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.