L.O.J.S.H 226

"That's why I told you guys to pretend you didn't see me..." I sighed as I reached into the barrel next to me while giving the unconscious sailors a disapproving look.

I was inside the lower deck of a merchant ship that I happened upon shortly after depleting my rations. I had sneaked in to get something to eat and take a few hours nap before resuming my journey.

Though the food was bland, I made do and took a nap. Then these guys showed up soon after I woke up, and now they're out cold on the floor. It Sucks to be them, I guess.

'Anyway, might as well get some rations for the road and be on my way..' I mused as I rummaged through the barrels I had just opened, suddenly freezing at the eerily familiar shape in my hand. 

I mechanically turned to the barrel and slowly raised my hand. I froze for a second, goosebumps rising all over my body as I laid eyes on the incarnation of evil held in my hand, a red tumorous amalgamation of all that was wicked and wrong in the world. In other words, an apple.

Rage and disgust welled within my chest as I threw the evil fruit back into the barrels, hard enough to make a hole in the barrel and the ship's lower deck, but that wasn't enough to quench my vengeance.

I pointed my left prosthetic arm at the well of stigma, the source of evil rot that was the apple's barrel, and activated my grenade launcher, obliterating in the process along with a massive chunk of the ship's haul. 

"Serves you right..." I muttered, heaving heavy, slow breaths as I proudly gazed upon my righteous deed of evil purging, but the panicked shouts and screams of the sailors on the upper deck quickly snapped me out of it.

"Crap..." 

...

"Are you sure it was this man?" Iceberg asked as he sat on his desk, looking at the grim, starved shipwright sitting in front of him as he held a poster with Johnny's picture on it.

"There's no mistaking it. I'd never forget the face of the man who beat up Moria like it was nothing..." the shipwright replied, sternly shaking his head. 

"In any case, you've done well to survive so long. Rest well, and don't worry too much. You'll always have a job and a home here," Iceberg said as he poached the skinny shipwright, patting his shoulder. 

The shipwright was an employee Iceberg had sent to the archipelago a year ago to obtain a rare type of wood from the merchants there a year ago. But the shipwright and the mercenaries Iceberg had sent with him all disappeared.

Iceberg had first thought the shipwright had merely decided to take the money entrusted to him and disappear and didn't think much of it, but it seems he was a mistake.

"Khalifa's assistant will take care of you. He's waiting for you outside," Iceberg added as he helped the shipwright to his feet, earning a nod of gratitude from the latter. 

"Thank you, Mr. Iceberg," the shipwright remarked, deeply bowing his head before leaving the office. 

"Good for you, Khalifa. Your onetime date is still making waves," Iceberg said, turning to Khalifa, who looked busy sorting paper work after the shipwright left. 

Khalifa slowly turned to face Iceberg, shooting a deadpan look as she adjusted her glasses. 

"Are you teasing me? That's sexual harassment..."

...

"You've fought well, my former comrades, but you've chosen the wrong opponent," Kumadori exclaimed, waving a hand to the side while striking his iconic pose. "But alas, such are the whims of fate..." he added, turning to several dead bodies of government agents lying on the ground. 

He turned to Fukurou, expecting a snide remark, but shook his head as he looked at the latter's zipped mouth and the lock keeping it shut. 

"You have my sympathy, Fukurou, but I can't blame the new lady boss for her decision," Kumadori added with a light chuckle, earning a muffled, angry protest from Fukurou.

After Fukurou unwittingly told all of their secrets to Robin, such as the identity of their employer and why said the employer wasn't there to help them (the awful first impression they had on him by attacking his crewmates). It didn't take long for Robin to offer them help and shelter for their loyalty. 

And surprisingly enough, the so-called new lady boss, which they remained ignorant of her identity, delivered by tipping King Cobra to the agents' presence, to which he immediately started a purge to rid Alabasta of their presence.

She even managed to get Crocodile involved in the mess, so both king and warlord cooperated to capture the government agents to kick them out of the island.

But despite the duo's best efforts, some agents stubbornly lingered on the island deep in hiding. That's where Fukurou and Kumadori came into play. 

Their job was to eliminate the remaining agents with prejudice, and they excelled at it with glee, widening the ever-growing rift between the world government and the Alabasta Kingdom.

But whether Fukurou and Kumadori were aware of the consequence of their actions or not, if they cared or not, and who's ends their deeds furthered? 

Well, that was anyone's guess.

...

As he sat in his office, fleet admiral, Sengoku, sighed while rubbing the bridge of his nose, contemplating the consequences of burning down all the paperwork stacked on his desk, thus ending the bane of his existence.

It wasn't the first, nor will it be the last time Sengoku thought of doing it. But this was the first time he had to push down an urge of such a scale. 

The upper echelon's demands for capturing the young pirate Johnny Silver Hand never stopped despite the catastrophe in Alabasta and the subsequent, equally catastrophic consequences of the event but grew more intense instead.

And despite his reluctance to go through with such a farce, for personal (Which he won't admit) and professional reasons alike, Sengoku The Buddha had little choice but to comply. 

Thus came the plan to capture the young pirate and his crew with an elaborate trap on the Sabaody Archipelago, the ultimate destination all pirates had to go through before reaching the new world.

But Sengoku's surprise, the pirate and his crew didn't advance but retreated. Though Sengoku won't admit it, he was relieved at the news, but his relief did not last.

In true headache-inducing-pirate fashion, the young pirate had attacked Gecko Moria, a warlord of the sea, defeating him and causing him to resign his position when Kuma tried to interfere. 

What's worse, Kuma himself was forced to retreat, battered and bruised with little results to show for his effort, rousing the fragile egos of the SSG scientists and pushing them to call for the young pirate's head under the pretense of studying unknown technology.

The CP9 agents' report of the young pirate possibly descending from a hidden, technologically advanced island only poured more fuel to an ever-growing fire. A fire slowly but surely roasting the fleet admiral himself and chipping away at his already thinning patience.

And then came the final straw that broke the camel's back when Sengoku reached into his newly built anti-Garp drawer only to freeze as he found none of his beloved rice crackers. 

And with that, Sengoku turned to the ceiling, taking a deep breath that depleted all the air in his office, only to let out an earthquake-inducing exclamation of rage. 

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARP!!!!!"