Spring Time (A Bellamy SI)
- Thread starter Arthedain
- Start date
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Shiki went head to head with Garp and Sengoku. He lost, yes, but he wouldn't have, it is implied, done so well if he couldn't use Haki, and he had the wheel in his head during that fight, in addition to successfully storming Marineford on his lonesome until Garp and Sengoku stepped in. One could take the This Bites approach, that he purposefully didn't do it because to need Haki against a rookie from East Blue (an ocean he looks down on) would have been insulting more than he could take.
Alternatively, he was strained from holding up ISLANDS at the time. Even Fujitora doesn't have the same degree of mass levitation or artistry of control (creating earthen Lion constructs).
Plus, he was, obviously, old, and possibly extremely rusty given he apparently spent twenty years without a major fight, since Sengoku and Garp implied he came out of nowhere.
Alternatively, he was strained from holding up ISLANDS at the time. Even Fujitora doesn't have the same degree of mass levitation or artistry of control (creating earthen Lion constructs).
Plus, he was, obviously, old, and possibly extremely rusty given he apparently spent twenty years without a major fight, since Sengoku and Garp implied he came out of nowhere.
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MrRobot
In doubt there's always the Sun!
Like i said before Shiki body is Frail, and is not Once piece Edward Newgate's "Frail", or even Zeed "frail" but actually frail for someone of his power.
He can't take hits that well, his body is old and decayed from his peak, much more a husk of something that was once great.
Also general armament haki don't really your hits stronger just allow you to ignore some amount of natural defense so there's that.
He can't take hits that well, his body is old and decayed from his peak, much more a husk of something that was once great.
Also general armament haki don't really your hits stronger just allow you to ignore some amount of natural defense so there's that.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
What exactly do you mean by "general armament Haki", do you mean the invisible, early variant? Because everything else explicitly makes strikes stronger.
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MrRobot
In doubt there's always the Sun!
Actually there's no invisible variant. The darkening of the skin is an artistic choice to show that haki is being used now that is a obvious think. Kinda like how Releigh used Ryuo in the bomb shackes witout the lighting. It's kinda like stand logic.
So when i say general armament i mean the general black fist variant. Because while it's a gateway to stronger attacks it's no directly make your atack stronger. It hardens your flesh so you can put more force behind your blows without worrying about backlash damage. With a bonus that allow you to hit "the true shape" of a enemy. Meaning passive defenses like Luffy blunt force negation don't work.
That's what makes Ryuo such a big deal it actually make your hits stronger .
Invisible to non-Haki users since no one can see Rayleigh use it in first demonstration.
Besides, it'd be boring if there is no dark hardening and black lightning.
Chapter 75: Heart of Gold VI
– Sarquiss –
Sarquiss was cognizant enough of his own character to admit that there existed a non-zero possibility, that he might not be as completely flawless as he may seem like to others. After all, he was only human and he did have the occasional bad hair day, even if those were few and far in between. While others did call him a vain, prideful narcissist at times, Sarquiss had always been of the opinion that a reasonable amount of adoration towards one's own person was healthy for the psyche.And why wouldn't he adore himself? If there ever was a tale of rags to riches and power…well, Sarquiss may not be the first example to pop into someone's mind but he'd wager his own name to be quite high on that list regardless.
In a way, apart from the rather humble station in life he'd been born into – as the sixth son of the local butcher – there was no denying that fate had dealt him a rather generous hand to play with. Likewise, most people would likely agree he'd utilized his cards well, rising to a station he'd only been able to dream about in the past. Sure, he owed a large part of his success to Bellamy's friendship, but Sarquiss had been the one to initiate it all those years ago, all the way back when he'd invited the surly kid sitting alone on a park bench to play a game of pirates.
Of course, life being what it was, things hadn't all been sunshine and roses since that fateful day. There was no greatness without appropriate trials and over the course of his life several incidents had challenged his worldview, most of them concentrated in the short period spanning their arrival on Jaya and the present date. Starting from his helplessness against Satori and his inability to protect his Lily from harm and culminating in Sarquiss becoming a literal liability in his best friend's desperate battle for survival against Doflamingo… reality had mandated that the naïve country bumpkin, grow up into the great pirate he could be.
As a result of the lessons imparted by life itself, Sarquiss' arrogance had been forcefully tempered into justified pride. The key difference between the two being, that pride made it impossible to turn a blind eye to one's own weaknesses nor to accept anything less than one's personal best. Minor flaws were to be excised in their entirety and larger ones hammered into submission until the individual known as Sarquiss met the strict requirements set by his own pride. All while maintaining a perfect exterior for his adoring fans, of course.
However, there existed a single facet of himself that Sarquiss couldn't fix so easily. His SMILE. That was not to say he disliked his pseudo devil fruit. Quite on the contrary. Despite the rather unfortunate circumstances of its consumption, it had been the boost to his combat prowess Sarquiss had needed at a time when his sense of self-worth was being challenged by the appearance of people like Laki or Nero.
Nevertheless, as versatile as his SMILE was or as useful it had proven to be, there was no denying that it also set a cap on how powerful it could become when compared to the genuine article. Hence, conventional wisdom would have seen Sarquiss focus on other avenues of growth such as the rokushiki or haki in order to circumvent the issue. Sticking stubbornly to a path which obviously ended in a dead end would have been stupid and despite his lack of secondary education, the first mate of the Bellamy Pirates wasn't an idiot, no matter what his girlfriend said.
But…well, pride. After all, making that decision would be akin to giving up, wouldn't it?
Whereas the Sarquiss who had first set sail probably would have decided to do the smart thing. The Sarquiss however, who'd had his world flipped upside down by his captain in the last year or so, that Sarquiss had this little voice in his head which plain refused to move on. It had been so persistent that he'd essentially declared "to hell with conventional wisdom" and gotten to work.
The initial trigger had been Bellamy's off-handed comment that force was the change in momentum within a specified interval of time. And momentum was mass multiplied by velocity. Sarquiss wasn't a scientist nor did he have the memories of one, but he'd understood enough to come up with a plan of action. If his SMILE only gave him a third of the boost in raw strength a standard zoan did to others, he could still deliver the same impact by being thrice as fast. Simple, right?
Honestly, when he'd gone about trying to make his idea a reality, the speed aspect had been by far the simplest aspect of it all. The Crew already had three speed demon in the forms of Nero, Eddy and Bellamy so there had been plenty of ideas to use. Combined with the fact his own powers were geared towards being a speedster, it had taken barely any time at all for Sarquiss to reach and eventually surpass his initial goal. That his insectoid eyes and vibration senses made tunnel vision a non-issue had been an unexpected but very welcome bonus too, such that he hadn't needed observation haki to know where he was going.
The problems arose with the fragility of his own body. According to Bellamy, the conservation of momentum was a universal law, which unfortunately meant that whatever impact he imparted to his opponent, he'd experience one of the same magnitude. Or had that been the third law of motion of some egghead called Newton? Either way, the first time Sarquiss had punched rammed his fist into a tree at full speed, the tree had shattered in a beautiful proof of concept. Emboldened by this evident success, he had immediately moved on to tougher targets of the more mineral variety and had promptly broken his own arm.
Chastened by both the experience and their resident doctor, Sarquiss had gone back to the drawing board to figure out what had gone wrong and how he might go about changing that. Identifying the issue had been simple enough…for Nico Robin, who had pointed out that Sarquiss simply lacked the chitin exoskeleton a standard zoan would have obtained. The solution had been equally simplistic in its base idea. Get tougher.
So Sarquiss had gone about doing just that. He'd bulked up somewhat fierce, going from a slim swimmer's build into something more akin to a professional weightlifter and quickly seeing results with the support of the Crew. For example, Nero and Izou had put their heads together to come up with a training regimen while Hewitt had created a special diet, just for him with Muret keeping a watchful eye on him to make sure he didn't hurt himself again. Tekkai had helped a lot too, especially once he had figured out how to limit it to his fist and forearm, so that he wasn't forced to turn into a flying log every time he tried to slam into someone like Superman (whoever that was).
But it hadn't been enough. Not if he wanted to be able to give someone like Doflamingo pause. Spurred on by the success of his friends, Sarquiss had thrown himself into his haki training, unlocking armament a few weeks after the events at Tequila Wolf. The following month had been spent experimenting and figuring out how to turn that into a functional replacement for an exoskeleton by spreading it out over his entire body. He'd succeeded too, even if his new armour was fragile, but he no longer hurt himself hitting things and Sarquiss had fostered high hopes that with more time, it would turn into something great.
Thus, when after all that effort, he barely got a chance to use any of it in the battle against Treasure's sniper, Sarquiss had been conflicted as to how to feel about it. On the one hand, it had been disappointing that Naomi had been taken out before he could really do anything. On the other, who knew Rivers had it in him?
– Rivers –
If one thought about it, Rivers hadn't really won a serious fight on his own. Ever.He'd played overwatch on St. Poplar, sat on the sidelines against Gasparde, worked as a glorified shuttle service on Sabaody and been a dial dispenser at Marineford while doing little else once that was done. The fight against the Vice Admirals in the mines of Silverstadt had been a group effort as had their victory on Tequila Wolf and while this was hindsight talking, he'd also been left behind while his Hewitt and Muret accompanied the captain on his little trip to kick Gecko Moria's ass.
Surely, it said something about him that the closest thing to a personal win he'd had in his entire career was bribing Fuza with sweets while in the midst of an aerial rodeo. Was it any wonder then, that out of everybody on the crew, Rivers felt as if he had arguably played the smallest role in their success so far? Even his supplementary role as a scout had gotten increasingly become irrelevant as Aisa's range and accuracy grew by leaps and bounds.
Maybe that had been why Rivers had swung himself onto Fuza's back and flown ahead of his team as soon as the captain had issued the order, intent on proving to himself that he wasn't deadweight.
Fuza could be very fast when his lazy partner wanted to be and that went triple with the harness Laki had thrown together for him. Bellamy had called it a poor man's rocket belt, though as Rivers had no idea what a rocket was, it wasn't like he could judge the veracity of that assessment. However, there was no denying that the three-fold combination of flame, breath and jet dials spewing out gallons upon gallons of fiery air made accelerating past a reasonable speed limit a piece of cake. That Fuza could freely control the direction by simply moving the legs the packs were attached to had been just the cherry on top.
Swerving out of the way of Naomi's answering volley, Rivers returned her greeting with one of his own, which while not harming the New World sniper, did force her to exit the defensive perimeter her subordinates had formed around her lest she be evaporated like the perimeter was a split second later. With the opening volleys exchanged, the two snipers proceeded engage a furious duel, continual explosions rocking the air as both tried to unsuccessfully sneak a shot past the other.
Mobility became the name of the game, Naomi flitting about on the ground and through the trees while Rivers and Fuza moved as with one mind, almost dancing between the fiery blasts. Occasionally, the pair would fly off to gain some distance for the sake of better angles of attack, usually followed close behind by Naomi efforts to imitate an anti-air turret with her bow and arrows. Their subsequent dive would then result in them chasing Naomi around for a bit until a standoff ensued again before the cycle began anew.
Barrel rolls, sudden upward acceleration and headlong nosedives along with a host of other aerial maneuvers were used liberally as the pair strove stay a step ahead of their opponent's observation haki like she tried to do with theirs. And like most sniper duels between observation users tended to do, it soon became a case of predicting that the other would predict they'd predict she'd predict they'd predict she'd predict they'd predict something…in aeternum, which sometimes lead to craters being formed in some very out of the way places.
Neither side spared a single thought to how Rivers' friends had cleared the field of Naomi's remaining subordinates and were now watching the show while munching on popcorn. That Psycho P met an inglorious end was worth just as little attention when all three combatants were wholly focused on trying to anticipate the events of the next second from the smallest signs. Everything that didn't contribute towards this became a luxury neither side could afford when the battle was so finely balanced on a knife's edge.
In the end, it was Fuza who tipped that balance.
Breaking off the current attack run, he began climbing higher and higher into the air until they reached the ceiling of Bonbori's stomach and for a moment, he just floated there with Naomi staring up at them, confused as to why they had broken their usual pattern. Rivers had wondered that himself before Fuza's haki intermixed with his own, allowing a tendril of something to enter his mind. It wasn't quite a thought or even an emotion, holding only the barest hints of a mental picture but it was enough for Rivers to understand. He didn't question why this phenomena had occurred or how it worked, just appreciating that it did.
And with that, the pair dived straight down, the island racing towards them as Rivers flattened himself against Fuza's speeding back, trusting his partner to keep them alive. His trust was repaid, when merely two meters before they'd have coated the ground red, Fuza changed trajectories, funnelling all the gathered kinetic energy into the tightest ninety degree turn one could imagine.
True to form, Naomi reacted to the bird rushing straight towards her by blowing up the space between them, but to no avail. Without even flinching, Fuza barreled on through, opting to open a hole in the explosion by launching a fiery blast of his own from the fire dial in his beak. Sure, they were singed in the process, but it didn't matter as they were nearly on top of their target, flying so close that Fuza's stomach feather would graze her hair as he flew past.
Before that happened though, Rivers let go of his grip and slid off Fuza's back.
It didn't take long for him to traverse the distance between himself and the unyielding ground, but that was all the time he needed. Having pursued Fuza with her eyes and her aim, Naomi only belatedly turned around to find herself staring down the barrel of Rivers' rifle, his aerial posture the very textbook definition of a sniper's prone position. Time slowed down for both of them, Naomi's eyes widening in surprise and terror, while Rivers' own narrowed in concentration. Perhaps, to her trained sight, in the split second that decided their fate, Rivers may have looked as if he were suspended horizontally in thin air as he pulled the trigger.
"Gotcha!"
"Hick-"
BANG
Moria is Alive!
Welcome to Marineford Daily News, your only source of accurate and unbiased truth.To the collective horror of the world, Gecko Moria has risen from the dead! Once believed to have fallen in the line of duty during the War of the Best, the former Warlord has been sighted on Water Seven where his former ship had been sent for disassembly following it's confiscation by the marines.
The marine spokesman had noted that according to the agreement signed by the relevant parties, all assets of the Seven Royal Warlords were forfeit to the World Government in the event of their timely demise and that the marines had been perfectly justified in the actions taken during the chaotic aftermath of the war.
But Moria obviously didn't see things that way. Rather than going through the proper channels to reclaim his property and filling out the proper forms, the former Warlord decided to expedite the process by breaking into the dockyards by force with a small force of his walking dead before subsequently sailing off on the Thriller Bark.
Once believed to be a hero of the world, Gecko Moria has thus shown himself to be the cowardly, thieving traitor we always suspected him to be and proving that pirates cannot be trusted, regardless of their standing.
In response to this reprehensible robbery of government property, the marine spokesman has revealed that discussions were being held as to the future fate of the Warlord system. We remain confident that whatever is decided, it will be beneficial for the world as a whole.
This was Marineford Daily reporting.
And as always, please follow us to never miss an update on the best news reports this side of the Red Line.
Author's note:
Ok...I lied. The fights conclude next chapter.
At least Rivers got his first real moment of glory?
Also, thank you to everyone who voiced their opinions regard the Shiki, Byrnndi and Douglas question. It really helped a lot.
- Location
- Texas
Okay, using the opponent's own eyesight against them was some clever thinking on Rivers' part. That was a well earned victory ya mad lad!
And as for the Moria's old haunt, I think the Marines actually did something good here. Remember there were quite afew folks marooned on it like Lola and who knows how many other people, so them actually being rescued let a lot of them either take off with the Marines or jump ship at Water 7.
Now I'm imagining Lola working on the docks and hitting on all the lads there. Poor bastards.
And as for the Moria's old haunt, I think the Marines actually did something good here. Remember there were quite afew folks marooned on it like Lola and who knows how many other people, so them actually being rescued let a lot of them either take off with the Marines or jump ship at Water 7.
Now I'm imagining Lola working on the docks and hitting on all the lads there. Poor bastards.
Poor Lola when they reject her and her crew make a lot of celebrations as part of the running gag.
Although she has to lay low and not get attention of Big Mom's spies.
- Location
- Texas
But if I recall correctly, she doesn't know how angry Big Mom is with her running away. She may well try to get in contact with her family, only to find she renewed her death sentence instead.
Of course that depends on what sibling she manages to get ahold of, as their response would wildly vary depending on that.
Guess Lola thought things will blow over and Big Mom let bygones be bygones. Except Big Mom holds a huge grudge and saw her chance of reconciling with the Giants of Elbaf (they might probably still hate Big Mom after she ate Mother Carmel and the kids in her hunger daze but tolerate for the sake of their prince Loki marrying her daughter had Lola not ran away) being destroyed.
Lola has to survive first due to the fact Big Mom's spy network is large and would find her.
Like how they use it to locate the invitee's friends and loved ones before sending assassins to kill them, take their heads and give it to the invitee for not coming to Big Mom's Tea Party for any reason.
Chapter 76: Heart of Gold Finale
– Bellamy –
While I was certain that my knee had broken a few of his ribs, Treasure seemed very unwilling to let me go and engulfed me in bearhug instead, even chaining us together for added measure."Die!" he hissed into my ear, and I knew pain.
Springs were compressible.
I just wanted to put that out there. Now, the degree to which they were compressible varied depending on the respective size, shape, and material composition of the spring in question, but the basic premise wouldn't change. This was in part because one, a non-compressible object could hardly be called a spring any longer as it would no longer fit the basic definition of what a spring purported to be; and two, everything on earth was compressible in one form or another and thus had the properties of a spring. Which also implied that all of creation was a spring to some degree…
Possibilities perhaps?
Anyway, to get back on track, springs were compressible. When using my Coil Chassis, I was literally composed of coiled springs. Ergo, I should have been compressible and unsurprisingly I was. My body adapted to the sudden strain applied by Treasure's chains by occupying smaller and smaller volumes of space, while Aisa's lightning tried its best to melt through our opponent's haki. At least, until my Coil Chassis reached a limit I hadn't known it had and would not be crammed together any further, which had also been when the pain started. As anybody who'd ever gotten a door slammed unto any part of their anatomy would surely attest, that shit really hurt and Treasure had rammed that up to a thousand by turning his chains into a poor man's omnidirectional, hydraulic press.
Had Treasure applied the same amount of force from only one direction, I probably would have been fine, not least because my body would have been able to bend and contort to adjust accordingly. However, with Treasure's chains encasing me completely and squeezing from all directions, there was very little I could do that I wasn't already doing. Unfortunately, regardless of how hard Aisa and I tore into the guy, he seemed very intent on all of us going down together and simply refused to give an inch.
In my pain-addled mind, I briefly played with the idea of bursting into a pile of tiny individual springs to escape the current encirclement, but common sense quickly shot that down. If reattaching an arm had carried risks of malalignment and permanent debilitation, trying to pull my entire body back together was very unlikely work as intended without some serious preparations beforehand. So, instead of going against the rational part of my brain, I decided to try something more logical.
Get bigger.
Consciously willing my springs to extend, I turned the one-sided offense I'd been suffering under into a contest of brute force, however not one of muscle but of devil fruits. Intentionally, I might add, for if it had been I probably would have lost because my body wasn't tempered enough yet to compete with a New World Veteran like Mad Treasure. Though, when it came to our mastery over our respective fruits? That was a whole different story.
While he'd showcased several abilities he hadn't in the movie, with my survival depending on it I had focused almost everything I had on mastering mine whereas he had not. That difference in motivation ended up being key in allowing me to compete with him on even ground and even put him on the back foot.
"Twenty Million Volt Vari: KICK!"
"Gaah, you little shits!"
Longwinded as that entire explanation might have been, the actual amount of time which had transpired was rather short, with the interval from Treasure enveloping me to Aisa leaping out of my body to plant her heels into his jaw could be counted in seconds. Which was just enough time for Law to get his breath back and come over to help.
"Radio Knife!"
Smoothly cutting through the chains binding me in place, Law carried on by taking advantage of Treasure's momentary mismatch between bodily sensation and optical input to slip inside his reach…
"Mes!"
…and cut out Treasure's heart. While unwrapping myself from the now inert chains, I got a front row seat to our enemy's eyes bugging out as he registered, that his vital organ was tumbling through the air instead of being protected within his ribcage. Not that I really blamed the fella because seeing one's own beating heart be excised must have been an unexpected sight, to say the least.
In the end, it proved to be too much for Treasure. Turning on his heels with no hesitation, he ran for the hills with his extracted heart grasped firmly in his hands. Much to the dismay of his remaining crew, I might add. Unfortunately for them, their cries of disbelief and despair fell upon deaf ears as their captain sought to escape on his own. Naturally, we weren't going to stand aside and let him go so easily.
"Abandoning your men to save yourself, that's a bit cold, isn't it?" Law asked him conversationally once he caught up to his quarry with a quick teleport and interposed himself between Treasure and his chosen escape route. "What happened to the concept of maintaining trust and camaraderie?"
"Why the fuck would I give a shit about that?" Treasure spat out, swinging a chain like a flail in Law's general direction, which my ally easily ducked under without losing a beat. "I can gather comrades with money and purchase trust with gold. As long as I have my treasure, I can always start over!"
"And you'll fail again. After all, money can't buy success and is no substitute for genuine effort." Law lectured, smiling easily as Aisa and I completed the encirclement. "In the grand scheme of things, your treasure really doesn't matter."
"TREASURE IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS!" Roaring like a wounded animal, Mad Treasure launched a cascade of spiked chains at Law while simultaneously fending off Aisa's own attacks. "There's not a single problem in the world that treasure and gold cannot fix as long as you have enough it! There's no goal worth pursuing in the world apart from it!"
"Though, it doesn't look like it was worth it at the moment, now does it?" I quipped, trying to rile him up further. "In the very unlikely case that you get out of this alive, you might want to reconsider your priorities in life."
I succeeded.
"YOU WILL NOT TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME!" Forcing Law and I to take a step back or risk having our heads caved in by a veritable hydra-like mass of thrashing chains, Treasure broke through our perimeter at its weakest link: Aisa. My crew mascot, bless her heart, did try to stop him but was taken off-guard when Treasure opted to simply take her lightning lance head on and focus everything he had left into running away with a sizable hole in his gut.
Away from us and towards the coast where his ship presumably lay anchored. That the shortest route would have taken him straight through the group guarding Olga and her father probably hadn't even factored into his calculations…and that proved to be his downfall.
Wounded and tired as he was, Treasure wasn't nearly as fast nor strong as he'd been at the beginning of our scuffle and Lily was one of the top fighters on my crew. Not to mention that his philosophy on life had probably rubbed her in quite the wrong way, if what Sarquiss had told me was any indication.
"Outta my way, you stupid bitch!"
"Fucking make me, asshole!"
What happened next was a masterful example of teamwork, which was only made all the more beautiful by the spontaneity of it all. The chains which had been meant to sweep Lily and her compatriots aside, all disintegrated into a cloud of reddish flakes upon contact as the steel rusted away in an instant. The baffled look on his face turned into befuddlement, as a pair of hands flowered into existence to grab his ankles. The facial transition finally ended in alarm when he lost his grip on his own heart, causing it to painfully bounce a few times before coming to a stop next to a pair of boots he could have sworn hadn't been there moments prior.
"Where the h-hell did you c-come fro…" Treasure groaned, scrabbling for his heart which was just out of reach, only for his eyes to widen in agony as Mani's knife pinned it to the ground.
"Where do you think?"
Mani smiled.
– Mani –
For someone who had given her captain and the others such a hard time, Mad Treasure's death had been rather anti-climactic. Though in hindsight, she probably wouldn't have ended things in quite the same manner if she could go back to try again. Blood was surprisingly difficult to wash off of fashionable leather boots and there had been way more of it spurting out than the isolated organ should have been able to hold.Apart from that minor inconvenience however, things had gone rather swimmingly afterwards. With their officers gone, the surviving members of Treasure's crew had surrendered without a fuss and promptly been put to work shifting everything in their hold into their treasure's new home. And what a haul it had been… mountains of silver and gold, piles of precious gems and precious stones, not to mention the chests full of cash and other valuable items, including but not limited to a very luxurious armory. It had been so much that Mani wouldn't have been opposed to securing their silence in a more permanent manner afterwards, but the captain had decided otherwise and allowed Treasure's former crew to go on their merry way once the job was done.
Not because he had a bleeding heart, mind you, but because committing such an act of cruelty and ruthlessness in front of a civilian you wanted to recruit (temporarily) would have been counterproductive. Though, neither of the father-daughter duo had seemed particularly disturbed by the violence, so perhaps Bellamy needn't have worried?
Especially as convincing the alchemist to take them to the Pure Gold hadn't been that difficult either. Starved for human contact as the man apparently was, Alcier had been surprisingly talkative, which had made it a piece of cake for Mani to tickle information out of him. Getting men to spill their secrets had been something her mother had been rather good at back in the day. Mani had inherited that skill, for lack of a better word, and it had been one of the tools she had used to survive before she joined Bellamy.
There had been a brief, emotionally laden interruption midway through, when Alcier's motivation to create the Pure Gold was revealed to have been a desperate attempt to halt his daughter's terminal illness by taking advantage of the anti-aging properties inherent in the light of the alchemical miracle. Soon after that, Olga had tearfully reconciled with her father, while the Crew was coming to terms with the fact that the child was older than all of them combined, and promises were made to spend their remaining years together as a family.
That had led to the two doctors present asking what illness Olga was suffering from, and to Alcier subsequently finding out that a cure for the disease had been developed in the two centuries he'd spent idling away inside a fish. After a bit more wrangling, Alcier agreed to lead them to the Pure Gold in exchange for the cure, safe passage to a secure location where he and his daughter could start a new life, in addition to sufficient funds with which to do so with. Naturally, Bellamy had agreed, offering to take them to Baltigo Base.
In Mani's opinion, it had been a smart choice on Alcier's part, the man being obviously aware that in the hands of someone without the power to defend it, the Pure Gold was a curse rather than a blessing. It was far better to sell it to the highest bidder while he still could.
Turned out, the Pure Gold had been hidden in an abandoned temple-like complex, complete with traps, hidden passages, and various tests of skill. Under normal circumstances, the Crew may have struggled to clear the obstacles laid in their path and reach their destination, but with the original system designer along for the ride, they had breezed past everything without any trouble.
They found the mythical metal sitting in a jar amidst stacks of books and piles of scattered papers, its soft glow illuminating the dusty lab it was slumbering within. Most of the Crew had stood frozen in place, staring at the object in fascination and near reverence. Bellamy and Law, on the other hand, had walked up to it and unceremoniously packed it into a thick burlap sack.
"Right, time to see what other goodies this plays has to offer." Bellamy had said, rubbing his hands eagerly together. Alcier had glanced askance in his direction but had kept his mouth shut. For her part, Olga had stomped over to Bellamy and held out a hand, demanding additional payment for the right to plunder Alchemi for its remaining secrets, to which Bellamy had laughingly acquiesced.
The island had been rather sparse in terms of traditional valuables and the atmospheric conditions within Bonbori's stomach hadn't been the most suited to the preservation of written works. However, the crew had still found a small library's worth of academic papers, experimental logs and textbooks, though nobody amongst them could really make heads or tails out of their contents. Fortunately, Alcier had agreed to cooperate as a sort of freelancer in exchange for ownership of the library, once he and Olga got settled in properly.
Loath as Mani was to give up something likely worth hundreds of millions at the very least, sometimes one had to invest for greater returns. Hopefully gaining the cooperation and goodwill of the most experienced Alchemist on the planet would be worth it in the long run. Though, what exactly Bellamy hoped to gain from this relationship was a little unclear to Mani.
After all, it wasn't like they could physically carry any more gold at this point.
Alabastan Rennaissance!
Welcome to Marineford Daily News, your only source of accurate and unbiased truth.
The Kingdom of Alabasta has recently announced an absolute swath of reforms aimed at improving the lives of its citizens, including extensive government investments into welfare and provincial development. Countless industries are to receive subsidies and interest rates on loans are to be lowered to facilitate economic growth. Already, production has ramped up significantly on traditional export goods such as spices, incense and jewelry; while other more civilian industries are following suit to increase the level of self-sufficiency of the desert kingdom.
Surprisingly enough, most of the funds needed to pay for the implemented measures are said to have come directly from the personal coffers of the royal family. Combined with a general pardon for every member of the now disbanded rebellion, this has allowed King Cobra to enjoy near unprecedented popularity amongst his subjects.
In turn, such positive public sentiment also translated into increased tolerance and patience, as a few more contentious but no less necessary reforms are enacted, all of which are aimed at cracking down on corruption and breaking up the monopolies of established corporations. However, experts fear that such measures will threaten to drive away foreign investments, which are critical to maintaining the desert kingdom's economic stability. Especially as Alabasta is poised to re-enter the world stage as a major mercantile power.
However, rumor has it that rather than the King himself being driving factor behind the reforms, the entire renewal movement is the brainchild of his daughter Princess Vivian (better known as Vivi to the masses). Considering, that the story of Princess Vivian actively lobbying for the pardon of everyone involved in Kohza's rebellion, is well known and verified by numerous sources, there may be good reason to give credence to such rumors. Questions are still being asked as to her motivations for making such a sudden debut on the political stage, but there is no denying the public's adoration for their princess.
Having risen to prominence in the recent months following the Marine arrest of the former Warlord, Sir Crocodile, the princess has only recently concluded a tour of her future realm on which she promised an era of great change. While it is as of yet unclear what the extent of those changes will be, there is little doubt that the formerly isolated kingdom is rising from its centuries long slumber.
This was Marineford Daily reporting.
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Author's note:
What did you guys think of this arc? Too wordy? Too long? (Heaven's preserve me, too short?)
I do hope that Bellamy's struggles were realistic, as were the solutions.
If you enjoyed the chapter, do please leave a like and a comment. It really helps a lot to keep up morale.
This was nice. Not too long. maybe a bit short, but i saw the movie so its not to bad.
I am glad they are going to use the alchemy, and the treasures .
Luffy is a treasure , but there ARE other ways to solve problems,aside from punching people. And people are still getting punched so all's good in the end.
I hope he keeps some of the gold. Not for himself, but a way to stop an illness from killing someone until you find a cure is a godsend.
Give a piece to Muret, should help ourt against queens weapons. Maybe give a small piece to law?
Maybe it keeps you from dying from poison? Everyone wants to live forever( understandably) but this has other uses,too.
I am glad they are going to use the alchemy, and the treasures .
Luffy is a treasure , but there ARE other ways to solve problems,aside from punching people. And people are still getting punched so all's good in the end.
I hope he keeps some of the gold. Not for himself, but a way to stop an illness from killing someone until you find a cure is a godsend.
Give a piece to Muret, should help ourt against queens weapons. Maybe give a small piece to law?
Maybe it keeps you from dying from poison? Everyone wants to live forever( understandably) but this has other uses,too.
Power rankings
The following is the rough power tier I'm working with when I plan the fights out, though it could use a lot of refinement.
Yonko
Admiral
Shichibukai
Vice Admiral
Rear Admiral
Commodore
Captain
The commanders are spread out between Shichibukai and Vice Admiral
The Crew (and allies) would currently be distributed something like this:
Yonko
Admiral
Shichibukai
Vice Admiral
Rear Admiral
Commodore
Captain
The commanders are spread out between Shichibukai and Vice Admiral
The Crew (and allies) would currently be distributed something like this:
- Bellamy: Vice Admiral (While he can't match Momonga or some of the other top VA, he's solidly in the middle of the pack)
- Moria: Vice Admiral (He can get back to the Shichibukai tier, but he's got some work to do)
- Urouge: Vice Admiral- (Personally, I think Bellamy is stronger than Urouge right now. Or at least, more dangerous)
- Bonney: Vice Admiral- (dangerous unless someone has a counter to her ability)
- Law: Vice Admiral- (he'll be a lot stronger once he learns haki)
- Aisa: Vice Admiral- (The minus is because she's a bit weaker than Bellamy.)
- Nero: Rear Admiral+ (He doesn't have haki yet, which is holding him back. Childhood issues.)
- Lily: Rear Admiral+ (DF, haki, has some base talent. She can't take a proper VA but she's tougher than most RA)
- Byron: Rear Admiral+ (Byron really needs a higher bounty)
- Sarquiss: Rear Admiral+ (SMILE, haki, flight)
- Eddy: Rear Admiral (haki, swordsmanship, got a new shiny sword)
- Laki: Rear Admiral (she totes an artillery piece around and has haki)
- Shura: Rear Admiral (It's not that Shura is weak, but that Laki caught up really, really quickly)
- Rivers: Commodore+ (Rivers is talented and he's dangerous together with Fuza. But he's not quite there yet.)
- Ross: Commodore+ (He's still working out his specialty)
- Hewitt: Commodore+ (He's still working out his style & specialty)
- Mani: Commodore (Not really suited to frontal fights so her danger rating is not quite accurate)
- Muret: Commodore- (Not a frontline fighter. But she can cut through steel with her scalpels and she has Funkfreed)
- Marie: Commodore- (Talented rookie with a mythical Zoan)
- Judy: Captain- (Maybe he won't die?)
- Location
- Texas
Well this promises to be corrected very quickly. Mayhaps a blowhole or some way to make the big fish throw up, but there may be other options aside from those and the...rear exit.
Though to distract myself from that, with the good doctor on retainer they may have a way to cure the people of Wano of the laughing/smiling problem that came from the SMILE chemicals in their water. I know I mentioned just stabilizing/correcting the fruit themselves before, but had to at least point this other possibility lest it continue rattling around in my skull.
And good on Vivi for her big reforms! Take the world by storm!
Aye, Vivi is a D after all.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
A fun chapter, and a cool arc, the mix of investigative and One Piece combat sequences fit well.
If you want criticism…I guess maybe Law didn't seem to verbally contribute much at times?
If you want criticism…I guess maybe Law didn't seem to verbally contribute much at times?