CH - 4 [ prepare to set sail ( 2 ) ]

"You're striking out on your own?" Pad asked, almost as if he cared. "Interesting…"

"Hey! Hey!" Halcen jested. "You're just jealous 'cause you're stuck behind that bar. Come on now, admit it, if you could leave this place you would. You must have dreams of you own!"

Pad's eyes glossed over as he drifted back to a time when things were simpler… "I wanted to be a ballerina," he whispered.

Halcen closed his mouth tightly to prevent himself from laughing. He nodded then finally said "I'm sure that must have been very difficult for you."

"What do you want, Halcen?" Pad finally asked, getting tired of the gossip.

"I need to redeem a favor."

Pad raised his eyebrow. "Oh?"

Halcen nodded, smirking.

"You're gonna have to talk to Max."

"How do I get ahold of him?"

Pad began to reach for something under the bar.

Grey jerked forward, unsure of his intent.

Pad stopped for a moment, then drew up to his full height, set his shoulders firmly, and shook his head slightly. He stared into Grey's eyes. "Don't do it, old man."

"Grey, stop," Halcen said. "I got it."

Pad took out a den den mushi from under the counter, and got it ready. Soon, it was making a dial tone. "Yeah, what do you want?" a voice from the other side blasted.

"Max, Avarik Halcen is here to speak to you."

"Oh, is he?" He had a sort of raspy voice

"Hello, Maxxie," Halcen said to the den den mushi.

"What do you want, Halcen?"

"Oh come now, you don't have to be that way. Can't we be friendly?"

"Friendly? With you? Come on, what do you want?"

Halcen chuckled. "Alright, you got me." And then he paused. "I need a favor."

There was a silence. "Are you fucking kidding me?" finally he asked. "Avarik 'the hoarder' Halcen wants a favor? And what makes you think I'd want to help out a washed out Whitebeard Pirate? Oh yeah, I heard."

Halcen's face flinched in rage. Then he composed himself. "Listen here, Maxxie. First off, let's not forget that you owe me. What I did for you was pretty big. Second, I'm striking out on my own, and I need the equipment to get started. Whitebeard is old news, you hack. I'm the future."

Max hesitated. "What did you have in mind?"

"I need a ship and a crew to work it."

"Excuse me? That's a pretty tall order to fill, don't you think?"

"I know you've got the resources."

"That may be, but what I owe you, does not cover this. Not only are you talking about taking my resources, but you're talking about cutting out incoming costs from running the ship and crew which brings in revenue."

"Alright, so give me something small, and only a few people for the time. I don't need anything fancy right now, just something to get me started. Plus, we'll say I owe you another one on top of this. How about that?"

Grey watched Halcen working the deal. The man was an artist with these people. He could talk his way out of or into anything. Sometimes, that in and of itself seemed to be what got him into trouble in the first place. He seemed to be getting quite full of himself.

"Well, well… having Avarik Halcen owe me wouldn't be so bad. I could think of some good ideas to use that for."

"But only if it matches the difference," Halcen made sure to add.

"Yeah, yeah. Alright, fine, you've got yourself a deal."

Halcen smiled.

"We've got a few ships in the harbor. Pad will see to it that one gets outfitted. But it won't be ready until tomorrow, so I suggest you find yourself a place to crash for the night. In fact, you should go out, enjoy the city. There's plenty to do."

Halcen left with Grey in tow, having secured the two of them a ship and crew for their new adventure. He was proud of himself. This was only step one of his plan, but it was something he had accomplished. There's still plenty more to do.

Halcen and Grey walked back through the city to find a cheap motel for the night. Halcen knew a lot about the island. Grey could tell he knew exactly where he was going.

Once they finally settled into their room, Grey asked Halcen. "So you've been here before?"

"Oh yeah, a few times. I used to do some side-work with Max when we were with Whitebeard."

"Did he know?"

"Oh yeah. He seemed to like the idea that we had influence with some of the underground members. Max is a real well connected guy. Doing good work with him gets you places."

"I see," Grey pondered.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just didn't know all this was going on."

"That's what happens when you turn yourself off for two decades."

Grey got quiet, discomforted.

"Listen Grey, we're gonna be fine. I know how to deal with these people. I've taken years to learn the in's and out's of their system. I can do this. I just need your support."

Grey nodded, smiling. "Of course, you have that."

"Now, let's get out of this place and go take in the city. All our business is already arranged. We can unwind a bit... but we don't have much cash! So let's be careful about what we use it on."

Halcen and Grey met Pad down at the harbor a bit past noon. They had taken the time to eat and get cleaned up. Neither knew when they might have functioning facilities such as a bath again. They each grabbed their bags and headed out. Halcen was ready with a grin.

There stood Pad, all four hundred pounds of him. The behemoth was waiting patiently, but still seemed angry when they did arrive. "You're late," he spoke with long strokes.

"Aw, come on, big guy," Halcen joked, "We're only a few minutes off."

Pad sighed, unimpressed. He turned to walk down the docks. Halcen assumed they were supposed to follow. So they did. As they walked past the busy city people, Halcen was reminded of the first time he got on a ship. It was so long ago. And he never went back. Now, he was starting another new journey. Hopefully this one would work out well.

The trio stopped next to a smaller ship. Halcen would say it was only maybe a quarter of the size of the Moby Dick. It was a very standard model. Nothing fancy, just like Halcen had asked for. The majority of the ship was a normal wooden brown. But there was a design painted from the front, a small line that expanded as it went to the back, and curved upward into making the whole stern black. It had two masts with full white sails. The figurehead at the bow was the head of a black bird. It was quite the sight.

"This is the Black Tail," Pad stated.

My own ship. Halcen beamed with excitement. It may not have been fancy, but that didn't make it any less beautiful to Halcen. He wanted to get on and begin this next adventure.

Pad kept talking. "It's a very standard equipped ship. A few rooms, bunks, a small kitchen, head; everything you should need. If you have any questions about it, you can ask the shipwright, Bailu." Pad led them aboard and began introducing him to their new crew.

Bailu was the shipwright. He was a kind of older man, in his fifties. He was short and fat, but very capable. He seemed to be annoyed at this new turn of events, being pulled off whatever it was he was already doing, and put to work for pirates. But he was getting paid, so he didn't complain too much.

Valentina was the navigator. She was young, about a foot taller than Halcen, had long pink hair, and a lustrous body. She seemed very virile to Halcen. But she seemed a bit more interested in the job than him. Halcen felt like he was going to have to wear her down.

Loyola was a dark skinned woman in her forties who had a big smile. She was fairly tall in her own right. She had a mane of smooth brown hair she had tied back. She was mainly there as an extra hand; a jack of all trades. She was there to help with basic maintenance, run the sails, and anything else they might need.

Lastly, there was Jory. He had honest blue eyes that told Halcen he was earnest and trustworthy. He had a buzzcut so you could barely tell he had brown hair. He was a quiet, nice young kid; only about sixteen, and a few inches shorter than Halcen. But he was strong and supposed to be decent with a sword. He was there as protection, mainly for the other crew members. Halcen and Grey were well known to be very capable themselves.

"Avarik Halcen, this is your crew," Pad said introducing them one at a time.

Halcen smiled with pride as he shook each of their hands. And then he introduced himself to the whole group. "I am Avarik Halcen, and I am going to be your Captain. You may be getting paid by the company, but you're going to be answering to me for now. Henceforth, we shall be known as the Chaos Pirates! And we are going to have some fun."

After him was Grey. "My name is Grey. I suppose I'm going to be your first mate. Anything you need, you can come talk to me. I look forward to getting to know you all." Grey was sincere as he looked each individual in the eyes.

As Pad left, shaking his head, Halcen got the other raring to go. "Let's set sail!"

"Where are we headed, Captain Halcen?" Valentina asked.

Halcen looked to Grey. "We're going to see your old friend, 'Red-Haired' Shanks."