Glory Island Arc

"Friendly Farewells and Promises of Reuniting! So Long Glory Island!"

With two new members added to the crew, it was finally time for the Battle Bars to shove out. They'd all stuck around Mira's Cabin long enough to allow Taya to collect anything that she might need and the girl was quick to snatch up the Fight Club championship belt amongst other things. After collecting her essentials into a bag, Taya was stepping out of Mira's Cabin with a pleased smile on her face, happy to greet her family and new crewmates that were waiting eagerly for her.

They all beamed happily at the smile on her face. Even her family put aside their own concerns to enjoy the joy practically radiating off of her. It was finally time to set out! "Don't just stand there!" she proclaimed and practically skipped across the dirt, passing them all by to head for the dock. "Let's Go!"

It was a little past noon on Glory Island as the merry band began their trek to the docks. With the events of the previous night, many people had gladly run away from the island in hopes of dodging a possible pirate raid. So, with so many people already gone plus whatever crowds might've left out earlier in the day, the crew could already tell that the docks weren't going to be near as crowded as the night the trio had arrived, thankfully. Although, some moods flew south – most notably all of Taya's family – when Reese had merged into the group at some point, quickly moving to Atori's side as they all continued walking.

"Yo," Kyler whispered as he subtly poked Ches in the shoulder. The knife thrower turned to the blonde, but saw that Kyler's blue eyes were raking Reese from top to bottom as the violet eyed man spoke with Atori, which of course consisted of ample snide comments and eye rolling between the two. "Isn't that jerk apart of Feruk's gang? What is he doing here? Do we need to teach him a lesson?" he asked.

Ches looked at him for a long moment before glancing back at the rest of Taya's family, who looked ready to attack at any moment, and then he finally turned to swordsmen duo in front of them, who were both speaking as if they were old rivals. Ches smiled. "Reese is no issue, Kyler. He followed Feruk under exceptional circumstances," he responded, raising a questioning eyebrow when the blonde scoffed as if that wasn't the answer he was hoping for.

"Why the hell is he talking to that bastard then?" he questioned further, not at all liking how friendly Atori and Reese were acting.

Ches shrugged. "Ato tends to enjoy the company of those that annoy him the most, I suppose. The first time we met, he told me I talked too much and still, he was the only person I could ever talk to back in the underground ring. Maybe he likes it when people get on his nerves."

"Well he's getting on mine right now!" Kyler demanded, a little too loudly, and drew a quick, yet smoldering glance from Atori.

The brunette clicked his tongue in annoyance of Kyler and turned back to Reese. "I can't help but notice that you're in my vicinity without your weapon, Landser. That's not too smart on your part," he said behind a sly smirk.

Reese casually looked over his shoulder, almost forgetting that he'd left his sword behind. Still, he shrugged. "I didn't feel the need to bring Bonetti for this. Besides, you're not one to attack an unarmed man anyway. Aren't I correct, Atori?"

Ato just sighed and rolled his eyes, continuing walking as if the man wasn't walking by his side.

"You seem excited, sencho-san?" Mary chirped pleasantly as her, Taya, and Ralli walked ahead of the group.

"Of course I am!" he instantly responded, turning to both ladies with a bright smile as he walked backwards. "You guys just don't understand! I've spent two years of my life trying to find a crew and now it's all finally coming together. This is great!"

Taya quirked a shocked brow. "Two years? Ralli, how old are you?"

"19," he answered and turned back to walking normal. "Ooh! And I think we have enough people to try going to the Grand Line now, too! I'm finally doing it!" He threw his hands into the air with a loud exclaim that drew the attention of all around. "Yeah! I'm finally going to the Grand Line!"

"I'm not going anywhere in that," Taya deadpanned as her eyes raked the small boat over.

"Awww!" Ralli pouted at her side. "What wrong with it?"

Taya looked over at Ralli as if he'd grown a second head. "It is kind of small," Gevin added before his sister could punch the boy.

"And I've never been to the Grand Line, but I'm sure that you'd need something a little bigger," Yevin also chimed in as he scrutinized it. "Other than that though, it does look nicely designed."

Kyler just stomped over with an irritated look. "You didn't seriously expect all five of you to fit into this boat, did you?" he growled out.

Ralli looked over to their boat, given to them by Sonya, and pouted. "Well, I guess I did, but…" he paused to really scrutinize it, "…it is kind of small, huh?"

"YOU THINK!" the entire crowd barked, Mary excluded as she stood aside with a pleasant smile on her face.

Reese cleared his throat then and stepped ahead of the group. "I kind of suspected that you guys didn't exactly have a proper sailing vessel," he started, trying not to sound smug as he spoke. Ato thought that he wasn't doing a very good job. "So, I tagged along for more than to just wish you well on your journey."

Kyler scoffed. "Oh, what? Don't tell me you're about to snap your fingers and make a ship appear."

Reese hardly offered the blonde a momentary glance before turning his back and walking on down the large dock. "I have a present for you all," he said and waved them all to follow. Hardly five minutes later, the group was standing in front of a galleon, a ship of extreme proportions that looked built for a king. It looked carved out of the finest wood, a glossy, flawless finish shining off of the ship. Ornate carvings of mermaids ran along the glossy hull, and at least eight cannon ports were stationed on either side. A figurehead of a frowning mermaid carrying a shell close to her chest greeted them, and across the shell were the script letters, My heart to Foory. And fluttering proudly in the midday breeze, attached to the main mast, was the jolly roger for the Feruk Pirates. "Say hello to the Joyous Jenny! Proud ship for the once, all-powerful Feruk Pirates!"

"He named the ship after his wife," Ches awed as he took a few steps closer and looked over the frowning mermaid in the front. "And Foory was the name of their child, right Reese?" he asked and looked over to the long blade swordsman for confirmation. Reese nodded in kind and Ches turned back to take in the entire massive ship. "Well, say what you want about Feruk, but he had great taste." He even whistled a bit as he took in the regal beauty of the vessel. "What did he pay for this thing?"

Reese hummed in thought for a moment before answering. "I think I heard it was somewhere between 150,000,000 and 200,000,000. He wanted to embody the spirit of his wife and child in his vessel, according to some of the pirates. Or at least that's the story; I don't really care too much for the sob story. He beat, maimed, and killed far too many of his crew aboard it for me to put too much thought behind it."

"Sounds to me like the damn thing might be cursed or at least haunted," Kyler said, sounding utterly snobbish as he looked over the beautiful ship with a critical eye. "And you want them to sail off on something like this?" He turned to Reese and snarled when he realized that the violet-eyed man wasn't even listening to him. "I'm so going to kick his ass!" he growled and was already walking over when his brothers snatched him back.

Completely ignoring the rabid Kyler behind him, Reese stepped over to Ralli and said, "I know this may not be what you'd been hoping for, but it's better than stuffing yourselves inside of the boat. Besides," he turned away from Ralli to look over the boat with a bit of a thoughtful expression, "if you can overlook the fact that Feruk ever had anything to do with it, then Jenny turns out to be a very reliable ship. She's excellently crafted, spacious, and even with her large size, she moves quite well on the water. It's not too bad of a –,"

"No," Ralli demanded, arms folded as he glared up at the ship like it had insulted him. Reese quirked a questioning eyebrow and even his entire crew looked to Ralli in confusion, but he only had angry eyes for the ship. "I don't want this ship. I don't want to have anything to do with it. It belonged to that Feruk jerk and as far as I'm concerned, it's him. Just looking at it, reminds me of him. So, no. I won't get on it. I won't sail it. And I sure as hell am not going to the Grand Line in it."

"I think you're taking this a little too seriously, Ralli," Atori stated, nudging the red eyed boy carefully. "How else to do expect us to get off this rock if not with this ship?"

"I don't care," Ralli turned away from the ship and began walking off.

Reese made a snorting noise that Atori heard all too clearly. The brunette spared Reese one quick glare and then stormed off after Ralli, leaving the others to stand there expectantly. "Where the hell are you going?" he barked out, but Ralli kept going. "You're being a child, Ralli! It doesn't matter if it's Feruk's ship or a damn Marine ship, we need to get going and it's all that we have at the moment!"

"It's not what I want!" Ralli demanded and turned on Atori with blazing eyes. "I don't want to sail that jerk's ship anywhere! I want my own ship!"

Atori scoffed. "And I don't want to be dealing with a whining baby who's mad over a boat!" he growled out, matching Ralli's angered glare. "I don't want Feruk's damn ship any more than you do, but we need something to get us going. There's no way we can pack Mary and Taya into that boat that Sonya gave us and this is our only option, dammit. The quicker we get to the Grand Line, the quicker I can find my brother. Or have you already forgotten about that?" Atori didn't mean for that last sentence to come out, but when it did, he didn't dare think of taking it back. It was time to test Reese's little theory and when Ralli did the right thing, he couldn't wait to rub it in Reese's smug face.

But Ralli didn't immediately answer. In fact, the seconds ticked by between the duo, in which they both held each other's glares. Ralli looked on the verge of denying the request and Atori wasn't sure if he'd be able to contain the rage starting to crawl up his spine if the boy actually did.

"Fine," Ralli finally grumbled, after what felt like a lifetime of waiting. "But the next island we land on, we're ditching it. Deal?"

Atori scanned the boy, top to bottom, before sighing and running a tired hand through his hair. It wasn't the acceptance that he was looking for, but obviously Ralli's plans to help hadn't faded. "Deal," he replied and swung a kick for the boy's jaw that Ralli effortlessly dodged. "And that's for acting like a child!" he growled out before turning away from Ralli's smiling face and walking back to the group, though he quirked a brow when he saw that Taya, Ches, and Mary were no longer with them.

Before he could ask, Reese tossed a lazy thumb up to Jenny and then heard a joyous exclaim that could've only belonged to Taya. "Holy Crap!" she yelled and then two seconds later, she was leaning over the railing with a wide smile on her face. "This ship is LOADED!" she screamed, beli signs dancing in her eyes.

That certainly perked up both Ralli and Atori. Reese just chuckled. "Yeah, forgot to mention that. Feruk always was a stickler about keeping up tons and tons of money. There's probably close to a hundred million beli in there," he crooned, making everyone see beli signs with the exclamation. "I've already taken what I'll need for my journey, so what's left is for you all to do as you wish."

"REALLY!" Ches exclaimed, suddenly appearing at the railing as well with a beaming smile.

Reese smiled and nodded kindly. "Call it a thank you present for all that you've done and for taking out Feruk. You guys deserve it."

Ralli walked over with a bright smile and struck out a hand to the long blade swordsman. "Thanks a lot, Reese!" he proclaimed, shaking the man's hand enthusiastically. "But, I was hoping that you'd join our crew too!" This took everyone by surprise, even Reese, who looked like he'd been slapped in the face with a fish. Ralli just laughed at his expression. "Ato really likes you, and I've already seen that you're a good fighter, plus if you could deal with Feruk for so long, I know that you're loyal. C'mon! It'll be great!"

Reese held Ralli's smiling gaze for a moment longer before he looked over the boy's shoulder to see Atori standing with a cunning smirk on his lips. That made Reese finally smile as well. "I appreciate the offer, Ralli," he said, releasing the boy's hand and folding his arms. "But I've just managed to get out of one crew, I'm not looking to get involved with another. Piracy isn't a life that I ever wanted, even if it is with an extraordinary crew likes yours."

Ralli pouted, but nodded his head in understanding. "Well, I hope this isn't the last time we see each other. Think you'll be going to the Grand Line?" he instead asked.

Reese looked from Ralli to Atori and his smirk turned challenging. "Indeed, I will. And I certainly hope that we cross paths once again on the most dangerous of seas," he said. Ralli followed the guy's gaze and smiled when he saw that Atori was returning the unspoken challenge in full. "I'll be the World's Greatest Swordsman one day and I'll need to beat the best to get there."

"Good luck with that," Atori chimed, brushing past Reese as he followed Ralli towards the ship, their eyes never breaking.

"So this is it, huh?" Taya's Dad groaned as he stepped closer to the ship, looking up at his daughter with watery eyes. "This is the day that I have to say goodbye to my little girl." Her brothers joined their father, each of them looking up with sad eyes that was making Taya's eyes water as well.

"C'mon guys. Don't look at me like that, you're going to make me cry," she murmured, already wiping a few pesky tears from her eyes.

"Taya, you'd better get real strong, okay?" Gevin said.

"Yeah, and you better take down anyone that stands in your way. Show them the power of the Twin-Fist!" Yevin added with a stern decree.

"And you'd better conquer your dreams, sis! We're not sending you out with these psychos just to fool around!" Kyler demanded, though his words were a little less serious when he stopped to wipe his eyes.

Taya had completely abandoned fighting the tears at this point and was letting the stray tears flow freely. "I promise! I will become the best and you'll be reading my name in headlines soon enough! I WILL become the World's Most Powerful Woman!"

"And I shall be right by her side!" Mary declared, appearing out of practically nowhere by Taya's side. "All will be well, twin family!"

"You'd better be safe too, you crazy spirit lady," Kyler smirked. "Keep her safe, okay?"

Mary offered the family a definite nod and happy smile.

"Red eye!" Taya's Dad suddenly barked, startling them all. After a second, Ralli was over the railing, alongside Ches and Atori. The grizzly man took a second to look them all over before focusing in on Ralli. "You'd better keep my little girl safe, boy. Anything that happens to her will be on your head, get me?" he said in a dangerous tone and his sons were right there as back up for the man.

Ralli smiled with reassurance and nodded his head. "You got it!" he said with a thumbs-up for good measure.

"I see you've taken down the jolly roger," Reese said, walking closer to the group and gestured to the black cloth in Ches's hand. The rainbow nodded proudly and Reese smiled. "Well then, I suppose it's about time for the Battle Bar Pirates to shove out then, huh?"

Ralli opened his mouth to proudly declare yes, but Taya spoke quicker. "Battle Bar Pirates?" she questioned. "Honestly, I was expecting the Ralli Pirates or the Red Eye Pirates, since your eyes are kind of a focal point. What's up with the Battle Bars name?"

Ralli scratched at the back of his head sheepish, especially when he noticed that most everyone was now awaiting an answer. He leaned back and poked at the tonfa sticking out Atori's boots. "Those are why I named us the Battle Bars," he said.

"My tonfa?" Atori asked, looking down at the weapons curiously. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Because they're battle bars!" he exclaimed proudly in return with a bright smile. "Or at least that's what I thought they were the first time that we fought. I'd never seen anyone fight with weapons like those and I thought it was cool how you used them. So, I named our crew after your weapons, Ato." He laughed joyously when Ato just stared at him in shock.

Ches smirked as well. "Guess you're really stuck with us now, huh Atori?" he questioned before laughing as well at the look on the brunette's face.

Before long, everyone was smiling and laughing at the utter shock on the man's face. Finally, Reese said, "Cat got your tongue, Atori?"

The brunette snapped out of his shock and just watched the others before scowling. "Whatever," he scoffed and turned on his heel to leave the cackling group.

When the laughter finally died out, Ralli jumped atop the railing with a proud exclaim. "Time to set sail!" he declared.

However, just as the crew moved into action, a rhythmic melody fell over the dock. They stopped in their places, hearing out the tune that sounded almost like a lullaby. Hardly five seconds after hearing the gentle music, Ralli fell off of the railing and landed on the deck with a thud, sound asleep as he snored. Taya was the first to run over to the boy, but she'd hardly taken three steps before she fell to the deck next, yet another person fallen to sleep. Ches's eyes sparked wide with shock, but before he could check on the two, he looked back to the dock to see all of Taya's family fall out in deep slumber alongside Reese. In fact, most of the dock had fallen asleep by this point and the quick thinking knife thrower didn't have enough time to think of what to do before his eyelids drooped and he slumped to the floor in sleep. Mary was leaning against the main mast, deep in sleep as well. Atori was the only one not on the ground. He looked around in shock at his sleep friends and began making his way over to check on them, but then the gentle melody stopped.

"You're a very unique person to withstand my Harmonious Slumber melody," the voice called from above. Atori's head immediately shot up to the person and his eyes widened when he caught sight of the cloaked figure standing in the crow's nest with a large and hefty bad slung over his shoulder. The cloaked man placed his flute-looking instrument back into the cloak and leapt from the nest to land on the deck with a shaking crash. "I don't come across very many like you on these waters," he said again, obviously addressing Atori since he was the only person not sleep.

"Y-y-you're that bandit bastard from Kaishi Island," he muttered out, in shock of the thief in front of him. Then, his shock turned to anger. "You son of a bitch! Do you realize how much trouble you made for us? How many lives you put at risk for stealing from Kissaru? She almost killed a friend of mine and if you think that I'll forgive that, then you've got another thing coming!" The tonfa were out of his boots in a heartbeat and Atori braced himself to attack, then his eyes scanned over the bag. His eyes widen with the realization before he practically snarled. "And I'm guessing that's our money in that bag, too, huh?"

The bandit's cloak casually blew in the wind, his face perfectly hidden in darkness as he observed Atori. "This is Feruk's treasure, not yours," he finally said. "And I'm doing my job by repossesing it. Don't be concerned. I left a few hundred thousand for your journey." With that, the bandit turned away and began walking off of Joyous Jenny.

Atori couldn't believe the audacity of the bastard. "You're not going anywhere!" he yelled out and sprinted right for the bandit. He knew that the guy was fast, but Ato had been complimented for his speed in the past as well. And there was no way that bandit could move that fast with such a huge bag of beli on his back. Ato was going to break the guy down easily.

Once he was in range, Ato lunged for the man, swinging his tonfa around with finesse to crash them against the bandit's turned head. Just when they were ready to crack over the man's skull the bandit vanished, literally vanished into thin air. Ato was so shocked that he fell to the floor while trying to search out for the thief. He pushed himself backup instantly, growling when he saw that not one person had so much as stirred during the brief encounter.

"Damn," he hissed in annoyance before his eyes caught a glimpse of black behind him. He turned instantly to find the bandit less than a foot away, the bag of treasure gone.

Atori instantly struck out for the man, but the bandit was quicker. In the lone second that it took Atori to swing out with the tonfa, the bandit struck a point around Ato's ribs, a point in his lower back, a point at the side of his neck, and a point around his thigh. The brunette hadn't even completed his strike before his whole body went flaccid. His arms slumped and his whole posture slouched, and he fought desperately to keep from falling back to the deck. He could hardly move.

"What…the…hell!" he growled out, at least halfway happy that he could still speak normally even if it was a little labored. Still, the predicament was feeling more and more like Juno's from the previous night, and that was not at all good.

Before he knew it, the bandit was back in front of him, this time with the bag back in his hands. The shrouded man looked over Ato for a moment before stepping closer. "No hard feelings," he said. "But I've got a job to do."

"Fuck…you!" was Ato's immediate response.

The man seemed undeterred and walked right over to Ato's side. All it took was one quick chop to the back of his neck, and Ato was sprawled out on the deck, his entire body immobile now. The bandit walked on, completely oblivious to the outraged glare burning into his back. Ato wanted to say something, yell something, just completely curse the man to hell and back, but now even his tongue wouldn't respond.

The bandit stepped over to the railing before hopping up with no effort whatsoever. He paused to look back at Atori's angry face for a moment. "Good luck on your journey and I hope you find your brother." With that, he leapt off of the railing and half a second later, he had disappeared into thin air once again.

Thought you weren't going to see West Blue's Bandit in this arc? Ha! Wrong. And he just got the crew good. Gee, Jenny might actually be cursed after all. Hee-Haw! Its only a minor set back for the Battle Bar Pirates! They've just added two women to the crew who are both SUPER, not to mention they get to ride out in style aboard Feruk's Galleon. In your face, you creepy bastard!

How about Kyler though? Lol. He can't even make Reese notice him. Ahh, he was another character that got a little more attention than I'd initially expected, but I like how it turned out. He gave Atori someone else to argue with when Reese wasn't around. And how generous was it for Reese to just hand over such a fancy ship to the crew, including all of the money inside. It's too bad he couldn't join the crew :( Oh well, I try to let my characters make their own decisions...if that makes sense? Anyhow, Reese will be setting out on his own and who knows? He might just show back up in the Grand Line, nothing's written in stone.

Well, the crew had a bit of a rocky start, but at least the bandit wasn't so bad that he tried to kill them or anything like that. So, the crew will recover and then it's off to the next island! Peace!