Chapter 5: Hangman's Town Arc- Chapters 25-30

I flop onto my back, panting.

I don't think I've ever been this exhausted. Not even training with Zoss, and that had been...interesting.

Fucking Six Powers bullshit…

"Dahahaha, Kaneki, aren't you supposed to be a regenerator?"

"Cram it, captain," I mutter. "Even I have my limits, and y'all might be hyped up on those pills, but I've got to make do with long jerky." I sit up slowly, wincing as my muscles protest in ways I haven't felt for a long time.

I thought I was a bit of a slave driver when it came to strengthening the crew, but Vinci's on a whole nother level. Endless repetition and drill, only broken up by sparring matches meant to force everyone to develop one or more of the Powers.

It was definitely helping, though. I pull a packet of jerky from inside my jacket and munch on it as I watch the others work for a few moments, catching my breath. Twenty pairs of fighters square off against each other, some of them blurring momentarily as they try to execute Shaves, others blocking attacks with bare hands, a few flowing past their opponent's blows instead of running away or blocking. Nobody in the grunt teams have managed a Tempest Kick or a Finger Pistol, but according to the frankly disturbingly detailed descriptions in the Grigori family's scroll both of those were the more difficult of the Six. What's weirding me out is that, out of everyone, Lauren is one of the ones picking it up the fastest, especially Paper Art.

Hm. Something about beginner's luck and/or not having to un-learn bad habits? Or maybe she's just talented.

Vinci's taken up my spot against Herman, while Jack is dealing with both Pravilno and Ostavila at once and doing a decent enough job at it. I don't know where Ostavila got a meteor hammer or when she learned to use it, and frankly I don't want to, because that woman terrifies me.

Where the hell does she even keep all those knives, anyhow? It's not like she's got an abundance of hiding spots, even with the jacket she's got only shorts and a shirt, not exactly concealing clothing…

"Can we talk, boss, or do you want to keep looking?"

I blink, and stand, turning to face the group of six that's approached me. "I'm not your boss," I say with a shrug. "That's the captain's job."

Marshall Eka, Charny Dui, Douglass Tina, Cara Percy, Tancred Pamca, and Cha Chandos. I made sure to remember their names, this time. I'm glad they all survived, but the degree of attachment they're displaying is a little...disconcerting.

Eka just shakes his head at my refusal. "Call it what you like, boss. The nose don't lie."

I narrow my eyes. "Explain."

"You know why we didn't go after the rest of the crew while we were raging, boss? Because your...hell, I don't want to call it scent, sounds creepy, but that's what it is...well, we could tell who was the strongest of us. Still can, actually...and no, we've been talking and it don't look like we've got the weirder bits of your powers, but you are the boss. Everyone else on the crew just smells a bit like you, but you're the source."

Well, great.

"Alright," I groan. "Fine. I'm the boss to you. What's it you want to talk about?"

Eka glances towards his comrades. They nod as one. "Think you can handle six on one? With the Dials? We're...still a good bit tougher than the others, it looks like, and sparring against each other isn't helping us get stronger."

I look them over. Each of them carries an Impact Dial- probably because they're some of the crew who can handle it without blowing out a shoulder- and Tina and Pamca, the most heavily-built of the six, have Axe Dials as well. It's a good thing Vinci dug up a list of the damn things and how they functioned among Machitus's loot...I really didn't want to say what they were and make him wonder.

I grin, and crack my knuckles. "Fair enough," I say to the six. "Pretty sure the captain intends to work us all till we drop. So, demons vs. a bird of prey, start-"

I push, tired muscles screaming at the effort but complying, and come out of the Shave right next to the near-albino wall of muscle that is Pamca. My heel slams into the side of his head and sends him bouncing off into the forest.

"-now," I finish with a grin.

The remaining five all look at me.

Six sets of irises flare red, and the fight's on.

"One thing I never figured," Herman muttered as Ends Justified slowly drew towards the island. "Why the hell didn't those Marine bastards try to call up more reinforcements to deal with us? Hell, think some of them were waving when we left."

"We cleaned up one of their messes," Kaneki muttered back. "Figures they'd be a mite more accomodating. Now these guys...don't think so."

Vinci grinned at their conversation as he took in Hangman's Town. The town itself was bustling, a product of being the South Blue's entrance to the Grand Line, the last chance to stock up on resources...and also due to the strong Marine garrison whose base dominated the skyline in the distance.

As for what gave it the name...his vision, ever-so-steadily improving, could make out the field of gibbets and cages that marked Drop Spit, the promontory extending out to Vinci's left from the town itself. Bare, windswept, and morbid. Pirates didn't last long here unless they were strong enough to take on the garrison, and given the reputation the Captain here had…

He shook his head. There was a reason they were taking Ends Justified in with the unmarked spare sails and no flag. They could pass for a privateer or a heavily-armed private vessel this way. So long as nobody got noticed…

He looked over his crew. Jack had cut his immense beard down to a frankly hilarious set of mutton-chops, and was wearing a double-breasted green coat to conceal the tattoo of the Nightmare symbol on his chest. Kaneki had grown his hair out slightly and discarded jacket and mask in favor of short sleeves and sunglasses. Herman had added an extremely wide-brimmed hat (the right side folded up to not interfere with his sword draw) and had discarded his usual black cloak for a blue hoodie. The rest of the crew had made similar preparations, the normal white jackets going away and replaced with a profusion of casual clothing and strange bits and pieces- where Lauren had found a purple waistcoat, black coat, and red-banded black top hat he'd never know. He had a feeling she was concealing a decent chunk of their armory under that getup.

For his part, Vinci had reluctantly discarded his lab coat in favor of a hooded grey cloak, the cowl deep enough to hide his face. That was the problem with his scars...instantly recognizable and memorable. The cloak would also be fairly suspicious, but it couldn't be helped. He glanced up at the cloudy skies. At least it'd be believable with the weather the way it was…

"Money's going to be short after this, with what you want me to get," Jack grumbled as their ship made its way to the docks. "You sure about this?"

"No idea if the equipment'll be on the Line," Vinci said back. "And if money's a problem...we're pirates. We'll figure something out."

Kaneki chuckled. "Aw, but we've had such a good streak of only killing assholes," he said with a grin. "Sure you want to break that, captain?"

"Named the ship what I did for a reason, birdy," Vinci replied.

"Huh. Never did ask what those ends were gonna be."

"Tell you what...when we head over Reverse Mountain, I'll fill you all in...if you all tell me your own reasons."

Kaneki went still for a moment, then shrugged. "Fair. It's an interesting tale for me, so at least the crew won't be bored."

"There's the proper way to think of it. So, you got plans?" Vinci asked.

Kaneki glanced towards the six oni, off in their own little group. "Thinking I'm going to take my share of the cash, buy up some better clothing and some decent weapons for the others," he said. "You?"

Vinci shrugged. "Jack's got most of what I want on his list. I'll be making a couple...interesting purchases, though."

"Illegal?"

"Mostly because the chemicals in question are some of the deadliest poisons extracted from South Blue wildlife, yep," Vinci said casually.

Kaneki sighed. "You're nuts, captain."

"Would you have it any other way?"

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Herman did not like most books.

He wasn't stupid- he knew how to read and write, and do his numbers- but he still didn't like reading. Half the damn things written down were about pointless shit like times when Noble Kusotaba the Numpty-Somethingth had dipped his crumpet the wrong way during a tea ceremony hosted by Kusotaba the Other-Ludicrously-High-Number and started a war. The remaining half seemed to be mostly random stories, instruction manuals for useless hobbies, or porn.

All in all, there were only three categories of books Herman tolerated. The first was swordsmanship manuals- not for teaching, they were rubbish at it, but for the fact that most pirates who thought they were decent swordsmen picked up one of said manuals and tended to follow it religiously. The second was ship classifications, and that was because knowing the maximum speed of a given vessel was always useful. The third and last was the category to which the book he was currently reading belonged to.

Amakatta, the Berserker's Blade. Great Grade Sword. Forged in 1338 Kaienreki. Attained Graded Status in 1341 Kaienreki, after sundering the armor of the Giant King Ymir and striking him down, according to legend. Traditionally passed down the line of Grit, the last known wielder being Grit Sandor, who used it to slay, again, according to legend, five 'demons of great power, who referred to themselves as the Hand of the Uncaring God'. Vanished in 1383 Kaienreki, current status unknown. Other names: 'The Sundering Blade', 'The Giantslayer'. According to legend, is cursed (see: Kitetsu line).

He nodded, and touched Amakatta's hilt. Cursed...well, that made sense.

Now, what was the name of that thing Kaneki had mentioned...nothing in the Great Grades, or the Skillful or Basic Grades...that left…nah. He'd have heard the name before, right?

Despite his own misgivings, he flipped to the section of the Meito book concerning Legendary swords.

Well, shit.

Atamajokyo, the Executioner's Blade. Legendary Grade Sword. Forged in 1066 Kaienreki. Attained Graded Status in 1067 Kainereki, after, according to legend, shattering the form of Niyoku Michael the Heavenly Tyrant with a single stroke, and destroying much of the island on which the conflict in question was fought with the same attack. Clearly exaggeration. Nonetheless, is considered a relic of the Arima line, allegedly descended from the legendary heroine who wielded it, Arima Ali Zun, the Queen of the Third and Single Eye. The Atamajokyo, under its name of 'The Executioner's Blade', is considered one of the Seven Relics of the Arima Line, traditionally divided amongst the seven councillors to the ruling monarch of the Sevenfold Kingdom, located in the New World. According to myth, if Atamajokyo's wielder betrays the monarch, it will attempt to kill the wielder by driving poisoned needles into his or her body via its own hilt. This is obviously superstition, as the last of the Arima line, Arima Zoss, was deposed in 1533, and no reports of the death of its current wielder have been recorded.

The New World? Kaneki had a great deal of explaining to do.

Vinci moderated his smile as he entered the building. Grinning like he usually did, when entering a place like this...well, it was bad form, and tended to be rather disconcerting to the clerks.

"Can I help you, sir?" one of the men asked as he approached the desk.

"Yes," he said. "I was wondering- do you have any animals available for adoption?"

"Surprised you found a place like this so quickly, boss," Eka muses, scratching at his black beard as he scans the bar. We'd managed to get a booth large enough to fit me and all six of the oni.

I shrug. "It's easy to tell where good coffee is. We're just lucky they sell other things as well."

"Yeah. Coffee's good, but ale's better," Tina says. The woman's Amazonian physique seems a little too large for the booth...albeit, next to Pamca, it doesn't seem all that intimidating, the oddly pale white-haired man filling up enough space for two people of normal size, and not an ounce of it fat.

Dui sniffs. How someone as fastidious as him ended up on a pirate crew I have no idea...ditto how someone with dark blue hair exists. Probably dye. "Ale," he says disdainfully. "Give me wine any day."

"You're drinking whiskey," Percy notes. The shaved-headed prizefighter leans back in his section of our booth, clutching his own mug of ale.

"Because the vintages here are dreadful."

"How the hell are you a pirate?" I ask flatly.

Chandos laughs, nearly dipping his beaklike nose and mustache into his coffee in the process. "He's got you there, dandy. Half the time you act more like high society than a buccaneer."

"I see nothing wrong with manners," Dui says, sounding offended...before chuckling. "We've all got interesting stories, though."

"Ah, thass great," Tina slurs, and wow she got drunk fast. What the hell is wrong with her metabolism? "Tell usssss..."

"You're a druunk."

Percy too? The hell?

I glance at my own drink for a second...and then catch the bartender, watching our booth intently. I wait for him to look away, then sniff my own drink.

Shit.

I put out a hand just before Pamca can take his first mouthful of ale. "Don't."

Everyone glances at me- and then each of them put down their own drinks, untouched save for Tina and Percy, who are quietly bickering.

I sigh. "Figures. Looks like I need to work on disguises," I say, very softly, as a couple of men in Marine uniforms enter. "Get the two back to the ship. I'll see what time I can buy you. Draw them off."

"Sure, boss," Eka says, putting a hand on the dagger at his waist. "Think you can handle what gets sent you way, or should I call up the captain?"

"Nah. Keep it quiet." I slide out of the booth and stand, putting a hand on my trench spike as I swagger to the Marines, who are speaking quietly with the bartender.

Sloppy. Very sloppy. But let's see how long we can make the charade last. I grin-

Okay that's a shotgun pointed in my face.

So, three seconds?

I smile at the bartender, who's holding the shotgun and sweating profusely, as I close my hand over the end slowly. "Now, now...no need for that mess. Would cause an awful lot of trouble." I see the man's fingers start to pull the trigger. "Iron Bo-"

Boom!

Agh! Fuck! "Goddammit you son of a bitch fist-fucking mother-f-" I keep ranting as the lead shot falls from my hand, a few pieces staying stuck in the mess of burnt meat that my palm currently is. Note to self- work on fucking Iron Body.

"You're under arrest, pi-"

Schunk. Schlunk. Thump-thump.

I straighten as two bodies- and two heads- hit the floor within moments of each other, and glare at the one responsible. "Was that really necessary?"

Killer's masked face regards me impassively. "You looked like you needed a...hand."

I flip him off with my burned hand. "Don't fuck around with puns. You know how much trouble we're going to be in now?"

The oni have made it out the back. Good. If I have to fight him...hmm. Wonder if he's gotten stronger.

Killer shrugs. "Not as much as my captain was planning to cause anyway. And yours too."

I groan. "Kid's going to look for a fight again?"

"He was planning to blast the hell out of this place anyway. Spotting your ship in harbor just meant he's going to try to call out your captain again. If he's alive."

Why would he question- right. He cut out Vinci's eyes, he'd probably assume our crew murdered him and got a new captain. Fucking psychopath.

"He's alive. And pissed," I say. "You going to fight me now, or you just here to deliver aggravating messages?"

"Was planning to make it look good, but…" he glances at the Marine corpses, and at the terrified bartender hiding under said bar. "Want to go kill the Commodore in charge of this base?" he asks.

"You ask like you think I'm into killing Marines for the hell of it."

"Bastard hangs more than just pirates. Anyone who associates with them, for one. Even children. I mean, we'd kill him anyway, Kid wants to make a statement, but this makes it easier."

I blink. Well, then... "Sure. I could eat."

"...huh. So the bounty crimes are real."

"You're surprised?"

"Not particularly."

"Good. Now, try to keep up, Massacre Soldier."

"Try not to get in my way, Butcher Bird."

We walk out of the bar.

I blink.

"Hey, Killer?"

"Yeah?"

"Were this many armed Marines in front of the bar when you walked in?"

"No, Kaneki, no there weren't."

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"Captain, why do you have a pack of hounds?" Lauren asked dubiously, watching as Vinci was practically dragged onboard by a trio of shaggy and gigantic mutts.

The captain grinned. "Reasons, very good reasons."

"Is it an abomination against the laws of nature?" Pravilno asked as he leaned back on the rail, puffing away at his cigarette.

"For once, no," the captain said with a shrug.

"Then...what, then?" Lauren asked, looking at the dogs. One meowed, and she sweatdropped. "Are you sure they're all dogs?"

"Oh, right." Vinci drove a hand into the ruff at one dog's neck and pulled out a kitten. "And this little guy. For catching any rodents aboard ship."

"Oh, so you don't have a dog that meows," Lauren said. "Good. For a moment I thought sanity was dead."

The dog meowed again, and Lauren facepalmed. "Forget what I said," she mumbled.

"How'd you get back- sit, mutts- faster than me?" Vinci asked curiously. "Thought you were going to get more guns."

She glanced over at Pravilno, and Ostavila beside him.

"I know a guy," the pompadoured gunslinger said.

"And I knew how to convince said guy to...move a bit faster," the leather-tough piratess said with a sly smile.

Vinci blinked. "Okay, fair. But I don't see any guns."

Lauren smiled, and shot her hands forwards. With a scraping sound two derringers appeared in her hands like magic. "Two two-shot snub pistols…" The guns vanished back into her sleeves and the holsters hidden there in an instant, and she reached under her coat, pulling free a sawn-off shotgun from her back. "...a ten-gauge double-barrelled shotgun…" She twirled, sending her coat flaring and concealing the motion as she holstered the shotgun across her back and grabbed at the leg holsters the coat normally concealed. "Two mare's-leg rifles," she continued, spinning the weapons without cocking them before returning them to their place and pulling on the leather strap across her chest, yanking the folded-up weapon on her back into place and pulling the thing into ready configuration. "...and a 1.00 caliber anti-everything assassin's rifle," she said with a grin. "What do you think?"

"Dahahaha...how do you carry the ammunition for all that?"

She grinned, and held open the sides of the coat- and the dozens of loops and pockets within. "I have bullets for days."

"Bullets for days?"

"Bullets for daaaays~"

"Dahahahaa, you've really got a lot of firepower squirreled away. Ain't got nothing on me, though."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really, captain? Prove it."

"Alright." Vinci tied the leads of the three hounds to the rail and dropped the cat on the deck, where it vanished through a grate into the lower decks. He shook out his hands, and Lauren noticed some of the crew watching, with more popping up by the second.

"Let's start things off with the scalpels," the captain said with a grin. He shook his hands, and a half-dozen of the tiny surgical knives embedded themselves in the deck. Vinci paused, frowned, and wriggled his hands again.

A massive flood of scalpels erupted from his sleeves, clattering to the deck and forming a knee-high pile of pointy metal.

Lauren stared. "How the hell do you not cut yourself while moving?"

"Practice," Vinci said. "And now the surgical thread." A half dozen spools joined the pile. "And the bonesaw." Clang! "And, let's see, various chemical reagents," he added, as a dozen large jars and glass tubes with bright contents joined the pile. Lauren instinctively took a step back as she read a couple of the labels on said jars. "And then of course the combat drugs." Another dozen bottles, these containing pills of various kinds, including the ones she'd taken alongside the rest of the crew during training. "And last but not least, my handy-dandy magic murder bag." Thunk. Vinci grinned. "Anyone able to beat that?"

Ostavila considered the pile for a moment. Then she took off her coat, and shook it once.

The resulting flood of weaponry nearly reached her waist.

"HOW?!" Lauren, and just about everyone on the ship screamed simultaneously.

"Practice," the veteran pirate said with a smile.

"Ahoy the ship, who's- DOG!"

Something slammed into Lauren, nearly sending her over the rail. She staggered, clutching the massive- book? The hell?- to her chest.

"Hoosa good boy, is it you? Yesit is! Yesitis!"

"Worf!"

"Bork!"

"Meow!"

Lauren carefully lowered the ludicrously oversized book to the deck, and peeked over it.

That was...Herman. Baby-talking a trio of dogs that looked like they ate little old ladies for a living. Wrestling with them.

"What the hell am I watching…" she muttered.

"Okay, I've been near Kaneki while he's been eating, and that is still the most terrifying thing I've ever seen...but I think this makes the top ten," Vinci said distantly.

"Are they trying to kill each other or trying to- okay, he just let them off leash and transformed into a dog, definitely playing," Pravilno said, equally distantly.

Sweatdrops abounded as the quartet of dogs rampaged across the deck.

"Let me guess," Ostavila muttered quietly, gathering up her weaponry. "This is exactly what you had in mind, captain."

"Dahahahaha….pretty much," Vinci admitted as he returned the pile of scalpels and surgical equipment to their proper places. "That, and I want to see if it works on Kaneki, too."

Lauren pictured the thought of the ghoul frolicking with dogs. She shuddered. The image was just...way too strange.

"Ahoy the ship!"

Jack's voice. Finally, someone sane. She let go of the mega-book and rushed to the rail.

Who the hell were these assholes?

"Dahahahaha! Looks like you were pretty successful, Jack," Vinci said, sauntering down the gangplank to greet the huge man and the twenty or so others arrayed behind him. They looked like street thugs and criminals, why...oh. Right. Pirates.

"Look in the right places, even in a Marine town, there's somewhere to find crew," Jack said. "The supplies should've arrived before...oi! Bowes! It loaded?"

"Supplies're all good, bosun!" one of the crew- Bowes, she guessed, she'd seen him play shanties with Kaneki- shouted back.

"Alright! Cap'n?"

"We'll sail soon as we can, get the men on board," Vinci said with a nod. "Welcome to the crew, lads. The Line awaits, and it'll be...dahahahaha...interesting."

For a moment, Lauren thought some of the men were going to turn back, several of them visibly turning pale. But they followed Jack on board.

"Ahoy the ship!"

A third one? And this asshole sported a mohawk and greasepaint, like some demented combination of a clown and a punk rocker. The captain looked visibly taken aback, before sighing. "What?"

"You Vinci?"

"Damn straight. Who the hell are you?"

"Just a messenger. Captain Kid wants to meet you, on Drop Spit."

The captain froze. Lauren gave Pravilno a look as the pompadoured man approached the rail. "Who's Captain Kid?" she whispered.

"Shit, you joined after...some punk with magnetic powers that went after us. Cut out the captain's eyes. He got new ones, but still...shit. He's calling the captain out again? This isn't going to end well."

"So, Vinci?" the punk clown rocker asked. "You gonna come with me, or-"

Lauren didn't even see Vinci move. One second he was standing there, the second he was holding the clown rocker by the neck, the man making sputtering noises as he dangled a foot above the ground.

"No need," the captain said, in an extremely calm voice. "I can find my way just fine."

There was a muffled cracking noise, and the rocker went limp.

Vinci walked back up the gangplank to utter silence. The crew, Lauren included, watched, wondering what he'd do next.

Vinci smiled. A soft, normal, gentle smile. "Jack? Put this away for Kaneki later," he said calmly, dropping the body to the deck. "I'll be gone for a little while, if that's okay. Now, where's Kaneki?"

The distant bulk of the Marine base went up in flames.

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"Oh god the Marine base is burning!"

"Water! Get buckets!"

Vinci ignored the screams and panicked running of civilians and low-ranking Marines alike as he walked through the streets, scythe on his shoulders. The wind, a good one, right out of harbor and straight for the Line, tugged at his cloak, showing the lab coat underneath, and he had his hood down, and yet none tried to stop him.

He didn't particularly care if they did, but cutting down their ineffectual attempts to bar his way would have been tedious.

The King's Heart thundered in his ears, twinned to his own heartbeat. He wondered if what he had created resented being forced into him early, half-made and uncertain as it had been. He wondered if it knew that the one responsible for that was who they would be facing.

Distant, but he caught sight of a flame-haired figure. Out on Drop Spit, just as promised.

Kid.

Vinci's lips drew back from his teeth in a smile that wasn't a smile at all.

The stones under his footsteps turned to dirt, then to sand, and then to bare rock, as he walked out to Drop Spit. The cages and gibbets clinked and clattered in the wind as he approached. Kid turned.

"Huh," the punk remarked. "So Carr's dead, then?"

Vinci didn't answer.

Kid spat to the side. "Fine. Didn't like the fucker much anyway. Still, surprised you're alive. And with brand-new eyes, heh." He cocked his head. "Your little bird isn't around to call me off anymore, nursey. Got Killer keeping him busy on a little...errand. So...let's finish what we started. Attract!"

Chains and manacles uncoiled from the gibbets, and launched themselves like striking snakes at Vinci, pinning his arms to his sides as they coiled around him.

Vinci sighed.

Idiot.

"Do you know what happens when you run electrical current around a piece of metal?" he asked conversationally.

"Does it look like I give a fuck?" Kid asked, gesturing and causing the cocoon of chains to tighten to uncomfortable levels.

"You should. It demagnetizes it. Degauss." Electricity burned through his veins and flashed over the metal, and the chains dropped to the ground. Vinci stepped over the pile. Kid took a step back.

"Now," Vinci said, keeping the calm in his voice as his heartbeats cranked up, "Let's try this again."

"You aren't killing any of them."

I shrug, absent-mindedly using one of my tails to swat aside a sword-wielding Marine. "Not much point, is there? Also, why is the base on fire?" I ask politely, as one of the burning buildings collapses.

Killer shrugs. "Rest of the crew isn't exactly restrained, maybe they did it?"

"Eh, fair." I dodge a hammer-wielding Marine's strike with Paper Art- one of the Six I'm actually decent at, unlike Iron Body, Moonwalk, and Finger Pistol- and kick him in the side, sending him flying.

"What did you mean by there being no- hrrn- point?" Killer asks as he uses his spinning scythes to cut down a group of Marines.

"Whenever there's something wrong with a Marine base, it's usually at the top. Captain being an asshole, and the Marines can't do shit about it because said captain could kick their collective asses. Same applies to Vice Admirals, even the Admirals. Rank and file aren't necessarily evil shits, just unable to do anything about the evil shits."

"So kill 'em. They don't have backbone."

I tank a fusillade of bullets with my tails, grin, and send the offending cluster of Marines scattering like tenpins. "See, this is why you keep getting bounty increases. That sociopathic behavior won't help at all in the New World, you need allies if you don't want to be lackey to one of the Emperors."

"The hell do you know about the New World?" Killer grunts, using his latest opponent as a springboard to start tearing into another cluster of Marines.

"A lot more than you know, Slicey McDicey," I say. Hmm. I'm out of people to fight. Where-

"Gavel."

SLAM!

Owww…

Hello Mr. Butterfly, where are you going? I hope it's nice…

"Conviction."

Then the gigantic hook-claw-thing clamps onto my ankle, and I'm yanked out of the cozy pile of rubble and up into the sky as the equally massive chain goes taut.

"Sentencing."

A fist, one I barely make out as belonging to a normal-sized human, slams into my chest, cracking ribs and sending blood flying out of my mouth as the hook is torn from my ankle and I go sprawling into the dirt.

"I suppose I should have expected you to come here," the blurry shape that my vision is gradually resolving into the form of a tall, grey-buzz-cut-haired Marine in an officer's coat says. "But allying with the Kid Pirates? Did you forsake your previous captain with such ease, pirate scum?" He picks up the claw-hook, holding the sickle at the other end of the long chain in his off hand, and starts paying out chain for the weapon as he begins to swing it slowly.

"Scum?" I wheeze, hacking up what would probably be a worrying amount of blood if I wasn't what I was. Alright. One foot on the ground. Get up, Kaneki. "You hang children, and you call me scum, Marine?"

"Hang- what on earth are you talking about?"

Ribs healed? Yup. Tails- "One tail, two tail, three tail, four. You think I'm stupid? Word is anyone who even associates with a pirate goes to the gallows."

The aging Marine looks incredulous. "If we enacted such a policy, a third of the civilians on this island would be dead and the remaining two thirds tearing this base down around our ears. What kind of fool do you take me for, pirate?"

I stare at him.

Sniff the air. I'm not Herman, but…

Oh.

"I'm a fucking idiot."/"You're a damned idiot," the Marine and I say at the same time.

I sweatdrop as I take a step back. "And here I was, thinking Killer was actually presenting me with a decent moral choice…"

The Marine's face is utterly impassive. "You had no idea Massacre Soldier Killer was lying to you about whether people deserved to be killed."

I sigh. "Would you excuse me for a moment?"

"Ordinarily, no, but since I'm assuming you intend to kill your former ally over there, yes."

"Right. Shave."

I launch myself forwards-

"Gavel."

-and immediately get snatched by that weird hook-claw and slammed back into the dirt.

"You truly seem to have a difficult time telling when someone is lying to you."

"Fuck...you…" I wheeze. "And also...Scale Lever." My tails shove hard against the confines of the claw, forcing the metal open and hurling me upright in one motion. "Fuck this shit, I'm out- Shave!"

My vision shrinks to a tiny tunnel as I barely keep up with my own speed, hurtling out of the Marine base as fast as I can, Shaving like a madman despite the ever-increasing burn in my legs.

Fuck.

Fucking stupid of me, to just fucking assume-

No, Kaneki. It's done. Can't be undone.

Fuck. Fuck this, I'm going back to the ship and we're leaving this fucking place.

"PREPARE TO CAST OFF!" Jack shouted.

"What about the captain, bosun? And the boss?" Eka, the leader of Kaneki's personal following, asked, looking back at the still-burning Marine base.

Jack pointed towards the town, where a red-tinted black blur was rapidly approaching, growing more defined by the second. He mentally counted to five, set himself, and extended an arm out to the side. "Iron Body."

Kaneki, clearly unable to see where he was going, slammed into his arm, and stuck there like a pigeon on a glass window before falling to the deck with a thump. "Anyone get the number of that semi-truck…?" the ghoul mumbled.

Jack shook his arm out with a grimace- even with Iron Body, stopping the idiot had hurt- and gave Eka a pointed look. The man shrugged.

"Okay, fair enough. The captain?"

"We'll swing by Drop Spit and pick him up on the way. And I just took a look with the spyglass- trust me, he's fine."

Well, that was entirely debatable, but Jack didn't want to make the entire crew panic more than they had already started doing from the moment Vinci- an eerily calm and composed Vinci- had walked off the gangplank as though nothing at all was going on. In truth, Jack was worried. Not about Vinci losing the fight- there was no way the captain would let that happen a second time- but about starting some stupid vendetta. Even if the captain decided to kill Kid instead of doing something stupid like 'paying him back in kind', the survivors would be pissed...and Killer had a hefty bounty of fifteen million. Not a touch on the crew's combined, or Kaneki's or the captain's, and most of it was for brutality rather than fighting skill...but still. Tough enough to take on the Line, in all likelihood.

And if Vinci left Kid alive, to take some kind of revenge for his own maiming...there was no telling what would happen. And Jack didn't like that. He was a pirate, not a sentimental fool, and leaving enemies alive to pick up the pieces meant nothing good in the long run.

Ends Justified seemed to growl as the ship pulled out of harbor, wind lending speed to their sails.

But it appeared the Marines had other ideas, a ship- heavier than the Ends, with massive cannons on their bow- charging towards them.

Jack smiled.

"RUN OUT THE TRIPLE GUNS!" he barked. "GIVE THEM LEAD, BOYS!"

"AYE, BOSUN!"

"HERMAN! POINT US RIGHT AT THE BITCH!"

"AYE, YA FAT BASTARD, RIGHT ON THAT!"

The Marine ship fired, the range too long even for their heavy cannon, and the shots went wide, splashing into the sea. One slammed into the town and detonated, but Jack ignored it.

A pair of massive triple-barreled cannon pushed free of the twin gunports at the bow of the Ends.

And his ship roared.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I pick myself off the deck, and stare at the rapidly sinking remnants of the Marine cruiser. "Holy shit," I breathe. "Our guns can do that?"

"When you pay out for ship-killer shells, yes they bloody well can," Jack says with a grin. "You should be proud, bird boy. That bounty you brought in paid for the damn things." The big man's grin vanishes. "Captain's off fighting Kid on Drop Spit. We're going to swing round and grab him. What the hell happened?"

I give Eka a look. "You tell him yet?"

The oni shakes his head.

"Fine. Bartender figured us out and planned to drug us and turn us in, Marines walked in, Killer showed up and killed them, things escalated, and I bailed after figuring out Killer'd been lying about how much of an evil bastard the local Marine boss was."

I look at the smoke and flames still engulfing the base. "Hopefully the masked bastard's dead now. Captain was a hard nut."

"Coming up on the Spit now!" Herman shouts, and I walk to the rail, narrowing my eyes and trying to pick out where Vinci and Kid must be fighting. It's no good- I don't have the kind of vision the captain has. I grit my teeth, and push my tails out, letting them lash at the air.

"So he's the Butcher Bird…"

"Scary, scary…"

My neck cracks as I glare over my shoulder at the twenty or so men huddled together on deck, looking around. "You the new meat?" I ask flatly, tails going still.

Going by how several of them are starting to sweat I probably could've chosen a better phrase to describe them. Oh, well. I grin. "Well, welcome to the crew, lads. Let me tell you how things work. You'll grow strong, you'll perform impossibilities, and you'll help us sail for the line. And you'll obey orders, first the bosun, then me, then God His Own Self, and last and most important of all-"

Lightning cracks from every bit of metal on the Spit, a shining blue web of light sending shadows across the deck.

"-Captain Grigori Vinci," I finish, grinning like a madman.

KRACKA-THOOOM!

The twenty new recruits look at each other. Then at me. Then, as one, their eyes roll back in their head and they collapse to the deck, foaming at the mouth. Heh.

"Oi, you crazy bastard!" Herman shouts from the deck. "You damn near fried us!"

"Wasn't me!"

"Wasn't talking to you!"

Who-

"Captain on deck!" Jack shouts, and I turn. How the hell- where had Vinci come from?

Judging by his uninjured state and the blood on his cloak and lab coat, he'd won. Easily.

"Vinci," I say. "Kid's dead?"

Vinci looks at me, and his eyes flare gold as he smiles. "No," he says, calmly. "I've done much worse than kill him."

I shrug. "Good."

"What's our heading, captain?" Herman calls.

"The Mountain and the Line!" Vinci shouts back. "We've got wind in our sails, don't we?"

"Aye, captain, setting the course!" Herman yells. "We'll hit Reverse Mountain in a week!"

Vinci nods, and thumps his scythe on the deck for a moment, clearly thinking things over. Then he looks at the unconscious pile of men. "Really?" he asks. "Someone deal with that," he orders. "I'm going to clean the blood out of my clothes. Kaneki, with me."

I fall into step behind him as he walks below decks. "Captain…"

"Yes?"

"What exactly did you do to him?"

"Get up."

Kid didn't move. He barely had the strength to breathe, much less obey...whatever that freak doctor had become.

"I said get up, you bastard."

His arms and legs felt like jelly, burning jelly, but he put hands on knees and stood anyway. He'd be damned if he died on his belly. "What...what the hell are you…"

The freak grinned, as electricity crawled over his body and his eyes glowed like torches. "Many, many things."

"Fuck...you.." No choice, he had to hit the bastard with everything he had. Even exhausted as he was, he couldn't give up. He raised his left arm-

"Electroshock Excision."

-and then he didn't have it anymore as the freak's scythe cut through his shoulder like nothing, the crawling electricity burning the wound shut behind him.

Kid didn't give the freak the courtesy of screaming. But it was close.

The freak's hand closed around Kid's throat, and then slammed him into something- wood, splintered...one of the gibbets?

Kid smiled. "Do it, then," he said, coughing as fractured ribs grated against each other. "Finish me."

Vinci raised the scythe. And then let it fall, the point sinking into the loose soil of the Spit.

What. What. What.

The freak squatted down in front of him, the aura of lightning fading. "You wanted to be King, didn't you," he said, very quietly. "You took my eyes. Would've done worse if you could...I should kill you. Dahahaha, Jack's probably going to lecture me about this…"

Kid, for once in his life, kept his mouth shut. He was fairly certain if the freak kept talking long enough he could lift that scythe...he'd just need to move his hand…

"But here's the thing. That treasure at the end of the Line? The One Piece that you so badly want? That's my goal, too. You want it for fame, or for power...I want knowledge. I want to see what Roger saw...and so...I'll let you live, Eustass Kid."

Kid lost his weak grip on his power at that statement. The freak's grin widened.

"See, I know how you think. And there's nothing worse I could do to you than leave you broken, knowing that your dream is going to be taken by someone else."

"You...you-"

The butt of the staff pressed against his chest. "Of course, that doesn't mean I'm going to leave you even halfway able to fight us anytime soon. Defibrillate."

Kid's world vanished in a crack of thunder.

"Shiiiiiit," I say flatly. "Okay, one, that was fucking badass, and two-" I grab him by the lapels and snarl in his face. "ARE YOU TRYING TO START A FUCKING PIRATE FEUD?!"

"Dahahahaha….it's going to be fun isn't it?"

I drop him, covering my face with my hands. "Sanity is dead. It's dead and I'm looking at the guy who killed it."

"Meow."

I glare through my fingers at the obviously hallucinatory Saint Bernard. Seriously, meowing dogs? I prod it.

Oh, wait. It's real.

Right, Kaneki, sanity is dead, must really keep up with that. "You, dog!"

"Meow."

"Why are you doing this."

"Kaneki-"

"Nope, nope, fuck this. I'm taking this weird meowing murder-hound, going to my cabin, and I'm going to wait for the universe to make sense again."

"Okay, you might be in there for some-"

"Don't. Start."

Ignoring everything. Walking to cabin. Sitting on cot. Okay.

Breathe, Kaneki, breathe. Sure, your captain just ensured that the guy who'd eventually get a bounty higher than Luffy's would be wanting to straight-up murder everyone on this crew and then use their bones as musical instruments, but everything's going to be okay. Definitely.

"Meow."

I stare at the dog. "You are a fucking weird animal…" I mutter, scratching the gigantic dog behind the ears. "Where the hell did Vinci find you?" I'm assuming it's Vinci. Or possibly Herman, given the man's Devil Fruit. "And what the hell does he intend to do with you?"

"Meow."

"Fuck it." I cross my legs, close my eyes, and try to focus. Maybe if I meditate I can stop freaking out well enough to sleep.

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"And...let them go."

The men let their weights- ballast stones and similar ludicrously heavy things- slump to the deck, all of them panting from the exertion of keeping the things aloft. Kaneki grinned, and it was telling of their state of exhaustion that none of the new recruits even flinched at the highly disturbing expression.

Lauren waited as Kaneki talked with some of the new recruits, tapping her foot with impatience.

It was kinda funny. A couple weeks ago, she'd have never thought she'd be as strong as she currently was, but right now she was pretty sure she could swing one of those weights barehanded. One pill a day, the captain's orders, and she was growing stronger than she'd ever thought possibly. Meant she had to eat a hell of a lot more than she thought possible, too- she'd seen the same results across the crew as everyone packed away the kind of food needed to sustain the amount of energy they were burning.

It took longer than she'd have liked for Kaneki to finish with the greenhorns, but eventually she managed to catch his eye.

"You need something?" the ghoul asked, rolling his shoulders- which, come to think of it, was the most stretching she'd ever seen him do. Probably his regeneration letting him avoid the consequences of not doing so.

"Want to spar?" she asked. "Can't exactly use my weapons on anyone else. 'Cept maybe Herman, his Iron Body is ridiculous."

"Sure you don't want to wait until we get to an island?" he asked, cocking his head slightly.

"No telling what's on the other end of Reverse Mountain," she said. "I need to get better at fighting with what I've got, and you're the only one I can practice on."

"So I'm a target dummy, heh. Fine. Oi! You lot! Clear the deck, last thing we need is stray bullets hitting you idjits!"

With groans and a few good-natured insults, the crew cleared off, most of them moving to the forecastle where they could watch. Figures. They'd love a good fight.

Kaneki pulled off his jacket and tossed it against the base of the mast. She raised an eyebrow, and he shrugged.

"I get enough blood and holes in the damn thing from regular fighting," he said. "I'm not cleaning it up and sewing it back into working order over a spar."

"Fair," she said, taking one of his expressions. "You ready?"

Kaneki cracked his neck, his eyes snapping into their altered state. "One tail." The stated organ sprang into existence in an instant as Kaneki dropped into a crouch, lowering himself to all fours. Lauren reached behind her back for her newest weapon. "Defend yourself."

Kaneki was fast, much faster than her. But he was clearly going easy on her, and that made his forward lunge just slow enough for her to pull the cut-down version of that fat bastard knight's bazooka around and slam it into his chest, stopping him in mid-air. Lauren grinned.

"Gunnery Special: Wind Lance!"

Kaneki's eyes bulged out as she pulled the trigger, and then he went flying off the ship and into the ocean.

There was dead silence for a moment as the crew gawked.

Lauren grinned. "Wonder if that makes me first mate?" she muttered, running a hand over the bazooka. She really needed to find a way to thank the captain for making the weapon more portable...though he'd been more interested in the cables that had come with it- something about charging the Breath Dial with input from the Impact Dials…? Eh, wasn't her problem.

"GROAAAR!"

"Um...guys?" she heard Pravilno ask from the crowd. "I think a Sea King just ate our first mate."

"GRO-ERRGUH!"

"Oh, never mind, its head just exploded."

Lauren waited patiently, and sure enough, Kaneki, absolutely drenched with blood, climbed back over the rail a few moments later. He glared at her.

"That was one hell of a dirty trick." He grinned. "Good job. Think you can do it again?"

She grinned back, and levelled her bazooka. "Come and find out, bird boy."

"Okay, captain, I can handle a lot of things...but why is Eustass Kid's severed arm floating in a giant glass tank?" I ask. I'm fairly certain at some point after Vinci guaranteed Kid would be trying to murder us I may have snapped even further. That, or my brain has simply given up trying to apply rational behavior to my captain. Either way, I'm asking more out of curiosity than anything else at this point.

Apparently Vinci had gotten Jack to shell out for improved lab equipment during our short stay at Hangman's Town. Now the lab has six glass tanks surrounded by machinery and a great deal of other devices that I have absolutely no idea about the functioning of. Probably something sanity-breaking and/or abomination-producing.

"Well, Kaneki, it's simple. Kid has a Devil Fruit, yes?"

"Either that or a...magnetic personality."

"Never make a pun again, by the way. But yes, a Devil Fruit. I'm trying to see if I can locate the differences between a normal human and one who's eaten a Devil Fruit- DNA changes, physical alterations, something."

"And you need it in a tank because…"

"Well, I don't want the thing to rot, now do I?" He tips his tricorn back slightly and gives me a look. "But why'd you come down here? Surely it wasn't to ask about my experiments."

I cross my arms. "Honestly I'm worried you're going to use the dogs as experimental test subjects. I like dogs, captain, and so does most of the crew. 'Cept maybe Lauren, she's prickly enough to be a cat person."

"Dahahaha...really, that's what you're worried about? If I wanted animal testing, I'd have ordered Jack to buy some pigs. No, Kaneki, they're not test subjects."

I relax slightly.

"I mean, what I'm giving them isn't experimental in the slightest, so they aren't being used to test anything."

I glare at him, and Vinci chuckles. "Alright, alright, fine. They're getting the same stuff the rest of the crew is. Turns out they listen pretty well to orders even without formal training, too…"

"So what are they?"

"Morale boosters. Also, it amused me to bring them on board, so I did. That assuage your concerns?"

"Barely. Still worried about the oni."

"Ah." He sighs. "You mean the whole...pack-mentality thing they have with you."

I nod.

"Well, if anything, it provides valuable data about your people's natural state, I suppose…"

"This isn't a damn joke, Vinci."

"I know, I know, don't bite my head off...look. They haven't taken any further doses, right?"

"Those pills of yours count?"

"No, the concentration of your cell cultures in those is less than a thousandth what the concentration in the oni gas is."

"Then no, they haven't."

"Alright. Whatever happens to them after the next fight in which they do...I'll keep an eye on them, and see if they start turning into, well...more of you. It's not as though we lack for your kind of supplies, though."

"You'd let them turn themselves into monsters?"

Vinci frowns. "You think you're one?"

"Eat people. Nothing more to say about that. Less of a monster than others, maybe, but still a monster. But I didn't get a choice."

"And you…" Vinci stops, and sighs. "We're pirates, Kaneki. We'll kill people either way. If there are more permanent effects than the ones they've already suffered, I'll try to reverse them. If I can't do that...would you honestly consider killing them, for taking the power they needed to protect their crew?"

I open my mouth. Stop. Close it.

"No," I say quietly. "Not in cold blood like that."

"There you have it. It's slim odds, Kaneki, remember that. Don't do something you'll regret, purely because you're afraid of what the future could hold. If you do...you're little better than the Marines."

There's a knock on the door. "Captain?" Eka calls. "Boss?"

"What?" we ask at the same time.

"We're coming up on the Mountain...Jack says there was something you wanted to do?"

Vinci grins.

He'd seen pictures, he'd read books about it.

It still didn't compare to the sheer size of the mountain growing on the horizon, or the wall of rock extending on both sides.

Ends Justified was making a hell of a clip, faster and faster as the currents tugged at them and the Calm Belts loomed on either side. It took two men to hold the ship steady in the increasingly hostile currents, clutching at the wheel, but it mattered little.

"Here we are, men…" he called, looking over the crew as they all watched. "Right on the edge. Heading for the Line, just as I promised! Dahahahahaha...it's a hell of a sight, ain't it? Well, boys, I said I'd tell you the why of things, why I've taken you to this place...and I keep my promises."

He looked to the mountain. "I want to see what's on the other sign of that mountain. And so we're going to go there. We're going to sail the Line. And I will become Pirate King! Not for power! Not for fame! But for the secrets of this world, the ones kept hidden from all of us!" He dropped his voice into a whisper, one pitched to carry to every ear. "A scientist makes the impossible reality. A researcher searches for that which nobody can understand. And a doctor...a doctor denies death, to the end! And that is what I shall do! That is my dream: I shall search out every secret and treasure of this world...and at the very end of it, I shall find a way to immortality for all mankind! What say you? Will you follow me, to a better future?"

"AYE, CAPTAIN!"

His grin widened fit to split his skull. "But I can't achieve my dream alone...nor can I expect you to give up your own to serve mine. So tell me, my officers: what do you desire? What are your dreams?"

There was silence for a moment. And then Kaneki stepped out of the crowd of crew.

"I want...well, it's simple. There was a kingdom in the New World, which my master hailed from. His councillors, seven of them, turned on him, and deposed him. I want them dead, and once that debt is paid...once that's paid, there's still greater monsters that only another monster can handle."

Herman stepped up to his side. "What I want? I want enemies to face, I want to prove my strength to the world!" he shouted. "I will prove myself as a warrior...and that is all I want," he said, more quietly.

Jack nodded as he joined the dog-man. "I want nothing for myself," the big man said. "But I want to be there. I want to see what you do, captain."

"I want to never be afraid," Lauren cried, joining the officers.

More and more of the crew joined in, cries for wealth and fame and adventure joining the tide, and Vinci raised his arms until at last the tide abated. He pointed his scythe at Reverse Mountain. "It's all on the other side," he said simply. "Let's go take it. FOR SCIENCE!"

And then the currents grabbed them, and there was no more time for speeches.