Back to the Basics

Back at HQ
Knock Knock.

The sound of someone knuckles clapping against the other side of the door cause the man in the room to rise from his slumber. His entire torso, even his shoulders, and neck had been wrapped in bandages and the immediate expression on his face showed that he had truly been in pain. Despite the room being dark, his golden eyes managed to give off their own light as he looked around the room he'd been in.

Removing the suspense, this man was Ferrothorn Solomon. Recently, Solomon's life had been heavily active. Everything started ever since he had been assigned to Cape Island. He went from defending the island from the horrific Obese Pirates to facing off against a Yonko commander, then finally facing against the near full might of a Yonko crew. To put it simply the Marine soldier's agenda had been pretty heavy, but among all of that only one of those events managed to way heavy on his mind.

The ultimate betrayal he had to face from his younger brother, slightly crippled him mentally. He basically declared war against the entire world as a whole, but more specifically their father. In the midst of all of his thinking, the door swung open even without his own calling.

"Sooooollllloooommmooooonnnn-saaaaammmmmaaaaa~" The voice sang as the door opened. A pink-haired girl entered the room and good god almighty was her appearance one to behold. As mentioned she possessed pink-hair which went well with her dazzling pink eyeballs. Her shape itself was lovely, but it was her bust that completely overshadowed that.

"You've been in here for three days, Solomon-sama!" In her hand was a clipboard when she threw onto Solomon's lap all while plopping onto the bed herself. "I know you don't plan on sitting in bed and rotting away!" Her smile was large despite her lips being the complete opposite.

Solomon moved the clipboard to his side, as he slowly moved so he could get out of bed. "Paris, why didn't you wait for me to say come in?"

She chuckled, "Well, because if I had, you wouldn't have let me in. Pluuuuuuuus, I promised Miss Roselia, that I didn't need her help getting you out of bed and that I would do so before she would finish eating lunch!"

The ebony's eyes widened, he sprung out of bed as though nothing had been wrong with him to begin with. "WHAT BED?! Haha, I wasn't resting or slacking, I had been meditating. Yeah, Roselia knows that I don't know why she'd tell you to come to get me out of bed! It's my culture, we do it once a month!" Solomon truly had fear in his heart. "I'm up Paris! Make SURE you tell her," Solomon moved his hands as though he had been picking something up, "I am AWAKE!"

He took a quick pause, "Wait," he lifted his eyebrow. "You said she went to lunch. With who?" Curious the Marine was. This was particularly unusual for Roselia who usually had lunch with either Solomon or Doge. But Doge was away for the moment, so exactly who could she be with?

Paris shrugged her shoulders, "I dunno, she mentioned..." Her eyes went to the roof of her sockets as she placed her finger on her lip, "Um, some "Emer" or something like that."

"Emer?! You mean, Verde Emer?!" Solomon grabbed his chest as though he'd been stabbed in the heart. "Ain't that about a-.. My old man loves that lady! To this still, I don't quite get how someone with the attitude of Roselia could even be able to hang around a Supermodel of Emer's status." Throwing his hand on his chin, he entered a thinking state, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Haha," Paris smile, "It's good to see you at least have some life in you Solomon-saaaaaama~. Also..." She lifted herself from the bed but slowly began to head towards the exit of the room. "Thank you for bringing her down, Onii-sama. I know it wasn't done by my hand, but it makes me... it makes me feel better to know that there is a chance of hope getting Autumn back soon."

Just before reaching the door to exit, she turned around to face Solomon who's back had been towards her. "Is.. what Miss Roselia reported true about Braxton?"

Before he could respond he instantly thought, "Damn." His eyes closed, "Roselia gave them the rundown already, even know it would completely destroy Pari-"

"You don't have to hide it from me, Onii-sama. I'm older now, Solomon. Just whatever you do, make the right choice." Pulling the door open, she exited in a much more rough fashion than she had entered slamming it behind her.

At At Unknown Location...

Two women sat at a table on an island seemingly isolated from the rest of the neighboring lands. It couldn't have been more than five hundred square meters just right in the middle of the ocean. The waves were violent, but due to the "lands" geographical make of how high up it was, it was nearly impossible for these waves to disturb these two.

The woman on the left had long red hair and she seemed to be a bit more curious than the woman who sat across from her. Her captain's jacket hung over the back of the seat, a simple signification that she was indeed a member of the Marines and she was Chartinger Roselia. She tapped her crossed arm obviously her curiosity could not be contained.

"What is it, sis?" Roselia asked, as her taps grew faster and faster.

The short cut green haired women lifted the small tea cup closer to her face and took a slow sip. She wore a very tight fitted dress and a fur coat over her shoulders in the same manner as Roselia. "Now now, sis. No need to be in so much of a rush." She used her hand to pull her bob behind her ear and then placed the cup on the table. "Before we get into why I called you here, girl, I think you have to tell me about a bit of a situation that happened with that Ferrothorn brothers."

Roselia smashed her hands on the table. Lava formed around both of her fist, instantly creating holes through them where he arms slipped right through. "You know what happened, Emer!" She shouted, her rage filling as she spouted each word. "The youngest one, Braxton, found it."

"Girl, you better calm down. I'm not the one who failed the mission big sis gave me." While Emer's words were sly, they were true. Roselia seemed to have failed her "mission" yet to be explained.

"Shit, it seems she gave me the hardest mission out of all us commanders. Why couldn't she have given it to that dyke, Anne?" The woman leaned back and returned to her folded arm position. "Then she goes on to die on all of us."

Emer locked eyes with Roselia, "She didn't 'go on and die on all of us'. You and I both know that situation was nearly inevitable. I won't let you talk ill-will towards, Big Sis." She took another sip from her cup, "Besides, we both know Bonney Anne would have blown the mission you were given ten years ago. I haven't heard from her since the split, for all we know she's dead. You were given the mission of joining the Marines and watching over the Yggdrasil Kingdom and you went beyond that mission by working under the prince, Ferrothorn Solomon. Don't regret your mission after over ten years just because you've partially failed it and let someone find and eat it. I was told to live my best life and Gallon Margie was tasked with getting him to safety and joining a new crew to still live on the seas and look over him."

She cleared her throat and took another sip. "So don't complain about something you've failed... especially since you took the mission reluctantly when she gave it to you."

Roselia rolled her eyes, "Times have changed, I now see how much trouble the Marines went through chasing Pirates and trying to get us was a whole different matter. Yet, like you said, I've partially failed." Leaning back up to the table, she held up one finger. "There's still a way to retrieve it and that's through Solomon himself."

"You're sick." Emer teased, lifting a bag from the ground and placing it on the table.

"Am I? Or are you, using your looks granted by Big Sis to keep us all looking as we were ten years ago. Did you brinf what I told you to bring?"

"Hey, it's all apart of the mission. Besides, no one believed her when she spoke about that fountain anyway." Reaching into the bag, Emer pulled out a light brown round fruit and held it in her hand. "And yes, the Hani Hani no Mi, as requested by the failure."

With a glare, Roselia responded, "Watch it, Emer." Extending her reach out further, she grabbed the devil fruit and surveyed each inch of its make.

"What is it you plan on doing with this?" Emer asked.

The red-haired woman leaned back yet again, "There's this lieutenant that works under Solomon, Jenkins Paris. I've watched her struggle to get stronger under Solomon all so that she could get her friend back. This here will do it, it'll give her that boost in power that she's missing."

"You better be making the right decision, failure."

"Oh trust me," she said, standing to her feet and a large smile on her face, "She has that same fire in her eye that Big Sis did when she first found me. This is far from a mistake."

"I hope so, it's a memento to sis Hannah. I don't want it in the hands of anyone, but if you said it's that same look, then I'll believe you."

Roselia nodded and placed the fruit inside of her jacket and began to turn as though she'd been readying herself to leave.

"Wait, Sis..." Emer stated, stopping Roselia in her tracks as she reached into her bag. "Since you didn't bring this up, that means you don't know anything about it."

Roselia's eyebrow lifted, "About what?"

Sliding a bounty paper across the table Emer tapped on the name. "Buster....D....." She said, dragging each word out, before Roselia stepped in and took over as though it were an open ended duet.

"Zack... That name.. is that, actually him?"

Emer nodded, "You see the pendant right?" Reaching into the neck portion of her dress she pulled out a pendant that was strikingly similar to the one Zack wore around his neck in that image. "That's Amaka's pendant."

Roselia burst into tears.

END'