Fighting Fish Fish-Man

As much as Dellinger did not want to admit it, Bellamy is much more wiser than he originally gave him credit for.  These were words that the young, inexperienced teenager needed to here.  While Dellinger may have been a strong fighter and a valuable asset to the Donquixote family, he knew very little of the world outside that.  Bellamy was hardened by the cruel and unforgiving sea.  It was that kind of experience that Dellinger envied and wishes he would have some day.  

Dellinger turned to look at his ex crew’s Jolly Roger, front in center on his chest as he spoke about desperately wanting to belong and how he ‘never stood a chance’. The amount of dedication he went through to impress Doflamingo to only be used and cast aside.  How insulting it must have been to send him, the youngest officer in his crew to assassinate him.  Being spared from prison must have been how Bellamy felt when Doflamingo cast him aside; absolute humiliation.  Now Bellamy had a constant reminder of his past dreams and aspirations, permanently inked and for the world to see.  At least his own symbol could easily be hidden by his sleeve.  Dellinger pulled up his sleeve to reveal the same exact crossed out smiley face on the inside of his right forearm.  

“Sure, I may have belonged, but I never had a choice.”.  Dellinger finally spoke.  “Everyone who was part of the family had a choice from the start.  I had more than an earful of Marines lecturing me on the trip to Impel Down that I always had a choice and I could have ‘ran away if I wanted to.’  Every adult thinks they know what’s best for me and knows my situation.  What trash!  They know nothing!”, he ranted irritably.  Of course, not aimed at Bellamy, but at everyone else that claimed that they only wanted to ‘help him.’

“I didn’t choose the life of a pirate.  The life of piracy chose me, Bellamy!  I did have a family and while I loved them, I knew deep down that if I didn’t do what was expected of me, then I would be expendable.  Doflamingo may have said otherwise, but I knew the truth.  I later learned that he had kept many things from me…”, he stopped there for now, already knowing he said too much.  Dellinger was never good about keeping secrets.

He weakly smiles.  “I’m not sure how exciting the life of a dyer is, but at least it will keep the Marines away from you.  You are far more ahead than I am at figuring out this ‘life after piracy’ thing.  I’m still trying to figure that out.  So far, life hasn’t been kind to me since I started on my own.  I’m not really good for anything other than assassinating.  My current line of work has been serving the perverts in Dressrosa’s pleasure district.  It’s not safe work, but at least its fast money and enough to support myself and then some for the time being.”

     Lower teeth press under nails in idle consideration. Unkempt and chewed, a resemblance to the rest of him when it’s all said and done. It’s an image of a man not quite put together, pieces of something personal and glass that doesn’t belong attempting to fit into a puzzle where they don’t belong. Doesn’t really disrupt a figure determined to keep itself as a collected whole, but it doesn’t look right. A lot of self-discovery on the sea paints a portion of something truly worthwhile but it seems Bellamy is still a work in progress . 

     Eyes glancing towards an ink-stained chest are a reminder of the tank top abandoned on the back of a chair. Not often forgotten of late, but a momentary lapse in judgment in attempts to get something done is all it takes to be remiss. Fingers brush an outline and then down the surface of muscles, subconscious in mild doubt filtering into him from the tips. Perhaps one day he’d get it covered up with something more meaningful ─ something that doesn’t sting the chest every time his reflection comes up in a mirror. When the rush of an era dies down and time could be spared to spend the better part of a day sitting still in the same position, he’d consider it .

      ❝ Of course they don’t understand. Marines hardly ever do. The last thing they want to do is sympathize with a pirate. Feels like they’d rather lock themselves up than make any attempt at understanding anything outside their own beliefs. ❞ He can’t help but laugh at that thought; laugh at the irritable passion Dellinger shows him. It’s not at all deriding, more a sad understanding and a forgotten fondness he can’t quite place. ❝ But it sounds like you don’t really know what’s best for you, either ─ do you ? ❞

     Bellamy thought he knew himself at that age. So cocksure, so certain of everything. A map was drawn in idealistic colors and torn apart before it could ever be utilized. It was a dream crumpled like old parchment. The only thing he had discovered in the process was someone else. To think a crew supported all that folly beneath the idea they could make something unique out of the shadow of another tugs at a repressed feeling. It haunts him, thinking of all the time they wasted without knowing what would come of it. Just another weight to carry on his back, embroidered in memoriam on the back of an old jacket .

      ❝ We were all expendable─ ❞ acceptance with the kick of a loafer into fragmenting cracks of concrete─ ❝ just, none of us wanted to believe it. ❞ The very bottom of it all was clear as glass but the container was filled to the brim with lavish promises. What shined at the bottom was blinding. He had grown used to the glare long before the family did and yet still it went ignored. He tried, again and again, constantly bouncing back like a spring. It came as no surprise they all found that plight so entertaining. Would be well within his right to make a mockery of them all as he had so many others in the past, but he can’t bring himself to the thought .

He was surprised at the genuine concern Bellamy was displaying to him.  He had been prepared to mock or shame him for his current way of obtaining money.  Though, Dellinger certainly had his reasons.  “Originally, that was my plan.”, the horned teenager began to explain.  “It has always been a dream of mine to make and sell my own clothes.  I have been practicing on my own but without a proper apprenticeship or connections, I know I won’t get very far.”

He finally sat on an empty crate, willing to elaborate on his current situation.  “I had sought out to see if anyone would be willing to take me in and teach me the trade, just like you did, but it turns out, people don’t think very highly of fish-men, especially in the fashion industry.  That is, except for one place.”.  He hoped Bellamy knew what he was alluding to.  

“I remember young master talking about Fish-Man Island and how it was the home place to many of the slaves that were sold to the auction houses he owned.  I’m not sure if I have a chance of living a better life there, especially if they found out who I used to be associated with, but I would much rather take that chance than prostituting myself for the rest of my life here.  I do have a ship and have been stockpiling supplies with the money I’ve made, but I have another problem.”

This of course, was the main reason he seeked out Bellamy in the first place.  “I don’t know how to sail a ship or navigate.  Even if I did, there is no way a vessel like the one I have could be managed by one person.  This is why I’m here, so please...”, Dellinger got off the crate and bowed low to the ground.  “Please, take me to Fish-Man Island!  I can’t stand staying here anymore.  I know this is sudden and a lot, but please, I’m begging you!  I’ll do anything!  Name your price!”

Shit.  He didn’t expect a confrontation today.  Dellinger now felt guilty about even speaking up and wasting his young master’s time on something what Dellinger believed wasn’t really his problem.  He didn’t want to put anyone in the family under the bus, but at least it would be the truth.  

Would Doflamingo believe it if he said it was one his most trusted officers? He could lie and say it was Bellamy since that would be more believable and would just give more of a reason to kick him out of the crew but even Dellinger knew that his young master had zero tolerance for lairs.  

“Diamante told you that? Is this a joke?”

It’s a bold and grim accusation, the heavenly yaksha’s non-existent tolerance for inter-Family slander engraved in each of members. He thought that Diamante understood that, and the expectations he had regarding the treatment of the youngest. A bit of tough love was fine for toughening Dellinger up, but shit like that? Implying Doflamingo would cast him aside the second he became ‘useless’?

The boy seems distressed before him, and the Captain grills him under his stare, pressing him for truth, searching for lies.

          “It’s not if it’s possible or not. I do it because I want to. I decided to become the                                       Pirate King, I don’t care if I die fighting for it.”

Independent selective RP blog for Monkey D. Luffy. Please read rules and about before                                                                  interacting.

Dellinger groaned irritably.  She really thought she knew him inside and out just by reading a few papers her superiors gave her.  At least there was still a shred of hope.  He wasn’t given his sentence yet.  Why did the Marines have to make everything so complicated?

He lied on the ground next to the bars, now restoring to kicking childishly at them with his limited mobility’ making the most unpleasant clanging sound.  At least his shoes weren’t confiscated.  “I think I’d rather die than to wear only horizontal stripes.”, he pouted.  

“What consequences?  True, I’ve been ordered by my young master to kill, but not a single one of those targets were innocent people.  Most people I killed were participants in the Colosseum while the rest were other pirates.”

     One eyebrow rose in judgement of his actions, laying on the ground like a toddler and beating his feet against the bars of his cell, the heels resounding against the metal. He was concerned… about the fashion of the prison? 

     … That made her tilt her head. 

With Cora’s inability to talk and Dellinger’s inability to read or write, having a pen and paper on hand would not be an option either.  Fortunately Dellinger was good at reading people.  He was the grand champion at charades when he and his family would play it.  

So, that was a ‘not sure’ on Law’s location.  Shame.  He really wanted to meet him again.  Hopefully he wasn’t dead.  If he isn’t, he was sure he would some day.  Then came is shoes?  His footwear? No.  The color!  Pink…coat.  Doflamingo!

“You want to know about young master?”, he asked.  Dellinger grins.  “Only natural you would be concerned for him.  You are his brother after all!  Kyahahaha~!  He rules the country now.  He and the rest of the family live in the castle.  It’s a pretty sweet deal!  You should come see it!”

          For as little information had been provided for the kid to go off of, he did pretty well, immediately guessing after a heartbeat to what he meant. But the news still wasn’t the most ideal and welcome to hear… Doflamingo had been able to carry out his plans after all, and who knew what havoc and pain he wrought along that path to power. To his credit, Corazon managed to keep the grimace off of his face.

          There was no way Dellinger would know the reality of the family’s crimes as perceived by the rest of the world, not when he had been raised from a baby by essentially a cult leader. No doubt the teenager probably had quite the criminal record of his own, otherwise Doflamingo would’ve ’ freed ‘ him for not being useful to his cause. The blond paused for a moment, scratching at his hair past the hat as he considered his next move. He didn’t want to go see the castle or any of the others, and considered himself lucky just to only bump into this one.

          So he made the same gestures as before, pointing – pink, coat, and then his index finger then pointed to himself and next rose his to his lips in a sign of ‘ shhh. ‘ 

In all his years, Dellinger thought he would never meet a fellow horned person just like him. The headliner even had a very similar taste in fashion! He had to know where she got those heels! She kept her mouth hidden so he couldn’t tell if she was a fighting-fish woman or not. Dellinger shyly approaches her, wanting to ask her all sorts of questions but not wanting to annoy her. “Um..Miss Ulti?”

      Hm…?

      Ulti was focused on something else, perhaps in thought and thinking about her brother or the other Tobi Roppo…She barely noticed the…kid? Not quite a kid. But close enough- She took a glance over to full focus on her perhaps unwanted company. With a better look, she did notice a similarity in horns… Her eyebrows pursed downward a little, as she put her hands over her legs and tilted her head, squinting now.

@xdiez​ ❤’ed for a starter~!

Admittedly, Dellinger knew little about the Marines.  He had a very black and white view of them, being told that they were simply dogs of the World Government and arrested pirates like him if he was caught.  

This man, Drake has definitely seen his share of action on both sides of the spectrum.  While he doubt that he could really help much in terms of learning the status of his family, at least he could finally get some insight on what their fate may possibly be since his former bosses refused to comment on the matter.  

“I heard my family and young master was taken to Impel Down.  Do you think they could possibly still be alive in there?”

Blinking, the ginger folded the paper he was reading and put it away before peering at the young man from his seat on a few stacked crates in a more secluded part of the town. Like the majority of the people in the world, he was known as Diez Drake, former Supernova now a member of the Worst Generation whom had once been a Marine before turning traitor. This young man was informed of that much and that is likely why he had asked him such a question.

Was it also because the ginger was a pirate now that he considered him safe enough to ask about his family–the Doflamingo Family? The only family that had very recently been taken in by the Marines was that family, after all.

“The Doflamingo Family has been taken to Impel Down, young man,” he replied, staring at him. He belonged to the Family then? It was very likely, pretty much certain that he was, but he had slipped through the cracks. “Doflamingo is being kept separate from them due to being a very high level criminal. I would hazard a guess and say he is not in Level 6 but elsewhere within Impel Down because it is Doflamingo.” Glancing down at the newspaper briefly, his bright gaze settled on Dellinger once more.

Dellinger slowly sat down against the wall opposite of where Drake was sitting, hugging his legs close to him.  He began to rock back and forth, trying to calm himself before he did something he would regret.  Why wasn’t he taken with them?  

      Joker. This wasn’t him, not, it was one of his family. They served a purpose, a very specific purpose, of supplying SMILEs alongside with Caesar Clown. They did not usually interact, only indirectly with the delivery of the artificial fruits. And in fact–King didn’t exactly like how the Donquixote Family worked, they were inconsistent and unthinking of the risks. It was aggravating at best. 

      It was not so common for a member to approach him. Not one so young either. He suspected, from his remembering and research, this was one of the younger members–if not the youngest. So curious, a fishman hybrid? Was that it? A fishman at least. He could take that from the horns. OR a devil fruit? No… Briefings aside, he speculation was likely confirmed by his previous research on the family..

      It was curious, however. Why he was here? 

He approached the intimidating man curiously as this was his first time coming face to face with a Beast Pirate officer.  “Young master has to meet with your captain.  I wasn’t really told much.  Must be urgent if he needs to meet in person.”, he explained.

___

“Ah, Dellinger! Did your mission go well? You made it just in time, you know!”

Seiko never saw herself as being a pirate in the past, due to the savagery of the Beasts Pirates; but here she was. Ever since she was found as a runaway after escaping the World Nobles, only the Donquixote Pirates had given her shelter. It was hard at first, getting used to doing things considered evil from time-to-time, but Seiko had come to embrace it and her new family in her heart. And here she was now, the royal chef of the Kingdom of Dressrosa!

The whole country was very lively.  Celebrations in every inn and tavern, the colorful decorations, street food, parades, dancers; everything seemed to be going according to plan.  Even his recent mission had been a fairly swift and simple one.