Rebel Scum!

(Several Hours Later)

"So, he's sitting in front of you?" A deep voice comes out from Ivankov's Den Den Mushi.

"Uh, huh! Both of them are just sitting right there with their whole crew if you want to talk to them Dragon-sama." Ivankov says. "Though I must admit, I definitely see what the newspapers were talking about. If you don't want him, I'll eat up that scrumptious little candy myself."

"Ivankov." Dragon said, pausing the boisterous mad in his tracks.

"Fiiiiiiine" Ivankov says dramatically, before sliding the phone to Rex and Tiger.

"So, you're Vesta Rex, I must admit, I expected you to be taller." Dragon jokes through the Den Den Mushi. "With how the papers are portraying you, I was imagining a 15 foot tall wall of muscle."

"Are you willing to hear what I have proposed?" Rex asks simply, not wanting to mince words with the future World's Worst Criminal. "I'm sure that it would intrigue you."

"We've done business in the past. Business that went extremely well, so I'm inclined to listen to you. However, I have one question." Dragon says.

"You want to know who Jacket D. Hoodie is." Rex says, with Dragon giving him an affirmative answer. "Jacket D. Hoodie is a man I've known my entire life. He grew up in the same village I did, and he was good friends with me, Kid and Killer. He was the one who taught us about Devil Fruits, and he found my own Devil Fruit."

"So, he's around the same age as you are." Dragon says with a surprised tone.

"Well, he has always said that he was an old man in a much younger man's body." Rex said, twisting truth and lies together. "I don't know what exactly he meant by such a phrase."

"And what is his power? The power that allows him to impersonate others so easily, to infiltrate, to wield electricity and poison." Dragon questions, curious as to the nature of this powerful fruit. "At first, I suspected the nine-tailed fox fruit or the clone fruit, but both of them have wielders."

"Is that the last question?" Rex asks, not wanting to focus the conversation on Jacket D. Hoodie.

"If the answer satisfies me, then yes." Dragon responds.

"His devil fruit is the Fude Fude no Mi, turning him into a brush person. He can make his disguises by painting them and all his elemental effects and 'comrades' are similarly made." Rex says, reciting his well-practiced excuse.

After all, for another 10 years, the Fude Fude no Mi would not enter the world due to Kanjuro being sent forward in time with Momonosuke. It was the perfect lie that was impossible to invalidate. By the time Kanjuro came back to the world, Rex intended to be a Yonko, if not beyond that level of power, which would make it unnecessary to hide his identity.

Dragon pauses for a moment, rustling through some pages in the background. Rex figured that he was just validating that the Fude Fude no Mi existed and had such usages. Dragon truly was a paranoid man.

"I see, that is rather impressive for him to have done so much with the fruit." Dragon said, partially convinced "Now, what is the business you want to discuss?"

"I want you to safely harbor my friend Fisher Tiger and his crew. On top of that, I would like to purchase some scientific research equipment to use the research Jacket D. Hoodie recovered from the Germa Kingdom." Rex said, getting right out with his desires.

"Neither of those is an inexpensive request. For the former, as long as Fisher Tiger and his crew agree to join our Revolutionary army, I can do it for free. If not, the two requests will cost you… around a billion berries." Dragon explains.

The king pirates frown, thinking Dragon was taking advantage of Rex, but Rex knew better. This was an incredibly good price for what he was asking. After all, the Germa Kingdom technology was advanced, even with Dragon's means, accessing it would be difficult. As for Tiger's request, it would require Dragon to harbour Tiger secretly on an island and all the dangers that came with that.

Tiger is about to protest, not wanting Rex to pay such a steep price but Rex interjects.

"I will pay the price for Tiger's free harborage. Here are two devil fruits, the Bane Bane no Mi worth around 150 million and the Ryu Ryu no Mi: Model Allosaurus with a value of 450 million Berries. On top of that, I can give you armaments, Berries and food supplies worth the remaining 400 million Berries." Rex offered.

"Acceptable." Dragon said, confirming with Ivankov that Rex did in fact have the two fruits he promised. "I will send someone in a month's time to pick up Tiger and the goods."

Rex was willing to offer those two fruits because Rose had already conducted sufficient research on them and he didn't have any crew members worth give them to. On the other hand, he still had the Axolotl fruit, the Candy fruit and the Swamp fruit in his hands.

"Wait!" Tiger exclaimed. "You don't have to do that for me. I will find a way to pay for my own harborage."

Rex shook his head. "We're friends Tiger. Money is dead, friends are alive."

In fact, in Rex's eyes, Tiger's friendship and the opening of business channels with the Revolutionaries were both far more valuable than the two fruits. In fact, even if it wasn't for Tiger, Rex was planning on selling the two fruits to Dragon anyway.

From now on, whenever Dragon looked at the cadre he fed the Bane Bane no Mi or the Ryu Ryu no Mi to, he would think: "Didn't I get these fruits from Vesta Rex?" or "Vesta Rex is so handsome and rich, we should definitely do business together!" and give Rex a call.

Rex would be in his head, he would haunt Dragon's dreams and make sure that he did business with him again.

As for the resources, Rex bitterly couldn't care less about them. He had way too much of them anyway. Robbery just made him too rich to fail. No wonder piracy was such a popular career choice.

Still, in Tiger's eyes, this was an immense value. While Rex, who had robbed two kingdoms and countless pirate groups, didn't see this as a lot of money, it was. In fact, a billion berries could buy a small island. To give it up so easily…

"So, since the preliminary business is out of the way, how about a secondary piece of business." Rex says with a wide grin. "Have you ever heard of a fishman shipwright know as Tom…"

(1 Month Later)

Clang!

Rex and Killer clash once more, Rex's single, long sword clashing against Killer's dual blades. Through the past month of fighting while in human-drill form, Rex went from swordsman novice to a swordsman capable of besting Killer, though admittedly, he was using strength more than skill there.

After a few more clashes, the two end the fight with Killer sighing. Sometimes the captain's fruit was just unfair.

In the past month, Rex had abused the hell out of his devil fruit to train for a very important mission. In truth, Rex never felt muscular fatigue when he was in jacket form, rather, his host felt the fatigue. Therefore, by jumping from human-drill to human-drill, Rex was able to train most hours of the day.

Rex trained for a few hours in swordsmanship, then in Bonney's weird art and in Soru. Of course, Rex's goal wasn't to usurp his teammates, but rather he wanted to construct a fighting style he could use as Jacket D. Hoodie.

Rex felt that if he kept using Hasshoken while in Jacket D. Hoodie form, it would start to get a bit too obvious that they were one and the same. As such, Rex had taken Smoothie's sword, modified it slightly, then studied swordsmanship under Thatch, Killer, Hawkins and Smoothie herself, by fighting her.

Now, Rex was confident that he could convince the marines that Jacket D. Hoodie was a dedicated swordsman and separate his two identities once and for all.

But Rex wasn't the only one getting stronger on the Island. Through a 'clash of personalities', the King Pirates had been repeatedly entering conflicts with the locals which, while bad, caused them to strengthen considerably.

Of the King Pirates, Thatch had undergone some of the greatest benefits, gaining access to attack cuisine. Unlike Sanji, Thatch was open-minded enough to undergo the Okama ceremonies, but in the end, he decided to stay as an ordinary man which surprised Ivankov. Still, Thatch's wishes were respected and he was given the recipes.

Other than Thatch, Tiger and his crew had decided to teach the King Pirates, including Rex, some Fishman Karate as a thanks for all they had done for them. While Rex was by no means an expert at the art now, he had started on his way and Tiger had left some manuals with him.

On top of that, Rex had been very busy running a number of affairs.

First, Rex had bought a Devil Fruit manual for from the Revolutionaries and identified the unknown devil fruit he had stolen from Smoothie. It was the Memo-Memo no Mi.

Just like that, all of Rex's problems seemed to be solved. Rex had fed the fruit to one of his most trusted crewmates, Faust, and got to work immediately.

By altering Giolla's memory on top of the psychological effects of imprisonment, she had cracked right away, and Rex had finally deployed her on her mission. By altering Smoothie's memories, Rex had figured out the perfect method for Tiger to disappear.

"Are you sure that this will work?" Tiger asks, nervous about Rex's plan.

"It's been working so far." Rex states, having received the third update from Tiger-2 a few days ago.

Rex had cloned Fisher Tiger using Germa technology. Then he smuggled Smoothie into a low-level prisoner transport ship headed to Impel Down. He had Tiger-2 attack the transport and free Smoothie, who believed she had been captured by the Marines.

Now, Tiger-2 was headed to Totto Land to seek asylum with Big Mom, Smoothie in tow. With that, the World Government would either go to war with Big Mom, which was a plus for Rex, or think Tiger was with her, which was still a plus for Rex.

"I still don't know how to thank you." Tiger said, not imagining that soon, he would be able to live in peace. For three years Tiger had been relentlessly chased by marines and now…

"There's no need for thanks my friend." Rex says, shaking Tiger's hand as his ship arrived. "Go out and wear the drapes of a free man. Maybe one day, we'll meet again."

"Until we meet again." Tiger says, departing Momoiro Island with his crew.

But Tiger's Freedom was not all Rex gained from his playing around with memories. No, the Memo Memo no Mi had also blessed him with an intimate knowledge of Totto Land, its defenses and their weaknesses.

Now, if Rex ever planned on attacking or robbing Big Mom, he would have a means to do just that.

But there had been one more benefit.

"So, does it work?" Rose asked curiously, eager to see if her latest invention was a success.

"It works." Rex revealed with a smile, closing his eyes and feeling the life forces of Smoothie and Tiger all the way across the sea. "The new, Vivre Jackets work!"

Vivre Jackets, much like their card counterpart, were made of genetic material, Rex's to be precise, but that wasn't all. Encouraged by the fact that Big Mom's Vivre Card allowed her 'influence' to be used without her being there, Rex had hypothesized that if he created a Jacket out of Vivre Cards he could control it.

By retrieving Smoothie's memories of seeing her Vivre Card being made, Rose had made the Vivre Jackets and they worked… with some caveats. First, Rex could feel all of the Vivre Jackets Rose had made, not unlike the cards. However, to control them, Rex would have to be within a short range.

As such, the ability wasn't as overpowered as Rex wanted it to be, but it was sufficient. What's more, Kid had proved that, unlike the real 'Rex Jacket', Vivre Jackets could be overcome with Haki, making them less effective. Still, Rex preferred to look at the positives.

Now his two primary objectives, getting rid of Smoothie and freeing Tiger were done, it was time for the next objective. Freeing Tom.

"So, did Dragon get the necessary information?" Rex asks Ivankov eagerly, ready to undergo this

"Of course he did sweetie, he's Draaagon, after all!" Ivankov says in a swinging style.

"So, are we ready to move out?" Rex asks.

Ivankov nodded doing an odd catcall-like whistle, to summon an Okama, a fishman Rex recognizes as shark and a young woman.

"Dragon sends you these three reinforcements to help in your task." Ivankov says, identifying them. "My candy over there is Inazuma, scissor fruit wielder, he can cut anything like paper. The fishman is shark, he worked with Jacket D. Hoodie in the north. And as for this pretty filly, her name is Belo Betty, with the encouragement fruit from the East Blue."

Rex nods, finding that Dragon was indeed motivated enough, seeing that he had given him such valuable reinforcements.

"Well, let's go save a life!"