Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 148 THE OVER 100 MILLION CROWD

“All right, I’ll make you my wife,” the man in the fishbowl helmet said as he looked down at a nurse. A doctor and the nurse had made the mistake of running with a patient across the path of the Celestial Dragon. The Celestial Dragon had become annoyed and shot the man that they were trying to save the life of. 

The Celestial Dragon was a short man with black hair. Long sideburns, hair tied in a bun, and mullet at the back of his head. He had a lot going on on his head. Not a lot going on in his head. He had a dumb look on his face. Snot dripping down his nose he had chains in his hands attached to other slaves behind him. There were 2 sad looking beautiful women behind him. Both in belly dancer attire. And another that was obviously a young teen girl in the same clothes. It was disgusting. Bruises on their bodies it wasn’t from fighting, but rough treatment.  

Behind the Dragon was a normal man that appeared to be a handler or maybe a manager. He wore a business suit. He walked up to stare at the nurse the Celestial Dragon was pointing at. “Very well, I will make preparations to take her to the Holy Land as your 13th wife.”
 

“Oh right,” the Dragon said, “I’m tired of wives 1 through 5, so make them commoners again.” 

“Of course,” the man said. I guessed he was actually a butler. 

“Sir, I can’t marry you,” the nurse said. “I’m already engaged.” 

“Please sir, she is my fiance,” a blonde man said walking up.

The Celestial Dragon raised his gun again pointing at the blonde man, “How dare you stand in front of me!” He fired at the fiancee without hesitation. Striking him in the gut. I cursed. 

“He does whatever he wants,” a big man with black hair said off to the side. He looked familiar. Studying the crowd that had parted for the Celestial Dragon I noticed a few faces I thought I recognized. There was the weird Apoo captain with the keyboard for teeth. The Al Capone guy. The pink haired Jewelry Bonney. Lots of big names who I hadn’t bothered to look much into. But we were getting to the New World, big names were appearing. I was pretty sure I remembered something about all the big names being worth over 100 million berries. There were a lot gathered in the random spot. 

I remembered this scene as someone hissed, “Oy Pirate Hunter!”

I looked over to see Zoro walking in the path of the Celestial Dragon. I ran my hand over my face as I pulled my Chikyugi Necklace out of my status screen. The Dragon raised his gun at Zoro as the swordsman drew his sword. Before he could slice the Celestial Dragon Jewelry Bonney grabbed him. Pulling him away from the Dragon she pretended to wail over his supposedly dead body, convincing the Celestial Dragon that he shot and killed Zoro with the gunshot. 

The crowd around us breathed a sigh of relief, having averted disaster. I walked to the front of the Celestial Dragon. Blocking his path now. “Oy Zoro!” I yelled. He looked over, wiping ketchup from his head that Jewelry Bonney had dropped on him. “I said don’t mess with these guys if I’m not here.” 

“He messed with me!” Zoro yelled. Rolling my eyes I walked to the dragon. Guards behind him I raised my necklace. As all looked at it I sent them into a nice Genjutsu. The Celestial Dragon, his guards, and butler fell asleep. 

“Well come on. These people need to get to the hospital,” I said. There was the blonde guy that had been shot. I pulled the crying nurse from the passed out butler’s hands. “Ole snot nosed won’t remember you when you wake up. Never cross his path again. My friend here will take your fiancee to the hospital.” 

Zoro walked up, grabbing the blonde guy that got shot. “You left with the others, how did you get separated?” I asked. 

“They got lost,” Zorro said. “This Dragon dude out?” He asked, looking down at him. 

“Yeah, I’ll cast him in an illusion before I leave,” I said. 

“Cool, alright girlie, where’s the hospital?” Zoro asked. The nurse and doctor that had been carrying the other injured man talked Zoro into carrying him as well. Zoro grumbled but soon did so.

“Okay, what to do with you 3?” I asked looking to the slave girls that had been dragged behind the Celestial Dragon. The 3 girls cried openly behind their veils. Not happy tears, but scared ones. “I am a ninja,” I said. “I can convince this jackass.” I said kicking the Dragon in the side. He didn’t react as he slid a few feet away, still asleep. “He will think that he got bored of all 3 of you, and shot you. So do you want to escape?” 

They didn’t answer, still crying. “Clocks ticking girls. Do you want to disappear, and never see this guy again?” 

“We-we are slaves,” one of the older ones said. She was barely 19. She turned to show the Celestial Dragon foot branded on her back. 

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “I can take you to a place where they won’t care about that.” 

“I-I want to go,” the other older one said. Soon they both did. The young girl was too scared to say anything but they grabbed her hands. I walked over and ripped off the silver collars around their necks. 

“Okay, you aren’t going to recognize one another,” I said. “Just act natural.” I poured chakra over them with a hand seal and they turned into 3 random girls from the crowd. I grabbed their hands and dragged them over to the side where bystanders watched in stunned silence. “Wait here.” 

Going back to the asshats I released the Celestial Dragon first. Casting an illusion I made him think he killed his 3 slave girls and dumped their bodies off the island. Then he killed a few people. Then his butler kicked him in the stomach.

I stepped back releasing the rest of the guards with the Dragon. The Celestial Dragon got up first. Reloading his weapon he didn’t hesitate to shoot his butler in the head. “Why did you hit me!” He yelled at the now corpse. “Oh he’s dead. You! You're my butler now!” He yelled at one of the guards. “I want to go to the slave auction. My last girls were ugly and cried too much. And I couldn’t keep it up unless they were laughing at my small penis. Wait, why did I say that?! Hurry up, let’s go!” 

The posse of the Celestial Dragon were soon on their way. None of them questioned the slaves disappearing. They were yes men, they weren’t about to question anything he did.

“Let’s go girls,” I said, turning around to the disguised slaves. 

“Oy Pirate Ninja,” a deep voice yelled. I turned to see the Capone guy addressing me. There were a few other captain’s and their crews eyeing me. I pretended to be bored by their stares. Really I was glad to show off a little. Pretending like hitting one of the Celestial Dragons was no big deal. 

“What’s up?” 

“Come here? Got a question for yah,” he growled. I knew we would need him for Big Mom so I waved the girls over and headed to him. 

“What’s up?” 

“Are you fucking retarded?” He growled through a cigar. 

“Jury’s still out, why?” I asked boredly as the other captains eyed me. 

“You really don’t give a shit attacking a Tenryuubito out in the open?” He asked. I forgot that was the correct name for the Celestial Dragons. 

“Nope, he won’t remember it,” I said. “And I doubt these people like them either. Even if one of you reported it, the Tenryuubito wouldn’t believe you. To him he was kicked by his butler. He killed his slaves and went on.” 

Instead of pretending to have his angry facade Capone barked a laugh. “You ever thinking of jumping ships?” He asked. 

“No thanks, my captain’s gonna be the pirate king,” I said. “But we will be seeing you, Capone. Look forward to working with you.” 

“Ha,” he laughed. “Work with people as crazy as you? No thank you!” 

“Yeah, if you Straw Hats are going to be crazy, at least wait till we are off the island,” Apoo said. “Otherwise you’ll bring the marines down on us.” 

“If you’re scared of the marines, you’re in the wrong business,” I shot back and walked away. “Escape while you can. This island will be covered in them soon enough. And not from my little stunt!” I beckoned the girls to follow as we headed to Grove 13. 

The slave girls were quiet as we walked away from the crowd. It didn’t take long to get to the correct grove. Finding the striped tree with GR 13 written on it, a small shack was sitting on one of the large roots. The stone bar had a wood stairway leading up to it. Out front was a sign that read ‘Shakky’s Rip-Off Bar’. 

“That’s a good sign,” I said, meaning it. That was just what I wanted to read. 

We walked into the bar cautiously. Inside there were cushioned bench seats along the exterior wall and a large polished wood bartop at the center. A tall woman polished a class. She had chin-length black hair, a white blouse, and a pink shirt with a spider printed on it. She turned, eyeing me up and down. 

“You’re about a week too late,” the woman said. 

I stopped, confused. “For what?” 

“Hancock,” Shakky said. “She was here a week ago, looking for you.” 

“Oh good, this is the right place then,” I said. “Girls, sit down wherever. Here’s some money. Order what you want.” I threw them a few thousand berries. “You know me then?” I asked, moving to sit at the bar top. 

“Of course,” Shakky said. She stopped to light a cigarette. “News put you at Water Seven over a week ago. Hancock thought she would see you here. But apparently you were held up.”

“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “Got stuck in the Florian Triangle. Too bad. How is she?” 

“Love sick,” Shakky said. She dragged on her cigarette. “You don’t seem very surprised.” 

“Of course not. You were a Kuja Pirate once upon a time, right?” I asked. I had read a lot of conspiracy theories on One Piece. That was one that I agreed with. Silvers Rayleigh always had a special place for the Kuja pirates for some reason, it made sense to me. 

She smirked at me. “Not many people know that,” she said with a sigh. “What do you girls want?” The shy slaves stood there awkwardly, clutching the money I gave them. 

“Give them something strong,” I said. “To relax them. They’ve been through an ordeal.” 

“Oh yeah? What type?” 

“The type Hancock went through as a kid,” I said bluntly. 

Shakky looked at me surprised for a moment, then eyed the girls again. Slowly nodding she bent under her bar and began pouring them strong drinks, but she was nice enough to make it fruity. I eyed her as she worked. A tall and beautiful woman, she was the lover of the old Pirate King’s first-mate. Silvers Rayleigh. Also one of the ex-Kuja captains Chiyo had said followed their dreams for love. 

“What are you going to do with them?” Shakky asked. 

“Depends on what they want,” I said. I looked to the 3 slaves as they sipped the drinks. “Where do you want to go? Home?” All 3 had their eyes bulge as they stared at me. “Guess that’s not an option?” They shook their heads slowly. “Fine, uh would Hancock take them?” 

“Maybe,” Shakky said. “She has a soft spot for your type.” 

“They’re under an illusion for now, how long until Hancock’s back?” I asked. 

“If she knew you were here she would turn around right away,” Shakky admitted. “But, she’s on her way to Amazon Lily. It will be a few weeks yet.” 

“Good,” I said. “I need her in Amazon Lily for now,” I said. 

Shakky eyed me. “Hancock mentioned something along those lines.” 

“I’m glad she listened,” I admitted. I wanted to see her, but she needed to be there for Luffy and my arrival. “So….I need another favor.” 

“Besides these random girls?” Shakky asked. 

“Yes, I’ll pay you to take care of them. How much?” 

“Eh your money’s no good here,” she said with a smile, leaning forward to show off her cleavage. 

“Thought this was a rip-off bar,” I said, surprised. 

“What can I say? I’m a fan of the Straw Hats,” she commented.

“Me too. Another favor then, I need someone to coat my ship,” I admitted. 

“For Fishman Island?” She asked, knowing the answer. 

“Of course, where else?” 

“Nothing, what Hancock implied was you wouldn’t be going just yet, said you promised her,” Shakky said, eyeing me skeptically. 

“Yes, I plan to keep that promise,” I admitted. “But we still need to line up someone to coat our ship. Besides, the person I hope you’ll recommend would probably like to meet my captain.” 

“Oh yeah?” She asked, a smile back on her lips. “You really do have your own information network, huh? It was quite funny to hear Hancock say Straw Hat’s brother would get arrested a week ago. Then today I see this in the paper.” She handed over a paper. In big bold letters it read: ‘WHITEBEARD PIRATE PORTGAS D. ASH TURNED IN FOR HER BOUNTY OF 550,000,000 BERRIES. NEW SHICHIBUKAI BLACKBEARD CLAIMS BOUNTY’. 

The picture was a female version of Ace. Black hair down to her neck, she wore a red top that covered her breasts, the rest was skin above the belt. She wore black pants and an orange hat much like Ace had. 

“Fuck, looks like I got the gender wrong,” I said. 

“So that is Luffy’s sister?” Shakky asked. 

“Not biological,” I said. 

Shakky frowned. “Dang, they kind of look alike.” 

“That they do.” I read through the newspaper. I had 12 days before her execution was planned. “Fuck, 12 days. Gonna be tight.” 

“Still planning on saving her?” Shakky asked. 

“Of course,” I said, passing the paper back. “But I need your ship coater to meet my captain before crap goes down on this island. Any idea where he is?” 

“No idea,” she said. 

I let out a sigh. Stuff had changed, I had hoped not too much. Looks like not enough. “Okay, when is the slave auction?” The girls beside me stiffened. “Calm it down, not for you. You’re free. When does the black market do a slave auction?” 

“4PM,” she said. “Today.” Looking to a clock behind her she said, “2 hours from now.” She pulled out a map of archipelago island, showing we were near the middle of the Archipelago, then how to get to the slave auction. 

“Alrighty,” I said standing up. “Mind getting these girls settled a little? I’m going to grab my crew. You know, if you wouldn’t mind housing us for a bit.” 

“Fine with me,” she said, exhaling the last drag of her cigarette. “Come on girls.”

“Ladies,” I said looking at the girls. “You are under an illusion right now. But it wouldn’t last longer than 1 day. Your old master thinks you are dead. No one is looking for you. But you still have the marks on your back. I recommend getting them covered permanently. I’m going to break the illusion, so put on some clothes that will hide it.” 

The girls slowly nodded. Releasing the chakra the illusion dropped and the girls in the belly dancer clothes appeared once more. They had their faces covered in veils, tears still dripping from their eyes. 

“You’ll be fine,” I said with a nod and was out the door.