– Bellamy –
In the world of One Piece there were many mysteries, with some being much more easily solved than others. However, out of all of them the truth surrounding the events of the Void Century were some of the most nebulous. So much so in fact, that at the time of my reincarnation the information which had been revealed to the public had been extremely limited, with Oda only dropping the occasional hint as to what might have transpired during the most defining hundred years of the world he had created. Last I checked, Dr. Vegapunk had been hinted at to know something, but unfortunately I never got to find out what that something was.
As such, when it came to this particular issue, I was able to familiarize myself with the rather unsettling experience of being just as blind as the next guy. For someone like me who had become accustomed to coasting by on my foresight, being forced to stumble my way from clue to clue – if I ever wanted to pierce the veil of ignorance the World Government had spent centuries to erect – was a decidedly slow and arduous process. So, color me surprised, when by some quirk of fate we stumbled across one of the thirty keys holding that information.
A Poneglyph.
For the confused out there, the Poneglyphs were massive, mysterious, cubic steles with historical knowledge inscribed upon them in an ancient script, the name of which was lost to time in the same way the knowledge of how to read them had been. Carved out of some unidentified and ostensibly indestructible type of stone, the messages created with the aid of Wano's ancient master stonemasons had been scattered amongst the many islands of the world. Now, how on earth they managed to chisel words into the surface, when a Poneglyph was supposedly impervious to damage was another mystery. But somehow, by some today unknown means they had succeeded.
"My word…"
"That's a big rock."
"Way to state the obvious, shithead!"
Regardless of my own casual curiosity, this was a great find for any lover of history, and I had just such a person on board. From the moment she had caught sight of the dark blue sheen, Robin had gone very still. If a normal person had been stuffed into her shoes, they would have displayed dilated pupils and erratic breathing patterns. Robin, on the other hand, had been very limited when it came to the outward signs, though there was no hiding her excitement from my haki.
"Go on." I told her, gently placing a hand on the small of her back and applying the slightest bit of forward pressure. "You're the one who found it. It's only proper that you get the first crack at it."
I knew how much value my girlfriend placed on these things, having made uncovering the mysteries of the Void Century one of her life's goals. It had been the mission in whose pursuit her mother and her entire home had given up their lives and it had been one of the supporting lights the newly orphaned child had clung on to, as she was forced to survive in a hostile world…alone. Even two decades after the events which had turned her life upside down, that desire had not faded and had bloomed into a dream instead. The only thing holding her back was the fact that Robin was currently a guest of a foreign crew rather than being with her own, and social conventions as well as personal diplomacy mandated a more careful approach than she'd use otherwise. Giving her the assurances she needed was a simple decision to make if I wanted to make her feel at home.
"Thank you, Bellamy." Robin murmured, giving me a slight nod which I answered with a wry grin.
"Well, it's not like any of us can read the ruddy thing, is it?"
Robin met my attempt at levity with a small smile, holding within it a myriad of different emotions, though most prevalent amongst them gratitude and trepidation. Almost hesitantly, she took the few steps she needed until she could reach out and stroke the cool surface of the stone, slowly running her fingertips along carved grooves and fissures. All while the rest of us watched on with bated breath, witnesses to this surprisingly intimate moment.
"This is one of the Rio Poneglyphs." Robin declared once she was done, turning around to share her conclusion. "One of the nine said to record a piece of the True History."
It was a grand statement with great ramifications. Yet, when compared to the weight these words carried, the significance was not widely known. As such, it should probably be unsurprising that the majority of my crew merely cocked their heads in confusion. Yet, there were a few individuals amongst them, who through one means or another had caught glimpses of the truth, and their responses were… not very measured to say the least.
"WHAT THE FUCK??" Lily screamed; her voice having gone drastically shrill. I wasn't even surprised to find out she knew about the Rio Poneglyphs, as the upper echelons of society had a tendency of knowing things they probably should not. They just didn't act on the knowledge most of the time, if they deemed the accompanying risk unacceptable. "Like, what in the fucking world is that effing thing doing in a bloody place like this?"
"Decades…centuries of the World Government spending money and lives like water to find these, and we just stumble across one without even trying…I have no words." Nero faintly whispered out in disbelief. "I simply have no words…"
However, unlike my two crew mates who were cartoonish in their reactions to finding the damn thing, Trafalgar Law had focused on something else. Perhaps, that shouldn't have been so surprising, seeing as my fellow captain was a broken man whose focus was primarily on wreaking bloody vengeance upon Doflamingo. Additionally, having survived some rather traumatic experiences in his childhood, the good doctor was about as unflappable as they came concerning most things.
"What does it say, Robin-ya?"
"The first half is a short record of the final years of a war against some Great Kingdom, though the name itself isn't mentioned here. Unlike most chronicles though, the details on the battles are sparse and a lot of this is devoted to listing the names of the twenty kings who formed the coalition." Robin answered. "The latter bits are far more interesting, in my opinion."
"How come?" I asked, walking up to stand beside her.
"It's written in a different style from the rest and resembles an amateurish attempt at poetry more than a historical chronicle."
"Poetry?"
"It's not really a poem to be honest. There's no real metric, the rhymes could be significantly better and it doesn't really follow any standard form I know of. But the language is certainly flowery enough." Robin continued.
"Tyrant of Four, Master of Two, Ruler of One.
White were the skulls that covered the sun.
Despair she left, in darkness she thrived,
The world of hope, she happily deprived.
Against this we only had a fragile light,
Which held our crumbling will upright.
And we crushed it in our greed."
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– Lily –
Apart from the Poneglyph, further searching failed to turn up anything of interest and the Crew had subsequently decided to move on. As the sailing conditions inside Bonbori's gut were calm with nary a breeze, it also meant that less work needed to be done to keep the Pearl afloat. Hence, the Crew found themselves with a surprising amount of free time on their hands. Since staring at the mucosal layering of the stomach walls became rather dull after a while, most of them had decided to alleviate their boredom by breaking up into little groups and trying to decode the message left by the ancients. After all, if they ignored the actual quality, or lack thereof, the poem was just cryptic enough to hold the Crew's interest without driving them bonkers on the journey to the next island.
"The first line is rather obvious, innit?" Lily asked her fellow puzzle solvers. "It's got to be the four Blues, the two halves of the Grand Line and the bloody Red Line. What else do we know that comes in a grouping of four, two and one?"
"So, it's just a very pretentious way of describing the whole world?" Eddy asked, jotting down a few notes.
"Essentially. It fits quite well too, especially if one considers that this line likely refers to the ruler of the Great Kingdom." Muret added. "Whoever she was, she certainly sounds like a nasty piece of work."
"She reminds me of Enel but worse." Laki muttered from the side. "I didn't think that was possible before."
"The World Government, the Celestial Dragons, just about every royal asshole in the world…" Lily replied, ticking off her fingers one by one. "One would think you'd have learned by now."
"As I was saying, before I came down here."
"Uhuh, of course you were." Lily snarked, but further escalation was stalled when Eddy diverted the course of the conversation.
"I'm more curious as to who or what the hope is, that they are referring to. Maybe the leader of the resistance movement?"
"It would make sense. Sounds like they betrayed him though for whatever reason." Muret mused. "Does that strike anyone as odd though?"
"What's odd about it? Obviously, the resistance won or else we wouldn't have the World Government. As everyone knows, it was fucking royalty who led the resistance and reformed the world in their image and royalty isn't known for being charitable." Lily scoffed. "That they'd get rid of a symbolic figurehead after his usefulness had run out is typical for the bloody bastards as far as I'm concerned."
"…I've noticed this before, but for being part of the upper class you really don't like them all that much, do you?"
From the way his eyes widened in alarm once the words he'd so casually spoken exited his lips, Eddy knew precisely what he'd just done by pushing one of the many buttons Lily had. Still, if it were under other circumstances, Lily wouldn't have been on such a hair trigger. Unfortunately, the subconscious stress compounded with her already bad mood from being faced with evidence of royal greed and avarice, created a prime environment for Lily's sin of wrath to flare up.
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"Geez Eddy, whatever gave you that idea?" Lily asked, her voice absolutely dripping with sarcasm. "It's not like royalty convinced my asshole of a father to sell my hand to the breathing corpse that was the fucking king's favorite grand uncle in exchange for vague promises of royal favor…"
"Lily…"
"…nor is it like my oh so precious cousins tried to convince my father not to go through with it. Actually, wait. That's precisely the opposite of what happened. If anything, they all cheered and tried to throw a party! And why wouldn't they? From their point of view, it was a brilliant idea!" Lily's voice had been steadily getting frostier the longer her rant went on and if it had been at all physically possible, the room would have likely become a prime penguin habitat. "Get rid of the heiress to the title and the estate, while getting some use out of damaged goods at the same time! After all, Lady Lilian's virtue and marriageability were questionable at best after cavorting with gutter rats and other riffraff, weren't they? Voluntarily entering into a political marriage for the good of the family was the least she could do in recompense."
To be fair to Eddy, it wasn't like he'd said anything truly deserving of the ire Lily was leveling at him. If anything, Lily was the one being very unfair to him and her friends, while not even having a good excuse for blowing up like this. The only thing she could offer in her own defense would have to be a lifetime of bad experiences and a cupboard of horrible memories, but who amongst the crew did not have something similar stowed away? That she'd always had a problem keeping her temper under control certainly wasn't sufficient justification either. Perhaps, if Sarquiss or even Bellamy had been around, the situation could have gotten resolved quickly with barely any fuss. Sadly, neither was in the immediate vicinity and as such, once triggered, Lily's anger was running off the rails like a train without a driver.
"This is getting rather heated rather quickly. Why don't we all just calm down with a nice cup of tea?"
Which unfortunately meant, that rather than calming the quartermaster down, Muret's attempt at mediation had an effect more akin to pouring a gallon of oil on the proverbial forest fire.
"Oh, fuck you, Muret! And your stupid tea too!" Lily snapped, abruptly standing up and marching for the door. The last thing Lily saw before she slammed the door shut behind her, were the stunned faces of her friends.
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"As much as I enjoy having you in my bed, I'd really prefer it if you weren't bawling your eyes out on my sheets." Sarquiss dryly told her after listening to Lily's recounting of events. "To quote what you said to me when I got my SMILE, you're getting snot everywhere."
"Hey, at least I listened to you and offered you my shoulder to cry on, dickhead!"
"So did I if you recall. I never said anything about my sheets." Her boyfriend pointed out. Perhaps, if it were any other day, Lily would have been angrier or annoyed at him for daring to joke at a time like this. However, having drained her emotional reserves by venting into his bedsheets, she couldn't muster up anything intense enough to really care.
"You're an insensitive ass." Lily groused, tossing the wet object in question in Sarquiss' vague direction. He dodged it. Coward.
"Actually, I'm not. I could be sensitive and caring and all that, but we both know that it isn't what you need right now."
"Yeah? If you know so much, then tell me. What do I need?"
"Someone to tell you when you're being stupid, obviously. And you're being very stupid, darling."
"Ah nuu. Hut uub."
"You really need to stop burying your face into things if you want people to understand you." Sarquiss replied, leaning forward on his stool. "I can fight a marine squadron for you, darling, but I can't read your mind."
"I know. Shut up."
"You could just apologize. That's always an option." Obviously, pulling the blanket over her head and turning herself into a human cocoon was a perfectly reasonable response to his ridiculous suggestion. And fuck anyone who claimed otherwise. "Hiding in my room and hoping everyone will forget about this isn't going to work."
"I can't! It's too embarrassing!" Lily wailed, her face turning as scarlet as her epithet.
"They're all friends, aren't they? Plus, they know you have anger issues. I'm sure they'll forgive you, especially if you tell them why you got so angry."
"That just makes it worse."
"Lily, I love you, but if you start talking about how you don't deserve forgiveness or that they are too good for you, I swear I'm dragging you over to them right now."
"…"
"Why were you so angry anyway? I know your past is a sore point for you, but it's not like you haven't talked about it before. Heck, you told me about it on our third date and that evening ended wonderfully." The first mate said, looking slightly wistful at the memory.
"I don't really know. Usually, it all seems like the past is dead and buried, but today it clambered out of the grave I guess." Lily murmured, sitting up and resting her chin on her knees. "Might have been the reminder of how greedy nobles can be and how that can ruin so many lives."
"Didn't know you had such a bleeding heart, darling, nor that you wanted to be a philanthropist. If you're not careful people might no longer think you a penny pincher."
"Hardy har har."
Unfortunately for Lily, her attempt to sidestep the issue using sarcastic laughter was stifled near immediately when Sarquiss, figuratively, went for the kill.
"Is it the Pure Gold?"
"…" For a moment, Lily was taken aback when her boyfriend's question hit closer to the mark than even she herself had been aware of. But the more she thought about it the more sense it made, until she found herself nodding in agreement. "Yeah. Growing up where I did, I've seen greed rip families apart way too often. People who I thought above it all, married couples who'd been in a loving relationship for decades, parents and their children…and I'm never going to be able to forget the look in my father's eyes when he came back from a meeting with the royal messenger."
"Go on."
"The Pure Gold is a treasure that's said to be able to buy half the world. Who wouldn't be tempted by that?"
"Bellamy for one. Not sure I would be either." At that, Lily leveled a disbelieving stare at her boyfriend, but he met her gaze evenly without flinching. "Darling. If I were to choose the Pure Gold, I know it would hurt you. Between you and a piece of metal, it's not really a competition."
"…"
"Darling, you've got to talk to me. You still haven't explained what about the things Eddy said set you off."
"…he reminded me that I was a noble." Lily confessed after a lengthy pause. "That despite everything, despite having shed the clothes and the manners and the pomp…that I was still a noble."
"So?"
"You don't understand just how far nobility will go in pursuit of their greed nor what sort of atrocities they will commit while pretending to be different. Heck, even the great founders of the World Government, who renounced their right to become the sole ruler of the world… apparently, they weren't immune either. It's always there, just bubbling beneath their skin and I have that same blood running through my veins." Lily continued, burying her face into her knees and hugging her legs tighter to herself. "I'm scared, Sarquiss. Scared of what that greed will do to me. Of what it may turn me into or what it may make me do."
Having said her piece Lily closed her eyes, afraid of looking into Sarquiss' eyes lest she find disappointment there. After all, she'd just revealed one of her biggest fears and hence, felt more vulnerable than she'd had in a long, long time. Thus, when Sarquiss flicked her on the forehead, it came out of nowhere.
"Darling, you are one of the most intelligent and bravest people I know, but you're being incredibly idiotic right now." Sarquiss told her. "Greed isn't limited to a certain strata in the social hierarchy. Ross can probably tell you more about it, but the poor do pretty disgusting things in exchange for a few coins too. If anything, they'd be even more tempted by the Pure Gold than your father could ever be. And you know this, as well. You're too smart not to."
"…"
"Your blood has nothing to do with this. Your heritage doesn't define your life. If it did, you wouldn't be here with me." The bed creaked as its owner moved over to sit beside her, wrapping one arm comfortingly around her shoulders in a sideways hug. "Plus, it's not like a little greed is a bad thing. Everybody has it to some extent and our capitalistic society wouldn't function without it."
"…"
"And, if you're worried about being too greedy…just decide not to be."
"Decide…not to be?"
"Pretty simple, right? It's what I do and if I can do it, so can you." Sarquiss shrugged. "It's not like you don't have the willpower for it. After all, you unlocked haki before I did. That's proof if you need it."
"It's not that simple."
"Who says it has to be complicated?" Sarquiss countered. "Darling. Don't worry about something that you don't even know will come true and focus on the present. If it helps, think about how heartbroken I'd be if you decided to leave me for a metal hunk. I'd be very sad. And probably cry into your bedsheets. A lot."
Contrary to his words, Sarquiss didn't look too worried about the prospect, grinning earnestly instead. So, earnestly in fact, that it made Lily giggle. Just a little at first but soon she was letting out peals of relieved laughter and hanging on to the first mate for support, who patiently bore the burden of supporting her weight.
"Feeling better now?" Sarquiss asked, once Lily had managed to collect herself again.
"Yeah. Thanks, dickhead."
"Anytime, darling."
The two of them sat together for a while in comfortable companionship, enjoying the warmth and presence of the other. Or at least, Lily did until Sarquiss broke the silence.
"Darling? You still need to apologize to Eddy and the others."
"…do I have to?"
"Yep."
"…fuck."