The strawhats were rather busy for those 2 weeks. Zoro and Sanji beat up a few vice admirals and stole their marine ship to go and cause more chaos. Sanji of course, was navigating since Zoro got lost on the way to the said ship, even though it was directly in their line of vision. After estimating the strength of the current pirates, Robin and Franky broke into Marine HQ library databases and read up on most of the information the World Government had kept hidden or filtered from the general populace. It was mostly bits and pieces that were slightly altered, but it was still new information that Robin loved to learn. Nami and Yamato had gone on a shopping spree using Nami's cat burglarizing skills, and they got a lot of the essentials they would need for their mission along with their own (read Nami's) personal clothing and items.
Yamato was not willing to undergo that kind of torture for free no matter who she wished she was, so she decided to have Nami train with her as part of a deal.
Nami agreed to it and is very much regretting it now. Yamato is as much of a slave driver as her father if she wants you stronger. Nami is aching in muscles she didn't know she had.
Brook and Chopper had decided to break into marine bases, and see what kind of secret medicine and treatment plans they kept hidden from the rest of the world. It wasn't much as the marines usually destroy more than they attempt to fix, but they were looking for something that was held exclusively for higher ups only.
The others had accomplished their respective missions and would be back before the end of the day. Luffy knew this was nothing to his crew.
Each and everyone of them got their bounties and they were high due to their association with the infamous "Nika".
Luffy's bounty was an outstanding starting bounty of 3 billion just 500 million short of the highest bounty in the world. Rocks D. Xebec's.
'How strong is this guy? If Imu places me under him? She doesn't know my devil fruit is complete, but even at the half strength I was, I could give her some trouble.' Luffy contemplated his bounty in deep thought.
'Who are you, Rocks D. Xebec?'
The man himself was looking at Luffy's bounty poster. He had scavenged the grandline with several bounty posters looking for someone powerful enough to start his crew with and become the first mate of the soon to be known Rocks Pirates. He had a list of names. Shiki, Newgate, Linlin, Kurama, Uchiha, and Orochi, were some of his list of options as first mates. All of them with bounties over one and a half billion.
But this guy, out of the blue, has nearly caught up to his bounty (the highest in history at this point Oi in time) with his first bounty. He has to have him as his first mate. Rocks got his bounty due to his frequent victories over Marine admirals, vice admirals, and his slaying of Celestial Dragon bastards. Having the ability to oppose the world government is enough for them to place a high bounty on you. Having a reason to oppose them could grant a bounty, and having the strength to do so is also a reason why you may receive a bounty from the World Government.
Rocks has all three, and is the most hated scorn of the marines and navy in this time period. Although he is a pirate without a crew, that is bound to change eventually; his bounty will shoot up even more.
But with his plans he has to get Nika as a member of his crew and his first mate. He needs as many powerful crew members as possible if he plans to destroy the world government.
All that is left is to find him, this Nika person, seems to have subordinates as well, maybe he should try to find them in order to pinpoint their location.
"This is going to be such a pain. Where do I even start?" Rocks was not looking forward to the grueling task of finding pirates who do not want to be found.
"Oi Mosshead! Hurry up, we have to make it back to the crew soon" Sanji screamed
"Don't tell me what to do, Pervert Cook! I'll get there on my own if I have to!" Zoro yelled back.
"Is that a challenge, Broccoli?!" Sanji glares at him.
"Bring it on, you Watchlist" Zoro yells back.
By calling him a Watchlist, he is insinuating the fact that Sanji was a pedophilic simp to Jewelry Bonney, before finding out that she was just a child making herself look older than she actually was with her devil fruit power.
Sanji was very depressed that day, when he realized she was just a child, and the look Nami gave him (teasingly cause she also had no idea about Bonney's age) was painful.
Zoro refuses to let it go.
With all these reasons, it's understandable why Sanji launches at Zoro, and begins to fight him. Zoro happily obliged.
As they scuffle, their observation Haki fails to notice the approaching Rocks D Xebec, and as a result they damn near jump out of their skin when he suddenly appears near them.
"Oi!! You guys must be part of that Nika person's crew! Where is he?!" Rocks had a massive smile on his face, although it was far from malicious, he does have a rather terrifying appearance. He's been blessed by some gods, because he's already met his target's subordinates. Little did he know, he should be thanking Zoro's directional skills, as Sanji had looked away for a few seconds. This was more than enough time for Zoro to get lost, so Sanji had to find him and drag him back to their boat.
Of course, Zoro refused to admit he got lost, and the resulting argument is what attracted Zebec to the commotion.
"What do you want with our captain?" Zoro points one of his Meitō swords at the titan in front of him and questions him with only the slightest ounce of fear. His observation Haki tells him he's just inches above his captain.
His captain is "The Sun God" amongst the current people, and of course he's been painted in a bad light for using such a strong devil fruit for "nefarious purposes". Still, they do not completely underestimate his power, and his bounty sits around that of an Emperor, but this man before him is the closest fugitive to 4 billion belly.
"I want to recruit him to my crew!" Rocks straight up gave his answer. Those with the will of D are not ones to dance around the bush. They'd rather just cut it down along with anything else in their paths.
"We give no answers for him, you must speak to him yourself." Sanji is quick to introduce himself into the conversation. He's not letting the Mosshead get one over him. He has Conqueror's Haki too dammit!
"Oh, where can I meet him?" Rocks wants to start his pirate crew and change the world! Killing Celestial weaklings or whatever they're called, isn't going to cut it anymore. He has to make a pirate crew and begin his adventure to save the world!
"We were just heading back to him. Get on our boat, we already have a ship with us, and we aren't going too far anyway" Zoro says.
"How would you know how far we're going mosshead?! You got lost walking in a straight line towards the boat!"
Sanji was annoyed that Zoro was try to estimate their expected arrival, when he had no sense of direction whatsoever.
"I did not get lost, Pervert Cook!" Zoro yells back.
"Yes you did!" Sanji yells just as furiously.
Rocks just stood there and sweat-dropped watching them go at each other. He was not poking that bear anytime soon. The headache would be insane.
"Ugh, whatever. We have to go. We are already running late thanks to you." Sanji decides to focus on the mission at hand.
Zoro knows that. He will never disappoint his captain, so he will agree with the idiot for now.
Rocks just wondered what he had gotten himself into with this crew….
Little did he know, this was the start of the Rocks Grand Fleet.