Winds Of Change

In the early morning, the crew was all still asleep. They had partied it up pretty hard the morning before. The island was sound asleep. It still reeked of death, but the fires had smoldered and the native animals had allowed themselves to rest. Their island was safe for now. The cool morning air crisped with the dewy grass. It was a good day to sleep in.

Shanks was the first one awake. He stood up and looked over his camp. He smiled in joy. He and his crew had had a good night. He had finally gotten to catch up with an old friend and he had conquered Architao Island. It was old and its mysteries were many. But none more important than the Poneglyph. And he would soon discover its secrets.

He began to walk out of his camp to the north, just beyond was where the Poneglyph laid in rest. He walked until he came to a massive white stone sigil in the ground. On its outskirt was a descending spiral staircase that led down into an underground cavern. It was dark down there, away from the sun, so he grabbed one of the many torches they had sitting inside, ready, and lit it. Here, he stood to look over the giant black stone Poneglyph. The block of stone was twenty feet by twenty feet by twenty feet, a perfect massive cube. But only on one side, the front, did it have an inscription. It's archaic and unknown language were damning to Shanks.

Strewn about the cavern were papers and pencils, the work of the translator he had brought along. The young one was quite an interesting character, but Shanks believed their use was invaluable to his mission.

"Little Red," Grey said, from behind him

Shanks turned around to look at his old first mate standing at the bottom step. His visage was blurred in the dark, but Shanks' torch aided his sight. "Grey," he said with a smile. "Good morning."

"Morning," Grey said, walking into the cavern. He looked upon the massive stone block.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Shanks said.

"It certainly is. I remember the first time I was here with Roger. Oh man, were we in way over our heads," Grey began to laugh. "It feels like another lifetime."

"It certainly was a long time ago."

"After his death… I never thought I'd get back out there. To actually go out and enjoy life."

"And yet, here you are."

"Hmmm."

"Grey, I have to ask," Shanks said, looking straight at Grey. "Why did you leave to become his first mate? I mean, you were Roger's first mate for such a long time. He was the most powerful man in the world. And now you're hitching your wagon to this kid. Why? Didn't you ever want to make a name for yourself? I figured you'd be done following orders and start giving them."

Grey sighed. "Red, there's nothing else for me in this world. I had my fifteen minutes of fame. I was never after the fortune or glory. I did it for the fun of it. I did it because Roger was my friend. Somebody had to keep him in check, just like someone has to keep Halcen in check. Now he may not seem like much at first, but trust me when I say that Avarik Halcen is not to be underestimated. I'm betting on him the same way you bet on that kid in Foosha."

"I suppose I'll have to take your word for it," Shanks said.

"You know, I actually had a similar conversation with an acquaintance of yours."

"Who's that?"

"The Warlord Dracule 'Hawkeye' Mihawk."

"What?" Shanks chuckled. "When did you meet him?"

"Actually that's another funny story. So we came upon Buggy and he had made a deal with the government to send us to our deaths at Mihawk's hands for leniency with his pirating."

"Wait… Buggy tried to have you killed?"

"Yeah," Grey chuckled.

"That's just like him! That clown! He never changes." Shanks started busting up in hysteria.

Grey joined in on the laugh. "But then of course I had to fight off Mihawk. He mentioned you in the fight. I told him that I trained you and then he really let me have it," Grey chuckled. "But I held him off. He let us go as a sign of respect."

"Damn, that Mihawk. You know I asked if he wanted to join the Yonko, and he turned me down because he said it sounded boring. Then he went and joined the Warlords instead."

"People never cease to surprise you," Grey said. "So he was your friend?"

"I don't know that I would say 'friend.' We were rivals. We clashed on more than a couple occasions, but we respected each other. But I think when I lost my arm, he lost interest. I guess he thought that I would suddenly be less fun." Shanks sighed.

"Actions like these often have unseen consequences. You gave up your arm for a kid, and the world thinks you're less powerful. So you have to make it doubly known that you're still here to make a stand."

"Not exactly."

"You don't agree?"

"I think maybe Mihawk is right. I might not be a fit contender for 'most powerful' anymore. That's actually why I created the Yonko."

"How's that?"

"Grey, I gotta ask. How much do you know about the One Piece?"

"Honestly, not much. I left when Roger was on his way to Raftel the first time. I'm not sure what he could have possibly gone back to hide there."

"And the Poneglyphs?" Shanks motioned to the Poneglyph.

Grey looked upon the old stone block. "Even less I'm afraid. Roger was able to read them but he didn't tell me much about them. He always planned things out in his head."

Shanks sighed. "I figured as much. But, Grey, I think I've figured out what the One Piece is."

"What?"

"I think I know what Roger hid in Raftel. And if I'm right, I need to protect it at all costs, until the King of the Pirates returns."

"You think Roger's going to come back? He's dead."

"No, I'm not crazy. But there's someone out there… someone who truly understands his ideals, someone who can live up to the reputation that this kind of position entails, someone that would truly inherit the title of 'Pirate King.'"

"And you think you know who it's going to be."

"Like you said, I'm betting on someone."

"And you think this Luffy will be a capable King?"

"Do you think it'll be someone like Halcen?"

Grey gazed over the Poneglyph. "Halcen is a lot more like Roger than you'd think."

"That's why you're with him?"

"I have my reasons."

"You always do."

Then behind them were the sounds of footsteps coming down the stone steps. "Grey, Shanks. What's going on?" Halcen asked. "When I woke up, the two of you had already vanished." What's Shanks got planned?

"We were just chatting."

"Oh shit," Halcen said when he realized where they were. "It's a Poneglyph."

"That is why we're here," Shanks said.

Halcen ignored Shanks' sarcastic comment. "I've just never seen one in person. It's so much different than hearing about them." He walked between the two older men and went to the giant black stone block. "It's huge." Halcen put his hands on the stone and felt the inscriptions with his fingers. He felt something inside him while staring at that Poneglyph. He couldn't place it. "So this is why you guys came here to Architao."

"Yeah," Shanks said.

"So Shanks," Grey said. "What exactly happened here?"

"What do you mean?"

"On the island. When we arrived, I could feel overwhelming death. What happened?"

"Well, we had to take a detour before we could come here after Loguetown. But then by the time we did get here, there was already a massive horde of bandits pillaging the island."

"The Milkovich Bandits," Halcen said.

"So they call themselves. What kind of 'bandits' roam the seas going from island to island. Sounds like knockoff pirates to me," Shanks said. "But we got here and there were dozens of them. And it's just me and my seven crewmen. So it took us some time to get all our stuff together and get a plan. We needed to see this Poneglyph. So we took our time and tried to infiltrate, but they found us out. We had to fight for our lives here."

Sounds like Bear Island, Halcen thought to himself.

"So we tried to get the rest of the islanders out and away from the island to avoid anymore death. But they had already slaughtered like half the islanders. So we had to go to all our war with these assholes. It took forever, but we finally got to their leaders and made short work of them."

"So fighting them was a struggle?" Grey asked.

"Well not so much as they were strong fighters, but they had so many in numbers, and they had already such a tight hold on the island when we got here. It took forever just to find out where their leaders were hiding when we got here."

"That makes sense," Grey said. "I wouldn't expect some bandits to be of any trouble to a man like you."

"Yeah," Halcen said. "There was still a small group leftover that ambushed us when we got into the town. We took care of them. Their 'leader' got away though, but we got their loot. So it's still a win."

"Hmm," Shanks said, nodding his head. "But that was just the first problem. After we defeated the bandits, we had to explore the island for Poneglyph. This island holds many mysteries. There was an ancient organization here that protected the Poneglyph. Their secrets were hidden inside these old buildings you see. But they have since been destroyed and their secrets lost. We don't know what they were doing here. We spent days trying to figure it out until we gave up and focused just on the Poneglyph. I thought maybe the secrets they left here would aid us in decrypting the Poneglyph, but whatever they hid here… is no longer to be found."

"Damn," Halcen said.

"Oh, Shanks, you're down here awfully early," said a voice from the entrance.

Everyone turned to look at a man with pale skin, fuzzy black hair, and deep-socketed blue eyes. He was just shy of six feet tall and wore a blue sweater.

"Oh, Grey, Halcen. Good morning."

"Oh, yeah," Halcen said, grasping for a name from his head. "And you were… again?"

"Doriel," the man said, clearly offended.

"Doriel is my translator," Shanks said.

"Translator for what?"

"Well can you read the Poneglyphs?" Shanks asked.

Halcen turned back to the look at the massive black behemoth. "No, I can't say that I can."

"After the destruction of Ohara, there were only a couple people left with that knowledge. They hid in secret. Doriel was one of them. He happened to be off the island for business when Ohara was destroyed. He was only in training at the time, so he's had to take more time to translate."

"There weren't any others?" Halcen asked.

"Well, there is a girl, Nico Robin, but from what I've heard about her, she's bad luck."

"I don't believe in luck," Halcen said, cockily.

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to chance it," Shanks said.

"Hmm, so… have you made any progress?" Halcen asked Doriel.

"To be honest, not much. Like Shanks said, I was only in training." He walked up to the Poneglyph. "And it doesn't help that this isn't a normal Poneglyph."

"What does that mean?" Shanks asked.

"It's an ambiguous piece of something more... something greater. It's impossible to fully understand what they're talking about without the other pieces. And from what this suggests, there are four total, all in random corners of the Four Blues."

"Damn," Shanks said. "But it's not about the One Piece? It won't lead us to Raftel?"

"It's hard to know for sure, but it does not seem like it."

Shanks sighed. "So we still need to be searching for the other Road Poneglyphs."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, we tried. We should probably be moving on soon then. Is there any important information we can gleam from it? Just something that would aid us."

Doriel looked back at the Poneglyph. He really studied it. Then with defeat, said "No."

"Alright. You can start packing up your stuff. We'll leave tonight." Shanks left the cavern and up the stairs, until he was out in the field again.

"Wait," Halcen said, following after him. "You're leaving? We came all this way to talk to you."

Shanks sighed. He stopped walking and turned to Halcen. Grey had followed closely behind. He looked in Grey's eyes. Grey gave him a stern look that let Shanks know he needed to listen. Shanks looked back at Halcen. "Alright, fine. Let's sit down and talk, the three of us. I'll hear you out."

Halcen nodded in appreciation. "Thank you."

The three of them walked back to camp, through to Shanks' tent, and they went inside to sit down and talk. Grey was uncomfortable in such a tight space, but he didn't complain.

"Alright, go ahead," Shanks said.

Halcen sighed. This is it. This is what I've come all the way around the world for. With Shanks' support, I can finally depose Whitebeard and Marco. His heart was racing. He knew how important this conversation was. And he knew he needed to be careful choosing his words. He had practiced this again and again. He had planned how the conversation would play out. "I need your support in taking Whitebeard down."

Shanks looked at Halcen with bewilderment. "What?"

"I need your help in going after Whitebeard."

"What possible reason would I have for wanting to do that?"

"Whitebeard is corrupt. His crew is corrupt. I was part of his crew when I happened upon a Devil Fruit with the abilities of the Phoenix. Then Marco knocked me unconscious and stole that fruit, eating it and stealing the power. When I challenged him on it, Whitebeard backed Marco and kicked me out of the crew. That's why I had to start my own crew."

"So… you want me to go to war with Whitebeard over his crew member 'stealing' the Devil Fruit you believe is rightfully yours?"

Halcen looked at Shanks. He clearly wasn't taking this seriously. "Yes," he said with a stern voice.

"That's a pretty petty reason, Halcen."

Halcen was annoyed. "Listen, don't you care that Whitebeard's golden boy is a thief and a liar?"

"Honestly? No. What happens in Whitebeard's crew has nothing to do with me. I've got more important matters to attend to. This is a pointless squabble that I want nothing to do with. Why you decided to drag me into it is beyond me." Then he glanced at Grey.

"You're a fellow Yonko. I figured you would give a shit that Whitebeard is corrupt."

"And the other two aren't? You don't think I know what they're doing with their powers? I only came up with the idea of the Yonko so that there would still be a balance of power as I seek out the One Piece. That's it. I'm putting all of my effort into that."

"So put that on hold! We came half way around the world to come see you. We came to you because we had no one else to turn to. Nobody else has the power you do that could hold their own against Whitebeard."

"Listen kid, I won't go to war against Whitebeard for you. I'm just not gonna do it. I don't even know you. We've only met once before this. This is your personal matter and it has nothing to do with me. Now what I will do for you, since Grey and I are old friends, is I'll offer you a place in my crew. You and the rest of your crew can join me. Whitebeard won't be able to touch you. That's all I can offer."

"I don't want your protection," Halcen spat.

"Then I can't help you," Shanks said, flatly.

"So what?" You're just gonna walk away and let them get away with it?"

"God, Halcen, you are such a child. You sit here with your sob story, trying to get other people to do your dirty business for you. What did you expect I would do? Jump at the opportunity to hold your hand while you run around playing pirate?"

"Playing?"

"Yeah, you're just a kid pretending. You don't actually live to be a pirate. You're not passionate about it. A real pirate doesn't go running for help when someone steals something of theirs, as you claim he did. You know what a pirate does, he kills the bastard himself. But you're so pathetic, you can't do it. So you run to someone strong enough to do it for you, and one of Whitebeard's friends no less. For God's sake, you don't even drink."

"What the hell does drinking have anything to do with it?"

"That's just a part of what pirates are. It's in our nature. We drink, party, fuck, and plunder. What the hell are you doing if you're not living for these things? You're not a true pirate."

"God forbid we try to live above our nature. God forbid I try to be something more than just any old pirate. I think that we should try to elevate ourselves beyond. Sorry I don't want to settle for my nature."

"I'm a Yonko; do you really think I'm settling for anything? Halcen, I'm gonna say this once: grow up."

"Now I think that's a little harsh," Grey said, finally breaking his silence. "Sure, Halcen might be a bit misguided in how he goes about it, but he fights for what he believes in."

"Forget it, Grey," Halcen said. "He's not gonna help us." Halcen got up and stormed out of Shanks' tent.

"Grey, I don't know what's going on with this kid, but he's trouble," Shanks said.

"So were you once upon a time."

"You should come join my crew. Leave him behind. He's out of his mind."

"Regardless of what you think, I'm not going to give up on Halcen. He needs me."

Shanks shook his head and sighed. "Listen," then he pulled out a white slip of paper from his pocket. "In case you change your mind. You're always welcome here."

Grey took the Vivre Card. "It was good to see you." And then Grey left the tent, following after Halcen.

Halcen walked across the camp, where the rest of his crew had awoken and were nursing their hangovers. They began putting together a small breakfast.

"Good morning, Captain," Morkine said.

"It's really not," Halcen said in aggravation. "Everyone get your shit together. We're getting the hell off this island."

"What happened? Weren't we getting Shanks' help?" Jory asked.

"I thought he was gonna help us go after Whitebeard," Jin said, almost relieved.

"Change of plans. We're going by ourselves. Shanks is a coward. We need to get out of here, now."

Everyone began getting their stuff together as Halcen walked off by himself again. There were murmurs of discord and uneasy glances. Nobody knew how to take the news.

Grey passed by the crew on his way after Halcen.

"Hey, Grey," Fein said, trying to get his attention.

"Guys," Grey said nodding.

"What's going on? Why are we leaving in a rush?"

"Shanks isn't going to help us," Grey said. "Halcen is pissed. Better just get your stuff together so we can move out ASAP."

"Alright."

Then Grey went back after Halcen, who he found sitting on a rock off by himself, with nothing else around.

"Grey," Halcen said, without looking back.

"Halcen?"

"All my plans, everything I spent all these weeks culminating to. Everything we did to get us here. I put everything on this." He choked. "And now it's pointless. I'm left stripped of everything again. Empty-handed. Now what do I do?"

"Well, I guess it's a good thing my Captain is a genius. You'll figure something out. Just because Shanks won't help doesn't mean we need to just stop. You're not that weak Halcen. You never have been. You're one of the strongest people I know. Maybe not physically right now, but mentally. You're gonna do great things. You just gotta decide what those things are going to be."

Halcen sighed. "I need to ask you a question. Something I've been afraid to ask this whole time."

"Okay…?"

"I know you left with me because you feel like you owe me, but I need to know, do you believe me? Do you believe me about Marco stealing the Devil Fruit? Because when I challenged him on it, everyone had already made up their mind that I was lying. Nobody saw me find it and when Marco came back with it, they automatically assumed he had been the one to find it. And when I pushed the subject, Whitebeard kicked me out. So I need to know, if there's at least one person that believes that I wasn't lying. That I was the one that found the Phoenix Fruit"

Grey gulped. "I'm going to be honest with you Halcen. I watched Marco grow up, since he was just a little tyke. He was always so pure-hearted and never had an ounce of darkness to him. He was always kind, stalwart, and brave. I've never known him to be dishonest. So I couldn't imagine a world in which he would do something so heinous as to betray his best friend."

Halcen sighed and began to choke up. "I understand."

"But," Grey went on, "I also watched you grow up. You came aboard our ship an angry teenager whose parents had just been murdered. I watched you grow into a full blown man. And you changed in so many different ways, I was proud to call you my friend. In all those years, I'd never seen you react with such abject despair. When I looked into your eyes, you were so distraught, so hurt. I knew something was wrong. So, yes, I do believe you, Halcen. And I believe in you. But I don't want to see you get hurt chasing revenge."

"Something has to be done, Grey. I can't just let people walk all over me like this. I can't let my name be besmirched with disgrace. I have to take them on. I have to take down Marco… and Whitebeard. But if Shanks won't help me, I need an army of my own. I need to build forces to go after him."

"Do you really want to go to war with Pops?"

"Don't call him that, Grey. He's not my 'pops' anymore. He said it himself."

"Are you sure you want to go after the man who gave you everything?"

"... And then took it all away…"

Grey sighed. "Halcen, you're a smart kid. And you're strong; your Armament Haki is a gift. You have so much potential to be something so big, so powerful that you would even outshine Whitebeard, if that was what you really wanted. If you go this path, you may never find your own way. Vengeance is not the answer here."

"I can't let this go unchallenged. I can't go my whole life just pretending I wasn't betrayed. I need a plan."

"If that's what you wish," Grey said, mournfully.

Halcen stood up from his seat on the rock, and in the rising sun, his shadow was huge. Grey could not make out Halcen's actual physical form. He could only see a smudge of darkness surrounded by light. "Let's get out of here." He turned and walked back to the camp.

Grey followed him.

The crew had their stuff ready to go.

"We're heading back to the Black Tail. Let's go," Halcen said, with a flat tone.

They all walked back to the docks where their ship was tied in silence. It took a couple hours and by then it was already almost noon. They came upon the little town where they had had to fight off the bandits. Here, they came upon the Black Tail.

Halcen went back to his own room without a word.

Everyone was left to wonder what they would do next.

"So where are we going?" Morkine asked Grey.

"I'm not sure. Halcen hasn't shared his plan with me yet."

"Do you think he actually has one?" Fein asked.

"Maybe not yet," Jory said, "but he will."

"Let's hope so," Kazuki said.

"I pray so," Grey added.

"So until then we just sit around?" Bo asked.

"I guess so."

Halcen stormed into his room, throwing his bag against the wall. "What the fuck do they want from me?! I try and I try and I fucking keep trying, and nobody wants to do shit to help me. Fine, I'll do it my own fucking self." He sat down on his bed, looking around the room. Then his eyes came upon the small box where his newest acquisition was held. He grabbed the little box and looked inside at the slimy green Devil Fruit. And inside him began to form a plan. This is the second Devil Fruit I've come across in only a short few weeks. So many people go their whole lives never even knowing what they are. This can't be coincidence and I don't believe in luck. This could be worth it. This sparked another idea. He set the Devil Fruit back down and went inside his desk where he had stored the book of Devil Fruits. He began perusing it again. This time he started paying attention to details. The only good fortune I've gotten out of this whole pirate operation so far has been from selling the Sleep Fruit. I got myself an actual ship, completely out of debt, and with it two new crewmen who were worth every beri so far, and I still have plenty leftover. Just think about what else I can do with this next one, and imagine how much more I could do if I find even more of them. These things sell for a pretty penny. Each one is worth more than a hundred thousand a piece. You clever devil, I think I've got myself a plan. And then he smiled to himself a wicked smile, and his green eyes glowed.

Halcen came to the deck with book and box in hands. "Gentlemen, and Fein," he said, rousing the troops.

Everyone came to his call. Finally, they were going to get their next order. Their pirate life could continue.

"You've come to a decision?" Grey asked.

"I have," Halcen said with glee. A sinister glee that concerned them all. He looked around at his crew, all waiting in anticipation. "From now on, we will no longer be pirates."

"What?!" Jory asked.

"I'm sorry, what did he say?" Kazuki asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Bo asked.

"Then what the fuck are we?" Fein asked.

Jin and Morkine watched in intrigue.

"And that means…?" Grey asked.

"We're going to become Devil Fruit Hunters."

Jory gulped.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Fein asked.

"It means that from now on, our means of treasure and all our goals, will be obtaining these," he said motioning to the Devil Fruit in his hand.

"You want us to give up pirating to chase around some goddam fruit?" Fein asked.

"I just got used to the concept of being a pirate," Bo said with dismay.

"I have come to realize that the best things that happened to us were because of the Devil Fruit that I sold to Max," Halcen said. "We were able to get ourselves our own ship, we got you two free of debt," he said motioning to Jin and Fein, "then we got ourselves fancy new equipment, and still have enough leftover to see us through for a while. Think about it. Then in just a couple weeks we get our hands on another one, worth twice the amount that the last one was. Do you realize just how much more we could grow if we make this our goal? The expansion is limitless."

"Okay, maybe so," Kazuki said, "And maybe this latest fruit was relatively easy to get, but did you forget how dangerous getting the first one was? We all almost died fighting Kumajin and that wasn't even our goal."

"Key word being 'almost.' And you're right, that wasn't our goal at the time. We were trying to save Valentina, who had been captured due to our attempted exploits as pirates," Halcen said.

"Do you really think the rest of them are going to come easily?"Kazuki asked.

"Maybe we should rethink this," Jory said. "It sounds like a stretch to me."

Grey looked on in intrigue.

"Look, Shanks was right about one thing. I don't live to be a pirate. Maybe when I was a kid, but now? I've grown past it. It's just not what I want out of life anymore. Drinking and pillaging just don't appeal to me the way they did when I was younger. I think it's time to move on. It's time to become something bigger, something better. And I think Devil Fruit Hunters is the best thing we could possibly aim for at this point in time."

"Are you actually being serious?" Fein cackled.

"This just sounds like a bad idea," Bo said.

"I'm sorry; I didn't realize I had a crew full of little bitches."

Shira growled.

"You know what I mean," Halcen said. "But yes, I know it's going to be dangerous, but pirates or Devil Fruit Hunters, we're going to encounter difficult enemies. That's just a given. But in this scenario, we at least get a better payout. And we'd all get a nice cut. And with our revenue, we could keep getting more and more crew and bigger ships. We'd become unstoppable."

"And what makes you think we'd be able to find more Devil Fruits in the first place?" Bo asked.

"This," Halcen said, flipping through the book. "There are hundreds in here alone, gathered over the course of time. And think about all the ones that haven't been recorded either. There are bound to be thousands of different Devil Fruits out there, just waiting for the taking."

"And how do you propose we find them?" Morkine asked.

"Science," Jin said.

Everyone turned to Jin, who had remained silent until now. They were all quiet and looked to him expectantly.

"Science," he said once again, with more courage. "Devil Fruits exert their own form of energy, so they're actually trackable with the right technology."

"And where did you say you learned this?" Halcen asked.

Jin glanced to Fein, who shook his head, then looked back at Halcen. "I didn't," Jin said.

"Alright. So what else do you know about Devil Fruits?" Halcen asked, encouraging Jin.

"A lot, actually."

"And why did you never tell us this?" Kazuki asked.

"It never came up. I was brought on board to help with weaponry for a pirate crew. Not once did anyone mention an interest in Devil Fruits other than when you sold the one to Max for our debt."

"That's fair," Grey said.

"So go on," Halcen said. "Tell us everything you know."

"Well something you should know is that Devil Fruits do regrow."

"Hmmm," Halcen said, nudging Grey. "I was right."

"So you were."

"But on top of that they usually regrow close to the vicinity in which their original user died. So you say you took down two Devil Fruit users on Bear Island. You might want to consider going back there to see if they're still there."

"How long does it take for them to regrow?" Halcen asked.

"It's almost immediate," Jin said. "The 'spirit' of the Devil Fruit will inhabit an already grown regular fruit in the area."

"Hmmm… so I see. Which would mean that Darmichal's Kinetic paramecia has regrown somewhere on Loguetown?"

"Most likely. There is always room for error, but yes, it would probably be there."

"Though I wouldn't suggest we go back," Kazuki said. "Not only did it probably regrow on the base, if that's true, but we also have to assume Admiral Akainu and Instructor Zephyr are still there. And by the time they do leave, it's most likely that the Devil Fruit would have been discovered by another Marine."

"That's true," Halcen said with exasperation.

"Trust me, I understand the desire to capture that fruit too, but I don't think attempting it would be wise."

"You're right," Halcen said, bummed.

"So you think this will work?" Fein asked Jin.

"It makes sense," Jin said. He looked to Halcen. "I think we can do it. It'll take some time to get off the ground, but I honestly think we can do it with the right equipment."

"So I guess this is going to be our thing?" Jory asked, uncomfortable.

"God," Bo sighed. "If you guys say so."

"Hmm… I suppose," Morkine said, going along with the Captain's decision.

Halcen looked to Grey, who had been silent the majority of the conversation. "Thoughts?"

Grey smiled. "I think you're onto something. I think this would be good for us; for you."

"Alright! Then we're going to become Devil Fruit Hunters," Halcen said, with vindication

"Then off to Bear Island?" Morkine asked.

"No, first we're gonna pay Max a visit," Halcen said. "Back to Corteano."


END ACT I: Chaos Pirates