One Piece – Halfway Broken

Summary: Visiting a whale and a king.

Warning! Chapters 68 and 69 were all posted back to back! Make sure you don't miss chapter 68!

Chapter 69: An Old Friend and Warnings Given

Luffy, Brook, Vivi and Nami were the only four people to step through the air door. They did so up on a plateau, overlooking an abandoned town once filled with bounty hunters. The village looked half destroyed, at least a few places having burned out structures and others looking like they'd been used for target practice. Most likely, that's exactly what had happened, when annoyed pirates coming from the Red Line had found a deserted town as their first stop on the Line. Vivi gave it a look of uncertainty, before shrugging.

"I suppose this is the inevitable result of Crocodile calling back all the Millions and Billions. I'd half expected some of them to return and set up the trap here again, but Whiskey Peak was built on a barren island that was unpopulated before that for a reason. The food shortages were a serious issue, as nothing grew natively, and the bounty hunters weren't exactly farmers. Nor did it have, from what little I understand of such things, good soil for that anyway."

Luffy nodded at the blue-haired girl, even as he waved back at the air door.

"Makes sense, I suppose. I always did wonder why there were no true locals. If you can close that one and make a new one down by what's left of the docks? Nojiko can bring our temporary ship through once Nami checks things out."

Vivi shook herself, then turned and twisted her fingers like turning a doorknob, the air door snapping shut. Nodding to Luffy, she silently opened another between their location and the docks. Luffy, Brook and Vivi stepped through immediately, though Nami stopped for a moment before stepping through after them, to scoop up the trio of log-poses they'd pushed through another door the day before. With any luck at all, at least one of them would have locked onto the Red Line.

It was something that most didn't think about, but the standard log pose could actually take you either direction down one of the seven routes through Paradise. Any half-decently made log pose 'stored' the previous island, so that you wouldn't lock onto the place you'd just been, but they could be 'cleared' if you knew what you were doing. Doing so would normally result in roughly a 50/50 chance of it locking onto the next island 'forward' or the previous island 'backward' in the route you were on. That number could be skewed wildly by various factors, however. Such as if there were multiple islands you could lock onto in one direction or the other.

Thankfully, one of those factors should work in their favor, this time. The Red Line was, after all, far larger with a far more potent and stable magnetic field, than any mere island. It explained how multiple attempts to hunt Laboon had been launched from this very island, or would have been if the food situation hadn't gotten a bit better due to Luffy's crew coming through earlier than they were supposed to. Them being willing to trade supplies had likely cut the need until the recall order. As it was, she and her partner had needed to use the trick on the one attempt they had made before his crew arrived, and Vivi had long since shared how to clear a log pose with Nami.

They also, of course, had a decent stock of log poses. Only a genuine idiot would only keep one of them around, given how important and relatively fragile they were. Heck, Luffy had 'acquired' a fair few Eternal Poses 'over time' by 'finding' them in various places. In reality, of course, some of them had been purchased from his System Store. Each of those was to a useful location he felt might be of some merit to visit, and he'd spread out the acquisitions enough for no one to question his 'luck' in finding a few at various markets. Not all of them had been acquired that way, though. Hina had snuck a few 'useful' ones of her own out when she'd left the Marines, King Cobra had provided one for Alabasta, and he legitimately had found a couple for sale more normally. They were uncommon, not truly rare, at least not for major Paradise Islands. Otherwise no one would be able to get anywhere reliably enough to establish proper logistics and trade.

"Nami? Is the channel out to the ocean still actually clear?"

They'd all stepped through the second air door after them by now, and his girlfriend had made immediately for the edge of the water. He'd known what she was doing the moment she shifted to her hybrid form, the changes to her eyes having leaned a bit more bird than horse, gaining the fairly common trait that many birds had to see through water more clearly. One of a number of benefits that had helped Nami settle into 'pleased' with her new Fruit by now, when she'd initially been slightly uncertain. Now, she was clearly checking to see if the damage to the town had included any wreckage that might have blocked the inlet that acted as the path inland to the docks.

"Looks clear to me, Captain. Certainly far enough down for the shallow draft of the Expedition."

Luffy nodded, and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it with a grin as Vivi preempted him. She opened a somewhat larger air door back to Asuka than they'd initially used, and stuck her head through.

"Bring it over please, Nojiko!"

Vivi stepped back and a floating crystal platform came through. The platform had an odd-looking frame that vaguely resembled Luffy's original Catamaran, but it was only a frame. One that folded up at points, too. As the air door closed behind her, Nojiko directed the frame to where her sister waved…and then closed her eyes. The frame unfolded as a type of Crystal began to grow on it under her direction. The rest of them all waited in interested silence as one of many long-term projects that they hadn't really tested much began to form around the slowly unfolding frame of Lunar Steel and Dials.

Nojiko had come a long way in her ability to form various types of crystal. Even before getting access to the exotic types from Wind's Home, she'd used the bullshit that was Spirit Fruits to come up with something that was only a little heavier than diamond and managed to somehow mix the hardness of diamond with the much better tensile strength of something like steel. The resulting dark blue material was what the vast majority of Nojiko's constructs were made of these days. Not all, there were some others that were better for sharpness or sheer durability for example. But it was certainly her default construction material.

Luffy had, of course, been interested in the possibilities of using it in a ship.

Testing had shown that, as good as it was, particularly for its weight, it wasn't quite up to the standards of the composite he'd come up with for the hull of the Discovery herself. Though part of that was the fact that spiritual energy was used in the forging of Lunar Steel, which made it something of a bullshit meta material. Lunar Steel was, however, time consuming to create, and not suitable for what was happening now. Specifically, for the smaller Catamaran that Nojiko was building the hull for around the tough metal frame.

The idea wasn't too strange of one, really. The Discovery did, of course, have a couple of small shore boats that could be used to move between ship and shore, when going somewhere that the rather large catamaran just wouldn't fit. The issue, of course, was that no boat that small could be expected to survive on the Grand Line. There were rare small ships that could pull such a thing off, but most of them were Devil Fruit powered. How, exactly, Mihawk managed that tiny ass coffin of his without dying in literally any storm of the Grand Line was a secret Luffy had no answer to. For the most part, being on the Line in a ship so small was just a creative form of suicide.

Yet, carrying a second vessel that could handle the Grand Line would be prohibitive to space, something that was always at a premium on ships. Worse, for all her size and the incredible stability her twin-hull design gave the Discovery, her design did not come without downsides. Not truly being built for lots of guns was one such, though mostly rendered irrelevant by how deadly her few guns actually were. The biggest, though, was that the catamaran design didn't have nearly as much internal space as a regular monohull. Not foot for foot or beam for beam. She had barely two thirds the internal volume of a monohull her relative size, and less useable deck space to boot.

Hence the project that, with a satisfying drop from the platform Nojiko had built it on, slid into the water. A fast ship, complete with electric turbine engine and dial power for more speed, that was big enough to do the job of moving through the Grand Line. All while still being more sane in size then the Discovery herself. It was a ship that could be used for 'away missions' that might mean travel between two islands. Or, as now, if the need to deploy a ship that could fit through Vivi's current maximum-sized air doors. Doors that were still far too small to consider moving the Discovery through.

It was a ship for Expeditions away from their home on the seas…

... ... ... ... ...

The Expedition

Grade: Rare

Dimensions:

Length: 30ft

Beam: 16.5ft

Draft: 3.5 ft

Abilities: Improved Stability, Improved Speed, Improved Handling, Improved Durability

... ... ... ... ...

Smiling as he peeked at the results of their efforts with his System, Luffy clapped Nojiko on the shoulder.

"Good job! I believe she'll work beautifully. Now, let's go reunite a skeleton and his whale…"

… … …

Luffy, Nami, Vivi and Nojiko had done their best to give Brook and Laboon privacy. They'd done so by the simple expedient of Vivi opening another air door at the Northern Lighthouse and bringing both Chopper and Kaya through. There, bribing Crocus with another hot meal provided by Sanji, they plied the old man with dozens of medical questions. Honestly, the Lighthouse Keeper and former doctor for Gol D. Roger looked positively chuffed to have a pair of students. Doubly so when he found out Chopper was 'that old biddy Kureha's' apprentice. That little detail had seen him pulling out his most exotic knowledge to impart, apparently delighting in proving he knew things the old woman didn't. Some sort of old rivalry, though not a negative one, so far as Luffy could tell from context.

They'd all heard Laboon's mournful cries, of course. He was simply too large and too loud for it to be otherwise. But they'd done their best not to be intrusive, even if Chopper understood what the whale was saying enough to tear up and sympathy cry. Luffy caught the edges of it too, with Voice of the World, but unlike Chopper, he could choose to mostly tune that ability out. Brook didn't join them that evening, understandably, and they patiently waited for him to do so the next morning. When he did, Luffy looked at him seriously over their breakfast and asked the important question on his mind.

"So, Brook…are you staying with Laboon or moving forward with us?"

The rest of the crew present, now including Sanji who'd provided breakfast, stopped what they were doing to focus on the Skeleton-man with curiosity. They all quite liked the charismatic skeleton, but he'd also only been with them for a few weeks at this point, so they were more curious than invested about what his choice would be.

"Ah, so straight to the point, Captain! You need to learn to give things a little build up! But…" Brook stood and bowed with flair, sweeping his hat their way. "…if you'll have me, Captain Luffy, I would like to continue on with you!"

Luffy considered for a moment. He had genuinely half-expected Brook to stay, and while the man was useful and potentially interesting for his Devil Fruit, he wasn't critical. With that in mind, he felt he needed to ask…

"May I ask why? It's not, by any means, a no. You seem to fit in well with my crew. Yet, all of us have our reasons for traveling and I'm unsure of yours."

The Skelton-man didn't seem the least offended, swinging back upright with a smile.

"I don't mind at all, Captain! I admit, I was sorely tempted to stay with Laboon. My, one could even say I was a bit on the fence! With a little help from Chopper last night to converse properly with him, however, my decision became much easier! He told me all about your promise to get strong enough to help him fight through the calm belt, back to the West Blue, you see!"

Brook's smile went from showman's to something more subdued but…genuine.

"Thank you for that, Captain. It restored hope for Laboon that, even now that he knows the fate of the rest of us, has given him a direction. With the rest of the crew gone, he wishes to reconnect with his own kind and has been training himself to get stronger. He'll still need help, the Calm Belt is no joke and his size means he can't escape the notice of the Great Kings that live there. But I believe you can be that help. I wish to get strong enough to assist myself…though that isn't my only reason to continue on. The Rumbar Pirates originally sought to bring joy to many through our love of music, and I wish to honor that memory as well."

Luffy nodded firmly.

"Then Welcome Aboard, Brook. Anyone with a good Dream is welcome on my crew, and it sounds like you have two of them."

There was a cheer from those of the crew around, as well as a bellow from Laboon who had been nearby listening it. With wide smiles, everyone welcomed Brook, even as Luffy started to more seriously consider how to train another swordsman. Hmmm, no…a musician who happened to use a sword. The Great Blade he carried could easily stand up to some serious punishment, and Luffy had been experimenting far more heavily with how to use his own powers over sound. With some Dials, and maybe some help from Nojiko since crystal also had unique properties with sound and vibration, maybe he could help the swordsman combine his specialties?

Yes. That was the right path. Along with exploring how to use the man's Fruit to possibly help as well. Brook would never be a swordsman on the same level as Luffy, Zoro and Kuina, but with the right focus he could be something else entirely. Something equally dangerous, if not more so in some ways…

... ... ...

Luffy had been a little bit surprised when, two days after Brook was officially recruited, Vivi had turned up only half an hour after heading off to put in an appearance at the Alabasta palace. While she rarely stayed long, since she was technically wanted in connection with their crew, she regularly returned to help her father and keep up to date on the Kingdom. That this let carefully managed appearances of her leak to the rest of the Kingdom, without the World Government catching on, was equally important.

Vivi was well-liked by her people, all the more so because of how she'd discovered Crocodile's treachery. With the full story being known at least locally, Alabasta having utterly refused to suppress the details of their argument with the WG, the people loved her. As such, her occasional presence helped settle the unease of the people at the changes coming to their Kingdom.

Normally, this meant that when she took her trips there, she was gone for several hours at minimum. Occasionally, it was even a full day. That was regrettable in some ways, as it did limit her training time, but since she was honestly one of the crew that was truly serious about training, it hadn't been a large determent. She tended to schedule her time back when she was recovering from a particularly hard training session, a little Spirit Healing shoring her up enough physically not to negatively impact her efforts.

All of which explained why he was surprised when she turned up again so fast, and that surprise only doubled when she formally requested Luffy return to Alabasta with her for a meeting with her father. That was something that had been steadfastly avoided. A few of the others that the WG and Marines didn't have great descriptions or photos of had returned with her several times, taking advantage of being able to visit a large city like Alubarna to stock up on supplies for the ship. Luffy himself was too likely to be spotted doing that sort of thing, and there hadn't been any reason to tempt the Marines or World Government into spending the effort to send someone like Kizaru to try hunting him. Alabasta was walking a fine line with how much they could get away with, without forcing the Marines and WG to respond.

Still, the request had obviously been serious, so Luffy had gone alone with it. Finding that a small, private study had been set aside had eased his concerns with secrecy, at least. Lunch had been offered and accepted, with King Cobra and Pell being the only two present besides himself and Vivi. The King had spoken of various light things over their lunch, but a heavy air had settled in the room after his 'maid,' whose presence had made Luffy's lips twitch, had taken the last food tray away.

Moving behind his desk, the King gestured Luffy and Vivi into the seats in front of it, even as Pell took a place against the wall behind him. Once they'd been seated, King Cobra leaned forward and met Luffy's gaze seriously.

"I imagine you're wondering why I called you back here, Captain Luffy. The answer is that I've come into possession of some information I think you need to have. Given Alabasta's current difference of opinion with the World Government and Marines, I've long since activated certain assets we had among the other nobility and the Marines. While none of them are particularly highly placed, word has come back from enough of them to highlight mass Marines movements, allowing us to piece together more or less what's happening. At least in combination with a certain piece of very public news."

The King opened a drawer of his desk and pulled out a newspaper. Pushing it over toward Luffy and Vivi, he waited until they'd read the headline, Luffy immediately grim even as Vivi gasped in shock. She picked it up to read the entire article, but Luffy had a good idea what was going on already, even if the framework was slightly different. Ace hadn't been captured, thankfully. But the announcement made it clear his thoughts that they hadn't been specifically after Ace were true.

"Openly declaring an execution date and location for one of Whitebeard's division commanders? They've decided on an open declaration of war against him, then. Something he absolutely can't ignore. They obviously believe they have the ability to take him on, though I wonder if they really do. They are currently down at least three Warlords and a fourth will never fight Whitebeard."

King Cobra nodded acknowledgement of the statement, dark eyes glinting like chips of flint.

"Precisely. In truth, I think they've been planning this for too long, and Alabasta's actions have put them on the clock. They can't back out, as they are hurting from a major trade lane now being closed to them. If they don't take him on now, they'll be a year or two, minimum, reestablishing their logistics before they could try it again. Though if they do win, it might be bad for my Kingdom, as they might well turn their attention to us more firmly with one of their major threats gone."

Luffy pursed his lips, then slowly shook his head.

"No. Even if they win, they aren't getting out of this without a lot of losses. With all you've been doing to strengthen Alabasta, they'd never have the strength to bring you to heel after those losses. Not unless they have an ace in the hole no one knows about. Even if they do…this is Whitebeard. They aren't getting him without it hurting, nor are the other Yonko going to be quiet during the showdown. Worse for them, they can't have been expecting for the Warlords to be so hammered down when this happened. If any of them but Kuma and Mihawk show up, I'd been shocked. Handcock has a serious personal hatred for the World Government and isn't a team player at all. Jinbei, of course, won't fight Whitebeard."

Cobra nodded, untensing a little at Luffy's assessment.

"That's more or less what our own estimates are. But, in that case, I have to wonder if they do have an 'ace in the hole,' as you called it. Otherwise, this is looking more and more dubious. If things go wrong for them, it might well shatter their hold on the Grand Line entirely, even here in Paradise where they are at least more or less dominant."

Luffy leaned back, trying to filter everything through what he still knew about the 'original' timeline, even if that information was increasingly useless. Still, he'd also managed to prod Garp about most of the people involved at various points. Enough to flesh out what was going on. Maybe. He could, at least, guess.

"…I think they are working to a long-term plan that was created before things turned to shit on them, and were already too far past the point of no return to pull back."

King Cobra frowned, waving for him to continue, but Luffy took a moment to order his thoughts first. Eventually, he contiuned.

"I think it's age. If I remember right, Sengoku is actually older than Whitebeard by a good five years. Whitebeard's health has been failing for years, age and that final wound from Roger slowly killing him. If Sengoku has been fading the same way…they don't have a strong hand to play…"

Stopped to consider for another moment, he finally nodded.

"Most of the Marine's top people are from Roger's Era, like my Grandfather. They are facing the need to replace them with new blood almost wholesale…and I think they were trying to create a solid victory to smooth the transition. Take out the Strongest Man in the World, and use the gap and the glory created to start replacing their top people while they have the whip hand. Only, events have turned on them. Since Alabasta's loss means the Grand Line will be vulnerable to logistics issues for years, they have to do it now, or they lose the chance to create the space to breathe that they decided they needed."

The King had frozen as he worked through what Luffy was saying, and Pell stirred. The King turned to his Royal Guard and cocked an eyebrow. Pell, reluctantly, spoke.

"It…fits. He's right about the Fleet Admiral's age, for that matter Garp is barely younger, though far more active. The entire upper level of the Marines is just flat aging out, save a few of the Giants, and I don't think there are any Giants above Vice-Admiral in rank. The three Logia Admirals have got to be the next generation they intend to step up, and this would have, should have, been their chance to prove themselves. If they weren't facing logistics issues, losing the Warlords might have made them delay their plan, but with that added in…"

Cobra grimaced, rubbing his forehead.

"They can't pull back. It's do or die, since they won't be able to wait to re-establish logistics lines. We may barely have dodged a bullet by drawing out our arguments with the World Government. If they'd known about the Warlords, they might have switched targets to us and used us as an example instead. It would have caused political chaos for them, but it would have let them attempt the plan again in six month or a year if they'd captured Alabasta."

The room fell silent as that realization fell among them. Alabasta was a tough nut, one that would be costly for the Marines to crack. But not enough so to have prevented them from doing so if they'd pushed hard from the start and committed the right people. Except that they'd been gathering their strength for something else. It might well have come down to the wire, or perhaps pride and prestige, that they kept on with the bigger target instead of shifting to solve the kink in the works no one had expected. Finally, it was Vivi that broke the silence.

"So…what do we do? One way or the other, chaos is going to be the result of this. Our efforts to shore up the Kingdom will likely see Alabasta through it, but there could be a lot of disruption from this, too. If that disruption is good or bad, I have no idea. Do we stick our fingers in at all? And if so, in which direction?"

Luffy huffed a laugh.

"Alabasta has been expanding its fleet, right? Prepare to extend protection to your trade partners. The Marines soon might not be able to, and you could easily become the new dominant power in Paradise if you can pull it off. You do have the numbers needed, and those numbers are all here, not spread out in the Blues. I already know I'm planning to stick my thumb somewhere the Marines won't enjoy in the chaos, and I can't help but think the Revolutionaries are going to do the same. If, as I think, the Marines and World Government have bitten off more than they can actually chew, this could be a good thing in the long run."

The King looked like he both really wanted to ask and really didn't want to know at the same time. Which was fine. Luffy would keep his plan to himself until the last minute if he could. Somehow, he didn't think his crew was going to have a problem with it. Not after Tequlia Wolf…

... ... ... ... ...

AN 1: So, Brook...I was honestly uncertain what to do with him until I actually read everything available on the Rumbar Pirates. That helped, quite a bit, in figuring out some motivation for him to stick with the Strawhats when he could have just gone back to chill with Laboon. I WANTED to keep him, as he helps keep the gender disparity from getting to bad on the crew. I just needed to figure out the right way to tweak his motivations. I think what I came up with makes sense? As does Luffy's thoughts on maybe helping push the 'music/sound' side of Brook's development instead of adding yet another swordsman main to the crew.

AN 2: The Expedition is something I had in mind for a while. It probably won't ever see a lot of use? That's hard to say, as part of the reason I wanted it to exist is to make using Vivi's air doors to move around the world easier. Getting a ship the size of the Discovery through them is something that only seems plausible once she's had the training years to develop. It would be a bit extreme right now, as she really hasn't had the Fruit that long.

AN 3: Some insights and clues of what is to come. I've now provided enough of a hint that the clever among you might piece together just what Luffy is intending to do...

AN 4: Once per release, I remind people that...I have a Page! Nothing I write, fanfiction wise, is ever permanently paywalled. That said, I do have Early Access chapters. There is currently roughly another 15,000 words of One Piece - Halfway Broken in Early Access (Chapters 70-74). Also, of course, you also get access to my other Early Access chapters for my other stories. There is typically around 45-65k words of various works in early access at any one time. I always appreciate any support, since it helps me free up more writing time...but most of all I hope you just enjoy the stories!