I woke up in a dark cell trapped by iron bars alongside a few other men and women scantily clad, though I was none to talk about, my own clothes had been stripped from me leaving me with only my pants, and naturally my broadsword was nowhere to be seen. The only thing I could thank the Seven for was that I wasn't chained up so I could move freely inside the cell, which by how I think the floor seemed to move and the sick feeling I got in my gut, was inside a ship.

Trying to get up I hissed at the burning pain my back was feeling so I gave up such endeavor and laid on my chest. Then it all came back to me; the night attack, the sacking of Tyrosh, the soldiers, the killing, the gunshots.

The gun!

With a ray of hope I checked the inventory.

(Thank god I still have it! And I also have a sword. Praised be the System!)

Sensing that someone was coming to my cell I looked up to see a woman dressed in a white shirt, leather pants and boots with a wide brimmed hat and a dark brown coat.

"I see you've woken up kid" spoke the pirate woman.

"Old Mother" Yep, it was her, the only woman of the Band of Nine and famous pirate queen.

(Hohoho, I can't believe how lucky I am to encounter this 500.000 points bounty)

Trying to get up once more I ignored the pain on both back and foot. Holding to the bars I tried not to fall to the ground.

"Careful there. Wouldn't want you to open your wounds. Though I am impressed with how quickly they are healing; it hasn't even been two weeks since we took the city, you shouldn't even be able to get up." She sized me up and down, "I suppose you really take after your father" I was unconscious for two weeks? Wait, what did she just say?"

"WHERE. IS. HE?" I said shaking the cell and for a moment I was tempted to use my sword to cut it up along with her. Unfortunately the pain that coursed through my body didn't let me or else.

She laughed, "He is with the men on Tyrosh, resting before they head to the Stepstones, but don't worry about him; it's your life you should worry about"

"Oh, that's new and here I thought my dear father put a bounty on my capture? Has that changed since I was unconscious?"

"Not at all, but I have my reasons. No matter your strength, how can a man kill five dozen men in a short time, tell me and i may consider leaving you alive"

"Is that so? And I thought that was something normal" I joked weakly.

"Don't joke with me. Do you imagine how powerful would be an army, no, just a hundred of people like that? Do you have the idea of what I could do with such power?"

"Sorry, but I'm not interested"

"I wasn't asking you, there are many ways to make a man reveal his secrets and I have a very creative imagination. You have until tomorrow morning to decide if you will talk willingly or if I have to loosen up your tongue" and with that she disappeared.

(System do you have anything to heal me)

*Host can purchase painkillers and bandages. If host wants to quickly heal please go see a doctor.

"Damn it" I shouted causing the other prisoners to look at me.

"Hey! Any of you know how to properly dress a wound?"

One of them, a man, lifted his hand, "I can, but where are you going to get them from?"

(System, purchase bandages and a painkiller)

*Ding! 600 points used.

Using the inventory while I had my hand in my pocket I pulled out a syringe filled with a transparent liquid and a roll of bandages.

Without wasting a moment I injected the syringe's contents and had the surprised man bandage my wounds, after which I immediately went to sleep.

(Let's leave tomorrow's problems to tomorrow's me)


Splash

"What the fuck!"

I was having a pleasant dream, and here comes this bitch and throws cold water at me as if she couldn't wake me up with something gentler.

"Get up boy" she commanded me.

"Oy, oy. Cant' you be gentler to an injured man?" I said trying to go back to sleep again.

"What man? All I see is a spoilt brat. Now tell me the origin of your strength or I won't ask so nicely"

Yaaawn

"Oh that" I stretched my limbs careful not to open my wounds, "I will if you tell me where is the key to this cell"

"Even if you know it you won't be able to escape, do you still want me to tell you despite knowing that?"

"Come on, just tell me and I will tell you what you so much desire"

"It's on my personal cabin, happy now?"

"Yes"

"Why did you even want to know" she said in annoyance.

"To see whether I had to cut up the bars or not"

"Wha-

Bang!

She fell dead to the floor with an expression of incomprehension and an extra hole in her body.

*Ding! Congratulations host for killing 'Old Mother' from the Band of Nine Faction; reward: 500.000 points

(Kukukuku. Thank you Old Mother. Now I can get a devil fruit, but first...)

I took a look to the other captives who had disbelieving expressions on their faces, before pulling out the sword and cutting up the bars making an exit.

Still silent, jaws unhinged in amazement I talked to them.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, we take back our freedom" and with a cry they followed after me.

Going through the ship cutting up any who stood in our way- and at the same time getting weapons for our own- we soon reached the deck of the ship disturbing the work of all those already there who not a second after seeing us came to us sword in hand.

It was an unfair fight. The freed slaves were hardly twenty and of the ten or so that were armed only four knew how to fight. The pirates however were a little over fifty, and all of them veterans who had survived countless fights.

It was truly an unfair fight, for the pirates anyway.

With a sword in my right and a gun in my left I began to massacre the pirates one after another. By the time we were done I had killed thirty three of them while the rest were either killed by the freed captives in the confusion or had jumped to the sea in hope of making it out to the city I could see on the horizon. Something I highly doubted they could do.

Once we disposed of the cadavers and recovered our clothes I gathered the now free men and women.

"Alright, any of you know how to sail" five of them raised their hands.

"Good, you five are in charge of taking us to port. Speaking about it where are we exactly?"

One of the five sailors answered me "If I am not wrong that should be Pentos"

"Alright, I leave making it to port to you lot, and you" I pointed to the one who bandaged me the day before "My wound has reopened, help change my bandages will you?"

"Yes"

As he finished dressing up my wounds I checked through the system store for any suitable devil fruit.

(First of all. System show me how many points I currently have)

*Host has a total of 651.600 points

(Now for the devil fruit. First, it has to be a logia as there is no way I want to go through this hassle again. Second; it needs to have a way to bypass seawater; kind of like Doflamingo using his strings to jump through the sky or Aokiji freezing the sea. Third; it has to be able to restrain opponents I don't want to fight or kill- since Mihawk could defeat all his opponents with only his sword why can't I, and I also don't want to waste precious points buying both a fruit and then Haoshoku- That makes totally offensive logias like Akainu's or Ace's a no go. Fourth; it has to work against the Others if I am alive by the time they come. And since the White Walkers control ice that makes Aokiji's and Monet's useless against them. Enel's fruit would enhance my speed and grant me power over lightning and electricity so I could use it to zap people unconscious or Caesar's since it can create many kinds of gasses- though I don't remember shit of my chemistry lessons to make a lot of those- and Crocodile's fruit can only be used to the maximum in the desert and I don't plan to live in Dorne. Maybe the Smoke-Smoke fruit, after all Smoker was called the White Hunter for always capturing his opponents)

After an hour I still hadn't decided so I took drastic measures to select one.

"Let's go" I closed my eyes, "eeny, meeny, miney, mo..."


(System)

*Yes Host

(Buy the Smoke-Smoke fruit, for that is the will of the author, maybe I will purchase another one next time that I actually choose)

(Author: come on, it is one of those you actually accepted. Why are you angry?)

(Next time you choose for me author I am leaving this story and you can go search for someone else that can stand you)

(Author: Okay, okay! Just tell me what you want!)

(Easy; just go on to the next scene. I don't want to find out how bad a devil fruit can taste)


We dropped anchor at Pentos by noon. I gave 20 golden dragons –taken from Old Mother's coffers- to the freed people that had been captured by the pirates and employed the sailors since I will take the ship for myself, it being a Myrish war galley of eighty oars, equipped with two ballistae. Since I didn't want to spend points in buying a ship- no matter how much my heart screamed about wanting to board the Red Force or the Thousand Sunny- I ended up having to spend money to recruit eighty oarsmen and thirty marines to fight in case someone boards the ship while I'm not around, and two teams of artillery crews, one for each ballistae.

Doing all the recruiting took us two whole days. And so we departed for King's Landing on the third.

During the travel I stayed most of the time in the captain's cabin practicing my devil fruit powers; which just by ingesting it augmented my physical strength and stamina by around half.

I first willed my arm to become smoke after which I tried making it go around the room without scattering the smoke and then willing the ending part to once more become my hand.

I also tried making both arms into smoke and make the smoke denser to be able to grab things. Of course I also tried other things like making the smoke that I made into something like a barrier or bullets by compressing it to the limit, or experiment with the crew by letting some of the smoke cover the ship –the crew started coughing a lot – and also could instinctively feel that I can make the smoke lethal- I think is by adding or increasing the concentration of carbon monoxide in the smoke-, I can also create a mist like smoke that hinders visibility though I don't know how far I can reach with it and I can't control anything more than expanding it or shrinking it down. More experimentation is needed.

Though I won't be able to experiment much more without attracting lots of attention, not that I won't with just Haki once I achieve the medium level and become able to coat my sword in with Haki and it become a kokuto. But if it is Haki I will be able to pass it off as a result of my training and heck I would also be willing to train someone –as long as they are trustworthy- in its use.

Sigh

Going out of my quarters I made my way through the deck saluting the men as I passed by. Arriving at the ship's bow I looked at the not so distant city of King's Landing while a feeling of nostalgia assaulted me. Even thought I hadn't spent even a year living there I had made a few friends that I was quite anxious to see.

Once we made it to port I left the men to their own devices and quickly walked through the crowds to arrive at the keep where I was granted swift entrance now that the guards knew my face.

Walking the halls I had grown so familiar with in the recent months I went directly to the small council room where I was sure to find the King at this time of the day.

Going past the Kingsguard who tried- emphasis on tried- to stop me from irrupting into the room I opened the door wide surprising its occupants.

The King, who was also surprised by the interruption, looked at me up and down, "Well, you couldn't come at a more opportune time we were just talking about you"

Raising and eyebrow I asked, "Really? What about me?"

"Since you didn't send a message for weeks we were wondering what could have happened to you"

"Well as you can see I am safe and sound" I opened by arms wide.

"That is reassuring but what happened to Tyrosh, our information work at the free cities is somewhat lacking so we haven't received any news yet"

Crossing my arms I sat down on an empty chair, "if you must know, Tyrosh has been conquered by the nine and most probably given to the Silvertongue. The trading fleet it possessed is mostly intact so they now have a fleet big enough to conquer the Stepstones and invade Westeros. The riches of the city of course have been plundered and will become the pay for their men and any other that joins them" As I finished I noticed most of the council frowning.

"But" I looked at them and smiled, "there are good news for the Band of Nine is made up of only eight now"

"What!" exclaimed the Master of Whisperers Prince Duncan Targaryen.

"Indeed. My lords, my King, the pirate queen known as Old Mother is dead by my own hand"

"How in the name of the Seven did you do it?" Asked Quellon Greyjoy, Master of Ships.

"She captured me alongside a few others. Thought a few iron bars would stop us from taking our freedom and paid the price" He looked skeptical but made no further questions.

"Well done lad, with this they will spend time trying to take over what's left of her fleet and we will be able to hold a meeting with all the great houses to plan how to deal with them" praised me the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.

"Now then, how shall I reward you?" Aegon V spoke with a pleased face at the news.

"Even if you ask me... I have no need nor want for lands, money I just got a ton of it and don't know how to spend it"

"How about a place in the Kingsguard, there are two vacancies" Suggested Lord Duncan.

"No offense my lord, but being a Kingsguard is the same as been one step away from being an eunuch. And I have yet to have my fill of carnal pleasures"

"Hahaha, I understand, you are still young. But I will keep one spot open for you"

"Then I suppose well just leave it as me owing you a favor" the King concluded.

"I think that shall be for the best" And with that I got out and made my way to my quarters.

I stayed most of the day resting in my room. Though once dinner time came I went to the kitchen to find something to calm down my roaring stomach.

However as I turned I found myself face to face with Rhaella and another lady behind her, though I didn't recognize her. She was quite the beauty with her golden hair and emerald eyes typical of the Lannisters.

Wait a moment! Lannister, more or less the same age as Rhaella, and since I didn't see her here before means she had arrived to the Red Keep at the beginning of this year.

Fuck my life this was Joanna Lannister!

(I can't believe the mother of those incestuous twins as well as the Imp is right before me)

Without me noticing it Rhaella came close to me and stomped on my injured foot while smiling sweetly.

I hissed from the pain.

"Oh, what's wrong Daemon? Are feeling unwell, should I call for the maester?"

"N-no, nothing, by the way who is this lovely lady"

Joanna gave a perfunctory bow "My name is Joanna Lannister. I am the Princess new handmaid"

"We are becoming fast friends, Joanna and I. But are you sure you are alright, you look a bit pale"

"It-it's just my foot, I-I got injured while I was away, nothing to worry about I assure you"

"Really?" she stomped even harder, "and where were you if I may ask?"

(What have I done to deserve this?)

"Th-that is a sensitive topic princess"

She stopped torturing me and turned towards Lady Joanna. Understanding what she meant by her look she left us alone.

"Now that we are alone will you tell me?" her smile gave me the chills, as if standing naked at the Wall.

"I was at Tyrosh" I relented.

"And?"

"And there was a battle" Her eyes narrowed at that.

"Where else are you injured, I will call for the maester right away" she turned but I held her by the arm.

"No, it's already taken care of. I got only scratches so don't worry about me"

Slap

(That. I didn't see coming even with Haki)

I looked at her incredulous as she stood there hand stretched with silent tears running through her face.

"Do you have any idea of how worried I was? You left without saying anything to anybody and I had no idea if you would ever return. If anything happened to you I- I-" and she started sobbing

Oh shit. I knew she had some appreciation for me but I thought it was more like a friend or even like a little sister, but not like this. Don't misunderstand me, she was incredibly pretty and I wouldn't mind taking her to bed once she was older and curvier. But love, I don't know if I felt the same.

But for now I should just stay silent and lend her my shoulder to cry on.

Eventually she calmed down but, not giving me any rest, dropped another bomb.

"My father has decided to marry me to my brother. I know he means well to us, but I can't, I know, my brother knows, we won't ever be happy together, please, help me" she looked at me, pleading, begging for me to help her. And i knew she was right, I knew the future that waited for her if I stood with my arms crossed.

(Don't give those eyes. I can't deny you if you look at me with those eyes)

After taking a deep breath I spoke "Let me eat something and then will go talk to your grandfather. I have to cash in a favor"

Even with a tearful face, her smile was truly beautiful.