A/N: Hello everyone, it's me, bringing you another chapter! This one begins the next arc in the story, please read and enjoy!
***
The sun was shining brightly throughout the clear blue sky as the Bat Out of Hell cruised upon the blue sea underneath it. It had been a day or so since the events at Paramore Island, and Shade, Iris, Kai, Riana, and the two new members of the ship, Lilli and Zucchero, were sitting around on the ship's deck. Howver, on the ship's sails, instead if the usual sails that it had came with, there was now black sails that had the crew's Jolly Roger on it, a Crossbone Skull that had a blond-haired buzzcut, just like Shade's. The black sails had been purchased on Paramore Island and the design was painted by Shade ("I'm a pretty good artist." Shade had said.)
"Finally, I can take this off!" Said Shade, unwrapping the bandages on his right arm. "Now I'm ready to fight again!"
"Yeah, you're good to go." Said Ligoro. "Just be careful. I don't know what you did before to make your arm like that, but try to limit what you did."
Meanwhile, Kai was getting the newspaper from a nearby delivery bird. "Here you go." He said to it as he gave it a 100 Beli coin. The bird took it and began to fly off.
"Hey, who said you can spend our money like that?" Said Shade, noticing Kai's recent transaction.
"Calm down, it's just 100 Beli, not like it'll make a difference." Said Kai lazily. "Plus, I like to read the news. Is that a problem?" He began to open the newspaper and skim through it. However, on one page, he came to a stop. He looked at the page again, to make sure he was actually seeing what he thought he was seeing. "Hey guys," He said, his eyes still glued to the paper. "You might want to check this out."
"Huh? What is it?" Said Shade as he dashed to see what Kai was looking at. A big smile appeared on his face as he saw what Kai was looking at. "All right!" He said, pumping his fist.
The others curious as to what they were all looking at, all clamored around the newspaper to see what all the commotion was about. They all looked to see that what Kai and Shade were looking at wasn't written in the newspaper itself, but something that had been packaged with the newspaper. It was a brown piece of paper, with a picture of Shade taking a fighting pose. Underneath it, the text read:
Wanted
Dead or Alive
James D. Shade
28,000,000 Beli
"A wanted poster?" Said Ligoro, examining the paper. He did some quick math in his head. That's fourteen times my bounty...just what the hell was this guy doing before I met him?
"One of the marines on Rebirth Island must've taken the photo when I was fighting them off." Said Shade, grabbing the paper and looking at the photo. "Whoever it was got an amazing shot..."
"A bounty poster? Cool! Let me see!" Said Riana, who tried to grab it from Shade's hand, however, Shade was able to quickly pull it away out of her reach.
"Hey! This is my bounty poster! Only I can hold it. Get your own!" Said Shade, who then found himself being comically whacked by Iris.
"Don't act like a kid." She said. She took the bounty poster out of her hands and looked at it. "You know, if you have a bounty on your head, it means we can't just go out walking around in public anymore, right?"
"I'll say." Said Ligoro. "My bounty is only 2 Million, and bounty hunters were after me like crazy. I can only imagine what would happen if it's 28 Million..."
"Relax, it'll be fine!" Said Shade in a carefree voice. "If anyone comes to challenge, I'll just defeat them!"
"Awfully calm about it, aren't we?" Said Zucchero, giving him a sly look.
"Yeah, it's no use worrying about this kind of stuff." Said Shade. "When we reach the next island, I'm sure no one will bother us."
"I don't know about that." Said Riana suddenly. "The next island we're heading to is 'Born to Run Island'."
"'Born to Run'?" Asked Shade. He had never heard of the island, though something told him he should have.
"You've never heard of Born to Run Island?" Asked Riana, sounding a bit shocked at the statement. "It's the last island in the West Blue before reaching Reverse Mountain, which leads to the Grand Line."
"Really?" Said Shade. A look of confidence and eagerness spread across his face. "Then we're almost there! We'll reach the Grand Line in no time!" He said.
"I don't know about that." Said Iris. "If it really is the last island before reaching reverse mountain, there probably is a lot of pirates running around the place. And if that's the case, there are probably a bunch of strong marines to keep order around the place."
"Looks like getting back to the Grand Line won't be so easy..." Muttered Zucchero to himself. However, Shade heard him with his enhanced hearing and took it to mean this towards everyone.
"Don't worry!" He said. "If I'm going to become the Pirate King, this is my first step to reaching that goal! So we can't fail!"
Iris looked at Shade and smiled. For some reason, she felt what he was saying is right. "Whatever you say, Captain." She said to him.
***
Within a few minutes, Born to Run Island had come into view. The whole place looked like a city floating on water, though in reality it was all built on one patch of land. In the distance of the island, the crew could faintly make up a large mountain shaped piece of land.
"There's Reverse Mountain!" Said Shade, pointing at the mountain in the distance. "We really are that close to the Grand Line!"
"Alright then, let's just grab some more supplies that we need on this island, then get out of here." Said Lilli. "I don't want to be caught in any big marine-pirate battles, hopefully we can make a quick stop and get out of here."
The others nodded in agreement as the ship began to dock on a port near the outskirts of the island. As the ship began to dock, the crew noticed the ship that they were docked next to. It was quite a large ship, painted a pinkish-reddish color. However, the most striking thing about the ship was that, like their own ship, it sported a Jolly Roger. Decorated on the sails was the traditional skull with two crossbones, however the eyes of the skull were heart-shaped.
"Is that a pirate ship too?" Said Shade, looking at the ship, somewhat unimpressed. "Whoever's the captain clearly has no taste at all..."
"Don't mind it for now." Said Iris. "Like Lilli said, we're just here to get some supplies, it'd be best not to get in any fights with other pirates for now."
"Che, whatever." Grunted Shade as the crew began to exit their ship to explore the island.
***
Meanwhile, on another part of Born to Run Island, stood the 'Born to Run Marine Base'. This marine base was filled with some of West Blue's finest marines, having being deployed here due to the fact that West Blue's greatest pirates had docked here. And they were all led by one man. Captain Collins was sitting in his room, brooding to himself, when suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"Enter." He said in a soothing, yet at the same time commanding voice.
The door opened and a marine nervously walked into the room, somewhat intimidated to be in his captain's presence. "C-Captain Collin, sir..." He stuttered. "I-I have the newest reports here, sir..."
"Really then?" Said Collins, paying no mind to the man's nervousness. He felt it was only natural for some to fear him, as he had been given the title of 'Strongest Captain in West Blue' by his fellow marines, a title he very much honored and took pride in. In fact, he had turned down several promotions to continue his post on Born to Run in his native West Blue. "How about we see them, then?" He asked the marine in a warm voice, trying to calm the man down.
"Ah, yes..." Said the man, slightly losing his stutter as he presented two pieces of paper to his captain. "Our latest reports have reported two major pirate landings here on Born to Run Island." He said. "One of them is the 'Renegade' James D. Shade of the Renegade Pirates, who as of this moment holds the highest bounty in all of West Blue."
Collins examined the bounty poster. This James D. Shade...he certainly looked like someone who you didn't want to mess with. "And the other?" He asked, not bothering to look at the other until he got proper information.
"Ah yes...the other is the 'Little Queen' Heart, Captain of the Heart Pirates. Currently holds a bounty of 22,000,000 Beli..."
Collins looked at the other wanted poster. He gave whistle. "Damn, she's fine." He said.
"Captain!" Said the marine. "This is no time to admire her! We've got 50 Million worth of bounties on the island right now, we should take some action.
"50 Million, huh?" Said Collins, as he gazed at the two bounty posters. "I might become a rich man today..."
***
"Captain Heart! Captain Heart!" A short, chubby looking man with a blue bandanna was running throughout the streets, panting as he was trying to catch up with a group of people. "Captain Heart!" He called out again in between pants.
The leader of the group turned around the face him. She was a woman with short blond hair who looked to be in her late twenties, and stood slightly over six feet tall. She was wearing a red cape with fluffy white outlines, such as one a king might wear. Under this was an outfit that resembled a one-piece bathing suit, revealing her amazing legs. In one of her gloved hands she was holding a long, old style cigarette. "What is it, Wilson?" She asked, as she took a puff of the cigarette. "Didn't I tell you to watch the ship?"
"B-but Captain, that's what I'm here to tell you about..." Said Wilson, trying to regain his breath. "Another ship docked right next to ours. They didn't see me, but I saw them...And I saw this man!" He showed his captain the bounty poster of Shade.
Heart snatched the poster out of his hands and began to look at it. "'James D. Shade'? He looks quite the fellow...28 Million? My, he must be quite the fighter..." She pondered, as she took another puff.
"W-what should we do, Captain?" Asked Wilson. The other pirates of her crew that Heart had been walking with began to whisper this question amongst themselves.
"Now then, everyone calm down." She said. "This guy hasn't done anything yet. I'm not going to risk our chances of getting to the Grand Line attacking a guy who hasn't done anything to us yet. If he attacks us, we'll fight back. If he doesn't, we'll leave him alone. Got that?" She asked everyone.
"Yes, Captain Heart!" They all said in unison.
Heart looked at the photo again. "Although," She said, looking at the man in the photo. "He does look like a very interesting man. I would love to meet him face to face..." With that in mind, she and her crew continued to walk throughout the streets.
***
A/N: And there you have it. What did you all think? A wee bit shorter than my last few chapters, but trust, It's going to get awesome from here. But until then, please review and tell me what you think about this chapter!
