=Two Years Later=
~Echo's POV~
The Whitebeard Pirates clashed with Blackbeard and his band of heinous criminals shortly after leaving our care and suffered a crippling defeat. The Old Man sacrificed himself so his sons could flee the battle. A year after the incident the few remaining Whitebeard Pirates tried again, led by Marco and Ace, but they lost more brothers and were defeated once more. The majority of the remaining Whitebeard Pirates were scattered.
Over the past two years I learned everything I could about my newly developed Heavenly Haki. I learned to teleport myself at will and even acquired the ability to bring people with me, thought it took a lot out of me to travel with someone else. The first time I'd tried it, I was unconscious for nearly three weeks.
"Hey brat, what are you doing?" The sniper pondered as he poked his head through the door of my Greenhouse. We were back in Funesto. Many of the crew volunteered to help me repair the damaged city to set up a base of operations when we weren't at sea. The public believed Funesto to be cursed, and with my ability to communicate with the Sea Monsters, I was able to make sure no one wandered to it by mistake.
I looked up from my work station and turned to Yassop. "Cultivating a devil fruit that protects the liver and will grant the user the power to stay drunk for as long as they wish without the hangover."
"Really?!" His eyes lit up at the prospect of being able to drink as much as he wanted without ever facing a hangover again.
"No." I rolled my eyes and turned back to my work station. It was littered with various kinds of soil, herbs, charms, and vials of sea water.
"So, what are you working on?" He grumbled as he stepped into the greenhouse and sat on the edge of my workstation. His gaze trailed down to the various occult looking ingredients. "How exactly does one make a devil fruit?"
"Lots of trial and error." I shrugged as I began combining various different soil before sifting through the numerous herbs and charms to find the ones I needed.
"Looks kind of like witchcraft." Yassop commented as I bound one of the charms to a few sprigs of several different dried herbs.
"I guess it might fall into that category." I noted as I lit the charm on fire and dropped it into the pot of mixed soil.
"So, what's this one supposed to do?" He was being unusually nosy.
I turned my murky green gaze to him and folded my arms across my chest fixing him with a stern look. "What exactly are you doing here?"
He seemed taken aback by this, though it looked almost rehearsed, "I'm just curiou-."
"What is Shanks up to that he doesn't want me to know about and sent you to distract me?" I glared at him.
Yassop huffed, "Why am I always the one stuck babysitting?" He looked to the heavens as if expecting some kind of divine response.
"You know I could very easily find out on my own, I'm only being courteous by asking." I shot as I picked up a knife from my workstation.
Yassop stared down at the blade warily, "Hey, no need to get vio-." He cut off with a gasp as I drew the blade across my wrist, not enough to slice through the artery but enough to get a good flow of blood.
I turned my wrist over and let the wound bleed into the pot of soil and burning herbs. "Are you alright?" I looked to him curiously as his skin took on a sickly pallor.
"The hell is that for?"
"What do you think gives them their power?"
"That's sick." He grimaced.
"They are called devil fruit for a reason, if they were made in a nice fashion I'm sure they'd have a less sinister name, like happy fruit or angel fruit." I teased him. "You realize many of the fruits that are in existence today were only created through human or animal sacrifice, right? How else do you think zoan types got their animal essence?"
Yassop looked like he was going to be sick. "That's awful."
"I agree. This is the only alternative I've found that has any success."
The sniper glanced around the cluttered greenhouse to the various ominous pots filled with the various devil fruits I'd been experimenting with over the past two years. "Shanks isn't going to like this." He grimaced.
If he knew I also had to water them all daily with my blood, he'd probably have a conniption. Sighing I shoved the pot away from me and got to my feet in search of a bandage. I couldn't stop now, I had to get it right, I had to create a fruit to combat the Yami Yami no mi. It had been in the wrong hands for too long and cost enough people their lives already. As the last devil fruit cultivator alive, it was my duty to put a stop to it.
"You're right, he doesn't like it..." I fumbled with the first aid kit as my vision began to blur, I'd cut deeper than I had meant to.
The sniper took the first aid kit from my trembling hands and sifted through it for some antiseptic wipes, gauze and bandages. "Give it here." He sighed and reached for my hand.
I reluctantly turned my wrist over to him and bit my lip as he tended to my wound in silence. Though we often bickered about everything and nothing, we'd grown close over the years I'd spent with them. He often talked nonstop about the son he left behind, the boy who'd joined Luffy's crew, Usopp. Sometimes I'd see him in visions, Yassop was always happy to hear about them. He was so proud of his son. Yassop made quick work of my wound and had it bandaged tightly in no time.
"Thanks."
"Why are you doing this? Aren't there enough devil fruit in the world?"
"I need one more."
"Looks like a lot more than one." Yassop frowned.
"Not all of them will be viable enough. Of this batch I'll be lucky if even one is a success. I just have to get the right formula."
"What are you hoping to accomplish?"
"I need one to combat the Yami Yami no mi, it never should have fallen into the hands of someone who wasn't a native to this island." I clenched my fists. "It's destroying the precarious balance we had in place."
Yassop draped his arm across my shoulders, "Are you done here?"
"For now." I allowed him to steer me away from the greenhouse. "You going to tell me what Shanks is up to?"
"It's supposed to be a surprise." Yassop shrugged as we headed into town.
A lot of the crew who had families had moved them onto the island and Funesto was once again filled with life. Children played in the streets, there were crops growing in the fields, livestock being raised, life had returned to Funesto. Those who had lost loved ones had put up memorials to remember them by in the cemetery where all my kin laid to rest. There was one for Yassop's wife that he visited often. Though he often said the family man lifestyle wasn't for him, I had a feeling he didn't really believe it, he loved her.
His gaze lingered in the direction of the cemetery. There was a deep sorrow reflected in his dark eyes every time he looked that way. I leaned against him pulling him from his darkening thoughts. He blamed himself. She'd gotten sick while he was away at sea by the time he found out about her passing, Usopp had already left.
"Come on, I'll buy you a drink." I indicated one of the many pubs that had been constructed. Though the island was for a single pirate crew and their families, there were at least five pubs. "Or ten..."
Yassop laughed at this, "Trying to get me drunk and let slip the surprise."
"There isn't enough alcohol on this island to get you that drunk." I rolled my eyes.
"Hey!" Yassop snapped, "You calling me an alcoholic?"
"Is there a step above that? Because you'd be the one after that one." I teased him with a laugh.
"Evil brat." Yassop grumbled as we stepped into one of my favorite pubs. All the walls were painted with gorgeous lifelike tropical murals that almost transported you to the places they were modeled after.
We took a seat at the bar. The bartender brought us a bottle of hard liquor and left us two small glasses instead of the recommended shot glass it was supposed to be served in for moderation. My eyes grew wide as Yassop poured us each a glass.
"My liver isn't as dead as yours, I'm not drinking that." I grimaced, it smelled like wood varnish.
"Come on brat, it won't kill you... probably." He slid the glass over to me.
I picked it up and took another sniff at it before my stomach churned unpleasantly. "You sure this isn't poison?? It smells repulsive."
Yassop downed his glass in one swig before smacking his lips together and letting out a contented sigh, "Come on brat, you're falling behind, drink up!" He tipped the glass to my lips and I nearly choked as the firewater spilled into my mouth.
I managed to swallow it and grimaced at the taste. "Pretty sure that just burned a hole in my esophagus. How do you drink this?"
"Ah, that goes away the more you drink." Yassop grinned and poured two more glasses.
Video- Rum is for Drinking not for Burning By Senses Fail