Chapter 85: Conomi Islands and Shimotsuki Village
Chapter 85: Conomi Islands and Shimotsuki Village
Luffy hummed happily as he, Robin, and Vivi relaxed in the concealed hut near the center of the largest landmass in the Conomi Island collection. Calling it a ‘hut’ wasn’t actually all that accurate, in truth. A small group of his crew had headed out for the Conomi Islands while Vivi was still busy meditating/studying the room set aside at Kaya’s mansion. That group had consisted of Nojiko, Hina, Sanji and, oddly enough, Perona. Sanji was in heaven of course, though Perona looked weirdly both enthused and a bit off-kilter? There was something going on between her and Hina, Luffy thought, having picked up some odd flashes of emotion from both of them.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t fully formed enough for him to sort it out. He could probably figure it out with a deeper look at their status sheets for a clue, given that there was some arousal mixed into the other emotions. He’d willfully decided not to do so with any of his crew that he wasn’t pursuing a relationship with, though. It would have been both an invasion of privacy and a bit TMI in several cases. He had vague ideas the sort of thing that had gone on between Nojiko and Sanji, and more recently possibly Sanji and Hina. Frankly, he really didn’t want to know if those indicated certain kinks on Sanji’s part. Just as he didn’t want to know if Kaya’s ‘modifications’ for Usopp carried under or overtones that would have gotten one or both of them labeled a furry in his original world.
He wasn’t judging. He just didn’t want to know about other men’s possible kinks, thanks.
Backtracking to the main point about the hut, that group’s early arrival had been arranged for good reasons. Specifically, that Nojiko and Nami had actually kept in touch with their home from time to time via the Den Den Mushi. Which meant they were aware that the money Nami had left behind for Cocoyasi village had allowed said village to finally grow. It was now a burgeoning trade port, of sorts, doing a fairly brisk business as a link in a profitable trade loop that ran all the way from the Polestar Islands to Goa, down to Shumotuski, then back to Polestar and Loguetown via to Oykot Kingdom to complete the circuit. Their removal of most of the major pirates in the East Blue had been good for business, and the investment of the nearly a hundred million belli that Nami had left behind had seen Cocoyasi thrive.
Which presented a little bit of a problem.
None of the original locals of the Conomi Islands would rat out the Straw Hat crew. They knew perfectly well who they owed their lives, freedom, and success too. Yet opportunities meant an influx of new people. Both permanent residents and transient merchants alike. Any one of whom might recognize them from their bounty posters and alert the Marines. Not that the Marines within the East Blue had a real chance of doing anything about their crew, but it could have caused issues down the line. Which is why the smaller group had taken The Expedition, their crystal-created away vessel, and snuck onto the Conomi Islands more quietly.
There, Nojiko had easily been able to convince the original locals to set up this ‘hut’ for their purposes. Built with some elbow grease by the locals combined with Nojiko’s Devil Fruit, it was a run-down hut looking like a near-ruin from the outside. But inside, under a trap door, Nojiko had taken cues from the architecture of The Crystal City on Wind’s Home. She’d created a Crystal Reflecting Pool, using all different types and shades of crystal for color and sneaking in a carefully controlled amount of sunlight with cleverly hidden crystal windows built into the hillside.
It was gorgeous, showing just how incredibly far Nojiko had come with her use of the Crystal-Crystal Fruit. He knew she’d been making some trips back to the Crystal City to learn from artisans there during various shore leaves, but this was far beyond what Luffy had realized she was capable of. At least on an artistic level. He was fully aware just how far she’d come using the Fruit in combat.
Most importantly, of course, the display was also memorable. Even for someone who’d seen the Crystal City itself, the subterranean nature of the reflecting pool set it aside as something unique. Doubly so as it had been designed to ‘reflect’ a view of the night sky that had been embedded into the roof of the room. Subtle trickery in how the lighting windows had been placed meant that the entire room looked like it was constantly on the edge of dawn or twilight, depending on the time of day. Even at night, if you lit the braziers in the room, it would look somewhat similar. All of which, of course, made it absolutely perfect as something for Vivi to memorize as a location for her Air Doors.
Admittedly, none of that quite explained why Nojiko had also placed a crystal statue that looked suspiciously like an older and half-naked Vivi at the center of the pool. But that, too, would certainly make the place memorable to Vivi herself, who had turned an amazing shade of red when she’d first seen it. Who was, in fact, still periodically turning amazing shades of red whenever her attention was drawn back to it as Robin and Luffy sat with her. That attention was inevitable, since it was their job to interrupt the normal flow of conversation from time to time and ask her to describe something about the room without looking. If she succeeded, good enough. If she couldn’t, then she’d spend fifteen more minutes studying every detail of whatever it had been.
It was entirely possible that he and Robin were both taking too much pleasure asking incredibly fine little details about that statue so that she’d have to study it again…
… … …
“…so do I swear on my honor as a Samurai!”
Staring at the bright-eyed Yamato sitting seiza in front of him, Luffy was very confused how he got into this situation. He hadn’t at all imagined this as the result of lightly encouraging Kuina to at least talk to her father when they stopped at her and Zoro’s home island. He fully understood why she’d left angry with the man, yet she was one of only five individuals on the entire crew who even had a parent left. Of those, Luffy had barely met his, Sanji refused to speak about his, and Yamato was actively sworn to kill hers. Pointing out that, other than Vivi who was on actively good terms with her father, Kuina was the only one who actually has some chance at reconciliation with her own had been a bit…perspective changing…for his First Mate.
He was glad, really, that positive things had come from that meeting.
Koushirou may be a bit of a misogynist, but he did love his daughter. Moreover, despite his glasses, he wasn’t blind, and had followed his daughter’s exploits. Given just how far she’d risen, it had only taken a single match (in which she’d managed to trounce him) for her father to admit that he might have been wrong. He wouldn’t bend so far as to say he had been wrong, but he did go so far as to admit he was hoping she could prove him wrong.
It was enough for Kuina. At least for a partial reconciliation.
What Luffy hadn’t anticipated was that Yamato hadn’t actually heard Kuina’s family name until after they were in the East Blue. Doubly, he hadn’t expected her to recognize it. Specifically as a renowned and formerly powerful family from the Wano Kingdom. One which, as far as she was concerned, still held authority. At least, enough authority to serve as a witness as she arranged to swear ‘fealty’ to Luffy as her personal liege lord in what was clearly a carefully prepared and formal manner. With wording that he was fairly sure meant a bit more than just fealty, too, even if he couldn’t quite place it as he tried to parse the meaning behind some of the flowery bits. Particularly with the speculative way Robin, in particular, was now eyeing Yamato.
Frankly, he was out of his depth. Particularly as his only real reference point for Samurai was his old world and he was pretty sure they hadn’t done things quite like this. Still, it very clearly and obviously meant a lot to Yamato, so…fake it until he understood it? Shimotsuki Koushirou had looked surprised at the wording himself, lowly muttering something about ‘oh, she’s one of those.’ So maybe he could enlighten Luffy later? Though, maybe ask Robin first, given his own nagging suspicions…
“Ah. I accept your sworn…fist, Yamato D. Ronin. With all that it entails?”
That seemed to do the trick, with Yamato perking up with a huge smile. Though the way Robin just developed an outright mischievous smirk at his response meant he was absolutely going to have to talk to her about this. He was sure she’d have said something if it was going to be an actual problem, despite her enjoyment of chaos. But that smirk certainly had to mean something…
… … …
“There it is, Captain~! I can see how my charts missed it the first time, there’s no traffic here and the shoals and rough currents around the island mean every sea chart marks this as hazardous water! Without the Discovery’s ability to fly, I had previously only marked the shoals and oddly rough seas even on my own charts!”
Luffy nodded, even as he used a burst of Conqueror’s Haki to drive off several monstrous bird-creatures that seemed to take exception to the Discovery’s presence. Ace, back during their discussions on Jaya, had explained where he’d gotten the Mera Mera no Mi from. Including detailing the rough position of an island in the East Blue that neither Luffy nor Nami had ever heard of. Sixis, the only name Ace knew for it, was a deserted island with next to no wildlife beyond the birds Luffy had just driven off. Said birds, despite their monstrous appearance, apparently fished for most of their food, as Ace had found nothing but the Devil Fruit edible on the island.
Admittedly, his brother wasn’t exactly the best survivalist, so Luffy wouldn’t be surprised if there was more to the island than that. Yet it would still serve well enough for their needs, either way. An island no one visited, in a Sea that wasn’t likely to have Marines on the lookout for them. Lush, despite the claims of no food or fresh water. That lushness, of course, is what made Luffy suspect Ace had been wrong about at least the water bit, and possibly the food.
Not that it mattered.
No, what mattered was that it was somewhere highly unlikely for anyone to realize the Straw Hat Pirates had set up a base of operations and private training grounds. In truth, their primary use for it was most likely going to be for larger spaces to spar and develop their abilities in while traveling. The Discovery’s unique ability to mostly repair herself meant it wasn’t the sort of ship to need dry-dock time often. But even with Dis actively helping, there might be times they needed to work on the Dial Systems, clean sea life off the hull, or do other things better off done with the ship out of the water. So they would take the time to set up a proper hidden dry dock facility here, something that Dis’s ability to fly and Nojiko’s ability to make incredibly tough crystal in particular would make relatively easy. Someday, with enough training, Vivi would hopefully even be able to move the Discovery long distance with an air door to and from the island.
For now, training grounds to use via those same air doors, a dry dock, and a place to simply lay low for a bit while they planned their next steps was all they were really looking for. For all of those things and more, Sixis would do nicely…
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A/N 1: Poor Vivi is a little too fun to lightly bully :-p.
A/N 2: Poor Luffy hasn't quite picked up on what Yamato is angling for...
A/N 3: 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, in fact, currently roughly another 15,000 words of One Piece - Halfway Broken in Early Access (Chapters 86-90). Also, of course, you also get access to my other Early Access chapters for my other stories. There is typically around 75k+ 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!