The ride up Reverse Mountain was surprisingly fast. Melly had to use extreme precision to make sure we didn't crash the ship.
Every day, my crew proved themselves to be more and more capable. Still, no amount of navigational know-how could prepare us for the speedy ride back down Reverse Mountain, and into the Grand Line.
If the ride up was a Ferrari coming off a hard turn on a track, the ride down was an F1 accelerating right off a u-turn. In other words, crashing was nearly inevitable.
If not for my devil fruit, we'd be at the bottom of the ocean, further proving reason for the pirate's graveyard nickname.
"Captain!" Jenni called urgently. "Have you read the paper?"
"No, should I have?" I wondered.
"Well, it's kind of a big deal," she answered, then passed me the newspaper along with all the new bounty posters.
The front page had a picture of 'Fire Fist' Ace, with a bounty increase to 350 million beli, and a newspaper article on him joining up with the Whitebeard Pirates, but I had a feeling that wasn't what she was so worried about.
I flipped the pages over until finally, I saw an article about me, with pictures of the destruction at Loguetown.
'Rookie Pirate in the East Blue Destroys Loguetown and Death Row, then Escapes Marine Captain Smoker'
On the back of the article was my poster, which showcased a picture of me compressing the atmosphere into a ball with a hardened pair of eyes, the kind that showed independence.
Wanted Dead or Alive
'White Flag' Randall
25,000,000 beli
"Woah, that's the highest bounty in the East right now! That's amazing!" I boasted.
"No, you retard! That's terrible. That means you'll be targeted more in the Grand Line!" Jenni scolded.
"And then I'll deal with them, no biggie."
"We're dead..." she muttered while walking away, dejected.
"Guys! We have an emergency!" Melly yelled with a worried tone. "The compass! It's broken!"
"More importantly," I commented, "did anyone else see the huge whale back there?"
"How is that important?!" Melly barked.
"Because there's nothing we can do about it. If anything, we'll just have to buy another compass at the next island. Only problem would be getting there."
Figuring we could do nothing else, we drifted for what seemed like hours until we spotted an island with a small town.
There wasn't much to it, just some large houses, a marketplace and several farms. We docked by the beach next to some fishing boats, and Melly, and I along with Sake jumped off the ship, later being joined by Mayra who wanted an adventure.
"So, where exactly are we going Captain?" asked Melly.
"I don't know, you're the navigator," I responded, shrugging.
"Well, we're only here for information, so I don't want you to cause any trouble. After all, it seems to flock to you."
"Hey, it's not my fault. I don't deliberately go out of my way to beat a couple marine captains or pirates or anything. It just happens."
"Well, just don't cause any problems."
"What about me? Can I cause trouble?" Mayra asked with puppy eyes.
"No, only I can," I responded.
"You're so mean, Captain," she pouted.
"No! None of you can cause problems! Hell, you should've stayed on the ship so nobody notices you and tries to kill you for that bounty," Melly stated.
"Woah, Captain, you have a bounty? How much is it?" Mayra excitedly questioned.
"25 million," I boasted proudly.
"That's amazing!" She exclaimed.
"I know, right!"
A tick mark grew on Melly's forehead. "No, it's not! We'll be targeted even more now!" he scolded.
Just then, Sake growled at something, taking our attention off of each other and looking at him. We paused. I knelt down, and asked him, "what's wrong boy? What do you see?"
Just then, he started barking, and ran after something, no, someone, who scrambled to his feet and ran away from a spot in the crops.
"Sake!" I called, forcing him to turn his attention from the runner back to me. "Ignore him."
We continued on our way to the market, and I commented, "Well, at least we know they're spying on us. So don't blame me if I cause any trouble."
"Fine, you're off the hook just this once, just don't get us killed or captured."
We walked the rest of the way in silence, before finding a bar that we entered.
We made our way up to the counter, earning stares from everyone inside. I wore a hardened expression, to show I wasn't one to be messed with. Sake hung his head low and his tail low, showing that he won't hesitate to attack anybody, should he have to.
Years of hanging out on the streets trained me to perfect that look. There, you don't so much as look at someone without them assuming you want a fight. I guessed the same principle applies here.
"Hey, barkeep," Melly called. "Do you know where I could get a new compass? Mine is broken."
The bartender started chuckling, and then broke into full on howling laughter, earning stares from the people inside the bar.
I heard some people whispering, "did you hear that? He doesn't know a thing about the Grand Line!"
"And that kid he's with has a 25 million beli bounty? He can't be too tough," they whispered. I ignored it, mostly cause I was confident in my own abilities.
"You don't use compasses here in the Grand Line. you use log poses. They point to the next island in sequence after it sets on the island you're on. This island takes just a couple hours to set, but it's not the same for every island," the bartender informed.
"Hey, barkeep? Why are you giving them that information? They won't last more than a couple days in the Grand Line," a random mused, causing his buddies to howl in laughter.
"Why do you care, fatass?" Mayra asked with a provoking tone.
"You bitch! I'm going to kill you!" He yelled, and jumped up from his chair, drawing a cutlass to attack.
The pirates watched on as he lunged at her, and as she dodged. She grabbed the chair he was sitting on by the back and slammed it on his back, splintering him and breaking it apart in the process. She then dropped the broken chair, and he got back up almost immediately and slashed at her neck. She ducked to avoid decapitation and picked up a leg from the broken chair that had a rusty nail sticking up out of the end where it attached to the seat, and used it to stab his thigh while he was turning back around.
He delivered a piercing yelp, followed by a deafening scream of pain, where it seemed as if it took his mind a little bit to catch up with his nerves.
Immediately, the rest of the pirates stood up, ready to defend their honor.
Their presumed captain, based on the hat and coat he was wearing along with the jewlry he wore, immediately sprung into action. "You'll pay for hurting my crewmate, bitch!"
He transformed into an oversized pitbull as he cut through the air, his target being Mayra. However, just as he was getting ready to pounce on her, a blur passed by in front of everyone, and locked onto his neck. The attacker was Sake, who saw the opportunity to fight against another dog and jumped on it, literally.
Sake's jaws locked onto the oversized pit bull's neck, and he violently shook his head, shaking him like an oversized chew toy and stretching the holes his teeth made in the pit bull's throat.
The rest of the pirates were attacking Mayra and Melly, who were each holding their own. Mayra was blocking hits and disarming pirates with the leg of the chair she broke earlier, while Melly had his hands full catching fists in the air so he could proceed to sweep their feet. All in all, the fight was going in our favor.
Finally, Sake let go, leaving a barely breathing pit bull pirate captain to death.
"You mangy mutt! I'll fucking kill you!" His right hand man yelled, slipping on a pair of spiked brass knuckles, getting ready to attack Sake.
Seeing this, I intercepted before his fist could touch down on my dog, and took the full force of a pirate's spiked brass knuckles straight into my leg.
I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore the pain, and muttered through my teeth, "pressure cannon...!"
I used my palm to push the ball into his chin, knocking him out instantly and throwing him back a few feet.
The rest of the pirates realized they were outmatched, and were forced to end their attack and retreat, carrying their bloody captain and first mate out the door. As they hurried out of the bar, one of the crew members yelled, "we'll make you pay for this! We're the Lockjaw Pirates! Remember the name!"
Once they left, Mayra turned her attention to my wound. "Are you okay Captain?"
The blood was really pouring out now. I had kicked my leg forward to keep the blood from pouring onto my beloved shoes.
Mayra took off her white long sleeve polo to reveal a black lace bra, which would have been an amazing sight if not for more pressing issues at hand.
She tied her shirt around my leg to cut off blood circulation, staining it in the process but also slowing the bleeding in the process.
It hurt to walk, but I could still walk. Those spikes had each been almost an inch in length, which, if not for my muscle, could have done a lot more damage.
Mayra, Sake and I walked back to the ship, while I tasked Melly with buying a log pose.
Once we got back to the ship, Jenni took a look at the wound. "What happened? It wouldn't have anything to do with those pirates we saw earlier, would it?"
"Depends," I answered. "Were they carrying two people in a rush?"
"Yea, they were in a rush. I saw their captain in the newspaper this morning. He had a bounty of 27 million beli. You took him out?"
"No," I replied, pointing down at Sake. "He did."
She wore a surprised expression on her face. "The... the dog..." she seemed out of touch, which made me laugh, and I grinned proudly.
"Yup!"
She nearly fainted.
"Anyways," she started, "you should see a doctor about those." She was referring to the holes in my calf muscle, which I just laughed off.
"It'll be fine," I said. It wouldn't.
When Melly returned, we set sail. The log pose he acquired had already set due to being on the island for much longer than it needed to be.
I had been lying down on my bed, stoned to the bone to ease the pain, and eventually, I drifted to sleep.
