D stepped out of the darkness onto the ship which now sat calmly in the waters. The sound of Ikari's screams still echoing in his mind. He didn't really intend to absorb her. She was right that she deserved a life. And when things were over she was going to get it. But he needed her to know it was a real possibility hanging over her head to help control her. He couldn't let his anger control him again. And for some reason Kuraiyami was always willing to help whenever he needed a less desire able task accomplished. Maybe it was the tendency for such things to be carried out in the darkness of night. Who knew?
"Where did everyone go?" Little Mary jumped on him from above. "Why'd we fall like that? Was that black stuff yours? It stopped the fall so I didn't really get hurt." She spoke quickly without breathing. Though to be honest she didn't need to breathe. She just liked to because the Strawhats did.
"Calm down." D smiled. Children were so enjoyable. "I sent them to safety. The black stuff was a friend of mine. But in a way it's mine."
"Who was that lady you were arguing about?" Mary asked. He was about to say Robin but she continued. "The one with red hair?"
D sighed sadly. "She is a part of me that I tried to bury. A part I need to accept or else I could ruin everything."
"But who is she?" D laughed at her innocence. Children really were God's blessing.
"She's an old friend of mine." He answered her so she could understand. "But not a very nice one."
She was about to say something when the ship was engulfed in light from all around them. "What's going on now?"
"This is why I sent the others to safety." D answered as men in white and blue uniforms began climbing aboard. "This is a marine base."
Nami fell out of the darkness with a surprised scream that cut short when she realized she had fallen less than a foot to the ground. A second later something set her waver on the grass beside her and the darkness dissapeared. And she could have sworn she heard a chuckle before the darkness dissapeared. Standing up she saw that the Mary was surrounded by marine ships and search lights were all pointed at her.
"A marine base." She huffed. "We really do have the worse luck." She needed to hide the waver for now and try to find the others. D could have sent them to the same place but most likely they were all over the island.
Robin watched from behind a set of trees as the Marines searched their ship. With her Eye she could make out D standing by the cabin. Also to her surprise, a little girl was running around on the ship and seemed to be yelling at the Marines. She was curious as to who she was. A ghost? Or something to do with D? Either was possible when involved with him.
"Don't you worry Robin." Ussop popped up from a bush beside her. "The Great Captain Ussop will protect you." He was shaking his goggles off which were dripping water.
Amused she made an arm appear on a trunk beside him and tap his back. "Ghah!?!?" He screamed hysterically.
"My hero." She chuckled. "Now if you could not give our position away I'll find out what is happening on the ship." Ussop opened his mouth but at a look from her was silent. Closing her eyes she focused on the task at hand. An eye and an ear was needed.
D stood attack the cabin as Marines rushed in and out, inspecting everything as they went. And everywhere the went Mary was sure to go. She followed them hitting them and yelling at them.
"Get off of me!" Mary yelled at the Marines. "You didn't get the captain's permission! Don't go in there, that's the lady's quarters!" One and on she yelled with every step they took.
"Calm down Mary." D chuckled at her antics. "There's not much you can do from this plain of existence." She ignored him and continued yelling at trying to get their attention. That was when he noticed an arm appear in the ropes above and untie something, letting the mast drop a few feet scaring the Marines. So Robin was in a position she could see the ship. A good idea she had. The Marines already thought it was a ghost ship.
"Mary come here." D called to the girl who stopped in her tracks. "Let's play a game while we wait for the Marines to go away." Curious she came over to see what game he had in mind.
Robin chuckled as D and the girl, Mary he had called her, continue scaring the Marines after she had stopped. And the little girl was very enthusiastic about it. If she continued much longer the Marines might send the ship away as fast as they could without its crew. That's how afraid they looked.
"So what's happening on the Mary?" Ussop asked.
"Mary." Robin whispered. "Could he have embedded a spirit with the same name?"
"What are you talking about?" Ussop asked in a loud whisper. He was now standing.
"Your in full view Mr. Long Nose." Ussop dropped down again. Suddenly something happened on the Mary she hadn't noticed and the Marines began towing the ship away.
"We need to follow the Mary and find out where they're taking her." Ussop announced loudly jumping up
"Full view." He ducked down. "More importantly than that we need to figure something else out."
"What could be more important than the Mary?!" He screamed again jumping up. This time she didn't have to say anything for him to jump back down.
"Finding a way out of here." She answered matter of factly confusing him so she explained. "If you look all around it seems this space of water we have landed in is fully surrounded by land." He ohed. "Even if we know where the Mary is we need to know where to go to escape here." And she needed to get to D. What had happened before they fell had her worried. "We should split up and find our targets. You the location of Mary and I our way out."
Ussop nodded for a second. "Wait!? Split up!?" But she was already gone.
D watched commander Jonathan, seems while he was away he ranked up over the years, come aboard the ship. "What's all the hubbub about?" D studied the man closely as he conversed with the loud officer who's name he had already forgotten. Big men like that rarely could think a good plan out.
Jonathan for the most part had not changed in the last ten years. He did have some gray hairs poking through if you looked and the wrinkles around his eyes were evidence he chose to smile more than frown. All in all it seemed life had treated him well.
Suddenly the South Bird flew from within some of the sails and started attacking Jonathan. Which was hilarious. It certainly brightens Mary's mood. "You get him birdy!" She cried out as she tried kicking Jonathan. It seemed she had forgotten already what he had taught her about affecting the physical world.
Finally the South Bird stopped and flew away to find somewhere on the island to recover from its forced adventures. Poor thing was never going to make it back to Jaya. And he didn't think it's already terrorized heart could handle one of his portals. So instead he created a female version of it and sent it to materialize on the island somewhere for the male bird to find.
"Continue the good work with this ghost ship men." Jonathan instructed his men. It seemed he had seen all that he wanted. And the crew's gold had been discovered and was being unloaded.
"Big sister Nami isn't going to like you guys touching her treasure!" Mary yelled and jumped on top of the first load of treasure.
"Is it just me or did this treasure suddenly get heavy?" One of the Marines carrying the load huffed.
"Don't talk like that!" The other marine whispered. "We don't know whether or not this treasure us haunted!"
Hearing this Mary moved to play with some of the treasure. Something she liked to do since it had first been loaded aboard. Before she could she was knocked off the load by an invisible force. "What happened?" She asked as she rubbed her face and side. She had fallen to her right and hadn't been prepared enough to catch herself. Ironically the Marines had heard her land and were rushing to get off the ship. The few who were forced to remain shared fear filled looks.
"You can leave the ship." D answered her question. "Your tied to it and can only go a distance away in times of great need."
"Well I greatly need to go get big sis's treasure back!"
"Sorry." He shrugged. "Doesn't quite work that way. The ship and the crew aren't particularly in a dangerous situation. Just leave it to them. They'll get the treasure and you to safety." He smiled but she just pouted. So he came up with an idea. "I need to follow the man who was in charge. Can I trust you to terrorize the Marines that are left on board while I'm gone?"
Immediately she brightened. "You can count on me!" She jumped up and smiled evilly. "The Marines are going to wish they never came here." He didn't have the time to explain that they were the visitors not the Marines. He needed to catch Jonathan and mess with him.
Jonathan was walking down the hallways of G-8 back to his office with Lt. Commander Drake following behind him. The large man was insisting on sending a search party out now that he had confirmed that the Strawhats were somewhere on the island. "Let's wait till morning to send a search party. The men are already spooked enough as it is."
"Honestly I think they could do with being a bit more spooked." A cloaked figure stood beside his office door.
"Who are you?" Jonathan asked. Though he had a suspicion who it was. If it was who he thought it was then it confirmed the suspicions about Strawhat Luffy.
"Who do you mean, commander?" Drake asked confused.
"Nothing." Jonathan chuckled. "Just seeing things in my old age."
"But sir." Drake was even more confused. "Your not really that old."
"Just get some sleep and prepare a search party in the morning." Jonathan chuckled before becoming serious again. "And remember Drake. They could try to hide amongst the men. Be careful."
"Yes sir." Drake saluted and then left.
"I think it's time I try to get some answers." Jonathan sighed as he moved to open his office door. The cloaked figure followed him in as he calmly moved to his desk and took a seat. "Only I can see you." It was a statement more than a question.
"I noticed your men were already high strung." D grinned as he took a seat across from him. The cloak still hiding his features. Though he seemed smaller. "I didn't want a repeat of my last visit." He leaned back. "You still owe me a meal."
"Very true." Jonathan chuckled. "But if my memory serves me correctly you left before it could be served. Not what a good guest does."
"Your sense of hospitality wasn't to my tastes." D inspected his nails on one hand, his fingers were small and feminine. "Plus I had things to do."
"Putting a crew together if I remember right." Jonathan sat forward. "The Strawhats is that crew?"
"It's not complete yet." D smirked. "But that was something the Marines already suspected. Unless you didn't report my last visit." Jonathan had a feeling he was raising an eyebrow.
"I reported it. The Marines spent the next five years searching for your mentioned crew." Jonathan sighed. "They wondered if you were playing with us. Now we're seeing you wasn't."
D chuckled. "I look at the long road now." He shrugged. "And this time I plan on letting things play out at their own pace. Unlike a certain pirate who conquered the Grand Line in a years time."
"So you were with Roger at that time." Jonathan stated. "What's different this time?"
"Experience." D answered. "And Roger came to me not the other way around."
"Really?" Jonathan was interested in that last statement. "I'd like to hear that story."
"Another time." D waved him off. "The is the past and the present is now."
"I can't argue with that." Jonathan smiled. "So tell me why are you and the Strawhats here?"
"Ask my captain." D grinned mischievously.
"Your captain." Jonathan sighed. He thought he was going to get some answers. "So you answer to Strawhat Luffy?"
"In a way." D folded his arms which pressed his cloak against his body. For some reason he seemed a little curvier than he should be. "He has acknowledged me as a member of his crew. So I'll do what I can to protect them." Jonathan had the sense things could get dangerous here.
"Doesn't that mean your going to whisk them away in away similar manner as you left last time?"
"No." D's answer surprised him a little. "I think they'll manage to leave just fine on their own."
"Your that confident in them?" Jonathan raised a brow curiously.
"Yes." D nodded. "But more it's that I look down on the Marines that much." Jonathan winced as he felt a sudden killing intent. "You Marines have a motto. 'We are absolute justice'. That's the one right?"
"Some put it that way." Jonathan nodded. He was swearing and his hands would shake if he wasn't folding his arms. He hadn't felt this level of danger in years. "I prefer to believe we are the ones tasked with bringing peace to the world. As best we can."
"Yes." D chuckled darkly. "I've seen the peace the Marines try to share with the world." He stood up and moved to his table that stood on the left side of the room. "I don't blame the lower ranks. They truly believe that the commanders above them are right. And when they have doubts those above tell them that their targets must be doing something wrong otherwise they wouldn't be sent." He turned and looked at Jonathan. "I blame those at the top who know the truths. The ones capable of ordering an entire island destroyed to hide their shame."
And just as suddenly he had felt the killing intent it was gone and D's smile seemed softer. "Luffy on the other hand, he's my kind of mortal." D sat down again. "He knows what it means to claim the title of 'pirate'. He understands that it makes him the 'bad guy' and accepts it. It makes it possible for him to do kind deeds for others, since he really is a kind person, and people don't expect him to. With a marine it's a responsibility. With him it's from the heart."
Jonathan wasn't certain how to feel about what D had said. But he wasn't finished.
"If he rescued a town from other pirates it's seen as simply two pirates fighting." D chuckled. "And if he leaves a large amount of money behind for a broken town to rebuild everyone says he was chased out before he could take it with him." D looked him straight in the eye. "And if he takes down a corrupt marine it's a pirate breaking the law. Yet the people he helps know the truth and thank him from the bottom of their hearts."
"Doesn't these things actually happen or are you trying to paint him in a better light?" Jonathan coughed into a hand. "Why not become a marine if that was what he wanted to do?"
"He wants to be free not tied down." D answered him. "And for him the title of 'King of the Pirates' means that your the freest. And I've chosen to support him in that goal. I'll let him go through his own challenges. And I'll only step in if they're lives are truly in danger."
"And you don't think they're in danger here." Jonathan sighed. "Your putting me in quite a spot here."
"My favorite thing to do." D grinned. "How about we play a game of chess?" He suddenly suggested pointing at his chess board. "It's been quite some time since I had an opponent that wasn't a woman."