[Veyron's POV]
Looking at Ace, I didn't know what to think. For one, I believe it is one hell of a coincidence that not only is he here... Sakazuki is here too.
What an ironic and fateful encounter. If I take him to the Big Mom Pirates' ship, nothing will happen... right?
I am not very knowledgeable, and of course I have changed the original timeline, but these two shouldn't be such deadly enemies at this point. Sakazuki doesn't know Ace is Gold Roger's son, and I hope I have rubbed enough inside her to change her train of thought.
"If we were on land, I'd fight you out, kid", Ace smirked, trying to act tough, "One of my objectives for sailing has been to defeat you... to think I'd find you here".
"You want to beat me? I wonder what nonsense Garp has told you about me," I sighed. We don't even know each other, and he wants to beat me.
"You are the strongest man alive, aren't you?" He asked, thrilled.
"That would be Whitebeard", I answered nonchalantly. Only because I haven't defeated him and taken the title formally yet. Perhaps, after he gets better from his disease and gets a bit of a boost with what I gave him... we can have a match to decide.
Could that be the reason why he got in touch with Whitebeard originally? Did Ace have that ambition?
"The old man has already told me... he's too old for that and has conceded the title to you" Ace said.
"..."
'When the fuck did he do that...? Last time I met him, he looked like he wanted to fight me, that tsundere beard-less Whitebeard'
"Wait, you met Whitebeard?" I asked him, 'Was that supposed to happen already, or at all?' Why was he even in Wano anyway?'
"Why are you colluding with the Big Mom Pirates…?" Ace dodged my question and asked instead.
"Yes, right, Veyron! Why are you protecting the Big Mom Pirates?!" Yamato also interrogated me with concern. From her point of view, Big Mom is her late father's friend, therefore an enemy.
"It is a bit far-fetched to call it 'collude'; I dominated them and took over their crew. I am going to use them to help Wano develop faster," I summarised, trying to explain myself to Yamato, not so much Ace.
"That said, why are you here, Yamato?"
The girl's ears fell as if she was a little doggy; if her horns weren't so stiff, they'd have fallen too. Not only is she sexy, but she's also quite cute.
"Didn't we say protecting Wano is the most important–" I started.
"Who are you to decide people's freedom?" Ace finished.
"..."
I didn't quite like the tone he used to talk to me.
"A-Ace, wait–" Yamato waved her hands back and forth, nervous.
"She decided that she wants to sail the seas freely. Who do you think you are to shackle her to Wano!?"
"Wait! Veyron never–"
"Or could it be this is the type of person you are?"
*BAANG!*
Ace didn't even see where the blow came from; all he must have known was that he felt a whole chip crash against him, his body exploded and sank into the sea.
"Aren't you a bit reckless?" I sighed; this guy is surrounded by water, and he still wants to play tough in front of me? If he has already eaten the Mera Mera no Mi, then that's it... I just defeated him.
Yamato gasped; her body started to levitate until I grasped her by her waist.
With a deep blush, Yamato hugged back only for realisation to dawn on her.
"Wait, no! He's a Devil Fruit user; he's going to drown!"
'Told ya...'
"He shouldn't have been that reckless in the first place–" I said.
"Veyron, please! You two can at least talk it out first!"
"It's okay, we can talk… just let him swallow a bit more water".
"VEYRON!"
I sighed, hearing Yamato's pleading. I used my powers to bring Ace back to the surface... very slowly. I carried both of them back to Big Mom's ship and left them on the deck. The crew was looking at us; after all, they thought they were done for when they saw the huge barrage of flames coming their way, only for me to diffuse it with an even stronger attack.
Going by smoothie's expression, I left a deep impression.
*PUAG!*
*PUAAGG!!*
Ace spat and vomited all the seawater he swallowed onto Big Mom's chip. Yamato tried to help him, but watching him do that, she almost threw up herself. I resisted the urge to laugh, as expected of One Piece.
"Are you okay, Ace!?" She asked him.
'No, are you okay, Yamato?' I asked inwardly.
He glared at me once his stomach was empty; thankfully, it seems they haven't eaten anything, so it wasn't that bad.
"Veyron never forced me to stay in Wano… I wanted to help him, so I decided to stay… it is not what you think," Yamato explained. "I did tell you I stayed because of him, but..."
Yamato blushed and looked at me. "I hoped he'd be back soon... I was impatient".
'I am glad she's having more womanly thoughts; she's not thinking about being Oden anymore... what should I do with her? It is true she wants to come with me, but I am not a pirate, and she'll get bored in the lab. I guess I should just take her to Hancock'.
Then I recalled my mom was making her crew, and it was like a eureka moment. Yamato would fit there perfectly!
Only, we may not spend much time together, but pirates never do... if she wants to be a pirate, it entails being away from home.
"I didn't want him to feel burdened… but he didn't force me, ever! Actually, he wanted me to leave with Hancock and the girls… so please don't try to antagonise him… you're going to regret it. Here, take some water".
After stuffing a bottle of clean water into Ace's mouth, the man slapped her hand away and sighed, drank to his fill, then glared at me once more, pointing his accusatory yet resolute finger on fire.
"I was in a bad spot before; it is not gonna happen again, you hear me?"
"Sure sure~".
"Who is this brat, Veyron?" Saki finally had enough with staying silent; she asked, arms crossed, "I know this is Kaido's son... or well, daughter. We thought he had a son... but who is this other one?"
I thought for a moment. Saki works for me now; I don't want to be dishonest with her, as that would just ruin our progress. I had to thrust my hips very hard to make her this docile.
"… Gold Roger's son".
!!!
*SPAT!*
Ace spat the rest of the water; Yamato also spat it on his face. Saki gasped and shivered.
"What do you mean?" Smoothie asked first, "Gold Roger's son, stop joking, Veyron!"
"I am not joking. Right, Ace?~"
The cat was out of the bag.
"Did the old geezer tell you? No, he wouldn't even reveal that, even to you" Ace cleaned his mouth in contemplation.
He's right. Garp didn't tell me, I just know... but in this situation, I don't mind throwing shit on the old man.
"He told me, he trusts me enough to tell me".
"And your best idea is to reveal that right now, in Big Mom's ship?!"
"Well, I am here; if they try to do something to you, I will protect you. I may not be Garp's friend, but I am also not his enemy... I wouldn't let his grandson be captured".
"Grandson?! S-So the Hero Garp is Gold Roger's father? That's ridiculous" Pekoms came to a few clever conclusions that weren't right, but also not wrong.
It is certainly ridiculous.
"No, Ace is Garp's adoptive grandson; he is not related to Gold Roger himself. Anyway, no more questions about this. What do you plan to do now? You both are coming from Wano? Why were you in wano anyway?"
Yamato and Ace looked at each other, then at me, then shrugged.
They don't even have a clue what they want to do!
It took a while, but they told me Ace had somehow lost his crew in a storm and ended up in Wano; how convenient. After he beat Yamato and Kong (remarkable), she joined him to sail the island and look for me; it seems Hiyori didn't tell her I was coming.
"Do you have a vibrecard that leads to your crew?" I asked him.
"I do" He popped it up; his crew was called the Space Pirates, and he was the captain. The vibrecard belonged to his vice captain, a dude called Masked Deuce.
I finished my tea and picked him up.
"Wowow! What are you doing?!" He struggled in confusion.
"I'll take you there straight away. I'll be back in two minutes"
"Ace!!! SEE YOU LATER!" We heard Yamato's screams and waving as we got farther and farther into the sea. His crew wasn't far distance-wise; they were looking for him and didn't even know where to start. They had a moderate-sized ship worthy of a rookie crew.
"Captain!"
I dropped him on the deck like a sack of potatoes; his crew all stood up on guard against me, except for the vice-captain guy with a tattoo on his face.
"You could be a bit kinder, goddamit" Ace rubbed his face and stared at his crew in relief.
"Everyone, put your weapons down; he is a friend".
"Who is this, Ace?"
"Dracule Veyron".
Gasp, shock, yeah yeah same as always. I am so tired of fame; I should have stayed as Dark Mantle. It was good when people thought I had a mental illness.
"I brought you here, so I am going now".
"Wait, Veyron... give me your vibre card".
"Ain't got one".
"Stop lying".
"..."
I took the paper out of my jacket and gave him a piece, the smallest piece possible.
"Damn cheapstake".
"If you come to me for nonsense, I will kill you, Ace. I have a peaceful life, and I want to keep it," I threatened him. The damn bastard smirked as if, rather than being deterred, he was more eager to come and annoy me.
I was going to fly off, but I stopped. I felt his gaze on my back, so I turned around to ask him.
"By the way... how is Luffy?" I asked him, wondering if I had changed the story too much. Was he still in Foosha Village? If not, how long ago did he sail? I was curious.
"Oh, the geezer told you about Luffy?" Ace frowned; I guess in his mind he must think I have some mysterious relationship with Garp for him to tell me so many deep secrets. A man would never reveal his weaknesses.
"Yeah, the three of you... was it fun?" Obviously I knew about Sabo too.
"What fun? That old bastard beating us up black and blue all day every day to make us stronger. But yeah..." He looked down, "I kinda miss them. Those were good times".
"I see".
"If you knew you could have come... we could have fun together".
"You think I am a lazy little bitch like the three of you? I have work to do, wives to please... I am a busy man".
"Shut up, brat. I am older than you... others don't know, but I do".
"You shut up, shithead!"
"No, you shut up, lightning prick! Too many women for that tiny dick of yours!"
"What– you fucker!".
I saw from the side of my eye how Ace's crew paled, trying to stop him. In the end, I scoffed, turned around and flew away with a smile.
'He's not that bad...'
**
**
I came back to the ship... it took me a lot longer to find it than expected because, well... I don't have anyone's vibrecard in that damn ship! Luckily, I can fly so fast that, just coming back in the same direction with a compass, I found the vessel not that far away from my parting location.
"Where were you?" Saki frowned and asked. When I landed, she stuck to me with accusatory eyes.
"Don't tell me you found another woman that quickly".
'Woman, I know I am good, but I am not Casanova; it has been just a few hours'.
Rather than back off, I pressed.
"What? We just fucked once, and you're jealous?~"
Her lips contorted; there was a moment of anger before she smirked, and that smirk scared me. As I thought, I rubbed her insides too hard; she's not the same. She didn't even care that much about Ace.
She approached me and whispered, "You better not forget I am in the process of being tamed, until you tame me completely... I can still bite back~".
"..."
Eh? Ah?
What should I take this as? Is she threatening me, seducing me, scaring me? I don't know... but I am getting horny. There was no one around; I landed on her on the deck. I pulled her to me from that big ass of hers.
"How about we go to my room and continue with that taming?"
"I don't smell another woman on you" She was not bothered with how I was squeezing her ass. She sniffed me around, as expected of the 'red dog'.
"Are you trying to drag me into a dark room?~ go ahead, try" She leaned over for a kiss.
"Stop flirting with some unknown woman, Veyron!!!"
Yamato came out of nowhere and stopped us. We stared at her in dead silence, and that silence alone made her embarrassed. She was a bit ashamed and blushed deeply as well.
"I-I mean... hehe... you shouldn't cheat on Hancock like that..."
"... how about we take a bath together? It will take a few hours before we reach Wano at this speed. What do you both think?"
Saki's eyes were murderous, 'You want to have me and her both at the same time, dream!'
"That sounds good!~" Yamato rejoiced, much to Saki's dismay.
And so we found ourselves in one of the baths on the ship. I told Smoothie that I didn't want to be disturbed, and so that's how I found myself in this situation.
Sitting in the bath with a naked Yamato hugging me happily, Saki sitting to the right side with eyes that were skinning me alive, and Smoothie sitting at the edge, cleaning herself but her eyes inspecting everything that was going on with an evil smirk.
"Perfect... just perfect".