72 The Twelve Supernova
A few days later,
At this moment, the island of Sabaody Archipelago became the gathering of the most notorious pirates who safely made it through the first half of the Grand Line 'Paradise', with the last visitors being the Straw Hat Pirates.
Currently in Grove 16, a young man wearing a straw hat could be seen fighting a group of bounty hunters along with his crew. He is of average height with shaggy black hair, round black eyes, and a slim muscular build.
"Gomu Gomu no…Bazooka!!" Luffy stretched both his arms far back, and then hurled them forward, striking his opponent and sending him flying back unconscious.
"AAAGHHH!!!--*CRASH*--!!!"
Behind Luffy stood Camie, a young kissing gourami mermaid, her starfish pet Pappag and Hatchan, a Fish-Man octopus who cheered for him.
"You did it!! Luffy-chin you're so strong!!" Camie exclaimed in relief as she observed the fight from a safe distance.
"Yeah! My stomach is full, there is no way I'd lose to the likes of these guys!" Luffy declared.
"I wonder what's going on here…all of a sudden, there is nothing but bounty hunters around" Brook remarked while putting his sword back to its sheath.
"This is already the third ambush!!" Chopper said.
"The Archipelago is pretty big so there are places where the government's arm doesn't reach. The Marines rarely comes to these places" Pappag stated, he then added "We're at Grove 16 right now, and Groves 1-29 are pretty much lawless"
"Alright! Are you guys done over there?" Luffy asked them before everyone grouped up again and kept moving. Hatchan was taking them to Shakky's bar to meet Rayleigh.
After a little walk they found themselves in Grove 13.
"Okay, we're here!!"
"We're finally here!!"
"It's one of the shops on top of the roots" Hatchan stated while looking around him, trying to spot the right building "It's been 10 years, I wonder if he's still running the shop"
"Is the coating guy a Fish-Man?" Luffy asked Camie "Well, we'll know when we meet him!"
"Ah, Pappag and I never met him before. But I've heard he's a pretty amazing person" Camie responded.
"Is that so?"
"Don't worry, this is a guy I've known since I was a kid" Hatchan stated as the group arrived at Shakky's Rip-off Bar.
"Hachi, it says right on the bar's sign that they're going to rip us off" Pappag pointed out while looking worried.
"It's fine, they're good people" Hatchan said. He pushed the door open and entered the bar first "Rayleigh, Shakky, are you here?"
After they walked in, Shakky was seen beating up some people who didn't pay her "Welcome. Oh, my…Hatchan?!!" she immediately dropped the person she was beating up and went to greet the Fish-Man.
"It's been too long, Shakky"
"How long has it been?! 10 years?!...Just take a seat and wait. I was just extracting some outrageous amount of money from these guys"
"Take your time"
After Shakky was done ripping off her previous customers, she finally took the time to sit around and chat with Luffy and the rest.
"You're friends with Hatchan, here this is for you" Shakky proceeded to give Chopper a cotton candy.
"Is that cotton candy?!!"
"Hey lady, how did you know what Chopper likes?" Luffy asked her.
"You're Monkey-chan, the captain of a pirate crew, right?"
"You know about me too?!"
"Of course. You guys are getting pretty notorious, plus I'm a well-informed person" Shakky said, and the conversation went on for a few minutes.
"By the way Shakky" Hatchan tried to ask her about Rayleigh.
"Oh, there is no need to say it, you're here to help Monkey-chan and his crew to get their ship coated, right?" Shakky guessed "In other words you want Rayleigh to do the coating?"
"That's about it"
"Well, he's not here right now. I think he would be somewhere in Grove 1-29…other than that he does like 'Sabaody Park'…"
"The amusement park?!! We'll look there!!!" Luffy was very excitement about visiting the park.
"Look, whatever you go, you better be careful" Shakky became more serious while warning Luffy "My sources tell me that with you guys here now there are 13 pirates on Sabaody Archipelago with bounties over 100 million!!"
Chopper was taken aback when he heard that "That many?!"
"That's 11 people other than Monkey-chan and Roronoa-chan" She stated "When you all entered to the Grand Line there were 7 different routes you could have taken. You picked one route and followed that Log to this point…"
"…So, of course the pirates who chose one of the other 6 routes went through the same kind of difficulties as you did and some of them made it here. No matter what route you take you will run into the Red Line and so everyone gathered here to cross the wall, get it?..."
"…All the world's rookies have gathered at the same time, that's not something that happens every day. Kai, Kid, Luffy, Hawkins, Drake, Law…Those names have been all over the newspaper" Shakky explained "Ufufufu, information is a weapon. You should at least know the names of your rivals, right? But actually, there is a person that you might know, though he's not a rookie"
"Someone I might know?" Luffy was curious about who that person might be.
"The previous Warlord of Sea, 'Desert King' Sir Crocodile" Shakky said, she guessed that Luffy might have heard Crocodile's name before since he used to be a Warlord.
The moment Luffy heard that name, he looked very shocked "CROCODILE?!!...I thought he was taken by the marines after I kicked his ass!"
"He managed to escape before going to Impel Down with the help of the Eustass Pirates, the government has issued a new bounty on his head recently. Speaking of bounties…among the rookies, you're only number 3!!"
"There is two people with higher bounties than Luffy?!!" Chopper was finding it hard to believe that there could be someone stronger than Luffy, especially considering that Luffy already has a very high bounty for a rookie "Wait…did you just say Eustass Pirates?!!"
"Why do you know them, Chopper?" Luffy asked, and the little reindeer nodded his head.
"Does their captain have red hair?" Chopper asked Shakky. The latter replied with a nod.
"I knew it! It's the crew that doctorine joined!!"
"Doctorine? Who's that?" Luffy was confused.
"My mentor that used to take care of me, she's the one that I told you about before remember?"
"Hmmmm…I forgot"
"How can you?!!"
"…"
At a restaurant in Grove 24,
Bonney, Kureha, Saga, Wyper, Krieg and Gin were all eating here, and as usual Bonney ordered a ridiculously big amount of food and pizza.
*Munch*-*Munch*
"…Look at her eating" Everyone at the restaurant was looking at Bonney wondering how anyone could fit all that amount of food inside of their stomach.
*Munch*-*Munch*
Bege and his men were sitting at the table near them, he glanced at her with disgust before he talked to his men "You vulgar woman, you're making my meal taste bad. Shut her up and bring her over here!!!"
[From West Blue – Captain of the Fire Tank Pirates, Capone 'Gang' Bege, Dead or Alive 138,000,000 Berries]
"We can't do that father, the Marine Headquarter is around the corner"
Bege was enraged by that response, and he grabbed his fork and stabbed the man in his eye
"Gyaaaahhh!!!"
"Where's my food?! I'm almost out!!!...I want more pizza!!!" Bonney exclaimed while shoving a big slice of pizza in her mouth.
[From South Blue – Crew Combatant of The Eustass Pirates, 'Big Eater' Jewelry Bonney, Dead or Alive 101,000,000 Berries]
"Girl, you have a nasty eating habit! Everyone is staring at us!" Krieg looked very annoyed while sharing the same table as her "I shouldn't have come along with you!"
"Calm down Krieg, let's not make a bigger scene" Gin tried to calm him down.
"That guy has been staring at us for a while" Saga remarked while glancing at Bege who was eating on the other table.
"Does he want to pick a fight?" Wyper lighted a new cigarette while glaring at Bege's direction "…Puff…He seems to be a pirate as well"
"I promised Kai to keep you guys in check, so you better not think about causing any trouble" Kureha said while holding a bottle of plum wine in her hand.
In the same restaurant, a server was hurriedly carrying food to Bonney's table before he accidentally crashed into a pirate, spilling spaghetti on his pants.
The man looked enraged and quickly pulled out his sword to kill him before Hawkins stopped him.
"Stop it"
"Why?! This bastard got spaghetti on my clothes!"
"Then that was your clothes' fate…" Hawkins calmly said before turning to the server "I apologize for startling you"
"M-My humblest apologies!"
"Today will be a day of death when fate is unkind"
[From North Blue – Captain of the Hawkins Pirates, 'Magician' Basil Hawkins, Dead or Alive 249,000,000 Berries]
In a bar in Grove 21, Kai and Kid were hanging out together.
"*Gulp*-*Gulp*…Blah!...I feel so refreshed!" Kai drunk an entire glass of cold soda in one go. He was sitting with his legs crossed on the table while playing cards with Kid "It's your turn…"
"…"
"Hoi, are you listening?" Kid didn't respond and kept glaring at someone sitting at the table across near the wall.
When Kai glanced at that direction, he saw Apoo, a man with incredibly long arms, his lower jaw is somewhat wider than his upper half, his teeth resemble piano keys and he's wearing square shaped eyeglasses and a set of orange headphones.
"That guy is getting on my nerves" Kid said as his forehead veins bulged. Apoo only smirked at Kid before deliberately provoking him by gesturing with his index finger towards himself as a way of saying 'Come and get me if you can'.
"Tsk…I'll kill him"
"Don't let him provoke you--"
KA-BOOOOM!!! Kid couldn't contain his anger and immediately attacked Apoo and two crashed outside the bar. Kid already knows that they are in a lawless area away from the marine eyes, that's why he did it.
But Kai was still against fighting since the marines might know if a big fight happens in the island.
"WAAAH!!"
"What, a fight?!!" The people nearby noticed the explosion.
"Apaapapa!! If you two want to pick a fight, why don't we wait until we're over the wall?" Apoo said with a smirk "Don't you know how strong I am?"
[From the Grand Line (Longarm Tribe) – Captain of the On Air Pirates, 'Roar of the Sea' Scratchmen Apoo, Dead or Alive 198,000,000 Berries]
"You are one annoying creepy bastard…you kept staring at me" Kid smiled manically while pulling out his dagger "I'll take care of you right now"
[From South Blue – Co-Captain of the Eustass Pirates, Eustass 'Captain' Kid, Dead or Alive 375,000,000 Berries]
"Sigh…" Kai slowly got from his seat and went outside "…But I do understand you, this shithead has a punchable face" he remarked while holding his sheathed sword's hilt.
[From South Blue – Co-Captain of the Eustass Pirates, 'Red Demon' Eustass Kai, Dead or Alive 375,000,000 Berries]
Somewhere else in Grove 21,
While they were strolling around, Killer, Heat and Wire were attacked by Urouge.
"A monster is on the loose!!!"
Urouge was carrying a large piece of a pillar with a hexagonal base on his shoulder that he uses as a weapon.
With a wide grin on his face that seemingly never fades, Urouge spun the pillar above his head before he swung it downward at Killer "Eat this!!"
"Killer!!" Heat and Wire who were watching from the back looked a little nervous.
BAAM!! Killer swiftly dodged by jumping back while performing a somersault before he aimed his right palm at Urouge and unleashed a beam of lighting.
Lightning! Thunder! Urouge used his weapon as a shield, protecting himself from the lightning but the force of the attack pushed him back a bit.
Killer took that chance and closed the distance to strike Urouge with his Punishers spinning. When the latter saw that he also swung his pillar at Killer again, but before the two weapons could connect someone appeared between them with two swords drawn.
"If you want to cause trouble…then do it in the New World!" Drake said while stopping the two attacks.
[From North Blue – Captain of the Drake Pirates, 'Red Flag' X Drake, Dead or Alive 222,000,000 Berries]
"You're that disgraced marine officer Drake, huh?" Urouge remarked while gazing down at him "Fufu, looks like your life is spared for today, masked man"
[From a Sky Island – Captain of the Fallen Monk Pirates, 'Mad Monk' Urouge, Dead or Alive 108,000,000 Berries]
"Don't get cocky you mad monk, I've been holding back against you" Killer calmly responded.
[From South Blue – Crew Combatant and Helmsmen of The Eustass Pirates, 'Massacre Soldier' Killer, Dead or Alive 175,500,000 Berries]
Law was sitting near them and watching the scene in silence. He was wearing a fur hat, a yellow hoodie with black sleeves and has many tribal-style tattoos on his arms; on both of his hands are letters spelled as D E A T H tattooed in black on each of the back of his fingers.
When Drake passed by him, he spoke to him with a smirk "That was pretty good just now, but…Drake-ya…how many people have you killed?"
[From North Blue – Captain of the Heart Pirates, 'Surgeon of Death' Trafalgar Law, Dead or Alive 200,000,000 Berries]
…
"There were mountains of pirates who entered the Grand Line, but now only a few are left. The Grand Line really is a gigantic survival tournament…the surviving pirates from each route have proven themselves to be the fittest, the elite" Shakky explained after introducing all the rookies on the island to Luffy "One of them might even become the person who inspires the next generation of pirates, at the very least all these rookies entering the New World won't go unnoticed…"
"…And about the reason why 'Red Demon' Kai and 'Captain' Kid have higher bounties than you is because they killed a lot of higher ranking Marines and caused damage to the Navy's fleet and reputation by helping Crocodile's escape. They are strong and ruthless to their enemies on top of possessing powerful devil fruit abilities, so be careful if you deal with them…Puff…" Shakky took a couple of puffs from her cigarette before she continued.
"I'm definitely rooting for you tough, Monkey-chan!"
"Well, I'm just going to have fun. But all these pirates being around makes me worry about the craftsman guy" Luffy said with a smile.
"Oh, he'll be fine. He's about 100 times stronger than you boys"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Quick note: Crocodile has a bounty more than 100 million but he's not a Supernova since he already been to the New World many years ago.
