Payday
The moon hung high overhead, casting its eerie light on the island.
At the Harbor, several shady figures were revealed by the light as they made their way to the Magna Carta.
"Are you sure that it was just the two of them?" Asked one of the men.
"I'm sure of it. There's been no movement since they left. Lets see what goods their ship has for us to loot." Said another as they all snuck on board under the cover of darkness.
Moments later, screams of terror filled the air.
XXXXX
Victor sneezed, almost losing his piece of straw.
"I hope I'm not catching a cold." He said as he rubbed his nose.
"Well, maybe a little drink will loosen you up." Jesse said as he brought the drinks and set them down.
"Thanks." Victor said.
"You know, this isn't a bad place. The beer is good and the atmosphere is nice." Jesse said.
"Yeah, just right to relax for a while. We can turn in the bounties tomorrow morning so until then. Consider this a celebration."
"Aye Captain." The two toasted with their glasses.
Nearby, a group of sinister guys seemed to be a little more than just interested in the two's conversation.
"Seems like another couple of rats have wandered into town. Little do they know that their ship is being raided at this moment. We'll pick them dry before they even realize that anything even happened." Said their leader, a man who had long blue hair and a blue leather jacket with his jolly roger on its back, a skull with two lightning bolts in place of bones.
Captain Sparks the Rage- Bounty 50,000,000
One of his henchmen walked up to him and whispered in his ear.
"Captain, the other ships have been taken care of. Nobody has been the wiser to our movements."
Sparks snickered. "Good, I can't believe that we've been doing this for so long without the Marines finding out. But the only one I'd worry about is that Commadore Ralley. Luckily, he's always boozed up and surrounded by women. He's too busy to bother with our plans."
Suddenly, several men burst into the building, white as ghosts.
"Captain! We've got trouble!" One of the men shouted.
"What!" He shouted as he slammed his hand on the table.
"Calm yourself and tell me what happened." He demanded.
Despite his command, the men were a little hesitant to answer.
"Um... well sir... We found two bodies on the ship." One of them said.
Sparks looked at them with irritation.
"Are you telling me that you ran like dogs with your tails between your legs because of a couple of stiffs?" He growled, snapping a finger.
The one who spoke was grabbed by two others and forced onto the table, exposing his neck. The people around didn't seem to even be bothered by the display as they continued to drink and chatter.
"I so dislike having cowards as part of my crew." He said as he brought out his saber, raising it to decapitate the man.
"Captain, sir, please wait. Don't do this!" The pirate begged.
"Just shut up and die, maggot!" He shouted and brought it down.
"They were El Toro and Sangre Spada!" The man shouted.
This silenced the crew, turning to see Sparks with his sword stopped just before he chopped off the man's head.
The man, despite his cruelty and high bounty, broke into a cold sweat.
"El Toro the Executioner? You mean to tell me that you found his body on that ship that just arrived? Including his Vice-Captain?"
The man began to nod furiously as did the others who went.
XXXXX
(earlier on the Magna Carta)
The pirates rifled and ransacked the rooms, finding little in the way of money or valuables.
"Damn, what a waste of time. I thought there would at least be some supplies. Even the food is nearly gone." Said the one in charge (currently on the table).
"Sir, I think you should take a look at this." Said a man in one of the rooms.
"What is it? Something expensive I hope." He stated as he walked inside to see two cloth-covered bodies.
"Hmph, guess a couple of their crewmembers died on the journey in the Grand Line. Not a rare occurrence so I guess they are looking for a place to bury them." He said as he crouched down next to them.
"Well, we had better take a look. Maybe there are still some jewelry on them. They won't be needing them where they are."
The man in charge raised the sheet to the largest body, getting a good look at his face. This caused the blood to drain from his face before a huge cry escaped his lips.
XXXXX
"It's him, I saw him with my own eyes. It was El Toro, the man with a bounty even bigger than yours."
Sparks dropped the sword as the men released the pirate.
"If what he's saying is true, then they are the ones who killed El Toro. A bounty of 75 million berries. Just who are these guys to take down such a guy." He said as he stared at the two drinking at the far table.
Sparks clenched his teeth as he seemed to be frozen in frustration. According to his scouts, they were the only two on that small ship… alive at least. They didn't have a Jolly Roger so they weren't pirates. Their flag was just a stupid bird, but they weren't Marines either. There had to be another reason… and he was going to find out what.
He steeled himself, believing them to be frauds, creating some sort of ruse to get the reward without actually killing the real El Toro.
He picked up his saber and stormed over to the two, quickly followed by his men.
XXXXX
Victor and Jesse finished off their large mugs of beer and sat them down.
"Man, that was good. What do you think?" Jesse asked.
"I think it was quite tasty. How about we get another?" Victor suggested.
"Aye Captain."
A shadow loomed between their seats, drawing their attention towards Captain Sparks.
"So, it looks like a couple of rats are trying to find a quick way for some money, am I right?" Sparks said as he used his most fearsome pose, keeping his sword at his side in plain view of them.
Jesse was about to make a move, but Victor made a slight gesture with his hand to keep from doing anything.
"Is there a problem? My friend and I were just having a nice drink. Have a seat? There's plenty to go around." Victor suggested.
This offer seemed to irritate Sparks as if this man didn't even see him as a threat.
He raised his sword, bringing its edge to Victor's face as he leaned in closer.
"Are you playing some kind of joke? Do you know who I am? I have a 50 million berry bounty on my head. Plus, I know of your trick. Quite a clever one if I might add, but I saw through it easily so here's what you're gonna do. First, you collect the bounty of those two corpses on your boat. Then, you'll hand over all of the money to me. How does that sound? If you do that, I'll let the two of you live."
Victor quietly listened to the man, not even flinching at the yard of metal, barely an inch from him.
He whistled lightly for second.
"Wow, 50 million. That's impressive. You must be pretty strong, but what do you mean by 'trick'?"
Sparks snickered.
"After my men investigated your ship, they found the bodies that you made out to look like El Toro and Sangre Spada. You did a very impressive job, so much that my men were scared at the likeness. On second thought, since you did such a good job of creating fakes. Why don't you join me and we can make a lot of money together?"
"Oh, I see." Victor put his fist in his hand in understanding.
Sparks nodded, as if Victor understood his meaning.
"Nah, those are the real El Toro and Sangre Spada and let me tell you. They weren't easy to beat, right Jesse?" Victor laughed.
"Yep, they almost killed us, but in the end… We kicked their ass." Jesse said as he grabbed a fresh mug that was placed at their table.
Sparks seemed to become infuriated at this. To think that they would continue to use this ruse. He had enough. He'll just kill them and take their bodies to claim the bounties for himself.
"You think that you can make a fool out of me with your lies! There's no way that a couple of weaklings could beat a Captain who was almost at 100 million berries!"
He swung his saber down on Victor with all of his strength, the force slicing through the table. This somehow, caused the loud music to stop as people stared at them.
The area went silent as Sparks could only stare at the hand that had blocked it.
"Careful, you could poke somebody's eye out with that thing." Victor said, as he glared at the man in annoyance.
Sparks and his men could see that this guy was the real deal.
"I was thinking of just having a simple drink with you as we already have high bounties to turn in, but you had to go and piss me off." Victor said, squeezing the blade until it shattered.
Sparks looked down in shock at his broken blade.
"Jesse, you know what this means?" Victor said, standing up and cracking his knuckles.
"Yep, time to teach these guys a lesson." Jesse said, following suit.
The club came alive with sounds of men getting the beating of a lifetime.
Captain Sparks and his crew lay beaten and bloody on the floor.
"I didn't come here for a fight… but you brought it on yourself." Victor stated as he sighed and scratched his head.
XXXXX
Most of the people could only stare in fear and awe at the two who thrashed more than 30 men in mere moments.
However, there was one who was calm, sitting alone as his finger traced the edge of his empty glass.
XXXXX
"Damn, what a buzz kill. I'm heading back to the ship." Victor said as he stepped over Captain Sparks.
"Ok, I think I'll head to another club. I don't think they'll allow us to come back here again." Jesse said as he ran next to him.
"Alright, you have fun. We'll take the bodies to HQ tomorrow."
"See ya." Jesse said as they parted ways.
"Later." Victor replied.
After the two left, the spectator stepped out of the club and watched them heading their different paths.
"I like them. They appear very strong. What do you think?" He asked.
Another figure stood next to him.
"I think so too, Captain. They could make the Grand Line very interesting." Said the other.
"For now, let's watch them. I would like to speak with them when the time is right."
"Yes sir."
XXXXX
The next morning, Victor woke up to the sun's light hitting his face. He opened his eyes and stared up at the sky as some small clouds drifted slowly over the ocean.
"Man, what a night." He groaned as he stood up, having slept in the crow's nest as usual.
"Well, guess I gotta job to take care of." He said as he stretched, his joints popping loudly before jumping down from the crow's nest.
He noticed that the living quarters door was open and went to check it out. When he did, he saw Jesse passed out on the floor, not even making it to the bed.
"Guess his night got a whole lot crazier after I left." He chuckled as he left him there and walked outside to take in the salty air.
"Well, that Commadore guy said to head northwest. I guess I'll head that way."
He prepared a makeshift box in which he placed the bodies of El Toro and Sangre Spada in, sealing it afterwards.
"This is gonna make the trip a little awkward, isn't it."
XXXXX
Indeed it was, people giving him bewildered looks as he walked through the town with a giant box over his head.
Despite his unusual package, he focused more on the city now that it was daytime. It was just winding down from the crazy events that had happened the night before. With the higher number of brawls and drunks, the town must go through a daytime cleanup.
"This is an interesting place to be. I wonder how long it will take until the Log Pose locks onto the next island." He said to himself.
XXXXX
A short while later, he finally arrived at the front of the Marine HQ. It was a rather large building with its insignia on dozens of flags and on the very front of the building itself.
"They're not arrogant at all, are they?" He said sarcastically as he entered through the large gate before him.
As he walked by, he could see dozens of Marines training in Kendo and doing intense exercises. As he did, he stopped one that was busy carrying paperwork.
"Excuse me, but where do I go to claim a bounty?" He asked.
The man was almost too absorbed in his task and would have passed by without answering if there hadn't been a huge box over Victor's head.
"Oh, um… if you're looking to collect a bounty, just head down the corridor and take a left. Continue down that hallway until you see Commadore Ralley's office. He can handle your pay." He said before hurrying on with his duty.
"Thanks."
The man's directions were simple enough so he found the Commadore's office quickly.
"Well I guess this is the place." He said before he knocked.
XXXXX
Commadore Ralley was sitting at his desk, signing some documents. Upon hearing the knock, he stopped writing and set his pen down.
"Come in." He said.
Victor walked in, leaving the large box outside as it was too big to be brought in.
"Hey, we meet again. So are you the guy in charge here?" Victor asked as he took a seat and leaned back in a nonchalant manner.
Ralley's face showed that he recognized the man.
"Yes, I am Commadore Ralley. We talked last night, didn't we? So what about your friend? Is he not here as well?" He asked.
Victor shook his head. "Nah, he's sleeping off a hangover right now. I'm just here to collect the bounty on these two." He said, thumbing towards the box.
"I see, and who might they be?" Ralley asked.
Victor placed two wanted papers on his desk, in which Ralley looked at.
"Hmmm… these are some high bounties. Of course, I will have to check them for authenticity."
"Sure, right this way. Just be careful of the smell." Victor warned.
XXXXX
Victor pried the lid off as Ralley looked inside, pulling off the cloths to reveal the faces of the two bodies.
"Impressive, it's too bad that you turned them in dead. That reduces their worth greatly, you understand." Ralley explained.
Victor just shrugged. "Yeah, I got it. We'll be sure to keep the next ones alive."
Ralley walked in a picked up a denden mushi.
"Lieutenant, send a few Marines to pick up a container at my office." He said.
"Right away, sir." Came a female voice before hanging up.
Ralley pulled out a form from his desk and began writing on it.
"Okay, a combined bounty of 123 million, dead. Reducing the bounty to 82 million." He said to himself as he handed the paper to Victor.
"Just take this to the Crown Jewel Bank located at this address. Since my signature is on it, there should be no problem as the Government funds these transactions." The Commadore explained.
"Thanks, maybe we can do more business while we're around. How long does it take for the Log Pose to lock onto the next island?" Victor asked.
Ralley thought about it for a minute. "I can't say for sure as we don't use them. I'd say probably a week. Maybe two."
Victor seemed rather disappointed.
"Damn, well if we're staying here for a while. Is there anything to do here?" He asked.
Commadore Ralley gave him a like that said 'Really?'
"Obviously you don't know a lot about Clubtown. All there is here are places to get drunk and pick up women. That's about it. But during the day, there is a business street on the East side of the island called the Golden Circle. It's mostly for tourists, but you can find pretty much find whatever you want."
Victor took in the information and nodded.
"Ok, cool. Thanks again, Ralley." Victor said as he left.
"That's Commadore Ralley." He corrected.
"Whatever." Victor replied, his voice barely audible.
The Commadore sat down, slightly miffed. "What a troublesome guy."
He picked up the denden mushi.
"Lt., have some men keep an eye on our visitors. Just to be sure that they're not up to anything."
"Yes, Commadore." She said.
"Oh, and Lt."
"Yes, sir."
"What color panties are you wearing?"
She hung up on him, leaving the receiver to buzz in his ear as he gave the phone a confused look.
"Hmph, I wonder what I said?"
XXXXX
Victor was eager to head to the bank as he looked at the form which read 82 million berries.
"Even if it's not the full sum, this is still a lot of money. What can one man do with this much?"
His mind began to contemplate the possibilities.
XXXXXX
Jesse awoke to loud bangs and the ship suddenly shaking. Only one thing could do that.
"Enemy attack!" He shouted as he shot up and ran for the door.
CRASH!
Jesse busted through the door and rolled all the way into the mast with another loud bang.
His eyes swirled as his butt was pointed in the air as Victor looked down at him.
"Rise and Shine, hope we didn't wake you." Victor said with a big smile as Jesse gave him a surprised look.
"What's going on? What's all that racket?" He groaned as he stood up groggily.
Victor just looked in the direction of the sound, causing Jesse to do the same. Before them, was a massive pile of plates (slang for weights) reaching from 4-5 digits.
"I decided to use some of the money we earned from the bounties to get some training equipment. Along with some other things." Referencing a new wardrobe as several tailors appeared from out of nowhere and almost assaulted Jesse as they measured him.
"Hey, what, what hell are you doing? Don't touch me there. Have you ever heard of boundaries?" He shouted, yet they seemed unaffected by his qualms of discomfort.
The men wrote some notes and moved on as quickly as they had came, leaving the man in a daze.
After a few seconds, he collected himself. "I'm not even going to ask." He stated bluntly.
"It doesn't matter, but you know that we can't wear the same clothes every day. Otherwise, they'll just smell after a while." Victor explained anyway.
This got Jesse thinking.
"What do you mean, money?" He asked, but his brain finally caught up to what was going on.
"You already spent all of our money on all of this… this…" He tried to get out, but he looked like he was going to blow a fuse.
"Calm down, would ya. We got over 80 million for them. I just decided to spend some of my share of it." Victor said, trying to console the man as he pulled out an envelope.
"Here is your share. An even 41 million berries."
Jesse seemed to snap out of his stupor as he looked at the envelope.
"F-f-f-forty one… million." He stammered.
"Yep, it's all yours to do whatever you want with. As you can see that I've already spent some of mine." Victor said as he turned back to the mountain of metal.
"Don't feel like you have to rush, it looks like the Log Pose won't change for at least a week or more. So don't blow it all on women and booze before we leave." Victor warned.
"Aye Captain." Jesse said in excitement as he vaulted over the side of the ship to the port, jumping around like a kid with a new toy at the thrill of holding so much money in his hands.
Victor watched the man disappear into the city.
"I hope he doesn't do anything stupid." He said as he looked back at the weights before him.
"Guess I'll have to hire some architects to build a place to put these."
XXXXX
(Marine HQ)
The Marine HQ was an enormous compound that held over 20,000 Marines strong.
Among them, 8 very high ranking Marines were waiting in a large room, each sitting at a large circular table. Nothing less than a Rear Admiral was there and waiting for their last remaining member.
A Rear Admiral was tapping his fingers impatiently. The man was of average build with a long black mustache that curled upward very sharply.
Rear Admiral Kazuma
Commander of 3rd Division
"Why does he always show up late to these meetings? Acting high and mighty just because he became a Vice-Admiral." He said in distaste.
"Calm down, Kazuma. It's just his nature to not be punctual. His war record is flawless so he has some leniency with the higher-ups." Said a middle-aged man with more hair on his face than on his head. He took a puff of his large cigar from his left hand, which also had a glass of scotch in it.
Vice-Admiral Toremaru
Commander of 9th Division
Kazuma just scoffed as he propped himself on the table with his hand.
Moments later, a tall man walked in. He had short wavy brown hair and gold eyes and his face was clean shaven. Behind him, was a beautiful female Captain with long white hair that seemed to hang just above the ground and covered her left eye.
"Sorry that I'm late. I have a horrible sense of direction. If it weren't for my Captain, I'd never would've have found my way around here." He said jokingly.
Vice-Admiral Yusuke
Commander of 13th Division
"About time. Now we can get started with some business." Kazuma said as the man sat down. "And tell your Captain to leave, this is for Admirals only." He ordered.
The Captain looked as if she were going to attack him, but Yusuke motioned for her to stop.
"Captain Harriet, would you please excuse us." He asked.
"Yes sir." She replied and quickly left. Slamming the door behind her.
"You should keep your subordinate in line, Yusuke." Kazuma stated as he glared at the man.
"Don't mind her. She gets like that. Oh and Rear Admiral..." Yusuke said, leaning towards the man as he gripped the hilt of his sword and drew it, pointing its blade at the man.
"If you try to tell my Captain what to do again, I'll cut your tongue out." He threatened, still keeping his grin despite his tone was laced with killing intent.
Kazuma just stared at the man as if daring him to attack. The tension was building at an uncomfortable pace.
"Now now, please calm down so that we can get this meeting started." Said the man in charge of the meeting. He donned a samurai helmet and had a long black fu-man-chuu.
Vice-Admiral Caan
5th Division Commander
"Yes sir." Yusuke said, returning his sword.
Kazuma smirked until one side of his mustache fell off his face, causing him to look down in surprise as the length of the sword couldn't have reached the length of the table which was easily 10 feet across.
"You son of a…"
"Kazuma!" Caan shouted, keeping the man from moving.
"Can we please start this meeting?" He asked, as if expecting an answer, to which none of them responded.
"Good. Now, there is a topic of these Rookies that are staring to cause trouble through Paradise. Some already have bounties of over 100 million and are slowly making their way towards Mariejois." Caan explained, tossing a large stack of wanted papers on the table.
The men and women took some of the papers and began to look at them.
"The more damage they cause, the more fear they will spread across the Grand Line. We must take any measures necessary to eliminate all of this evil." He commanded.
"Well if you ask me, we should just launch a few Buster Calls and be rid of them in one fell swoop." Suggested a female Vice-Admiral who looked rather mannish with her short-cropped hair.
Vice-Admiral Fields
15th Division Commander
"That would be a good idea, but in my opinion, that would just be overkill. Plus, that would severely weaken our defenses and expose ourselves for possible enemy attack from the New World if they were to get wind of such a use of force on such low bounties." Toremaru explained.
"Unfortunately, he has a point, which is why I called all of you here. As per Admiral Akainu, each of us will be patrolling throughout the Grand Line. We will eliminate any and all pirates on these posters. This will go as a warning to all who oppose the World Government." Caan declared.
Yusuke grabbed some wanted posters and looked at them.
"I see, so Mr. Absolute Justice wants to make the Grand Line boring. Where's the fun in that?" He asked.
"Yusuke, despite your lack of disposition and morality, an order is an order so you had better abide by it." Caan stated.
"Fine, fine, whatever." Yusuke dismissed with a lazy wave as he stood up and walked out.
"Where do you think you are going, Vice-Admiral!" Caan demanded.
"I've had my fill of this dull meeting, so I'm leaving." He said.
All that was left on the table was nothing but a pile of shredded paper.
Yusuke closed the door behind him, his grin gone as the Captain walked up next to him.
"How was the meeting?" She asked as they walked down the hallway.
"More whining from those pathetic ingrates. Can't scratch their own ass unless somebody orders them to." He said.
"So I assume that you won't be following their orders?" She asked.
"Nah, I will. Only because it turns out that they want a massacre of the pirates. That could be very convenient for me." He mentioned.
"Indeed. So are we heading out immediately?" She asked.
"Yes we are, but there is no need to rush. We'll have some fun on our way." He said as his grin returned.
"As you command, sir."
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So, a lot of things are starting to happen. The Marines are launching an attack on any pirates that are making their way across the Grand Line. Where does that put Victor and Jesse? What about the mysterious captain that has taken an interest in them? Keep reading and you'll find out.