One Piece: Overlord Buggy

I don't know what was happening with the world's but traveling through the Calm Belt and then through the entirety of the Grand Line, and through the other Calm Belt was extremely easy.

Extremely, suspiciously, very easy.

There was no storm.

Or hurricane.

There was no amount of giant waves.

There was no tsunami.

At most, it was a slightly bumpy ride.

And it was more concerning that nothing was happening than anything happening. Even Rosalina was dumbfounded by this.

I, in a fit of questioning, yelled to the sky "MORA? IS SOMETHING GOING ON? ARE THE OTHERS DOING THIS? IS SOMETHING BIG COMING?"

And I was met with absolutely nothing.

"Great. No answer. That's not a good sign."

I grumbled to myself about it, and when I looked at Rosalina, Rem, and Djane, they were questioning what I was doing, but when I looked at them, they all acted as if they hadn't been looking. Well, Djane was hard to tell if he was doing so, but I just barely caught his eye moving to look away, so it was then obvious he was questioning my sanity as well.

I did decide to just ignore them, as I would have to explain too much, and it wouldn't be worth going to such lengths to do so. And Taki didn't even do anything about me, as she had seen me do this before,and just put it up to me being me.

Taki had gone back to how she was, if not ever so slightly off. I actually couldn't tell what it was, but it wasn't so bothersome to dig into it, but Taki had the ever so slightest change, even if I couldn't point it out.

And then, Logue Town was in sight.

•

Coming back after so long felt surreal, like it wasn't real, but it very much was.

I had wrapped my right arm back up in cloth before we got back, and I realized there were a few pirates everywhere when we passed by the main docks.

'Did something happen while we were gone? Was it long enough for something to happen in the first place?'

We passed by, travelling directly to the Shipyard, in hopes that our business would be done and over with semi quickly. Taki had put a cloak on, and we ended up at the back of the shipyard, near the back entrance where ships were brought in and moved out of.

One of the workers realized who was piloting these ships and yelled through the whole building "ROSALINA AND BUGGY ARE BACK!"

We docked at a small one outside the actual shipyard itself, and the five of us got off the ships onto the dock, where we were greeted by a younger guy, who spoke "Right this way, if you would please. Mr. Forwilth has been waiting impatiently for you."

Without any hesitation, we somehow ended up passing through the shipyard, following behind this receptionist of some kind, wandering past many ships, all of which were being worked on, or finished. And there were more than before.

'Something definitely happened. I don't think there was this much business before, right?'

I took a quick look around and found more people than I remembered being there, as more were moving pieces and parts around the docks, and plenty were working on the ships themselves, or waiting for pieces and parts to show up.

"The shipyard has been doing well since you two left. As you can see, we needed more workers to get all of this work done, and yet, a while back, a group of women and children, with a few guys just showed up out of the blue, and Branson decided to hire some of them. The rest had decided to do something, and became bounty hunters, even some children decided to join in. Apparently their savior gave them freedom, and they wanted to be like him. So, they had started a small group of bounty hunters, and started to call themselves the Black Blood Bounty Hunters. I personally consider the name as odd, since they could have gone for anything, only coming up with that. It is weird, but I can't say much without losing their business. They are the reason why we are doing so well."

'Wait. Savior.. isn't that me? What? When did... How?'

I wouldn't get any answers to my unasked questions, as we had somehow ended up in front of Branson's office door.

He then knocked, and spoke "They have arrived."

"Bring em in."

There was no hesitation when the owner of that voice answered. It caused the receptionist person to open the door, and lead the five of us in, and we were greeted with the office of Branson.

He was facing us, as all of us walked in the room, but he was working on papers, so he only took a short glimpse to see me and Rosalina, not noticing anyone else.

"So, how was ya trip? Took longa then I woulda expected.."

"Well, Branson, some complications came along, and a lot needed to be done. Buggy had an errand to run as well, so it took longer than it would have normally."

He didn't look up and just replied "Well, at least yer back. I gotta buncha paperwork, and I would like ya ta help."

The door closed as the guy who brought us up left, and then I walked up to the desk, and slammed my hands onto it to get his attention.

Apparently he was never expecting such a thing, so when the sound of me smacking the desk came out of nowhere, he jumped, holding a paper and a pen, looking at the five of us.

"Who're these people?"

"Branson, I have some business with you."

"Is this ya family Rosa?"

"..."

"Are they why it took so long?"

"...."

"Yes, they are exactly that, well, this one over here in the cloak is Taki, but the other two are indeed my family."

"....."

"Didn'tchya say ya had more family? What 'appened?"

When I finally realized that Branson was just ignoring me and leaning to a side to look at Rosalina, Rem, and Djane all behind me.

"..... BRANSON."

He was shaken at this, and then he looked at me, which told me why he wasn't paying attention. His face was tired, bags under his eyes, those same eyes devoid of life, and then I realized just how low energy he was overall.

"Yeah?"

"When's the last time you slept?"

"Oh.. uhmm..." He looked up and around his office. "Three.. weeks ago? I couldn' tell ya, cause I been only gettin like a couple hours a sleep every couple weeks.. thanks ta business boomin. Specially with all those new workers, and tha Black Blood group.. and a massive order a ships came in from a customer in tha Grand Line too.."

'Oh Mora, Branson needs sleep. For like a month straight. Or a vacation. I didn't think stuff like this would happen in the time we were gone.. am I changing more than I thought?'

"Branson, you should take a break."

Rosalina walked up beside me and looked him directly in the eyes when she said that.

"If I do, who'll do tha paperwork here?" He smiled through his tired expression.

"Well, Branson, I really think her suggestion would be good for you. Maybe take a month or two, bring yourself back to health. But before that.. I would like to do a little bit of business with you."

He tilted his head. "Wha?"

Rosalina nudged me in the side.

"What are you doing?" She whispered into my ear.

"I'm wanting to get my business over with so he doesn't have to worry about it later." I quietly answered back.

"Anyways, Branson, would you like to hear a deal I have?"

"But I got paperw-"

"Don't worry about it! It doesn't need to be a formal thing, but it does require a signature and a piece of paper, but it doesn't have to be very formal. It'll just take a couple minutes."

He set down the paper and pen in hand, and then just leaned on his hands.

"Well, if it's that serious.. Rosa? Meeting."

"I have already heard this deal, and it may actually be beneficial for all parties." She tilted her head, just going along with me, since she couldn't stop me before.

Branson groaned a little, clearly from the lack of sleep. "Go ahead."

"Well, Branson, let me tell you something. I have a plan. And it requires this to stay in the shadows. Do you understand?"

He nodded, and then looked behind us. "Should they be listenin in?"

"Don't mind them, they all also know. I think. At least two of them know. Anyways. I want to become a pirate. And before you say anything, this was always a part of my plan, and no, I'm not gonna pillage or kill people for fun, not that kind of pirate."

His mouth was open when he wanted to ask, but I just continued while he had his jaw slightly opened.

"Anyways.. the reason for all my bounty hunting, and ship selling, and the reason I got into owning this company jointly with you and Rosa, was all because I wanted to be able to travel without having a need to steal money. While I may still do a little of that in the future, I mainly am wanting to make a deal with you regarding this: would you be willing to hand over ownership of the shipyard to me?"