OP C12 - Happenings in the RA

I changed my mind about the zoan fruit. I remembered what lions do to protect their pride or family and decided it would be a great fruit for Russian, the future headmatron of Little Garden.

When I told her she needed some strength on her own to protect the children, Russian immediately agreed and was very happy with my choice of fruit for her. She apparently always loved cats.

I started speeding up her physical training like I did with Muret when she joined our training over the next two weeks. The entire ship was in a training frenzy. Sabo came over for a short moment to talk with me after they got the boatload of kids from Las Camp and worked to bring the kids that still had homes back to their families.

The others were brought to the nameless island where I first met Dragon. They would stay until I made sure Little Garden was safe for them. At least the RA already started gathering people fond of kids who wanted to train them in trade skills.

The first group they found were three old shipwrights who lost their family to marines who abducted them to make ships for the marines under the orders of a corrupt marine base captain in South Blue. Who knew? Maybe they could speed up their search for an apprentice and find someone so talented among the older orphans that they would become the shipwright on my ship.

In these two weeks, Russian and Muret somehow got wind of the fact that I slept with Marie and Raki to increase the speed of their growth. It was probably Raki who slipped up when the women were having a good time in the kitchen drinking wine one night.

The two women implied that they would be okay with that arrangement, too. One of them to be 'better prepared for the kids' safety', the other to not fall behind the other women. But I already had two women on the ship to be with me, and I wasn't insatiable. They'd have to wait in my bed naked before I would make a move.

"Doc! Sister Raki told me to get you!"

One of the boys that Russian more or less adopted stood in the door of my study. Apparently, I didn't hear the knocks because that kid never came into the room uninvited.

"Alright, coming in a moment."

I continued doing what I was doing, but I stopped a few moments later.

"Can I help you?"

"Uhm, Doctor Perry, sir. Could you teach me to do that?"

I furrowed my brows and looked down. I was currently sewing together silk panties for Marie.

"Tailoring? Or making women's underwear specifically?"

As I looked at the boy, his face was bright red, same as the silk in my hand, really.

"T-tailoring, sir!"

"We're not in the marines, kid," I chided with a laugh. "But yeah, sure. Can you read?"

The boy nodded. I should learn his name.

"Alright, that's good. What did you say your name was again?"

"Yorki, sir!"

I was about to point him to the bookshelves with the patterns and experiences written down by my mother but stopped. I looked the blonde boy up and down and asked, "Did your parents ever tell you that you were named after someone?"

The boy looked shocked, "How'd you know? My mom used to say I was named after a famous pirate, my grand-uncle 'Calico' Yorki from the Rumbar Pirates! The greatest musicians that ever hailed from West Blue!"

"Wow! I know one of the Rumbar Pirates! He's still alive, but he's a skeleton now. Have you seen the bounty of 'Soul King' Brook?"

The boy shook his head, but his eyes were still shining like stars.

"I bet he'd love to meet you. He was there when your grand-uncle died. And he was quite fond of his captain, after all. I bet he'd love to sing for you," I told him with a fond smile. "And he loves women's panties just as much as you. Don't become a pervert like him. Become a dependable womanizer instead."

Yorki immediately became even more flushed for getting called out, but he nodded with a solemn expression. I think I just became that kid's role model. I should mold him into someone worthy of respect.

I gave him a book on the basics of tailoring and followed him outside to see what Raki wanted. Which apparently was just lunch, but she was 'lazy' enough to send the kids instead of coming to get me herself. Not that I minded or even cared.

She scolded me for being late and made me wash the dishes under the incredulous eyes of the kids and I swear I heard the little girl among the group ask if Raki could teach her how to make men more compliant. Wow, so we both became someone's role model today, huh? I hope we won't lead them astray.

And maybe we should stop them from reading the newspaper if we wanted that to happen. Morgans had several gossip articles about my impending child with Muret in the papers during the last two weeks, like it was the greatest news he could print. And, when I told him during the last interview that the child was 'sadly lost' before it could fully form and settle in the womb, the madman made that the headline on the front page!

The headline! On the front page! On the same day that Acting Fleet Admiral Sakazuki nominated another Admiral: Fujitora! I know Issho won't fucking care, but I knew Morgans knew about the tensions between the Acting Fleet Admiral and I! If I die to the marines instead of pirates or a 'natural' disease in this world, I'll take Morgans with me to the grave!

Ugh, anyway. I used this excuse to 'go back to my roots' for a while in the grand line until I would go to East Blue after my short vacation. It took the crew and me another two weeks after that to make our way to Little Garden - Sabo managed to find an extra Eternal Pose for the island and handed it over to us.

I think the RA was so excited about my plan, though, that they had these Eternal Poses especially made and then they lied about their origin.

When we reached there, Dragon's ship the Wind Granma - a gray ship with an eastern dragon figurehead that extended over its entire side - was already docked at the coast of the island.

"You came yourself?" I asked as I used Shave and Moonwalk to reach the island first as Lope and the crew 'parked the car'.

"Your project has a lot of merit. Pirates are born out of a circle of hatred or out of necessity. If we gather these children and give them perspective and the means to better their own lives by teaching them skills and manners, we're creating a whole new generation that won't need to resort to becoming low-lives," Dragon explained as he looked to the two 'mountains' of the island that were really just the skulls of two incredibly huge sea kings. "This. This is by far the greatest, most worthy goal you have ever brought before me."

I was left speechless at the sentimental little speech Dragon gave me, and I turned solemn shortly after. I wanted to leave a mark here before I inevitably die before my 30s, right? Dragon was correct. This could be it.

A few silent moments Dragon asked me, "You always wanted to see the full extent of my conqueror haki, didn't you?"

I wordlessly nodded and watched as Dragon moved further inland. The first dinosaur spotted him and was about to go over for a little snack when a shockwave suddenly blasted from Dragon's feet. The dinosaur on his way to Dragon as well as every other dinosaur in my observation haki range kneeled on the ground as if pressed down by the hand of a giant.

"Woah..."

I walked up the air with Moonwalk to see how far this shockwave would reach and saw that Dragon managed to perfectly encompass the entire island in one conqueror haki blast! A second shockwave with Dragon at the center engulfed the entire island. Followed by a third.

A few moments later, I saw something incredible. Like puppies who were about to get scolded by their master, a whole bunch of dinosaurs started lining up near Dragon and waited on his next orders. Dragon looked up to me with a savage grin and turned back to the dinosaurs.

Whatever he told them, from that day I forward, I no longer saw one of those overgrown lizards on the side of the island we started building houses at. Not even the flying dinos dared fly over our heads!

I personally used most of my time growing enough food to feed an army as well as Treasure Tree Adam saplings to help them with future money problems. I knew it would invite greedy pirates as well, but Dragon planned to leave behind some strong members on this island until they built their own strong forces.

After screening of their personalities and goals, children could gain full access to training manuals - including those for haki, guidance on swordsmanship from a very old swordmaster from the revolutionary army who opened a dojo on the island, and as long as I lived, I promised Russian I would help some kids by increasing their training speed on every visit.

With enough members helping out and my ridiculous powers over the nature of a lush, tropical island full of healthy plants, we managed to stomp out a port city with a gigantic dorm for the kids out of the ground in under a month. It didn't yet have all the amenities of a modern island, but that could always change later.

We, meaning me and my engineering knowledge, left quite a lot of room and easy access for future upgrades in all those tree houses, caves turned homes, and underground structures like sewage pipes, water pipes, and a lot more that we built.

When it was finally time for us to say goodbye to Russian and the kids since our job of making Little Garden into Orphanage Island was over, a lot of tears flowed like rivers. Yorki, who became quite decent at tailoring and picked up a rapier sword that most closely resembled a needle, quite grew on me in the two months we were together.

It was hard to give him lessons on swordplay with that pointy thing, but he thought it was so much cooler than a spear, so let the little shit figure it out by himself. I kickstarted his growth by giving him the physical strength of a HQ Marine Captain at age 13. He couldn't possibly complain that I was being stingy.

"You sure you need to leave, sensei?"

I looked at him with his snot running down his face and started patting his head, "I am. Make sure you stay true to my teachings, alright? If you do, I'll take you to see 'Soul King' Brook in Sabaody in a year and a bit."

"Un! Never go out of your way to make a woman cry unless she specifically asks for it in bed!"

I froze on the spot. Did that idiot just say that out loud in front of not only my entire crew but also every RA member present, including all those kids? I knew I should have taken being his role model more seriously!

Russian, Marie, Raki, and Muret started giggling, especially Raki, but Belo Betty looked quite unimpressed. By the way she started placing her red sunglasses into a pocket, I was getting the feeling that I was on my way to getting my ass kicked.

"To be fair, that is good advice! And he's already 13! As a doctor and his mentor it was my duty to give him the talk about the birds and bees," I righteously defended to save my skin, but the adults at the beach only started laughing even harder.

As Belo Betty started to drag me away from the amused crowd, I simply accepted my punishment and prepared myself to see the best in this. I would see some creative uses of armament haki again.

When she dragged me far enough away that we weren't in the range of anyone's observation haki since Dragon was no longer on this island, she threw me against a rock.

"I accept the beating, but please note that I taught him respect, not how to use women. Or anyone, for that matter," I pleaded, but Betty simply said down cross-legged in front of me.

"Dragon told me what he told you when you arrived here. And I agree. I gave you quite a lot of shit when you joined. Especially since I knew you bastard would sink your teeth into little Marie eventually. I became her confidant out of necessity first because of how you two joined our cause, but also because I love to be in that role. So it didn't take even a day that she told me about what you said when the little nurse offered herself to you," Betty recounted with more intensity than I have ever seen.

"I still don't know what your deal is. But at this point, you did so much for the RA that you would be the most incompetent enemy we could ever wish to face. And you're not even a true bastard. The girls of your ship are very open with enough wine, and Raki is a great accomplice in getting them drunk. You didn't take advantage of them once. Not even that pretty Cipher Pol agent."

I furrowed my brows. Where was this going? Was she about to praise me for not being a piece of shit that forced women into his bed against their will? That didn't sound like something Belo Betty would do...

"You're wondering why I monologue like this, right?" I nodded. "I wanted to offer you some counsel, same as with the women."

That stumped me. She wanted to what? Did I come off as insane? Or unhinged? Did I give of signs of someone who needed help? But I stopped myself. I knew from at least two of my lives that getting help for mental problems was not a sign of weakness. It was a sign of being human. Nobody was truly ever equipped with all the tools to go through life without confiding in someone. Nobody was above having someone lend an ear. Well, nobody that I knew off.

"Before I agree or disagree, what made you ask?"

"I've seen the way you look at Marie, Raki, and the rest of your crew. You have the eyes of someone who cares. You becoming a doctor offering free medical care didn't come from nowhere either. But then you gave Marie that speech about how you couldn't be the one to give her the happiness of a loving relationship. Sure, you could just be a young hunk hoping to get laid in every port. But unless you managed to fool both Marie and Raki, you didn't do that either," Betty explained. "That's something you do when you're broken."

Huh, that was a hot take. But it wasn't wrong. I feared that I would die soon, and nothing that I could do would stop that. And when I do die, nothing I did would have mattered. So let's talk to this only 'psychologist' I have access to and discuss mortality a bit.

As I talked about my own mortality, implying that I wasn't long for this world, Betty turned out to be an amazing listener. She even toned down her impolite type of speech a bit and left me with a nugget of wisdom that I think will stay with me for life - no matter how long it will be. It was in response to me talking out of my ass about how life only mattered because it has an end.

"Life may only truly matter because it is short, but that is what we tell ourselves to make us feel good about our own limitations and flaws," Belo Betty explained with a sympathetic smile.

"Even if your name is washed away in history like sand in hightide. As long as you lived a worthy life, you will have left a mark on the lives of others. When you die tomorrow, I know at least one crew of four people who will be inconsolable."

She took out a cigarette and started smoking.

"I know for a fact that the children who will live on this island in five or even twenty years from now will have lived a better life than they would have originally lived - because of your idea. Your impact on this world will have made a difference to those kids - and all those other kids who get to live with their parents because you treated their parents for free."

We ended up talking for almost two hours, and that left a lot of people on the island guessing if I somehow got Betty into bed. Thanks to that little shit Yorki, my supposed identity as a womanizer was firmly cemented in most people's eyes. I couldn't and wouldn't care, though. I had a new perspective after my talk with Betty and would ride this momentum until something drastic would dampen my mood.

And something did happen. Tyrant Kuma. His rescue arc was supposed to be far into the future because the RA was under the impression that he was doing his best to keep his cover intact. Vegapunk had also assured Dragon as much, but when I told Dragon my impression of things, I made a seed of doubt bloom in the leader's mind.

So Dragon moved quite a lot of resources to verify what was happening to the gentle giant turned pacifista and they were horrified to learn that Kuma's consciousness was seemingly completely wiped for good while the Celestial Dragons were abusing their newest toy as they usually did with toys.

To Dragon, the thought of his longtime friend getting humiliated and mutilated every single day was unbearable.

And that resulted in Sabo, Dragon, and Ivankov rescuing the PX-0 Pacifista as he was stabbed into his mechanical heart by Saint Rosward, father of world noble Saint Charlos, for breaking a slave by using too much force. They didn't injure the Celestial Dragon, as much as they wanted to, and only Sabo was seen fleeing the scene with a sea-stone-cuffed Kuma.

...And they were currently fleeing in my direction so that I could try to 'grow' their friend back. It was a tall order, but Kuma was the reason I got to be who I was in this world today, so naturally, I agreed and contacted my teacher.

With a solemn expression, I asked Lope to steer the ship toward Sakura Kingdom but had him dock on the side of the island with no people on it. Kureha was already waiting for us there. Between her medical knowledge and my biology and engineering expertise combined with my fruit, I was thinking the two of us could reverse quite a bit of Kuma's modifications.

When a panting Sabo finally landed on my deck with a giant bound Kuma and two other big men in Ivankov and Dragon all getting carried on the same cloud, I didn't care much that Sabo fell asleep from exhaustion. Hator and Raki were already moving him to my quarters.

Dragon himself took no chances and helped me move the man into my infirmary that barely managed to fit Kureha, Marie, Dragon, Kuma, and I. Iva was left to wait outside the open door with an anxious expression - his hormones might come in handy later, though.

With the present people, I didn't need to pretend, so I used the full range of my powers to analyze the nature of Kuma's body. I found only scant few organic tissue which left me wondering just what the fuck Vegapunk was trying to accomplish by doing this to the original when he could have done it to one of the many clones instead.

His bonemarrow was intact, which was great news to me. I could probably grow the rest of his muscles and organs out of that alone. Yet, I was horrified to learn that close to nothing remained of his original nervous system. None of his extremities had any convential nerves left, his eyes weren't real and even parts of his brain were mechanical.

A plan started to form in my mind and I started discussing the order in which I should start replacing the mechanical parts with Kureha for a while after asking Raki to cook as much easily digestible food as she could. Kuma and I would probably need it.

Almost 40 hours of no sleep later, an almost human Kuma laid in my infirmary. Only Dragon, Iva and I stayed awake for the whole thing - Iva even made sure I stayed fully focused with his hormones. He was also instrumental in kickstarting a lot of the growth I induced, making the body think it wanted to regrow entire muscles groups instead of me forcing Kuma's body to do it.

"As far as I know, which isn't much, memories and a person's being originate from the soul. But they are connected to the body via the mind. I think Kuma's mind was completely shattered during the cyborg creation process... I hate to say it out loud, but we might have just revived an empty husk," I solemnly explained as I watched Kuma breathing with a machine Kureha brought over.

He was breathing through his own flesh and blood lungs, that was good. But he showed no signs of waking yet, and I gave Lope plenty of reason to make fun of me later by not giving the giant any anestesia even as I regrew a complete nervous system for the man.

The fact that he didn't make a single sound through it all was very concerning to me. Trying to look at the bright side, I offered, "Maybe he placed his soul, his memories, his very essence into one of his paw-bubbles that is still out there somewhere? I once saw him paw out Luffy's fatigue, pain and exhaustion and place into someone else. Maybe he did that with... himself?"

"The boy is right, Dragon. Ve cannot assume the vorst! Kuma is our dear nakama! Ve must find vhere he left his soul! Ve should start vith Vegapunk and the other Pacifista!"

Ivankov and Dragon started arguing a bit if contacting the man was really so smart since they could no longer be sure of his true allegiance. A good ten minutes later, I had enough of that, "If you know where Egghead Island is, just threaten him with you guys knowing about Vegapunk's research into the void century. He does research with Ohara's knowledge as a basis on that forbidden topic in one of his satelites... with one of his satelites? The whole concept of him being however many people is weird. So if you are prepared to cut ties with the man, tell him that and maybe he will help you find Kuma's id, his being."

Dragon and Ivankov stopped arguing, even Sabo who listened in with a tired and sad expression turned to me.

"How do you know that?"

"No idea what you're talking about. How do I know what?"

"Next you're going to tell me you know that because you saw Vegapunk and I talk about Ohara's fate as we watched the giants fish out the books from the lake where the scholars of Ohara dumped the books over two decades ago," Dragon muttered with narrowed eyes.

Haha, who would know about that? I kept my poker face, I'd like to think, and shrugged.

"Before we try, there's more bad news," Sabo chimed in. "While you were busy down here, HQ reached out to us. We finally know why Blackbeard made no move to retaliate for one of his subordinates losing an arm. A day ago, Blackbeard attacked another island under Whitebeard. This time, Whitebeard's fleet was close and the two fought for over 10 hours until they both retreated to their ship. Edward Newgate is about to die..."

I swallowed and looked to Kuma. There was nothing more I could do for him in the shortterm, so I excused myself and went to get a den den mushi from my personal quarters. It was programmed with a single number.

"*This is a very bad time. Who is this?*"

"Marco? I'm Dave, the masked gu-"

"*No need to explain. What do you want?*"

"The old man, is he really d-"

"*He is. I told him not to fight Teach, but the stubborn fool didn't listen to me. He's slipping in and out of consciousness right now...*"

"I'm very sorry about that. Is there anything I ca-"

"*Nah mate. You're the reason he didn't kick the bucket together with Ace that day. You did enough.*"

A pregnant silence remained between us.

"*Listen. We'll honor your words and burn Pop's body so that Teach can never get his fruit. His ashes will go into the sea, so whenever you sail on the waters of this world, you will be able to pay your respects. Unless you somehow grew as strong as Pop's left nut, don't bother coming,*" Marco, Whitebeard's right-hand man chided me. "*The other emperors and those trying to be one will eat the New World alive. War is coming and Ace is already hurrying over to take over. He doesn't know yet, but Pops will hand him his mantle. Ha! Poor guy is going to suffocate under that giant, smelly rug.*"

I let that sink in for a while. I wasn't sure yet if what I did made the world change for better or worse. Will there be five emperors now or will they fight and kill until one will be left over? The World Government will absolutely sow the seeds of discord so that the pirates weaken themselves, and Ace will be hot-blooded enough to act on it...

"...what of Blackbeard?"

"*That bastard lost a leg and at the very least a kidney and his liver. He somehow managed to recruit a bunch of giants to his cause, though. We counted five. That's very worrying. If he somehow managed to have Elbaf join his cause, this world is doomed.*"

That's... also new. It definitely happened because he lost a whole bunch of subordinates to Rayleigh in Impel Down and had to get strength from somewhere else.

"Well, that IS worrying. Do you have someone to keep an eye on Fishman Island? I'd hate for someone to use this opportunity to make their lives even more miserable."

"*No... Jinbe will have to be on his own for a while...*"

Marco sounded quite regretful, so I pondered what I could do. Maybe...?

"I'll see if one of my acquaintances wants to lead a team there to train. She has a shared past with a fishman group," I pondered out loud while thinking of Koala.

"*Do that. I- Hey, pops seems to be waking up. I gotta run.*"

"Wish him my best, and condolences to your family, Marco."

Marco didn't respond to that, but I'd like to think he would appreciate the sentiment.

Well, Blackbeard either needs a while to recuperate from that, or he somehow turns into a cyborg with the help of Wapol's munch-munch fruit to fix the damage immediately. I doubt Ace managed to close the gap between him and the other emperors in that half a year I got him with my antics and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Akainu himself will lead a raid on Whitebeard's territories. Just to fuck with them some more while the WG sows discord in New World.

After that call, I left Dragon and Ivankov with Kuma's restored body. Sabo was already on his way to pick up Koala to go to Fishman Island - he likely overheard my call with Marco just before.

I personally went to an island hours later where I left Kalifa all alone when I did my job on Sakura Island. As much as I wanted to trust her, I didn't bring her with us for the construction of Little Garden's orphanages. Instead, I left her on an island to gain some more perspective. Marie and I visited her often during the construction - it wouldn't do to ignore Marie's training after all.

I learned from Lope that Pascia joined Belo Betty's army and was steadily on her way to becoming her left-hand woman next to Ahiru. The young cyborg Ahiru was indeed given the swim-swim fruit, and it worked just as I hope for her upgrades. Belo Betty personally called me for the amazing idea.

Thanks to my influence, Pascia, the dancer, was given the Sparrow-Sparrow paramecia Raki and Lope found in Las Camp in West Blue. It turned out the fruit user could make little stealthy birds with it that she could use to gather information, record conversations, and even videos - and she could attack with them. 'The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock' style. And don't get me started on the whole birds aren't real government conspiracies this devil fruit could spark.

What followed was another two months of visiting East Blue to resume my work as a 'saint' where I met Nojiko just to see what all the fuss was about and damn. My inner manslut came out and I tried to get into her pants for a one night stand which did not work out on our first visit to Cocoyashi.

The return trip however saw me succeed - apparently she figured out it was me that increased the health and growth of her mikan or tangerine trees she continued tending to to honor Bellmère. I'd gladly admit that she was the second woman in this world that could make me fall in love after Marie.

But that won't happen since the highlight of my trip to East Blue did not follow me on my ship - not that I offered. To Nojiko's own complete bewilderment, however, I strengthened her to roughly the same level of Arlong if I had to guess. Doing it with someone always made this so much easier. I also left Nojiko a devil fruit she could eat when she needed help urgently. A zoan Hator picked up on the grand line after he killed a pirate crew with slaves on board: Bird-Bird fruit Model: Canary.

After the East Blue trip, the crew went back to Little Garden where for some weird reason Russian refused to see us. Well, she saw Marie but nobody else from the crew. When Marie came back I knew something was up, but no matter how I probed, I received no answer.

We left the island after I refreshed my growth blessing on all the plant-based food on the island and helped the Treasure Tree Adam trees. We visited Kuma who by that time still hadn't woken up, but nothing I did helped.

Then, I fulfilled a promise to Hator and had our boat dock on an island for roughly until the Strawhats would finish their time-skip arc: Alabasta. It was time to turn a desert kingdom into a gigantic oasis. All the while, Lope would complain about the heat and regularly beg Raki to take him along to the nearby Skypiea.