanked Sanji for keeping her orchard safe.
"Anything for you, Nami-san!" The man swooned happily.
As Rosan flipped through the pages, he noticed a familiar colored paper protruding from his newspaper and pulled it out curiously.
"Oh Luffy. You have a bounty," Rosan said calmly, holding the poster in the air and tossing it on the floor for his brother to see.
"Eh?"
Everyone blinked in shock at his casualness, glancing at the paper in surprise.
...
They all squinted their eyes.
...
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"
"I NEED WATER! I CAN'T SEE!"
"ANGEL, DEMON! LOOK LOOK!" Maro squealed excitedly, jumping up and down in excitement. "OUR LITTLE LUFFY HAS GOTTEN A BOUNTY!"
Angel was momentarily distracted by the sight of her wife jumping due to… two large reasons, before coughing and catching what she said.
"REALLY?!" Angel gasped, grabbing the paper out of her hand so that the twins could get a look at it.
Demon whistled proudly. "35,000,000 as his first bounty while he's in the East Blue? He sure is moving fast."
His grinning visage looked up at the three and filled them all with a fondness.
They missed the little rubber boy.
"WOOHOO! LET'S THROW A PARTY TO CELEBRATE!" Angel cheered. "Oh I just can't wait until we meet his crew! I wonder who was crazy enough to accept being on the same ship as him and Master!"
The redhead's face sobered up quickly and a look of confusion appeared on her face as she began looking for something. "Why doesn't Master have a bounty yet?! His should be at least 70 million!"
"He wants to lay low," Demon tried, knowing that logic would fail with his sister but saying it regardless.
"He did fight me only in front of one person," Kaori added. The redhead wasn't one for showing off it seemed.
Angel grumbled, displeased. "But his bounty... How can he accept such a loss so readily?!"
Demon sighed at his sister and said nothing. She was utterly hopeless sometimes.
"PARTYYYY!" Maro cheered happily. "Make sure you don't tell Jango," she smiled.
Angel cackled at that and pulled her wife into a hug. "You really hate him, don't you?" She snorted.
The hippie was practically the redhead's assistant when he was free and labored away for her whenever she asked him to do something.
Demon also made great use of him when it came to attending to some of the patients in the hospital. Hypnotism was incredibly useful and only Maro herself refused to take advantage of it.
The queen only used him to buff up their clone army. His ability to hypnotize you and increase your strength to such a degree was… admittedly useful.
Out of curiosity, she asked him to hypnotize her once and the results were as awe inspiring as they were disastrous.
Hypnotizing a zoan type didn't seem like the greatest idea in hindsight... the completely destroyed training grounds could attest to that. According to Angel, the only reason her rampage stopped was because she refused to hurt her "mate" and that gave the redhead enough time to grab her tiara and call in Master.
Heh, she hoped he got a good fight out of that. With that power boost, she was pretty sure anything less then X2 would result in him losing.
So maybe Jango was sorta maybe useful...
"Yes. I hate him," Maro said seriously, completely disregarding her thought process.
The Queen made sure to pull him aside one day and very explicitly explained what she would do to him if he ever even entertained the thought of making a move on her wife.
Once she had transformed into her Dokkaebi to stress her point, he fearfully nodded and it seemed to have worked because Angel told her everything and Jango harassing her wasn't one of them...
Then again her lover happened to be very oblivious.
He was lucky he had a useful ability… Master sure did love shoving people onto her.
At least Kaori was cool and pretty strong and didn't ogle her wife. That's why she got to stay in the castle unlike that stupid idiot Jango...
A flash of horror made its way onto her face.
Wait… just how many people did Master plan on sending her way?! There was no way he was gonna stop here! H-He always went to the extreme when doing things like this...
Bah, that was for hangover Maro to think about. She'd curse him when the time came.
Ace grinned wildly at the bounty poster in his hands.
"Seems like you're already making a name for yourself eh, Luffy?" He laughed cheerfully, intent on celebrating the occasion.
35 million? That was even higher than his first bounty! He was proud of his little idiot brother.
"Now why doesn't Rosan have a bounty yet…" Ace muttered in contemplation.
His older brother probably didn't want one yet. Knowing him, he'd probably operate in the background and let Luffy hog all the glory.
Ace laughed. Yeah that was definitely the reason. Despite shying away from the limelight, his brother was probably still grabbing people's attention without wanting to. He didn't give himself enough credit about how interesting he was, self loathing dumbass he was.
He'd have to meet them soon to make sure Luffy wasn't scarred from training and Rosan didn't regress. It'd been 3 years and he couldn't lie, he dearly missed his brothers and his entire family.
Sure he had a new one but his first family would always hold the most special place in his heart.
If only he was with his second family... They'd love (groan in exasperation) to hear more about his family like the million other times he mentioned them.
Bah, maybe he'd go let some poor random group know. They'd appreciate it.
Makino brimmed in excitement as she closed the massive restaurant early and set off to go find Dadan.
Following her, were some bandits that the leader let her borrow in case customers got rowdy and in her hands, was a bounty poster of her surrogate son!
She was so proud of Luffy! Look at his bounty! He had the highest in the East Blue currently and it was only his first one!
She'd have to make a big meal to celebrate the occasion.
Makino hummed a tune she learned from Rosan over the years as she waved cheerfully at all the citizens.
Rosan... she wondered how he was doing. The ass had plenty of ways to contact her but never did (he didn't even give her one of his many Den Den Mushis!) and she'd give him a piece of her mind the next time they spoke.
Over the years, the redhead did a lot for her! The most notable one was turning her tiny little bar, into a full fledged restaurant after one stray comment about how she wanted to upgrade one day but didn't have the funds for it.
Well, he took it upon himself to do it for free and used his ability to upgrade her entire bar overnight.
She literally woke up the next day with a staggering amount of confusion, as she gazed up at the revamped Partys Bar that was at least double the size it had previously been and looking three times as fancy. After triple checking that she didn't get lost, the woman hesitantly entered the establishment and saw a, rather patronizing, note lying on the table.
It read: "Since you admitted to having no money, I took it upon myself to fulfill your fairy tale wish and upgraded your mundane bar for you. Consider this a gift for being my... friend. Also, because I felt bad for you and your state of poorness, I left some extra funds in the back so that you could upgrade how you see fit. From - Who do you think?"
Her mouth just opened more and more at the contents of the note and she promised that she'd give him a hug after trying to attack him because he was such a dick! He didn't have to say half the things he did but he just wanted to be as rude as possible!
Worst, the redhead didn't show up for that entire day so she was left stewing for the whole time!
Though, that anger very quickly vanished when she realized just how much money the redhead gave her.
S-Some extra funds?! He gave her so much money that she was pretty sure she was the richest person in Foosha...
The fact that he considered 200 million beri "some" was just...
He was still an asshole though but Makino was quite pleased with the entire thing and she did appreciate it from the bottom of her heart. The bartender made sure to express that to the redhead and she was sure she got her point across.
Now, her restaurant was probably the biggest pull in Foosha (mostly because people were curious how it showed up after one whole day) and that popularity steadily rose as Maro helped her make a garden supplied with her very own fruits and vegetables from the North Blue!
She even managed to attract people from the nobles of Goa as well!
It helped to have such resourceful friends... They did so much for her!
She missed them all. Look at how sidetracked she got just from looking at Luffy's poster!
After throwing the celebration with the bandits, Makino would have to call Maro and Angel so they could have a chat. Then, she'd thoroughly display her displeasure towards Rosan going ghost and they'd make him do something about it.
Hounding both the Queen and his demanding sister on him... she almost felt bad...
Nah. Rosan 100% deserved it. He always did. He was honestly worse then Luffy at times.
"Hey isn't that…!"
"It is! The World's Strongest Swordsman, Hawk Eye Mihawk!"
Mihawk ignored all the fodder, as he made his way over to his target.
"CAPTAIN!" The man screaming man guided him there unknowingly, not that he needed it. "H-H-Hawkeye is here!"
"Oh, Mihawk," Shanks groaned, glancing up at the World's Greatest Swordsman. "You here for a fight? Can we wait for another time, I'm not feeling too hot."
Mihawk wasn't interested in fighting a swordsman with one arm and he made that clear many times. Why Shanks thought that would change suddenly? He would never know.
"I ran into two interesting pirates while in the East Blue," he mentioned. "They reminded me of a story you used to always tell me about, with a little kid and a robotic redhead."
He unfurled the bounty poster he was walking around with and Shank's eyes widened before a massive grin took over his features.
"So the anchor finally made a name for himself! This calls for celebration!" Shanks laughed.
Without any hesitation, he and his crew got back into the swing of things with a renewed vigor and Mihawk let out a sigh of annoyance.
So much for being hungover.
"So you met Luffy and Rosan?!" Shanks asked excitedly, beckoning the man to sit and handing him a bottle of grog. "I didn't think my fellow redhead would actually travel with the anchor! I thought he was just gonna ignore my words totally and go do his own thing! Is he still a robot?!"
"More or less," Mihawk nodded, remembering their encounter. The redhead was strong and if he gained the ambition he lost, he would become an incredible threat. "Straw hat sent you his regards, Ambitionless told you to stop talking about him."
Shanks simply threw his head back and laughed heartily. "Ambitionless eh? That sounds like something he would say!"
"He's quite interesting. You never told me he was so adept at such a large array of weapons," The hawk eyed man commented, downing his bottle of grog.
"Wait, he is?! AND YOU TWO FOUGHT?!" The captain's eyes bugged in interest. Last time he had seen Rosan, the kid had been brutalizing the bandits with just his limbs. He hadn't even known he could use multiple weapons!
"That's right, his ring can transform into a wide array of arsenal it looks like. She is the most unique weapon I've fought to date."
The Yonko paused at that. "You mean that amethyst ring he never takes off? I'm pretty sure he bathes with that thing on! I never knew it was his weapon... that Rosan really doesn't like sharing information..."
"He heals faster than Zoans too. Quite the interesting duo you managed to find. Both he and Straw Hat are overflowing with untapped potential."
Wow, there was a lot of things he didn't know about the redhead. Maybe he should have made more of an effort to be friends...
Nah, Rosan wouldn't have ever let it happen. The robotic redhead was kind of a dick.
"Tell me all about it!" Shanks grinned eagerly.
"35 million as your first bounty? I'm impressed," Rosan commented with a small smile of approval, high-fiving his pleased captain.
"I'm so proud of him!" Mod gushed, smiling happily for the rubber boy.
"I'm not. Father's should be 70 million," Ram grumbled. The weapon was crossing her arms petulantly and glaring at the bounty poster with a displeased frown.
The Devil Fruit sighed in exasperation. "Could you be supportive to anyone besides Rosan for one second?"
"Can you stop making me fear for my life every single day?"
"No."
"Then no!"
Usopp was bragging about being seen on Luffy's poster, despite only the back of his head being shown but at least he seemed genuinely proud.
"Maybe one day all of you will make it to the big leagues like me!" the sniper said.
The scout nodded idly at his boasting. "I don't think I'll ever get a bounty that impressive. You have much to teach me, Usopp," Rosan hummed, flipping another page of his newspaper.
"Not to worry! The great captain Usopp will give you any advice you might need!"
Sanji looked at Rosan like he were insane but merely snorted and said nothing. It was clear the crew didn't know anything about him being Reaper besides the chef, otherwise they wouldn't be freaking out over a 35 million bounty.
500 million would cause much more outrage he imagined. Huh, yeah Sanji could see why he didn't tell them that he was Reaper.
Honestly, he was a little (a lot) touched the redhead deemed him worthy of knowing. Even though Rosan was a prick who kept hogging females attention... Sanji guessed he didn't hate him completely.
"That reminds me," Rosan suddenly said. "Sanji I've got two interesting techniques you might like to learn. Since you're so adept with your legs, you might have an easier time than Luffy learning them."
The blonde blinked at that. "Two techniques for me? Sure, if you're saying it's interesting, then it has to be something good."
The redhead nodded. "Luffy and I reverse engineered them from an annoying old man. It will take a while to learn but you won't regret it. I'll tell you about the basics later and the best way to learn them. You might need to up your physical specs a little bit more but the training will help."
"Oh you're gonna teach him that?!" Luffy exclaimed eagerly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Awesome! They're super fun, Sanji!"
Sanji nodded a little eagerly at the two. He was getting excited about these techniques and it sounded like they revolved around using his legs too!
That was perfect. He was already benefiting greatly from travelling with these guys.
Usopp, who finally managed to cleanse his eyes, gazed at Rosan at that too. "Oh, Rosan! Could you give me some pointers on how I can better improve too?"
The redhead blinked at that. Since when did his crew start seeing him as useful? He much preferred when they thought he was lazy and didn't do anything but disappear...
"You need to start small and work your way up so I'll give you some basic exercise routines. First, get your muscles up to a point where you can comfortably lift that hammer I gave you. Once you can comfortably hold it, I'll release the weight restriction and you'll really notice the changes."
Increasing his strength would be immensely useful for the sniper who relied on the slingshot instead of a firearm. In a way, his slingshot had the potential to surpass guns if he got really strong and they fit his creative mind more.
The sniper nodded. "You're really resourceful too! Maybe we can discuss some ideas about potential gadgets I can use?" He asked hopefully.
Rosan hummed. "I see no problem with that. I hope you know that the weapons I create are to kill though. I have no interest in creating things to mobilize my foes when I already have other methods."
"R-Right... maybe I'll just ask for some ideas then," Usopp stammered. The redhead was still as scary as ever...
"Aww, look at my little boy! He's being helpful!" Mod beamed.
"Look at you! I didn't think you were capable of being useful!" Nami cheered, clapping her hands at the redhead.
"Hey Nami, have you ever been tickled?" Rosan asked suddenly. "You aren't safe either Mod-chan. Good luck."
The purple haired woman went white. "I-I was praising you! Did what I say really deserve such a reaction?!"
"Yes."
"You are a brat! It's no wonder Ram is this bad! She gets it from you!"
"A-Am not, Auntie!"
"Quiet young lady! I'm trying to defend myself right now!"
"R-Right!"
Nami blinked in confusion. "Tickled? No, why would you ask me that—"
Rosan struck with a pleased gaze and knocked the navigator over.
The effects were instantaneous.
The navigator's eyes bugged as the redhead began to mercilessly tickle her and she helplessly devolved into laughter as the sensations quickly reached her. "Pfft— Wait, Rosan! I-I'm ticklish! S-STOP— Hahahaha! Rosan, please, I was just kidding—"
"Too late. Think about this next time you decide to harass me."
"I'm fucking s-serious, Rosan— Hahahaha!"
The crew watched Nami plead for her life and they sweatdropped as it failed to move the ruthless redhead.
"I should help her," Sanji muttered resolutely.
Luffy stopped him from doing that with an uncharacteristically serious look that made the blonde begin to sweat nervously.
"If you stop Rosan... he'll do it to you and it's gonna be even worse," he said as if he experienced it himself.
They sweatdropped at the rubber boy. They had a feeling that's exactly what happened and if even the fearless Luffy told them not to get involved... Well maybe they would listen.
Mod resolved to find somewhere to hide even though it wouldn't help her. Maybe he'd be grow tired of searching in that frozen forest...
Rosan never tickled her without modifying her sensitivity so it was always so much worse for the Devil Fruit. Even if she gave up immediately he'd still do it.
He was such a... ugh, her son was lucky she didn't curse.
"We're almost at Loguetown, which means we're about to enter the Grand Line…" Nami mused.
"Eh? What's so special about it?" Luffy asked.
"It's where the Pirate King was born and executed," Rosan informed his captain, glancing at the distant island.
The place where his father was both born and killed… But not before going out of his way to put his mother, Portgas D. Rouge in life threatening danger because he decided that thinking with his dick was smarter then using his head and moving he and his mother.
He idly wondered if this is what Roger had been expecting for his family when he did what he did. Rosan certainly wasn't expecting things to turn out like this but at least he still had Ace.
"You won't stay on the ship when we dock?" Mod asked curiously. That's honestly what she expected from him considering he hated Roger.
"No, I'll explore the island and see what it has to offer. I might even visit his execution stand just to soak it all in."
"Sadistic, vindictive child," Mod laughed at her unbelievable son.
They all needed to stock up on their own things before heading into the Grand Line so they agreed to dock there for the looming journey.
Nami perked up suddenly. "That reminds me... Rosan, do you mind showing me where you keep all your money?"
Rosan raised a brow at her, practically asking if she was stupid with his gaze alone.
Despite not saying a word, Nami still began spluttering at his judgmental stare.
"I just want to verify funds! You and I are probably the best at dealing with money so I figure we could deal with it together!" She complained, not liking the look he was giving her.
The navigator really didn't get why he always made everything so difficult but she attributed it to the fact that he was a dick. She dreaded the day she had to deal with a fully emotional Rosan because she'd probably go gray early.
"I knew you liked me," Rosan said, much to her annoyance. "What a poor attempt to want to spend more time with me. Come, I'll show you where I keep my money then."
"That's not the reason why, you asshole!" Nami growled. Despite her annoyance, she followed after the redhead without hesitation, pleased that he trusted her to this degree.
"Speaking of which, I need money for new swords," Zoro muttered, catching their attention.
"You can come too, I'll give you some before we land," the redhead offered. "Ram mentioned that you wanted to train with me? Fair warning, I'm quite ruthless."
Zoro grinned challengingly at him. He liked the sound of that.
"I heard you got in a fight with Mihawk?"
"He wanted to test me because of Shanks so we sparred a bit. I didn't manage to hit him even once and he landed quite a few on me. He even broke Ram in the process which should be incredibly difficult but I learned a lot from the fight," Rosan muttered.
They eventually reached a random part of the ship and the redhead faced them with that standard neutral expression.
"Be warned, the place where I keep my money is quite… unsettling for most people. I haven't heard a single positive comment on it so do with that what you will."
Nami shuddered at that while Zoro raised a brow, unfazed despite his warning.
Rosan hummed and his eyes began glowing.
"Modification: Save Point," he uttered aloud and the three vanished.
"W-What is this place?"
Nami shivered uncontrollably at the eeriness of the location and stepped closer to the two there.
Everything was so... wrong. She couldn't put it into words but there was an unshakeable chill running through her body and the navigator could practically hear her heart beating.
"My Pocket Dimension," Rosan answered, offering his hand for the orange haired girl to grab. "It's quite bizarre. It almost feels like the natural order is thrown in disarray when you step in here."
Nami took his hand gratefully and nodded in agreement, looking behind her in paranoia. She idly gripped his hand tighter just to make sure she didn't get lost.
"You don't have to worry, as far as I know, I'm the only one who can access this place," Rosan reassured. The redhead chanced a glance at Zoro and raised a brow.
The green haired swordsman was glancing around, a look of curiosity on his face instead of fear as he took in the eeriness with his own raised brow.
"Weird place," he commented with a shrug, mostly unbothered.
"Interesting. You have a pretty unusual reaction. Only Luffy has been completely unfazed by the Pocket Dimension but you're close," Rosan commented.
Zoro's reaction was similar to Ace's. Mostly unbothered, but slightly unsettled.
He guided the two of them to his home with practiced ease.
Despite her increasing unease, Nami's eyes somehow glowed brighter then Rosan's when he activated an ability, at the sight of his black and purple castle and when they entered, her interest only grew.
It was becoming very clear to her now that Rosan didn't just have a lot of money... he was completely loaded.
"How did you get a castle in here?" Zoro asked curiously.
The redhead touched one of his black walls with a hum. "I brought the materials and created a basic building. Then, I changed it into my image with Modification. It took me quite a while and energy and I had to learn how to create various types of buildings, but it was worth it."
That explained why he managed to repair Gosa so easily. The redhead technically knew how to create a castle...
"You told Nami about your Devil Fruit?" Zoro asked with a raised brow and Nami raised one too.
"You told Zoro?" She asked in return.
Rosan nodded at the duo. "I told Nami when we were on the way to Arlong Park. I told Zoro when we were on the way to Orange town. No one else besides Luffy knows about it in our crew but I'll tell Sanji about it soon."
They nodded before sweatdropping as they realized something.
"What about Usopp?"
"Would you trust Usopp with an important secret?" Rosan asked in return and they thought about it.
"I see your point…" They nodded in amusement. Usopp was probably not the best choice when it came to keeping secrets.
The group went downstairs (though they shot a curious look at the stairs that went up) and eventually stopped in front of a door.
It was rather stylish for a door, being pure black with Treasury embedded into it in royal purple and having similar purple roses dotting the entire frame.
"Pretty," Nami thought idly. Did Rosan design this? He had very good taste despite his partialness to black, purple and red.
When Rosan opened it, their jaws dropped to the floor and no matter what they tried, they couldn't close it.
"Holy shit," Nami and Zoro both whispered in disbelief.
Loaded didn't even begin to describe all the treasure they were currently looking at.
T-There was so much stuff. Gold, silver, jewels of all kinds, artifacts that couldn't have only come from the East Blue...
But that wasn't even half of it. Nami was pretty sure she died and went to heaven because the actual beri wasn't even there. It must have been sitting pretty in that massive safe in the back corner of the huge room. It spoke volumes of how much he had that he needed to actually have a whole separate area for it...
"I've been getting a bi-weekly allowance from a friend who runs an island since I was 9," he supplied, pointing at the vault full of beri he had mostly gotten from Fregate.
Aiko alone had given him enough money to never have to worry about expenses again. It had been going on for 15 years after all and she was leader of one of the most prestigious islands in the North Blue.
On the off chance that he ever did run out of money, his surrogate older sister would make sure it was filled back up, worrywart that she was.
"From a leader of an island... s-since you were 9?!" Nami gaped.
What the hell kind of connections did he have?! His sister was married to a queen... and she wasn't the one giving him all this money?!
Rosan nodded before gazing at the contents of the room.
"This is the treasure I got from doing various things, mostly stealing. I've amassed quite the collection over the years but most of the things I find, I give away," he gestured towards the large stack of objects ranging from silver, gold and all sorts of other gems neatly sorted by his diligence.
"You're hoarding is unhealthy and if you didn't give away so much things we'd have talked about it by now."
"How is me collecting things unhealthy?"
"Just the fact that you've downplayed it already with that sentence, tells me that you will be purposefully ignorant with me. There are moments when Ragnarok's influence really shines through."
His mother worried about the stupidest things. Hoarding? Really? What next, she was going to complain about how he should spend all their money in one go because he was hoarding too much?
Ridiculous.
Mod let out the most long suffering sigh in a while and it nearly made the redhead crack a smile. "I truly do you hate you sometimes, Rosan."
"I love you too, Mod-chan."
Nami could now why Rosan didn't give a single damn about giving her 100 million beri. That must have been nothing to him at all and she had to wonder...
"You could have easily bought one of the nicest ships on the planet but yet you went through the trouble of getting us the Going Merry for free… Why?" She asked, gazing at the redhead in confusion.
The Going Merry was pleasant but with his money, Rosan could probably get a ship 10x better (no exaggeration) then their little caravel. Why didn't he? Was it because he was so lowkey? Humble was the absolute last word she'd describe the redhead as but he did go around claiming to be a humble scout...
"I only spoil Luffy to a certain degree," Rosan admitted shamelessly.
They sweatdropped at his admittance.
"It's his privilege as the youngest. I will use my money to buy food and supplies that we need, but a ship is different. This is my money and not Luffy's. I wanted him to gain a ship without me needing to buy it and he doesn't want to overly rely on me. Kami knows he did it enough when we were kids."
So Rosan just didn't want to make it too easy for their captain…
Zoro nodded in respect at that. It made a lot of sense and he supported that decision wholeheartedly. An easy journey was no fun and they'd never accomplish their dreams by solely relying on the resourceful redhead.
"I knew you had money but this it too much," Nami awed. She was pretty sure if he put even half of this on the ship, they'd sink. The fact that he even showed them his treasury just showed that the redhead actually warmed up to them!
"I don't mind if we handle the funds together. It's less work for me and despite your unnatural greed, you are the most trustworthy with money," Rosan said bluntly, much to her annoyance. "You ask me for a certain amount, give me a good reason and I'll give you the money. In return... hone your thieving abilities and steal interesting things for me when you see the opportunity. I've suddenly gained an interest in hoarding."
"We are going to have a talk tonight about your sassy attitude."
"All that talking will get in the way of the massage I planned on giving you."
"Nice try. I'll be talking while you give me that massage!"
"We'll see about that. You've fallen asleep during every single massage I've given you."
Mod pouted angrily at his accurate observation. She couldn't help but fall asleep... they felt very nice and Rosan learned from Akemi how to give a proper massage due to how harshly they trained!
It helped out with their sore bodies and Mod learned that his rather gentle hands felt very nice! Even Ram enjoyed the massages and that girl had her mind on one thing only.
Nami nodded in agreement at that arrangement. That was a fantastic deal, especially considering this was his personal treasury. She was a pretty damn good thief too and this was a great incentive to keep honing her skills.
Huh... was that his plan? Was he helping her increase her abilities and using money as a motivator?
Conniving redhead... No wonder Kuro got outplayed so thoroughly.
The redhead walked up and opened the massive door to the vault for them. "Now take the amount you need for supplies and the new swords. Don't worry about paying me back, just make sure it doesn't go to waste." Rosan waved them off and closed his eyes.
It didn't take them long to get the proper amount (something Nami had way too much fun doing) and soon they were making their way out of his treasury.
They began gazing curiously at the castle in general, taking in all the sights, and noted just how neat everything was. Rosan was surprisingly diligent because there were no signs of dirt anywhere!
The predominantly black, with a hint of purple, color of the castle looked fantastic and Nami had to wonder if the redhead was naturally this stylish. Nothing in here looked cheap (quite the opposite) and it seemed to maximize comfort too.
Though, it honestly didn't look like any of this was for Rosan besides the color scheme. It had a woman's touch to it that Nami could see from a mile away...
Who worked on this castle with him? She had an inkling that he didn't do it alone...
"What's up the stairs by the way?" The navigator asked curiously.
She and Zoro couldn't help but tense as Rosan's neutral gaze suddenly turned piercing. His face never changed but his eyes... they looked alert.
They looked alive.
They looked dangerous.
He seemed to catch himself and that alertness vanished after he closed his eyes for a second, replaced by the apathy that they were used to. "Something important to only me. There is nothing up there of convenience so you'll never go."
It was curt and to the point and so, they didn't push the issue further. They knew the redhead wouldn't go into detail and if they prodded, he'd probably change his mind and refuse to bring them here again.
Hell, based on that look in his eyes, he might even attack them.
The two released a breath they didn't know they were holding and just nodded in unison.
"Since you're dealing with the money, you'll have to come here a lot, Nami. I hope you get used to things quickly," Rosan said softly.
Nami groaned in misery and the redhead just pat her head. She was too downtrodden to even remove it.
Nothing was ever simple with Rosan.
"I'm off to the execution stand!" Luffy said, already dashing off to some location because there was no way he knew where the execution stand was.
"I'll get some cooking ingredients," Sanji muttered to himself. He rubbed his chin and thought about what he would need.
Nami had given him quite a hefty amount of sums to get food and simply said not to hold back because "Some people eat way too much," plus he wanted to see if there were some new ingredients here he could try out for his dishes.
"I'll go exploring and then I'll head off to mock the execution stand," Rosan said, walking at a moderate pace and disappearing into the crowd.
Making fun of Roger seemed like a fun thing to do. How sad that he wasn't there to see his father get executed... unfortunately, he doubted anyone would bring a 2 year old...
"What do you mean by mock the execution stand?!" Nami asked in disbelief, watching him disappear into the town at a lazy pace. Seriously, he was so rude sometimes! Couldn't he have even a bit of respect?
"Guess I'll go buy those swords," Zoro mused, grinning excitedly at the prospect of sparring with Rosan. The redhead claimed that he wasn't swordsman but he certainly was proficient with them. He wouldn't be surprised if the weapons expert was the best sword user in the four seas.
He certainly was a contender for one of the strongest here in general.
"Wait you two! We haven't even decided where... we're gonna meet up... yet..." Usopp trailed off, watching the two brothers vanish with an exasperated expression. "Can anyone tell those two what to do?"
"Nope, I've tried," Nami said in complete monotone. She told Rosan not to cause any trouble back at Cocoyashi and the redhead assured her that he wouldn't... only to cause the most chaos they've ever had along with his equally infuriating captain. Those two just amplified each other's chaotic tendencies and trouble seemed to revolve around them...
They were utterly insufferable.
"No matter what Rosan tells you, they were made for each other," the navigator sighed tiredly.
Usopp glanced at her in sympathy and patted her shoulder.
Rosan idly bit into a green apple, as he observed the town. He tossed a coin and some extra to the vendor and accepted the bag full of more of the apples before walking deeper into the town, waving offhandedly at the man thanking him profusely.
"What do you think about the place where your father was born?"
"I have no opinion on such a mundane place. It's a town. I much prefer Celadon and Fregate's aesthetic due to how immersed in greenery they are. Celadon especially has super fresh fruits because of Maro. We should tell Sanji to stop buying fruits and just let me get them."
Mod giggled softly and said nothing. Rosan was being quite spiteful without realizing it, writing off this town without giving it a chance and eyeing everything with a critical gaze.
A normal town like this would never be able to compare to Celadon or Fregate and he should know that better then anyone but he was still comparing them. It was so childish of him and she loved it.
The redhead polished off his current apple and placed the stem in the bag. He'd probably modify it into something later for fun and no one liked a litterer so he'd be a nice upstanding civilian.
The redhead took out another apple from the bag and he was about to take a bite but paused before doing so.
"You're still following me?" Rosan asked, not glancing back as he finished biting into the apple.
There were always eyes on him when he was in a town but these almost never left his person and had been following him since he separated from his crew. That wasn't completely out of the norm. He had been followed before by both men and women who were attracted to him but they would have gathered the courage to speak to him by now.
Now was as good as time as any to verify if they needed to die or not.
"So you noticed me this entire time?" A sultry voice mused, making Mod groan internally.
"I wish you could be left alone for even one day."
Rosan didn't recognize it so he turned to face his fan of the day.
She was quite beautiful, very tall, barely inching him out, slim with dark green eyes and long, wavy black hair. She had on a white cowboy hat, tight Capri-length pants and a cape-like, pink cloak with red hearts on it that covered her torso.
Her painted red lips were curled up at him, seemingly enjoying being checked out by the redhead and relishing in his attention.
"What business do you have with me?" Rosan asked, tilting his head and leveling his even gaze on her. After a moment, he took an apple out of his bag and offered it to her questioningly.
Was she homeless and hungry? He doubted it... most women with her beauty would be picked up by a man by now.
Perhaps she was expecting him to do it...
No, he wasn't interested in picking up anymore strays.
The woman faltered a bit, surprise on her features and she dumbly accepted the fruit. After a few seconds though, a smirk made its way back onto her face.
Slowly, confidently, the tall stranger made a show of sensually biting into the juicy apple, staring into his eyes all the while and licked the juice off her lips slowly, eyes gleaming as his eyes never left her person.
Rosan was sure he heard more then a few male gasps at the sight and he was also sure that growling noise was not his imagination, but his feral Devil Fruit.
"What business do I have? Are you some type of big shot now? Don't even recognize me?" She asked with a confident smirk, satisfied with her performance.
She expected him to be unfazed by her beauty, considering his reaction last time they met but he didn't even recognize her? Wasn't he quite the arrogant one!
"Am I supposed to? My apologies but I don't think I've ever seen you before. I have good memory so I wouldn't just forget you either."
"?" Rosan's puzzlement reached both of his inhabitants.
"My best bet is that she is possibly one of the girls that you've… had… intercourse with and I shut off the connection whenever that happens. I don't know her identity either and I would really rather not have to dig through your memories to find out."
"Yeah I'm not trying to see you have sex! That's gross, Father."
"Ram... please don't be so crude!"
"Aww is Auntie too embarrassed to say sex? Don't worry I'll get you used to it!"
"Please don't —"
"Sex sex sex sex se — O-Ow! What the hell?! I was trying to help you!"
"I didn't need it and watch your language."
"You are so much ruder than you look!"
Rosan didn't think that was it. He would remember someone taller than him (years of being short did this to a person). They definitely did not get physical because it would be hard to forget having sex with a person taller then him and he especially had good memory when it came to remembering people.
He took the time to inspect their features again while racking his brain and she soaked in the attention.
No, he had nothing. This was an entirely new person.
The redhead took out another apple and turned away from her, walking to the execution platform.
The lady gawked as she watched the redhead put more distance between them. "W-Where do you think you're going?!"
"I think you should go to a hospital. We've never met before," Rosan replied, finishing his apple and pulling out another one.
Her confident smirk was gone now, replaced by a rather irritated frown.
"Never met?! Maybe you aren't as smart as I thought you were! I may have lost my freckles but I look practically the same!" She barked in annoyance.
Rosan paused as he heard that and his brain finally began involving Devil Fruits in his search.
Could it be… freckles and a cowboy hat? But that was impossible. The hat was all different and so was the personality... and the appearance.
Unless... no, in a world full of Devil Fruits that was definitely possible. Limiting his mind would do him no favors.
But no... did they perhaps have some type of fruit that enhanced a person's lewdness... that's the only way he could see this working...
Well, time to see.
He turned around slowly and stared at the person again just to make sure he really didn't know them.
He didn't.
Rosan took a small breath and glanced at the woman before slowly saying—
"...Ace?"
...
...
...
"Pftttt Kahahahaha!" Ram burst out laughing and fell on the floor, clutching her stomach as her high pitched laughter rang through the air and she crashed into a wall from the rolling. "Oh Kami, my stomach hurts! A-Auntie help, I can't breathe! Father is too much for me!"
Oh there was no way everyone wasn't going to learn about this and Ace would be horrified to learn this himself.
The Devil Fruit herself fared no better by his conclusion. She could only blink owlishly as her features remained stunned.
"I… I can see why your… mind makes you a more creative user of Modification than me," Mod mumbled, actually scratching her purple head. It sort of made sense, considering Ace was probably the only people he knew with freckles and a cowboy hat but was that really his first guess?
"...You never know? Last time I saw his bounty he was still male and had a Logia but maybe he met a Devil Fruit user that could change genders and enhance his hormones to unreasonable levels?" Rosan pondered. It wasn't that far fetched… he could transform himself after all.
The only problem, was how blatantly this woman was flirting with him, which was why he thought the person increased Ace's hormones and by extension, his lewdness. His little brother would actually prefer dying then acting like this he was pretty sure.
No, he was definitely sure he'd prefer dying. Actually, Ace might kill him if he learns about this.
"No! Who the hell is —" The annoyed woman cut herself off with a deep breath, grabbing her head. "To think the first man who managed to defeat me, would be so dumb. Perhaps I made a mistake developing feelings for you."
"Defeated? Feelings?"
So they fought before… The only woman he had attacked so far that lived had been Izumi, Kaori and —
"No fucking way," Ram gaped, absolutely not accepting it for a second. The ring sobered up so quickly, it was almost like she wasn't laughing before.
There was no way this was who she thought it was. That was impossible!
"I find that a bit harder to believe then this person being Ace," Mod laughed disbelievingly.
"Are you "Iron Mace" Alvida?" Rosan asked bluntly, tilting his head to the side and gauging her reaction.
She finally smirked in confirmation, pleased with his discovery.
"How was I ever going to figure that out? She said all that changed was that she lost her freckles but she's practically become a new person…" Rosan thought to himself.
The woman was very clearly delusional about her appearance to a worrying degree.
Last time he saw her, she had been obese and foul tempered, housing an unnecessary amount of aggression and confidence.
Now she was soft spoken, relaxed, seductive and most obviously, not obese, though she still carried that unreal confidence but he guessed it was a tad warranted now.
"It's about time, you were beginning to disappoint me," Alvida complained, stepping closer to Rosan and pausing for a moment as those dual eyes of his bore into her.
"The lack of freckles really threw me for a loop. Makes you look like a whole new person," he replied dryly. "What do you want? Revenge? If you do, just know I'll kill you this time. I don't like having loose ends to clean up."
She withheld a shudder at that simple, cruel statement and smiled coyly instead. "I'm not here for a fight. Tell me, who's the most beautiful woman in all the seas?"
"Auntie Mod!" Ram gushed, hugging the flustered woman.
"Nonsense! It's clearly Rosan's female form," Mod blushed, dearly hoping her plan to divert the attention off of her worked.
"OH! YOU'RE TOTALLY RIGHT! I forgot how much of a hottie she was! How can you even move with all those curves?!" the weapon gasped, thinking of Rosan's transformation. She would surely give Auntie Mod a run for her money if people knew of her.
"I don't know," Rosan replied to both her and the voices in his head, turning around and walking away. He didn't count his female form and Mod-chan didn't have a real life form yet.
Maybe it was Angel then if they considered his female form the most beautiful. She did look like him after all with a good amount of differences but none took away from her beauty.
The world was a pretty big place though, so he couldn't be too sure. If she were only asking about the Four Seas, he'd have a more set answer but he didn't know anyone in the Grand Line so he didn't know the answer.
He wasn't surprised to hear footsteps following after him and a voice yelling out wait but he didn't feel like stopping anymore and he finished all his apples...
How unfortunate, Maro's apples were much larger, healthier and tastier too. The Dokkaebi's personal garden probably had the best fruits he ever tried. Sanji would love them.
Speaking of which...
"Oh, Rosan!" Sanji called, greeting his crewmate and making the redhead stop.
"Sanji, have you gotten what you needed?" Rosan asked as he inclined his head at their chef.
"More or less… I was just looking for the most beautiful woman I've ever seen! She was about this tall, with a white hat and a large cloak. Have you seen her?"
Rosan was about to answer that, yes he had seen that exact person just moments ago, but Alvida chose that moment to catch up with him.
"It's rude to leave a woman behind when she's talking to you. I can respect playing hard to get but you're pushing it," the pirate scowled, glaring at the redhead.
"Aren't you a little too comfortable talking to me right now? Surely you remember our last encounter so I have no clue why you're so confident. What makes you think you can handle me now?" Rosan retorted quietly.
"Things have changed since back then, Red."
"That won't change anything. Even a Devil Fruit won't help you but you're welcomed to try."
The smirk was back on Alvida's face as she gazed at the redhead close to her in height. "Hm. No, I'm not interested in that just yet. You're headed to the execution platform right? I'll come with you and we can handle our business after in a more private area."
Rosan tilted his head at her, expression not changing even once as he gazed at the harmless enemy. "You talk to me like we're friends... Fine, do what you want. I don't really care. I'm sure you're aware of the difference in our skills but I'll entertain you for now."
To the two, it was obvious that they were talking about. But to Sanji's perverted ears, their topic of discussion was totally different and he could only watch with a dropped jaw, as they walked away.
Together.
Last encounter?! P-Private area?! B-Business?! Difference in skills... ENTERTAIN?!
Rosan and this woman already met before and the redhead had won in their encounter?
That ungrateful dog! How could he leave such a beautiful woman behind?! She went out of her way to pursue him and he was just treating her like some insect?!
What the hell was wrong with him?! Woman practically threw themselves at him but he was too cool to accept?! Did his years as Reaper affect his perception of the female gender?!
It should have been him!
"Don't you want to know about my Devil Fruit? How did you even know I ate one?" Alvida asked curiously. Was the loss of her freckles that big of an indicator?
The redhead didn't even glance at her. He just continued to walk at a leisurely pace. "I don't question my enemies unless I'm torturing them."
"Kinky. I ate the Sube Sube no Mi so now I'm a smooth woman. You aren't slightly curious about my infatuation with you?"
"I don't date my enemies… Or anyone for that matter."
"Charming. You must be quite the heart breaker but I'm infatuated with you because you're the first man who defeated me. You won't question why I'm here?"
"If I had to guess, you've teamed up with Buggy to assassinate my captain?"
Alvida felt herself freeze completely and the look of confidence on her face vanished in a flash. She finally began looking at Rosan like the threat he was and she confusedly asked, "H-How do you know that? You didn't even know who I was before!"
The redhead spoke like he was talking of the weather and he didn't even stop his lazy stride. There was no hint of inflection in his tone, no pause in his step, no change in his demeanor as he calmly exposed her plan. It was almost like he didn't mention it.
He just continued to walk with a quiet assuredness, somehow managing to have no presence despite being so imposing.
He was a living paradox. A contradiction to a normal person.
An anomaly.
"You shouldn't question your enemies unless you're torturing them," Rosan advised, glancing at her with a face she was beginning to realize didn't change.
His little blue bird noticed a group of disguised folks running around the island searching for something and decided to follow them since they were the most interesting things around. He wouldn't have known who it was, if not for the massive lion that was apart of the group.
Honestly, why even bother with disguises if you were going to have such a distinctive creature?
He figured Alvida had formed some sort of alliance with them the moment he learned her identity and she seemed like the most competent of that idiot group so he kept her in his sights.
Rosan suddenly whirled and closed the distance between the two.
Alvida, shocked by his sudden movement, instinctively stepped away from him until her back hit the wall there and she gazed at the redhead with wide eyes.
She was trapped...
To onlookers, it looked like a romantic gesture but it was anything but. He leaned in close to the shocked pirate so that he could whisper in her ear and gazed calmly as his hand seemed to slip off her body.
"You act far too confident for someone who got knocked out in one hit. If you really think your Devil Fruit can save you, you'll find out just how large the gap between us truly is in your final moments. I'm not sure what your perception of me exactly is, but you might find out what I'll do to an enemy who doesn't have any sense."
His voice was soft and gentle and it contrasted his violent sentence so greatly, that her eyes turned into pinpricks.
It must have looked like the handsome man was whispering something sweet to her but they didn't know anything.
Despite threatening her in broad daylight, he manipulated everyone watching into thinking otherwise. So terrified was she, the woman didn't even think to activate her Devil Fruit in case she set him off, evidenced by the fact that he stroked her cheek to keep up appearances.
What a terrifying person. Alvida realized at that moment she knew absolutely nothing about the first person to defeat her and maybe it should have stayed that way.
He stepped back and held out his hand for her to grab. "Come. You're stuck with me for now until this situation is dealt with. I gave you many chances to get out but this is what your infatuation gets you. Next time choose wisely who you pursue, I'm one of the worst choices."
Alvida shakily grabbed the offered hand and seemed to finally realize what she got herself into. Rosan had not been this dangerous when they first met, content to throw just a few insults and letting his captain direct things before he knocked her unconscious.
The redhead hummed. "I don't think I have to say this, but don't act suspicious or else. You won't escape from me and if you tip anyone off, you'll figure out that I carry out my threats thoroughly."
Maybe the presence of that Luffy was a blessing in disguise when it came to this psychotic redhead. His clear naivety and general joy must have worked wonders to tame the monster within this man.
He was a lurking demon, one that only seemed to unleash when not in the presence of his crew.
They walked hand in hand to the execution stand and his warning of acting suspicious, rang clear through her head and stopped her from doing anything rash.
Idly, she could hear jealous men and women muttering things under their breath.
"Lucky bastard," one man grunted, glancing longingly at Alvida.
"Lucky bitch," one woman complained to her equally annoyed friend, both greedily eyeing Rosan.
Somehow, Alvida thought that luck only applied to her and not in the way they thought.
When the two finally arrived to the execution platform, the action was well underway and by that, he meant that Luffy's head was currently being shackled to the platform and the stupid clown was about to execute him.
"How does he always get himself in these situations?" Rosan muttered, tilting his head as his eyes began glowing.
This wouldn't do. Luffy dying in the East Blue would be less than ideal. Luffy dying in the same area his deadbeat father died in would be doubly bad.
"It's too late for you to save him," Alvida said, shaking her head. "It looks like Buggy is actually going to get his revenge."
That... Suddenly that didn't sound promising for her... If Straw Hat died here, w-what would this man do to her? She had the strangest inkling, that not a single soul would escape him if his captain died and he spoke of torture before like it were a hobby...
She dearly hoped Straw Hat survived this.
"You think so?" Rosan asked softly.
Zoro and Sanji were here as well and it was storming. He ignored the heavy raindrops that seemed to get stronger by the second and gazed up at his incapacitated captain, eyes narrowed slightly.
"Oh! Rosan, Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Usopp!" Luffy beamed at his crew with a large grin. It was almost like he didn't register what was about to happen to him.
"Sorry, I'm dead!" He grinned.
Rosan's eyes began mimicking the sun.
Alvida gasped in surprise, at the sight of the redhead vanishing from his spot, only to appear right in front of Buggy.
One thing Rosan was pleased to have achieved over the years, was his ability to skip out on entering the Pocket Dimension to access the Save Point.
It had a condition of course, that being he could only do it quickly to the point closest to him (the others require plenty of concentration which meant more time), but since the one closest to him was his idiot of a brother who always found himself in dangerous situations, it was perfect.
"I didn't say you could die yet, Luffy. I'd be in a lot of trouble if I let my little brother die," Rosan muttered, getting ready to put a hole in Buggy's skull.
"I knew you'd save me!" Luffy laughed, despite admitting he was dead earlier.
"Y-You! Redhead!" Buggy shrieked in surprise. Where did he come from?! Didn't Alvida say she was going to deal with him?! H-How was he so fast?
"Me," Rosan said, holding up his gloved hands and aiming it directly at the clown. "I knew I should have pursued and killed you. I never did like clowns. They're just stupid and embarrassing."
Before his attack could unleash and kill the clown for good, the smell of raw ozone began to fill his sensitive nose and he felt the hairs on his skin go sharp in warning.
A very clear warning.
He chanced a glance at Buggy and confirmed that he was in fact holding metal.
In the air.
During a storm.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Mod moaned sadly.
"I wonder if Luffy is super lucky, or you're just really unlucky," Ram giggled.
"At least I'm used to getting shocked," Rosan joked darkly. Seems that Doc really was setting him up nicely for the future. Most of the things that would hurt normally, he barely registered because of the man.
How touching of him.
Every onlooker could only watch in disbelief, as the sky split apart with a shrill scream and a shrieking blast of lightning crashed into the platform with a thunderous roar, hitting every person on it and sending it crashing to the floor.
The world lit up brightly, forcing the awed spectators to shield their eyes until it settled down.
After what felt like an eternity, a lone straw hat floated down and landed gently in front of a completely unharmed (besides the damaged outfit) Luffy. The rubber boy grinned cheerfully and picked it up, placing it back on his head.
"Wow! I'm still alive!" He laughed.
"You got me struck by lightning because you're so stupid. I think it's time we pick up on your training again so you understand the benefits of keeping your guard up," a bland voice interrupted his cheer and the rubber boy shuddered in genuine fear.
Rosan glanced down curiously at his scorched skin and hummed.
So Luffy was immune to lightning. He found it quite funny that the thing used to torture him the most, was completely ineffective against his younger brother.
Good, he never wanted anyone in his family to suffer like he had.
Getting hit by lightning was not a pleasant experience. An unconscious Buggy, skin steaming with dangerous burns, could attest to that.
"Are you alright?" Luffy asked worriedly, glancing at his brother's blistering body. He would be fine but that probably didn't feel good at all.
Everyone watched in fascinated disgust, as his burned body began to somehow steam even more only to begin peeling to make room for new, undamaged layers of bronze skin. It took them a long while to realize he was actually patching himself up and soon, even the steam from the lightning vanished, leaving the stone faced redhead unblemished.
"I probably could grow a limb back," the redhead mused to himself with a tilted head. He placed a palm flat on his outfit and began repairing it with Modification. Soon, he was as good as new and it didn't look like he had been struck by literal lightning.
"M-Monsters…" The crowd whispered in terror.
"W-What the fuck is he?" Alvida thought in genuine horror. No one could just heal from that. No one should heal like that.
It was dawning on her that he could probably kill her at anytime and just chose not to for whatever twisted reason his mind could come up with.
She just watched the both of them get struck by lightning and while the rubber boy was seemingly unaffected, Rosan had very clearly taken brutal damage b-but his body had just… it just shed the damage off and put him in mint condition.
But that wasn't the most unnerving thing. Don't get her wrong, it was disturbing to witness and honestly a bit nauseating but the most terrifying thing?
The fact that his demeanor never even once changed still. The fact that much like earlier, he was treating this whole thing like it was just another day. She heard Buggy's scream as the lightning crashed into them but Rosan didn't make even a peep.
No matter how much she looked at him, he was unchanging from his ways. He was still standing with that assured confidence, he still had no presence, he still had that infuriatingly neutral expression on his face and he still spoke in that damn tone of his. The tone that had no interest in it, no anger, joy, sadness.
Nothing. Gazing at the redhead felt no different then staring at nothing itself. How could something like this exist...?
Was he some kind of demon?
Alvida couldn't dwell on it for long, because Marines were swarming into the plaza and she needed to get out of here lest she get captured.
"Do you get it now?" A voice muttered next to her.
She froze in genuine terror, heart stopping for a split second as she looked into that utterly expressionless gaze. A gaze that reminded her of the depths of the ocean. A gaze that reminded her hat this man was no different from the void.
There was no shine in his gaze. Just an unnatural blankness that reminded her that this person wasn't normal. She was hard pressed to even call him a person.
"Ignorance is bliss, isn't it? The more you learn about a certain person, the less you wish you knew. Try not to poke a sleeping dragon too much," Rosan whispered, before he walked off to go catch up with his retreating crew.
"Have a nice day, Iron Mace Alvida."
Alvida let out a shuddering breath and distantly realized that she was clutching her chest. She glanced warily at his retreating back, noting that he still didn't seem to be in any rush.
That man— No, that monster wasn't something that could be comprehended by the average person. It was foolish of her to act so confident around such a terrifying entity.
He was completely immune to her beauty unlike all these other men and made it clear that it wouldn't save her. She could only thank the lucky stars that he had decided to not kill her. She didn't know why he didn't, but trying to understand that thing was a hopeless cause.
Now, she needed to focus on escaping these Marines.
Shaking her head of those unnerving thoughts, Alvida activated her Sube Sube no mi abilities and slid off.
Now that the pirates had been dealt with, that left one last obstacle.
That Marine Captain... Smoker. He was the one in charge around here and Rosan hadn't encountered him yet.
It's not like he was strong or anything but one glaring detail made him troublesome.
His Logia Devil Fruit.
If it was anything remotely related to his name, the amount of cigarettes he smoked at once and his gray hair (Did Logia's change a person's appearance too? He'd have to look into that...), they were no doubt dealing with a smoke man.
"Any natural counters to smoke?" Rosan asked.
"Wind?" Mod offered.
He couldn't manipulate wind yet. How unfortunate. Looks like it was escape time. He didn't really fancy escaping from someone weaker then him but such was the price of having no counter to intangibility.
Rosan continued his pace as the rain got heavier and heavier and he sighed at the pleasant feeling. Despite how heavy the rain was, it felt wonderful on his skin. Sure, his family hated when he allowed himself to just remain in downpours, calling him a "Brooding, wet, idiot," but he couldn't help it.
He missed his rainforest themed Mindscape. If only he could forcefully transform it back.
His inner musing was cut short as a figure appeared in their line of sight, wielding a sword and glaring at them.
"Hey who's that pretty lady?!" Sanji swooned in the middle of his running.
"Hm?" Zoro grunted before his eyes narrowed in annoyance.
"RORONOA ZORO!" The woman called out, glaring at him with fury in her eyes. "I didn't realize you were him and a pirate to boot… you were mocking me back then and I won't stand for it!"
"We don't have time for this," Rosan said softly, holding out his hand to blast her out of the way... or into dust. "Whatever problems you have with Zoro, deal with them after we've departed."
Before his glove could even begin glowing the redhead suddenly tilted his head back to avoid the kick aimed at him and glanced at the offender with a blank expression.
"Don't just go attacking a pretty lady like that, shitty redhead!" Sanji barked warningly. He knew that Rosan was more than willing to kill a person and he'd be damned if the scout killed a woman in front of him.
Idol be damned, he wouldn't let anyone compromise his values.
"Who the fuck does he think he is?!" Ram snarled in disbelief.
Rosan didn't blink as he softly said, "Sanji… if you ever stop me from doing something again, I'll show you why that's a terrible idea and do it to you instead. Don't test me."
"I could say the same thing," the chef said resolutely.
The two eyed each other down for a long moment before the swordsman interrupted their altercation.
"Relax, you guys go ahead and let me deal with her," Zoro grunted. The last thing they needed was for a fight between these two to break out in the middle of this freak storm.
Rosan finally took his eyes off the chef and simply nodded, moving past the two with a simple, "Don't get lost."
They left the two behind and kept on running, only to run into the one actual issue on the island.
"You aren't getting off this island, Straw Hat," Captain Smoker grunted, outstretching his arms for an attack.
"White Fist!"
Luffy and Rosan leapt out of the way of the attack but Sanji was too slow, getting slammed into a wall as a result and groaning at the pain.
"Sanji!" Luffy called out in worry before rounding on the Marine in anger. "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"
To Luffy's surprise, his fist went right through the man and Smoker took full advantage of that, materializing behind the rubber boy and pinning him to the floor immediately.
"Like I thought. He's not strong but his fruit makes him a nuisance," Rosan mused.
"Are you really worth 30 million? How disappointing," Smoker sighed pinning his face onto the floor. "Looks like your devil's luck has run out."
"Don't be so sure about that."
Smoker froze at the unknown voice and glanced up warily, freezing in the process.
Rosan had been about to grab Luffy and Sanji so that he could fly them out of here, when a surprise presence made itself known.
The redhead actually blinked.
"Is that…"
"Monkey D. Dragon," Mod finished, eyes slightly wide in confusion.
What was he doing here? Had he been keeping tabs on Luffy? For how long had this been going on?
Perhaps he never wanted to leave Luffy behind if he was worried enough to come all the way over to the East Blue. Rosan supposed living a life as the son of the world's most wanted man could be difficult.
"Who is that?!" Luffy mumbled, unable to see due to currently eating cement. The rubber boy wiggled fruitlessly but was unable to free himself no matter what he tried.
Smoker's eyes widened in disbelief at what he was looking.
Seriously, now of all time?!
"You… the government wants your head!"
What on Earth was the leader of the Revolutionaries doing in East Blue?! The world's most wanted man... Dragon the Revolutionary.
Dragon simply grinned. "The world is waiting for our answer."
As soon as he finished speaking, a massive gust of wind blew in through the town and swept anything and everything away. Marines were tossed back by the vicious winds and not even Smoker was spared, smoky form truly being countered by the powerful breeze.
The winds died down and soon, the only ones left in the area were Dragon and Rosan.
"Did he do that?" Rosan wondered, glancing at the world's most wanted man with a tilted head. Why didn't he get blown away along with everyone else? Perhaps the revolutionary wanted to speak to him.
Well, according to his Save Point, Luffy and the others should be on the ship soon so that was a plus.
He supposed he could spare some time to speak to the man.
"It's been a while, Dragon. What's the occasion?" He greeted politely.
"Rosan." Dragon nodded in respect. "I wasn't aware that you were also joining Luffy's pirate crew."
"He was the first to ask and I have no interest in leading my own crew," Rosan replied softly.
Dragon raised a brow at that.
"Were you all planning on being pirates?" The head of the revolutionaries asked curiously.
"That was the plan before Sabo died. All 4 of us planned on becoming pirates and he wanted to be a captain of his own ship. I never did thank you for watching over him when I entrusted you but that probably doesn't matter anymore," Rosan explained quietly, idly tugging at his damp hair matting itself to his head.
Perhaps he'd stand on the top of the ship while it stormed like this. This was fine weather to sing a song to.
Dragon's face morphed into confusion for only a split second before he quickly came to a realization and the man's face turned grave instead.
Rosan tensed at the look in his eyes, wondering if the man heard something that suddenly made them enemies.
"I'm still watching over him, you know," the world's most wanted man told him.
…
"What did he just say?" Mod said softly, not quite believing her ears.
Rosan felt the whole world freeze around him at hearing the words that just came out of Dragon's mouth and he regarded the man he met 10 years ago with a piercing gaze.
Did he mishear that? No, he couldn't possibly have misheard that. Rosan didn't just mishear things.
"What did you just say?" The redhead found himself saying, despite knowing what he heard... despite just telling himself he didn't mishear things.
It was just... What?
"I had no idea you thought he died and that's my mistake for not verifying with you. Sabo is alive and he's currently apart of the revolutionaries."
Rosan couldn't explain his thoughts currently. They were all running a mile a minute and nothing made sense to him.
Sabo was… alive? After 10 years? He was just now finding out his brother was still living and breathing?
Was this some type of sick joke? Rosan did not play with death.
"Why hasn't he reached out to us?" The redhead questioned, resolving to hunt this man down at all costs if he found out he was lying.
"He has severe amnesia from taking damage to his head, to the point where he couldn't even remember his name. When I mentioned all three of your names, he only shook his head in confusion and said he knew nothing about you all. He refused to come back to Goa for any reason and I respected his decision," Dragon explained grimly.
Dragon only knew his name because of Rosan himself and the fact that he had it embedded in his shirt. After treating the blonde and understanding that he wanted nothing to do with his home, he heeded Rosan's request and watched over him, personally training him up.
"Amnesia to the point where he can't even remember his own name?" Mod whispered in horror. The Devil Fruit was left staggered at the information they were receiving and her eyes were narrowed in worry at what damage poor Sabo must have sustained.
"Why have I never seen mention of him… anywhere? You are the world's most wanted man and you speak of him highly so how don't we have any idea who he is?"
Dragon nodded at the logical question. "We revolutionaries don't make our work very public. Sabo, despite being my Chief of Staff, mostly deals with covert missions where his identity is not in jeopardy."
Rosan hummed at that.
"If that's the case, why are you telling me? Even despite being my brother, this could jeopardize your army."
The revolutionary simply grinned. "I told you didn't I? You can consider me an ally and it was obvious to me how much you cared for Sabo. I apologize for not telling you sooner but our campaign has left me busy and I didn't know you all thought he died."
So Dragon considered him an ally... It was a good thing he hadn't been hostile to Luffy's father else he might have never learned of Sabo's real fate from the man.
His little brother was alive but he had amnesia… That was troublesome but it was better than being dead. It meant there was hope he could remember.
It didn't him very long to come to an obvious decision. "Can I see him? I don't care if he doesn't remember me… I just would like to see him in the flesh," Rosan requested softly.
The leader of the revolutionaries didn't even hesitate in his reply. It seemed he truly did consider himself an ally to the redhead and Rosan was beginning to respect that.
"Of course. He's currently on a mission so I will contact you with details and we can arrange a meetup."
"That sounds good to me," Rosan nodded. "...Thank you, Dragon."
Dragon simply grinned that signature grin of his and waved off the rare show of gratitude from the redhead. "Don't be too disappointed if he doesn't remember you. Here, I'll call you."
"I won't," the redhead said and he accepted the Den Den Mushi out of the man's hand. "Now, I need to go to my crew before they think something happened."
With that, the redhead vanished, leaving the revolutionary alone.
Dragon watched the redhead disappear and recalled his son's declaration and grinned. "Pirate King? If that's your decision then go. Go change the world!"
The thunder crackled with his words and the man gazed in the direction Luffy flew at.
"Will you tell Luffy?"
"Not yet. I want to see him first and if he really does have amnesia, Luffy will overwhelm him. It won't do any good to get the hopes up of anyone in our family after so long."
"I just… I can't believe he's alive after all these years. It's a little hard to fathom and honestly, I can't properly process it."
"That's why I have to see him. It's been 10 years and I thought he was dead but he's not? It's unexplainable."
"Just imagine how Robin will feel when she realizes you were alive this whole time."
"…" Rosan inhaled sharply at that
"I really messed up."
"We both did," Mod smiled sadly.
"That gust of wind sure helped us out," Buggy groaned in agony. They ended up getting captured by Smoker (mostly due to the fact that the lightning really messed him up) as they tried to escape but the sudden freak storm, managed to release them from their bindings and now they were sailing away from that cursed town.
"What will we do now, Buggy?" Alvida asked curiously.
"We'll set sail for the Grand Line. I still have business to settle with Straw Hat and the stupid redhead."
Normally Alvida would have been in agreement, but Buggy didn't seem to understand exactly how dangerous the redhead named Rosan was and she couldn't blame him.
After all, she only just learned that he was very capable of slaughtering them all and went in with unwarranted confidence.
He was not someone who's radar they should ever be on. It was even worse that they were trying to put themselves on it intentionally.
Despite her clear knowledge and terror of the scout, she couldn't help but be somewhat interested in him. Why did he choose to follow Straw Hat? He seemed more than capable of making his own crew and the two were polar opposites in personality. What did Straw Hat Luffy have that allowed him to control such a demon?
What was his Devil Fruit? No normal person could heal the way he had done after getting struck by lightning. He hadn't made any expression of discomfort and didn't even seem to register the pain he should have been in!
Why did he spare her? Was it merely on a whim? Alvida wasn't sure but to know that her being alive was a miracle... It terrified her.
She shuddered at that unnatural gaze in his eyes. The look that let her know that he barely considered her human or worth his time. That he was merely using this as some sort of game to entertain himself.
A large part of her didn't want to see that dangerous monster again but a small part, was quite fascinated by the enigma. She knew it was a terrible idea but there was something... captivating about the first man to defeat her.
Something otherworldly...
So Alvida said nothing that may make Buggy reconsider his decision and just remained silent, nodding her head in agreement at his plans.
"Rosan! We thought you got caught in the storm and feared the worst!" Nami exclaimed in worry.
After that freakish wind, more akin to a hurricane, hit, no one saw the redhead and they began to fear for the worst.
What if he got swept into the ocean? Was their scout currently in the middle of drowning? T-They didn't want that to happen!
They were unable to turn around due to the sea current but Luffy confidently told them to keep going.
"Something like this can't kill Rosan!" The rubber boy said confidently, not even looking remotely worried for his brother dammit!
The amount of faith the two had in each other was unreal!
"I saw something of interest and dealt with it," Rosan replied softly. "It would be shameful if I died to some storm. That's too anticlimactic for me."
They sweatdropped at that statement but couldn't help but agree with the redhead who's ego was way bigger then he made seem.
The group stopped worrying about the redhead after chewing him out a bit for taking too long to show up (in which he said, worry more about yourselves not me, much to their annoyance) and continued to set sail, relieved to have made it off that island.
"Hey look! There's a lighthouse!" Usopp pointed out.
Nami grinned excitedly. That lighthouse was the guiding light to the Grand Line! They were almost there!
Sanji smiled eagerly and brought out a barrel. "Let's launch a ceremony for us setting sail on the great ocean."
All the straw hats agreed and soon, they placed their foots on the barrel.
"You too, Rosan!" Luffy demanded, glaring petulantly at his brother who did not move from his spot.
Rosan tilted his head. Was his current goal really worth saying aloud?
Judging by their demanding looks, they thought so.
"You're outnumbered," Mod smiled gently.
"It looks that way," Rosan agreed, conceding and placing a foot on the barrel. They all grinned in satisfaction and began listing off their dreams.
"In order to find the All Blue!" Sanji smirked.
"In order to be King of the Pirates!" Luffy exclaimed.
"In order to be the World's Greatest Swordsman," Zoro grinned.
"In order to draw a map of the world!" Nami beamed.
"I-In order... to become a brave warrior of the sea!" Usopp stammered.
"...In order to find a reason to live," Rosan whispered.
"In order to make Father the strongest!" Ram shouted.
"In order to make Rosan happy," Mod resolved.
All their feet raised high into the air...
"WE'RE GOING TO THE GRAND LINE!"
"Yeah!"
...and broke the barrel under it.
"I cannot stress how stupid you all are," Rosan decided calmly. "Every single one of you with no exception."
Why was he insulting his crew?
Well, there was a very good reason for him to be doing so and that was because the idiots managed to sail straight into the Calm Belt.
Rosan, who just exited his mindscape due to the shrill screams of Nami, was giving both Mod-chan and Ram massages to start off the day.
While doing this, his crew were wisely discussing the oddity of Reverse Mountain and how it was needed to get into the Grand Line.
That wasn't worth insulting them about. In fact, Rosan would have praised them for actually doing something right for once.
Unfortunately, because Rosan had to do everything around here and because at the end of the day, his crew was full of idiots, no one thought to pay attention to where they were sailing.
Cue, them ending up in the almost certainly death inducing Calm Belt.
"I'm especially in awe at you, Nami. You actually know about the Calm Belt and how close it is to the Grand Line yet you still let this happen," the redhead chided.
She was the one he had the most faith in to keep things in order. If Nami weren't in the crew, he wouldn't allow himself the luxury to sleep in because then they'd be dead in no time at all.
Alas, seems like she could be just as hopeless.
"I'm sorry," Nami moaned sadly, holding her head in her hands at her mistake.
She didn't think she would ever be compared to the other idiots but the navigator guessed they infected her way faster then she expected. Now, the only other smart one probably thought she was an idiot too.
Dammit all.
The orange haired girl shook her head rapidly. "Now's not the time though! We need to get out of here before —"
Whatever she was saying, was cut off by the sight of Rosan turning and jogging off the ship without any hesitation. The redhead leapt clean over the railing and quickly vanished from their sights.
There was a stunned silence as they digested what just happened.
"WHAT THE HELL ROSAN?!" Usopp gaped at watching him leap overboard. Was he that mad at them? He'd just throw himself into the ocean? Just like that?!
W-Wasn't he a bit of a drama queen? Risking drowning just to accentuate how upset at them he was? He was nuts!
"What is he doing?!" Zoro asked with a raised brow, getting ready to dive after the Devil Fruit user.
He still didn't understand why Nami and Rosan were so upset right now. So they were in a place with no wind? They could just sail out of it until they found wind agai —
The ocean under them began trembling of all things, to the point where the Going Merry was being upheaved in time with the sudden waves.
They stumbled at the rocking of the ship and Usopp yelped as he fell flat on his ass.
"W-What's going on?!" The sniper balked, watching as the others tried to regain their footing to little success.
Every single straw hat froze in unison at the sudden emergence of some of the most massive sea kings they had ever seen. To make matters worse, the gargantuan creatures were looking directly at them.
Their jaws dropped to the floor at the amount of sea kings they were surrounded with and it was then that they realized exactly why they were stupid.
Holy shit...
"We're dead," Nami sobbed. "This is why the calm belt is so dangerous. It's home to the largest Sea Kings in the world! We're just free food for them!"
They all gawked in raw disbelief.
"Don't worry! Rosan will save us!" Luffy beamed, initial shock from seeing them gone.
"SAVE US?!" Usopp screeched. "ROSAN DIDN'T WANNA BECOME FISH FOOD SO HE DECIDED TO DROWN INSTEAD!"
That was when they heard it.
A noise so terrifying that it invoked a primal sort of fear in them. A noise that let them no that they were in the presence of an apex predator and the already terrified group, went ashen white.
"RAOOOOOOOOOOOOGHHHHHHH!" A creature roared.
"It was nice knowing you all!" Usopp sobbed. This was the end for them. They were about to get eaten ship first because they were so stupid.
"I didn't think it was going to end like this!" Nami wailed comically, hugging the mast desperately.
A Sea King tried to dive for them, but a massive blast of fire connected squarely with its face and sent the scorched face back into the ocean.
There was a brief moment of stunned silence and it was only broken by the gigantic fish splashing against the water.
"W-What the hell?!" Sanji gaped in disbelief. Fire?! Was that—
The group could only watch as a large scaly claw gripped their ship and easily lifted it higher and higher out of the Sea Kings grasp.
Sanji and Usopp glanced to each other in confusion at not being dead yet before the liar hesitantly began walking up to the railing.
Usopp looked over for a split second and shrieked to the heavens, going white in fear. The sniper fell on his ass and began crawling backwards as fast as possible until his back connected to wall and tried to push himself further inside.
"W-WHAT IS THAT?!" He yelped, sweat dripping from his features at those piercing slits. Yeah, he probably wasn't going to be getting some sleep for a bit.
"Rosan!" Luffy replied bluntly, grinning happily at being in the sky.
If only the Merry could fly like this always!
"HE'S A MONSTER?!" The liar roared in disbelief.
He knew that damn scout of theirs wasn't normal. It was no wonder he was so robotic! He wasn't actually a human! Trying to fit in with them must have been so difficult for the revealed creature...
"He can transform into a dragon," Nami told him in relief. She forgot about that detail in her panic and she thanked the stars that Rosan was smart enough to remember.
Honestly, the resourceful redhead was way too useful.
Rosan flew the ship out of range from the gargantuan sea kings, making sure to burn any still in range, and soared out of the Calm Belt until he was intercepted by a typhoon.
Then, he angled himself downward and placed the ship back in the water before gazing at his crew with an intelligent gaze. The only noise, were those massive wings of his that seemed to distort the air around him with each flap.
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