Chapter 38: Obstinance

Chapter 38: Obstinance

After telling everyone else he would take care of it, Thomas spent nearly an hour trying to get Crocus to answer the door while Lucy explored the surrounding cape. When the man finally opened his door, he had the same grim expression as before, stating, "You're starting to get on my nerves..."

"That wasn't my intention," replied Thomas. "But we kind of 'need' a Log Pose if we're going to get out of your hair. Beyond that, there is something I wanted to ask you..."

Instead of responding to Thomas's words, Crocus removed his circular glasses and gave them a length cleaning using a red cloth. While doing so, he started directly into Thomas's eyes with his intense stare, his own becoming progressively more bloodshot as he didn't blink for nearly four minutes.

Once he was finished cleaning his glasses, Crocus placed them into his pocket instead of putting them on his face, questioning, "Well, what are you waiting for? I might be a Lighthouse Keeper, but I have better things to do than stand around waiting for you to ask your question."

"..."

Suppressing the urge to smack the elderly man upside his balding head, Thomas adopted a cramped smile as he questioned, "Has anyone from Baroque Works come around to badger the Island Whale in the last few weeks?"

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Crocus replied, "Not yet. Though I suspect they'll show up within the next month or so. The real question is, how do you know about that? You were foolish enough to enter the Grand Line without a Log Pose, but know about something only a select few passing through the Twin Capes are aware of..."

Maintaining his smile, Thomas replied, "I know many things. However, I'm not here to interrupt your retirement. Once you sell us a Log Pose, we'll be on our way."

Opening his eyes wide, Crocus issued a seemingly startled, "Hmmm!?" as he stared up at the slightly taller Thomas. Then, after another inordinately long and awkward silence, he remarked, "I can't see without my glasses," before removing them from his interior breast pocket and donning them to get a better look at Thomas's face.

"..."

As he was fairly certain Crocus was trying to goad him into attacking or losing his cool, Thomas took a deep breath through his nose, doing his best to remain patient. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait several minutes for the man's reply as Crocus abruptly stated, "100,000 Berries." in a firm, no-nonsense tone.

Nodding his head, Thomas reached into his own pocket to pull out a stack of 10,000 Berry notes. When Crocus saw the thick stack of paper, his eyes briefly widened as he supplanted, "100,000 Berries for each minute of my time you've squandered. The Log Pose, you can have for free."

Instead of trying to reason with the seemingly senile old man, Thomas exhaled a sigh through his nose before handing Crocus all the Berries he had on hand. In response, he pulled out a peculiar compass with a needle suspended in a glass sphere. Unlike a standard compass, it didn't record the cardinal directions. Instead, it synchronized with the magnetic fields produced by the various islands in the Grand Line, allowing the wielder to traverse one of seven routes until they reached the endpoint of 'Paradise,' Sabaody Archipelago.

Seeing the needle of the Log Pose pointing directly to the East, Thomas asked, "Does this lead to Whiskey Peak...?"

Narrowing his eyes, Crocus remarked, "Someone's well informed..." before extending his hand and stating, "If you expect me to answer more of your questions, you'll need to pay..."

Shaking his head, Thomas replied, "Then forget about it. I already gave you all the money I had on me. I'm not going to tap into the crew's funds to sate my curiosity..."

Turning around, Thomas began to walk away, raising his hand in a gesture of farewell as he added, "See you around, old man Crocus..."

Following Thomas's gaze, Lucy appeared to fall into deep thought before asking, "Want to try climbing it...?" a few moments later.

"Huh...?"

Returning his gaze to the petite Pirate, Thomas adopted a wry smile as he replied, "I actually considered climbing it as a form of 'special training' in the past. Now, I'm more interested in experiencing this journey we're on. I don't mind training, especially knowing what dangers await us in the New World, but it gets pretty mundane repeating the same actions every single day. Besides, unlike you, I would die if I fell from such an extreme height. I'm not made of rubber..."

Scratching the back of her head, Lucy gave her characteristic "Shishishi~" laugh before responding, "Your Magical Energy is pretty useful, though. If I could fire off beams, I would never get bored."

Emulating Thomas's actions, Lucy squared her feet, lowered her hips, and brought her hands near her waist in the iconic stance of a Kamehameha. Instead of firing out a beam, however, she launched her hands forward a good twenty meters before snapping them back and stating, "It just isn't the same..." with a melancholic smile on her face.

Resisting the urge to point out that her Devil Fruit could likely fire off beams if she 'really' wanted to, Thomas earned a disproving look from Nami as he ruffled Lucy's hair, saying, "If we could swap Devil Fruits, I would happily accept your Gomu-Gomu-no-Mi. When combined with an active imagination and Haki, it's probably one of the most versatile Devil Fruits in the entire world."

As no one had ruffled her hair since the day Shanks sacrificed his arm to save her, Lucy's mind momentarily blanked. Nami, however, was quick to swat his hand away, warning, "Keep your hands to yourself, or I'm going to tell Caenis. I know how 'close' the two of you are. If she learns you're playing around with other women, she'll beat the crap out of you..."

Though he retracted his hand from Lucy's head, Thomas raised his brows, issuing a confused, "Huh?" before furrowing his brows as he remarked, "I think you have a severe lack of understanding about Caenis and myself..."

Crossing her arms, Nami's expression and tone became defiant as she asked, "Oh? Care to elaborate...?"

Nodding his head, Thomas explained, "First of all, Caenis doesn't care if I have relationships with other women. She has even asked me if I wanted help with 'wooing' the two of you, but I refused. Not because I don't think the two of you are beautiful women, but because I'm not as perverted as you seem to think I am. I'm fairly content with spending time with Caenis, but her nature as a Spirit means our paths will eventually diverge at some point. I'll eventually have to find someone else if I ever want to have kids, so our relationship is intimate but unrestrictive..."

Blinking in surprise, Nami asked, "Spirits can't have children...?" as if it was the only part of Thomas's statement that carried any value.

"Not without some kind of miracle," replied Thomas before inhaling a deep breath and exhaling it as a sigh, admitting, "I won't lie, Nami. There was a time when I considered you as a potential partner. You're a beautiful and capable woman, and I thought we would make a good pair exploring and mapping the world together. However, with my height steadily increasing, I've already given up on pursuing you. As for Lucy...she is too innocent for me to view her with such intentions..."

Tilting her head to the side, Lucy questioned, "What do you mean? Aren't we already partners...?"

Realizing they shouldn't be having this discussion in front of Lucy, Nami pulled the obsidian-haired girl to her side, asserting, "I'll tell you about it later." before giving Thomas a thoughtful yet 'warning' look. In response, he just smiled wryly, resisting the urge to point out she was the one that broached the subject. After all, even in a world based on anime/manga, attempting to reason with a stubborn woman was harder than reaching the absolute pinnacle of the world...

...

..

.

(A/N: Thomas just unintentionally whipped out his Chad card o_o...)