i_speak_softly | Forty-Second Theory [Voice/Action for Housemates]

[Don is feeling a little claustrophobic today. The number of vehicles he has stashed in his workroom has increased to five over the past week, and he's running out of room to build more. He'd been hoping that the wet, overcast weather would break so he could take his work outside, but that didn't exactly pan out. It is sunny today, but it's also unseasonably cold.]

[Determined to continue his work anyway, Don has shoved all the furniture out of the way and set up camp in the living room, surrounded by a mass of lightweight canvas and metal struts. Hang-glider Number Four is now Under Construction.]

[It's been quite some time since he asked a general question over the journals, so he decides to do so now. Companionable conversation is just what he needs to make the repetitive work go faster.]

If you had access to Shifting technology, and could change something about the world - what would you do? How long would you make it last?

[He also has some things he wants to talk about with Mike and Master Splinter - separately, that is. If they don't stop by while he's working, he'll be looking for them later.]

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Either.

In my world I'd lock up all the pirates.

In this one, I'd create a stronger infrastructure.

Why not just make it so pirates never existed?

[It's fun to be devil's advocate.]

Because I don't believe in utopias being real.

Not even for the sake of a thought exercise?

Hn...

I wouldn't say never. Pirates could have an acceptable time and place.

[He is quite surprised to hear you admit that.] Okay, so a world with pirates in jail, where you can retrieve them if you need them.

[Smoker is like an onion or something. Layers. Also he got backed into a corner.]

That's not why they're put in jail. They're not necessary, and definitely shouldn't be used like shichibukai.

"Seven ocean battles"...?

Seven warlords of the sea.

In my world the Pirate King was the strongest pirate, but in his wake four pirate captains rose to the rank of "Pirate emperor." Red-hair Shanks, Whitebeard, Kaidou, and Big Mam. The marines alone can't combat all of the pirates in the world, and any two of those big four factions require the entire marine force of the Grand Line to deal with. So the shichibukai are ex-pirates who were offered sanction in exchange for help dealing with other pirates and to be at call in case one of the pirate emperors decided to make their move.

However, they're still pirates. They're completely untrustworthy. Crocodile tried to take over the world starting with Alabasta, Jinbei outright refused to help fight Whitebeard and went on a rampage, Boa Hancock is a bitch who fought more marines than pirates during the battle, Blackbeard broke prisoners out of Impel Down, and even the rest all have their own agenda.

Bukai... mm.

Allies among your enemies. I see why you can't trust them.

Seeing as I've had to work against half of them now, yeah, I'd say they aren't trustworthy.

[He's silent for a moment. Then:] Do you ever trust them again, after that?

I didn't trust them in the first place.

It wasn't your idea to work with them?

Of course not. The brass got desperate which made them stupid.

[Now the parallel is making him uncomfortable.]

Can I ask what was so bad that they decided to team up with their enemies?

We're heavily outnumbered and the thought was to use their own strengths against them.

Usually a good strategy...

Tch. I'm all for letting pirates fight pirates, but they aren't going to do it in a way that conveniences us.

[It reminds him of when the rival gangs were fighting.]

That's the downside...

[Makes sense. Going over the history of mobs/gangs in the U.S. and internationally it's kind of amazing how much it syncs up with One Piece actually.]

Indeed. Dealt with something similar?

Um... one time my brothers and I accidentally created a power vacuum that led to a gang war. Not exactly our most shining moment.

Hn. Happens when you remove powerful players that keep each other in check. Doesn't it make it unnecessary either.

So we discovered... [On both counts.]

(no subject)

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