Rick didn’t miss any time and flew towards the explosion’s provenance. From high in the sky he saw a small fleet of ships; way too far for his gravity or his sprouts to reach he let himself fall. The ships belonged to the beasts pirates, the crew of the emperor Kaidou himself. They were firing everything they could at one of Zunesha’s hind legs and were doing serious damage. At this rate the gigantic elephant would fall and be at their mercy.
Arriving in range he didn’t waste a moment to act, sprouting arms on all the ships’ deck, allowing him to finally use his gravity. Focusing on the masts and the floor around, the gravity broke the wood, making a huge hole through the deck and all the other levels of the ships below, reaching the sea. Quickly the pirates' ships all sank, and as Rick looked at his work he didn’t saw Zunesha’s trunk coming his way from the side.
~~~~~
“Oh no!” exclaimed Momonuske.
“What is it?” asked Kin’emon
“Z-Zunesha fought back as ordered by swinging his trunk but… Rick was faster and sank the fleet; he didn't see it coming from the side!” explained the panicked child.
““““.....””””
The crew was quiet for a moment but each went back to do what they were doing before the attack as if nothing happened to the confusion of everyone present.
“You… you’re not worried about Sir Rick?” asked Kin’emon.
“Not really.” replied Zoro, raising a pint of alcohol to his mouth.
“I mean, if it was anyone else…” began Usopp.
“They’d probably be dead! Yohohoho!!”
“But Rick wouldn’t!” Chopper said.
Hearing her friends talking about her husband made Robin laugh sweetly. She had faith too, that he was safe and sound. She was right to as he landed next to her. One notable difference was that his pants were now shorts and he had his legs right out in the open.
“One of these days, I’m going to kick that elephant's ass.” he grumbled as he embraced Robin from behind.”
“See? Not a scratch.” Luffy pointed out.
“Not a scratch, not a scratch. I barely dodged! The hit took my legs, and sent me down towards the sea! Had I been slower I would have drowned!”
“But you didn’t.” replied Zoro.
“... Your worry is touching guys.” said Rick with a deadpan face and a sarcastic tone.
“We’re friends, that's normal!” exclaimed Chopper, missing the sarcasm.
Rick was speechless. He couldn’t give a retort back to Chopper’s genuine enthusiasm so he searched for his wife confort.
“I-I can’t. Not Chopper.”
“It’s alright, let it go.” she replied.
“... You were not worried either.” he stated.
“...”
“Even my wife is not worried about me…” he whined while pouting, amusing Robin.
“Well if it’s like that I'm going to take a nap.” he declared and started walking towards the housing the minks had prepared for the crew.
“You can’t, you need to bring me to the poneglyph.”
Rick stopped in his tracks then looked up at the clear blue sky. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.
“Why couldn’t I fall in love with a normal girl?” Rick lamented as he dropped his head to look at the ground. Robin got closer and embraced him.
“They’re not as smart, not as pretty and most of all they certainly can’t handle you.” she whispered in his ear.
“...”
“And they don’t have the best ass in the world.”
“The ass, that was definitely the ass, that evil culprit.” he mumbled making her smirk
“Carry me?” she asked.
Rick didn’t reply, he just turned around and took her in his arms.
“I knew you liked it back on Skypiea.”
“Perhaps” was the cryptic answer Robin gave him with a knowing smile.
~~~~~
When the married couple came back they stumbled on a conversation about the plan to take down Kaidou. As Oden also sailed with Whitebeard it was possible they could get the help of the Whitebeard pirates. However what made it difficult was that no one knew where they were and even if someone did their forces had diminished a lot since Ace took the lead. Not only some left the crew to do their own things but the rest of the fleet was continuously destroyed bit by bit by the alleged real son of Whitebeard who was currently working for the government as a shichibukai. The talk changed, when Luffy announced that he needed to get Sanji back first to the displeasure of the minks and samurai part of the alliance.
“Do you expect to show up on Wano and immediately take Kaidou down? Because if that’s the case you can all commit seppuku right now for your stupidity. At least that way you won’t be confronted with the failure of your plan.” Rick said.
“What do you mean sir Rick?” asked Kin’emon.
“From what I understand. Kaidou has been ruling your country for the past twenty years. He must have agents everywhere so if you want your rebellion to succeed you’ll have to prepare a lot. Weapons, soldiers, underground network for information, supply and communication. You’ll need all that to take Kaidou down and that… takes time.”
“That would take months!” replied Kanjuro.
“Exactly, so there is no problem with us going for our crewmate.”
“You would let my people suffer?!” asked Momonosuke.
“The people of Wano have been enduring for twenty years already. What’s a few months more if it gives them a better opportunity for their freedom?” he said before adding.
“And two decades is a lot of time for a country to change. You may not recognize it anymore.”
That made the samurai’s side pale.
“How…” began Kin’emon.
“Do I know you’re from twenty years into the past?”
“What? Rick, what are you talking about?” Usopp asked.
“They are not from our time.” insisted Rick.
“That’s not possi…” began Nami before being proven wrong by Kin’emon.
“It’s true. I don’t understand how you found out though.”
“““““What?!”””””
“Lord Momonosuke, Kanjuro, Raizo, a friend of ours and myself made a twenty years jump into the future, arriving in this time.”
“But how?” asked Nami.
“My guess is a devil fruit. And as for how I got to this conclusion Kin’emon, I just listened. You said Oden sailed a few years with Whitebeard and Roger, that was a bit more than twenty years ago. I also know that Wano has been Kaidou’s base of operation from around the same period of time. The first thing Kaidou would have done is to get rid of the people in power, which he did. Now… If Oden has been dead for twenty years, how come Momonosuke, who is eight years old, can be his son?”
“There is no way it’s possible.” answered Usopp.
“Correct. Momonosuke is clearly his son though, otherwise no one here would serve him. The only explanation left for this time problem is time travel.”
“That would explain why none of you seemed to have aged much.” said Nekomamushi.
“You’re correct sir Rick…Lady Toki, lord Momonosuke’s mother had the Toki Toki ability. She could send herself or other people forward into the future. When lord Oden died, the usurper, Koizumi Orochi, sent his men to kill the rest of the Kozuki clan. While the Kozuki castle was burning, to save lord Momonosuke’s life and give Wano a chance to freedom she used her ability to send us in this time. Your advice is sound. For us it may have been only a few months, but for Wano it has been decades. We didn’t take that into consideration while making the plan. We will revise it, thank you.”
“Meh it’s alright. We’re friends, that’s what friends do.”
You are reading story Out for Karma: One Piece at novel35.com