One Piece: Halfway Broken

(Chapters 124 & 125)

Novus Peregrine

Disclaimer: I am, very tragically, not in charge of One Piece. All rights to One Piece belong to Oda Eiichiro and his publishers (so far as I'm aware).

Chapter 124: Wrapping Up

-Lemon Starts Here-

Robin moaned as Luffy sank into her depths, her back pressed against a random tree near the Alliance Dock. Her moans redoubled a moment later as his mouth found a nipple, one of his hands holding her up by a leg wrapped around his waist, even as the other held her wrists above her head, pinned to the tree. She whimpered as he failed to immediately move, instinctively grinding against him to try and quench the fire burning in her dripping sex.

The arousal effect of the pools had been subtle…at first. The longer they’d stayed in them to soak, the more obvious it had become, until a very flushed Hancock had bid them a good evening and hurried off. Telling to just how aroused Hancock had become, she hadn’t even bothered to escort them back. Of course, tellingly to how aroused they’d become, they hadn’t made it all the way back to the ship themselves. As soon as they’d come within sight of the Dock, Luffy had been all over her, and Robin hadn’t had any desire to resist.

He’d ripped her soaked thong off, practically shoving his tongue down her throat as he did, before pinning her to the tree, and she had no idea how her had the willpower not to start immediately thrusting. Thankfully for her sanity, he didn’t manage to hold out long, using his hands to keep her properly penned, even as he finally pulled almost entirely out…then slammed home hard, all the way to the hilt. Robin couldn’t help it, crying out as she came hard just from that single thrust, more lewd noises spilling out as he didn’t stop. Her lover hammered her through one orgasm and straight into another, without any sign of him cumming himself just yet.

Vaguely, she wondered if she was going to be able to walk the next morning. It was her last coherent thought before her third orgasms ripped anything but the all-consuming pleasure from her mind…

… … …

Hancock was only barely able to keep her own voice down as she watched Nico Robin hammered hard against a tree. Unlike most Kuja, she was a little too aware what went on between man and woman. But, for the first time she could remember, she wished it was her on the other end of that cock. Something not helped by the fact she had three fingers buried in her own pussy, roughly thrusting in time with the motion of Luffy’s hips, trying to stifle her moans so as not to give herself away. She had no idea if the Captain had enough focus remaining to have felt her following them, though she was confident Robin didn’t, the woman having been obviously and visibly even more affected by the pools than Hancock herself had been.

Which, given how she’d followed them, and was currently furiously masturbating to the sight of Luffy ravaging his lover, wasn’t to say Hancock had been unaffected. It had started subtly enough, but she’d quickly realized that the more aroused she became, the faster and more completely it had taken hold. Though she legitimately wasn’t sure just where the effects of the water ended and her own…appreciation…of both her companions began. She’d been far from unaware what could happen when she’d chosen to invite them for a dip and, at least in this exact moment, she almost wished she’d stayed longer to see if it would have overcome them all.

Almost.

While she was interested in the Captain in a way she’d never thought she could be in a man, she didn’t think she was quite ready for that. Even if the waters would have prevented certain complications, she was self-aware enough of her own traumas to know not to rush. Yet, she was certain she wanted to make the effort, after getting to know the Captain Luffy. The fact that he had multiple lovers, none of whom Hancock would mind having in her bed, was only the ‘cherry on top,’ as it were. Robin was almost as gorgeous as she was, if in a different way, and the other three were exactly the sorts that Hancock normally drew into her bed. Submissives by nature or choice.

The fact that she actually wanted to be in exactly Robin’s position, penned and helpless under Luffy as he ravaged her, was very new for more reasons than just his gender. She bit a knuckle to keep from crying out as visions of other things they could do swarm through her head, and she came harder than she ever had in her life! She’d done most of those things too other women, at some point or another, but she’d never imagined herself in those positions. Tied up in silk ropes, or bend over and sucking on…

It would only be as she looked back on the night in the morning, that Hancock became rather sure that she was experiencing the early stages of Love Sickness. Somehow, even when she realized it, she didn’t find herself with any desire to fight the fact at all. Not even knowing now that there was most likely a way to manage it.

-Lemon Ends Here-

… … …

“Well, that’s fucking hot, we should totally seduce her!”

Luffy rolled his eyes at the predictable response from Nami. Out of all his lovers, she was by far the horniest and most eager to add additional women to their bed. Short of an actual personality conflict, which had shown no signs of being present between Nami and Hancock, he’d already been sure what she would say about the idea that Hancock might be interested. At least in Luffy, and possibly in the others. Lesbian relationships were the norm on Amazon Lily, after all, and he’d seen the way Hancock’s eyes lingered just as much on Robin as on him.

It was Robin herself that spoke up next. She’d added her own perspective on the encounter in the ‘enchanted baths,’ but hadn’t yet voiced an actual opinion one way or another. He was grateful she chose to speak up now, as she was actually the closest thing to ‘vanilla’ in tastes of any of the girls. Not entirely, having a strong voyeuristic streak among other things. But between being the one with the closest to ‘normal’ tastes and being the one with the most trust issues, she was by far the most likely to have an issue with the idea.

“I have to admit, I find Hancock quite attractive. If she’s truly serious, it might also serve to tie her more firmly and permanently to us as an ally.”

An extremely pragmatic view…which he could tell wasn’t entirely honest. Not from how much Robin’s arousal was spiking as she talked about the idea. He’d pulled up the visual indicators he rarely used for his System these days, just for this conversation, and to say Robin’s telltales indicated interest was a bit of an understatement. Clearly, she found Hancock more than just ‘quite attractive,’ which was understandable. Hancock was considered the ‘most beautiful woman in the world’ for good reason, after all. Luffy also suspected that the Kuja attitudes about nudity did more than a little for Robin’s voyeuristic streak, for that matter. Though he was hardly going to call her out on that. After all, it admittedly did something for him too.

Vivi was the next to speak, after a few long moments of pause.

“Robin isn’t wrong, though I don’t think that’s the best basis for adding someone to our…arrangement. That said, Hancock and I have gotten along quite well, particularly as we’ve worked together to mentor Princess Shirahoshi. I’m not against at least exploring the possibility.”

Well, that covered the two most likely to have any sort of issue. Everyone turned their gaze to Yamato, even if they could pretty much already guess what her view would be. Something proven when she smiled brightly.

“The fact that the Pirate Empress wants you too, is just more proof that you’re as manly as Kouzuki Oden was! It should only be expected that the most beautiful woman in the world should join you! I’m sure she’ll make for a fantastic concubine!”

Luffy winced at that final word, noting that he was going to need to have a talk with Yamato about never again suggesting that was what Hancock was. There was no possible way it would end well for anyone, given her past. Still, the answer had been pretty much exactly as expected. Yamato’s view of her role and the world in general was tinted heavily by her admiration of Oden. Since Oden had possessed a harem of willing women, obviously Luffy, who she thought of as her liege, would need one as well.

Shaking his head, he ruefully admitted to himself that he wasn’t too surprised by the result of this little talk. Vivi was a natural submissive from a culture where harems were common for the upper class, Nami was a pervert, and Yamato clearly considered powerful women being attracted to him as only natural. To be honest, the only one he’d been unsure about was Robin, and the way she’d gone along with the little bath adventure so easily had been a fairly strong signal there too.

“Alright. Well, we know where we stand. If, and only if, Hancock seems to be serious about it, then we’ll give it a chance. At least, so long as she understands she’s getting into a package deal with the whole group. Agreed?”

There were nods all around, and a cheer from Nami. Luffy rolled his eyes, but let his lips twitch into a smile as Nami immediately launched into ideas about how to best seduce the Pirate Empress. Apparently, she’d really enjoyed the whole seducing-Robin thing when they’d done that…

… … …

Luffy looked on with fond, if mildly exasperated, amusement, as Nami flirted with Hancock. They’d all agreed to take it slow with the Empress, testing the waters as they went. Which didn’t at all prohibit Nami from deciding to make it clear that some of them were interested, even dragging a very red-faced and mildly tipsy Vivi into it at one point. Thankfully, Hancock only seemed amused herself, even if the way her eyes had openly raked both Nami and Vivi’s bodies had certainly told Luffy she wasn’t exactly opposed to the flirting.

Though, of course, the reason Luffy was amused was due to how mixed the success of Nami’s endeavor was. Normally a Mistress of the Flirting Arts, half or more of her attempts were bouncing off the cultural differences, going completely over Hancock’s notice. The Kuja lacked body modesty to an extent that Hancock barely noticed the suggestive wardrobe Nami was using, just as one example, and the Kuja were far more…’social touchers,’ if that was a phrase that made sense. Making little gestures of touch that would have been intimate to most people seem entirely normal to most of the Kuja. Other efforts, of course, still landed. Certain types of compliments, or leading innuendos. At least a few of which had gotten Hancock to flush.

Honestly, watching Nami’s attempt was good entertainment as he sat a bit apart from the beach party that was going on all over the Alliance Dock and the beach around it. This was to be their last night on Amazon Lily for the Joint Training that had been arranged, and most of the Kuja had flooded the area to celebrate their ‘new friends.’ The crew had connected quite well with the tribe as a whole, by virtue of being both interestingly different, and Strong.

The latter was important to the Kuja society, and all of the Strawhat crew qualified at this point. Chopper and Perona were the two weakest members of the crew, and both were still above average for the normal Kuja. Enough so that they would have been at least considered for the Kuja Pirates. Chopper, of course, also had the inherent advantage of being ‘cute.’ Meanwhile, Perona had legitimately found herself with a bit of a following as one of the only members of the crew that could talk ‘fashion’ with the locals. They weren’t a huge fan of Perona’s personal style, but it turned out the goth-ghost girl legitimately had a solid grasp of fashion in general. Nami was perhaps the only one on the crew more knowledgeable, and many of the Kuja shied away from her due to her status as an ‘Officer’ of his crew.

Of course, that status didn’t quite match with how most pirate or Marine crews treated Officers. The Discovery of Storms had always had a low crew requirement, and Dis becoming aware had reduced that even farther. In reality, the only members of the crew whose Officer status really mattered much these days were Luffy, Kuina, Nami, and Nojiko. Since ‘officers’ tended to be the more powerful members of pirate and Marine crews, the fact that Yamato and Zoro barely had anything like official positions was unusual to say the least. Still, the fact that Nami was nominally the third in command for the entire crew, behind only Luffy as Captain and Kuina as First Mate, made many of the normal Kuja a bit reluctant to approach her. Which meant the local, growing, fashion cult had glommed onto a rather surprised Perona as their source for all things ‘outsider fashion.’

Robin, who had been hovering around the edges of the party herself, watching more than participating, found her way to him and sat on the log he’d turned into a bench. She’d brought a new drink for him with her, and he smiled in thanks as she settled in next to him, both of them watching the rest of the mixed group mingle. Eventually, she hummed, leaning into him as she spoke, with Luffy automatically resting an arm around her waist.

“This was a good idea, it seems. Our crew and the Kuja have formed surprisingly firm bonds, given how insular the Kuja have traditionally been.”

Luffy nodded, sipping the mead that he’d been surprised to discover was a local staple. It was the first time he’d found it in this life, having barely encountered it in his first, and he’d quickly decided it was his new favorite alcohol. He’d never quite understood drinking just to drink, and found most alcohols off putting for their harsh taste as a result. Mead was quite smooth and tasty in comparison, with the local version still being quite a bit stronger than typical beers or ales. Unsurprising, given Kuja constitutions.

“Yes, I have to admit I didn’t expect it to go quite so smoothly, even if they were largely friendly before. I believe Vivi achieved far more than even she realized here, long-term. Not only will these people be extremely good allies to us, but the Alliance she forged is going to be nearly impossible for the Marines to break without doing as much or more damage to themselves as the Whitebeard War did. Which, given how they’ve been forced to practically retreat from the New World and half of Paradise while recovering, isn’t something they’ll be eager to accept again.”

Robin nodded, practically oozing satisfaction at his observation. While she’d never been actively trying to bring down the World Government, she certainly took a certain schadenfreude in their troubles. As did most of the rest of their crew for that matter, even Hina.

“And Hancock’s offer to be a regular sparring partner? As well as have specifically you and certain other members of the crew visit as often as we want to ‘use the baths.’ Quite an interesting selection of people she made the offer for~.”

Luffy chuckled at that. Nami hadn’t been around for it, or she might not be trying to signal her interest quite so hard. Particularly given how much Hancock was blushing when she’d made the offer for ‘sparring and use of the blessed baths.’ An offer that pointedly extended to Luffy as ‘the only male worthy of escorting me’…along with Robin, Nami, Vivi, and Yamato. None of them had ever made an attempt to conceal their relationship, at least from allies, so the list was rather telling.

“It will certainly be interesting, won’t it? I admit I’m quite curious to see what the effect of the bath will be on Nami and Vivi in particular. One doesn’t seem to have an off switch for ‘horny’ half the time, and the other turns such delightful colors when she starts getting worked up.”

Robin’s laugh, when you could get it out of her in full instead of just chuckles, was delightfully musical. Luffy was pleased to get it out of her now, even as she snuggled in closer to him.

“You really should stop teasing the poor girl. Though her eighteenth is close, isn’t it? I don’t quite get why you felt that was important, but I do suspect you’ll give her an entertaining…breaking in. I’m certainly looking forward to when you bring her to the rest of us, too. You are right about just how fun the colors she turns are~.”

Luffy chuckled again, even as he flushed at how husky Robin’s voice got at the end. Something told him that he was going to have an interesting time in the shared Captain’s Cabin tonight. He was once again grateful that Dis had expanded and farther sound-proof for them, given the number of people now regularly sleeping in his bed…

Chapter 125: To the South Blue!

The cross-training trip on Amazon Lily had proven to be ridiculously fruitful, in a number of different ways. Just the sheer variety of capable opponents to test themselves against would have been worth it on its own, but quite a few extras had cropped up due to being in contact with the locals longer this time. Kaya and Luffy, of course, had learned quite a lot studying the Nymph of Asclepius statue. Right alongside them, however, had been Chopper and Sanji. Both of whom had, with some hints from Kaya and Luffy that didn’t quite reveal any secrets but got them looking the right direction, independently discovered unique properties of the local food and water.

In point of fact, Sanji’s Recovery Drink had taken a massive surge when an infusion of water from the hidden springs had been added. It had been a bit awkward to figure out a way to remove the arousal affect, but Kaya had managed to filter the spiritual energy in the water to shift that aspect to a more general cardio-vascular booster. Somehow, it had bound many of Sanji’s previous developments and discoveries together, creating his first ‘True Version’ of the ‘Stamina Deluxe Recovery Shake.’

It was both tasty…and very near to a magical potion in effect. Drinking one would, in a matter of less than five minutes, clear out lactic acid and dramatically speed up muscle recovery. Along with something like an energy booster akin to caffeine but with less side effects, a post-workout consumption of one could get you back up to eighty five percent of peak within mere minutes.

Add in treating some of the regular food with similar methods, and they could train hard every day and expect to be fully recovered within bare hours. That it could be carried with you, and thus would also dramatically extend the duration they could fight for, wasn’t missed either. Their relatively small crew had always been at risk of larger groups just outlasting them with stalling or wave tactics. Which wouldn’t work well at all any longer, with Sanji’s creation.

Chopper, meanwhile, had figured out how to use a distillation of the same waters to create a medicine that would accelerate outright wound healing. So much so that wounds which should have taken days for even a Zoan to heal could theoretically be healed in three hours or less with something very close to outright regeneration. He was also working on creating vitamins with the distillation that, in theory, should boost resistance to poison and disease. Chopper wasn’t confident it would help the crew directly, given the tweaks Kaya had already made to the entire crew with the Sick-Sick Fruit to make them automatically resistant to both anyway. Still, it would be a valuable cure for others, and Chopper was justifiably proud of it.

Others in the crew had made strides of their own, though mostly in the form of farther solidifying the gains they’d already made. Which was still a major advantage, one that left the entire crew happy with their progress as they set sail again. This time, they’d set out South, which would take them out of the Calm Belt and, in a first for the entire crew, into the South Blue. Interestingly, it was the only one of the Cardinal Oceans that not a single member of the crew was from, nor had any of them visited it before. Which admittedly left them all a bit interested to discover just what the islands there would be like…

… … …

“Captain! We have a problem! Nami, you need to stop our approach! Maybe even dive!”

Usopp, shouting that from the crow’s nest with considerably alarm in his voice, had more than just Luffy’s attention snapping to him. Nami, to her credit, immediately called out orders to furl sails, using the Discovery’s engines to farther shift their course away from the island they’d been sailing towards. Back on one of the Blues, finding the Torino Kingdom hadn’t been a hard bit of navigation at all, using charts that Amazon Lily had been able to provide. The Kuja, living in the Southern Calm Belt as they did, semi-frequently used the South Blue to gather supplies, and had easily been able to provide them a quality set of charts.

“What’s the problem, Usopp?!”

Luffy had scrambled out of the pilot house, where he’d been working with Brook on some possible applications of Tonal Technology, at the call. Now, he was scanning the horizon, but didn’t have the elevation advantage their sniper did to see over the horizon.

“Marines, Captain! A full patrol flotilla, like you’d see around one of their major bases!”

Marines? At the Torino Kingdom? Why?!

“Vivi! Help him snap some long-range shots of the waters around the island, as well as the island itself! Nami, prepare to dive as soon as we have the pictures from the Mushi!”

Both girls snapped ‘Aye Ayes’ to him, with Nami calling out more orders to pull in the sails entirely, while Vivi used an Air Door to get up to the Crow’s Nest quickly. With her ability to open Air Doors miles out, they’d be able to snap some overview shots of the island to examine once they were safe from any chance of being spotted. Even as the rest of the crew gathered up, the actions he’d order were taken, and they were under the waves not five minutes later. Usopp and Vivi came down with the aerial photos, having the Mushi they’d used to grab still images project to the Proko Mushi that had once again risen out of the deck. Everyone, save for Vivi who had already gotten a good look, was surprised by the results shown on the projector screen. Though it was Hina that put voice to their collective surprise.

“That…that is a major fleet base. One that certainly wasn’t a thing when Hina was still a Marine. It looks unfinished, but why here? Hina confused.”

Luffy pursed his lips, having noticed something that certainly didn’t make him happy. He pointed to something on the images. Specifically…a set of tracks floating on the water, leading away from the island.

“There. I’ve never been to Water 7 personally, but even I’ve heard of the Sea Train that runs between it and several surrounding islands. The whole reason I sought to never go there in the first place is because one set of tracks connects it directly to the Judicial Island, Enies Lobby.”

Robin was quick to catch on, likely having known about the Sea Trains herself, with how long she’d been on the Grand Line.

“The Alabastian Alliance and the rumors of something major going on south of St. Poplar. This must be the Marines’ answer to having their single most important supply route cut off by the Alliance. They’ve been building a Sea Train Route right through the Calm Belt. Likely using Seastone on the tracks so they don’t attract attention from the Sea Kings in the Belt.”

Sanji gave a low, impressed whistle, even as he tapped out cigarettes from a pack for himself and Hina.

“That has to be expensive. A hell of a major undertaking for them, as weakened as they were by the Whitebeard War. It doesn’t look like its fully operational yet, either.”

Luffy nodded in agreement to that idea. The base itself looked mostly complete, but there was still visible work being done on what must be the train depot itself. Nor were there signs of any trains running. He also felt virtually certain that completing a project like this would have been front page news, a major win for the World Government, for reasons that made him grimace and speak them aloud.

“It will be a major morale boost for them. The ability to reinforce and supply Paradise at will from the South Blue will help them regain control, as well as dramatically cutting down the effect of the Alabastian Alliance. Unlike the West and North Blue, they don’t have any major issues ongoing here. Better yet for them, the South Blue also has a solid industrial and technology base, building more advanced weapons and such than the other Blues. Things like revolvers and much of the Marines steam tech comes primarily from this ocean. Much as I hate to say it, this is a brilliant move that will fix a lot of their immediate problems.”

Hina, puffing on her cigarette, was quick to nod and add her own knowledge to the pool.

“Luffy is right. Paradise was always difficult to supply. The entire Grand Line is, for that matter. This fixes that, allowing the Marines to pour more resources into growing their numbers back to full strength. Hina hates to admit it, but they may completely regain most of their previous position with this. Though Hina doesn’t think it will be fast enough to knock out the Alabastian Alliance. They’ve been given too much time and too many resources to grow. Even without the resource problems, the Marines would lose as much to take back Alabasta as they did during the Whitebeard War. If they could pull it off at all. They have to know about the Treaty between us, the Kuja, Fishman Island and the Alliance by now.”

Several people nodded at that. They hadn’t exactly shouted their agreements to the heavens, but Fishman Island was actively flying the flags of the Strawhat Crew, Kuja, and Alabastian Alliance. There was no way the WG didn’t have people in place down there, which meant they had to know something, at least. In all likelihood, they probably had people withing the Alabastian Alliance as well. Though they should be completely blind to what their own crew and Amazon Lily were up to, at least. For a minute or so, everyone just stared at the images, considering what it all might mean. It was Nami who brought them back on point with a more immediate question.

“What does this mean for our stopping at the Torino Kingdom? It might not be the best idea to sneak onto the island if it now has an active Marine Base.”

That they could sneak onto the island wasn’t in much question. The Marines both still didn’t know about the Discovery’s abilities and wouldn’t expect their crew to be seen outside the Grand Line. That said, Nami was right in that it presented a greater element of risk now. Still, Luffy wasn’t inclined to give up on the idea. Chopper had, in the show he’d watched in his past life, found information here very relevant to Zoan Devil Fruit users. Of where there were now three on the crew.

Personally, he was hoping that whatever it was would help him finally fully bridge the gap to control his Awakened Fruit, which was worth nearly any risk. The fact that it also had serious potential to help both Nami and Chopper was important as well, though. Chopper was arguably currently their weakest member, while Nami seemed to be on the cusp of unlocking a degree of outright Weather Control with her Pegasus form. Something which might well catapult her up to the fifth strongest on the crew, or at least make her competitive for that position with her sister.

Which, of course, wasn’t even going into the fact that denying Robin a library was a crime against mankind. Nor that they might well find things that would help other crewmembers…or serve as bribes for Neethraxx, who Luffy very much doubted had given them all the useful information she had. There were precious few true libraries outside of WG hands, and Torino Kingdom had one of them. Hopefully. It was entirely possible the Marine presence meant it wasn’t as neutral as it might have been, and the WG had burned entire libraries before. Even Neethraxx had been forced to edit her public library via whatever deal she’d made with the WG.

Then again, part of why the Marine Base and Depot didn’t seem finished yet was that they were building out from the base of the island. The giant tree was where the actual natives had their library, right? Looking over the images, Luffy couldn’t see any sign that the Marines had been allowed to build up into the tree itself. Considering that, he came up with an idea.

“I think we should still at least poke around. With a little work and Vivi’s Air Doors, I don’t see why we can’t entirely skip the base of the island and appear within the tree layers. That might annoy the locals, but if we’re careful to get the lay of the land before we’re spotted, we can figure out if that will be the case. If we can gain access to the Library without the Marines ever even seeing us…”

Several people nodded or grinned. After all, they’d pulled something similar on Drakestone Island, only getting caught out eventually because of the Dragon Cult thing. Speaking of which, Luffy reminded himself that he’d barely spent any time working with drakestone the material. Just enough to realize it wasn’t as tough on its own as Lunar Steel but was more temperature resistant. He’d tested a very few basic alloys, and was almost certain he could come up with something using the drakestone as a component in a Lunar Steel mix that would make if virtually impervious to temperature. The bone was spiritually ‘heavy,’ and he was certain he could get the essence to transfer.

He just hadn’t put the time in just yet, as there were only limited uses he could come up with even if it worked. An extra layer of armor for the Discovery, which would make it hard for even laser weapons like Admiral Flashlight or the Pacifista used. Improved rails for the railguns. An improved mix for his own revolver, which he didn’t use that often any longer precisely because channeling his lightning through it tended to warp a few of the fiddly bits. Well, that and his current iteration didn’t fit well in his Stormtiger form’s hands.

Reforging a revolver that did was probably the most important, as the various types of ammo Usopp had come up with actually meant the revolver still offered a degree of utility that kept it viable as part of his fighting style. Still, not the subject of the moment, even if the note-to-self that he really needed to get on top of that was important. Focusing back on the Torino Kingdom and what he wanted to do about it, he started laying out a plan, taking input from the others where appropriate…

… … …

In the end, despite Robin’s pouting, only three of the crew went with Luffy for the initial excursion on the island. Vivi, of course, had to go for both a quick entrance and exit as needed. That she was by far the best diplomat among them was another important point. Nami was still, without question, their best stealth expert, and they intended to be unseen until they had a better idea how to locals felt regarding the Marines. Kaya, the cheating cheater who cheats, was nearly as good at stealth as Nami and someone who could talk shop about medicine with the locals, which could be important. Luffy himself was, admittedly, also being a cheating cheater who cheats, and was using a house-cat form again.

It was this group that took an Air Door to an out-of-the-way corner of the third ‘level’ of the massive tree the island hosted. From additional looks through small Air Doors, this seemed to be the highest level under control of the human inhabitants, with all levels above that controlled by Giant Birds that seemed at least somewhat intelligent and hostile to the locals. They’d witnessed one outright skirmish between said natives and the birds occurring on the fourth ‘level.’ Though Luffy had noted with some interest that the weapons the native used were clearly self-created, not Marine supplied. Some sort of rocket spears, of all things.

Hopefully, that meant that the natives weren’t entirely on side with the new naval base. Who almost certainly could have helped them defeat the birds.

Four half an hour, the group that initially came ashore carefully observed, before finding a location they were sure wasn’t used often and opening another Air Door for Robin to come through. She was still pouting a bit, but quickly got serious, spreading her network of eyes and ears out to carefully observe the island. She stopped after just seconds, actually gaping, which caused Luffy to nudge her and ask what she saw. Shaking herself, she whispered the answer.

“Books! Lots of them. The interior of the tree is about half hollow, and there are…Luffy, I haven’t seen this many books in one place since Ohara burned. Not even in the Frozen Library! Though, perhaps if you also included Neethraxx’s personal collection, it would measure up…”

That got a low whistle from Nami. Which Luffy admittedly wanted to echo. Even in his first life, the collection in the Frozen Library was larger than anything he’d encountered. Admittedly, in that life he’d never been to a library larger than a major branch library of a city, and what he’d had access to on the internet vastly outstripped any physical library. But still…

“Well, hopefully the natives are friendly, then. Please focus on them, Robin. We need to know how much they are cooperating with the Marines.”

Robin nodded, shaking off the mix of surprise and…ghosts, Luffy supposed. A tree library, holding a vast store of knowledge? He could understand why she looked a little shaky. It must be bringing back strong echoes of Ohara and the Tree of Knowledge for her. Still, she closed her eyes and got back to work, spreading her network to look and listen in on the natives.

They waited as patiently as they could for the next hour and a half, as Robin surveyed the island. With Nami getting bored enough to start whispering fantasies into an increasingly red Vivi’s ear after halfway through. Luffy, who was himself trying and mostly failing not to get an erection from what he overheard of those fantasies, was grateful when Robin stirred and gave them a report.

“Good news, for the most part. The locals did cut a deal with the Marines for basing rights, but it seems to have been mostly a case of common sense rather than actually wanting it. The Marines were going to put in a base here no matter what the locals wanted, so they just negotiated as hard as they could to actually get something out of it. Which included an agreement that the Marines not ascend higher than the first tier of the tree, where the locals built a number of businesses specifically to cater to Marines on shore leave.”

That sounded hopeful, though there was an important follow up question.

“What about outsiders in general? How are they going to react to us?”

Robin frowned, gnawing her lower lips gently, before sighing.

“They’ll react just fine to you, Chopper, and Kaya. Possibly even Sanji. They seem to highly value medical knowledge. So long as you present yourself as healers, and talk the talk, they’ll likely take to you quickly. The rest of the crew should probably wait until they adjust to you. They value engineers as well, but not as highly from what I can see. So Usopp and Pagaya will likely be the next best to introduce to them to. The rest of us should probably wait until you have some sort of working relationship with them and come in accompanied by at least one of you.”

Luffy pursed his lips and thought that over. Even if he knew Robin was likely very frustrated by that, it honestly wasn’t a bad result. At least assuming they could convince the natives to keep quiet about them being here. They could easily cycle the crew through a few at a time, to see what, if anything, they could find to interest them. A few, such as Zoro and Perona, weren’t likely to care at all, not exactly being the ‘library’ types. Slowly, he nodded.

“I think we’ll let Vivi, Kaya, and Chopper make first contact. We’ll grab copies of some of our rarer medical texts from the Grand Line to act as an offering of sorts and then have them make contact. That will be less threatening. Vivi doesn’t even have a bounty, Chopper’s is small and he himself is inoffensive, Kaya’s is a bit larger but…she’s Kaya.”

Kaya herself snorted at that, even though the others all nodded. Despite arguably being one of the most dangerous members of the crew in her own way, Kaya practically radiated peaceful intentions. Which, to be entirely fair, was partially because it was accurate. She was the only member of the crew who actively disliked combat, even if she trained to be effective in it. A considerable chunk of her style even revolved around non-lethal takedowns. It was genuinely hard for most people to see Kaya as a threat. Well, at least until you’d been a victim of her experiments in making you safer and healthier.

At that point, it became a lot easier to be afraid of her…

“Right. Sorry, Robin, but it looks like we’ll need some diplomacy before you get to go crazy on the books. Still, while Vivi leads one group for that, I think the rest of us can keep busy. Either back on Sixis for training, or investigating the Marine Base. I very much want to know more about what is going on with the Sea Train. Assuming our guesses there are correct, the more we know, and can pass onto others, the better.”

That got firm nods from all of them. A minute later, Vivi was opening an Air Door back to the ship. Luffy would use his System to get ‘copies’ of a few books, and they would separate into their different jobs for this plan…

… … …

Vivi had taken time to carefully consider their best option for how to approach the locals. In truth, of course, the best options weren’t actually on the table. Since those would include sending correspondence ahead to feel them out and pre-arrange the meeting. Unfortunately, with their crew’s status being pretty high up the ‘most wanted’ list, such a thing would be an unwarranted risk. One with too high a chance of resulting in an ambush by forces that might legitimately be able to threaten them. Something which the local Marines couldn’t do, but the WG as a whole certainly could manage if given time to respond and reposition. With the best method to make peaceful contact thus off the table, she’d chosen an alternative that would, at least, mitigate any threat. Either to them or to making the locals feel like they were being threatened.

The first step of this had been identifying leadership of the native…tribe? They seemed fairly tribal in structure at least. Even with Robin’s help, she hadn’t been able to identify a specific ‘Chief,’ with the leadership seemingly more dispersed than that. She did, however, identify a singular individual who seemed to be the most widely respected. He wasn’t their best warrior, nor their most knowledgeable, but a combination of both that seemed to leave him as a respected lynchpin between those more given to fighting and those more given to crafting/medicine. She selected that individual, apparently named Shanba, to approach alone.

Well, almost alone. She brought only Kaya with her for the first meeting. A mix of harmless looking, while still having enough of a bounty that anyone from the South Blue was likely to pause before engaging her. Assuming she was recognized at all, that is. That Kaya was also the most able to quickly and quietly disable someone, if the meeting turned out poorly, was also a consideration. One which hopefully wouldn’t become a required precaution, but which was a sensible for a first meeting under the circumstances.

The two of them waited until early evening, when the natives of the Torino Kingdom went to their own homes. Some inside the central tree, others in sturdy structures built into the first and second tier. As a capable fighter, Shanba apparently had one of the latter, which was good for them. Doubly so as it had a back door which they could approach from without being seen by anyone else. Doing her best to play to local prejudices, she dressed both herself and Kaya in outfits similar to the Kuja, acquired from Amazon Lily. Somewhat skimpy tribal attire that made Kaya blush a bit, but which would hopefully meet local sensibilities better than the Marine uniforms. Making themselves seem more ‘like’ the locals was a time-honored diplomatic move that the Marines and World Government were, thankfully, awful at.

Knocking on the back door, carrying hot, Sanji-made food which he’d made to also match local sensibilities, was the next step of her charm offensive. One that, as the short, rotund native looked at them a bit wide-eyed, seemed to have a positive effect.

“Hello, Mister Shanba. Might we come in? As you can see, we’ve brought dinner, over which I’m hoping to discuss the possibility of the healers of my crew being allowed access to your Library for study. We’ve heard extremely impressive things about its contents, though admittedly were not expecting to find a Marine base present when we left the Grand Line in hopes of studying here.”

Shanba’s jaw worked silently for a few moments, before he snorted and shook his head. Smiling widely, he gestured them inside.

“Well! You certainly know how to be more diplomatic than those Marines were when they demanded to set up a base here! That foods smells absolutely delicious! I’m at least willing to hear you out while we eat it!”

Smiling pleasantly, while inwardly cheering at the way he’d positively compared them against the Marines, Vivi led the way inside and began to do her job as the Chief Diplomatic officer of the Strawhat Expeditionary Crew…and also the Ambassador at Large of the Alabastian Alliance!

… … …

With Vivi busy leading the team to make contact with the locals, it ended up being just Luffy and Nami who infiltrated the Marine Base. While Robin was better at gathering information than either of them and was moderately decent at sneaking, she also lacked a rapid-exit strategy if things went badly wrong. Luffy and Nami could both fly, which meant a quick getaway was possible if they screwed up and raised an alarm. Though doing so would, of course, cause larger issues that they’d rather avoid. Such as the Marines knowing they had an interest in the island at all.

Thankfully, they had several advantages working in their favor.

The first was that Luffy had gotten an excellent feel for the entire Marine contingent with his Haki, and hadn’t felt a single person there that would rate higher than a Grand Line Captain, at best. Given that the South Blue was one of the two that the Marines and WG had managed to hold total control of while the West and North went nuts, it made sense. No matter how important this project might be to their long-term goals, there just wasn’t justification for holding anyone stronger here, where there was no known threat. Likely, there were stronger Marines guarding the work near the Calm Belt, as well as on the Grand Line side of the project. But here, they were mostly counting on secrecy and there being little local opposition.

That much meant they were unlikely to be detected by exotic means like Haki or some obscure Devil Fruit.

The second thing working in their favor was Nami. Not just because of her cat burglar skills and instincts, but also her weather abilities. Without the weird effects of the Grand Line fighting her, it had been hilariously easy for Nami to create a fog that rolled in from the sea just before nightfall. Between the low light, fog, and Nami’s skills? Getting into the base from the drop off point the Discovery had snuck up to underwater had been child’s play. Doubly so since Nami had recently gotten the hang of transforming just her eyes like Luffy often did, and Pegasus eyes thankfully favored the bird side of things. Her eyes weren’t as good as the Owl eyes that Luffy regularly used at night, but they were more than up to operating in the dim light of the base as they snuck around.

The very first thing they’d done was sneak down to get a good look at the tracks themselves, both those in the water and batches in a nearby storehouse with more track on hand. While the tracks in the water didn’t show signs of Seastone…some of the stored track did. Specifically, a coating on their underside which confirmed Robin’s theory about how they were intending to prevent the Sea Kings from taking notice of the tracks.

Luffy had his doubts that the trains would go as unnoticed, but if they moved fast enough through the Calm Belt, there were good odds it wouldn’t matter. They might lose the occasional cargo, but if even six or seven trains out of ten got through, it would likely provide more throughput for less cost than taking the same amount of cargo through Reverse Mountain or via Seastone coated paddlewheel ships moving through the Calm Belt. He had to admit it was a clever, if ever so slightly insane, solution. It was also Brute Force enough that he had to wonder if it had been Garp’s idea.

Regardless of whose idea it was, it was clearly well underway, and their next stop was the Marine Base itself. There, they at least encountered guards patrolling, but these were Marines from one of the Blues, not the Grand Line. They had no real hope of spotting the pair as they ghosted their way deeper into the base. Finally, they were able to penetrate all the way to the office of the Base Commander. Who, true to Luffy’s assessment, was a Captain. In fact, interestingly enough, it was Captain Clay, who had previously been in charge of Loguetown.

Luffy was a little surprised he hadn’t been moved to the Grand Line, given that Tashigi had. Yet, he supposed without his obsession of chasing after the Strawhat crew, the man had been content to keep up his ‘perfect record’ of no Pirates making it into the Grand Line from the East Blue under his watch. A record that had likely made him a good fit for sideways promotion to an important new post in the South Blue. Someone with a solid record and a decently powerful Devil Fruit that could deal with any local threats, without taking a higher-ranked Marine they were desperately short of away from other fronts.

While Luffy had focused on the general paperwork out in the open, which included enough progress reports and such to get a general idea of the work here, Nami had quickly found a safe and cracked it. The progress reports showed that the tracks were nearly complete all the way to the Calm Belt from the base…but it was the more detailed and comprehensive plans quickly pulled out of the safe that highlighted and confirmed the overall plan. A Sea Train line running from St. Popular in the Grand Line, to the Torino Kingdom in the South Blue, built by Water 7…primary builder Franky.

Luffy silently cursed at that last little detail.

He hadn’t wanted to go anywhere near Water 7 and the mess that it entailed, knowing CP-9 was there. He’d actually warned King Nefatari about ‘rumors of such’ before leaving Alabasta the first time, hoping the King might send word on to Iceberg. Luffy honestly didn’t know if that action had contributed to CP-9 getting found out and chased from Water 7 or not. It was entirely possible they’d just failed without Robin to use as a stalking horse. One way or another, the fact Franky was alive told him they likely hadn’t gotten the plans, which was a good thing.

The fact that it meant Franky had been left for them to scoop up for this project was considerably more annoying.

Though, to be fair, part of the reason Luffy had been willing to avoid Water 7 was the knowledge that Franky wouldn’t have come with them anyway. To hell he was going to let anyone else work on the Discovery, and Franky’s entire dream had been to see a ship he designed and built make it to the end of the Grand Line. Which was fundamentally incompatible with Luffy’s own pride in the Discovery and knowledge it was obviously better than the Thousand Sunny would have been.

The Thousand Sunny wished it could be half as awesome as the Discovery of Storms when it grew up! The best it could manage was a Super Fart that propelled it a weak distance! Discovery could fly, move underwater, self-repair, and had much better weapons! It even had a hot tub now, thanks to Pagaya! Take that Franky, you amateur!

Shaking off his thoughts about how much better of a shipwright he was than Franky, Luffy focused on what else they could learn from the books in the safe. As the head of a critical command, Captain Clay had a comprehensive overview of their operations in the South Blue, and a more limited set of intelligence on other commands. Most of it wasn’t that directly interesting to Luffy or his crew, but…he took out a Video Recorder Dial, and started recording everything that was in the various orders and books. He’d give a copy to the Alabastian Alliance of course, but he’d also see about forwarding a copy to the Revolutionary Army. They might well find something of interest, or even consider trying to disrupt the new Sea Train.

It was only when all sound outside the room cut off that Luffy blinked and looked up…

-Lemon Starts Here-

…so see Nami completely nude, cocky smirk on her face and a pair of Kaya’s Ofuda tags slapped onto the door of the room. Ofuda a quick glance, all he could bother to spare away from his gloriously sexy and exposed girlfriend, told him would isolate the room from sound and ‘lock’ the door unless a serious amount of force was brought against it. As in, at least a couple of full force blows from his Stormtiger form. He knew from having helped Kaya experiment with the tags that they wouldn’t last long, perhaps half an hour at the most, but that was certainly enough for what Nami obviously intended. He grinned wryly at the wicked smirk on her face as she stalked toward him.

“Always dreamed of defiling a Marine Base office?”

The wicked smirk turned to an equally wicked grin.

“Fuck yes! Or something else like if. From clear back when the bastards failed to help my home. Now shut up and help me live a fantasy!”

Laughing, Luffy nevertheless obeyed, using his speed to quickly replace the documents in the safe before stepping around the desk. Nami was the one to initiate the kiss, even as her hands began to work on his clothes, but as was usual between them, it was Luffy that quickly took control. His first girlfriend was a sliding scale of switch, easily taking control over Yamato or Vivi, but folding quickly to either Luffy or Robin. She managed to at least stay focused enough to get his pants off of him as he firmly groped her ass, but immediately and willingly gave ground after that, as he bent her over the Captain’s desk, pulling her arms behind her back.

The view that resulted, with Nami’s tits squishing out from under her, spankable ass in the air and leaking pussy on display, was too much for Luffy to resist. Shifting to hold her arms with just one hand, he used the other to deliver the spank both the sight and her behavior were both practically begging for. Between the sheer toughness of her body by this point and her own arousal, even a harsh enough blow to leave a red imprint of his hand only make her moan lewdly, the blow having produced far more pleasure than pain.

Despite how fit his lover was, she somehow still had enough padding for that blow to have caused a delightful ripple that Luffy immediately desired to repeat. Uninterested in resisting that temptation, he switched targets, leaving another handprint on her other cheek, getting another moan and a visible increase in the wetness of her lower lips. Grinning, he repeated the blows twice more on each cheek, each one stinging just a little bit more as her ass turned red, but dragging out only moans, rather than any sign of discomfort. Making a note of that for later, having not really explored anything in that direction seriously before now, Luffy reminded himself they didn’t have infinite amounts of time to play.

In light of that, he shifted his body, smacking his rock-hard erection down between her cheeks even as he reached under with his free hand to teasingly run a finger along her drooling sex. She whimpered, trying to buck against it, and he instantly returned to smack her ass again, causing her to obediently still, obviously struggling a bit to stay that way as he returned to teasing her folds.

“Good girl. Very good girl, and Good Girls get rewards.”

He plunged two fingers home in her pussy, causing her back to involuntarily arch. To his complete surprise, she actually came, pussy clamping down on his fingers. Slightly wide-eyed and absolutely making a note to figure out if it was the spanking, the ‘risky sex,’ or the fantasy fulfillment that had put her on a hair trigger later, Luffy still managed not to hesitate long. He pumped his fingers a couple of times, extending her climax slightly, before letting her settle…just long enough for him to shift his cock from resting between her cheeks.

Her moan as he hilted himself to the base in a single stroke was damn near a masterwork of sound he wished he could have captured with a tone dial.

Intent on getting more just like it out of her, he began to slowly thrust, even as his slick fingers move up and began to use her own juices to lube her rear entrance. Using that entrance was nothing new to the two of them by this point, and Nami was very much a fan once she was already worked up. Thankfully, she was very much already there at this point, and he got another one of those soul-deep moans when his fingers finally penetrated. Speeding up his thrusts, be worked his fingers in counter point, even as he fed just a little bit of his Devil Fruit power into both his cock and fingers, in the form of sound waves. It was a trick he’d only recently become confident enough to do while as distracted as he was, and it was the first time he’d used it on any of the girls.

From the somehow even more wanton moan and the way Nami’s pussy instantly clamped down on his cock in a second orgasm, he was quite certain she was as fan.

Grinning at that, he mentally struggled with how he wanted to end this. Despite the Ofuda, this was enough of a risk that he shouldn’t do what he really wanted to and fill each of her holes with a load, then cover his face and tits with a fourth. Instead, he forced himself to make a more limited choice between just two targets, ultimately deciding on the second after a few moments of indecision.

Withdrawing his cock from Nami’s pussy, she had only a moment to whine at its loss before she was gasping instead, as he replaced his fingers with something much thicker. He was a bit more careful not to hurt her with a slow sinking in this time, even if he knew she could take it, using the few seconds it took to hilt himself to switch out which hand was holding her arms pinned to her back. With his hands switched, he started to slowly thrust into her much tighter ass, groaning as he did and bringing his free hand back down to her pussy.

Instead of penetrating with his fingers, he instead found her clit, rubbing it firmly…before sending a tiny spark of electricity through it. It was another thing he’d carefully practiced, testing it on his own nerves to make sure it wouldn’t cause any harm, and the results were spectacular as Nami instantly howled through another climax, clamping down so hard on his cock he couldn’t even move. He groaned, incredibly close to the edge himself, and spanked her ass again. Somehow, that caused her muscles to spasm in just the right way to loosen a tiny bit, and he managed three rough thrusts before hot cum boiled up out of his balls and pumped deep into her. Their combined climax seemed to go on forever, a haze filling Luffy’s mind as he pumped his balls dry.

Holy fuck, he hadn’t cum that hard for a while.

Maybe something about this had turned him on just as much as Nami? Though it could also have been those soul-deep moans. His half-delirious mind wondered if he could compose an opera out of those, maybe using Tone Dials and the other girls as additional instruments? The sheer absurdity of the thought hit him a moment later as the haze parted, and he barely managed to suppress a chuckle.

Grinning down at the mess that was Nami at this point, Luffy reached into his Inventory for a specific something, even as he pulled his cock free with a lewd-sounding ‘pop.’ Smirking, he quickly replaced it…with the jeweled butt plug that he’d pulled from his inventory. Nami moaned in surprise at that, and he gave her ass one last swat as he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

“Wouldn’t want to leave any evidence behind, now would we? That will just have to stay in place until we get back to the ship for round two.”

He appreciated the half-moan, half-giggle that burst out of her a moment later. Letting her go, he moved off to find his pants. Thankfully, there was still a decent amount of time left on the two Ofuda to finish up in the office before they escaped. Though, if the smell of their misdeeds didn’t fade before morning, Captain Clay might be in for a very confusing morning…

-Lemon Ends Here-

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