Kairo would raise a hand to Kuma.
"Let's make a deal."
Yes, he was saying that while having sent a vision of him killing Kuma to the man's head a moment ago.
It wasn't personal. Kuma aimed at Luffy, and that was Kairo's captain—he acted as he should.
The Warlord paused.
"I detect no hostile intent."
The robotic voice did nothing for Kairo.
"My records inform me that you are quite slippery. What would you gain from this?"
Acting like a robot again.
Hm, this could prove rather troublesome.
Meanwhile, behind Kairo—
"Are you insane? Making a deal with a Warlord?" Usopp was not really having it. Was he scared? Maybe. But if it came down to it, he would throw hands.
Kairo made a mental note to upgrade Usopp's gear when they got to the Grand Line.
The entrance to the village should still be hidden. It wasn't the normal route, but a very secret one that the World Government shouldn't be aware of.
"Can't you just kill him? It's not like he's that much of a threat."
Wow, Sanji could be really perceptive when he wanted to.
"I could," Kairo said, taking out a seal from his pouch.
"But I owe him something."
The word owe had the robot confused. Not the cyborg—there was a difference.
"You owe him?" Nami had a confused look on her face. Not once in her life did she expect Kairo to owe anyone anything.
"Think of it like unfinished family issues."
Oh, that made a bit more sense.
"What do you want?" Kuma's voice sounded robotic.
"I want you to deliver this to Impel Down."
The silence that followed was loud.
"Recipient."
A pause.
"Get it to Portgas D. Ace."
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Kairo closed his ears as the surprised gasp of the crew rang out. Oh yeah, he forgot to tell them about it.
"Ace... second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Ace?" Really, no one could believe Ace was in jail. Like—how did he even get caught?
Granted, in this timeline, he survived longer before getting caught—not because he was that much stronger. Nah, a bum would always be a bum.
No, the reason he got caught so late had to do with Teach. The second Blackbeard got news of Kairo being in the same general location as him, his ass dipped.
He knew a fight with Kairo would end with him dying. Even though Kairo's clan was the reason his clan survived... maybe he should visit his grandparents more.
But that didn't matter to Kairo. If Blackbeard had shown any of his "give me that Devil Fruit" intent, the only child of Rocks would have died.
Granted, his bloodline wouldn't end yet. His grandparents and a lot of the Davy family were alive, just spread out across the map, with his mom currently being in Lelucia.
Kuma scanned Kairo.
"What do I get from this?"
It was a deal, so of course it needed to be equal.
"Oh, simple. Your daughter. I will make sure she is okay—and I will make it possible for you to be with her."
Kuma paused.
Kairo decided to shut off the Straw Hats' chatter in the background. Of course they didn't know Kuma had a daughter.
Granted, not his blood-related kid. He was sure his clan knew who the father was—it was between Figarland Garling and Saturn—but it leaned more toward the bum of God Valley.
Oh well.
Kuma seemed to really think about it.
"And why should I trust you?"
Kairo paused for a bit.
He took out a piece of paper and tossed it at Kuma.
The man caught it.
And read it.
His eyes widened.
{Please help my son}
{Clapp}
"It was a mission issued a while ago. We tried helping, but six years ago, we were attacked."
This was straight bullshit.
Kairo had no way to access the mission board, no way to actually know any of this.
Hell, he only knew Kuma's father's name because he was a Buccaneer—and that was it.
However, he had enough to make this sob story believable.
"I promise to protect her."
Also bullshit—but he would help Bonney. She was like 10 right now, so... probably a little sister.
And also, his backup plan.
Jeez, he was sounding more detached by the second—seeing people as pawns and all that. He needed to fix that.
He was planning on using Bonney's fruit to return Whitebeard back to his prime if shit ever hit the fan and his plan to rescue Ace from Impel Down failed.
You know—always gotta have one of those.
Now, how the hell would he get Luffy and Hancock to be next to each other?
Because his presence was messing up the plot.
There was now an additional Straw Hat—that depressed girl. And why he said that—well, Luffy's joyous ass would not let her go after seeing her cool power.
Oh, the shit Kairo does for his captain.
Kuma held the paper before lowering it.
That name—
That was his father.
He almost teared up.
Yes, the paper was wrinkled. Kairo had used one of the old sheets from the lab, spilled some coffee on it, then lightly burned the edges with his flames.
Giving it that aged look.
Which worked—considering his father had died years ago.
Decades ago, even.