Advantage, Memories and Negotiations

_________ POV Narration_________

Bonney didn't quite know how to approach Enel at first.

She had heard a bit about his recent injury, and he still needed rest, so she had some time to think about her current situation.

On one hand, her stay on the Sky Islands meant that she was safe from all harm.

Francisco seemed quite keen to protect her from anyone after she de-aged him, and Garp still considered her an ally, so she wasn't even in danger if more emperors besieged the islands.

On the other hand, it seemed that she was somewhat losing sight of her goals. She felt as if she was a bird in a cage while sitting on the island.

She was growing stronger and stronger though, now being strong enough to stand up to most pirates in the New World.

She had decent proficiency over some of the Six Powers with the help of Garp's teachings, and she had even managed to materialize her Will after gaining a bit of insight on Armament from Francisco.

She was confident that she could hold her own even against pirates with up to a 500 million bounty as she was, even without using her Devil Fruit.

Her devil fruit still gave her the advantage of being able to end any conflict instantly as soon as she touched her opponent.

Those with strong haki would be able to prevent her from altering their age, but as long as she managed to overpower their Haki with her own, she would be able to use her devil fruit regardless.

Alas, she was far away from overpowering anyone when it came to Haki.

'With each hour that passes, Little Kuma is suffering more and more...'

Bonney simply scowled, the mere thought of Kuma being treated as a slave by the World Government made her feel sick to the core.

There was also a strange feeling of inadequacy, staying there in safety as her nephew suffered terrors she could barely imagine.

Well, no. She could imagine them, as she had once suffered from their tyranny herself... Had it not been for Fishman Tiger she likely would've still been in captivity in the Holy Land.

She had gone through a lot of trouble to make sure her powers didn't end up in the wrong hands. But her life wasn't always filled with so much trouble...

She didn't have the time to train much previously though, as former royalty, she didn't even need to. She had had it easy in the first part of her life.

Only after gaining her devil fruit powers and having a target silently painted on her back did she start her 'journey' in hiding.

The more she reminded herself of her past, the more she thought about her family. She felt ashamed, remembering Kuma as a child, snuggling up to her lap like an innocent child.

That same child had now grown up, while she looked just the same. And he was suffering, as she was sitting on her ass, doing nothing of substance.

'What am I even doing here...' She looked at the ceiling with a frustrated gaze. She knew that she wasn't strong enough to rescue Kuma on her own.

'Even after I promised that I would protect him... Why did he have to go and get involved with the revolutionaries?!' Bonney had followed the moves of her nephew rather closely, paying attention to him whenever she could.

Even after he became much stronger than her, he was still her nephew, and she felt the need to protect him. But alone there wasn't much that she could do.

Her only real hope was her next conversation with Enel.

'He's injured right?... I can heal him. Even if it feels a bit scummy after all that he did for me, I can use that to bargain with him...'

Bonney really felt like she was stretching the limits of Enel's good nature. He was the reason why she could live as leisurely as she was currently.

He was the one to bring such powerful people under him. Even the Revolutionary Army and the marines that had been working to capture her before were now working with him.

He seemed to have the strange ability to bring everyone together in one place.

Well, it also seemed that the government was aiding him, by making themselves the obvious common enemy they all had to take care of.

Still, it was thanks to his actions that the Government's actions had spiralled out of control. She was able to observe most of it from a vantage point.

And as she mulled over her thoughts, Bonney heard a knock on the door, she looked at the entrance of her cabin and simply sighed.

"Come in..." The door swung open without any grace, slamming into the wall and making it slightly shake as a blonde man walked in, whistling as he did so.

It was none other than Francisco, wearing the same black pants and boots, coupled with a loose white shirt.

"Bonney my dear, can tell you're feeling down lately... This is an intervention!"

Francisco puffed up his chest and spoke in a flamboyant manner. He always seemed playful when with her, his otherwise dignified self seemingly disappearing.

It went to the point where Bonney wasn't even sure which was his actual personality...

Well, in all fairness, he likely just acted that way because he wanted to get some reactions out of her. But he was a damn good actor.

"Not a good time for theatrics..." Bonney smothered her face into a pillow as she waved the legendary pirate off nonchalantly.

Any marine(or anyone for that matter) that knew of Francisco's reputation would have been shitting bricks in his presence, yet there was Bonney, casually and quietly telling him to fuck off.

Francisco just scoffed, he was not some hot-headed young man, so he wasn't bothered by her ignoring him.

"Now now, I may not be the most well-adjusted in our merry crew... But I am still the first mate, I must tend to the mental health of the others, make sure that everyone is safe...

I can tell that something's been weighing on your mind for quite some time now..."

The old swordsman shrugged and sat down on a stool in front of Bonney's bed, staying by her side as she still tried to ignore him.

After seeing that her strategy wasn't quite working, she decided to speak to him. It didn't help that Francisco's words raised quite a few questions.

"It's personal... And since when am I part of your crew? Wasn't I just a guest?" Bonney's tone seemed genuinely confused.

The old first mate simply smiled.

"Well, a guest is what you call a fleeting acquaintance. Do you really think of all of us like that? After everything that has happened, and all of the time spent here?"

"Well, the time I spent here was nice... But we both know I won't be here forever... And I won't be here for much longer either, depending on how my conversation with your captain might go."

Bonney's words seemed to put a bit of a frown on the old pirate's smiling face.

"Well, I doubt my captain is as bad as you paint him... I am sure that whatever you have to do or say, he won't mind. As long as you don't betray us, of course..." The old man's smile returned as she slowly stood up.

It was pretty clear that she wasn't willing to talk to him about whatever was bothering her. And he didn't want to pester her too much about it.

'She'll tell us when she's ready...'

But he still decided to leave her with some parting words, as her lack of response made him a bit frustrated.

"If you do decide to betray us... Please don't blame me when I kill you with my own two hands..." The blonde man's gaze turned cold for a second as he spoke those words.

Bonney simply looked at the wooden floor as Francisco walked out of her cabin and closed the door behind him.

The glutton didn't mind Francisco's comment, nor did she find them to be out of line. Her lack of response had just left room for interpretation.

It was mostly her fault for not trusting him enough to share her concerns with him...

'I guess he's never going to take betrayal lightly... Well, what I have in mind isn't quite qualified as betrayal, so it should be fine... Right?'

She wasn't really betraying anyone... She was just going to take advantage of the situation to request something... It wasn't a kind move, nor was it something a friend would do, but she wasn't betraying anyone...

She was left to mull over those thoughts for a while that night, but she wasn't the only one going through a tough time.

Garp was quite confused when he first saw Sabo, he could somewhat remember him from somewhere, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it though. At least not at first sight.

It was only after a few minutes of speaking with Dragon that he realized who Sabo really was.

"Aren't you that brat that used to hang around Ace and Luffy?"

It was a question that made Sabo raise his eyebrow. He seemed genuinely confused, which made Garp scowl a bit.

Then Garp put his hand into his chest pocket and pulled out a picture. It was a picture of three kids, two had black hair and one was blonde. They were clearly Ace and Luffy... And the other was clearly a younger version of Sabo.

Sabo seemed to enter a strange state of shock, which made Dragon a bit concerned. Unfortunately, Garp didn't consider that, he figured Sabo was just pretending to have trouble remembering things.

"Ya better fucking remember!" Garp used his famed fist of love in that instant, smacking Sabo's head into the ground and making him pass out instantly.

Dragon wanted to say something about Garp harming his subordinates, but he decided against that after some inward deliberation 'I don't want to get hit again...'

Sabo for some reason didn't wake up instantly though, he was carted off to the medical bay(newly constructed) after Dragon noticed he wasn't waking up.

Garp was also concerned after that, looking at his fists with a raised eyebrow. 'I didn't hit him that hard...'

In the end, Sabo would wake up later into the night, clutching at his bed sheets with a pale face. He wasn't alone in the room though.

A woman with short orange hair stood by his side, sleeping while sitting on a chair. It was none other than Koala, one of Sabo's best friends in the Revolutionary Army.

Sabo smiled warmly when seeing the droll come out of her half-open mouth. He scratched at his head a bit as he thought back to that photo that Garp had shown him.

'Luffy and Ace, huh...'

Some fragments seemed to be slowly returning, as he finally remembered a bit more about his childhood.

Whether it was from Garp's fist or seeing that photo(or both), his mind had been shaken up enough to force him to remember a few things.

'To think I'd have brothers like that...' Sabo could only smile as he remembered his siblings and their recklessness.

'Well, looking at the Marineford war and their public actions as pirates... They certainly haven't changed a bit.'

Sabo sighed, a smile spreading on his face, as he slowly stood up in his bed.

'I can't wait to meet them again!'

The Chief of Staff then stood up completely, stretching a bit as he rubbed the small bump on his head that he had received from Garp's.

Eventually, Koala also woke up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She instantly perked up when seeing Sabo already up, slapping him back into bed and hugging him a bit.

The rest of the night was rather uneventful for all parties involved.

Well, Gan Fall still had to deal with the Shandians, but that went quite well. Dragon made sure to go and introduce himself and his people, as he didn't want to appear rude.

It seemed that the Shandians were ok as long as the space they took was a bit further away from their tribal holy land.

Even if they didn't need to protect the writings there any longer, it was still a place of importance with a lot of history, so they didn't want outsiders swarming it or living near it.

In the morning(afternoon actually), Enel woke up feeling quite refreshed. He stretched his arm and earlobes a bit, standing up and jumping a few times, hitting his head on the ceiling of the cabin just as many times.

'I really need to build a bigger home... I could ask for help from the revolutionaries this time, maybe they can make something better in their spare time...'

Enel then took his walking stick and stepped out the door. He only took one breath of fresh air before he twirled his walking stick and appeared in front of Bonney's door.

'Might as well deal with this right now...'

He knocked on the door a few times and waited outside for a few minutes before the door finally opened.

Bonney looked at him with a pair of tired eyes, somewhat hidden behind her pink bangs.

"Enel... Glad to see you... Did you have to come this early in the morning?" Bonney asked as she rearranged her bed hair and invited him in.

"It's already afternoon Bonney... I slept in a bit, so I figured you'd already be awake." Enel's smiled in a friendly manner as he waved one of his earlobes around.

"Well excuse me, mister Emperor... But I didn't know you were here to judge my sleeping habits." Bonney's dismissive tone managed to slightly annoy the Lightning Emperor.

He wasn't some stuck-up old guy(cap) that cared about appearances, so he wasn't mad at being disrespected or anything, it was just her overall tone that bothered him.

"Sorry for disturbing your beauty sleep then. But I felt the need to speak to you sooner rather than later, otherwise, Garp might actually chew my head off." Enel scratched the back of his head as he let his heavy walking stick lean on him.

The wooden floor creaked a bit under its weight, but Enel simply ignored it. Bonney didn't seem to care much for the cabin either, she seemed to have bigger concerns.

"Garp?" Bonney tilted her head a bit, not bothering to hide her confusion.

'Why would Garp chew him out for losing an arm?...'

"Well, I guess you aren't caught up to speed yet. No one visited to tell you everything about the situation, right?" Enel sweated a bit at her question, replying in earnest.

"Francisco came by, but our conversation was cut short... I was kinda busy mulling over some thoughts." Bonney's smile became a bit strained as she spoke of her interaction with their resident legendary swordsman.

"Well, it can happen... Anyway, Sengoku, Garp's best friend and brother-in-arms, was also maimed quite badly by the attack that took my arm off." Enel decided to just give her a quick overview, to let her know who exactly she was going to be 'contracted' to 'heal'.

"The former Fleet Admiral?" Bonney seemed a bit confused, but she then remembered that Garp was indeed a Marine(he never acts like one).

"Yep! And he wants me to talk you into healing him! We can strike a deal, there must be something you want in exchange." Enel didn't bother mincing words with Bonney, they already knew each other for quite some time after all.

"..." Bonney simply stared at Enel with her eyes wide open.

'It was that easy?...'

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Hope you liked the chapter! Sorry about yesterday, had a test and work. I also had a test today, but I at least didn't have any work :))

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