Chapter 25: Expanding the Crew

Disclaimer: I, Lord Genesis Shadow, do hereby state that I do not own the rights to One Piece.
…

"So, we're really going to do, this…" Sario said.

"I am committed to this task." Harold said. "I will be sure to leave a few alive to tell what defeated them, and that we will not allow slavery to continue, that all slavers will learn to fear our Jolly Roger."

"I, I want to join this fight." Larisa said. I looked at her. "I have, bought new scalpels, I can use Haki to strengthen them enough to, hurt them. I'm strong enough that I can fight."

"Sario, you and Larisa go in together, keep her safe and draw the heat from her." I said after a second. "As skilled as you're getting, it never hurts to have help out there… We're not going to go in over some hill or something but it'll be during the day, tomorrow just after noon, we'll hit them from three directions. I'll go in first, alone, and I'll hit them like a tidal wave. When you get the signal, and you'll know what it is, rush in from east and west, and wipe them out. The captain doesn't get any mercy, he's mine, and I'm going to make sure he's half the man he was before he met me, and I mean that literally."

"What about me?" Sten asked.

"Sten, you're leading the west assault team." I said. "Sario, the east. When you get the signal, rush in together and get onto the ship however you have to, and start attacking anyone on deck. Shoot the entire time, aim high, the people are below deck, so we're not going to stop until we get them out of there, safe and alive." I looked around. "Hopefully everyone kept up on their training." They all nodded. "Alright, get some sleep tonight. No drinking, no partying hard, get in early, and tomorrow, we'll celebrate with the newly free." They all cheered. "Dismissed." They all started going toward the mess while Larisa walked up to me. "Don't worry, you're in on this unless you don't want to be anymore."

"I know, but, I want you to know how serious I am." She said. "I, had gone into town to make an order for some special scalpels, longer than normal, with a much longer blade. If I do fight, I'll fight like a doctor, like a surgeon. I refuse to pick up a weapon, and I'll try not to kill, but I'm a pirate, so I may as well embrace that… I never really, took the oath. Never had the chance…" She cleared her throat. "The scalpels are being rushed, so I'll have them before breakfast. I said, I just needed them for self defense."

"Good." I said. "When we start, just stay close to Sario and make sure to cut their blades mostly. Show them why they should be scared of a doctor on a battlefield." She nodded as I stretched. "And now, I'm going to go find something to buy before I call it a night. I saw a really nice sword shop with some super high gloss polish, so I'm going to buy a few gallons of it and the recipe in case we can't visit often to replenish our supply." She laughed quietly.

"Sometimes you surprise me." She said. "One moment you truly look like what I expect a pirate captain to be like, serious, focused, and determined, and then all of a sudden you're back to the young woman I met who, eats five pounds of food for breakfast, drinks six pints of rum before lunch, and smiles like there's not a care in your own little world." I grinned widely and she laughed a little more. "Oh, I certainly do get into the most interesting situations." She walked toward her room while I put my hands behind my head and walked onto the dock and toward the bazaar, which would be open all day and night with multiple vendors so they could trade shifts.
…

I stretched my back as I walked toward the ship. I saw the slavers walking around, and some of them noticed me as I lowered my arms. As I got closer, they began slowly readying swords and guns, but before they did anything, a whistle rang out.

"Let him aboard." A man called. "It's one man, what can he do?"

'One girl, but the point remains that you'll find out.' I thought. As I walked on, they watched, and the captain walked into his cabin, so I followed.

"Are you from the Marines?" He asked.

"Maybe." I said. "Depends on if you consider Cipher Pol part of the Marines." He seemed surprised as I sat down.

"A girl, I should have known, with my luck." He said. "Regardless, we need better supplies, because those Marines are starting to get a little 'lookie-lookie', staring at us when we're feeding the cattle." I leaned back slightly, resting one arm on my swords. "I'm considering they may just try to set it loose, and we've got some prime stuff."

"Supplies, I don't know about, but I've got a ship and a strong crew." I said. "Numbers aren't always important but I'd say we're around a third of your size."

"A boost in numbers, food and water, anything to keep the cattle alive." He said. "I'd like to be able to feed them and water them all every day instead of just doing two groups, priority feeding daily while two groups get fed and watered on alternating days. The quieter they are the easier they are to control." I nodded slowly.

"What kind of cargo are we talking about, number wise?" I asked.

"I've got twelve mermaids, beautiful, one of them is a Tigershark with green hair." He said. "I've got half a mind to keep her for my own cabin, right behind me so I can watch her swim to calm me down, or have her sing or something. Then there's the four hundred humans, mostly brats and women but that's what they clients want. And last…" He leaned forward. "Ever heard of Cursed Folk, Devil Fruit?" I leaned in.

"I'm intimately familiar with Cursed powers." I said. "Firsthand experience." He nodded.

"Got a guy in the hold, have to keep him down with this new Kairoseki stuff." He said. "Otherwise, well, he's a Zoan type… What types are you familiar with?"

"Paramecia and Zoan, I know a Logia user, close as a brother." I said.

"Well, this guy, hit the freaking jackpot." He said. "He found a mythical type, gotta be five times the normal cost to the right buyer. I won't take anything less than five hundred million." I whistled as I leaned back. "I need to make sure he survives, but he's a tough little brat, about fifteen years old, and he's stronger than he looks. If he got loose, we'd be screwed, easily."

"How are your supplies right now?" I asked.

"We're entirely out of ammunition, had to sell it for food and water yesterday." He said. "Guns are for show, but luckily the cattle don't know and they're too scared to try. Swords are fine, but I need to be a certain distance to wear a target out so I can put them in their place and take them alive." I crossed my arms for a moment. "So, what can you do for us? We can't spend any more money at this point or we won't have enough to get the new ship, and that's the goal, a galleon, armed stem to stern, ironclad, and ready to hold a thousand adults and at least fifty mermaids." He smiled evilly.

"I think what I can give you, is the truth." I said. I stood up and rested my arm. "My name is Luna D. Veluria." His eyes widened. "Cursed Pirate, and your executioner." He suddenly flipped his desk at me, but I sliced it in half, making it crash through the windows behind me. I heard gunfire right away, and yells from my crew as his scrambled. He rushed me and I blocked his sword with Kurobuchi effortlessly, and he seemed surprised at how easily I was holding him back. "I guess you haven't heard of me. No surprise, I only just started a few weeks ago. And now…" I spun and kicked him out of the room, landing him halfway across the deck. I walked over to the door and kicked it out at him, and I ran near it, smiling as he cut the door in half. His eyes went quite wide, and before he could defend himself, I swung the blade up, hard, and sliced his hat in half, but I only left a slight cut along his lower face, mostly due to him moving back at the last second. He blocked a few swings before I spun around and sliced right through his sword, throwing him back against the mast. As my crew handled the others on the shore, the deck suddenly splintered behind the mast and he looked just in time for a great gout of flame to burn him alive, while I had to jump back to avoid the heat. "Whoa! What, it can't be him, he's out there somewhere in the Grand Line!" I landed near the wheel, and I stared as I heard something hit the deck, hard. There was a yell as the captain staggered backward, so I jumped down and sliced him in half, vertically, and as he fell to the deck, I saw a large and powerful figure coated in bluish black scales with a number of white dots that made him look like he was a piece of the night sky that fell to Earth. He had, mythical features, akin to a dragon, with wings, and sharp claws, looked to be about seven feet tall, I then realized something. 'The Cursed slave…' Without warning he rushed me and tried to hit me with a right cross, but I pushed his hand away, only for him to spin and hit me with a tail. I flew back and hit the cabin and then I was over water, until I hit the ground a few yards back. I coughed as I got up, using my leg as a brace. "Oh, it's a good thing I use Haki at all times…" Images flashed and I jumped further inland to avoid, of all things, a great deal of lightning. I held my hat with my free hand until I slid and altered my stance, watching as he landed. I went to speak, but he was unbelievably fast, at Soru levels, so I had less than a second to respond, so I blocked his fists and feet, ducked under his tail before doing backflips and cartwheels to avoid him, but still be close enough that dodging his fire or lightning wouldn't be impossible or even difficult. 'This guy, is a whole blade, above my crew!' I laughed under my breath as I kept blocking him. 'He has to join… Just hope he's not one of them. I hope he's the would be, slave…' I ducked under one last attack before going to block with Kurobuchi, but to my surprise, as I held the blade with both hands to catch his fist, he shattered the blade at the base, making my eyes widen behind my sunglasses as shards cut my face, and I took another hit, being sent back into a hill, leaving a fairly large crater. He approached as I sat there, mulling over the hit, the fire, the lightning, his powers, and the hope that he was just trying to get free and mistakenly thought I was with them and it was a mutiny or something.

"I told you that when I could, I would destroy those chains." He said. He had a strong, deep voice. "Now you're going to see just what I mean when I say a caged dragon always breaks free."

"You know, as awesome as that sounds, I wasn't there the first time you said it." I said. He stopped as I grabbed my broken sunglasses and stood up, looking at them before tossing them over my shoulder.

"Y-you're, a woman…" He said.

"Eh, girl, but hey, I've been called worse." I said casually. I looked at my broken sword for a moment before putting it carefully to the scabbard where it barely stayed, so I removed the scabbard and calmly planted it in the ground, so I could lean on it as I looked him over. "Let me guess, they caught you off guard."

"You mean to say you are not, you were not of their crew…" He said. I nodded and removed my hat, bowing my head slightly.

"Luna D. Veluria, captain of the Silver Wing, leader of the Star Angel Pirates." I said, putting my hat on. "And you, good sir, pack one hell of a punch." He suddenly reverted to a human form, shrinking in height, much to my surprise. He had red skin, likely sunburned, but I could make out his eyes, dark blue and full of strength I almost felt like I understood, and short black hair, that had white spots when he was previously transformed.

"I, I apologize." He said, bowing. "Had I known you were female I would never have attacked you, I would have warned you to leave me alone…"

"Hey, don't apologize." I said. I rubbed my cheek clean of blood and he stared as I wiped it on the grip of the broken sword. "A few days ago, my newest crewman was the first person in months to genuinely hit me without my allowing it, and today you hit me so hard I flew back, something that has never happened to me, and broke through my Haki to break my sword and sunglasses."

"The wounds, are gone…" He said. "Y-you are, Cursed, as well?" I nodded.

"And I'm looking to recruit you now." I said happily. He blinked, staring at me. "Hey, tellin' the truth here, I want you on my crew roster because that's how powerful you are. You hit me and broke my sword, and the shards cut my face…" I felt my cheek again. "I'll have Larisa take a look to make sure all of the shards are out, just in case, but you, great dragon, have earned my respect."

"I, I am no pirate." He said quickly. "I never will be!"

"Oh, and why not?" I asked. "It's not like I'm a bad pirate. Why do you think I killed the captain, why my crew is finishing off the rest of the slavers?"

"So you can sell the slaves!" He said angrily, slowly growing in size while scales appeared in place of skin. I just held my hand up and pointed at him.

"You'd better check your temper before I have to discipline you, dragon-kin." I said. "Clearly you don't know much about pirates, especially me and my crew. A Marine escorting that ship couldn't deal with it, so he told me about it, and I agreed to free the slaves, gratis. The only stuff on that ship that's going to be moved to my ship is money, weapons, food, drink, and possibly clothes if someone wants them." He stared as the battle wound down. "Not all pirates are evil, scales." He raised his eyebrow as his stance relaxed, confusing visible even on his scaly face. "I, myself, have a noble mission. Someone important to me was taken from me, so I intend to locate him, rescue him, and put an end to the cowards that took him from me."

"Who, took him?" He asked slowly. "Slavers?" I narrowed my eyes.

"A Marine by the name of Markus Stone." I said, spitting to the side, though I spotted a tooth. I pointed at it. "You knocked one of my teeth loose." He stared at me before looking at the tooth, and I felt around my mouth. "You knocked out, my pre-molar. That, that's just, amazing."

"Um, Stone?" He asked.

"No, tooth." I said. "Oh, yeah, the bastard." He seemed confused, but also like he wanted to laugh, and I felt the new tooth growing. 'Sometimes I love being a shapeshifter. I can regenerate damn anything.' I just sighed. "Guy sent one of his own to impersonate a pirate in my old captain's crew. The Marine in question kidnapped me and made me into a member of that crew. They then killed many of my new friends, and condemned me to death for something they did to me, and then they killed my parents for the same reason, that I had been forced into piracy against my will, after promising to pay them my 'bounty' of ten thousand Berri." I made a fist. "I became a full pirate after eight years as a pirate under another captain, mastered many things under his guidance, and became a captain on my own, all so I could hunt down Markus Stone and take his life, and save my old captain." He seemed sympathetic. "To that end, I need the best of the best." I stepped past the sword and pointed at him. "And you, Cursed Dragon, have managed to hit me so hard I felt it, more than once, and you knocked a tooth loose, after breaking a very expensive blade." I lowered my arm. "I want you to join my quest to save a man's life and end the life of a Marine who is abusing his power in pursuit of a Devil's Fruit he lost." I held my hand out to him. "Join my crew and I promise you, you'll be treated with the respect and dignity you deserve." After a moment he changed back, but slowly moved his hand.

"On one condition." He said. "I'm seeking something important to me. I need, to find my mother. I need you to promise to at least try to help me find her." I thought for only a moment, but during that time, memories came back to me about my own mother, what I'd lost to the Marines before my life turned to the sea.

"You have my word that every port, I will look for people that might know her." I said. "Port authority, bartenders, anyone that knows everyone that comes through every single town we go to." He took my hand.

"My name is Dannal Ragoken Onesteru." He said. "Call me Dragon."
…

I looked over the papers as the crew brought the slaves up and out, and thus far not one had been branded. These slavers only branded them if they were keeping them, otherwise allowing their owners to do the 'honor' at their own discretion. As I read, a tank was carefully pulled up with a tigershark mermaid with green hair, the one mentioned by the captain.

"Wait, please." She said. I looked as they stopped, and she turned to me, so they looked at me while I walked over. "Y-you are, their captain?" I removed my hat and bowed with my arm across my midsection.

"Luna D. Veluria." I said. I stood up, returning my hat. "If there's any way we can further help you, just point out a spot on a map and we'll get you there." She shook her head.

"N-no, it's not that." She said. "I, wanted to see the islands of humans, so, I went willingly into this tank, but, I found out later that they were going to, sell me, or…"

"The captain planned on having you in a bigger tank by his bed so you could sing to him." I said. "Or he'd watch you swim around." She looked at the others.

"Hey, don't worry, we're good people." Sten said as he walked by. "Better than the Marines who did nothing to save you." She looked at me.

"You, go to many islands, don't you?" She asked. She had a beautiful accent that I couldn't place, but I liked it. I just nodded. "I, I want to go with you."

"I don't think you do." I said. "We're pirates, after all." She moved to the edge of the tank, a large cylinder with a lid of mesh wire.

"That would be better." She said. "If you are pirates that fight slavers and slavery, and the corruption of the Marines, I want to see it. I want, to try to help." I crossed my arms as I thought.

"I'm not sure how you could." I said. "After all, your mobility out of water is very limited." She blushed slightly. "Top it off, where would you stay on the ship? Or would you swim alongside and risk being attacked by Sea Kings?"

"I, don't know, but I know there would be a way…" She said. The crewman on the left, Leopold, stepped forward after they set her down.

"What if we built a larger tank on the bottom deck near the water, with a hatch?" He said. "She opens it and goes out as she wants, or during a fight. We can set things up to accommodate her."

"That could work, but what could she do to help us?" I asked. "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a new crewman, especially someone who could save my life if I went overboard, or Harold or Dannal 'The Dragon' for that matter, but other than that, it'd be a rare situation." She slowly moved a hand near her chest, over her heart.

"If, I could do something useful…" She started. "All I can do, really, is sing…" I had a few ideas, when one stood out.

"You know, we bought an auger that works underwater just in case we needed it." I said. "To cut through ice if we ever had to, or through walls. It's meant to cut through stone or even some metals… It's also neutrally buoyant, so it'd stay about where it falls into the water." She seemed confused. "If we gave you that auger, you could drill through the bottom of an enemy ship and sink them without ever being in danger." She seemed surprised, but the others nodded.

"It'd work." Leopold said. "I can see it working well to our advantage."

"I, I could, try…" She said.

"If you can't, then I guess we'd have to ask you to go to a mermaid city." I said. "But, other than that, I do enjoy a good song now and then. We'll have to put up temporary quarters and find a shipwright to make modifications to the Silver Wing for what we're planning, but I like it. We can do it. All I need now is your name." She lowered her arm.

"My name is Kory." She said.

"Welcome to the Star Angels, Miss Kory." I said happily.