Vegeta watched as several men took out their blades or guns. The grinning man in front of him raised his hand causing the men to drop their weapons, indicating to the prince that he was in charge.
"Greetings, my friend. What is your name?" Issac asked before scratching his beard.
The Saiyan Prince closed his eyes to see if he could detect what their power levels were, and he was surprised at the result. He couldn't sense a thing. Either these guys had pitiful power levels that couldn't be detected due to how weak they were, or they were hiding it well.
"Vegeta." He answered. He wanted to know where he was and he was certain this man would give him the answers he wanted.
The Hammerhead smirked. "Well then, you're probably wondering how you got here, aren't you?"
"Of course, you fool." Vegeta snarled, his eyes wandering all over the place so he could get a better understanding of the area he was in before he decided to shed blood.
Issac grunted in response, but quickly reclaimed his focus as this person probably didn't know who he was. Even if he didn't recognize the name, he would acknowledge the bounty. "I highly suggest you don't speak to me like that. Consider this a warning. I have a bounty of 65,000,000 berries, so watch your tongue."
Vegeta recognized that he must have been talking about a kind of currency, but it was one he had never heard about before. The number was high, suggesting that this person was strong, but he didn't know how strong.
The captain of the Hammerhead Pirates was quick to assume that the man's silence indicated that he finally understood what he was dealing with. "I have used my Devil Fruit ability to summon you here. I summon a completely random person each time and it appears today the god of luck decided to pick you. Tell me, what kind of person are you?"
Vegeta slowly grew a grin and decided to learn more about this crew thanks to a few ideas he had conjured up in his mind. "I am someone with the power to destroy planets."
Issac quickly widened his eyes in surprise, as did some of the crew, but it didn't take long for them to begin chuckling with laughter instead. "Do you hear that, boys?! He thinks he can destroy planets! I think we got a comedian!"
Their obnoxious laughter was beginning to annoy the royal Saiyan. He adjusted his hands so only one was holding his son and then he lowered the freed hand towards the ground. All laughter stopped as Vegeta shot a small energy blast, piercing the ship's defenses. John looked down at the hole he had created hesitantly and saw the ocean below, indicating that this man had some extraordinary power and could destroy a ship effortlessly.
"So, you're a devil fruit user, are ya?" Issac said, although his tone suggested he was annoyed with his summoned slave, probably due to his ship being damaged, but curiosity kept him somewhat calm.
"I don't know what a devil fruit is." Vegeta answered, predicting a reaction.
As expected, they stopped all sound and looked at him oddly, before bursting into laughter once more.
"He's on the Grand Line yet he's never heard of a devil fruit!" one shouted with an incredibly unique yet irriating laugh.
"What an idiot! Does he not remember eating one?!" another roared with laughter.
"This guy is DEFINITELY a comedian!" one more giggled.
Vegeta groaned at their reckless laughter once more. He remembered that his previous action had annoyed their captain and shut them up, so he conjured up another energy ball and shot it towards the ground. The crew shut up entirely as they saw yet another hole, except this one was much larger.
John "Hammerhead" Issac growled violently at Vegeta. "Hammerhead Pirates, this guy may be a comedian, but he's damaging our boat. Let's teach him a lesson!"
The crew reacted eagerly, pulling out their previous weapons. Several of them called out expressing their excitement for eradication and how much they would enjoy violently murdering this man.
Just as they were about to attack, Vegeta remembered that he had someone who could get hurt to these weapons especially as this person was unconscious. But it wouldn't really matter, as Vegeta's next idea would probably leave the pirates speechless.
He took to the air like a bullet and the pirates looked up at him with their jaws hanging, completely caught off guard due to Vegeta's actions. He lowered his hand, unleashing a barrage of energy blasts. Vegeta didn't care what he was hitting whether it was the ship or members of the pirate group.
However, the Saiyan Prince had greatly overestimated the power of the crew, as after he finished his killing spree, all that remained were bodies of dead pirates. The Sapphire Star was almost annihilated and it had been split in two; parts of it were already sinking and the prince couldn't help but grin.
"That's quite some power you have there." An unfamiliar voice called out to him from below. Vegeta looked down and tried to search for the owner of this mysterious voice and grew aggravated that he could not sense a thing. Eventually, he did spot who he was looking for.
On a tiny boat unable to fit more than three people stood a man wearing a bright orange hat. Vegeta noticed that part of his arm was covered in a tattoo that appeared to spell out a name, but one of the letters was crossed out. Whoever this man was, he was clearly young.
"You ate a devil fruit? Which one?" He asked. Vegeta grunted as he had no idea what these things were and it was beginning to annoy him as no one would explain what they were. This stranger obviously just got here as otherwise he would have heard the captain of the Hammerhead Pirates ask the same thing.
Vegeta spat into the ocean. "I don't know what a devil fruit is."
"I guess you're one of those ones who ate one without knowing what they really were..." The young man muttered, scratching his chin. "Your power is pretty similar to one of the admiral's abilities; you probably have some variation of it."
This man was talking nonsense to him. He slowly floated down and the lone man surprisingly didn't flinch or make any sort of noticeable reaction. "Who are you?" Vegeta questioned.
"Name's Ace. Portgas D. Ace. Although some people recognize me better with my nickname, Fire Fist." Ace answered, crossing his arms as he finally noticed that this flying warrior had an unconscious toddler in his arms, although he decided to make no comment about it.
"Where the hell am I?" Vegeta asked quickly.
Ace raised an eyebrow at the odd question, but answered nevertheless. "The Grand Line."
"Never heard of it."
"You suffering from amnesia or something?"
"No!"
Vegeta growled and spat once more. This guy was already annoying him but he didn't want to kill anymore people just yet as they could hold vital information. He needed to get home. "A crazy guy I just killed claimed he used his 'devil fruit' ability to summon me to his location."
Ace clicked his fingers and grinned. "That explains how you don't know where you are. You got a place to crash?"
"I don't." Vegeta stated. It was becoming clearer and clearer to him that he was on another world; there was no other explanation.
"Hop on then. I can take you to the nearest island if you like; probably better than being lost in the middle of the ocean." Ace suggested, making some more room on the boat for Vegeta in case he decided to go with Ace's idea.
"I can fly, you imbecile." The Saiyan Prince reminded the Fire Fist.
Ace chuckled slowly and looked at the toddler who Vegeta was holding with one of his hands. "Well, at least let me take care of the boy; free your hands up a little."
Vegeta huffed and surprisingly chucked his son towards Ace who hastily caught him, placing him down carefully on the boat. Vegeta stared at him coldly and Ace couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.
"Before we leave, I'm going to ask you a few questions." Vegeta explained in a commanding tone. Ace nodded his head to acknowledge that he was listening and ready to answer.
"What's a devil fruit?" The Saiyan Warrior questioned. He had heard that name several times and he desperately wanted to know what the darned thing was.
"A special fruit that grants you supernatural powers if you eat it, but you lose your ability to swim and the ocean itself can drain you and kill you." Ace said, thinking of a definition on the spot. "I'll show you my devil fruit ability as an example."
Before Vegeta could blink, Ace's right hand was covered in an immolating flame, instantaneously catching the prince's attention. The Whitebeard Pirate lifted the incinerating hand into the air and Vegeta watched carefully as an increasing amount of fire flew into the sky and drew what appeared to be some kind of symbol with his power over flame.
"Before you ask, that is the jolly roger of the pirate crew I belong to. The Whitebeard Pirates. Our captain is the strongest man in the world." Ace said proudly, something Vegeta noticed instantly.
"Strongest in the world, eh?" The Z Fighter repeated with an interested grin.
"You know, if you really have nowhere to go, you can join our crew. Pops will accept almost anyone." Ace mentioned. "We'll look after your son as well. Make sure he has everything he needs."
Vegeta remained silent for a few seconds before responding. "I want to meet your captain first before I decide to do anything. I doubt I'll join it either, as I have more important things to worry about. Perhaps someone there can help me get back to my home, as this world is already annoying me. "
"Wait, you're claiming you're from another world?" Ace asked with a small chuckle added afterwards.
"Yes, I am. While this planet seems similar so far to the one I'm from, I think I would be aware of people with the power to manipulate fire if it was the same." Vegeta answered.
Ace shook his head. "Only one person can have one devil fruit ability at a time."
"You're missing the point." Vegeta growled once more.
"Don't worry, I understand what you meant." Ace reassured. "Anyway, the reason I came here was because I was actually hunting down those pirates you just violently murdered. They took advantage of my narcolepsy a few weeks back by stealing my money so I decided to track them down and... convince them to give my money back."
"Looks like I stole your kill." The Z Fighter said, somewhat amusingly.
"It doesn't matter. Anyway, I think it's time we go to the next destination." Ace laughed before looking down at his wrist at his log pose, a device Vegeta noticed earlier but assumed it was nothing of importance. "Next island if memory serves is Banko Island. Should be a nice place to get supplies."
"What do you do?" Vegeta asked suddenly.
Ace looked at his new companion with an odd look initially before deciding to respond. "What do you mean?"
"You're a pirate, right? What do you pirates do in this world?" Vegeta elaborated.
"Well, most pirates just invade villages and islands to get as much treasure as they want; the pirate group I'm a part is more than a family than anything. We look out for each other and go on crazy adventures." Ace explained with the returning proud smirk.
"Not as bad as the Planet Trade Cooperation was, I see." Vegeta thought before continuing the conversation. "Well then, lead the way to this island you talked about."
"Banko Island. You gotta be a little careful though when we get there, some pirates docked there a few days ago. There's also a marine base on the island. You'll be fine as long as you stay close to me." Ace mentioned; although Vegeta paid no attention to much of what he had said apart from the last sentence, which struck a nerve.
"I can take care of myself, you imbecile."
They were sent to ambush the Hammerhead Pirates, but all they found was the remains of their ship.
Vice Admiral Momonga was supposed to capture the Hammerhead Pirate Captain as the World Government had decided that the crew could actually be a threat. However, it seemed that somebody else had beat them to the punch.
"Sir, what... do we do?" A marine nervously asked the Vice-Admiral.
"Nearest island to here is Banko Island. Whoever did this has a good chance of being there. Set sail, we can team up with the marines there and track this person down."
