– Bellamy –
The Red Hair pirates left the next morning, though Shanks did leave me his vivre card and his den den mushi number, promising to call once he had organized things on his end. I also had an open invitation to visit him anytime so he could throw us a proper party. Though that didn’t stop him from drinking me under the table preemptively last night and the smug bastard looked none the worse for it. I, on the other hand, had a screaming migraine the morning after, even as I dragged myself to the pier to wave them goodbye. And, as I watched them go, my mind wandered to the final part of our conversation.
“You do know that the Whitebeard Pirates are going to fight Blackbeard, right?” I asked, tossing Shanks a bottle.
“Yup. The Marco I know wouldn’t do anything less. Especially, as this is about more than just avenging his father, but also about carrying on his legacy and his promise to those who had been under his protection.”
“…do you think they stand a chance? Because their odds aren’t looking all that great from where I’m standing.” After all, they lost the Payback War decisively in canon. Sure, some things had changed, but would it be enough? I doubted it.
“It will be difficult. Teach is a dangerous man.” He conceded, idly rubbing his scar. “He had been dangerous before he got his devil fruit. Now that he has two, he is likely a match for any of us.”
A match for the emperors, huh? I suppose that made sense in the light of his rapid rise during canon...
“And his new crew is nothing to sniff at either.” I agreed. Even if Avalo Pizarro had been beaten like the village drum by Garp, Garp was Garp. One wasn’t incarcerated in level 6 of Impel Down if one didn’t scare the world government in some way. Thankfully, Shiryu was dead so he didn't count anymore.
“That is true. And no, I won’t help them fight Blackbeard.” Shanks stated, answering my unspoken question. Honestly, his stance was more or less expected, but not for the simple reason that he didn’t want to. Saying he couldn't afford to probably reflected reality a bit more.
“Is it because of Kaido and Big Mom?” With Whitebeard gone, Blackbeard wouldn’t be the only one aiming for his former territories. The fact that they hadn’t meant that something or better say someone was acting as a rather large deterrent and who could possibly deter those two monsters, except for the man currently sharing a drink with me?
“You catch on quick. I wish I could, but the most I can do is keep those two at bay and Marco’s back free, so he can fully concentrate on Blackbeard.” He smiled ruefully. “Plus, I don’t think Marco would appreciate me getting in the way.”
I suppose that was another example of the code of personal honor many characters in One Piece tended to have. That this was Marco’s fight, his and that of the Whitebeard Pirates. One which they would have to fight alone, for better or for worse.
Though, I couldn’t really complain as I was a beneficiary of this code myself.
“I didn’t get to thank you properly for what you did for us, so I wanted to do so now, yoi.” Marco looked remarkably composed, though the rims of his eyes were red from all the shed tears. “If you ever need help, you can count on us.”
“Thank you. I will take you up on that.” Though now that Shanks was going to set me up with the Revolutionary Army, I had other things I could ask Marco for. “Actually, there was one thing.”
“Ask away, yoi.”
“When are you going to fight Blackbeard?”
“Once we had some time to regroup and regather our strength.” He answered, scratching his chin. “We also need to clean up a bit around our territory before we can focus on anything else, so I estimate about a year or so. Why do you ask, yoi?”
“Because I wanted to ask if I could borrow one of your commanders to teach us haki.” My request garnered me a confused look from the acting captain. “It would be good to know by when I should send whoever it is back.”
“Don’t you already have someone to teach you? Your little angel is better at observation than any of us, yoi.” He pointed out, but I was already shaking my head before he had finished talking.
“Aisa is enormously talented, but she isn’t capable of teaching it to others. The instructor we do have only knows the basics of observation, so we need someone else to teach us armament. And advanced observation haki training wouldn't hurt either.”
“You are surprisingly well informed for a paradise pirate. But, I guess it doesn’t matter, yoi.” Marco shrugged. “Izou is the one you’re looking for. He’s the best at observation amongst the commanders and is no slouch at armament either. Plus he loves cute children, so I’m sure he will be delighted to teach your little kid. Just bring him back in time, yoi.”
“We will, I promise. And Izou sounds perfect, thank you.”
No kidding. It wasn’t just haki we could learn from the guy. He was a master gunner, who surely had loads to teach Laki and Rivers. Not only that, but he was also one of Oden’s former retainers, which meant he was a samurai. Samurai equaled decent skills with the blade he could pass on to Eddy. And who knew what else. Sure, he wasn’t Rayleigh, but it wasn’t like all the Straw Hats got personal training from the Dark King either.
In addition to all that, having a New World Veteran aboard would act as a fine deterrent against most threats we could face on the Grandline. Anyone below the Admiral-tier would go from a potential catastrophe to a difficult but manageable challenge. And after the year was up? Well, if we weren’t strong enough to handle ourselves by then, I may as well give up and retire somewhere nice.
One of the last people I talked to before I left was Luffy. Funnily enough, both Shanks and Luffy had purposefully and more importantly, successfully avoided running into each other during Whitebeard’s funeral, always wandering off somewhere else when the other was around. For his part, Luffy spent a lot of time with his brother, trying to comfort a crying Ace. It usually ended up with both brothers bawling their eyes out alongside each other or in minor fisticuffs. It had been after an afternoon, on which they did both at the same time, that Luffy finally came to see me.
“Hey, Bellamy!”
“Hello to you too, Luffy. What can I do for you?”
“…uhm, I wanted to say thank you for helping us save Ace.” he began, shuffling a bit. Idly, I noted that I was getting thanked a lot lately.
“You’re welcome. I’m glad things worked out for you two.”
“Yeah, me too. Though Ace is really sad that the bearded ossan died. I don’t like it. Ace looks best when he’s laughing.”
“People usually do. Give him time.” I replied causing Luffy to nod along before he went quiet for a minute, obviously thinking about his next words. Rather than prompting him to speak, I waited patiently for him in silence, electing to stare out into the ocean in the meantime.
“You were right, you know?” was what came out of his mouth when he eventually made up his mind. “About someday messing up. About not being strong enough when it matters.”
“I did say something similar, yes.” Admittedly, the context had been different from what I was sure Luffy had experienced, with me originally referring to villains returning after being shown mercy and to the amount of ruthlessness required to survive the world. Luffy hadn’t been faced with something like that. Instead, he’d just been given a very hard lesson that there were bigger fish out there. Though, this didn't mean I was going to correct him, because if he wanted to attribute better advice to me than I had given, that was fine by me.
“I wasn’t strong enough to stop Aokiji. Or strong enough to keep Robin from running away to protect us. Or strong enough to protect Zoro from Kuma on Thriller Bark. Or strong enough to protect my crew on Sabaody.” He listed off, getting a far-away look in his eyes. “And I almost wasn’t strong enough to save Ace. We were very lucky, I know that.”
Well, that was a lot more self-aware than I had expected him to be. But why was he telling me this? “So, what are you going to do about it?”
“Get stronger.” He simply stated, as if that were the answer to all the world’s problems. But, to be fair, in the world of One Piece it usually was. “Train really hard until I am strong enough.”
“And how will you do that?” Would Rayleigh still come looking for Luffy? Would he come to visit Ace?
“That’s the thing. I don’t know.” He confessed. “Bellamy, you’re smart. You act dumb sometimes, but Robin said you were really smart. And she’s really smart so she has to be right.”
“You want advice. On how to get stronger. From me?” The "me, of all people?" was left unsaid. Frankly, I was pretty sure he was stronger than I was. Also...he thought I acted dumb sometimes? What was the world coming to if I was hearing this from Luffy of all people?
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Uh-huh. That’s right.” Luffy’s head moved up and down in an emphatic nod, his eyes prompting me for advice. In the face of his earnestness my brain kept telling me that it couldn’t hurt. I mean, what was I going to tell him that wouldn’t happen anyway?
“I would suggest you ask Rayleigh. You do know that he was the first mate on the Pirate King’s crew, don’t you?” Again, a nod. “For some reason he seems to like you, so if you ask nicely, I’m sure he will give you some advice at least. He can tell you more about getting stronger than I ever could.”
“Right! I need a ship!” he concluded energetically, slamming a fist into his palm.
“I’m sure the Whitebeards can spare one, though I have a feeling that you won’t need to worry about that.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because Rayleigh just swam ashore.” I told him, pointing down at the beach.
And just as expected, Rayleigh agreed to train Luffy for the next two years, exactly as he had in canon. They would even head to Marineford together in order to deliver the message to Luffy’s crew before heading to Amazon Lily where they would enjoy Hancock’s protection. After all, few places were as secretive and safe for Luffy as Hancock’s domain. What had changed though, was that Rayleigh decided to drag Ace along for remedial lessons. If he couldn’t ignore the inheritor of Roger’s will, he couldn’t very well ignore Roger’s biological son, could he?
It was pretty funny watching the formerly brooding Ace be dragged along, out of the room he had barricaded himself within, by the ear like a naughty child. He didn’t go quietly, kicking and screaming all the way for Rayleigh to let him be, but he went regardless. His vocal accusation that his adoptive family were “Traitors!” garnered him only the good-natured chuckles of his brothers who cheerily waved him goodbye. Jozu even pulled out a white handkerchief.
Rayleigh and I didn’t talk much. Our entire conversation amounted to a simple thank you from Rayleigh, well wishes for the future and the promise to put in a good word for me with Shakky. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a disappointed, but I couldn't say that it wasn’t unexpected considering how our first meeting had gone. Plus, I had Izou now, so all was well.
We left soon after Luffy and co departed the island, headed for the Sabaody Archipelago. While it was a potentially dangerous location, I was gambling on the fact that the marine HQ was in shambles and severely understaffed. Currently, my next major goal was to help Byron get even with his traitorous crew. The bad news being that I had no clue where to find the bastards. The good news? I knew somebody who likely did.
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“Well, this place is a dump.” Nero’s first impression wasn’t wholly inaccurate. The building definitely had seen better days and despite some initial attempts at repairs, they hadn’t even gotten anywhere close to reversing the damage done by Luffy and the others. Still…
“Do try not to say that where the proprietor can hear you.” I gently chided him. I wanted the owner’s assistance. Insulting the guy would be counterproductive.
Knock knock knock
“We’re not open for business! Thank you for coming but do come back another time!” A nasal voice called out from behind the door in response to our knocking.
“Tell Disco that Bellamy is here.” I tried, but the door remained locked.
“We’re not open for business, regardless of who you are.”
“Well, too bad because I have business and it won’t wait!”
“Go away before we call the marines!” The voice answered, striking me speechless for a moment out of incredulity, which was soon replaced by annoyance. We couldn't have some mook threaten me, now could we?
“Open the door before I break it down and stuff the pieces where the sun don’t shine!” I threatened him, which garnered me an unexpectedly shrill scream.
“Hieeek!” A shriek which summoned the owner.
“Now now, there’s no need for violence. Do come in, Bellamy-kun.”
“Hello Disco. I’d say you look well under the circumstances, but you know I’d be lying.” And the man did look horrendous, a mere shadow of his former glamorous self. His hair was unkempt, his clothes looked like they hadn’t been washed in weeks and he had very dark circles beneath his eyes. Plus he reeked of alcohol.
“I suppose that can’t be helped. Times have been hard, lately.” He replied, leading my entourage towards his office. The last time I had been here, the place had been bustling with activity and filled with the cries of the merchandise. Now, our footsteps rang through the nearly empty halls. “Pitiful, isn’t it? I suppose this is what happens when one runs afoul of a celestial dragon. At least I’m not dead, so small mercies I suppose.”
“…my condolences.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.” He said, waving a hand my way while digging through his liquor cabinet. “Can I offer you a drink? I should still have that Dressrosa around somewhere.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t thrown it away.”
“What? Because of Doflamingo? Why should I let that bastard ruin one of the few good things left in my life?” he shot back, quickly pouring two glasses and handing one to me. “To Doflamingo, may he rot in hell!”
“Instead of drinking to his journey to hell, how would you like to have a hand in speeding his trip along?” I asked, causing him to pause before a pair of very intense eyes snapped over to meet my gaze.
“You’ve piqued my interest. Tell me more.”
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“Ah, it’s a pity you didn’t kill him then and there, but I suppose poisoning the git is an acceptable consolation prize.” Disco commented after hearing the account of my fight with Doflamingo. Despite his words, he had looked positively gleeful as I recounted the damage our former boss had suffered, hanging onto my every word.
“I do hope you realize that there is no going back for me after this. At this point, either I die or he does.” I calmly stated. It had been a situation I had come to accept, even if it took me a lot of alcohol.
“Oh, I believe you. There’s no way you would lie about something I can easily confirm on my own.”
“May I take it then that you still maintain your intelligence network?”
“Of course, I do. Why do you think I haven’t been able to pay for the repairs yet?” Disco replied in a tone, which implied that this was supposed to be obvious and I was an idiot for not seeing it.
“Surely you had more than enough funds stashed away somewhere. If I recall correctly, your business did millions in revenue every week.”
“A little bit more than that, but most of it got invested right back into the business. And as you know, I barely recovered anything from the last batch. What little I had remaining after that was used to pay reparations to the world nobles in exchange for my life.”
“That must have been expensive.”
“It was an acceptable price, all things considered. Only three billion belli.” Disco mentioned the sum in such an off-handed manner that for a moment I thought I’d misheard. Damn. And here I thought I was rich. “Anyway, I suppose you’re asking because you have need of information?”
“Yes. I want to know where I can find Byron’s former crew.”
“And this information will help you bring down Doflamingo?”
“It’ll be one of many preparatory steps, but yes.” Hearing my response, Disco began leafing through a pile of reports before pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to me.
“I was keeping them around in case I needed new suppliers, but sadly the government revoked my license and forced me to redirect my business to less lucrative areas. However, your friend's old crew did contact me recently to see if I wanted a new shipment and I haven’t gotten around to replying just yet.” He explained. “To my best knowledge, they're holed up on a nearby island where you can do what you need to do. More importantly, do you have a rough timetable for Doflamingo’s death?”
“I’m estimating two years. That’s the minimum amount of time I’ll need to get ready.” I answered and Disco hummed in understanding. If one remembered that it took Doflamingo years to reach the station he now occupied, two years really wasn’t that much. “I’d rather not rush things and go in half prepared.”
“I can buy you a year. Doflamingo had two separate intelligence networks he operated, one of them using me as a proxy.” Disco offered. “But when he cut me loose, I retained that network. If I want, I can blind him to your movements without him noticing.”
“That would be very much appreciated.” Seriously, that would be really helpful. In canon, Disco had the network but very little firepower so he faded into obscurity. This time round, he had me. As we could easily shore up each other's weaknesses, things were going to be very different if we worked together.
“It’ll be my pleasure. Anything for a friend.” His smile was all teeth. “Now, don’t betray me, Bellamy-kun. I’d hate to lose the last friend I’ve got left.”
“And I’d hate to have to kill you, Disco. I really would.” So he wouldn't betray me as long as I kept working towards our common goal? I could agree to that.
“Then we’ll have no issues, partner.”
“No, we won’t…partner.”