(Location: Tequila Wolf)
(General POV)
It took just over two days before they arrived at the bridge that was Tequila Wolf, and another day of sailing along the ocean underneath it with Jack boosting the speed of the ship before they arrived at the end of the bridge where all of the slaves were being kept. "Now I understand why this bridge is considered its own nation. It's huge." Luke said, slightly impressed at the size of the bridge. "Yeah, and there are a lot more slaves than I thought. I estimate there are a few thousand at least." Jack said after trying to use his Haki to track the number of life signs up top.
"So what's the plan?" Luke asked, itching to go up top and deal with the Government workers right away. "There are still a few hours until nightfall, so for now we're going to sit tight and get some rest. Once the sun sets, then we'll move." Jack answered before he moved to drop anchor near one of the bridge's supporting pillars. "Innocent people are suffering up there, and you want to wait?! I say we go now!" Tashigi said a little louder than she should have as she drew her sword.
"Quiet, Tashigi!" Smoker growled as he moved to calm her down. "It does no good to run mindlessly into danger. If we went up there now in the middle of the day, we'd be spotted before we could get to the slaves, and then the guards would call for reinforcements, then it would be a race against time. And do you honestly think that the guards wouldn't use the slaves as hostages against us? I told you before, we aren't in the Marines, but that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Had this been a Marine ship and you questioned orders, you would be punished or outright killed for insubordination. Right now, you're my subordinate, and if you can't follow orders, I'll send you home." Smoker finished with a pointed look that let Tashigi know exactly where she stood.
Jack simply gave Smoker a nod of approval, then began to place chairs around the deck for everyone to sit down. "As best as I can come up with, the plan is we wait until nightfall, then I'll take advantage of the darkness to scout the area. I'll find out how many guards and slaves there are and where they are all located, then we'll move accordingly. Nami and Nojiko will stay with the ships down here on the water and watch over the people that get sent down to them. Smoker, you and Tashigi will start gathering the slaves after Luke and I clear out the guards. I'll use a blue flame in the sky to let you know when the next area is clear, but it will be small, and it will only last a few seconds, so keep a sharp eye out for it." Jack explained the plan he had come up with on the fly. The only one of them who looked like they weren't satisfied with the plan was Tashigi, but she was at least wise enough to bite her tongue if she had any complaints.
With that, Jack passed out some food and blankets, then laid back and closed his eyes. He had been the only one of the bunch to have used up any of their power over the last few days, so he was the only one who really needed to sleep. Everyone else simply occupied themselves while they waited until nightfall, which came all too soon.
Jack seemed to know when it was dark out, because the last few rays were just leaving the sky when he suddenly snapped his eyes open. Without saying anything, he began to bring the ship closer to the end, making sure to not cause any loud noises that would warrant suspicion. When he felt they were close enough, he made the Marine Battleship he had stolen appear, then after helping everyone aboard, he turned his body into a shadow before he vanished from view of everyone present, which caused Nami and Nojiko to jump in fright. They hadn't known he could do that, hell they didn't know anyone could do that, and it was creepy as hell.
Making his way to the top of the bridge, Jack made his way to where all of the buildings were, then went through them and began to figure out which ones were the slaves, and which were the guards. Thankfully whoever was in charge made it really easy to figure out, as the guards were all in uniforms, and the prisoners were all wearing jumpsuits that had slave numbers on them. It took awhile, but eventually he finished his tally, counting 3,984 slaves in total, with 1,000 guards even. It appeared that half of the slaves were sleeping, while the other half worked, same with the guards. This way they could work constantly without stopping. It was a rather good setup, but Jack figured now was the perfect time to ruin it.
Going back to the ship, Jack materialized in front of everyone on deck. "Listen up." Jack said, getting everyone's attention before he continued, "There are 3,984 slaves, half of them are sleeping, while the other half works. There are 1,000 guards, half of whom are sleeping in the barracks. The barracks are between us and the slave compound, so the guards inside will need to be dealt with first before we try to free the slaves. I'll deal with them, just wait for my signal." Jack said, then looked over at Smoker. "Can you create a slide out of your smoke so people can get from the bridge down onto the ship?" Jack asked. "Yes." Smoker answered simply.
"Good. Once you get all of the sleeping slaves to the edge of the bridge, you stay and help them down to the ship while Tashigi heads to the front to start gathering the people to bring back to you." Jack said, then began to make piles and piles of blankets appear on the deck, along with a few dozen barrels of water and a few thousand apples all put into a pile. "It's not much for now, but hopefully it will be enough to keep everyone calm until we get underway, then I'll supply a bit more food." Jack told Nami and Nojiko, who simply nodded. Their roles were to keep everyone calm, and they would do that.
Jack did a quick rundown about where the slaves were located, and where specific guard points were, then he grabbed Luke before he threw him to the top of the bridge, while Smoker flew to the top, carrying Tashigi in his arms. When they got to the top, Jack proceeded to create a blackhole below the barracks that sucked it away, then using his black flames, he consumed everyone that had been inside the blackhole, so when he expelled the contents of it, all that came out was ash, and just like that, 500 guards were dead within seconds with no chance to raise the alarm.
Jack pointed out the buildings where all the slaves were to Smoker and Tashigi as he passed by them, then he and Luke carried on taking out the patrolling guards. Luke moved like a ninja as he crept up behind the guards, then he would cover their mouth before slicing his knife across their throats, then almost as if to confirm they were dead, he stabbed each person through the heart before giving the blade a slight twist, then he dragged the bodies out of the way so no one would accidentally see them. Jack's method was similar, yet entirely different. All he did was materialize behind the guards, then when he covered their mouths with his hand, he burned their heads off, then his black flames consumed the rest of them, leaving no trace that there was ever a body there to begin with. There wasn't even any blood splatter.
After an hour of moving around like ghosts they got to where the final seven guards were standing. Jack and Luke both nodded to each other, then moved as one. Luke threw a knife into one guard's eye, while at the same time Jack unleashed a wave of fire at three of the men who were close together, consuming them all in one go. Jack was quick to launch himself at the one of the remaining three who was already aiming his pistol towards Luke, cutting the man's hand off with his sword and letting the pistol fall to the ground, then he grabbed the guy by the face before he unleashed more fire, turning him to ash like the others. As for the remaining two, Luke moved swiftly, cutting both of their heads off before they could utter a sound.
With the last of the guards taken care of, Jack turned his attention towards the slaves who had stopped working upon noticing the whole thing with the last few guards. "Attention! We are here to take you off of this bridge and back to civilization! If you would, make your way back along the bridge! We have a ship that will guide you to a safe place!" Jack shouted, causing many of the slaves to fall to their knees. Some of them didn't believe it at first, but when no guards showed up to try and stop them, they soon realized this wasn't in fact, a dream. "Are we really going to leave this place?" Someone asked. In response to this, Jack signaled for Luke to lead the way while he brought up the rear, making sure there wasn't a soul that got left behind.
It took a few hours, but they eventually managed to get all of the slaves loaded onto the ship, and after scouting over all of the buildings, Jack confirmed that there wasn't anyone left. With that, he jumped down onto the ship where the others had already gathered, and right away he noticed how the deck of the ship was completely filled with people wrapped in blankets. He thought maybe to move some of them down below deck, but Nami stopped him there.
"I've already got most of the elderly and injured people down there. If we move anymore people inside we're going to be too crammed to move around." She explained, making a good point. "Thank you. We'll keep everyone else up here for now. I'll try and pass out some food and water to those who need it, but for now, start a course for Windmill Village on Dawn Island." Jack said, getting a nod from Nami as she moved to get the ship in order. She directed some of the more able-bodied men to tie ropes and hoist the rigging and eventually they were well on track.
Jack spent the next few hours moving around between the people, handing out food and water as best he could, even going so far as to go down below deck and give some people salves and other ointments to help with their injuries. There was probably only an hour or two before sunrise, at which point Jack decided to try and get some sleep, however he didn't even get the chance to lay down after entering the Commander's Quarters of the ship before he heard knocking on the door. "Come in." He said tiredly after he realized who it was. Smoker walked into the room a second later and closed the door behind him, and given how serious he looked, Jack figured he had better pay attention.
"What is it?" He asked the silver-haired man. "When we were freeing the slaves, we found some of them were… forcing themselves onto others." Smoker said, his words making Jack's blood run cold, which wasn't an easy thing considering he was made of fire. "And what did you do with these people?" Jack asked coldly. Smoker let out a breath of smoke before he answered, "I killed them. There were seventeen of them that I found, and all of them are dead, but that's not everything. Before we left, I gathered the records of every prisoner from the Warden's office and have since then been going over them. More than half of these people are criminals."
Jack frowned at that, but didn't rush to do anything about it, namely because this was the World Government's records. As far as he knew, their crimes could simply be because they sneezed in the presence of the nobles. "Did you look over their crimes?" Jack asked, surprising Smoker. "No." He easily admitted.
"Well then go over their crimes, and then get back to me. As far as I'm concerned, they're innocent until proven guilty." Jack said, and before Smoker could argue with him, he added, "Remember, Smoker, I know how the Marines sentence people at Enies Lobby. The whole thing is a sham, with biased judges and criminals for the jury. For all we know, these people could be victims of that, and I will not condemn them because the Government said so." With that, he decided not to bother with the matter and get some sleep while he could. As for Smoker, he went to go and look over the papers again, hoping to find information that proved not only to Jack, but to himself that the Government wasn't entirely corrupt.
Jack didn't get a chance to sleep very long before he sensed people moving about the ship, which in turn caused him to get to his feet and get ready for another day of dealing with people. He purchased a few thousand meals and handed them out to the people, but also made sure to feed Luke and the others. He couldn't let them go hungry just because he was taking care of all of these people.
It wasn't until later that night when Jack was in his room once more that he decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to inform the one potential ally he had in this world about what he had done. Never mind the fact that he didn't tell him beforehand, because that wouldn't have stopped him, and had Dragon tried, he simply wouldn't be an ally. Pulling out his Transponder Snail, Jack dialed his number and waited.
"Hello." Dragon's voice sounded over the line. "It's Jack. We need to talk…" Jack said tiredly as he sat on the edge of his bed and rested his arms on his knees. "What did you do this time?" Dragon asked, expecting something outlandish after the last stunt Jack pulled. Ignoring Dragon's tone, Jack answered, "I just freed all of the slaves on Tequila Wolf." Jack heard Dragon suck in a sharp breath of air at that. "That is definitely something we need to discuss. Tell me everything." Dragon said seriously.
Jack explained everything about the raid and the travel so far, including Smoker's concern about most of the slaves being criminals. "I wouldn't worry about them being criminals, for most of them at least. We've known about Tequila Wolf for some time now, and there are probably fewer than a hundred of the slaves who are actually guilty of some crime. Tequila Wolf is one of the projects where the Government sends those who refused to fall under their rule. There are actually three other similar projects like Tequila Wolf, one in each of the Blue Seas." Dragon said, putting Jack's mind somewhat at ease. He'd still need to make sure he wasn't releasing genuine criminals, but for the most part he was glad they weren't all guilty, as bad as that was. He didn't actually want innocent people to suffer, but he didn't want to help the truly bad guys.
"So, what is your next course of action?" Dragon asked, getting straight to the point of why Jack called. Jack had already thought this part out to some degree, so he simply answered, "I'm going to see if any of the freed slaves want to join The Order. It doesn't matter which division, but those who do accept, I will train them as best I can, then I will begin cementing my hold over the East Blue, making sure the Marines and the World Government don't get the chance to take it back." Jack said, explaining it all to Dragon, after all, if there was one man who had experience in dealing with the World Government, it was him. He might even be able to give him a few pointers on where to get started.
"I see. And was there anything you needed from me?" Dragon asked, suspecting that Jack didn't call him just to let him know what was going on. "Truth be told, yes. A few of the people have already expressed their desire to go home, but I don't have the manpower or the time to do something like that. I was hoping the Revolutionaries might be able to do that?" Jack asked hopefully. "That shouldn't be a problem. In fact, I've got a few ships in the East Blue already. I can have one of them meet you somewhere." Dragon said, taking a bit of the burden away from Jack. "We'll be arriving in Windmill Village in a little over a week, so if they can be there anytime after that, then great. I also have a bit more guns and other things I can give you." Jack said gratefully.
"That would be greatly appreciated." Dragon said. "I was also wondering if you wouldn't mind giving me a bit of advice on how to structuralize The Order. I have a number of ideas, but I don't know how they would work in real world applications. If you wouldn't mind, I would appreciate your input." Jack said, getting a thoughtful "Hmm" from Dragon. "That should be possible as well. I'm glad to see you're actually putting some effort into this." Dragon said appreciatively. "I'm smart enough to know there are smarter people than myself when it comes to certain areas." Jack admitted, knowing that was the truth. "That is the quality of a good leader." Dragon told him, making Jack feel kind of good about himself.
"Finally, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind having the Revolutionary Army take credit for Tequila Wolf? I'm confident in my own abilities, but I know I'm not ready to protect this many people against the Marines, and if they know it was me, they'll hunt them down too." Jack said seriously. "I can do that. This will also keep Cipher Pol off my ass for a while if they think we were in the East Blue during this time. I'll notify my contacts in the paper." Dragon agreed quickly. "Thank you, Dragon. I appreciate the help." Jack said, and he meant it too. "Don't worry about it. My ships will be in Windmill Village in a few weeks." Dragon said, then ended the call.
*****
The next morning after giving all of the people more food, Jack felt it was best to reveal a few things now so all of the people had time to think about it. "Listen up! We are heading to a village on Dawn Island, and after we get there, you all have a choice to make! Option one, you can start anew there and make it your home! Option two, if you already have a home somewhere else, there are people who will be arriving there in a few weeks that will take you back to wherever it is you came from! Finally, option three, you can join me!" Jack said loudly for all of them to hear.
He did the brief rundown of The Order and it's two branches, The Sentinels and the Adventurers Association, and even took the time to answer a number of questions from the people. Jack honestly wasn't sure how the people felt about option three, and wasn't sure any of them would be interested in joining The Order, at least not until Luke stepped up and spoke to the crowd of people.
"My name is Luke Strauss! I was like a lot of you here! My family was taken from me by the Nobles and the Marines, and I too was on the fast track to become a slave until Jack saved me! He never asked for my loyalty or allegiance to him! All he asked was that I do what was right! Now I ask you this; when the Marines come, and they will come, will you let yourselves be taken as slaves again, or will you fight back?! To join The Order is to get stronger and make sure you and your loved ones remain free! We will not stand idle and let those in power do whatever they want! If you join us, I won't promise you a life free of pain and suffering, but I will promise you this! Come what may, we will be there by your side, be it against the Government, the Marines, or the entire fucking world! That is what it means to join The Order!" Luke finished his speech, then stepped back down so he was among the people. "That was well said." Jack complimented Luke. "It was the truth." Luke added, having meant every word he had spoken.
After the speech, Jack and Luke moved to a corner of the deck where the others were gathered and eating, and opted to join them. They had only just begun to eat when a little girl came walking over to them, looking rather nervous as she repeatedly wrung her hands. "Um, ex-excuse me, but um, can I join The Order?" The little girl asked anxiously. Jack looked down at her, noticing right away that instead of her name, the tag on her uniform simply had "3333", which was her slave number.
'Why does she look familiar?' Jack asked himself as he stared into her wide, hopeful eyes. "What's your name?" Jack asked curiously. "My name is Soran." The little girl answered, and it was only then that Jack remembered the episode in the anime where a little girl named Soran found Robin and tried to help her after she was sent to Tequila Wolf by Bartholomew Kuma from Sabaody Archipelago.
"Where's your mother, Soran?" Nami asked as she surveyed the number of people eating around them. "I don't have a mother." Soran answered simply. She had been born from a slave here on Tequila Wolf, and either she had been taken from her mother at a very young age, or her mother had been killed sometime after her birth. Either way, she was all alone.
"Tell me, Soran, which division of The Order most interests you?" Jack asked her. He had told everyone here a little bit about them both, so he was interested to get her opinion on them. "The Adventurers Association! I want to travel the world and draw pictures of all of the interesting things out there! I want to see things I've only ever dreamed about, and experience things that no one else has!" She said, this time sounding far more excited than nervous.
"Well, Soran, there's a bit more than just joining the Adventurers Association. You need to be a part of a guild that is registered with the Association, and the guild needs to have a competent leader." Jack said, causing the little girl's face to fall. "However, you could simply join my guild if you want. We're a little bit of both Divisions of The Order, but we will be travelling the world. Heck, as soon as we go to the Grand Line, the Sky Islands are going to be one of my first stops." Jack told her, and this time her face lit up in joy.
He only mentioned the part about the Sky Islands because he remembered how she had drawn pictures of islands in the sky, but never knew if it was real or not. "You mean it?! Are there really islands in the sky?!" Soran asked excitedly. "I'd like to know that myself." Nami said interestedly.
Looking around, Jack saw it wasn't just those of his group who were hanging off of his every word, but more than a number of people sitting nearby eating their food had stopped to listen to him when he mentioned the Sky Islands. "The world is a strange and mysterious place. There are floating islands, islands below the sea where people can actually go to, and islands so far in the sky, they have their own sea. If I remember correctly, there is even an island here in the East Blue that surfaces from the sea once every one-thousand years, and on the island there exists creatures people long thought extinct, and that's just here. Imagine what's out there in the other Blue Seas and the Grand Line." Jack said, getting skeptical looks all around.
"I've never heard of the Sky Islands." Smoker said simply. "Just because you've never heard of it, doesn't mean it isn't real." Jack said, then as if to prove his point, he quickly went into his [STORE] and bought some pictures of unique places, the first being the Sky Islands, then Fishman Island, followed by a few more places that shocked everyone.
"Incredible…" Soran said in awe as she looked over the pictures. "I can't believe it." Nami said, more than a little shocked at some of the pictures. Everyone else was staring wide-eyed at the pictures, though Jack only had eyes for the little girl who had been brave enough to step forward to be the first one to join him. "Do you want to see these places? In person, I mean." Jack asked Soran with a smile. "Yes! I would love to join you!" Soran cried happily.
"Now hold on a minute! You can't seriously be considering bringing a child along with us, right?!" Tashigi asked incredulously. Based on what she knew, their adventures weren't going to be all sunshine and rainbows, and to bring a little girl into that was insane. "Why not? We brought you, didn't we?" Luke said, feeling just a little bit sick of Tashigi's outbursts. Ignoring Luke's comment, Jack replied, "Who I choose to bring with me to anywhere is my decision, and I will be responsible for them. Besides, I never said we were going to immediately go to these places right now. That would be foolish."
Finishing what he wanted to say to Tashigi, Jack invited Soran to sit with them and then began to regale her with a few stories about this world, mostly about actual people and the cool things they did. Inside his head, Jack wondered about what to do with Soran. Of course he knew she was too young to start training, not that he wanted to force her into anything if she didn't want to, but he also wasn't entirely sure how to raise a child.
It was on that line of thinking, he realized there was someone in Windmill Village who was very good at raising a child, as she had had to deal with Luffy of all people, and that was probably no easy thing. 'Well, Makino, I really hope you want a kid, because you might get one.' Jack thought, wondering slightly if this was going to be asking too much of the woman.
*****
The trip to Windmill Village was rather uneventful, which is how everyone seemed to prefer it, everyone save for Luke, who always seemed to be on the lookout for any ships that might be sailing off in the distance. Jack had a strong feeling that Luke was more interested in Marine ships than anything else, but that wasn't a big deal at the moment. What did concern Jack was Luke's almost complete lack of self preservation. He seemed to jump into situations that might be well over his head without a second thought if it meant he could kill Marines, and Jack knew he would have to talk to him about it. Eventually.
When they finally arrived in Windmill Village, everyone was excited to finally leave the ship, and for some they were simply glad to experience grass and freedom for the first time in their lives. "It's beautiful." Jack heard Soran mutter as she looked over the little village. Given that Windmill Village was a rather plain little village, Jack felt bad that this was one of the most beautiful places that Soran had seen in her life, and knew that he would change that someday.
"Come on, there's someone I want to introduce you to." Jack said as he led Soran by the hand towards a certain bar. As for the others, Jack had already asked them to help get the people sorted. He even went so far as to leave a mountain of tents near the docks. He would need to talk to the townsfolk and Mayor Woop about potentially letting this many people stay, but he didn't think it would be too much of an issue. After all, every single one of them were hard workers, and they would work for the town to earn their keep.
Stepping into Party's Bar, Jack led Soran over to the counter where Makino was putting some glasses on a shelf. "Your back!" Makino said excitedly upon seeing that it was he who had entered the bar, but paused when she noticed the little girl wearing the jumpsuit. "Who's this?" She asked while looking down at Soran. "Makino, this is Soran. Soran, this is Makino." Jack introduced the two, then looked a little sheepish at Makino. "I sort of raided Tequila Wolf, a project created by the World Government. I freed all of the slaves, and Soran was one of them." Jack started, earning a gasp from Makino at the mention of Soran being a slave.
"She doesn't have any family, and well, I was wondering if you would look after her? Once she's old enough she can come travel with me, but she's just-" Jack didn't get to finish what he was saying because Makino practically jumped over the counter and pulled Soran into a hug. "I'll look after her." Makino said simply, then almost as if dismissing Jack, she led Soran into the back of the bar. 'Oh well, that's one problem taken care of.' Jack told himself with a smile as he left to go and find Mayor Woop.
*****
Mayor Woop and the rest of the townsfolk of Windmill Village were very accommodating, and were rather happy to have the extra hands in the village, and actually welcomed them with open arms. At first the biggest concern about taking on this many people was finding them all homes, but Jack solved that issue rather quickly. He simply went into his [STORE], then went into the [Building] menu in the [Customize Settings], and after spending a few hundred million berries, he was able to create thousands of new homes for the people, and even a few for the people of Windmill Village who were already trying to build homes, Jack just made the whole process faster. Of course he had a few of the more experienced builders direct him on where to build the houses, and which direction to face them.
It took only a few days and everyone that was wishing to stay in the village had a house of their own, which was good, because Jack had already gone through and gathered all of the ones who wanted to join The Order. Of the 3,984 slaves, minus the 17 rapists that Smoker killed, just under 300 of them had family and homes elsewhere in the world that they wanted to go back to. Of those that chose to remain here in the East Blue, 1,666 of them opted to join The Order, while the rest of the former slaves wanted to simply live out a normal civilian lifestyle.
To Jack's surprise, of those 1,666 people who opted to join The Order, almost all of them chose to join the Sentinels. Apparently they were determined to not become slaves again, and were willing to fight back against the World Government. Still, there were 173 of them who wanted to join the Adventurers Association, and though that wasn't quite as even as Jack had hoped, it was still something. Plus, he lined up more with the Adventurers than the Sentinels, so if there was ever a problem between the two, he felt he was worth a few hundred regular people, so he didn't worry about it too much.
Jack had given everyone a few days to get settled into the town, but after a week of rest he felt it was time to begin the training. Heading towards Makino's bar, Jack found all of his group gathered like usual, and after informing them all that training would start first thing in the morning, a few of them looked rather excited. Luke was not one of those people. He had only had to train for a few short weeks with Jack so far, and in those few weeks, he had been pushed harder than he had pushed himself for an entire year. Granted, he couldn't argue with the results, but it felt like hell. They all went to sleep that night, knowing that the sunrise would start the next chapter of their lives.