A Bigger Boat

**Date Started:** March 6, 2020
**Date Completed:** Ongoing
**Previous Role-Play:** Evil's Soft First Touches
**Next Role-Play:**
**Users Involved:** User:GuyCivic, User:ComicMaster619, User:BQD, User:Sakura0Xavier, User:Garlicfork, User:KontonMan
**Setting:** Es-Nezinu
**Characters Involved**:
* **Slaughter Pirates:** Gai, Tine Rena, Urashima Taro, Melody Arietta, Aiko, Olsen Alfhild
* **Others:** Burr Bors, Okada Yomotsu, Charlie Jack
* **Marines:** Goro Maiya

Es-Nezinu, another dot on the old map that Gai had 'bought' from his little adventure a few islands back, was now where the captain and his crew members found themselves entering as they pulled their row boat onto shore and absorbed in the busy atmosphere of the beach. What they found was a sea-side market, filled with plenty of citizens and merchants, talking loudly into the air, as bargaining, catching up and even arguing went on in the area. Stalls lined the streets and around buildings, and by the looks of it, seemed to cover the entire settlement, as there was no corner left empty in sight. The perfect place to restock on supplies and find the things that they needed, to continue their journey to the Red Line. Though, after what happened back at Obscuria, Gai was feeling a little uneasy about entering another market, especially with one as filled as this.

"I-I'm going to get you guys to sort yourselves into groups. We're going to need a shipwright, a cook, and a few more fighters. If you find what who we need, you're allowed to use force if they don't want to cooperate," Gai instructed the search party before beckoning to a couple of them to follow, "And don't get lost, we'll meet back at the rowboat tonight to see what we've found. I'll be investigating our new ship, and possibly finding a place that sells big carrots for our new friend on board."

Closing her eyes for a moment as she took in her captain's orders, Melody stared at him with her blank pink eyes before nodding softly. It felt strange to come back to a place filled with people outside the crew, especially seeing as Melody preferred to stay on the deck, doing bits and ends where she could. She wasn't too sure where to start and feeling so nervous only caused her to stress more.

"I suppose," she started as her words seemed to hum slightly, "I shall take people to some bar. I need rum and..." trailing off she paused. "Aye, I got this," Melody told herself more than the others.

A new face among the crew seemed to be the last to hop out of the rowboat, using her hand to slip the hairs back underneath her hat before sniffing the air around them and collecting the overwhelming scent of food. Aiko almost couldn't feel her jaw almost drop as her brain processed the different smells and just how delicious they were, and unconsciously pulled her towards the market without much notice from her fellow crew mates. Only Tine Rena, the ship's doctor, managed to spot Aiko's situation, and decided to ultimately follow after her to make sure she was safe, knowing the others were more than capable of taking care of their own and following Gai's orders.

"Ai-AIKO! Where is she going?!" Rena began to panic as she rushed after the young pirate after grabbing a woven basket from within the small vessel.

Without even listening intently to his Captain's words, Taro jumped out of the rowboat. He pulled the rod of his fishing pole towards him. Sad. No catch today. Jumping out of the boat, Taro took in the atmosphere slowly as parts of Gai's speech entered his mind, as if he could pick and choose which words to take in. Shipwright. Fighter. Carrots. Yes, those were the three things that seemed most important to him. Taking in the smell of the various stalls in the merchant port, Taro made his way to where the smell of the sea was most apparent.

Just before Gai proceeded into the market, the captain slipped out the map from before to look it over again, tracing his finger over the small bumps of ink traced onto the parchment that formed a visible dotted trail, leading from the start of the Grand Line to where they were now. Es-Nezinu didn't look like the kind of place that a ship like The Wildest Hunt would be kept at, but he supposed it made sense as unwary pirates would simply skip over the island instead of looking for a battleship hidden underneath its waves. Gai was able to read up on everything he could about the Wildest Hunt on the way to Es-Nezinu, about its origins and what made it so special, yet the thing he was still not sure about was how he was going to even lift the battleship from the waters. While he did get stronger within water, pulling a large battleship from the sea floor and towards the surface would require much more than him alone. The strength of a devil fruit user could have been useful at a time like this, though it was a shame about the circumstances, and needed folk that were able to hold their breathe long enough to pull forth a giant ship that was able to rival any castle on land.

"*Perhaps there are Fish-Men here that may be able to help? Or maybe some giants? Kind of wish I started recruiting back in Obscuria, there were plenty of that kind of folk there.*" Gai thought to himself before looking closer to the map.

From what he could see, the 'x' signifying The Wildest Hunt's location pointed to the most northern part of the island, with the scale of the map telling Gai that it was about a day's walk from one side of Es-Nezinu to the other. Perfectly accomplishable, well at least Gai hoped so for what his crew were. After the desperate raids to feed the Damned, the numbers of the Slaughter Pirates swiftly dropped, leaving some of the more accomplished members making up majority of the crew. It broke Gai's heart to have to lose members, sure, but it always meant that it gave more room for the crew to grow whilst allowing them to welcome more into their ranks.

"...You lot go look for large carrots for Maxie. I'll need to talk to some locals about a certain something." Gai instructed as he folded the map up and slid it back into his coat.

"Uh, um sir? What makes you think that the ship is still there?" One of the pirates asked in a nervous voice, a little confused about the captain's excitement and confidence in there actually being something there to find.

"Aye aye captain!" The pirates saluted before heading off to the side and leave Gai on his own.

*The Night Before, Captain's Quarters*
*"And what makes you think your mom's in New World? What if she isn't? What if she was in Paradise this whole time, and you've just placed thousands of miles between you and her?" Alfhild sighed, pacing back and forth between the front of the room as Gai watched on from his desk.*

*"That's way too much worrying for my liking. To be honest, I think I'll just assume she's there and hope that I'm right." Gai laughed as he leaned back into his seat, crossing his leg over the other and lifting it onto the desk in front of him to rest them.*

*A visible sense of surprise was shown on Alfhild's face as she momentarily stopped in her tracks to look at her captain with a mix of shock and disgust. Shaking her head and letting out a more irritated sigh, the first mate resumed pacing back and forth, holding her hands behind her back in order to keep herself together. "D-do you know how dangerous that kind of thinking is? You can't just assume everything is what you think it is! That's madness!"*

*"Madness? WE'RE PIRATES! No matter what anyone thinks, no sane man sails the seas without being a little off the edge. Besides, its usually safer to go in a little crazy than before, because the sea has a tendency to eat at your mind the longer you're out there." Gai explained before pulling himself from his seat and making his way to the front of his desk.*

*"...And then, if she is there, what happens to the rest of us? You might bring all of the Slaughter Pirates to the New World, but what then? Some of the crew members might leave soon after, some might not even make it with us. And what about the Damned? Do you plan on holding them as your burden until they've eaten everything in this world? What happens to use when we finally get there?" Alfhild exclaimed, stamping her foot onto the ground and creating a small shockwave that dispersed around her, sending winds to push back Gai's hair and flutter the papers inside the room.*

*The room went silent as Gai and Alfhild exchanged looks, with Alfhild being the more serious one between the two. It was like they had switched bodies, as it was usually Gai being the more serious of the pair, but only behind doors would the captain finally show just how mature Alfhild was compared to him. His time working with the Damned seemed to have taken its toll on the captain, making his view on life more distorted than before, with his hesitation to kill decreasing to almost nothing. He cared for his crew, even if they weren't wholly human like him, but seemed to care for them in a way that no many would resort to at first. He had become more than the cool, collected slave trader that Alfhild first met before becoming a slave, now mixed with the mind of an ignorant child that had been repressed for years, only able to now come out and grow after escaping from the depths of the man's mind.*

*"We've all got our sins that we've got to pay back for, that's the whole reason why I even keep the Damned alive. I failed them while they were still human, so I'll repay them by serving them in the state they are in now," Gai continued before heading for the door of his quarters and slipping his coat around his shoulders, "I don't expect any of you to stick around till the end, whether alive or dead. But I expect that you may at least leave without regret, or at least feel as though you've tried your best in trying to pay for your sins. You don't need to pay it blood like me, but at least pay it with blood of some sort, even if it must be your own."*

"...Now. Time to go find people who can point me in the right direction. Assuming there is people that can." Gai said before moving forward with his hands shoved into his pockets.

## Hunt for the Wilderpeople

“Anotha’ round!” Burr Bors yelled. “Ya’ got ta’ beat me fo’ it! I win, you’re gonna pay fo’ te’ ale!”

The crowd in the tavern erupted in cheers and excitement, each patron getting ready to watch the arm wrestling match. Bors stood at over 13 feet tall, with chocolate skin and rippling muscles. What was most noticeable about him were the bandages wrapped around him, his strange horns and the scythe that hung from his back. He gently placed his arm on the steel table.

His opponent was Great White Shark Fishman, with gray skin and a white underside. His body was covered in scars, and he stood even taller than Bors himself. He grinned cheekily at Bors as he slammed his elbow into the steel table and caused for it to dent. The Fishman flexed his fingers, clasping onto Bors’ open hand.

The FIshman began to push down against Bors’ arm. Veins popped all over the Fishman, the table of steel denting even further. The wooden floors began to rumble from the sheer pressure behind the Fishman’s strength. Even while the Fishman began to sweat, Bors’ arm hadn’t moved an inch. In fact, Bors was yawning at the sight of the Fishman. Despite all of his struggle, there was no sign of effort from Bors.

“Ma’ turn!” the horned man yelled. Bors suddenly slammed the Fishman’s hand into the table. A loud cracking noise echoed from the Fishman’s arm, right as the steel table shattered into little shreds. Bors freed himself from the Fishman’s grasp, before standing to his full height and letting out a cheer. The crown followed in suit.

“Free ale fo’ all o’ us!” Bors yelled.

Entering the bustling and loud cheers of the tavern goers, Melody felt a bit lost but squeezed herself pass as many people as she could. Her goal in sight was the bar itself as she ordered alcohol, paying for it and drinking it all down at once. Wiping her mouth she blinked twice as she stared at Bors, clearly the main cause of the chaos caused seeing as people seemed to cheer around him.

Staying silent and at the side as she ordered yet another drink, she watched him for a moment, carefully studying him and other people in the bars but she found her eyes focusing on him. Sturdy. Strong. Clearly got spirit. It was possible to use him in the Slaughter Pirates but to just ask a man to join a crew was not the best kind of idea. Melody decided to stay quiet and survey the area just a bit longer...

“You’re gonna pay for that-ishy!” the shark Fishman spoke, steadily rising to his feet. “How dare you do that to me-ishy! You sick bastard-ishy!”

Bors turned to face the Fishman, looking slightly up towards him. “Yur’ back fo’ seconds, fishy?” he asked. “Want me ta’ break te’ otha’ hand?”

The Fishman slammed his hands into Bors’ chest in an attempt to push him, but Bors didn’t budge. The Fishman was quick to ignore this however, beginning to scowl at Bors. The Fishman began to screech and howl, consistently using ‘p’ sounds. Bors squinted, before he slowly wiped the spit off of his face. “Ya’ ever ‘ere o’ speakin’ n’ not spittin’?” he asked.

Grunts were heard at the front of the bar as a group of Fishmen strolled in, each cackling with laughter. What the shark man had done with the squealing was call upon his friends, a method that had disgusted Bors. He had no idea someone could spit that much in such little time.

“Me and my boys will kill you-ishy.” the Shark spoke. “We’ll make you beg for my forg—“

The Fishman was quickly shut up by the sound of a large cracking noise, Bors’ hand having quite literally crushed the mans skull. He turned to the other Fishman, his eyes obviously showing his boredom with the situation. “So,” he asked. Bors grabbed a keg from around the barside, chugging it within moments. He belched, and then smiled. “Which one o' ya is next?”

A slight hum came from Melody as she stepped forward towards Bors, likely a weird sight seeing as most people in the bar were large men. Her petite looks and her rather simple garbs, a pink shirt with white ruffles and bows while she wore a large purple skirt and black boots, were what had charmed other people before him. She pushed back her hair a little and softly smiled towards him her pale pink eyes pinned on him but... they were off. No shine or emotion seemed to carry to her eyes and beyond that they lacked a pupil.

"How about me? Will ya take me on?" Melody said before laughing. She knew full well her appearance could fool any man, it was why she had stayed under cover for so long to the marines. "The winner has to pay for each others drinks and has one request to ask of one another," she winked before laughing again.

"What do you say?"

"I don' figh' lil' girls." Bors responded. While her empty eyes were off putting, which showed a strange carnal energy, he simply didn't care. He could feel that she had strength, and that winning would be too much of an effort. She was probably twice as a strong as a fishman, which put here at 20 times stronger than the average human. That would be it'd be a more annoying to push her arm down. And Bors wasn't in the mood for that, he had just won unlimited drinks.

Bors grabbed another keg, taking a powerful sip from it. "I'll 'ere you out though." Bors continued. "Whats your request, lass?"

Pouting a little seeing as that was much easier than she was hoping, a little bit of smack down would be fun, she sat down beside him. "A bottle of rum for my drink and my request is hard to do now since you chickened out of my fight," she leaned back on the chair as she started to roll her eyes around the tavern, still keeping a scouting eye out of course. A soft hum was on her lips as she tried to pick her words quickly, she was sure just asking someone to join a crew would do her no good.

As her eyes landed back, flicking Bors up and down but still empty as always her face light up with a smile. "So, how often do you just raid a tavern with your strength?"

"Not being a chick 'ere, lass. You're strong, I know. But I'm still stronger. I don' want to figh' if I don't get anything from it." Bors said. But he nodded in respect of her request, leaning over the edge and grabbing a few bottles. He spread them on the table in front of Melody, as if telling her to pick whichever one.

"As for my lil' raids...whenever I'm in te' mood fo' a drink."

Picking a rather large bottle of the choices, she uncorked the rum and took in as much as she could in one long sweep, the bottle hitting her lips and not leaving until she was dying for a breath. She placed the bottle down rather loudly before letting out a nice sigh of relief.

"Chicken or not, I needed to make sure you were worth my time was all," her words already starting to slur slightly. Clearly a lightweight. "Taking on some fishman is one thing but being able to last in a fight is something else. Besidessss, how else will a lass get some fun," she leaned back again, content with a bottle in hand. "The sea is vast and kind but it still can be cramped over time ya know."

"You wanna figh'?" Bors asked, finishing off his keg. "Not arm wrestle?"

"That was the jist of my idea yes. We fight till someone says stop, simple as can be."

"No," Bors replied. He was blunt, straight to the fact. "I don' trust ya. You've got somethin' else, other than te' strength. If I'd wanna win, I'd 'ave ta' drink my concoction. Ain't fo' that."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his index finger, before looking for another keg of rum. "'Though, tell me your request. I'll agree if ya' do something fo' me."

She smiled again as she finished her bottle, putting the empty one to the side and going towards another bottle. "Aha, so you have some brains and some strength, you are quite right, I have something else on my sleeve. It doesn't take much to know I cannot take on a fella like you but raw strength now."

As she once again leaned back towards the table her voice seemed to go to a whisper suddenly. "A man like you should have no issues with this, but I am currently recruiting for ma captain ya see. We need people with strength to help fight our causes. Simple stuff really."

Bors blinked a few times. A crew? Piracy? Memories flashed in Bors' mind, remembering a old legacy left by his grandfather. Was it his turn now, to carry the torch laid in his family?

He nervously set the keg he had grabbed to the side, starign at Melody. "What's your crew called?" he asked.

This was the mark she was needing to reach, she had his interest and no one else seemed to be peaking into the conversation, the bar going back to it's usual loud cheers and chaos.

"We aren't on any newspapers as of yet, we are under a new leader and a new name ya see but we go by the name Slaughter Pirates."

"Ah." was Bors' simple answer. He had no idea what to do, he had a duty to carry on his family's legacy. But his simple life was everything he had ever wanted.

His mind flashed back to a summer night. The sight of a young girl as Marines charged in, firing their guns. Their bullets hitting her, and her falling to ground lifeless.

Bors snapped back to reality, staring at Melody. "A-Aye." he said. "I'll join. I got a favour to ask o' first."

She tilted her head slightly but urged him to go on still. It was weird how he would go silent and simple seem to disappear from reality, his eyes and entire body stiffen as if he wasn't quite here. It was unusual but also not unusual enough to stop a recruitment.

"I'll do what I can to aid you. No promises of course," she said with a soft laugh before taking another long drink from her bottle of rum, pushing another bottle into her bag for later.

Bors shot to his feet, a somber smile on his face. "Don't let me die without my scythe in hand."

"Hmm... well I of all people could actually help you," she said standing up before taking out a hand. "Then we have a deal, I'll ensure this fact if you join our crew, yes?"

"I'm in." Bors replied.

"Burr Bors, reportin' fo' duty."

"Arietta, Arietta Melody, most just call me Melody."

A bland scent wafted through the market, and Jack sighed. Nothing interesting ever happened around here. A small dandelion in front of him quivered, before lifting itself up on newly mobile roots. The flower walked through the dirt and placed itself in front of him, before releasing all its seed heads up in a torrent past his face. Smiling slightly to himself, Jack climbed to his feet and breathed in deeply. If he no fun would present itself, he would just have to make his own; and he had a lot of experience in doing that. Without further ado, he leaped onto a low wall, then onto a small outhouse, before onto the roof a house. This better vantage point gave him a great view of the entire town. The port seemed to be especially busy today - while the island was a common place for ships of all sizes to restock their supplies, there seemed to be more ships than usual. Fantastic. A smirk danced onto his face, and he set out across the roofs towards the dock.

"AIKO! GET OUT OF THERE!"

In the distance near the dock, a scene began to unfold as a red haired woman dressed in black watched a young woman jump into a stall, one that seemed to be selling noodle bowls to a long line that stretched far into the market. The young woman wore quite a strange attire, with a brown cap covering her black hair and what looked to be armoured pads worn on the back of her forearms. In a way, the young woman looked like a feral dog in a way with how her hair stuck out to the sides, like an animalistic mane that waved around as she threw herself about and disrupted the stall's business. Several chefs inside immediately evacuated the small space, save for one that was forced into a corner and tucked into a ball, watching the havoc that the young girl was causing.

"AIKO! I TOLD YOU TO GET OUT OF THERE!"

The young woman turned her head for a couple of seconds before returning to her business, throwing bowls of noodles into her mouth and throwing away the empty dishes as she proceeded onto the next. Many people in line didn't care too much about what was going on, implying that it must have been normal on the island for trouble makers to start messing around with the businesses, as no-one stepped forward to help with the red haired lady's pleas.

Jack crouched on the roof of a tailor's shop, watching the scene at the noodle stall unfold. The two women were both quite tall, although the older one - the shouting one - gave off a very civilised and intelligent air. In stark contrast the younger one, who seemed to be named Aiko, looked as though she'd just crawled out of the a dumpster in an alley. Leaping to the floor gently, Jack coaxed some growth out of the grass nearby and grew a selection of spicy chilli peppers. Sitting, he grabbed one of his knives and swiftly diced the peppers into slices: seeds intact. He then stood once more, walked past the two young women, and tossed a handful of the chilli slices into Aiko's bowl while she was distracted by her friend. Ruffling his emerald hair, Jack found a nice wall to lean on and watch the drama unfold.

Too busy to notice, as all that she could concentrate on was swallowing every noodle in sight, Aiko unknowingly dumped every slice of the peppers down her throat along with everything else that was in the bowl. It took a few seconds for any reaction to come out of her, but when it did, the young woman's light skin quickly turned into a bright red tomato colour. Her eyes widened at the sudden burning sensation that coated the inside of her mouth, throughout her throat and now in her stomach, heating every bit of her body to a point where touching her could burn your finger.

"Ack.... Y-you call t-this spic-cy?" She said with her eyes tearing up and streams going down her face, looking towards the last chef that was trapped in the stall with her.

"...W-what do you mean? We don't do spicy noodles." The man responded in a nervous voice, although keeping it together much better than Aiko apparently was.

"W-well. T-this ain't spic-cy-"

Before Aiko could really complete her sentence, she turned her face to the side to let out flames that burst forth from her mouth, away from the chef in front of her. Without hesitation, Aiko threw her bowl to the side and ran out the stall, heading for the waters which she quickly threw herself into. The young woman seemed to had done all this in a matter of seconds, as she was nowhere to be seen after jumping, with the red haired lady looking almost fed up with her young friend's behaviour. At this point, running after her was now just a chore for the older woman, who walked towards the beach where Aiko was last seen to at least looked like she cared.

"AIKO! COME OUT OF THERE NOW."

Jack howled with laughter at the sight of the gluttonous girl unable to handle her heat. He followed the the redhead as she chased after her charge, and chuckled when Aiko dove into the sea. With a gesture, the seaweed that was anchored to the bottom of the bay began to grow and grow, ensnaring Aiko's limbs and lifting her out of the water before placing her on dry land once again. Finally having made his presence known, Jack stepped forward from the crowd and introduced himself.

"My name is Charlie Jack. It's a pleasure to meet you two lovely ladies on such a lovely day."

"Hmmm? I'll assume it's to meet you too. Do you have something to do with this then?" Rena asked, turning around to see Jack standing before the group of people watching them.

"RENA! HELP ME!" Aiko screamed as soon as she noticed what was lifting her.

The seaweed retreated back below the surface as Jack's mouth was drawn into a tight smile once more, "You aren't from around here, are you? What brings you here?"

"...Oh? What made it obvious? I'm here with my crew to restock and recruit, right now we're looking for more members, specifically a shipwright and a cook, since our last ones seemed to have... 'left'." Rena explained with a nervous smile as she scratched the back of her head, "Well, with how my friend here has acted, I'm not sure her and I can go around recruiting anymore."

Laughing, Jack exclaimed "What are the chances?! I happen to be looking for work as a chef! I'd be happy to venture out with you and your crew, if you can forgive me for planting those chillis in your friends noodles." He absentmindedly played with one of his earrings, slightly anxious. After all, this may be his one chance to get off this dump of an island and do something interesting with his life.

"Y-YOU BASTARD!" Aiko screamed out as she heard Jack's confession.

"AIKO! Remember your manners," Rena quickly turned back to scold Aiko before returning her attention to Jack, "As I've been screaming her name for the past ten minutes, the young lady over there is Aiko. The ship's gunsmith and mechanic. I'm Rena, the ship's doctor."

Storming over to Rena and Jack, the young woman stood right next to the chef with an irritated look, poking her finger into his side in a childish way. "Those chillis weren't even hot!" Aiko taunted before making her way to Rena's side, "I hope you can cook, I'm sick of just eating bland meat and oranges everyday."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It just gets so boring here, you know?" Jack apologised to Aiko, before quickly turning back to Rena and offering his hand out for a shake. While he did so, he called upon his Habu Habu no Mi and several plant stems burst from his biceps and back, all of them with different types of fruit and vegetables growing on the end. "Hopefully this shows that you'll have a bit more variety from now on. And, I'm no expert with machines, but if you teach me some things I'll be happy to teach you to cook for yourself in return, Aiko"

"WOW! I like him already!" Aiko exclaimed in excitement as she reached out and picked one of the fruits that grew from Jack's body.

With a motherly smile, Rena reached out and shook Jack's hand, looking him up and down to see what she could get from him. "Well you do have quite an impressive ability here. Plus, we don't have that many Devil Fruit users on board besides our musician. That is, presuming that you were able to do this with a Devil Fruit. Our captain will want to have a good look at you, we're meant to be meeting at a rowboat tonight to show him who or what we've found."

"So we gonna recommend you don't have anything planned for tonight." Aiko butted in, having nearly finished the piece of fruit she plucked from Jack.

"Yeah, this was a Devil Fruit - although it'd be a mighty impressive trick if it wasn't, wouldn't it? And not to come across as sad and lonely, but I literally never have anything planned. I'd be more than happy to come with you and meet this captain of yours." Jack laughed at Aiko's bluntness.

"Well, I don't know about being sad, but you won't be lonely anymore, now that your with us." Aiko smiled as she plucked another piece of fruit off Jack.

"Well, with how much Aiko is enjoying this, I can say for sure that you'll never be lonely if you keep growing fruit off your body like that," Rena chuckled while holding her hand over her mouth, "Captain says we might be here for a day or two anyway, so we're not quite off the island just yet. If you're a local, me and Aiko would appreciate it if you showed us the best place for drinks here."

"Oh yeah, I know a fantastically cheap place just around the corner. Let's go!" Jack lead the way, content with his new acquaintances and excited at the prospect of future adventures.

Crossing through the lumber yard, Yomotsu lugged several wooden boards across his shoulder, using his free hand to carry around a tool box as he tugged along a large cart of building materials on his tail-end with a rope. Lunging the boards across a stack of wood near the pier's lighthouse, Yomotsu could see all manner of ships and boats coming in and out of the island, walking straight to the edge of the rail from the upper yard where the lighthouse was built and gazing off into the distance. Unloading the cart's contents to the ground, Yomotsu drew the attention of the numerous builders and citizens walking about the market, more so because of his miss-mashed appearance rather than the noise he was making. Wearing what was obviously a fake beard hanging along his face that drastically contrasted his long black hair, and large sunglasses obscuring his eyes that drew most to his bright red coat. "Bwah! Beats running, but slaving away for just 1,000 is just criminal dammit."

Quickly building a make-shift ladder from leftover wood, Yomotsu climbed his way to the top of lighthouse, dragging a bucket of paint in his left hand, several nails in his mouth, and a hammer with several wooden boards tied along his back. Staring back at the pier, Yomotsu could glance over at his own "ship", consisting of several logs tied together as a raft, having lost his original transpiration on the previous island, resulting in him having to work for what little he could scroung up for ship parts. Hammering away on the tower's repairs, Yomotsu let a few boards slip from the building and land directly on top of crew's break area, falling through the window.

"Yomotshu! God damn bum, eyes on your work or you can forget that overtime!" The foreman bellied, nearly knocking Yomotsu off the building entirely as he stood hanging off the ladder, with what looked like a scabbard falling from his coat and landing atop the cart of materials he had hauled in earlier.

While trying to use his nose as a guide, Taro ended in what could only be the building district of the island. A lighthouse stood atop all the other buildings, shining brightly despite the time of day. Noise could be heard, gossip, rumors, and orders from many different people who all had one thing in common. They were likely shipwrights. Suddenly, as Taro walked, he heard a strong thudding sound, followed by curses. Nasty curses that he could not fathom repeating.

Looking at the object of such insults, Taro found a man, who nearly falling from his ladder, the building near him shaking due to his shaky composure. What appeared to be a weapon slowly slipped from his coat, falling down to the ground.

"L-look out!" Instinctively, Taro snapped his arm forward, fishing rod in hand. Its string surged forward with uncanny precision, its hook wrapped around the weapon before Taro brought his arm back, leading the scabbard to find its way comfortably unto his free hand. Placing his fishing rod on his back once more, Taro analyzed the weapon, before focusing on the man once more. "Need help?!"

Dangling one-handed along the rickety stairs, Yomotsu's beard dangled as he struggled to place it back on against his nose, turning to see the stranger holding unto his sword. "Me? Naw. The real question is, HOW can I help YOU?" Kicking off the the lighthouse wall, Yomotsu barreled into the mountain of junk on the cart's backside, rolling on the ground before pouncing to his feet. Patting himself down for any dirt, Yomotsu slicked his hair back and he strolled up against the stranger, glancing at his fish rod, nodding to himself as if he had connected two dots together. "I knew it, you heard I was here and you couldn't help yourself. Typical," he bellied, putting on airs as he stroked his chin. Swinging his arm along the stranger's shoulder, he brought him in close, stroking his "beard" as he got a closer look at the rod used to catch his sword.

"It's not bad, but who says 'good' can't be 'better'," quickly sifting through the junk lying around, Yomotsu grabbed a hammer and nails, collecting the various contraptions and appliances around to piece them together. "With your height, I could probably make make the rod longer, maybe add an extra line or two, really get the most mileage out of that sucker." Banging and clanking resounded around the yard, Yomotsu wiping the sweat across his face as he finished building, presenting the young man with a with an odd-looking fishing rod attached with a bizarre assortment of contraptions, "with this, you'll be envy of everyone at the harbor, I doubt even sea kings could break that line. That'll be ​​5,000,000."

"OHHHH that looks REALLY COOL!" Taro answered, his eyes glimmering like stars. He had been taken aback at first, the man seemed too comfortable with him, way too comfortable. Yet at the sight of the fishing rod he couldn't help but stand in awe. An image of Gai flashed on his mind, which caused him to shake his head as it pulled him out of his own fantasy. "No, no, no. I'm here to find a shipwright." Taro reminded himself out loud, before looking at Yomotsu once more. "Here you go, also this fishing rod works just fine for me..." he passed the blade to Yomotsu, a saddened expression visible.

"A-any ways, do you happen to know any shipwrights, beard guy?" Taro asked.

"If its shipwrights your looking for, they got a couple down by the dock. Nothing amazing per se, but they can take care of basic repairs if that's your thing. Put if you're looking for more than a little fix, I'm talking a real 'upgrade' well...I might know a guy who knows a guy if you know what I'm saying" However, grimacing at the sudden mention of "Shipwrights" with various Navy officers around, the bearded fellow could feel his stomach churn, breaking out into a cold sweat as he took the young man aside, peeking from various directions for any passerby that might be listening in. Assured that the coast was cleared, Yomotsu grabbed the young man and pulled him to the side, "it ain't exactly on the up-and-up and it ain't cheap either, but it's a helluva a lot better then what your gonna' find in the open market."

Taking off the sunglasses, Yomotsu quickly took out his tool box, swiftly throwing numerous nails with his fingers along various floor boards as he rapidly hammered them away in a single swing, creating chair for him to sit on in the fraction of a moment. Reclaiming his composure, Yomotsu took on a more serious tone, grabbing a sandwich from his box as he faced the young man, taking a large bite out of it. "I'm Yomotshu, so first things first: who the hell are, and how can I help you?"

"M-my name is Urashima Taro! Member of the Slaughter Pirates!" Taro paused, remembering how many issues the names had brought them. "I swear we're not as murder-y as we sound...." He moved a few paces away from Yomotsu, so that he could look at the man on his full figure. A talented shipwright sitting upon one of his creations with a sandwich at hand. "W-wait a second!" Yomotsu's words finally reached the boy. "Oi, become our shiprwright Yomotsu-san."

Spitting up his food, Yomotsu was having a coughing fit, hitting his chest multiple times to swallow his food before letting out a heavy sigh, his mouth was wide open as bits and pieces of his sandwich remained on his cheeks, overwhelmed by the mention of an offer, particularly coming from an innocent looking boy, to join a pirate crew with such an extreme name. Bursting out laughing, Yomotsu smacked his leg, his sandwich nearly falling out of his hand during the squabble. "HAHAHAH! Egh? You're joking right? No, wait, you're serious, aren't you?" Take one last bite, he threw the wrapper on the floor before packing up his things, taking his katana from Taro and using the fishing rod he had built to lunge the line overhead, fetching for his jacket, still dangling on what little remained of the stairs.

"I'm already wanted for a whole other set of issues, what makes you think I'd stick my neck out for pirates with 'slaughter' in the name."

"Well...err.." Taro remained deep in thought, until suddenly he pulled out his fishing rood and flickered his arm forward, causing its line to grapple unto the sandwich's wrapper with ease before pulling it back.

"If you joined I could teach you how to fish properly! Also, don't litter." Taro remarked. It was a foolproof plan! Oh, how Gai would be proud of him.

Although his offer was unappealing to some degree, his efforts did endear him to some extent, with his line-work leaving Yomotsu somewhat impressed. Before taking off however, it made sense that since Taro was part of a pirate crew, he had a ship, something that left him curious since they had made it this far out. Snapping his fingers, Yomotsu turned his head, grinning at Taro as he placed his hand on his shoulder. "If you're here, then that means you got a ship. I'd be willing to consider if you gave me a tour, seeing as how I'm gonna' be working there." Essentially stranded on this island, it would be his best chance to get of this rock for a prison while getting something out of it, unbeknownst to Taro or his crew.

*That was easy.* Taro told himself as Yomotsu agreed to join him. "No worries! I'll take you there right away! The ship is in...." Taro looked to the left, then to the right. His head snapped anxiously from side to side as sweat began building upon his temples. "I-I have no idea where the ship is..."

Switching from different angles, Yomotsu was staring back and forth toward where Taro was looking, following his head motions to get a better glimpse of what he was looking. "You're telling me, your a pirate, and you don't know where pirate ship is?" Smacking him across his back, he gave Taro a quick nudge forward, rubbing his eyes with one hand while peering off into the distance.

Grabbing his hammer again, Yomotsu slammed several boards together, putting mechanical frames to create a scaffold for them to sit on, elevating them upward toward the lighthouse for a better view.

"Oh, I see it! It's that one." Taro pointed to a ship in the distance to a darkened ship with several sails which billowed in the wind. Taro hurriedly signaled Yomotsu to the direction in which the ship found itself. "You wanna fly over there or what?" Taro asked, grabbing unto his fishing rod.

Measuring the distance between them and the ship docked out beyond the harbor, it would take them a solid 2 hours to get there on foot, time that he didn't feel he had to have to waste. "Huh, sure?" Looking around, Yomotsu couldn't see any vehicles or modes of transportation around, considering for a moment it might have been a joke.

Grabbing onto the hem of Yomotsu's shirt, with a smile on his face Taro jumped down the stairs, pulling him down with him. A strong breeze filled their beings from their clothes to their hair to their very skin. With his free hand, Taro snapped his wrist forward causing his fishing rod's line to extend in that very direction. He grappled onto a nearby building and swung himself and Yomotsu forward before releasing his fishing rod's grasp on it. He repeated this time and time again, as they traveled towards the ship, earning the eyes and screams of many civilians.

Eventually, the sea made itself visible and Taro landed elegantly on the ground, finally releasing his grasp on his new 'comrade'.

"Well, here we are."

Looking in amazement, Yomotsu gazed at the mast and sails, his eyes leading up to the infamous jolly roger. From a single glance, he could see that the ships was anything but normal, vast in it's size, but sheer feeling he got upon climbing and standing on the deck sent shivers running down his spine. "Creapy, really selling the whole 'slaughter' aesthetic huh." Composing himself, Yomotsu scoured the main deck, giving off the appearance of examing the ship while undoing the sails, later walking toward the anchor as he realed it back from the water, making it sea worthy once again.

As he sneaked around, peering through the capin windows, he turned to Taro who was still at at the center of the ship, "so I've finished my run down, we are looking good...so far. Next I'll need to check the inside," he muttered, hopefully he would take him to the interior where there teasure was, hoping to get a good look at their haul.

"Uhhh...sure? That's where most of the crew is I think." Taro commented, wondering if that's where Gai, Alfhild and Rena were. "You want to fish later?!" he asked excitedly.

Being walked into the interior of the ship, the decayed and macabre décor became even more prevalent, with the wails of wild animals echoing across the hallways, some of which were barely distinguishable. However, the only light illuminating the central room Taro was showing him unveiled an entire cargo hold full of treasure, more than he had ever seen with his own eyes, even more so, it was more than he could ever make on his own. It became evident that whatever he had been doing at this point was only allowing him to scrape by, and that if he wanted to get any closer to his real ambitions, he would need more, and it made it more painfully clear that he needed a career change, since it would be better to fall back in numbers if he was ever cornered.

Overhearing the talking from across the other room, it was evident that there were more crew members onboard than he had realized. After realizing the quality of the ship went above and beyond his expectations, Yomotsu pulled out a catalog illustrating various ships of different shapes and sizes, the cover, while sloppily hand drawn and written, upon opening it however, contained explicitly detailed instructions and blueprints belonging to various sea vessels, some even being replicas of more famous and notorious ships. "Damn, after seeing this, can't exactly turn away can I? Some people call me 'Yomotshu', but you can call me Okada Yomotsu, and if you couldn't tell, this isn't a real beard," he echoed, pulling back the beard to reveal his face, a large scar racing down his right eye.

Charting the ship's various designs down on his log, he turned to face Taro, "If we're fishing, don't be surprised if I end up catching some sea king wondering around," he blurted out enthusiastically, turning to meet with the rest of the crew, in particular, the captain of such a vessel.

Following a map wasn't always the most reliable way of finding something, a lesson that Gai had to learn prior to be a captain of the Slaughter Pirates, but it would give him an idea of where that something was. He couldn't expect Es-Nezinu to be the home of such a weapon, but that's probably where the universe had its fun. Gai started to think about the many people that might have passed through that shop and skipped over the map, thinking that it was a joke because of where it lead to. Maybe it was a con, and Gai was wasting his time looking in a place that a mystical battleship might have been, if it even existed. Walking through the market, Gai stumbled across an open games area, laid out with plenty tables and chairs, filled out by denizens of different kinds. One table seemed to catch his eye, a table filled with Fish-men dressed in sailor like clothing, laughing away as they continued playing their game of what looked to be poker.

"Hello-hello!" A feminine voice called out from behind Gai, tapping him on the shoulder with a heavy object.

Turning around, Gai was greeted to the sight of a dark red haired woman, dressed in Marine uniform with a metal baseball bat now leaning on her shoulder. Nothing seemed to look to notable about her, besides her left eye being covered by a large black strap, lined with gold, covering the area that a scar seemed to stretch out from and reach near above her upper lip. And bandages wrapped around her neck that seemed to had decayed into a yellowish colour, wrapping around right under her jawbone and above the shoulders. The metal bat she leaned against her shoulder was heavily bruised and battered, with some indents here and there, along with some dried blood marks around its body.

"...What?" Gai asked in a serious tone.

The woman smiled and brought her bat back down so that she could lean against it, looking Gai up and down with her one eye before beckoning her head over to the table Gai was staring at before, "You want to know about the Wildest Hunt, don't ya?"

"That shouldn't be any of your business." Gai said before beginning to walk off, scoffing at the woman as soon as his back was turned.

"Uh-uh-uh! I don't think you're going to want to walk away that easily! Especially when I've got something VERY important to what you're looking for!" The marine laughed as she quickly swung her bat to land on Gai's shoulder, making it gently tap on his body rather so that it would get his attention.

The feeling of the bat and her statement caused Gai to stop in his tracks and turn around, looking at the woman with a raised eyebrow, "I'm listening."

"FANTASTIC! Lets play for it then! I say we get a game of battleships running, your map on the line, and whatever I've got to spill, will be my bid!" The marine explained as she brought her bat back to lean on her shoulder.

"Before we rush to this, how do I know that you've got information that's worth my time?" Gai quickly said before they would move from their spot, "And how would you even know that I'm looking for the Wildest Hunt?"

"Silly man! You can't just pull out a map here in Es-Nezinu and not expect people's eyes to wander your direction!" The marine smiled, "Now, I would beat you up for the map, but I think playing for it would be a much better way of obtaining it! There's fun, chance, and most importantly, CONSENT!"

"Heh. Seems like you need that last one to make this work. What if I don't want to play?" Gai asked, crossing his arms and looking at the marine with an unimpressed stare.

"Oh, you'll want to play if you're going to continue looking for the Wildest Hunt. I think you'll find the information I've got, is QUITE important!" The marine giggled.

Gai shook his head and wondered, if the marine was telling the truth, he may not have to spend the next few days looking for the Wildest Hunt by scouring all over the island. It would perhaps cut the expected search time short and allow him and his crew to leave the island as soon as possible with a new ship to sail on. If the marine wasn't, however, this little interruption would have wasted several minutes of his time and delay the search. Though, that was the risk, but a risk that would do little harm nonetheless.

"Prove it."

"Eh?"

"Prove to me that what you can tell me is worth my time. Maybe it'd be something I already know, who knows." Gai shrugged, still staring down the marine before him.

The woman rolled her eyes in a childish manner and stuck her tongue out, quite annoyed that Gai was still a bit distrustful of the marine's request. "You're a toughie. I'll give you that. How about this? The ship's location underwater is plagued with spikes jotting out in all different directions, making it nearly impossible to bring the vessel back to the surface."

"...Guess I've never heard about that. And if I win, you'll tell me everything I know?" Gai reconfirmed while nodding his head.

"OF COURSE! Comeon! I want to get my hands on that map already!" The marine laughed.

The pair made their way to an empty table where a board had already been set up, a large divider in the middle of two seperate grids, where several ship mini-figures laid spread out. The marine was the first to take her seat, and prompting Gai to take the one opposite. As soon as Gai took his place, he saw everything he needed to see, just a large 15x12 grid composed of one inch squares, labelled with 'a' to . From when Gai was standing, he could see that the ships had been split apart by colour, with Gai taking the blue pieces and leaving his opponent with red. Quite the choice of a game though, as it was commonly seen as a children's game, than one that many people would stake some of their more prized possessions on. There was little use arguing though, and it was her that asked for this, so Gai could only respect and accept the circumstances that he was given. The only thing that seemed to be different was the fact that the only grid that existed was the one that the ships were to be positioned on, no spare grid for him to record his shots and remember what he did last.

Noticing that the female marine had already begun placing her pieces, Gai did the same as he looked at what he got: a total of five ships, with the largest piece extending over five squares, and the smallest ship covering two. These ships seemed to resemble vessels from the marine navy, with the largest one resembling the organisations massive battleships that the military would often use for heavy attacks. This only made Gai wonder, just how big the Wildest Hunt would be. Maxie was just large enough for his current ship, but for a beast like Moxie, that would require a whole lotta more space if he was going to go sailing with him and the crew. Returning to the game, Gai began laying pieces out, so going vertically across the board, and others horizontally.

"Hey-hey! Ready to start?" The female marine asked with a child like smile.

"Fine. Let's just get this over and done with. You can start..." Gai offered as he concentrated on his board.

Looking over he pieces and the grid before her, the female marine looked back to Gai with the same smile and leaned back into her seat. "I will establish a few different rules just so that we can finish this as quickly as possible! Every-time you get a hit, you can have one more go, just so that you can shoot twice! Alrighty then? F1?" The marine started off, struggling to keep herself in her seat.

Gai looked back to his grid and shook his head, "Miss. H5?"

The female marine did the same with her smile remaining on her face. "Miss. M3?"

"Miss. D8?"

...

"SCREW THIS GAME." The marine screamed into the air as she grabbed both sides of the board and swung it to the side, throwing all of its pieces across the ground and scatter.

Everyone in the room and Gai looked at her with confused faces, Gai's more emotionless and cold, wondering why the woman had burst into such anger like that. Gai smirked within his mind as he realised what had just happened, he had managed to finish their little game and beat her, finishing off her final ship. Pulling himself from his seat and keep his eye trained on the marine, Gai shot his arm out and grabbed the woman's arm with an iron grip, suddenly pulling the woman out of her enraged state for a brief moment of surprise. Gai pulled her closer so that his eyes looked over her face, and shook her a bit so that her head spun around for her ear to be close to his mouth.

"You've got a debt to pay. Tell me everything I need to know." Gai muttered quite harshly into her ear.

The marine tugged her arm back and dusted the front of her attire, looking to Gai with a playful smirk before turning around and beckoning him with her finger, "Fine, though this isn't the place to do it. We'll chat and walk."

Rolling his eyes, Gai complied and began following the woman by her side, leaving the tenders to that area to clean the mess that she had caused as they made their way through the market place. Even though their game was short, Gai could feel a strong familiarity with the woman, as if he had met or seen her before. Despite him being a pirate and her as a marine, there wasn't any sense of hatred between the two, or at least from what Gai could sense as they passed through the market stalls. The woman held a large smile as she gazed around the stores that went by, her eye widening as the pair passed by cotton stalls that were serving excited children, waiting at the front as a group rather than an organised line. As much as Gai wanted to look at her in awe at her behaviour, they had managed to walk for a good few minutes without the marine actually paying Gai back for the game. It was upon noticing that the route that the marine was leading, was taking them out of town and towards the forest surrounding the settlement, where the trees provided a thick cover for them to continue their conversation.

"I still have yet to hear your name." Gai spoke out as the two moved through the trees and towards a small opening nearby.

"...Huh. Weird, feel like by now I should have," The marine responded before momentarily looking back at Gai, "I'm Goro Maiya. Petty Officer."

"...Alrighty." Gai muttered under his breathe as the two took their seat on a couple of rocks planted near each other, looking over what looked to be a chocked out fire-pit, fresh with scorched ash.

"Now you mister. If I'm going to start handing my name around, I'd like to the people I'm passing it to." Maiya giggled as she started poking the burnt out pit with the tip of her metal baseball bat.

Gai looked to the side and sighed, staring back at Maiya as she looked to Gai with a face of suspicion. "...Nero."

"Nero? Any last name?" Maiya asked as she nodded her head and looked back to what she was poking at.

"...Atosaki." Gai shot out after as he had obviously spent a good amount of time trying to think of a last name for his borrowed identity, "Captain. Hopefully of the Wildest Hunt soon."

"Captain Nero. Nearly got a ring to it, I'd say. But alright. Here's what you need to know." Maiya said excitedly before gently banging on the ground with her baseball bat. "Listen carefully because I'm not going to be repeating myself again, as there's a lot of stuff you'll need to know in order to get the boat up and out in one piece!"

"My ears are open." Gai responded as he leaned slightly closer to Maiya.

Maiya swung her bat around and pointed further into the jungle with it, letting it drop with her arm right after as she began talking. "To the North of Es-Nezinu is where the Wildest Hunt rests, underwater at the bottom of a sinkhole created ages ago. The size and shape of the hole was almost too perfect to occur, as it was just the right size to bring the massive battleship down. You'll be needing to travel roughly half a kilometre by rowboat out of the most north point of the island, and be needing to dive, well quite deep if you want to reach the Wildest Hunt. By the way, do you know what kind of ship the Wildest Hunt is?"

"...It's a battleship from Elbaf. Perfect for giants and all that," Gai explained, "Used to be a prominent ship back in the New World, but was used by its crew to escape to Paradise before apparently sinking here..."

"Aye aye cap! You're spot on! Though for one thing, the reason it was here in Es-Nezinu, wasn't because of its old crew. Rival crews of the Wildest Hunt's original owners got together to hunt down the ship and bring it here, where by folk, were said to have made the sinkhole just the right shape in order to bring the big ship down. They tore up the ground to leave all these massive spikes and all around the Wildest Hunt's resting place, so that if anyone tried to bring it back up, it'd be one hell of a challenge for whoever's taking that kinda task."

"But why go that extra mile? Couldn't they have just sunk it then?" Gai asked, tilting his head.

"Because it would make for a boring story and leave nothing to find, now wouldn't it? The armour on that ship is way too strong for cannon fire to pierce, or even blow apart by tnt or the likes. It's like it was built from one piece of whatever the Wildest Hunt is made from. Though that's probably the bit that'd least interest you. The Wildest Hunt wields a massive cannon at its front from behind its massive jaws, constantly emitting a red light from within the armour and the ship's face. Once your underwater, it should be just as bright as the stars above you. Though, if you do bring it back up, I recommend turning that light off if you can, because pirates will be able to see you coming from miles away."

"Gotcha. Any ideas on getting it back out? Why spikes if they couldn't tear through the armour?" Gai continued to question as he sat there, engrossed in what Maiya had to tell.

"The spikes aren't there to destroy the boat, just as an extra layer to keep the boat from drifting up. And I'd expect at that time, that these spikes were probably hard as steel, so not quite as destructible as rock. But for how long the boats been sunken, those spikes should be easy to break through and lift the Wildest Hunt back into the ocean. I'd say get someone big or someone strong, or someone both! To help you break those rocks, but you'll need to be there in the end, in the water, with the Wildest Hunt." Maiya explained further, as she leaned slightly closer to Gai.

"Oh? Why's that?"

Maiya looked around from left to right before whispering to the captain, holding her hand over the side of her mouth closer to the town's direction, "There's a control system not very conventional with the boats in both New World and Paradise. With how big the ship is, there's obviously a lot of mechanisms that need to be in place in order to let it run and all that. But let me tell you, giants weren't the only thing this boat was made for. Back during that time, the company that made the Wildest Hunt were in kahoots with the World Government, and so originally made the ship for marines and all that, though keeping the same design for giants. A giant or a normal size like you can control it, but you'll be needing to prove yourself worthy to be the captain of the ship once you're in the main control room."

"Worthy?"

"Aye. You've got to offer up something to the ship to make it recognise you as captain. Blood? A sheep kid? I don't know, but it's command will only follow whoever makes a sacrifice or something." Maiya carefully explained, "The control room, I can't say, but once you make a bond with the ship, it's said that controlling the ship would feel as though it was like moving a second body."

...

A long period of time would pass as the two continued to converse, with Gai so drawn into Maiya's words that he had failed to notice the sun had begun to settle over the horizon at the end of the forest. Slapping her knee and stretching her arms out to yawn, Maiya made it clear she had told Gai everything she had to tell about the battleship and began getting ready to leave. Gai did the same though with little sound, pulling himself up from his chair and making his way towards the edge of the clearing that Maiya had led him to. Though, throughout that conversation, Gai wasn't only keeping note of what to do when retrieving the Wildest Hunt, but also trying to piece together an idea of who Maiya was. After turning his back on the marine, Gai stopped in his tracks and peeked over his shoulder to where Maiya was, forming a smirk that remained out of sight from the young woman who was beginning to leave from her own side. The deathly glare he sent her way only tightened the atmosphere of their little pocket of space within the forest, causing her to also stop, almost as if she could sense the captain's revelation about her just metres behind.

"...I think I finally know who you are. And I also think you know who I am." Gai called out in an unsettling tone as he flicked his coat back to dance in the breeze that swept past.

Maiya giggled before swinging the bat around her wrist and resting it on the top of her shoulder, "Hmmm? Of course, Mister Gai, captain of the Slaughter Pirates. It's hard to forget a face with a bounty, especially for a marine."

Gai sighed and shook his head, "I'm not taking that as an answer. I know we've clashed before. Hard to forget the face of a person I've yet to finish my fight with."

The marine smirked before turning around and looking at Gai, her grip of the handle of her baseball bat much tighter, waiting to swing and knock the captain's head off. "You didn't really think Captain Barney would have been the only one to make it off Shirimasen, right?"

"...Huh. So be it." Gai muttered to himself as he looked back towards the clearing's edge, "You better tell me now then, was what you told in the past hour or so true?"

"Of course! I need to get you and your crew out into the open if I ever want to get the revenge I want for my comrades!" Maiya announced excitedly, chuckling to herself as she made her intentions known to Gai.

Nodding his head, Gai shrugged and began moving forth to leave Maiya and make his way back to his crew, leaving Maiya to watch him go as he disappeared around the bushes and trees that separated them from the town. "That's a risk I'd be willing to take."

**21:30**
With night having fallen on Es-Nezinu, the search party and their new recruits regrouped at the place instructed by their captain, who had already been waiting with several seats placed around a campfire built into the sandy beach. A small bench holding several candles and blue figurines was placed just before the fire to provide a surface for the Gai's map to be laid across, along with the notes given to him by the mysterious red-headed marine from before. It looked like he had everything he needed in order to put his plans in motion, and retrieve the Wildest Hunt from its underwater resting place. From a seperate rowboat just arriving on shore, Alfhild stepped out quite elegantly with two more crew members behind her, holding an irritated look on her face as soon as she spotted the captain sitting by the fire.

Each member of the search party stood to their own side with the new member that they had recruited, Melody standing close by to Gai with Bors towering over both of them, Aiko and Rena standing on either side of Jack, and Taro accompanied by Yomotsu opposite of the Slaughter Pirates' captain. Alfhild and her own group joined the large search party with her arms crossed, approaching with a sway in her hips, causing the rapiers hanging from both sides to cling against eachother once every now and again. With the main players present, Gai saw fit to start the meeting and cough loudly into the air for everyone to bring their attention to him. He held a firm and blank face as he looked over the new members of his pirate crew, staring every singe of them down as to assume what they were like, though trusted that his crew members had been right in recruiting them.

"...I'm glad we've found what we needed on this island. After whats been happening during the weeks since Obscuria, I'm glad that we finally have a shipwright to repair the damages on the Wild Hunt, as well as a cook to feed the more 'human' pirates of our group. As well as some extra muscle, which is always welcome within our ranks." Gai greeted, holding his arms up by his side to show a welcoming gesture to the new recruits, "As many memories we've had on the Wild Hunt, it's time for a change of pace. As you should all know Maxie, he isn't the only animal that will be joining us during our travels, not for the foreseeable future at least..."

"What do you mean?" Rena asked, stepping forward, closer into the light of the campfire.

"I mean we're getting a new ship, a bigger one." Gai responded in a loud, firm voice.

Alfhild rolled her eyes and sighed, which caused Rena to suddenly turn back and look at the first-mate dead in her eyes, "Did you know about this?"

"Of course I did... I was there when he got the new 'pup'." Alfhild shot back at Rena, in a tone similar to Gai's.

"We need a bigger boat to be able to fit the new pets I want helping us in missions. Just means more mouths to feed, but it'll be easier to get food with them on board." Gai explained himself, not wanting a fight to break out between his crew members, "Besides, the pirates of nowadays come in very impressive vessels. And the damage sustained by the Wild Hunt holds us back from continuing on our journey. It'll be far easier to get a new one than repair with the state its in."

"That's the thing though, where will we get a new one that's 'better' than the Wild Hunt? It's a marine ship, we can go in and out of the Grand Line whenever we want!" Aiko interjected, her child-like attitude suddenly disappearing as soon as she wanted to talk to the 'adults'.

"He's... He's got a map to the Wildest Hunt. Some big ass ship, coincidently, here in Nezinu. The captain's been researching like crazy on the ship and thinks it'll be the best vessel to use on the remainder of our during throughout Paradise. From what I've heard as well, it should hold up pretty good when we finally enter the New World." Alfhild further explained on Gai's motives, keeping the captain quiet as he sat and watch everything unfold. "Elbaf ships are quite handy and sturdy, especially in these waters. Though from what I've heard about the Wildest Hunt, it sounds almost indestructible. Which then begs the question, why need a shipwright?"

Gai took a deep breathe in and looked towards Yomotsu, analysing the man off his bare sight even more, "While repairs may be the least of our worries, we need someone who can improve on the ship and understand it well enough to actually do the proper repairs to keep the Wildest Hunt in its impenetrable form. Besides, from what I've heard from Taro, our shipwright isn't just a shipwright." Gai nodded, alluding to Yomotsu's work as a blacksmith. "I feel, under the Slaughter Pirates, we'll be able to revive and maybe even further the Wildest Hunt's legend. Under our jolly roger."

Alfhild approached Gai's bench and looked over what had been put on display, wondering what the use of the several figurines was used for on the map. Running her eyes over the notes next, she could get a bigger picture of what the Wildest Hunt was like, and what the Slaughter Pirates needed to do in order to retrieve it, only just understanding the task it would be to bring the Elbafian ship from under the deeps and back onto the surface. The thing was, why were half of the miniatures on land and the other half in the water? Wouldn't it have made more sense for the whole crew to be beneath the waves so that everyone could help bring the ship back to shore? Or was there something that Gai hadn't listed down? Alfhild scoffed and flicked one of the miniatures over, causing it to fall onto another miniature next to it, with that miniature falling onto a nearby one in that direction, creating a domino effect that caused all miniatures to fall all over the map. Gai looked up to Alfhild with a raised eyebrow and shook his head, placing the miniatures up right to repair the damage that his first-mate had down.

That kind of disrespect wasn't something that was always shared between Gai and Alfhild, causing Aiko and Rena look in worry, mainly for Alfhild's safety. Though by the looks of things, it seemed as though Gai was already used to it, or bared no ill though against Alfhild as he payed no mind to what she had done. Pushing the miniatures on the land further from the ones in the water, Gai looked up to Alfhild and sighed with disappointment, showing the fear that lingered within his eyes. From there, Alfhild cause sense the danger they were in purely from Gai's look just before the captain let his eyes drift back down to the bench.

"We seemed to have missed one from Shiramasen. A petty marine officer by the name of Goro Maiya. She was under Barney's command at the time of our raid, I was fighting her before she retreated and I needed to come back and save your ass." Gai explained as he pushed his sight back onto Alfhild, now expressing anger and fear for everyone in the group to see, "She's out here for revenge, probably called in marine patrol or patrol*s* to come catch us. But we can't afford to wait for them to arrive, so we'll need to start tonight if we want to leave as free men. That's why I've split the party up between land and sea, because in case marines do show up, we won't be leaving without a fight."

"Aye aye, captain." Alfhild responded in a pissed, growling voice as she looked down at her captain, the air between the two pirates becoming quite tense and uncomfortable for everyone else around the fire.

"I'd like to see what kind of mettle the new recruits have, so all of you will be our land team with Alfhild, Melody, Taro, Rena and all the other crew members. The retrieval team will be Aiko, myself and a few other pirates. We'll need to stick to a few just incase things don't turn out the way they do underwater." Gai continued, "Land team's job is straightforward, watch out for any marines, pirates or mercenaries sent our way to stop us from getting the Wildest Hunt. Aiko will be more than happy to lend some of the toys she's made along the way. If you kill any of them, just means food for Damned and the Hollow, though make sure their bodies will be edible if you do so."

"AND BECAREFUL! Some of the parts are pretty expensive so I don't want any of you throwing them around like they're nothing!" Aiko butted in to give her two cents.

"Our team is as straightforward as it can be, retrieve the Wildest Hunt and get back to you lot as soon as possible. Also, don't try to attract more attention, land team. The last thing we'll need is more marines coming at our throats. When we come back with the ship, unload everything, and I mean EVERYTHING off the Wild Hunt, which you should have docked nearby. By the time we resurface with the ship, I want the Damned onto the boat along with every single supply we've brought."

"Aye aye, captain." Rena responded in a calm voice, her expression showed that she was indeed listening as best as she could to Gai's instructions.

"And... If you find Maiya, I want her head brought back to me. Is that understood?" Gai said directly to Alfhild, implying that the job was meant for her and her alone.

Alfhild smirked and turned her back on her captain, showing the playful smile from the side as she began making her way towards the ship, "Of course, captain."

## Into the Wild

The sun began to arise over the horizon as the Wild Hunt began to drift into place, over the waters that the mystical Wildest Hunt was said to rest. Their one and only chance to retrieve the Wildest Hunt from its tomb was coming in fast, so time was of the essence for the Slaughter Pirates and their captain. The land team had already found their places on shore, using some of the jungle to hide in before the marines could make their way to their position. From the ship, Gai could see Alfhild instruct the land team, or at least whoever was visible on the beach, the plan that she and Gai had discussed before, to allow the crew some sort of advantage over the marines that had yet to come. On the ship, Gai, Aiko and the rest of retrieval crew stood on deck, awaiting the time to dive in and seek out the ship that Gai wanted so dearly. All seemed to be equipped with diving suits and fish bowl helmets, all except for Gai and Aiko. While Gai didn't need one due to his Fish-Man heritage, Aiko had something planned for after the team had moved in underwater.

"Ready when you are, captain." A member of the retrieval team announced.

"I'll head to the bottom of deck and get the new beauty prepared. With everyone and everything on the shore, will it be alright that we sink the Wild Hunt?" Aiko said, tilting her head to the side with a large smile.

Gai turned back and looked over his shoulder to Aiko, nodding his head reluctantly when confronted with the choice to destroy his ship. "K-fine. We won't be needing it once we have the new one."

"Aye aye, captain." Aiko saluted before making her way to the doors of the deck, leaving Gai with the rest of the retrieval team.

Taking in a deep breath and looking back to the shore, Gai contemplated for a moment or so before turning back to the retrieval team and cracking his neck from side to side. "Aright retrieval team. MOVE OUT."

On land, Alfhild began muttering things to herself with her rapiers held out from both sides, whilst everyone else who was visible on shore began preparing what weapons they had before the marines showed up. For Alfhild especially, knowing that an enemy was coming was far more nerve wracking than an enemy jumping out of nowhere. Maybe it was just that bliss of ignorance or because there was less pressure on actually being prepared, having that sort of advantage over an enemy should have made her all the more confident. But she was far from confident, genuinely shaking as she muttered her chant to herself, causing her eyes to glow bright red with her sword Rifiuto slicing the breeze that swept past her. In the distance, she could see Rena, Taro and Okada together in their allocated positions, with Rena flicking a needle as she looked to Taro and Okada with a sort of nervous look. In the other direction was Melody and Burr Bors preparing what they had for the upcoming battle. Melody with her songs and Bors with his strength may be deciding factors for the fight, but would it really be enough for what the marines may have prepared?

Looking back to the Wild Hunt still in the water, Alfhild could see Gai and the rest of the retrieval team begin to fling themselves over board and crash through the water with a loud splash. One by one, each member disappeared into the deep blue, not to be seen for quite some time, which until then should reemerge with a much bigger boat. Which was exactly what they were fighting for: a bigger boat. Would it really be worth the amount of sacrifices the Slaughter Pirates would have to give up that day? Alfhild shook her head and brandished her blades, pacing back and forth on the side of the incoming waves as she pondered and waited for her enemy to come. Especially Maiya.

"...This bitch is crazy if she thinks she'll be getting us all." Alfhild muttered to herself as she continued walking back and forth.

"ALFHILD! ARE WE READY TO BEGIN?!" Rena called out from her position, placing both hands around her mouth to create a cone to shout through.

Alfhild's head turned to Rena and smiled, stopping in place as her body faced the doctor. "... ALRIGHT LAND TEAM. STAND READY!"

### A Fight Worth Fighting

Half an hour had passed as soon as noises were heard within the jungle surrounding the beach, the sounds of gunfire, running, grunting and whatnot going on around the land team kept them alarmed and ready to face whatever was going on. The members hidden within the jungle were the first layer to the land team's defence, taking on the incoming enemy from the hiding spots the jungle had to offer. While nothing could be seen from where majority of the land team were positioned, the sounds that arose from their confrontation were horrific and bloodcurdling, causing Alfhild to rethink the plan that she and Gai had made. Despite these hesitations, Alfhild knew that she had to follow through on what they oraganised, as the trust in her captain was far too great to be disturbed by a few marines. Swinging her blades in the air and slashing the ground to create two long, shallow trenches before her, Alfhild entered a battle ready stance as soon as she could hear the noises come closer and closer to the beach.

The team in the jungle were meant to weaken the attackers. So why were there still so many?

Marines poured out from the jungle like a flood, all equipped with sabers and rifles, pointed to the Slaughter Pirates on shore. Their uniforms were tattered, the blue and white joined by dirt and blood, possibly from their battle back on Shirimasen. They were ghosts of the past, coming back to punish the crew for their sins. Many crew members began firing back at the incoming marines, whilst others started their charge towards the horde, weapons held above their heads as they started to confront the hostiles. Alfhild would follow on foot, joining the first few who had gathered the strength to risk their lives and enter the fray early, the adrenaline from the heat of battle blinding her senses and carrying her into the enemy. These senses were so blind, that she barely saw her fellow crew members begin to drop dead or disappear into the crowd of marines, as she too would be quickly swallowed up in the flood of blue and white. Yet the rushing bodies of marines running past her didn't seem to hinder the rage she held within.

"**FIVE THOUSAND BLADE STORM!**"

Alfhild's arm flailed about, combined with her intense speed, slashed around her position and into the marines that were unlucky enough to run into her path. Rifiuto especially seemed to help greatly with this, as its immense sharpness sliced and cut through the marines like butter, spending no less than a millisecond inside each marines' body. As she remained in place, Alfhild left a trail of bodies in her wake, as she decided to push one with the storm of blades surrounding herself. Though, it would take more than just her to take down a crowd like this, who had already stopped themselves not too far from the edge of the jungle to begin firing down on the other Slaughter Pirates.

"FOR SHIRIMASEN!"

"PIRATE SCUM"
"KILL THEM ALL!"

Revenge. What a thing it was. Revenge was the very thing that created the Slaughter Pirates. Revenge was what nearly killed Gai on several occasions. Oh how funny it was that revenge was back to try its luck against the Slaughter Pirates one more time. Alfhild could hear the hate in their voices, the same hate she had exerted into her strikes as she watched every marine drop dead in either one or two pieces. It was only after the few ten or more bodies did she realise the blood she began to spill, as other crew members took her lead and also joined the battle. These marines weren't going to chain them up and throw them into cells, they were here to execute them on the spot. The only way out of this was to fight back with just as much ferocity as them.

"GIVE THEM HELL." Alfhild screamed.