Yeah, I know I made some errors with the timeline and such...which was I didn't focus too much on the Crocus and Laboon part....

Anyway....sorry for the late update...I had some trouble with overdue hospital bills and that drove even Pops from my mind for awhile....

anyway...here's the next chap....


Day 14

Jaya was...interesting to say the least.

It's like how every pirate town should be like: lawless, violent, shabby and free. I beat up a few punks who tried to pick a fight with me but there were no pirates who were anywhere near my strength.

I didn't find the town, women or booze particularly appealing, so I explored the island instead. I found only three things that interested me.

The first was a strange bird that had its head pointed south at all times. I caught one of them and forced it to look north. But it just looked south again. It was hilarious!

The second thing that I found interesting was this weird house in the cape. It perched right on the edge and it was only half a house. The other half was missing, gone. It's like someone sliced it in half. The cut was very clean.

The third thing I found interesting was another pirate. He was dressed in some weird robes and he was hanging around the weird house with a two people who I assumed were his crewmates. He was smoking a cigar and had a wild mane of a hair that reminded me of a lion. He was laughing loudly, and his laugh was weird. It went something like "Jihahahaha" or something like that.

Hearing his laugh made me laugh out loud and caught his attention.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Your stupid laugh," I answered, still laughing.

"You're one to talk," snapped the other guy. "Who goes 'Gurarara', when laughing?"

I just chuckled. Apparently that displeased him and he ordered his two friends to attack me. I was a bit surprise to hear them calling him captain. Anyway, I just sent those two goons of his flying away and that seemed to surprise him.

"You're pretty tough," he remarked. "You just took out my first-mate and second-mate."

"I'm supposed to be impressed by that?" I asked.

"You should," said the other guy. "Both their bounties add up to nearly a hundred and forty million beri."

"Since you're the captain, I assume your bounty would be higher then?" I asked.

"Jihahahaha!" laughed the guy. "I'm not about to tell you what my bounty is. But you are really strong! Say, why don't you join me and become my new first-mate?"

I was taken aback by his request. I was surprised that he was so willing to put someone he just met as first-mate while completely forgetting about his nakama.

"Why would I want to join you?" I asked.

"I got a plan here you see," he said. "You ever heard about the City of Gold? It used to be on this island! But then, something happened and it disappeared. The guy from the fairy tale...Norland, I think, said that the city must have sunk. But my archaeologist and a few others have a theory that the City was blasted up onto Sky Island..."

"Sky Island?" I asked. I've never heard of such a thing, not even from Goji who's been practically everywhere.

"Some solid clouds up in the air, forming islands. People live up there," explained the guy briefly. "We could head up there, find the City of Gold, and take all the gold we could find and make us rich!"

I just stared at him blankly.

"You want to go all the way up to the sky for some gold when there's plenty of it down here?" I asked.

"Not just 'some' gold!" cried the guy. "An entire city! But that's not all. I found documents that says that people living on Sky Island have some weird but incredible technology! We can go and learn how to use it for ourselves! Once we do, we can use the gold from the City and build a powerful armada and we can conquer not only Grand Line, but the whole world!"

"Not interested," I said.

He was so shocked by blunt refusal that his mouth just dropped. When he finally gathered himself, his face had started to turn red with rage.

"I offer you a great opportunity to become a ruler of this world and you turn me down?" he shouted. "People would bow before you! They would cater to your every whim! They'd worship you! You'd have to answer to no one but me!"

I laughed. That fool just doesn't get it.

"I didn't become a pirate to conquer the world," I said, grinning. "I became a pirate just so that I could be free. I don't want to conquer anyone or anything other than the Grand Line. Even then, when I say conquer, I mean: explore it thoroughly."

"You idiot!" roared the guy, drawing two swords from somewhere within his robes. "You simple fool! You refuse a chance at greatness! But now that you know my plan, you must die!"

From the way he gripped his swords and the way he carried himself, I could tell that he was no weakling. I unstrapped Roy's bisento from my back and prepared myself to go all out against him.

He charged at me so quickly that I had no time to bring my powers into play. I barely blocked his swords with a clumsy move and he used the opening to kick me, sending me flying back into the forest. One of the trees landed on me.

As the dust cleared, I saw that guy charging through at me. I threw the tree right at him but he just sliced it to bits. I used that momentary distraction and sent a shockwave at him. That caught him off-guard and sent him flying. I was surprised when he got up again, bleeding a little from the mouth but otherwise unscathed.

"What the hell was that?" he asked.

"I ate the Gura Gura No Mi," I answered. That's what Captain called my Devil Fruit power anyway. "I can create quakes."

To my surprise, the guy just grinned.

"Looks like this is going to be a tough match," he said. "I'm going to enjoy this. You have a name that I can carve on your gravestone?"

"Edward Newgate of the Nautica Pirates," I answered proudly. The guy was clearly challenging me to an honourable duel, not that most pirates have any sense of honour, but this guy clearly did.

The guy raised a thick eyebrow at that.

"The Nautica Pirates, eh?" he said. "You guys were the ones who took out the Crimson Razor, right?"

I nodded wordlessly; I didn't want to think too much about that fight.

"Well then, Newgate," he said, whirling his swords into a fighting stance. "I am Shiki the Golden Lion, one of the most feared rookie pirates on this sea! You must've heard of me before!"

I was a bit embarrassed for him, but I've never even heard of him. My blank look must've told him that.

I saw a vein popping in his temple.

"C'mon, you must've heard about my name at least?" he asked.

I just shook my head.

Shiki let out an exasperated sigh.

"Never mind," he said. "Even if you've never heard of me before, after this fight is over you'll never be able to forget it, not that you'll live to remember it anyway."

"Just shut up and fight me before I throw you to the bottom of the sea," I snapped.

Shiki grinned at me and we both started our fight.

Our fight was a lot like the one I had with that punk, Roger. Shiki was really strong, even with my Devil Fruit power, he moved fast enough to dodge the shockwaves I sent at him and each blow we traded sent tremors through my bones. At one point during the fight, I sent another shockwave at him, but using some sort of super speed move to heighten the sharpness of his swords, he managed to cut through my shockwave and charged right at me, his swords aimed right at my heart. I could've dodged it or blocked it, but I also saw an opening to end the fight, though it could've cost me my life.

I concentrated my powers into one hand, and the moment Shiki was near I closed the gap and seized his head, releasing the quake I gathered there into his skull. He coughed up blood violently but somehow found the way sink both his swords through my stomach. We broke apart and collapsed.

"Jihahahaha," Shiki laughed even as blood poured out of his mouth. "Looks like we'll have to continue our fight in the afterlife, if there is one."

I laughed, even as I slowly succumbed to my wounds. "An eternity of battle, I could do worse, I think."

Both of us laughed. We laughed and laughed until I passed out.

When I woke up, for one wild moment, I thought I was dead. But it turned out I was in the ship's infirmary.

To my surprise, I saw Captain Jones and Goji sleeping on the chairs beside my bed.

"You're awake, thought you were going to die, young one," said Shane, the grizzled ship doctor.

"What about that other guy?" I asked.

"The one with the crazy main for a hairdo?" asked Shane. "His own crew rescued him, nearly got into a fight with us."

An odd feeling of relief washed through me, while Shiki was my enemy, and a worthy one at that, I didn't want him to die. At least not by another person's hand.

"What the hell were you thinking?" a familiar voice snarled.

I turned and saw Goji had already awakened; his face red with anger.

I instinctively cringed.

"What the hell were you thinking?" the old man snarled again. "Were you trying to get yourself killed? Were you trying to...to...gah! You're really an idiot, Newgate!"

Normally I would keep my mouth shut, but then something in me just snapped.

"Shut up, you shitty old man!" I yelled, surprising both Shane and Goji. "I wasn't trying to get myself killed! I was fighting! The opponent was as strong as me, and we both got badly beat up! That's all!"

"You little brat!" shouted Goji. "You got into a pointless fight that could've brought the marines down on us! Your quake powers could've been felt for miles!"

"So what!" I roared, losing all control. "So what if the marines come down on us! We would've wiped them off the Grand Line!"

Goji was blinking with surprise, a little taken aback by my outburst because I was normally quiet. But he recovered and his eyes narrowed with fury.

"You arrogant little punk!" the old man raged. "You want what happened to Roy to happen to everyone else? You want to get us all killed?"

The mention of Roy got me out of bed and I would've fought Goji right there if it hadn't been for Captain Jones.

"Enough you two," the captain's calm voice cut through to us. "Goji, Shane, could the two of you leave us for awhile?"

Goji and Shane left, the old man still fuming as he did.

Captain just looked at me for a long while but didn't say anything and neither did I. The silence just stretched on and on but I was determined to not be the one to break it.

Finally, Captain spoke.

"We miss him too, you know."

That simple statement caught me off guard and I felt that hot prickling sensation that preceded the tears. I blinked them back furiously, not wanting to cry again, at least not in front of the Captain.

"Getting yourself killed won't bring him back," Jones added quietly.

"That deathblow was meant for me," I said. "It should have been me who died, not Roy."

Captain just stared at me for awhile before sighing. Then, he did something completely unexpected.

He struck me across the face.

Hard.

"The fact is he's still the one who died!" shouted Jones. "You on the other hand, are still alive! You think I'm going to allow you to spit on his sacrifice by getting yourself killed? You must be mad, boy!"

I was too stunned by the hit and the fact that Captain Jones, who's normally so soft spoken, was shouting.

"Roy was my best mate too, you know," said the Captain, his voice now soft and weary. "I've known him for a very long time. His sacrifice...I would've done the same for him, and he for me. I would've done it for you, Goji, Cook, Shane and anyone else."

I felt the tears coming and again and blinked them back furiously.

"I know Roy's way of thinking better than anyone else," continued Jones. "That's why I know that he's very happy that his last act was to protect a nakama."

"I don't deserve it," I said quietly.

Jones just shook his head. "Do any of us? But the fact remains that he did it, and would do it a thousand times over if he could. So would I."

He got up and placed a hand on my shoulder gently.

"I know you feel responsible for his death, Newgate," Jones said gently. "But believe me when I say that you are not to blame. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine."

I looked up at him, surprised.

He nodded. "If I had recovered in time, I would've been able to stop the Crimson Razor from killing him and the others. But no, I was lying down here, incapacitated."

Self-loathing was evident in his voice and I realise then that Captain was actually taking Roy's death the hardest. But he handled it way better than I did.

"So please, Newgate, don't throw your life away needlessly," continued Jones. "It would be an insult to Roy."

He turned to leave but I had to ask him one last question.

"Captain, why would you lay down your life for ours?"

Jones didn't even turn around, but his answer struck a chord with me.

"Because you are all my family. Is that not enough?"

I'm ashamed of the way I behaved. I was selfish in thinking that I was the only who was saddened by Roy's death. The truth is that everyone felt the loss, not just me.

I've been behaving like an idiot. I've been saved by Roy, and the only way I can repay him is to protect those I care about.

Even if it means that I would die.