CH - 81
The day was beginning to drain. The sun was coming down slowly but surely. The crew had spent the majority of the day on the ocean traveling, and then finally hit their destination, only to find it a mass grave for bandits. They had cleared away the last remnants and taken their loot. The Chaos Pirates were gonna shine. But first they had to wait for their crew to regroup. Fein and Shira had gone back through the woods to the Black Tail to get the rest of the crew and sail around the island to the town's docks, where Halcen and the others waited.
They began rummaging through the rest of their spoils. The bandits had seemingly rounded up every last beri on the island, every piece of gold or jewelry, and put it together for the pirates in a nice neat little package. And they had left the crown jewel: a Devil Fruit. Its tempting gaze intrigued Halcen like nothing before. He kept staring at it as Bo and Kazuki went exploring through the town to see if they could find any remaining islanders.
"What are you going to do with it?" Grey asked Halcen, refraining from walking around. He was sitting on one of the boxes that were lying about, relaxing.
"I'm not sure. First things first, I want to check the book," Halcen said without looking away. This is the second Devil Fruit I've stumbled upon, in a very short time. He looked out at the sea. "There's something strange about this. It doesn't feel like a coincidence."
"You think it's God?" Grey asked.
Halcen laughed. "No, I don't think it's 'god.'" He looked back to Grey.
"You never know," Grey shrugged. "He does a lot of odd stuff."
"And you really think 'Devil Fruits' are going to be his gift to me? Doesn't seem likely. Besides, I've never been very blessed."
"Well if you don't take stock of the things around you, you're bound to miss your blessings," Grey said.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Enough of the preaching." Halcen went into his pocket and pulled out a chocolate bar. "I'm hungry," he said, stuffing his face. He looked out at the horizon. "They better get back here soon. We gotta get moving on. You can feel where Shanks is, right?"
Grey looked around. "The further into the island we get, the better I get a feel for him. I'll be able to figure it out once we get walking."
"That's good."
So the continued waiting around until they finally saw the Black Tail pulling up through the shallow water. Halcen was glad, in most ways, that he had a ship small enough to traverse in the kind of water bigger ships were unable to cross. But then again, maybe Grey is right. Maybe a bigger ship would be nice. The bigger the better, they say. They can hold bigger and more powerful crews. I don't know of any respected or feared pirates with smaller ships… "Hey Grey."
"Hmm?"
"Where do you think Shanks anchored his ship? Cause we didn't see it on our way in."
"I don't know, honestly. Didn't think about it. Why?"
"I was just wondering what the ship of a Yonko would look like."
"Mhmmm… I see."
"What?"
"Finally starting to think about getting a bigger ship?"
"Psh, no. I'm not worried about that." He stood up and went to meet the crew as they pulled into the docks. "Took you long enough," Halcen said.
"I couldn't find the place from the outside," Fein said. "It's a lot different looking from the water."
"Excuses, excuses."
"Fuck off."
Halcen let them tie up the ship and get everything ready for them to leave. Then everyone came together and stood around Grey.
"Go ahead and start loading up all this treasure," Halcen said. "We're stealing it from the bandits."
His crew began their work. It didn't take too long, but it kept them busy.
Halcen looked about for Bo and Kazuki. He didn't see them. "What's holding them up? They were just looking around." He looked to Grey.
"I don't know. I wasn't aware I was supposed to be babysitting."
"Ooh, sass from the old man. Two points." Halcen looked back to the town. "GUYS! SHIP'S HERE! GET BACK HERE!"
He heard rustling. "We heard you! Quit your shouting!" came Bo's voice.
The two snipers came back with their guns and equipment ready to go.
"So what did you find?"
"Nothing," Bo said.
"There's nobody here. Not in any of the buildings. It's eerie."
"Hmm… yeah that is weird. But it's nothing we need to worry about. That's not why we're here."
"Alright."
"I guess so."
"Alright, you guys wait here for a moment," Halcen said. He climbed aboard the Black Tail and went to his room with the Devil Fruit and went to find the book of Devil Fruits Max had given him in their first deal. He brought it back to the deck.
"What do you need that for?" Jin asked.
"We found another Devil Fruit," Halcen said.
"Oh, that's cool!" Jory said.
"Indeed," Morkine agreed.
"So what is it?" Fein asked.
"We're about to find out," Halcen said. He opened the box the Devil Fruit was in and set it down so he could take a good look at it while he was perusing the book. "Hmmm… Oh shit."