OP:FS Chapter 04 (Patreon)

The trip to the reverse mountain was slow and steady. Taking care of the little things on both ships and guiding them gave everyone but Nami

The trip to the reverse mountain was slow and steady. Taking care of the little things on both ships and guiding them gave everyone but Nami more time to relax. The scout me would see something then the one down on the ground would say what he saw. “Got a school of fish coming up on the left if anyone wants to help with the net.”

I netted up a few dozen fish and started checking them. As I tossed some back Usopp asked. “What are you doing?” One of the clones shuffling the fish over to a table to be disassembled spoke, not the one he asked. “He’s throwing back the fish with eggs in their mouth. That species of fish keep their fertilized eggs in their mouth until they hatch.”

One of the clones took the scraps from the fish and put them into a bucket on the side after it was full. Usopp asked again. “And what are you keeping those guts for?” A different one than the one who talked answered. “He’s preparing them to use the guts as chum for when we need more fish. I prefer the taste of shark to fish anyway.”

He helped Sanji with the prep for fresh bluebull catfish sushi. Freshly cooked rice with several pieces of thick fish meat was set aside. Sanji prepped the sushi for everyone while I brought out the plates. One special roe sushi from the unlucky one I kept. I brought out a bottle of wine for Zoro and cups of tea for everyone else.

After eating Luffy asked for food a few minutes later. Dumping out the chum, several of me waited ready to strike when the sharks appeared. As they did one of me jumped with a harpoon attached to a rope. Piercing the shark my clone disappeared as he struck the target and then the water.

Pulling up the sharks next we grilled them and I helped prepare the shark fin soup to eat with the grilled meat. Usopp noticed the clones to the side drilling into the teeth. He asked. “What are these doing?” One of my clones spoke from behind him, scaring him. “They’re making shark teeth necklaces to sell. You’d be surprised at the price you can get for them.”

He asked another question. “Why do you keep having different ones speak?” Another one spoke to his left side. “Ahh, it’s to unsettle people. A huge part of winning fights against people stronger than you is misdirection. People tend to look in the direction of a person speaking to them. They won't notice the guy with the giant hammer sneaking up on them.” 

A squeaky hammer struck the back of his head to iterate my point. I thought it would upset him but he was deep in thought. I got to look at all of them thoroughly and the only thing that stood out was how young they all were. Maybe a little older than I was when I left the Marines.

Inexperienced, easy to trick, and unprepared for their journey. I asked if they knew about Reverse Mountain or anything about the Grand Line. None did. I decided to sit back and watch them through their next adventure. I even told them my plans to sit back and watch this time. Sometimes it’s good to limit the amount of clones I have.

Another bounty hunter I knew showed up and was flung off into the water. We were eaten by a giant whale I couldn’t do anything about. I recognized the person inside by his silly plant head. It was hard to forget what any of the stronger members of Roger’s crew looked like. They thwarted a group and Luffy challenged the giant Whale to a fight.

My thoughts on the subject were confused. How the hell did we survive that? We were eaten by a giant whale and Luffy attacked it to make friends. It didn’t make much sense but somehow everything worked out. The constant screaming didn’t help. The crew was very yelly. They were constantly fighting and joking with each other.

I was flabbergasted that they can function but at the same time, I feel almost pulled in by the aura the group gives off. Even on the outside looking in, Luffy constantly asked me questions or said something that made me laugh. I handed him a bowl of ramen I had prepared as Crocus explained Laboon's backstory. My main job was to keep everyone happy and that involved funneling food to the big eater. 

I held a light up to Sanji and talked about women with him. I felt fatherly towards Nami, embarrassed by her lack of clothing, giving her my jacket. I didn’t have much to talk with Zoro about and sort of left him to his own devices. Finally talking with Usopp I figured out some items he was missing that could help him in fights.

The main thing he was missing was variety. He was weak so needing tricks to beat those stronger was necessary. He didn’t like guns but I showed him the superiority of unique equipment. The net launcher I used was huge for being a bounty hunter. I give him my spare sea prism baton to help against devil fruit users.

We sailed away and I knew that being a part of the crew was only one thing I would have to do to make sure they succeed. I needed to work behind the scenes and gather information and allies for the inexperienced bunch. The island came into sight and I had to remind everyone. 

“Listen. Since we’re a bigger pirate crew they will want to drug us to claim our bounties. Pretend to eat if you can but if you don’t want to fall unconscious only eat food you’ve seen someone else eat first.”

Everyone nodded before we showed up at Cactus Island. “Before we get there. I’d like to explain my devil fruit abilities to all of you.”