The Princess and The Swordsman (ZoroxOC)

Capter 129

Sanji and Rosa were sitting at a table together when Sanji hummed, "Now that I think about it, Noland's family name was also Montblanc. Does that mean you two are related somehow?" Sanji asked. Nami looked at Cricket, "Is he right? And is this island the one mentioned in the fairytale?" Nami asked. Cricket looked away and hummed, "Yeah. Noland's my grandfather's, grandfather. He's a distant ancestor of mine. I am his descendant. But we're so far removed, I doubt there's even a single drop of his blood in my veins. The Montblanc family was driven out of the North Blue country a long time ago, and we've managed to keep a very low profile ever since. People still denounce the family name. But we've never despised him for this." he said in a calm voice.

"But why?" Chopper asked as Cricket took a puff of his cigarette, "Because Noland, contary to popular belief, was a very honest person." Cricket answered. Nami looked confused, "That's not what the fairytale said." she remarked, "As the story goes, Noland's last words were as follows, 'I can only assume that the city of gold sunk into the sea.' This line is accompanied by an idiotic face in the illustration. But Noland was no idiot. He knew what he saw, and I believe he wasn't lying about it. Noland was sure the island he stumbled upon, where he found the ruins of a city of gold, was the island of Jaya. But when he returned with the king, there was no gold. Unsuccessful, he insisted that the ancient city had submerged due to shifts in the Earth's crust. But everyone dismissed this as the last-ditch excuse of a doomed man. Noland was given a public execution. When he died, so did his discoveries. Only the legend of the liar remained." Cricket finished

"I get it! You're trying to find the ancient city of gold at the bottom of the sea in order to finally clear the Montblanc family name and prove Noland right." Usopp exclaimed. Cricket pulled out a gun and aimed it at Usopp, "Don't be ridiculous." he argued and fired his gun, purposfully missing Usopp as Chopper shouted. We all stared at Cricket as he continued, "I don't really care if the ancient city of gold exists or not. The actions of my ancestor have nothing to do with me and my life. You can't possibly begin to imagine what it's like as a kid for everyone to laugh at you and ridicule you because you're a descendant of that idiot, Noland. That's what I've delt with my whole life." he snapped and Rosa lost her cool, "Just a descendant, Cricket? You got off easy with everyone only laughing at you and ridiculing you! But your past is nothing to mine!" she shouted and we all looked at her.

"Try being the only child of two traitors! Try growing up, with everyone not laughing and ridiculing, but hating, bullying, and trying to kill you because your parents were traitors to the Marines! Being the child of Marine traitors is far worse then being the distant descendant of a liar! You had it easy compared to my whole life, Cricket! Constantly, I was treated like an outcast, like a traitor, even though I never betrayed anyone! People have tried to kill me all because of who I am! You really think you had it bad? you don't even know the half of it, Cricket!" Rosa snapped as tears ran down her face, "Rosa?" I asked softly as, she quietly sobbed, "Your past was easy compared to mine! I never belonged anywhere because of my parents, hell, my mother was executed before my very eyes for betraying the Marines! I've been on my own since I was 5 when my Dad was murdered and my mother executed! You don't know real hardships until you've lived through that! So don't say no one understands, because you don't either!" Rosa finished and ran out the door in tears.