One Piece – Halfway Broken

Summary: Getting to know the new crew members...

Warning! Chapters 40-43 were all uploaded back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!

Chapter 41: Jaya Jumble

Ace had departed four days after their arrival on Jaya. This, however, meant that the crew had a solid week before they really needed to worry about their trip to Skypiea. A single additional day had been spent hunting down a Southbird and making strategic reinforcements to the Discovery. Luffy had thought ahead on that latter point and built the ship with built-in attachment points for reinforcements. Places where the weak points that connected the twin hulls to the center structure could be beefed up at the cost of a little speed, as well as places where additional armor panels could be lined across the gap between the hulls to create more surface area.

Luffy had hoped that doing so would allow the ship to avoid needing 'wings.' Thankfully, he was proven right as the surprised monkey men had confirmed that the primary reason for those wings, for those crazy enough to try the Knock Up Stream, was to provide more surface area to spread the Knock Up Stream's power across, reducing the strain on the ship. Its secondary effect of being able to act as a sort of spoiler to keep a ship pressed against the Knock Up Stream hadn't been an intentional addition. Instead, it had been a brilliant adaptation that Nami had made once things had already gone wrong. The original crew should have been one of the 'nothings' of the 'all or nothing,' statistic. Only Nami's ridiculousness by any normal standard of navigation had saved them.

Hopefully, they wouldn't need such an adaptation. For now, however, it was all over but the waiting, and Luffy was determined to use their remaining 6 days before the Knock Up Stream's arrival to get to know his newest crewmembers…

... ...

Luring Robin away from the ship had been almost hilariously easy. Everyone in the crew had heard, during their party with the Saruyama Alliance, the story of Noland the Liar and Shandora. All Luffy had needed to do, in order to get Robin's interest, was explain his 'personal theory' about what had happened to the City of Gold to her. After explaining that he believed a particularly powerful Knock Up Stream had 'destroyed' part of the island (not wanting to explain how he knew it had actually ended up in Skypiea), Luffy had also pointed out that the remaining parts of Jaya should show signs of this.

Even if the City of Gold itself had been 'destroyed,' there had to have been outlying homes, buildings or facilities. Farms, tanneries, docks, grain storage, there were quite a few things any civilization operating at the level Noland described would have needed, which no one in their right mind put inside a city. Tanneries smell awful, flour is explosively flammable when in dust form, docks and large scale blacksmithing is noisy as fuck, farms are sprawling and take up too much space. No one in their right mind puts the facilities for such inside a city as a result. Meaning that there should still be signs of the Shandora civilization Noland described all over the island.

Robin, predictably, had perked up at the reminder of that fact. Even when it wasn't about the Void Century, Robin was an archaeology nerd. An extremely hot, extremely capable archaeology nerd. Come to think of it, she was sort of the Lara Croft of One Piece, only with super powers? Eh, ignoring that idle thought, the results had been just as predicable as her interest when he'd offered to help her look for anything that remained on Jaya itself. She'd hesitated, still used to being a loner, but had ultimately accepted a little mini-adventure of just the two of them looking around for lost history. Robin was smart enough that she'd virtually certainly realized he was using this chance to get to know one of his new crewmembers better, which likely explained why she'd accepted. But that was okay, Luffy wasn't up to anything nefarious. He just wanted to get a better feel for the real Robin, rather than the 2-dimensional version he had memories of.

"This is interesting. While much of the stone was stolen and used by Mock Town, I suspect this was a mill. If that's the case, there's a high probability that there were farmhouses relatively nearby."

Luffy nodded at Robin's observation, trying not to get too distracted by the fact she'd been bending over to inspect something on the ground and, just incidentally, giving Luffy a good view. He was extremely grateful that Nami not only didn't mind him looking, but regularly checked Robin out herself. Something that was, admittedly, causing his mind to try wandering off. He'd finally checked out Nami's 'kinks and interests' listing in full a while ago and some of it had been both enlightening and very very tempting. For now, he did his best to focus.

"That makes a fair bit of sense. It's been long enough to not be obvious, but the jungle here isn't as old as the rest of the island. This whole area was likely clearcut for farming."

Robin blinked at that, carefully looking around, before nodding in agreement.

"You're right. The jungle isn't as dense, or the trees quite as old. The fact that it has moved in, however, likely means the jungle covered anything we might want to find. Only the size of the mill and being looted for stone repeatedly has likely kept the same thing from happening here."

Luffy hummed for a moment, considering that. There was something he'd been working on, at one point, that might help here. He'd eventually given up on the technique when he realized it wasn't actually all that useful compared to Observation Haki boosted by his Spirit Fruit. But he had gotten it to work in small scale. If he could adjust it just a bit…

"Well, there might be a way. Farmhouses likely would have had cellars, if for no other reason than for preservation of food, right?"

Robin raised her eyebrows, pursed her lips, then nodded.

"Yes, there are no particular indications of high technology. Which means the locals most likely relied on underground storage to help with preserving foods. Why?"

Luffy huffed and lowered himself into a crouch, before turning both of his hands to lightning.

"I might have an idea how to find any underground spaces that are still here. Hold on a tick, going to need to concentrate for a minute. I never really perfected this technique since it wasn't useful enough…"

What he was trying had originated as an attempt to produce radar. He'd wanted to equip the Discovery with something like it, possibly even something he could make work with only the occasional recharge from his Fruit's powers. Unfortunately, he'd hit the same stumbling block that he'd hit when trying to make railguns. Specifically, that converting his lighting to manipulate electromagnetism was hard. Not impossible. But, at the level of control he'd possessed at the time he'd made the attempt, also not particularly practical.

He'd come a long way since then. In truth, he was fairly certain he could probably make a railgun work these days, but hadn't really felt the need to do so. The Discovery's guns were already hideously overpowered for any naval engagement in this era, and the housing for a railgun of significant power would have called for a much bulkier, more limiting design anyway. He did have a design for a miniaturized railgun upgrade for his pistol drawn up, but even there some drawbacks existed, ones he was hoping he could mitigate with Dials. So he had thus far held off.

Radar was even worse.

Traditional radar required radio waves. Radio waves in and of themselves are relatively precision bursts of electromagnetic waves, producing a signal that travels through the air as a sine wave. Radar added an additional complication in that you had to then have an instrument that could pick up the reflected radio waves as they bounced off a solid object. Luffy had needed to discard the idea of creating an actual radar system for the ship almost instantly. He simply hadn't known enough about how the people of his original world had made the second half. The instrumentation that could detect the bounced back waves.

Thankfully, Luffy also had a cheat. He, himself, could detect electromagnetic waves. Which meant that, after a fair bit of training, he'd been able to detect the returning bounce back himself, through use of his Spirit Fruit. The problem, and why he'd ultimately discarded the technique as largely a failure, was that with his control at the time he'd succeeded…he'd needed several minutes to set the entire process up.

Even now, with far greater control than he'd had at the time, it took him nearly 30 seconds to produce the first pulse. Which…didn't help. He originally hadn't worried too much about where in the radio spectrum he was broadcasting, and what he was doing now was apparently not in the microwave band needed for ground penetration. Screwing his eyes shut tighter in concentration, he tightened his control and worked at forcing the band of energy into the 'shorter' bands. Another minute of fiddling passed…and he finally got a return! Slowly, carefully, he extended the range, using his unnatural control of the energy to keep it away from him and Robin. He had no desire to find out what high-intensity microwaves would do to either of them, thank you very much! Particularly to Robin, who didn't have his Spirit Fruit's protection.

It took him another few minutes to extend his range enough to matter much, as well as sort out what the returns he was getting even meant. But, finally, he was able to cut off the technique, with a solid map of the underground area in his head. Actually, thinking of a map…he mentally opened his rarely used System Map. When he did, it was all he could do to prevent himself from gaping as the map now pulsed with actively moving icons, along with representation of terrain features and markings for underground areas! A quick, frantic look at this Help Menu showed there was a new Tutorial there, labeled 'Your Mini-Map and You!' He absolutely did not have the time to check that out right this second, but he quickly figured out how to toggle the mini-map, at least. When it activated, it didn't take the form of an actual map on his HUD, but instead became an extra sense that his Spirit Fruit began automatically feeding him. If he wasn't already so used to Observation Haki, it might have been disorienting. As it was, he was technically used to getting new senses randomly.

Also, apparently, it was possible to unlock new features in ways he hadn't realized just yet.

Fuck.

Throwing off his mixture of raw annoyance and elation, he forced himself to focus on the here and now and opened his eyes…only to have to fight the desire to laugh as a somewhat cross-looking Robin stood with her hair wildly spiking and only slowly settling down. He'd better tell her the good news before she decided feminine wrath was justified for making her hair poof out with the amount of electricity he'd been pouring into the environment near her.

"Ah, sorry about the hair. But what I just tried did reveal several underground cavities and I can lead us straight to them. Hard to say if they are natural or artificial, but there's a decent chance we'll find something."

That seemed to settle Robin's annoyance down, sparking interested back in her eyes.

"Just what did you even do, exactly? Aside from the obvious usage of your Devil Fruit."

Luffy grinned and began moving, happy enough to walk her through what he'd done as he led her to the largest of the underground cavities he'd discovered. Robin listened with growing interest and obvious fascination as he walked her through the science of what he'd done, starting with explaining his understanding of Radio Waves, something this world had either never stumbled upon or simply discarded since they had Den Den Mushi as a superior form of long-distance communication. By the time they were over the site he'd located, Robin was looking at him with far more interest than she ever had before.

"You are quite a lot more than I assumed, Captain. You have a fascinating mind, beyond your more martial strength, to have figured all of this out all on your own."

Luffy blushed. Both at the compliment itself…and at his inability to explain that he'd leaned heavily on the works of others to get so far. He'd already known radar existed, and more or less how it worked, which made had such a claim feel much like it was misplaced. It was doubly awkward when he had long since decided he'd never tell a soul about his previous life and he thus couldn't properly correct the idea.

"Ah…well, some of the principles I read about from a few interesting books. I admit I'm happy I was finally able to apply them for something, though. I determined some time ago that the method simply isn't that useful compared to the range and accuracy of my Observation Haki. At best, it would let me detect inanimate objects that might be a threat…at least until now. Speaking of now, we're right over the largest empty space. One that seems a bit too uniform to have been natural, now that I have a closer feel for it!"

Robin's eyes darted around, then she crossed her arms and activated her own Devil Fruit. Dozens, possibly hundreds, of eyes began to appear all around, on trees and rocks and vines. Robin quickly closing her natural eyes to better focus on everything she was seeing through the Devil Fruit powers. After roughly a minute, she made an 'ah-ha' noise and dismissed the eyes, moving with excited steps towards a small outcropping of rock. Luffy, of course, trailed behind her, amused at how much more animated she was becoming at the idea of possible history to be found.

Even as they reached the outcropping, Luffy wasn't sure what Robin had spotted…until she stooped down and pulled on a half-buried ring of metal. She tugged and the ground shuddered slightly, but didn't give way. Frowning, she went to cross her arms again before Luffy tapped her on the shoulder. She flinched ever-so-slightly, but turned to look at him.

"Ah, would the big strong Captain like to show off his muscles?"

Luffy grinned.

"Muscles and brains, thank you."

To prove his point, Luffy focused his new sense as best he could at whatever this hidden door was, quickly getting returns in the form of bands of metal in a large rectangle. Instead of simply brute-forcing the door, he transformed one hand and focused on channeling lightning in a way he didn't bother with often, forming it into a glowing shard of light. The thin plasma blade was incredibly sharp, but also hard to maintain beyond a dagger in size and took a fair him of concentration. That made it a less favored move in combat compared to the sword he'd spent a decade training with, rendering the admittedly cool plasma dagger is more of a party trick. Here, however, it was perfect for him to stab down and cut through the top soil and interwoven root network coming from all the jungle foliage.

Doing so, he quickly and deftly cut the door free of most of its obstruction, leaving only the weight of the topsoil resting thinly on it. When he grabbed the ring Robin had pulled on, the ground parted easily, dirt and loam spilling off the banded-iron cellar door as he pulled it free of the ground. A quick grin shot toward Robin was answered by an amused but appreciative smile. One that widened as he shifted the dagger into a far less intense ball of light and shined it down into the newly revealed space. Robin shifted right up to his shoulder to peer down in…only to see nothing but stone steps. Shrugging, she didn't hesitate to start down them, with Luffy quickly following behind her to act as a living lightbulb.

When they reached the base of the stairs they found themselves in quite a large room, easily a 40 foot by 40 foot space, with a good fourteen foot ceiling. There were old and decaying crates in some places…but the truly interesting part of that fact was that there were the rusty remnants of weapons spilling out of those crates.

"Something tells me this might have started life as a cellar, but certainly was used for something more by the end."

Robin nodded but gestured at the walls themselves instead of the crates. Luffy boosted the light a bit and immediately saw what she'd been indicating. Writing, along with what looked distinctly like a map. Robin was quick to move closer to examine the writing. It was faded, and she moved a hand over it to carefully brush off dust, clearly doing her best to make out what it said without doing farther damage. Luffy left her to it in silence for a bit, focusing instead on the map, which he was pretty sure was of the island before the Knock Up Stream split it. He carefully memorized it, noting where the only city it showed was located on the island. If everything was still in the same relative places in Skypiea…it would potentially be useful to know the lay of the land.

"This, some of this has dates! Dates during the Void Century! I'm afraid there isn't much here. It looks mostly like tactical plans made in haste against some enemy. But there's enough to indicate the island was invaded by someone referred to only as 'those who seek the stone.' They must have turned this cellar into a sort of command center, as they fought back against their invaders."

Luffy saw a chance to insert a little knowledge that would only heighten her interest.

"If you can confirm this is the island was where Shandora was, it will be invaluable to your own quest. Shandora, the city, was listed in Nefatari D. Lili's journal as one of the drop off locations for a poneglyph."

Robin's head whipped around to lock eyes with his, excitement clear…only for it to bank into burning frustration a moment later.

"If that's the case…it must have sank. I doubt it would have been destroyed, but there's no way to find it if it's on the sea floor."

Luffy hummed, then took a slightly larger gamble by putting forth his 'own idea.'

"Perhaps, but Cricket had been diving for a long time and found only small trinkets. An entire city sinking should have turned up more. What if, instead of sinking, the Knock Up Stream took the city up. Sky Islands are a known phenomenon, riding on cloud infused with seastone in some fashion no one quite understands. More, we know that the Knock Up Stream takes you at least close to one of the few such islands with a known location. Which is the whole reason I'm trying to get us there. So, what if the poneglyph didn't sink, but flew?"

Robin's back stiffened and she turned fully to face him, mind clearly turning through the possibilities.

"That would explain why Cricket has found so little. In that case, than…it's at least possible there's a poneglyph on this 'Skypiea' you said is near here on the 'White White Sea.'"

Luffy nodded.

"See? Potential progress on your own dream already. An actual, intact archaeological site from the Void Century all around us, and a potential lead on a poneglyph."

Robin's smile was a brilliant, genuine thing, even as she immediately began to move around the 'cellar' to look for any more hints of the past…

... ...

"Is today Hina's turn to play 'get to know the Captain?'"

Luffy chuckled at the dry tone of voice the droll comment came across in. It was true that, just as he'd pulled Robin away for a day, he'd now done the same with Hina. And he fully intended to do the same with Vivi, tomorrow. Even if he already knew her a little bit better than the other two new members of the crew.

"You could say that. However, in your case, I also intend to extend a bit of trust. You took quite a leap of faith joining us, so I felt it only fair to show off one of the not-so-little things that give our crew an edge. It's the sort of thing that could easily make the Marines forgive your 'defection' if you returned to them with it. So consider it a show of good faith in my belief you really have decided they are no longer the best option for you."

Hina's poker face shifted in surprise at the comment, just for a moment, before reverting to her cool professionalism.

"Hina is curious now, she admits it."

In response, now that they were far enough from any presence his Haki could detect, Luffy reached into his bag and pulled out his Spirit Fruit Locator. He had cursed himself silly for forgetting he had the thing on Drum, but thankfully had remembered to use it on Alabasta. He'd retrieved five different fruits, in addition to the three Spirit Fruit Coupons he'd gotten from killing Crocodile. Quick experimentation had shown that those Fruits he absorbed from killing vanished far from his locator's range. Likely, he suspected, moved by his System to a random point in the world.

It hadn't mattered, since he'd purchased the Suna Suna no Mi himself to trade to King Cobra. He had, however, only given Cobra two of the other fruits he'd recovered. Well, technically you could count their handing over Miss Valentine as another Fruit, he supposed. But, honestly, the fact that she was now serving out a sentence for her crimes by being a hidden bodyguard for Cobra…as his maid, was too amusing for Luffy to count that one. Mr. 11 had proven to have a Fruit, however, as had two of the higher-ranking Billions.

None had been interesting enough for Luffy to keep, so he'd quietly turned them into points for his System Store. With one having been a Zoan, and two Paramecias, he'd still come out with four Spirit Fruit Coupons that could be turned into Devil Fruits if his crew desired them. Given that all of them had turned down the, frankly quite decent, fruits of Daz Bones and Miss Doublefinger? He honestly wasn't sure that any of his crew that didn't already have Spirit Fruits were even going to want them.

Kuina and Zoro definitely didn't. Nami and Usopp he honestly wasn't sure about, though he'd been toying with the idea of getting them something that would fit them. Kaya…honestly, he'd prefer she did have one, to shore up her defense with. But he knew she was non-violent enough that it would need to be something specifically useful to her. She'd likely have loved Marco's fruit since it can heal, and Luffy had been slowing working his way through the descriptions of various fruits in the hope of finding something similar for her. He'd upped his speed of research since leaving Alabasta, as their official listing as Pirates meant she was now in more serious danger. But he hadn't hit on one that felt quite right for her just yet.

For now, however, he needed to focus on his current companion, who was looking at the many-dialed-and-needled Locator with curiosity.

"Some sort of advanced log pose? Hina knows that a more advanced version is needed to navigate in the New World, but this does not match the descriptions of those."

Luffy grinned and pointed to two of the needles, which were, as it happened, pointing directly at them.

"Move around the Locator and watch those needles."

Hina quirked an eyebrow, but obeyed. Her eyes sharpened as one of the needles locked onto her and began tracking her movement.

"What?"

He watched for just a moment as she instinctively tried to fool it by rapidly changing directions, but he let her in on the secret without teasing her for the attempt.

"It's a Devil Fruit Locator. The only one of its kind that I know of. Zero idea how it does what it does, but what it does is point you towards any Devil Fruits within roughly 100 km of your location. Including those already consumed. So that needle is locking onto your Devil Fruit, rather than you specifically. And the one pointed at me is doing the same with my Fruit. However, if I do this…"

Luffy twisted a couple of dials and pushed a bottom, and those two needles swung back to a resting center point. Others pointed back toward the Discovery…but three of them pointed elsewhere on the island. Quickly going through the motions of eliminating the signatures of Robin, Chopper, Nojiko, and Vivi, the result was only the three remaining needles pointed out into the jungle.

"Now it's pointing only to a trio of unclaimed Devil Fruits, since I can't sense people at those points with my Haki. Odds are that Ace killed multiple Devil Fruit users when he razed Mock Town, or that the members of the Blackbeard Crew he killed had Devil Fruits. Possibly some combination of both."

Hina's mouth had opened enough in shock during his explanation that she'd dropped her cigarette, though she'd reflexively caught it before it fell too far. She stared for long, long moments at the Locator, before shifting to lock eyes on him.

"Hina...amazed, but also confused. If you have this, why does more of the crew not have Devil Fruits? Just from your fighting on Alabasta, several must have been available."

Luffy nodded.

"They were, but simply blindly consuming Devil Fruits isn't the end all and be all. I'm sure you've dealt with enough Sword Nuts like Kuina and Zoro that you realize why they don't have them?"

Hina outright rolled he eyes.

"Purists. Hina has met them before. Though Hina has met others who didn't care, too."

Luffy nodded.

"Sure, but the two most powerful swordmen in the world? Neither of them have Devil Fruits, at least not that anyone knows of. Not too much of a shocker that those shooting seriously for that title might not want to spoil the achievement by 'cheating,' as it were."

Hina's nose crinkled, which was honestly adorable, but she did nod a moment later.

"Hina too pragmatic to agree with them, but she does understand it is a point of pride. Foolish like many such points of pride. But still something Hina understands. The others?"

Luffy shrugged.

"I offered Nami, Usopp, Kaya and Sanji the Suna Suna no Mi, the Supa Supa no Mi and the Toge Toge no Mi. None of those Fruits really appealed to any of them. Nami did consider the Toge Toge no Mi briefly, but it didn't address her primary issue of range in combat, so she passed. Kaya is non-violent and all three of those are violence-oriented. Usopp didn't feel compatible with either close range option, and actually suggested passing off the Sand Sand Fruit to Alabasta on his own. Which, as it happens, is what I ended up going with all three of them."

Hina's eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in calculation.

"Hina suspects you offered them after you learned you would be declared pirates?"

Luffy smirked and nodded.

"Yep! Since the bounties wouldn't go into effect until we left Alabastian waters, I made a quick deal with King Cobra. He got the three fruits, which will allow him to more firmly put the screws to the World Government as they add to his already strong military position. We, in exchange, got an official contract and Letter of Marque from Alabasta. We're officially and legally a naval auxiliary/privateer of the Alabastian Navy. Which is going to cause absolute hell for the WG when Alabasta turns their stupidity on them and demands to know why they are accusing Alabasta of acts of piracy by listing our vessel as a pirate ship."

Hina stared for a long, long moment…then threw her head back and laughed. It was a deep, almost hysterical laugh, not a chuckle or mere giggles. By the time she got control of herself back, she was grinning like a fool and didn't seem to care.

"Oh, Hina needed that. Hina can only imagine the chaos this will cause. Alabasta alone might have had an issue with the World Government coming down on them, but if the rest of the kingdoms have proof that the WG will capriciously list their own heirs as pirates when they've done nothing? All of the governments, even the ones most loyal to the WG, will take vitriolic issue with that! They have to, lest they find it happening to their heirs in the future."

Luffy was smiling widely at that.

"Exactly, my dear. Now, how would you like to escort me to finding a few more Devil Fruits we can either use or cause more delightful chaos with?"

Luffy stuck out his elbow to her, getting a more refined giggle in response. Hina was so cheerful however, that she put out her cigarette and linked arms with him as they began to follow the compass. He had to admit, Hina being practically bouncy next to him was an interesting shift of personality. Though it wasn't doing his self-control a lot of good, given what it was doing to her 'assets'…

... ...

The morning after his excursion around Jaya with Hina to pick up the various Devil Fruits, Luffy had called a crew meeting. Tomorrow, he would be returning to Alabasta via Vivi Express to reset their collection of logposes. At least one should re-lock onto Skypiea, which was necessary since they'd been on Jaya too long and the original lock-on had reset to the next island down Jaya's route. By this point, however, they'd managed to collect seven different log poses from various places, so a simple trip back would allow them to reset. It was virtually impossible that at least one of them wouldn't set the way they needed it too…and in that unlikely case, Luffy would just 'stumble upon' an Eternal Pose instead. He didn't want to do that too often, but he would if he had to.

For now, however, they were having an all hands meeting to deal with the Devil Fruits that he and Hina had collected the day before. Now was the logical time to do it, as any of them they didn't want he could make arrangements to sell through Alabasta. He wouldn't be giving more of them away. But Alabasta could buy them, or else sell them for the Strawhat crew and take a percentage of the profits to bolster the royal family's depleted funds. Either way, it would benefit the Strawhats, while removing the Fruits from being a liability they needed to keep an eye constantly on lest they be stolen.

As the last person to arrive, Chopper as it happened this time, sat down around the lounge, Luffy gestured to the Devil Fruits. He'd taken the time to cross-reference them in his Guide with Hina, a Guide that he'd updated quietly to include rarer fruits than were typically mentioned in it. As luck would have it, that updating had been a good thing, as it meant he hadn't had to explain away why he knew what one of the Fruits was without it being included in the Guide. Hina had been very curious how he had such a complete edition, but he'd shrug and marked it down to 'luck.'

"Alright, folks. This is a familiar refrain. Almost an echo of the meeting we had on this subject in Alabasta. Now, like then, we have three Devil Fruits up for grabs. Also like then, we were able to identify all of them. Heck, also like then, one of them stands out as far and away more powerful than the others. Now we need to figure out what to do with them. If any of you that doesn't already have a Fruit want them, or if we sell or trade them and divide our percentages as usual. Note that one of them I will not sell or trade for any reason, as the damn thing is too fucking rare. If no one wants it, we will be hiding it somewhere for later use. Mythical Zoans are never a joke, as proven by my own Fruit."

Everyone other than Hina abruptly sat up straighter at the mention of a Mythical Zoan fruit. As they should. This one was on the lower end of the spectrum for a Mythical. But all Mythicals were scary powerful.

"Starting us off with the first of the lesser fruits is the Shiku Shiku no Mi. The Sick-Sick Fruit would normally be something I would be disinclined to have around, except that the definitions of 'sickness' for this fruit are extremely nebulous. Sanji, you are explicitly not allowed to take this fruit, as one of it's known 'sicknesses' can cause men to turn into women."

Sanji went wide-eyed, then let out a 'manly whimper' that he was barred from having it. Everyone else on the crew instantly nodded along with Luffy's declaration, some amused, others horrified at the idea of the chef having it. Before Sanji could protest, bemoan, or simply dive for the Fruit, Luffy continued.

"The existence of such a 'disease' being made from this Fruit reminded me rather strongly of a common saying for doctors the world over. 'The Dose Makes the Poison.' Many medicines only differ from poisons in the amount used. Add in the usual fuckery of Devil Fruits to allow conceptual bending so that some 'sicknesses' are actually beneficial, and it could be a powerful tool of medicine. As such, I felt the need to at least offer it to Kaya specifically."

Kaya pursed her lips, nodding in thought as she considered the option. She had clearly realized where he was going with the argument, and was weighing pros and cons. Personally, Luffy had…mixed feelings. He'd really rather give her a defensive Devil Fruit. But this one specifically had the potential to help with her Dream. To Luffy's knowledge, only the Phoenix Fruit, Op-Op Fruit, and Heal-Heal fruits, along with a few other Mythical Zoans, had more potential for healing. At least, in the right hands. Well, he'd leave her to think on it for the moment.

"The second lesser fruit is also a paramecia, though one with more direct combat application. The Bane Bane no Mi, or Spring-Spring Fruit if you prefer. Previously known to be in the possession of Bellamy of the Bellamy Pirates, it is presumed he died when Ace razed Mock Town. It turns the user into a Spring Human, able to turn any part of their body into a spring. Frankly, I don't see it as a particularly good fruit, as most of the advantages it offers are no better than Soru and Geppo, which most of you can already use."

There were shrugs and predicable looks of disinterest. Only Usopp looked contemplative about possibilities, and even he shook that off with a slow shake of his head after a few moments. Frankly, that's about what he'd expected. It wasn't a bad Fruit, it just didn't really offer that much to any of his crew, really. Shrugging himself, he went onto the real shock.

"The last one is obviously the Mythical Zoan. It's not on the high end of that category, as I'd consider such things, but none of Mythical Zoan fruits are weak. So this one is something each of you should consider seriously."

Pointing to the almost glowing white fruit with golden swirls, Luffy tried to keep his own nervous energy over it out of his voice. It had been a very unexpected find, and he had no idea why it had been here.

"This is the Uma Uma no Mi, Model: Pegasus. Obviously, like any Zoan, it allows one to transform into either a full Pegasus, or a Hybrid Form. Like most Mythical Zoans, however, is also comes with some other serious boons. The biggest two are that it allows cloud-stepping, even outside of a winged form…and that it allows for the creation of water springs. That latter bit, by the by, is among the only known cases of a Devil Fruit producing water. Not exactly a shocker, given how Devil Fruits and their users normally interact with water."

Luffy paused to allow a few nods and snorts about that comment, then continued to highlight the known abilities.

"In this case, however, a stamp of your foot in any form can create a spring of water. That spring can be high pressure beyond nearly anything natural, large enough to drop an enemy into, or even provide boosts to allies if drunk from. Also notable is that this Fruit gives extreme durability, beyond even that typical for most Mythical Zoans, as well as most of the typical Zoan features, only dialed straight up to 11. Enhanced senses, animal instincts, etcetera. On a more theoretical note, I know enough about legends to speculate that an awakened version of the fruit might be capable of weather manipulation. That, however, is pure theory."

Nami's eyes, in particular, had already been wide even before he mentioned weather manipulation. In truth, he really didn't have a clue if that was possible. He did know that some variations of the Pegasus myth had it capable of doing such things. And it honestly seemed like a logical jump to him for an Awakened version. It was also a tiny bit of calculated manipulation, though, that he only felt a very tiny bit bad about. While it didn't solve her range issues much, the Pegasus Fruit would massively boost his girlfriend's survivability. Which he was rather obviously in favor of.

Of course, Nami wasn't the only one eyeing that fruit with interest and respect. Robin and Hina looked a bit disappointed they couldn't use it, though Nojiko seemed unbothered, honestly extremely happy with her own admittedly powerful Fruit. Kuina actually looked tempted to Luffy's surprise, though he saw in her eyes that she was quickly fighting that temptation back. Kaya had shifted her attention to the Fruit, but was also casting looks at the Sick-Sick fruit, seeming genuinely torn. Nami…he was getting clear vibes that she wanted it. She was also the first to speak up.

"Luffy, you and Nojiko figured out how to move in water despite the Devil Fruits, right?"

Robin and Hina's eyes went huge at that, backs straightening. Luffy smirked as he saw that.

"Yep. And now that they've been properly inducted into the crew and I've gotten some one and one time with them, I'll be handing copies of the manual outlining how to train for that to both Robin and Hina. It is not easy. I've gotten farther than Nojiko, and even I can barely retain fifty percent of my strength if submerged and it gets harder and harder the longer I'm submerged for. It's enough to swim, but it aches to do so after a few minutes. I also can't use my Devil Fruit in the water at all, obviously. Still, it's enough to make a dip in the ocean survivable at least. Don't expect to be able to reach even that point without a year or two of serious effort, though. Minimum."

Nami bit her lower lip, gnawing on it as she stared at the Pegasus Fruit.

"I…I think I will put my claim down for the Pegasus Fruit. If no one else wants it?"

Nami looked around at each of those with a claim. Sanji and Usopp were quick to turn it down.

"Nope. Bit too girly for me, thanks."

The verbal response was Sanji's, but Usopp seemed to agree with it. Kuina was the next to turn it down.

"I admit, the little girl in me is almost strong enough to overcome my desires not to lean on a Devil Fruit. But only almost. I will not accept it anymore than any other Devil Fruit."

Predictably, Zoro nodded, but added his own two belli.

"Both of those reasons for me, thanks."

That only left Kaya, who looked mildly longing, but ultimately shrugged.

"To be honest, I am extremely tempted. I know it would likely make Usopp and Captain Luffy happy for its ability to help keep me safe. Truthfully, however, it's powerful enough that it is better it go to someone who is more willing to fight. That may not be your first choice, Nami. But you will fight, rather than just defend yourself. I think, instead, that I will put my claim toward the Sick-Sick Fruit."

Usopp immediately protested.

"Kaya! It doesn't offer any real defense! The very fact you're not a fighter…"

Kaya's smile was soft as she drew Usopp into a side hug from where they were sitting together on one of the lounge's couches.

"I know, Usopp. But I am very rarely going to be a direct combatant. My Haki and the fighting style I've been learning from my ancestor's journals are exceptional and perfectly acceptable as a line of defense for someone that shouldn't be in direct brawls anyway. The Sick-Sick Fruit, on the other hand…I can see a thousand ways to make cures from an illness. Ones that would take far less mental twisting than considering a male to female transformation a sickness! I am confident I can make something exceptional out of it, within the realm of my own Dream."

Mentioning her Dream, with the very audible capital letter, shut down pretty much any argument, even from Usopp. But Kaya had one more thing to add.

"Moreover, I do not like the alternative of letting that Fruit get into anyone else's hands. I can be confident in my own nature not to use it for evil. But if it goes on the market? Can you imagine what, say, the World Government would do with it? What if they could make a sickness that would make everyone lose the will to resist them? Another that would make slaves docile? Do you think they would not use it?"

More than one person flinched at that idea. There wasn't a single person in the room, not even Hina, who had any doubt about the answer to that question. The WG would use that ability in a heartbeat. On entire islands. As often as possible. They'd make it as contagious as possible, too, so long as they had a counter 'sickness' of their own. Luffy quickly clapped his hands together to draw their attention away from that idea.

"Alright then! Time to watch two more unfortunate souls suffer the horrible, horrible taste of a Devil Fruit! Nami, Kaya, if you're sure of your decisions, it's time to take on your new abilities! The Bane Bane no Mi, meanwhile, will go up for sale via Alabasta. Oh, and Sanji? Please get these poor, poor women something to wash it down with, yes?"

The pair of women flinched as every single Devil Fruit user in the room gave them looks of shared torment, even as Sanji whirled off to whip up something tasty to hopefully take the horrific tastes out of their mouths…

... ... ... ... ... ...

A/N 1: So, Luffy's issue with duplicating Radar orginally was that he just didn't understand the basic principles well enough. He did get somewhere, but ultimately dropped the idea. I thought this was a good point to bring up something like it, though. Both to show the limits of his Devil Fruit a bit, how learning new tricks can impact his System, and how he's gotten better at fine control.

A/N 2: I remembered the Fruit Locator this time! Buttttt that actually complicated things? I'm going to admit right now that I apparently screwed up earlier in the story. I hadn't realized that, apparently, Doc Q didn't have his DF until Blackbeard and Co went Devil Fruit hunting. I already had it mentioned that he used it in Drum...and only realized the error when I was looking more deeply into the Fruit this time. This also, frankly, doesn't make any sense to me, since he was already pulling the poison apple thing at Jaya in canon? Likewise, he's so physically weak, that I can't find a single reason Teach would take him along without the Devil Fruit.

As a result, after realizing I fucked up, I said 'screw it, I'm retconning this!' In this version of One Piece, at least, Doc Q already had his fruit at this point. Likewise, Stronger (his horse)...we actually don't know when it ate the Pegasus Fruit. The wiki says 'probably when they hunted down Devil Fruits' but there's literally zero evidence it didn't have it all along. It could, in fact, be the justification for why Blackbeard tolerated Doc Q if his HORSE had a mythical devil fruit. Ergo, I also said 'Fuck it! Stronger also had his Fruit!' Which left me needing to figure out what they would do with them, and what powers a Pegasus Fruit in the hands of something more intelligent than a horse would do. When I looked up the possible powers a Pegasus might have, including possible weather manipulation in some versions? Yeah, that screamed 'oh, hey, Nami's going to want that.' Badly.

As for Kaya and the Sick-Sick Fruit? Well, I went over that pretty well in the chapter. When I actually looked into what the fruit can do, I immediately realized someone with even half a brain worth of smarts could VERY EASILY warp that thing into a Heal/Buff fruit. And giving Kaya something she has to be Creative in using appealed to me more than just straight giving her something like the Heal-Heal Fruit. So...yeah. I admit I sort of hesitated to introduce two rapid powerups like that, but I decided to go with it. Particularly as neither Nami nor Kaya are really main combatants by choice, so it shouldn't screw up the balance of the story TO much...I hope.