The McPuffin Part 2

The McPuffin Part 2

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"Did the astrologers of that kingdom realize that the world was round by that point?" Huddled up under one of the bookshelves with my friend, I flipped through the pages of the book in my lap.

"Yes," Ami confirmed, scowling at her own book. We were pretty little, though Ami wasn't a runt like me she also wasn't pushed to the ridiculous levels of training I was. We were a pretty funny contrast really, she was very demure and pale in a pretty little dress and I was heavily tanned and in denim shorts and a shirt that was basically a step above burlap. "The Elshinae Kingdom's texts show that they were one of the first to realize the world was a sphere."

The Patch had finally swung back by this island after two months out on the ocean and visiting other islands. This island was one of the few with a library, and the only one I could rent books from, even if it was through Ami...

"Given the Log Pose that's not surprising…" I muttered, scribbling some notes into my journal, "Though it's curious how there are people in the New World if the whole magnetic fluctuations have been a thing for so long… do we know if there was a time where it wasn't?"

Ami was actually pretty fun to talk to. She was wicked smart, smarter than I was honestly. Sure, she was technically two years older than my four-… five year old ass, but I cheated by having a whole 23 years of dedicated nerd-dom on her. And she was still smarter than me. It was rather nice not being the smartest person in the room.

Ami ducked her head behind her book, "No. Sorry."

"Mm. Darn." I muttered, flipping another page as I skimmed the book in my lap, "Any idea where we might look for that info? Because it wasn't in the history books and the geography books are hit and miss so far that I've seen."

"I-… I don't know…"

The hiccup in her voice caught my attention, and I looked up at my friend, "Ami…?" her head was buried behind her book, practically hiding behind it. Worried, I set my book down and reached out to touch her arm, "Ami? You okay?"

"You're not mad?"

I blinked in confusion before scooching across the wood floor of the library, letting the book fall from my lap, "Why would I be mad?" I went from a foot or two away from her leaning against the bookshelf to immediately beside her.

Her hands tightened against the cover of the oversized book in her hands and she seemed to retreat behind it, "I didn't know the answer…"

My heart immediately went out to her and I almost reflexively reached out, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to my smaller form, hugging her to my side, "Oh Ami, I don't care if you don't know. We do this to learn. I don't expect you to know everything."

"R-Really?" her voice was very small, and she refused to look at me as she asked it…

I frowned even as I hugged her tighter, my heart aching, "Really really."

With a little sob, the blue haired girl dropped her book and nearly threw herself into me, the child barely any older than me clinging to me as she quietly cried. I didn't know what had brought this on, why she was worried about this, and now wasn't the time to ask, now was the time to comfort.

Making soft, wordless noises of comfort, I hugged my friend tightly, rubbing small circles against her back as she cried.

'Whoever's making you feel like this… they need a kick to the teeth.'

-oOo-​

"So what's this island?" I asked, fiddling with the drill on the table.

"Ee-zwee…? Eh-mahn-zee-nee?" Bonney said slowly, slice of pizza in hand as she looked over the map. A brief frown crossed her face, "I have no idea how that's pronounced."

Curious, I leaned over, "… my best guess is Izwe Emanzini…"

Bonney grunted, taking a bite of her pizza and talking through her mouthful, "'Parrently it's ruled by the Zolou." I blinked, that sounded familiar… "There's apparently almost never any Marines there. If they come there for anything more than the taxes to the World Government the Zolou go crazy on them."

I hummed thoughtfully as I munched on the pizza slice I had myself. The name sounded familiar… like, another life familiar.

"We're not gonna be over there," Bonney continued, pointing the crust of her pizza at the map and 'drawing' with it, "We're going to stay out at sea as much as possible until the Log Pose recharges."

"How long is that?" Daniel asked, the tall man pausing in the shoveling of food into his face.

Bonney frowned, "Six months."

Food was sprayed in surprise, as was some beer, and a cry went up from the crew that could be summed up as 'The hell?!'

Mind you, I wasn't exactly happy about it either. Six months is a long time for a log pose recharge.

"Oi!" Bonney half stood from her chair, slamming a hand down on the table, "Shut up!" The room went quiet, "There's not gonna be any Marines there while we're in the area, and the Zolou don't care about the waters. The Zolou make sure there's no Marines on the island except those to collect the taxes. We can raid the ships without worrying too much about the Marines giving us crap, only thing we've got to worry about are other pirates."

The crew started to settle back down, though there was some grumbling. Purple eyes turned to me as Bonney asked, "Oi! Florida. You don't have any problem smashing up pirate ships do you?"

"Not really, no." I admitted. Pirates tended to deserve it. In so much as that term could be used. If you were a pirate, you knew you were putting your life on the line, you were accepting the consequences of your lifestyle. "I've only really got issues in attacking civilians." Merchants though? People traveling between islands? They were just living their lives. Doing their jobs. Them I had a problem attacking.

"Right. So the plan is simple," Bonney said, gesturing about with the crust of her pizza, "Dock when we've got to, but stay out around the island looking for ships to plunder. If they're pirates, we've got Florida to punch some faces. We should be able to avoid getting too much attention from the Marines or bounty hunters."

The crew mulled that over, talking amongst themselves, but they seemed to like the idea.

I hummed thoughtfully, it sounded good to me… Bonney was actually good at this-… My eyes caught on something, "Ah… Bonney?"

Her gaze swung to me, "What?"

Gesturing at my own chest I said, "Crumb shelf."

Bonney blinked twice before looking down at her chest, finding the crumbs resting atop her breasts that had caught my attention. She frowned and brushed them off, smearing some grease on her tank-top, "Ugh… great."

Picking up my own slice of pizza back up, I bit into it, turning back to the drill I was working on. I was probably gonna spend most of this time training the crew and rebuilding my laboratory and equipment while studying what had happened to Bonney, Casey, and myself. See if I could figure out what the fuck 'wavelengths' Devil Fruit were supposed to have as well as the one the sea was supposed to have…

Stuffing the crust half into her mouth and holding in place with her teeth, she gave her top a snap, sending the crumbs flying away, "'Ere-! 'etter."

I glanced up before looking back down, tapping the center of my chest, "Missed a spot."

Bonney glanced back down, finding the crumb in her cleavage, "… damnit."

-oOo-​

"Mm-hmm mm-hmm, hm-hmhm-hmhmmm…" I hummed as the crew enjoyed their time in the bar. Bonney was downing some beer next to me before taking a bite of the local cuisine.

While the Captain and I sat at the bar proper, the rest of the crew were enjoying the local wenches and alcohol.

The houses here were straw and reeds and light wood, and much of the island was one big savanah. There were surprisingly few truly black people in this world so far as I'd seen, but it seems we'd found the island where many of them were. It was hot and almost muggy on this island, a call back to my namesake in my previous life, and while many of the crew had been bothered by it up until they'd seen the wenches. I was perfectly fine.

Mind you, I was wearing my coat like a cape, had rolled up my sleeves and was leaving my vest undone, sure, but otherwise fine.

The port town we were in was mostly small households, likely meant to be easily moved or replaced. The inn was one of the few really sturdy stone structures here and it was in a World Government style rather than the local one. This bar was definitely local though, and there was an interesting style of wood for the bar itself.

"Why yes, I can turn into jelly and reshape myself." Casey's voice rose over the din of the crew behind us. Most of the crew were at tables, talking with local women of the night or just local women.

A small smile crossed my face as I munched on the rib. Casey was being a dork, but he was enjoying himself, and the ladies on either side of him seemed interested at least. The rib was in a style called braai, though I recognized it as good ole' barbeque. And good barbeque at that.

"I can be whatever shape I want! And I'm very bouncy." The crew had been rather happy to find out that local fashion was rather… clothing-lite. It wasn't as 'bad' as the classic National Geographic photos you'd have seen in my past life, the women tended to wear a shawl that covered their top and what might have been a grass article of clothing in my home was usually some fancy cloth here.

Still, barely-clad exotic ladies to spend money on while getting drunk. The crew was happy.

Bonney snorted beside me, and I glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow. The captain had ditched her hat, jacket, and stockings due to the heat, sticking to just a top, shorts, suspenders, and boots.

She met my gaze out of the corner of her eye mid-bite into a large cow thigh and jerked her head back at Casey before pointedly rolling her eyes.

"Tcheheheh…" I leaned in to be heard over the crew having fun, "They're gonna rob him blind."

She raised an eyebrow at me and made an inquisitive grunt through her mouthful of grilled beef.

"They're sharks… not sure what the name for them is in the south… gold-diggers?" I shrugged, "They're gonna take everything he's fucking got and leave him."

Swallowing, Bonney smirked at me, "And you know this… how?"

I grinned, "I was caught by the likes of that a time or two. But mostly? Learn how to avoid the bounty hunters that try that crap."

"What, sleep with you to take you in?" She asked, gesturing with the oversized leg of cow.

"Mhm," I confirmed through my mouthful of rib. I recognized the oregano… but what was that other spice…? Or was it even a spice, was it an herb…?

"How the hell would you know, goody two shoes?" Bonney teased, giving my shin a kick.

I smiled, swallowing, "I've had my bounty a long time. You learn how to tell the difference between the various ladies and their desires for money."

She raised a pink eyebrow at me in honest surprise, "You're not all that old."

"Nope," I confirmed, amused by the memories more than anything else, "But if they think your balls have dropped and they have some cleavage, they can get some money out of you."

Bonney snorted, a smirk on her face, "Like you've had sex."

I grinned, "I do have a girlfriend…" The thought made me pause, and my eyes fell back to the half-eaten rib in my hands, the grin slowly fading.

I… shit. I did. We hadn't seen each other in almost eight months now… hell, we never got to see each other much but… I hadn't lost everyone. I had somewhere to go. I was so used to being on a ship, to living on a ship that I hadn't even thought of finding an island to live on… but without my family–

"Uh huh, right, totally believe you." Bonney's teasing trailed off as she saw my face. She frowned, "What?"

"… I've got a girlfriend to return to…" I said, a mixture of emotions in my chest. Happiness, sadness, ache, guilt, joy... Yay, I had somewhere to go. Boo, she probably thought I was dead. Woo, no matter how it had felt I hadn't lost everyone. I mean holy shit was finding out that the Patch was destroyed a gut punch that I hadn't wanted to think about. Wah, it was gonna be who knows how long until I could return.

"… seriously?" She asked in disbelief, barely audible over the din of the crew.

"Yeah…" I said softly, staring at the rib in my hands. Could I live on her island though…? I'd have to lay low… unless my bounty was inactive again, but regardless, it should be possible so long as I avoided her mother…

Bonney grunted, taking a quick bite out of her beef thigh, "Sho? What'sh the big deal?"

"So I've got someone to return to," I said, a small smile on my face, "It's a good feeling."

Another grunt before she said petulantly, "Good for you."

I gave her a mild glare, "Oi, give me a break, I lost my whole crew less than a month ago." I didn't know her situation, but still, a little sensitivity would've been nice.

"And you're only just now remembering your girlfriend. Some boyfriend you are."

I frowned at her tone, "Hey, to be fair, I've been actively avoiding thinking about it…" I trailed off. Just because your family's job meant they were likely to die and you were prepared for that doesn't mean it's pleasant to think much about them being gone. "And we hardly get to see each other often. I wasn't in charge of where the Patch was headed. I only got to see her once every few months."

"Tch," Bonney looked away, "So, what? You gonna leave now?"

I snorted, "No. I wouldn't ditch you guys like that, especially not in the middle of teaching y'all." I tried to have some measure of honor. With a smirk, I pointed out, "Can't leave in the middle of the Grand Line anyways. Only ways out are at the ends or with a ship with a seastone coated hull."

Still scowling, though not as much as before, Bonney looked at me calculatingly, "Not gonna go to the New World then?"

I looked away before admitting, "… probably not. I don't have good reason to risk my life in that terrifying place."

My Captain slowly turned the leg of meat around in her hands for a moment, "Eh. Whatever. It's your life–"

"Woo!"

Both of us blinked and turned, looking back to find two of the local ladies dancing on the tables. Slowly stripping as the crew cheered them on.

I blinked, "… it's not even near sunset is it yet?"

"Nope." Bonney confirmed.

"Someone's really throwing the cash around." I mused out loud.

She shrugged, "Eh. It's their share, they can waste it how they want."

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The McPuffin Part 2