21 Chapter 21 The Final member In the North Blue.

After my successful recruitment of the former marine/pirate/spy, we sat down together and began to converse about our lives until this point, Corazon told me the story of how his family lost their status as 'gods' and I shared most of my journey up to this point. He was genuinely shocked I as well as the crew survived a meeting with a Yanko crew, I obviously didn't tell him anything about our deals on the side. He just joined after all, no reason for any unnessary risks while he's in his 'trial run'.

All in all, I liked the guy, despite trying to rob me. I'd be lying to say I wouldn't have done the same in his position. Our conversation began to drift off once I felt a pair of eyes on me, smirking in happiness I began to shoo Corazon away.

"Phew, glad we got that settled, you can go surprise Law with the good news Cora. I have a few things left to do in this jungle." I told him with a smile as I gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Ok captain, I'll head there now!" Corazon replied with anticipation as he began walking off.

"Oh wait, here stop by the market on your way to the ship. Get you two enough clothes and supplies to last you at least a few years." I said while jumping in front of him and handing him a briefcase. He opened it to check its contents before looking at me like I was crazy.

"Ummm… Captain. I think you gave the wrong box, this has 6 million in it…"

"No, that's also your guys starting pay, trust me. You'll end up using it, once we leave this island don't expect to see land for at least a few months." I replied as he nodded in understanding before heading off back toward civilization. Waiting until he was out of sight I began to chuckle.

"You always surprise me, Caesar…. In a few months you've even learned manners, color me impressed" I said while I turned around to come face to face with the 2.5-meter-tall Gorilla leaning against a tree with his arms crossed waiting patiently. Giving him a once over I come to realize that he's been through hell. Scars lining his body, almost 20 pounds of new muscle, and the barely held-together steel gauntlets I got for him.

He merely nodded and looked at me expectantly. 'Damn, he's being kind of cold? I actually came back way sooner than I promised' I thought with a sigh before walking over to him, handing him a half-melted fruit in the process.

He grabbed it quickly before giving it a sniff and recoiling in disgust in the process, turning to me with a wrong look I can't help but chuckle.

"Trust me buddy, one bite and swallow it. You won't regret it" I said while motioning for him to take a bite. He looked at me suspiciously for a moment before sighing and biting into the fruit. Seconds later he fell to his knees grabbing his head in pain.

"Caesar!" I yelled in worry as I was by his side in a second, trying to grab a hold of him to offer him support. Until my hand was burning and my skin fell off like it was made of Leaves in the spring. 'What the hell? Don't tell me his fucking brain is Dissolving!' I thought in worry while keeping my distance.

It was ten minutes later that it seemed the pain subsided, suddenly Caesar's eyes seemed to take on a new light as he looked around the world until his eyes locked on to me.

"You ok there buddy…?" I asked easily, noticing how much different he was acting.

"Yes, teacher. Thank you for coming back for me" The gorilla replied with a pure smile, relaying his happiness for the world to see. And just like that my worldview cracked. 'HE CAN FUCKING TALK NOW!" I screamed in my mind in genuine surprise. 'Is this the effect of plus 500 intelligence?' I thought in wonder while looking at Caesar like a science experiment.

"You realize you're speaking my language right?"I asked him, trying to make sure we were on the same page.

"Yes, I've been able to understand you for months. This fruit just broke the species barrier, at least that is my hypothesis. Though I admit it doesn't make much sense, it's the only conclusion I can draw at this moment " Caesar responded, causing me to look at him dumbfounded again. 'Damn… I'm like 75% sure he's more intelligent than me now, his stat are definitely higher' I thought before becoming sullen.

"And what of your abilities? Have you figured anything out?" I asked curiously.

"I'm aware I'm a dissolving ..'person' now, though I can tell it will be a while before I can figure out the actual combat applications of the ability."

"Just get to the ship Caeser, fucking smart ass gorilla…." I ordered as I whispered the last part.

"And where is it located, teacher?" Caesar asked curiously.

"At the docks where other ships are, it's the one with a hawk at the front, go meet the crew." I said with a sigh at this weird ass scenario.

"Yes, captain! I'll see you then" Caesar said excitedly as he headed off to meet the crew.

'Man… why did I think it would be a good idea to become a captain, this shit is stressful' I thought with a sigh as I hopped onto a tree to get a few more minutes at my training ground in peace. 'After all, it's going to be a few years until I make it back' I thought with a sigh before going over what my next moves will be.

'I'll have to leave the North Blue much sooner than I planned…. Now that I poached Corazon and Law from Doflamingo's crew he'll definitely begin hunting us. Though I do have a month or so before I have to and it kind of aligns with my next course of action. I want to recruit every member of my crew before we go on our 'training arc', not to mention some of them have time-frames I can't break If I want to catch them in time. So one more Hunt…. Then I'll leave the North Blue and I won't return for anything except Doflamingo's head' I finished the thought while gripping the hilt of my blade.

'If I only took in Law like I was planning we probably wouldn't have to leave this quickly, but Corazon was worth it, hell he might be the second strongest on the crew now, not to mention he has good potential.' I finished the thought with a sigh before a smile wormed its way onto my face.

'We went from 3 members all the way to 8 in less than a month, which means there are only 4 more 'planned' members to pick up before the Grand Line. Two in the east, one in the west and the last one that I have no clue of, though I'd bet on the west.' I thought with happiness as I hopped off the branch.

'Well seeing as how I have only three fruits that are 'not for sale' left in my inventory and about 350,000,000 of extra money I guess it's time to hopefully restock my 'wares' . I finished the thought with a smirk before pulling up the gacha shop.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO EXCHANGE 350,000,000 BERRIES FOR 3,500 COINS?….

3,500 COINS ADDED

'And like that, I'm broke again, well besides 40-ish million berries for crew emergencies. Now how should I draw this time…. Let's go with 15 rare grade draws and 2 epic grade draws, but this time let's go with the big draw firsts. Hopefully, I can pull a decent number of fruits with the rare draws'

WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO 2 EPIC-GRADE DRAWS FOR 2,000 COINS?

DRAW...…

As always I waited patiently for something to fall onto my lap, except this time I had to jump back as a two-handed great ax slammed into where I was sitting, along with a white fruit that dropped right next to it. 'Yep, never sitting under where I'm drawing again.' I thought with a sigh before picking up the ax with a surprising amount of effort, it had to be around 300 pounds.

EPIC SKILLFUL GRADE AX ACQUIRED

BERSERKR

EFFECT: 1.5X BOOST TO STRENGTH AS WELL AS DEXTERITY DURING COMBAT.

"Well it looks like Mori's going to have to change weapons, it's a good thing it's not that big of a change compared to his greatsword," I thought, content with strengthening my crew before myself. Depositing 'Beresrkr' I go to pick up an odd cloud-looking fruit, a perfect white sphere that's giving off a 'burned' smell?

LEGENDARY-GRADE LOGIA FRUIT ACQUIRED

MOKU MOKU NO MI (SMOKE-SMOKE FRUIT)

BECOME THE AVATAR OF SMOKE, YOUR BODY WILL TAKE ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SMOKE AND BE ABLE TO FAZE THROUGH ANYTHING NOT COATED IN HAKI. GRANTS A PERMANENT BOOST OF +700 DEXTERITY.

"I guess I had three months of saved up luck, even a Legendary jackpot draw from a mere Epic draw."

'Smokers fruit was a legendary grade Logia? Yeah, I'd probably put it on the same level as the fire logia and one tier higher than the snow logia. The dude must've had the worst imagination to be only a four-blues captain at 30 with a fruit like this. This is an awesome draw, it also shows that Smoker hasn't eaten it yet which is also a plus.' I thought before coming to an even better Idea now that I have this.

'Now this one I wouldn't mind selling to get a favor or two from the Whitebeards, might even give it to them for a promise of something I need for my arsenal' I thought with a smirk as I deposited the fruit intent on giving Vista a call once we set-sail from here. 'Though even if I get it from the whitebeards I still need go to the east blue to get the other half of my 'ultimate weapon' I finished the thought with a 'dark' chuckle.

"Now for the 15 rares..."

WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO 15X RARE GRADE DRAWS FOR 1,500 COINS?

DRAWING....

Unlike last time I jumped back in preparation for the items that would rain down from the sky, thirty seconds later six briefcases, two swords, two maps, and five fruits all hit the ground simultaneously. Deciding to check the worst drops I went towards the briefcases quickly depositing 43 million berries, only a 17 million loss. Checking over the swords next they were two basic rare-grade meito swords, also a loss of around 14 million if I could sell them both for three million, though I'll probably give one to Law as a starter sword. 'Man, these draws aren't too good so far. Hopefully, these fruits make up for it, well no matter what they'll sell for a hundred million a piece so I've already made more money than I started with if you think about it'' I thought before checking every fruit at once.

EPIC-GRADE ANCIENT ZOAN FRUIT ACQUIRED

RYU RYU NO MI MODEL:ALLOSAURUS

EFFECT: TURN INTO THE POWERFUL ANCIENT ALLOSAURUS, PERMANENT BOOST OF +550 STRENGTH AND +250 ENDURANCE. 6X BOOST TO STATS WHEN IN FULL ZOAN FORM.

'Well shit, there's Drake's cannon fruit. Honestly impressive compared to the other ancient Zoans I've seen, his new fruit is still superior though, the flight abillity alone puts it on the level of the Flame Logia in my opinion. And with that, I turned a massive profit from one fruit.' I thought with a smirk before checking the others and much to my surprise every single one was a regular Zoan. There was a bear, a goat, and a Lizard all barely worth mentioning but the last one caught my attention as special for a base Zoan.

EPIC-GRADE ZOAN FRUIT ACQUIRED

HEBI HEBI NO MODEL: BLACK MAMBA

EFFECT: TURN INTO THE FAST AND VENOMOUS BLACK MAMBA, PERMANENT BOOST OF +350 TO DEXTERITY AND +250 ENDURANCE. 5X BOOST TO STATS WHEN IN FULL ZOAN FORM

'Damn, that's a badass fruit but why do I feel the need to scream R.I.P. into the air... fucking weird' I thought while 'shooting' the fruit into my inventory along with the rest.

'So now I have one Mythical Zoan, two Ancient Zoans, four regular Zoans, one Logia, and one Paramecia. Ha, I probably have more fruits in reserve than the world government right now, eh maybe not. Still, I've got a good collection, tens of billions of berries in goods I'd say. Checking over the maps I came to a staggering conclusion

Both maps were just rare-grade treasure hunts and they were for islands in the Grand line, specifically Alabasta and Drum, but that wasn't what surprised me; it made me realize I forgot something a few months ago. 'I never took the treasure map from the 'Bizaro pirates!' I thought in sadness as I began heading towards the bounty office to say hi to old man James and hopefully get some good intel on our next hunt.

"The Ghost-hand pirates huh.... A fight of that level will definitely take my Observation Haki to the next level"