(Location: Secon)
(General POV)
Once Jack stopped Luke from causing an all out war, the two of them disembarked from the Moby Dick without so much as a "good-bye" to Whitebeard or anyone else. They were simply there one minute and gone the next, both of them making their way towards the resort. "I thought you were going to bring Perona here?" Jack asked curiously.
"She wasn't interested. As soon as she found out how many people were here she told me to go and fuck myself. Jokes on her though, I found someone else to fuck instead." Luke said with a laugh. "Man whore." Jack mumbled under his breath, though Luke still heard him since he could pretty much hear everything people said from quite a few kilometers away. "You know what they say, variety is the spice of life. It's not my fault you're stuck with just Nojiko." Luke said, which in turn earned him an elbow to the ribs.
"Did you find it?" Jack asked, changing the subject. He didn't feel like arguing the fact that he was a lot happier with Nojiko than Luke was with the freaky goth chick and whoever else he managed to get with, mostly because Luke would deny it to the ends of the world.
"Yeah, it's right there in the castle in Dressrosa. We've just got to deal with the pink bird and it's ours. I've got to admit, her power is incredible. I'm not saying she join the Sentinels or anything, but we could hire her on a case by case basis. She could root out spies and gather intel better than most anyone else I've ever seen, save for maybe yourself of course." Luke said, truly complimenting the woman, or at the very least, her power.
"What did she have to say about the whole thing?" Jack questioned. "She said I was the best she'd ever had, and that I could call her anytime I wanted." Luke said with a smile. "Not that, you idiot!" Jack shouted, then paused as he realized just what Luke said, and who he was referring to.
"You-You didn't sleep with Viola, did you?" Jack asked, already knowing the answer before Luke opened his mouth. "I'll admit, for a princess, she's a complete freak in bed. I thought Perona was fun, but when a girl can straight up read your mind and see what you like, she'll do things you never thought you even wanted." Luke said unashamedly, which in turn caused Jack to shake his head. He had no idea if this was going to cause problems in the future, but he didn't think it would go over too well, especially not with her father, the king.
Deciding to postpone this whole conversation for another time, the two of them entered the resort and immediately were helped by some of the staff. Jack was taken to Nojiko's room, where she was getting a manicure and pedicure while someone else gave her a scalp massage. He first got a haircut and a shave before he was sat back in a chair next to Nojiko before the attendants moved to do his hands and feet. There was even someone who fed him grapes and small pieces of fruit whenever he opened his mouth. All in all, it was a rather pleasant experience, one that he realized he sorely needed.
*****
It wasn't until a few hours later when Jack found himself, Luke, Smoker, Tedi, Lucian, and Nemo all gathered in the hot springs that he decided to get Luke to recount everything that had transpired after he had left Windmill Village the day before. Given Luke's temperament, he was certain Luke had done things that the girls would find appalling, so this was the perfect time for him to explain everything.
"It started out with me heading to Dismal Island, you know, the place where I stashed Perona. I told her about the resort and how there were all of these people here, then she basically kicked me out of her house and told me I didn't know her at all and that I could go and fuck myself." Luke said, getting a slow clap from Smoker, who actually chuckled slightly at that.
"Good for her." Nemo added, much to Luke's annoyance. He liked Nemo, so he didn't particularly like it when he sided with Smoker about anything, even if it was something as trivial as him getting rejected. Still, he supposed he should have seen it coming, seeing as how Nemo was a goody-goody who was dumb enough to believe in monogamy.
"Anyways, then I followed the Eternal Pose to Dressrosa." Luke began again.
*****
(The Day Before)
(Location: New World)
(Luke Strauss POV)
Shooting through the skies at the speed of a lightning bolt, Luke was travelling without a care in the world until he heard something that made him pause mid flight. "No, no! Stay away from me!" A woman's voice cried. Because of how his Devil Fruit worked, he was able to hear the woman's voice before he saw her, though that only took a few seconds of searching, which is when Luke noticed the three pirate ships sailing away from an island down below.
Like any good Samaritan, Luke appeared down on the ship where he sensed the girl, then he proceeded to butcher every pirate in a matter of minutes, and by the end of it, it was just him and the girl who had been fighting against her captors.
It took a simple line of questioning to find out that she was from the nearby island, and that there were more pirates there who were terrorizing the town, hence Luke took a small detour and made his way to the island with the girl in his arms. Less than an twenty minutes later and every pirate, bandit, or slaver was spread about the town in pieces, and after another ten minutes and the town was now proudly flying The Order's flag. If someone was stupid enough to attack them, he'd be back.
Carrying on from the island, Luke ran into two more groups of pirates which were quickly dealt with. He had no idea who they were, but given how they were flying Big Mom's flag, and seeing as how she was fair game, he had killed them without a second thought. Disappointingly, Luke didn't come across any Marines before he arrived at Dressrosa ,but he figured there was always the trip back to look for them.
From up in the sky, Luke couldn't help but notice how round the island of Dressrosa was, but then he realized that it was most likely man-made given how there were the high bluffs that acted as a sea wall with only one known way onto the island. Deciding not to dwell on the little things, he made his way onto the island without being noticed, then proceeded to walk around to try and find out where Princess Viola was.
He scoured a good part of the city, doing his best to not draw too much attention to himself lest he give away the plan, however he realized that asking store owners where Princess Viola was, wasn't really all that inconspicuous, and soon enough he found himself surrounded by a group of the Donquixote Family guards.
"We heard you've been asking about Princess Viola. You need to come with us." One of the guards told him. "Sure, but first can you help me grab my treasure? It's just in the alley behind this building." Luke said smoothly, playing on the greed that most humans suffered from. Just like he had hoped, the guards were more than happy for him to lead them to the treasure, only they didn't even try to hide the fact that they were going to take it for themselves. They never did end up getting any treasure, but they did all lose their heads, quite literally after Luke swung his sword at them.
Continuing on, Luke kept asking around for Viola, and it was only when one store owner asked if he was searching for a woman named Violet, did he realize his mistake. 'I think Jack mentioned her going by a different name.' Luke thought as he looked over the papers Jack had given him, and sure enough, he was using the wrong name.
As it turned out, "Violet" was a famous dancer who performed for the public every few days, and after asking a few more questions, Luke learned exactly where she was. On his way to her establishment, Luke happened to come across two members of the Donquixote Family members that he recognized from the pictures Jack had given him. One was an old man wearing spandex named Lao-G, and the other guy was a Donquixote Family executive, Diamante.
Unable to resist himself, Luke followed the two men until they were nearing what looked to be a coliseum, but feeling as if he would lose his chance to do anything about them if he let them enter the large building, he decided to act.
"Excuse me, Sir Diamante! There is an urgent call for you from the master!" Luke said, hoping he was convincing enough, though truthfully he hadn't really looked at the names of everyone on Jack's list, nor was he sure that they called Doflamingo, "master". Still, it was the best he could come up with in a pinch.
Thankfully the idiot was more focused on the fact that Doflamingo was apparently trying to contact him to notice that Luke had completely butchered his whole panicked spiel he was spouting. Conveniently, both Diamante and Lao-G followed Luke into some random person's house, at which point he attacked without giving either of the two a chance to realize that they were under attack.
Lao-G's legs were cut from his body in a blitz attack, then Luke grabbed hold of Diamante's face before he began channeling more than a million volts of lightning inside of him. Shockingly enough, the man wasn't dead after five seconds of being filled with lightning, which is when Luke stopped using his power so he could look at the damage he had caused. It turned out that Diamante's nerves throughout his entire body had been fried, and now he was a vegetable, though funny enough, his eyes still moved about, almost as if he was trying to figure out what was going on.
"I'm actually glad you didn't die from that. It would have been too quick for the likes of you." Luke said flatly, then as if to contradict himself, he moved past Lao-G who was whimpering on the floor, then as he passed by he plunged the tip of his sword through the old man's eyes and into his brain, killing him instantly. As for Diamante, Luke began to slowly, methodically cut pieces off of him. After removing each appendage, Luke would hold it up so Diamante could see it, so he would know what was happening to him because apparently after having his nerves fried, Diamante didn't feel any pain, or at the very least, he didn't show that he did.
Luke continued this for the next thirty or so minutes, but put an end to it when a man entered the house, likely the owner. For convenience's sake, the man happened to be a member of the Donquixote Family guards who just so happened to come off duty, and upon entering his house he was met with a scene straight out of a horror story, however he didn't get to really grasp how bad it all was before his head was separated from his shoulders.
Once he had finally decided to kill Diamante, Luke cleaned himself up in the man's shower before he continued on his way, only this time he didn't bother making any more detours, and soon he found himself in a plaza filled with people who were watching a beautiful young woman dance on a stage. She had a slender, well-endowed frame, with light-olive skin with wavy dark brown hair, and Luke couldn't help but give her a doubletake.
Watching her dance was almost mesmerizing, and Luke found himself being lost in a bit of a trance for far longer than he would have thought, and he was only broken out of the trance when the woman herself began to dance among the crowd and actually approached him and ran her soft fingers over the side of his face.
Thankfully the dance didn't last much longer after that, and soon the woman moved into the building behind the stage, which Luke followed her into. He had only just stepped into the back room when almost a dozen people appeared holding guns and swords, however Luke didn't even give them the time of day before their heads exploded after they were struck by bolts of lightning, leaving only Luke and Viola left alive in the room.
"W-Who…?" Viola questioned in alarm before the words were suddenly stuck in her throat. She hadn't realized it because he wasn't covered in lightning like his WANTED poster, but after looking at him carefully and having seen his power, Viola realized exactly who was standing in front of her. "Luke Strauss…" She whispered softly with a quiver to her voice.
"The one and only." Luke said while giving her a sweeping bow. "Should I address you as Princess Viola or do you prefer, Violet?" Luke asked respectively. "Princess?" She asked, though Luke took that as her answer. "Well, princess. I am here on behalf of The Order. I require your assistance, and as payment for your services, The Order shall rid this country of the Warlord, Doflamingo and his associates and reinstate your family as the true monarchs." Luke explained, causing the woman's eyes to widen in surprise.
"Ah, I nearly forgot. I'm supposed to let you look inside my mind so you can see if I'm telling the truth. Fair warning, you won't like what you see." Luke told her honestly. It was weird that he had to let someone look inside of his mind, but he didn't have anything in there that people didn't already know about him. He was a fairly open guy.
Hesitantly, Viola moved towards him and began to use her power on Luke after he gave her a nod of approval, and what she saw was breathtaking. She hadn't even looked past more than the last hour's memories before she leapt at Luke, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a deep kiss. Luke should have been excited about the whole thing, but her tears were kind of ruining the moment, so as gently as he could, he pushed her away from him.
"I'm-I'm sorry. It's just… you killed him. You actually killed him. I've wanted him dead for so long, and you've finally done it. Diamante killed my sister." Viola explained through her tears before she buried her face into Luke's chest and cried, and for a while he simply let her. He knew the pain of losing a sister, and it had broken him. He was still broken in fact, and nothing he did made it better. Sure, killing people dulled the pain somewhat, but he wasn't sure he would ever truly get over the loss of his family.
Luke wasn't sure how long the two of them just stood there, but when she pulled away from him, her eyes were red and puffy, but she was smiling at him. "Whatever assistance you require of me, I'm at your command." Viola said, agreeing to the deal Luke proposed to her. "Before we get to that, how long do you think it will be before Doflamingo wonders where the two bigshots I killed are?" Luke asked her, only now remembering those two and what problems they might bring.
"A day or two. Three at most. This wouldn't be the first time a Family Executive has disappeared for a few days, but usually it's not more than three days before they at least check in." Viola informed him. "I see. Then either tomorrow or the day after I'll be back with my friends to deal with Doflamingo. He'll take priority." Luke said, which must have been music to Viola because she tried to kiss him again, only this time he stopped her before she could.
"Why do you keep doing that?" He asked her while still holding her at arm's length. "You desire me. I saw it in your mind." She told him, which only caused Luke to shake his head in disappointment. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I don't want you to sleep with me just because I want to, I want you to want to sleep with me. If you're afraid I won't help you if you don't, then understand I don't work that way. You could vow to never want to see me again and I'd respect your wishes while still killing Doflamingo and everyone else on this island." Luke said, then tried to move away from her, however she grabbed his arm to stop him.
"I never said I didn't want to sleep with you. You are a kindred soul, and I know how you are feeling right now. You feel like I do." She said, then without explaining it, she made a circle with her hands before holding it up to her head, and immediately Luke was able to see her thoughts. It was hard to explain, but she really wasn't trying to sleep with him out of some twisted sense of obligation. As it turned out, she also thought he was attractive, which is why she had gotten so close to him when she was dancing. Killing Diamante also had some effect on this, but he couldn't really complain about that.
Realizing that she was being sincere, Luke put an end to the memory sharing when he kissed her back. Everything after that was a bit of a blur, and soon the sun was setting over the horizon as both Luke and Viola lay breathing heavily in her bed. Every so often she would twitch, likely from the stimulation from having lightning coursing over her erogenous zones. It took a little over an hour for the effects to finally wear off, at which point Viola was able to use her powers to find a piece of Tesoro's Vivre Card, which just so happened to be inside the palace in Doflamingo's room.
Apparently the Warlord and Tesoro had a business relationship of sorts, despite how untrusting the two were of each other. Viola had told Luke that though Doflamingo didn't frequent Gran Tesoro, he did make a bi-annual visit for some business dealings, so of course he would have a piece of Tesoro's Vivre Card.
Realizing that everything would have to wait, Luke and Viola continued where they left off, only finishing up in the late hours of the night before they went to sleep. Come morning, Luke awoke to find Viola sitting next to him and writing down notes on a piece of paper. "Good morning." He said as he moved his hand to her thigh before channeling a small bit of power into her, which caused her to let out a moan before she managed to break away from him.
"Not yet." She told him after seeing the look on his face. "There are two Marine bases nearby, both of which are in Doflamingo's pockets. I'm certain that more than a few of them are on your list." Viola explained to him after showing him the paper that showed him exactly how to get to both bases. He looked between her and the paper for a few seconds before he ultimately settled on her. "I hope you didn't have anything planned for the day, because you're not going to be able to walk after I finish with you." Luke told her, then pulled her close before he began to kiss her with all the passion he had.
*****
(Present Time)
(Location: Secon)
(General POV)
"After destroying the two Marine bases the rest is history. I made my way back here and that's when I found you on Whitebeard's ship." Luke finished his tale with the same countenance as he would when asking someone about their day. "I see…" Jack said thoughtfully, though in actuality, he really didn't.
Luke hadn't explained the more intimate moments between him and Viola so most everyone wasn't sure how the two ended up as fuck-buddies, but he was at least glad to know that it sounded as if it was consensual between the two of them. "Is it really okay to be attacking Big Mom right now? Aren't we already biting off more than we can chew at the moment?" Smoker asked curiously, finding it a little aggravating that Luke would attack Big Mom when they were just getting things under control from their attack on the Holy City.
"Don't worry about it. They were small-fries, and I doubt anyone's going to even look into it. Ships disappear all the time in the New World." Luke said, brushing off the situation as a small matter. Besides, even if Big Mom did want to start something, he was more than willing to go up against her and her dumbass crew.
"We'll worry about her later, for now we're in a bit of a time crunch. I want to deal with Doflamingo first thing in the morning before he has the chance to find the bodies of his two executives, so we need to figure out the best plan of action tonight." Jack said, then grabbed his towel and climbed out of the hot spring before making his way down to the harbor.
For the next few hours, Jack remained locked away inside his room as he went over all of the Donquixote Family members he could remember, then because he knew he was forgetting some, he purchased some information relating to them from the [STORE]. He knew he could get the whereabouts of each of the people he had listed down from Viola, so her help would be invaluable, however there were some things he wasn't sure he could risk, for instance he didn't want anyone else to have to deal with Sugar.
Even though he had faith that most people in his guild could deal with her, he didn't want to chance it and risk her touching someone and removing them from his memory, thus he decided to deal with her himself. There was also the fact that she looked like a small child, and he didn't think he could put that kind of thing onto anyone else.
Luke had already dealt with Diamante and Lao-G, so he could deal with Pica and Trebol, though Jack could also easily deal with Trebol as well, given how the mucus he surrounds himself with was extremely flammable, which was a major weakness of the Sticky-Sticky Fruit. Jack knew Smoker could probably handle Pica, but ultimately Luke was the best counter to the man who had eaten the Stone-Stone Fruit. Sugar was the only Officer that Jack thought might pose a problem, so after writing down the names of each Donquixote Family member and their powers, he headed outside to find the others and make a game plan about what was going on.
Jack had only just stepped onto the deck of the Pearl when he noticed Soran flying towards him, which was a little alarming given how no one was with her. "What's the matter?" He asked her when she got close enough to him. "Nothing. I just wanted your help with something." Soran said innocently.
"And you thought you would come here by yourself? Does anyone else even know where you are?" He asked her with a frown. "I mean… they know I'm somewhere on the island." Soran answered timidly, only now realizing her mistake. Letting out a tired sigh, Jack gestured for her to continue on with what she wanted help with.
"I want you to take me to see Whitebeard." Soran said, her request somewhat surprising Jack. "Why do you want to go see him?" Jack asked, then frowned as a thought came to his mind. "You're not trying to scam him again, are you? I told you what would happen if you did that again." He said through narrowed eyes. "It's not that. I want to ask him something." Soran said without really explaining anything. Seeing this was important to her, Jack agreed to take her, and after grabbing something inside of the ship for her, the two of them headed off to Whitebeard's ship.
*****
(Location: Secon)
(Whitebeard POV)
"Yo, Pops! Sparrow's here to see you, and he brought someone!" Marco called out from down by the harbor, informing Whitebeard of incoming guests. Giving the go ahead, Jack Sparrow walked up onto the deck of the ship with what looked to be a little fairy fluttering around his head. Not knowing what the cause was for the visit, many of his crew and allies had gathered in case an altercation should arise, however Whitebeard doubted something like that would happen, after all, Sparrow had announced himself instead of just letting himself on the ship like before. Still, there was some animosity between them, particularly where Teach was concerned, though Teach was actually no longer a problem between them.
Given Jack's infamy and the power Whitebeard knew him to possess, Whitebeard half expected a show of power from Jack as he boarded, however he got none of that. There was no release of Haki, no intimidation, he simply walked aboard as casual as could be, almost as if he didn't need to because he didn't consider them a threat. 'Cheeky little punk.' Whitebeard thought, thinking far too much into Jack's inactions.
"Greetings, allow me to officially introduce myself. I am Jack Sparrow, and this is my sister, Soran." Jack said, and at once Whitebeard's gaze locked onto the little fairy fluttering around Jack. He hadn't actually expected to ever meet Soran in person, nor was he sure what to make of her appearance. In his mind, he envisioned a little girl with flames around her who had long curved horns and blood-red eyes, however that was not what he saw at all. "What do you want?" Whitebeard asked, looking pointedly at the little fairy who was eyeing him suspiciously.
"I want to know something. When we first spoke, you told me you were one of the wealthiest people in the world. I've checked up on you since then, and you're not all that wealthy, even by normal pirate standards. You even had to borrow the money from your crew to pay me. The thing is, you didn't sound like you were lying when we talked, and I think I'm pretty good at telling when someone's lying to me. At least I thought I was. So what is it?" Soran asked, her words surprising Whitebeard. He looked at her for a time, finding it odd how intrigued she was to hear his answer.
"You're young, so I don't think you'd understand. Wealth isn't simply measured by gold, silver or berries. My children are worth more to me than any treasure you could ever find, including the One Piece." Whitebeard tried to explain, though he wasn't sure he did it right or that Soran would even understand if he did.
"I do understand." Soran said suddenly, then surprisingly she gestured towards Jack, who in turn made the duffle-bag containing the three-hundred million berries appear before he tossed it at Whitebeard's feet.
"To tell you the truth, I was born a slave. For most of my life I was a slave, and I never really had anything that I could call my own. Things have changed since then. I have the best mother in the world, and a doting brother who would fight the world for me. It doesn't matter how much wealth or treasure I have if I have no one in my life to share it with. I think I forgot what I had, and was always trying to get more. I can see I was wrong for trying to cheat you, and for that, I'm sorry." Soran said sincerely, then as if to further prove herself, she flew over so she was fluttering in the air only inches away from Whitebeard's scarred chest before her hands began to glow a bright golden color.
If he was worried about an attack, Whitebeard certainly didn't show it, instead he remained perfectly still as his body was enveloped by Soran's power. Though he couldn't see what she was doing, he could definitely feel it. The pain he felt in his chest began to fade, and aches from old age disappeared. His muscles tightened and his scars healed. The whole process only lasted for a few seconds, but by the end of it, Whitebeard felt twenty years younger, better in fact, as he didn't have a single injury on his body. Getting to his feet, he pulled the IV's from his body and began to move his limbs around without any pain to hinder his movements for the first time in years.
Turning his attention to the little child who had done this for him, Whitebeard saw Soran looking at him with a truly genuine smile. "Thank you." He said, mirroring her smile. "No problem. And sorry again for trying to cheat you, even if you are a snitch." Soran said, adding a little bit of humor to the moment. Whitebeard laughed at that and his crew cheered in celebration, at least until Whitebeard noticed Jack surveying the ship, almost as if he were searching for something, or someone.
"He's not here." Whitebeard said, his words silencing his crew and drawing Jack's attention. "Hmm?" Jack asked, feigning ignorance. "Teach, he's not here. After your call a few weeks ago, he simply disappeared in the night. Didn't leave a note or anything, he just got up and left." Whitebeard said, which in turn got a sigh from Jack. "Oh well, he's a problem for another time." Jack said, not caring about the fact that he was talking about one of Whitebeard's sons.
Whitebeard wanted to broach the subject about Teach, but the timing didn't seem right, especially not with Soran having just healed him and her being right there in front of them. If their discussion didn't go well, Whitebeard didn't want to drag her into it, thus he decided to postpone the topic for another time.
"I've got a question." Thatch suddenly spoke up from where he was standing near the railing. Whitebeard figured Thatch would have something to say, especially because Jack had revealed that it had been he who had been killed by Teach, so him asking a few questions wasn't unexpected, so when the question he asked had nothing to do with him, it surprised Whitebeard.
"How'd you get the three-hundred million berries already?" Thatch asked, the question bringing Whitebeard up short. "Grandpa Garp brought it to me. We called him yesterday and told him we were coming. Didn't he tell you that?" Soran said, her words making Whitebeard's eye twitch slightly. 'That bastard!' He cursed inwardly, realizing that Garp had cheated him out of five million berries.