Chapter Text
Caesar Clown had felt so much more giddy and actually happy the past few days than he had in the previous months. With all the doom and gloom that had been brought about the past two months from one of Judge’s precious pups getting herself bred, having one of the Straw Hats be brought to the base of operations for all sorts of pain and humiliation was just the pick-me-up he needed. In fact, when he had some spare time earlier in the day, he would find a spot with the perfect view of the mossy swordsman being made to carry back breaking weight or accidentally slip on some snail slime and get covered in the foul smelling muck, and those viewings would make his cold, cold little heart get that just warmer.
Unfortunately, the good times never last, and the Straw Hat’s right hand man was ushered back to the dungeon for the day. Pity, he would have savored seeing him get shocked one more time, but there was no time to complain. He had to give Judge a weekly report on all the findings and progress down in the labs. Going into his gaseous form, he crept down the rock walls, down the cobblestone paths, and finally, was in his lab. Judge was already waiting there, leaned against a wall in a rare display of casualness.
“So,” the blond gruffly began, “what is it today?”
“First off, not even a hello?”
Judge rolled his eyes at Caesar’s comment.
“Secondly,” he pulled a clipboard out from his lab coat, “so far, the test run with the CloudScratchers went swimmingly. Only took them 2 hours to go from the West Blue to the North Blue and another 2 hours back. Though, we’re going to need to work on their stamina as they’ve been lazing in their pens ever since you brought that Straw Hat here…or it could be they’re just acting like cats.”
Judge nodded along, twirling the end of his mustache with his pointer finger.
“And how are those…explosive rats you are working on?” He slightly grimaced when mentioning the rats. Caesar lit up at the mention, flicking through his pages to get to the relevent report.
“Oh! Oh yes, them! They’re incendiary organs are starting to grow in quite good now, and it’s not even noticeable to the naked eye! I think in about a month or two, we could start letting them out onto any targets and remotely detonate when needed.”
“That’s…good to hear.” Judge looked off distantly. Ok, now Caesar was getting a little peeved from this detached attitude from his lab partner. He had been putting up with his excessive brooding for long enough now and he was about sick of it, especially when he was not even listening when HE had something he was excited about to present. He pressed a bony finger into the blond's chest.
"Alright, that's it, what is bothering you NOW? I thought you’d feel better with that scrubber headed swordsman being put through the wringer, but nooooo.”
The gaseous man crossed his arms petulantly. A vein appeared to pop up on the side of Judge’s forehead, but he breathed slowly to compose himself before speaking.
“Even so, that does not change that Reiju blatantly offered herself up out there like a dog in heat. Do you know how much of my work would have gone down the drain if someone got their hands on that child and used them as their own weapon?! All my work, for nothing!”
Caesar resisted the urge to roll his eyes until they went to the back of his head.
“And yet, both of them are right here with you, with no chance for no one to steal your work or any of that. Hell, didn’t you say you were going to find out what your grandchild’s gender is tomorrow? Shouldn’t you look forward to that a LITTLE?”
“Eh, not really. I couldn’t control this from the start like I could with Sora, so there’s no way that it could be a boy.”
Ugh, if there was one thing Caesar could go without concerning his partner, it was his propensity to value men over women. Not because the horned scientist himself was some bleeding heart, but because he felt like Judge was not utilizing his resources well enough. But he could not say that now…or ever to his face, really.
“Well,” he began, “it’s a 50/50 chance, so maybe-“
“I don’t like ‘maybes’. ‘Maybes’ are what led me to putting up with Sanji for so long.”
“But this isn’t LIKE Sanji, Judge,” Caesar said through gritted teeth, “so maybe lighten up and listen to what I’VE been working on instead of brooding like-like-“ the words failed to materialize, but his attitude said everything. Judge looked at Caesar like a detached husband looking at his wife as she asked for him to care for more about her besides what food and housework she provided for him.
“Uggggghhh,” Caesar groaned, “You know what? Here, take this.” He shoved his clipboard of notes into Judge’s chest. He stormed out of the lab, underling scientists practically leaping out of his way. The melancholic control freak could read about what he had been working on when he finally got his head out of his ass. He could not wait for it to get to the ninth month and he could finally actually work with him like a colleague again.
God, he needed a drink.
~~~
Yonji could practically feel his blood pushing in and out of his veins as his excitement built for tomorrow. He only got to meet half of the Straw Hat crew at the time when reunited with his failure of a brother at Big Mom’s archipelago. While he would have loved to see the lovely Nami once again, being able to spar with Greatest Swordsman Zoro had a great promise. The man had chewed through enough soldiers during his sparring sessions that it was becoming busy work now. Headlock a soldier, crunch them until something popped, and they would be out cold and carried off. Booooring. It was becoming mind numbingly dull.
But with this new opponent in the ring, the promise of a half decent fight was enthralling. The green haired man could barely hide his desire at the dinner table, his behavior catching the attention of his two brothers.
“What’s got you all fired up?” Niji inquired while picking at the steak tartare he was no longer interested in. Yonji had already gulped down a plate of it and was currently mowing through the second while Ichiji nibbled at his and watched the conversation.
“Oh, you have no idea how awesome tomorrow is gonna be. Dad told me that I’m gonna fight that Zoro dude in a sparring match tomorrow!”
His blue haired brother scoffed.
“Oh please, what makes you think he’ll be any more interesting than the other cannon fodder?"
"Because he's the right hand man of the Pirate King! He's got to be worth his salt!”
Niji scoffed and leaned back in his chair. Even behind his dark glasses, Yonji could see him roll his eyes.
“And yet, he still got captured and trapped here. Can’t be that strong.”
“He will not be sedated tomorrow, though,” Ichiji calmed butted in, “that could make all the difference between then and now.”
The green haired man gestured to his red haired elder brother.
“See, even Ichiji sees his potential.”
"But at the same time, he is a swordsman, and since tomorrow will be a sparring match, he might be debilitated in a way."
Yonji deflated momentarily before hitting the table with his fist.
“Damn it, don’t kill my excitement, man!”
Ichiji shrugged without any emotion on his face.
“I am just stating the facts.”
“Mmm, well, I’ll check it out anyways,” Niji said as he spun his fork between his fingers, “ain’t got anything else I wanna do, so maybe seeing Reiju’s boytoy get thrashed will be something.”
“It may be, it may not be.” Ichiji pushed his now empty plate back, signaling for a servant to pick it up.
Well, whatever the case, Yonji looked forward to tomorrow.
~~~
“Chopperrrrrr, let me go, we gotta get Zoro back…”
Luffy struggled in the arms of Chopper’s muscular Heavy Point, but even as he tried to get out of them, the effects of the gas still neutralized much of his strength and he flopped loosely like a fish in his raspy voice. The reindeer frowned sympathetically.
“Not yet, Luffy, you need to heal up more before he try to find Germa.”
“But…but Zoro…”
It was breaking Chopper’s heart twofold, seeing his captain like this while also thinking about how Zoro was truly gone and they had no leads yet. No reports in the newspaper on their activity, no trail of destruction, nothing. It did not help that the havoc wrought by the soldiers meant the Straw Hats had to dock at a nearby island for the time being. The Sunny had been in worse situations in the past, but the crew was never this wiped out with it.
Putting Luffy back onto his cot in the medical room, Chopper let the rest of his residual strength fade before his captain finally gave his body a rest. Robin was much more amiable with needing to rest, but the doctor could tell the noxious gas equally left her sapped. He would have to check on the two in about half an hour.
In the meantime, he needed to get to the dining hall to join in the discussion with everyone else on what to do next. After everything and everyone recovered enough, they would go looking for the swordsman and Germa 66 in the process. How long it would take, though, he was not sure. Luffy and Robin mainly needed to heal from the gas, but Sanji had a dislocated knee, Nami was bruised and had cuts almost everywhere, Usopp’s right arm and hand were broken, and to add to that, the perpetrators had actually managed to break pieces of the ship, making Franky work round the clock to heal his creation.
“-and then he just went up with the rest of the soldiers."
Chopper made it to the dining hall, now in his brain point form. Everyone was gathered around the table, attention on Sanji as he finished telling them as much as he knew. Nami rubbed her chin, wincing a little from the sting of touching the bruise there. Chopper managed to get to his seat before the redhead spoke.
"So, do you think your sister is connected with this?"
Sanji was about to shake his head before pausing.
"Well, from what that bearded guy said, if she is, it's definitely not because she choose to."
"Even so, it doesn't explain why kidnap Zoro like that. If it is not something she wants, then, what do you think Judge wants out of him?"
Having already puffed through one cigarette in less than a minute, Sanji quickly pulled out and lit another. Ever since Zoro had been taken, by Germa no less, the blond had turned his smoking to chainsmoking, his whole being smelling like anxiety and cigarettes. Chopper resisted the urge to wrinkle his nose at the stench, not wanting to make the man feel even worse.
"That's where I'm at a dead end."
"Wait, guys, I may have a theory about this."
Usopp raised his good hand, turning everyone's attention to him.
"Go on," Nami pushed.
"Ok, so, hear me out, what if they took Zoro to your sister...because they're trying to pull off...a breeding program.
Crickets were all that replied to the long nosed man's conspiracy theory and his face turned red and blustering.
"L-look, there's not much to go off of, that's the best I've got."
Sanji sighed deeply and tapped the ash of his cigarette off into a nearby ash tray.
"Honestly, with how much we know, that very well could be true, even if we don't want it to be."
"This is so awful," Nami moaned, "we're never going to get him back at this rate."
"Hey, Nami-sis, don't say that," Franky tried to reassure, "we just got to find even a trace of where Germa and their snails are going and we can set sail there."
"And how are we going to do that? Even if they leave a trail of war in their wake, lots of rebellions and violence have been going down lately. How do we separate what is what?"
It was then that a light bulb flashed into Chopper's head. They DID know someone who could give them a lead after all...maybe. It was a big maybe, considering this person's fixation was on something at least Germa related, but it was best to at least try this connection than do nothing at all. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. When the melancholy was too strong even for that, he made the loudest fake cough he could to get all eyes on him.
"Umm, guys? I think I have an idea on a possible lead."
Everyone leaned in closer, hanging on to his every word.
"But first, we have to find a way to contact the Heart Pirates."