One Piece: Overlord Buggy, The Blues

Questions and Existential Crises

"Um.. you'll.. just answer my questions? Just like that?" My surprise showed through my voice.
"I can't really do anything now, can I?" He just looked at me like I was stupid.
"Oooh-kay then. Well, since you're so willing to talk, I'll just ask straight out. What were you planning to do with that Devil Fruit?"
I saw him tense up before looking at me, sweat forming on his face.
"So, you found it? I don't know how long I was out, but that must've taken a while to find and open."
I just pressed my lips together and thought 'I used Haki, which was over done, but done anyways.'
"I'll tell ya though, I was hoping to get a bunch of money, and then retire. I didn't really want to be a pirate, but the free life took me in, and now, with my devil fruit ability, I'm able to get more money to retire. I was gonna go and live on a random island, free from anyone trying to rule over me. But I guess that's a pipe dream now."
Closing my eyes for a second, I thought 'I mean,if I didn't have a bunch of obscure knowledge, I guess I probably would do the same thing. Wait, why am I not doing that?' I nodded to myself. 'Oh yeah, a promise to Captain to become the best Buggy I can be. It's too bad I have a lot of ways to become better, otherwise I could stop here and go retire by myself. I have some obligations now though, to like.. Taki, Mari, Alice, the shipyard, and even Roger. This's gonna be a freaking long journey ahead. I gotta go with the flow and still use my own plans. Great. Now, what was happening before? Oh yeah, Rodon was gonna retire after getting a bunch of money.'
Coming back to reality, I looked at Rodon and asked "So, have you killed people before? I assume that you had to get a bunch of money somehow, so did you kill people for money?"
He looked at me like I was crazy, and then scrunched his face.
"I haven't killed anyone. I've mostly just gotten money by robbing people! You know I punch people, and that they can't touch me, right?"
"That.. you punch people? I guess your devil fruit ability can do that. Just.. using a lot of control over it. Cool." I nodded.
And then I knitted my eyebrows.
"Were you going to retire by yourself? The way you made it sound, you wanted to get a bunch of money and then go your separate ways. Is there a reason for that or.....?"
Rodon went silent, putting his head down.
"Ya know what? Those guys were my crew, and yet, Aphra only acknowledged me as the captain, not following orders most the time thanks to her.. the way she acts. And Helven, don't get me started on him. He and Aphra were together in secret! So they always were in sync! They were just following me for my name! Having a captain with a high bounty meant a captain with more strength, so they could do less!"
'oh Director, he's having an existential crisis.'
"I WAS BEING USED! THE REST OF THOSE GUYS WERE JUST FOLLOWING ME FOR THE FAME OF BEING UNDER A GUY WITH A 52 MILLION BERRI BOUNTY!"
He looked at me like he had gone crazy, finally going through everything that had happened.
"THEY'VE THROWN ME AT MORE MARINES TO STOP THEM THAN THEY HAVE BEFORE, ONLY WHEN THERE WAS NO OTHER CHOICE, like during my fight with your partner, DO THEY ACTUALLY FIGHT! I ENDED UP STEERING THE SHIP! ME! I HAD A HELMSMAN AND YET, HE WAS BASICALLY STOLEN TO BE USED BY APHRA! THE ONLY ACTUAL PERSON WHO HELPED ME WAS JAYDEN! SHES THE NAVIGATOR AND THE LOOKOUT! MY ONLY ACTUAL FRIEND! OUT OF EVERYONE ON MY CREW, ONE PERSON ACTUALLY WAS MY FRIEND!"
By the end of his yelling, he was looking up at me, and had some tears running down his face, realizing he was betrayed by most of 'HIS' own crew.
"Okay, then those two kinda deserved what I did. I didn't know I actually did a good thing, at least, for you." I pointed at Rodon, and he said "I BET THEY DESERVED ALL OF WHAT YOU DID TO THEM! I DONT NEED THOSE IDIOTS ANYMORE!"
I then thought on what he had said before. 'Wait. A friend of his in his crew? Her name being Jayden? I don't remember cutting a woman, the entire crew was men, right?' using some quick Observation, I looked around and found where she was.
"Um, Rodon, I know you're like.. going through a whole.. existential crisis and all.. but does your friend Jayden happen to be in the crow's nest? It's.. the only place I didn't look."
"WHY. WHAT'RE YOU GONNA DO?" He snapped at me.
"Um, well.. I'm gonna bring her down here. Duh."
Using Geppo without waiting for Rodon to say anything else, I ended up finding the person named Jayden pretty quickly. I landed in the crow's nest on the center mast, behind a person, making them jump.
They turned around and held a knife towards me saying "D-don't do anyt-t-thing!"
Looking at her, she had shortened, shoulder length, semi-curly, silver hair, an actually pretty face surprisingly, a giant light white shirt, some also light white pants, and some sandals.
I sighed and rubbed my eyes at her holding this knife at me.
Holding up one finger, I said "One, calm down."
Holding up a second finger, I continued "Two, climb down, you aren't really that threatening."
Putting up a third finger, I finished by saying "I'm not gonna tie you up, Rodon just seemed mad, and you seem to be the only person he trusts, Jayden."
"WHO ARE YOU, AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Standing there without moving, I thought out loud "Well, I'm trying to do something. I don't particularly know what I'm doing, but it seems to be a subconscious need to help someone who isn't as bad as the others, and help them through.. a mental breakdown? I think?"
"W-what?" The knife Jayden was holding started to shake, and it lowered a little.
"Yeah, I don't know. It's.. I think.. a moral thing. For me. To do. Right now. I think."
We just ended up standing there awkwardly. Until we both heard Rodon yell "YOU BETTER NOT DO ANYTHING TO HER! I WILL ACTUALLY KILL SOMEONE IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO HER!"
I looked over the edge and yelled back down "WITH WHAT YOU EXPLAINED, I DON'T HAVE A NEED TO HURT HER, YOU'RE ACTUALLY A DECENT PERSON EVEN IF YOU ROB A BUNCH OF PEOPLE! IT'S DREAM THAT REQUIRES... STUFF TO HAPPEN, SO.. *SIGH* ..I HAVE A PROPOSITION FOR YOU!"
I turned to Jayden.
"Feel free to.. I dunno, come down and say hi to Rodon or something."
And then, I jumped down to talk to Rodon again.
Without any hesitation, Rodon asked "You have a proposition for me?"
"Ye- *sigh* yes. I do. Technically, right now, I should be bringing you to a.. marine base to get your bounty."
He paled a little, and stared at me like I had just become worse in his eyes.
"But.. *sigh* ..I don't think I should really do this.. but *sigh* you.. can.. go. I don't approve of how your getting money, but you have a bounty and you could do way worse."
I sat down and looked at Rodon, noticing his face went to utter confusion.
"You... A bounty hunter... Would just let someone with a bounty.. of 52 million berri.. just walk away?"
"Yeah, don't make me regret the decision to even let you go."
I then felt a knife against my neck.
A voice that was trying to be threatening and failing came from behind me.
"Let.. HIM.. GO."
Without turning around, I knew it was Jayden.
"So, a scared girl behind me, with a knife to my neck, is demanding I let him go. Guess I can do that."
I then walked over, and dragged Rodon out of the water, and pulled him onto the deck, then saying "I hope I don't regret letting you go free. Please don't bother me, and if we do meet again, please have an actually good crew. It would be great to have a loyal one.
Rodon, as soon as his strength came back, he picked up Jayden, and ran towards a dinghy hanging off the side of his ship, and without much hesitation, they left.
"Man, I REALLY hope I don't regret that."
I turned for a second, starting to walk away, and then remembered "I never asked him about his.. Jolly Roger. Oh well, I'll use it anyway, I'll have to find a Tailor to to make the jacket, but it'll be a while."
I realized I now had a big ship, and didn't know what to do with it. 'I can sell this, probably for a lot. I don't think anyone else on this ship had a bounty. If they did, oh well. They're just staying tied up.'
I then looked at the Twin Capes and asked myself "Is Crocus there, or not?"