End Of The Slippery Pirates?
After brutally beating down both Aphra and Helven to near death, I fully came back into conscious control, rather than having 'Lucifer' still partially taking over. I still couldn't tell if it was a different personality or if it was me who was doing all of this, as I only changed how I acted, not my own thoughts.
I then turned to look at Rosalina, who was asleep and bruised, so I picked her up and went towards our own ship again, setting her down in her own room, which I rarely saw. I went and told Alice, Taki, and Mariga that it was now safe, and didn't do anything else aside from tie up all of the Slippery Pirates in batches. I didn't particularly care about what happened to them, but I didn't want to have to fight them again. And to make sure the captain, Rodon, didn't escape, I tied him up, and hung him over the side of the ship, just enough to have the effects of the Sea while not sinking. I doubled up on the rope for good measure.
As soon as I was done with that, I looked around their ship, and found a navigation log, some gold in an actual chest, which I thought out loud: "Ah, what I would consider a pirate to have, although I've been proven wrong before." And then I continued to look, finding another smaller chest in the captains quarters, alongside a very wide selection of alcohol, which I thought about taking for a second, and deciding against it.
"I probably shouldn't have any booze for a while. I don't need everyone to know everything, especially if I'M the one who does it, even subconsciously."
I then went back to look at the chest, not bothering with any lock and directly using colorless Armament to crack the box open like nothing. It was a bit overkill, but it worked nonetheless.
What fell out of the now broken box was a fruit.
A black fruit.
A very swirly black fruit.
One with swirls surroundings what looked like the helm of a ship.
One with a green stem that also swirled like the fruit itself.
As soon as I saw it fall to the floor, my eyes opened wide.
"What the FRICK is a devil fruit doing HERE?"
Realizing that I was yelling, I started thinking while moving around the devil fruit.
'Okay, so, what possible reasons are there for a devil fruit to have been in the hands of the.. Slippery Pirates? I mean, thinking back, selling one would be the best answer, but I can only ask when they are awake what they were going to do with it. I'll probably have to ask 'The Slipper' Rodon, since it was in the captains quarters, and not.. anywhere else? But I can figure that out later. What do I do with it? I can't just eat it, and I should probably try to see if it's in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, just to see if it's been recorded. If not, I can make my own Devil Fruit Encyclopedia of known ones, along with any new ones I find or learn of. But what do I do with it afterwards? I can't just ea....'
I scrunched my eyebrows.
'Depending on what it is, can I use it to research the multiple Devil Fruit theory I have? No, I don't have anyone who can help me with that, so maybe I just.. hold onto it for the time being? What do I... Where do I put it? I can't just say "Hey, I have a devil fruit, you can't have it or touch it. Have fun knowing we could have a couple hundred million berri sitting in my room!" That would cause way too much unnecessary.. attention. That's the word. So, what did I do with it until I can even find someone who could even START to help me research it? Maybe.. just maybe, I should try to make a devil fruit collection. And for now, at least until the research starts, I can have the entire collection, if I can find enough, be a part of The One. I'll really have to hide it in my room, most likely in a suitcase, or an actual safe.'
I then had an idea, and smiled to myself.
'Investing in my own personal safe would be great! I can then have it be the first iteration of The One, and go from there! Now, how am I supposed to get this fruit onto the ship in secret, and then get a vault to put all the stuff into it? Especially if it grows?'
Trying to come up with something, I then thought 'You know what? I'm just gonna leave the vault to future me, since I currently don't have any idea on where I could even FIND a safe, let alone a ship. Hopefully I can get a ship for myself so I can put a safe in that one. I will actually need to get a ship for that to happen, but I can also deal with that, as well as owning the shipyard in secret, later on.'
With my thoughts collected, I decided to put the devil fruit in the chest of gold and put the entire thing in my room as a way to disguise the fact that I had a devil fruit from literally anyone who would ask. But no one asked, which I was relieved from.
Alice, Taki, and Mariga were all watching over Rosalina, who was recuperating from her long winded battle against Rodon, so I had plenty of time to take the chest into my room without looking suspicious. Although I wouldn't exactly look suspicious since half of my room had been designated as storage, mostly for treasure, but any random item that needed stored was put into my room. I just so happened to have a need that had been neglected, one that had not been used as much as it should have for over a year.
I had a need to organize things. And what would I do with a bunch of random stuff in my own room? Organize it. How I was able to organize was by using shelves and rope, with the rope being there to stop stuff from flying off the shelves. Two of the shelves were being used as a place to put the newly anointed suitcase collection, which was empty, as I had the ones full of money hiding elsewhere in the room.
Grabbing a wide enough suitcase, I then opened it, and opened the chest, and then moved the devil fruit into the suitcase, and put it in the secret spot of mine: under the floor.
It was a really hard thing to do with so many people who could walk in whenever, so I had to build a small, tiny room that could fit just the suitcases, and have floor still. Having the floor was still possible, but I was still paranoid, so I had my bed over top of the actual place the floor would come off, and then have access to the suitcases only for me, who I hoped was the only person who knew.
Once I was completely done with putting all of the stuff I had just got away, I remembered something that flew over my head for entire time I was bounty hunting.
"I want their jolly Roger for myself!"
Why did I want their Jolly Roger? Because I had an idea before of using the Jolly Rogers of pirates that I defeated, and turn it into a coat with the eventual official Jolly Roger of my own pirate group.
'Man, I need to start collecting them then! Otherwise it may take absolutely forever to make! I guess it's starting with the Slippery Pirates, not the worst to start with.'
Going back over to their ship, I noticed that Rodon had woken up, although very low on energy.
With his eyes slowly opening and adjusting to the brightness of outside, he said "Hmm.. where am I?"
Looking at him, I said "Oh, Rodon your awake! If you must know where you are, you are currently tied up just enough that you could fall into the water if you untie yourself!"
He looked at the water, and then at me.
Grimly, he asked "So, what do you want from me, the.. partner to that.. woman, right?"
"Yep. You're right. At the beginning,I didn't want anything really. But then when you came towards us, I decided that you would be better off as materials, as money and valuables from your ship. I have taken them, don't think I didn't."
His face went even more grim than I thought it could.
"You've found everything? Perhaps a special looking fruit?"
"Oh, you mean the black devil fruit that was in your quarters? Yeah, I found it. I was gonna ask you some questions, and some involve it. You willing to answer my questions?"
Hesitant, he answered "I guess you have my crew also tied up, since I'm here. You also know about Devil Fruits. I guess I can't fool you about those then. Fine. I'll answer your questions."