OP C04 - Dave's Sabaody arc

Despite the Strawhat's knowing about Sabaody this time around, Luffy, Robin, and Usopp still decided to see if they could find out anything about Fishman Island by using the submarine Franky had built for the first time when they reached the Red Line. Just as in the source material, the trip was for naught, and they still somehow managed to perfectly time it to meet the Sea Rabbit that had swallowed the mermaid Camie and the starfish Pappagg.

Dave, ready to split with the Strawhat's soon, stopped interacting with the crew a few days ago, yet with their silly antics, nobody except for Robin, Usopp, and Nami really noticed his behavior.

As much as he loved OnePiece and Luffy and his crew, knowing about his last lives and that he will have a next life in another world, Dave started feeling like an outsider no matter how much the sociable group included him. For instance, in training Shave and Moonwalk.

Since he knew so much about the past and future of the crew, Dave constantly thought about what his actions might mean for them and his psyche shifted to a dissociated mindframe where he analyzed his every word and couldn't live in the 'now'.

He second-guessed every word to not slip up with things he couldn't possibly know in settings where he didn't mean to disclose it. He feared that every action of his could lead to the crew losing a member when they would only survive by sheer chance in the future. And so it came that Dave's initial elation turned to a moody past couple of days where he wanted to do nothing but grow stronger in peace and set his own plan for the world in motion that didn't involve the Strawhat crew.

He had continued to stealthily increase their physical powers with his fruit during their voyage while the mast and hull of the Thousand Sunny were now as strong as he could make it. Sanji had to constantly make food for him as his non-stop training was very demanding, though Sanji gladly complied when Franky mentioned to everyone how much Dave had increased the already great defenses of their ship.

Usopp had even increased his time fishing so that enough food was present when he heard Robin suggest that the crew's increased training speed was also due to Dave. Robin didn't outright tell them that he could increase their physical strength with just his devil fruit, but Usopp was smart enough to connect the dots with Robin's clue. Without doing much, he woke up gaining at least a tenth in physical strength every morning since they left Thriller Bark, and Usopp wasn't stupid.

Embarking on Sabaody grove 41 together with Zoro, Dave, with his chest of priceless devil fruits and wooden spear, decided to find Bonney first somewhere in the groves numbering in the 20s. Shaky's bar wouldn't help right now because Rayleigh let himself get caught to end up as a debt slave and hadn't been with his lover for a few months.

Meeting Rayleigh would, therefore, have to wait, Dave hoped telling him about Ace might earn him enough good graces to get tips on training haki. Especially how to hide from observation haki.

He had extorted a little money from Nami before his departure, and Usopp and Robin had urged her to pay him a little extra without explaining much. Nami had her own suspicions, but she rarely trained for battles or fought, so she didn't know about everything Dave did for the crew. Dave didn't speak any goodbyes, but the smarter crew members could see in his eyes that he wanted to split now that he reached his destination. Luffy had never invited him to be a part of the crew anyway, and he was a weirdly great judge of character - that already told the crew a lot.

Zoro had a little argument with Usopp and Sanji about how he shouldn't go alone becasue there was no way he wouldn't get lost until Zoro pointed out that every grove was numbered so there was no way he could get lost.

Of course, unknown to those three, the directionally challenged Zoro looked at the pillar at the exact moment a bubble hid the 4 of 41. Dave didn't correct it and silently walked alongside Zoro for the moment so that the swordsman would end up near the human auction house later on.

"Thank you," Zoro said after a while.

Dave was confused and looked to the swordsman with a questioning gaze, "For?"

"The ship and our training," Zoro simply answered.

"Training?"

"No need to play dumb. I know my body better than anybody. Every time I fell asleep, I woke up a little stronger. It wasn't much, but it only started when you joined us at Water 7," Zoro replied, not even gazing at Dave.

"Oh. You guys are nice people. I wanted to give back," Dave waved away.

"Heh."

"Hmm?"

"You did it because of something else, I can tell. I just hope it wasn't because you think we are weak."

"Well, you guys are pretty weak in the grand scheme of things. You guys really need to find trainers for haki or, I dunno. A crewmember, that knows what he's talking about. You're in a for a rude awakening."

Zoro clenched his fist and gritted his teeth but stayed quiet.

As they reached the groves numbered in the 20s, Dave turned into his fox form and stored the wooden spear and wooden chest in his body. It was a trick he learned by accident after they left Thriller Bark. It didn't work on anything metallic or even just meat, for example.Only wood and other plants and plant materials could be stored. Thankfully, that included paper money and devil fruits.

That was why the chest holding the devil fruit no longer had a steel lock and had leaves as padding instead of what it had before.

Dave had closed the chest by simply growing the wood together. Too bad Adam hadn't made the chest out of some outrageously overpowered wood, but after getting six busted devil fruits he vowed himself to no longer complain about Adam in this life until he found out the ridiculous reason he would die before he turned 30. Maybe that incurable disease Roger had just for shits and giggles? Dave could hardly wait.

For some reason, Zoro walked in perfect synchrony with the path Dave wanted to take, so Dave ended up meeting the Celestial Dragon Saint Charlos together with Zoro.

Charlos was just about to get slashed in two by Zoro when Bonney in her child form jumped into the Strawhat's swordsman and pretended he died so that Charlos would think Zoro was killed and leave.

However, Charlos saw Dave's form for a short moment despite his 'blending into nature passive' and stayed a little while longer than he originally would have to dumbly stare into the air. It gave Dave some time to stealthily plant a few time bomb splinters into the CP agents accompanying the Celestial Dragon - though sadly he couldn't do it with Charlos since he wore that suit and bubble.

The skill was new and still had room for improvement - he would eventually find out how to assassinate world nobles through the bubble without anyone finding out how.

The precious moments Charlos stayed longer sadly decided the grim fate of the man trying to save his fiancee who got shot, and Zoro was left to deliver an almost corpse to the hospital he was pointed to by a civilian.

Seeing a Cipher Pol agent made Dave see red, however, so he followed the man as he brought the nurse to the port to be sent to Mary Geoise to be prepared as Charlos' 13th wife.

Since most agents stayed with the world noble as protection, the distraught nurse was being carried by a singular CP agent toward the port. When he took a shortcut with relatively little people right next to the port, Dave spit another splinter to the agent that landed on his neck and pierced the skin a little. It then quickly expanded but only did minimal damage since it mostly expanded to the outside. With a wooden mask on his head he quickly grew out of a thin sheet of wood that completely concealed his identity, Dave changed back into human form right behind the agent and used his spear and a little conqueror haki to make quick work of the man who survived his assassination attempt.

Three piercing thrusts later, Dave finally landed a killing blow and quickly dragged the nurse away from the battle after gathering everything that fell out of his 'grass inventory' that only worked in his fox form. Something he would need to work on.

"Y-you shouldn't have done that! Y-you'll be shot! J-just like my...m-my Judy," the lady fearfully exclaimed.

"Lady, you're save now as long as you don't run into any of the agents who were with that bubble-head shitstain. So take a deep breath," Dave softly explained as he held both of the hysterical woman's arms. "I suggest you ditch the nurse outfit and put on glasses or something. I think that green haired dude brought him to the closest hospital in grove 24. Think about where that is, and go there to check on your fiance. I'll follow along to make sure you're okay."

Dave had already missed his chance to make an impression on Bonney, so he decided to see things through with this lady. It was one of the very first things he decided to do totally unprompted and with no hidden agenda to 'further the plot' and that felt refreshing to the man who spent the full last week brooding.

The lady quickly threw away the nurse hat, unbuttoned her blouse to show a blue top underneath, folded the fabric a little to hide the red cross on her chest, and used some water to make her shoulder-length black hair wet to slick it back. Dave gave her a thumbs up, reassured her he would be close and changed back into his fox form when he felt nobody looking at him with his observation haki.

Quickly storing all his items, he followed Marie - that was the nurses name - back toward grove 24 in his fox form. Though, sadly, they arrived too late, just like Zoro had when Judy, Marie's fiancee, died on the operating table of the hospital moments into the operation.

After expressing their condolences, everybody left Marie alone to grief except for Dave, who once more started feeling terrible. He was sure that the man had survived in the original storyline, so for a short moment, he felt responsible for the man's death. But before he started spiraling once more, Dave changed into his human form and slapped himself!

'Come on! Just because I live here and they coincidentally die doesn't mean it's my fault! Charlos shot him, not me!'

As he admonished himself, Marie turned toward him with a teary expression and lunged into his chest to cry her eyes out. Him, a man she had met only minutes before. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it in a reassuring manner - even if he was unsure if it helped because the woman kept sobbing loudly without stop.

From the raw emotion the woman showed, it was clear she loved the man dearly. It gave Dave some perspective and at the same time reminded him that this world was real, same as this life. What he did mattered, he did save this woman from slavery and marriage to that pig Charlos and even though Judy died when originally he shouldn't, Dave did allow Marie to grief for him and send his soul off - if that was even a thing.

"I'm very sorry for your loss, Marie," Dave offered in a quiet voice when her sobbing wouldn't stop. He hoped talking might calm the woman down a little instead of her getting stuck in this mindset endlessly.

"I... I feel silly. I don't even know your name," Marie whispered out several minutes later - avoiding talking about her dead fiance in the room.

Dave pondered for a short moment if he should give her a fake name but decided against it. So far, and with Rob Lucci dead and Kalifa and Kaku unaware of the full picture as far as he knew because Lucci sent out everyone when Dave was finally ready to talk, nobody knew about 'all' of his abilities outside of the Strawhat crew and if they ever came to light in the future, nobody would care about him rescuing a random woman from Cipher Pol. At worst, it would put a target on Marie's own back and change his bounty from several hundred million to several hundred million and one, he argued internally.

"Link Dave. And please don't thank me for intervening. I have a personal stake in this as long as it concerns Cipher Pol," Dave gently replied as the woman changed from sobbing to quietly crying. It was a minor victory, he judged.

"I'll thank you anyway, Link Dave. I... could at least say goodbye," Marie managed to say before choking on a few more sobs.

Empathetic with her plight, Pete thought about his devil fruits and the fact that he needed people on his side to fight with him. Certainly, the woman before him would lose all purpose and remain broken with how much she showed to have loved her fiancee even going as far as taking her own life or she would do something similarly foolish - or so Dave thought.

He could, however, channel her hurt, her anger into something else he judged worthy - fighting those that enabled scum like Charlos to do as he pleased.

He wasn't quite sure how to approach the subject when Marie turned her head up and showed him her red eyes. "Take me with you! I shouldn't remain here, at the place where I work. I'll always fear them coming back to take me away to that... noble!"

"Call him for what he is, worthless scum," Dave countered, and Marie had a sharp air intake at the insult of a world noble. It certainly matched her sentiment at this moment, but as someone who lived in Sabaody her whole life and was made to worship the ground they walk on, it was hard to change her perspective so fast.

Moments later, Dave decided to take her with him to Kuma based on her answer.

"I know for a fact that an acquaintance of mine is about to hit Saint Charlos in the head for daring to buy a friend and shoot another at the Human Auction house in grove 1. My way off the island is going to appear in a few hours at most because of that. Are you sure you can say goodbye to your fiance this fast?"

Marie's eyes turned glassy for a while before she firmed her expression. With a nod, she answered, "Yes. If you would allow me to send off his body, I can go anywhere."

Dave bent down and touched the wooden floor. It started to grow over his hand shortly after and when he saw Marie had seen his power, he nodded to Judy and suggested, "As far as I know becoming a part of the Archipelago is the go-to passing rite here in Sabaody. I can make that happen for him."

He did live most of his life before awakening fully near Sabaody, so he knew a bit about its customs, even though his unawakened self had never been here after something quite similar to Marie's case happened to his mom.

Marie brought her hands to her mouth and started crying once more with a nod. In all honesty, Dave felt it was quite disrespectful to Judy since his corpse wasn't even cold yet, but he had a tight window of opportunity when the real Kuma arrived among the pacifista and sent the Strawhats away and he still wanted a moment to talk with Rayleigh before that.

Dave had used the moment before their heart-to-heart to lightly strengthen Marie, so she was able to help Dave carry her fiance sneakily out of the hospital and to their small house near the water. There, half submerged in the water, Dave had the tree that is Sabaody swallow the body and he concentrated his power to make a small little memorial by making the wood grow Judy's face with closed eyes and a peaceful expression.

He gave Marie a few minutes in silence as he looked through their home for anything they might need but found nothing. Marie, of course, packed a small bag with clothes and a small stack of love letters Judy had written for her when he pursued her.

She also changed out of her nurse clothes completely and was now in a long, form-fitting black dress, pink sunglasses, and beanie on her head in the same color as Judy's hair.

"Alright, time to go to Shaky's Rip-Off Bar in grove 13. Do you know the way?"

Marie nodded, though a little unsurely since she knew the infamous bar but had never personally been inside. Dave changed into his fox form, and the two made their way over there on one of those bubble-bikes that Judy owned.

On their way, Dave spotted a man with long silver hair, glasses, and a huge sack of tools on his back, who he quickly identified as Rayleigh! Inwardly he started sweating that he wasted so much time that the fight at grove 1 was long over, the Strawhats gathered in Shaky's bar and had a whole long-ass conversation with Rayleigh and his past while he helped Marie.

He quickly motioned for Marie to slow down and jumped out of the bubble to land near the dark king. Different from most people, Rayleigh instantly noticed the peculiar fox and, without a care in the world, started following it into a dark alley when it motioned to do so with its paws.

His observation haki told him they were alone, so Dave changed back into his human form without the mask - yet Rayleigh stayed quiet.

"Uh, I'd suspected you would ask or say something..."

Rayleigh started to look bored and retorted, "Why should I?"

"Well, if you say it like that... okay, I get the feeling I'm losing you here. I suspect you just talked with Luffy and his crew? I actually reached Sabaody with their help," Dave started to explain to establish a little rapport with the old man. "My name's Link Dave - I helped the Strawhats a little in Enies Lobby and was with them on Thriller Bark."

"Okay?"

"Uh, right. Old man Rayleigh - I'd like you to teach me some things about haki!"

"I refuse."

"And you don't even have to actually train me. All you gotta do is point me in the right direction."

"I refuse."

"And in return, I'll tell you that your late captain had a son, and he's about to be publically executed."

"I ref- what?"

"Huh, honestly, I wasn't sure about that... the fact that you didn't know, I mean. Did you really not know Portgas D. Rouge? She carried her son for 20 months so that nobody would know he was Roger's offspring and entrusted the kid to Garp before dying," Dave narrated with a frown.

Something was off about that for sure. He always chalked the fact that Rayleigh wasn't at the Summit War due to plot convenience. But would a man like Rayleigh truly let the only son of his captain die?

Rayleigh's expression turned incredibly solemn. Gone was his bored expression, and his carefree smile was nowhere to be seen.

"I assume you know what it means to lie to me, boy?"

"Yep," Dave responded with a nod.

"... are your questions done in ten minutes? You made it sound like that."

"Sure, if you can put it into simple words," Dave said with a shrug.

"Then shoot, there's nobody closeby."

"I have observation haki and conqueror haki, but my armament haki isn't... unlocking."

Rayleigh instantly punched Dave in the guts with a lightning-fast strike. He doubled over and emptied his stomach completely in moments. Rayleigh had anticipated that and took a step backward.

"W-what the hell was that?"

"What color is my fist?"

Dave looked up and saw that the old man's fist was black! This was his first time seeing armament haki up close.

"Imagine your will covering your body like a skin-tight armor. Make it so you will your body to be stronger, harder, more durable."

"I-I see," Dave said in between heaving deeply. Eventually, he firmed his mind and stood upright. "Thanks, I guess. Then my next question, hiding from observation haki. I know you can do it."

"Oho, that's rather advanced. Well, the short and easy of it is that you cover your body in conqueror haki and will yourself to be a fly on the wall instead of the monster that you are. Imagine your will shrouding your very essence. Just don't blast it out in waves like a beginner would, but turn it inward."

Dave etched every word in his mind before he nodded. "Okay, then my last question, which is a little out of left field - but I doubt we'll see each other again anytime soon for a nice little talk. Imagine I get down armament. What do I need to think about when I want to learn internal destruction?"

Rayleigh lifted a brow. He almost thought the brat's information wasn't worth such a precious piece of knowledge and at the same time knowing about emission and internal destruction before fully understanding the basics might hinder his development. But since he asked and seemed like a plenty talented kid, Rayleigh reluctantly decided to indulge the young man.

"When you're able to wield your will like a weapon, nothing is impossible. Get to the stage of coating first, then comes emission, and then you need your will to flow inside your opponent like water and implode while outside of your body and inside your opponent."

"Implode?"

"You need physics lessons, brat? That wasn't part of the deal!"

Dave waved his hand in surrender and said, "No-no, I was just thinking out loud. I know what an implosion is."

"What stage of observation are you at anyway?"

"Hmm? Oh, presence sensing, though I'm not entirely sure how far and how accurate. Some intent sensing, though that is very recent and it still needs a lot of work. And from the fact that I'm almost pissing myself after you did something moments before the hit to my gut, I'm guessing partial strength sensing."

"Huh, not bad. Keep at it. You're doing something right if you got that far knowing jack shit." Didn't he just ask about some very advanced haki techniques? Dave shook away the thoughts on Rayleigh's answer quickly.

"While I got you here, can you sense this?" Dave asked as he picked up a wooden splinter from the ground and imbued it with a timed splinter bomb. He threw it to the wall and looked to Rayleigh.

The old man had lifted an eyebrow and 'ooh-ed' and 'aah-ed' with an amused clap after the splinter exploded into brambles the size of a large fist.

"Looked like fireworks to me, brat. But I'm guessing that's only true for people who are pretty good at observation haki."

"Still need to work before I become an assassin then. Alright, thanks for hearing me out. I'll go eat at your wife's now. The bar, please don't get me wrong and punch me again," Dave pleaded as he held out his hand for a handshake. "Oh! When you meet Kuma later, please tell him to meet me there if he wants to meet 'Sun Wukong'. He'll know what that means."

Rayleigh took his hand with a confused expression and asked, "What makes you think I'll meet this 'Kuma'?"

"You really think an admiral would let today slide and allow the Strawhats off the island? I bet Kizaru is already terrorizing the population while ignoring all the slaver traders like a true loyal little dog," Dave explained with a grimace.

He didn't give Rayleigh much time to ask more questions after that and simply changed to his fox form to head back to the waiting Marie. They took off toward grove 13 under Rayleigh's gaze and entered the almost entirely empty bar. There was only one woman inside, and she looked to be leafing through some papers at a table.

Dave recognized her as the owner, ushered Marie into a seat a few tables over, and sat down in front of Shakky.

"We're closed, boy," Shakky said without looking up.

"We're just waiting here for a friend to come pick us up. I just met 'Ray', and he said it was fine."

"I doubt the old man would say something like that," Shakky retorted, still reading whatever she had lying on the table in front of her.

"True, but I did say I was going to eat at his wife's bar, and he didn't say I couldn't. Only asked some inane nonesense, like why I would think Kuma will come here after what the Strawhats did."

Shakky finally looked up and regarded Dave. She lit up a cigarette and asked, "You seem to act on information that either couldn't be known by regular folk or you're a psychic. Which is it?"

"Well, knowledge is power," Dave started, and Shakky had a pleased expression on her face. "And I've seen Kuma 'help out' the Strawhats before back on Thriller Bark by torturing their swordsman - it stands to reason that he might do that again. The Tyrant can come and go as he pleases after all."

"Oho, you know something about his powers? Impressive."

"Ah, please don't goat me into giving even more information for free. You're beautiful enough that it might just work. But your lover did give me some great tips on haki training just now, so I'll give you a freebie: If Blackbeard's scheme with the Summit War works out, he'll go to Amazon Lily soon after," Dave offered with a solemn expression.

"Huh, that's more than just one piece of information, boy. So Blackbeard got his warlord seat because he captured Ace-chan. He plans to use the marines to weaken Whitebeard and Whitebeard to weaken the marines... Impel Down is close to Marineford - so he's recruiting a crew from the worst scum they have inside there?"

Dave shivered a little as Shakky finished her explanation, thoroughly impressed with her deduction.

"Almost full points. But I ran a little scheme of my own and informed Rayleigh about the true identity of Ace. That should throw a wrench in Blackbeard's plans if the old man decides to make a move."

"Oho, so Roger had a son?"

"... you're scary," Dave whispered with wide eyes after Shakky once more completed the picture with almost nothing to go on.

"Well, you wanted something to eat for you and that lady? Help yourself. Monkey-chan raided the fridge earlier, so I'm not too sure what's still in it."

With what was left, Dave could only make a salad for Marie and himself, and he even had to spend stamina to grow a little more of it to make three filling portions. It wouldn't do to eat the last of Shakky's food after all without giving her a piece of it.

He still didn't do any tests if growing food was a net gain or loss for his energy, but devil fruits were already bullshit and didn't really care about the conservation of energy and mass or any other related physic laws so the chances were good it was a gain. Having something in his stomach would help in any case.

Only shortly after the three were done eating in silence, Marie silently shedding tears, Shakky reading her papers and sneaking glances at the crying young woman, Dave felt something big land outside.

"Tyrant Kuma, you got my message," the reincarnee greeted once he was outside.

"Speak," the warlord said, giving away nothing about their prior agreements.

"Can you send me an acquaintance to West Blue or not?"

"... I can."

"Nice! And I swear I'm not trying to make you my personal taxi, but can you send me to Marineford the day of the execution? I'm sure you will like my plan and it comes at no cost to you... well, other than your time."

Seeing Kuma nod, Dave walked inside to gather his things and get Marie. Seeing the giant warlord of the sea, she started shivering in fright, thinking Dave had sold her out - but those thoughts quickly vanished when Kuma took off his glove and slapped them both.

She had never been this scared ever before when she shot through the air in a ball of air at speeds she couldn't fathom together with Dave. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't because she barely even had the thought to actually breathe. She was just about ready to faint when they crash-landed on an island, but she didn't feel any pain.

Dave slowly stood up, bringing Marie with him as he looked around. Either Kuma had sent him to a completely different island or an uninhabited part of Kano Island. There was nothing closeby that indicated anyone living here, so Dave hoped Kuma would follow to explain what just happened.

Yet, that didn't happen. Instead, he suddenly heard a deep voice from behind him.

"Kuma didn't mention a second person."

Dave quickly turned around and nearly shat himself when the man stopped hiding himself and his strength. He instantly shut off his observation haki, so the feeling of oppression would hopefully go away and greeted the man in front of him, hopefully betraying nothing of his excitement and nervousness.

"Hello Monkey D. Dragon. Kuma also didn't mention I would get an interview with the big honcho."

Dragon lifted an eyebrow at getting called 'big honcho' for the first time in his life.