Rose is on a simple mission. Find the bastard that took their mother and find out what happened to her.
They've got the tools: a Devil Fruit that turns the world into a game interface, space to grow, and the ability to get stronger with every other user they meet. They've got knowledge of how canon is supposed to go. They even have some high-level skills before the trip starts! (With some crucial drawbacks.)
It's the Straw Hats - and a blend of preconceived notions and pre-existing bonds of Rose's new life - that make it complicated.
Rose might find a dream of their own. They might find family they lost or never had. Or they might even turn into a monster the likes of which haven't been seen for over two decades. It all revolves (as many things do) around one future Pirate King.
...at least the crew seems mostly okay with the whole gender thing.
Oh boy. So I've been watching Wano clips, it's been literal years since I've been up to date on the manga, and I still decided to do this anyways. I actually wrote ahead on this for three more chapters and will post the second shortly (because the ongoing character sheet was updated to match it before I thought better). If I don't cover something, assume it was close enough to canon not to matter.
Content Notes: Nothing in particular. Some shock regarding the protagonist's gender identity as a cliffhanger.
___________________________________________________________
Chapter 1: Flower vs. Weed?
It's often said that the same plant which in some places is considered a flower or herb can in others be called a weed. Invasive, unsightly. Sometimes even destructive. Much like in literature, context is key.
Zoro looked in the barrel with a frown. "You think there's anything good in there?"
The Kuina look-alike hummed, glancing over. "Well-"
"There's a violent aura in that barrel."
Zoro glanced up.
A pair of bright red eyes met his; strangely shaped pupils catching his attention.
"Eep!" Tashigi jerked upright. "Rose!"
The girl sauntered around. "Tashigi… that one?" She pointed at the blade in Zoro's grip.
Tashigi pulled out a book and flipped through it. "Ahh… Sandai Kitetsu. Yes, that's the one!" She then proceeded to rattle off the legacy of the blade, its grade, and gush over its history.
'Rose' looked at Zoro. "And your thoughts?" she asked. Her mouth barely moved, but her enunciation was clear.
The girl before him was shorter than him, maybe of a height with his captain. Red curls tumbled down her shoulders with the color of fresh blood. A silver chain circled her neck, and she wore a dark, subdued dress. Her face was round, but Zoro had seen much worse.
"Hm. This the 'violent aura' you were talking about?" He held the katana up and pulled it clear of the sheath. The pattern caught his eye. "I can see it."
"Y-you can't! That blade- I won't sell it!"
"Certainly, it's worth more than fifty thousand-" Tashigi began.
"It's cursed," Zoro interrupted.
Rose nodded. "That it is. A naughty thing, that blade."
Zoro raised an eyebrow. There wasn't a single sword on her person.
"Rose." Tashigi turned to her. "Why are you here?" To Zoro's surprise, she radiated caution. "You've never shown an interest in swords before…"
Rose flicked her wrist, and a vial appeared in her hand. "The shipment was placed in a freezer at the base," she said softly. "Unfortunately, they didn't have my payment."
…shipment? …payment? Whatever.
"Anyways, I'll take it."
"You cannot-" Ippon-Matsu began.
Rose palmed the vial with a slow blink.
"Then I'll test it." Her eyes were heavy on him. "My luck, against the sword's curse." He lifted it.
"Wait-!"
It spun.
Tashigi gasped. Ippon-Matsu shrieked.
Rose watched.
The air parted around the katana's blade, point over hilt. The back brushed his arm ever so slightly… but then it was past.
Pulling the blade from the floor, Zoro grinned. "Like I said - I'll take it." As the shopkeep began to talk, his smile faltered. "Wait."
Tashigi looked around.
"That girl-"
Tashigi gave an awkward smile. "Yeah. She does that."
She was gone.
____________________________________________________________________________
Success! Roronoa Zoro. 19. Three-blade swordsman, likely from Wano. First Mate of the Straw Hats. Level 14. 34 Strength, 27 Endurance, 19 Agility, 10 Intelligence, 16 Wisdom, 24 Personality. No Devil Fruit - no new spells learned.
I let out a long breath through my nose. It was one thing reading it in a comic. It was another seeing it as a cartoon. In real life?
I could feel Kitetsu's hunger as it circled his arm. Call it providence, call it force of will - it wanted to rend Zoro's flesh, but something kept it at bay.
Clouds boiled in the sky overhead, and I touched the locket under my dress. "System, Quests."
Quest: The Journey of Over a Thousand Chapters Begins With a Single Ship
Objective: Ride out on Going Merry
Rewards: Straw Hat Membership, 1500 experience, 100,000 belli. Life-threatening danger!
Hint: You better get to that execution platform before showtime. Get aggressive!
I'd been in Loguetown for… too many years. No quests, only a few fights. I hadn't stagnated, quite. Making munitions and basic healing potions for the Marines kept food on the table, a roof over my head, and kept me somewhat safe. They were minor miracles, but not good enough to get me recruited.
And now I had an out. A way to find the person I was looking for, a way to get something like closure.
My fist closed around the locket as I strode into the square.
And all I had to do was look the world's greatest story in the eye. Face my past. Ride with a crew made of utter nonsense.
What a fucking concept.
Of the Straw Hats, three were my favorite. One was Nami. Her point of view was one of the more sympathetic to me - in a world of insanity, she was the closest to a pragmatist. Mostly. When money wasn't involved. The second was Robin, for her macabre personality, fascinating powers, and breadth of knowledge.
The third was Zoro - for his honor, rough exterior and good(?) heart, and sheer bad-assery. Among other qualities. Qualities that were much more pronounced pre-Marineford when not filtered through an artist's pen.
I cast my gaze around to see if the person I'd come to call 'Captain' had made it onto the execution platform yet.
"...and now! It's time for you to die in a Flashy way!"
The crowd gazed up as one, staring at the three on the platform.
…none of the other Straw Hats were here. They were supposed to be here. I had to stall.
Level 11. Buggy the Clown. Former Roger Pirate. Stats- skip! Clings to enmity against Monkey D. Luffy for carrying his captain's hat, and a grudge against Shanks for not moving to claim their dream. Devil Fruit: Chop-Chop. New Spell! 'Poltergeist'. Saved to records.
Level 9. Alvida. Current Buggy Pirate. Stats- skip! Holds a smaller grudge against Luffy for her defeat and the loss of her crew. Currently follows Buggy as she masters her new powers. Devil Fruit: Slip-Slip. New Spell! 'Teflon'. Saved to records.
Success! Monkey D. Luffy, son of Monkey D. Dragon and SKIP. Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, Heir to the Will of D. Level 14. 28 Strength, 29 Endurance, 32 Agility, 6 Intelligence, 15 Wisdom, 55 Personality. Devil Fruit: ERROR. REDACTED. LEVEL INSUFFICIENT.
I quickly walked forward, letting the information from Analyze compile as Buggy gloated. The woman, Alvida - she looked down at me, half-curious.
"Now everyone will know-"
"That you got the drop on someone in the throes of a borderline religious experience?" I asked, pitching my voice just so.
Buggy froze. His eyes swerved down to me.
"Huh?" Luffy blinked. "Who're you?"
I tilted my head. "Buggy… I know you." I ignored Luffy. "My mother spoke of you." The mere mention made my stomach burn with indignation.
Keep it down. Don't break the facade.
"Ehh? Well, I'm sure a lady of standing would know allll about the-"
"Cabin Boy of Gol D. Roger."
A distant rumble greeted my words. Buggy's smile turned to a rictus grin. "Eh?"
"You missed out on the ride to the End due to illness, but you were a Roger Pirate nonetheless. Or so she said. Was she wrong?"
"Whaaaaa? Big Nose! You sailed with Roger!?" Luffy looked up with stars in his eyes, despite being pinned with a blade at his neck. "You might be cooler than I thought! But wait - why are you so weak??"
Alvida turned her head and coughed into her fist.
Luffy's eyes whipped towards me. "And you! How'd your mom know that?"
Footsteps echoed behind me, and I recognized at least one voice - Zoro. Going to Ippon-Matsu's was a good call for that, at least.
I raised a finger on one hand.
The three pirates stared.
Slowly… I put it to my lips.
"DON'T GIVE ME THAT!" Buggy yowled, swinging his sword to point at me.
There. I palmed a vial, and flung it at him. Time seemed to slow.
Tutorial! Spell: Poltergeist. Based on the Chop-Chop Fruit, it allows for (very) minor telekinesis! With this spell, you can move an object from one point to another in your line of sight (or other senses) up to ten kilos! If the object can lash, grip, or tie at its destination, you can direct it to do so. In the case of objects like ropes, you can pull and hold multiple in a variety of directions.
Well then. "Poltergeist."
The vial picked up speed and shattered on the point of Buggy's sword - which immediately began to melt from the acidic contents.
"WHAAAAA!" Buggy, Luffy, and Alvida stared at the dripping blade, eyes wild.
I stepped forward, preparing to run- Buggy raised the ruined weapon, still capable of harm-
"Sorry, guys!"
"LUFFY-"
"I'm dead!"
And the world… fell. An eruption of light and sound, and I was entirely too close for comfort. Thankfully, convection didn't function at all in this world so I didn't get turned into a charcoal briquette.
My sight and hearing snapped back, the 'Blinded' and 'Deafened' debuffs dropping almost as soon as they came.
Luffy burst from the smoldering pile of lumber. "I'M ALIVE!"
I stared for a moment, then remembered. I had been seen defending a pirate, even from another. Someone would have questions.
I turned and bolted for the harbor. Hopefully I could guilt them into letting me on for 'risking my safety to protect their captain'. Maybe.
I made it ahead of Smoker's trap, but ultimately ran into Tashigi. She stood in my way to the harbor.
"Going somewhere, Rose?" Tashigi's voice was icy. Oh, she was pissed.
I didn't answer.
"Did you know who he was?" Soft. Dangerous. Out of my league. Distracting Buggy at range was one thing; Tashigi could and would turn me into a cloth rag on her sword.
"I had suspicions. As should you- three-sword style isn't remotely common. Triad katanas rarely serve a purpose beyond backup, and he was the right age and build." I looked her in the eye. "I was curious, and on sating my curiosity I left. And now I'm getting out of the way before a Logia and a former Roger Pirate tear up the town."
At that, Tashigi wavered. "I heard. I also heard you defend the other pirate- Luffy." She inclined her head. "...why?"
Almost unconsciously, my hand went for my locket.
She narrowed her eyes. Slowly, she drew her blade. Rain poured down, giving the edge an unearthly gleam.
"It'll rust," I whispered.
Tashigi gave a wry smile. "You and I both know better than that. I take care of my blade."
Even at that short distance I could smell the metal. I palmed a vial, tensing. This would go badly. At best I'd take two strikes and maybe escape. If three- If I took three-
She entered a ready stance.
And Sanji dashed by her, blond hair visible despite his speed. I stared after him, faintly perturbed because I was a woman in trouble, so he should definitely have stopped to help-
"The pirates!" Tashigi squawked. She rounded after Sanji, only for Zoro to get in her way. She looked behind me. "Stay right there!"
I hefted the vial, panic giving me the strength to move. "No."
But before I could throw it, Zoro met my eyes. I knew then and there, that if I interfered with this - if I struck her from behind (like a coward, like my preferred method) - I could kiss any chance of getting on the Merry goodbye.
I grit my teeth. If I wanted to catch up-
Tutorial! Spell: Teflon. You can reduce the effects of friction on your body to near-zero! This grants a bonus to escapes, mobility, and speed depending on your movement! Blunt damage is reduced, and damage based on friction (abrasion) is reduced to none. You can also apply this effect to held items.
…that would work. "Thanks, Roronoa. Teflon."
It was partly inspiration and partly instinct that let me weave around Tashigi's range, sliding downhill on the soles of my boots. With friction negated, speed picked up and the world blurred.
I heard shouting ahead and eyed the gangplank. Before me was a little caravel, with a goat figurehead. It was small, adorable, and had three people on it.
I bent my legs, and pushed myself forward. With effort, I kept momentum up, and-
For maneuvering with 'Teflon' in effect and making it onto the ship, you gained +2 Agility!
"Who are you!?" The boy with goggles on his head stepped back as I came to an abrupt halt, crouching. Ah, Usopp.
"The one who delayed your captain's captors long enough for nature to intervene," I droned. I pushed my sopping curls out of my face. "Call me Rose."
"A lovely flower, to be sure." Sanji gave a roguish grin. "But this is a pirate ship, you know?"
"And while Tashigi and Smoker might give me some leniency, I did, in fact, help your captain. There are those in the Marines who would want me dead for that alone." I looked at each of them in turn. "I need to not be here anymore. And I won't ask for free passage. I've talents to provide."
Nami cleared her throat. "How do you know traveling with us is any better?" She made a hand signal, and the men moved to start preparing to sail.
I looked around, and let Analyze/Observe take over.
Loose main sail, rope to mast, activate mechanism to retract anchor-Analyze/Observe has reached Level 36! - draw up gangplank.
I raised a hand. "Poltergeist."
Ropes flew, the anchor began to rattle as it was drawn up, and the sail dropped.
The three stared at me in shock.
"Game-Game Fruit. My life is a story with me as the hero/heroine. My abilities scale with use, and I gain 'spells' by analyzing other Devil Fruits," I murmured. I quickly walked to the gangplank to pull it up.
Zoro met me there. "The hell're you doing here, provisioner?" He placed a hand on his swords.
"Zoro! No time!" Nami looked at him, then me. "She wants to come."
"And she's a pen-and-paper person!" Usopp added. He looked at me with something like glee in his eyes. …I should have guessed he'd be the one to make that kind of connection. After all, video games didn't exist in this world.
Zoro hauled the gangplank. "Luffy?"
Nami hesitated, only for a massive gust to tear through. And with it came the captain himself.
Somehow I managed to keep my feet along with Zoro and Sanji, so Luffy saw me first. "Hey! Bottle Girl!"
Oh no. Hell no. "That's Rose, thank you. And you're welcome for saving your life."
"Shishishi! That was lightning!"
I gave him a sidelong glance. "Which struck after I delayed Buggy and Alvida. And melted his sword."
"Hmm. You're right!" Luffy grinned. "Hey, do you have more bottles?"
I tilted my head. He kept smiling. I waited. The wind howled, pushing us out to sea.
"...sure."
"Okay! Join my crew!"
"Luffy-!" Zoro glared at him, then me. "Fine. Just answer this: why were you at Ippon-Matsu's?"
I held up a hand, and in the air light congealed into words.
Quest: The Journey of Over a Thousand Chapters Begins With a Single Ship
Objective: Board Going Merry
Success!
"YOU GET QUESTS!?" Usopp squawked.
"My own guiding star. It won't say how, or even what sometimes- but it gets me where I need and want to go." I shrugged. "Devil Fruits."
As one, the crew looked to Luffy, who had stretched his cheek out to several centimeters. Yes, it was as perturbing as it was comical. "Waht?" He let it snap back.
"Rubber, then." I looked around as we drifted further from the dock. A cloud boiled at the edge, where Smoker had to be. "Oh dear."
The Straw Hats looked at each other (except Luffy). "...this is a little sudden," Nami said finally. "Most of us- well, all of us-"
"Were brought on by the Captain after he helped us." Zoro folded his arms. "And here you are, walking in like you belong somehow."
"Ah. Well, I don't."
Luffy scowled. "Hey!"
"Not yet at least," I continued, making a pacifying gesture. "I know this is sudden, and I could have made contact earlier. If I had put in the effort, I could have reached out to more than one of you, helped you around. Made friends, perhaps."
The tension dialed down as they became visibly confused.
"And then I could have told you about my powers. Then- how much of those interactions would have been real? What would I have picked up from a spell or skill that made it look like I fit with you? How much would be 'me' and what would be my power?"
Something flashed across Nami's face, only to fade.
"This way, I wouldn't cause inadvertent feelings of betrayal. What you see is what you get." A bold-faced lie, but it fit nicely with my little spiel.
"Blehhh. This is boring!" We turned to the Captain. "We got away, got our stuff, and are heading to the Grand Line! Let's celebrate!"
Nami perked up. "Right. Right! Look there!"
I followed her hand, and gazed at the lighthouse.
"That island?" Luffy asked.
"Right! That's our guiding light. We follow it right to the Grand Line!"
The waves rocked the ship, and Loguetown… Loguetown was a memory, now. I didn't think I would see it again.
"In this storm!?" Usopp asked, clinging to the mast.
Zoro just grinned and nodded.
I looked at all of them, and sighed. "Well, it's where I need to go regardless."
Then it was there. "Let's have a launching ceremony, huh?" Sanji rolled out a barrel.
This. It's real. It's happening.
"I'm going to the Grand Line… to find the All Blue!" Thud.
"To become King of the Pirates!"
"To become the greatest swordsman!"
Thud. Thud.
"To map the entire world!" Thud.
I tensed.
"To… to become a brave warrior of the sea!" Thud.
They looked at me, expectant. Really? Not minutes after their (valid) suspicion-
"COME ON!" Luffy's grin was something wild, untamed and fearless. Open and welcoming.
…and that was the greatest threat, wasn't it. If I wasn't careful, my journey could end before it began.
I slid between Nami and Usopp, and daintily placed my heel on the barrel. "To find answers." For closure. For vengeance. And maybe even for hope.
For whatever reason, my response seemed to make the Straw Hats smile all the brighter.
"Shishishi! Let's go! To the Grand LINE!"
We raised our legs as one - and brought them down.
So… where? Where do I go from here?
Main Quest: Mother, May I?
Objective: Find Jabra. Use any and all methods to get answers of what happened 'that day'.
…best of luck, Abendstern D. Rosehip.
And the second one. I'll hold off on the other two chapters for now. I start hitting my stride in this one, and as anyone who's read my work knows - my strength lies in dialogue and character writing, so I'm just going to avoid fights for as long as possible. So... until Little Garden, basically.
Content Notes: Mild Transphobia (?). More like explaining to people who Don't Get It with varying success. Sanji takes the information as well as can be expected. Not character bashing, but definitely Sanji out of his comfort zone. There's a discussion on gender broken down to a five-year-old level for Luffy to understand. Edgy Rose is Edgy. (They are a try-hard, this is a plot/character point.) I also added some in-character speculation about Laboon hunting, given Whiskey Peak managed to have enough food to knock Luffy out by feasting (even if it was early canon).
____________________________________________________________
Chapter 2: Thar He Blows!
Whales, as a species, are highly intelligent and community-based. It is rare for them not to live in familial pods. For the most part, they are gentle giants.
"Starboard!"
I deftly wove my fingers, and the ropes tugged the sails as needed. It was no knock-up stream, but the current over the Red Line was still… exhilarating.
"Are you made of stone, woman!?" Zoro barked.
I blinked. "Shall I scream like Usopp?" I called over the rushing wind.
The responding shriek was gratifying.
"Pipe down, mossbrain! The ladies are keeping us from turning into paste!"
"ROSE!" Nami pointed, and I tugged again. Thankfully, my stats tended to a Caster build along with Poltergeist being a low-investment spell.
Against all odds, the Straw Hats reacted… alright. Alright to my admission.
"I don't get it, but maybe you can explain later?" Nami.
"Whatever." Zoro.
"Uhhh…?" Usopp.
"Okay!" Luffy.
"...but why?" Sanji.
All in all, far better than I'd feared.
I forced myself from my split-second reverie with a glance at Luffy. "Balloon, right."
He snickered and tumbled to the side of the ship with a gulp of air - just in time to cushion the necessary blow to get us through a particularly narrow spot. A rope swung from the mast, and he gripped it on contact. With that he made it back on the ship.
"We're almost at the top!" Nami shouted. Her face was split in a grin. Probably in a better mood because I managed to keep us from drifting into the Calm Belt.
And then… we crested. The sea stretched boundless before us, clouds peppering the sky. Light glimmered on the distant water, and my breath caught in my chest. Warmth filled my body.
Would it ever stop? The feeling of 'oh, this is real'? It would be hard enough trying to compartmentalize around these people. This awe would only complicate things.
I let out a soft breath. "Ah."
Zoro sauntered over. "Not made of stone after all, huh." He stared into the horizon alongside me.
And of course, that was all the time we had. After all, what goes up…
"WE'RE FALLING!" Usopp screeched, waving an arm from his position at the mast.
I glanced back at Nami, who nodded firmly.
"More of a flume, really." With my eyes - and my ranks in Observe - I made out Laboon's shape in the approaching mist as I kept us in the downflow. "Whale ahead."
"Oh, be sure not to hi-" Nami went quiet. "...Rose?"
"Mm?"
Looming out of the mist, Laboon waited for the pirates who would not return. Mountainous, scarred, and so very alone. I actually felt (empathy) pity for the titan.
"WHALE HO!" Luffy bellowed, laughing up a storm.
"ROSE!?"
"Panicking won't do us any good. We'll need to decelerate, but I should be able to turn us enough that we won't lose the figurehead." I paused. "Unless we want the captain's seat to be sacrificed against the flesh of an Island Whale." We fell a little more. "The whale will win, by the way."
"Nami!?" Sanji picked up enough to turn to her.
"Cannon!" Luffy yelled, and bolted belowdecks. Thank you.
I pulled, tugged, and manipulated the ropes as much as I could. I had to come out of the flow at an angle, maybe change the trajectory- No, the anchor would tear out if deployed-
Inhale, exhale. "Zoro, please handle this one. I need to do some delicate work and I can't manage them all."
"Allow me, lovely flower~!" Sanji snatched the rope out of thin air, and pulled.
Nami snapped out of her stupor and gave orders. "Port! Hard to port!" I pulled-
Warning! MP is at 50! Consider resting? Not now! Shit, they're counting on me and I need to pull through- I grit my teeth. I'd need to warn them sooner or later. This was just the first leg, and I was already being pushed. They needed to know what it would mean if I hit zero.
On any of my points.
And we exited Reverse Mountain. I pulled, Sanji pulled, the shadow of the colossus grew close-
Anchor? Maybe? Wait-!
The boat turned, and the breadth of the Merry combined with air resistance slowed us gradually.
The cannon… did not fire.
We didn't crash. No, we gently bounced off of Laboon's rubbery hide.
MP at 20! Rest highly recommended!
I let go of the spell and fell backwards with a wheeze, closing my eyes. The ding to my HP would be fine.
…why was there no alert that I'd taken damage? Or the sensation of wood under my body? And what was holding my shoulders up? I slowly opened one eye.
Zoro scowled down at me. "Tch. If that's enough to lay you out, maybe we ought to leave you at the next island." He'd caught me somehow.
"Well. My powers increase with use, and I've been trapped in Loguetown without a chance to improve for… oh, the better part of a decade." I let out as obvious a yawn as possible. "Next time we're falling from the heavens to the sea, I'll let you handle it."
"You did great, Rose." Nami helped me up. "I'm not sure we could have reacted that quickly as a crew - and you even saw this guy before I did!" She looked up in awe.
I cracked my back and groaned. "That's because my Observe skill is over halfway to maximum. I can't read tides or weather for anything, but if there's something on the horizon I can at least point it out - even through fog cover. To a degree."
"So what can you do? Besides your 'spells'." Zoro raised an eyebrow at the word.
"I'm good at sneaking, master-level in crafting clothes, munitions, weapons, and consumables, well-spoken and a decent writer, and I have some talent for Reinforcement."
"What's that?" Sanji asked, having tied off his rope. He gave Zoro a foul look. Zoro was unmoved.
"Physical combat. I strengthen my body and weapons so I dish out more damage and take less. If I had more chances to practice I'd be better, but as it stands I didn't get into many fights in Loguetown." I paused. "I only have spells from Buggy and Alvida. If I tried Analyzing Smoker I could have gotten in real trouble."
Nami opened her mouth to ask, so I cut her off.
"My goals have no place in the Marines. Like I said - I'm looking for answers. For that, I need freedom to search. A Devil Fruit that grows exponentially in use is sure to draw attention from all quarters."
"Hey, we stopped! I didn't waste a cannonball." Luffy wandered back onto the deck. He gave me a bright smile. "I knew Nami and Rose could do it!"
Nami smugly held out her hand. "Of course. And one should never ply their talents for free, so I'll take 20,000 belli from each of you." She leaned forward. "And if you can't pay, I can always add it to your tab-"
A fat wad of cash fell into her hand. Slowly, Nami looked down. Then she looked up. And she looked at me.
"Life is a game. Battles result in drops, Quests are rewarded, and hidden caches are everywhere. I burn up most of my funds in crafting, but I do have a decent bit of savings." I stared at her with a flat gaze.
"Rooose-chaaaaan~!" Nami crooned, cradling my face to her chest. "I always waaaaanted an adorable baby sister~!"
I deliberately didn't look at Sanji, who was making some terrifying choking noise.
And at that moment, the dysphoria started settling in. Today seemed to be a 'boy' day after all. "Right, changing."
"Huh?" was the only response before I burst into pixels.
____________________________________________________________________________
Luffy didn't really 'get' Rose yet, but he had a good feeling about her. Him, now! Was he still 'Rose'? That was a girly name, but if he wanted to keep it, Luffy had no problem. Rose was Rose, after all! For some reason the rest of the crew was in shock, even though Rose told them he did this. Seriously!
"Shishishi! You're not in a dress!"
'Rose' blinked slowly. "Nope."
He had short red hair that looked like layered feathers, and was still shorter than Luffy. He wore a dull red shirt and pants, and the same boots. Two of his top teeth poked out over his bottom lip a little, and they looked kinda sharp. Also, his face was really round - like Luffy's! He even had the same kind of ears that stuck out if his hair wasn't long enough - Luffy could tell.
"So are you still 'Rose', or do you have a boy name?" Luffy tilted his head curiously.
"...still Rose." His lips tilted up a little. Yes!
"R-rose-chan…" Sanji looked devastated. "The beauty… gone…!" Wow, that was a lot of tears! And snot!
"I'm still here." Rose's voice went cold. Like Ace's, way back when. "I told you. Sometimes I'm a boy. Sometimes I'm a girl. It all depends on how I feel. What shape my heart takes on a given day. I'm just lucky enough my body can be made to fit it without issue." He paused. "Or intervention from a Scary Godmother."
Huh. That sounded like someone sneezing from far away! Very fabulously!
"What's the big problem? He told us he was a boy sometimes, and now he's a boy." Luffy felt his breathing shift, so he jammed a finger into his nose to clear the blockage. Scrape, scrape. "And if he's a girl sometimes, so then she's a girl."
Rose… smiled. His teeth were kinda pointy, but only the meat-teeth (Gramps called them something else, but that made the headache worse) passed his lips. "Thank you for explaining, Captain." For the first time, there was something like a gleam in his eyes.
Luffy flicked the booger away. "Sure! Shishishi, maybe I'm good at words too!"
Rose's laugh was soft, rusty. Like he was out of practice. Well! Luffy would be sure to give him plenty! After all, he was nakama now, and Luffy took care of them. Always.
Nami hummed. "I think I'm starting to get it. Sorry for my poor response." She gave a sheepish smile.
Sanji drooped. "So… the pretty lady'll be back?"
"She didn't leave, dumbass. Luffy managed to get it before this, why can't you?" Zoro clocked Sanji upside the head. And then they started fighting, again.
For a second, Rose's face went kinda red, but then he stopped. Like he turned the feeling off or something. Hmmm.
"Uh. I don't get it, but if Rose is Rose then it's fine. Besides, it's mostly the clothes?" Usopp placed a hand under his chin.
"Thanks to 'character creation', I'm physically indistinguishable from a cisgendered male right now, Usopp."
"Cis-what?" Even Luffy was confused now.
Rose took a deep breath. "So gender is a spectrum. Some people are born with boy bodies, and are boys. Some are born with boy bodies and are girls. Same for girls with girl bodies and boys with girl bodies. Some, like me, slide up and down between boy and girl - I'm prone to going between extremes." He used his hands to demonstrate, moving up and down an invisible line. It actually helped a lot!
So, Luffy nodded. Okay. Made sense.
"There are even people who don't fit either one, and are either in the middle or off the scale completely. There's words for them, but I'll teach you if they come up." And he was talking to Luffy, looking directly in his eye. Trusting him.
Luffy grinned. "Okay! Thanks!" He paused as the lights went dim. "Hey, who turned off the sun?"
BWOH.
Usopp stared up. "I got so drawn into this whole talk that I forgot the whale," he whispered.
And Merry sailed right on into its mouth! "Shishishi! We're in trouble!"
"NO KIDDING!?"
____________________________________________________________________________
I stared up at the fake sky. There was no sign of Vivi and Mr. 9 yet, so we were… mostly safe.
The crew was preoccupied with Crocus at the moment, so I just kept looking around.
"Young man. Yes, you!"
I looked at him.
He stared back.
I raised an eyebrow.
His pupil narrowed.
The crew held their breath.
"Don't you know it's-"
"If you have an actual question, please ask."
Everyone but Luffy fell over.
Crocus peered at me for a moment more before grinning. "Not bad."
I gave a slight bow. "Regards to the senior."
"There's two of them," Usopp hissed.
"Laboon here has been waiting for many years for his friends to return," Crocus began.
"And therefore has self-harmed using the Red Line to try to get to them. I saw the scarring." I touched my chin. "Given it's not worse, I assume you sedate him periodically?"
Crocus stopped, and nodded slowly.
"That's a stopgap. He won't believe you if you say they all died, but I may have some partial truths that might get him to calm down."
Nami perked up. "Did you Observe something?"
For the first time, I felt Crocus' intent on me. "Observe?" he murmured quietly.
I rubbed the back of my head. "The pirates - Rumbar Pirates?"
Crocus nodded slowly.
"I… may have expended a bit of energy for a deeper dive." I made sure to add a sheepish tone to my words. "I was curious." Sell the lie with a touch of truth.
"And what did you find?" Crocus' voice was dangerously mild - far away from the foreboding gravel he used before.
"They died. Some by illness, the rest in the Florian Triangle, wherever that is. One ate a Devil Fruit that allowed reanimation, so there's an indication he might be there."
Crocus stared. I-
"Which one."
…no gag now.
"Brook."
Crocus stared directly at me. "I never named him." His voice was barely a whisper. "And that's not the Observation I was expecting."
I very carefully didn't move.
"Hey, old man - you're not-"
"Sanji." Luffy was dead serious.
"...does the name 'God Valley' mean anything to you?"
My eyes widened.
Crocus stared me down. I could only helplessly look back at the Roger Pirate.
"...no. You've stumbled onto something, but you're not her." Crocus relaxed, scowling. "Brat, don't give me heart palpitations."
"Guess he might be the one to die after all," Zoro muttered.
Usopp let out a rattling breath.
And that was when the hatch above us opened, revealing the barrel of a manual launcher.
"No thank you." That was all I said before sending a vial careening at the target.
The explosion which dislodged Miss Wednesday and Mr. Nine was gratifying, to say the least.
"WHAT THE-"
My crewmates' reaction was close behind.
____________________________________________________________________________
"...you want me to what." I stared Luffy down.
"Paint our Jolly Roger on Laboon!" He grinned widely at me.
"...captain's orders?" I winced internally.
"Yep!"
I turned and looked at the massive whale. "...I do not have that much paint in stock." Or a big enough brush. …thankfully, I could improvise.
Vivi and Nine huddled on the deck, bound in rope.
I narrowed my eyes at Laboon, and stepped back, readying to jump-
Only for an arm to wrap around my waist and bear me aloft. "Ah?"
Laboon had submerged enough to be leapt on, but it wasn't under my power that I got there.
"Here. Don't do stupid shit." Oh. Zoro.
I glanced at him. "Thanks. I might not have made that jump. Not as I am."
Zoro glared. It wasn't a harsh 'I will cut you', but something in line with what I could expect as a crew-mate. "So you're weak."
"I can work around it for now," I said slowly. "But yes, training is a necessity. Balancing-" I looked down at the Going Merry.
There was a lot of talking going on.
…yeah. They were going to travel with us, likely to Whiskey Peak. "I need to tell you and the captain something, but not in front of them." Alabasta was a ride. Tashigi could take me out to the cleaners, and in comparison to any number of enemies - Bentham, Bonez, Doublefinger, Wapol, hell, Robin and Crocodile? I couldn't afford to be coy about this kind of thing.
Zoro stiffened. "More stuff?"
"Hard-line physical limitations. My fruit has drawbacks."
Zoro stared, then nodded once. "So weaknesses." He squinted. "You trust us with that?"
I held a hand out. "I don't have much of a choice. Craft: Brush."
You consumed 15,000 Belli, 2x Good Lumber, 1 Color Core, and 5x Good Fiber! Used 15 SP for Rapid Crafting! Received 1x Big Brush!
A paintbrush that came to my shoulder manifested in my free hand. "How familiar are you with pen-and-paper games?"
"I know they exist." Zoro put a hand on his hip. "And apparently they relate to your powers."
"Mmhm. Getting stuff to craft from fighting and exploring, an infinite inventory, a continuous stream of income - it sounds too good to be true, right? Even before 'magic' comes in." I raised the brush, and touched it to Laboon's head. Colors streamed from its tip.
Zoro watched the Straw Hat skull and cross take shape alongside me.
"I have three sets of 'gauges' that restrict me. Stamina Points, Magic Points, and Hit Points. Stamina determines my skill use. Most skills I have aren't taxing, and I have an okay reserve. Observing, Stealth, Crafting - that sort of thing."
"Uh huh. So making the brush used that?" Zoro's eyes narrowed as the black eyes filled in.
"Yes. And Belli, and drops I'd gotten as rewards for the odd scuffle and errand." I glanced at him. "Magic is the same for spells. I have two - Poltergeist and Teflon, but will get more as we fight more Fruit Users. Poltergeist is a low-cost duration effect, as is Teflon. However, using it to certain extremes for a length of time will drain resources." I smiled. "Magic is what I'm best at, thanks to my statistical layout. Strength is baseline, Endurance is baseline, Agility is good for my level. Intelligence and Wisdom are moderate to high. Personality - Charisma, force of Will - is my best ability."
Zoro frowned. "And Hit Points?"
"My life. My health. On one hand, until I hit zero I can function perfectly. Even wounds won't appear."
Zoro, to his credit, understood. "But when you hit zero?"
"I die. I could die from a stubbed toe, a bad fall - depending on what the number is, any amount of damage could cause me to perish outright."
Zoro raised his head, mouth slightly agape.
"It's the worst of the three. I have one hundred points. Tashigi - the swordswoman you fought? One swipe from her would have me down by a third. Three or four and my life would end." I lifted the brush just as the red ribbon finished circling the hat.
"Is there…?"
"No. No second chances, no take backs. It's absolute. I can recover Hit Points with good food, rest, and my potions. But if I ever hit zero? I will die without a doubt. There's no surpassing that limit in battle. Victories or failures I survive will increase my threshold, as will training. But in a fight to the death, I can't take prisoners and I can't fight fair." I narrowed my eyes at Zoro. "So yes, I would have gladly ignited Tashigi while she was locked in combat with you to preserve my own hide."
Zoro grit his teeth. "Because you have no options."
"Now? No. …but."
He scowled.
"You have quite the amount of training gear. If I was able to make use of it, I could build my Endurance - and therefore my HP." I twirled the brush, and it went into my Inventory. "I'm not asking to use it for free-"
"Sure."
I blinked.
Zoro stared at me calmly. "You want to become stronger, right? I might not be able to train you the way I would other people, but lending you my old weights and giving pointers is something I can do."
I felt a flash of heat on the back of my neck, but quickly dismissed it. "I… yes. And while I do prefer to deal with enemies quickly and cleanly, I dislike being cruel. Against an opponent like Tashigi, I lack that choice."
"For now." Zoro folded his arms. "It's good that you told me. I'll pass it on once I can get Luffy alone. Nami too, probably." He exhaled. "Depending on if you're a guy or girl at the time, the shit-cook might treat you like glass. I don't know about Usopp."
Said sniper hopped around just as Sanji tore into Luffy. I could hear Nami's scream from atop Laboon.
"And there goes our special Grand Line Compass."
Zoro glanced at me. "So?"
"Normal ones don't work. These lock onto islands, reset while there, and aim at the next - all the way to Roger's Treasure." I paused. "Eternal Poses exist which lead to specific islands and those only, but we need a normal one to start this quest."
"Any for the One Piece?" I hoped Zoro was joking.
"We would die. The path is guarded by four pirates of impossible power. Kaido, Big Mom- even Shanks and Whitebeard would decimate us. At least the latter two would simply press-gang us, but we'd be under the yoke regardless." I looked away from the Merry to Zoro. "I have just enough knowledge that I can promise you it would be a bad idea. It would be like tackling a Warlord before leaving East Blue."
Zoro flinched. I knew, of course, that he had. But he didn't know I knew.
"...dare I ask how that came about?" I raised my eyebrows.
Zoro scowled and looked aside. "No."
I shrugged. "Alright. My point, badly made as it was, is that the longer route will benefit us all. Time to grow in strength with smaller challenges as we work our way up and become stronger. Heading to the final boss at a low level is ill-advised. That's all."
"...agreed." Zoro nodded. He glanced at me.
I looked away. "I do apologize. I hadn't planned on touching a sore spot like that." Which is true. It was a spur of the moment decision to illustrate how bad the idea was. It didn't make it right, but I felt a surprising amount of regret - any. It… actually felt heavy in my chest. How unpleasant.
"S'fine. …did you know?"
"Something to the tune of 'bit off more than he can chew, is now more cautious and aware of his limitations while seeking greater heights'." It's something I could have gotten from Observe, and was technically true.
Zoro huffed. "Not wrong. Shitty, but not wrong."
"Unfortunately, my System - what translates my powers - is usually flippant and only occasionally complimentary. If it's outright derisive or disgusted, I know whoever I'm looking at means trouble."
Nami's yelling reached a fever pitch. "My guess is that we're heading out with those two."
Zoro snorted. "You managed to take them."
"In a direct fight, I'm not much. But explosives aren't to be scoffed at, and I do quite well with them at range." I smiled, baring my teeth a little. "Especially when I can use 'Poltergeist' to ensure they always hit their mark dead-on."
His lips curled. "Can't argue that, I guess."
I frowned downwards. "...and now I need to get back." Merry was… far. I made no noise as Zoro wrapped an arm around me and hefted my body into a bridal carry.
"Ready?" he asked.
"To give Sanji an aneurysm? Certainly." I grinned darkly.
Zoro looked at me head on, and smirked. "...you're okay, I guess."
Our landing was welcomed with shouts of surprise.
____________________________________________________________________________
I looked back at Laboon as he opened his mouth and bellowed a farewell.
I… felt little. I understood him, I guess. Some. I didn't make the effort to connect, and so I didn't. The threat of Baroque Works, Crocus' words… none of it stuck to me.
"Shishishi! It's a promise! We'll settle it someday!"
Right. A fight. Thankfully, the mast had not been torn down. Little things, to stretch the Merry as far as it would go.
But I… I was looking for what was lost. The person I wanted to see most. And if they weren't in this world, I would at least see her killer dead. The Straw Hats, even the captain, were a means to that end.
Shishishi! You're not in a dress!
They had to be. They had to be, or I would lose my nerve. I would be swept along in their current, and my own drive would die. I would make use of their friendship, of their loyalty, and ride their wake to Eines Lobby. I would find Jabra, the man I evaded ten years ago.
Momma? Momma!
There was no blood. If she was dead there, blood would be spilled. I-
"Rose?"
I shifted.
Nami looked at me, worried. "Did painting Laboon's mark take that much out of you?"
I shook my head. "Different source. Skills take stamina, spells take magic."
"Hmph. 'Spells'? What, are you some kind of wizard?" Miss Wednesday sneered.
I raised an eyebrow.
She let out a yelp as a tangerine tore itself from the tree and slammed into the side of her head.
"HEY! Don't hit a la-" Sanji cut himself off as I turned my stare on him. His visible eye widened.
"Well, she's half-right." I bared my teeth in a vicious grin.
Miss Wednesday (Vivi) and Mister Nine stepped back as one, visibly sweating.
"I'm a witch. The cruelest witch in all the world." I turned my stare onto them. "And if they decide to harm anyone here, I will vivisect them."
Usopp gave a faint wheeze and hid behind Sanji.
"In all honesty, Island Whales should be made a protected species," I muttered. "They're magnificent creatures."
"W-we told you! We wanted to harvest the meat-!"
"And it would take a kingdom the size of Alabasta to consume it before it all spoiled." Miss Wednesday paled ever so slightly. "More likely you wanted the oil." I made a show of examining my nails while keeping one eye on her.
"...oil?" Nami looked at me with a pinched look.
"Whale oil has been used in lanterns for a very long time. Distilled fat. Island Whales, naturally, have tons of the stuff. In addition, one cupful of Island Whale oil will last in a lantern for multiple weeks. It's potent, and can in fact be used to generate energy at an insane level. A barrel alone is a king's ransom, and a mature adult's worth?" I sneered. "Of course, that would require killing a member of a species whose intelligence tops out at 'precocious ten-year-old' and has an inclination to pack-bond - excuse me, pod-bond - with humans." I moved my hand to point to Laboon. "Exhibit A, as it were."
Nami looked sick, and even Mr. Nine had the temerity to look abashed.
Vivi's eyes peeked through Miss Wednesday's facade, if only for a moment.
"I won't pretend to have much in the way of moral imperatives, but some things still sicken me." I narrowed my eyes. "So-"
Thonk.
"Ah!" I gripped my head. …wait. What?
"Hey! Stop being a jerk!" Luffy pulled up my collar and scowled in my face. "If you're cranky, go take a nap!"
I blinked slowly. He… hit me. And I didn't take damage. I didn't have any spells active, and I wasn't Reinforcing. What?
Luffy stared me down as Laboon faded into the distance.
"...I was expecting that to actually hurt."
He grinned. "Nah! You were being a jerk because you were worried about Laboon! It's pretty obvious, right?" He planted his hands on his hips. "And that's the other reason we brought these guys along - so they couldn't hurt him!"
…he wasn't wrong, exactly. But it wasn't the whole truth.
"And besides, you stopped. So it's okay!"
I glanced around the ship.
Usopp cleared his throat. "Well, I for one welcome our new witchy over-person! All respect to the sorcerer of the sea!"
I pointed at Luffy. "Cool. He's the Captain. His trip, his story."
Zoro smirked. "And what about the rest of us?"
I shrugged. "My desire isn't as grand as your dreams. You're each leading men and a leading lady. I'm a side character at best."
"Bleh! That's stupid! You're stupid!" Luffy slung an arm around my neck, and I stumbled into him. "C'mon! Nami, set a course for Whiskey Peak! You and Usopp can show me how to play one of those game things!"
I blinked at Luffy.
"Aye aye, Captain." Nami waved, a Log Pose conspicuously strapped to her wrist.
"Ahem! Of course I'll run a pen-and-paper game! Now, we'll need more players! Sanji?" Usopp craned his neck to see said chef enter the kitchen. "Then… Zo-?"
The swordsman was already dead to the world, snoring.
Usopp twitched. "...dammit."
"Perhaps after we get a doctor? They're intellectually inclined." I tilted my head.
"Huh? A thinking game?" Luffy squinted.
I grinned. "With numbers."
Usopp took a breath as Luffy rapidly lost interest.
"But if you think it's too much for you…" I sighed. "Ah, well. I was looking forward to it." I frowned a little.
Luffy scowled. "Too much!? I'll show you! Usopp, gimme paper!"
Usopp stared at me, agog. He shook his head frantically. "That- we still need another person or two-"
"And we have volunteers." I turned my gaze onto Mister Nine and Miss Wednesday. "Don't we?"
The two of them stared at me for a long moment before nodding so hard any headpieces flew off.
A snot bubble blew out of Zoro's nose.
Quest: Drank, Drank (Don't Want No Juice)
Objective: Survive Whiskey Peak!
Bonus Objective: Make a Friend!
Bonus Objective 2: Steal tons of shit!
Rewards: 50,000 Belli. Cactus Spine x30. 2000 Experience. Trauma!
Name: Abendstern D. Rosehip
Age: 16
Gender: Fluid
Devil Fruit: Game-Game
Level: 15
EXP Per Level: 1000
HP: 460 (Health! Tied to Endurance.)
SP: 440 (Uses Skills, tied to Strength and Intelligence)
MP: 660 (Uses Spells, tied to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Personality)
Crafting Inventory: Burst Core x20, Melt Core x20, Glass x50, Good Lumber x15, Good Fiber x20, Empirical Iron x15, Quality Iron x35, Good Iron x5, Leather x45, Heal Herbs x44, Color Core x13, Fine Paper x2, Pure Gold Bar x35, Cactus Spine x30, Thieving Essence x1, Detonation Essence x1, Sea King Corpse (Medium-Large) x1, Prehistoric Leaf x15, Prehistoric Lumber x30, Prehistoric Fiber x20, Floris Megalo x5, Floris Minoris x5, Advanced Heal Core x20, Iron Wax x53
Inventory: Dagger x60, Burst Vial x85, Melt Vial x34, Smithing Station x1, Chem Station x1, Tailor Station x1, Light Recovery Vial x90, Beginner Blade x1, Big Brush x1, Nami's Whiskey Peak Bag, Igaram's Journal, Flawless Ruby x5, Flawless Sapphire x9, Flawless Diamond x1, Baroque Works Ledger, Miss All-Sunday's Den Den Number, Medical Cabinet, Portable Den-Den Mushi (Type Unknown, Requires Analysis)
Skills:
(40/50): Gleaning information about one's surroundings. Can focus on people or other targets to generate a temporary stat block and reveal capabilities, personality, and on deeper inspection, factoids and secrets. Grants a boon once maximized.
(20/50): Strengthening one's body and weaponry in hand. Not as strong as Armament, but in a similar vein. Cannot affect Logias, but amplifies damage output and resilience. Can also reduce incoming damage to a degree. Grants a boon once maximized.
(32/50): Sneakiness, ability to move unseen. Ability to erase 'presence' and hide. Grants a boon once maximized.
(40/50): The ability to create. The Gamer can make weapons, single-use consumables, clothes, and a variety of other hand-held items. This does not apply to engineering or architecture. Results dependent on Level, Skill Level, and Available Materials. Requires Material and Currency. As of Rank 30, can 'Rapid Craft', using SP in exchange for time.
(30/50): The ability to string together words. Written or spoken, the skill functions as a catch-all for social situations. While this does lend itself to manipulation, other factors count to or against success - Level, Target Level, Target Disposition, Disposition, and many others.
(41/50): The ability to steal things. Sleight of hand, misdirection, and good old fashioned swiping. The higher the rank, the less likely it is a target will notice you've taken what's theirs before it's too late. Grants a boon once maximized.
(39/50): The ability to break down items into base parts. Some items are deconstructed upon entering inventory. The higher the rank and personal level, the higher the quality and quantity of salvage. Any unsalvageable parts become an amount of Belli equal to lost value. The higher the rank, the better the returns.
(25/50): Going up! The ability to scale vertical surfaces and angles. The higher the rank, the easier the trip. By spending 5 SP/minute, can activate 'Spider Climb', which allows a circumstantial gravity denial and enables a climb speed equal to any on-foot move speed.
Spells:
Based on the Chop-Chop Fruit, it allows for (very) minor telekinesis! With this spell, you can move an object from one point to another in your line of sight (or other senses) up to ten kilos! If the object can lash, grip, or tie at its destination, you can direct it to do so. In the case of objects like ropes, you can pull and hold multiple in a variety of directions. 5 MP/minute, per target.
From Slip-Slip Fruit. You can reduce the effects of friction on your body to near-zero! This grants a bonus to escapes, mobility, and speed depending on your movement! Blunt damage is reduced, and damage based on friction (abrasion) is reduced to none. You can also apply this effect to held items. Physics-bending ahoy! 5 MP/minute.
From Bomb-Bomb Fruit. You can fire explosions from your hand! With a gamer physique, you can also totally rip off popular manga ideas. This spell can be used either in 'blast' form or 'continuous' form. A 'blast' costs 20 MP, while the 'continuous' form requires 5 MP/minute. The 'overcharge' option is available for the 'blast', and it can be combined with other spells.
From Kilo-Kilo Fruit. You can maximize the impact of your strikes! Whether it's barehanded, a weapon, or a projectile reaching it's destination, the damage is immediately maximized and increased by an order of ten. Against freestanding unattended objects, it's further increased to an order of twenty. No backlash, of course. 30 MP cost.
From Munch-Munch Fruit. A spell that turns material into another composition. Metal to metal, wood to wood, and so on. Can be used up to a stack of 10 per cast, and can move upwards or sideways one step in 'value', or five downwards. Can also be used along developmental chains. Coal to diamond, sand to glass, etcetera. Cost: 10MP/Cast. Limitations include: exposure to target result, social convention, and an upper limit of 5kg of material per cast.
Passives/Built-In Abilities:
The Gamer is a virtual doll. Once a target pre-set is engaged, things like height, weight, and skin can be changed. Gender is treated akin to clothing.
Limitless space to store and discharge items from. Can be accessed through panels or mentally. Storage requires touch without certain Passives. Have to carry crafting stations and the requisite cash somehow!
The only hit point that matters is the last one! Until the Gamer reaches 0 HP, they function perfectly without signs of wounds. When they hit 0, Game Over - no retries.
Automated tracking for Experience, Skill Increases, and Gauge (HP/SP/MP) Maintenance. Also dispenses 'Quests' based on personal desires and gives some guidance.
The ability to increase the potency of certain spells by expending extra MP. For when regular kill just isn't enough. Or regular heal, really. If you can get healing...
Convection schmection! The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway! Unbothered, Moisturized, In My Lane! Any and all climate effects are reduced to 'temperate' for you, and you have 50% resistance to environmental damage. All terrain counts as 'normal' instead of 'difficult'. Weird shit like acid or lava are still a concern - just less of one. Requirement: Level 12.
Non-Gamer Passives (anything not pertaining to hit points, damage resistance, etc) can be shared with up to twenty people in your immediate area. So like… a few kilometers or so. I guess. No requirements.
From Human-Human Fruit. You now have a bonus from 'reading' books to gain skills and retain information. Connective logic is available in 'Observe/Analyze' (use 'trigger words' to unlock additional profiles/information). 'Reading' no longer destroys the book, map, or instruction, but it cannot be used a second time. Smarty pants.
Armament Haki in general would be a flat damage boost against them with a 'penetrate defenses' aspect. So for example, it would get around the defensive aspect of Teflon.
Observation works as normal. It's a predictive effect more than anything.
Conquerors has a 'roll-off' similar to DnD intimidate checks versus 'Personality'. At this point anyone with it would down Rose pretty well.
Rose has avenues to learn Armament and Observation, but Conquerors' is a flat spoiler. (Against all odds I've managed to plan ahead on this one.)
Is there a reason they can't get Luffy's fruits power? Is it because it's SPECIAL SPOILER FRUIT or because they just aren't using it on a Nakama? That would be silly because doing that just makes them a stronger shipmate...
I forgot how few devil fruits are actually on the crew as well though. That's pretty impressive.
Is there a reason they can't get Luffy's fruits power? Is it because it's SPECIAL SPOILER FRUIT or because they just aren't using it on a Nakama? That would be silly because doing that just makes them a stronger shipmate...
I forgot how few devil fruits are actually on the crew as well though. That's pretty impressive.
I've had some ideas though...so the body morphing ability is described in such a way that it seems to be a decision. This isn't a more relaxed Ranma that flips periodically without control, Rose is deliberately choosing when to change, and using a couple presets to do it with the mental press of a button. But if appearance can be altered manually...does this not bring up disguise options? By description alone Rose can be anyone (and in a world like OP, that is saying a LOT). Extreme bodily change like becoming a giant to reach farther/higher is probably out of the question because altering appearance does nothing to stats and Rose is definitely limited by hers...but other possibilities remain.
They could shift their body shape and reach mid-fight to create openings, shrink or grow to fit in different spaces for hiding or movement (strength might stay the same, but longer legs go farther with the same speed and time elapsed, that's just physics), and of course they could disguise themselves.
The catch? I would guess is because appearance alteration is NOT a dedicated disguise/shape change skill. Stats stay the same and may limit some options, Rose has to take time to create good (much less perfect) imitations of people she has a clear image of, Rose has no inherent advantage in imitating body language or behaviour, and finally...body dysmorphia. Flipping between sexes and maybe making a couple tweaks now and then for variety is NOT the same as rapid and extreme shifting for the purposes of a fight or disguise. Even if Rose has dozens of saved profiles for most possible uses...being able to mentally toggle the right one and fluidly move to using it is NOT an easy or natural thing. It would take training, a LOT of training, for body shifting to be a useful ability in active combat and not just a cosmetic one with some niche uses if enough preparation is made.
Moving on from that...spells. Rose has already named two...but the crew knows for a fact that she's met at least three. When I wonder, is someone going to ask what spell she got from Luffy? And how will Rose respond? I don't expect it to be immediate, but certainly I imagine Zoro and Nami will start caring when the fights get life-threatening and the crew needs to use all their wits and resources to survive. Maybe by Little Garden, certainly by Alabasta.
I've had some ideas though...so the body morphing ability is described in such a way that it seems to be a decision. This isn't a more relaxed Ranma that flips periodically without control, Rose is deliberately choosing when to change, and using a couple presets to do it with the mental press of a button. But if appearance can be altered manually...does this not bring up disguise options? By description alone Rose can be anyone (and in a world like OP, that is saying a LOT). Extreme bodily change like becoming a giant to reach farther/higher is probably out of the question because altering appearance does nothing to stats and Rose is definitely limited by hers...but other possibilities remain.
They could shift their body shape and reach mid-fight to create openings, shrink or grow to fit in different spaces for hiding or movement (strength might stay the same, but longer legs go farther with the same speed and time elapsed, that's just physics), and of course they could disguise themselves.
The catch? I would guess is because appearance alteration is NOT a dedicated disguise/shape change skill. Stats stay the same and may limit some options, Rose has to take time to create good (much less perfect) imitations of people she has a clear image of, Rose has no inherent advantage in imitating body language or behaviour, and finally...body dysmorphia. Flipping between sexes and maybe making a couple tweaks now and then for variety is NOT the same as rapid and extreme shifting for the purposes of a fight or disguise. Even if Rose has dozens of saved profiles for most possible uses...being able to mentally toggle the right one and fluidly move to using it is NOT an easy or natural thing. It would take training, a LOT of training, for body shifting to be a useful ability in active combat and not just a cosmetic one with some niche uses if enough preparation is made.
Moving on from that...spells. Rose has already named two...but the crew knows for a fact that she's met at least three. When I wonder, is someone going to ask what spell she got from Luffy? And how will Rose respond? I don't expect it to be immediate, but certainly I imagine Zoro and Nami will start caring when the fights get life-threatening and the crew needs to use all their wits and resources to survive. Maybe by Little Garden, certainly by Alabasta.
The 'preset' is basically Rose's genetic pattern. What they do is depending on what way they feel more on a certain day or time, they change chromosomes fully. It's a non-impact single-effect personal Horm-Horm fruit, but instead of needle hands it's 'dissolve into pixels and reform'. The change is wholly controlled by will and desire.
Now, if Rose were to get their hands on Bentham, then options might open up if they so desire. Which given canon is going to be a thing at least through Alabasta (if not a bit further), is probably going to be a thing.
For spells, Rose has Buggy and Alvida. They didn't get Smoker because that was too high risk for no reward - I'm not sure when Bartolomeo got the Barrier-Barrier fruit, so Smoker is mostly the only game in town. As for Luffy, we know why they didn't get his, and so do they. With the knowledge that revealing that information could seriously fuck up the Straw Hats in their early day - East Blue was the prologue, after all - not to mention bringing the Elder Stars down like a ton of bricks? Naturally Rose is keeping that one close to the chest.
Of course, Whiskey Peak is the next chapter to post so there'll be more to poach there - and the further the Straw Hats go in the Grand Line, the more of a problem Rose will end up being. I fully forsee their first major spike being Alabasta proper, which is where I start revealing the 'final build' of the character as it were. I've laid a couple hints in 'Thar He Blows!' that you can expect to be followed up on in short-ish order.
The 'preset' is basically Rose's genetic pattern. What they do is depending on what way they feel more on a certain day or time, they change chromosomes fully. It's a non-impact single-effect personal Horm-Horm fruit, but instead of needle hands it's 'dissolve into pixels and reform'. The change is wholly controlled by will and desire.
Now, if Rose were to get their hands on Bentham, then options might open up if they so desire. Which given canon is going to be a thing at least through Alabasta (if not a bit further), is probably going to be a thing.
For spells, Rose has Buggy and Alvida. They didn't get Smoker because that was too high risk for no reward - I'm not sure when Bartolomeo got the Barrier-Barrier fruit, so Smoker is mostly the only game in town. As for Luffy, we know why they didn't get his, and so do they. With the knowledge that revealing that information could seriously fuck up the Straw Hats in their early day - East Blue was the prologue, after all - not to mention bringing the Elder Stars down like a ton of bricks? Naturally Rose is keeping that one close to the chest.
Okay, so the 'character creation' part of the power is less like actual character creation (where the Player can fiddle with things with a range of options), and more just sort of intuitively following the appearance Rose would have had with her same level of stats/development but a different chromosome...and the clothes are just a copy of whatever she was last wearing in any given preset or otherwise a fiat subject to the whimsy of the System. But if that can apparently change with Bentham (either by advice or inspiration) it CAN be trained to do more then just flip Rose between male and female and change her clothes?
As for the fruit...I was aware she only had the two spells, and why she can't get one from Luffy yet. I was just commenting more on the fact that by her own words to the crew, she gets spells from interacting with Fruit users. She joined the Crew to interact with more. And she's already revealed the two she currently has. Luffy is an idiot, Ussop frankly a little incompetent at this point, and Sanji constantly distracted by Nami and/or Rose...but Nami and Zoro aren't fools. What I meant is, when the situation is grim (and taking on Baroque Works will certainly qualify)... they'll want to know what spell Rose got from Luffy for the crews plan, or else what needs to happen for Rose, their crew-mate, to get that extra spell and increase her own survivability. And at that point Rose can't deflect or distract even as she also can't reveal the truth. Hence my musing on what she would say. Just claiming to be too weak won't hold up well when they grow themselves or when they get spells from clearly stronger foes, but just telling the truth hints a bit too strongly that there's something off with Luffy's power.
Okay, so the 'character creation' part of the power is less like actual character creation (where the Player can fiddle with things with a range of options), and more just sort of intuitively following the appearance Rose would have had with her same level of stats/development but a different chromosome...and the clothes are just a copy of whatever she was last wearing in any given preset or otherwise a fiat subject to the whimsy of the System. But if that can apparently change with Bentham (either by advice or inspiration) it CAN be trained to do more then just flip Rose between male and female and change her clothes?
As for the fruit...I was aware she only had the two spells, and why she can't get one from Luffy yet. I was just commenting more on the fact that by her own words to the crew, she gets spells from interacting with Fruit users. She joined the Crew to interact with more. And she's already revealed the two she currently has. Luffy is an idiot, Ussop frankly a little incompetent at this point, and Sanji constantly distracted by Nami and/or Rose...but Nami and Zoro aren't fools. What I meant is, when the situation is grim (and taking on Baroque Works will certainly qualify)... they'll want to know what spell Rose got from Luffy for the crews plan, or else what needs to happen for Rose, their crew-mate, to get that extra spell and increase her own survivability. And at that point Rose can't deflect or distract even as she also can't reveal the truth. Hence my musing on what she would say. Just claiming to be too weak won't hold up well when they grow themselves or when they get spells from clearly stronger foes, but just telling the truth hints a bit too strongly that there's something off with Luffy's power.
I was thinking more she'd just get an update from the Clone-Clone Fruit being analyzed in terms of Bentham.
As to the second: aah, ok. Zoro would probably be the one to pick up on it, because Nami isn't an idiot - outside of one specific circumstance. Now if it's down to the wire then she'd definitely latch on to it regardless, but Rose brings a lot of convenience to the table with the Questing system and some stuff I have in Whiskey Peak that makes Nami... less likely to question in the calm times.
So with Rose's character as I've established, the most likely result is they give the crew a truth. Is it the truth they're looking for? No. Is it something they'll take as gospel? Probably not. Will they press until it's absolutely impossible to ignore? I'd say no. They already know that Rose isn't open with them, but until it becomes an actual problem they're going to let well enough alone and try to bond with them instead.
This isn't to say they're going to give them carte blanche. Without spoilers, the chapter after Whiskey Peak is a downtime chapter I titled 'And Nobody's Fooled'. It's entirely in the POV of the Straw Hats, and a lot of Rose's motivations (whether intentionally or otherwise) come to light, as well as stuff I set up in 'Thar He Blows!'
I currently have Whiskey Peak and that as a buffer, but want to get a little further into the current chapter I'm writing before I post again. (Story, not discussion. Discussion is fine.)
This week has been FGO Avalon Le Fae so I've been zipping through that since Tuesday. As of tonight I hit the final node and banged out about four more pages in Chapter Five so I wanted to post. Time for Rose to demonstrate just how broken a game interfacing with reality is, and not even in a combat sense.
Content Warning: Mass Violence, Our Protagonist Stares Death In the Face (And Has a Breakdown Afterwards In First Person)
Content Notes: Edgy Rose is Edgy, again. Like a hedgehog.
_____________________________________________________
Chapter 3: Poison Honey
A honeypot scheme is usually sexual in nature, but not always. The commonality is this: a sweet lure acts as bait to draw in the target, and once the target indulges the trap slowly closes. It can be harmful and end in capture or death, or simply be used to extract information and leave the mark none the wiser. Regardless, beware a fair face and silver tongue.
"Yay! Pirates!" "We love pirates!" "Welcome to Whiskey Peak! Let's throw a party!"
Luffy whooped with glee and dashed down the gangplank. Usopp wasn't far behind.
For a brief, shining moment, I thought Sanji might have a brain - but then I spotted Miss Wednesday in the crowd and apparently so did he.
"Hello~!"
I stared downward. I looked at Nami. "Really?"
She tapped a finger to her lips. "Let's play this out."
Zoro snorted. "They'll learn."
I looked down again. "...for reference, I'm a teetotaler."
Zoro grunted in confusion as Nami winced.
"No booze. Ever."
He choked.
Alcohol could give a temporary buff to some areas, but the debuffs that came with them made it not worth my time. With only 100 HP, I could not afford any lapse in awareness.
I glanced at Nami. "So… shopping later?" When her eyebrows drew together, I grinned. "Inventory goes both ways. Out…"
Her pupils changed to Belli. "Girls night!?"
I shrugged. "If I feel that way, sure. Still more… masculine at the moment."
The three of us made our way down.
"So how do you know? If you go back and forth, when you want to change or need to?" Nami asked curiously.
I shrugged. "Mostly it's a day-to-day thing. Sometimes a feeling of… not-right builds up. I can stamp it down if I need to, for a little while."
"Don't bother." Zoro walked ahead.
"...Sanji might prefer if…"
"Don't. Bother." Zoro glared back at me.
"Mm. If he gives you any trouble, I'll set him straight." Nami gave an 'o.k.' sign and a smile. "After all, you're a valued member of the crew too."
I sighed. "Understood, then." He'd come around or he wouldn't. He hadn't spoken to me since I changed over anyways.
Well. Except to chide me for pelting Miss Wednesday with a tangerine.
"Welcome to Whiskey Peak!"
I picked up the pace, matching Zoro. "So. Bounty Hunters?" I kept my voice low as we approached.
"...you know them?" He raised an eyebrow.
I tilted my head. "...nosiness is a vice of mine."
He smirked. "Good. Keep it up. We'll need that vigilance."
Nami cleared her throat. "Ahem?"
I glanced back. "I'll read you in while we do some sightseeing later tonight."
She smiled. "I'll hold you to that."
And we reached the crowd.
____________________________________________________________________________
I sat in the back by myself, eating gingerly. The food was good, sure, but… well. I hadn't had any food from Sanji yet, and I had no illusion I would get the same treatment as Nami. I'd get his 'scraps', which would make any chef worth their salt weep in awe. Sad about the sweets though.
I looked around and took another bite.
"Hey handsome."
I looked up.
The woman leaned in, eyelashes fluttering. "You don't seem to be having fun. Anything I can do to liven things up? Top off a mug? Maybe a dance?"
"I don't drink, I don't have much of an appetite on a good day, and I despise crowds." I stood. "And I need to use the bathroom."
She froze, taken aback.
"Which would be…?"
"O-oh. That hall and to the right."
I nodded and started walking. Usopp and Luffy were already out cold, and Sanji was deep in his cups.
Usopp was excusable. He'd spent seventeen years on his island, and despite his tall tales was sheltered.
Luffy was chronically childlike and naive, even before one considered probable traumatic head injuries from Garp the fucking Fist. Taking free food as a sign of friendship was expected.
Sanji? After what he'd been through and his life on Baratie, I had actually thought he'd be more intelligent about things. But apparently one pair of breasts and a pretty face later, he lost custody of the communal brain-cell.
I hadn't used swordplay enough to start ranking the skill up, but even untrained I could still stick someone with the pointy end.
I ran my hands through my hair and let out a frustrated breath. What a mess. Something was coming, something that wasn't in canon. It was the only explanation for a quest with that kind of reward saying to survive this place.
Or, of course, it was a chance for me to level and allocate stats. If I managed to increase my Endurance, I'd put a bigger gap between me and the grave.
Thanks to intuitive thinking, your Wisdom has increased by 2!
…great.
I sat in there, waiting.
"You think he's still in there?" a voice whispered. "The rest are out cold-"
I drew the sword - a basic cutlass. In my off hand, I held three daggers between my fingers. I inched closer to the door, tensing.
There was a sharp, short sound and a gurgle. Two thuds echoed, bodies dropping.
I opened the door.
Zoro's eyes gleamed in the moonlight through the window. He saw the weapons in my grasp and nodded. "Good. The witch-"
I titled my head.
He huffed. "The other witch went to get started. Catch up." He turned away. "I've got blades to test out."
I walked in the opposite direction of him, and opened my senses.
Mayor's office is two buildings down, one floor up.
Oh-ho.
I slunk in the shadows, the sounds of carnage starting to mount. Before long, I saw a flicker of orange.
Nami paused on seeing me, then beckoned me over.
"Carry this," she hissed, shoving a bag twice her size at me.
I touched it, and it vanished.
She stared. "Right. Inventory." A gleeful grin crossed her face. "Come this way, my cute apprentice~."
I nodded. "Sure. Though… there." I pointed at the building Observe pointed out. "We might get something useful there."
"Quick detour, then. Off we go."
We were beneath notice. Zoro was a storm, and we were as fish beneath the waves while Baroque Works struggled to stay afloat.
Before long, we made it to the door.
"Hm… let's see if I can unlock it…" Nami fiddled with a pouch at her hip. "I think I have some hairpins?"
I reached out and touched the handle. "Inventory."
It worked as I hoped. The mechanism, lock and all, vanished into my inventory.
Obtained: Good Iron x5! Skill Unlocked: Salvage! Salvage Up: 8!
"Apparently I can now steal things. And break them down into crafting material."
"What kinds of things?"
I gave a pointed grin. "All kinds of things."
She grinned back. "Good boy."
We strode in. "So about earlier." I glanced back to make sure we weren't followed, and that I had her attention. "Our hosts are Baroque Works, an organization of bounty hunters - at least on paper. Their secondary, less legal line of work is assassination."
"I bet those two dovetail pretty well, however." Nami peered around the office.
"Mhm. Miss Wednesday has some other interesting secrets, but those will likely out soon enough. I saw something of what was waiting here for her, and I admit to being mildly excited."
Nami paused by Igaram's desk. "Why?"
I considered. "Well, she might be a spying princess whose cover was blown. Not that she knows." And I could see the calculation in Nami's eyes.
Letting her think, I paused at the desk. "...I think there's a compartment." I felt around, and- yes. A small mark shaped like the sun. …what a moron. The mark alone screams his allegiance.
With a press, a small portion of desk lifted. I easily slid it aside. Centimeters wide and long, inside was a small book.
"Hm? What's this?" Nami peered over my shoulder.
"Knowledge. We'll see of what when we leave." I tapped it, and it vanished. I lifted my head and turned. "Ah."
Nami followed my gaze to a frankly ostentatious painting. "Oh come on now." She put her hands on her hips.
I strode forward and placed my hand on it. "Away it goes."
Obtained: Color Core X3! Obtained: Fine Paper x2!
Salvage: 10! Larceny: 20!
Behind it was a safe the size of a ship's wheel.
"Hm. Time to crack this baby open," Nami muttered.
"Or I could pocket the whole thing."
She froze. "Could you?"
I touched it.
Obtained: 2,000,000 Belli! Obtained: 5 Flawless Rubies! Obtained: 9 Flawless Sapphires! Obtained: Empirical Iron x15! Obtained: Baroque Works Ledger! Obtained: 1 Flawless Diamond! Obtained: Pure Gold Bar x35!
Salvage: 21! Larceny: 34!
…I manifested the panel and slid it to Nami.
She read it. She looked at it. She looked at me. She looked back to it.
She dropped to one knee. "Rose-kun. Marry me."
"Or I could just split the treasure."
"That too!" Nami chirped, springing to her feet.
Note: Salvaging better materials and stealing said materials caused those skills to spike.
Bonus Objective 2: Complete! Both Hidden Caches Unlocked! 250 Experience!
…that was an entire quarter-level. Is this what adventuring is like?
"Okay. So after we clear their kitchen, we're good to go."
Nami frowned. "Kitchen?"
"Do you want to gamble on our larder outlasting our captain?"
"Complaint retracted." She held her hands up.
____________________________________________________________________________
Nami hummed cheerfully.
"You just want to use me as a super-purse," I accused.
"Guil-ty~!"
And then the explosions started. …wait. More Devil Fruit.
"Going that way."
"Towards the fight!?" Nami hiss-shrieked.
"More Devil Fruit, more spells, more power."
"...retracted again." She shuffled. "If it gets dangerous, though-"
"We hit and run and scream for Zoro. He'll act annoyed but like the challenge."
Nami squinted at me. "I'm not sure how much I like you having that kind of read on us."
"Like it's not obvious?"
We didn't bother with stealth. The cooling bodies around us were testament enough.
"Please… save the princess!"
And we got to see Igaram clutching to Zoro's leg while begging.
I looked to Nami. "You go negotiate; I'll see what I can see." Without waiting for a response, I surged ahead.
I had no idea what spell I would get from Valentine, but 5? Gem's fruit was so damn versatile, and he just used it for base demolition.
It took me seconds to track down Miss Monday's clash with Mr. 5. She was swaying on her feet, thoroughly scorched.
Only for a rubbery backhand to knock her across the town.
I met eyes with Monday from my hiding spot. "If it's all the same, I'd call it a night if I were you."
She didn't hesitate. "Thank you very much. Take care!" She ran off, high-stepping down the road and only stopping to pick up what I assumed was the crumpled form of Mister Nine.
I moved through shadows, avoiding bursts of dust.
"Gggh! ZORO! HOW DARE YOU HURT THESE NICE PEOPLE!"
…oh. I forgot about this.
"Ah, Captain?" I called, forcing my tone to be meek.
Zoro came to a halt in his charge as Luffy turned to me. "Huh?"
"It's my fault. Some of them tried to ambush me in the toilet, and Zoro saved me. Then they kept attacking, and so he kept fighting, until… well…" I folded my hands and stared at the ground. "Sorry."
I held my breath and waited. Hoped it would stop the fight.
"Is that true, Zoro?" Luffy asked.
"It's not a lie, but it's also not true."
I snapped my head up and bared my teeth.
"Huh?" Luffy blinked at him gormlessly.
Zoro glared at me. "He's giving you the runaround to stop the fight. What happened is they always meant to attack us, and gave us the food and booze so we'd gorge ourselves out cold. They're bounty hunters - tried to recruit me once, though I turned them down."
Luffy blinked. He turned to me. "Why'd you lie?"
"I didn't lie. I just gave you a truth you would believe instead of one you wouldn't." I let my face fall back into neutrality. "I'm not a fighter like you two. How else was I supposed to get you to listen and stop killing each other?"
Though, Explosion and Impact might have helped. Might.
Luffy huffed. "You don't trust us?"
"I told you my weaknesses," I pointed out.
"Because you had to, and you knew we'd work with and around you to deal with them." Zoro stared me down. "Is manipulating people just what you do?"
I narrowed my eyes. This… I didn't account for this. Is this what I was supposed to 'survive'?
"I won't bore you with the reasons, but yes. I will happily use incentives, half-truths, and misdirection to achieve my aims. And no, not all of it is due to my own weakness." Might as well let them know what they're in for.
"Huh." Luffy promptly plugged an ear and started digging with his pinky.
Zoro blinked. "...you owned up to it."
"I mean, Nami does it all the time. Why hide it?"
Zoro coughed, and finally put his blades away. He looked at Wado Ichimonji's hilt before looking up at me. "It's annoying that you're right."
"Shame. I do so enjoy my little 'told-you-so's." I curled my lips a little. "Such as: 'normal people are terrified of pirates, so if they see the flag and roll out the welcome wagon without knowing us something is wrong'. That sort of thing."
"Hmm. That sounds like good advice." Luffy nodded solemnly.
"Would you take it?"
"Hehehe, nope!"
I rolled my eyes. "Naturally." I paused. "Where's Nami?"
____________________________________________________________________________
I eyeballed where Vivi and Igaram were pleading Vivi's case to the crew, and kept my distance.
Usopp was visibly terrified, Nami was thinking with her purse, Zoro and Luffy were spoiling to fight a strong enemy, and Sanji was ready on the basis of-
I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I was being watched.
I looked slightly to the side and down.
A single blue eye peered from the barrel next to me. It held my gaze for a long second. I thought it might close and vanish.
I didn't expect lips to join it.
"Hello." The woman's voice was deep, and a chill gripped my bones.
"Greetings," I rasped. Oh hell. Oh damn. One good Clutch and I was pixels.
She chuckled warmly, though that eye was anything but. "Come now. I didn't expect any of you to notice me before I revealed myself, but you seem to be a bit more aware than the rest." The mouth smiled. "There's no need to be scared."
Partially true. She'd fuck up people outside the crew, but the damage she did to the Straw Hats was limited. She even tried to give an Eternal Pose to get us to Alabasta. Or would.
I swallowed. "I see." I waited. "...nice night?"
"Lovely. The fire and carnage add a certain ambience." I heard shifting behind me. "So, stranger… do you have a name?"
I swallowed. "My name…"
She could be an ally. Would, eventually- to the Straw Hats. But if she knew something, anything- maybe-
"My name is Abendstern D. Rosehip. I go by 'Rose'."
The gaze of Ohara's lost daughter weighed on me. "I see." Her voice was as pleasant as before. "Tell me, Rose. What do you think of the world?"
I couldn't help the sneer that curled my lips. "Ruled by small, petty things that are protected by their owners. Like small, yapping animals that bite and tear and shit the carpet, only for their masters to claim they do no wrong. The owners run roughshod over everything else in order to make sure their darlings are safe and comfortable, and damned be the consequences to the rest of us."
Robin… laughed. "Dereshishishi. How vitriolic."
"And you?" I kept watching the eye, focusing on it. Someone kept moving. I folded my arms and gripped my elbows.
"Hm. I wonder. I think… the world was not always that way." And she said no more.
I swallowed. "Whether it was better or worse remains to be seen. Honestly, I'm rooting for the Revolutionaries."
Her gaze sharpened. "Oh?"
"Mhm. From what I heard… Dragon, the leader?" I made a show of peering around.
"What about him?" Robin murmured.
"He was motivated to start the war… because of Ohara."
The eye widened. For a moment, I saw my life flash before my eyes.
"I see. How interesting." The eye remained, and her tone stayed even. "What else have you heard?"
So much more. I'd even heard it in this life.
Damn my uncle's eyes for working with those idiots!
"I… I have a question." I swallowed again, moistening my dry throat. "There's a woman. Her name-"
"ROSE!"
I snapped my head up.
Luffy waved. "WE'RE LEAVING! COME ON!"
I felt something brush my neck. I looked down, and saw a slip of paper lodged in the collar of my shirt.
"Hurry along, Rose. I'll meet you and your friends at sea." Nico Robin's breath was warm against my ear. "Our conversation was entertaining. I hope to speak with you again."
"O-okay." I stood straight. "Thanks."
I bolted for the Going Merry.
Bonus Objective Accomplished! 750 Experience!
Level Up! HP is 110! SP is 150! MP is 200! 5 stat points available! Level 12 Reached - every other level, you may now pick a passive perk you qualify for!
____________________________________________________________________________
Flames danced on the water. …Observe.
Single adult human, unconscious. 20/500 HP remaining. Flotation: viable.
"Igaram…" Vivi whispered.
"WE'RE LEAVING RIGHT THE HELL NOW!" Zoro barked. Luffy flailed and communicated the order, leaving the men to hasten about the ship while Nami handled the princess.
"...we need to keep going. To Alabasta." Vivi was tearful, yet her resolve was plain. Duty was one hell of a beast.
Hence why I avoided it where I could.
I straightened my shoulders. "Poltergeist." Sails unfurled, ropes danced. The anchor reeled itself in. "We'll need someone at the wheel, mind you - turning that is outside my weight limit." A lie - I could, but it would take excess MP and I wanted to test Explosion and Impact off the ship later. With that, I sauntered towards Vivi.
"I wouldn't give up on Igaram quite yet, Miss. He seemed like a tough old guy." I slid my hands into my pockets.
Vivi turned to look at me, eyes wide.
Nami blinked, then raised her eyebrows with a grin. "Is that your professional opinion?"
"Call it a hunch." I inclined my head.
"That… even so, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentines…" Vivi looked concerned.
"It was either a trap or someone else. Gem won't be exploding much for a while." I curled my mouth to show my teeth. "Monday and I saw to that."
"Valentine-!"
"Luffy got her. I saw Monday and Nine escape." I shrugged. "In the wind, both of them. And us not knowing may well help their survival."
Vivi's shoulders slumped. "Oh… oh thank goodness. They were our partners for so long, and I…"
"Honestly, Baroque Works is more my style than these clowns. It's why I'm best here."
Nami froze.
"Hah?" Zoro whipped his head around.
"You guys play anvil, and get all the attention. It lets me play a sneaky hammer and knock them flat while they're preoccupied." I ran a hand through my hair. "So really, having someone like me around might increase your chances of survival."
"Tch. Like I'd need that kind of handicap," Zoro scoffed.
"Yeah, don't go doing us any favors," Sanji sneered.
"Please do," Usopp whimpered.
"Hehe! You guys are funny!" Luffy grinned. For a moment he went dead serious. "Oi. Rose."
I looked at him. "Yes, yes. One on one fights without traps or gimmicks are sacrosanct, I know."
Luffy blinked. "Sacro-what? Is that seasoning?"
"Means 'sacred'."
Zoro grunted. "That's probably a concession from you, huh."
"Well, my cooking isn't up to par, I lack your raw power, and Luffy's raw charisma. If any of you three died it'd be difficult for me to handle things." I paused. "Usopp and Nami I can't see turning my help down if it was life or death. Vivi either, for that matter."
"DAMN RIGHT WE WOULDN'T!" Ah, Nami and Usopp.
Sanji stayed quiet, still looking at me sidelong.
In the background, soft applause echoed.
We turned as one, and on the balcony to the cabins-
Miss All-Sunday. Nico Robin. Clad in dark clothes and her little cowgirl hat, baring an amount of skin that spoke of well-earned confidence.
She smiled down at me specifically.
"Who're you!? What are you doing on this ship!?"
"That's… Miss All-Sunday! Mr. 0's partner!" Vivi stepped forward. "She's the one we followed to find out his identity!"
I sighed. "She probably let you."
Robin smiled.
"H-huh?" Vivi looked at me.
"That woman… in a world where a moment's inattention means death or worse, she's the top of the game. If you were in the same city, odds are even she knew where you were and what you were doing the whole time."
"How flattering." She looked around at the crew. "And correct. Your young friend has a good head on his shoulders, for all he threw his lot in with a hopeless case." She placed her hands on her crossed knees and looked down on us. "You see, a lost princess looking to make an enemy of Baroque Works to save her country… the idea of it was so laughable I decided to see what would happen."
"So she's good?"
"But you told him we knew!" Vivi snapped.
"So she's bad."
"She's got her own agenda, Captain." I looked at him. "She's not on board with Crocodile, but probably using him."
Robin beamed. "Oh? Our little chat was well away from theirs. Out of the crew, you were the only one not informed of his identity."
The crew looked at me.
"Let's check facts. First, Alabasta. Desert country. Currently under a drought. Vivi is the Alabastan princess looking to stop a civil war started by a drought. Goes to Baroque Works for information." I swung my finger through the air as though conducting a concert. "Ergo, Baroque Works was under suspicion for causing at least one of those circumstances. Now, for an organization this big, it needs clout and a sufficiently powerful leader. That means Marines, Warlord, Noble, or Emperor. This is Paradise, which mostly rules out the last. Marines might intervene if only for those who own the world, but not something so obvious. If Vivi is here, that probably rules out Noble."
"Leaving Warlord," Nami muttered, staring at me with wide eyes.
"Yes. Crocodile's power… is sand. Becoming, controlling. In a desert, he's a king in his own right. In a desert blighted by drought, artificial or otherwise?" I snorted and flicked my hand. "That level of conjecture hardly requires prophecy. He's the only one with means, method, and probable motive. Alabasta either has something he wants, is the best place to establish a power base while he gears up for round two with Whitebeard - who planted his whole boot up his gritty ass - or both."
The crew gawked at me.
"Hm. Hmhm. Hmhmhahaha!" Robin's eyes twinkled. "And you picked up the princess anyway?"
"Of course!" Luffy grinned. "Nami wants money, and fighting a Warlord will be great!"
"And we're not turning a lady away," Sanji muttered darkly. He hadn't pulled a pistol out, but he was still watching Robin with some level of suspicion.
"Miss All-Sunday… what is your plan, then?" Vivi looked up at her.
Robin smiled at me. "Well, Mister Witch? What do you think?"
Luffy looked at me with a questioning noise.
I… could pull down the veil here. Show her to the crew. It'd cost me a lot of trust, but… So no.
"My guess is Alabasta is a means to an end, and while you want a result the means don't best please you. Whatever you're trying to get at, you're also setting Crocodile up to get blasted into the next century and give the country a chance to recover after. Of course, if we lose it's no skin off your nose - you tried to do your good deed for the day, after all. But of all the pieces on the board, we're the easiest to direct and the ones with the most potential to yield queens once the pawns hit enemy lines."
Robin leaned forward. "Straw Hat. I heard about you. Monkey D. Luffy." Her eyes slid to me. "And another… Abendstern D. Rosehip."
"...Rosehip?" Sanji wheezed. Zoro coughed.
"How very interesting." She… didn't steal Luffy's hat. "That the two of you would find each other- and sail on the same crew." She kept smiling. "If you so desire, I have a Pose. It will lead you to a small island near Alabasta, and let you bypass the majority of Baroque Works' operations."
I glanced at Luffy.
"...Rose. Do you trust her?"
The question had me reeling. It wasn't a refusal, wasn't determination to bull through the island he had been told would kill him. Instead, he asked the person who outright admitted he manipulated him if he trusted Nico Robin.
It was… it was so unlike canon I couldn't help it. I laughed.
"Ah…ahh… akakakakaka!"
Robin jerked back, shocked.
"Trust? Trust!? I can predict her slightly, sure. And she does want us to at least have a chance against Crocodile - she's no love there. But this is the sum total of aid we can expect. If we go now, one or more of us will die. We need time to acclimate to the Grand Line - and while the next island on our route will test us, it will also show if we have what it takes- or not." I gave a snarling smile. "Trust? Trust is a weakness. I predict, I intuit. I do not trust."
I didn't see the crew's reactions, because I focused on the captain. But Luffy's expression didn't change.
"Sounds lonely."
The words… hit me like a blow. I stepped back, unsettled.
"Hm." Robin gazed at me, speculative. "You know the next island, then?"
I forced myself to recover. "Little Garden."
Luffy scowled. "No fair peeking ahead!"
"It's not like I was going to tell you," I grumbled.
"Oh. Okay!" He grinned.
Robin stared at me. She looked to Luffy. "How strange. I didn't expect this dynamic at all." She smiled. "Last chance. If you want to bypass that island, you'll need my help."
Nami looked at me. "Why is she insisting, Rose?"
"Because normally, it would take a year for the Log Pose to reset." I looked at Robin. "But there are resources I can make use of there, at least. To… speed things up."
Her lips parted slightly. "Oh?"
"Like you made the brush for Laboon?" Usopp chimed in.
…Cactus Spines. Desert. If I could find… "Possibly." I shrugged. "But something a little more… invasive is there. A little wax snake in the garden."
Robin stood. "Well then. I look forward to seeing you in Alabasta." She strode to the ship's edge, and paused. "Straw Hat. Mister Witch. Best of luck." She stepped off.
"...did she swim here?" Luffy wondered aloud.
I just collapsed to my knees.
"Eh!?" Nami looked at me.
"No. No, she didn't. There's a turtle." I stared at the wood, counting grains while I talked. "A large turtle."
How close was that? Spinal damage… that would be anywhere close to a hundred. Eighty, at least. I wasn't a logia, I had no haki- I was a sitting duck.
The world narrowed down to the knot in the boards of Merry's deck, and my breath quickened. I think a notification came up, but I couldn't be sure. My chest hurt. The knot seemed to grow, filling my entire vision. The whorls turned without moving, even as my mind went to static.
A firm, warm grip drew me out of it. I looked up.
Luffy looked directly in my eyes. "Rose." He held my shoulders, keeping me there.
I let out a gasp that emptied my lungs, gripping my shirt in my hands. "Oh. Oh hell. I'm alive. I- she-" My vision blurred again.
"Did she threaten you?" Vivi? The princess hovered behind Luffy, eyes wide.
"Tch." Sanji turned away. "She didn't seem dangerous at all."
"Did we see the same person!?" After snapping, Usopp looked at me with a frown.
"Hit points. I have one hundred and ten hit points." I looked at the crew plus princess.
Zoro narrowed his eyes. "...how many hits could you take from her?"
Nami looked confused, but Usopp's dark skin went ashen.
"None. She uses submission holds and breaks spines. That's a one-shot, and she can do it from any angle, at range."
…why is my face wet?
"Can someone please explain to me what's going on?" Nami asked. She stepped back, hand on the Log Pose.
"So… in a pen and paper game, tracking wounds is usually something you use to modify game play. What you track to see if your character lives are 'hit points', or HP. When you hit zero, the character dies and you need a new one." Usopp looked at me like he'd seen a ghost. "Sometimes, if there's a way to bring back a character or restore hit points, players can be a little reckless. Unless wounds are a mechanic, until you hit zero, you can function fine."
"...wounds aren't a mechanic."
Nami frowned. "So you can't be hurt?" She wasn't getting it. Or maybe she didn't-
"He won't get hurt, just die. That's what you're saying, isn't it? Usopp? Rose?" Sanji ground his cigarette between his teeth.
Nami's arms dropped. "What?" she whispered.
Luffy tightened his grip.
"Zoro… you knew?" Nami whirled on him.
"He told me at the lighthouse, before we headed here." Zoro folded his arms. The dawn rose at his back. "Neither of us could get Luffy or anyone else alone to tell them. Not until now."
Luffy swam in my vision. I… envied him. His resilience, straightforward nature. But even so… even more…
"The number can go up, right?" Luffy looked at Usopp. "You said 'levels' happened, and they get stronger, right?" He looked back to me. Grounding me, as much as he could.
"R-right! There are all kinds of mechanics for that! The most common are experience gained through quests and fights, but there's others too!" Usopp nodded firmly.
"Mm. He was supposed to start training on the way here." Zoro gave me a flat look.
"When!? During the typhoon? The iceberg dodging? Oh, how about the hailstorm!?" Nami leaned into Zoro's space. "Oh, I forgot! YOU SLEPT THE WHOLE TIME!"
"She has a point, Mr. Bushido. And after that you were at Whiskey Peak. And… it wouldn't have been wise to say anything around myself or Mr. 9." Vivi knelt next to Luffy. "Miss All-Sunday is Crocodile's equal in Baroque Works. She… approached you? Alone?"
I nodded. My nose felt clogged. Breathing was hard. "I caught her spying. She can manifest any body part on any surface, including people. Her eye was on a barrel. It sprouted a mouth and we talked. I think her body was behind me, and she slipped me a piece of paper."
"That… that's so dangerous! Why didn't you call for help?"
"I couldn't." I squinted at Nami. "All I could do was… talk. Use my words. Give her what truths would make her do what I wanted. It was all or nothing."
"If he'd called out to us, she could have killed him to keep her cover. Or worse, the Unluckies would have spotted him." Vivi looked at Nami with a gentle frown.
Something warm passed over my eyes, clearing my vision. Luffy pulled his hand back.
"You got her not to kill you." Luffy's voice was calm. "She seemed okay, here."
I let out a rattling breath. "I… I think I made a good impression. She's not an ally, not by a long shot. But she won't go out of her way to screw us over."
Luffy nodded firmly. "Good." He looked me in the face for a long moment.
I sniffled. "...I need a tissue," I grumbled.
"Oh. You done?" Zoro gave me a sidelong look.
My jaw dropped. "You…"
"ZORO!" Nami and Usopp roared.
He met my eyes as our navigator slammed a fist into his skull, smirking.
Something loosened in my chest. "Fine. Yes, I'm done with my anxiety attack and stress cry. Thank you ever so much for caring."
He grinned. "Of course."
It was then I realized… he'd never taken a hand off of his blades. Not while Robin was there.
"...you really are shit at feelings. Good to have in case someone's trying to murder me, I guess." I pouted.
I looked at her. "...he got fucked up. He was out cold. He'll live if no one finds him first."
She stared for a moment. Then as comprehension dawned, she gave me a watery smile. "Thank you."
Luffy somehow smiled wider. "C'mon! Food, foooood!" I was reminded he had not, in fact, let me go when he hauled me to my feet.
Sanji scoffed. "You ate plenty last night." He squinted at me. "You, however."
I blinked, pointing at my face.
"You ate like a damn bird. What do you want for breakfast?"
"I don't eat mu-"
Sanji glared.
I raised my hands. "Pancakes, tangerine preserves, and bacon. Coffee with a splash of cream and sugar." I looked at Nami. "I know the serving's going to be more than I can handle. Help?"
"I'll help!" Luffy cheered, even as Nami smiled.
"If you help, he'll starve!" Sanji roared. He gave me an assessing look and nodded. "Three then - for you, our lovely navigator, and the princess." He strode to the kitchen immediately after.
Usopp let out an indignant yelp. "What about me!?"
"What about you?" Sanji called back.
I let out a long breath as the crew went about their business.
"Coffee's on!" Sanji called. Not barked, called. "Rose! Get in here!"
I took a deep breath, and moved. My pants turned to a skirt, my shirt to a blouse, and my body changed. I dragged a finger through my curls. "Coming, Sanji!"
Quest: Clever Girl
Objective: Ruin Everyone's Day On Little Garden!
Rewards: 1000 Experience, 100,000 Belli, Drum Lodestone.
Hint: Don't drink the water, and watch for bugs!
It'll maybe be a good day tomorrow for the giants, but at the present Rose knows for a fact that they got stuck fighting over a (seaking) fishing contest...and that their absence has had the Giants looking for them. Even one of them signing up and getting effectively used by the Marines if I recall? Even if they get saved, it's totally possible to rain on their parade (if only to get them motivated into actually leading their people again and making them allies for much later down the line).
As for everyone else...Zoro can get deprived of his machismo-boner if he's saved from the candle trap (especially if it's right after he nearly cripples himself), Sanji can see Rose-chan turn into Rose-san, Vivi can get an update early that her childhood friend is rebelling, and both Luffy and Nami can be informed of the latter's terminal illness early (if Rose spots it as a status condition).
I admit, I'm having difficulty figuring out how Ussop could have his day ruined as long as the giants are saved...but Rose could just pull the Robin tactic and say something creepy and morbid about their future/foes that would be super-effective against a consummate coward with a decent imagination like Ussop.
Getting beaten and stranded, it's obvious why the BQ agents day would be ruined.
Time to start cracking the nut that is Rose and their character. Including a POV from all Straw Hats. As for where Carue is - that's resolved next chapter and explained. Kind of. For the backstory pacing - I've started chapter six, and I fully expect to have the 'mystery' fully exposed by Alabasta. As in, what the actual mystery is. This gives me more time to focus on the present until Eines Lobby.
Content Notes: Free-Range Children alluded to in Rose's backstory reveals. Unreliable Narrator exposed hard. Struggles with gender studies continue at a much milder level than previous, well on their way out.
______________________________________________________________
Chapter 4: And Nobody's Fooled
A facade relies on putting just enough truth into the surface. Too much, however, and the acting becomes visible. Too little, and one risks losing themselves. Either way, it will lead to the end of the charade - and when it breaks, those who saw beneath won't be fooled again.
Usopp had opinions about their newest member. Three, to be exact.
One: Apparently Gender Was More Complex Than He'd Been Led to Understand. Rose was Rose, and sometimes he was he and she was she. Now the mechanics Usopp could ponder as much as he liked, but the truth was pretty simple. And it helped that the visible indicators were at least still pretty clear-cut. So while he still didn't get it, he could roll with it. After all, Luffy was made of rubber! You don't get weirder than that!
Two: They Were A Baby Monster. Rose had taken to practicing her spells, and between the four she had… they'd gotten horrifying.
Exhibit A: now.
"GET DOWN AND PUMP THAT IRON!" Zoro bellowed.
Rose kept zipping through the air, propelled by… by…
Krak krak krak krak
Explosions. She shot explosions from her hands and used them to fly. It wasn't the only spell - something about 'Teflon reduces air resistance' which gave Usopp all kinds of ideas for his own projectiles and aerodynamics and shooting and- Ahem.
Since she could run out of MP before she ran out of vials, she made a good back-up sniper. And as a chemist she… didn't compare. There was no hard-and-fast rule for her crafting like actual chemistry, so it was a workaround using 'drops'. And her knives could be handy too.
Point being? Her growth was terrifying and likely to pick up - but there were things Usopp could do that she couldn't. Not without using limited resources.
Usopp watched as Rose decelerated with gradually shrinking pops from her hands. Instead of landing, Zoro grabbed her and set her on her feet.
…the look on her face indicated she didn't mind that as much as Usopp would have.
"Weights. Now." Zoro tapped his foot.
"But-" Rose protested.
"You have your other powers. Train with the new ones once you can take a hit." Zoro was unfazed.
Rose ducked her head. "Okay."
Good grief. Zoro was right, but Usopp would feel better if she had a handle on the explosion power before trying it in a fight. He was allergic to explosions! They made his skin break out! It's why he made sure to use them far away from himself.
Rose sat down, picked up a weight, and started curling her arm. She hadn't even broken a sweat from her flyin- Wait. Did she sweat? Game characters only tended to sweat as a cosmetic thing, not necessarily a mechanic.
And with Rose's frown and furtive glances up at Zoro, Usopp remembered his third opinion.
She was a lot lonelier than she let on. For whatever reason, she actively tried to pretend to be a hardass evil pirate, not only to them but herself. She did okay for all of half a week but the curtain had pretty much fallen by this point.
Did Usopp think she could straight up kill a man? Yes, yes he did. She was fragile enough that she wouldn't take chances, and he could see her being Zoro levels of ruthless. Did Usopp fear for his life in his sleep? …yes, but not because of her. The Grand Line was just insane!
"Any improvement?" Usopp called over, shuffling some papers. He'd started designing a new weapon for Nami - he had a feeling she'd want to catch up in terms of combat, and the likelihood of Zoro being this gentle with either of them was slim.
(So Usopp made new ammunition, and Nami would get whatever he could cobble together. Something weather-based probably. Because they both had 'Can't Train With Zoro' disease.)
Zoro turned his dark stare on Rose. "I doubt it."
"My Strength and Endurance have gone up by three each since I started." Rose wasn't even breathing hard. "It helps that I was already barely above average, so I haven't hit the diminishing returns stage by a long shot. My HP's up by about fifty, but just the maximum. I'll need food and rest to close the ratio."
Zoro scowled at Usopp.
"W-well she's got more total, but her current amount hasn't gone up to match it yet!" he hurried to translate. "So once she rests she'll be stronger, but for now it's increasing her limit at least. As far as 'diminishing returns', it means the same activity will take longer to pay off as much, if at all. So she'll need to step it up once that happens to keep pace."
Zoro gave a single sharp nod and a grunt.
Oh good, gratitude.
…opinion four. Zoro was weirdly protective of Rose. Like, it wasn't even a man and woman thing because gender didn't seem to change it! Though if Rose owned up to how fragile she was to Zoro first, it might explain things? …did Zoro lose someone before? That would explain so much of what was going on here.
"Any chance of picking up our game later?" Rose called, continuing to exercise.
"Possibly." Usopp peered at his calculations. A humidity condenser and something to gather static electricity would be handy, especially if Nami's weapon was to emulate weather. Maybe something to do with temperatures? The tech was beyond him at the moment, but if Rose could get something together - maybe her power could make it a side quest? Collaborative efforts could get them a lot further a lot faster. "Why do you ask?"
"Last time bumped my Intelligence and Wisdom a little. I wonder if I 'play smarter' if the same can happen again."
Usopp paused. "So you want to train by playing pen-and-paper games."
"Yes."
"And that's the only reason you want to play." Usopp squinted.
"...yes?" Rose looked at him, then glanced away.
Usopp smirked. "...don't make lying your day job. Stick to the whole 'technically true' thing."
Rose puffed up in indignation. "Hey!"
"Less bickering, more working. Are you ready to go up a size yet?"
That sounded so wrong.
"Not yet, I don't want to overdo it. Besides, what's the point of dealing with something that big? How does it even work?"
That sounded worse!
Usopp coughed. "I'll go get Luffy and Vivi." He chanced a look at Zoro. "You think you can spare her in a few hours?"
"If she sticks with it," Zoro rumbled. He didn't even look at Usopp, instead watching Rose like a hawk. "And you're not going to go right to mine, that's too much too fast. I have other sizes in between."
Usopp was seventeen years old and he was not mature enough to deal with this. …wait. "Uh, Rose?"
"Hm?"
"How old are you again?"
"I turned sixteen last month."
Sixteen. Zoro was nineteen.
Usopp squinted at the two of them.
"...what?" Zoro blinked in confusion.
Usopp pointed at his eyes with two fingers, and slowly turned them to Zoro. Then he made a beeline for Nami.
He needed backup to preserve the innocence of their youngest crewmate!
Wait. Zoro was like this for boy-Rose and girl-Rose. What if Zoro didn't care about gender? What if it was just Rose!? And Rose kept blus- OH HECK. NAMI REQUIRED NOW.
Usopp bolted.
"...what the hell?" he heard Zoro mutter.
____________________________________________________________________________
Nami slumped over her desk, rubbing her forehead.
It was the first moment of peace they'd had since Loguetown, and things were starting to set in. Between the hectic near-death of their captain, climbing Reverse Mountain, sailing down, Laboon, and Whiskey Peak - it was almost enough to forget that they had brought on a total unknown.
Now, Nami liked Rose. Not just for her ability to snatch anything not nailed down (and much that was), or the unlimited cash generation, or the sheer bullshit she could pull in doing the work of an entire crew in seconds to maneuver sails, whipstaff, and more. That all helped, but it wasn't the only reason.
No, Nami liked Rose… because Rose reminded her of herself. Not too much, mind you - Rose defaulted to an icy mask of passivity, which Nami didn't do even at Arlong's worst. But like Nami, she held herself apart - or tried. Tried to believe that she was only using the crew to her own ends.
To Nami's satisfaction, Rose was starting to crack way faster than Nami had. It could have to do with her reasons to sail (finding answers - ominous), or her life in Loguetown, or even further back. It could be the way she seemed to almost uniquely warm to Luffy, or her badly-hidden budding crush on Zoro. It could be the repartee she had with Nami or the egghead-camaraderie she had with Usopp.
Sanji… Nami had nothing. Rose didn't seem to dislike him, but some of what he said clearly hurt her or pissed her off. As though she had expected better from him for some reason.
And the funny thing was, for whatever bars any of them failed to pass? Luffy cleared effortlessly. Rose changed genders? Fine. Rose had a breakdown due to a brush with death? Luffy anchored her through it.
(Nami decidedly did not dwell on the time he placed a hat on her head and swore to help her.)
Rose swore she didn't trust people because it was a weakness? Luffy commented on the loneliness of it, and it was enough to send her reeling.
Against her intent, Rose clearly respected their captain - and for whatever reason, the knucklehead was rising to the occasion. He still ate like a starving pig, got into trouble at every turn - but his live-and-let-live nature paired with a shocking amount of care for Rose proved her right.
Nami leaned back, sighing, only to jerk at a knock on the door. "Come in!"
Usopp didn't wait on niceties. He scuttled into her room/office, and closed the door behind him. "Rose is sixteen." His bugged-out eyes indicated he found this information of some import.
"And?" Nami stared him down.
"Zoro is nineteen."
Ah. Nami waved a hand. "Zoro's more interested in the blades at his waist than the one under it. She's safe."
"You sure? Because Zoro's so… so…" Usopp wavered. "He's nice to her."
Nami drew her eyebrows together. "Have we been watching the same meathead?"
"Okay, he didn't handle the whole 'I almost died' thing gracefully, but he made it pretty damn clear he was aiming for a rise out of her-him-her. Them?" Usopp groaned. "She was he then but is she now-"
"Stick with current gender. It's what I do."
"Right, right, keep it simple." Usopp rubbed his face. "He's also so gentle with her. Like he'd punt any of us around if we pissed him off, but any manhandling on her is just-!" He threw his hands up. "And there was the jumping her over to Laboon, too! And back!"
"The back part was clearly to screw with Sanji." Nami felt her face heat at the memory. "Though I'll admit, the way Rose fit in that lunk's arms was pretty cute…"
"So what if - and hear me out - it's not a gender thing for Zoro, but he might just like one person in particular? And it's Rose?" Usopp stared at Nami.
Nami rolled her eyes. "I'll give you that Rose definitely notices Zoro, but the other way around isn't happening. Not then, not now, and probably not even in the future."
"Really?" Usopp sounded doubtful.
"Yes. Now that we know about 'hit points', it makes sense that Zoro avoids hurting her - one wrong move and her life's at risk. No one here is a saint, but she's one of us and nobody wants her death on their conscience."
"Yeah… and that would explain the protectiveness too…" Usopp scratched his chin. "So she's safe on that front. How do we get her to stop liking him?"
"Honestly, does she have any better prospects on the crew? She's not my type either way, Sanji is… Sanji, you've got Kaya, and if Luffy knows what sex or romance are I'll eat this Log Pose."
Usopp sputtered. "Kaya and I-! That's-! ANYWAY, you are probably entirely right. Excepting Vivi…" Usopp tapped his chin. "How old is she?"
"Sixteen. She told me." Nami paused. She looked at Usopp.
He looked back.
"The same age…" "Marry into money…"
At the same moment, they paused. "There's no way it'd work long term."
Nami shook her head morosely. "Nope. Even if Sanji didn't spontaneously combust, Luffy wouldn't let any of us go for a king's ransom."
"Not to mention Rose is pretty messed up."
Nami raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."
"Okay, so setting aside she's crushing on Zoro?" Usopp spread his hands.
"He's okay scenery when working out. Especially shirtless," Nami conceded.
"Neither of which Rose has had a chance to see," Usopp hissed. "He's nice to her, but only for his standards. Which still makes him a huge jerk!" He paused. "She said she hawked her wares to the Marines, but how much do we know about her life back there?"
"Nothing." Nami leaned on her elbows. "All we know is her powers let her grow like crazy, the more Devil Fruit users she meets the more her abilities diversify, and she likes us more than she's comfortable with. Oh, and she always has to have the upper hand in a war of information."
"Yeah. That paints a pretty ugly picture. And she's seeking answers." Usopp rubbed his nose. "What do you want to bet something happened to her family? Like her parents?"
"And she's going to the Grand Line? It's… not impossible." Nami frowned.
"It's a good thing Luffy's around to look after her."
They looked up.
Vivi peeked through the door and snuck in. "He seems like a good elder brother."
Usopp snorted. "W-w-w-what!?" he squeaked.
"They're related, aren't they?" Vivi frowned. "It's just, they look so much alike…"
Nami opened her mouth to disagree, then paused.
The shape of Rose's face… the way her ears stuck out…
"N-no way! Luffy doesn't have siblings, right? Right Nami?" Usopp looked at her.
The hair and teeth were different - Rose had actual fangs - and the personalities couldn't be further apart. But the skin tone, and something else…
"Is it just me, or is Luffy… less stupid when it comes to Rose?" Nami mused aloud.
"Eh!?"
Vivi perked up. "Is he?"
"He only hit her once, and apparently managed to avoid damaging her at the same time. That aside, he seems to almost intuitively match her pace and draw her out of herself." Nami's eyes narrowed.
"It's like instinct, isn't it?"
Usopp looked back and forth between the two women. "You guys think…?"
The three of them looked at each other.
As one, they bolted from the room.
Out onto the deck, they ran - until they spotted Rose and Zoro, side by side. The two pirates lifted weights in almost perfect sync. (Rose was off by a few seconds.)
"Rose! I have a question!" Usopp bellowed.
She looked up. "And?" Her stare was pointed.
"What are your parents' names?"
Nami shot him a glare. "How does that help confirm anything?" she hissed.
"Nami?" whispered Vivi.
Nami turned.
Rose stared at Usopp, frozen. Her mouth was parted slightly, and her eyes glazed over.
Zoro grunted and lightly elbowed the girl. "Keep pumping." He scowled at Usopp. "The hell does that have to do with anything?"
"...I don't know my father's name," Rose admitted, regaining her composure. "My mother said he was dangerous, but that she loved him. And he was… they were going to get married. He was the second man she loved, but he promised to come back to us. The first, she said, was out of the picture for good."
Nami swallowed.
Rose set the weight down and folded her hands. "Her name… her name was Chai. Abendstern D. Chai."
"Chai?"
Nami shrieked, lunging backwards. "L-l-luffy!?"
The captain hung upside down from the mast, his arms and legs stretched down to where Rose could grab his head if she so chose.
"Huh. Gramps hates chai tea. He'd yell about it a lot!"
Rose's expression flattened. "What a shock," she drawled. She prodded the top of Luffy's head, making the boy cackle. Almost in spite of herself, she smiled.
"Though I dunno about parents. Does everyone have them? I just had Gramps, and Dadan, and my brothers! Mostly Dadan and my brothers. Gramps was…" Luffy shuddered in fear. It was the first time Nami saw that expression on his face.
For a split second, Rose looked… devastated. But that slipped away as quickly as it came, before Zoro or Luffy looked at her. "Who knows," she muttered.
The puzzle seemed to click into place. "We'll stop bothering you, bye!"
Nami grabbed Vivi and Usopp and bolted for her cabin once more. The faint murmur of 'the hell' reached her ears.
The instant they were inside, she looked at her co-conspirators. "We picked her up in Loguetown. She saved Luffy on sight, and unlike Luffy will actively hide things from us. Luffy just won't talk unless it comes up."
"Yeah…?" Usopp swallowed.
"Here's my guess: they share a mother, who Luffy doesn't know. Luffy's dad handed him off to his grandfather, and whatever happened, happened. Whoever they are. Chai told Rose about Luffy, but Luffy never knew either of them." Nami tapped her chin, then froze. "And something happened to Chai."
"Yeah, freezing up like that definitely means nothing good." Usopp nodded. He slowly blinked. "Holy crap. Luffy has a secret sister."
"So secret even he doesn't know." Nami stared at him. They looked at Vivi. Vivi, who hadn't been on the ship for twenty-four hours and had sussed out something they had no idea about.
The princess smiled sheepishly. "Mystery solved?"
"NOT BY A LONG SHOT!" Nami and Usopp yelled.
____________________________________________________________________________
Sanji frowned at the stovetop, trying to decide - what to cook? The larder was somehow magically re-stocked after the escapade at Whiskey Peak, but he found himself in a bind.
The one thing Rose asked for herself was the coffee. The rest? Especially the tangerine preserves? That was for Nami. She enjoyed the breakfast, sure, but he had no idea of her preferences.
The princess was an easy read; she enjoyed more heat in her food. Nami thrived on citrus.
The morons would consume protein whether it was charcoal or mooing, and it was his pride as a chef that kept him from half-assing it. No matter what, they could expect at least the bare minimum. Not to mention the damn moss-head drank them out of stock on a regular basis. Sanji dreaded to think what would happen if he got at the cooking sherry.
Rose was confusing in more than one way. Setting aside the whole gender issue (and did life on Baratie not prepare him to deal with that), he wasn't… entirely sure how to treat her.
On the one hand: beautiful woman. Protect, provide, respect. Zeff's lessons were thorough on that point.
On the other: sometimes a man. Now, in comparison to the idiots, Rose was a godsend. Sure 'he' could be snippy or dry, but usually if provoked. Otherwise? He was content to keep to himself when not making himself useful. When he interacted with crew, he was cordial unless pushed, and sometimes even friendly.
If Sanji were forced (and it was looking to be that way because even his own mental dissonance only went so far), he'd have to admit 'Rose-chan's charming wit and dour humor' went the same regardless of gender. It was more of how he saw it. But changing how he treated Rose because of what gender… they? That seemed safe. Changing how he treated them based on current gender rubbed even him the wrong way.
In Sanji's life, men were threats, pain in the ass customers, or pain in the ass comrades. Women… women saved him. His mother, his sister. His time on Baratie only intensified that divide.
Rose challenged it. She was capable, cunning, and downright vicious. She was also scared and lonely. Sanji had enough practice with bravado to know how emotions could be covered up, and the more time Rose spent on the crew the clearer it became that the first batch of qualities were a mask.
That was the downside to being the lone chef on a pirate crew, Sanji supposed. Plenty of time to think when there were no morons to take care of or ladies to cater to.
"Saaaanjiii! Foooood!"
Speak of the devil.
With a gesture and flick of a knob, he turned on the stove. "Working on it." He looked over his shoulder.
Luffy sat at the table with a wide grin, and joining him were the mossball and Rose.
Sanji pushed down his instinct to slide over and swoon - given Rose was facedown on the table he could tell it wouldn't be well-received. "Tired?"
"Pouting." The swordsman took a pull from how did he find that beer.
Rose turned her head to the side. "I know for a fact you went nowhere near the fridge. Did you hide that in a barrel on deck?"
He shrugged and smirked. "Maybe you're not as omniscient as you think you are."
Sanji immediately stood up with righteous fury-
"Dangerous to use one's entire vocabulary in a single sentence, isn't it?" Rose sniped in a bored tone.
"Roooose! Zoro knows tons of words!" Luffy gave an exaggerated pout. Zoro just kept smirking.
Sanji tossed some lightly seasoned meat into the pans and began getting ready to saute vegetables. Something basic. "Out of curiosity, what do you like?"
"...huh?"
He looked over his shoulder, idly shifting pots and pans to make sure the best amount of heat spread through. "Our Bold Captain lives for meat of all kinds, the meathead over there chows down on rice, protein and booze, Usopp likes seasonal fish, Nami-chan loves tangerines, and our Princess admitted to liking curry and pudding. As the chef, my job is to make sure everyone gets proper nutrition and enjoys it."
Rose sat up and shrugged. "Honestly, I never put much thought into it."
What.
"With the way my body works, more complex dishes just give me temporary enhancements - gaining skill ranks or experience faster, resistance to damage types, all kinds of things. In order to avoid a 'starvation' or 'dehydration' debuff - which translates to damage over time - I just need a slice of bread and glass of water a day. I needed to keep a low profile, so I'd just get the bare necessities. Thanks to that, I've never developed much of an appetite."
Sanji gently let go of the knife he'd picked up to avoid shattering the handle. He turned around.
Luffy's jaw was literally on the floor, and even the mosshead looked pale. Rose just blinked like she hadn't admitted to all but endangering herself with malnutrition.
"Rose, lovely, darling-"
Her expression closed off, and Sanji ground his teeth.
"Rose. That isn't okay. Who took care of you? They-"
"It was me and my mother, and then it was me." Rose's voice was cold. Colder than the dungeons back before… before. "I've been on my own for the past ten years. I was just lucky enough I figured out how to craft restoratives for the Marines before I got busted for theft or had to find alternative employment."
Their captain looked befuddled, but Zoro started hacking and choking on his latest sip of ale.
"What… ha-"
"Sanji."
Sanji swallowed.
Rose's eyes seemed to gleam from within, a sullen red glow coming from inside her skull. "Don't ask questions you aren't prepared to handle the answers to."
"...didn't you say you were sixteen?" And damn the mosshead but wasn't that a salient point.
Luffy started counting on his fingers. "Uh… wait, you were six? When I was six there was Makino and the folks in Foosha-"
"A village is starkly different from Loguetown." Rose looked down at her hands. "There were kids my age there. I could have had a community. I chose not to."
Sanji glanced at the stove, and flipped the meat. He turned to the side and started slicing vegetables. Onion, asparagus, maybe some carrots and potatoes… Once the meat was done he could put the juices to use.
"Why?" And there went Luffy.
"The more connections one has, the harder it is to leave. I was always going to leave Loguetown; you guys were just the most convenient way." Rose's calm was palpably forced.
"So the answers you're looking for- you're looking for your mother? Chai, was it?"
That name sounded familiar. It tickled something in the back of Sanji's brain, in the memories he kept buried.
"...maybe." And that was the end of what they'd safely get out of her tonight.
"Did she leave?" Luffy, what the hell-
"Captain?" Rose's voice was soft. Too soft.
"Huh?"
"Say that again and you'll need to throw me overboard for force-feeding you exploding acid."
Luffy nodded. "So she didn't leave."
"My money's on kidnapping or she got killed. But why the Grand Line?"
Sanji whirled around. "IF you IDIOTS don't dial it back, I'm kicking both of you out! Can't you tell you're making her upset!?" he barked.
Rose blinked at Sanji, expression wary. It tore at his heart.
Luffy shrugged. "Okay." He looked at Rose. "I just wanna know. You're here, and helping us get closer to our dreams. We should help with yours."
"I don't have time for dreams. My goal is enough." Rose stared at her hands, folded in front of her on the table.
"Sounds bloody. I'm in."
Rose leaned back, eyes wide. "Zoro?"
"Say what you want, but the picture I'm getting is: something happened to your mother. The culprit or cause is on the Grand Line. The answers you're looking for are probably either what happened or why. The only reason for looking outside of Loguetown is that there's a person you're hunting down, and you have a lead." The green-headed menace shrugged. "If they made it out here, they're probably strong. Maybe they're worth my time."
"Yeah! You're nakama, Rose. If there's a bad guy you're chasing, of course we'll help beat 'em up!" Luffy gripped his bicep with a wide grin.
Rose… looked shattered. "You barely even know me. I've been on this ship for three days."
"So?"
"So how do you know I won't stab you in the back? How do you know everything I've told you is true? What proof do you have that-"
"When All-Sunday had you in her crosshairs, you kept a brave face until she left. Then you cracked." Sanji folded his arms, keeping an ear open for the food behind him. "Someone that terrified of death isn't going to accept comfort from anyone they don't trust. I can't say anything for the rest of us, but it's pretty clear you trust Luffy at least."
And now she looked like she swallowed a lemon.
Sanji gave an apologetic shrug. "Just what I saw." He turned. …so it wasn't that she was holding out, she just had no palette to speak of.
He smiled to himself. He could work with that.
____________________________________________________________________________
Luffy tore through the meat with gusto, snaking a hand over to Nami's plate and- yoink! Then right into his mouth.
He made sure to avoid Rose's plate. He wanted all the meat, but Rose needed the meat she got.
Rose was weird. She threw bottles, but also daggers, and now she blew things up. She also made stuff, but he never saw it, and other stuff. She was also really fragile, which was worrying. He could not treat her as roughly as his other nakama. A Fist of Love here and there were fine, because it didn't hurt.
Everyone else was simple. Nami got mad and liked money. Usopp freaked out, lied, and shot stuff. Sanji got mad and cooked. Zoro was Zoro. Easy! Vivi he'd figure out later.
Rose… Rose was different. Luffy didn't know what it was. He met her, and knew he wanted her on the crew. The bottle thing was an excuse. She helped a lot, but he didn't know that then. He just saw her face, and something clicked.
Rose was weird because she was easy. The stuff she thought people wouldn't get was simple - the boy/girl thing, the hit point thing. Rose was Rose. She needed to stay safe until she got stronger, but she wanted to be stronger so it was a 'for now'. Almost dying was scary the first few times, so Luffy got it.
She was smart, capable, and even when she disagreed with Luffy she went along with things. She thought she was a lot harder to understand than she was. She was like Nami was: sad and trying to hide it. Which was stupid, so that was weird. And that 'trust' thing was weird too. Trusting nakama was always worth it.
He looked around.
Usopp was telling stories to Vivi, and she was laughing while Nami shook her head. He snuck a chicken leg off of Usopp's plate.
Zoro was watching him a little too closely between keeping an eye on the other three and Sanji. That plate wasn't worth going for, especially with how he was holding a knife.
Sanji was going in and out of the kitchen, carrying out more food. Ooooh, some kind of blackened fish and it smelled goooood-
Luffy grabbed one and dumped it on Rose's plate. "Here! Try this!"
Rose scowled, almost as much as Zoro. "I've eaten fish before," she grumbled.
"Then eat it anyway!" Luffy grinned. "It's good for you!"
For some reason Nami was choking. It's a good thing Vivi thumped her back, going without air too long wasn't any fun. Maybe she ate too fast?
Rose sighed and kept eating. "...it'll wear off anyway, so what's the point…"
"So pick out stuff that'll help you build Endurance. That's what you're working on, right?" Zoro gave Rose a flat look.
She paused. "...uh. Hm." She shook her head. "Fish isn't the right food for that anyway."
"Ooh, let me guess! Intelligence! Fish is brain food, after all!" Usopp nodded with a smirk.
Rose looked annoyed, so he was probably right. She just kept eating.
Luffy grabbed one, swallowed it whole, and pulled the bones out by the tail before dropping it on his plate.
"I don't know if I'll ever get used to that," Nami muttered.
"You'll see weirder," Rose promised. "The Grand Line will see to that."
"How much do you know about the Grand Line?" Vivi asked curiously.
"Too much and not enough. So, the norm." Rose's lips quirked. "I ate a few books while trying to train my manufacturing and sneaking skills, so I have some information."
"...eat books?" Was paper tasty? Every time Luffy tried to eat it, either it was bland or the ink made it blegh.
"I can destroy books using 'Inventory' and if the content matches a skill I have or can train, I get a permanent boost. If not, I just retain the knowledge."
Somewhere, something felt like death. "Huh. Weird!"
"Devil Fruit." Rose looked like she felt it too.
"Yup!"
"I decided a while back to slow down on that. Historians are scary."
The rest of the crew looked confused again, but it made total sense to Luffy. "Mhm. I bet they'd get mad if you ate their books."
"Like if you ate off someone else's plate?"
"LUFFY!" Nami bolted upright, pointing at him.
He paused chewing on the slab of meat he just pilfered. "Wha?"
"Anyways, I wanted to discuss the books I snatched out of Igaram's office. One is a compilation of information on Baroque Works." Rose held up a small book that just showed up in her hand.
"Oh thank goodness. We spent years putting that together!" Vivi smiled. "I thought we had to leave it behind because of- well, everything."
"You mean blabbing about the identity of Baroque Works' founder who just so happens to be a Warlord of the Sea?" Nami gave Vivi a sidelong look.
"Um."
"Or was it the incoming Devil Fruit users? Maybe the bird and otter with great art skills?"
Vivi drooped.
"The other book I found seems to be a ledger of Baroque Works' finances." Rose waved a bigger book. "Looks like Igaram got his hands on some interesting stuff."
Nami looked at Rose the way Luffy looked at breakfast.
"So remember my quip about Little Garden? There's at least one officer pair that will be working a case there. The target is giant-sized, but so is the bounty. A solid 100k each. Now, the 'wax snake' in this case is the Mr. 3 pair - a wax-man and a paint-based hypnotist." Rose shook the book. "And given they're one of the more frou-frou intellectual teams, I'd bet my bottom belli that they've got some high-class loot to salvage. Not to mention Igaram kept track of Crocodile's business endeavors in Alabasta." She looked at Vivi. "Any objections to us robbing the bastards blind as payment for this pleasure cruise?"
Vivi looked hesitant.
Rose looked at Nami. "If we take this as payment instead of extorting the desert country in drought, our profit margins will skyrocket."
"OF COURSE WE'LL DO IT! FOR CHARITY!"
Somehow, that didn't sound quite right to Luffy. But, Vivi looked happy so he didn't say anything.
"The day you do anything for charity will be a cold day in hell," Zoro scoffed.
"Actually, in some traditions there is a ring made wholly of ice for traitors. So such a place might in fact exist," Rose noted.
Nami fluttered her eyelashes. "Thank you~!"
Usopp just looked disturbed. And away from his plate. Yoink!
"LUFFY!"
"Mrph?"
"...also the secondary case pair 3 is after is us."
Nami rounded on Rose. "WHAT!?"
Rose flicked her wrist and the book vanished. "The 5 pair is alive - at least Valentine's is. I can't say anything about Mr. 5. Monday got him pretty good after I distracted him. Even odds they reported up the chain and those four are en route to Little Garden right now. I'd expect sneak attacks from Baroque Works, prehistoric flora and fauna, and super viruses."
"Oh wow, it sounds like I have 'Can't-Go-On-This-Island' Disease!" Usopp squeaked.
"Roooose…" Luffy snagged her cheek. "STOP BEING A JERK! NO PEEKING AHEAD!"
Rose seemed to smile through her face being pulled. "Alsho? Giantsh."
"ROOOOOSE! WHYYYYY!?"
"Becaush up yoursh dat'sh why."
Luffy considered this rebuttal. It sounded a lot like one Ace would give. "MORE FOOD!" He slammed a fistful of vegetables down Rose's throat.
His crew watched on in shock as Rose decided to try and stab him with a knife from somewhere. Mystery pockets!
Zoro was loathe to admit it, but this… game his crewmates were playing was more interesting than he gave it credit for.
"So I have now set the village on fire." Rose stared at the group with unblinking eyes.
"Why? We could have talked to them!" Vivi folded her arms with a stormy glare. "They have every right to-"
"Cannibals."
"...oh." Vivi deflated. "I pull out my sword and move to the nearest target."
"Alright holy knight, roll for combat!" Usopp announced, pointing at Vivi.
One wizard, one holy knight, and-
"GUM-GUM GIANT HAMMER!"
"Luffy."
"I MEAN BIG WAR HAMMER!"
Usopp massaged his forehead. "Roll it."
A wizard, a holy knight, and a Luffy.
Zoro wouldn't say he was engrossed, but it was diverting. He wandered back into the kitchen, leaving the younger members to their game.
"She what?" Nami hissed, eyes wide.
Sanji looked at the doorway, then relaxed. "Bread and water. Must be how she saved up however much money she has."
Nami looked ill.
"Pitying her won't get us anywhere." Zoro sat next to Nami. "She's squirrely, but she has her own sense of pride."
"What do you mean?"
Zoro shrugged. "She doesn't expect a free ride. From the start, she showed off what she could do, and anywhere she can make a decisive difference she does. Not that the captain always appreciates it, but…"
Sanji snorted. "Yeah. Hey, listen to this-"
Nami waved a hand at the shit-cook, hissing. "Sanji! What if she hears you!?"
Zoro looked at them, then back at the room. Luffy's hoots and hollers mingled with Usopp's shouting, Vivi's yelps, and under it all Rose's running sardonic commentary. He looked back to Nami and the cook.
"He has a point." The cook aimed a cigarette at Zoro. "Speaking of, that mother Rose is looking for?"
Zoro raised an eyebrow.
"Nami thinks she's Luffy's too." Sanji grinned. "Nami, you're a genius and beyond compare but the idea of those two-"
"Makes sense." Zoro shrugged. "Explains the special treatment she gets."
The cook's jaw dropped.
"We're also pretty sure while Rose knows, Luffy doesn't." Nami folded her hands and rested her elbows on the table.
"Luffy runs on instinct. Still not surprised." Zoro eyed the fridge longingly.
"Hm. So how's this: Usopp thinks you have a thing for Rose."
What? "What?" Zoro blinked. "No."
"That was fast," Nami muttered. The cook looked ready to choke on his damn cigarette.
"The hell did I do to get that response?" Zoro leaned on his elbow, glaring at Nami.
"He thinks you treat her better than the rest of us."
"Because she doesn't drive me into debt at the drop of a hat or get on my nerves." Zoro paused. "And whenever she takes a shot at me it's because I got a dig in first."
Nami and the cook looked at each other.
"You morons. Setting aside that I don't have time for that shit, I don't even know her. I'm working on her training so she doesn't die, and I keep an eye on her for that reason too. It's got nothing to do with feelings," and Zoro wanted to gag at that, "she's crew and needs a little more attention to make sure she survives."
"Could have said that with how you handled her back at Whiskey Peak," the cook muttered.
Zoro shrugged. "What, was I supposed to let her wallow when Luffy mostly pulled her out of it? She needed a kick in the ass so I gave it to her."
"So you said what you said because you care." Nami stared at him.
"Ugh. If you want to put it that way…" Zoro grit his teeth. "I'm getting booze and going back in there. At least they're just burning villages."
"Wait what."
"Wait wait wait, in what world is 'are you done' showing care after an anxiety attack!?" Nami stood up. Oh, pointy teeth time.
"If a comrade shows weakness, you brush it off and don't acknowledge it. Right, cook?"
"At the time Rose was a man, but I don't think she fundamentally changes when her gender does…" the cook mused. "You probably got away with it because-"
"Because she figured out he was emotionally constipated?"
"Huh? Constipated?" Luffy poked his head in. "What's that mean?"
"Means you need to shit but can't. All bound up in the guts," Rose explained helpfully.
"Oh. Zoro, do you need the head? I don't think anyone's in it-"
"I DO NOT!"
"It's not that kind, emotionally constipated," Nami explained. Helpfully.
"Huh? So people poop feelings?" Luffy's face scrunched up.
"No Luffy, it means Mister Bushido has emotions he doesn't know how to show, so he pretends they aren't there."
Zoro grit his teeth. "Thanks. Princess. But you're-"
"OH. Like Rose!" And Luffy brightened up.
Rose's expression went from mild interest to murder in one breath. "Excuse me?" she whispered. It undercut the building hubbub like a knife.
While everyone else went silent, Zoro took advantage of the opening. "You're not fooling anyone, brat. Pretend all you like you're just using us, you've already gotten attached." He grinned darkly. "Remember: you're here forever."
Rose turned many interesting colors, only to slink outside.
"But he's right, though?" Luffy tilted his head.
"Whoa. That's the first time I've seen her not have a comeback," Usopp whispered.
"Had to happen sometime," Nami replied in the same tone.
Zoro opened his mouth-
"QUADRILLE: BURST IMPACT."
For a moment, there was silence. Then the night was ruptured with a roar like a demon denied, and the ship rocked violently, pitching to and fro.
Zoro followed the resulting stampede outside, and- What the hell.
The Sea King (or what was left of it) lolled on the deck. Rose stood, legs akimbo, and holding her hand as though she held a gun. The rest of the beast dragged in the ocean, slowing the Merry to a crawl. There… wasn't much of a skull left. The point of impact smoldered, ash dripping onto the deck.
"Oh look, Future rations," Rose droned. And the meat, bones, all of it - disappeared. "And I got half a level out of it."
"And what did that cost you?" Zoro asked patiently.
Rose paused.
He waited.
She puffed her cheeks out.
He kept waiting.
"...seventyMP."
"Of?"
"Twoforty."
"Ohh. So it's a finishing move!" Luffy grinned. "Nice work!"
Rose went as red as her hair. "I- I didn't do it for approval! That Sea King was going to attack us!"
"And you made a new move!"
"Ah- ghk! Youuuuu!"
"Rose-chan's so adorable when she's flustered~!" the shit-cook crooned.
"Poltergeist: Rain of Silver."
That was the point almost everyone ran inside before the hail of knives took them apart. Just slow enough so nobody got hit.
Zoro, though? His blades were out in a second, and he gleefully parried his way through. "Ohhh? You need a workout, brat?"
She flashed across the deck, a sword in her grip. Cracks and booms heralded her approach, disorienting-
THWACK. THWAP.
"Augh!" "Oi!"
Both of them stumbled, only for Luffy to grab them both by the collar. "Fighting Sanji is fine, but Rose isn't strong enough yet! Wait your turn!" He scowled.
Zoro looked from Luffy to Rose, who to her credit looked utterly abashed. "Sure, sure. Get ready for tomorrow, punk. I'm diversifying your workout."
Rose's gaze turned poisonous. "The sooner I catch up, the sooner I can shove an explosive right up your-"
Luffy rattled Rose, making her squeak. "You stop that! Zoro's got a lot more practice and he'd hurt you and then he'd be sad!"
"Like hell I would!"
Luffy met his eyes.
"...It'd be annoying if she died, is all."
Luffy nodded firmly.
Rose seemed to simmer down a little. "...fine. Sorry. I usually have better control over my temper."
"Right." Zoro definitely believed her. Sure.
She went red. "Fine! See if I steal any more booze for you, you damn ingrate!"
Wait. The stuff that 'appeared'.
"Oi oi oi, let's talk this out," he said quickly, raising his hands. "I'm sure nobody meant to actually insult anyone-"
Rose squinted.
"Shishishi! She'd get it anyway, like she'd get meat for me and stuff for the rest of the crew! Because she likes us!"
"Luffy!" she shrieked, mortified. She didn't even try to disagree.
Zoro smirked. "Ah, I see. Well, maybe I can be convinced to dial it back a little, given she's supplying booze."
Luffy looked at Zoro.
Zoro looked back.
"That sounded a lot like what Shanks would say about Makino…" he muttered.
Zoro had no idea what that meant, but Rose made a choking sound so that was more important. "Oi, idiot! You're strangling her! What was that you said about me killing her on accident!?"
"Ah! Rose! Don't die!"
Rose flopped onto the deck, freed from the grip. "...mistakes have been made," she groaned. "Several mistakes have been made."
"Really? Don't worry, we'll help fix them! We're nakama, after all!"
She just moaned louder in agony. …so ended another day on the Going Merry.
Rose's crush on Zoro is very one-sided and slowly being strangled due to regular exposure to his actual personality. If anything did happen between them, it'd be all the way after Wano, and assuming I'll get that far is a bigger stretch than even Luffy can do.
