Finding Rob Lucci
Title: Finding Rob Lucci
Series: One Piece
Pairing: Lucci x Paulie
Rating: R
Date: Written 2006?
Status: oneshot
And So... Paulie and Rob Lucci from the beginning to the end. Or at least, the end for now.
Notes: Written before Oda published the end of Eines Lobby. So there are most certainly spoilers here.
It’s obvious that he’s interested, the way his eyes keep looking everywhere but the paper he should be reading on the clipboard. The man is used to it though; people admiring his finely crafted beard, lovely arching eyebrows, stallion-black hair… Then again, maybe it’s the pigeon nestled closely to his head that they’re staring at after all. But this one is a little different, this ‘Paulie’ who has come to interview him in a run-down bar. Paulie can’t seem to stop glancing at his tattooed arms in quick sprints of the eyes. It’s not that Rob Lucci minds or anything, but he hardly considers his arms to be his best feature.
The blond asks the standard questions--“How old are you? What previous work experience do you have? Are you fine working extra long hours when deadlines are close?”--each one asked in a voice a little more agitated than before. Hattori coos an answer for each inquiry despite it. Finally Paulie’s eyes stop tracing his biceps and settle to a hard glare that switches from Lucci’s dark eyes to Hattori’s and back. He’s getting irritated, if the teeth gnashing that poor cigar are any indication.
“How long have you been in Water 7?” the interviewer asks gruffly.
“Three months, broo-hoo!”
In all honesty, Lucci wasn’t too sure about brining Hattori along. There’s always the claim that if you want to remain hidden, you should try to stick out as much as possible. But having a ventriloquist act may have been a little over the top and all around crackers. The dark-haired man was starting to doubt his choice when other carpenters made certain remarks behind his back--something about him being too crazy for even the notorious Galley-La to hire. That would be a big problem.
“O…kay. Have you had a doctor’s visit recently, Hatto--Lu… Lucci-san?”
“Yes; broo hoo! I had a virus last month and was checked thoroughly by the doctor on 5th Street, broo hoo.”
Finally, the man snaps. “DAMN IT, YOU SHITTY--! TALK FOR YOURSELF!”
A smirk twitches at the edge of Lucci’s mouth, but he contains it. “What are you talking about? …Broo hoo.”
“AARGH!”
As little splinters of the table fly past Lucci’s ear, he has to reconsider his previous thoughts. Having Hattori around might just be the most pleasant thing about this piss-poor island. That, of course, all depends on the blond man ranting and raving beside him.
“What do you think of the new foreman?”
Iceburg looks over his glasses at the casually asked question. “He seems a little off the deep end,” the man answers frankly. “Lucci will fit in well around here.”
With a snort, Paulie lights up another cigar, sure to blow all of the smoke out the window. Iceburg doesn’t mind the scent of cigars in infrequent bursts, but having the smell linger around his office is irksome. “Seems like a loony. Maybe we should have sent him over to the third dock.”
Paulie knows by the smile on Iceburg’s lips that he’s being made fun of before the man even speaks. “If we’re weeding out the lunatics, you’ll be headed there as well.”
“Hilarious.” The rope master wonders why he puts up with this abuse. It’s probably the sex. That he wants. But hasn’t gotten yet. Yet.
“All that matters in Galley-La are skills,” Iceburg says quite seriously, not even glancing up from his desk.
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll see what that pigeon freak’s got.”
He’s at the bar again with the blond, this time with a familiar face behind the counter serving drinks. Lucci is no longer being interviewed either; this time, Paulie is treating because he ‘got lucky’ at the poker tables today. When the offer was extended that very morning while Lucci was sawing at timber, he could sense the initial refusal and disgust--gambling was a worthless pastime. But he had accepted Paulie’s offer anyway. Kalifa was getting close to Iceburg, Kaku to the other foremen with his out-going personality, and Blueno kept an eye on the barflies who had loose lips. Somehow, Lucci had gotten stuck with Galley-La’s number two.
Lucci couldn’t be more pleased.
“Oi, Lucci! Drinks are on me, but I ain’t buyin’ one for that damn bird.”
No, really. He was enjoying the company of Paulie, as far as his mind could twist the word ‘enjoy’ in this past year. The blond wasn’t bad to look at, if one got over the lack of fashion sense, something that just came naturally to Lucci and couldn’t be driven out of him. (Hence the loafers, if you’d ever wondered.) His taste in alcohol was--as Lucci found out that night and many others to follow--questionable, although he had to give Paulie some leniency in that he could hardly ever afford the good stuff. The man had a strong work ethic, although that was canceled out by his strong desire to piss away money on cards that hardly ever came up right. And Paulie was damn stupid sometimes. But nice to look at, nonetheless.
He also, as Lucci quickly discovered, had a hero-complex crush of sorts on Galley-La’s number one man.
On that night, as Paulie is getting drunk faster than usual, Lucci--or Hattori, if you please--asks him about Iceburg-san. Paulie has to study the other over his glass with a half-lidded gaze and a sloppy frown, doing as he always does: staring into the pigeon’s eyes, over to the human’s eyes, then back once more to the bird. “Hmph, alright,” Paulie grunts lowly in a way that makes Lucci almost mistake the man for sober. “He changed my life. And he’s going to change everyone’s lives eventually--just you wait.”
Lucci lifts an eyebrow at the little smile on Paulie’s lips as he looks down to the floor. Honestly, if there were only floating pink hearts dropping from the ceiling, the whole scene would be perfect. …Perfect to make Lucci puke his drinks all over the table.
That lifted eyebrow begins to twitch.
The older man has opened up a can of proverbial worms. While he continues to drink, Paulie doesn’t cease rambling about Iceburg-san and how truly amazing he was every time he signed another ship building contract, gave the workers a raise, or saved a kitten from drowning. Lucci has nothing against Iceburg personally--the man just happened to unluckily be his target--but he is beginning to tire of Paulie’s hero-worship. But if one thing will come out of this night in the bar besides Paulie’s record-breaking tab, it is that then Lucci truly understood how close Paulie was to Iceburg. In fact, getting close to Paulie could be just as important as getting close to the actual target.
It is around the time Paulie’s grin turns a little sour that the plan fully forms in Lucci’s mind. “He’s busier than he’s ever been, and I know it’s only going to get worse,” the blond grumbles. “Sometimes I wish it wouldn’t be this way. Aah, but I’m just being selfish, aren’t I?” Without waiting for a cooed answer, Paulie downs the last of his drink.
“Last call!”
“Hmph.” Paulie turns to his companion who still only nurses his second beer. “So now what? I’m too drunk to--DAMN WOMAN! WOULD IT KILL YOU TO PUT ON SOME PANTS!?” The woman only giggles, winking at Paulie’s green-tinted face as she exits Blueno’s bar. “Shit, no decency left in Water 7,” the man seethes. Once more facing the carpenter across the table, Paulie frowns. “…You’re creepy when you smile, you know that?”
That only makes Lucci’s smirk grow.
This isn’t a new experience for Paulie, although it is one he hasn’t had in a long time. Not since Galley-La and the man who runs it became his life. Paulie didn’t have the time or the desire for this trip into something basic, delicious, and whole.
He was drunk off his ass when he hit the mattress, solid arms trapping his head. Sober enough to recognize the hard springs under his back as his own, Paulie is nevertheless too drunk to make out who that person is above him. It could be Iceburg for all he knows, and it is perfectly fine that way.
Only once do phantom lips touch his, but there are teeth that never leave his body. Paulie feels his clothing stripped away, calloused fingers running harshly over his chest with nails nipping into skin. He wonders if he will remember the lean hips that straddle his, the strong hands that pin his wrists, and the scent of classy cologne that fills his nostrils. Paulie has to blink at that one, wondering just who it is on top of him that has to be so out of his league. Suddenly the sound of plastic clattering against the floor shakes Paulie out of his stupor. The man above him has ripped the goggles away and is now staring down at him with intense black eyes.
In a flash the teeth are back on his neck with a brutal abandon. There is blood; Paulie can feel it trickling down his neck. The tongue that laps the stream away makes Paulie’s back arch so far his spine pops. There are more bites and tears at skin, fingers dipping below his belt, empty pleasantries whispered into his ear in a strange voice… Paulie hopes he can remember this, but figures he probably won’t. Somehow, he knows it is better this way.
He likes him drunk, he likes him sober; he likes him up, he likes him down. He likes to fuck him, and that’s why it is carrying on this long. If he didn’t get some enjoyment from that first night a year ago that was now only a haze in Paulie’s memory, Lucci would have gotten close to him by different means. It was just that simple.
Lucci stares down from the top of the mast, watching the blond man below running over the schematics with a group of carpenters. Whether he wants to or not, he has to give Paulie some credit for being able to go about work everyday as if nothing ever happens at night. Lucci knew his plan was working when the shipwright had sought him out as they spent more time together in the shipyard, not-so subtly hinting at his interest in that stupid way Paulie had about him. Perhaps if things had been different, Lucci would have cared.
Then again, perhaps not.
Eyes bore down on him from the ship--it’s Lucci. He knows it is. There is a way about him that sets Paulie at unease, but also warms his insides at the same time. Instead of hollering at the pigeon jerk to get back to that rigging, he’ll let him stare this time.
He’s alright with things the way they are. It’s finally dawned on him that things with Iceburg can never be the way he wants them. It’s not even the increasing workload that is causing the problem for them both, although that isn’t exactly helping either. There’s a look in Iceburg’s eyes whenever he speaks to Paulie about the past, a look Paulie used to think was begrudging remembrance. It turns out that look is actually regret. It’s a regret concerning an old friend that has always been on Iceburg’s mind--the things he said to this friend and the actions this friend took that Iceburg didn’t-couldn’t-wouldn’t. Paulie does not know what to make of his mentor’s long stares out at the ocean when Puffing Tom goes by and even after. He used to believe the stares were something pleasant and optimistic about the future, but now the blond is relatively certain they’re about the past. Iceburg is not a selfish man, forever pushing Water 7 forward to her destiny--even if it means forgetting that past Paulie knows he wants back so badly.
Iceburg has some skeletons in his closet, some he won’t even let Paulie know of. It hurts being shut off like that when he in turn has bared everything and keeps no secrets from his mentor. So maybe that’s why Paulie has this new secret that has been going on for months but only really lasts a few brief hours on a random night that may or may not come. He’s getting great sex out of it and a chance to forget for a while. In kind, he’s not certain what Lucci’s getting out of it--he could have any person he wanted in his bed and Paulie doesn’t take him as the kind of person who would sleep his way to the top. After all, this whole thing began after Lucci was hired. So he figures he may as well enjoy it while it lasts.
Sometimes he wonders about Kaku. The way the man looks when he’s flying over the city without knowing he’s being watched sets Lucci at unease. He’s worked with Kaku for a long time now, figures he knows the guy pretty well. But the way he smiles and waves to the children makes Lucci think that he’s growing attached to Water 7. If he were honest with himself, Lucci could admit that it’s really his own psyche that he’s worried about. Everyone knows stories of agents who grow ‘too attached’ to something and abandon their ideals about the Government’s justice for that thing they’re attached to.
Lucci doesn’t think he’ll become that person in any case. A stupid man he is not; there are no delusions about the Government and Spandam and their respective faults. Thankfully, Lucci just happens to be in this for the blood--the only thing to which he is truly attached.
“Puffing Tom is bringing the circus next week; why don’t you see if they’re hiring?”
This is the moment Paulie knows it’s for real.
“Why? Want me to grab you an application? Broo hoo!”
There’s just something so casual and easy between them.
“Better yet, the next train is leaving in ten minutes--you should get under it.”
The bar is half-empty this late at night, but he and Lucci still came.
“Broo hoo! At least I’m not into rope games, you kinky moron.”
When Paulie just laughs at that--laughs and laughs--he knows this has to be the best thing to happen to him in a very long time.
Deceit and secrecy be damned--Lucci truly hates Paulie’s gambling. Not only is it risky, uncouth, stupid and so utterly Paulie but who the hell is he going to screw if that idiot goes to jail? Lucci doesn’t mind making Paulie aware of his feelings on the dumb pastime every chance he gets. If he had to count the times he saved that idiot from debt collectors ready to break his legs, Lucci would need an abacus and a bottle of gin.
When he has to berate the blond this time--for stealing no less--Lucci spares him no mercy. The ear in his grasp is twisted so firmly that he might have been afraid of hurting Paulie. That is, if Lucci hadn’t trained into him masochistic tendencies for the purpose of nocturnal activities.
“Forgive this idiot, broo hoo,” Hattori tells the three young people. “He’ll apologize immediately.”
“The hell I--OW!”
The girl thanks him profusely, but Lucci pays her little mind. What’s caught his attention is the straw hat on the youngest boy’s head. That straw hat says only one thing to him--it is time to break Paulie’s heart.
“I knew I recognized your voice coming from that mask.”
Lucci regards this accusation coolly, even as he feels the quick yet curious glances from Blueno and Kalifa. Kaku knows better and continues to stare straight ahead.
With the arrival of the Strawhat Pirates, there was no more reason to wait. And all loose ends have to be tied up--no exceptions. That is the way of CP9.
Thankfully, no attachments were made by any of the agents to anything in Water 7.
It kills him over and over to know the truth. These last five years are a lie. All of the ships he built with Kaku, beers he drank with Blueno and screaming matches he had with Kalifa were just a calculated lie. All of the heated touches, fist-fights, kisses in half-built ships and verbal abuses were a lie. Rob Lucci was a lie.
It just kills Paulie to know that every time he whined or begged or threatened to hear his real voice, only to have Hattori answer that it was impossible, the bastard was toying with him. It kills him on the spot.
“DAMN YOU! YOU CAN SPEAK!”
The only good part about it is, Paulie thinks grimly, that first night he only half-remembers wasn’t a lie after all. Thank his lucky stars that at least something was true, yes indeed…
Had Paulie been a good boy and stayed in his bonds, this might have been a hell of a lot easier for the shipwright. Lucci wouldn’t have to hurt him, feel his blood pulse around his finger. Lucci wouldn’t have to crush his dreams in the most literal sense by bringing his foot down on Iceburg. Lucci wouldn’t have to evoke such angry tears by informing the idiot that any sense of nakama was purely one-sided. Lucci wouldn’t have to smirk like this as the other CP9 members leap through the window, planting one last--one unforgiving and harsh--kiss on bloody lips.
But really, who cares?
Alive. The word has never sounded more beautiful to Paulie’s ears. He’s alive--not just in body, but in mind.
There is absolutely no hesitation once he sees Iceburg’s broken form beside the rocket train. He can tell better than anyone that while there are wounds covering the skin, something else plagues Iceburg: He gets that far-off look in his eyes when someone informs him that the loud-mouthed dismantler has gone on ahead. It’s the one where Iceburg is caught somewhere between fury and something else, something Paulie himself is too reluctant to name.
Since that’s the case, Paulie is going to Einies Lobby, because it’s the only thing left to do.
Reports finally reach the headquarters. Marines tell frantically of a rubber boy, demon swordsman, masked king, revolting giants, beast men, yagara bulls, oversized frogs…
It sounds like a fucking circus.
Lucci’s ears perk up as the henchmen rattle off something about a clown with a neat rope trick. Then the receiver goes dead.
Standing in the corner, Kaku asks quietly, “What are you going to do about him?” He is the only one left in the room with Lucci.
A snort. “You act as if he’s even going to make it past the gate.”
“You’re fired.” Those are the words Paulie wants to say--no, will say--when he finally lays eyes on Rob Lucci again. He just has to find the bastard first. It seems like there are a million Marines in Eines Lobby, but Lucci always did stick out to Paulie, so it shouldn’t be this damn hard. After he does find that man, Paulie doesn’t know what’s going to happen. He knows he can’t beat Rob, be it for reasons sentimental or otherwise--ie, a complete difference in their powers. That’s alright though, because it’s the after after that really scares Paulie.
There’s this feeling he just can’t shake about what’s going to happen if they all do somehow make it back alive. Things are finally coming to a head, and if that metal man makes it through, Paulie’s going to lose a piece of Iceburg forever. And even if it just so happens that it won’t matter--that he gave that matching part of himself to Rob Lucci long ago--Paulie’s got an odd sense in his gut telling him that he’s going to be in deep shit when this is all said and done. A whole lotta responsibility is going to be dropped in his lap in the form of dusty old papers that he doesn’t want, but’ll take because an attractive man who changed his life asks him to. It scares Paulie to no end.
But first, he has to find Rob Lucci.
Series: One Piece
Pairing: Lucci x Paulie
Rating: R
Date: Written 2006?
Status: oneshot
And So... Paulie and Rob Lucci from the beginning to the end. Or at least, the end for now.
Notes: Written before Oda published the end of Eines Lobby. So there are most certainly spoilers here.
It’s obvious that he’s interested, the way his eyes keep looking everywhere but the paper he should be reading on the clipboard. The man is used to it though; people admiring his finely crafted beard, lovely arching eyebrows, stallion-black hair… Then again, maybe it’s the pigeon nestled closely to his head that they’re staring at after all. But this one is a little different, this ‘Paulie’ who has come to interview him in a run-down bar. Paulie can’t seem to stop glancing at his tattooed arms in quick sprints of the eyes. It’s not that Rob Lucci minds or anything, but he hardly considers his arms to be his best feature.
The blond asks the standard questions--“How old are you? What previous work experience do you have? Are you fine working extra long hours when deadlines are close?”--each one asked in a voice a little more agitated than before. Hattori coos an answer for each inquiry despite it. Finally Paulie’s eyes stop tracing his biceps and settle to a hard glare that switches from Lucci’s dark eyes to Hattori’s and back. He’s getting irritated, if the teeth gnashing that poor cigar are any indication.
“How long have you been in Water 7?” the interviewer asks gruffly.
“Three months, broo-hoo!”
In all honesty, Lucci wasn’t too sure about brining Hattori along. There’s always the claim that if you want to remain hidden, you should try to stick out as much as possible. But having a ventriloquist act may have been a little over the top and all around crackers. The dark-haired man was starting to doubt his choice when other carpenters made certain remarks behind his back--something about him being too crazy for even the notorious Galley-La to hire. That would be a big problem.
“O…kay. Have you had a doctor’s visit recently, Hatto--Lu… Lucci-san?”
“Yes; broo hoo! I had a virus last month and was checked thoroughly by the doctor on 5th Street, broo hoo.”
Finally, the man snaps. “DAMN IT, YOU SHITTY--! TALK FOR YOURSELF!”
A smirk twitches at the edge of Lucci’s mouth, but he contains it. “What are you talking about? …Broo hoo.”
“AARGH!”
As little splinters of the table fly past Lucci’s ear, he has to reconsider his previous thoughts. Having Hattori around might just be the most pleasant thing about this piss-poor island. That, of course, all depends on the blond man ranting and raving beside him.
“What do you think of the new foreman?”
Iceburg looks over his glasses at the casually asked question. “He seems a little off the deep end,” the man answers frankly. “Lucci will fit in well around here.”
With a snort, Paulie lights up another cigar, sure to blow all of the smoke out the window. Iceburg doesn’t mind the scent of cigars in infrequent bursts, but having the smell linger around his office is irksome. “Seems like a loony. Maybe we should have sent him over to the third dock.”
Paulie knows by the smile on Iceburg’s lips that he’s being made fun of before the man even speaks. “If we’re weeding out the lunatics, you’ll be headed there as well.”
“Hilarious.” The rope master wonders why he puts up with this abuse. It’s probably the sex. That he wants. But hasn’t gotten yet. Yet.
“All that matters in Galley-La are skills,” Iceburg says quite seriously, not even glancing up from his desk.
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll see what that pigeon freak’s got.”
He’s at the bar again with the blond, this time with a familiar face behind the counter serving drinks. Lucci is no longer being interviewed either; this time, Paulie is treating because he ‘got lucky’ at the poker tables today. When the offer was extended that very morning while Lucci was sawing at timber, he could sense the initial refusal and disgust--gambling was a worthless pastime. But he had accepted Paulie’s offer anyway. Kalifa was getting close to Iceburg, Kaku to the other foremen with his out-going personality, and Blueno kept an eye on the barflies who had loose lips. Somehow, Lucci had gotten stuck with Galley-La’s number two.
Lucci couldn’t be more pleased.
“Oi, Lucci! Drinks are on me, but I ain’t buyin’ one for that damn bird.”
No, really. He was enjoying the company of Paulie, as far as his mind could twist the word ‘enjoy’ in this past year. The blond wasn’t bad to look at, if one got over the lack of fashion sense, something that just came naturally to Lucci and couldn’t be driven out of him. (Hence the loafers, if you’d ever wondered.) His taste in alcohol was--as Lucci found out that night and many others to follow--questionable, although he had to give Paulie some leniency in that he could hardly ever afford the good stuff. The man had a strong work ethic, although that was canceled out by his strong desire to piss away money on cards that hardly ever came up right. And Paulie was damn stupid sometimes. But nice to look at, nonetheless.
He also, as Lucci quickly discovered, had a hero-complex crush of sorts on Galley-La’s number one man.
On that night, as Paulie is getting drunk faster than usual, Lucci--or Hattori, if you please--asks him about Iceburg-san. Paulie has to study the other over his glass with a half-lidded gaze and a sloppy frown, doing as he always does: staring into the pigeon’s eyes, over to the human’s eyes, then back once more to the bird. “Hmph, alright,” Paulie grunts lowly in a way that makes Lucci almost mistake the man for sober. “He changed my life. And he’s going to change everyone’s lives eventually--just you wait.”
Lucci lifts an eyebrow at the little smile on Paulie’s lips as he looks down to the floor. Honestly, if there were only floating pink hearts dropping from the ceiling, the whole scene would be perfect. …Perfect to make Lucci puke his drinks all over the table.
That lifted eyebrow begins to twitch.
The older man has opened up a can of proverbial worms. While he continues to drink, Paulie doesn’t cease rambling about Iceburg-san and how truly amazing he was every time he signed another ship building contract, gave the workers a raise, or saved a kitten from drowning. Lucci has nothing against Iceburg personally--the man just happened to unluckily be his target--but he is beginning to tire of Paulie’s hero-worship. But if one thing will come out of this night in the bar besides Paulie’s record-breaking tab, it is that then Lucci truly understood how close Paulie was to Iceburg. In fact, getting close to Paulie could be just as important as getting close to the actual target.
It is around the time Paulie’s grin turns a little sour that the plan fully forms in Lucci’s mind. “He’s busier than he’s ever been, and I know it’s only going to get worse,” the blond grumbles. “Sometimes I wish it wouldn’t be this way. Aah, but I’m just being selfish, aren’t I?” Without waiting for a cooed answer, Paulie downs the last of his drink.
“Last call!”
“Hmph.” Paulie turns to his companion who still only nurses his second beer. “So now what? I’m too drunk to--DAMN WOMAN! WOULD IT KILL YOU TO PUT ON SOME PANTS!?” The woman only giggles, winking at Paulie’s green-tinted face as she exits Blueno’s bar. “Shit, no decency left in Water 7,” the man seethes. Once more facing the carpenter across the table, Paulie frowns. “…You’re creepy when you smile, you know that?”
That only makes Lucci’s smirk grow.
This isn’t a new experience for Paulie, although it is one he hasn’t had in a long time. Not since Galley-La and the man who runs it became his life. Paulie didn’t have the time or the desire for this trip into something basic, delicious, and whole.
He was drunk off his ass when he hit the mattress, solid arms trapping his head. Sober enough to recognize the hard springs under his back as his own, Paulie is nevertheless too drunk to make out who that person is above him. It could be Iceburg for all he knows, and it is perfectly fine that way.
Only once do phantom lips touch his, but there are teeth that never leave his body. Paulie feels his clothing stripped away, calloused fingers running harshly over his chest with nails nipping into skin. He wonders if he will remember the lean hips that straddle his, the strong hands that pin his wrists, and the scent of classy cologne that fills his nostrils. Paulie has to blink at that one, wondering just who it is on top of him that has to be so out of his league. Suddenly the sound of plastic clattering against the floor shakes Paulie out of his stupor. The man above him has ripped the goggles away and is now staring down at him with intense black eyes.
In a flash the teeth are back on his neck with a brutal abandon. There is blood; Paulie can feel it trickling down his neck. The tongue that laps the stream away makes Paulie’s back arch so far his spine pops. There are more bites and tears at skin, fingers dipping below his belt, empty pleasantries whispered into his ear in a strange voice… Paulie hopes he can remember this, but figures he probably won’t. Somehow, he knows it is better this way.
He likes him drunk, he likes him sober; he likes him up, he likes him down. He likes to fuck him, and that’s why it is carrying on this long. If he didn’t get some enjoyment from that first night a year ago that was now only a haze in Paulie’s memory, Lucci would have gotten close to him by different means. It was just that simple.
Lucci stares down from the top of the mast, watching the blond man below running over the schematics with a group of carpenters. Whether he wants to or not, he has to give Paulie some credit for being able to go about work everyday as if nothing ever happens at night. Lucci knew his plan was working when the shipwright had sought him out as they spent more time together in the shipyard, not-so subtly hinting at his interest in that stupid way Paulie had about him. Perhaps if things had been different, Lucci would have cared.
Then again, perhaps not.
Eyes bore down on him from the ship--it’s Lucci. He knows it is. There is a way about him that sets Paulie at unease, but also warms his insides at the same time. Instead of hollering at the pigeon jerk to get back to that rigging, he’ll let him stare this time.
He’s alright with things the way they are. It’s finally dawned on him that things with Iceburg can never be the way he wants them. It’s not even the increasing workload that is causing the problem for them both, although that isn’t exactly helping either. There’s a look in Iceburg’s eyes whenever he speaks to Paulie about the past, a look Paulie used to think was begrudging remembrance. It turns out that look is actually regret. It’s a regret concerning an old friend that has always been on Iceburg’s mind--the things he said to this friend and the actions this friend took that Iceburg didn’t-couldn’t-wouldn’t. Paulie does not know what to make of his mentor’s long stares out at the ocean when Puffing Tom goes by and even after. He used to believe the stares were something pleasant and optimistic about the future, but now the blond is relatively certain they’re about the past. Iceburg is not a selfish man, forever pushing Water 7 forward to her destiny--even if it means forgetting that past Paulie knows he wants back so badly.
Iceburg has some skeletons in his closet, some he won’t even let Paulie know of. It hurts being shut off like that when he in turn has bared everything and keeps no secrets from his mentor. So maybe that’s why Paulie has this new secret that has been going on for months but only really lasts a few brief hours on a random night that may or may not come. He’s getting great sex out of it and a chance to forget for a while. In kind, he’s not certain what Lucci’s getting out of it--he could have any person he wanted in his bed and Paulie doesn’t take him as the kind of person who would sleep his way to the top. After all, this whole thing began after Lucci was hired. So he figures he may as well enjoy it while it lasts.
Sometimes he wonders about Kaku. The way the man looks when he’s flying over the city without knowing he’s being watched sets Lucci at unease. He’s worked with Kaku for a long time now, figures he knows the guy pretty well. But the way he smiles and waves to the children makes Lucci think that he’s growing attached to Water 7. If he were honest with himself, Lucci could admit that it’s really his own psyche that he’s worried about. Everyone knows stories of agents who grow ‘too attached’ to something and abandon their ideals about the Government’s justice for that thing they’re attached to.
Lucci doesn’t think he’ll become that person in any case. A stupid man he is not; there are no delusions about the Government and Spandam and their respective faults. Thankfully, Lucci just happens to be in this for the blood--the only thing to which he is truly attached.
“Puffing Tom is bringing the circus next week; why don’t you see if they’re hiring?”
This is the moment Paulie knows it’s for real.
“Why? Want me to grab you an application? Broo hoo!”
There’s just something so casual and easy between them.
“Better yet, the next train is leaving in ten minutes--you should get under it.”
The bar is half-empty this late at night, but he and Lucci still came.
“Broo hoo! At least I’m not into rope games, you kinky moron.”
When Paulie just laughs at that--laughs and laughs--he knows this has to be the best thing to happen to him in a very long time.
Deceit and secrecy be damned--Lucci truly hates Paulie’s gambling. Not only is it risky, uncouth, stupid and so utterly Paulie but who the hell is he going to screw if that idiot goes to jail? Lucci doesn’t mind making Paulie aware of his feelings on the dumb pastime every chance he gets. If he had to count the times he saved that idiot from debt collectors ready to break his legs, Lucci would need an abacus and a bottle of gin.
When he has to berate the blond this time--for stealing no less--Lucci spares him no mercy. The ear in his grasp is twisted so firmly that he might have been afraid of hurting Paulie. That is, if Lucci hadn’t trained into him masochistic tendencies for the purpose of nocturnal activities.
“Forgive this idiot, broo hoo,” Hattori tells the three young people. “He’ll apologize immediately.”
“The hell I--OW!”
The girl thanks him profusely, but Lucci pays her little mind. What’s caught his attention is the straw hat on the youngest boy’s head. That straw hat says only one thing to him--it is time to break Paulie’s heart.
“I knew I recognized your voice coming from that mask.”
Lucci regards this accusation coolly, even as he feels the quick yet curious glances from Blueno and Kalifa. Kaku knows better and continues to stare straight ahead.
With the arrival of the Strawhat Pirates, there was no more reason to wait. And all loose ends have to be tied up--no exceptions. That is the way of CP9.
Thankfully, no attachments were made by any of the agents to anything in Water 7.
It kills him over and over to know the truth. These last five years are a lie. All of the ships he built with Kaku, beers he drank with Blueno and screaming matches he had with Kalifa were just a calculated lie. All of the heated touches, fist-fights, kisses in half-built ships and verbal abuses were a lie. Rob Lucci was a lie.
It just kills Paulie to know that every time he whined or begged or threatened to hear his real voice, only to have Hattori answer that it was impossible, the bastard was toying with him. It kills him on the spot.
“DAMN YOU! YOU CAN SPEAK!”
The only good part about it is, Paulie thinks grimly, that first night he only half-remembers wasn’t a lie after all. Thank his lucky stars that at least something was true, yes indeed…
Had Paulie been a good boy and stayed in his bonds, this might have been a hell of a lot easier for the shipwright. Lucci wouldn’t have to hurt him, feel his blood pulse around his finger. Lucci wouldn’t have to crush his dreams in the most literal sense by bringing his foot down on Iceburg. Lucci wouldn’t have to evoke such angry tears by informing the idiot that any sense of nakama was purely one-sided. Lucci wouldn’t have to smirk like this as the other CP9 members leap through the window, planting one last--one unforgiving and harsh--kiss on bloody lips.
But really, who cares?
Alive. The word has never sounded more beautiful to Paulie’s ears. He’s alive--not just in body, but in mind.
There is absolutely no hesitation once he sees Iceburg’s broken form beside the rocket train. He can tell better than anyone that while there are wounds covering the skin, something else plagues Iceburg: He gets that far-off look in his eyes when someone informs him that the loud-mouthed dismantler has gone on ahead. It’s the one where Iceburg is caught somewhere between fury and something else, something Paulie himself is too reluctant to name.
Since that’s the case, Paulie is going to Einies Lobby, because it’s the only thing left to do.
Reports finally reach the headquarters. Marines tell frantically of a rubber boy, demon swordsman, masked king, revolting giants, beast men, yagara bulls, oversized frogs…
It sounds like a fucking circus.
Lucci’s ears perk up as the henchmen rattle off something about a clown with a neat rope trick. Then the receiver goes dead.
Standing in the corner, Kaku asks quietly, “What are you going to do about him?” He is the only one left in the room with Lucci.
A snort. “You act as if he’s even going to make it past the gate.”
“You’re fired.” Those are the words Paulie wants to say--no, will say--when he finally lays eyes on Rob Lucci again. He just has to find the bastard first. It seems like there are a million Marines in Eines Lobby, but Lucci always did stick out to Paulie, so it shouldn’t be this damn hard. After he does find that man, Paulie doesn’t know what’s going to happen. He knows he can’t beat Rob, be it for reasons sentimental or otherwise--ie, a complete difference in their powers. That’s alright though, because it’s the after after that really scares Paulie.
There’s this feeling he just can’t shake about what’s going to happen if they all do somehow make it back alive. Things are finally coming to a head, and if that metal man makes it through, Paulie’s going to lose a piece of Iceburg forever. And even if it just so happens that it won’t matter--that he gave that matching part of himself to Rob Lucci long ago--Paulie’s got an odd sense in his gut telling him that he’s going to be in deep shit when this is all said and done. A whole lotta responsibility is going to be dropped in his lap in the form of dusty old papers that he doesn’t want, but’ll take because an attractive man who changed his life asks him to. It scares Paulie to no end.
But first, he has to find Rob Lucci.