– Bellamy –
It took a while, but in the end, we did find the island I was looking for and all it took was going over half a dozen others with a fine comb. Sadly, we failed to find anything else worth writing home about, because any signs of civilization we found had long since been abandoned and the former residents had barely left any loot for us to find. The orderly manner in which the homes had been picked clean also gave credence to the hypothesis that the locals hadn't been particularly surprised by their change in circumstances, or at least had had the time they needed to come to terms with it.
In fact, Robin even postulated that the residents of the Poneglyph Island, for lack of a better name, had somehow triggered the devouring of their home themselves before the remaining few escaped out into the open sea. Their motivation for such a risky and seemingly harebrained scheme?
"To protect the Rio Poneglyph, of course." Robin said. "It is…was a well-known fact amongst the archaeological community that the original creators wished for the Poneglyphs, and hence their message, to be passed down through the generations. In order to achieve this, they entrusted people and organizations with their safekeeping, many of whom still carry on that duty to this very day."
"My tribe is one such example." Laki offered. "It's partly why our ancestors fought so desperately to protect Shandia and why we never gave up trying to reclaim our home in the centuries following our defeat."
"From the looks of it though, the locals weren't nearly as numerous or combat tested as our Shandian friends. To make matters worse, they didn't have the advantage of being in a place not easily accessible by the World Government. Which means, they needed to find another way."
It wasn't difficult to understand what our resident archaeologist was getting at. After all, the only plausible benefit which could have possibly been gained from the affair, would have to be the concealment of the Poneglyph in a location far beyond the reach of the World Government.
"Bloody hell…" Ross breathed out. "The mad bastards."
"I'd say, that's what you call dedication." Hewitt added, shaking his head partly in disbelief and partly in admiration. "They didn't go for half measures, that's for sure."
Honestly, Robin's theory made sense to me and did offer a valid explanation for why one of the greatest treasures of the world had landed in Bonbori's gut. Our discovery, and subsequent landing on Dinosaur Island brought us one step closer to finding another, even if most of my crew didn't know it yet. What they did discover near immediately however, was the presence of an intelligent mind somewhere on the island.
"Let's go pay our lone survivor a visit, shall we?" I suggested, leading Law and my entire crew straight into the jungle with Aisa acting as our guiding compass. The few overgrown lizards which attempted to come looking for a snack were quickly dispatched, and their remains left behind as a warning to their brethren. After a while they stopped coming, having seemingly learned their lesson from the string of charred barbeque deposited in our wake.
"It amazes me every time, but your Thunderchild is simply unfair." Law complained as we trudged after Aisa, who preened ever so slightly.
"I'd tell you to get your own, but unfortunately Aisa is unique. And yes, she's off limits. You can't have her."
"I didn't even say anything yet, Springtrap-ya." His innocent face might have convinced others. It failed to convince me.
"But you were thinking it." I accused, which he totally didn't deny when he chose to cross his arms behind his head and whistle a ditty instead.
Meanwhile, Eddy had taken it upon himself to clear a path forward, allowing our haki prodigy to move through the formerly thick foliage in a straight line. That Eddy's efforts also provided an easy trail for Mad Treasure and co to follow was of little consequence to our minds.
Were we being dangerously confident? Maybe. Like I had probably stated before somewhere, Mad Treasure was certainly a dangerous man, worthy of caution. As was anyone really who had been active in the New World for as long as he had. That being said, I didn't think we were in over our heads and neither did Law.
For one, we had survived a fight against Doflamingo, albeit with a truckload of luck and Haruta's intervention, while giving the Warlord a bloody nose in the process. And despite his strength, I seriously doubted that Mad Treasure came anywhere close to being as dangerous as Doflamingo had been. Considering our significant growth since the Summit War; including but not limited to additional haki users, a greater baseline all around, my new lightning mode and Law not being half-dead this time…I liked our odds of coming out on top.
Briefly, I asked myself if our pursuer would have agreed with my assessment, but quickly decided that he wouldn't be shadowing us like this if he did. Still, if we didn't get a move on soon and make visible progress, I felt like the man was going to blow a gasket. The growing frustration of our competitor was palpable via my haki and I could very well imagine Mad Treasure soon deciding that his current course of action to be no longer worth the hassle.
He wasn't the only one who was feeling somewhat impatient with all the delays. While initially distracted by the new sights as well as the revelation of a secret guarded within a lost city, Olga only had the attention span of a six-year-old and quickly grew bored accordingly. And in true childish fashion, she levelled the greatest insult known to children in our direction.
"You guys are lame. Like, really lame."
"I'm heartbroken you think so, Olga." I replied, casually tossing a snake back into the trees.
"You are? Are you going to die?" the gremlin eagerly asked, her eyes shining with expectation. Thankfully for my well-being, my health was not going to deteriorate from a single insult, no matter how deadly. Sadly, I couldn't say the same for Ross and Hewitt who looked stricken at Olga's words, but their egos would survive. Probably.
"Eventually. When I'm old."
"You're already old." If this accusation had been uttered by a normal person of Olga's stature, both physical and mental, it would have likely made more of an emotional impact. As it came from someone who'd been born prior to Alchemi's disappearance, but whose mental development and corresponding maturity had stalled at the age of six, I merely responded by giving Olga a very dry look.
"I don't want to hear that from you."
That her social competency was underdeveloped for her age due to a complete and utter lack of human social contact during said two centuries, hardly convinced me to treat her as anything other than the child she appeared to be. And like the mental child she was, Olga quickly folded under my best parental stare.
"W-what are y-you trying to say?" She stuttered, beginning to sweat profusely. "I'm not old. I definitely did not spend two hundred years inside here. I'm a…normal…six-years-old girl…or seven…no, Six. Completely normal."
"U-huh." I replied, very unconvinced.
"Completely normal." Olga reiterated, as if she wasn't the worst liar I had ever come across, which included Luffy. Eventually though, her panic gave way to realization, causing her eyes to narrow. "You don't believe me, do you?"
"Why should we? That was practically a confession, as far as I'm concerned." Law cut in, deciding to break out of his role as a silent observer. "Though, if it's true, Springtrap-ya, this is an absolutely fascinating discovery which has the potential to revolutionize the entire field of medicine."
"Now that they know my secrets, I have no choice but to wait until they fall asleep to silence them all…" In response to his words, Olga devolved to her usual habit of muttering her plans out loud in the dark and obvious way she liked to do. Though her voiced trailed off when she caught sight of Law's movements. "W-wait…why the needle? WHY ARE YOU PULLING OUT A NEEDLE?!?"
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"For science. Or medicine. I'm not picky." My ally shrugged and took a small step towards the girl. "Don't worry, it won't hurt a bit."
"LIAR!!"
"Law, we're not running tests on our guide. We still need her." I said, putting my foot down. Law just grinned in response, playing along magnificently.
"Just a few litres? She won't miss those."
"I will! I most definitely will!" Olga screamed, running to place a barrier, namely me, between herself and my partner in this little play.
"Don't worry, Olga. I'll keep the big, bad doctor away from you." Smiling in an as friendly a manner as physically possible, I tried to emit an aura of trustworthiness. It…kinda worked as Olga's grip on my leg got increasingly similar to an industrial grade vice.
"You will?"
"If you behave." And I needed her to behave because our rotund target stumbled out of the jungle dressed like a dinosaur, before stopping short the moment he laid eyes on us. Or more accurately, on a particular little girl amongst us.
"Olga? Is that you?" Myskina Alcier managed to gasp out, his pupils dilating as his body tried to forward the ocular information to his brain as fast as possible. Whereas Alcier had recognized his daughter almost immediately thanks to the girl having stayed more or less unchanged over the decades, Olga took a little while longer to reconcile the tall, lanky man from her memories with the corpulent individual before her. Yet she eventually managed anyway, despite the years she'd spent without her father far outstripping those in which she had, in a demonstration of how important and how deeply rooted childhood memories could be.
"A-are you really my old man?"
"You're alive! I'd hoped, but I'm so glad you're alive!"
I was not quite sure what I'd been hoping for when I originally planned to facilitate this family reunion, but it certainly wasn't for Olga to run up to her long-lost father and deck him in the gut. Judging by how the man doubled over while gasping in pain, a blow fuelled by decades of suppressed rage and bitterness packed quite the punch.
"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" Olga screamed, tearfully flailing against Muret's grip which was the only thing holding her back from committing patricide. "If it weren't for you, none of this would have ever happened!"
Yet, despite the vitriol launched at him, despite all the accusations and his daughter's rage, the alchemist remained silent. His face cycled through a very complex set of emotions as he drank in the sight of his daughter, though most prominently featured amongst them was relief. And why wouldn't that be when before him stood living proof that the beloved daughter he'd lost centuries ago was alive and well?
"If you hadn't been so greedy! If only you hadn't been your ambitious, greedy self; the bad men wouldn't have come and Alchemi wouldn't have been swallowed!"
One after another several members of my crew began perking up, beginning with Aisa and ending with Hewitt, their gazes turning to stare into the jungle behind us. Hand signals were exchanged, the silent alarm sounded and defensive formations taken up. Ever quick on the uptake, Law soon joined us, his hand ready to draw his blade at a moment's notice.
"If you hadn't created the Pure Gold, Mom would still be alive!"
Olga hadn't noticed because the demolition of the dam, which had been holding her emotions back for so long, had robbed the girl of the mental capacity she needed to take heed of the events around her. However, a father's protective instincts were not so easily fooled, and Alcier gathered his struggling daughter into a protective hug.
"Well, well, well…now isn't that interesting?" Almost as if someone were pulling off Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility, the space where mere moments before only the indentations on the grass had given hints to someone's presence there, was now filled by Mad Treasure and his entire crew in their full glory. "Did I hear that right? You created the Pure Gold, old man?"
"You again? I told you before, I don't like clingy guys." Olga said, puffing herself up and pushing her father's arms away. "And what if he made the Pure Gold?"
"That means, little girl, if I have him…I don't need you anymore." Mad Treasure grinned. "And best of all, I don't need to follow you idiots around any longer, either!"
"What makes you think you'll get the man?" I asked, stepping forward to block his line of sight.
"Who's going to stop me? You?" he scoffed.
"Yes, me." I told him, before adding a few words when Law made poignant coughing sounds. "Together with a few friends."
"Seriously, Springtrap-ya?" My ally deadpanned, giving me a very flat look and breaking the thick tension in the progress. Like the mature adult that I was, I decided to make a formal complaint, as was only proper.
"I was having a moment, Law. And you are ruining it."
"You deserved it."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did too."
While Law and I did our thing, Mad Treasure's arrogant expression had increasingly become tinged with confusion at our flippant attitude. Before long it had shifted further, rapidly turning into rage. If it weren't for his already dark complexion, I would have even dared to say that he'd have turned crimson with how dilated his surface veins had become.
"Are you brats…IGNORING ME?"
"Yep." "Duh."
"YOU FUCKING BRATS!" And with that scream of outrage and indignation, the New World Veteran charged at us with his crew following close behind. All of them hollering battle cries at the top of their lungs.
They were met by our own.
The jungle shook.
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Eustass Kidd: the Pioneer?
Welcome to Marineford Daily News, your only source of accurate and unbiased truth.
Pirates are ruthless and nobody amongst the newer generation embodies this statement more than the captain of the Kidd Pirates…Eustass Captain Kidd. A man who rose to infamy by climbing over a mountain of corpses, this monster in human skin has left a trail of destroyed villages and devastated families behind in his quest for Roger's crown.
At times it seems as if the list of tragedies attributed to him are endless and the marines are publishing new reports of his purported crimes…and to their confusion and dismay, the pirate seems to be enjoying it. It has gotten to a point where the pattern is clearly recognizable. The authorities get up in arms about one atrocity or another and the accused does his best to break his own record while escaping justice time and time again. If one didn't know any better, one might even be inclined to believe the pirate is mocking the marines for their incompetence and inability to catch him.
Please note that this paper does not believe anything of the sort and is merely stating the believes and claims of other individuals, who will remain anonymous according to the witness protection act of 663. Relevant details have, of course been passed on to the proper authorities so that the individuals in question may be taken into protective custody…or in two cases, proper custody the crime of piracy.
Yet, it seems as if his string of successes has gone to the rookie's head and as everyone knows, pride comes before the fall. Barely a year after having made his violent debut to his pirating career, he has led his inexperienced crew into the New World. It is a bold statement to the world, in effect claiming that he is the frontrunner of his generation.
And in a manner of speaking, he did become one. For no sooner had the news of Captain Kidd's excursion reached the public ear, did several of his dastardly peers raise their anchors in pursuit. We do not know what the consequences of this scramble for the New World will be, but for now we remain content that these dreadful individuals are no longer terrorizing our peaceful shores.
Now, if only Springtrap and the rest would follow suit…
This was Marineford Daily reporting.
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