8 Kidnapping Time
A.N.
Sorry, I missed out on one thing, the deal was supposed to occur at Rubeck Island, but the incident happened on Minion island. Barrel pirates occupied Minion island and 3 days later, they were supposed to move to Rubeck island for the deal.
I am not going to update the previous chapter since all the paragraph comments get deleted.
I had to re-read the events of the Minion island again, trying to get every single detail to write this and the next chapter.
Secondly, in the previous chapters' feedback, I got the feedback that 2 of MC's future crew members have very high talent and conqueror's haki. I would like to clarify that. The below is not exactly a spoiler, but a very unclear future growth path of MC and his crew, briefly mentioning their final expected power level in general. However, if you do not want to be spoiled in the slightest, you can directly skip to the main chapter.
I plan to make the crew stronger than Rocks or Roger's crew by end of the story. Rocks had Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Kaido who have immense talent as we can all see, and still got defeated. The previous sentence does not imply in any way that I will make each of MC's crewmates stronger than WB, BM, Kaido, or something like that. Their final power level is something that I will not reveal now. I will make the final decision on their power level once the canon progresses and I get a better idea.
Please also keep in mind that, this is also considering any possible end boss of the series, so I would rather be safe than sorry. I would hope not, but Oda might pull something like Kaguya of Naruto, with IM.
As for king's haki users, MC's crew will have 4 of them (excluding MC), not one more or less. And those 4 will have the highest combat power/talent in the crew.
As for why are they all king's haki users, Roger had 4 of them under him (Rayleigh, Oden, Bullet, and Shanks), and Rocks had 3 confirmed (WB, BM, Kaido) and there can be many unconfirmed (like Shiki). So I got the inspiration to have multiple king's haki users under MC.
What makes the MC special is that Rocks could not handle all of them properly (at least that is what is implied in the story), resulting in a loss of unity in the crew. MC will be able to handle them (probably making him a true king among kings or something like that)
Now enjoy
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I started visiting Rubeck Island and Minion Island again and again, daily by swimming.
The deal was supposed to happen at Rubeck Island but the incident happened at Minion Island. But since some things might differ according to ROB, I would rather not take the risk.
Rubeck Island was 1 hour and Minion Island was 30 minutes swimming distance from Swallow Island.
3 hours of swimming daily is not a big deal to me. In fact, I spend more than 4 hours swimming daily. The pressure and friction from the water help me improve faster.
Once in a while sharks take a liking to me.
If my daily mission of visiting Rubeck Island and Minion Island is not over, I just scare them with my haki, and if it is over, I fight them underwater for improvement.
Two weeks passed when I visited the two islands again and again. Today, the Minion island was occupied by pirates. My heart was definitely beating fast.
I was not sure about the power levels of Barrel pirates, but I am assuming the captain to be strong. I am assuming my strength to be somewhere close to Ace or Sabo when they separated, and Ace was weaker than Bluejam at that time. So the captain, Diez Barrel, should be stronger than Bluejam who was an East Blue pirate.
But I cautiously explored the island. As long as I encounter some fodder, I can easily escape. Even my haki will knock them out. But not the captain or the top members.
Walking around, I found another canon character. He is named Dory, the future X-Drake.
How did I identify him? It was the 'X' scar mark. I knew he was a kind-hearted guy who hated the pirate group. He was supposed to be more than 18 years old during the incident, as he was 7 years older than Law, but he seemed way younger. So I approached him.
"Hi, are you one of the pirates?"
He was surprised. The townspeople were cold to him because he was a pirate. Nonetheless, he replied
"Yes, unfortunately, I am"
"You don't seem to be happy about it"
"You can say I am forced to stay here. My father started this crew"
"Huh? Why would a father do something like that to his child? He is supposed to protect you"
I obviously remember his backstory, but I can't just make it obvious, so I started asking him about it.
"He is not a father, he is a monster. He keeps me with him because I am of use to him"
"Well I don't know much about parents, because I am an orphan, but our grandmas take good care of us. But did you never try to escape?"
"I did not. I am scared. If he finds out, he will beat me up. Having no father is better than having a thrash of a father"
"Hmmm... But do you guys want to occupy this island?"
"No, we are here for some job. We need to leave for the Rubeck Island on Sunday, there our job will be done."
So it's Sunday... Today is Monday, so going by the timeline, on Thursday at midnight, the incident will happen.
We talked about many things. I needed to get him to trust me for my master plan to work.
I also asked him his age, and he was 10 at this time. So that's what ROB told me when he said another character will have a different age.
Soon after 3 hours I left. I don't need to visit the Rubeck island anymore since I have confirmed that according to canon the event will take place in Minion island.
I promised Drake that I will meet him again at the same time tomorrow on the same shore from where I departed.
From this incident, I planned to gain 2 people and treasure. The two people are my main priority since I can get more treasure in the future easily, but not a fighter-doctor with ope-ope-no-mi and a Vice Admiral level fighter with an ancient zone. Yes, I used [observe] on him
[---]
Name: Dory (X-Drake)
Personality: Coward, unconfident, reluctant, submissive
Devil fruit: Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Allosaurus
Talents: Management [A], leadership [B], swordsmanship [A], axemanship [A], observation haki [A], armament haki [A], martial arts [B]
[***]
I must say it is good. Not Thor or Hodur level, but good. I did not know if he had the devil fruit at this time but [observe] solved the problem.
As for treasure, I could not get all of it. Law needed the treasure to escape Doflamingo since Corazon put him inside the treasure box, and Doflamingo pirates carried them. So I was not ready to steal them all.
Neither was I going to risk facing Doflamingo. I am confident enough to escape Diez Barrels, if not defeat him, but not Doflamingo. In fact, during this entire operation, I have to make sure to not be known by Doflamingo at all and act like a ghost.
It was a very risky operation, but the life I wanted was filled with risks.
The next day (Tuesday), I visited the island again. This time Drake was expecting me. We had lots of chats, and once I insisted Drake to speak about the job, and he gave me all the details. As expected of a 10-year-old I guess.
But that also shows his trust in me. I planned to manipulate him a bit, but not harm him at all. I would rather give him a better place to stay than the marines and if a small bit of manipulation helps then why not?
I also made sure to talk about many good things about our orphanage and narrate to him stories in such a way that he feels like he is witnessing them first-hand. It was mainly so that he wants to stay with us. He must crave this life in our orphanage.
I bid him farewell for that day. Today, I stayed here for 5 hours.
Luckily for me, no one noticed my absence. Thor and Hodur knew that I visited the nearby islands while swimming and they told no one. Thor wanted to join, but I convinced him to stay so that nobody finds out that I am missing.
In return, I give them more share of my food.
The next day (Wednesday) I visited him again with a bag, but this time, I wanted to convince Drake of my plan.
After having some light chats, I finally asked
"Oi Dory, do you want to join us at the orphanage?"
He was shocked, but he said
"I would love to Jai, but my father won't allow"
"Dory, do you think he will still survive the deal?"
He was shocked. He didn't love his father or the crewmates, but he didn't expect this either.
"Dory I saw huge marine warships in the seas. Do you think the marines will just hand over some no-name pirate 5 billion belly? Especially, some marine deserter?"
I added more reasons, to convince him that his father will die.
He thought about it and said
"You are right. Marines will double-cross us. My father will die"
"So what do you say? Want to escape tomorrow?"
"But won't my father look for me, and go to your island searching for me?"
"He won't, he will not even bother looking for you. He is very close to success. He will not search for you till the deal is done."
He thought, he hesitated. I motivated him. The process went on for a few rounds and finally
"Ok Jai, let's do this"
"Great, by the way, can you do one more thing?"
"Yes. What is it that you want?"
"Take this bag. When your father's crew is drunk, put treasures inside this bag, and replace them with the stones in here"
But this time Drake interrupted
"Stop stop stop. He might not care about me, but he cares about his treasures a lot"
"So what, just steal about 75% from each box. He will not even realize it till the marine deal is done. And once the deal is done, he will most likely die"
I obviously knew that he will not be alive to pursue the treasure after tomorrow night, so I was not worried about it.
This time Drake was unwilling and scared, but I still convinced him somehow. I gave him various reasons like "He will not even know." "He will die anyway" "No one will be able to find you on our island."
I explained the detailed plan. The summary of it is, Drake will put the treasures inside the bag, throw them in the sea and we will collect it later. If he is not confident, he will just keep the treasures inside his room and while escaping, I will figure something out.
To replace the treasure, I carried a bag containing gold-colored stones. I used normal paint for that, but as long as there is some real gold on top of them, nobody will distinguish them at least with a look.
Drake carried the bag of stones inside as some errand that his father asked him to bring. They never cross-check the bags, and they did not cross-check this time as well.
I saw everything going smoothly.
After that, he came outside again.
"Is it in your room?"
"Yes. for now the bag is safe. I will insist on guarding the treasure room at night"
"Be careful, do not be nervous or appear suspicious at all"
"Don't worry. I will manage it."
Bidding farewell and wishing luck, I departed.
The next day (Thursday morning), I was ready for action. I got a dagger for today. I was better with a sword but a dagger is better for sneak missions.
I visited Drake, and he said,
"I have secured the treasures, but it is still inside my room."
"What happened to the plan? You just tell them you are throwing out the garbage from night's party and carry the treasure"
"The problem is, before me, someone just took out the trash. I will not be able to sneak it out by calling it garbage anymore"
He is still a child without many skills, not Corazon, who has learned to spy. It was indeed difficult for him. I had a few solutions for it, but hopefully, I won't need to fight.
"What about your father?"
"He and many of his crew members are still sleeping. But not the ones on patrol duty. If they make some noise, the others will wake up"
The situation is still better than expected.
"How many people are there on the rooftop?"
"Two"
Ok, it is manageable.
I and Drake, took a spot near the mansion to observe it. There were indeed 2 guards on the rooftop. The others were a few patrolling, but I had figured out their patterns. They were noobs to patrol in such a predictable way, but they probably relied on the rooftop guards as well.
I and Drake got closer to the mansion and took a hiding spot. Now was the time, I used conqueror's haki on the two people on the rooftop. And they were unconscious.
Observing the ground guards, I took Drake and 5-step-soru-ed to the mansion. We got to his room and picked up the treasure bag. I was trying to use observation haki the entire time, and probably due to the stressful situation, I was able to use it more frequently.
But, I sensed the strongest presence moving now. I was shocked. If Diez woke up, then it will be difficult. I got careful and became more cautious, but still calm. I needed observation haki the most now.
Avoiding others with my haki, I and Drake, escaped the mansion. Now, all we have to do is escape the island after dumping the treasure on the ocean floor.
We rushed to the beach while being careful, and we avoided all the troubles.
Just when we reached the seashore, we heard someone say
"Oi, Dory what are you doing here? What is that bag? And who is this brat?"
The person was getting more cautious while speaking.
Drake was getting the shit scared, but I had to do something.
I quickly used conqueror's haki on him and used a 5-step-soru followed by an iai-draw. The haki did not knock him out but it was enough to shake him, the soru, even though was nowhere fast compared to the original, still helped me quickly cover the distance and perform the dagger strike, right at his throat.
The person died, but I vomited. This was my first time killing, and it didn't feel good at all. The smell of human blood, and looking at a person who was dying like a chicken was enough for me to vomit.
"He is Cinco, the number 5 in the crew. If he goes missing, my father will be suspicious"
"We do not have any other choice, Dory. I will dispose of his body and you can hide in our forest"
Taking things into consideration, I quickly dragged the dead body into the ocean, so as to leave minimum bloodstains.
Next, we dropped the bag on the ocean and I tied Drake to my back. I dragged the dead body to the sea and started swimming.
I knew the sharks' home so I dropped the body somewhere close to it and escaped with Drake.
After 30 mins, we reached Swallow Island again. Thor and Hodur were waiting for me and Drake. I told them about him and also my little mission to escape with Drake.
They were happy to see us and made arrangements for Drake in the cave of the forest.
