Chapter 20

The closer they got to the Reverse Mountain, the more turbulent things got. "Get the kids and the elderly inside of the cabins! Everyone else, strap yourselves in and hold on!" Ronin yelled from the top of the crow's nest, a broad smile on his face under his mask as the sea rages all around.

Quickly the others set about to follow Ronin's orders, and no later than the last person is strapped into the safety harnesses that Ronin had installed, did the ship get sucked into the rough current of the reverse waterfall and start doing the impossible, it started sailing up the mountain! Ronin and the other had heard tails of it, but to actually sail up the side of a colossal mountain was an entirely unique experience.

As they continued to climb well past the clouds, Ronin felt completely at peace among the clouds, and wished he could find some way to live in the clouds one day. As he was stuck in his daydream, he noticed that their path was coming to an end, as the water shot out to nothingness, and Ronin knew that he had finally reached the peak of the Grandline. As the ship was shot past the peak into the air and floated there for several long seconds, the ship roughly fell back down and was now sailing down at an almost 90° angle.

Everyone on the deck besides Ronin, Devon and Rory began screaming as Devon wore a stoic expression and continued smoking, Rory wore a soft smile as they looked out onto the horizon, and Ronin was letting out a hearty laughter for all of the world to hear. "Rhahaha, we finally made it to the Grandline! Let's fuck this world up and carve out a place to call our own!" Ronin yelled, to the cheer of the entire crew.

Though they were all extremely terrified at both falling to their deaths and facing deadly pirates, Ronin's confident and comforting aura proved to be infectious, and they felt as long as they stood behind Ronin, they could even take on the whole world.

As they fell back through the clouds, Ronin's bliss was ruined by what looked to be a giant blue mountain showing up in the middle of their descent. "Ro, why is there a mountain?" Bonney asked as she clutched the railing where she stood. Then, the 'mountain' began to open and reveal a massive mouth full of rows of sharp teeth. "Why the fuck does the mountain have teeth, Ro?!" Bonney asked again as her eyes shrank in fear.

Ronin was fairly certain that he could defeat whatever monster this was, but his gut told him that killing this beast would be bad, so he quickly molded some earth chakra and shot it into the path just before the ship. The next second, a massive ramp made of stone rose from the path, and due to gravity, the waterfall naturally fell down the waterfall and the ship looked as though it might sail just over what they then realized was a gigantic whale. But, Ronin was feeling petty about being challenged as soon as he entered the Grandline, so just as the ship was about to pass over the whale, the bottom end of the ship smacked against the 'X' shaped wound on the whale's face.

As the ship roughly landed on the water, the whale let out a pained groan and quickly sank back into the sea. "That'll teach you to teach you to challenge the only Kage in this world!" Ronin shouted at the water triumphantly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to Lagoon?!" asked an elderly, cranky voice that Ronin wasn't expecting.

Looking in the direction the voice came from, Ronin and everyone else looked over to find a somewhat tall, grumpy looking man laying on a lawn chair with a folded newspaper in his hands. The old man had a balding head with flower petals that covered most of it. He had a gangly beard that only enhanced his sour expression. The old man wore a pink shirt with yellow and green stripes that seem to clash with his blueish-grey shorts. Finally, he wore a pair of glasses that perfectly covered his glaring, beady eyes.

Ronin took a quick glance around, saw the two lighthouses on either side of the exit for the Reverse Mountain, and realized that he must be at the Twin Capes he heard was at the bottom of Reverse Mountain, which means the cranky old man has to be the caretaker of the lighthouse that old man Genko told him about, Crocus.

"You actually named that giant thing?!" Bonney shouted in surprise.

Remembering that Genko said Crocus was very important for some reason, Ronin decided to take over the conversation before Bonney's big mouth ruined things for them.

"I'm sorry if we hurt your... pet. As you can imagine, he surprised us. Are you Crocus? My Master, Genko told me I would find you here." Ronin said, hoping that using the old man's name would save this situation, but judging by the sweat now dropping from Crocus' face, that may not be the case.

"That old demon is still alive?! It was his beatings when I was younger that made me go to Medical Island, to train as a doctor so I can learn how to heal some of the injuries he left me." Crocus said as he shook his head, as if remembering a bad memory.

When he looked closer at Ronin, a hint of recognition passed through his eyes. "Ah, I see now. You must be this Ronin, Captain of the Shinigami Bounty Hunters I've heard so much about recently. The newspapers say you recently captured a small fleet of pirate ships with just three members of your crew. Impressive. Anyway, Laboon isn't my pet, he's a friend. And he likes to challenge those who brave the Reverse Mountain, but you're the first to change the actual slope of the mountain to dodge him rather than face him head on like everyone else." Crocus commented.

To this, Ronin simply shrugged. "I'm a shinobi, not a Pirate or a Marine who like to face things head on. I prefer to go about things cautiously and in an efficient way. As long as the task is done and me and my people live, I don't care if others see me as a coward." Ronin said resolutely as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Smart and practical, seems like you may actually live a while out there, as long as you don't get targeted by the pirates for being too big of a threat. Pirates and those of the Underworld can place bounties as well, remember that. Anyway, tell me, what's your plan for the Grandline?" Crocus asked, suddenly serious.

Ronin felt as though he was just asked a question that would determine his whole experience in the Grandline depending on his answer. "I plan on ridding this world of evil no matter where I find it, as well as carve out a place for me and my people to belong." Ronin said as he stared Crocus deep into his eyes.

After staring at each other for a while, a small smile on onto Crocus' face. "That was a nice answer, brat. I-" Crocus was saying until he was interrupted by a shout from below deck.

The next moment, Rory came into the main deck with blood on their clothes and tears in their eyes. "Captain, please, you have to help them! Some of our people got injured really badly because of the fall! If we don't find a doctor soon, I fear they won't make it!" Rory said as they looked at Ronin, almost pleading with their eyes for him to save them.

After Rory lost their grandmother to those pirates, they felt like the villagers was all they had left, so the thought of losing them was devastating.

'Damn, the one thing I feared would happen, happened. Wait, didn't Crocus say he was a Doctor?' Ronin thought looking to Crocus.

As if already knowing what he would ask, Crocus let out a frustrated grunt as he scratched the back of his head. "Fine, but you're paying for treatment! Let me grab my tools." Crocus said as he disappeared inside of his house to grab his medical bag.

The treatment of the villagers didn't take long, but it was costly, as Crocus made sure to get his money's worth. This situation only cemented to Ronin how much he needed to add a doctor to his crew as soon as possible, and something Crocus said gave him an idea of where to start.

As he was finishing up with the last person, Ronin figured now was the best time to ask. "Crocus, do you have a log pose for this, Medical Island that you trained at? As you can see, we're in desperate need of a doctor, and this place sounds like my best bet." Ronin asked, not bothering to beat around the bush.

Crocus looked at him long and hard before letting out a heavy sigh. "I guess I can let go of my log pose since I learned all I could already and don't plan on going back. But, I'm not letting it go for free! There are no handouts on the Grandline." said Crocus.

After paying a ridiculous 5,000 Beli for the eternal log pose, as opposed to the normal 1,500 for a normal log pose, Ronin had the crew double check that everything was secured, and then set sail, leaving Crocus with very little fanfare. As Crocus was healing the crew, he told Ronin his story and Laboon's story as well. Though it was reported that the Roger Pirates weren't necessarily evil and were basically adventurers, they still did dark shit, which prevented Ronin from feeling any attachment to Crocus or the pirate-loving Laboon.

As they were sailing, Meli had some of the people she was training to help her navigate, take over as she walked to Ronin nervously, her ears flopped to her head. "Ro, I had a lot of time to think and come to terms with everything, and... I think I'm finally ready to open the chest my parents left me, but I don't think I can do it alone. May come down to the cargo hold with me as support?" Meli asked bashfully. Though they had already had sex and were playfully flirting ever since, Meli still found herself incredibly shy around the man she loved.

"Of course, Meli, I'll always be your support when you need me. Plus, I've yet to look at all the shit I stole from the Navy base or our order from the blacksmith since shit has been so hectic, so now would be a good chance." Ronin said, as he rubbed the top of Meli's head, as that always cheered her up.

With her tail swishing happily behind her, Meli led Ronin down to the Cargo hold, where her parents chest was stacked neatly in the back right corner. With great trepidation, Meli took tiny steps, slowly inching her way to the chests, until she finally came to the first chest. When her hand touched the lock, it glowed brightly fir a second before unlocking itself and falling to the ground.

Ronin was surprised, as no matter how much he thought about it, that definitely looked like magic! Seeing Meli's lack of surprise about the magic, and watching her finally open the chest, Ronin decided to stay quiet for now and ask his questions later.

As the lid for the first chest opened, what they saw was the equivalent of a small nations worth of treasures, as the inside of the chest looked far more spacious than it did on the outside, once again hinting at the presence of magic. This time though, Meli looked genuinely surprised about what she found inside the chest.

'She's probably thinking that if only she knew that the chest had so much money, she wouldn't have had to suffer under that pig Harriman like she did, damn.' Ronin thought as he grimaced at the cruel irony of the situation.

On top of all of the treasure was surprisingly two finely crafted pistols that had a strange design to them, as he saw no place to house the pistol rounds. Wrapped around the guns was a ornate necklace with a grey crystal the glowed a dark pink once she held it, once again not a bit surprised by the strange occurrences. Before Ronin could get a chance to get to the bottom of things, Meli started to open up the last chest, genuinely surprising them both with what was inside.

Inside of the last chest was a small, blue pineapple with curly red leaves and a dark yellow stem. "I-it's the Burst-Burst Devil Fruit! I can't believe they trusted it to me.. mom... dad.." Meli said as she got choked up on her tears and fell to her knees sobbing.

Ronin was shocked, as not only was this his first time seeing a genuine Devil Fruit, it turns out Meli actually has been keeping some important things from him. Ronin was deeply hurt, as over the months of sailing together, he genuinely has started to develop feelings for Meli, so to have his trust broken like this, he was now even more sure he had to implement his plan, despite how the others might reject it.

More than anything, he was glad that he found out that he was able to have control over his strange chakra filled cum, and got rid of it from both Bonney and Meli before he messed up and had a baby with someone untrustworthy.

"Meli, I get you're upset and emotional, but I think it's long past time that I get some answers. You're keeping things from me, important things from the look of it. I need you to be honest with me, now!" Ronin said with a slight edge to his tone that made Meli jump in fright as her tail tucked between her legs.

"I-I didn't mean to hide anything from you, Ro, I swear! I promise I've been meaning to tell you everything, it just hasn't been the right time-"

"Over 7 months! That's how long we've been together since I saved you killed Harriman, 7 fucking months! You mean you couldn't find a chance to tell me anything in all of that time?!" Ronin shouted, nearly shaking the whole ship.

Now, Meli was in full on waterworks, and Ronin was starting to feel shitty about making her cry. Meli was a complete mess. She hated herself for being a coward and keeping secrets from the man she loved, and now there was a chance he could never want to see her again, and she couldn't even begin to imagine what she would do without Ronin.

"Please, Ro, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I know I've been untrustworthy, but I'll be honest now, just please don't hate me, I love you!" Meli begged as she crawled on her knees, clinging to Ronin's pants.

Seeing this, now Ronin felt completely sick with himself for making Meli do all of this, but right when he was about to pick Meli up and tell her it was okay, his hand was stopped by Devon grabbing him.

"Von, what are you doing, she said sorry, it's done now!" Ronin said seriously as he looked deep into Devon's unshakable eyes.

"Ro, I know you see yourself as this tough ruthless killer, and to some you are, but the truth is, you're too soft and trusting, especially with us, the people who can hurt you the most. Meli has literally been with you since the beginning and has been lying to you the whole time, and all she has to do is say a little 'Im sorry' and all is forgiven? No, you can't run any kind of crew like that. If you don't believe, just take a look behind me." Devon said as he pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

Behind Devon, stood Bonney, Rory, and a few of the more promising crew, all standing with disapproving looks as the looked down at Meli.

Ronin was hoping to sweep all of this under the rug, but seeing how the situation turned out, he knew that he couldn't let Meli get off Scot free, or it was cause discord amongst his crew. He knew that much from a similar experience in his past life a member of his unit was caught in a lie that almost jeopardize the whole operation. Letting out a heavy sigh, Ronin already knew that he had to do something which would change the dynamics of his crew forever.

"Meli, the truth is, you lied, to all of us. That is something that I can't unfortunately let slide with a simple apology. But your dishonesty has opened my eyes one what I must do to protect us all in the future. Meli, to atone for your sins and cement your place amongst the crew, are you willing to take on a Seal?"