Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sea is a comfort to pirates at all times of the day, but only a fool would not be wary of it.

Which is why, while his new captain snoozes next to him in their tiny dinghy, Zoro keeps watch over the nighttime waves.

It’s a quiet night and the ocean is peaceful. Food is a problem for the morning, so as far as Zoro is concerned, nothing is amiss.

For now, anyways. From what his captain tells him, its Luffy’s first week at sea and already he has managed to take out an entire pirate crew and a marine base, and recruit a former bounty hunter to his crew. Clearly anything is on the table at the moment.

A rather rough waves laps at the side of the boat, and Zoro looks over, slightly disgruntled that the relative peace is gone. Nothing’s there, so Zoro turns back –

Only to be met with two glowing orbs staring at him from the other end of the boat.

“HOLY SHIT!” Zoro flails around and nearly capsizes the boat. “What the fuck!?” His swords are drawn in a matter of seconds and –

And that’s his captain, giving him a sleepily confused glare from his end of the boat. His eyes are still shiny, but the scar on his face is faintly illuminated by the whole moon above their heads.

“Zoro?” Luffy says drowsily. “Wha- What’s going on?”

It takes Zoro a few moments to calm his heart long enough to respond. “Nothing, Captain.” He says eventually, and Luffy turns over to sleep again.

What the fuck, Zoro repeats inside his head, What the fuck.

-

Chopper doesn’t really change that much after his devil fruit– he’s still a reindeer after all, his eyes will always do strange thing in the dark – but it never stops Hiruluk from jumping three feet in the air every time he see’s Chopper at night.

His son is his son, reindeer or not, but that doesn’t mean he’s not terrifying sometimes.

(Two glowing orbs and a not quite human shape at the foot of his bed, shaking his leg in not-human hands – who wouldn’t be startled?)

-

Robin is perfectly aware of what being Devil Fruit eater means, and Usopp and Nami swear up and down, cross their hearts and hope to die, that she does it on purpose.

Robin can only chuckle as she walks through the town at dusk, a few extra limbs here or there. The town is quiet, in a way few places are, gothic in nature and kind at heart. She won’t receive harm here (especially not with her captain) only a silent reverence.

She holds a book in one hand and an apple in another, another two hands braiding her hair in the fashion of the island. A child looks out the door to her right and gives a little gasp. She smiles at him, winking five eyes at once, and continues on her way. The mother bows at her from the window – a thanks for not doing something Robin wouldn’t ever do now.

She arrives at the cemetery on the eastern side just as the sun sets, and breathes in the cold air.

Ah.

More eyes sprout upon her limbs, scattering across her like beautiful art.

A thousand glowing orbs stare at the old man by the ivy-covered headstone, and he does not breath till she passes.

Perfect.

She waltzes through the forest on her own, limbs and eyes still there. It’s a form of training, one Robin practiced over her two years – a way to test her stamina in keeping her limbs longer.

The added effect of something creepier than this realm is a very nice bonus after all.

“NICOOOO ROBIN!” Franky yells from the doc of the Sunny, the only one to use her full name as a title rather than an insult. “You look SUPER spooky tonight! Scare anyone?”

“A few,” She chuckles, and lets the limbs fall away into petals as she climbs aboard.

Save for one that is – she chuckles at Usopp’s startled yelp, presumably from a glowing eye upon her back.

Its only science – shouldn’t he be used to that?

-

Brook didn’t think he still had it till Nami poked him through his eye sockets.

“WHAT THE HELL!” She cried, visibly distressed. “YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE EYES!!!! YOU ARE ALREADY SPOOKY! WHY DO YOUR EYES HAVE TO DO THAT TOOO NOOOOOOO!” She wilts to the floor, her and Usopp clutching at each other.

“Oh?” Brook asks, curious.  “What do I have then? Nothing terrible I hope.”

“It’s nothing, Brook,” Robin answers for her distressed crewmates as Luffy peers at Brook, his own eyes flashing in the dark. “You just still have the eyeshine that’s all.”

“Oh! Splendid! – What is that again?”

Luffy hums, before shouting the answer in a sudden fit of discovery. “YOU HAVE SPOOKY EYES WITHOUT HAVING EYES!! THAT’S SO COOL! YOU HAVE TO JOIN MY CREW!”

“NO!” Nami and Usopp shut him down, but all Brook can do is laugh as his black hole eye sockets glint in the dim lighting of the fog. They are a rowdy bunch, aren’t they?

Chapter Text

Iceburg stared at the man in front of him, wondering what beyond the obvious was off-putting about him.

There was the pigeon on his shoulder of course, and his penchant for only speaking through that pigeon, but Iceburg had weirder than that on his team of master shipbuilders. His goatee was in a strange design and his silent stare put him off but…

There was remarkable skill in the boat that Lucci had made.

“You’re hired. I’ll get a team to show you around.” Iceburg turned and picked his nose, wondering belatedly if this man could be the World Government’s new watchful eye.

Nah.

Too obvious – a pigeon, really?

“Thank you!” The pigeon – or, Lucci rather, speaks, the man’s face himself remaining entirely impassive.

“Hmm. Well, Yes, yes… Paulie! Show Lucci here around!” He gestures with his hand absentmindedly. “Mm. I need to get a secretary.”

“Sure, Boss – Say Lucci, right? You got any cash to spare?”

Lucci nods to Iceburg on his way out, not saying anything, but he is unsettling non-the-less. Iceburg is sure he can get used to it however.

A light flashes in the corner from the sun, reflecting off the metal and shining directly at Lucci as he exits the door.

Ah. That’s what it was, Iceburg discovers as he realizes what put him off so about the man. Devil Fruit Powers.

You can’t mistake the shine in those eyes after all.

-

“I’m here to be your secretary sir.”

“What.”

The woman before Iceburg pushes up her glasses again, with an almost imperious manner. “I said, I am here to be your secretary sir.”

“I-“

“I heard you needed a secretary, so I stepped up to the plate. My name is Kalifa sir, it’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance.”

Well, its not like he didn’t need one.

“I guess… We can discuss payment inside?” He gestures to his office, albeit confusedly.

“No need sir.” The woman, Kalifa he supposes, says again with that imperious manner.  “I have it already written down, and you have to get to a press meeting in twenty minutes. The Yagaba is waiting.”

Okay then.

(Is it just him, or is there something off about this woman as well? Could she be the World Governments eyes on him?

She’s certainly upsetting enough.)

-

Two weeks later, and Iceburg’s walking to get a midnight snack when someone passes through the doorway in front of him. He’s been weary ever since Kalifa came, and stiffens with the thought that this could be an attempt on the blue prints.

He peers into the kitchen, and is met by the sight of two, shining orbs, standing ominously in the middle of the kitchen.

“Wha-“

Theres a familiar gesture in the shadows, of someone pushes their glass up, and the orbs are no more.

He turns on the light.

“Kalifa?”

“Apologies for startling you sir, your schedule had a midnight snack in it, I’d thought I’d be ready.” She puts down the plate of cookies in her hand, steaming hot from being freshly Reheated.

“Ah. Thank you.”

Another devil fruit user. He should stop being surprised at this rate – this is the Grand Line after all.

Anything can happen.

“You’re welcome sir.”

-

Blueno the barman is a devil fruit user, this Iceburg notes immediately as he walks into the bar. His eyes flash unsubtly in the dim light of the bar, and every swish of the head attracts Iceburg’s eyes to him.

Granny Kokoro, next to him and with a message from Franky, sees it to.

“Another one aye? I was told one of your foremen had eyes like flashlights.”

“Mm,” He responds, taking a sip of his drink, “That would be Lucci. My secretary is the same. I don’t know what fruits however, and it would be rude to pry.”

Kokoro slaps Iceburg on the back. “Ha! Since when has that stopped you?”

Blueno is watching him closely, though Iceburg is sure, devil fruits barred, that he can’t hear them from the cacophony Franky’s thugs are making in the corner, in order to hush out the information Kokoro has.

Still.

(A spy? No, there were too many missed opportunities at this point.)

“I don’t suppose it has.” He answers her, looking to move the conversation on.  “Now what were you saying about. Franky’s message?”

“Ah!” She chugs back her drink. “He says that if you keep on building on the south side he’s going to raid your mansion.”

Iceburg snorts, and all is well.

“He can dream, the idiot.”

-

“My dream is to be a shipwright, whippersnapper! So hire me please! I’m a ship mechanic!”

Iceburg blinks and blinks again at the man who quite literally jumped into his office. At least this one for sure can’t be a spy, because what kind of spy jumps across an entire city for a job interview?

“Sure.” He says, not really caring, Kalifa would have stopped him by now if he was a bad choice for a hire.

“You won’t regret this!” The man – had he even introduced himself yet? – shakes his hand rapidly.

“Of course,” he says in turn, and that’s the end of it.

-

The next week comes with a flurry of rumors about lights that flash in the sky, around the same time of Kaku’s rooftop runs.

Orbs that glance down and glimmer in the low lights, that hover ominously before free falling down abandoned building sides, and the odd elongated proportions that appear with it.

Iceburg, when the rumors reach his own ears, puts his head down and sighs.

He should have known.

-

Five years later, he should have ignored their devil fruit powers and gone with the instinct that the World Government has some godawful spies that bullshitted their way into (almost) succeeding.

He sighs in a manner oddly similar to a sigh five years ago.

At least there will be no more lights in the sky.

“BOSS!” Paulie slams open the door, familiar pirate in tow. “LOOK WHAT THE STRAW KID’S EYES CAN DO!”

Iceburg retracts his former statement.

Oh well. This is the Grand Line after all.