A young swordsman's adventure 8

[Heart Lucy]

She woke up restrained. Her head was wrapped in a cushion, her arms laid across her chest, and her hips buckled in place, which minimized the effect of the boat’s movement on her in this padded box.

Oh no. She was getting shipped to Marejois. It was time to deploy her secret weapon. Her finger turned straight, deforming into a straight bar of metal with a set of metal teeth. She twisted it in the direction of her neck. “Key-key open!” She whispered, expecting to hear the ‘click’ of the padded slave collar unlocking.

Nothing happened. Oh no, did they give her a seastone collar? How did they know? Daddy didn't know!

She heard a voice. It was gruff and deeply masculine, roughened by age. “It would be a good idea, but you're not wrong in being concerned. I don't think a pampered princess like her could handle that, not so quickly.”

Lucy squeaked as she imagined what horrible torture they were talking about. Her mind quickly conjured images that were not suitable for a lady to say out loud. Flushing deeply, she almost missed when the man said “She’s awake.” How did he know?

The lid of the box (which she just noticed was definitely a coffin) opened up, and… Tanya was there! Thank God… wait.

“We've eluded the Marines for now.” She explained softly. “Everything's going to be fine.” she unbuckled the belt that kept her still inside the padded coffin and pulled Lucy out.

They were on the open sea, on Tanya’s boat. There was a heavily muscles shirtless man on the deck, soaking wet and wearing just a pair of swimming trunks.

“My condolences for your situation.” The manly man said, his melancholy time sincere. “But… my eyes are up here.”

Lucy flushed as she tore her eyes away from those perfect abs and focused on the aged man’s face. Only to see… the Dark King, Silvers Rayleigh. Lucy squeaked again as she realized that she was ogling someone old enough to be her grandfather. “Ah, hello Mr. Dark King sir.”

The Dark King laughed. “It appears I've been recognized. Whatever shall I do?”

“Yes, yes, very funny Grandpa.” Tanya said, annoyed. “I'm still mad at you for not telling me about that.” Grandpa? That… made way too much sense. Wait, was Mihawk the son of the Dark King? They didn't really look alike… Lucy's eyes dipped down for a moment. Mostly.

Lucy understood why Tanya was a bit circumspect about Mihawk being her dad. She did confirm it when Lucy directly asked, but there was a certain level of danger being related to someone so dangerous when that person was too far away to protect them. It wasn't exactly a secret that Mihawk had a daughter, it was mentioned in the newspaper’s gossip column a few times, but that was years ago. Few people cared about the man’s personal life.

What Lucy didn't really understand why Tanya didn't take steps to stop people from thinking she was a boy. She never corrected people, just smiled, amused when they connected the dots. She wasn't entirely sure even Tanya’s best friend, Raisin, knew she was a girl. They even went on a few dates! Not that Tanya agreed that they were dates. Lucy blamed it on Tanya not having a mom, which she also confirmed with Tanya.

“Well, it didn't seem important.” The Dark King said, grinning at his granddaughter’s pout.

“Moving on from that, “ Tanya said, still irritated. “-we can ask Lucy what she thinks of her options, going forward.” Oh, so that’s what they were talking about. Yeah that makes a lot more sense.

“This is the kind of conversation that needs a full belly.” The Dark King argued. “Let’s go to the bar.”

To punctuate his statement, Lucy’s stomach growled. It was about lunchtime… “Sorry.” She said, flushing.

“No, he’s right.” Tanya said, “We’ll need to stop there if we want to get through any potential blockade that the Marines set up anyway.”

“I keep a spare barrel of resin there just in case of emergencies like this.” The Dark King said, clearly proud of his own foresight. Resin? Does he mean… the kind you used to coat a ship? Oh! Maybe they’ll be able to escape after all. Everyone knows that the Marines never go to Fishman Island. Hopefully he knows how to apply it… “Oh, by the way, young lady:” Lucy looked him straight in the eyes to make sure he knew she was listening. His eyes were kind, but they narrowed, a promise of death if she disobeyed him hiding behind them. “Don’t be calling me by my old title in public. I’m just Rayleigh, the coating mechanic.”

“Yes sir, Mr. Rayleigh.” Lucy said nervously. She looked nervously around the tiny boat. “Ah, I should add: I can’t swim.”

Tanya nodded knowingly. “Yes, I know. Due to the fact that we’ll be getting towed,” Towed? What will be towing us? “-we will need to implement the same solution I had to use back when I was still getting my sea legs.”

Lucy tried to imagine Tanya being clumsy, and failed horribly. “What was the solution?”

Tanya held up a rope.

-------------------------

[Dracule D. Tanya]

Lucy hugged the ground. “Land, precious land.” She whispered, pale and shaking.

Tanya laughed. Lucy reminded her of herself, back when she was first acclimating to the Grand Line’s oceans. “It could have been worse, Lucy.” She said, still laughing. “At least you got to be on the boat. The last time I accompanied Grandpa on his morning swim, I had to hold onto his back the whole way.” It was a very unorthodox, if admittedly quite exciting, training method, but after a few trips like that, Tanya’s ability to maintain her grip on her sword had notably improved.

“Why couldn’t we have gone straight here?” Lucy whimpered.

“I’m hardly going to ask him to skip his morning workout.” Tanya explained. “He’s too old to be slacking off, and he’s already going out of his way to help us, after all.”

“Yeah, I got a late start this morning.” Grandpa said, his muscles shaking from the exercise and probably also from the chill. He was clearly unhappy with himself, presumably due to how tired he was from his exertions, the ravages of age catching up to him. He took a deep pull of a bottle of sake that he had stashed at the small dock near the Rip-Off Bar along with his clothes. “I completely forgot that you were supposed to be coming back today, Tanya.” With alcohol in his belly and some time sitting down, he stopped shaking and started to towel off.

Tanya shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.” She said, waving him off. “It’s not like I expected to need your help evading the law.”

Grandpa finished toweling himself off, starting to put his shirt on. “True, but I’m still sorry. The days tend to blur together sometimes, when you get to my age.”

Tanya knew what he meant, sadly. Those nearly four months of school already felt like it was more of a two-week vacation, just long enough to enjoy. But she also wasn’t as old as her grandfather, even when counting her previous lives: He had celebrated his seventieth birthday just… wow, was it a whole month since then already?

By the time Grandpa finished getting dressed, Lucy seemed to have regained her equilibrium, and the three of them went to the bar for lunch. There were some customers, which was only a small surprise. By the looks of things… a pirate crew that was going to need to be convinced to pay their tab, and would also not survive the trip to the New World.

“Oh hello Tanya!” Grandma said warmly. “I’m with some customers, so just help yourselves into the back.”

“Don’t mind us, folks. Just enjoy your drinks.” Rayleigh said with a ‘customer service’ smile as he ushered the two of them past the drunk pirates.

“I’ll fix our lunch.” Tanya volunteered, noting that the kitchen was already prepped and some food was already cooking. She poked her head back out to the front. “Grandma, is any of this supposed to be for us?”

“The Sea King Gumbo is today’s special, you can all take a bowl when it’s done.” Grandma said, “If you could stir it a bit and add the last ingredients, that would help out.”

Tanya gave her grandmother a thumbs up and went back into the kitchen. One of the pirates shouted after her: “You better hurry that up! We’re hungry for meat!”

The gumbo was being prepared in the big pot, what Tanya liked to call ‘the cauldron’ in her head. It could create enough food at once to feed four hundred people, although sailors tended to be hungry folk, so in practice it wasn’t a shock to find only a quarter that many satiated by it. One time, the entire pot’s worth was eaten by a single giant. Twice. The bar only sat fifty at most, and even that much was cramming pirates pretty close together. Given the size of the ship moored in the nearby grotto that was used for Grandpa’s coating customers, they clearly had more men than what was currently at the bar.

Still, when preparing something like this, you had to put in the ingredients at different times for optimal texture, with the toughest ingredients first and the ingredients that convey the flavor to the customer instead of creating the flavor last. In this case, Tanya unloaded a bag of an uncooked rice-like grain (it wasn’t rice, though) into the cauldron, along with some of the most tender cuts of meat, the kind that would completely dissolve if brought in the pot sooner, like the somewhat less tender but much less expensive meat that was added towards the start. Then she took the giant wooden spoon and started stirring. Back when she was younger, this was a good workout, but by now it was just another kitchen task, easy enough.

“It smells so good…” Lucy said, drooling at the dining table. Naturally, it was the only room of the ‘living area’ of the bar that was on the first floor, right next to the stairs. “What’s in it?”

Rayleigh chuckled at her friend. “Ah, Tanya brought a surprisingly large recipe book with her when she first came here, over a hundred ways to prepare Sea King. She would know this one better than I would.”

“Fourteen different parts of sea kings, five to nine different vegetables, whatever tasty blend of spices that you can find, stewed, thickened with some kind of starch once the flavors are nice and mingled and the vegetables are properly cooked.” Tanya summarized, projecting her voice to the table, “It’s a very versatile recipe, and when you live in a place with limited farming but lots of trade like Nishihoshi or Sabaody, you get used to being loose with your ingredient requirements.” While the mangrove forest could certainly sustain a fair amount of farming, only certain kinds of crops could handle the odd soil conditions without expensive imports of dirt and fertilizer. So the high-end Rip-Off bar usually bought food from traders and the greenhouses rather than the local mushroom farms. Not that the local mushrooms were bad. They tasted like potatoes that have been infused with too much garlic, but moderating the flavor wasn’t difficult (not that most of the locals wanted that). “Traveling the world is no different.”

“Is Sea King hard to get here?” Lucy asked, “Daddy always said it was expensive.”

“No.” Rayleigh replied. “There are some Fishmen merchants-” Who bear the flag of Jinbei, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, declaring themselves under his protection, “-selling Sea King meat in the market every other week, and there’s a company that does it locally, too.”

“Grove fourteen is where the butcher yards are.” Tanya added, “They’re perpetually understaffed, but they can fully break a smaller Sea King down before it rots, so they’re adequate.” Although they had to pickle a lot of it to ensure its safety. One would think it wouldn’t be difficult to get Fishman day laborers so close to Fishman Island, but there were probably cultural issues that Tanya hasn’t spent enough time in Sabaody to learn. “I wouldn’t go down there if I were you. The Fishmen do a better job. Unless you like pickled and fermented fish, of course.” She already knew that Lucy didn’t.

“Ew, no thanks.” Lucy said, scrunching up her face at the idea of fermented foods.

Tanya scooped up some of the grains with the normal-sized wooden spoon, sampling it after blowing it cool. This stuff cooked faster than rice did, so she had to be vigilant. “It’s ready!” She shouted to Grandma, which led to a round of cheers from the pirates.

Once the food was served, the drinks were topped off, and bellies were filled, Tanya went upstairs with Lucy and Grandpa to continue their earlier discussion. “Okay, so you have a few options.” Tanya said, “None of which are ‘go back to your old life’ sadly.”

“It’s just the world we live in.” Grandpa said, a little melancholy.

“First, you could come with me to where Father’s bought some land and find something useful to do there.” Tanya said, “I’m sure he’d be willing to pay for a maid, if nothing else.” Is there even enough secretarial work to fill a position? From experience, she knows it’s really not that much work…

Lucy looked hopeful. “That sounds good, I’m more used to having maids, but how hard could it be?”

Hm. She expected Lucy to be more averse to menial work.

“Second, you could work as a waitress here, live upstairs in the guest room.” Grandpa said, “You’ll need to change your look, dye your hair and such, and you’ll have to deal with customers like the ones downstairs, and this place isn’t exactly a safe neighborhood…” He shrugged. “I wouldn’t do it if I were you, but it is an option.”

“They are used to living with only each other and no neighbors.” Tanya added warningly. “Your next option is that we take you to Amazon Lily.”

“The Island of Women?” Lucy asked, intrigued. “But I’m not… like that.”

Grandpa chuckled. “Yeah, they wouldn’t exactly be that welcoming to someone like yourself.”

“An outsider?” Lucy asked.

“A noncombatant.” Tanya corrected. “The Kuja respect strength above all else. You would likely end up as something maid-adjacent over there, too. They don’t exactly have a bureaucracy with desk jobs.”

Lucy frowned. “Is there anything that might have me as something other than a maid?”

“Well, I’d try and get you something less physically intensive to do if you came with me, but there’s one more option.” Tanya said, a little nervous. “I could try and get in contact with the Revolutionary Army, they can definitely hide you from the government and give you a new life that potentially could use your skills.”

“You can do that?” Lucy asked.

“It’s not a guarantee.” Tanya hedged, “-but i am aware of one of their local agents, and they would assuredly be sympathetic to your plight.” Whether they’d have the ability to hide her long-term was less clear. “It’s the riskiest option, but it also has the largest possible rewards. The question is: do you wish for safety, or prosperity? You’ve lost the opportunity for both, so now it’s decision time.”

Lucy looked downward at her hands, which she flexed as she thought about her options. “...I don’t want to run.” She whispered, “I want to fight.” She looked back into Tanya’s eyes, determination burning within her own.

…Well. She didn’t expect that. “I suppose the Revolutionary Army probably has a training program you can join.” She almost wanted to train Lucy herself… “I assume you are willing to contribute your wealth to their cause?”

Lucy’s brow scrunched up. “I’m broke? I ate a devil fruit, though! I’m totally worth training!” She turned her finger into a key. “I ate the key-key fruit, and became a key-woman!”

Tanya blinked. Now that sounded useful to a criminal organization… and useless to a law-abiding citizen like herself. Well, mostly law-abiding. “I saved your jewelry chest, so you have a few million beri once you sell that off, “ She never exactly counted up the value of the collection, but Lucy had well over one hundred individual pieces and had plenty worth over one hundred thousand. Tanya’s collection was smaller, as she usually only kept the nicest pieces from each haul, or pieces that went well with her other ones, but the average value was much higher. “But I’m sure they’ll be interested in retaining your services when I mention that little tidbit.”

Lucy nodded, still resolved even after the mention of enough money to last her a few years still being in her possession.

Good, she’ll need that.

-------------------------

Bruce wasn’t that difficult to get a hold of; he had an estate in Grove four. Tanya just walked up to the gate and requested a meeting through the simple expedient of dressing up for the occasion, wearing makeup, her nicest dress, and a hat that was elaborate enough to make it difficult to tell the difference between her having short hair and just tying it up in a bun beneath the hat, the very picture of a young debutante. She also left Gintama at the bar, but she still had Cobra strapped to her thigh, if violence was still needed.

It was a little surprising to see someone who benefitted so substantially from current society be secretly a member of people who intend to upend the status quo, but historically, there were always rich traitors in successful revolutions, intending to secure a position of greater power in the new regime. So she wasn’t that surprised.

Bruce didn’t seem to recognize her as he watched her approach his desk, which was surprising for someone of such keen perception. “I’m sorry for not being able to give you my full attention, Miss, but I have a meeting quite soon. What is it that you wish to talk about?”

Tanya tilted her head curiously. “It’s alright, Mr. Wax. I thank you for seeing me on such short notice. Is this office secure from curious ears? The matter I wish to speak of requires the utmost discretion.”

He paused when Tanya started talking. “...Tanya?” He asked, as if he couldn’t believe what he was saying. At Tanya’s tiny, polite nod, his ears transformed and he spent a moment focusing on what they were telling him. “Yes, we’re clear. What is this about?”

“I’m given to understand that your organization appreciates useful human assets.” Tanya said.

“...I don’t disagree, but watch your tone.” He said sharply, which confused Tanya. What did she say?

“A friend of mine needs to escape the World Government, and she wishes to join you, after I mentioned it as an option.” Tanya summarized. Bruce’s harsh expression softened. “She has little to no combat skill, but wishes to learn. However, she has eaten a devil fruit that would be quite useful to your cause, as it would to anyone who flouts the rule of law.”

Bruce frowned. “Continue.” He said grumpily. He didn’t like when she implied the Revolutionary Army was less than noble, noted.

“The key-key fruit, able to unlock any door, box… or slave collar.” Tanya said, smiling. “We tested it on a seastone box that my Grandfather had in his closet, it is no obstacle.” As long as she didn’t touch it, anyway. As it turned out, turning her body parts into keys wasn’t actually necessary for her to unlock things, she just needed to twist something, anything, while pointing it at a lock.

With those words, she had him. Bruce’s eyes widened as she mentioned the last bit. “I’ll need to make some calls, but I’m glad you came to me about this. Is there anything in particular you wish as a favor to clear the books, as it were?”

Tanya shook her head. “This is her decision. I am merely facilitating things. She’s found the strength to step into danger, and it would be the height of hypocrisy for me to prevent someone from gambling their life in the hopes of a brighter future.” She frowned, “I would like to say that I wouldn’t have made the same decision…” She thought back to that notice of future conscription. Every word was burned into her memory; she had obsessed over that paper for days before making the decision to enlist as an officer. But in the end, she had signed up for an army when she had no strength but what she could grasp for her own. Just like Lucy. “...but that would be a lie.” It wasn’t the same in details, but in essence, it was the same decision.

Bruce’s face went neutral as she spoke, but nodded once she was done. “I understand.” He stood up and grabbed a book off of his shelf. “This is one of my rarer books that isn’t suspicious at all to possess, and is known to be in my collection, so it’s not odd someone would point you to me if you asked about the subject. It’s an anthropological journal by an explorer who found themselves on Amazon Lily, and discusses their culture.” He gave a wry grin. “First edition.” He gave it to her. “Come back in three days to return it, and we’ll arrange for your friend’s pickup then.”

That was a shorter timeframe than she was expecting given how slow cloak and dagger communications tend to be. She never had to actually use dead drops or other covert methods in the Empire, but it had come up in one of the many casual chats she had with Visha, when the conversation drifted to her friend in Intelligence.

Tanya took the book gently, noting the quality of the protective leather cover. “Thank you, Mr. Wax. I’ll treat this book with the utmost of respect.” She said, projecting her voice just a bit.

“Books are useless if they’re never read, Miss.” Bruce said, also subtly increasing the volume of his voice. “I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for in those pages.”

Tanya curtseyed politely and left the Revolutionary to contact his superiors.

-------------------------

Apparently, the Revolutionary Army’s information was better than Tanya thought: the arrangement was simple: Tanya would sneak through Fishman Island to get to the New World, and they would arrange for Lucy’s pickup at Gloom Island, the site of one of the Revolution’s failures.

The Muggy Kingdom’s civil war was their doing, and they were going to take her to a place in the New World for training, so “because she was going there anyway”, it was most convenient to pick Lucy up there.

Why was Tanya going there? Well… because Father bought the place. The entire island was now the private property of Dracule Mihawk, and he was thus able to call himself ‘King’, bypassing the normal population requirements by virtue of the place already being recognized as a sovereign nation by the World Government.

Now, spending half a billion beri for, essentially, just a fancy title was kind of a strange decision, but apparently, Father had a plan.

“...Why?” Tanya asked, as she gripped her bounty poster, both the one initially posted and the one declaring the previous one canceled.

[Wanted: Dead or Alive]

[Name Unknown, designation ‘Hawk-Eyes Fanboy’]

[75,000,000 beri]

[Kidnapping, divine theft, burglary, blasphemy]

Bounty nomenclature is that the ‘divine’ prefix to a crime indicates that it was done towards a Celestial Dragon. The picture was recognizably her, although it was interesting that Tim gave them so little information on her.

[Wanted: Alive Only]

[Dracule Tanya, “The World’s Strongest Princess”]

[Bounty Canceled by the World Government]

“I thought it would be funny.” Father said simply before taking another sip of his wine.

“If I start getting challenged by the older daughters of the Charlotte family, I’m blaming you.” Tanya said heatedly.

“The real question is if Kaido will let the Oni Princess out to challenge you.” Father said, smirking. “Her existence may be a secret now, but it wasn’t always. She’d be nineteen now, I think?”

“Look on the bright side, Tanya!” Lucy said, amused by Tanya’s pain. “At least now people will stop mistaking you for a boy.”

Tanya groaned. That was not a bright side… The conversation was interrupted by the doorbell being rung. “Are you expecting anyone?” She asked her.

“Just that Revolutionary you told me about.” He said.

Ah yes, she almost forgot about him. At the door was an incredibly large smiling man. “Hello. I’m here to deliver Lucy to her training?” He said, his voice soft and gentle.

Lucy skipped up to the large man. “Are you an officer in the Revolutionary Army?” She asked, in awe.

“Not anymore, I’m afraid.” He replied easily. “I’ve left the cause to care for my daughter, but I still do Dragon some favors every now and then. Like now.” He took Lucy’s hands and inspected them. “I’m told that your abilities will allow them to free people in chains.” He said.

Lucy was a little uncomfortable with his interest in her hands, but turned her fingers into keys to show off her ability. “Yeah, I can open any lock.”

“That’s a good power.” He said sincerely. “Some have called my own hands the Hands of Liberation.” He showed off his palm, where there were pads, like an animal’s paw print. “With these hands, you too can liberate people who wish only for freedom. It lets me rest easy, to see that someone will be there to pick up at least some of the burden I left behind.”

“The hands of liberation…” Lucy repeated, looking at her hands. She looked back up at the man, the same resolve that Tanya had seen redoubled in her eyes. “I’ll do my best!”

“Good, good.” He said, before glancing over to the jewelry chest and trunk. “These are your things?” He asked.

“Yes, Tanya saved my jewelry when she rescued me. It’s worth a few million beri, I’m sure that’ll be useful to the Revolution, right?”

“I never dealt with the finances, but I’m sure it’ll help.” The man said easily. “Now, let’s go outside.” He picked up the two boxes, and the second he was outside, the boxes vanished, his palms suddenly empty. “Now, it’s time to go.”

Lucy turned back to Tanya. “I’m going to get strong!” She declared, “Strong enough that next time, I’ll be the one protecting you!”

Tanya laughed. “I look forward to it, Lucy. You are one of my friends, and we will meet again.”

With their goodbyes said, the Revolutionary ex-officer touched Lucy with the paw on his hand, and she vanished like her luggage did. “My name is Bartholomew Kuma.” He said, “I hope you two find a way to make this island flourish again. When we assisted the rebellion… We never expected the humandrills. It was all we could do to evacuate, there were just too many. Goodbye.” With that, he vanished. As she was paying attention that time, Tanya noticed the man fly away incredibly quickly towards the South Blue.

Tanya looked at her father. “Humandrills?” She asked.

“They’re why this place hasn’t been resettled.” He elaborated. “Apes that are incredibly good at mimicry. Over the course of the civil war, they learned how to not only use weapons, but produce gunpowder and maintain their weapons.” Ah, that sounded very troublesome indeed. “I’ve cowed them, which is why I met you at the dock, but they’ve also learned a fair bit of swordsmanship in the process.”

“Hm.” Tanya frowned. “I’m not sure I like the idea of exterminating something so intelligent. But do we have a choice?”

“Indeed.” Father agreed, “But from what your grandfather has told me, you are ready for the next step in your training.”

Uh oh. “Do I have to fight the humandrills?” She asked calmly, she was definitely not whining.

“You have to fight the humandrills.” Father said, pleased. “Controlled conditions at first, but eventually you must defeat all of them at once. Then you will be ready for your final test.”

Ugh… this was going to suck. “What happens then?” She asked.

“Well, if you pass that test, you’ll have my blessing to travel the world on your own.” He said idly. Tanya’s eyes widened. Really? “You handled the boarding school well, so you’re mature enough to go on your own adventures, it’s just a matter of strength now.” He took a moment to think. “I estimate it will take you at least three, more likely five years to complete both tests.”

That long? How strong are these apes?

As it turns out, quite strong.