Chapter Text
East Blue - Months ago
It started with a simple remark.
A man with dark blue hair and even bluer eyes had stopped just outside of the guard gate to count his bounty, thumbing his way through the bills as he happily secured yet another several thousand berri with just a day’s work. Two short swords were hooked parallel to the ground on his back and he wore simple khakis with weathered boots and a combat vest. He separated the bills into more manageable rolls, tucking a few into his vest’s pockets. Flexing his hands, he wondered what he should spend his money on first—booze? Food? Maybe some company? He had the entirety of the rest of the day open now that the leg work was done.
“Oh! Rio!”
Blue eyes flickered over to the guard post where a young marine with a big mouth but even bigger drive for money was hanging out of the check in station. He rubbed his fingers together in a fairly universal sign that he had information if Rio had coin. Hitching a hand onto his belt, Rio weighed the chances that Lucky Boy had anything more than a new hot sheet before stepping towards him. Slapping some of his freshly earned bills into the greedy paw of the marine, he let out a single warning, “This better be good.”
Hastily shoving the berri into his pockets before anyone could see the exchange, the marine grinned broadly and gestured to his log book, “You see this list of bounty hunters who have come to claim bounties in the last few weeks?”
Rio looked down at the neat writing. Sure enough, he saw his name multiple times along with other names he recognized from his work. He studied the list carefully but found nothing that was all that interesting to him, “So?”
The marine nearly giggled as if having Rio on the outside of some inane thing got him off. Rio rolled his eyes, most of the gate guards had rocks between their ears and it was starting to be clear that this one was the same. Maybe he just needed to cut his losses and head back into town. As if sensing he was losing the fish on the line, the marine pointed back at the log book, “You see whose name is missing?”
Eyes back on the pages. Rio scanned once then twice before coming to the conclusion with a deflated sound, “Roronoa Zoro…the Demon of the East Blue…”
The guard smiled, “That’s right. He hasn’t claimed a bounty in weeks.”
“So?” Rio shrugged, not seeing the point. Zoro was always an odd one as far as he was concerned. He never liked sharing information and looked down even on his fellow bounty hunters. As far as Rio was concerned, this was good news for him as a chance to claim his former glory, “Guess he finally got killed. Serves him right.”
Lucky Boy swiveled in his chair, fishing out several fresh bounty markers that hadn’t been posted just yet. He flipped one over and Rio was staring at the grinning face of some idiot wearing a straw hat. Another followed but this time it was a face that he recognized. He grabbed at the parchment before the marine could yank it away and demand more cash from him. He studied it, there seemed to be another in the corner of the picture but Rio didn’t recognize him either.
“They call themselves the Straw Hat pirates,” The marine wasn’t impressed by the name judging by his tone, “And apparently the infamous Pirate Hunter has turned Pirate himself.”
Rio couldn’t believe it. Zoro had always walked through life with a weird code and moral compass. His biggest one was his utter hatred for pirates and now he was sailing with one? Rio palmed another few berri into the man’s waiting hand, taking the bounty poster in exchange and began to walk back towards town. He needed more information and he knew a few comrades who would want to hear the latest about this development.
Grand Line - Present Day
Zoro was tightening the lines that kept the sails furled, pulling the rope hand over hand with ease. Usopp was up on the rigging of the sails himself, setting ties and checking over the condition of the lines. He raised his hand and waved down to Zoro, “Hey! Looks good man! Lock it there!”
Luffy shot himself up to the other sail and stretched his neck to look over Usopp’s shoulder, “You’re pretty good with knots, Usopp.”
“Well, back home they did call me the Sheriff of Knot-ingham!” Usopp grinned, looking mighty pleased with his pun.
“Why?”
Usopp groaned, “You know a lot goes over your head for a guy who could probably stretch across the whole Grand Line.”
“You think I really could stretch that far?” Luffy asked, unbothered by Usopp’s remark.
Zoro had no idea what the two were discussing but there was something animated going on between them. Nami paused on the deck and shook her head, “Can you please have them come down before one of them falls into the ocean, Zoro?”
Zoro grunted and finished securing his line, “Hey! Come down here you two! Nami says you’re in trouble!”
“I did not!”
It was a wonder that the crew worked as well as it did. They had all fallen nicely into a sense of camaraderie and familiarity with each other. Even the newest edition of Chopper had found his place relatively quickly as he stood next to Zoro and fretted when Luffy and Usopp started to wrestle to see who could get down first and avoid Nami’s wrath.
“Oi!” A voice rang out, “Snacks are ready!”
Zoro side stepped Luffy’s crash back to the deck while picking up Chopper by the scruff to avoid him meeting the underside of Luffy’s sandals. Usopp was moving faster than he ever did back down the mast but no matter how fast any of them moved, it would be Nami who would get the first of the treats. Sanji, the former chef from the Baratie, had placed the tray of hush puppies out along with a lemonade that had a strawberry puree inside of it. Nami was already cooing about the tasty drink and as much as it annoyed Zoro to admit, the crispy fried ball filled with ground meat was tasty. Sanji’s smile always widened ever so slightly whenever he spotted Zoro reaching for seconds. Pulling compliments from the swordsman was like convincing a cat to not nap in a warm sunbeam—impossible. So, Sanji had taken up observing his body language instead. He found Zoro much easier to read that way.
“What are you looking at, cook?” Zoro gruffed as he spotted Sanji’s eyes on him.
“Just wondering if the moss on your head is eating your brain or if you’ve always been slow on the uptake,” Sanji effortlessly sent back like a volley which only caused Zoro to close the gap between them to push back.
“It’s probably having a decent meal then! Unlike me!”
“You take that back!”
Sanji had his foot on Zoro’s face while Zoro had gotten his hands around Sanji’s lapel when Chopper’s voice called out to them, “Guys! An island!”
Nami was the first to her feet, long legs and motivation carrying her quickly to the side of the Merry. She leaned out and spotted the island. It was lush and overrun with greenery but she didn’t smile at the sight of it, “That’s not supposed to be there…”
Luffy bounded up next to her and placed both of his hands behind his head, “Maybe you made a mistake on the map—“
“I DID NOT!”
Usopp had scooped up several of the dough balls that Sanji had brought out and was nervously placing them into his mouth and chewing loudly, “What if it’s a ghost island? We are in the Grand Line after all…”
Chopper started to shake, “A g-ghost island!?”
Zoro scoffed and gave Usopp a hard pat on the back, “You’re scaring Chopper with your stupidity. A whole ghost island? Someone just killed an island and now it haunts the ocean?”
A flick of his lighter and Sanji now had a lit cigarette in his mouth, “Maybe he means an island filled with ghosts instead, marimo?”
Usopp paled and Zoro grinned, “Oh yeah, that does make more sense, cook. An island where all the souls of the lost and the damned linger….hoping for fresh blood!”
Usopp howled as Sanji whispered boo in his ear and it was enough to break the tension that had formed. Chopper was still holding onto Nami but he didn’t seem as upset as he had been a few moments prior. Luffy, completely unphased by the idea of ghosts, leaned out eagerly and laughed, “Either way we gotta check it out right!?”
There wasn’t a real dock that they could see but Nami was able to find an inlet to keep them from having to drop anchor too far off shore. There was a thick layer of mist that seemed to stretch out from the jungle. It made it hard to see anything past the shore line. Upon seeing the eerie mist, both Nami and Usopp volunteered to stay behind on the ship. Chopper said he would go but the little shivers of his hooves couldn’t be ignored against the wooden planks. Luffy patted him on the head, “Me, Sanji, and Zoro will scout it out first.”
“Be careful.” Nami spoke softly as the three easily made the leap from the Merry down onto the soft white sand of the beach. Luffy turned back and grinned before they were swallowed up by the mist.
Mystery Island - Further Inland - Present Day
Inside of a brick building, a red beep began to go off. The man at the desk flicked the noise off but then turned to his cameras to see the grainy images of three figures walking lazily through the jungle. He wore thick glasses that made his eyes look about three sizes bigger than they were. He had vials strapped along his body and his front teeth protruded from his lips. Tapping his transponder snail with a yawn, he eyed the cameras as he spoke, “Got another ship on the West beach. Three men in the jungle heading inland.”
The snail took a moment before a response was returned, “That right? We’re coming to you.”
Ten minutes later, the man at the desk was joined by a blue haired man covered in knives and a combat vest and a man who only had on a pair of old pants, showing off that every part of his body was scarred in some way including his bald head, “Bring up the feed again, Mole.”
“I want to keep one of them alive this time,” Mole lamented, “We kill everyone so fast that it takes the fun out of it.”
The scarred man nodded but the blue haired man didn’t acknowledge his words. It was always like this when travelers came to the island. Mole would alert the team, Rio would study them to see if he recognized any of them. If he didn’t, they would wander the island lost in the mist until they gave up and went back to their ship. But If he did recognize them, then usually Locke brought them back to their camp. They’d have their fun then Rio would take the bodies in to claim their bounties if they had any. The system had been working out fine but that didn’t mean that Mole didn’t want to have more fun with their guests.
A clicking of keys and the camera feed was back on the other trio. The blue haired man leaned in, studying them intensely before leaning back with a smirk. His eyes focused solely on the man in the white shirt with green hair, “You’ll get some fun after all, Mole. Locke, separate him from his friends and bring him back here.”