L.O.J.S.H 223

I barely held my laughter while looking at Absalom's mortified expression. He probably thinks Moria and the others are dead. Even an idiot could tell by looking at his expression.

'Now I've gone and picked up such a habit... I need to stop messing with people so much...' 

The last cringe-worthy line you would expect from your regular mindless self-insert stories protagonists I uttered before Kuma left was also a part of my newly acquired habit. 

I had nothing to gain by revealing I knew Kuma worked for the revolutionaries, and I tipped a card that I could use to my advantage later. I can't imagine Kuma or the revolutionaries taking kindly to me knowing about their secret either. I might have made a new enemy. 

But I couldn't bring myself to care. Looking at the stoic Kuma stagger and break his calm facade made it all seem worth it, even though it probably wasn't. Not one bit.

I knew it was stupid, selfish, and inconsiderate toward my crewmates, but I did it regardless. Why? Because I wanted to. It's as simple as that. I'm just that kind of guy, I guess.

"If you're going to kill me, then hurry up and do it, demon..." Absalom growled, snapping me out of my train of thought and making me smile. I've been too caught up in my own thoughts, it seems. 

"They're not dead," I said, shaking my head much to Absalom's bewilderment as he shot me a confused look. "They're just out cold. I brought you here to take care of them until they wake up," I added with a shrug of my shoulder. 

"What...?" Absalom muttered, his confusion growing with every word I spoke. But I didn't care.

"I put a small piece of sea stone inside Moria's gut, so he won't cause trouble if he wakes up too early," I continued, unmindful of Absalom's confusion. 

"Hogback will be able to take it out once he's up," I added, gesturing towards Moria and his doctor without letting Absalom get a word in as I turned to walk away. 

"And tell Moria it was a fun fight. I wanted to fight him at full strength, but oh well..." I concluded, trailing off with a shrug as I left, leaving a confused Absalom to tend to his crewmates. 

...

I sighed as I stopped a distance away and sat on a rock at the edges of the dead forest, taking out my whisky bottle. Moria's words still weighed heavily on my mind.

'Just what the hell is waiting for us on the archipelago?' I heaved a heavy breath, taking a sip of whisky as I turned to the sky, searching for a starry night sky that wasn't there, blocked from view by the Florin Triangle's fog.

However, I couldn't dwell on the matter too much as I heard the sound of footsteps stampeding toward me. I turned to the source and smiled at the sight of a tall, round woman with short and thin legs.

She had a boiler hat covering the top of her pink hair that was braided into two pigtails and wore a smile revealing her missing tooth as she ran towards me, two seedy-looking men hot on her trail. 

"Wait, captain Lola! It's dangerous!" one of the two men, a rotund man wearing a black mask that covered his eyes, nose, and the top of his head, exclaimed. 

"That's right! This guy just beat Moria and even made Kuma leave! He's dangerous!" the other man, a tall, skinny man with curly brown hair and two black circles around his eyes, added in a panic.

"I don't care! The 4444th time will be the charm, I could tell!" the pink-haired woman replied, unmindful of her companions' warning, her eyes locked into me. 

"I wouldn't be Marriage Proposal Lola if I give up here!" the pink-haired woman, Lola said as she came to a screeching stop in front of me, a broad smile splitting her face.

"Thank you for saving our lives!" Lola said in a soft, almost flirtatious tone as she stood in front of me. "You were so cool fighting Moria. I can't help but want to get married to you!" Lola added, her tone growing sultry as she winked at me, making me raise an eyebrow.

"Sorry, but you're not my type," I replied, smiling as I shrugged my shoulders.

"Ara, that's too bad," Lola replied with a shrug of her own, seemingly not discouraged by the refusal as the two mean tailing her arrived. 

"See? I already told you, captain," the rotund man said, sighing as he nervously looked at me. "Please forgive the captain! She doesn't know any better," he added, scratching his head. 

"There's nothing to forgive. Do I look like such an unreasonable man?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to which the man visibly gulped. "Relax, I'm just messing with you," I added with a light chuckle, waving my hand to the side.

"I'm Lola, captain of the rolling pirates and a part of the Thriller Bark's victim's association," Lola said, introducing herself as she gestured with her thump. 

"Those two are Risky Brother 1 and Risky Brother 2, my crewmates," she added while gesturing towards the rotund man and the skinny one.

"Johnny, captain of the silver hand pirates," I replied, nodding my head at Lola and her crewmates, holding back a cruse at Oda's naming sense for giving these two such weird-ass names. 

"What's this about a victim association?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. I vaguely remembered something like that from the anime, but I couldn't recall their part in the Thriller Bark arc. 

"We're the group of people who banded on this island after Gecko Moria stole our shadows..." Lola replied, sighing as he trailed off at the end of her sentence.  

"We were hoping to fight against Moria, but he was too strong and had an immortal army, so we could do nothing but hide in the dead forest," she added, shaking her head. 

"But that all ended when you showed up and saved us. By the way, do you want to marry me?" Lola concluded, smiling as she took another shot at proposing marriage, to which I smiled and shook my head. 

"I see. You have your shadows back, but Moria is still on the island," I said, making the trio freeze at the reveal as they turned to exchange looks. 

"He's out cold right now, so you guys should leave before he comes back to it," I explained, waving a hand to the side. "Look for Laffite. He'll give you enough money to cover your travel expenses once you get out of here," I added, then described my navigator to the trio and gave him a call once they left after giving me their thanks.

...

"So... why did you protect that Moria guy?" Wilson asked as he walked in on me in the same spot, still thinking about what Moria was talking about before Kuma appeared.

"Do I need a reason?" I replied with a smile, not surprised by Wilson's sudden appearance as I had already noticed his presence thanks to my observation Haki.

"No. But you looked like you had one. You were on the verge of killing the guy yourself before Moria showed up," Wilson replied, sounding bemused as he shot me a look that demanded I stop being cryptic and give him an answer. 

"Did you know that Moria once went toe-to-toe with Kaido?" I asked, and Wilson shook his head, making me shake my head in exasperation. "So you weren't listening to what I said before we came to this island," I added with twitching eyes, to which Wilson carelessly shrugged.

"Well, he did. But he ended up like this because Kaido killed his crewmates," I remarked, scratching my head. "I couldn't help putting myself in his shoes, you know? Will that happen to me if I lose my crew?" I wondered, heaving a sigh as I looked at Wilson, quietly content to listen as he was. 

"Moria turned into a pathetic shadow of what he once was, but I didn't save him out of pity," I remarked, taking a sip of whisky as I trailed off, unsure how to put my thoughts into words. 

"There was something about how he refused Kuma's help, and resigned as a warlord..." I explained, smiling and shaking my head. "He looked different, still week and pathetic, but not as much... I might even say he looked almost cool if Kuma didn't knock his ass out with a single punch," I added, lightly chuckling as I stretched my limbs and stood up.

"That wasn't cool. It was stupid, and that's coming from me," Wilson said, sounding amused as he looked at me with a smile. 

"Well, maybe you just like stupid people. that explains why you and I get along so much"