An Encounter By Chance

We had been sailing for several days now, the resources collected back at Secon Island had proved to be plentiful and lasting. As a result, we didn't need to have to stop by more islands for constant resupplying. It was a pleasant cruise down the New World.

If we could call it that, I didn't know how many allied kingdoms were in the New World, but they were a lot. We kept on encountering countless numbers of marine ships on their way to the Grandline. However, they didn't seem pleased to recognize our jolly roger. 

For the most part, the marines within the ship would commence a ceaseless bombardment upon us. However, it was a good thing that the crew had been training, they wasted no time deflecting all those cannonballs and launching an assult of their own. Ken would often find himself fighting off the Vice-Admiral or CP agent who was in charge of the fleet before defeating him. This practically meant that there was no need for me to intervene. 

So I would just lay on my couch enjoying my cigar while watching them fight. Stussy on the other hand had become quite the copy cat. I think she had seen the cigars on the desk in my room when we had been getting ready to sleep. So when we got to Secon Island, she snuck out to get herself a long stemmed cigar pipe. Now whenever I smoke she'd yank my lighter and spark up her own cigar. 

It had been annoying at first, but as we kept watching Ken knock down some more Marine ships as we sailed. I guess I had just gotten used to it, as for the Kings and Queens that were within the World Government ships that had been attacking them. I decided to let them be and just rob the gold that they were hoarding within the ship. It was a rather reasonable price to pay in place for their lives. 

It was also important to note that these ships often attacked in groups of three, which was incredibly convinient for us. The shifts the crew had been using had improved their unity, and as a result, they just split into their shifts to fight them off. Even now, as they were currently battling another fleet of World Government Ships, I could still sense the efficiency at which they were taking out the marines and World Government agents. 

"If the World Government Conference was that important to them, why are they going out of their way to attack us?" I asked rhetorically.

Stussy, who was currently sitting right next to me smoking her cigar pipe, blew out a puff of smoke in the air before replying.

"Whibeard's reputation has earned a high distaste within nobility. If they could knock down a pirate ship and steal all their loot just to piss him off, it would be a win for them."

"Aren't they scared of his wrath? I mean, the World Government often thinks twice before allowing anyone to step into our territory nowadays." I asked her again curiously.

"They don't fear the consequences because they know that the World Government would take their side and attack Whitebeard. In fact, they would probably use this as a proper justification to go to war with him." Stussy replied back.

"I think me killing off the World Nobles back in Falke Island was more of a justified reason to be honest." I briefly commented before taking another draw out of my cigar; damn these things were good.

"True, but if I remember correctly, you said that they had only come with a few government agents. Normally, Celestial Dragons are guided by at least a Vice-Admiral with a Marine fleet." She replied.

"Does that mean that those idiots actually snuck out of Mariejois?" I asked incredulously.

"Pretty much, but that's a rare occasion. I don't think that they would let them do something as stupid as that in the future." She smiled as she replied, playing with my hair with one hand while holding her cigar pipe with another.

The battle was almost reaching its conclusion, the three separate crews had just defeated everyone within the ship. I had warned them to just knock them unconcious or mildy injure them, after all, I was already on their radar. Killing off the Alliance members would probably make them think that Whitebeard is declaring war on the World Government. That would be too much trouble for him.

I promptly got off my couch to go see our captors. I had made it a habit to see the Kings and Queens that were being escorted on the ship along with the knocked out or tired Vice-Admiral/ CP agent. 

They often would use the same long winded speech about how they were affiliated with the World Government and that they would see to it that we would be captured and executed before we could do anything to retaliate. That wasn't all, they would also throw some weird curses that they had come with from their country. To be honest, every King or Queen I had met on the ship had a new array of slurs arranged just perfectly for me. 

On the other hand, the CP agent or the Vice-Admiral would only look at me warily before addressing me. I found it strange how World Government officials and Marines could quickly recognize me, whereas the Kings and Queens of these allied nations couldn't do the same. It was almost as if they had never seen me before, it was weird.

Anyway, this time, our victims were a Vice-Admiral with a mustache and a beard right under his chin. His hair was black but showed faint strands of white indicating his age. Asides from his strange hairdo, he was perfectly normal. He didn't seem to be fazed by me, he promptly stared back at me before talking.

"Well if it isn't The Storm Dragon, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked sarcastically.

"If anything, I should be the one asking you that. You attacked us first." I replied coldly.

"Those were our orders, surely you're not about to blame us over the orders of our Superiors?" He replied condescendingly.

I could tell that this talk wasn't going anywhere, so I ignored him and kept walking towards the ship where the King and or Queen was staying on. Two crew members had surrounded them, the King was a well built man who who had salt pepper like hair. He was together with his wife and a young red haired girl. 

"Aren't you...the King of Dressrosa?" I asked for confirmation. 

The man really didn't want to reply, he promptly stood before me as if he was trying to protect his wife and kid from me. It seemed that my guess had hit the mark, this was King Riku Doldo the third. I had never seen him at such a young age.

"Well that's a surprise," I muttered to myself. 

I had mixed feelings about him since he would soon be a puppet in Doflamingo's grand scheme for the kingdom. However, I really didn't need to care about it, after all; Dressrosa is the World Government's business, not Whitebeard's.

I kept looking at them for a bit before telling the two crewmembers to grab all the gold they could find. They quickly left for the hull as I looked for somewhere to sit on the ship. Stussy went near the King's wife and eyed her curiously before trying to strike a conversation with her. 

It looked like Riku wanted to do something, but he stopped himself as soon as he saw me looking at him. We remained like this until the two crewmembers came out with a couple of boxes of cigars and gold. I never really thought of the Dressrosa King as a smoker. It was probably going to be a gift to those World Nobles. Not that I cared, I quickly ordered them to bring the valuables back into the ship before leaving the World Government's ship.