The Elementalist Lucia [One Piece x OC fanfiction]

XXXII - Helios

Leaning over her snail phone, Lucia tapped her nails on the dull wood of her desk. She had left her workshop to take refuge on the floor of Shakky's bar. She had kept her ear to the ground and made herself as discreet as possible when Sanji had entered the establishment before announcing that he was leaving to do some shopping. She was taking it easy, forcing herself to stay here so as not to attract attention outside. The Navy HQ had now moved to the other side of Redline, right into the New World, and since then the lawless zones had multiplied on the island. Between the return of the real Straw Hat crew, the usurpers who wanted to attract new men, the wave of pirates who had just crossed Grand Line and were flocking to the archipelago... it was a far cry from the chaos caused by the terrible generation two years ago but the atmosphere was still very tense. As a precaution, Lucia had carefully calculated her movements on the island, always hidden under a thick layer of dark cloth, gloves and thick boots, her face turbaned in a keffiyeh that only let see her eyes. With these clothes, it was easy to mistake her for a man, and this was not to her displeasure. The less attention she attracted, the better she was.

Pele pele pele - pele pele pele - Gotcha.

Lucia picked up the snail phone in a flash.

"Yes?"

"We're here, we left our dear Sanji on the island."

"I know, he came by earlier, you were slow to contact me."

"We tried to get away a bit first. Is the plan still on track?"

"Of course," Lucia replied. "Make yourself scarce and move towards the west of the archipelago. No waves if you don't have to."

"All right, we'll be there."

Lucia hung up, relieved. The Ivankov trannies were there. Hareda and her scientists from Wetheria had also answered the call. As well as Heracles and Perona. She only missed one call...

"Boa Hancock..." Lucia muttered.

The pirate empress and her were not on the best of terms, Hancock had been very hostile towards the young woman - still not knowing her identity - , shouting that she would protect Luffy at the risk of her life. And since then, there had been radio silence. No news. Lucia was quite annoyed. She had spent the last few months tracking down every member of the Straw Hat crew, tracking down all the intriguing activities on the new world, taking the time to examine the islands that were most likely to have hosted the pirates. Then she'd used the information Kuma gave to Rayleigh and the own speculations of the old man. She'd found them all, except Robin, with a lot of research and hard work, and a bit of luck too, only to have an empress hanging up on her saying that she and Luffy were in perfect love and that he didn't need mothering anymore. A bitter taste lingered in her mouth ever since, she would really like to hear news from the pirate captain. He and Robin were the two missing. She wasn't worried about Robin. No. She was having more trouble dealing with her friend's unfortunate tendency to get into trouble without meaning to.

A slight noise against the door made her straighten her head, Shakky appeared, her cigarette between her teeth, looking worried:

"The Navy will send troops to the archipelago. They've heard about the famous Straw Hat recruitment and want to take advantage of it to catch everyone."

"Damn it" Lucia swore. "It was predictable, but it's going to make our job harder for sure."

She stood up and started to get dressed:

"I'm going out to keep an eye on things, tell Ray."

"Will you be alright?" the barmaid worried.

"Yeah, don't worry too much, disappearing in front of the world is my specialty now."