– Bellamy –

When one considered how to run a criminal enterprise, there were several answers that immediately came to mind, which formed a list including but not limited to fear, greed, respect, or some combination of all three. Mind you, this list was far from complete or even exhaustive, but it should get the point across.

Basically, entrepreneurs in this business had a variety of tools available to them.

While all of them would theoretically get you to your destination eventually, as long as you had enough of it to throw at your problems, reality mandated that one have limits. And that was where the wheat was separated from the chaff, as it were. In order to climb the corporate (criminal) ladder, one needed to be able to use the resources one had available for the greatest gain. Obviously, this was a task which became ever more herculean the higher one rose up said ladder.

Most individuals never made it far, often gambling everything on a wager which refused to pay off. Others, the smart ones anyway, recognized the finite nature of their assets and contented themselves with a position in middle management. A few even left the game altogether, cashing in their gains while the going was good.

And then…and then there were the crazy ones. Individuals, who acknowledged the impossible gamble for what it was and went for it anyway with a smile. Individuals, who, whether by luck or by skill, managed to thread the needle just right to claim the crown while stepping on the backs of a thousand corpses.

Individuals such as Doflamingo.

Doflamingo was a bit of a complex case when it came to his methodology, as most of those at the top tended to be. But when it came down to it, he was someone who employed fear and violence as the main tools of his trade. It was how he kept his network intact by ensuring that traitors met a gruesome end and it also served as an effective contrast to the treatment his inner circle enjoyed. After all, when a murderous madman acted very affectionately towards you, it carried a far different weight in comparison to someone who was nice to everyone on principle.

From what little I could glean from our interactions over tea, the Bloody Countess operated on a slightly different plane. Unlike what her epithet may suggest, Elisabeth Bathory exuded an aura which put people around her at ease. Most dealings in her world were negotiations to one degree or another, and by establishing empathy and fostering the feeling of a bond, she ensured she got a leg up on the competition. Doubly so, when she made her counterpart want to work with her.

It was a tactic she employed very well, as I found out much to my consternation, when she wrapped Ross around her little finger. A task made even simpler by the societal hierarchy both of them had grown up with. Essentially, Ross had been surprisingly vulnerable when an aristocratic lady gave him the time of day. Lily didn't count, because…well, she was Lily.

Thing was, even if you knew precisely what she was doing, you were severely limited in your options when attempting to defend yourself. What were you going to do? Complain that she was being too nice? Unless one was willing to break societal conventions or were willing to forgo doing business with her entirely, she'd effectively forced you to play a game in which she, in all likelihood, had a far greater mastery in than you.

Law and I certainly tried to match her for a while, as neither of us were uneducated, but she'd been born into her role while we hadn't been. Thus, I decided to flip the board, which brought us to the present situation.

"So, Alchemi was inside a giant? How curious."

"You could put it that way. Tiresome is what I'd have called it." I sighed, leaning into the backrest. "Searching for treasure while simultaneously being digested is an experience I'd rather not repeat."

"Will you have to?"

"No." I replied, casually tossing a small ring to her, which she caught with an equal lack of effort. "We found what we were looking for."

"So, this is…?"

"The Pure Gold." I told her, as honestly as I could. "I'd say we kept up our side of the bargain."

After all, she hadn't said how much of the Pure Gold we had to bring, right? And you didn't want to lay all your cards on the table right away.

"Hope you don't mind me saying so, but it is a tad smaller than I had been expecting."

"I wish the original creator were here so he could confirm this, but surely you understand that creating something as miraculous as the Pure Gold in any quantity is a challenging task."

"Certainly." Elisabeth nodded.

"Additionally, while this may be a disappointment to you, the creator didn't require a large amount for his own purposes."

"Which were, pray, what exactly?"

Sensing an opportunity, Law interjected, therefore drawing Elisabeth's attention unto himself and splitting her focus…at least a little bit.

"To save his daughter's life. It turned out that she had a terminal disease with no cure and the only way for her to have any hope of reaching adulthood was if her illness stopped progressing." Law drawled. "Trust me when I say this, that there was no way they could have helped the daughter with the medical knowledge of their time."

"Hence the Pure Gold." I said, picking up where my partner in crime had stopped. "While most of what we know about it comes from hearsay and legends, all stories agree that it was incredibly valuable. What they failed to tell you, was why."

"Eternal youth." Elisabeth cut in before giving us an indulgent smile. "Or at least a form of developmental stasis close enough to the real thing for the difference not to matter. Surely, you didn't believe that I wanted it for the money, did you?"

"Eh, the thought had crossed our minds." I shrugged. "But if you know, then that makes explaining things a lot simpler. Myskina Alcier, that's the creator's name by the way, made a ring using the Pure Gold and gifted it to his daughter so that its light would keep her alive. Coincidentally, it also meant her body didn't age a single day since the moment she put it on."

"My informants had told me that this Myskina Olga seemed odd for a six-years old. That would explain it, I suppose. Seeing as you've mentioned her in depth, may I take it that this is her ring?"

"Yep."

"What happened to her?"

"She doesn't have her ring anymore. What do you think?" Technically, not a lie.

"Of course." With that, Elisabeth seemingly sank into her thoughts for a bit, deeply pondering our words. The rest of us sat in more or less comfortable silence as we waited for her to return to our conversation. Which she did after about five minutes. "If you'll excuse me, there is one more thing I'd like to ask you."

"Ask away."

"Being a parent myself, I find it difficult to believe that this Alcier would have created a means for his daughter to live for centuries without ensuring the same for himself. After all, the world is a dangerous place for a child, regardless of her mental maturity and fortitude."

"That's because you'd be right. Alcier did create more rings of the same make for himself and his wife. Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to his wife's ring as it was lost in the chaos preceding Alchemi's…consumption."

"And Alcier's ring?"

"Well…as it turned out, the Pure Gold attracted more than just treasure hunters and marines." Law answered. "The ancient beast, which ended up causing Alchemi to disappear for nigh on two centuries, only did so because it had been drawn to the light of the Pure Gold. We needed something to distract it."

That was completely true by the way. While I'd have loved to bring every piece of it with us, Bonbori was far from stupid and it had been rather suspicious of us once the fish was done regurgitating us. As he had no more use for it, Alcier had tossed his ring overboard as a sort of consolation prize for the footballfish.

"I suppose I shall not fault you for that." Elisabeth stated, amicably smiling in our direction.

"How generous of you." Law replied, slightly inclining his head.

"Nor shall I for the Pure Gold you're still withholding from me." The smile lost none of its outward friendliness, but the same could not be said for the mood which froze solid.

"…"

"I admit, you've done well for a pair of children. Not many could string so many truthful facts into a coherent story like you've done, while prompting your target's imagination to fill in the missing blanks and reach the entirely wrong conclusion in the process." She praised us, completely at ease as she instinctively offered Izou a scone. "Next time though? Don't try so hard."

"Was it that obvious?" I asked, unable to read her intentions. She didn't seem angry nor was she making any aggressive movements, but that just put me even more ill at ease. Weren't crime bosses supposed to hate situations like this? Maybe, I shouldn't have listened when Law suggested hiding most of the Pure Gold?

"No, but I've been playing this game for far longer than you've been alive. I'd probably have to retire if you could pull the wool over my eyes, no?"

"I'm rather surprised you're not angry." Law asked, forgoing all subtlety in favor of seeking a straight answer.

"Why should I be? The condition was that you'd bring the Pure Gold as a gift in exchange for a meeting. I never mentioned how much you were to bring me nor what portion was to be mine. As far as I'm concerned, no promises were broken." She explained. "And it wasn't like I hadn't expected something similar. It is the mythical Pure Gold after all, and it is only human nature."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"…"

"Of course, whether or not I help you resolve your little spat with the Joker is another matter entirely."

"What would it take?" I sighed, to which the corners of her mouth moved upwards into a smirk.

"You're the ones seeking help, are you not? Why don't you tell me."

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– Ross –

HE'D. MESSED. UP.

BIG TIME.

Shit.

It had been hours since that disastrous meeting and Ross still couldn't get it out of his head. Honestly, it would probably stay in there for months if not years and that was if nothing bad came out of this fiasco.

How had that even happened? He'd grown up in the red-light district, where he'd been inundated with pretty faces day in and day out. He should have been immune or at least highly resistant to attempts of feminine persuasion and manipulation. Scratch that, he had been immune and not for Mani's lack of trying, before she hooked up with Rivers.

Admittedly, his recent successes had given him a bit of a big head. Unlocking armament haki, the creation and ongoing mastery of his jet dial-based combat style, the string of victories… all of it had started making Ross feel very good about himself. Confident even. Secure in the knowledge that he could handle the challenges fate would throw in his direction, Ross would concede that he'd become complacent without himself noticing and had thus revealed a chink in his armor. True to her reputation, the Bloody Countess hadn't been one to miss such an opening and exploited it for all it was worth.

Looking back, it was also increasingly obvious just how she'd turned him into putty in such a short amount of time. She had appealed to his own paranoia. Paradoxically enough, the ones held most tightly within the grip of paranoia were the ones who most desired to escape it. Nobody enjoyed living in a constant state of anxiety. While such individuals may staunchly refuse to let anybody in, once you convinced them that you could become a safe sanctuary, they dropped their own defences without a further need to breach them.

Ross hadn't been an exception to this rule, still wasn't really, and when she'd flooded his senses with signals signifying trustworthiness, safety, affection and everything in between via her body language, words and intonation…Ross had relaxed completely. Which had, of course, led to him providing her plenty of clues as to their crew's adventures even if he had only explicitly revealed a secret worth keeping at the very end.

Considering that he'd been brought along precisely because of his ability to keep his mouth shut and get a good read on people, Ross had failed miserably in every way that counted. Thankfully, negotiations had gone alright despite the disadvantageous position he's placed his captain in, with the Bloody Countess agreeing to do her bit in dismantling Doflamingo's underground network.

By which she meant that she would convince or trick or otherwise motivate Gild Tesoro to do it for her, most likely by dangling her share of the Pure Gold in front of him. Something she could only do because of her ability to deter the Casino King from making a more direct effort to obtain his prize. And all it had cost them were two favors to be cashed in at a future date in addition to a mere third of the Pure Gold.

At least, he had learned a valuable lesson from this: His paranoia had been warranted. Nobody, apart from his adopted family, nobody could ever be trusted. Greater walls would have to be erected around himself, bigger shields and sturdier armor procured to prevent anything like this from happening ever again…

"Do you have brain damage or something? Cause you're being a moron."

"Go away, Hewitt. I'm not in the mood to argue with you right now."

"Then you shouldn't have gotten drunk in my kitchen and spilled the beans."

"I cleaned them up, didn't I?" Ross retorted, somewhat unsteadily.

"I meant figuratively, but if we're being literal… you brushed them all under the fridge. That wasn't cleaning up. That's just making more work."

"…sorry." Ross muttered, slumping forward to rest his face on the dining table.

"Look, you messed up. No big deal. We all mess up at one time or another." Hewitt said, pouring Ross a glass of water. "Laki punched that one dude on Sabaody…"

"And rescued Marie in the process, who's now well on her way to becoming a little monster. That ended up being a net positive."

"Eddy got shot and lost a lung…"

"Which really wasn't his fault. And Law's going to fix him up as soon as he's done preparing Mad Treasure's lungs, isn't he?"

"Well, what about…"

"Oh, stop it." Ross snapped, raising his head off the wooden furniture. "I appreciate you trying to cheer me up but out of everybody on this ship, nobody has been a liability as much as I was today."

"Sarquiss was a liability at Marineford, by his own admission I might add."

"Doflamingo is a force of nature. Everybody would have been a liability and unlike our first mate at the time, I was supposed to be an asset!" Ross snapped, causing Hewitt to frown.

"You know what? Fine! Jokes on me for trying to imitate the captain and give someone a pep-talk. Obviously I don't have the talent for it like he does. So, I'm going to do this my way." Hewitt declared, standing up and rolling up his sleeves.

"What do you me…HEY, let go of my shirt!" Ross yelped as he was bodily dragged away from the dining area and into the kitchen proper. "Where are you taking me?"

"The kitchen, obviously. Are you blind?" Hewitt scoffed before violently sitting him down on a little stool in front of a bucket of water.

"Ok, violent much. So, you've brought me to your kitchen. Now what?"

"Now, you peel these." Hewitt answered, dropping what amounted to a small mountain of vegetables and potatoes onto the floor. "Chop chop, get to work. We've only got three hours until dawn."

"You can't be serious."

"Deadly serious."

"This will take forever." Ross half-groaned half-whined. Hewitt wasn't moved.

"Of course, it won't. Only a few hours."

"This isn't going to take my mind off things, you know?" Ross grumbled, but nonetheless reached out for the first lumpy root. The first of many.

"It's a good thing that that's not why we're doing this, ain't it?"

"Then what?"

"You said you messed up, right? That you had been a liability? Well, in that case, you owe us." Hewitt stated, moving off to a different part of his domain to begin inspecting his knives. "You, of all people, should know that working to pay people back is a perfectly valid way of clearing one's debt. You can start by helping me with the potatoes. The peeler is over there."

"…I feel like there's a small difference in scale here, between my mistakes and this."

"If you think that, then you'll just have to think of a way to properly make up for whatever you did in a manner that doesn't involve sinking into a victim mentality or crawling into the bottle to feel sorry for yourself." Hewitt replied, slowly moving the whetstone over a cleaver. "Be proactive. Fix things. But until you do come up with something…"

"Potatoes. Gotcha." Now...how did one peel a potato?

"Look, we both have issues, you and I. We both know this, even if how it manifests is different." Hewitt sighed as the rhymical sound of stone sliding against steel filled the air between them. "And unless I'm very much mistaken, you've reached the same conclusion I have. My envy and your paranoia? They might have served us well at one point but now they're holding us back."

"…yeah."

"If you want to stop messing up, you need to be better than you are now, right?"

"Right."

"In that case, how is crawling back to your paranoia going to help you?"

"…"

"Just think about that, will you?"

With that, Hewitt fell silent and so did Ross, neither of them saying another word, as they mechanically went about preparing the meals for the day. By the time the sun began peeking over the horizon, the mountain had been cut down into a more manageable pile and with it, Ross' inner turmoil. He still felt awful about that blasted tea party, but he felt as if he'd somewhat managed to recenter himself.

"Hewitt?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

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(A few hours prior)

– Elisabeth Bathory –

"My lady, you really didn't have to be so generous to them." Her trusted butler commented while cleaning up the empty cups and plates.

"You're right, Vlad. I didn't have to. I didn't not have to either." Elisabeth replied airily, as she gazed down through her tall window at the pirates departing from her docks.

"Prodding two of the four is a risky venture as well. Why get drawn into Springtrap's scuffle with the Joker when you could have taken everything at no cost? My lady, they even dared to try and mislead you at first."

"It's the prerogative of the young to be reckless fools. How else will they learn? Plus, Shakky likes him and a shiny bauble, no matter how shiny, isn't quite worth upsetting a friend." Turning slightly to look over her shoulder, Elisabeth gave her butler a smile. Framed against the setting sun, it was without doubt a dazzling sight. "Especially when she cashed in a favor."

"You did mention that she had put in a good word for the rookie in her last communiqué."

"Not to mention, if they have a bit of the Pure Gold, it just means the cute doctor is going to stay cute a bit longer, doesn't it?"

"If you say so, my lady."