The Tinkerer [One Piece FanFic]

Chapter Eleven

~ Maddox's POV~

After getting Luffy to calm down and establishing that Aokiji wasn't arresting any of us, a small group of beaten up malnourished shipwreck victims flooded out of the surrounding jungle. Sanji prepared them all food, Chopper tended to the sick and injured, Nami and I helped with the two small children. The admiral seemed to be unmotivated, lazy and didn't make the most sense whenever he tried to say anything he seemed to lose his train of thought or forget what he was trying to say, so for the time being he didn't seem very threatening.

While we all tended to the shipwrecked civilians he napped near the giant boulder without a care in the world, though Robin was still anxious. Aokiji said he had let her go once and after insulting her and rubbing us all the wrong way, none of us were eager to keep his company and Luffy had already rudely told him to leave. Cog had run up and tried to peck the admiral on the forehead while he was sleeping and now Usopp was holding him in an attempt to keep him subdued. Unfortunately for Usopp Cog wasn't a fan of him either, so he ended up with a few nasty peck wounds.

I looked to Robin concerned for her well-being, she hadn't moved much since we'd run into the admiral and still looked shaken. Everyone began discussing how the shipwrecked civilians were going to get off the island when the admiral piped up nonchalantly that he could get them to a nearby inhabited island, though he only had a bike with him for transport. Everyone, including the civilians, seemed doubtful this man could help. Robin finally spoke up and reassured everyone that Aokiji could get them off the island. There was fear in her eyes and I felt uneasy as we all headed to the shore.

The lazy admiral stepped forward and dipped his hand into the water, stirring one of the many Seakings near the coast. It reared its ugly head from the water and made a move to lunge for everyone standing on the shore.

"Ice Age!" The admiral cried and I felt my knees weaken as the ocean before us froze, freezing the attacking Seaking with it. The ice stretched as far as the eye could see. How was that possible? Even with a devil fruit ability, to freeze that much of the ocean, in one move. This man was not to be underestimated.

I shivered as a chill swept through the air and stared at the lazy admiral in awe. Was his nonchalant aloofness all in act? Was he trying to lull us into a false sense of security before striking us all down? My brain started to work in overdrive trying to pick apart his devil fruit ability as the others helped the civilians onto the ice. Obviously, the water gave him plenty of material to work with, but could he also use the moisture in the air?

Admiral Aokiji went to sit on the plush grass and watch as we sent off the civilians across the ice and said our goodbyes to them. I eyed him suspiciously as he appeared to be watching Luffy and Robin intently. It was making me uneasy.

Nami approached me after a moment as I began mentally calculating what I could do to remove the moisture from the air and nullify his attacks if he turned on us. "Maddie, are you okay?"

I jumped and recovered with a wry smile, "Yep."

Nami frowned at this, "What's wrong?"

"I just have a bad feeling, I think we should leave." I grimaced as I looked over at Aokiji.

Luffy and the others headed back from the ice and noticed the Admiral appearing to be pondering something and struggling with what to do with whatever he was pondering. "What?" Luffy asked bluntly as he faced Aokiji.

I looked to Horace, Oswyn and Cog. As if sensing my growing discomfort, they all took a step a closer to me, their eyes beginning to glow faintly.