CH - 3 [ Prepare to set sail ( 1 ) ]

Halcen woke up in the cabin room he and Grey were sharing. He sat upright and began to look around. Grey wasn't there. But the old man sure was a messy roommate. His bed was a mess and there was garbage everywhere. But no alcohol bottles. The thought made Halcen smile. At least there was that small comfort.

The room was quite small. Only about a ten by ten room, with a twin bed on each wall and a nightstand with a lamp on it in the middle. It was small, but it was affordable. That was all that Halcen was worried about for now. He had to make sure they were saving as much money as possible. If they could live without the little luxuries for a while, it would pay off in the long run.

Halcen stood up from his bed, and went to his bag that was lying on the floor. He dug through it to find some clothes, got changed, and then made the bed. At least one of us cares about being neat, Halcen laughed to himself.

He stepped outside the room into the cramped hallway. It was the less-fortunate that slept in these tiny rooms, and the company didn't care to build much space for their comfort. The upper level was much nicer, but Halcen was fine as they were. He had grown used to giving up small comforts. He started walking down the hall to the stairs that went to the upper levels. Grey's gotta be up here somewhere, probably talking some poor kid's ear off.

When Halcen got to the cafeteria, he looked around to find the tall man sitting alone at a table with an empty plate and a newspaper. He almost chuckled, seeing such a lanky man trying to sit peacefully in such a small seat. Halcen walked across the room, having to avoid colliding with people carrying full plates of food. He didn't want to be covered in pancake syrup.

He sat down next to Grey at his tiny table next to the windows in the back. Halcen stared out to see the ocean water, trailing behind them. He turned to Grey. "Hey, buddy. How's it going?"

"You better go get yourself some food before they run out," Grey warned him.

"Well if you thought that was gonna happen, why didn't you wake me up?"

"And be subjected to the infamous Halcen tirade? I think not. It's not my fault you sleep so heavily."

Halcen sighed. "Alright, I'll be right back." He got up, and returned with a tray with two plates of food, and some water. He needed to fuel up. A runaway pirate without his strength wasn't much good. As he began to dig in, he noticed Grey was still reading the paper. "What the hell is so interesting on there? You haven't turned the page."

Grey pulled the paper down to look at Halcen. His face was a little worried. "It seems we've become newsworthy," Grey professed.

"What do you mean?" Halcen asked with a mouth full of food.

"Jesus, boy, manners."

"Alright, alright." Halcen swallowed. "So what's going on?"

"Take a look."

Halcen took the paper. Grey was stuck on the page with new bounties on it that let everyone know who was new and dangerous, or had become more dangerous. A few names he recognized from his time under Whitebeard, but most he didn't. Then he came to two names that he knew meant trouble. "It's us," he gulped. "Oh fuck."

"Indeed."

"We've only been gone, what? A week? How did they get wind of this?"

"No idea. But apparently the fact that we've struck out on our own made the World Government take notice."

There they were, two men with their own faces on bounties. Avarik Halcen: Wanted Dead or Alive. 50,000,000 belly. And next to him. "Saint" Axcel D. Grey: Wanted Dead or Alive. 115,000,000 belly. But Grey didn't have a current picture. It was from when he was much younger.

"At least they haven't found me," Grey said, thankfully.

"Not yet. It's a 10 million bump each. Why even bother?" When they had left Whitebeard, Halcen only had a bounty of 40 million, and Grey had one for 105 million. Where is this new number coming from?

"It looks like they want to keep track of us. Us leaving Whitebeard's crew must have spooked them. They're not sure what we're up to, or what kind of threat we're going to pose."

"They think we're going to be a threat? To the World Government? We haven't even done anything. What kind of crazy shit goes on in their heads?"

"No idea." Grey began looking more worried. This was going to be a big deal if they got caught. Grey's bounty alone would turn some heads. But as long as they kept their own heads down, they should have been fine. They had seen many people with high bounties walk around without a care.

"And why don't I get a nickname?" Halcen complained.

"Trust me, once you've actually done something, you'll get one. This one has stuck with me for years…"

"Saint…? I guess even the World Government knows how nice you are."

Grey chuckled. "I don't think that's where it came from."

"How did you get it?"

"I'll tell you another time. For now, we gotta get off this ship before somebody realizes who we are."

"Well, we're scheduled to dock in a few hours. We should be fine."

And a few hours later, they landed at their destination. Halcen and Grey stepped of the Vintage Royale, a Comfort Suites ship, and onto the island of Corteano. It was a huge hub island in the East Blue. There were a lot of corporations that had set up shop, hence the docking of a major cruise ship. Halcen would be able to get them a ship here. The island had a decently large city with all kinds of things to offer.

In front of them, the city buildings towered. It had at least a dozen skyscrapers. They were all different shapes and sizes and colors; a brilliant majesty that also reflected the greatness of the sea surrounding it. The city itself housed almost a million people. It was huge.

There were all forms of entertainment such as a stadium, arcades, theaters, and even karaoke bars. There were shops for anything you might need with at least a hundred food places to choose from, including a gorgeous open air market where locals could sell anything they had acquired in their travels, had grown, or crafted themselves. But Halcen was here for a more… unsavory sort of business. There were men here that dabbled in the black market that Halcen had come to see.

Halcen led Grey through the winding city streets. As they passed, they glimpsed the city's interactions with itself. Typically, he would have allowed himself to get lost in it all, but Halcen had no time to stay and play. They passed the smell of cooking meat, beautiful flowers, dancing women, and even the sound of raucous pubs. Regardless of each tempting sin, he was on a mission. He knew he needed to maintain a one track mind to make it work.

Finally, after about an hour of quick strides and refusing to stop for tourist traps, they arrived. Halcen had led them to a one-story shop tucked away in the back streets of the city. It was all still decently kept, but it was still darker because the light was blocked by the bigger buildings surrounding the place. Halcen stepped inside, motioning for Grey to follow.

The inside was fairly nice. It had plenty of open space. A few tables were laid out with chairs around them, but there were no people, except for the man standing at the bar.

Grey spoke quietly. "Are you sure we should be here?"

"Relax, Grey. I know these people." Halcen kept walking up to the bartender. He was a rather wide man, and a bit taller than Grey. Grey was tall and a bit lean, but this guy was huge. He was about ten and a half feet tall, had dark skin and stared vehemently down at the two. "Hey Pad," Halcen said to the man.

"Halcen," he said with a low voice, continuing his stare. He looked enraged. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Maxxie. Is he around?"

"He's out."

Halcen sighed, then sat at one of the stools. "Really? Where'd he go? Please tell me he's at least in town."

Pad just shook his head.

"Damn." He huffed and then rubbed his face. "Alright, well this is pretty important. Can I work this through you, or is there a way I can get ahold of him?"

Pad hesitated. "Who's the geezer?"

Halcen looked back over his shoulder to see Grey, who was still just standing there. "Grey, come sit down." Halcen motioned with his head.

Grey walked slowly towards the seat next to Halcen, keeping his eyes fixed on the unknown man. He was uncomfortable around unsavory characters like this. He knew nothing about underground dwellers. Grey himself was a pirate, yes, but he had honor. He was not so certain these men did. He sat down, and Halcen turned back to Pad.

"This is Grey. He is going to be my first mate," Halcen told Pad. "So anything you can say to me, you can say to him. No secrets between us."