Wanted

"So, what did they say," asked Shane as his First Mate, Suzanne, who was also at the URA with him, wiped some sweat from his forehead. He had just been working out, undoubtedly excited for the upcoming match. The words of Armani Dove still hung in his head, that this fight should not go down, but he couldn't help, but get excited at the prospect. Finally…a real match. He hadn't had one in awhile, even the URA had become a bore for him, but seeing Mikoto's fight got his blood pumping. Then hearing about Mikoto taking down Trevor and even the rumor of his plans to attack Zenith Gaol…Shane had to accept the fact that he had found someone he could go all out against…forget any dumb prophecy from Armani Dove. He just wanted to fight.

The bigger Fishman was there, but the smaller one was off somewhere else. However, the bigger one knew what to say, "they accepted your challenge to a duel. But, of course, how could they refuse? We got their ship." Outside of Shane's impressive argosy ship that was twice the size of the Infinity Pirate's ship, sat, well, the Infinity Pirate's ship. The small ship just bobbed in the wake of the tremendous war ship. "It was pure luck that we found it," he continued, remarking at the coincidence, "I mean, the Infinity Pirates passed their ship onto some treasure hunters so they could get up to Zenith Gaol as quickly as possible without wasting a second and then we just happened to bump into them. It's amazing that coincidences like that just happen."

Shane laughed as he turned around and sat down, quickly accepting a water bottle from Suzanne, who seemed more than happy to please him. "It is funny. I read so many of the old newspapers about the pirates of old, and I never believed in his theories, but Blackbeard was right…this wasn't a coincidence, this was fate. Mikoto and me having our fight was fate, it just proves Armani's foolishness to try and stop it. He tried to stop it because of a prophecy, because he could see the future…that should've cemented it right then and there! That it couldn't be changed no matter how hard we tried! Me, the first pirate of the year to break the 100 million beli mark, and Mikoto, the would-be Shichibukai, were fated to fight here on this day. And I appreciate the helping hand." The bigger fishman sighed, he trusted his captain, but when it came to fighting, he was like a possessed demon. He lost all control at the premise and wanted to get into it as quickly as possible. There was little anyone could do to stop him when he wanted to fight. Finally Shane stopped drinking and set the bottle down and looked at his Fishman crewmate, "by the way, Dango, where is Shino at? Didn't I send you both to question the Infinity Pirates?"

Dango seemed to freeze at the question for a second before busting out laughing, "that idiot! Sa ha ha ha ha! You're not going to believe this, sa ha ha ha ha!" Dango managed to stifle his laughter for a second and straighten himself out to address his captain with a little bit more of a serious tone this time. "That Mikoto fellow, right, well we just told him that we had his ship, and he was obviously annoyed with that. So we began to take our leave when next thing you know Mikoto comes up and slugs him one right in the kisser! I was thinking he was annoyed and wanted to have an all out brawl, but then he just turns around and returns straight to his seat. When I ask him why he just kicked him once, the kid responds that he was just returning the punch he gave his crewmate! That little insane punk! However, I can't say I disagree with him. Shino probably did deserve to get socked one for straight out attacking his crewmate! Anyways, Shino's just upstairs putting some ice on the bruise and on his ego!" Shane laughed along with Dango this time, apparently getting a kick out of Mikoto's antics and the fact that his crewmate did something that dangerous to a man with that high of a bounty. Dango turned around about to leave when he paused at the door, his breathing suddenly flinching as he paused there. "Are you sure about fighting this kid, captain?" Shane shifted his entire gaze and focus on his Fishman, upset that he would even question that. Dango looked a little uncomfortable, but only for a second as he quickly explained why he had brought up that question, "I was just wondering because…that one kick he hit Shino with knocked him straight out." Shane raised an eyebrow and shifted back into his seat. Shino wasn't particularly known for his toughness, but he had never been taken out with just one punch yet. It seemed like an impossibility, and yet Dango wasn't a liar. If he said one kick was all it took to take down Shino then Shane believed him. Shane's smile grew larger.

"Don't you understand, Dango?" Shane laughed as he reclined backwards and into his chair, "that makes this all the better!"Dango quivered in fear for a second…Shane wasn't lying. He was indeed even more pumped up now then he was before. Dango felt sorry for Shane's next opponent, that Mikoto fellow, it was a shame. Mikoto was obviously strong, fast and worth something to the world, but Shane isn't the kind of man to hold back against an opponent like that…even if it means that they are faced with an unfortunate end. Dango paused for a second in the hallway of their ship, his eyes focused on the closed door. Fate, huh? Shane wasn't one for talking big, he was always someone who just moved on from one fight to the next, never really caring for words like those…Dango guessed this just showed how much Shane was looking forward to the fight. He was growing more and more anxious with each passing moment. Dango froze as he stood there…

He'd pray that Mikoto won't die in their fight.

(-with Mikoto-)

"We're lucky he didn't come here and immediately demand a fight," brought up Enma, looking over at their obviously weakened captain. His arms were barely responding to him in time, it was obvious it would take another few days to heal completely, however based on how those Fishman sounded they could be demanding a fight at any time. "As much as I hate to say it our best bet would probably be to just to run away. That ship is old anyways, it is about time we get a new one. It is rather shocking that we kept that old trash heap around this long." The crew shrugged, it was natural for them to have a ship like that for so long. It wasn't exactly like they had money to buy a new one and it would take a long time for one person, Maria, to completely build a new ship from scratch. "I mean we are pirates we could steal one and if we steal one up here we may get a few with Breath Dials."

"No, he challenged us to a fight so we are going to meet him head-on," Mikoto said as he tried to flex his arm again, slow progress, but even that was progress. The rest of the crew moaned a little as they realized their captain once more would be forcing them into an unhappy position. It wasn't their ideal choice, but they all admitted Mikoto had an interesting reason. Not running away because of a stupid challenge, however stupid it may seem it was exactly what they should've expected from him and they would back him up. Besides stealing a ship from up here and then driving it down to the Blue Seas seemed highly impossible. Then again taking a chance against a rival pirate crew whose captain was worth well over a hundred million seemed equally crazy. "How strong do you think he is?"

The crew looked over to the side and at the bounty posters to the side. It was hard to say anything as the entire wall was covered in them, but even a few seconds of scouring through the pages posted on the wall revealed Shane's. A massive bounty was listed for him. However, there was one thing that caused the entire crew to pause at it. Even if they weren't already looking for it they would've noticed it. The poster was just that eye-catching, they could ignore the picture and even the enormous bounty on his head. Neither of those two things were the most important thing on it.

Wanted: Alive

'Dark Knight' Shane

199 Million Belies

The word 'Alive' was the only thing that caught his attention. It was very rare in this day and age for any pirate to be automatically wanted 'Alive'. As a matter of fact the only pirate that immediately came to mind for the crew was the leader of the Revolutionaries, Jugo. And even then there was rumors of that being revoked. The Marines wanted to purge the land of all pirates so asking for Bounty Hunters to manage to bring them in alive was a little bit insane anyways. The Marines needed to hold a public execution for him to drive their point home, but unless a Bounty Hunter ever actually managed to do so it was a pointless act. Still the crew was riveted to the spot looking at 'Dark Knight' Shane's poster...how did a normal pirate obtain a wanted poster like that?

"There's probably a couple of facilities around here for researching people like that," brought up Hiro-Shu, "bounty hunting up in Skypiea is a legal vocation nowadays since so many Blue Sea Dwellers come up here for vacation or wind up here through other circumstances like us. The crew nodded, it was true. Skypieans also could Bounty Hunt for money, not only for Blue Sea Dwellers, but also for their own kind who committed crimes. "Only problem is all of us have a bounty on our heads." Number One Rule of Bounty Hunting you can't be a Bounty Hunter if you have a bounty on your head it makes taking withdrawals out of the bank super difficult. "Well…all, but one." The crew turned their attention backwards casting a gaze towards Rosa. Rosa froze and looked sheepishly around. From here on out she would either be joining the Infinity Pirates or going back home to be with Lily either way her bounty hunting days were behind her. Rosa nodded, she was up to this one last task as a Bounty Hunter…however, would be her last task as an Infinity Pirate as well? The crew had come to enjoy having her around, but looking at Lily…

Anyways, the crew began to head out, but a quick call from Ridley caught their attention, "hey, that Skypiean passed out out there take him with you." The crew raised an eyebrow wondering what he could possibly want with the man who just tried to kill them. "We can make some money!" Ridley twisted around and flashed a new bounty poster to them. Sure enough it was the man outside…worth only 20 million belies…but that was about 20 million more belies then they had right now...still wasn't enough to buy a new ship with…

The crew nodded, Hiro-Shu hefted the man onto his shoulder and walked forward. Rosa quickly slid some cuffs on him, just in case he did wake up. Mikoto went for the Burn Bazooka, but Enma and Zesiro intercepted him and quickly took the Burn Bazooka themselves. They could probably sell this thing off for themselves as well make about 100 thousand belies…maybe even more if they kept it when they returned to the Blue Seas. The crew went as a united front to the Bounty Hunting location in Skypiea, but when it came into sight, they stopped. Hiro-Shu dropped the man and handed him over to Rosa. The rest of the crew waited back and let Rosa and Lily move forward by themselves. For some reason though they didn't just turn around and leave. Call it a pirate's intuition, but something didn't smell right around here. They sat down and rested comfortably on the fluffy island clouds, waiting for their friend to come out and wave a stack of cash to them.

Rosa walked in, the same calm demeanor as she always had. She took swift steps, showing off her confidence almost in a boasting like way. Lily followed behind her, her hands shaking along with the rest of her entire body. She was scared to death already. The scent was the same, the walls were the same…it was Marine issued standard materials just like they had on the ship that took her to Zenith Gaol. She froze…feeling her throat go dry as she stared at the cells in front of her…they were only temporary holding cells for when a Marine prisoner ship could come by and pick them up, but to Lily they looked all too real. Her body clenched up, her throat opened and closed as she looked on. She felt her entire body react to just the cells, she was slowly starting to lose it s she looked on. A certain kind of post trauma stress disorder had taken over her. Most prisoners underwent something similar when they come out. They feel an incredible amount of worry overcoming them, their mind constantly flickers back to their time in the prison, they are constantly reminded of the pain they had. She lost control of her hands, they spasmed like crazy, flexing open and close as she tried to remain strong. Finally she just lost it. Her body sagged to the ground, falling in one swift movement. She hit the ground and collapsed, her head hanging. She stared at the ground, it looked old and made of stone…despite being made of marble. She was instantly teleported right back to her time in prison. Her eyes opened and closed, she tried to calm down, but she still couldn't. Rosa walked another step before she turned back to see her sister. Lily was on the ground, her hands wrapping around her body in a desperate attempt to protect herself from the memories. Rosa paused looking at her, her eyes widened as she eyed her. Rosa rushed to her sister's side, quickly embracing her and holding her tightly.

"Lily! Lily! LILY!" her voice steadily rising as she shook her sister again and again, trying to wake her up out of her nightmare. The rest of the people around them paused and looked at them. They wore worried faces as they looked on. They didn't know what to do they felt frozen as they looked at this mildly concerning scene unsure of how to approach this action. It seemed rather odd, they didn't know what to do, but as they were Blue Sea people and they didn't much care. Blue Sea People have obtained a rather bad reputation since more pirates existed down there. Up here crime was rather low due to the past. Eneru's actions had scared most people straight and tales of the legendary boogeyman still existed today. They had remained strong for this time entire time. Many people remained strong in their belief that if a crime was committed electricity would shoot down from the sky and correct you. However, these Blue Sea People didn't have things like that. They lived like outlaws. Many of the people just stepped back and let them do what they wanted, ignoring the panic attack the young girl was having.

Suddenly a loud click was heard directly behind Rosa's head. She froze and tried to turn her head away, but a swift jab to the back of her head stopped that. "Those Marines are sneaky ones," stated the man as he moved forward, pressed his foot forward and really pressed the gun against her skull, "they told us not to distribute your picture as you were a bounty hunter and old habits die hard. So we were told to leave you off of the bounty poster list as you would probably try to take one last person down to make a little more money. Looks like they were right and now I get to collect on your 60 million belie bounty. Any last words?"

Rosa paused; she took a deep breath and swallowed what little spit she had left in her mouth. "What about her?" Rosa motioned to her sister, she could try her best to keep her alive for the time being, but if she wanted by the World Government then a peaceful life was impossible for them anyways. She may as well just give up now. She wanted the best for her sister…maybe if she was innocent and without a bounty she could pass her off to the World Government…tell them she was kidnapped and all the rest of the jazz. Maybe that was the best course of action at this point, just turn herself in…

"Her…well, she's not wanted…" stated the man sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, a little bit unsure of how to act. He was rather new as a bounty hunter, but the ten or so men he had brought in never really worried about other people and usually just swore at him, however, he soon stopped with the sheepish act and brought his hand down, "but with the way she looks…I'll be happy to take care of her. I hope she's a virgin."

Rosa's eyes opened up wide, brimming with rage as she heard that line. "I dare you to say that again."

Another Villain?

Urgh, tossing around whether or not I should post a bonus update. Technically I don't have to, but I have a lot of backlog, plus I got a new reviewer who is reviewing every single chapter and I got an old reviewer playing catch-up, so I probably hit the ten review mark (but I also said I was only counting from Chapter 170 onwards or something...but...) oh, well, I got a big back log so here's something to hopefully reduce it.

Other then that I added an FAQ section to profile (for less then frequently asked, but still asked questions). I also changed the Future Works section to a more 'Ask to Know' format.