Reverse Navigating

(AN: People aren't going to like how he didn't recruit Apoo, but I do have plans for him in the future. Big Plans. For now, I felt that the crew was already on the crowded side and adding more (Barring a Doctor) was a bit much.)

(Two Month Later)

It takes two whole months for Rex to finally recover up to full strength. During that rest, Rex takes some time to explore the culture of the Long-Armed tribe.

Rex had mulled it over a few times and decided not to recruit Apoo. For one, Apoo betrayed both Kid and Hawkins in the manga, something that didn't sit well with Rex since they were his crewmates. For another, his crew was already way too crowded in terms of officers.

Still, Rex decided to make good friends with Apoo now and gave him a 'special', personally made 'musician jacket' to ensure he would never betray him. While what Rex could currently do with Vivre Jackets was limited, Rex was working on more techniques for the future.

About a week into Rex's recovery, his ship had come to Kenzan Island, using the Vivre Jacket to locate him. Jidanbo uses his medical technology to the best of his capabilities, but Rex still takes a considerable time to recover.

During that time, Rex was made aware of Robin's punishment. While Rex, much like Rose, finds the punishment a bit extreme, he cannot help but agree with Kid's judgement. If Robin froze up that day and almost got everybody killed, what would happen next time.

What's more, Rex is ecstatic to learn that Kid also awoke his conqueror's Haki. It was good he wasn't like Zoro awakening Conqueror's Haki at the very end of the adventure and then instantly mastering it. That would be an incredible plot convenience that cheapens the hard work of all other characters.

With that, Rex is confident enough to trust Kid with the crew should he die or be arrested.

Rex knew he didn't have the luck that Luffy had to offset any failures from his crew. Rex demanded the best from his crew because anything less would get them all killed.

'It's time to pick up a doctor.' Rex thinks, staring out at the sea. Jidanbo and Rose were both semi-competent doctors, but they paled in comparison to the greats like Crocus, Kureha or the future Trafalgar Law. 'But who should I pick?'

There were a few options before Rex.

First, was Blackbeard's doctor Doc Q. It was never revealed how skilled Doc Q was, but Rex could naturally assume that Blackbeard wouldn't recruit some weakling.

However, Rex was not just a walking talking almanac of One Piece knowledge, and he had no idea where Doc Q was, let alone how to convince him to join him.

Which led to his two other choices, Kureha and Hogback. Of those two, Rex knew where both of them were, but the latter may have already been scooped up by Gecko Moria.

If Rex could avoid it, he really didn't want to have a fight with young Moria, as Moria had clashed with Kaido and survived. While he may have gotten fat and lazy after the fight, he would probably be multiple times stronger than he was in the Thriller Bark arc.

"Captain, when do we leave the island?" Kid asks irately, getting tired of the long-armed tribe calling his arms 'tiny and non-functional'.

"Tomorrow. We'll set off for Drum Island, then, we'll take a nice break before we high-tail it to the New World!" Rex says, not wanting to spend much more time in the Paradise. With a bounty of 180 million, he was far too conspicuous in the marine-controlled Paradise.

It was better to go the New World where he could disappear.

All Rex wanted was to have a full crew when he entered the New World which would naturally be the case if he managed to recruit Kureha. After recruiting Kureha, Rex would stop on a nice uninhabited island for a while to train, execute his master plan, then disappear in the New World.

As for being too weak for the New World, who cared about that. If Buggy was strong enough to build a small base in the New World and make money, Rex was confident he could as well.

(The Next Day)

Rex and his crew all wave goodbye to the many long-armed tribesmen. While they hadn't spent too much time on Kenzan island, the long-armed tribesmen were rather memorable folk.

After making their goodbyes, Rex turns to the sea. Now how was he supposed to get to Drum Kingdom?

"Do you guys still have the eternal log pose to Water 7?" Rex asks, having an idea.

Bonney nods, having retrieved it during the mission.

"Let's set off to there and then trace back down the route to make it to Drum Island."

A genius plan was forming in Rex's head. After Drum Island, came Little Garden, a nice, deserted Island with plenty of strong Dinosaurs to train with.

Rex could stop there with his crew and take a nice little break before heading off to the New World.

So, Rex's crew reverse navigated their way through Luffy's route.

First, they stopped off at Water 7, with Kid deciding to see if he could find some decent materials to renovate the King Gucci with. By now, the island had calmed down from the chaos of Jacket D. Hoodie's attack, so Kid was able to buy some goods easily and return to the ship.

After that, Kid had started renovations which had garnered the attention of one annoying little fly.

"So, you guys are pirates!?" An eager blue-haired young man cries out. "That's SUPER!"

"It's a good life I guess." Kid said with a grin. "Food, wine, money, adventure. But sometimes having it all just takes the fun out of it."

Rex smiles as he sees Kid flexing the pirate life on what he can only assume to be a young Franky.

As for picking up Franky, Rex refused. As the ancient law of the sea went, only one blue-hair walks a ship. That, and Franky was annoying and perverted.

Rex had already had to stop Franky from perving on the females of his crew twice and wasn't thrilled at the concept of doing it all year round. Kings were gentlemen, holding their perverted thoughts in the depths of their souls.

"One day, I'll be out there on the sea too, just mark my words!" Franky cried out. "And I'll be like… a hundred times more super than all of you guys put together! I'll get all the babes of sea to join my Franky, no my Super pirates, and then we'll sail right up to your loser Prince pirates and laugh in your faces!"

"Hah! I can't believe there would be a pirate group in the world that would take a loser like you!" Kid snorts, not even taking Franky's insults seriously. "Tell you what, if your pirate group can make it off Water 7, I'll let you join my King pirates as the toilet scrubber!"

Rex chuckled at this, knowing that, in theory Franky should be able to join a strong pirate group, the straw hats. In actual fact, Rex doubted it.

If Luffy made it to his journey and Rex still hadn't found the One Piece, then it could only be said that Oda rigged it so only Luffy could find it. If Rex found the One Piece, Luffy might never go out to sea, cutting the whole Straw Hat Pirate group off at the knees.

After all, Rex knew the locations of three out of four poneglyphs, not to mention, with the Memo Memo no Mi, he could figure out was written on the fourth one. The moment Rex became strong enough to fight Kaido and Big Mom, the One Piece was basically his.

Therefore, Luffy might not ever even go out on his journey, with Rex doing it before he got the chance to.

Kid and Franky talk for a while after that, trading shipwright knowledge. Franky brings up that his teacher had gone 'missing' which causes Rex and Kid to feel a bit guilty. Still, Tom was in a better place now.

Then, after spending a week making some final adjustments to the King Gucci on Water 7, the King Pirates set off again to the next island in the Straw Hats route. Jaya.

(Two Days Later)

"I can't believe we've met again! Come on, tell me what adventures a big shot 180 million Berry pirate like yourself has gone out on!" Cricket cheers, having been reunited with Rex at Mock Town.

"Adventures… well, I feel like our trip has been pretty casual you know." Rex says, thinking back to the trip. "I freed an international terrorist, crashed a cooking contest, one a top-secret underground race, found a 50 year old treasure, battled a shichibukai and discovered a mythical island. Standard stuff you know."

Cricket grins, before Rex slowly tells him the rest of the story.

In exchange, Cricket tells Rex about his own adventures. Apparently, Cricket had somehow managed to survive a year on Little Garden and told Rex about the Dinosaurs there. He also mentioned a variety of other adventures.

"So, what brings you here of all places?" Rex asks. "While you are technically a pirate, the king of pirates who stop off at Jaya are… a tad less of the adventurous kind and more of the looting and pillaging kind. And where's your crew for that matter?"

Cricket blushes, scratching the back of his head. "Well, remember how I told you about my ancestor, Mont-Blanc Noland?"

Rex nodded.

Cricket then explains how in his ancestor's journals, it was noted that the island of gold had been replaced by an island with a massive hole in it and how he suspected Jaya was that island.

"Just hear me out, ok?" Cricket says nervously, expecting Rex to think he was crazy too. "Jaya's famous for these waterspouts, knock-up streams they call them. So, what if a knock-up stream occurred underneath the island and shot it up into the sky. It would make sense, right?"

Cricket seems to be extremely anticipating of Rex's response. His whole crew had left him for being an idiot and believing his father. What would Rex think?

"I think you could be onto something!" Rex says with a grin.

Rex then swindles his way into getting Cricket's research and vows internally that after he was done with Sky Island, he would give Cricket the way to get up there. But there was one more question Rex needed to ask first.

"By the way, did you have a chance to stop by Drum Island on your way?" Rex asks, wanting to know the clime of the island before he visited.

"Drum Island…" Cricket says with a sour expression. "Their new acting King is a real bastard."

Cricket then explains how the former King of Drum Island, Zapol, had grown extremely ill following the Levely and his cruel son, Wapol had taken over. Wapol had requisitioned immense amounts of the citizens' supply of metal to be given as tax to the kingdom and was hoarding food supply.

Cricket told Rex that he had tried to attack Wapol, but had been beaten up by the young King's Devil Fruit power.

"I see…" Rex mutters, finding it annoying that Wapol was king. Maybe a little Jacket D. Hoodie rebellion would be in order.

But first, Rex had some more important business to attend to.

"What?" Hawkins asks incredulously. "You want me to time the appearance of a Jaya knock up stream so we can sail up it?"

Kid frowns. "Captain, those streams can shoot up for kilometers in the air. Nothing ever comes back down but shipwrecks. Why would you want to ride it?"

"Why, for Sky Island of course!" Rex says, wanting to go there.

In fact, Rex had almost entirely forgot about Sky Island until he arrived at Jaya. Sky Island was the perfect place for him to train, even more so than Little Garden. Not to mention, Enel would make the perfect chess piece for him.

After all, Sky Islanders, or at least Birkans, seemingly had some training methods for Observation Haki. If Rex could get his hands on them, he could expand his abilities in that lifesaving technique.

"Sky Island?" Rose snorts. "What a hilarious farce! There is no way that clouds, which are merely suspended water droplets, could support an entire island. They couldn't even support a person!"

"But big sister Monet can support you with her snowflakes." Sugar says innocently. "Why can't someone do the same with an island?"

"Eh?" Rose questions, trying to find some definitive logical answer.

"Besides, Doflamingo can support his weight using clouds." Killer adds. "If clouds were merely wisps of water an air, his Sora no Michi technique wouldn't work."

Rose frowns even more as she thinks about that.

"Plus, everyone knows that clouds are made out of spun sugar!" Thatch says. "My greatest dream is to one day grab a cloud and to make it into the most delicious cotton candy the world has ever seen!"

Everyone looks at Thatch with a strange expression. There were a lot of plausible explanations for Sky Island, but clouds being made of cotton candy were not one of them.

"Anyway…" Rex interjects. "Kid, I want you, Hawkins and Rose to study the knock up stream for a while. Use Cricket's help if you need to. I'm going to go to drum island and back in the interim and when I'm back, I intend to shoot straight for the sky!"

Then, Rex grinned looking up at the sky. It truly was the perfect place to go next.

While Rex knew he would land on Skypeia first, from there, he could find his way to Birka, steal the Goro Goro no Mi from Enel and master Observation Haki there.

As for crew members, there wasn't anyone Rex could think of from Sky Island who was worth recruiting. Maybe the Mad Monk Urouge, but that was it. Rex's crew was already getting way too big.

After that, there was no one even in the New World who Rex could think of recruiting. Anyone who showed even a smidge of talent in the New World would be scooped up by one of the Yonko or another pirate group.

Viola's devil fruit was interesting, but Rex didn't really need it. Besides, Rex didn't want to pull a Doflamingo there and snatch her away from her family.

This was it, his crew, they would be with him until the end.

Rex left the King Gucci with Kid and his group so Kid could reinforce the hull for their trip up to sky island then stole some random pirate group's boat with the remaining officers.

"Set a course for Alabasta, I wanna stare at an old rock gathering mold."