Chapter 10: The Great Whitebeard

I felt like writing, so here's the new chapter! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Case Closed

Conan had no idea what came over him, but now he was standing between a division commander captain and a young, easily-manipulated marine. He stared up defiantly at the pirate commander, who was staring at him curiously. "Get out of the way kid."

"No. We don't need to kill him." Conan glared.

"Yes we do." Jozu sighed. "Look kid, this is war, every marine we spare is just another soldier to kill another pirate."

"This marine did nothing wrong, he's a good man, who's been taking care of me while I was in Marineford." Conan replied. "I'm not a pirate or a marine, so I don't know the conflict you face every day. However, you're no better than the man who did this to me.." Conan unwrapped his bandages and showed his injury to Jozu, who's eyes widened to half his head when he saw the burn scar. "…if you do that Coby-san, than you're just as bad as Akainu-san. Besides, you owe me a favor for helping Ace-san, right?"

"…Right?" Jozu looked at him warily.

Nodding in approval, Conan continued. "Good. Then in return, I want you spare Coby-san."

"…Fine. But then we leave here and no more arguments." Jozu replied.

Nodding, Conan walked over to the man and allowed himself to be lifted up. Eager to meet the legendary King of the Seas.

15min Later

After leaving Conan with some of his men, Jozu returned to the battlefield or went to update Whitebeard. Either way, Conan was once again stuck in a strange room with attendants. And after an hour, Conan felt the boat rock and he was certain he was out at sea again. Moments later, a lazy-looking man with blonde hair opened the door. Conan observed he was average height compared to a lot of the people he had seen and had Whitebeard's mark on his chest rather than on his back like Ace did. "The name's Marco, I'm Whitebeard's first-division commander."

'He must be Whitebeard's first-mate then.' Conan thought. "My name's Conan Edogawa, it's nice to meet you, Marco-san." He bowed politely to the pirate.

"No need for the formalities, pirates are normally a casual bunch of people." Marco raised a hand in reassurance. "Oyaji wants to see you, let's go." The detective nodded and followed behind the man quietly. As they were walking, Conan noticed the ship was huge compared to every other vessel he had seen so far. But nothing could've prepared Conan for the moment he was be lead into. "This is Oyaji, also known as Whitebeard." The man was huge! No forget huge, he was the size of the statue of Liberty! He had to have been at least 60ft tall, was as muscular as a mountain, and had a smiling white mustache, as par to his logo. Conan was utterly speechless, and didn't realize that his jaw had dropped until his tongue started to dry.

"You seem surprised brat." Whitebeard chuckled.

"Er…Sorry for staring…I've just never met anyone as big and tall as you." Conan explained, earning a huge amount of laughter from the crew. The detective inwardly grumbled, like they hadn't been shocked by the man's size when they met him? Then again, with the weird things he had seen in this world, who knew what was possible?

"He he…you're a funny one brat." Whitebeard seemed amused with him. "Bring out a drumstick for the lad, he could use some meat."

"That's not-" Conan tried to refuse, but he could tell that the man was adamant.

"Eat up. From what Ace told us, they probably starved you." The old pirate reasoned. Seeing as how angering the pirate wasn't going to help him, Conan obeyed.

"Thank you." Conan ate the drumstick obediently and drank some of the water offered to him. After he was finished, Conan spoke again. "Thank you for saving my life Whitebeard-san, I owe you and your crew my life."

"Not a problem brat." The old pirate nodded. "Now then…Ace told me that in return for aiding his escape, you wanted to speak to me. Well you're here, so speak."

The detective nodded and put a firm face up, well as firm as a six-year-olds face could get. "Whitebeard-san, I'm sure Ace-san's already told you my situation and why I was being detained in the Navy, and if you have any suspicions or questions about it, you can ask, but…there's a favor I'd like from you."

"What is it?" The old pirate didn't like where this was going.

"Please take me to Sabaody." Conan said without missing a beat.

Whitebeard stared at him for a while, and it was silent for a few moments, until finally…he started laughing; loudly. "Ga ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! You're a funny one brat, now really, what's the favor you want? To be placed on an island protected by us? To become my son? Food? Give me a serious request that will actually make me take you seriously." The pirate captain and his crew laughed for a few moments, before Conan's tolerance snapped.

"I'm serious!" Everyone stopped laughing at once. His voice caught them off guard completely. "I've been to Sabaody, known as the half-way point of the Grand Line, as well home to the Red Line, the Tenryubito, the auction house trade, and a mark of entry into the New World. Which reminds me, you, Red-Haired Shanks-san, Kaido-san, and Charolette Linin-san; I've done my homework on the island and I've been forced to decipher for the Tenryubito by those Bare-Knuckle bastards, don't underestimate me."

"I see. So because you can spin a sob-story, you expect me to believe yah." Conan's eyes widened when Whitebeard spoke. "When Ace showed me your farewell note, I knew instantly that you wanted us to come find you; otherwise you had no way of escape from Impel Down. You can't navigate, you don't have a boat, and too many people want you dead from the look on your face. Normally I'd have you thrown off the boat for trying to deceive us like that, however, I'm curious as to what the Navy's so paranoid as to create a bunch of lies for you. Tell me brat, the story you told my son about the Bare-Knuckles was a complete lie wasn't it?"

Knowing that lying could get him killed at this point, Conan decided it was best to use truth. "Yes sir, it was. The Navy made it up for to fool their subordinates when they first captured me, and I've been held as their hostage ever since. I'm sorry I deceived Ace-san, but I had no choice."

"Then explain why you did." Whitebeard replied.

Conan glanced sideways in agitation, considering his words. He breathed deeply and spoke. "Sir…first of all, I'm not actually an orphan…however, if I didn't cooperate with the Navy and the World Government, I would've became one." Whitebeard didn't speak, beckoning Conan to continue. "I didn't lie about being a deciphering prodigy, I can solve murder cases by just looking at the crime scene, I can solve puzzles with one twist, figure riddles by reading one sentence; my talent was brought to the Navy's attention and I was kidnapped. And if I didn't do what they said, then they'd kill everyone close to me, my friends, my family, and even the people I've helped in the past."

Nodding at the answer, Whitebeard asked. "Where is your family now?"

"Believe it or not, they live as scholars on Sabaody, they do a lot of the Tenryubito's paperwork." Conan had to lie about something, it's not like they'd believe the truth.

"That explains why the Navy had such easy access to our family. For a smart brat, you made a pretty stupid move by correcting one of their flaws. Then again, brats like you don't know when to shut up," Whitebeard chuckled. "What does the Navy and World Government want you to do exactly?"

"They want me to find One Piece, and make the Navy the dominant power of the world." Conan said evenly. Gasps of horror and shock were heard throughout the ship, Conan noticed Ace visibly tensed at the mention of his father.

Whitebeard didn't seem surprised. "It's not like they'd use you for much else, do you know where it is already?"

"…I have a theory, but I was going to lie to the Navy about it and escape while they were fighting off sea kings." Conan explained hesitantly.

"So even if you deduce where Roger's treasure is, you won't tell anyone?" Whitebeard's gaze bore down at him.

"I personally believe that it is not my place or my business to confiscate the belongings of someone else, alive or dead. And even though Roger-san wanted someone to find his treasure, I know it wouldn't be like this." The young detective was being honest about that.

"Ha ha! I like your answer brat." The old pirate chuckled in approval. "Whether you know the correct location right now or not, doesn't concern me. Roger would've trusted someone like you."

"If I may ask sir, how do you know?" Conan raised a brow of the sudden mood switch.

"Jozu told me what Akainu did to you, and he also told me you protected that young marine with your life. You're lucky Jozu managed to stop the swing in time, otherwise, you'd be licking a new one. You're the kind of brat who's nosy and has a blatant idea of what's right and wrong, but unlike others, you don't push your ideas onto anyone else. That's why Roger would trust you. You should also know that Ace told us everything that happened in that Marineford prison, and I got to say brat…you've got the guts of ten pirates. Cheers for the brat!" Everyone raised their glasses and cheered.

Conan smiled in thanks, but there was still an issue to resolve. "Can I still go to Sabaody?"

"Of course, we'll prepare a whole armada and everything!" Whitebeard exclaimed happily.

"No!" Conan stood and raised his arms and hands to signal a halt. Everyone stopped and looked at him. "We can't rush in and charge them, for all we know, my family and friends have already been taken hostage and have orders to kill them upon seeing me or any of you. They know I helped Ace-san escape, so they're probably making preparations for us. Please listen to me…I have a plan."

"It better be good brat." Whitebeard sighed. "There's going to be a fight no matter what, and the results are rather inevitable here. If you don't show your merciless to them, then your relatives are as good as dead. They've already proven that to you, you can't afford to be soft."

Conan glared. "And if my plan works, then I'll have the Navy and the World Government off of everyone's backs permanently, and they'll never be able to find One Piece. I just need a ride to Sabaody, patience from you guys, and a layout map of the Tenryubito's palace. I need to know how to make them summon a specific Admiral."

"Sounds crazy kid. Why do you want an Admiral to come to us?" Ace spoke up with a frown.

"Simple. I plan to blackmail him." Conan stated blatantly, shocking everyone on the ship. "I have blackmail over one of the Admirals, however, he's not going take it seriously unless if I present him some kind of proof. And all of the most high-level classified documents and deposit boxes are in the Tenryubito's palace."

"So you need the deposit-box." Whitebeard finished.

"Exactly. While I'm at it, I can dig up enough dirt to bury the World Government and make the Navy stop sniffing around One Piece. This way no one dies and everyone has a home to return to." Conan finished looking at everyone in the ship. "What do you think?"

After a long pause, Whitebeard broke out into a grin and laughed heartily. "Brat, that's just crazy enough to work!" He turned to his navigators. "Take us to Sabaody, we could use a vacation anyways."

"HAH!" The crew cheered and gave Conan a full-blown welcome. The detective was inwardly wincing, hating the familiar pangs of guilt. It was one thing to lie to an asset when they're criminals, it's another thing entirely to lie to someone who's nothing but human.