Chapter - 63

[Sorry for no updates in the past few days, me was a little tired so had to take some break]

[Well, enjoy the story for now >//o//< !!UMU!!]

The newly chosen Emperor of the Regime, along with twenty full ships docked into the small port of Acadia located on the south west side of the island Dressrosa.

The trip was relatively short, not a single hostile ship was found on the open ocean. The world still celebrated the obliteration of the oppressive World Government, Navy, and Celestial Dragons— wether they were citizens, soldiers, royals, or even pirates.

Sabo exited the ship looking at the massive crowd gathered in the small port town. Knowing it would be too difficult to disembark all the forces in this area, the emperor sent his second in command and ten ships to the small town on the very south end of the island, Sebio.

The crowd cheered and whistled at the regime soldiers. They were worshipped like heroic liberators of the free world—just like the emperor wanted.

Though he would've loved nothing more than to celebrate with them, Sabo knew there were more pressing concerns at the moment. He was here to meet the Royal family, to have them sign a treaty. It was simple, they sign or become enemies of the regime. The former revolutionary chief would never let that happen, he was determined to have peaceful negotiations.

Also he was there to check on Luffy's former crew—the straw hat pirates. There were conflicting reports about their exact location, they were purposely keeping a low profile.

He heard from one his scouts earlier this morning, the Straw Hats were indeed on the island—their allies the Heart Pirates were off the grid. Sabo decided to track down his brother's former crew first. He began to make his way through the streets crowded by citizens, being escorted by a platoon of Regime soldiers.

Sabo never imagined the reaction would be this extreme. People danced happily in the street holding each other as if tomorrow didn't exist. The citizens were in a pure state of happiness no longer under the rule tyranny of the World Government and Navy. For everyone it was a fresh start, to finally live the way they wanted too.

The emperor and his escorts made their way towards the heart of the island. The group could see the massive coliseum come into view. The massive structure was the second highest point on the island besides the Royal Palace.

"HEY YOU!" a booming voice shot from a nearby restaurant. The owner waved his hands rapidly trying to gain the emperor's attention.

Sabo looked the man's way before stopping his group. The man ran up to him only to be halted by the guards.

"Stand down." Sabo spoke, immediately they withdrew themselves.

"Y-your the new regime right? The new emperor?!" The older man asked desperately.

"Yes, how can I help? You look like your in need of it." Sabo asked. He wasn't sure what the man was desperately screaming about. But this was part of his job now, he was somewhat of a public servant. He was here to protect not rule.

The old man pointed back to his restaurant. "I know it's a day of celebration, but there's a group of pirate bastards that are scaring away everyone else! Their attitude is shit, they wont pay their tab, and they're refusing to leave!" The owner shouted out of breath from his rant.

Sabo wasn't sure exactly what really was going on, but he was going to get to bottom of it. "Head to Balsa, join up with the forces there, I won't be long." Sabo said to the squad leader before excusing himself with the owner. The soldiers wouldn't dare disobey an order, the squadron resumed their march North.

The owner burst into the restaurant pointing towards the back table in the farthest corner of the large room. "There those bastards are, kick those free loaders out!" The man grinned.

"No, there will be none of that. This will cover the tab." Sabo stated handing the man a bag of gold coins. The owner immediately got amnesia, running off to go count his newly acquired money.

The emperor recognized the crew immediately. The straw hat pirates all sat silently eating their plates, not much conversation went on. He approached the table slowly not wanting to disturb them. None of them reacted to him sitting down with them, as if he was invisible.

The nearest member, Zoro peaked his eye open to see who it was before asking what he was here for.

"It's nice to see you guys are alright." Sabo smiled towards the group who continued to ignore his presence.

"Na, were pretty fucking far from alright." Zoro said continuing to eat his food. The table glanced up at Sabo who was awkwardly invading their space, sitting there with his hat over his eyes.

"Your an emperor of the regime, don't you have more important things to do then bug us." Sanji spoke still looking at his plate.

Sabo lifted his hat above his eyes to look directly at them all. "This is my important thing, Luffy told me to make sure you guys were okay." The blonde hoped to stir a reaction from the group and got nothing but low grumbles amongst the table.

Usopp stopped eating abruptly to address the emperor. "Where is Luffy? Why isn't he here?" The marksman said with an impatient tone. The crew stopped eating to await Sabo's remarks.

In all honesty he should've expected this cold welcome. The straw hat pirates who were once a prideful group of pirates looked like shells of their former selves. In one day they lost both of their friends, who were supposed to lead them into the future. Despite having their own dreams the crew greatly cared about the others' ambitions. The captain and navigator were an irreplaceable, integral part of the crew.

"Luffy is out making the world a safer place right now, he's doing the best he can." Sabo simply said. It was the best he could offer right now, the straw hats weren't exactly on friendly terms with the Regime—even he knew that.

Robin stood up despite the low protests from Franky and Chopper. "How dare you!" Robin's voice turned everyone at the tables attention to her. Robin was shaking profusely holding onto to the table for support, her knuckles turning white from the pressure she was applying.

"You come here, offering help like you really give a shit. All you care about is your ambitions. We lost our family, and you come here asking if were alright?! How dare you..." Robin said trying not to let fresh tears fall before taking her seat again—Franky rubbed her back in circles soothing her before speaking, "maybe you should go Sabo."

The emperor got the message, they couldn't care less about his help. If he couldn't bring any of their friends back, then what the hell was he doing there. Standing up from his seat Sabo began to depart.

"I truly am sorry for your loss Straw Hats, you have my deepest apologies for disturbing you guys, it was rude of me. Don't bother with the tab, order as much as you like." Sabo said smiling slightly, dipping his hat as a farewell. The crew could only nod simultaneously patiently waiting for him too leave.

Before he left Sabo placed his card on the table with his private transponder code to his office. With a final glance he was gone in a flash heading toward the Royal Palace.

With Sabo finally gone, the Straw Hats returned to their small conversations. The group was disappointed their former captain did not seek them out himself. They wanted answers directly from him, about everything. In no way did they blame him, but they way he acted afterwards bothered them. In the their minds, they expected him to share his pain with them. Luffy had flown off that day never to return to the Sunny. It irked the crew when he didn't show for the funeral— they figured he was too guilt ridden to show up.

Zoro could see the looks on his crew's faces. Never had they been through such a painful experience. The crew on the way to Dressrosa barley spoke a word to one another, only when handling their duties. The new captain of the straw hats had to be stronger than ever. No longer did he nap in the day, he was constantly training until he collapsed. He accepted the tall order of replacing the rubber man but he vowed to keep his remaining family safe.

Robin took over navigation duties of the crew having some experience and a sharp memory of her friend's lessons she picked up—she managed. It was impossible for her to sleep in the room she previously shared with Nami. Franky completely redid the room after having given all of Nami's possessions to her next of kin. Now he and Robin shared the room. The crew knew she had taken it the hardest out of them all. On most nights Franky would hold her until she couldn't cry anymore. The former demon child silently played with her food too sick to eat, the memories of her friend laying in a white sheet ice cold, refused to leave her mind.

Sanji would go crazy if he stayed silent any longer. He stood heading outside muttering something about a smoke.

"Should we go after him?" Chopper asked glancing up at Zoro.

Zoro glanced at the door before answering. "Na, let em go, he'll be back."

The group returned to eating, while Sanji sat watching the celebrations of everyone. Young couples kissing, old folks dancing, kids setting off fireworks, the world really celebrated its freedom from oppression. The chef couldn't blame them if things turned out differently, they would gladly join them. Sanji took a long drag in remembrance of his fallen friends, thinking if he'd ever see Luffy again—much less hear from him.

In the distance, hundreds of seagulls flew threw the sunny skyline of Dressrosa. The birds dropped World Press newspapers all over the pavement. Not bothering to stop the celebration, people began to cheer even louder as they picked the papers up. In confusion Sanji picked up one of the newspapers reading the headline. "Fishman Island relocated to Alabasta." The chef's cigarette fell out of his mouth seeing the image of Luffy standing in front of the aquatic city, in the middle of the desert.

Wasting no time Sanji ran back to the table in a huff shoving the newspaper in their captain's face. He snatched the paper from the chef before reading it himself nearly choking on his food. Quickly Zoro threw the newspaper into the middle of the table so the entirety of the crew could read the headlines. The shock evident as they had the same reaction as their captain.

"Luffy really did that?" Chopper asked Zoro, not understanding why he would uproot an ancient civilization just to relocate to the hottest desert on earth.

Robin grabbed the paper across the table scanning her eyes along the lengthy article. It read their was only one casualty reported— King Neptune. He apparently used lethal force against the peaceful negotiations and ended up losing his life. Besides that the rest of the royal family and citizens were completely safe, Shirahoshi was crowned the new queen. The bottom of the article read that by the time these papers were published, the Kingdom should be on its way back to the ocean. Robin assumed it must've been a show of strength in order for the citizens to accept their treaty. She didn't necessarily agree with the method, but she had to admit it was actually quite genius. The crew somewhat felt relieved Luffy was out there doing as Sabo said. A renewed energy found the straw hats as they began to start small talking and ordering a few drinks. Seeing that Sabo was indeed telling the truth about their former captain, Zoro gave a small smile placing the emperor's card in his pocket before going back to his plate. The straw hats were starting to come back.