Chapter 109: Si vis pacem, para bellum

When Kaza and Eri exited the pub for their morning run they were stunned by the sight in front of them. Marines were everywhere, running around, either helping people or carrying heavy stuff like huge rocks or supplies. Sengoku was barking orders and Tsuru was talking with some young officers, probably giving orders too.

“Tsuru… What happened?” Kaza asked.

She couldn’t understand the chaos.

“That kind of destruction… It makes noise. How did…”

She stopped her thoughts there and remembered that she didn’t remove the noise bubble before going to sleep. It was a small wonder that they heard nothing.
Finishing her talk with her subordinates, Tsuru turned around, greeted the mother and daughter duo and gave an explanation.

“Shiki, happened.”
“Who’s that?” asked Eri.
“Shiki the Golden Lion. At one time he was the rival of the pirate king.” answered Tsuru.
“Why would he, of all people, be here?” Kaza asked.
“Some weeks ago we received reports of islands disappearing in East Blue. Without leaving any trace.” Chimed In Sengoku who was done with his own order.
“And he showed up last night?” Eri asked to which he nodded in agreement.
“But… Such widespread destruction… It’s not his style. It’s usually focused on a small target. Well except THAT time at Marineford.” The eldest redhead commented.
“Actually back then, that was Garp.” replied Sengoku with a frown.
“Then, who did…”

She didn’t finish her sentence. She knew who did it.

“Mom?”
“He must have been really pissed.” Kaza said, ignoring her daughter.
“ Shiki ruined his first birthday after all.” Sengoku said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Oh right, I forgot. He spent weeks in a hospital bed. No wonder he was angry.”
“Who are you talking about?” Eri insisted, not liking to be ignored.It was Tsuru who answered her.
“Your father.”

Looking around, she took a good look at the situation. When she saw a huge rock in the sea, the size of a small island, she asked to be sure.

“He did all that?”
“No. What you’re seeing is just the result of the fight. If you look carefully the village is almost intact and the number of people hurt is small. Your father did the best he could to defeat Shiki while protecting the village.”
“... Dad is that strong?!”
“Even more than that. The fight was quite fast actually, but with Shiki unconscious the effect of his devil fruit stopped and the island started to fall, so your father did the best he could in the short time he had.” Tsuru said with a prideful smile. Sengoku seemed pissed and left to give some more orders.

“What’s wrong with Uncle Buddha?”
“He’s unhappy because your father got away leaving Shiki behind, right?” Kaza asked Tsuru for confirmation.
“Yes, but he’s also pissed that Rick is not in the navy anymore.”
“Why is that?” Eri asked.
“Your father was his student, he hoped that one day he would be the one to succeed him. Everytime your father makes the news with something extravagant, Sengoku laments Rick’s departure from the marines.”

Eri nodded in understanding and Kaza sent her away to help with the villagers, promising that their mother daughter day would be tomorrow instead. Once the young redhead was out of earshot, she spoke to Tsuru.

“Is he well?”
“Yes. He has some bad cuts here and there, but he completely destroyed Shiki.” replied Tsuru, prompting Kaza to sigh in relief.
“He got you back.” the older woman stated, pointing at the ring on Kaza’s left hand.
“He never lost me to begin with.” the redhead replied with a smile.
“What about you?”

Tsuru pulled out a chain around her neck from under her uniform, which passed through a ring too.

“To my shame, he did.”
“Shame? Come on, we both know you’re happy he did.” Kaza said with a knowing grin.
“Perhaps.”

They stood in silence, watching the marines work with the villagers when Tsuru asked a peculiar question.

“Eri, knows now… right? What does she think?”
“I told her the gist of this yesterday night and went into the details when we woke up. She’s really pissed at Akainu. He should watch his back because a twelve years old is coming for him.” Kaza replied, making Tsuru laugh.
“That is, if Rick doesn’t get to him first.”
“True.”
“...”
“...”
“What are you going to do?”
“Eri… wants to go after him.”
“Did she now?”
“Yes… He left me a letter yesterday. In it were a lot of things, things that made Eri do a complete 180 on her opinion of him and brought a side I never thought she had.”
“Really? What side?”
“Possessive.” Kaza replied with a proud evil smile.
“Possessive?” Tsuru asked Puzzled.
“Rick has another daughter, she’s almost two, and with the number of women he’s involved with they will be others and she doesn’t like the idea of sharing her dad despite not knowing him at all. That was quite cute to see.”
“So she did take more than just her appearance from you.” replied Tsuru with a chuckle.
“Well you know the saying: Like mother, like daughter.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll gut them. I’ll gut them all.” Kaza replied immediately without missing a beat.
“... Or you know you could learn to share, like you did with me.” Tsuru advised?
“You are different. I know you, I know you wouldn’t have taken him from me. Them? No, no… He’s mine.”
“Good luck with that, he’s quite in love with his wife.”
“Then I’ll make him fall in love harder with me, then I’ll gut her.”
“...”
“...”
“When are you leaving?”
“I wanted to leave by the end of the week but…” she raised her hand and waved it around.
“What exactly do you intend to do? You know he’s in the New World. It’s not a place for Eri, not when it’s just the two of you.”
“I… I thought of getting in contact with the R.A.” she confessed, surprising Tsuru.
“Why?”
“It’s the only lead I have. I mean, he’s fighting the World Government, the celestial dragons, just like they do. Chances are high that they are somehow in contact.”
“...”
“And his fight… It’s right Tsuru. I don’t want my girl to live in a world where a fat ass could enslave her with one word and use her as he wishes.”

Tsuru looked at her pensively.

“I have a lot of vacation piled up. Stay here for a while and I’ll bring you to them.”

That astonished Kaza. Tsuru, one of the most loyal and dedicated marine for the past four decades, was working for the R.A? Impossible.

“Since when?”
“Last night.”
“... What changed?”
“Let’s say Rick was convincing…”
“Tell me about it.”

And Tsuru did, relating the conversation Sengoku, Rick and her had and how their now fiance made her remember why she was a marine in the first place. He had gone through every self-serving lie she had told herself over the years.

“Sengoku?” Kaza asked but Tsuru shook her head.
“Nor Garp.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game, Tsuru.”
“I’ve been a marine for more than forty years, I’m used to danger.”
“One thing I wonder… When and how did Rick give you the information to reach them?”
“Sengoku threw me up on Shiki’s Island. After he landed that chunk of the island into the sea, we talked and he told me where to find them, or to be more accurate where to find someone who could lead me to them.”
“Who?”
“Silver Rayleigh.”
Kaza had to do a double take at that.

“The dark king?!”
“Yes. He’s on Sabaody Archipelago, more often than not hanging around in a pub or so Rick said.”
“Since when is he a member of the R.A. ?”
“According to Rick he isn’t, he didn’t elaborate though.”
“...”
“...”
“Forget about Eri and I waiting for your vacation time Tsuru. We’re going with you now.”
“What?”
“I’ll tell Sengoku that I would be safer closer to the Marine HQ on the Paradise side of Grand Line.”
“... That could work… The celestial dragons don’t go there anymore, not after what happened two years ago and with Rick stunts in Marie Geoise these last few months they are scared to go down.”
“You’ll need to ditch Sengoku.”
“Vacation time.”
“I hope he won’t take some too and follow you.”
“He won’t if I don’t tell him.”
“We’ll need secure den den mushis too.”
“That’s not a problem.”
“Then it seems like we have a plan.” Kaza announced with a mischievous smile.


~~~~~


Rick was on his way to Amazon Lily. He couldn’t go back to the crew without stopping on the way to see Lynda. Not after Eri’s rejection. He needed his little snake more than anything right now, for confort. He tried to focus on something else than his first born, it wouldn’t do him any good to keep thinking about it.
Currently he was thinking about what happened that night. Not the fight with Shiki. His own devil fruit power countering the old pirate made the fight a quick one. Spending time on thinking about it was not worth it. But what happened afterwards… That was the complete opposite.

“To think she, of all people, would change her mind… Did I really get through her?”

Tsuru agreeing to his point of view and wanting to be active about the change he wanted was a surprise. For a moment, he didn’t believe her. He still had doubts but he decided to trust her and send her to Rayleigh. He really hoped he didn’t make a mistake. That was also a reason why he was going to Amazon Lily. Soon, both Hancock and Lynda wouldn’t be safe anymore and he didn’t see any safer place than O’hara. He knew they would treat them well.

He was flying fast for a couple of days. Only stopping for sleep once on a deserted island. He needed to hurry, as the reverie would end soon. He knew there was plenty of time but he wanted to give as much as he could to Hancock.
Soon enough, as the sun was setting, he reached his destination. Quickly landing on the balcony of his fiancee's bedroom, without anyone noticing, he looked around to see if anyone was here. To his greatest delight his little snake was. He got close to her crib and picked her up in his arms, gently rocking her. He frowned when he thought that she was unguarded.
After a few minutes the door to the bedroom opened and Hancock walked in. She did her best not to gasp at the sight of him and joined her two loves with a happy smile on her lips before landing them on his.

“You’re here.”
“I am.”
“For how long?”
“... I don’t know, a couple of days at least.”

It was more than she could hope, she thought as Rick kissed their daughter and put her back in her crib, before taking her hands in his and led her towards the bed where they laid together.

“She was alone when I came in.”
“I was in the next room for a few minutes and Salome was watching over her.” she replied motioning with her chin to a corner of the room where her snake was resting on multiple pillows.
“Our daughter is the best gift I ever got. More than my freedom, there is no way I would neglect her and leave her unprotected.” She said as had her head in the crook of his neck.
“...”
“...”
“I have news. Some good, plenty bad. Which do you want first?”
“Bad, since I’m already aware of your dalliance with the Alabasta princess, let's keep them coming.” She said, jealousy in her voice.
“You’re really cute when you’re jealous, you know?”
“I DON’T… care about you and that princess.” She controlled her voice, remembering this time that her daughter was sleeping a few feets away.
“Vivi and I is a story that started not long after I met you.”
“Still don’t care.”
“Even if I say that she didn’t give me an answer?”
“... Maybe…”
“You know what Crocodile did to her country?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that fanned the fire in her even more. She intends to push the end of the Shichibukai. And by looking at the track record of them it’s a good thing. The problem is…”
“Me, being one of them.”
“And Lynda. You won’t have immunity anymore, and the first thing they’ll do is try to arrest you. I’m already an absentee father, she can’t have her mother gone too.”
“I can deal with them.”
“Perhaps, perhaps not. I… don’t want to take any chances.”
“What do you suggest then?”
“That you take her and leave for a safe place that I know.”
“What safe place?”
“O’hara.”

She raised herself and looked him in the eye.

“O’hara is not gone. That’s where I spent my time when I was hiding. I rebuilt it. That’s also the place where I intend to live after Luffy becomes the pirate king. Currently It’s also the HQ of the R.A. , they’ll treat you like the queen that you are; Lynda too.”

Hancock kept looking at him, her face stoic.

“I’m telling you to go there. I’m telling you I wish you’ll go there.”
“If… If I want to go there… how would I …”
“Rayleigh. He has an Eternal Pose for the island.” he answered and she simply nodded in understanding.
“What else? What’s the next bad news?”

Rick took a pillow they were not using and handed it to her.
“What is it for?”
“You’re going to scream with the next news.”
“I’m not going to scream.”
“You will.”
“I. Will. Not.” She insisted.
“Very well. I have a twelve years old daughter that I didn’t know existed.”
“...”
“...”

They kept looking at each other for a moment, before Hancock snatched the pillow in his hand, brought it to her face and screamed in it, for a good minute in one breath. Out of air, she gave back the pillow to Rick and in a barely controlled voice said one word.

“Explain”
“ Was in a relationship before I was framed. She found out she was pregnant AFTER I had already left. She raised her in hiding since then to protect her for any assohole from the World Government or the navy that would use her to get to me. I learned about her after we beat Doflamingo.”
“...”
“...”
“Did you meet her?”
“I just came back from our meeting. It didn’t go well, as expected. I mean, I wasn’t there for twelve years and I just showed up out of the blue…That with the fact she has the same sense of justice that I do and that I’m a pirate…”
“A recipe for a disaster.”
“Yes. At least her mother, while not telling her my name, told her good things about me while growing up. So I still have hope of having some kind of relationship with her.”

Hancock left his side and straddled him, put her hands on his chest and kissed him.

“One day.”
“You don’t think that.” he replied with a chuckle.
“Actually I do. My distaste of you being hurt, overwhelmed my distaste of you having another daughter.” She said as Rick let his hands roam upwards from her thighs.
“Next bad news?” she asked.
“...I think that’s it.”
“What are the good news then?”
“I have your ring.” he said, rummaging through his overcoat and pulling out a small black box. Opening it, he presented a nice engagement ring with a beautiful ruby on top of it. Hancock naturally presented her left hand and he put the ring on the appropriate finger.
“I take, you like it?”
“Very.” Hancock answered looking at the blood red stone, then kissed him a second time.
“Next big news is… I sent a celestion dragon flying in front of all the royalty present at the reverie. The cherry on the cake is… It was the same guy that Luffy and I punched on Sabaody.” he said, making her smile.
“Dear husband, If you wanted to arouse me tonight, you succeeded.” she said, bringing his hands resting on her hips, on her breasts.
“As if you were not aroused the moment you saw me.
“Touché.” she replied and kissed him again.

When they broke the kiss, she noticed him frowning.

“What’s wrong?”
“Aren’t your breasts bigger?”
“They are.” she said.

Hancock removed his hands from her chest and stood up on the bed, her legs on each side of his waist. Very slowly, she removed her dress, and let it fall down. Rick’s eyes went as wide as saucer when he saw the small bump she had.

“You’re…”
“Pregnant again, yes.” She smiled.

He raised himself, his head facing the aforementioned bump, and caressed it with his hands. Finally he embraced Hancock and kissed their unborn baby.

He pulled back and laid back down pulling her with him.

“You know, if everytime we have sex, while you’re not with child, we make a baby, it will quickly get out of hand.”
“That’s fine, I’ll give you as many as you want.”
“Careful, I might take your word for it.”
“Then do it, because I’m serious.”
“... Even if I tell you I want a family bigger than Big Mom’s?”
“... I… I guess I’ll need help then.” she admitted unwillingly.
“Let’s put the plan for the future aside and let’s celebrate.” he said as he changed potion, pinning her under him.

“What a wonderful idea.”

~~~~~

Rick spent three days with Hancock. It was one more day than planned but her insistence won him over, officially. The truth was, it was because of Lynda. Not that he didn’t want to be with Hancock but after his eldest rejection he wanted to be there for his youngest as much as he could, despite his duty as Vice-Captain of the straw hats. Ever since he has come back from the dead, he just kept on leaving the crew and joining back. He couldn’t keep on doing that. Not when they were so close to reach Laugh Tale as they already have two of the fours road poneglyphs needed to reach the island. He needed to stay for good until Luffy was finally the pirate king.
The time with his little snake healed his heart a bit as she was always smiling and giggling when he was holding her. Hancock was a bit jealous of how well their daughter behaved in his arms ( as much as an almost two years old can behave) but the sight of her child and husband together was so strongly effective that it defeated any negative feelings she may have had. And yes husband. Hancock didn’t wait for them to have a small and private ceremony with her sisters as witnesses and officiated by elder Nyon, the day after his arrival.

The pirate queen had said that she could not wait anymore, not with a second baby on the way but Rick knew it was because she didn’t want to get married after he had wedded another of his partners. She couldn’t have the title of the first wife, fine, she couldn’t really do anything about it but there was no way in hell where she would settle for anything less than second.

She was Boa Fucking Hancok, the pirate queen and the most beautiful women in the world (admittedly) after all.

When Rick finally left, with a subtle limp, he was nothing but grateful. While his perfect body had endless stamina, after flying to Foosha Village, fighting Shiki, then going to Amazon Lily, he had been tired but soldier on the first night of sex with Hancock. The next two days with the euphoria of being newlywed and the pregnancy Rick had a really hard time keeping up. After a few flashbacks from his time with Kaza and his stay in a hospital afterwards back in the day, he was now hesitating between never getting a woman pregnant again or disappearing until the day of the delivery.

He was currently flying over Grand Line in the New World, towards what he hoped was Wano. As Wano had his border closed there was no Eternal Pose leading to it, so he had to navigate with a piece of Luffy’s vivre card.

That was not easy. The piece was small and very inaccurate so he had to stop often to see if he hadn’t deviated from the correct path, his flying forbidding him to use it while moving, as the piece would have been blown away.

Finally, after three weeks of being away from his friends he saw the tall mountains of the lands of the Samourais.

Finally after nearly two months, he would see Robin again.