Rosinante had woken up to see the clear blue sky, and light green leaves that have yet to just crumble before escaping the grip of the tree's limbs. Squinting as a few raindrops fell into his open eyelids, he rolled over onto his side with a low groan. Using every ounce of strength as he pushed himself to his feet, he noticed that his legs were stiff, hardly even letting him move his ass. Taking a deep breath, he glanced at his surroundings. There was trees, bushes, and many other plants he could name.
'Where the fuck am I?' He asked himself as he glared at his surroundings. 'Am I in some sort of forest?'
Studying for any sign of movement, Rosinante heard his stomach grumble. Instinctively, he ignored his tired stomach and only acknowledged it when his stomach had growled loud enough for the next island to hear. Rosinante merely stared at his stomach, looking idiotic as he was confused as to why it was making such a sound. It was only when it retorted with another growl that he realized that he was hungry.
"Leowsee stoomaack,"(Lousy stomach) Rosinante crowed, not recognizing his own voice. In his surprise, his rear landed back onto the ground and he reached for his aching throat. He had not expected his voice to be so raspy to the point that his words did not even sound like they were in english. How long had he been here? Better yet, how long has he been asleep?
Interrupting his thoughts, his stomach screamed at him. Barely able to move his stiff muscles, he managed to push himself, once again, on his two feet. Letting out a sigh, he tried taking a step but he ended up tripping on his own feet, and he found himself hugging a tree for dear life. "At wez a clus one," (That was a close one) Rosinante whispered, now ignoring his voice. He could only hope that it would come back to normal soon enough.
He slowly looked around carefully, paying attention to even the smallest details, but he found nothing of value to him. Food, for the time being, was going to have to be his top priority right now since his stomach was screeching for something to digest; everything else would have to wait. 'Oh..... I'll probably need some water too,' he thought to himself.
'Guess I will have to walk while looking around for a bit. I'll probably need to explore the whole island" Rosinante thought as he tried moving his leg to walk, but his muscles all gave out and went limp; causing him to crash into the soaking dirt. Yelping as he fell and being silenced by a face full of mud, and he instinctively pulled his head out from the mud and gasped loudly as his lungs were immediately desperate for oxygen. When his throat started to itch, he started coughing rapidly. As soon as he stopped coughing and his body started recovering, he whispered, "Shoul' 'ave nun 'at 'ould 'apen." (Should have known that would happen.)
/////
After he had grabbed a stick to lean on as he walked, Rosinante looked around for anything he could eat. His whole body was killing him, and he did not know where he was and how he got here. The only thing he did really know was what happened the last time he was conscious and that he was completely screwed and he is definitely going to die. Whoever saved him was just wasting their time. Wait a minute- who could have saved him? Why did they save him? Did he or she have a good reason for it? Or was it because they felt like it?
Rosinante could not understand or find a reason why and how that could be a possibility. He had betrayed everyone that was close to him; his brother, Sengoku and the rest of the marines, his parents; everyone except Law. But what other explanation was there?
Since he betrayed the world government, all the information there he knew had probably changed. The only information he had was stuff about the Big Mom pirates, and that information probably changed too.
When he spotted a lake, he picked up his pace as he attempted to run. Getting closer and closer before he eventually reached the side of the lake. His legs had worked with him this time, until he tried to squat down to drink. He fell on his arse, but he ignored that fact and started scooping water into his hands to drink it. When he was finished, he decided to look for anything to eat.
////
Rosinante steered the boat with both oars with both his hands. He was in the middle of the sea and had no idea where he was going, but he still navigated his way through the sea as he used his haki to sense any islands. He eventually stopped at a small island big enough for a few villages. There were a few pirates ships already there, but Rosinante did not care as long as it was not Doffy's ship and crew. He nonchalantly glanced at them, making sure he did not recognize any of them.
After he confirmed that they did not seem familiar, he tied his boat on the side of the dock before he heard a voice. "What is with the tiny boat? Your not going to get much money off of that."
Rosinante turned to see a middle aged man with dark hair with a bunch of strands that were silver. This middle aged man was, of course, shorter than Rosinante, but if you had to guess, he was about 5'4 to 6 feet tall. He had hazel colored eyes, and he was most definitely drunk. Rosinante walked past him, ignoring the old sot as he yelled after him, telling him to not ignore him.
He walked through the small village with his hands comfortably in the pockets of his light blue jeans. Rosinante wore a dark blue long sleeve button up shirt with black gloves, a black fur coat, black boots, and a red beanie. He wore bandages under all his clothes, and he decided to not apply any makeup.
As soon as he found a restaurant, he made sure that it was not supposed to be a romantic restaurant before walking in. He remembered the last time he didn't check.
////
Because it was the only thing he could afford, Rosinante ordered some ramen. Bounties were useful in some ways, but they also have a disadvantage. Rosinante did not want a bounty because he would have to watch his back on both land and sea. Bounties were only useful to Rosinante for money, and it was a way of finding out and knowing which people to avoid. Fortunately, he has not seen a person with a bounty on their head for weeks. It was also something that let Rosinante know that Law was alive.
"Here is the newspaper, sir." A waiter informed, handing him a folded up newspaper. Rosinante swallowed some noodles before reaching for the papers she held. He looked at the front page while sipping his water.
"Eh!?" Rosinante reacted without thinking, spitting out his water. "What's this Admiral doing!?"
Ignoring the people who laughed and commented at his reaction, he studied to whole photo. The front page showed what he recognized as an Admiral (but not one he recognized) kneeling on his hands and knees along with an entire army of marines behind him. He read the first few paragraphs of the news article, and he understood what went down. 'I see, so this Admiral admitted that the world government made a mistake. That's new. Dressrosa has been saved by pirates. Which pirate group defeated Doffy?'
He read the rest of the article; it said that Doflamingo had been defeated by Monkey D. Luffy, also known as Straw Hat Luffy, and his crew. The Straw Hat Pirates was working with Trafalgar Law, the captain of the Heart Pirates, a former warlord, as they were allied.
"So he allied with Straw Hat." Rosinante murmured under his breath. Since he saw Law's wanted poster, he had known Law was a pirate in the 'worst generation'. And the other pirates in the worst generation, he was very wary of. They all were infamous, he knew they all were powerful and dangerous pirates, but he thought Straw Hat Luffy would cause the most trouble and be the strongest out of all of them. And that was before he knew he was Garp's grandson, Dragon's son, and that he caused so much trouble for the Fleet Admiral, the World Government, and defeated CP9.
"Monkey D. Luffy uh?" Rosinante murmured. "Did you make the right decision in this, Law? If he's anything like his grandfather, he will surely be loyal but will also drive you crazy."
Rosinante slurped up the rest of his food, paid for it, left a tip for the waiter, and set sail to a destination he does not know will come. He was a decent navigator, but he was not an island expert; he pretty much only knew of the navy bases.
////
For the next two days, Rosinante rowed his boat in the same direction. Although he did not have a Log Pose to navigate, he did not need one. Navigating without a Log Pose is hard, but it was not impossible; one will just have to either figure that out or be taught how to do it. When he was a rookie marine, he had the role of the navigator on a marine war ship; that ship only sunk after he became a spy.
He spied on many pirate groups that was starting to cause trouble for the world government. If he did not betray the world government and navy, he probably would have been given the job of spying on each member of the worst generation. He was able to spy on a yonko and get out alive, and that surely says something.
Navigating, spying, strategizing, and surviving are the only things he was really good at. He was only promoted as high as he was because of his intelligence, not his fighting skills. He could only fight with grenades and a knife while using his devil fruit, anything else he did not know what to do. But it was different since he was stuck on that island. He learned how to use haki by himself, he could use observation haki and armament haki, but he did not know if he had conqueror's haki. Sure, he still was not as powerful as an admiral, but he could match a pirate with a 500,000 berry bounty.
Rosinante looked around to see that there was fog surrounding him in every direction. Since he sensed something giant not far ahead of him, he did not panic, he only kept on rowing straight. Eventually, he sensed a ship before him, and he narrowly dodged the ship, almost falling off his own boat. When he recovered from the narrow escape, the boat lightly bumped into the ship.
He studied the ship, he was at the back of the ship so he did not see much, it was a normal wood color but it was a bit brighter, professionally built and painted, there was a few small windows and a black stripe; he saw what he thought was a cannon at the very back of the ship. 'Or it may be used for shooting themselves out of an area that they were surrounded in or were in a tight situation,' Rosinante considered.'I need to have my guard up, this may be a pirate ship. And they might still be on their ship, I will need to sneak away as soon as possible.'
He pushed his boat away from the ship, and as quietly and quickly as possible he almost made it to the front of the ship. He could not help staring at the ship, he could definitely tell that it was a pirate ship.
To whom did it belong to? Pirates definitely.
Which pirate group? He would not be surprised if it was one of the infamous ones.
That was when his clumsiness had, once again, betrayed him. He was staring at the ship without even realizing he was about to fall off his boat. "Shit!" He blurted out before splashing into the water.
Meanwhile, not too far away, a pirate that was about to climb a gigantic elephant leg had heard Rosinante's voice, followed by a loud splash.
"Sanji! Are you coming!?" A female pirate with ginger hair asked.
"Just a second, Nami-san." The pirate answered. "I heard a voice and I want to go check it out."
Without waiting for an answer, he ran to the side of the boat. His eyes widened when he saw a small boat and a disappearing splash mark. 'How did we not notice this boat?....... Whatever I'll get some answers out of the person who fell in the water.'
He jumped into the water, looking for a person. Who? He did not know. Why? Maybe because he actually has a heart. When he saw a long man, he swam toward him. The man was holding his breath while closing his eyes, hoping that he will live long enough to get saved, and while doing so, preparing to die. Sanji grabbed the man by the ankle and swam back up.
Sanji threw the stranger on the Sunny's deck. The stranger gasped and spat water out of his mouth. Sanji took the opportunity to study the man, he was a dirty blonde who wore a red beanie, a blue button up shirt, a black jacket, and light blue jeans.
When the man finally recovered, he asked, "Who are you and why were you near our ship?"
The man didn't answer until after he looked at their flag and jolly roger. "I'm not telling you pirates jack shit." He retorted.
"Did you forget that I just saved your life?!"
"And I don't care if you kissed me to do it." He retorted.
"At least tell me what to call you, or I am going to call you asshole." Sanji retorted, making the man sigh in defeat.
"Fine, just call me Rosi. And thanks for saving me, pirate." He murmured just loud enough for Sanji to hear.
"So, Rosy, my-" Sanji started.
"It's Rosi."
"What's the difference?"
"It Ro-cee, not Rosy. God, I feel like I'm talking to a 3 year old," Rosinante retorted.
"Rosi, fine whatever," Sanji said, annoyed and already regretting saving this guys ass, "My name's Sanji."
"Okay, Sanji, what now? Are you going to kill me?" Rosinante sat up.
"Nope, I'm going to take you with me to climb Zou." Sanji responded, expecting to see a shocked face, but to his disappointment, he was not.
"So that's where we are. Explains the fog," Rosinante stated.
Sanji was about to respond when they heard Nami shout. "Sanji! Hurry up, or we are going to leave you behind!"
"Coming! Nami-swan~!" Sanji responded to her before picking Rosinante up and running to the elephants leg.
////
The Straw Hat Pirates were not as bad as he thought they would be. Yes, they technology kidnapped him and forced him to climb up on Zou of all places, but as soon as they found out the minks were attacked by poisonous gas and the beast pirates, they helped even after they attacked them. Rosinante, of course, helped the group of Straw Hat Pirates.
He was not really surprised when the pirates tied him up. 'They could have at least made it less tight, I feel like I'm about to break my ribs.'
The pirates questioned him, but the only thing he answered was what to call him. Other then that conversation, he did not speak a word. He decided, without informing the pirates, that he would answer their questions when their captain, maybe Law too, arrived. Even when the big mom pirates came, he did not say a word. He did not want them to recognize him, his voice, or anything until he saw and talked to the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates.
"Luffy's here?!" Nami asked excitingly after a few weeks, not even waiting for an answer before she ran out of the building to reunite with her captain. Chopper was about to follow her with the same excitement until he heard Rosinante speak to him for the first time. "Hey, talking reindeer."
"Y-you spoke!"
"Nevermind that, just listen to me before you reunite with your captain."
Chopper swallowed then nodded.
"All those questions you asked me, I wanted to answer them when the rest of your crew was here."
"Really?"
"Yes, and I know a few things about the Big Mom pirates and whole cake island that you probably need to be wary of. You certainly want your crewmate back, and I'm sure that your captain will want to get the cook, doesn't he?."
Chopper smiled before nodding. Rosinante smiled back before telling him he was done talking. Chopper ran out of the room, only to come back and untie him. "What are you doing?"
"Untying you."
"I can see that, but why?"
Chopper did not answer. When he finished untying him, he told Rosinante to follow him. Rosinante decided to obey.
"Ussop!" Rosinante heard Chopper cry happily, while he, himself, was being smothered by minks. They rubbed their fur against his bandaged skin. "Excuse me." He whispered before squeezing through the minks, and saw Chopper hugging a long nosed man. His stomach twisted as he remembered when he reunited with Doflamingo. 'Why am I sad?'
Rosinante turned his head in a different direction. He saw Nami hugging a man in a Straw Hat, he knew right away this man was Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw Hats. He did not only recognize him from the wanted poster, he actually reminded him of Garp.
Digging his hands in his pockets, he walked up to the pirates with a blank expression.
"Who are you?" a green haired man with a scar on his eye, whom Rosinante assumed was Roronoa Zoro, had asked.
"What? Who untied you?" Nami asked.
"I did," Chopper answered Nami before Rosinante could. "He said he knew a few things about the Big Mom pirates and Whole cake island." Chopper explained.
"Why would that be helpful?" Usopp asked. "I don't think we need information like that."
A mink, that was basically a dog, (Wanda) said. "How about we explain on the way to Duke Inuarashi?"
(After they explained everything that happened with the Big Mom Pirates and Sanji because I'm lazy.)
"We are going to get Sanji after we are done here." Luffy said blankly.
"What!?" Usopp exclaimed.
"How did you find this man anyway?" Zoro asked Chopper and Nami.
"He fell out of his boat and went into the water. Sanji dived in to save him, then took him prisoner because we don't know who he is or why he is here." Nami informed.
"Who is he?" Usopp asked.
"Just call me Rosi, pirate." Rosinante said.
"Rosi, why were you near the Sunny?" the robot, whom Rosinante assumed was Franky, asked.
"I was just sailing randomly, and I bumped into your ship." Rosinante said. "I didn't want to get involved with pirates, so I tried to sneak away. But I was so distracted by how good the ship looked that I fell off my boat."
"How did you know the Sunny was a pirate ship?" Usopp asked, all the Straw Hats ignoring Franky's jabbering about how he appreciated the comment Rosinante made and how he was bragging that he was the one who built the Sunny.
"I know how to recognize a pirate ship. It was built to escape something, it was big enough for a whole crew, and it certainly wasn't a marine ship."
"I don't see a Log pose, nor a vivre card on you, so how did you navigate here?" Nami asked suspiciously.
"I didn't follow you if that's what your thinking. It is possible to navigate without a Log pose; it's just harder to do. It was one of the things I was good at when I-" He cut himself off when he realized what he was about to say.
"When you what?" Nami asked.
"Nevermind."
"No seriously, what were you about to say?" Nami asked again, glaring suspiciously at him.
Rosinante turned away from her, refusing to answer. He could not believe he let that slip, his father (Sengoku) would certainly be disappointed. He had just made a rookie mistake!
Nami was about to yell at him when Zoro interrupted. "Nevermind how you navigate and stuff. Why are you deciding to help us get back the cook?"
"Because I wanted to repay you." Rosinante murmured.
"Repay us for what?" Nami asked.
"Defeating Doflamingo," He answered.
"What? Did he do something to you?" Usopp asked nervously.
"I'm not telling you why I appreciate the defeat of a pirate," Rosinante stated. "Any other questions, Straw Hats?"
"How do you know the Big Mom pirates?" Zoro asked.
"At one point in time, I was a spy and I was assigned to spy on the Big Mom Pirates. It ended with me getting revealed and injured."
"Who were you a spy for?" Zoro asked again, suspiciously. "We will not trust you unless you give us an honest answer."
All the Straw Hat Pirates stared at him suspiciously, as if Rosinante's answer will decide everything. Rosinante stared at the ground, wideyed, and regretted saying he was a spy. Different explanations swarmed through his head. Should he lie? Or should he tell the truth? After a few moment of deciding, he finally spoke, "I was a spy for the Marines."
I have edited this chapter, and I am keeping this Author's note here. Toodles.
Author's note:
I'm finally done! Sorry I updated late. I know I probably said I would update weekly, but now that you know I'm not dead, I shall make you few readers wait another month. I'm kidding, I will try to update as soon as I can.
Happy Holidays.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.