Arlong Park.

"I'm all sticky now! I think some even got into my underwear." Lisa complained.

"Relax. The beach is that way. Once you're in the water you can wash off easy peasy." I pointed out.

"Besides it was fun." Paige added, running her feathers through a pinch, as drops of chocolate fell on the dirt path below.

"These gobstoppers are to die for." Clockblocker walked out, looking like a hamster, a massive gobstopper in his mouth as Riley followed behind him, dragging Star along, a comparatively conservative candy apple in her hands.

Star on the other hand, had pockets full of candy, bits and pieces falling out as he walked out with Riley.

"I wanna swim in the chocolate river again!" Star said, running up to me with a hug.

"Please Papa!" He begged with his puppy eyes.

So cute!

But too many sweets aren't good for him.

I pinched his cheeks.

"One day. Next year maybe, okay? We'll come with Mama Offee." I said.

"Yay!" Star chirped up.

"Now let's go for a swim and get you cleaned up. Then we'll go for a ride on Moo Moo?" I suggested, lifting him up, and putting him on my shoulders.

"How about you Riley? Did you enjoy it?" I asked.

"Yes. It was very whimsical! But I don't think Mr. Wonka liked us being there." She giggled evilly.

"Oh he'll hate it even more once the Oompa Loompas wake up and find the little gift we left them. Besides, fuck that guy. He enslaved a whole race of people. I don't much care what he thinks."

"This was mostly for Star, but I don't mean to ignore you, Riley. Anywhere you want to go in particular? Let's make it happen!" I said.

"I ... can I ask later? I want some time to think!" Riley said, smiling.

"Of course!" I said, patting her head.

She was slowly starting to slowly get better. She even learn to smile and laugh genuinely.

Or she's gotten very good at faking it. Though I doubt it. It's just my paranoia negging me. Even the A.I. said so.

Seeing her smile like that, biting on the candy apple, it warmed my heart.

Well, I do have an appointment with Dr. Wong coming up next week. We'll see about it then.

"T-t-the monste-r is back!" A fishman cried out.

"What did you say punk?" I asked, glaring at him.

"Nothing. Oh great master. Please forgive this one's insolence." He said, getting into a seiza, casting worried glances behind him as Tattletale walked ahead.

"And what are you looking at huh?" I threw him to the side, and cast Tattletale a curious glance.

She gagged, horrified and called me over.

"I think you should see this for yourself."

I frowned and walked over.

Inside what was formerly Arlong Park, lay a beaten and brutalized old man, and a terrified little girl, as a fishman stood over him snorting sadistically.

"I thought I told you to stay in you little cage, Arlong? You know what happens to little fishies who don't behave, don't you?" I asked, menacingly.

"I am not sticking around in a puny human ca-"

A beam burst through his throat before he could complete his sentence, severing his head.

"What's happening her- oh." Clockblocker stopped in place.

"That's horrible."

"Told you, Clockblocker. Should have killed them all the first day." Paige replied.

She was right. She did tell us to kill them.

Surprisingly this time I was the one against killing.

I guess I like Hatchan as a character, at least his redemption arc.

And more than that, I could leverage them as captives to get a ransom from King Neptune. Maybe get my hands on some native artifacts or old world tech or something. And selling Arlong to the marines alive would net me a neat 20 million berries to splurge once we got to Sabaody. Save me the effort of trading in raw gold.

I mean I could just walk into the royal palace and murder my way into the vault but why kill when you can trade?

Apparently, this. A brutalized old man. And a traumatized Nami.

"You know, I wanted to take you guys back alive to your little mermaid kingdom. Trade you in for some nifty trinkets or something.

But you just had to squirt your ink all over it, didn't you? You, six arms, Hatchan was it? I thought you were acting leader? What were you doing? Seriously! I leave for three hours and you return to your old ways. At this point, I don't mind taking your severed heads to King Neptune. So give me one reason why I shouldn't just kill you all right here, right now!"

"Arlong...he-" Another beam burst forth, killing him instantly.

"I don't want excuses." I said pulling out my lightsaber, and growled.

"Kneel. All of you. And hold out your arms."

"Please master we-"

Another beam, another headless corpse on the floor.

I put Star back on the floor.

"Star, why don't you go and take Nami back home. And share some of your candy with her." I said.

Star looked at me, then at the crying Nami, and nodded.

"Nami! Come!" He said, and brought her out.

"Tattletale, Paige, go with them. Clockblocker, stabilize the old man will you? I'll deal with these fish fingers myself."

"Are you deaf?" I asked, decapitating another fishman.

"Hands out. Or you all go back home as busts. Your choice."

Fear spiked in their eyes and they shivered, before each and every fishman kneeled down, arms held out.

One by one, I lopped off their arms, until the floor was littered with fish limbs.

"His condition is stable but I'll need to operate on him." Riley informed me.

I pulled out a syringe of CodeRed from my labcoat pocket and threw it to her.

"Just use this." I said.

She nodded and injected the serum into him, while I looked down at the unconcious fishmen.

Tch. Should've just killed them.

This time, I opened a portal and dropped the remaining fishmen straight into a sealed cave on a deserted island near Sabaody. No one's getting away now.

I walked up and picked up Arlong's surprisingly heavy, severed head and looked at it, his surprised expression stuck permanently on it now.

Was the weight due to the extra muscle mass or was it bone tissue? I'd have to research that.

And that long saw nose. What purpose does that serve? Vestigial perhaps? A holdover from their evolution?

I opened another portal, sending the severed arms to my lab to be cloned for experimentation later and got lost in thought, going over conjecture and biology.

Maybe I could use them to create a muscle enhancing serum? I already had like three different ones but it never hurts to have a fourth type to use. Maybe waterbreathing too.

And their fins-

"Thank you, kind sir. Thank you so much!"

The old man broke me out of my thoughts.

"Uh yeah yeah." I said, absentmindedly.

"I don't mean to be rude, but how long will you stay in our village, esteemed sir? I'm sure you're eager to cash in the reward for Arlong." He said, pussyfooting around the issue.

"Just say it straight old man. You want to ask how long I'll mooch off your stolen reserves.

If you're going to be saved or just under new management. That's what you want to know, isn't it?" I snapped.

"....yes. Please forgive me, please don't-"

"Oi! Stop sniveling old man. Sheesh. Not robbing you. I swear. Not planning on taking over either. I said as much yesterday too, didn't I? Just relax. We'll leave tomorrow, first light. Happy?" I slapped his back, sending him tumbling to the ground. I don't know where you get this impression of me..." I sulked.

"You did just dis-arm a whole pirate crew in cold blood. Doesn't exactly send a message of love and cuddles." Clockblocker advised, stressing the pun.

I rolled my eyes.

"Should I have french kissed them instead?" I laughed.

"Wouldn't hurt to try!" He joked.

I smiled, looking at the sky.

"Let's get back under a roof. The sun's setting and I don't like the look of those clouds."

We made our way back to the house where we were lodging at. Nami and Nojiko's to be specific.

As we entered I could already feel the tense atmosphere.

Tattletale looked up at me concerned and a bit afraid.

"Nami let them out didn't she?" I asked.

"...Yes." Lisa replied, "How did you know?"

"I made thise stasis beacons to hold down the alien monsters I experiment on. And some of those can get big.

So clearly, the fishmen didn't break themselves out. And those beacons can only be activated or deactivated by humans so it wasn't as if Hatchan was going to free his comrades. Logically then, there was only one option. Only one person so broken they could have tricked them into doing it. Nami. Probably threatened to kill Nojiko or something."

Nami shook in fear, and looked away from me, hiding behind Nojiko, who stood on guard against me.

I sighed.

I pitied the poor girls. They had a hard life ahead of them. No mother, no one to rely on.

If that was Star, I wonder how he'd fare?

I kneeled down beside them and put a hand gently on Nojiko's shoulder.

"Girls.... I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not even mad at you. It's my fault. I should have made sure they wouldn't do something." I assured them.

"Really?" Nojiko asked, her expression softening.

"Yeah. Pinky Promise." I said, extending a pinky to them.

"But gramps..." Nami muttered guiltily.

"What about me, Nami?" He asked, entering the house.

"Gramps!" Nami chirped, her eyes lighting up. She ran over to give him a hug as he looked at me conflicted.

I sat down on the table, looking over the scene and picked Star up, sitting him on my lap.

"That was surprising. I thought you would...you know." Paige asked.

"Yeah...what changed?" Tattletale added.

I gave them a disappointed look before I looked down at Star.

They were right.

If it was before I got Star, I would have melted both of those girl into the pavement for daring to be so stupid.

But now....

I stopped Star from popping another candy into his mouth.

"No. You've had enough sweets for today. Save some for tomorrow. And did you share them with Nami and Nojiko?" I asked.

"....yes." he said looking away.

"Lying won't do you any good, Star. Papa knows everything~" I said, tickling him as he burst into uncontrollable laughter.

" Hehihiahiahi soohorry! PAPA! I'll share! I'll share!" He cried out.

"You better. Go now." I let Star go and he handed them each a candy from his pocket.

"Just one?" I poked him.

" Umu...." He pouted, but relented under my stern glare and handed out two more.

" That's a good boy!" I praised, patting his head, and pulled him back onto my lap.

"Now what do you say to people who give you a gift?" The old man asked the girls.

"Thank you!" Nojiko said.

"Gimme more!" Nami added cheekily.

I snorted in laughter, and Nami looked even more proud of herself as the old man just gave up and sighed.

I looked back at Star humming a tune happily.

Now, after having Star, I don't feel like doing it. Don't get it wrong. I'll absolutely kill kids if it benefits me. But killing Nami and Nojiko, it won't help me in any way. So I won't do it.

The rain was beginning to fall with a pitter latter outside now drawing my attention as I remembered.

The chocolate.

"Come on. Star. Let's get you a bath."

"Nooo!" Star protested.

"Star, behave." I said sternly.

Star pouted and looked down.

Aw.

I looked aroudn the room at the pile of towels drying on a rack and smiled.

Ok fine.

I have an idea.

"Star, wanna play in the rain?" I asked.

"Really?" He asked, perking up.

"Absolutely. Let's go!" I said, picking him up as he burst out laughing.

"Yay!"

As I walked to the door, I spotted Nami and Nojiko looking up at Star with such pitiful looks.

I felt a pang of pain for them. No parents to love them like Star. All alone.

I smiled.

"Wanna come along?" I asked.

"But what if we get sick....the medicine cost-"

"No worries. I have enough medicine to cure the planet ten times over! Come on now." I said, dragging them along.

_____________________

Nami and Nojiko get a father figure?

Maybe!

MC experiences character growth and learns to chill out once in a while.

The plot of One Piece is getting absolutely railed though either way!

Also, if you feel like suppoting me or reading ahead, starting next week, I'll be posting two chapters ahead on Pat-reon.

Also, if you want to read the sequel to this earlier. It'll be posted there first.

https://www.pat-reon.com/goldenfingers