Smooth Sailing Chapter 2: Satsuruzo Kingdom 1

Chapter 2: Satsuruzo Kingdom 1

“Thanks for the save, captain,” Heppoko said weakly, lying on his back on the deck of the Lovey Dovey.

Yes, that was the name of the boat. No, I don’t get Alvida’s naming sense. I mean, I do. It had a heart-related word (love) and a bird (dove) but it was still pretty terrible as far as names went.

It was useful, though. Despite being so oddly shaped and named, the Lovey Dovey still had a decent amount of space. Inside the cabin there was a galley, a storage room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. It could fit five people easily, or ten with a bit of effort.

“Yeah, real nice of ya,” Poppoko muttered, also dressed like a mummy as he rested on the deck.

“Man, I almost didn’t think we’d make it!” Peppoko commented.

“It’s the least I could do after you rescued me,” I replied as I moved a barrel of fresh water onto the Lovey Dovey.

Right now, it was the next morning, as I’d had to work through the night to bind their wounds and keep them from dying.

Thankfully, my quick first-aid worked, and the three men of my crew (I was calling them Hep, Pep, and Pop in my head since their real names were long and dumb) had survived the injuries the Marines had given them, though they would be on bedrest for a while.

On Earth, I’d expect them to be down for the count for weeks if not months. With the super-human physiology of even East Bluers, they’d be healed within a single week. At least according to them.

They didn’t have any broken bones that might take longer. The cuts and bruises they’d acquired were quick to heal on this wacky world.

Hep was a tan skinned man with dark hair, moustache, and goatee, and was five foot eight inches tall. He had a rather square-ish head and large forehead. Hep also had decent swordsmanship skills. For a pirate in the East Blue, at least. His yellow shirt was practically orange from all the blood soaking it.

Pep was the tallest of the trio at six feet, and had shaggy blond hair with a thin goatee. He was a decent marksman with his dual pistols, but was no Usopp. His blue shirt with vertical white stripes was marred by blood and ash.

Lastly, there was Pop, the shortest at five foot five. He was less tanned than Hep, but swarthier than Pop, had black hair and a bit of stubble on his chin, and was the widest of the trio, being rather stout. Pop wore a black and white striped bandana and a black shirt with white horizontal stripes which were also stained with a lot of red, to the point the white was more pink than anything else.

When it came to combat he preferred to use an axe, but wasn’t much of a fighter. From Alvida’s memories I could occasionally catch snippets of, Pop was a deckhand who did whatever needed to be done onboard, mostly hauling cargo around and being one of the helmsmen. He was a bit dim compared to the others, and was really just kept around for his above-average strength.

Oh, and all three were brothers. Somehow. Different fathers, it seemed. I didn’t know, didn’t care to ask, and was content to let it lie.

“You know, when we found ya, I almost didn’t recognize ya, captain!” Pop claimed with a dopey smile. “I mean, you lost so much-!”

“SSSHHH!” Hep and Pep shushed him, slapping their hands over his mouth before he could dig himself deeper.

I felt a twinge of irrational anger at Pop’s words, but I managed to resist Alvida’s instinctive reaction to bash his head in and instead folded my arms.

“Yes, if I knew I’d be even more beautiful without freckles, I’d have gotten rid of them ages ago,” I said instead, acting like I didn’t know what he was insinuating and using Alvida’s original response from the series.

Yes, she assumed the only change she’d experienced after eating the Smooth-Smooth Fruit was losing her freckles. Her delusions were powerful. I could only guess as to what would happen if she got her hands on a Devil Fruit with more potent reality warping abilities.

Hep and Pep breathed out a sigh of relief while Pop looked confused but wisely kept his mouth shut.

“I do hope your heads haven’t been too badly knocked around,” I told them. “Because it sounds to me like Pop might need a slight refresher.”

I hefted my large mace menacingly, and the three brothers swallowed nervously.

“We remember the rules, captain!” Hep quickly assured me, and I raised an eyebrow.

“In that case, repeat them for me,” I ordered. I wanted a clearer picture of how the Alvida Pirates had worked before they were disbanded.

“Um, Rule One! Alvida is the most beautiful and strongest woman in all the seas!” Hep said.

“Rule Two! Be clean at all times!” Pep continued. “Rule Three! Never be lazy!”

“Rule Four! Take what you please because it’s ours for the taking!” Hep continued.

“And Rule Five! Never touch a woman who doesn’t want to be touched!” Pop finished.

I nodded slowly. “Good,” I said aloud, partly for their benefit, and they sagged in relief, glad to have passed my test.

‘So, the memories I’ve been able to see were correct,’ I thought slowly.

Alvida didn’t tolerate rape. That… that was a relief. I hadn’t wanted to be on a crew with such people, even if they had saved me and served loyally. We were pirates. We plundered and ruined people’s days. But we never went any further than theft and the occasional bit of murder when somebody didn’t immediately hand over their treasure. Which was something I’d have to work on, but it could have been much worse.

“Alright, listen up! There’s going to be a few changes going forward,” I informed the crew and they perked up. “First, we’re adding a new rule! Rule Six! No murder! Killing in self-defense is fine, but don’t just off somebody if they piss you off or because you can!”

“Eh? Uh, sure thing, captain,” Pep said, a bit surprised, but accepting of this addition to the code.

“That’s right. Maybe if you three hadn’t jumped straight to murder when you found that moron in the barrel I wouldn’t have been punched clear across the ocean!” I huffed, using that as an excuse for the new rule.

The trio had the good sense to look embarrassed by how easily Monkey D. Luffy had kicked their asses, and agreed to the change.

“Next! We’re changing names from the ‘Alvida Pirates’ to the ‘Iron Mace Pirates!’” I announced. That alteration wasn’t too big. We were just going by my epithet now instead of my name. Much less narcissistic.

This change also went down well with the brothers. They didn’t really care what the crew was called.

“And last but not least, our new mission is one of revenge!” I declared, thrusting my giant club into the air. “I want a damn rematch with that rubber brat, and I want the Marines to pay for what they did to us!”

“YEAH!” Hep, Pep, and Pop cheered, before wincing as their wounds acted up.

I grinned widely at their reaction. Very good. Having them on my side would make things much easier.

First, though, we needed to leave the island I’d been briefly stranded on and make our way back to our previous base to see if we could scavenge something from the ruins.

There wasn’t much onboard, so I left the trio to grab some more supplies. I’d already refilled the water barrels, now it was time for food.

I returned with two barrels stuffed with peaches from the island. They weren’t the best thing to prevent scurvy but it was better than nothing. Then, I also grabbed some peach trees. I ripped them clear out of the dirt with my superhuman strength and stuffed them into empty barrels which I filled with soil. I planned on replanting them in pots onboard the Lovey Dovey and doing something similar to what Nami had done with her tangerine grove onboard the Going Merry and Thousand Sunny.

Fresh fruit? On demand? Yes, please!

The siblings gave me weird looks but didn’t say anything as I brought the trees onboard. Probably because they saw I was still as strong as when I’d been while fat, and weren’t going to say something that’d get a trunk dropped on their heads.

Once we were restocked, I pushed the boat out into the surf, shuddering a little as I felt my body start to weaken and go limp from the seawater lapping over my feet, and I quickly leapt back onto the deck before I got any weaker.

With the Lovey Dovey shoved off the beach I moved to the steering wheel and grabbed ahold, memories of my time as Alvida helping me do what needed to be done to actually sail the boat.

“First stop, Goat Island!” I announced, to some cheers from my crew.

The good mood diminished as we began to travel. The old base of the Alvida Pirates wasn’t too far from where I’d been stranded. It was just a couple hours away, but it was still boring, especially when three fourths of the crew was too hurt to move.

Honestly, it reminded me of the times I’d driven cross country in my old life. Trying to get from one state to another was the work of hours, and after a while there was only so many trees and fields you could look at before your mind slipped into a trance-like state.

However, when we began to approach Goat Island, any good feelings we had vanished when we spotted thick plumes of black smoke that could be seen rising up from our destination.

We arrived to find Goat Island deserted, with the buildings that had previously been there reduced to charred ruins, the Marines having torched the place when they were done with their raid.

‘Didn’t even have the courtesy to bury the bodies,’ I thought with a scowl, the steering wheel creaking ominously in my grasp as I saw the corpses littering the island. The Marines had rampaged across Goat Island, leaving no survivors aside from Hep, Pep, and Pop who’d been lucky enough to flee when they had.

That wasn’t all. The top of the main mast of the Miss Love Duck was poking up out of the water, a wooden tombstone for its watery grave, for the ship had also been sunk in the bay right beside the shore.

Docking at what was left of the pier, I stepped off, my emotions in turmoil. Whatever was left of Alvida boiled in rage at the disrespect to her and her crew, and I was also disgusted by the sheer waste and disregard for life.

Of course, the Alvida Pirates had been, well, pirates. There wasn’t much else to say on the matter. As far as the Marines were concerned, it didn’t matter if we’d never done the whole rape and pillage thing of others, we’d been labeled enemies of the World Government for one reason or another and that was enough justification to leave everyone here dead.

‘They probably stole whatever wasn’t nailed down, too,’ I thought, gritting my teeth as I stepped through the burned down base.

There had been a few buildings here, mostly warehouses for supplies but also barracks and a mess hall for the crew. Not having to sleep onboard the ship all the time was probably a real treat for the sailors.

After a bit more study of Alvida’s memories, I was able to recall a few things, namely that there had been some treasure buried near the mess hall.

“Would any of the treasure still be here?” I wondered aloud to myself.

I wandered over to where the mess hall had been, and using my giant club to clear some rubble away, I found a spot behind the building where a patch of dirt looked somewhat disturbed. Someone had definitely buried something here.

Not having a proper shovel, I instead used my mace to gouge out chunks of the earth, and soon found a small wooden chest underneath half a foot of soil.

Pulling it out, the lid was stuck, so I had to just punch a hole into it and then tear it off in order to open the chest. Within were several pieces of jewelry, mostly necklaces and rings made of gold or silver, along with a couple wads of beri. I checked the latter closely, and found I had half a million beri in cold hard cash. Useful for buying supplies whenever we’d get the chance to, and the jewelry could also be pawned off.

‘Well, I have money, a boat, and a crew,’ I thought to myself. ‘What next?’

As I contemplated the next step to take, a “Meeeh!” drew my attention, and I looked up, finding a bunch of tiny goats staring at me a few yards away.

Goat Island was so called because it was inhabited by a species of goat called a Pygmy Goat, the same breed Fleet Admiral Sengoku kept as a pet. They bred like rabbits and their only predators were Seahawks which swooped down and grabbed a few every so often.

They were small but produced as much milk as a regular sized goat, and the Alvida Pirates had used them as emergency food supplies when times were lean.

“Well, no reason to let ‘em go to waste,” I decided.

An hour later, three dozen Pygmy Goats were herded onto the Lovey Dovey and corralled in the galley. Twenty-four were nanny goats, who’d be responsible for milk, and the remaining twelve were billy goats, who’d be responsible for ensuring the nanny goats could produce milk.

“Uh, what’s with the goats, Captain Alvida?” Pep asked from where he lay, confused by the presence of animals onboard.

“Emergency rations, like the peach trees,” I explained.

“Oh. Make senses,” Hep nodded.

“Problem is, I have no clue how to care for any of them. We need a botanist for the peach trees,” I declared, arms folded across my chest. “And somebody to care for the goats.”

“I can take care of the goats,” Pop offered. “I would feed them whenever we were on the island. But I don’t know much about plants, captain.”

“Hmm. Very well, you’re the crew’s official goatherder,” I stated, assigning him his job. “Anyone else have any secret skills that could be useful?”

“Sorry, captain,” Hep said, and Pep shook his head.

“Damn,” I sighed. “Fine, whatever. Our next step is to find somebody who can do that for us.”

“We also need more supplies if we’re taking a bunch of goats with us,” Pep quickly reminded me.

“Right, yes, good point,” I huffed. “Then we’ll need to hit up the Satsuruzo Kingdom.”

The Satsuruzo Kingdom, a modest island nation within the East Blue that sustained itself via fishing and other maritime activities. It served as a trade hub, and had shipwrights who built and repaired various vessels.

Pertinently to me, though, was it was where a cache of treasure and supplies was hidden, according to some memories. The Alvida Pirates had used it as a place to restock and also to hide a few things.

Most importantly, it wasn’t a member state of the World Government so it didn’t have a Marine presence, hence why Alvida and other pirate crews over the years had made use of it.

“Since it’s close to Goat Island, we could be there before evening,” Pop said.

“Then let’s go,” I decided. It was time to see what the rest of the world had in store for me.

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Satsuruzo Kingdom was based on Fishbone Island, which was, you guessed it, shaped like a fish. The dorsal fin was a bunch of rocky spires, while the capital of the city was based in the lagoon formed by the tail fin.

As for our destination? Alvida had hidden her treasure was near a place called Fish Eye Lake, up near the ‘head’ of the island, and where a couple villages were located. In fact, it seemed like one of these had been where Coby, the pink-haired deckhand, had come from.

Thinking about the brat brought a snort of annoyance from me. Alvida didn’t think much of him, and while I had a bit more respect given his feats in the future under Vice-Admiral Garp’s tutelage, he was still a dumbass.

‘Who the hell walks onto a pirate ship after mistaking it as a fishing boat?’ I couldn’t help but wonder. ‘And why the hell did Coby stick around for two years?!’

He could have left at any time! It wasn’t like the Alvida Pirates hadn’t stopped off at other ports or returned to Satsuruzo Kingdom that he could have ditched them at. The poor kid was such a coward back then it was almost funny. But really, it was just sad.

‘Well, I don’t have to see him ever again,’ I thought to myself.

Coby could try and become a Marine Admiral for all I cared. I would be happy being free and not working for a genocidal bunch of bubbleheaded freaks.

As the Lovey Dovey approached one of the settlements on the island we would use to resupply at, I saw something rather worrying on the horizon.

‘Marines?’ I thought, squinting suspiciously at the ship. Why would Marines be anywhere near the island?

It was a typical Marine ship: three masts, two decks, and half-a-dozen cannons on each side, with the words MARINES emblazoned upon the sails and the stylized Seagull emblem proudly displayed all over as well.

‘Probably carrying fifty or so Marines based on the size,’ I guessed. Perhaps twice as many. I could also see white uniformed men with rifles walking around on the deck as well as in the town. It almost looked like they were occupying it.

I pulled up to the docks as far away as I could from the Marine ship. As I did, I saw a squad of five Marines break off from their patrols nearby and head towards the Lovey Dovey when they saw it arrive.

“Stay quiet,” I ordered the trio. “Don’t speak, don’t start any conversations. Let me do all the talking.”

They nodded, and I felt a bit of relief for them obeying my instructions. Then, I pushed the nerves I had down and left my rather distinctive iron mace behind in the cabin.

“Who are you?” one of the white clad seamen demanded as I hopped off the deck onto the docks, glad to have solid ground beneath my feet.

I quickly tied mooring lines to a post so the boat wouldn’t drift off before finally address the squad that had called out to me.

“Alice,” I said, giving a fake name. “And we’re couriers.”

“Couriers, huh?” one of them uttered, tone suspicious. “Carrying what?”

“Love letters and care packages,” I told him. “You want a letter delivered to your sweet heart but don’t want them to know it’s from you? Or perhaps you have a special gift you absolutely need to send to them? Well, my boat is small but fast and we can get it anywhere you want in the East Blue!”

I jerked a thumb at the peach trees which were visible on deck. “Got a bunch of plants some client wanted delivered. Something about a garden for her lover. Paid well, though. But nobles always want the best.”

It was an outrageous lie, but considering what the Lovey Dovey looked like, it wasn’t exactly hard to believe. After all, what pirates would sail around in something like it?

“What happened to your boat?” another Marine inquired, staring at the blood and bullet holes present in the Lovey Dovey.

“Pirates,” I replied simply. It was an easy enough cover story, and the Marine seemed to buy it, as he nodding in understanding.

“Did you get a look at their flag?”

“Afraid not,” I said. “Too busy getting away, you know?”

“Of course,” he nodded. “Does your crew need help?”

He was able to see Hep, Pep, and Pop lying on the deck, but he didn’t seem to recognize them. That hopefully meant this group of Marines weren’t related to the ones who’d attack the Alvida Pirates.

‘Or maybe the trio are just too low on the totem pole for their faces to be recognized as pirates,’ I mused.

“Nothing a night or two of rest wouldn’t fix,” I assured the soldiers. “Just here for supplies, though, before we head to Frauce.”

“Hm. If you’re just here for the night, then you can dock,” the Marine said, relaxing a bit.

“I wasn’t aware there was a Marine base here,” I said, probing for a reason for them to be here.

“We got a tip off that a pirate crew had a hideout somewhere on the island,” the man said, and I cursed to myself in my mind.

“Oh, dear! I hope they don’t come after us!” I said, faking my fears.

“Don’t worry, ma’am, Lieutenant Wooster already took care of them,” he said proudly. “Can you believe they have a base on Goat Island? Well, they had a base, I suppose.”

His squad mates chuckled at that, and I forced a laugh of my own out.

“I see,” I said slowly. “Well, I’ll just let you boys get on with your jobs, then! Good luck finding any pirates!”

I then quickly stalked off into the village, leaving the Marines to keep an eye on the dock.

‘Lieutenant Wooster, was it?’ I thought to myself. ‘I have a name, now.’

I wasn’t sure if I’d have time to get my revenge today for all the dead pirates he’d left back on Goat Island, but I vowed there’d be a reckoning someday.

First place to go was a general store for supplies, though. And after buying a bunch of much needed items like bandages, rubbing alcohol, and hay for the goats, I headed to the best place to gather information: the local watering hole.

This turned out to be a bar called the Flying Fish, and it reeked of smoke, stale beer, and piss. All the staples of a good, proper pub.

I drew quite a few stares as I sauntered and took a seat at the bar. Ordering a beer, I leaned back to listen in on the nearby conversations.

“Damn Marines,” one of the bar goers grunted in disgust. “Lording over us here like they own the place!”

“Can’t believe the mayor caved in like that!” another man said, spitting on the floor in frustration.

“Well, what was he gonna do? Say ‘no’ to somebody with a bunch of cannons?” a third drinker asked angrily.

“Doesn’t mean he should have let them in! Taka Village ain’t part of their crummy World Government! I doubt they have permission to be here!”

“At least they took care of Alvida for us,” the first man uttered. “Even if this Wooster fellow is just a greedy bastard trying to find her treasure. Only reason they even came here.”

Hearing that, my hand squeezed tight around the mug in my hand until it shattered, spilling beer all over my legs. It didn’t stick thanks to my Devil Fruit, but it was a mess all the same, and people turned to look at me in surprise.

“Sorry, did you say Alvida is dead?” I asked, pretending that that was why I’d involuntarily crushed the mug.

“Huh? Uh, yeah, we did. Marines attacked their base and everything,” the bartender said, speaking up in the silence.

“Interesting,” I muttered. They thought I was dead, did they?

Problem was, they’d somehow found out about the stash that had been hidden here and were searching for it. I didn’t have a lot of time to grab it and go.

‘And Alvida’s memories of where she buried it are a bit fuzzy,’ I mused. Some things were clearer, others were harder to drag out of her brain.

I knew that it was near Fish Eye Lake. Couldn’t be that hard to figure out where it was based on that, right?

The problem was Lieutenant Wooster. Each of the Blues had a high-ranking Marine officer assigned to them. On paper, Vice-Admiral Garp was the overall commander for the East Blue, but he was often absent and foisted off his duties to his underlings.

In practice, the person in charge of the Marine forces in the East Blue was Rear Admiral Jhetmann, an old guy around the same age as Garp. He was based out of Marine Base E-1, First Branch, an island thankfully rather far from here.

As far as ranking officers in the Marines went, Lieutenants were the lowest ranking officers who could be given command over a ship of any size.

Trying to figure out how strong one of them was happened to be a bit trickier. Axe-Hand Morgan, for instance, was a Captain ranked Marine, but so was Smoker. Admittedly, Smoker was at least Commadore ranked based on his Logia and fighting prowess, he just refused to be transferred out of the East Blue until Luffy rained on his parade.

Still, for the average citizen or pirate a Lieutenant wasn’t an easy opponent. They were dangerous with some skill in combat, and could generally be considered to be capable of going toe to toe with any pirate below ten million beri on relatively even grounds.

After all, somebody like Fullbody, a Marine Lieutenant who got his ass kicked by Sanji, could take down an entire crew of weaker pirates. Only reason he got hurt fighting the Tulip Pirates was because the enemy captain took a hostage.

A part of me wanted to get into a fight with this ‘Wooster’ fellow to test how strong I’d become in this new body of mine, to say nothing of the Devil Fruit I now possessed.

‘But should I?’ I thought to myself.

My crew was hurt and the Marines had damned war ship parked right next to them! A broadside barrage could sink the Lovey Dovey no problem!

‘To say nothing of the fact that the goal is to find the supply cache my crew hid on the island,’ I thought to myself.

‘The treasure is the main goal right now. But if I run into Wooster, I won’t hesitate to throw hands,’ I decided.

Then, after some more thought, I decided I’d need some way to disguise myself. A mask would do just fine for now. I wasn’t ready for the world to know that Alvida was still alive. For now, let them assume otherwise.

‘I’d better leave,’ I decided, paying the bartender for the beer I’d spilled. I’d drop the supplies off at the Lovey Dovey and then Slip out to explore the island itself as night fell. It was sneaky time!

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Author's Note: This is the 2nd and last of the current chapters for my newest story! It won't be replacing any of the other stories on here, though it may get lower priority going forward.

Also, a reminder that this is gonna be an 'M' rated story, with some Limes and Lemons. Not often, but they'll pop up occasionally, and be clearly marked so you can skip if you don't want to read 'em.

Do note that this is my first time trying to write anything spicy, so consider that a quality warning.