A town full of regular people! Not a single pirate or marine in sight. The best possible outcome for Jabra's current situation. There were food stands everywhere, which only made him hungry. He did have some money with him leftover from their street performance, but he had to be frugal until something gave. Especially after his funds have been dwindling after the last two nights he stayed at the hotel.

There were weird contraptions lined up on the street, seemingly belonging to one person. He didn't have much interest in them, but he did see that on all of them, the words "Silver Star", was written on them. "Silver star?" What the hell is that", Jabra asked. He was too tired to care really. Even though he stayed the night at the hotels, he had not gotten any sleep. His thoughts kept him awake all night! As of recent, he began to developed a fear of abandonment. He was not as emotionally stable as the rest of his teammates. Definitely more stable than Kumadori yes, but nonetheless. It all started with his childhood. He did nothing but train and train to work for the damn government. Any time he had outside of it to interact with others was usually fist to fist. They were NEVER encouraged to talk about their feelings, or show mercy on anyone who might be upset, or any of the sort. Then there was Gatherine...the so called "love of his life" who didn't really love him as much as he thought. Gatherine was only with him until Rob Lucci reappeared. She then broke up with him in hopes that she could get with Lucci...which ultimately backfired on her. Lucci would never become romantically involved with anyone, at least not someone more like Lucci himself. It did give Jabra a slight sense of satisfaction to see Lucci ignore her every attempt at trying to score with him, but in the end, it was still a loss for Jabra. He ended up with NOBODY! Then there was the constant reminder that his group just split, almost after finally becoming friends...was HE the problem? HE didn't know EVERYTHING that went on with others, but they never seemed to expose any turmoil. Everyone HE got close to abandoned him, whether it be his fault or another reason.

"Hey, are you looking for someone", a random islander asked?

"No not in particular, I just need a job or something."

"Ah well that's convenient" the villager replied.

"What? You can give me work", Jabra asked excitedly.

"Nope, sadly I cant", he replied with a laugh. But there are all kinds of people here looking for work. Not only that, there are all kinds of people here looking for an extra hand. You just gotta look around. Sorry, I have to go now, my boss is riding my ass", he said as he hurried over to a tall female. More than likely it was his boss. She was very easy on the eyes, but something about her made Jabra shiver. She was probably a very dominant kind of woman.

Considering Jabra's previous line of work, it was best to keep a low profile. The horrible thing about it is that he couldn't legally fill out an application of any kind, lest he wanted the marines to hunt him down. The residents didn't take too kindly to him wanting to waive the application signatures and turned him away. "Just gotta look around...oh! I think he meant that literally", Jabra said as he stared at a help wanted sign on the tree. "A sign from the heavens, or whatever! Wait! Is this one of those too good to be true things? I don't even know what they need help with, but guess I dont have much of a choice. Lets see...A black house just along the other side of the woods with a silver star on top, it says. That sounds like it would stick out like a sore thumb...It was too bad that Jabra stopped halfway through, because he didn't see that he would need a certain past experience to work at the place!

Jabra scanned the woods, and saw a few different houses within them, but the black house with a silver star shaped billboard on top stood out just like he thought it would. "Ha! That was easy!" Outside he could see multiple contraptions. "Wait a minute...silver star? Is it possible it may have a correlation?" A loud boom was heard coming from the house, and even the door had blown down. "What the hell was that!?" Jabra quickly ran over to the house, with smoke covering the area around. His vision was much too improved to be thrown off by a few clouds. Carefully, and cautiously he peeked in through the doorway, and saw all kinds of weird vials lined up on a table. Some had green liquids, some had blue liquids, yellow, purple, all kinds of colors filled different vials. He could hear someone inside coughing, soon enough after the smoke cleared, he saw someone sitting on the ground. He was still coughing, due to the smoke. "Hey! What um...what happened", Jabra asked.

"Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to scare you. I was testing something, and I'm afraid it literally blew up in my face", the guy replied. He was wearing a red lab coat, and goggles with black pants. He looked to be maybe around 18-25ish? Naturally guessing someone's age wasn't usually on someone's to do list. Either way, Jabra could tell he was a young adult. His skin was a mocha color and he bore brown eyes. "I guess that one is a no go."

"Oh. Ok then. I'm um...here about the job. The help wanted poster on that tree back in town."

"Ah yes...when is the soonest you can begin", the guy asked.

"Wait! That's it? No forms, no background checks, no nothing?"

"Well actually, I'd like you to have some form of technological know how. You see, I'm an inventor! You may have noticed some of my creations in town as well...but currently, I'm working on my weaponry.

"Weaponry? You make weapons too", Jabra asked.

"Yes, but only for me, really. Pirates attack sometimes, and townspeople defend themselves. My defense against them is the use of fireworks. That explosion you saw earlier was the result of a miscalculation for my latest weapon..."

"Wait wait wait! Are you looking for a guinea pig or something!? If that's the case...I...I'll have to think it over", Jabra said as he quickly remembered he needed money."

"No no no, I test those myself. I have no intention on putting you in danger. I need an extra hand with my other inventions. Hence why the poster asked you to have said experience"

Jabra panicked a little on the inside. He was in such a hurry to get out of the open that he didn't read the entire poster. Then he began to think that maybe it wouldn't be as hard as he thinks it will be. He probably just needed to know tool sizes and stuff. He wasn't unfamiliar with nuts and bolts, and repairing things at least...it just wasn't his strong suit. "Um...Yeah, Yeah Yes! I have experience. My Name is Jabra! I can also start right now! What do you need me to do?"

Raymond raised an eyebrow for a second...but then he grew a smile. "Well, that's a real good attitude I suppose. My name is Raymond. I'll put my weapon crafting aside for now and we can start on my paused work. This machine right here is going to be one of my finest works", Raymond said as he held up a square black square of some sort. It instantly reminded him of the square shape of Kaku, when in giraffe human form.

"Whats it supposed to do?"

"I call it the 'Rotting Reverser'! You see, you would put a rotten food item; an apple as an example, into this machine, and in just a minute or two it completely reverses the rotting effect. At least that's what I'm trying to get it to do."

"You can do something like that!? Are you just assuming it will work?"

"Nope. Believe it or not I have already made slight progress. Just the other day, I ran a test on an entire vine of grapes that were covered in mold. It did not work on the ENTIRE vine...but then I tested it with a single grape, to see if maybe it was just the power output. Lo and behold it worked! That single grape became edible again", Raymond shouted as he thrust his gloved fist into the air! "This is only one of my mini projects however. I want to create inventions that could help solve many of the worlds problems. I'm not quite skilled enough to do it quite yet...but damn it, I'll get there one day. Even stuff like this is a step in the right direction. Just think of all the food we could save from going to waste with this!"

Jabra was unconvinced. Reversing rotten food didn't sound at all possible. In fact it sounded real impossible. His skepticism was apparent by his facial expression. "Eh...thats a miracle"

"I can tell your unconvinced. Allow me to prove it with a much larger item. I fact, you can help me! Together we'll make one of the most revolutionary items since...well...underwear! If you'd be so kind as to pass me the galosh."

Jabra froze up...he didn't know what a galosh was. "Galosh! Um...right! I just need to refresh my memory..."

"Its the big red thing, with a string attached to it", Raymond replied with a smile.

"Oh yeah I knew that! I was just trying to remember! Its been a while since I did this, ya know." Jabra reached into the toolbox Raymond pointed at. He reached in and pulled out the described item. "Alright, lets begin huh?"

Raymond frowned and shook his head. "Jabra...was it? I don't appreciate you lying to me."

"W-what do you mean?"

"Jabra, that's a plunger! The item I described to you was a plunger! The item I asked you to get wasn't even a tool, it was footwear! I got a little suspicious and I decided to test you, and you didn't even know a plunger from a shoe!"

"Eh...Um...um! Ok...I guess I've been found out. Hehehe", Jabra laughed sheepishly.

"Heheh...get out! This instant" Raymond said as he pointed towards the door.

"W-wait, cant we talk about this? Don't you think your being a little harsh, it was a mistake!"

"There's nothing to talk about! Look, I know you might be older, but your nowhere near old enough to be senile! I wont have someone working for me if they cant even be reliable enough to tell the truth! HAD you told me the truth I maybe even would have hired you anyway, and just taught you but now...look just go.

Jabra's legs turned into jelly. He wasn't afraid of being yelled at obviously...nor was he afraid of another person...he was afraid of it happening again...it would be a long shot to call this person he just met, a "friend", but it was the first persona in a long time that offered him comfort in some form of way. For a bright and shiny second, it was salvation. Perhaps it was the canine in him that was so afraid of being left behind again. He could blame it on that, or he could blame his own mind. He couldn't take it again this time...he couldn't take being abandoned again! "Please! I don't have anywhere to go! Yeah I lied about having the skills, but there's only one thing I know how to do, and I don't think that's legal outside the government", Jabra said as he kneeled down.

"What in the world are you talking about Jabra?' Raymond was not pleased in the slightest, but he at least wanted to hear what he had to say. "Just who are you? Where did you come form?"

Jabra took a deep breath. If he wanted even a chance to get anywhere, he was bound to have to tell someone about his current events. "Ok, listen. I'll tell you everything. Just give me a chance to explain, ok?" At this point, he was desperate...he was NEVER desperate...he felt like a dog begging a stranger for food! If his teammates saw him, they would probably laugh at him...especially Kaku. Lucci would never let him live it down. Just this once, he'd have to suck it up and plead.

Raymond sighed. "Ok...what do you have to say about this exactly?"

-

After Jabra explained everything that happened at Enis Lobby, Raymond had to sit down in the chair next to the long white desk. "Cp9? I think I have heard of that before. Their supposed to be a little more secretive but word gets around sometime."

"Probably that damn Fukurou! He blabs to everyone!"

"So...not only were you an agent...but you were tasked with eliminating a bunch of pirates, which didn't go too well. And now, some dude is blaming the whole mess on you even though HE was the one who initiated that 'buster call' thing. Now you and your friends are fugitives...and you ended up here at my workshop. Did I get the gist of it all?"

"Yeah...truth be told I kinda feel better now that I told someone. Wait...maybe this is why Fukurou has such a big mouth", Jabra yelled at the sudden supposed revelation. Anyway, yeah that sums it up...are you going to turn me in now", Jabra asked.

"I could...but I wont."

"Wait, I think I misheard you. Did you just say you wont turn me in?"

"Indeed, that's what I said. I think you and your friends have already been through enough."

"Oh...well thanks. I better go...I still need to find someplace to work...I only have enough for one more night in a hotel. Sorry about lying and all that...", Jabra said as he stood up and headed towards the door.

Raymond was conflicted. Sure, Jabra lied to him, but he almost didn't really have much of a choice. There was also the fact that Jabra was dangerous. Not only could the marines arrest Raymond for harboring a criminal, but Jabra was also a devil fruit user...and one that wasn't exactly tame either, if his guess was right...though Raymond wasn't defenseless, nor was he a coward. He's dealt with enemies before, and has even taken down a devil fruit user two. "I guess I would want someone to help me if I was in your shoes. Look, I guess...I could use someone to clean this place. I can pay you for that at least. Just to keep this place tidy I guess"

Jabra turned on his heals. It wasn't the most extravagant job, but it's a was a start. "So...you'll pay me just to clean this place? Seriously?"

"Yeah. And maybe if I can think of any other odd jobs I can pay you for those too...but I'll be watching you! Just...TRY to keep a low profile! I'm no criminal, but I'm also not exactly on the marines good side either, due to my fireworks 'causing uproars' and nonsense like that. Those bastards have nothing better to do but pick on people sometimes, I swear...anyways like I said I'll pay you for just helping me around here and crud like that. Be back here tomorrow morning please."

"Ha! Great! Thank you!" It would be much easier for him to sleep tonight now that he knew he wouldn't have to start sleeping on the ground soon. He would have to be extremely careful though. Any wrong move and he could blow his chances of getting back on his feet. What could be in store for Jabra though...even with simple household tasks, things would not be as easy as he would expect. He still had to worry about the government coming after him...but that was a worry for another day.

Unbeknownst to Jabra, his other comrades were having much better luck than he was. In fact, Blueno was not too far away back at the town...