Trip, Trust and Thanks

__________ POV Narration __________

Enel and Bonney didn't stick around Sphinx Island for long.

Enel did raise the question of moving Sphinx to the Sky Islands, arguing that the Government could still target him in the same way they did Baltigo.

But Whitebeard wasn't all that keen on moving to his hometown.

It was understandable... Although a bit disappointing.

Even if Whitebeard's influence was going to calm things down a bit in his territories, he was still technically in danger.

Newgate figured that if the government hadn't made a move yet, then they surely weren't going to anytime soon.

Even now, there were fewer and fewer signs of their movements in the world of Pirates, they seemed to now be completely focused on quelling the worldwide rebellion that Morgans was still fueling.

So, Whitebeard thought that it was safe enough to just remain where he was.

And so, the Sky King left with Bonney, his mind still filled with thoughts of the situation in the world at large.

Now that Kaido was no longer in the picture, Enel could safely assume that the government was going to slowly retract its support from Buggy... Unless they still wanted to control him for some reason?

There were way too many variables at play. Way too many scenarios that could play out.

Even the creation of Cross Guild was still in question, the Warlord System was somehow not yet disbanded.

Crocodile and Mihawk were also still loose cannons, and Enel knew that he needed to approach Mihawk personally at some point for recruitment...

Unless he delegated that task to Shanks? The two of them were old-time rivals/friends... The Red-Haired Emperor was surely the man for the job.

'I'll tell Garp to contact him when I get back...' The Emperor could only sigh as he rubbed the back of his head.

Meanwhile, Bonney was just laying by his side, on a thin metallic beach chair, playing with her hair and thinking about her time on the Sphinx Island...

She had always respected Whitebeard, she knew him as a good man, one of the few agreeable people that actually held a lot of power on the world scale.

She was happy to have made it in time in order to heal him, she didn't even need Enel to motivate her to do it in any other way.

To her, few people deserved to retain their former strength and youth, and Whitebeard was certainly one of them.

Normally, she would always be careful about who she used her powers around... She always had to be cautious, after all, some people weren't all that 'benevolent'. It was rare to find people not out to take advantage of her abilities.

Shiki was more of a question mark to her, even after so much time spent near him.

The Golden Lion just had a way of confusing people around him, even when he wasn't as senile... Truth be told, it almost felt like nothing had changed in that department...

Regardless, he was pretty much harmless. He was immensely helpful, and clearly out to bite the throats of the World Government.

Without him, it likely would've been impossible for an army that large to gather unnoticed...

There were also the marines she had brought back... Sengoku and Garp. They were both powerful, frighteningly so.

While Garp was in a league of his own, Sengoku himself was not that much weaker, even having an advantage over Garp when it came to durability.

Their characters were also good. They were among the few marines Bonney had actually come to like... Well, now that they had distanced themselves from the world government, she didn't quite hate any of them.

Then there was Enel himself... She hadn't exactly helped bring back his fighting power or anything, she just helped him regrow an arm.

It wasn't something she would ever be against, especially after the Sky King had gone above and beyond to help her Nephew, Kuma.

'Well, besides healing Whitebeard... I'm glad I also got to see him... He did leave without giving me much notice...'

The only person that she didn't quite know what to make of was Francisco...

She knew that he had done a lot of bad stuff in the past. She had seen descriptions of him in the newspapers while she was on the run, she had read snippets about some of the things he had done...

He was essentially scum if those things were true.

But then there was also Francsico as the man she had grown to know. A strange goofball that liked to act refined.

Mostly harmless unless faced with some unruly pirates or something that made him mad.

Regardless, Bonney had somewhat taken it upon herself to observe Francisco, to get closer to him and find out more, which led to them spending more time together...

Well, one thing led to another... And now they were essentially a bit more than friends. Though they didn't really speak openly about things.

'I wonder where he's headed next... And when he's coming back...' Bonney sighed as she closed her eyes and started trying to get some sleep.

Francisco and Whitebeard watched their ship as it disappeared into the horizon, both of them were silent for a while as they sat down on the shore of the island.

Their faces were slightly red, spending the entire night drinking barrels upon barrels of alcohol did that to most people.

"... So what's your plan now?" Whitebeard was the one to break the silence, slowly standing up and dusting himself with a bored gaze.

"Well, I have quite a few places I want to visit... First off, I'll be going to see what remains of God Valley..." Francisco also slowly stood up, stretching his arms slightly as he yawned.

"..." The redness in Whitebeard's cheeks was almost instantly gone, he blinked a few times and sighed.

"I should've expected something like that..." Newgate shook his head a few times.

"Don't misconstrue my intentions... I don't have any emotional attachment to that place... But I wish to see it... Xebec's treasure that is."

Whitebeard's head snapped back to Francisco at that moment, his eyes widening slightly.

"... I must confess... I may have forgotten about that already..." Newgate scratched his chin and tried to remember exactly what had happened.

"... How?! That vault had quite a lot of random shit in it, sure, but it also had most of his treasures..." Francisco was genuinely startled at what he was hearing.

"I just figured that the World Government stripped everything clean... I didn't think that anything survived on that island at all... Over time I just forgot about it in general..." Whitebeard shook his head and looked down at Francisco.

"Even if I hadn't forgotten about it... The only people that can open that place are you and Xebec..." Newgate scowled a bit, his eyes twisting a bit as he wracked his mind a bit, trying to remember some details about where the vault might have ended up.

"First off, I guess you weren't ever told... But Xebec had Shiki bury the vault to the bottom of the sea a bit before the 'incident' happened... I doubt anyone's looked that far down..." Francisco shook his head a bit. He remembered exactly where the Vault was, and he knew how to reach it.

Initially, he had hoped that Enel would go to God Valley and find it, maybe bring back the spoils. He wanted it to be more of a surprise to Enel at first.

He assumed that Enel would be able to sense it thanks to his expansive Observation Haki. But, as it would turn out, Enel didn't even bother going to God Valley.

'Can't really blame him... He's always busy with other stuff...

I don't even know when the last time he rested was... A few hours of sleep on a rooftop don't count either, he needs a proper break...'

Despite Francisco believing that Enel needed a break, he also knew that their time was limited, and Enel needed to grow stronger fast.

'His fruit has the possibility of surpassing all of us. A 'God-Fruit' if you will...

But a fruit isn't anything special if its user is a waste of breath. Garp's training may be gruelling, but it's necessary.'

Whitebeard seemed to ponder on Francsico's words for a while before he shook his head once more.

"... I'm guessing Shiki didn't collect it? Well, not that he would've been able to open it, but at least he could've tried..."

"Honestly? Shiki was never the brightest bulb... He's nice, but he may have either forgotten about it or just thought it was a waste of time since he didn't have any assurance of being able to open it..."

Francisco shook his head and took one more step towards the shore, where a small boat was already prepared for him.

"... It really could go either way..." Whitebeard scowled a bit as he remembered Shiki's demeanour whenever they went drinking in the past.

"Regardless, I'm going there first... Then I'll be looking for John's body..." Francisco smiled a bit as he remembered one of his other objectives, retrieving John's body and returning it to John's Town.

"That greedy idiot? Cut ties with him long ago, forgot about him completely..." Whitebeard shook his head and slowly turned his head and looked towards Vista's grave.

"You know... I don't think he would mind if you kept one of his swords for now... At least until you find one good enough for you..."

"... I'd rather not take one of your son's most prized possessions, those blades will remain here from now on. Besides... I'll be taking 'that'..." Francisco was somewhat flattered by Whitebeard's suggestion.

But he didn't like the idea of stealing a swordsman's possession. Taking a sword from a swordsman's grave was the same as prying it out of their cold hands... It was disrespectful.

Whitebeard understood that, but at the same time, he knew that it wouldn't have been something Vista would've been against.

At the end of the day, Francisco did save Whitebeard's life, as well as the lives of the rest of the island's residents.

"I guess that thing would be there, huh?... Suit yourself, but also beware of the dangers it poses... Though someone with your willpower shouldn't have any trouble." Whitebeard just shook his head once more and headed back towards the town.

Francisco just stepped on his boat and pushed away from the shore with a paddle.

"BYEEE! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!" "HAVE A SAFE JOURNEY!" "PLEASE COME VISIT US AGAIN!" "DRINK WITH US MORE NEXT TIME!"

Francisco turned his head in confusion. His eyes widened slightly as he gazed at the shores behind him.

Gathered there were the residents of Sphinx Island, all waving their hands and saying their goodbyes as the swordsman's boat got further away from the island.

The swordsman was a bit startled at first, but that startled expression was quickly replaced by a warm smile.

He waved back to the crowd as his boat continued drifting further away from the island.

'... Being appreciated by people feels a lot better than being feared... Who would've thought?'

Francisco just shook his head, a smile still present on his face as he started rowing faster and faster, his energy renewed.

'Onwards to God Valley!'

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Hope you liked the chapter!

The triple T in the title :)) Anyway, still trying to keep up the daily uploads, I've been managing fine till now so all's well.

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