(Muret POV)
“That thing makes no fucking sense.” Lily complained, prompting Muret to let out a long-suffering sigh. After all, it wasn’t like this was the first time she was voicing them. Rather, every single day since she’d rescued Funkfreed, Lily had not failed to mention how unreasonable it was that an object had ‘eaten’ a devil fruit. “It’s a bloody fucking sword.”
Her arguments boiled down to: One, objects couldn't eat. Two, objects couldn't have sentience, something which Funkfreed had in abundance. And three, objects shouldn’t need or even want sustenance, but Funkfreed was at the moment happily destroying a basket of fruit. He seemed particularly partial to peaches.
“Lily! Don’t call Funkfreed a thing! What if you hurt his feelings?” Ignoring Lily’s scoff of disbelief, Muret scratched Funkfreed behind his ears in a comforting manner. “Don’t listen to the mean woman, Funkfreed. She never learned manners.”
For all intents and purposes, her new pet was a child with a child's innocence. Thankfully, his previous owner hadn’t managed to wipe that spark away.
“I’ll have you know that I did learn manners, thank you very much. I probably spent more time sitting through lessons in etiquette than everybody on the ship combined.” Lily protested. “I just don’t fucking give a shit.”
“Language!”
“What? You didn’t bloody care before.”
“There’s a child in the room.” Muret pointed out, gesturing towards the elephant. Very reasonably too in her own expert opinion.
“You know what? Fine, Funkfreed is a child, though I'm not seeing the problem here." Lily huffed. "I swear around Aisa.”
“Thanks for reminding me. That’s stopping too.” Muret said, putting her foot down, much to Lily's incredulousness.
“You can’t fucking tell me how to talk.”
“I can and I will sedate you.” Muret stated, pulling a syringe out of her bag of goodies.
“Oh please, I’m not like one of your usual idiots. I’d like to see you try.” Lily smirked, rolling up her non-existent sleeves.
Potential violence was averted though, when Funkfreed picked that moment to nuzzle Lily in the side, taking all the wind out of her sails. Muret couldn't help but giggle as a scandalized Lily tried unsuccessfully to push the elephant-sword away, but in a contest of strength between a baseline human and an elephant, the elephant usually won.
Eventually, Lily resigned herself to having Funkfreed attached to herself for the time being, even going as far as to idly scratch the elephant behind the ears.
“Muret, why do you think the captain brought him along?” The ‘him’ being a comatose weasel-like man, lying a few beds down the aisle. Muret didn't know either, the captain having been very tightlipped on the issue. All she knew was, that Bellamy had been very excited to have her current patient on board. Though, considering that this hadn't been the first time the captain had kidnapped somebody...
“Perhaps he’s like Shura? As in, having some skill the captain wants us to learn?”
“This guy? He looks flimsy and not very reliable.” To be honest, it wasn't like Lily couldn't see the wiry muscle hidden just underneath her patient’s skin, a testament to the amount of training he must have undergone. It was particularly pronounced in his legs, the musculature there being highly developed beyond anything on the crew, and Muret wouldn't be surprised if the man could reach dazzling speeds. From what she knew of her crew's bodies, she would wager that only the captain would be capable of matching Nero in the speed department. But would the captain truly be that excited for merely a well-trained runner?
“Shura looks flimsy.” Muret countered. Something that had been obvious to her had been how muscle strength was underdeveloped in sky island dwellers. It wasn’t anything debilitating and neither Laki nor Shura were weak by any reasonable standard. However, if one considered the combat heavy lifestyle both individuals had led, it was several percentage points below what Muret would have expected from someone like say, Sarquiss. This was likely due to the slightly lower gravitational pull and the lower atmospheric pressure they had experienced every day, when compared to the residents of the Blue Sea.
Though mind you, her new crewmates were catching up very quickly. Laki had struggled at first to adapt to the new environment, not least to the greater concentration of oxygen. Thankfully, it never reached the level of oxygen poisoning and some supplements had sped up muscle growth, such that Laki had been fit for combat within a few weeks.
This was contrasted by Shura's situation, whose daily exercise had been limited to walking around the deck while wearing a ball and chain. Muret almost thought this was deliberate on Bellamy’s part, trying to reduce Shura’s combat prowess and thus the risk he posed to the crew. Regardless of how docile Shura was now, it didn’t change the fact that he had been a very dangerous combatant rivalling if not surpassing her captain.
That was also why nobody on the crew disagreed with the training Shura was putting them through. Precognition. Who wouldn’t want that in a combat situation? A couple…hundred welts to the head and body were a small price to pay in Muret’s opinion.
“So you think this guy knows mantra too?” Lily asked, eyeing Nero curiously.
Muret shook her head. “If that were the case, the captain wouldn’t have been that happy. We already have Shura after all. I think this guy knows some speed technique or something.”
“That would have been fucking useful against Satori.”
“Language.”
“Gah! Seriously! Fuck!” It was very interesting to watch how Lily’s face distorted when Funkfreed mournfully blew his trunk, almost as if she were trying to suppress the instinct to coo at something cute. “Alright, alright! I’m sorry! Stop looking at me like that!”
It was a challenge, but Muret did manage to suppress her giggles long enough to come to Lily’s rescue. Mainly by deciding to call Funkfreed back to her side, instead of flustering Lily any further. Though, she then decided to stop tiptoeing around the issue and address the elephant in the room. (Heh)
“Why do you think Doflamingo wanted to see the captain?” It would obviously have to be something connected to the events at St. Poplar, an after-action report at the very least.
“I certainly do hope it’s to apologize for the clusterf…” Lily trailed off when Muret gave her a look, before hurriedly backpedaling. “For the mess on St. Poplar. Just because things worked out doesn’t mean Dellinger could use us as bait.”
“It is unbecoming of someone of his standing to discard an affiliated crew like that. But was it truly on Doflamingo's orders? A lot probably hinges on that.”
“Either way, I’m all for beating Dellinger’s face in. And Doflamingo’s too if he was responsible.” Lily ground out, making Muret raise a delicate eyebrow.
“Would you be able to tell Doflamingo that to his face?”
“Fuck no! I’m angry, not suicidal.”
“Language!”
“Fuck!”
----------------------------------------
(Bellamy POV)
There was this presence to Doflamingo, very different to what I had felt from Enel back on the Upper Yard. I wasn't sure if gravitas was the right word, but it was really difficult to be at ease around him and it wasn't purely because the man was a psychopath. Honestly, I wasn't just saying that because I watched him slowly take Crack apart at the seams. I had not needed to know what humans looked like, if they were forced to try and imitate Buggy - Mihawk Edition.
Here's why I think Buggy could possibly be a very powerful character : r/OnePiece [https://preview.redd.it/60ksg3cuaqf71.png?width=854&format=png&auto=webp&s=fb6169ca315f16780c2cf704dc2d993d2de69e93]
I fought the urge to fidget. Despite everything, there was this small part inside of me that yearned for his acknowledgement and dare I say it, respect. If I had to guess, I would wager that it was a side effect of me assimilating the original Bellamy into myself. Aisa had mentioned that I felt less fuzzy with every passing day. I also felt stronger and more at ease in my body, the effects of which were much more discernible during my ‘battle’ at Crack’s mansion. The OG Bellamy would not have been able to handle a rear admiral, drugged or not.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I blamed a combination of new combat experience, harder training with bullshit One Piece physiology and some synergy between my two selves. Fuck if I knew, I was just glad I had gotten stronger.
Sadly, this didn't change the reality that I still was merely fodder to someone like Doflamingo. By this time in the canon timeline, Luffy had beaten two Royal Warlords and survived a third, mostly by luck and plot armor. But regardless, he had survived. I didn't care that Doffy was way stronger than Moriah and had required two years of training under Rayleigh for Luffy to defeat or that Crocodile really should have wiped the floor with Luffy regardless of the water barrel.
I hated knowing that Doflamingo could kill me right now and that there would be nothing I could do about it, that my survival and that of my crew depended on this man being in a good mood.
Doffy listened silently as I recounted the events leading up to and at Crack’s mansion, not reacting when I mentioned Dellinger’s jailbreak. He did smile slightly when I described Crack’s mental meltdown, but that was gone so fast that I almost thought I had imagined it.
By the time I was finished, I was almost wishing he’d say something, just to have him react…somehow. But when he did speak, I got a strong sense of déjà vu.
“You feel different. Fuzzy. Unique. Why?” Clearly he hadn't been expecting me to reply, because he began muttering under his breath. I understood nothing of what he was saying, though the occasional words did make me believe that he was running through potential theories in his head. I never found out what conclusion he had reached, because five minutes later he was all smiles again.
Which told me almost nothing, because Doffy smiled when he was happy and smiled when he was angry. Thankfully, in this case it did seem to be the former as he congratulated me for a job well done.
“And you brought me a present too. How thoughtful of you. Would you look at that, little Bellamy-kun, all grown up.”
“I’m glad you liked it.” I replied, inwardly struggling not to feel irritated by the condescending tone he was using. Merely hiding how I was feeling wouldn't work, because I was certain he’d know. “It was no trouble at all.”
If that meant ignoring the shit Dellinger had pulled, so be it. To Doffy, Dellinger was family. I was not. That made the equations probably pretty clear to his mind.
“No trouble, eh? Would that be why you decided to beat up the director of the CP7? To make trouble?”
“He threatened one of my crew, my family.” I replied softly but firmly, and I could see Doffy stilling. My choice of words had been very deliberate, aimed at one of the few things he cared about. Those being his family, his crew which was de facto his family and his pride, a remnant of his time as a celestial dragon.
While Viola was a prime example of Doffy not shying away from using the family of others to ensure he got his way, it was also the only potential shield I had to offer for my crew. After all, traumatized people tended to empathize more easily with people who had undergone similar trauma or were in similar situations…so long as they weren't too mentally unstable.
“Family is important.” He agreed, but he soon followed that up with a statement that chilled me to my bones. “You’re not family.”
Which meant that he had no reason to protect me, except for one thing.
“I fly your flag.” I pointed out, but he just waved negligently.
“Yes, you do. As do a dozen others.” He retorted. “And most of them don’t go around punching government directors.”
Translation: why should I cover for you? What made you valuable?
I was pretty sure he had already decided to shield me on this one occasion seeing as I wasn't dead yet, but that may just be him playing games. However, when he cut off Disco, he had been much more direct about it, instead of giving him a chance to convince him like he was doing with me, which gave me hope.
“Amongst that dozen, who is the most interesting?” I countered, making him hum consideringly.
And this was going to be my selling point. Doffy had multiple subordinate crews and even more affiliate gangs across the whole world. And yet, the only two that ever made it onto the show had been Bellamy and Disco. Thus, I was going to hazard a guess and claim that most of them were standard goons doing standard jobs in a standard manner. In other words, they were all boring. The big difference between them and OG Bellamy had been, that Doffy once had expectations of Bellamy. That alone spoke well for OG Bellamy’s potential, but when that potential wasn’t realized and worse, when it was seemingly ruined, Doffy had been disappointed and thus, he had tried to take out the trash. A second chance was only given after Bellamy proved himself to be different…proved himself to be interesting by bringing back a pillar of gold from the sky.
The gold really probably didn’t matter, or at least so I thought, but it was the uniqueness factor that had granted the OG Bellamy another opportunity. Of course, we all knew how that had ended, but I was fairly confident that I was much more interesting than the OG Bellamy had been. Plus, my soul was fuzzy, which had to count for something.
“Fufufufu.” Should I laugh too? Surely, this was a good sign? “You’ve changed, Bellamy-kun.”
“Going to heaven tends to have that effect on people." I said. "Personally, I like the new me.”
“Fufufufu. So do I, Bellamy-kun. You were becoming boring. Aren’t we glad that I don’t find you boring anymore? I so hate disposing of failures.”
Well, that was blunt. Still, this did mean that he wasn't going to dispose of me, which begged the question of Dellinger’s motives. I did have one more guess before I could conclude that it had been just a case of Dellinger being a prick.
“Are you done testing me, then?” I asked, simultaneously asking him whether he had manipulated events at St. Poplar and whether I was being acknowledged as something greater than a disposable pawn.
“Life always tests us, Bellamy-kun. It would be boring if everything was predictable.” said the puppetmaster. Hypocrite. “But for now, you can assume you passed any tests I may have set.”
Considering Dellinger’s status as part of the Donquixote Family, I think I could infer that the half-fish weirdo had acted without orders. Doffy was never shy about admitting his deeds, heck he had blackmailed the world government for the warlord position after stealing the heavenly tribute. If he had ordered Dellinger to crash the party as a test, he would have been outright boastful about it.
No, Doffy was covering for Dellinger, making it seem like he had given the order without actually saying it. However, I knew and he knew that I knew, which meant he owed me.
"That is good news. I wouldn't want to disappoint you by bringing back subpar results." I told him, essentially demanding that he pay me for a job well done.
“Let it not be said that I am not a generous boss. I hope you and your crew will put this to good use.” he grinned, pushing a small box across the table. You sir, were anything but a generous boss as Disco would later attest, but this was an olive branch and a bribe to not ask any further questions. And it was one I would gladly accept. From now on if anyone asked, Dellinger did not act on his own. For if he had, it would seem to outsiders that Doffy’s control over his family was not absolute. It was, but it still looked bad if Dellinger became overly enthusiastic.
I accepted the small casket with a simple ‘thank you’, mostly just grateful that he wasn't going after Aisa. Maybe he didn't know about her yet?
“Well, I must be off. Sengoku has called me…us into active service. The new era is coming faster than anyone guessed. Exciting times are ahead, Bellamy-kun.” He said, walking out the door, but not before giving me a final warning slash word of advice. “Do protect your little logia, Bellamy-kun. It’s never nice losing family.”
…he knew. I suspected as much with Aisa’s showing at Crack’s mansion, but this was too fast. And if Doffy knew, so did the World Government. Fiddlesticks.
I was going to have to step up my training. Though it was odd that he hadn't mentioned her haki or Shura. Could he not sense that they had haki? Had he deemed it unimportant?
Regardless, two minutes later Doffy was ‘flying’ away into the sunset and it was only after I had seen him disappear over the horizon, that I managed to breathe easy again. Things had worked out as well as they could have, I supposed.
Doffy was not going to touch Aisa, mission accomplished, I got paid and I was alive. Now what had Doffy given me…
…that son of a bitch!