Chapter 92: Drakestone
Warning! Chapters 91-93 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you pick up the story at the right spot!
Chapter 92: Drakestone
Little East Blue had been a pleasant distraction, one that at least a few members of the crew had gained something from. It also, thankfully, wasn’t an ‘orphan island.’ Seldom visited as it was, it was still a side-connection to one of the main seven routes through Paradise. An island similar to Asuka or Skypiea in that it wasn’t always locked onto, an ‘extra’ on a route that you had to hit at just the right time for your log pose to divert you to. The locals were thankful for that, as it kept the trouble down, while still seeing some level of trade flow through from time to time. The Straw Hats were just as thankful, as it meant that their log poses had reset after a week there, putting them on target for another island of Paradise. Even better, the locals of Kansorn Island had actually been aware of what the next island in the chain was and were able to tell them a bit about it.
As luck or fate would have it, the island in question was one Robin knew about and had one of her small emergency caches on.
Drakemine was a Winter Island which, like Alabasta, intersected two different routes through Paradise. That detail had been half of the reason that Robin had made the effort to set up a cache there. The other half, entirely predictably to anyone who had ever met her for more than five minutes, was because the island had one of the few publicly accessible libraries anywhere in Paradise. For a modest fee, anyone could peruse the library there, even if it was far smaller than the library that had been contained in Ohara’s Tree of Knowledge. The Frozen Library also wasn’t nearly as…organized…as the Tree of Knowledge had been. Which had been part of the draw for Robin.
Robin had spent quite a bit of time trying to find snippets regarding the Void Century in the disorganized works of the Frozen Library specifically because it was disorganized. A specific section of the library, carved into a mountainside, had been burned out at some point in the past. That section had, perhaps unsurprisingly, contained the bulk of such knowledge as far as Robin had been able to determine. Yet, despite the blatant sabotage by what had almost certainly been the World Government, the chaotic nature of the library had protected some works that mentioned the time period. It was, in fact, where she had first learned that Alabasta had a poneglyph, as well as a few other bits and pieces of her limited knowledge surrounding the lost century.
Of course, the library wasn’t the primary draw for most of those who visited the island.
No, that would be the markets and the mine that the island was named after. The markets were the result of the island lying at the intersection of two Paradise Routes. Smaller in scale by far than Alabasta, it was nevertheless a place where ships could buy and trade most needs. More importantly, it sold the results of the mining that took place on the island. Drakestone mine didn’t mine anything so plebian as metal or stone, but instead a type of bone.
Supposedly the bones of an ancient dragon, the bone mined and sold on the island is far harder than steel and incredibly temperature resistant. The World Government took the bulk of the mined material as the locals’ Heavenly Tithe, using it for unknown purposes. Though Luffy personally had a small suspicion that the material might be used in Pacifista creation and similar projects, the bone possibly being used by Vegapunk to create the far-stronger-than-steel metal supposedly used in those cyborgs. It was no more than a guess, at best, but he certainly wanted to get his hands on a sample to see what he can do with it.
Hopefully, it would be another stop with minimal complications. Though Luffy wasn’t particularly expecting things to work out that way. Their luck had been entirely too good since Shiki, after all…
… … …
“Well. There’s the other shoe that’s finally dropped. The question is what we want to do about it.”
Nami’s dry comment as they all watched the screen, one showing the feed from the Projector Den Den Mushi they’d hooked up to the periscope, got nods from several members of the crew. Dis, bouncing eagerly, was the first to respond.
“Let me at ‘em, Captain! I can blow them all away with my guns! I’ve barely gotten to use my guns! It would be a great test!”
Lips quirking in amusement, Luffy nevertheless shook his head in the negative, before patting a disappointed Dis on the head. Dis was someone they were all still adjusting too, but she was settling in as something of a little sister figure to most of the crew. Aside from Luffy and Nami in their roles as Captain and Navigator, Sanji actually dealt with her the most, guiding her use of her Mori Mori no Mi to grow edible fruits and vegetables for the crew. Thankfully, even the usually perverted cook seemed to instinctively treat Dis more like a sibling, something Luffy suspected had to do with the fact Dis had formed from little slivers of every crewmembers’ spiritual energy soaking into the ship. In a way, she was a little sister of sorts to all of them, and that fact seemed to echo in their interactions with her.
Which was good, as he’d have hated to need to brutally murder Sanji for perving on Dis. The good quality food aboard ship would have dropped unacceptably with Sanji’s death. Luffy had gotten used to high-quality food and wasn’t at all sure where they’d have found a suitable replacement.
“Not unless something goes badly wrong, Dis. We’re still more or less laying low. I doubt we’ll get away without being spotted at all, but there’s no real reason to piss of the Marines by destroying a major fleet detachment. For better or worse, they are undoubtedly protecting the town from the increased pirate presence we’ve been hearing about.”
The major Fleet detachment was, of course, the ‘other shoe’ that Nami had mentioned. The Marine Fleet wasn’t even attempting to hide, but was fairly obviously positioned as protection for Drakestone, rather than besieging it. Its presence even made sense, Luffy reflected. With Alabasta closed to World Government shipping and Drakestone sitting on another critical trade junction, this was likely one of the most critical islands left in maintaining the remaining Marine supply lines in Paradise. Something Robin and Hina more or less confirmed as they spoke up next.
“There has been a lot of new construction since I was here last. Those cannon towers at the mouth of the bay are completely new. The docks have increased in size, and so has the town I think. Clearly, the Marines have invested a fair bit in the island’s security recently.”
Hina nodded along to Robin’s comment, pointing to the personal flag flying on one ship. The Battleship was docked and appeared to be undergoing some significant repairs.
“That’s Vice Admiral Strawberry’s personal flagship. Hina would guess it was damaged at Marineford and is being repaired. Hina suspects he is here to protect the remaining major supply route for the Marines here in Paradise. Even with how many they lost, it makes sense to cover such a critical point with a Vice Admiral while they are recovering. Disruption of their remaining major supply route would be disastrous for them right now.”
Luffy winced. That was…troublesome. Something Kuina realized just as quickly as Luffy did, pointing out the issue before he could.
“If there’s a Vice Admiral here, we might not be able to avoid a fight. All Marines of that rank have a measure of Haki, and not all of the crew are capable of hiding ours.”
Nodding acknowledgement, Luffy pursed his lips.
“I think we’ve all had enough shore leave recently that we can skip bringing the full crew unless there’s major trouble. I still want to get ashore long enough to get a sample of ‘drakestone,’ and Robin needs to hit her cache here, as she’s said it contains a couple of Eternal Poses we can put to use.”
It didn’t contain any such thing, of course. But she did have a cache here, and the smaller subset of the crew who knew about Luffy’s System Store ability had agreed to use any such caches as an excuse to ‘acquire’ one or two useful poses at a time. Given that a single Vice Admiral wasn’t really a serious threat to them at this point, Strawberry’s presence here wasn’t enough to dissuade them from that plan. Particularly as Luffy really did want to get his hands on some drakestone to experiment with, as well.
“Let’s see, Kaya is a given, she’s got better control than even I do. Kuina and myself for heavy hitters that can hide ourselves at anything but point-blank range. Robin is required of course, and Hina can hopefully help us maneuver around the Marines since we aren’t here to fight them. Vivi for transport and Pagaya as an unknown that can make the drakestone purchases. The Marines might be watching for anyone that looks too interested in the stuff. I think that’s all we should take along for this little side-trip.”
Some of the crew were looking unhappy at that, but most were either accepting or ambivalent. Yamato wasn’t interested if they weren’t going to fight, and was at least aware she wasn’t good at stealth or subtly. She was clearly unbothered, while Nami was just as clearly annoyed. Understandably, given that she was normally their most stealthy individual. Even more so that Kaya in most ways.
Unfortunately, Nami had also made a breakthrough with her Haki while training on Sixis, and hadn’t had time to learn to control the more obvious imprint she left on the world since doing so. Usopp was clearly just as bothered, letting Kaya go without him, but he lacked a skill set that was really useful for a mission they intended to stay below notice on. Others like Chopper and Brook were used to the idea they stood out too much, and Zoro has zero interest if there wasn’t a fight to be had. Despite the few that looked slightly unhappy, no one outright protested Luffy’s choices.
“Right. That’s our group then. Anyone else, if you have anything specific you want us to look over the markets for, you’ve got a half an hour before we leave to think of it and let us know…”
… … …
Getting ashore was never going to be particularly difficult, with Vivi’s Air Doors to call on. In truth, the half hour they had needed for prep had been merely a requirement to get into some disguises. They had, in fact, considered the possible need to move around on islands under WG control. Thankfully, between Nami, Robin, and surprisingly Hina, they had a decent level of skill in the crew regarding the creation of disguises. Skill at not being immediately recognizable had been a survival trait for Robin, part of her past as a scam artist for Nami, and actual training for Hina.
Apparently, it was a fairly standard additional training given to female Marine officers, as they tended to have an easier time slipping into local populations to scout for pirates. Perhaps a bit sexist of the Marines, but purely a practical degree of it, since the relative rarity of female Marines meant it legitimately was less likely they’d be suspected. It was something they, themselves, would be taking full advantage of too, since female pirates were even rarer than female Marines. Their own crew was a very strange exception in that they had more women aboard than men.
Thus, a quick bit of temporary hair dye for the girls, clothing that would hide Pagaya’s wings, and a complete outfit swap for Luffy, and none of them looked immediately recognizable. Luffy would, normally, be the riskiest of the group, but Kaya had managed to teach him a basic version of her Haki inversion trick. He couldn’t disappear almost completely from the senses the way Kaya could, but he could apply something like a ‘boring’ field to himself. One which would make most eyes simply pass him over as part of a crowd. If they ran into Strawberry himself, the imperfect technique would likely be seen through instantly, but Luffy’s own Haki was sufficiently better than virtually any Vice Admiral that he should sense Strawberry coming.
Disguises ready, the two men and five women were set to head to the island.
“Alright, Vivi. Two Air Doors, I think. One outside the town for myself and Robin. We’re still the most likely two to be recognized, so we’ll focus on hitting up Robin’s cache near the mountain library rather than risking being seen in town. The rest of you will Air Door inside town somewhere out of sight, then split into two groups to get what we want from the markets. Kuina, you’re in charge of Vivi and Kaya getting basic sundries and crew requests. Hina, you and Pagaya will focus on the drakestone. If the Marines are watching too closely, give it a pass until we regroup. If that happens, we can go loud for a bit to grab some, then vanish into an Air Door. It’s not like they can really find the Discovery once we run.”
There were nods all around as those going along divided up into the groups that Luffy had just outlined. As soon as they were properly divided, Vivi opened the first Air Door, and Luffy and Robin stepped through into a snowy landscape a fair bit outside the town. Doubly checking the baby Den Den Mushi they’d grabbed was secured against the cold, the two set out toward the library at a sedate, civilian pace.
“So, what do you think the odds something doesn’t go wrong are?”
Robin hummed, then smirked.
“Nearly zero, of course. Even if you picked our more subtle crewmembers, things have been much too calm lately.”
Luffy shook his head, but he was grinning as he did. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought more or less the same thing, after all.
“True. Too true. I’m more curious which group is going to run into trouble first, to be honest.”
Robin nodded at that and they both picked up the pace just a little. Even if actually visiting Robin’s cache wasn’t truly important, it was still better to go through the motions. Besides, said cache was right next to the Frozen Library, and both Luffy and Robin wanted to give it at least a quick visit…
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A/N 1: Drakestone! The second Original Island I've created! Hopefully it goes over well! These pieces by Gr3gog and Colorfill show what I imagine the Frozen Library and what the cultists are trying to thaw out to look like, respectively.