Chapter 48 - Chapter 48 : Tainted Gold

💖 If you enjoy my work, consider supporting me on Patreon! I'm offering advanced chapters there as a thank-you to readers.

--------------------

Check out advanced chapters on : patreon.com/Veni_V

---------------

Rose's POV

My head is killing me.

"She's awake!"

I opened my eyes and saw all my friends crowded around me.

"Don't move. I have to patch you up first," Chopper said, pushing me back down to the ground.

I saw my brother giving me a reassuring look. He walked over and gave me his usual smile. "Glad you're going to be okay. Your new friend was a big help."

I looked past him and saw Wyper on the ground. He looked like he was in bad shape. "Don't worry about me, Chopper, go help him."

"But you're covered in cuts."

"Come on," Steve said. "Go help the man, Doctor."

"Shut up! You think I like your dumb compliments," Chopper said, but he went to help Wyper. "You're right. His arm is practically shattered."

"Why did you let Chopper help him?" I asked my brother.

"Because he's a nice guy. We probably wouldn't have stopped Enel without him," Steve explained.

"You beat Enel?" I asked, hoping someone took that bastard down.

"Well, technically, Luffy did."

"HEY!"

"Well, there he is now," Steve said, helping me walk over to Luffy and Nami. They had raided the priest's storage on the way back and stolen most of the food so we'd have something to eat.

"Rose, you're okay!" Luffy said, hugging me.

"Ow, ow, ow, not so hard."

"Sorry."

"Jeez, Luffy," Zoro said. "Learn to be gentle."

"You're one to talk," I mumbled.

"What was that?"

"You heard me, you oaf! Always rushing in without thinking and doing stupid stuff!"

"Says the woman who nearly got herself killed trying to help a guy she barely knows!"

"You two want to do this somewhere else?" Nami said, clearly annoyed.

"Maybe we should," Zoro said.

"Yeah, maybe!" I agreed, and we both stormed off away from everyone else.

When we were a sufficient distance from the others, we resumed our argument.

"What's your problem?" Zoro demanded.

"My problem? What's your problem?!" I shot back.

"Ever since you met that Wyper guy, you've done nothing but argue with me," Zoro said.

"Wyper has nothing to do with this!" I yelled. "But at least he cared enough to help me when I was in danger!"

"Listen to yourself; he probably melted your brain with one of those Dials."

"What? Stop, Zoro," I said, turning around. "Clearly, there's some kind of disconnect in our relationship. You clearly feel inferior to Wyper."

"I thought you said this had nothing to do with him!"

"Zoro, I think we should break up."

He stayed silent.

"It's obvious this isn't working out. Every time I so much as smile at another man, you get all protective. I can't keep this up. It seems like all we've done the past few days is argue. Something changed when we became honest with Steve about us," I said, biting my lip to hold back tears. "Maybe the secret is what made this romantic, I don't know, but whatever it was, it's gone now. I just don't feel that way anymore. I'd rather we just be friends."

"Wait…"

"No… Whatever we had before is gone now… I'm going back to the others."

I made my way back, trying not to cry. When I got there, they were still eating. I walked up to Nami. "Can you come here for a sec?"

She followed me away from the others in silence. When we got pretty far away, I pulled her into a hug and cried.

"It's over. Zoro and me."

She rubbed my back. "I'm so sorry… Maybe it's for the best."

Steve's POV

Rose and Nami came back and sat down a half hour later. It was obvious she had been crying. I could tell the second she came back without Zoro that something was wrong, but seeing her red eyes was more than enough to make it clear to me.

I'll deal with that shitstorm later.

"Let's have a party!" Luffy yelled. "We need a lot of sticks for a big bonfire!"

Maybe that'll lighten the mood.

"Hehe! Alright!" I smiled. "We've had a long couple of days. I think we could all use some fun."

We split into groups to collect the needed wood. I took Luffy and Rose with me.

"Luffy, don't get lost, ya hear!" I said as he ran off into the nearby forest. Then I turned to Rose. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," she said, keeping her head down.

"Was it you or him?" I asked.

"Me."

"So when it comes to being a couple, once I know about it, you two don't even last a week."

"Real funny," she said as she cut one of the trees.

"What are we talking about?" Luffy dropped in.

"Sibling stuff," I said, smacking his head.

"Hey, Rose, I heard your new friend was super strong," Luffy said, punching the air. "Nami said he killed that Enel guy with one of those Dials, and he had all those cool powerful weapons!"

"He's pretty strong," Rose laughed.

Later

The party got into full swing and quickly grew out of control. It seemed like all of Skypiea was at this thing. Everyone was dancing and singing. Rose even looked like she was starting to get her cheerfulness back.

"Aren't you going to join them?" Robin asked.

"Soon, I have some business to take care of first," I told her.

"What would that be?" she said, taking a seat next to me.

"A secret," I told her with a smirk. "Luffy, come on!"

"How mysterious," she said in her usual sexy voice.

"Are you feeling any better? Getting shocked like that must have hurt."

"You got it worse than me; I'll be alright."

I stood up and brushed my pants off. "I gotta go, but I'll talk to you later, beautiful."

"I wish you wouldn't call me that…, handsome."

"You know you love it!" I called without turning around.

It took a little bit, but I managed to track down the man we were looking for. He was sitting with his friends; he was still covered in bandages.

"Wyper," I said, sitting down without being asked. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," he grumbled, rubbing his shoulder.

"This is the powerful weapon guy?" Luffy asked. "Join–!"

"Answer's no."

"We haven't even asked yet," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"You were going to ask if I wanted to go with you," he said. "I'm sure the Blue Sea is a nice place and all, but this is my homeland."

"You're a smart man, so will you join us? I could use someone who actually knows about weapons, an armorer of some kind," I told him.

He opened his mouth to answer, but a woman cut him off. "Go, Wyper."

"Raki!"

"She's right," a man with a mohawk added. "You always said you wanted to see where we really came from. You just wouldn't go because of the fighting. This is the perfect chance; the war is over."

"You two," he said with a stern look.

"Go with them." "You know you want to." Two other men added.

He looked shocked that all these people wanted him to go with us.

Aisa walked up next. "Please go, Wyper. You'll have so much fun. You'll regret it forever if you don't go."

"You wanna tell the world about this place, right?" I asked.

"Well then, what better way than to be on a ship that makes it all the way to the end of the Grand Line?" Luffy laughed. "Making awesome weapons and stuff for the King of the Pirates!"

"You all realize if I go down there, I might not ever be able to get back up," he said, looking at his friends sternly.

They all laughed. "Knowing you, you'd find a way."

He just shook his head and groaned. Then he raised his head. "Fine, I'll go with you."

I smiled and slapped his shoulder. "Hehe! We leave in the morning. I suggest you pack those Dials; you won't find them in the Blue Sea."

"Yeah, a weapon maker!" Luffy cheered.

"You use your fists. I doubt he can make anything for you," I laughed.

The party eventually toned down, and everyone fell asleep. I was woken when Luffy started shaking me.

"What the hell, Luffy, it's late."

"I forgot to tell you something."

"Can't this wait 'til morning?"

"I know where the gold is. So let's wake the others and steal it."

…Luffy…found…gold…

"WHERE IS IT?!"

Unfortunately, my yelling woke pretty much everybody.

"What are you screaming about?" Nami said, giving me a dirty look.

Luffy pulled everyone into a huddle and whispered that we were going into the snake tomorrow to steal the gold.

"Tomorrow is the day. We leave with no regrets," I said.

Before we broke the huddle, Robin asked if I had taken care of my "business."

"Oh, that. I told you, it's a secret."

Later

We got up extremely early the next morning to get our plan underway. Luffy took Nami, Sanji, and Chopper into the snake to get the treasure. Robin and I were going to join them, but we heard the Shandia had found the Golden Bell, and she insisted on taking a look. I offered to accompany her. When we got to where the bell supposedly was, a large group of men were pulling the bell off the beanstalk and onto stable ground.

"One more pull!"

Robin quickly picked up her pace when she saw that there was writing on the bell. She walked up and recited what was written there.

"Can that woman really read the ancient language?" the chief asked me.

"I've never seen her fail," I said with a big smile. I turned to Robin. "Did you find what you wanted?"

"Just more dead ends and useless weapons," she said, looking more angry than upset.

"Wait, there's something written on the side."

Robin gasped and read the passage aloud. "'I followed the text to the end. Gol D. Roger.'"

"You're saying Roger was up here!" I yelled.

I wonder if Dad and Mom came up here then.

"There was once a man who visited this place, he was a pirate from the Blue Sea, and I believe his name was Roger," Gan Fall told us.

"Was there a boy with red hair like mine, or a woman who could control plants with him?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure. It was a long time ago. But I think I remember someone with hair like yours."

I couldn't hold back my smile and started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Robin asked.

"Nothing," I said, taking a few breaths to calm myself down.

Robin explained to the chief that the Poneglyph had fulfilled its purpose. It had been read and moved on to the end of the Grand Line.

"So does that mean we don't have to fight anymore?" This must have meant a lot to the chief because he wasn't just crying; he was weeping. "Thank you so much. I can't give you the bell, but how about you take the broken pillar as a gift?"

"Really? Sure!" I said.

"Boy," Gan Fall said, calling me over. "The boy with the straw hat… he reminds me of Roger. Are they related?"

"I don't know, but his name is Monkey D. Luffy."

"So they have the same initial."

I went to walk off with Robin, and the people of the sky were going to move the golden pillar for us. Along the way, I ran into Wyper.

"You ready to go?"

"As ready as I can be. Since the fighting will stop now, I have nothing holding me here," he said. "I'll go to the Blue Sea. I'll see the world my ancestors called home and tell them that Skypiea is real."

"Then let's go."

When we got back, Luffy and the others were still pretty far off. They told Robin to hurry it up. They had the gold from the snake in sacks on the backs of the men.

"COME ON, LET'S GO!" Luffy yelled.

"Seems like they don't want it," Robin said as we started picking up our speed and leaving the people carrying the pillar behind.

"Don't worry, that thing wouldn't have fit on our ship anyway!" I laughed.

Wyper wasn't keeping up with us. "You certainly have some strange friends, refusing the gold like that."

"Eh, we already got a bunch from the snake," I told him.

"You stole from my people!"

"Look at the size of the thing they have left!"

When we caught up to the others, Usopp started screaming.

"AHH! That guerrilla is chasing us!"

"Relax, Usopp. Wyper's going to be coming with us. We'll need someone who actually knows how to use those Dials. And he can help repair the Waver if it breaks," I said with a smile.

"And he can make us a super awesome cannon!" Luffy cheered.

"You don't get to shoot it!" I snapped.

"HUH?"

"I'll try not to blow any of you up," Wyper said. He opened up his bag. "Combine these with the ones Long-nose has, and we'll be set."

"Well then, let's get back to where we belong, the Blue Sea!"