Across the Line

With a Cherry on Top
"Way hay and up she rises, way hay and up she rises, way hay and up she rises, early in the morning!"

The seas of the were as fierce as ever. The weather was virtually unpredictable, and so in a matter of seconds since leaving, the ship of the Titan Pirates' Fifth Division was caught up firstly in a twister, and now more currently in the midst of a brutal storm. "Shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor, early in the morning!"

The ship was tossed around, forced to angle left, then right almost immediately to avoid the forthcoming onslaught. And even then it was caught by the miniature tsunami, only to be spit out seconds later as a jagged bolt of lightning narrowly missed the front deck.

"What will we do with a drunken sailor? What will we do with a drunken sailor? What will we do with a drunken sailor? Early in the morning!"

But even so, those upon the ship were in as joyous a mood as ever. And why not? Surely a lost captain was no way to celebrate an expedition from Dressrosa! Surely the promise of a terrifying battle was no way to appreciate the food, the culture, and most of all, the women they had seen in a kingdom lush with dandelions!

"Stick him in a barrel with a hosepipe on him, stick him in a barrel with a hosepipe on him, stick him in a barrel with a hosepipe on him, early in the morning!"

Yes, the sea shanties were as loud as ever aboard the The Good Burger, as members of the Fifth Division of the Titan Pirates, led by second in command Foxpack, swarmed the seas with the island of Bedina held closely in mind. But that was a matter of several days even still; and so what if the Xros Pirates awaited an inevitable duel with them? For now they were free, for now they were well fed and for now they were content with the ways it all had went!

"Hoy, hoy! Keep that junk away from me-gara!" Foxpack barked, as a tipsy subordinate of his bumped into him, nearly spilling his alcohol over his coat, "and for god's sake, put on your clothes already! It's been over a day since we've gone and left Dressrosa-gara!!"

From the front of the ship, a large man could be seen flying through the air, almost as if he had been launched by the waves lurching the ship up and down. Many crew members yelled at him to come down, some drunk in their merriment, some legitimately concerned that he was about to fall off. Then seemingly as if it was trying to catch him, the mast swung between him and the edge of the ship he was heading for, moving as the ship rocked back and forth. Flipping in mid air, Katashi landed feet first on the mast, before shooting off towards the deck below.

“THERE’S A BANANA IN THE OCEAN VICE-COMMANDER!!!!” could be heard above the storm from the man in the air as he rocketed towards the deck, slowly spinning forward before he crashed back first into the deck. Using the last of his momentum, he rolled forward before flipping over his commander, to land about four feet in front of the mink.

Katashi straightened to his full height of seven feet with a salute before looking down at his shorter commander. “Foxy-Vice-Commander Sir, there is a banana in the ocean directly in front of us. I felt you should be made aware Foxy-Vice-Commander Sir.” he informed the mink with a serious expression.

As the waves consumed his boat, Tabart inhaled deeply, and grabbed the sides of his banana-based vessel tightly to avoid being cast away into the ocean. Though the salt-water passed quickly, the inside of his small ship had been drenched in water that now rested up to his ankles; Tabart could feel his strength being siphoned away, and he expected it to get worse as he hit more waves. Simply put, the situation wasn’t good, not that any other situation he had been apart of in the last few months was good at all either.

Tabart’s eyes fell to his side, noticing a large vessel that treaded the waters without any signs of struggle. His face lit up in excitement, if not utter desperation.

“Hey,” he called out loudly, grabbing a paddle from beside himself. He slammed it into the violent waters, mustering his strength to battle the wrath of the seas itself to get to the boat.

“Hey! Please, help me, I’m—” a wave crashed from behind him, nearly carrying him into the waves. He had managed to grab onto the boat quickly as it tipped over, and through sheer luck, he had pulled halfway onto it. However, as lower body rested in the waves, he felt every ounce of strength that he did have depleted. He barely managed to drag himself to the top of it and out of the water before the ocean had stolen all his energy. However, as the next wave in the distance approached, Tabart knew that he wouldn’t be able to survive it. He looked to the ship.

“I’m going to die out here if I don’t get any help! I swear, I’ll pay you if need be. Just help me!”

"Hoy!" Foxpack barked, seeing Katashi flop around the deck like a fish right before his own eyes."Get up and pull yourself together-gara! Is that any way for a pirate worth 84,000,000 to behave, Katashi?!"

Foxpack's ears twitched at the thought of a banana boat. Had he heard that correctly the first time? The storm was loud, but his hearing was far too acute to doubt. As Katashi straightened himself out, towering over his petite frame, Foxpack received the conformation he had been looking for.

"Hoy, just once is enough-gara," he spat, grasping the pommel of his sheathed meito for no reason in particular, "now what is this about a banana boat?"

Foxpack stormed ahead, nearly creeping over the figurehead as he looked yonder at the devilish seas that awaited them. And good golly, what he saw greatly surprised him: a man sailing on a piece of fruit!

"Hoy!!!" he hollered aloud as if scolding the man for his idiotic ventures, "what are you doing out there-gara?!?!" Help? That man needed help? Yeah, no kidding! Foxpack turned back around to Katashi and the rest of his crew. "Hoy! That man needs help out there! Fetch the rope-gara!!"

A rope? He didn't think a rope would be nearly enough to save that banana. But he needed preparations to be made, in the least, to save that man's life before the sea consumed him as it did so many countless others!

“Right Away Foxy-Vice-Commander-Sir!” Katashi responded sharply while he looked around for something that would be helpful. A light could almost be seen lighting up above his head as he saw the front anchor, chain attached and all. He jumped over to it, reaching it within a single bounce. Grabbing the first link of the chain, he stared intently at the front of the ship, waiting. He had to time this perfectly.

As the ship crested the wave that had almost sunk the banana boat in front of them, the front end dropped, severely. Leaving Katashi with a perfect view of the boat about to be consumed by the next. His muscles bulged as he pulled with all of his strength, whipping the anchor around his body before he let it fly forward, arching up towards the sky at a breakneck pace before coming back down straight at the boat and it’s single occupant. A large splash could be seen from the deck of The Good Burger, even from this distance, as it impacted the water directly next to the boat with aplomb.

“COME WITH US IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!!!!” could be heard by all around as Katashi yelled it to the heavens. “WE HAVE COOKIES!!!”

"Oh thank the gods!" Tabart expressed dramatically, leaping from his boat onto the anchor directly, clutching the anchor in his warm embrace. "Pull it! Please, for the love of the gods, pull it before that wave hits me right in my freakin face!" Tabart screamed towards Katashi.

Foxpack looked over his shoulder at Katashi's bizarre promise of cookies. Technically he wasn't lying. But what a way to convince a man to remain with his life intact; as if the banana man was going to come for some chocolate chip infested dough!

"What are you waiting for?" Foxpack barked again. "Pull him in-gara!!"

Katashi grunted, throwing the chain up in the air for a moment, before stretching his arms out forward. Twin spikes formed out of his arms, one at where each of his elbows were. He had consumed the, making him a bladed human.

As the chain dropped back down, he brought his right arm back, shoving the spike inside the center of one of the links. Continuing with his backswing, he pulled on the chain to draw the anchor closer. Then once his arm was pulled all the way back, he punched his arm back out as he ducked to the right under the chain. Where he repeated the process with his left arm. With a rapid series of punches and elbows, the anchor started reeling back towards the ship, dragged by the force of the man who had thrown it.

“SUPA PULLING ELBOWS!!!” he shouted as he went through the storm of elbows and fists.

The ride was somehow bumpy as the anchor skidded across the water effortlessly, pulled by the man that had launched it hundreds of feet out from their ship. He looked up, but everytime he did, water would slam right into his eyes, so, for the most part he kept them closed. The next time he did open them, he was sitting upon the deck of their ship, his turban drenched in water. He coughed as he gathered his breath, and prayed as he sat upon the deck of a much larger ship. He looked up to Katashi.

"Thank you so much! I have no idea how I'm ever going to repay you! You must be the captain of this vessel, I suppose! I mean, you're huge."

Katashi just rubbed the back of his head with a smile as the smaller man thanked him, slightly tired from the force of his efforts "I'm glad you think so, but I'm just in charge of the preperation crew." he explained before pointing at Foxpack. "Vice-Commander Foxpack is the commander of this ship."

Drawing out his sword the moment Tabart's bottom had slammed against the deck of The Good Burger, Foxpack pointed it toward what he was forced to assume was an intruder for the time being. Yes, it was by his command that Tabart's life had been saved and yes it was through his command that Tabart was let onto the ship in the first place, but even still, as the stand in leader of the Fifth Division, he couldn't let his guard down. Especially not as they were drawing closer and closer upon Xros territory.

"Explain yourself-gara. What were you doing in the middle of nowhere on that... banana?" It took Foxpack no more than a few seconds to comprehend just how utterly ridiculous that sounded. Oh why was he surrounded by idiots?

His brow narrowed and he flexed his face along his eye-patch as he studied Tabart's drenched frame. "Hold on a second. You seem familiar-gara. Where have I seen you before?"

Tabart looked at Foxpack, and squinted as he made eye contact. "Oh wait, it's you!" Tabart jumped. "Y-You were on Elbaf during the wedding! Foxpack, the dude that murdered that one marine! Er...what was his name?" Tabart continued, snapping as his attempted to remember. "Dario! Yeah, that's his name. I don't know when we actually met, but it's possible you saw me there."

Tabart stood up slowly to ensure he wasn't interpreted as a threat. "But, after Elbaf, I spent time running from the marines and everything! Then, I got...er, kidnapped by some crazy people on Dressrosa, and I finally escaped their clutches!" Tabart's truth was only a half truth. He was saved by the Dressrosa Royal Family, but made forbidden to leave the island under the command of his mother, the King: Longinus Niu. However, revealing himself to be royalty to a band of pirates, no matter how helpful, was still dangerous. Especially someone with a bounty like Foxpack's.

"Anyway, I couldn't steal a boat, so I made my own, but as you see, it didn't hold up well."

"Elbaf...? Oh, now I see-gara!" He sheathed his weapon at once. Yes, now he remembered. Though they had never formally met, there was a certain character known as Benjamin Tabart that had grown in popularity since the events of the royal wedding. A bounty of nearly half his own, it would have been odd to not have remembered seeing Tabart in the newspaper that very next day, at the very least.

Foxpack quirked his brow. "You have my confused with someone else-gara, for I did not take a single life during my time on Elbaf." He recalled the events leading up to the royal wedding. His bout with Salazar, his bout with Catrina. His eyes narrowed.

"The only death I recall is that of Jack Stalkman's!" His tone became fierce. Veins bulged around his eyes. "That rotten wench of the Fire Rocker Pirates... it was she who took his life! And I shall never forgive her for as long as I live-gara! I will see to it that even now she is slain by my blade!"

Foxpack, of course, had no idea that Tabart was the one truly behind the death of the legendary giant war hero. "Eh? You made that banana yourself-gara? Just how did you manage that?"

Tabart gulped nervously. "Yeah, that stalkman incident was soooo terrible ya know, hehe?" A sweat dripped from his brow as he nervously wiped his forehead. "Anyway, it's the power of my devil fruit!" he changed the subject quickly. "I ate the Mosa mosa no Mi and became a Plant Human! I can generate and manipulate all known plants! I call that boat thing a banana boat, haha! Get it? Like the ice-cream snack thing?"

"You can what?!" Again, did he hear that right? Foxpack's eye widened. This boy could grow crops of that magnitude with his ability? Imagine the tandem he and Katashi could join forces to create! The dicing of unimaginable vegetables and fruits that the Fifth Division could use for the rest of their culinary needs!

"So what are you up to now-gara? I recall the staggering bounty you have over your head... do you belong to any crew at present?"

"Technically, I am the First Mate of the Purple Pirates! But, it's been a long time since I've seen them; in fact, the last time we had actual contact with one another was when were in Paradise," Tabart reflected, his tone growing slightly solemn. "I'll see them again, I know that, and we'll go on adventures like we always have. But, for now, I'm just trying to survive until they find me, and to avoid the marines and whoever else is after me."

He looked at Foxpack confusedly. "Why? Don't tell me you're going to turn me in!"

"Turn you in? Don't be silly-gara. What I see within you is the potential to become a member of our forces. Just imagine, an invitation to serve under one of the Yonko, the mightiest of the pirates across these seas! What an offer it is! Surely one that you cannot deny?"

"Uh! Me? Yonko crew? I-I don't think I'm good enough for your ranks honestly," Tabart admitted. "Most of my bounty is made up stuff! Especially the Ashley bit. Nothing ever happened between me and that woman; I promise. I'd only be a detriment, I think."

Burning Chains
Within an underground training center in were 5 masked individuals, of varying heights and builds, lined up in straight rows and columns, looking directly towards a leader on a podium. They were a smaller individual, with long purple hair and wore very large robes and a long white mask. As they spoke, all movement within the crowd desisted as they listened.

"Fellow members of the Night Parade," the leader spoke with an echoing voice, "War with the Xros Pirates is nigh. We require information, and thus we will send a single operative to confirm or deny recent rumors, and gather more combat intelligence, for the sake of our Empress. The member we send shall be decided by tomorrow at dawn. Reconvene here. You are dismissed."

Almost every individual present in the large hall had nigh-instantly disappeared, leaving not a trace of their existence behind, sans a single person. They wore a grey mask with two horns and were seen with a white mane. They took said mask off, revealing their face. This was Fukuoka Soren, the normally cheerful apprentice of Kosaka Isshin, appearing quite frustrated at the recent turn of events.

"...They won't send me...I'm an apprentice, and this stuff is important for the Black Widow Pirates..." The man grumbled, his gaze peering down. "But..." Visions of two children smiling with a blue-haired parent came into his mind. "They're always there! With her! It's annoying!"

He disappeared from the training hall in an almost gliding-like fashion, before appearing in a smaller room. He began to pack his baggage, and wore his mask. He looked towards the horizon, and departed without hesitation.

He reached the port, and noticed a small ship with a crew that were about to depart with supplies. Without the crew noticing, he made his way onto the ship and hid himself in one of its many bags. Soren overheard the crew talking, saying that their ship was sailed towards Ishitani, an island that the Titan Pirates recently made their debut upon.

In approximately a week, he had appeared on Ishitani's port. He noticed its barren terrain, but kept himself well-hidden. He found a vantage point on one of the few buildings in the area, and scanned his outwards. Rather than focus his Haki through his eyes, he instead used his ears as the sensory medium. He began to pick up on the faraway sounds a normal human could never hear, and managed to find one of the ships that were sailed to Beldina. It was another supply ship, so it'd prove relatively simple to infiltrate.

Soren once more hid his presence by moving with the wind and shadows. Eventually, he found his way onto the ship and hid once more within the cargo. His ability to survive in low-oxygen conditions had been enhanced due to his training with the Night Parade, which note that the most confined places are the easiest places for a spy to hide.

In a couple of days, the supply ship from Ishitani had reached Beldina to retrieve supplies. In the process of their unloading, Soren had sneaked past the senses of the crew by sticking to the shadows of the ship, before moving into the plain town without anyone noticing him. Fukuoka Soren had now reached Beldina, and would now look for information on the Xros Pirates.

"I will be acknowledged," He said to himself, as he changed out of his Night Parade uniform. "More importantly," His eyes grew fierce, "I will help the Black Widow Pirates win!"

Some days had passed since Soren's arrival on Bedina. He had been forced to keep his movements around the island to a bare minimum due to the sheer number of forces the Xros Pirates had around. Simply put, it was a staggering amount; even some of the more well known officers of the Yonko crew had made their presence felt upon the island.

Home to countless natives, along with intelligence pertaining to the Xros Pirates, Soren had come to know about the immediate culture of Bedina's people. And, for the last few days, word encircling the premier of a new film had stolen away the interest of many.

The hype was real. The island's locals couldn't wait to see their beloved star, Nectar Ellis, on the big screen. He was a man who had been brought up in Bedina's very own soil; now, he was a movie star, one who was on the rise and could potentially take over the movie industry with his brilliant work. His new film was a much anticipated one, and tickets had been sold out a week prior to the film's premier.

That day was today.

Hundreds stood outside the line of Bedina's movie theatre. Their hearts were racing. Children couldn't hardly contain their excitement and the women… oh the women, they nearly lost consciousness simply at the thought of seeing Ellis on the big screen. What a man he was!

Ticket after ticket, ticker after ticket. The bouncers did their very best to maintain the wild crowd outside of their theatre. And as the hour came upon them, there were still hundreds left fighting for a chance to see Nectar Ellis' new movie.

Soren, who had utilized his skills in some capacity to obtain a ticket, was among those fortunate enough to be let inside. Of course his intentions were most peculiar: he closely anticipated at least some officers from the Xros Pirates to be present for the showing. But as he sat down and the film started with a fludder of cheers, he was surprised to see that not a single one of them had bothered to show up. Not yet at least.

The moment Nectar Ellis' charming face appeared on screen was the moment the projector went black. The crowd erupted into a bitter rage. That is, until the doors to the theatre which had been locked up until now, swung open, light flooding into the dark auditorium.

"Alright, alright, get out, every last one of you!" a man with long red hair announced, hands in his trouser pockets. He was a most sheepish looking man, with glinted eyes that glew in the dark, a red jacket unbuttoned to unveil his musculature, and a pair of yellow pants that were tight to his skin and folded above his ankles. He cleaned his ear with one hand while the other held a sheathed katana over his shoulder. "As of three minutes ago, I've decided to rent out this theatre for myself. The rest of you can watch this movie some other time."

The crowd groaned. But they knew better than to challenge a member of the Xros Pirates. As if on cue they all rose up from their seats and climbed up the theatre isles, departing from the movie theatre without a refund.

Soren identified the man as Al Rauf Najeem, a member of the Xros Pirates with a bounty of 320,000,000. And, oddly enough, by the designation of "Omega', whatever that meant. Since his arrival onto the island, Najeem had amounted in nothing but trouble. He was as self centered as they came.

Najeem stood lighting a cigarette as the public poured out of the two exits of the theatre on either side of him.

Soren was frustrated, undoubtedly. But he wasn't an idiot. He was trained to be a Ninja, and a Ninja did not reveal their identity so quickly. Especially during this crucial moment. So he followed the crowd and left the theatre from the left. Although his eyes made contact with Najeem's, he soon acted the part of the frail victim and shuddered, turning away and hiding his head.

The act didn't have to be convincing, for he had already exited Najeem's range of sight — or so he hoped. As opposed to completely call off his reconnaissance, Soren instead patiently waited for the crowd to disappear from the theatre's entrance. The moment Soren confirmed that nobody was in his range, he quickly hid into the shadows.

He identified the closest air vent and approached it. In the next second, Soren used the power of his Koru Koru no Mi, a Coal Logia, to deconstruct his body down into a black ash-like material. He travelled into the air vent without the need of breaking in. Without a sound, his whole body had made its way into the air vent and traveled to the theatre room's vent without an issue.

Returning to his standard human form, Soren used his trained flexibility to ensure that his body did not make unnecessary noise. To do so, he made sure he didn't collide with the ends of the air vent. He looked upon the self-centred Xros Pirate with disdain, but paid close attention to whether he would continue speaking of the operations of the Xros Pirates, knowing this was an opportune time to gain intel.

When Soren looked through the vents and into the auditorium, he did so to the sight of Najeem sitting in the middle row with his legs kicked up on the seat in front of him and his arms resting behind his head. His sword was aligned with the pommel against his shoulder and the sheathed blade standing up against the carpet.

For the longest time, Najeem didn't do much of anything, save for a small chuckle here and there. He appeared to be very concentrated on watching the film; he ran threw no less than two packs of cigarettes by the time the film had reached its intermission period.

It was during this interval that Najeem's Den Den Mushi began to ring. He was hesitant to answer it, but did so nevertheless, placing the snail on the side opposite to his sword on his shoulder, so that he could tend to more important matters with his hands: his lighter and another cigarette. "Hello?"

"Hoy, Honey Boo Boo."

"What is it, Kettle? I'm in the middle of something here."

"What could ye possibly be doin' that's so important, eh?"

There was a long silence. Najeem inhaled the fumes from the cigarette into his lungs with a long flare of his nostrils. He grew impatient of his comrade's pointless banter. "I'm watching Ellis' new picture and I'd rather not be disturbed right now. We'll talk again later."

"Hoy, wait just a second ye damn!-"

Najeem turned his head to the side, facing the transponder snail. And then, opening his mouth, he bit into the snail's throat, until its eyes faded into a blank canvas. He puffed a red smog from his mouth, intertwined with blood and ash. Just in the nick of time too, for the interval had subsided and the movie had returned to the screen.

"..." Soren did not open his mouth, but on the inside he was infuriated. However, when he heard the name Kettle, he instantly realized who was on the line. "Black Hand" Barney Kettle, a dastardly Slaver to say the very least. But what did he have to do with the Xros Pirates? He couldn't determine that from the information given to him. He continued to wait patiently until Najeem finished watching that new Ellis movie.

On that note, though. He wondered why Najeem was so entranced with the movie when it seemed so lackluster. Perhaps Najeem just had bad taste.

In time, the movie ended. But rather than leave, Najeem remained in place long after the credits had subsided. He had found the theater's seats to be most comfortable, and even despite the fact that there were hundreds of people outside waiting for him to leave so that they could watch this incredibly hyped film for themselves, he decided that now of all times was the best time to take a nap.

And so to sleep he went, snuggling his face against the grip of his sword.

Najeem didn't plan to leave anytime soon. And most of all, he truly didn't plan to return Kettle's call.

"He's a tough nut to crack, huh..." Soren thought to himself, wincing at the fact such laziness existed in the Xros Pirates. But, if he was actually this lazy, he wouldn't have such a high bounty. Soren had assumed that Najeem was aware of his presence somehow and was waiting for him to leave, but Soren had no plans of doing that. Sleepless nights weren't new to him.

The Xros Pirates would be well aware to not underestimate the intelligence gathering skills of the Night Parade. As a matter of course, Soren stayed within the confining air vent and continued to wait for Najeem to say something of value. Simply learning about Kettle's involvement in this conflict was not enough. Just what was he contributing to the Xros Pirates' forces?

Ten hours. That was the duration of Najeem's slumber.

At the ten hour mark, he sneezed himself awake, looking around the room as if he had forgotten where he was. The odor of the dead snail on the seat beside him had rung its way into his nose, and he grimaced at the sight of it. Flicking it onto the carpet, he stepped on it as he stood up, taking his sword into his hand and hauling it back over his shoulder.

Lightning another cigarette, he figured that it was time for a proper meal. He took his sweet time to depart from the theater, and as his figure came into view in the lobby, the crowd did its very best to be patient, waiting until he had exited the whole of the building before rushing into the auditorium to claim seats, where parents fought their own children for the privilege of seeing Nectar Ellis.

Into the morning sun of a fresh new day went Najeem. He had a certain destination in mind as he walked through the streets of Bedina.

As Najeem had finally left the venue, frustration was evident in Soren's eyes. But he restrained himself. Even a slight misstep was fatal here. "He pisses me off...so...damn...much!"

Soren suppressed his frustrations again, instead turning once more into a black particles and exiting the theatre within moments. Najeem had walked along a path on the ground, so Soren had decided to traverse across the buildings. He kept to places with a lot of cover, and as opposed to jumping, moved around with the help of his Devil Fruit to avoid any excess sound. He had hoped Najeem was a little more dutiful this time, lest he leave without obtaining any intelligence at all.

Where Najeem ventured next was a small shop with a big line. The shop itself was a small building dedicated to a kitchen, with a small counter created on one wall to allow for customers to contact the cooks inside. A child stood in line, awaiting his meal after having paid his dues.

However sad, he would have to wait for his food a moment longer. For Najeem had come into town, which meant that now he was suddenly second in line, to him. Najeem expressed absolutely no remorse whatsoever as he simply walked up to the line, fetching the meal from the cook that was meant for the child. No one said anything as Najeem walked away and took a large bite out of the sandwich. No one but the child.

"Hey! That's mine!" he cried, his father a second too late in covering his mouth. Najeem turned around, feeling suddenly threatened. He took another bite of the sandwich and walked up to the boy.

"Oh, I'm sorry little guy. I didn't know this was yours." He bent over to be eye level with the boy. He offered him the sandwich. "Here, take it."

When he reached for it, Najeem threw it onto the ground and grabbed the boy by his hair. "Come on, eat it!" He smashed the boy's face against the sandwich, his father left with no choice but to watch in horror as this pirate brutally fed his child in an all too derogatory manner.

"Eat it, bitch! I thought you were hungry?!"

As Soren saw Najeem brutalizing the child, his eyes began to widen in anger. As he was about to move in to rescue the child, he stopped himself. Soren wasn't anywhere close to his optimal condition, and trying to rescue that child in this situation would do nothing more than cause his own capture.

Instead, he broadcasted his Kenbunshoku Haki outwards to try and find a figure that could fight against Najeem at this point in time. He located Marines a few blocks away, and quickly moved across the roofs in town to reach the base. As he reached closer to the base, he began to play the part of the helpless victim.

"I-is anyone there!? T-the Xros Pirates...they're terrorizing the town again! They're even hurting the children! P-please h-help us, Marines!!!" He cried, hoping that he could draw the Marines attention towards Najeem and, should the Marines prove powerful enough, draw some information out of him.

The scene inside of the Bedina's marine base, which Soren walked into, was one of complete bewilderment. In fact, it was an oddity in itself that a marine base even existed at all on an island that was believed to be apart of the Xros Pirates' territory.

What Soren witnessed as he came into the base was a man around his own age, with bright purple hair that was neatly trimmed and groomed --suspiciously so-- lounging on a chaise between two voluptuous women. The woman on the right was feeding him grapes directly to his mouth while the one to his left was at work fanning him with the use of her own hand.

By his uniform, the man was a marine officer, and seeing as though there was not another one anywhere in sight, likely in charge around here. He regretfully lifted up his head at the sound of Soren's frantic banter. The last thing he needed now was someone interrupting his precious moment. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had bothered to so much as step inside his base and here was this man all of a sudden complaining about… the Xros Pirates?

"The Xros Pirates? Terrorizing the town?" the man said aloud, standing up rather dramatically to his feet. "Not if I can help it!"

The two women cowered at the marine's bravery. They stuck their hands to their heads, struggling to retain their consciousness, being in such awe of his authority that were it not for Soren, they would have most certainly bed him at once! "Oh, Grape-kun!"

"Please, excuse me, ladies! For this is something I simply cannot tolerate! No pirates will be making a ruckus in my town! Not when I'm here to stop it!" He rushed forward, leaving the women behind on the chaise lounge.

He turned dramatically toward Soren, walking over to the man and setting his hands down upon his shoulders to quell his panicked state. "You! Don't you worry a second longer! I assure you, I will see to it that those nasty pirates are dealt with. Believe me!

"In the meantime, why don't you come along with me to file a report?" He winked at Soren. "That way the credit of reporting the crime will go to you. And let me be the first to tell you that the ladies are absolutely going to love you for it."

As if the promise of getting girls was convincing enough, Grape motioned for Soren to come along with him into his immediate office, where he further had him accompany him down the ladder of a trapdoor. Leading Soren a ways into a dark basement, Grape used his lighter as a source of light to illuminate a metal door.

"You seem like a smart guy, so I'm sure you probably already know. But this is normally where we bring criminals in for questioning and the like. However, since our base is one of the smaller ones out there, this room doubles as a waiting room." He inputted a brief series of codes, unlocking the door and gesturing for Soren to step in. "Why don't you go inside and make yourself comfortable for the time being? I'll bring the paperwork down and be right with you momentarily."

The room was entirely blank, with no furniture whatsoever. Only walls made of pure steel on each side, painted white. And as Soren stepped inside, Grape gave him one final nod, before shutting the heavy door.

Lights from the ceiling flashed on. It was as though Soren were staring into a blank canvas. Well, on the bright side, at least he only had to wait a few minutes before he could continue with his espionage. That was what he initially thought. And then a few hours went by.

Soren was noting the oddity of the Marines' attitude. And as he observed the room, he was suspicious considering the lack of lights. However, when he was caught into the room, his exhaustion seemingly caught up to him. Despite the bright lights, he ended up falling asleep regardless.

A few hours passed before Soren's eyes flashed back open again. "...Shit!!!" Soren recollected all that happened to him before he slept. He was angry at himself and punched the ground, but to no avail. The material was surprisingly hard. He found it strange, however, that there was no seastone used against him. But he decided to use this to his advantage.

He conserved his strength for now. There was likely something the Xros Pirates wanted with him. His powers should have been restored enough to escape at any moment he'd like, provided he wasn't assaulted by someone with greater power than his own. "I hope I get outta here alive..."

The locks clicked and clacked one by one until the door at last swung open. But the person on the other end wasn't the Marine Officer that had led Soren inside of there; no, it was a much larger man, and by comparison, far more intimidating.

He was a man two stories tall, over twenty feet in all. He was a man whose face was covered by a red handkerchief, a man who wore a brown leather hat on the top of his head, and a man who was so large that he had to walk in sideways with his head tucked against his chin in order to fit through the doorway.

The tough looking man was dressed in an open waist jacket, fashioned with a skull pattern that showed off his massive physique. Tight pants tucked inside of hard boots with spurs completed his attire, giving him an all too menacing appearance in all.

Judging by looks alone, there was no mistaking it. Even someone without as much intel as Soren would have little difficulty recognizing this guy; as if the "D" tattooed on his forehead wasn't evident enough, this man was none other than Gilbert D. Bertram, member of the Xros Pirates with the designation "Lambda": a pirate with a bounty of 686,000,000.

"Well, well, well, looky what we have here…" he chimed, his voice muffled by the cloth in front of his lips. Flicking his index finger against his thumb, the monster used his ridiculous physical strength to slam the metal door shut. "...Another bug needing to be squashed by my boot."

---

Above the metal cellar inside of the basement, Grape had taken the women from earlier before into his private "office". With his back against the rail of the bed he sat, his uniform in a pile on the floor.

"That guy will never live it down," he said, speaking to no one in particular as the women began to strip themselves in front of his eyes. "Do you ladies know why they call that man the 'Birthday Boy'?" He knew telling these women anything wouldn't make any difference at all. "It's because he absolutely dominates every fight he's ever in, making it all about him. Everytime he fights, he's the center of attention, the middle of the spotlight, just like a boy on his birthday!"

Grape bursted into a loud laughter as the women leapt onto him.

Man of Steel
Soren's body shook up as he noticed the man in front of him. Gilbert D. Bertram was allegedly one of the heavy hitters of the Xros Pirates, and was no doubt an opponent to be feared. Especially in this situation, where Soren was incapable of mustering his full strength, nor make use of his sword.

If Soren was coal, then the man before him was steel. Soren had not reached that level yet. But...he had no choice. "I am a Black Widow Pirate..." Soren thought to himself, as determination framed his face, "I am the child of "Blade Thief" Kosaka Isshin and "Black Widow" Daddy L. Legs! I will fight!!!!!"

As his thoughts echoed in his head, fear had left his body. Instead, he was fueled with a surprising determination that was echoed through his body. He was poised, his legs stretched somewhat outward with his knees bent, right arm in a knifehand position in front of him, while his left arm was above his head, clenched in a fist.

Mustard eyes without the basis of a brow persed unto Soren's frame. Bertram stretched out his neck, touching his ears from shoulder to shoulder. The sound of his joints snapping echoed against the steel walls.

One step at a time, the massive man slowly walked toward his prey.

Soren heard the noise of his joints cracking, as Bertram's imposing figure came moving towards him. Rather than give Bertram any opportunity to fight, Soren decided to try and steal it all from the beginning. However, he had very little energy left. This fight had to be short.

Without delay, Soren released a wave of black ash from his body. The ash flooded the room and made it difficult for his opponent to see with conventional vision. Using the small opportunity given to him, Soren pinpointed Bertram's position and appeared behind him without making a single noise.

He gathered his strength into his right hand, which had now clenched into a fist. He began to rotate a large mass of coal around said fist, dispelling the makeshift smokescreen. The spiraling mass of coal intensified in its rotation speed, before sparks began to ignite. At this very instant, Soren yelled, "Spiraling Coal Fist!" He released the coal by lunging his fist outwards, sending the rotating mass of coal towards Bertram's neck.

Upon collision, it would ignite and smother Bertram in an explosion that would no doubt engulf the room, and force both Bertram and himself to sustain considerable injury.

Bertram stopped dead in his tracks the moment he saw Soren release a torrent of ash from his body. He persed his brow further, not having thought much of the lad from the moment he had walked in. So now apparently this guy was a Devil Fruit user; and not just any old Devil Fruit, by the looks of it, he was a Logia.

But Soren was much too naive to imagine that his skills as a Shinobi would do him any good in a battle where there was quite literally nowhere else to run to. Normally, a tactic like Soren's was juvenile, if not altogether idiotic. To produce large quantities of your element was no different than expanding your own body, thus expanding the region an opponent could target for attack. However, in this stead, spreading himself out across the whole of the cellar confused Bertram's Kenbunshoku Haki.

Well, almost. He wasn't one to openly boast about his skill with Kenbunshoku, but more times than he had to guess, his enemies normally showed up behind him, on his flank. A common principle of battle, to target the part of an opponent's body they had left uncovered. But poor Soren had rushed himself into attack long before he had even learned of Bertram's ability.

In the moment Soren had flung his fist forward, Bertram's upper body contorted as if made of a thin, fabricated cloth. It distorted itself like a ripple, fluttering quickly out of the way while Bertram's lower body remained entirely still and in place against the floor. This led the coal to instead fire straight forward and into the metal wall ahead, leaving Bertram largely unhindered.

The man twisted his upper body around, while his feet remained facing forward. It was a phenomenon not unlike the Rokushiki technique "Kami-e", yet on a different scale, being the result of a Devil Fruit.

"So yar a Logia, are ya?" he said in a muffled voice through his handkerchief. "And here I thought ya were any ol' lad runnin' 'round our parts."

He contorted his body again, snapping his lower body into place to align with his torso. At the very same time, he flung himself forward, his body incredibly flexible yet hardening at once with the application of Busoshoku Haki. He sought to slap his upper body against Soren, a sensation not unlike being slapped by a towel, yet many, many times harder.

With no time to react, Soren barely managed to make use of Busoshoku Koka to defend against the attack. That being said, the attack was still plenty strong, and despite his black, hardened skin, it penetrated through him and caused him to fly into the opposing metal wall.

He panted, and beads of sweat dropped down his face. "That ability is tough as nails..." Soren said out loud, noticing how easily the man avoided his Spiral Coal Fist. His stamina was depleting, but any offensive tactic he could make seemed to be completely irrelevant here.

As opposed to expand his own body, he instead created coal separate from himself. Unlike before, he molded the coal around his fists, and then subsequently turn them into a lustrous black by applying his own Busoshoku Haki over it. Close combat seemed to be the only possible option here. A single, deadly strike when an opening was revealed...if even that was possible.

How lovely. Bertram had his opponent up against a wall, literally. And better yet, he appeared exhausted. As if ready to bite the dust sooner than expected. Bertram grinned under his handkerchief at the sight of Soren readying his hands for combat.

"Yar tirin' out quick, wouldn't ya say?" He stood up erect, hands gripping the sides of his waistcoat and parting them towards his hips. He puffed out his chest, as if to show Soren something. "Lookie here. I want ya to see this with yar own eyes."

Trickles of sweat, whole beads of it had been spilled from Soren onto Bertram's chest. And, in a matter of seconds, they seeped into his flesh, dissolving entirely.

"Did ya see that? I can absorb the moisture from yar body into mine. I'm a Towel-Man who ate the Moku Moku no Mi." He flexed his muscular arms over his head, veins pulsing from body. "In other words, yar sweat replenishes my stamina. The more we fight, the more ya get tired. The more we fight, the more I stay just the same.

"Ya can't outlast me. Not yar nor anybody else. No one can outlast a Towel-Man!"

"...You...can't be serious..." Soren grunted, he could barely stand at the moment and then there was this guy who used all his blood, sweat and tears as an energy source!?

Soren was pissed beyond belief, but even more than that, he felt helpless. What he was about to do would be his last move. Whether he survived or not...Soren did not care.

"Black Dragon." Soren muttered, his entire body transforming into a black dust. The black dust spiraled continuously and became like a typhoon. Soon, his entire body had turned into the shape of a spiraling dragon, sparks igniting through his body.

"RRRAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The boy screamed, his voice no doubt reaching the room above where that bastard Marine was. He pushed forward with incredible force, the sparks becoming more and more frequent. There may have been no escape for himself, but there was no escape for his opponent either.

He would crash into Bertram, and with all his power, explode, and go out with a bang!

A large, resounding blast erupted inside of the basement cellar. Bertram was sent flying toward one end while Soren was sent flying toward the other, out cold. What had happened to Bertram had yet to be seen.

A large smog of ash and dust surrounded the room. Bertram's large frame slamming into the steel wall with such incredible force had left a small dent in it, an impressive feat that only spoke volumes of the stellar attack. However, while it had been enough to push him back, the attack in itself hardly damaged Bertram, with regard to his Busoshoku Haki protecting him from any major damage.

Even so, Bertram was slow to get back up onto his feet. And when he did, he felt some soreness in his chest --nothing that couldn't be fixed with a little shower.

One step at a time, Bertram made his way over to Soren. The boy may have been rendered unconscious, but at the current moment, there was still some life in him. He was not entirely fatigued, and so he wasn't in a state Bertram was yet content with.

The Xros Pirates didn't bother to kill their enemies in a private setting such as this. In a cellar in the deep of the basement… here there was no one present to acknowledge their might. Here there was no one to witness their superiority, to fear their greatness!

That was why the Xros Pirates were firm believers in public executions. There wasn't anything they cared for more than to show off their strength, to show off just how better they were than everyone else. They were the most feared crew on the seas and they were going to stop at nothing to show that!

Bertram was the single best member of the Xros Pirates when it came to stabilizing his prey's physical condition. Most members fought defensively so as not to accidentally kill their opponents, but Bertram on the other hand had a very sound degree of control over how close his enemies were to dying. And he had nothing else to thank than the powers of his Devil Fruit.

Lifting Soren up effortlessly with a single hand, he fitted one hand around the lad's wrists and another around his ankles, hauling him high overhead. As an awakened Paramecia, Bertram had the ability to expend his powers over matters separate from his own likeness. In other words, at his command, Bertram could make various objects --including other forms of life-- take upon the properties of a towel.

And that was exactly what he did with Soren. He turned and churned the lad's body while it was within his grasp, Soren's flesh and limbs spiraling into a helix. Like a waterfall, sweat poured out from Soren's body, spilling on the metal floor.

In the same manner he absorbed sweat, Bertram could also expel it. Forcibly relieving Soren of whatever energy he had left inside of his body rendered him completely fatigued, to such an extent that --while still breathing-- it became increasingly difficult to so much as open his mouth. It was a phenomenon not unlike being paralyzed, yet with all his bodily functions still intact. That way, his internal organs could still be meshed with on the day of the execution.

Tossing the smaller man over his massive shoulder, Bertram carried along with the rest of his day.

Hitch-Pike
It was silent. Awfully silent.

It was peaceful. Awfully peaceful.

Two elements that didn't quite ever work in unity. Not on the seas of the New World.

Was it luck? Or perhaps it was the doing of another. Whatever the reason, they had been lucky. Fortunate even, to not have encountered more than a few Sea Kings following their departure from Ishitani.

Since leaving, Draco D. Damon had fallen into a deep slumber. As was to be expected, of course. The lad had only partaken in a battle against Mengis, a mink of such incredible fortitude that the as a whole had refused to let retire his services, no matter how many times the bloody fool had gone against their morales. As a result of his last encounter with Asura, the tiger mink had been demoted… again.

This wasn't the first time such a thing had occurred, and it most certainly wouldn't be the last, either. The 44 year old had been a now for well over 20 years; the fact that he was a Captain in rank at current only went to show for how little he cared for honorary positions. Ten years, ten years ago he had held the rank of Vice Admiral, and ever since then everything had gone downhill. He had seen all the ranks a Marine could ever possibly see, except of course those above that which he had reached, and seen them more times than any other Marine should see fit.

He had managed to become a Vice Admiral no less than twice; a Rear Admiral no less than ten; a Commodore fifteen times; a Captain now for the twentieth. And should he be demoted any further, then he would see it be his twenty-sixth time that he had been demoted to the rank of Commander. Demotions were nothing new to him. At this point, he was so used to it. At this point he had forgotten what rank he even was; hell, by all means, if things carried along as they did, he was just as good as any other Ensign!

In light of his opportunistic thinking, Apu had the luxury of an entire household at his disposal in his taking care of Damon. The house he had ripped from Ishitani's foundation was one of three complete stories; he had lain Damon to rest up in the master bedroom on the third floor, while he worked the kitchen on the first. And my was he a sight to see.

The Titan Pirates' Fifth Division was in charge of the Yonko crew's meals; they were a division comprised of the very finest chefs and cooks the crew had to offer. Apu was of no exception. Even in his time on, he had operated under the banner of his own restaurant, the famed "Bubba Gump", and his craft was admired by many on the face of the island.

Using the kitchen of the house to his complete benefit, and having left it in pursuit of that which lay below, Apu had prepared an absolute feast for his wounded ally. Trays and trays of seafood were aligned along the table, ranging from soups and salads to fish and meats. Not only was it a glorious sight to behold, but better yet, each of the foods were heavy with nutrients that would ensure a fast recovery for Damon.

Carrying up a tray filled with everyone of those dishes, Apu made his way up the flight of stairs until he had arrived in Damon's room, to see the injured man still fast asleep with a newspaper over his face. What's this? Where had it come from?

Setting down the tray, Apu peeled it off of Damon's face. And his expression was one of astonishment when he had seen that Damon had made the front page. Entitled "Demon of the West" it featured Damon in a state that Apu hadn't quite seen in its entirety: a number of additional arms sprouting out from his backside.

What stood out to him immediately was Damon's new bounty of 170,000,000. A smile formed on his fat, fishman lips. "The bastard's gone and surpassed my bounty."

He narrowed his eyes as he read further along the lines. "The culprit behind the murder of the Asha Kingdom's King?" Apu read aloud softly to himself. Perhaps there was a darker side to Damon than he had known. Or maybe, just maybe, this was what Damon had been mumbling about in his sleep all along. Maybe this was what he had been having nightmares about, maybe this was what he had been framed, accused, and marked for having done, when in reality, he was innocent.

Just as innocent as he was.

---

"Kresha!!" Apu screamed, his face in his hands. He was currently in hiding, but his heart ached with such intense agony that he could not help but give away his location to his pursuers. "Kresha!!" he screamed again, feeling so lost. Feeling like he no longer had any other place in the world to be, nowhere to belong to.

He was squatting down in the crevice of two buildings, his figure obscured by two barrels of garbage. He had hoped that the stench would keep the humans from chasing after him, but he was wrong. The moment he screamed was the moment they were able to find him, having followed the long trail of blood that was seeping out of him.

"There he is!" a human from the mob of over fifty hollered, igniting the rest of his human friends and pals to roar wildly. Torches and spears and pistols and swords in hand, the mob angrily charged toward Apu, a bullet running through the barrel to his left and causing feces that had been stored within to funnel out like a volcano.

Apu had no time to sulk, even when the dung had spilled into his wounds and entered the insides of his body. Only one thing came to mind and that was to run. To run and run and run, all the while screaming Kresha's name. Maybe, just maybe she was there on the same island as him.

Maybe fate would see to it that they would meet again very shortly and that it was just a cruel dirty prank the world had played on them. He lost his footing on a puddle of his own blood and rolled down a hill, straight into a pool of mud. By now the mustard fishman had been turned all brown, brown with mud, brown with dung, brown with fear.

When a human tossed his torch into the mud and it burst out into flames, Apu had no choice but to use his Sudden Burst to thrust his way out of the there quickly. His shirt had been caught in the flames, however, and so he had to discard it quickly as the fire torched his fishy flesh.

Tears in his eyes, he was forced to a slow jog as his fatigue caught up with him at long last. His mind nearly snapped as he felt the force of a bullet skim his ankle. "Kresha…!" he hollered again, this time as he tripped on a loose liquor bottle. Falling onto the brick road of the town, he found himself unable to move. He found that his arms and legs had finally given in to the days he had been running; it was over. It was all over.

And that was when he turned his head to the left, to look away from the ensuing mob. But instead what he found on the other side of his body was… another human. A large human, so large that he made Apu, as a fishman look small by comparison. And of all things, this man, this bald man had a chestnut on the top of his head, oddly enough.

His cheeks flush with a blush, the man was laying in the middle of the town with alcohol dripping from his lips. He was so drunk that perhaps he hadn't the slightest of clue where he was. And as the man sat up, Apu prepared himself for the worst. "Ehhh?" the man flashed his wobbling gaze at Apu. He itched his long, black beard with one hand while the other tightly grasped a bottle of some liquor Apu had no interest to identify. The man clogged his lips with the bottle, taking a long swig as the mob appeared in sight.

Apu clenched his eyes shut. "Y-you probably want to kill me like the rest of them, don't you?!" Apu hollered, his mind and body, his soul too, tense with stress and agitation. "So then do it! Just do it already!!"

The man's brow narrowed into a glare as he drank more and more of the rum, emptying it down into his throat.

"What are you waiting for? Kill me! Just kill me!!"

The mob appeared before the two men with renewed brutality. They had no interest in the chestnut headed man, but should he get in the way of their justice, then they had no qualms trampling him along with the monster.

It all clicked in his mind. The chestnut headed man met the mob with a powerful glare. And in that moment, the bottle shattered in his grasp. It was as though time itself had froze, for a mysterious force emanated from within the man's figure, and in the next moment, every last person that had made up that mob, fell to the floor, unconscious.

Apu's eyes widened. He looked over at the man, not knowing what he had done. Not knowing what awaited him. Not knowing that in the coming weeks and months, he would forever and always swear his allegiance to him; forever and always swear to serve under the great Montblanc Burling.

---

Folding the newspaper neatly, Apu set it aside on the counter beside the bed. He had no idea what Damon could turn out to be, but if he matched his potential in the slightest, then that newspaper could end up being a vital artifact serving as a humble reminder as to where it all began.

Placing the tray of food down onto Damon's lap, Apu shook the man awake. He had changed his bandages every few hours over the course of the now three total days that Damon had been asleep. "Hoy, wakey, wakey."

When Damon didn't get up even after all that, Apu resorted to slapping his face subtly. "Hoy, wake up already, come on now, Damon!"

"Huh huh huh, what?! You guys dumped tar in the pot-" Damon blinked rapidly turning his head around. "Oh." He settled his eyes into Apu's figure and they softened, as he smiled. "It's you, sorry for that." Damon rubbed his head with his left hand and finally saw the food in his lap. "Oh, this- I could've helped you, y'know." This had happened the first time Damon had fallen asleep, though he was sure this was the second time, Apu went and just prepared some meal for him, and it was delicious, he wouldn't lie.

Properly sitting up, Damon munched on the food gently, savoring each bite as best as he could. He looked up to Apu and extended his arm. "Do you want some?" He said while using his other hand to hold the food he ate. "Have we arrived anywhere?"

Apu pulled over a chair and sat down beside the bed, folding his arms as he watched Damon eat. He shook his head and showed his palm to the man, refusing the food. "No, no, I made it all entirely for you. Besides, I've already had plenty to eat for myself."

He shook his head again after. "I got out a few times myself to ask for directions along the way, docked the house on some few islands. I have a good idea as to where we are, now, but I don't think it's a very good idea to get off here. Matter of fact, that's why I didn't wake you up when I left."

He motioned towards the window. "...We're not exactly in the greatest of spots, right now. We're in enemy territory, to be more precise."

"A'right, next time, it'll be my turn." Damon replied between munchs, having a blank expression as many ingredients drifted through his mind, it had been so long since he had last cooked something. "Some few... islands? Um, how much did I sleep?" He swallowed a piece whole and cleaned his saliva, continuing to listen, Damon hadn't left Asha for quite some time, most of the missions were on nearby islands.

With Apu's gesture, Damon then looked at the window and his eyes widened, taking in the visage of the sea and an island. "Enemies- Marines?!" He moved abruptly in the bed, his veins showing up. Part of his pants could be seen, the same ones provided by Princess Mariel back at Enji, though, they seemed to be cleaner now.

"Yeah, quite a few islands, actually. I lost track of time, to be completely honest, but if I had to guess... I'd say you've been out for at least... at least three days. Maybe four, maybe more." He chuckled. It was hard to remember much of anything when you were too busy being chased by humans every time you stepped foot on land.

"Oh yeah, you mentioned being a cook yourself, right? Gee, that's really convenient. You see, the division of the Titan Pirates that I belong to, the 5th Division, actually is in charge of preparing the meals and everything else for our crew. We're a crew full of cooks and chefs; of course we do lots of other things as well, but that's our main priority."

He looked at Damon with a proud smile. "You've had my cooking so many times now. I'd love to eat by your hand someday."

Apu's expression became more fierce after that, following the mention of being on enemy lines. Unfortunately, it wasn't as simple as the Marines this time around. "No, not the Marines. If that were the case, I could just bring up Captain's name and maybe, just maybe they'd let us slide by again. But no... it's much worse than that."

He moved his eyes toward Damon. "Ever heard of the Xros Pirates?"

"Holy shit-" Damon mentally slapped himself and cut short his words. "I-I see then... seems like that Tiger man really got the best out of me..." He wouldn't want to confirm it again, but, Mengis' amount of aura was similar to that of Damon's teacher, Bambina. He wondered if they had even met, considering both were Marines.

Damon frowned at Apu's words, he shouldn't be surprised that a crew needed chefs, but... not so many chefs. "Your bandana does remind me of a Chef's Trademark... don't tell me you're sorta' Self-Taught too?" He scratched his chin, as if to increase his observation skills while looking at said piece of clothing.

His mother, who is named Helena and is the one to have gotten him into the cooking ways, has told him that Chefs would dress differently to prepare food, depending on their methods and teaching schools. She pushed Damon through the first steps, he was just 8 back then, but had to leave the island soon after, going back to work at a a large bar or something. He wasn't approved to be a Soldier of the Kingdom, at first, but was elected as one of the new cooks after someone tasted his meals. He just had to improve from there, and, Damon would never say he was unhappy.

Damon was snapped out of his thoughts by Apu, once again, and smiled at him. "I'd gladly offer my meals to you!"

That smile soon faltered, as the Fishman went back to the true matter at hand. "Much worse... do you mean..." His hands felt to his now empty lap, and Damon gulped, hearing the name of the crew. "Xros... my old master has told me that those are supposed to be one of the four strongest Pirate Crews around..." The information had slowly sunk into his mind, Bambina had a deadly serious tone when speaking about it, these people weren't ones to be taken lightly, and Apu's reaction just cemented it. "That's the single thing I know..." He shook away his shuddering, this wasn't the time to fall back.

"Self taught?" Apu probed his chin. "I mean, not entirely, I guess. Well, definitely for sure not self taught anymore. Back home on Fishman Island, I only really did one of two things: train and eat. I didn't have the money to buy any food, so I really just ended up making my own. And I guess that gave me a lot of practice.

"It wasn't until I met Captain Burling that I became as good as I am now, though. That man... aside from saving my life, he's taught me so very much. His cooking is easily the best I've ever had... my mouth is watering now just thinking about it!" He wiped his mouth before proceeding.

"He taught me how to use Haki, too. Boy, I didn't even really know what that was before then. And I'm not the only one, either. He's taught us all, everyone in our division has the luxury of training with him. That is, whenever he's around." Apu chuckled, thinking about how he had even managed to run into him in the first place. Maybe it was a good thing that Burling was always lost. If he wasn't lost when he was, Apu may have been as good as dead. "Great! I'm looking forward to seeing how you are in the kitchen, Damon!"

He chuckled. "So you didn't know about the Titan Pirates, but you've heard about the Xros Pirates, huh?" He smiled. "That only goes to show what a force those guys are... they're not to be taken lightly. They're a gang of brutal pirates, the most brutal these seas have seen in quite awhile. Like I said before, we're not in the best of spots right now. We've been lucky enough not to encounter anyone yet."

"Oh." Damon briefly dropped his gaze, many people had a good life, but there was also many who had a bad one. His glare lowering, though, made him see his right arm and finally pay attention to it, noticing the black tattoo which was on it. "Seems like I really slept long, even the skin I sprouted disappeared" He mumbled, feeling as if he could shoot down the mood, Damon quickly snapped up. "Fishman Island? I've heard of it, all of you guys come from there 'n all that. I'd like to see it, one day." He glanced to the window, imagining what it would look like.

There it was, about that Burling again. Damon could only imagine the kindness of this man, to take in so much people under his wing. "Dorahaha, I can only imagine! I'm glad even Pirates got bonds, though, like a tribe of yellow meerkats in the middle of a savana." He shoved the sheats away, feeling as if his legs were too suffocated by them, and sat on the side of the bed. "Haki, huh..." A brief pink aura appeared on his left hand as he looked at it. "He sounds like a damn good grandfather to y'all." Damon chuckled.

Then, he realized that was why the Titan name felt so familiar. "Wait, you guys are one of those crews too!" Damon waved his hands around, almost slapping himself for not recognizing it earlier, Bambina had mentioned all of the Yonkos' crews to him. "Goddamn... I guess so, I haven't seen much... but, what are we gonna' do then?"

His gaze sharpened suddenly and he looked to the window once again, and to the island. "I could use Haki to sense around the island and we could sneak in? I managed to, last time... I mean, we'd have to do something anyway." Despite saying this, Damon knew there was a difference between a territory and a simple kingdom. "Depending on the amount of auras I feel, we might be capable of fighting back. Either way-" He glared at Apu and stood up from the bed. "I won't be falling back." His right hand tightened into a fist.

Apu carefully observed Damon. He wasn't a doctor, but in the time they had left Ishitani, Damon had a lot of time to rest. More than that, he had been fed food that was rich in nutrients responsible especially for stabilizing one's health. Traveling into a Yonko's territory ascertained battle. Apu only hoped that Damon was ready for whatever awaited them next.

"I plan to find Captain Burling before anything. He is my Captain after all, and whatever he says goes. That's my top priority, and unfortunately, so long as you're here with me, I have no choice but to force you along the path. My apologies for getting you involved in all of this, Damon."

His eyes ran down Damon's figure, to his hand as it clenched into a fist. "...How are you feeling now, Damon? If a fight were to break out... how would you suffice? Are you anywhere near your top form?"

Damon nodeed at Apu's statement, it wasn't a surprise, he had left it clear ever since they left Ishitani. "I'm fine with that. You don't need to worry on apologizing me, maybe, somehow, I will also find some information about whoever really tricked me back in Asha." He ran his finger along his nose, smiling once again and flashing his right arm at Apu. The tattoo was much more easy to see now, having a dark color to it and a rather strange shape. "I just figured I didn't tell you. I'm from Asha, a former member of theKingdom's Elite warriors!"

He felt like he should demonstrate it, not out of arrogance, nor out of pride. Damon, sometimes, felt like words were better than actions. The key word being sometimes, and this wasn't one of those times. However, they were admist enemy territory, and his mind had been much clearer than ever since he left Asha.

Apu truly took care of him and he couldn't thank him with words. "Enough to make the both of us survive!" The fishman, too, was in top shape, he could tell. Damon glanced at the island again. "I suppose we should clear things, dock this somewhere and go... what is it called?"

Apu was glad to see that Damon was in high spirits. It made things a lot easier when you had a powerful ally to count on. He noticed Damon's tattoo at last. "Asha? No way! I've always wanted to go there, I heard so much about their Five Sins." He quickly corrected himself. "Seven Sins, rather. Matter of fact, I was on my way there when I ran into you. Ishitani isn't very far from Asha at all; I thought maybe I'd use Captain's absence as an excuse to pay it a visit."

Apu clenched his own hand into a fist. "Right! If we don't believe it, who else will? We can take on anyone so long as we think we can!"

As the two pirates shimmered their pride, a transponder snail in Apu's pocket began to ring. Apu looked up at Damon as it rang, not having expected another call from anyone so soon. At least not until someone had found a lead on Captain Burling. Maybe that's what it would be about?

The snail took the appearance of a fox with an eye-patch. And as Apu flipped it on, his vice-captain's voice roared on the other end.

"Despite what the fuc- what happened, Asha is a really nice place to live in!" Damon smiled and rubbed the back of his head, though, he didn't know that these places were close. Maybe that's why he survived reaching Groot and Ishitani. He moved to the window, openning it to look at the skies."Maybe, after all this shit show, you can visit it or something." He turned to smile at the Fishman, putting his right foot over the window's base.

He liked that determination. According to himself, Apu had been through some heavy things, but he was still up, he was still fighting. Damon felt like he should be more like that. He clenched his fist and simply shook it all away, again. Damon was about to say something when a ring sounded off.

"Hoy, Apu! Are you there-gara?" Foxpack's voice roared through the Den Den Mushi. His vice-captain's fierce tone caught Apu by surprise. Had something happened to the captain?

"Y-yes, Foxpack-sama! I'm here. What's the matter?"

"Listen closely, and listen well-gara. What I'm about to relay to you is urgent news."

Apu looked up at Damon. This information was meant for and only for a member of the Titan Pirates. But somehow, Apu felt as though he could trust this man with their secrets and intel.

"Hoy-gara. Are you listening, Apu?"

"Yes, Foxpack-sama."

"Good. Now listen: we've obtained a very thorough lead on several members of the Xros Pirates. It has been brought to our attention that Sengoku is calling forth a meeting between his top executives, however not all of them will be able to attend due to certain circumstances. Out of them all, only a single one of his biggest guns will be remaining behind, and that is Reach, who is in charge of looking after Bedina.

"Bedina is among the most important of islands within the entirety of the Xros Pirates' territory-gara. Seizing control over it and eliminating Reach from the equation is the first step to ensuring Sengoku's demise."

Apu couldn't think past the whereabouts of his captain. "But what about Captain Burling?"

"Burling-san will be just fine, you know that just as well as I do, Apu. The fact remains that this is too good an opportunity to let slip away. If we don't act now, we may never get this chance again!" Foxpack's tone grew even more fierce. "As powerful as Reach may be, if we're able to corner him, there is no way for him to call for backup. Not now, not when the Xros Pirates are in a bundle. The time to strike is now, with or without our Captain!"

"I understand…"

"We await your arrival, Apu. Me and the rest of the crew arrived here last night. We will plan our invasion for three days from now. Be careful not to give yourself up in the meantime. I'll see you soon-gara." The transponder snail flipped off.

Pocketing the Den Den Mushi, Apu stood up. "Damon… I must ask you for your help. We are gravely outnumbered as it is, but our 5th division isn't to be underestimated. We are a proud bunch of pirates! Please, won't you assist us in taking down our enemy?" Apu got down upon his knees, jamming his fist against the floorboards and bowing his head before the wounded figure laying in bed. He knew how much this meant to Foxpack, and so he was willing to throw away his ego entirely to raise their chances, even if only by a little.

"Even with you aboard, our chances of victory are slim at best. I cannot force you to risk your life for our sake, so I will leave it to be your decision to make."

It was that funny-speaking guy again, Damon found out. He took in the information they begun to discuss, it seemed Yonkos clashed way more often than he thought they should do. Damon chuckled at the name of the Executive, somehow finding it funny, he had to make a joke of it later when they meet the guy. Indeed, even before Apu had asked him on it, Damon was willing to go and help them out with this. After what had happened at Asha, he figured that, sometimes, people couldn't pick sides.

There was no right nor wrong in this conflict between Yonkos. Apu was too kind to him, and he would willing help him. Which is why reluctance showed up in his mind once Apu's gaze dropped at the mention of Burling, Damon didn't like this, how the man got down so fast, but, he understood it.

"Nope. NOPE. NOPE!" Damon lowered his body to tap both his hands on Apu's shoulders. "My answer is no, but it's not the answer for the help." He snickered a bit. "NO, that's not what you should be worrying about, I'm itching myself to go and help you guys. You should be worrying about this damn island's name, like, what the hell? I get a territory and give it a name like that? Feels like those shitty dog owners who just get them to defend the house or some shit. Yeah, you guys need to conquer this one, I don't like this name." His eyes widened as his mouth moved in several shapes. Damon was, indeed, trying to complain and cheer the Fishman up.

Damon rose Apu, still tugging at his shoulders. He then let go and went for one of the wardrobes on the room, he figured he should get a better cloth for himself, having seen one on their first day in the house boat. Damon found a pair of black pants, which had odd white belt-like accessories on the legs, they crossed over and around the thighs. The boots were dark, tight and reached to the middle of his lower leg.

He didn't even wait, and instantly got himself into them, using the belt of the previous pants to hold this one up. "Now, let's do this, regroup with these compatriots of yours and get into action-" He was about to head out for the window, but looked back for a second, scratching the back of his head. "-Um, they don't know about me, do they?"

Apu smiled. It was a relief to officially have Damon on their side. Still, the real challenge awaited them. Nothing was promised, not even their lives.

"You placed the world on notice with your antics in Ishitani. There's a good chance they've recently seen your name in the newspaper. I think we should both preserve our identities as best we can for the time being."

He walked toward the window, moving the curtain to gaze out at the sea. It was going to take them a few days to arrive at Bedina. Apu and Damon were going to need every bit of that time to rest and prepare for what lay ahead of them.

It was time for two Yonko crews to clash.

Under the Estimate
It was a certain kind of silence, a very painful kind, that upheld the inner chambers of the Bedina dungeon. This was an area separate from the one in which Fukuoka Soren had been kept inside of earlier, yet with much of the same pretext. It was an area that was still designed to entrap him, to keep him from going much of anywhere with its seastone pillars.

He had been awake for some time now, his eyes open to the cold, dark world around him. And yet, he had yet to speak a single word. There was someone else there with him, someone else who unlike Soren --who was left laying on the floor-- was chained up with his back against the wall in a seated position.

Blood spilled from every inch of this man's flesh. Snot oozed from his nostrils; from his armpits there was sweat; from his trousers there was fresh urine and bool. How he was still alive was anyone's guess, but every hour or so he kept on calling out to Soren, hoping to make some bit of conversation with him. And yet, every time he was left empty handed.

"You know you can talk to me-wa yo!" he beamed again and with a suspicious sense of enthusiasm given his current state of being. "I'm not going to biiite!"

Soren had struggled to even look towards the man because of the exhaustion he was put under. Every ounce of energy within his body had been sapped, but somehow he had to continue fighting. If he could gain an ally under a common enemy, then he had a chance to turn this situation back.

"H-how a-a-re y-y-o-u a-live...?" Soren spoke, albeit in fragmented letters, panting as he completed the single sentence. The situation that damned Bertram put him in was unforgivable. But Soren needed to speak, it was his only way of communication...the only movement he could make without his entire body searing in pain.

The man fluttered his elongated eyelashes as if in surprise. He was taken aback by Soren's inability to speak. There wasn't enough damage on him, from what he could make out visibly, to suggest that he was in such an intense situation.

But as much as he was worried for Soren, just as much happiness filled the man's hear to finally hear the voice of another. How long had it been since he had heard someone else's voice aside from Najeem's?

"Us Fire Rocker Pirates are tougher than we look-wa yo!" he cheered. "People don't seem to want to give us any credit, but we're among the New World's besssst!" He batted his eyelashes, a hint of a blush escaping both sides of his face as he admired Soren on the floor. If only he wasn't chained up..!

"Allow me to introduce myself-wa yo! I am Daryal, member of the Fire Rocker Pirates." He blushed again at how much he was about to boast himself. "There's a good chance you've heard of me, I have a bounty of 101,000,000 on my head!"

"I-I...d-don't know..." Soren struggled to say once again. But as he continued to move his muscles, it became ever-so-slightly easier. "A-a-nyways..." Soren tried to say, his body still hurting as he did. "W-w-what....d-do...t-they w-want...t-to...d-do...w-with...u-us..."

"They.." Daryal began with a smile. "Th-they.." he repeated again, but it was clear as day that the persona he had been creating up until now was no more than a facade. His smile shattered into a million broken pieces as he was forced into the realization of the cold reality about them.

Tears began to flow from his eyes. He sniffed up the blood leaking from his nostrils to make himself more audible. "Th-they're going to execute us. They're going to kill us in front of a large crowd." He clenched his eyes shut tightly as the emotions roared out of him. He couldn't fight back the tears nor the screech from his throat as he yelled aloud. "J-Just as they did my nakama!! Just as they killed them in cold blood-wa yo!!"

"..." Soren kept quiet. His response was evident, even if his expression was motionless. The Xros Pirates were cruel, very cruel. To think they would dispose of their enemies in public executions as opposed to battles of life and death.

"They are completely different from Mom and Dad...from all of the Black Widow Pirates...Only to boost their reputation, they do public executions? Grrr...." Soren tried so hard to grind his teeth, but even that movement was proving exhausting to him.

"I-I...m-m-ust...r-r-est..." Soren told his comrade in prison. "I-I...a-am...s-s-orry..." Soren muttered, before his body had been almost completely still. No energy was used to maintain his current position, as he was seemingly trying to build it all up once again.

Rest was what Soren's body desperately required. It differed greatly from what Daryal's mind needed: salvation. He simply couldn't stop himself from weeping. He had expressed his remorse to the darkness for the past week. Now there was finally someone to hear him and he needed to capitalize in this moment.

"They're going to kill us.. they're going to kill us..!!" he continued to weep. "But I'm not ready to die yet.. I can't die yet..! Who other than myself can relay what has happened to Captain Korag to the others? Catrina! Cazzar! Don't you know what befell Korag-sama?! Jones, you bastard! Shouldn't you know the fate of the Fire Rocker Pirates?!

"It's my duty to tell them, mine! Oh if only I had access to a Den Den Mushi!" Memories of his allies flowed through his mind as he spoke of the Fire Rocker Pirates. And what of the Okama that he had left with? How would he face Lieselotte-sama after he had failed to protect their lives? He had to know that they had been slaughtered by the Xros Pirates and that he was next!

Daryal's weeping came to an abrupt end the moment he heard footsteps coming down the dark hallway. Though he couldn't see for the life of him what was approaching, a certain tingle down his spine was all he needed to confirm that it was the very man who had brought him here to begin with.

Daryal went silent. Even as he tried to speak out and curse Najeem, he couldn't. The words just weren't forming.

Soon enough, Najeem came into view, dragging along a new body with him. A trail of blood led up to the entrance of the prison cell as he opened it up and tossed the blue scaled fishman inside.

Sword hung over his shoulder, Najeem looked around at the three inside. Pitiful sights they were. He was responsible for two out of the three, and it was midway in his reflection that he realized that the third, Soren, was not here by his design.

In a heap of anger, he hauled the blade into his hands and grasped it tightly. Though as he drew upon Soren, he didn't so much as move it from his hands. In reality, he was no swordsman at all. He had his reasons for carrying around a sheathed katana, but he had absolutely no experience in using it whatsoever. Kick after kick was sent upon Soren's body. Najeem's boot connected with ninja's face and arms, his neck and chest, his ribs and thighs. In his fit of rage, Najeem didn't care as to where he was swinging with his foot, just that it was making contact with him.

"You fucker!! So you were following me around the whole time, were you?!"

Kick after kick.

"You thought I wouldn't ever find out about it!? Well you thought wrong, bitch!!"

Kick after kick.

The fact that Soren was so weak that he couldn't so much as groan in pain only angered Najeem all the more. He went into a furious fit of rage, abusing Soren with no end in sight just as he had done with Daryal all those times.

"Trickshot told me all about your fucking Logia!! What is it that you turn into anyway, dung?! You flying heap of shit!!"

Kick after kick.

"There's nothing that could happen on all of Bedina that Trickshot wouldn't know about! He sees all!"

Kick after kick. Daryal clenched his eyes closed, and screamed aloud. "No!! No, leave him alone!! It's me that's next, isn't it?!! My execution is before his!!"

"You keep your mouth shut you faggot!" Kick after kick. "I'm sick and fucking tired of everyone looking down on us lately!"

Lifting up his feet, Najeem began to stomp them down upon Soren.

"How dare they?! How dare they look down on the Xros Pirates?!" Stomp after stomp. "What, they think we're just going to roll over a die?! They think they can team up on us and that we're no big deal?! They think that we're just a bunch of no good cock suckers who don't deserve to be a Yonko crew?!"

Stomp after stomp. "Well how's this, ya fuck?! The world won't be disrespecting us any further!! Not after we've killed every last one of you guys who dares team up against us!! What?! You think we didn't hear of it by now?! Of course we know of the rumors!! Bring on Raptor! Bring on Legs! Bring on that fucking moron Daikaku!! We'll slaughter all of them at once!!" He went on until his foot had went numb. At which point he just stood there, catching his breath. Najeem looked around at the three of them again before swimming through the pool of blood he had made on his way to Daryal.

"Let's go, the time has come," he declared, placing the sheathed blade against his shoulder again and unwinding the shackles from the chains so that Daryal would fall to the ground. Grabbing the man by his shirt collar, he began to drag him out.

"Banzai!!" Daryal cried as he was dragged out against his will from the cell. "Banzai, Korag-sama!! Banzai, Lieselotte-sama!" He continued to cheer until his physical likeliness had vanished into the dark, and until his words themselves were swallowed away by the blackness. Najeem hadn't bothered to close the cellar door. He knew of the state the two of them were in: they could barely make to speak. Escaping was beyond their imagination. Leaving the door open was the ultimate mind trick: his way of messing with their sanity. So close to escape and yet so far away. To see the door open ahead and yet to be unable to so much as rollover of their own accord.

Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. All that Soren could feel was pain stomping upon him. But he wasn't capable of reacting to the pain. Not even a single word, nor groan came out of his mouth. He was so exhausted that his body simply refused to react to it. Bleeding be damned, so it seems.

He looked at Daryal being taken away, he heard his cries, but ultimately it amounted to nothing. He was going to die. Soren knew that very well. But...Soren could not let himself die. Soren had to stay alive. Not just for himself, but for everyone he owed it to. "Mom, Dad..." The young man thought in his mind, even as his consciousness was fading.

That open door was aggravating. Soren couldn't even move! He wanted to burst free and move into the free air! Rejuvenate his strength and destroy Najeem and Bertram! But he couldn't. Not yet...somehow, someway, he had to restore his strength. But in these conditions...just what could he do?

Grunting out slightly as the all loud noises disappeared leaving a numbing silence, Worden Luhr Luhr slightly opened his right eye which in it self was a struggle seeing as his entire body was screaming in pain. Glancing around the area all he could clearly make out was walls signalling he was in a room of sorts but judging by the cold and uncomfortable feeling  against his throbbing back he could only guess he was in some sort of cell or prison, which in itself wan't anything unusual for him having spent the majority of his teenage life in a cell.

Slightly shuffling about which proved harder than he anticipated Luhr just barely managed to turn his head catching sight of another body beside him and judging by the shallow and pained gasp was in a similar situation as him. "F-f-fuck,". Grunted out Luhr painfully as he tries to will his body to move and ignore the pain that was running thought it.

Through the Grapevine
She had come to him out of desperation, fearing the consequences behind her husband's actions. Little did she know that he was as good a man as they came; he hadn't explicitly done anything wrong at all. In fact, the only crime he had ever committed was marrying a woman as beautiful as her. So beautiful that Grape had exerted his authority as the Marine of most significant rank upon the island to warrant her husband's arrest, knowing that it would have brought her closer to him. And closer to him it did.

Grape titled his head from side to side, capturing her mouth with the hunger of an endless supper. His hands shifted around her waist, feeling firmly around the happenings of her larger than life glutes. Breathing into her mouth, he pulled her over himself as he laid back down on his office desk. And as she began to descend lower, unlacing the buckle of his belt, he tightly gripped the sides of her head with his hands, issuing a powerful kiss to her forehead, anxious to see her go to work.

Oh how he had been waiting for this day. For days he had been slapping around her husband while he was within his custody. And now here he was with his wife, seducing her into the ultimate act of betrayal.

"Oh you are just so fucking wonderful," Grape managed under a weakened breath. He was so aroused he could hardly think straight. His pants were right about to come off when the door to his office, thankfully locked, was met by a knock.

"J-Just a moment!" he called out, standing up quickly to his feet and tucking his uniform back into his pants as he pulled them up. He grabbed the woman by her neck and slammed his lips to hers, pulling her toward an open window and motioning for her to escape.

"I'll be right there! Just… just finishing up some last bit of paperwork is all!" Shit! How could he have forgotten? The inspection was today! It was now that he realized how powerful a beautiful woman could truly be. He was so lost in her curves that he had forgotten all about the Marine Captain that had been sent from Headquarters to inspect his beloved Marine Base.

Fixing his hair as he stood before the closed door, Grape took a deep breath and turned the knob, opening it up. "Oh, w-welcome! Welcome to Bedina!"

At the other side of the door, a man seemingly alone standed. He dressed like a monk, with a black robe covering his body with more cloth than needed and the Marine coat on his shoulders like a cape. His arms where nowhere to be found, until he moved his right hand in the Officer's direction, flapping the long sleeves of his robe in the process.

He was taller than Grape, looking him from above with an extremely serious expression. His bald head shined with the light reflected on it. "You must be Grape." He said. His voice was deep, but oddly comforting. "I'm Captain Sanzo. I'm here for inspection." He kept his arm suspended in the air, waiting for Grape to grab his hand. He was wearing white gloves.

And Grape in fact reach over to shake the Captain's hand, albeit very slowly and with equally as much caution. If first impressions meant anything at all, then man was this guy weird. For a guy like Grape who did nothing but womanize all day long, this tall, bald-headed, robe-wearing Marine was anything but pretty. Heck, Grape even felt bad just looking at him. How did this guy ever get any type of pussy?

"R-Right, that's me. I'm good ol' Grape, haha. It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Sanzo. Why don't you come on in? I've been keeping an eye on everything around here so I assure you, everything is in tip-top shape!" Oh god. Couldn't this guy just leave so that he could fuck that woman already? Hurry up and finish this stupid inspection! Grape's cock was practically throbbing. What a cockblock this fucker turned out to be!

Granting Sanzo entry into the base's office, Grape lightly closed the door behind him. "Can I get you anything to drink? Coffee? Maybe some wine?" Maybe some bleach?

"A cup of water would be nice." Sanzo walked through the room with long, but slow steps. It was almost like he did it on purpose to piss off the Officer that was with him in the room, but, it was, in fact, just part of his calm nature. However, Sanzo wasn't someone to be taken lightly. His eyes followed every move that Grape did; from the handshake to the way he opened the door, the way he talked and the way his body responded to the situation. Sanzo acted like a predator, just waiting for the right moment to kill his prey.

"You don't need to be nervous. It's just an inspection." Sanzo approached the window, touching the frame with his index finger. Pushing it, he opened the window, feeling the pure air fill his lungs in a deep breath. "This place is filthy. It's smells like..." Sanzo couldn't find the word.

"Nervous? Who's nervous?" Grape shrugged. But then he almost began to panic when the Captain addressed the smell in the room. He didn't expect the bald man to know what semen smelled like at all. In fact, he didn't even expect him to have a dick of his own altogether.

"Uh, let me go get that cup of water for you. I'll be right back." Retiring into the small kitchen that was there in on the main floor of the base, Grape began to pace around as he searched the cupboards for a glass. He needed to drug this man, to slip something in his drink and knock him out. Yes, then he'd call up Najeem or Kettle or better yet, Bertram, and this guy would be out of his hair for good.

But no, that simply wouldn't work! This man had to report directly back to headquarters. If, for whatever reason, he failed to do something, then they'd only end up sending even more Marines onto the island, and that was the absolute last thing that Grape needed right now.

Bringing with him a pure cup of water, Grape stepped back inside of the office. "There you are. I hope I'm not in your way? If you'd like me to, oh I don't know, step out of your way and go on a walk, don't hesitate to let me know..."

Sanzo was found sitting on Grape's chair when the man arrived in the room. With a straight posture, without even touching his back in the backrest, he passed his fingers through the many papers he carried in his hands; not only his hands, but the entire desk was covered with reports and the drawers of the cabinets were open. "I took the liberty to look into your reports." Sanzo said, without even bothering to look into Grape's direction. "You can leave the cup on the desk."

Fuck. He looked through his papers? Well, maybe he could somehow managed to play this one off. Grape walked forward, setting the cup down on the desktop. "Okay, and...? What're you trying to say exactly, Captain?"

Sanzo sighed. He got up from the chair, leaving the papers on the desk. "There's nothing wrong with your reports and, apparently, everything is in good conditions." Sanzo walked past Grape, ignoring the cup of water and heading to the door. He opened it completely, stopping before he could leave. His back was turned to the Officer, but he adressed him anyway. "Just be aware of who you bring to this room. The place is impregnated with the scent of women." Sanzo turned to Grape, grabbing the door knob and slowly closed the door as he talked. "If you don't mind me, I have business to take care of."

The smell of women? So what, did it smell like perfume? Grape had gone nose-blind to all of that. He couldn't tell. "So I'm supposed to apologize for having mostly female clients?-" He was cut off as the door closed. He sighed in relief.

At least that was over and done with. Now, he hoped, there'd be no more interruptions. But how was he going to get that woman to come back? He had invested day's of effort into ensuring that they made love. And now because of this bald headed buffoon, he may have lost his only chance.

Walking up to his seat, he slumped into it, thinking things over. What business was that guy going off to do now? He reached for his Den Den Mushi. "Hoy, Kettle-san. This is Grape speaking."

-

Sanzo wasn't sure on who exactly he had to do business with. The only things he knew were the man's name, his rank in the Marine and what he had to deliver. Any information about his appearance wasn't revealed and Sanzo didn't even have a photo or something that he could use to tell apart the man from the rest. It was a tough task, but it didn't concern the Captain that much.

While leaving Grape's room and heading to his ship where the package was left, Sanzo realized how many years he worked as a Marine and how much its strucutre changed since his time as an Ensign. Since 16 years old, bringing peace and justice to the world. And now, 20 years later, he couldn't be more happy for what he achieved. Lost in his delusions, he had reached the base's entrance without even noticing.

In the docks, he could see his ship from afar. It was just like the others near it, with the exception of the crew that adressed him formally. "Captain, it is nice to have you back." A man said, wearing the usual marine uniform, as Sanzo approached the ship; which he replied nodding. Already on board, he entered his room. It was small cabin with a chair, some cabinets and a desk; on it, a casket. Inside it, it was the object to be delivered: a devil fruit.

Sanzo carefully picked the casket and walked out of his room with it on his hands. He sat on the deck with his legs crossed, putting the casket in the middle of them. In a proper meditation position, he closed his eyes, waiting for Swain to arrive any time soon.