Opavia vl.2

9.

Jimbei stared up at the sky as he steered the navy ship, luffy seated next to him. crocodile looked up as a shadow passed over the sun briefly, narrowing his eyes.

"what was that?" he muttered. the crew suddenly gave out horrified yells, buggy fleeing to the top deck desperately.

"what's going on?!" he fretted as the crew gathered below him. mr.2 crawled up onto the deck as well, shaking in pure horror.

"t-t-t-t." footsteps hit the air, a long dragging-noise following the action.

"t'kai!" he cried, the large man revealed. he held his bow in one hand, tossing a marine's head in the other. he stopped, jimbei narrowing his eyes.

"t'kai." crocodile dipped his head, jimbei doing the same.

"this crew should learn some respect." his necklaces clanged against one another. "kneel."

buggy was the first to kneel, the men rippling down anxiously until only mr.1, luffy, jimbei, and crocodile remained. t'kai tilted his head back and laughed, sitting down on a barrel. he poked a hole in another barrel with his knife and brought it to his lips, drinking the alcohol inside.

he sighed, tossing the empty barrel overboard before wiping his mouth.

"t'kai." jimbei hummed. "always one to put on a show."

"i heard about your escape from impel down and i had to come see this straw hat kid." he hummed, looking down at luffy. luffy stared up at him.

"he looks like his father." he glanced at jimbei.

"so you know about dragon too?"

"of course." he mused. "and i know he's the captain of the crew my daughters are in."

"your daughters?" he cocked his head. t'kai blinked, glancing at jimbei. his tail flicked.

"uh? do you know who i am?"

"no." the crew fell back in disbelief as t'kai laughed.

"luffy, that's t'kai the warlord." jimbei hummed. "oboiye, vitani, kendrick and kierra's father."

luffy's eyes widened and he suddenly grinned in excitement. "father?!" he yelled, t'kai smirking.

"so this is the kid who's going to save ace?" t'kai looked at crocodile who hummed and nodded.

"you look just like them!" luffy yelled, laughing as t'kai raised an eyebrow.

"you've met my children?"

"yeah, kendrick met up with us up at skypeia and oboiye met up with us at enies lobby but helped us fight gecko moria a while ago." he beamed, t'kai humming.

"and ada?"

"who's ada?" luffy cocked his head.

"their mother."

"oh yeah! she was at skypeia! her and some frog guy-"

"zeda." he hummed.

"yeah and baltay and everyone else! they've got hundreds o-" t'kai covered his mouth.

"that's enough." he glanced at crocodile and rose. "so it's true you're going to marinford? are you not aware of the battle ahead? with whitebeard an-"

"i don't care!" luffy yelled, t'kai turning to look down on him.

"who was speaking to you?" he drew his lip up in a snarl.

"i have to save ace regardless! he's my brother!" luffy snapped. "and if you're a warlord why the hell are you here?!"

t'kai rose and faced luffy, glaring down at him. luffy's eyes widened, watching t'kai sigh.

"i'm resigning." he snapped. "i'm not fighting with the navy in this battle." he explained. "i'll be fighting with whitebeard."

"what?!" the crew yelled, t'kai turning angrily.

"shut the hell up!" he snapped.

"why?" jimbei hummed.

"it's a suicide battle. and i don't want the trouble of putting myself against an old friend of mine." he explained. "plus, i hear my daughters will be there. i'm interested to see how much their combat skills have developed."

"vitani and kierra?!" luffy yelled, t'kai nodding.

"hey, did you know that ace kid is with kierra?" he leaned down, luffy nodding.

"yeah."

"geez, where have i been?" t'kai sighed. he looked over his shoulder, closing his eyes briefly. "i should be leaving soon then. i need to make a stop before i heard over."

"wait!" luffy yelled, t'kai turning to look down at him. "so you're going to be fighting to save ace?"

"you could say that." he shrugged, luffy beaming. "thank you!"

"don't mention it." t'kai turned, his body fading into thin air. luffy watched in awe, jimbei humming.

"so i was right to think that was a hallucination." he rubbed his forehead, the barrel t'kai supposedly drank out of fading back to normal.

"what- what do you mean a hallucination?" luffy stammered.

"t'kai's oblaid is much stronger than our typical devil fruit powers." crocodile murmured.

"he has complete control over the sun. he can manipulate it, strengthen the rays so everyone sees certain hallucinations. or he can take it away. move it at his will." jimbei added. "that is why he is the king of opavia. he is one of the strongest people out on sea. it's good to become his friend."

"seemed pretty scary to me." buggy rubbed his head.

"once you get to know him he's pretty laid back. he's not much of a fighter though." jimbei murmured. "that's why i was surprised to hear he's entering this battle at all."

"luffy." crocodile turned and gave a wicked smirk. "how does it feel to have opavia's finest on your side?"

luffy's eyes seemed to widen before giving a determined grin.