“… and keep an eye out to sea, those reinforcements from G-5 should be here by mid-day and so be prepared to direct them.”
Nodding and rolling his eyes, Nelson looked at Bill and said with a sarcastic smirk: “Yes, yes, Captain. I’ll do just that. I remember quite clearly going over this before, and I know I shouldn’t do so, but since there’s no one else here, I’ll ask you to remember that I advised against this action.
It’s bad business to get involved in the affairs of the Four Emperors. Bad business I say again.”
Over the years Nelson had learned how far he could push his Captain before the young man retaliated.
In private, Bill was as normal as any commoner he’d ever met. It was only in public that the Captains demeaner changed and Nelson knew from having many many encounters that Bill wasn’t one to be outright cross with.
Like now, with just the company between the two of them, the Captain didn’t look irritated and putting his hand on Nelsons shoulder, said cooly: “With the Vice Admiral, Sasha, and myself the operation will succeed. I just need you to take care of things out here. I’ve given you the keys to those King Cannons because I trust you, and I know you won’t let me down.”
Hearing this, Nelson huffed to himself. He had never been needed or especially ‘trusted’ in his life. Growing up as nephew to the Queen, his childhood in Frauce Kingdom had been extremely privileged on one hand, but very isolated on the other.
Sure, he had servants, and those servants had children his own age who he would have over the palace, but ordering around commoner kids was far from feeling connected to something. If anything, Nelson had thought, having such power at a young age had really hindered him later in life.
But despite all of this, he wouldn’t wear his heart on his sleeve and after telling Bill that he’d take care of the ship, he wobbled away.
Nelson knew he had done his best in advising against the raid, but after being given his orders, he would protect their position to the best of his ability.
He was to be left with nearly half the remaining crew, albeit the ‘weaker’ half, and that made Nelson start to consider where he’d want his men stationed.
Firstly, he’d keep two human teams stationed by the two King Cannons. The reason for this was that Nelson could not envision a scenario where the Captain was on the island and he would only need to fire one of the powerful guns.
His biggest fear was not anything from the island, Nelson’s biggest fear was that another of Whitebeard’s ships would come across the horizon, and he’d be left with some twenty Fish-men, the huge beetle, Miyagi, and about forty human sailors to fend them off.
So, in preparation for this concern, while the landing crews were being launched Nelson had shifted the two large guns on the ocean side of the Frontier Run.
With that done, he posted an additional two sentries on the crow’s nest and assigned a small squad of six to Miyagi and ordered them to prepare enough medical treatments for at least fifty wounded Fish-men and humans alike.
“Hey, Chubs! What’s there for me to do?”
Just as he was about to give some other orders, Nelson heard a familiar voice behind him and cursed under his breath. Yoko was a mainstay inside the Department, being one of the only kids everyone knew her, her history, and the Captains position in regards to her. So, despite the girl’s several failings they would look the other way.
This didn’t mean she didn’t have any positive qualities, Nelson knew. The girl hated pirates as much as he did and superhumans couldn’t be held by the same standards as regular Marines when it came to insubordination.
But no matter what, Nelson was still a noble and even if he wouldn’t dare hit the teenager, he would run his mouth back to her.
Looking at her with an ‘outraged’ face he exclaimed: “Chubs? Is this how you address your Superior you little rascal?! I’ll have words with the Captain about this! so just stay out of the way and keep that big insect of yours calm.”
If there was any way to control Yoko, Nelson knew it was only by threatening to either have Bill or Sasha ‘take care’ of her.
Looking back at him with outrage of her own, Yoko snapped back: “You’ve got to have something for me to do! I can’t go on shore this time, and it’ll be too wasteful for you to have me sit around!”
Annoyed by her insistence, Nelson was about to spout back when he received a message from a Marine dropping down from the crow’s nest.
“Officer Royale! The Vice Admiral and Captain have successfully subdued the first pirate ship and taken at least 22 prisoners; they’re moving on to the second vessel now!”
Turning his head over, Nelson gave the Marine an ‘Alright, now get back up there and keep me informed’ then, thinking of a cunning plan, turned back to Yoko.
“The only way a mere Choy Boy is going to help in his operation is manning the Communication Snail in the Captains quarters. Go there now and await for news, Chore Boy Yoko!”
At this, the girl looked dumbfounded and then excitedly ran off into Bill’s office, and Nelson thanked heaven that she was only thirteen could be sometimes easy to trick.
With Yoko out of the way Nelson organized the rest of the men as best as he could, dealing with the Fish-men was aggravating but at least they were strong and knowledgeable enough to move around the equipment needed for a quick cast off when the time came.
And Nelson felt more and more that the time would come when they would need to make a quick escape. This was knowledge born from training and experience, attacking one of the pirate Emperors never went to plan.
Pirates were scum, Nelson thought, but it wouldn’t do to underestimate them – many Marines had done so and paid the ultimate price because of it. In fact, he had done so himself, and would not make the same mistake again.
After a few more minutes he was relayed more information that the other pirate ship and been subdued, and that was great news but not so great that he would become complacent.
Wobbling up and down the Frontier Run’s deck, Nelson called out for equipment to be tied down and for the sails to be ready to furl out, only the cannons were loose.
Seeing everything coming along, Nelson turned his head back towards the shoreline. By now the dinghies had made landfall and he could just barely make out Bill standing beside the Vice Admiral and two Lieutenants.
There seemed to be no additional movement, and that was good, thought Nelson. Back on the ship everything coming along nicely, Miyagi had begun to set up emergency first aid kits that could either be used on the ship or transported to land.
‘Very good, very good.’ Nelson told himself, and just when he thought he could start relaxing…
*BOOMMM!*
Seeing a part of the smaller pirate ship erupt into flames the former Commodores eyes opened wide and the red circles on his cheeks seemed to spin.
‘Bloody Hell!’ he screamed internally, knowing that any sort of surprise would be gone for the landing party. With his brain churning, Nelson thought quick and then jumped into action.
“Broodus! Minke!” He called out and ran frantically.
Due to the hierarchical nature of whale Fish-men, regular males would normally only listen to those higher up the food ladder, and that status most always was gained by physical prowess.
Nelson wasn’t the weakest human alive, but it was beyond him to enforce the Fish-men to follow his commands, and so Fish-men he called were two of Willy’s most trusted subordinates that had been left behind for the simple fact that Nelson would need to be able to give out orders that would be listened to.
Getting a hold of the two, he ordered them to immediate go towards the burning pirate ship and save as many lives as possible.
Nelson knew that his Captain could kill, but also knew that Bill would never want senseless deaths – whether or not that was against his foes.
Watching from the deck as the remaining twenty Fish-men dived into the sea, he informed Miyagi to be prepared, and waited.
The minutes felt like an eternity, but after some time the whales began to bring back one pirate after another. Thankfully the worst of the damages had been from rough handling, but there were a few severe burns.
“Bring the prisoners off the other ship, too!” he commanded Broodus and Minke, who followed along the same route and did as he said.
Looking towards the shoreline, it wasn’t clear what was happening but there was definitely a battle ensuing. Loud bangs could be heard now and again, some he could tell came from grenades, others he couldn’t say for sure.
After the last of the pirates were brought aboard the Frontier Run, Nelson gave another order for the Fish-men to go and assist their fellow Marines.
“Bring back anyone you find severely wounded!” he howled, and unbeknownst to him at that time, those timely reinforcements saved the main body Marines from being overwhelmed.
For the human crew, he had them tie up the pirates more securely and ran a rope line to attach them all together. There were 64 pirates in all and mostly in good health.
This was the first time Nelson complimented Boss, because had it not been for the intimidating fire-breathing bug, he was sure these pirates would have fought back.
Standing with binoculars in hand, Nelson rotated from watching the shoreline to the open water, when Yoko came out to see what was going on he forced her back into Bills office.
“And lock the door unless you here one of our voices! If you hear anything, hide under the desk! Don’t make the same mistake as last time!” he had said in a huff, and hearing Yoko run off and slam the door, didn’t look back twice.
Tapping his foot on the deck, all hands were at the ready and they waited for some time before a figure could be seen jumping through the air.
‘Vergo?!’ Nelson thought, anxiety flooding over him.
When the Vice Admiral landed on the ship, he looked worse for wear, and upon seeing him, Nelson came forward quickly: “What’s the situation?” he asked without stopping to breath.
Seeing Vergo look down at him, Nelson was not prepared when the Vice Admiral said clearly: “We’re leaving, Whitebeard has sent reinforcements.”
Unable to believe what he was hearing, Nelson naturally said with a stammer: “W.what about the Captain?!”
To this, Vergo just shook his head and said: “There were two Division Commanders on the island, Captain Ox fought bravely but fell. Lieutenant Zima is blocking the pirates path now, we need to escape for her sacrifice to mean anything.”
Hearing this news, Nelson couldn’t fight back the tears but looking up said loudly: “You bloody sour cur! You just left him there?! This whole operation was your idea! Y.y.you Mongrel!”
Then, Nelson turned away and shouting out loud enough for most of the human crew to hear him hollered: “I’m going to bring the Captain back, who’s coming with me?!”
Met with loud agreement from all sides, Vergo spoke up quietly from behind him: “So your disobeying my orders?”
Now completely seeing in red, Nelson turned around to curs, but so sooner than he looked at Vergo, he was stopped from talking. All he saw at first was the Vice Admirals hand extended towards him, and slowly drifting his eyes down, he saw what looked like a finger sticking inside his trachea.
Anger turned to confusion for Nelson as he realized what had happened. He wanted to shout ‘turncoat!’, but nothing could come out. Slumping to the ground, just as Nelson’s anger turned into confusion, the crew’s confusion turned to anger.
With a goatish bleat, Miyagi was the first to act, coating himself in electricity he was determined to get revenge for his friend.
The tied-up pirates then watched wide-eyed as the Marines fumbled for their guns and the intimidating beetle started buzzing their wings. In an instant the entire ship was turned against the Vice Admiral.
Having fought some against Karma, Vergo was naturally not at 100% but he was still more than enough for the assembled Marine crew.
Like an experienced veteran, he dodged Miyagi and Boss to begin systematically destroying one Marine rifleman after the next until all that was left was the two troublesome foes.
Holding a bloody bamboo shoot, Vergo defended and attacked left and right until he saw his chance.
Boss was intelligent, but as a beetle he was not the same as a human and relied on his bulk, speed, and resilience. For most enemies, this much was more than enough but to Vergo, using his bamboo as a spear, he stabbed the bug clear through midsection.
He lost his weapon, and even though Miyagi was a natural born fighter, the Vice Admiral battled back and forth until he stood above the brutally beaten goat Mink.
The entire engagement took longer than Vergo suspected, some 45 minutes in all, and half that time was fighting the ‘Doctor’ he though deridingly to himself.
Looking over the astonished pirates, some had been hit but most hadn’t been: “I need a crew to sail with.” He said, and after several seconds the first man could be heard laughing.
“Hohuhaha! This traitor wants us to go with’em, wat do ya say lads? How far’re we gonna make it with’em?”
This outburst caused a chain of laughter and derision until they were cut silent by three consecutive Storm Legs. Thinking that it really didn’t matter anyway, Vergo walked towards Bill’s office to retrieve his objective and the entire reason for the charade.
Finding the door locked, it took him three tries but kicked it off its hinges and taking a look around found a safe beside a large oaken desk.
Lifting the safe up, Vergo sat it on the desk and pulled a device that looked like a stethoscope from his worn-out coat and touched it to the hard blackened metal.
Turning the dial slowly, he missed a few clicks and hammered a fist on the desk in frustration time and again until finally succeeding.
Inside the safe was roughly 50m Beli in cash and three Devil Fruits. Vergo had known that the Hole-Hole Fruit had been given away, and though it was useful, it paled in comparison to the golden fruit he held in his hand.
Thinking that he had to leave now, a large footstep came from behind, and in that moment of distraction a figure could be seen jumping out from under the desk and chomping down him.
Retracting his hand quickly, the figure bit down on the golden fruit, and in a rage, Vergo shouted: “Bullet Finger!”
Bill stood in the doorway and watched as Vergo shot his figure at Yoko’s head, and shouting himself, burst forward, only thinking that he would destroy this traitor if it was the last thing he ever did.
UberNuber If you enjoy the fanfic hit the heart icon and consider leaving a rating!
One thing I realized writing this chapter was that I neglected to mention one big part of Yoko's personality. She's a biter. In the anime she bit Luffy, kids, and other people too. This, uh, trait would be lessening as she gets older, but her biting at Vergo is not out of character... only that I didn't expand that much into her day-to-day life.
“… and keep an eye out to sea, those reinforcements from G-5 should be here by mid-day and so be prepared to direct them.”
Nodding and rolling his eyes, Nelson looked at Bill and said with a sarcastic smirk: “Yes, yes, Captain. I’ll do just that. I remember quite clearly going over this before, and I know I shouldn’t do so, but since there’s no one else here, I’ll ask you to remember that I advised against this action.
It’s bad business to get involved in the affairs of the Four Emperors. Bad business I say again.”
Over the years Nelson had learned how far he could push his Captain before the young man retaliated.
In private, Bill was as normal as any commoner he’d ever met. It was only in public that the Captains demeaner changed and Nelson knew from having many many encounters that Bill wasn’t one to be outright cross with.
Like now, with just the company between the two of them, the Captain didn’t look irritated and putting his hand on Nelsons shoulder, said cooly: “With the Vice Admiral, Sasha, and myself the operation will succeed. I just need you to take care of things out here. I’ve given you the keys to those King Cannons because I trust you, and I know you won’t let me down.”
Hearing this, Nelson huffed to himself. He had never been needed or especially ‘trusted’ in his life. Growing up as nephew to the Queen, his childhood in Frauce Kingdom had been extremely privileged on one hand, but very isolated on the other.
Sure, he had servants, and those servants had children his own age who he would have over the palace, but ordering around commoner kids was far from feeling connected to something. If anything, Nelson had thought, having such power at a young age had really hindered him later in life.
But despite all of this, he wouldn’t wear his heart on his sleeve and after telling Bill that he’d take care of the ship, he wobbled away.
Nelson knew he had done his best in advising against the raid, but after being given his orders, he would protect their position to the best of his ability.
He was to be left with nearly half the remaining crew, albeit the ‘weaker’ half, and that made Nelson start to consider where he’d want his men stationed.
Firstly, he’d keep two human teams stationed by the two King Cannons. The reason for this was that Nelson could not envision a scenario where the Captain was on the island and he would only need to fire one of the powerful guns.
His biggest fear was not anything from the island, Nelson’s biggest fear was that another of Whitebeard’s ships would come across the horizon, and he’d be left with some twenty Fish-men, the huge beetle, Miyagi, and about forty human sailors to fend them off.
So, in preparation for this concern, while the landing crews were being launched Nelson had shifted the two large guns on the ocean side of the Frontier Run.
With that done, he posted an additional two sentries on the crow’s nest and assigned a small squad of six to Miyagi and ordered them to prepare enough medical treatments for at least fifty wounded Fish-men and humans alike.
“Hey, Chubs! What’s there for me to do?”
Just as he was about to give some other orders, Nelson heard a familiar voice behind him and cursed under his breath. Yoko was a mainstay inside the Department, being one of the only kids everyone knew her, her history, and the Captains position in regards to her. So, despite the girl’s several failings they would look the other way.
This didn’t mean she didn’t have any positive qualities, Nelson knew. The girl hated pirates as much as he did and superhumans couldn’t be held by the same standards as regular Marines when it came to insubordination.
But no matter what, Nelson was still a noble and even if he wouldn’t dare hit the teenager, he would run his mouth back to her.
Looking at her with an ‘outraged’ face he exclaimed: “Chubs? Is this how you address your Superior you little rascal?! I’ll have words with the Captain about this! so just stay out of the way and keep that big insect of yours calm.”
If there was any way to control Yoko, Nelson knew it was only by threatening to either have Bill or Sasha ‘take care’ of her.
Looking back at him with outrage of her own, Yoko snapped back: “You’ve got to have something for me to do! I can’t go on shore this time, and it’ll be too wasteful for you to have me sit around!”
Annoyed by her insistence, Nelson was about to spout back when he received a message from a Marine dropping down from the crow’s nest.
“Officer Royale! The Vice Admiral and Captain have successfully subdued the first pirate ship and taken at least 22 prisoners; they’re moving on to the second vessel now!”
Turning his head over, Nelson gave the Marine an ‘Alright, now get back up there and keep me informed’ then, thinking of a cunning plan, turned back to Yoko.
“The only way a mere Choy Boy is going to help in his operation is manning the Communication Snail in the Captains quarters. Go there now and await for news, Chore Boy Yoko!”
At this, the girl looked dumbfounded and then excitedly ran off into Bill’s office, and Nelson thanked heaven that she was only thirteen could be sometimes easy to trick.
With Yoko out of the way Nelson organized the rest of the men as best as he could, dealing with the Fish-men was aggravating but at least they were strong and knowledgeable enough to move around the equipment needed for a quick cast off when the time came.
And Nelson felt more and more that the time would come when they would need to make a quick escape. This was knowledge born from training and experience, attacking one of the pirate Emperors never went to plan.
Pirates were scum, Nelson thought, but it wouldn’t do to underestimate them – many Marines had done so and paid the ultimate price because of it. In fact, he had done so himself, and would not make the same mistake again.
After a few more minutes he was relayed more information that the other pirate ship and been subdued, and that was great news but not so great that he would become complacent.
Wobbling up and down the Frontier Run’s deck, Nelson called out for equipment to be tied down and for the sails to be ready to furl out, only the cannons were loose.
Seeing everything coming along, Nelson turned his head back towards the shoreline. By now the dinghies had made landfall and he could just barely make out Bill standing beside the Vice Admiral and two Lieutenants.
There seemed to be no additional movement, and that was good, thought Nelson. Back on the ship everything coming along nicely, Miyagi had begun to set up emergency first aid kits that could either be used on the ship or transported to land.
‘Very good, very good.’ Nelson told himself, and just when he thought he could start relaxing…
*BOOMMM!*
Seeing a part of the smaller pirate ship erupt into flames the former Commodores eyes opened wide and the red circles on his cheeks seemed to spin.
‘Bloody Hell!’ he screamed internally, knowing that any sort of surprise would be gone for the landing party. With his brain churning, Nelson thought quick and then jumped into action.
“Broodus! Minke!” He called out and ran frantically.
Due to the hierarchical nature of whale Fish-men, regular males would normally only listen to those higher up the food ladder, and that status most always was gained by physical prowess.
Nelson wasn’t the weakest human alive, but it was beyond him to enforce the Fish-men to follow his commands, and so Fish-men he called were two of Willy’s most trusted subordinates that had been left behind for the simple fact that Nelson would need to be able to give out orders that would be listened to.
Getting a hold of the two, he ordered them to immediate go towards the burning pirate ship and save as many lives as possible.
Nelson knew that his Captain could kill, but also knew that Bill would never want senseless deaths – whether or not that was against his foes.
Watching from the deck as the remaining twenty Fish-men dived into the sea, he informed Miyagi to be prepared, and waited.
The minutes felt like an eternity, but after some time the whales began to bring back one pirate after another. Thankfully the worst of the damages had been from rough handling, but there were a few severe burns.
“Bring the prisoners off the other ship, too!” he commanded Broodus and Minke, who followed along the same route and did as he said.
Looking towards the shoreline, it wasn’t clear what was happening but there was definitely a battle ensuing. Loud bangs could be heard now and again, some he could tell came from grenades, others he couldn’t say for sure.
After the last of the pirates were brought aboard the Frontier Run, Nelson gave another order for the Fish-men to go and assist their fellow Marines.
“Bring back anyone you find severely wounded!” he howled, and unbeknownst to him at that time, those timely reinforcements saved the main body Marines from being overwhelmed.
For the human crew, he had them tie up the pirates more securely and ran a rope line to attach them all together. There were 64 pirates in all and mostly in good health.
This was the first time Nelson complimented Boss, because had it not been for the intimidating fire-breathing bug, he was sure these pirates would have fought back.
Standing with binoculars in hand, Nelson rotated from watching the shoreline to the open water, when Yoko came out to see what was going on he forced her back into Bills office.
“And lock the door unless you here one of our voices! If you hear anything, hide under the desk! Don’t make the same mistake as last time!” he had said in a huff, and hearing Yoko run off and slam the door, didn’t look back twice.
Tapping his foot on the deck, all hands were at the ready and they waited for some time before a figure could be seen jumping through the air.
‘Vergo?!’ Nelson thought, anxiety flooding over him.
When the Vice Admiral landed on the ship, he looked worse for wear, and upon seeing him, Nelson came forward quickly: “What’s the situation?” he asked without stopping to breath.
Seeing Vergo look down at him, Nelson was not prepared when the Vice Admiral said clearly: “We’re leaving, Whitebeard has sent reinforcements.”
Unable to believe what he was hearing, Nelson naturally said with a stammer: “W.what about the Captain?!”
To this, Vergo just shook his head and said: “There were two Division Commanders on the island, Captain Ox fought bravely but fell. Lieutenant Zima is blocking the pirates path now, we need to escape for her sacrifice to mean anything.”
Hearing this news, Nelson couldn’t fight back the tears but looking up said loudly: “You bloody sour cur! You just left him there?! This whole operation was your idea! Y.y.you Mongrel!”
Then, Nelson turned away and shouting out loud enough for most of the human crew to hear him hollered: “I’m going to bring the Captain back, who’s coming with me?!”
Met with loud agreement from all sides, Vergo spoke up quietly from behind him: “So your disobeying my orders?”
Now completely seeing in red, Nelson turned around to curs, but so sooner than he looked at Vergo, he was stopped from talking. All he saw at first was the Vice Admirals hand extended towards him, and slowly drifting his eyes down, he saw what looked like a finger sticking inside his trachea.
Anger turned to confusion for Nelson as he realized what had happened. He wanted to shout ‘turncoat!’, but nothing could come out. Slumping to the ground, just as Nelson’s anger turned into confusion, the crew’s confusion turned to anger.
With a goatish bleat, Miyagi was the first to act, coating himself in electricity he was determined to get revenge for his friend.
The tied-up pirates then watched wide-eyed as the Marines fumbled for their guns and the intimidating beetle started buzzing their wings. In an instant the entire ship was turned against the Vice Admiral.
Having fought some against Karma, Vergo was naturally not at 100% but he was still more than enough for the assembled Marine crew.
Like an experienced veteran, he dodged Miyagi and Boss to begin systematically destroying one Marine rifleman after the next until all that was left was the two troublesome foes.
Holding a bloody bamboo shoot, Vergo defended and attacked left and right until he saw his chance.
Boss was intelligent, but as a beetle he was not the same as a human and relied on his bulk, speed, and resilience. For most enemies, this much was more than enough but to Vergo, using his bamboo as a spear, he stabbed the bug clear through midsection.
He lost his weapon, and even though Miyagi was a natural born fighter, the Vice Admiral battled back and forth until he stood above the brutally beaten goat Mink.
The entire engagement took longer than Vergo suspected, some 45 minutes in all, and half that time was fighting the ‘Doctor’ he though deridingly to himself.
Looking over the astonished pirates, some had been hit but most hadn’t been: “I need a crew to sail with.” He said, and after several seconds the first man could be heard laughing.
“Hohuhaha! This traitor wants us to go with’em, wat do ya say lads? How far’re we gonna make it with’em?”
This outburst caused a chain of laughter and derision until they were cut silent by three consecutive Storm Legs. Thinking that it really didn’t matter anyway, Vergo walked towards Bill’s office to retrieve his objective and the entire reason for the charade.
Finding the door locked, it took him three tries but kicked it off its hinges and taking a look around found a safe beside a large oaken desk.
Lifting the safe up, Vergo sat it on the desk and pulled a device that looked like a stethoscope from his worn-out coat and touched it to the hard blackened metal.
Turning the dial slowly, he missed a few clicks and hammered a fist on the desk in frustration time and again until finally succeeding.
Inside the safe was roughly 50m Beli in cash and three Devil Fruits. Vergo had known that the Hole-Hole Fruit had been given away, and though it was useful, it paled in comparison to the golden fruit he held in his hand.
Thinking that he had to leave now, a large footstep came from behind, and in that moment of distraction a figure could be seen jumping out from under the desk and chomping down him.
Retracting his hand quickly, the figure bit down on the golden fruit, and in a rage, Vergo shouted: “Bullet Finger!”
Bill stood in the doorway and watched as Vergo shot his figure at Yoko’s head, and shouting himself, burst forward, only thinking that he would destroy this traitor if it was the last thing he ever did.
UberNuber If you enjoy the fanfic hit the heart icon and consider leaving a rating!
One thing I realized writing this chapter was that I neglected to mention one big part of Yoko's personality. She's a biter. In the anime she bit Luffy, kids, and other people too. This, uh, trait would be lessening as she gets older, but her biting at Vergo is not out of character... only that I didn't expand that much into her day-to-day life.
