8,722A/N: Between this update and the last one I started a new Pokémon story titled "Feel The Ground Shake". It's already at 50K words and is available on both this site and over on QQ. Check it out if that fandom's of interest to you.
A/N 2: As a reminder. Jack has no knowledge of Egghead or the transition arc leading up to it. He only knows up to the last page of Wano.
Chapter 44
Ding!
The pop-up briefly distracts me from the chess game.'Hmm? Is it noon already?' I watch more than feel [Natural Growth] raise my STR from (570) → (580). The end of the three and a half day waiting period -halved from a full week thanks to the bonus effect of [Cooldown Reduction]- also sees yet another triggering of [Oftentimes Better,] raising my [Skill] in [Cybernetics] from (7/100) → (10/100).
Maybe I could build a basic prosthetic now and not absolutely bungle the job.
There's a man onboard in the kitchens who I've seen rocking a no-kidding actual peg leg. Very classic pirate setting design. Maybe I could convince him to let me try and throw something slightly better together as a side project. Could be kind of fun.
"It's still your move boss." Yatagarasu chirps from the side, peering intently at the board where Robin is currently thrashing me. "Though I think it might be a little too late for ya."
"Please," I speak back, moving forward my rook to finally take out the knight that's been wreaking havoc among my pawns. "As if you understand the rules to this game."
The bird hums noncommittally. "Don't need to understand the rules to see you've got seven pieces while the lady's got ten."
"Fufufu," the woman in question titters. "Your companion makes a noteworthy point Sparrow." she slides her queen piece across the board, threatening to box in my last bishop. "Tell me, wherever did you pick him up? I've twice encountered weapons in my life who've eaten Zoan Fruits, though never something as prodigious as a Meito. Let alone one that talks."
'Hmm, If I set the pawn there…no no that doesn't work, should I move up my own queen to counter? That will cause its own problems though...what to do what to do...' My thumb and forefinger flit between the pieces as I seek the least bad option. "...I made him myself a few weeks back." I mumble out as an answer.
"Made me?!" 'garasu squawks, turning away from the game. "Tricked is more like! Strapped me with this bulbous colossal beak for life is more like! Don't think I've forgotten."
"Yeah yeah," I mutter, committing to a move on the board. "As if I ever could with how much you just love to remind me."
Robin tilts her head at the dynamic. "I'm sorry? Did you say you 'made' him?"
I grunt. "A bit of a thought experiment that got away from me." I admit. "Encountered some evidence that suggested something besides man could be the prime mover in an object consuming a Fruit. Ran a little test while curiosity was getting the better of me and…well there he is."
"Fufu, you make it sound like you regret it." Robin teased, one hand reaching out to idly scratch under the animal's chin.
I move my eyes between the chessboard and the toucan/sword who's looking a little too pleased with himself "...he's mellowed out recently." I eventually respond. "You should've seen him during the first few days."
Robin hums thoughtfully at that and uses a disembodied hand to advance her bishop two spaces. A move that for the life of me…I just don't see the strategy behind. Is it a misplay on her part? Or is the woman just eight steps ahead of me while I get mentally lost in the weeds after four? 'God this woman is hard to play against. She's turned my own paranoia against me.'
"I have a theory by the way." she announces, apropos of nothing.
"Hoh?" I hum with interest, deciding 'fuck it' with the mental gymnastics and just sliding a pawn forward. "I love theories. What do you got? More thoughts on what the 'Will of D' could be maybe?"
"Your gift of knowledge." Robin instead speaks, getting my eyes to focus on her. "I think your Storage Fruit contains the collective knowledge of every past user. Or at least a number of them. At some point a previous user of your Fruit found a way to 'store' his memories within the powers of the Fruit itself. From then on, once a second user of the Fruit came along after the first's passing, he/she would possess the know-how of how to do it as well. Centuries of isolated viewpoints stored within your power, perhaps even going back to the Void Century itself. All coming together to grant you a wide -yet incomplete- viewing of this world's history. At least one of whom was a member of Cipher Pol or a high ranking Marine. That's how you know secrets the World Government would normally keep suppressed. That's how you know their techniques. This is why you say you didn't 'earn' your knowledge. Why you say it was 'given' to you. Am I correct?"
The woman finishes her long run-on explanation and I stare at her a bit wide-eyed. "Wow..." I breathe out, getting the historian's eyes to briefly shine. "That is just...completely wrong."
In the few days we've been traveling on this boat together, I've seen a few different flavors of 'confused Robin'. I've seen 'distressed' confused, such as when she was panicking during our first meet. I've seen 'baffled' confused, like when I started rattling off conspiracy theories like a nuthouse loon. I've even seen the 'amused' type of confusion she'll sometimes wear when thinking on a puzzle she hasn't figured out.
I think this marks the first time she's been completely and utterly flummoxed though. "..w-what? But it explains-"
"Yeah, no, I mean it was a pretty good guess all things considered." I cut her off. "I'll give you full marks on the reasoning. Just not a single part of it is correct. Not even correct-adjacent. You're massively off-base."
The woman leans back in her chair with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest and…holy crap is Nico Robin actually pouting?
She is!
Since when does Nico Robin pout?
'I swear, this [Game] just makes no sense sometimes.'
Allow me to set the scene for you for a moment. It's night time. Probably somewhere around midnight, perhaps a little after. The stars are out in full and I'm lying in a cozy makeshift hammock I've set up near the aft of the ship while I stay up late waiting to trigger [Spark of Celerity] one more time before getting some shut eye.
32 charges of [Cooldown Reduction] done by the way! Only a literal year of grinding left to go!
I decided to pass the time by looking at my notebook of the Poneglyph again - to think over the words Robin had translated for me - and was met by the following most perplexing message.
Your understanding of the lost language has greatly increased!
You have unlocked the letters 'A', 'B', 'C', 'M','N', 'O', and 'P' for the lost language!
Now, y'see this right here, this makes no sense.
The way I see it, there should be two options. Two paths for this to go down. Either 'A', having the Briss Poneglyph translated for me should unlock the entire alphabet - except for maybe those few letters who aren't present in the reading such as 'Q' -, or option 'B' it should unlock nothing. I mean it's not like I was the one who read it aloud. I haven't gained any understanding of how the syntax or sentence structures on these crazy glyphs work. I just get a [Game] created overlay of a translation.
Either route would have been fine for me. Or at least I could rationalize it away if it somehow ended up being the first one.
But not this half-and-half middle path silliness.
Just…
No sense sometimes.
Bunny Joe hurried up the steps as the alarm bells rang. Rifles were being distributed and already some of his men were hauling cannonballs across the weather deck. "What do we got?!"
His companion George wordlessly hands him a spyglass while a different adjutant hastily chitters in his ear. "One contact captain! Battleship-class. Nearly thrice our size! I don't recognize their flag, but the sails are black! She's heading directly for us!"
"Any odds we can outrun her?" He brought the tool to his eye and immediately clicked his tongue as he answered his own question.
Those sails were big. Stupid big. Massive black curtains with the wind pushing directly behind them. Some type of cat - or perhaps a lion - was painted across the mainsail and the word 'GAHOOO!' was haphazardly strung over the image in orange lettering.
They weren't symbols he recognized but that didn't mean the pirates aboard weren't a threat. They weren't in East Blue waters anymore. This was the Grand Line. And even with a direct route to Baltigo via an Eternal Pose one still had to assume-
A flash of blue in the foreground.
And a moment later the sound of boots touching down alongside a sword being resheathed.
"Wew. Sorry about that." The voice of his ship's most unwanted guest speaks up, strange blue sparks dancing along his skin. "Where were we at?"
"Intent." The woman they'd worked so hard to recruit answers.
An explosion rocks the pirate vessel as its main guns -nay, the entire ship- is cleft straight down the middle. A lethal wound that simply took reality a few seconds to catch up with it. Tiny silhouettes of pirates can be seen fleeing overboard but there's hardly any point to it. In this part of the ocean any passing Sea Beast will-
"EEEHHHH?!" The collective gasp of his crew grates his ears in the background. Their jaws hitting the deck as eyes pop from their sockets. "IT'S ALREADY OVER?!"
"Right. Intent." The man -correction, the government dog- that General Lindbergh's ordered him to ferry continues without a missed beat. Not even bothering to acknowledge the peanut gallery all staring at him. "Now keep in mind that I'm not an expert, but as I understand it, when it comes to low level Observation that's about the most you're going to get. A gut feeling. A flash of sixth sense. A surety along your psyche that screams 'They're going to attack from the left!'. Generally speaking some people are more suited for this color of Haki whereas others-"
"Orders sir?" George leans down to quietly whisper over his shoulder and Joe grunts.
"Get everyone back to their stations." he huffs, turning on his heel back to the innards of the ship. "And someone silence that damn alarm!"
"If you don't mind a topic shift," Robin blows on her coffee, sending little wisps of steam through the air. "I'd like to revisit a subject you spoke on before. Awakened Fruits."
"Sure." I inspect the wooden leg for any flaws in my carving. It's not...perfect. But I would consider it an upgrade from what Ivan in the kitchens is currently working with. At (10/100) [Cybernetics] isn't quite usable yet, -I don't think I have the proper tools to work with even if it was- but at least with [Carpentry] I can offer the man something. 'And look! The knee on this even bends! How cool is that!' "It's when the powers of the Fruit evolve from simple unexplainable magic into reality breaking impossibility. What did you want to know?"
"Users." She lightly taps her spoon at the edge of her drink before resting it on the saucer. "The ones beyond the Zoan jailers you mentioned before."
A single self-deprecating chuckle sounds in my throat. 'Ah. Just more information gathering is it? Well, habits from a lifetime of subterfuge do die hard I suppose.' "Outside of those four unfortunate souls, I'm afraid I'm only privileged to know about two. Both Paramecias and people your crew's likely to come in contact with if you're determined to sail the New World. The first, the lesser concern one in my opinion, is my senior in the Seven Warlords. Donquixote Doflamingo."
'Oh, I just got that. Donquixote. Don Quixote. Spain. Dressrosa. The original Don was 'low' nobility and Doflamingo's family 'resigned' from the Celestial Dragons. Damn Oda. Just how far ahead do you plan this stuff?'
The historian's eyes widen only slightly. "You say Doflamingo is the lesser concern?"
My hand waffles a bit. "Well, not if we're talking in influence. He's definitely got the connections -no pun intended- to be the bigger threat, but right now I'm strictly speaking in the sense of one vs one combat and his capability as a Fruit user. Unawakened, the String-String Fruit has some noteworthy abilities in its jurisdiction. Puppet your foes, stitch your own wounds together, there's a lot you can do with it despite how silly 'string' as a power may seem at first glance. Once Awakened though, a lot of the limitations get tossed out the window. The man can transmute entire structures into nigh-unbreakable thread for his manipulation. He could build a cage wide enough and strong enough to encircle a Kingdom whole. Trap the entire population inside."
"I see." Robin brings the coffee to her lips, mostly to mask her own uneasiness at the info. 'I can see through it though. I'm starting to pick up on her tells.' "May I ask how one combats such a thing?"
I shrug. "Wear him down mostly. Frightening as some of the stuff he can do is, the really big ticket items are fairly energy intensive. Just don't get caught in his puppeteer attacks -which is obviously easier said than done- and then keep hitting him over and over until he goes down. This is all of course a gross oversimplification mind you. We'd need to have a deeper discussion over Haki first as that'll end up being a large component of the fight. If I had to go against Doflamingo right now I'd say…20%. Maybe 25 or 30. Depending on his mood."
An eyebrow gets raised. "That you'd win?"
'Pfft-HA!' That gets a laugh from me. "Win? No no no no. Those are the odds that I think I'd survive. If I was focused on running I'd probably put the numbers a good bit higher, there's not many who could stop me if I really wanted to get away, but winning? I don't know…3%? Three and a half? And only that high because I'm studied up on his tricks whereas he really shouldn't know most of mine. I publicly acknowledge that I'm the lowest of the Warlords right now. I think I'd want at least another year under my belt before considering tackling that beast."
An odd look enters the woman's eye. "Are you?" she asks pointedly. "Planning on fighting the man that is?"
I smile. "No comment." Glancing down at the wooden side project again I set it aside for its final touches later. "The second Awakened user I know about I'm not sure I'd ever want to come to blows with. On top of being significantly less morally reprehensible than our first example, I don't even know how I'd try to combat him. All of the normal strategies I employ would probably get countered within seconds."
Robin's head tilts. "Is he really that strong?"
"Heh." 'What an understatement.' "Are you familiar with the phrase, 'Anything you can do, I can do better'?"
A lightbulb seems to go off in the archeologist's head. "Is that his power? He's a mimic?"
"No." I shake my head with a laugh. "It just accurately describes the relationship between his powers and your captains. If Monkey D. Luffy, wherever he is right now, were to face Charlotte Katakuri in a fight today, his odds of victory would be zero. Hell, I'd put my own odds at zero. And trust me, I'm an absolute nightmare in a battle of attrition."
'That isn't just my personal conjecture either. Nearly everything about Katakuri's design was made to be "better" than Luffy. Even down to the bounty. One Billion and 57 million. If one is familiar with Luffy's relationship to the number '56' they'll understand how significant that is.'
Robin seems to take a mild offense at my words, wanting to refute any -even partially negative- remarks about her captain but I just push through. "His powers with the Mochi-Mochi Fruit are almost an afterthought though. The stretching, limb inflation, near Logia-like body regeneration, it all comes second to the fact that he's supposedly the greatest Observation user of the current age. And while I don't know if that's true, -'what with fan theories of Shank's crew all being Haki monsters and all'- he's definitely the best in Big Mom's family. No one in Whitebeard's crew was that good either. We're talking actual no joke future sight. He can see the moves you're going to make before the thought's even entered your head to make them."
"How..." My words on my senior Warlord had definitely drawn some concern from the woman, but these new ones have gone a step beyond that. "How do you fight that?'
"Brute force." I answer as honestly as I can. "Conventional strategy won't work. Fancy plans are basically doomed to fail the moment you try 'em." I raise my hands in a 'what can you do' type motion. "The only way is to completely overwhelm him. Which you'd need someone of Emperor level ability to do. One doesn't get a bounty of over One Billion by being a pushover. Personally I'm of the opinion if Big Mom ever does bite the dust, he'd probably be the strongest pick for leading the Charlottes in the aftermath. Kind of similar to what the rumor mill says Marco 'The Phoenix' is doing with Whitebeard's people these days."
"And how," Robin lightly bites at the nail of her thumb, eyes cast to the side as she ponders deeply over the subject. "How does one get to this point? This 'Awakening'? If you know this much on the subject and haven't accomplished it yourself it must be rather difficult, no?"
Several images flash to the forefront of my mind. Each with their own answer.
The Impel Down Jailers. 'Severe Trauma'.
A cackling Doflamingo. 'Fruit Mastery.'
Luffy on the rooftop of Onigashima. 'Dire Need.'
"I don't know." A spot of frustration undercurrents my tone. "If it really was a simple thing then we'd have more examples of it." My posture becomes contemplative as I start to really think. "The data set is just too small to say what the right answer is. I am confident in this one bit though. A Fruit user can't get there by being complacent. Too many Devil Fruit eaters become lax after getting their powers. They learn a few basic tricks, develop one or two of them into a proper ability and then seem to just...stop. It's maddening to watch if I'm honest. "
There's a building commotion over near the starboard side that starts to draw Robin and I out of the conversation. Revolutionaries are lining up two or three at a time to peer over the railing and I rise to my feet to go give a look myself.
"Let me end this talk with a question though," I tilt my head and give the still seated Robin a halfway piercing stare. "You've had the power of the Flower-Flower Fruit for the majority of your life, yes? When was the last time you actually pushed the boundaries of it? I mean truly tested the limits of what it can and cannot do? Of what you can do?"
"I-"She stops short to think on the question. Her brow furrowed as she formulates a response. "I'm not sure." She admits a bit softly.
"Something to think on then," I begin striding over to the gathering crowd and find the seas metaphorically parting as I approach. To revisit the same analogy as when I first touched down onboard, the crew's grown used to the 'tiger in their house' but they're still fairly wary about standing in its way when it's walking somewhere.
'And there it is. The source of all this sudden hubbub.'
A little pale speck on the horizon.
Baltigo.
Land of Mystery.
The island of White Soil.
I'll be frank with you. It really doesn't look like much.
Certainly not the global headquarters of an organization the World Government has been trying and failing to hunt down for the better part of two decades.
The journey wasn't even that hard. A few days sail in Paradise. Nothing arduous or noteworthy to mention. Not even strange weather. Which I guess for the Grand Line is strange, but that almost just reinforces my next point.
By all means, I don't understand what could be giving the Marines so much trouble in finding the place.
Though then again...what was that quote the original Jack Sparrow once said? 'The Isla de Muerta is an island that cannot be found...except of course, by those who already know where it is.'
How stunningly apropos.
Non-Canon OMAKE: Alternate Universe Jack as a member of the Donquixote Family. No Gamer Powers.
"You're talking about atoms."
I clap my hands in victory. "Yes! Ah! I was hoping you would understand! People's educations are so spotty here. I wasn't sure if Atomic Theory had even been discovered. Well, I'm sure Vegapunk probably knows, but I've no doubt there's things he knows that would probably blow all of our-"
"Get to the point." My Captain insists with an impatient growl. A not so subtle reminder that doing this on today of all days was a bad idea. 'Why didn't I just ask Trebol to reschedule? The Captain's never in a worse mood than on the anniversary of-'
A twitch behind his red glasses and my Observation tweaks in danger. "Atoms, yes. But the thing is, the physicists of my world thought that it was possible to go even smaller though. Almost incomprehensibly smaller. Tiny as the atom and its component particles may be, they still exist on a three-dimensional scale. Thus was a new idea born. Something that could make up the very particles themselves. The true fabric of the universe. Unfathomably small lines. Not big enough to exist outside of one-dimension. All vibrating at slightly different frequencies to determine what matter they were." I can see I've got his attention. His head has lifted off his palm and his posture has mildly perked. "Would you like to know what that new idea was called?"
That horrible rictus he calls a smile spreads wide. "Enlighten me."
'This is such a mistake. Your hands are on the Pandora's Box Jack. But we have to do it! There may be no better weapon against that stupid heart-nippled asshole!'
"String Theory."
...
...
...heh...
...heh heh heh…
...HAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
What started as a low chuckle devolves into a full blown cackle. The kind only found in asylums. The howling ravings of an insane mind. Black and red lightning sparks around the room as the Haki rolls off Doflamingo in waves. A hand clutches at his face -a move I recognize as something he does to try and calm himself down- but there's no stopping it. He laughs harder. He roars louder. I've no doubt the entire palace of Dressrosa can hear him.
'What have I done.'