Chapter 548 – Just Elizabeth.
[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Egghead.
…
…
The conversation had been going on between Luffy and Saint Venus for some time, as they discussed the battle and her condition.
“I just need to know if you won’t be a threat anymore. I don’t want that aberration possessing you again. You’d become quite problematic and dangerous in that case. I hope you don’t take offense to my caution,” Luffy said, as the blonde nodded.
“I perfectly understand what you mean. I would also be cautious if I were in your place…” she said, sounding a bit cautious. Her previous arrogance was gone, and she spoke in a calm tone that surprised Luffy as their discussion continued.
Luffy didn’t know what she was thinking at that moment. Besides having powerful haki to protect herself, Venus seemed very good at maintaining her expressions, although Luffy could still see a certain fragility after what had happened.
It was as if her mental defenses had relaxed, still recovering.
“But to answer your question… I no longer feel the connection I used to have with Merry Geoise, I admit, not the one I used to have before…” she said.
“That’s good. When Kuma moved the corrupted part of your soul, he must have severed the connection with Imu. But still, I wanted to ask you personally and see how you were feeling,” he said, finding that information reassuring.
“But if you’re uncomfortable, I’ll leave,” she said in the end, and Luffy snorted.
“You wouldn’t last a week with the Government hunting you once they find out you’re alive. I saw what you can do. I’d rather not leave it up to luck with the kind of power you have. You no longer have allies who can protect you from the government’s hunt, and they’ve sent all their forces.” Luffy spoke with a more serious tone.
“And what do you plan, then?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
“I’m not going to do anything. I’m just going to keep you as a crew member. We had a deal, right?” he said, flashing a smile at her.
“Was it the deal where I was supposed to try to kill you once a day?” she laughed lightly, and Luffy kept his smile.
“Glad you still remember that. I’ll be waiting for your attempts to kill me—just me, of course,” Luffy teased as he began to get up, placing the chair in the corner and heading to the door.
That’s when he found someone who had just appeared behind the door.
It was Reiju, holding a plate of food she had just made. Luffy stared at her as he opened the door, as if she were asking him if what he was doing was right, while Luffy raised an eyebrow.
“Are you looking at me like that, judging me? Would you let someone starve?” he mocked.
Reiju rolled her eyes, crossing her arms after handing him the food.
“That’s not what I meant. I would have fed her either way. I heard your conversation and I just hope you know how to make the right decision, Captain,” she said, emphasizing his responsibility as the ‘captain.’
“Since when don’t you all trust my decisions?” Luffy replied, while she nodded without saying anything else, not disagreeing with him.
“And I hope you’re not smoking anymore either,” Luffy said, as she scoffed.
“Don’t worry about that. I don’t intend to put my child at risk with that either,” she said, leaving shortly after, while Luffy returned to the room, placing the plate of food in front of Saint Venus.
“Here. Eat this,” he said, as she nodded and looked at him with curious eyes, as if she had the urge to kill him.
“Your crew doesn’t trust me, and yet you’re fine with that?” she asked carefully, as before, without her arrogance. She seemed to understand that her life had been saved.
“Don’t worry about my decisions, and they won’t bother you if I say so. I have faith and a good instinct for which path to follow. And you, even being from the people I intend to destroy, seem worthy of trust. That’s why I intend to treat you as a crewmate,” he replied.
She, though a little scared, felt something strange at those words.
“Anyway, I need to head out for a bit. There will still be some people on the ship. You can also use this Den Den Mushi,” Luffy said as he placed a snail next to her. “Call me if you need anything.”
With that, he turned and began to leave. Saint Venus looked at the food and couldn’t deny it smelled good, before looking back at Luffy’s back, keeping her gaze for a few seconds as she saw him reach the door.
“Elizabeth,” Luffy stopped when he turned the doorknob, glancing back at the woman lying down after hearing the name.
“What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Elizabeth is my birth name. You don’t need to call me Saint Venus. And make sure just ‘Elizabeth’ is fine. You wouldn’t want to know my last name, right?” she said, as Luffy gave a slightly surprised smile.
“Very well, Elizabeth. Call me Luffy or captain. Thank you for your trust, and welcome to the crew,” Luffy responded.
He left the room, while Elizabeth picked up the plate and ate delicately, as she had learned her whole life to behave among the highest class in the world.
Luffy walked off the ship, while Elizabeth ate her food with some eagerness and could also sense that Luffy was already leaving the ship after speaking with both women.
She couldn’t help but pout a little in the end, thinking he could no longer sense her presence, and relaxed slightly without needing to remain so serious as she blushed and ate her food more eagerly.
Luffy went to the other side of the city. At the same time, he remained airborne using Geppo. He couldn’t help but show a mysterious smile knowing how Elizabeth was reacting in his absence and moved forward toward the robot’s location.
Shirahoshi, Lucy, Kuina, Nojiko, Zoro, Hachi, Franky, and Vivi also joined them.
Luffy ate while retrieving some strawberries from the system for Shirahoshi, as she had requested. The others ate the food Reiju had brought earlier for them as well.
When they finished, there was a change in the robot — it finally began to shut down, its eyes dimming.
Luffy looked at it and sighed.
“We’ll have to move it later. You still want to keep the lab?” he commented, turning his gaze to Vegapunk, who was finishing shutting the robot down completely, since he wanted to study it while it was still functional.
“My lab is almost entirely destroyed, but the Mother Flame still withstood the impact of that monster. And yes, I would like to keep it. I’m lucky to have a backup of almost everything,” he said.
“Alright. We’ll find a new place. And I’m sure you’ll feel right at home when you see Caesar and the other scientists,” Luffy laughed, while Vegapunk grimaced.
“Working with Caesar is kind of complicated. I don’t think that’s going to work,” he muttered.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll deal with that when the time comes. Anyway, you want me to release Stussy, right?”
“Please. She’s an undercover agent. She’s not an enemy. I’ve been asking you for two days already,” Vegapunk exclaimed.
“How can I trust you when you even want to release York?” Luffy mocked.
“York might regret her betrayal,” Vegapunk murmured cautiously, but Luffy shook his head.
“I’m not budging on that. She’s going to pay for what she did. She betrayed you and would do it again. Having her loose is dangerous. We might ease her restrictions a bit, but she won’t have contact with the outside world,” Luffy said.
Vegapunk looked a bit lost but nodded.
“Anyway, let’s go to my ship once more. I’m sure you’ll be interested in seeing the admiral we captured along with the others,” Luffy said, and Vegapunk nodded.
They boarded the Black Pearl, while Luffy was satisfied knowing Elizabeth had eaten well and was sleeping at the moment.
He headed to the prison with Vegapunk, where they found the hallway filled with cells. His presence was soon noticed by the prisoners, each wearing a different expression upon seeing him.
The Marine vice admirals were full of rage at the sight of him, and one of them gritted his teeth, but Luffy ignored them as he moved forward, looking toward the last cells.
Borsalino was there, standing in the last cell. Luffy and Vegapunk found him sitting in the center of the cell, with shackles on his hands and feet.
He was an admiral — not someone easy to handle, especially if he managed to escape. Using his light powers, he could simply vanish into the sky and travel anywhere at the speed of light. It would be impossible to catch him, even for Luffy, unless he was close or prepared for it.
There were also CP0 agents, who cast dark looks at him. Luffy stopped for a moment, already grinning. They didn’t really know what had happened.
He grabbed a newspaper and handed it to Lucci.
“Look here. I made the front page of the paper two days ago,” Luffy laughed, while Lucci scowled at the sight of him plunging a sword into Saturn transformed into an Oni — a clear statement that he had killed two of the Gorosei and captured an admiral.
This was madness for the CP0 members, who now looked at Luffy with deep fear.
They only had some idea that Luffy had fought Saturn and the others, since Kizaru had been the last to fall. Although better informed at the end of the conflict, he had said that all five Gorosei appeared, but Kizaru lost consciousness while facing Enel.
And if they now sat in cells, imprisoned by pirates who brought them food daily, it only proved the government had failed.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Lucci muttered angrily.
“What else could you expect? It was interesting to see the greatest powers of the World Government fall. My crew and I put on quite a show,” Luffy said.
“How scary…” a bored voice came from the end of the hallway, and Luffy ignored it.
“Anyway, we’ll start later,” he said, heading toward another cell where Stussy was, and where he saw Vegapunk.
“Doctor,” she murmured upon seeing Vegapunk beside Luffy.
“Hey, you! Let me out! Let me out now, Vegapunk!” suddenly a voice came from the other side of the cell, as York grabbed the bars, demanding to be freed.
Luffy ignored her, and to the surprise of everyone present, he took a key and began unlocking Stussy’s cell, as she looked a bit surprised too.
“Well… I’ll trust Vegapunk. But don’t you dare betray us. Even if he claims you were created to help him, you’ll still have to earn that trust,” Luffy said, as she nodded and began to step out.
“Stussy?! What is going on?!” Lucci immediately protested, staring in shock at his companion, who now seemed more like a partner to the enemy than a member of CP0.
“My loyalty lies more with Vegapunk than with the World Government. So don’t be surprised,” she simply mocked, leaving the two government agents stunned.
“Let me out too! I demand it!” York kept yelling.
Luffy looked at her with a cold, unpleasant gaze, making her remember how she had lost consciousness under those eyes.
She immediately took a step back, though Luffy released his Haki anyway, knocking her down before she could keep talking.
He walked straight to the last cell, where Kizaru had a cautious look. Luffy didn’t waste time and held the newspaper up in front of him.
“As you can see, we’ve been stirring up the world quite a bit, who would’ve thought? I just wonder… what am I going to do with you?” Luffy said with a playful tone.
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