– Bellamy –

After we set sail from Sabaody, it was time for me to deal with an issue I had been putting off for a while now. The devil fruits.

Originally, we had found four within our cargo hold after the war and we hadn’t initially known what to do with them. You’d think everyone would be eager to take a bite out of them, but my crew of nutjobs decided that they didn’t want one. Or at least didn’t know if they wanted one, so it was unanimously decided to postpone the decision.

During our second meeting on the subject, we brought in an incomplete fruit encyclopedia to help us decide, but the only fruit we could identify had been the Mini Mini no Mi, which surprise surprise, none of us wanted. It’s a fantastic fruit if you were a giant with a giant’s strength. It was a lot less useful for a baseline human. As for the other three…

Muret flat out refused, saying that she wasn’t a fighter, didn’t want to be a fighter and eating a fruit felt like she was giving up on that principle. I respected her decision. By pure coincidence, she was assigned triple self-defense lessons the following week.

Laki refused as well, citing that someone had to fish Aisa out of the sea if she were to ever fall overboard. I was guessing those were her motherly instincts flaring up, which would not allow her to sit on the sidelines while someone else rescued her ward. Understandable really, even if I disagreed. After all, the chances of Aisa being knocked overboard were minuscule in my opinion.

For his part, Eddy insisted on getting stronger without a fruit because to quote the guy, “Hawkeye doesn’t have a fruit and neither does Zoro”. To that end, he’d been badgering Izou for lessons in swordsmanship and when I had last seen him, he'd been practicing the art of iaijutsu. That kinda made me wonder, whether or not the hiten mitsurugi ryu was a thing in this world? If it wasn't, perhaps those two could reverse engineer something? It would be pretty amazing if they could.

Ross declined citing allergies to all four types of fruit, though I had seen him eat the non-devil-fruit versions in the past with no side effects. To be honest, I think the poor lad was just frightened of falling into the water and drowning. The flip side of the coin would be that Ross felt confident and strong enough without a fruit to not fear for his life all the time, which was a good sign in my opinion.

Of course, because Ross said no, so did Hewitt. While having this rivalry of theirs pushing each other to get stronger had yielded great gains in both of them, in cases like this I felt as if it was holding them back. There was no need not to take a power up to “keep things fair”. Then again, if they could work past this and break through the glass ceiling, they would be all the more stronger for it, so I couldn't really complain.

Finally, Nero did look briefly interested, but then shook his head, declaring that he wouldn’t seek another way to get stronger, at least not without mastering the rokushiki first. Just like Lucci. I mean, he had gotten the basics down for all six, so he was definitely on his way there.

Which left Rivers, Mani and Lily as the only ones who had shown even slightest bit of sustained interest. Three people, four fruits…well three fruits once you took the Mini Mini no Mi out of the equation. But Rivers refused to eat a fruit that didn’t grant the power of flight, Mani wanted something that would help her hide or run away and Lily, well Lily did want one but preferred it to be a zoan to match her boyfriend.

Rivers eventually withdrew his request for a fruit, deciding that learning how to use new devil fruit powers on top of his haki training and his excercises with Fuza was going to be too much for him to handle. Though, he did mention that he may change his mind in the future if something “amazing” turned up.

Hence, we had decided to give two fruits away to Urouge and Bonney, having drawn straws for which of the four we were gifting to my peers.

Which brought us to the present situation.

“Why won’t you two, please just take the bloody fruits?” I was this close to tearing my hair out. Why, oh why did my crew have to be this stubborn and obstinate? “It’s a devil fruit. You get new abilities, none of which are useless.”

“But what if it’s a fucking boring power? Or worse, something disgusting? Like turning into a snail. Or slimy slime.” Lily whined as Mani nodded her head along in agreement.

Before we went to Skypiea, I could have sworn that all of them would have jumped at the opportunity presented before them. That they weren't was some of the clearest evidence of the growth they had undergone over the course of our travels. Not least because on Marineford they had all seen that one could be strong without a fruit and were busy exploring their personal paths to power, a luxury that they hadn't had before.

“If you don’t like the power, you don’t have to use it. But surely, it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it?”

“Captain? Are you saying that we can’t be strong without relying on something like that? How could you?” Mani asked, putting on an affronted expression.

“Bloody hell, Mani. Please tell me you’re joking.” I said, palming my face. “I’m positive that my actions so far speak louder than any words at this point.”

“But, captain~ actions can’t speak. They’re just not built that way.” In response to that, I gave Mani the flattest look I could manage. It wasn't even that difficult as I could literally feel my soul dying when I heard that.

“Any. Other. Issues? Ones that are actually relevant, perhaps?” I bit out, daring my crew to follow Mani's example. The crew didn't. Mani however wasn't dissuaded.

“But what if I eat this and it’s not the right one for me? The right one could just be an island away, and I would have settled for something less than perfect.” Mani fluttered her eyelashes at me. Why was she fluttering her eyelashes at me? I saw her sucking Rivers’ soul out of his mouth this very morning. And last night. Amongst other things. “I would be ever so sad~”

“Don’t worry, Mani. I’ll…”

“Rivers. If the next words that come out of your mouth are anything along the lines of ‘I’ll comfort you, Mani’, I swear on all that’s holy, I’m throwing you overboard.” I promised and Rivers predictably shut up. Though, it didn't stop Mani and him from grinning like a pair of loons. I fucking knew she was having me on, nobody with even half a brain spoke like that.

“Don’t worry Rivers. I’ll protect you from the mean captain and comfort your feelings, all. Night. Long.” Cue a wink and kisses. Oh, dear heavens. Ever since that one time Rivers had helped Mani overcome her survivor’s guilt after Skypiea, they’d started getting closer and closer…with displays of affection, ever increasing in both frequency and teeth rotting sweetness.

“Mani. Do you or do you not, want one of these devil fruits?” Patience, Bellamy. Patience was a virtue. Then again, I was a pirate. Did I need virtue?

Briefly, a more serious expression flitted across Mani's face, as she tapped her chin in thought. “I think I’ll pass this time, because I'd rather not gamble on some fruit we don’t know the identity of. After all, it’s not like we can’t get another fruit if we want to, right?”

At least it was a straight answer if nothing else, though not one I had wanted. Blearily, I turned my head towards the final member of my crew who hadn’t decided yet. “What about you, Lily?”

“I guess someone should take some pity on our poor captain. He might start crying otherwise.” Excuse me? Lily ignored my outrage, lackadaisically throwing the two fruits up and down in her hands. “I suppose I could do you the favor and eat one of these for you. Oi, dickhead, which one do you think I should eat?”

“Whichever one you want, darling.”

“Don’t call me darling, dickhead!”

“Then don’t call me dickhead, darling.”

“It’s a term of endearment! The others are shitheads. You're dickhead.” Didn’t she call us all both on a whim before? I was pretty sure this distinction hadn't existed until now.

“So is darling, darling. It’s a widely accepted and beloved term of endearment.”

“Get a bloody room!” Hewitt jeered from the side, where he was cutting up apples for Aisa. “You can make up and f…”

“Hewitt. Language.” Muret warned, brandishing a syringe full of some unidentified liquid before Hewitt could contaminate Aisa’s innocent ears. As a result, Hewitt finished his sentence somewhat lamely, scooting away from our doctor.

“…make up and be friendly with each other later.”

Funkfreed gently but firmly nudged him back.

“Just, choose one. They both taste disgusting.”

“Ah, ah, ah. What’s the magic word?” Looking away from Lily's finger wagging in my face only confirmed my suspicions: Nero was stifling a giggle, as was Laki. Traitors. Where had the respect gone?

“I could have sworn my crew was intimidated by me before. What happened?”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Well~ captain, if you wanted us to be intimidated, you shouldn’t have given out so many head pats.” Laki answered with a teasing smile.

“Uh-huh. Bellamy gives the best head pats.” Et tu Aisa?

“Nor offer a shoulder to cry on.” Mani piped up.

“Nor be such a good listener.” Eddy added.

“Nor create a nice and familial atmosphere on the ship.” Muret grinned.

“So, you only have yourself to blame, really.”

“But we like and respect you anyways. Aren’t you happy?”

Traitors. All of them. But I knew when I was beaten and opted to withdraw from the field with the tattered remains of my dignity.

“Please, choose a fruit and swallow it, Lily. Preferably sometime today so I can go and fight something before dinner.” Izou should be free, right?

“A strawberry does sound nice.” Lily said, putting the apple down. “See, isn’t everything better if you use please and thank you?”

It was only when I began making choking noises, that she popped the swirly strawberry into her mouth.

“Uh, you’re not supposed to chew that.”

“BY ALL THAT’S HOLY, THIS IS DISGUSTING!”

----------------------------------------

So now, we had a leftover fruit that no one on my crew wanted. So, rather than let it rot in my hold, I decided to walk around and see if someone else wanted it. After a lot of searching, I finally ended up talking to our two…passengers.

“How are you two doing? I probably should have checked up on you sooner, but unfortunately things have been rather…hectic.”

“Don’t worry about it, captain. That’s nothing when compared to what you’ve already done for us. Who knows what would have happened to Marie if you hadn’t rescued her back then.” Judy replied, looking rather stiff. Looking at him, I quickly decided that I preferred my crew's familial casualness than this high strung nervousness.

“Yes, thank you very much, not only for saving us from that…pig, but also for treating my Judy’s wounds. We owe you our lives.” Marie on the other hand wasn't stiff but her eyes were shining as if she was meeting her favourite celebrity. With his fiancée in excited fangirl mode, some of that spread to Judy as well, thankfully relaxing the man enough to actively participate in the conversation instead of clamming up.

“And your crew has been really friendly and helpful. Miss Laki has been teaching me about how to use these dials. I didn’t know shells like this could exist!” Honestly, that was a smart choice for someone who didn't have the muscle mass required to use a standard weapon effectively. Well, aside from an impact dial, but one didn't have to use those and even apart from dial warfare, Laki had been teaching him marksmanship as well to keep him alive.

“And Dr. Muret is so knowledgeable about medicine. She is so amazing and I’m learning so much from her. She even let me practice shooting someone with a tranquilizer gun!” Muret? What were you teaching this woman?

“Well, I’m glad you’re both doing ok. Though I do feel as if I need to ask you this. What are your plans going forward?” I asked, which brought the mood spiralling down, but this had to be asked.

“…we can’t return home. None of our neighbors would welcome us back, not once it becomes known that a world noble wanted to enslave Marie. We’d be lucky if they didn’t hand us over to the bastards themselves.” Judy murmured, staring intently down at his shoes.

“We can drop you off somewhere else where you can start a new life. If being within the territory of the world government is too risky, I’m sure the Revolutionary Army can accommodate you.” I offered. It hadn’t really been my choice to bring these two along, but now that I had, I felt as if I had some responsibility to ensure their wellbeing. If nothing else, Laki would be disappointed if I didn’t. But apparently, they didn’t like my proposed solutions, as they kept exchanging nervous glances between themselves. Eventually, it was Judy who spoke up, breaking the awkward silence.

“…we had been hoping to keep sailing with you, captain.”

“We’ll do anything. I’m a skilled nurse and Judy can do manual labor at the very least. I promise we’ll pull our own weight.”

I suppose this was to be expected. People who had gone through a traumatic experience, tended to become attached to their “safe spaces”, no matter how objectively dangerous those safe spaces were. In rescuing them, housing them and displaying strength at Marineford, we had only fostered that sense of security. Unfortunately for their hopes and dreams, I couldn’t in good conscience let them come with us.

“I’m afraid, that isn’t going to be possible.” I stated, getting two soul-crushing looks in return. “Frankly speaking, both of you are too weak to be anything other than a burden in the situations we’re likely to find ourselves in in the near future. We simply can’t spare the resources to deal with those dangers while protecting the two of you.”

“Couldn’t you train us so that we wouldn’t be a burden?” Marie in particular, looked like I had just told her Santa wasn’t real or like a wet kitten out in the rain.

“Until now, we hadn’t been getting the amount of attention we are likely to get going forward. After all, we did make quite the splash at Marineford and both the navy and the government are going to start sending stronger and stronger enemies after us in the future. Hence, I need to get my crew up to par quickly and I’m already stretched thinly enough as it is.”

“Then…what are we supposed to do now?” Perhaps it was because Marie looked so lost and was such a forlorn sight, but Judy immediately lost the fight against his self-control and proceeded to hug her. As a consequence of which, I now had two wet kittens staring at me with quivering lower lips.

“I…do have a third option, though that is going to be more dangerous than settling down somewhere else.” I began, inserting a little bit of deliberate hesitancy into my voice as bait. Marie swallowed the bait without hesitation.

“What is it?”

“Captain Byron has offered to take you two under his wing once he forms his own crew. In all likelihood, he is going to have less scrutiny on him than I do, especially because we did have him wear a costume during his performance. You’d be left more or less in peace by the marines and could use the time to get strong enough to survive.” I explained, “And as Captain Byron is going to be my affiliate, that would associate you both to me by proxy and hence, place you under my protection despite not being a direct member of my crew. You’ll be safer that way.”

“You’re not kicking us out?”

“No. But I am suggesting that you find a safer berth until you can handle the perils that come with being a pirate.”

The two of them conferred with each other for a while in a hurried and whispered conversation, while I started counting imaginary sheep in an effort to distract and therefore prevent myself from eavesdropping. After some time, a conclusion was reached and the pair turned back to me with a determined expression.

“We’ll take the third option, please.”

“Are you sure? Being a pirate is not a safe way of life.”

“Captain, we weren’t safe since the moment that fat pig laid his eyes on me.” Marie’s voice was dripping with vitriol as she mentioned the world noble who had upended her life. “Rather than hide away, I want to get strong enough so something like this can never happen again.”

“And where she goes, I go.” Judy added with a steely gaze. “I failed to protect Marie once. I do not want to fail her again.”

“Well in that case…” Pulling out a small casket, I placed it on the coffee table between us. “Allow me to give you a little leg up.”

“You’re giving this…to us?” Judy gasped out, after seeing the contents held within.

“Choose who among the two of you is going to take this. You can also decide to sell it if neither of you want it, but looking at you now, I don’t think you’ll choose that option.”

“Thank you, captain.” Marie gently clasped hands with her fiancé, who softly squeezed back. “If you ever have need of us, just say the word.”

Acknowledging her offer with a slight nod, I got up and headed for the door. “I’ll go tell Byron that both of you accepted. See you two around.”

And with that I left the two alone to go and find my fellow captain, in order to tell him I had succeeded in fulfilling his request. Convincing those two had been easier than expected, but now Byron owed me…well owed me more than he already did. They might not be the best members to start a Grand Line crew with, but they were two desperate people who had no other acceptable options, which usually translated into superhuman effort and drive. Personally, I’d be surprised if someone burning with the desire to hurt a world noble like Marie didn't get strong enough to survive the Grand Line by the time the time skip period ended. Muret had told me she was worried for the girl, but she’d be fine if the look in her eyes was any indication at all. At this point, any motivation was better than no motivation.

No sooner had I reached the upper deck, did the sound of Marie gagging and retching pierce the air.

“THIS TASTES DISGUSTING!”

Well, that hadn't taken them long to decide.