Navigation and Chance Meeting

_________ POV Narration _________

And while Enel was training/daydreaming about Robin, his Right Wing/Hand was currently travelling in a very precise and skilful manner.

With his mastery over sailing, it was extremely easy for him to make his way through the grand line, his eyes shining with comprehension as he focused on the map in front of him.

At least such would be the story if Francisco had any skill in navigation whatsoever.

'Yeah... I'm lost...'

The Right Hand of the Sky King had many things going for him.

For one, he was stronger than most out there, some would say he was amongst the strongest in the world. Even holding the title of 'Strongest Swordsman' once.

He also had a charisma that his previous captain, Rocks D. Xebec, lacked. As he had acted as the glue that kept the Rocks Pirates together.

He also had plenty of knowledge regarding engineering and shipbuilding. As he had built a Pluton Cannon once...

However, there was one thing he was a particular flaw with him...

He always believed in the delegation of tasks between crewmates.

So he didn't bother learning too many skills from other professions, instead focusing on the things he actually had a talent for.

Now, this wasn't exactly a flaw under normal circumstances. But he was currently sailing by himself, with only a map, an eternal pose for home, and a three-needled log pose set on a random island that Shiki couldn't remember.

So where exactly was he going?

That he was about to find out. Even as he saw the island in the distance, he still didn't have any clue where he was on the map. He couldn't recognize it at all.

But he was hoping to find some information on said island, despite it looking to be a random wild island.

He was currently sailing on the Calm Belt, but there were plenty of islands on the Calm Belt, and he had been twirling around in circles for a while now, so he really couldn't make sense of where he was.

The Calm Belt at least allowed him to travel in a straight line. Still, sailing on it also meant that he needed to be careful.

He had tried sleeping before, only to wake up capsized and almost in the mouth of a Sea King.

It was a precarious situation, but at least Francisco now had extra food in the form of Sea King meat.

'First order of business... Try to rest a bit... Next thing, try to find any locals and ask for directions.'

And the second his rowboat dragged it's wooden body on the sandy shores of that random island, Francisco put on his backpack and jumped onto a random tree, falling asleep almost instantly.

And sleep he did. For around an hour or two.

It was at least enough to regain some energy. But he didn't wake up because he wanted to...

*BOOOM*

Explosions and sounds of fighting were what woke him up. There was also the distinct smell of burning... In a forest.

It was rather concerning, but Francisco truly had no care for the habitat of a random island.

Regardless, curiosity got the better of him as he slowly stood up and dashed from tree to tree towards the source of the sound.

Deeper into the forest, in the middle of a clearing, were two young men. They seemed to be fighting desperately. Well, they appeared to be sparring, just intensely.

One of them had his fists covered in fire, his punches extending in explosions as he burned the area around him.

He also seemed to put out the fires and control them skillfully enough to avoid too much collateral damage.

The other youngster was a teenager, he seemed to be able to stretch out his body endlessly, punching away at the fire Devil Fruit user with inhuman flexibility.

'Hmm... At least this island isn't barren...' The old Swordsman rubbed his chin as he looked at the two young men a bit more.

The fire human was shirtless, only wearing an orange hat, a pair of black trousers, and red sandals.

The stretchy human was wearing a red open vest, blue shorts, straw sandals and a straw hat.

'...' The more Francisco looked at them, the more he figured he recognized them from somewhere.

Only after hearing their conversation did it click for him.

"Is that all?! You'll have to try harder than that, Luffy!" The fire human stated as his flames blasted outwards in all directions.

"Shishishi~ I'm barely trying right now! Don't look down on me Ace!" The stretchy human laughed a bit as his entire body turned black, blocking the heat while only sweating a bit.

'... Aren't they Garp's gramdsons? Hah! What are the chances?!'

"That's enough, you two..." From the side, an older voice could be heard, Francisco focused on that figure for a few seconds.

It was also strangely familiar to him...

An older man, one with long white hair, round glasses, and a short beard. He dressed plainly, wearing a regular yellow t-shirt, shorts, and sandals. He also wore a large silver hooded cloak, keeping his hood down.

He also carried a familiar-looking cutlass on his waist.

But it was only when noticing the scar that covered his right eye did it finally click for the old pirate.

'Silvers Rayleigh!? Holy shit... I didn't think he'd even be alive after hearing of the mess that Roger started...'

"Oh, c'mon! We were getting to the fun part..." Disappointment could be heard in Luffy's voice, and Ace seemed to think the same.

"Now now, you still have to train your Conquror's Haki. I get that you want to spend more time with your brother before he leaves the island, but we can't neglect your training." Rayleigh's resolute voice seemed to put out Luffy's excitement almost instantly.

"..." The teenager pouted a bit as he looked away for a few seconds.

Ace sweated a bit as he smiled and spoke out. "Don't worry, I'll come to visit you before you set off... I just have to go see Pops, ya know?"

"Yeah, yeah... That old man was pretty awesome, so I forgive you!" Luffy declared as he crossed his arms and smiled with renewed energy.

"Haah, that's great. Can you go and cont-..." Rayleigh stopped speaking as he turned and looked at a random tree.

"It's not nice to eavesdrop on conversations, whoever you are... You can come out now." Rayleigh's tone was louder, his voice echoed throughout the clearing as both Ace and Luffy seemed to panic a bit and get ready to fight.

'Well, this is going to be an awkward reunion...'

Francisco sweated a bit as he realised that the jig was up. It couldn't be helped, he wasn't exactly the most adept at sneaking around, and Rayleigh was strong.

So, with a sigh, the old legendary pirate decided to jump down from his tree, landing on the ground with a loud thud as the earth cracked underneath him.

Rayleigh's hand was already on the hilt of his blade, as he gazed at Francisco's figure with wary eyes.

Francisco himself scanned all three of them with his gaze, finally stopping when his gaze met that of Luffy.

"Who're you?!" Ace was the one to shout out first, Luffy was still stuck in a staring match with Francisco. And Rayleigh was trying to figure out why Francisco looked so familiar...

'... Wait a minute...' Rayleigh's eyes widened as he got a better look at Francisco. His blonde hair, royal blue eyes, his powerful and calm gaze...

"My name's Francisco... One of you at least knows me."

'Shit! How...' Unfortunately, Rayleigh didn't think that he had the time to ponder the reality that was staring him in the eye.

He immediately drew his blade, turning it black as he stepped in front of Ace and Luffy.

"ACE! Take Luffy and run away from here!" The Right Hand of the Pirate King realised who he was looking at, and it was one of the worst possible situations.

"What?! Why would we do that?!" Luffy cracked his knuckles as his hands turned a shining black colour.

"This isn't the time for jokes!" Rayleigh's serious voice quickly caused Luffy's confidence to sway.

'The hell?! Old Man Rayleigh is never this panicked?!' Even Ace was surprised.

Rayleigh was, at the end of the day, a man that had sailed with the previous Pirate King.

Even if Ace didn't like his biological father much, he still knew that Rayleigh, as Roger's right hand, was extremely powerful.

"Calm down, Rayleigh... If I wanted to attack you I would have done so already..." Francisco just crossed his arms and shook his head, further helping bewilder Luffy and Ace.

Rayleigh just stared at the Old Monster with a wary gaze.

"... How are you even alive?!" After a few seconds of staring, Rayleigh managed to speak out in a frustrated voice.

"That's a rather lengthy tale... I'll just say I got lucky." Francisco shrugged at Rayleigh's question, not bothering to go into too many details.

'Still pretty unsure whether or not he's an enemy... He's training Garp's Grandsons, so he might just be an ally...'

Francisco scratched his chin as his gaze wandered back to the two young pirates that were still behind Rayleigh, looking confused.

"Old Man Rayleigh! Who's this?!" Luffy asked as he puffed his cheeks and walked beside his master.

"This..." Rayleigh squinted a bit, before looking back at Francisco and sighing.

"He's a pirate from back in the days... Francisco D. Guzman they call him..." Rayleigh shook his head while speaking. Unfortunately for him, Luffy looked even more confused now.

"He doesn't look too old... Also, never heard of him." Luffy picked his nose with his pinky as he scowled at the concept of a young-looking old man.

Meanwhile, Ace's mind was racing, as he started to remember a few stories from his Father...

'Stories about a former crewmate... Someone strong enough to rule over an entire generation of pirates...

If that is truly who he is, then he's supposedly older than Pops! How is he looking so young?!?'

While Ace's mind was running on overdrive, the conversation on the outside kept going.

"Hah, you're as straightforward as your Grandfather..." Francisco chuckled a bit as he looked at the Rubber Human.

"Oh, you know Gramps?!" Luffy immediately smiled as his eyes shined a bit.

"Who doesn't? But to be more precise, we're currently in the same pirate crew." Francisco smiled calmly as he dropped the biggest bombshell that Luffy had ever heard in his life.

"WHAT!?!" Ace, Luffy and Rayleigh all had the same reaction, their eyes popping out of their heads as they stared a hole through Francisco's skull.

"There's no way! Gramps would never become a pirate!" Luffy exclaimed in indignation while Ace only stared on in shock.

Rayleigh was trying to make simulations in his mind... 'Why would he want to lie to us about this? Is he trying to gain something from this?'

"Well, I guess we aren't technically pirates." Francisco shrugged once more, ignoring the shock of the people he spoke to.

"Then what are you?!" Ace was the one to ask this time getting a bit frustrated with the way Francisco kept talking about the subject.

"... Fine. I guess it's no harm in telling you three. Garp and I are the Left and Right Wings of Sky King Enel. We're building an army to face off with the World Government..."

"Enel? You mean long ears?!" Luffy's eyes seemed to shine at the very mention of that name.

"Well, technically it's long earlobes. But yes." Francisco smiled a bit when hearing that strange nickname that Luffy had for his captain.

The Straw Hat Captain seemed to be taking things really well.

Meanwhile, Ace's bewildered gaze seemed to only become more and more clouded.

Rayleigh was also stuck in place, sword still in hand as he unmovingly tried to process what he was hearing...

"So... You are all forming an army... How far have you gotten?" Rayleigh asked as he hoped to get a bit more information out of Francisco.

Unfortunately, the old Legendary Swordsman just shook his head.

"We are VERY far... But I can't give you many details if you're not part of it... We're a secret for now, you're only aware of this now because you seem to be linked to Garp's Grandsons." Francisco smiled a bit as he looked back at Ace and Luffy.

"T-that's understandable..." Rayleigh nodded as he heaved a heavy sigh.

'I'm getting way too old for this... Wait, this guy is supposed to be even older...'

"How come you're so young?!" Was the next question that instantly rose from Rayleigh's mouth.

"Well, it's a devil fruit ability. Turned me back to my good old days, before the whole God Valley incident... Before I got crippled from torture in the World Government's basement."

Rayleigh winced a bit at that sentence, knowing that he was partly responsible for such a thing. But they were enemies, so he didn't exactly feel 'guilty'.

Luffy just found the concept pretty neat.

Ace's gaze widened once more, as more thoughts started running through his head.

'A devil fruit!? Did it cure him completely?! Would it work on Pops as well!?'

"It's strange that they didn't kill you..." Rayleigh shook his head once more as he pondered why on god's green earth did the 5 Elders ever accept allowing such a man to live?!

"I could say the same about you, mister Pirate King's Right Hand." Francisco just laughed before shaking his head.

Rayleigh blinked a few times, before chuckling a bit. It was indeed odd how he had been allowed to roam free, even while staying on the Sabaody Archipelago, a place that Celestial Dragons once frequented.

"You want my opinion on why they aren't hunting us down like dogs? On why they didn't just execute me while I was captive?"

Francisco's words seemed to get more and more frustrated as he spoke. He captured the attention of everyone, even taking Ace out of his daydream.

"Well... If you want the truth... I think they really just don't give a damn about us."

Rayleigh's eyes widened a bit when hearing that.

How would he even reach that conclusion?! After all the chaos that was caused while the government tried to disband the Rocks Pirates?

"I know what you're thinking... If they didn't care, then why all the chaos? The reactions, the bounties... They all seem more like a farce at this point..." Francisco shook his head as he remembered even the bounty that he had once taken great pride in.

"The Government has the power to wipe out everyone, at any place. The incident at Baltigo was caused by them..." Francisco casually just dropped another bombshell on them.

Luffy's head was steaming at that point, and Ace was starting to feel uneasy.

Rayleigh himself was clenching his teeth.

'... Things are looking bad...'

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I hope you liked the chapter!

It took me a bit to write this, I recently got into a game 'Outer Wilds' and really started playing it a lot, which did consume some time.

In truth, I also didn't have much inspiration the past few days :)) Currently have final exams breathing down my neck, so that's nice

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)