CHAPTER 149 ACTION

CHAPTER 149 ACTION

I followed Shakky’s directions. But somehow I kept getting sidetracked. Crewman after crewman was somehow in my path.

“There you are, Weston,” Nami yelled as she and Robin stepped out of a clothing shop. “Find a coater?”

“I’m on the trail of one,” I said. “Seen the others? We need to meet at Grove 13.”

“I saw Franky and Usopp at one of the shops down there,” she said. “Come on, Robin and I need your opinion.” I was about to deny her, but noticed that we were moving toward a lingerie store. Like a weak male I happily followed, and paid for everything they wanted. Stammering excitedly as they tried some on. It was very distracting.

When I pulled myself away I had spent my own allowance and then some. They promised to head to Shakky’s bar with bags in hand, then I found Franky and Usopp. Then Chopper and Brooke, they said they lost Luffy at the amusement park. I then found Sanji at the grocers and promised him there would be beauties at the bar and he was happily on his way.

By the time I had found everyone but Zoro and Luffy the auction was about to start. I figured without the mermaid there to be auctioned and piss off Luffy, I could just buy Raleigh as a slave. Then happen to move Luffy along the path of a Celestial Dragon. It wouldn’t take long for him to hit them. Canon could continue, and the world would be at peace once more.

But of course, my intervention was not needed. Coming into the auction house it was setup like a theater. Rows of seats moved lower to a main stage that everyone faced. The seats were filled of course. There were pirates that I recognized from the manga. Trafalgar, and Kidd, and a few others I had seen around the Celestial Dragon earlier. People eyed me and knew who I was.

The odd thing was they would look to me then in the crowd. I watched and noticed who I had been looking for straight ahead.

“Weston!” Luffy yelled like he wasn’t at a slave auction. “Did you get lost? We were looking for you.” I noticed Zoro sitting next to him, bored as he sat in the seats.

“What the hell are you guys doing here?” I asked.

“I saw a sign for it,” Zoro said, drinking from a bottle of rum he had bought. “Said they were having an auction. I want to see if they have any swords.”

“Stupid Zoro,” Luffy said. “I saw the same sign. It said Action. There is going to be fighting here.”

“Goddamn it,” I said sitting down next to him. “Why am I not surprised?” I said more to myself than them. “It’s a slave auction, guys. They are selling people.”

“What?” Luffy asked. “That’s not a thing.”

“It very much is, especially here, so close to the World Nobles home,” I said.

“Then what the hell are you doing here?” Zoro asked.

“Finding us a ship coater,” I said. “I heard one was being sold.”

“Weston! We don’t take slaves!” Luffy yelled, drawing eyes from around us.

I hissed at him. “I know that. There’s a guy here that was captured. I buy him, set him free, he coats our ship as payment,” I said.

“Oh, then let’s buy them all,” Luffy said. “We can set them free and watch them scatter.”

“Luffy, they aren’t mice,” I said. “...but they would probably scatter. You got a point there. There’s no way we can buy them all though. The Celestial Dragons will probably be here.” I looked around, noticing that they weren’t there yet. I doubted the event would start without them since they were the big spenders.

“Why?”

“Well you know how you were excited to have 200,000 berries to play with?” I asked.

“By the way, that’s all gone,” Luffy said.

“Oh my god, did you spend or lose it?”

“Both,” he said unashamedly. “There was this game at the amusement park with a gun. I almost got the big prize. I plan to get some more of my money and try again.”

“Nope, you’re cut off,” I said. He groaned. “Anyways, 200,000 berries is nothing to these guys. They could spend a billion and probably not blink.”

“A billion?!” Luffy asked excitedly. He got quiet after that. Slowly he began to laugh to himself. He leaned forward waving Zoro and I closer to his face. “Should we rob them?”

I couldn’t help but bark a laugh. “That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “I didn’t think of that.”

“But you said-” Zoro grumbled.

Pulling my Jitte out I slashed one, knocking him against the wall. They had handled their Haki being messed with, but still weren’t overly strong. Zoro and I were making quick work of them.

“Call the marines!” The older Tenryuubito yelled. “Get a Fleet Admiral here now!” One of the butlers began yelling into a denden-mushi. I moved my water chakra to smack it out of his hand. But another butler had another one. They were able to get the words out this time.

“Stop!” One of the dragons yelled. The guards didn’t hesitate to stop attacking us mid-swing. It was the woman Dragon with short black hair. Her voice was strong, and surprised me enough to join the others in halting.

I looked at her confused as she studied me. “Weston?” She asked.

“Uhh yeah?” I asked. Surprised by her words. As if she was asking for some reason. I still looked like my bounty since it was only taken a couple of months ago.

“You don’t remember me?” She asked. My gut clenched. A dozen scenarios played through in my mind. Fear gripped my heart as Zoro and Luffy looked at me. The only thing I could think of was I was a Celestial Dragon.

“I lost my memory,” I said. “I’m not a Tenryuubito am I?” I asked wide eyed.

The girl smiled as if we weren’t kicking her guard’s asses. “No,” she said.

“Oh thank god,” I said with a sigh and slashed the 2 guards in front of me. They hit the wall hard and the guards on my side were done. “Don’t know who you are, but I ain’t friends with anyone that takes slaves.” Turning to my crew I said, “We need to go. Marines will be here soon.”

“They’re already here,” a voice said. We turned to see Trafalgar Law. He was a lanky man. In jeans and a long sleeve shirt he had a long sword at his side and wore a leopard skin hat.

“Who the hell are you and what’s with the bear?” Luffy asking the important questions. Behind Law was his crew, one of them was a bipedal polar bear man.

Law didn’t bother answering. “The marines have surrounded this place since we got here,” he said. I began to walk down the stairs to the octopus man that had been shot. He groaned as I did. He was who I remembered. The octopus man that Zoro had fought back during Arlong. He had pink skin and suckers on his arms.

“What have you done?” He mumbled, then looked up at me. “You!?”

“Me, Hacchan right?” I asked.

“Why did you do that?” He asked. “Attacking a celestial dragon is....crazy.”

“Eh, we had been looking for a reason,” I said. “This auction was pretty sick.” Luffy and Law continued conversing. I moved the octopus man to sit at a seat.

“I know I don’t have any right to ask,” he said. “But sa-save her.” He pointed to the green mermaid girl who looked at us with wide eyes.

“Of course,” I said, pulling out my Jitte. The auctioneer had been hiding behind his podium but jumped out as I came up to the stage.

“Do you have any idea who you are mess-” He tried to say but I bashed his face with my Jitte.

“Yes,” I said. I stepped up to the large fishbowl the girl was in. Striking downward, the side cut away and I controlled the water to pour out slowly. Camie, the mermaid, stared at me with wide eyes. Her hands on the collar around her neck. I moved for it.

“Don’t,” she said, fear in her voice.

“I just want to help.”

“No, they said it will explode if I take it off without the key,” she said.

“Oh, then let’s find it,” I said looking around, but was stopped as an old man stepped out of the back stage.

“Maybe I can help.” He was a tall man, long gray hair slicked back he had a big goatee on his chin. A scar on his right eye he wore a shabby robe and clothes. Flask in hand he stepped out onto the stage in sandals. I knew him immediately, a smile splitting my face having found my target.

He looked around, the man had a strong presence though he appeared homeless. He studied the crowd, getting the gist of what was going on.

“Rayleigh,” Hachhan said weakly from where he was sitting.

“Hachi!” Silvers Rayleigh said excitedly. “What are you doing in a place like this? Actually don’t bother explaining...” he began looking around to everyone again. I guessed he was reading our Haki or something. One of the strongest men in the world, he had a lot of tricks.

When he appeared to get the idea of the situation he said, “You sure got yourself in a fair bit of trouble Hachi. Looks like you guys saved him though.” He eyed me then looked up to Luffy. “Which is lucky. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you both. Monkey D. Luffy and Watanabe D. Weston.” I felt my gut clench in excitement from the words. Silvers Raleigh knew who I was.