Within the massive pyramid that was Rain Dinners, one of the most wanted women in the world sat quietly. The "Devil Child" Nico Robin. She had recently turned twenty two a few months ago.
It had been an unremarkable day for Robin so far. Sitting in her office reading a less than interesting book about the founding of Arabasta. She sighed, closed the book and set it down, bringing her fingers to her temples to rub them.
She had already done her duties as the Manager of Rain Dinners today. As always the paperwork had been handled in record time due to her devil fruit. And she had already walked the casino floor twice. So now she was in a state she loathed to be in. She was bored.
She despised being bored because it meant her mind would wonder. And when her mind wondered she was usually brought back to moet she would rather forget. Instead she tried to fill her head with theories as to what the ancient text she sought after would hold.
She had recently made a deal with Crocodile, one of the seven warlords of the sea. In exchange for helping her locate and read the last poneglyph she had found even a scrap of information on. She would tell him the information inscribed upon the stone. He seemed to believe it was the location of one of the mythical three ancient weapons: Poseidon.
She on the other hand desperately hoped it would be another passage about the void century. If it was not then she would have nothing left. She had scoured every corner of every one of the four blues and nearly every island in paradise, and this was the last of the poneglyphs she had been able to locate.
Remembering this deal, Robin let out a quiet laugh. She was never going to tell him what was inscribed on the stone. If it was the location of an ancient weapon she would take it to her grave.
'It's not as if he could ever find someone else to tell him otherwise.' she thought to herself as her expression shifted to a melancholy one, 'the world government made sure of that.' Memories she would rather remain buried, surfaced for a brief moment before she quashed them.
She looked over towards the den-den mushi on her desk. It was the direct line to crocodile, symbolised by the line running across its face meant to mimic crocodile's scar, and the small gold hook on one of its small limbs.
'He said he was recruiting members for his organization. Perhaps I can lend my assistance?' the thought of trying to find something to do. 'No, the last thing I need is to be recognised while I'm in contact with Baroque works.'
She let out a sigh and stood up. Walking the floor, getting flirted with by the fools throwing away their money, and looking to see if any fights broke out was much better than simply sitting or reading a book she had no interest in. She used her devil fruit to toss herself her favorite hat and left the office.
Stepping into the main chamber of the cassino, she grimaced as the smell of cigars and cheap calone hit her nose. She walked uninterrupted for a few moments before a familiar voice stopped her.
"Miss All-Sunday!"
She grimaced at the name. It was not the first alias she had gone by and likely wouldn't be the last. But it was the best. 'Sarah All-Sunday. The worst name I've ever gone by.' She put on a smile and turned around to see her assistant manager, Ultraking walking towards her.
"I was just on my way to find you madam." he said as he held out an envelope. "Somone stopped by and asked me to deliver this to you. He told me he was from your home town and had brought the letter from your family."
Robin stiffened for a split second but made herself relax a moment later. "I see, thank you Mister Untraking. Did he leave his name by any chance?" she asked as she took the envelope.
Hometown? She had no hometown in Arabasta. Meaning whomever had delivered this to her likely knew who she really was. 'Most likely another group that wants to use me, again.'
The thoughts of the situation however, were shattered the moment she heard Ultraking's next words.
"Yes, he called himself Saul Jaguar."
Robin's eyes widened and her entire body locked up.
'Saul Jaguar. Jaguar D. Saul.' The two names repeated in her head countless times in those few moments before she snapped herself out of it.
It was impossible, her friend was dead. Killed by Kuzan and encased in ice. Which left one of two options to be true. 'Either they are trying to use my friend's name to make me vulnerable so they can capture me. Or , they are trying to use his name to convey that they mean no harm.' Her eyes squinted as she scrutinised the envelope. A mixture of apprehensive hope and rage at the two possibilities bubbling just beneath her skin.
"Thak you Ultraking, I will be in my office." She said goodbye to the man and made her way to her office with a brisk pace.
The moment the door to her office closed behind her she ripped the envelope open causing two sheets of paper to tumble to the ground one was large, obviously the letter. The other however was small and barely the size of the tip of her finger.
She picked both pieces up and scrutinised the smaller one. She ran her finger along its surface and discovered it had a different texture than normal paper. 'A vivre card.' she recognised.
'Whomever sent this is bold. Giving me a way to find them. They must be very confident.' She thought, opening the larger letter.
But when she did so, she nearly dropped the paper in shock as she began to tremble. Not because of the message, no. It was a very simple sentence.
[Alubarna. Tomorrow at midnight. Follow the card.
-a freind.]
No. What she was so shocked by was how it was written. Specifically the language used. Because this letter was written in Poneglyph. She re-read the letter at least eight times to be absolutely sure she wasn't going insane. But yes, it was real poneglyph language.
Any chance of this mysterious person being after her to capture her was wiped from her mind as she began to spiral with possibilities. 'S-someone else that can read the ancient text!? Another survivor from Ohara maybe? Or someone else.' It didn't matter to her. Though it should have.
It took her around thirty minutes to calm down. After that she began to think of all the negative possibilities the initial shock had overridden.
'It could be someone the world government trained to read ponegylph to find me and silence me.' she thought, bringing her arms up to hold herself.
She shouldn't risk it, she thought. But deep inside where she had tried to fill the void of loneliness that came from being on the run her entire life. She was being pushed to go and find this person.
A few hours later, her mind made up. She left the casino on her all terrain turtle "Banchi", heading straight for Alubarna.
— — —
"You think she'll come Carter-Boy?" Al asked as he floated over my shoulder as I looked at the new quests the system had given me.
[Quest: Hidden History
-Collect all Poneglyphs and decipher their contents (0/30)
Rewards: ???, ???, ???,
-Subquests:
Collect the Road poneglyphs (0/4) reward: ???
Collect the Rio poneglyph: (0/9) reward: ???
[Quest: Lonely archelogist
-Recruit Nico Robin into your own group.
Rewards: Otherworldly item token, Random weapon token, random skill token]
The rewards for the first quest had me practically drooling. Every time I received a ???, The item was always incredibly good. And this was an opportunity to get five of them.
I could have just done it myself with my poneglyph reading skill and let robin go on her way to eventually join up with the strawhats but the second quest had made him decide to recruit her. Besides what kind of brother to luffy would i be if i dent steal a few things from him.
"Yes, I'm quite sure she will make an appearance." I replied, knowing damn well that while Robin was incredibly cautious she was also incredibly desperate. The possibility of someone else that read poneglyph and had more knowledge on the was something she would jump at no matter how risky it would be.
"Anyways, focus. Where are the King and Princess' rooms?" I asked as I walked down the hall of the Arabasta royal palace.
Bypassing security had been laughably easy, but that was good for me in this situation.
"The princess' room is down the hall to the right. But she's not in her chambers. Seems like she is trying to sneak some midnight cookies." Al informed me with an amused expression.
My lips quirked upwards for a moment. 'Yeah, that sounds like young Vivi.' I thought.
She was one of my favorite characters when I watched her in my previous life. Sure she was naive, but she had a true love for the people of her country and cared deeply for her friends. She was also perfectly fine with throwing hands herself, there was no way she got to being a top executive of baroque works without killing quite a few pirates with decently high bounties. She is the complete antithesis to the celestial dragons.
"Let's go and see her then." I said. Gesturing to Al to lead me to her. The Arabasta royal kitchen was absolutely massive. Because there was no drought and thus no massive scarcity of resources the cabinets were stocked with fresh fruit and delicately preserved meats.
And there standing ona stool and on the tips of her toes, Little ten year old Vivi trying her best to reach a cookie jar on top of one of the cabinets.
"Almost Go-AH!" while reaching for the jar Vivi slipped from the stool she was using and fell. In the original timeline, Vivi likely got a bruise in this incident and her father used it as a lesson.
There would be no such lesson in this timeline. Just before her tiny body hit the group I snatched her by the back of her shirt. For a moment she didn't move she simply squeezed her eyes shut and braced for impact but when she realised she no longer felt like she was falling, she peaked one eye open. Coming face to face with me.
"You should be careful princess Vivi, fall like that can leave a bruise." I said warmly, setting her down on her feet.
A sheepish expression crossed her face as it turned red with embarrassment. "T-thanks for catching me, mister." she stammered, twiddling her fingers.
"It's no problem princess, Just be more careful." I said. Picking up the cookie jar, pulling one out and handing one to her. "There you go, but it's our little sacred ok?"
Vivi took the cookie and giggled. "Sure thing mister!" she said, biting into the cookie. After swallowing her bite she looked at me and tried to get a better look. "Hey mister, are you a new palace guard? I haven't seen you before." Her little head tilted in curiosity.
"No, I'm not a palace guard. My name is Carter Davil. You could say I'm a friend of your father." I gave her a pat on the head. "I was in the area so I decided to stop by for a visit. I also wanted to meet you at some point. I just didn't think it would be at night in the kitchen."
Vivi nodded, having bought my little white lie. I was fully planning on becoming friends or at least allies with Cobra. I just hadn't done it yet.
"Alright then princess, it's late, you should go to bed. I imagine you have quite a full day of being royalty tomorrow." I said, offering to walk her back to her room. It was only a corridor away from the royal bedroom so I was heading there anyway.
A short trip later and we were standing outside of Vivi's room. "Thanks mister Davil. It was nice meeting you." she said, giving me an adorable smile.
"Heh, just call me Aniki, mister makes me feel old." I said, patting her head. "And here, I was going to give it to your father to give you for your next birthday but I think it should be fine to give it to you now." I said, placing the Flower Eye Pendant in her hand.
"Wow! Thank you Aniki!" she said, jumping up with joy.
"It's no problem princess, it should lead you to some good allies if you're ever in trouble." I said before sending her to bed.
"She's a good kid isn't she Al? I much prefer having a sister like her over my two idiot brothers."
"Eh? Carter-boy, didn't you forcefully adopt those two-? But yeah she is a good kid." Al began asking but stopped when I pulled out the arrow shard and pointed it at him in a threatening manner.
A moment later I was knocking on Cobra's door. I heard some shuffling from behind the door before it opened. "Igaram I swear, if you've interrupted my city planning again for something as little as Pell not giving Vivi everything she wants i'll-" he stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw me.
"Your majesty, Nefertari D. Cobra. A pleasure to finally meet you face to face." I said with a bow. "May I come in for a chat?"
The king's eyes bugged out as soon as he heard me call him by his D. name but he quickly recovered. "U-uh yes. Please come in." he stepped out of the way and gestured for me to come in with a semi-concerned look on his face.
I stepped into the room and made my way to a small table with two seats. "Mind if I sit here?"
"Uh, no not at all." He answered. I sat down and gestured for him to join me and after a moment, the king came over and sat down in the other chair.
"I'll get right down to it. I have no intentions of harming you, your daughter or your country. I simply want to lend a helping hand regarding a possible issue you may face in the next few years."
Cobra seemed to relax at my words but like any good king he kept his guard up. "Well then I thank you for your concern."
"It is no problem." I said. "Within the next few years there will be a plot by a powerful organization attempting to steal the proglyph beneath the tomb of the kings. I wish to take it off your hands so that there is no possibility of its contents falling into the wrong hands." I said plainly.
Cobra's brain seemed to stop for a moment before rebooting. "Y-you know about the Poneglyph!?"
"Yes, and I know it goes against what your family has thought for generations but I beg that you trust me on this." I was being sincere. I genuinely wanted his permission to take the poenglyph. It was his family's duty to watch over it and I didn't want him or Vivi to feel as if they had failed their duty.
He hesitated, his mind fighting with the years of tradition ingrained into his being.
I looked him in the eye. "I swear on my name, Davil D. Carter. That I will not use the poneglyph to harm Arabasta or any other innocent lives"
I may be jumping the gun a little. I hadn't integrated the D. Clan DNA's yet. But I think it will do the trick.
Cobra's eyes softened. His decision made. "Verry well. I will entrust the poneglyph to you. I trust you will make good in your word."
I nodded and stood up to leave before I remembered I needed his blood.
His face was priceless but I got the DNA I needed.
— — —
[-Name: Carter Davil
System interface name: N/A
Race: Human
Secondary race: Ancient Giant, Three Eye Tribe,
Secondary bloodlines: Senju, Uchiha,
Age: 15
Occupation: Marine cadet
Title: Kin of Devils
{stats} {inventory} {shop}
Physique: 92.3 / 500 [sage body]
Devil Fruit: Yugo Yugo no mi
Devil Fruit mastery: 24.0 / 100
Haki: 31.6 / 500 [+10]
Free attribute points: 19.3
Shop points: 535,
System skills: Analyze, Bloodline shift, Perfect memory
One Piece: Skills: Devil fruit infusion, Poneglyph reading, Devil fruit identification, Voice of all things, life return,
Otherworldly skills: Sage body, Wood release, Sharingan, Black garnet connection, Cap'n Jack's Luck o' the Sea, Stands: Tungsten Sorcerer, Alikred Derkila,
{stats} {inventory} {shop}
—Weapons—
-Swords: Akuma-Ketsujin, Yoriichi, Keyblade, Kubikiribocho, Shichiseiken, Yamaoroshi, Kiribachi, Sandai-Kitetsu, Yubashiri, Kashu,
-Armor:
Seastone Gauntlet, Vanta Shades, Ring of Wrath, Conqueror's Brooch, Starlight Gem Necklace
—Useful items—
5x Feathers of the angel, Shark scale, Key to the locker, silver conch shell, Infinite Sake Gourd, Devil Fruit purification Elixir, Ability thief token,
—Otherworldly items—
Dive's Pokeball, Sukuna finger, Cybertronian protoform, Hashirama's cells (½ original amount), Black garnet shard, Stand arrow shard, Stone of Gelel, Katana Devil Heart,
—Devil Fruit—
Tokage-Tokage no mi model: Drake, Ika-Ika no mi, Kama-Kama no mi, Kopi-Kopi no mi, Ame-Ame no mi, Goe-Goe no mi, Maji-Maji no mi, Yagi-Yagi no mi, Kachi-Kachi no mi, Noko Noko no mi, Baku Baku no mi, Inu Inu no mi model: Dachshund, Bomu Bomu no mi,
—Devil fruit Infusions—
Fast ring(Hayai-hayai no mi),
—Treasure—
1.7 Billion berries, 246x Gold ingot, 73x silver ingot, Diamond clock, Large diamond, 2x Wapometal ingot, Adamantite ingot, Mythril ingot, Magisteel ingot, 37x Chakra metal ingot
—Other Items—
Impact dial, Reject dial, Eisen dial, Journal of Erik Gunhild, Fossilized Tooth, Yuda fang, 3x Adam wood, Kuuigosu wood, Carter Davil's vivre card, Hero water, SIQ, sea stone chunk, sea stone cage, 8x sea stone cuffs, Small dyna stone, Painter, Dance Powder, Eternal pose to the Island of promises, Turtle pose, Eternal Pose to Punk Hazard, Hot tub, King cannon, Royal Drum Crown 7-Shot Bliking Cannon, Titan-like 15 meter wood human golem,
—Ships—
The Salamander, The Shark Superb, Black Pearl
—DNA samples—
3 eye tribe DNA sample, Various fishmen DNA samples, Giant DNA samples, Monkey D. family DNA sample , Gol D./Portgas D. DNA sample, Dinosaur DNA Samples, Prehistoric Animal DNA samples, Chopper DNA Sample, Nefertari D. DNA sample,
—Living beings—
Den-Den mushi, Amber Bottle o' Honey Queen, Ammonite,
—Shared equipment—
Plesiosaur armor (equipped to Dive)
Ring of the rock (equipped to Nijiko)
Binding ribbon (equipped to Nami)
Dagger necklace (equipped to Zoro)
Bracelet of essence (equipped to Sanji)
Gazing glass (equipped to Usopp)
Silver knuckles (equipped to Luffy)
Gold Bolt (equipped to Chopper)
Flower Eye Pendant (equipped to Vivi)
—Bounties— (their heads at least)
Rush pirates: 135.5 million (Rush), 110 million (Largo), 93 million (Peirce)
Dero: 42 million
Chameleone: 300 million
Gasparde pirates : 95 million (Gasparde), 57 million (Needless)
Ganzack: 8 million
Eldorago pirates: 10 million (Eldorago), 8 million (Golass)
Shupeal: 3.5 million
Gally: 5 million
Goat head pirates: 12 million (Rally), 6 million (Letsin), 3 million (Tan), 3 million (Malt)
Billy: 3 million
Card pirates: 11.6 million (Bear king), 7.8 million (Honey queen {false}), 9.9 million (Pin joker), 3.2 million (Boo Jack), 6 million (skunk one)
Arlong pirates: 20 million (Arlong), 9 million (Kuroobi), 5.5 million (Chew)
Yurikah: 2.1 million
Seed: 2 million
—Marine supplies—
Eternal log pose to Marineford, Eternal log pose to Impel down, Eternal log pose to Enies lobby, Maps, Log pose, Bounty book,]