(Location: Windmill Village)
(General POV)
It had been a few weeks now since Tsuru had arrived here in Windmill Village, and things were actually a lot calmer than Jack would have thought, given that Gion was now free of her bonds. True to their word, neither Tsuru or Gion had caused a fuss, though that might have been because Jack could kill them at any point in time if he so wished, but it probably didn't hurt that they had seen all of the good he was doing. It also helped that Jack removed Gion's bounty, something that only he or death could do.
It was as simple as selecting the [Cancel] option in the [Bounty] section on Gion's bounty, and all of her WANTED posters all over the world dissolved, leading everyone who wasn't in the know to wonder if she had been killed, because that was what happened when someone with a bounty was killed. That was actually how the Marines were keeping track of a number of their higher ranked soldiers. If their WANTED posters suddenly vanished, they concluded that the man or woman had been killed. Jack could also do that too if his [STORE] didn't notify him when one of his targets was killed and placed the body of said targets into his [Inventory], but it did so it was never a topic that he needed to really think about.
"I don't know why they waited so long to give me this, but $3 Billion isn't so bad for a first bounty." Jack said as he admired his WANTED poster that had come with the newspaper a few weeks ago. It was a sizable amount, and one that surprised Jack, after all, he had only killed a few thousand Marines. In canon, Luffy had caused a lot more problems and had gotten far less of a bounty put on his head. 'It was probably because I made everything so public.' Jack told himself, making as much sense of that as he could.
"No one ever accused the World Government of being smart, so don't think too hard about them taking so long on your WANTED poster. Actually, I'm wondering what I need to do to get one." Luke said, feeling a little jealous at not having a bounty put out on him just yet. They had talked about the bounty off and on over the last few weeks, it being a good topic of conversation, like tonight for example, and of course Luke was wondering when he would get to go out and earn a bounty of his own from the Government.
"Hey, I've been wanting to ask this for a while now, but when are we leaving the East Blue?" Luke asked, catching Jack slightly off-guard. He had known the question was coming sooner than later, hell, he was surprised it had taken this long, but he had never really had an answer for it. Jack hadn't wanted to leave until he knew that The Order was in a good position defensively, but he supposed they weren't far off from that right now. Not all of the Sentinels were super strong, but there were a few of them whose strength stood out among the rest, them being the ones who Jack relied on in most situations.
Haedrig wasn't the strongest of the bunch, but he was the one who Jack looked to for answers in The Order, and he was probably the one who was the most suited for a leadership role. Every member of the Sentinels respected him, and were quick to follow his orders. Of course Jack didn't want to put him in a position similar to Fleet-Admiral, after all, he didn't think one person should have all of the say over the entire organization, but in that same breath, he didn't want to create a bunch of monsters that could take over the world and put them in a position where they might turn out like the Celestial Dragons or World Government.
It was a conundrum, one that the Sentinels solved for him. They had known about his reasoning for creating the two groups in The Order, to keep everything balanced, and so had created a council of sorts that would be voted into power. Jack wasn't actually entirely sure how it all worked, but they did, which was what mattered. They had even gone so far as to create something similar to The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, something that every member of The Order would be beholden to.
Haedrig was on this council, as were six other individuals, all of whom were quite strong, though not the strongest, hell, they weren't even the smartest. Jack realized after reading over the names that they were all extremely liked and kind people. Evidently the people who voted them in hoped that they wouldn't abuse the power they were bestowing them with, and it showed.
Without Jack even having to discuss anything with them, the Sentinels created their own hierarchy, though Haedrig even admitted that it would be reworked over the years, but for now they were keeping it simple. Compared to the Marines and the Adventures Association, the ranks were as follows:
Rank- S: General = Admiral
Rank- A:Colonel = Vice-Admiral
Rank- B: Major = Rear-Admiral
Rank- C: Captain = Commodore
Rank- D: Lieutenant = Captain
Rank- E: Civilians
The Adventures Association was rather simple. You were given a rank of either S, A, B, C, D, and E, with S-Rank being the highest and E-Rank being the lowest. Jack's plan was to hopefully have the Association gauge the strength of a job and assign it a rank, and only an individual of that rank would be allowed to go and do that job, and that way it would hopefully cut down on the number of lives lost that went out on missions. Since he didn't technically consider himself a Sentinel, Jack judged himself to be an S-Rank Adventurer, something which no one disputed. Based off of Gion's fight's with the Sentinels over the last few weeks and a few of the Adventurers who dared to fight her, Jack had a pretty good idea of where a few people sat on the rankings.
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ADVENTURER'S RANKS
Jack: S-Rank
Luke: A-Rank
Smoker: A-Rank
Nami: C-Rank
Nojiko: C-Rank
Stain: A-Rank
Xander: A-Rank
Tsuru: S-Rank
==========
==========
SENTINEL RANKS
Haedrig: General
Deckard: General
Leon: Colonel
Cormack: Colonel
Leah: Colonel
Radek: Major
Tiana: Major
Tashigi: Major
==========
"Do you remember a few days ago when we were discussing ranks?" Jack asked Luke, completely ignoring Luke's own question. "Yes?" Luke said with a raised eyebrow. "I was thinking of doing a sort of ceremony with all of The Order members and the townsfolk in a few days, you know, to make all of that official. Maybe even invite a few representatives from towns all over East Blue, that way they're in the know how. After that, I think it'll be time for us to leave here. Besides, there are a few people I want to deal with sooner than later." Jack said, finally answering Luke's question. For his part, Luke looked more than a little excited at finally getting the opportunity to get the fuck out of here and finally strike at the World Government.
"It's about time!" Luke said happily. "But before then, we need to come up with some ideas for a guild name. I'll talk to Stain, Xander, and Tsuru about coming up with Guild names for their own guilds, that way I can announce them at the ceremony as well." Jack said seriously. Originally he was going to completely rip-off Fairy Tail and call his own guild that, but then he thought better of it and decided to try and figure out something that more suited himself. He liked fire and he was made of darkness, so he was trying to come up with something that involved those two things, but so far, he was drawing up a blank.
"It's got to be cool, so that means we can't ask the girls about it. Nami would say something stupid like, 'The Treasure Hunters' and Tashigi would most likely think of something that had to do with swords, so probably 'The Heavenly Blades' or something else equally as stupid." Luke said, making a good point, but then again, Jack wasn't known for making the coolest of names either. Still, it was worth some thought.
*****
Like he had told Luke, Jack arranged to have a big celebration for those who were part of The Order. Representatives from almost every town or kingdom in the East Blue were invited to witness the lively event, and because it was the day that marked the graduation of those in The Order, a bunch of people had decided to make it a grand spectacle that they would hopefully celebrate each year on this day. Jack created a number of events and booths, and actually made it out to be pretty memorable.
When it was time for the ceremony to take place, Jack stood before the masses and gave a great speech that brought hope to the people of a better world, then he called up each person from a list and bestowed them with their official ranks. For the Adventures Association, they were given a rank of either E,D,C,B,A, and S, while the Sentinels were given one of their official titles. Sure, some people were given a rank higher than their actual strength, but Jack knew if they kept on their current paths, they would be worthy of those ranks in the future. Besides, he couldn't not have any generals, that would be stupid.
All in all, the whole thing went really well, and it was also when Jack announced his guild, which he had called Dark Phoenix. Luke of course thought the guild name could have been cooler, but he didn't argue about it. Stain had told Jack that he was interested in creating a guild, but hadn't settled on a name, nor did he have anyone in particular that he wanted to join him, so he wasn't in any big rush to make it official.
Xander on the other hand, he created the Hunters Guild, which consisted of him and him alone, and according to him he had no intention of inviting anyone to his guild. It was simply a way for him to take missions while he explored the world, and that was entirely fine with Jack and everyone else. As for Tsuru, she also announced her own guild at the celebrations, which she had dubbed, The Valkyries. She had made it clear that they were an all-female guild, and that men were not allowed to join, which was fair.
"They're going to be useless for a week out of every month, but what do I know?" Luke had commented, which in turn got him an elbow to the ribs from Makino who didn't think his comment was very funny.
There were a few other people in the Adventures Association who had created guilds, many of whom had recruited other members of the Association to join them. Jack was glad to see that people were coming together, and he was rather looking forward to seeing what they did in the world.
*****
Not even a full day had passed since the ceremony was over, and yet, Jack wasn't with the others planning out where they were going to be heading off to next, or coming up with strategies for how to better defend the East Blue. On the contrary, he was on the east coast of Dawn Island on the cliffs overlooking the ocean, his gaze locked onto the seemingly plain-looking ship. Of course, he knew this wasn't just an ordinary ship. How did he know this? Well, after Luke had used the information Jack had given him to find the Cipher-Pol agent in the town, Jack had kept a much closer eye on the information that he bought, and it just so happened that one little telegram that he picked up was from the Five Elders to CP-0.
It was well known that there were only eight official Cipher Pols, each numbered between CP-1 to CP-8, however Jack knew there were in fact two more divisions of Cipher Pol that few knew about, them being CP-0 and CP-9, both of which were groups made up of the World Government's most loyal assassins, and it appeared Jack was dealing with CP-0.
From the aura of their Haki alone, Jack could tell that there were twelve figures on the seemingly plain-looking ship who were in a class above most people he met, however he himself wasn't most people. Regardless of how strong they felt to him, he knew he was stronger, and so long as he was able to nullify any surprises that might come from a Devil Fruit power, he was sure he would be able to take care of them.
Jack had debated on setting up some recording equipment, however no one actually knew about CP-0, so to try and announce them to the world was kind of pointless. Besides, it's not like they were advertising that they were with the government, so even though he knew it, he couldn't prove it. Still, that wouldn't stop him from killing them all.
Deciding against the direct approach, Jack began to charge up his power, compressing it into a ball in his palm, and only after he felt it was a sufficient amount of power did he unleash it upon the ship. The ship itself was engulfed in the fire, however the CP-0 agents weren't given their titles for no reason, as all but one of the twelve power houses had managed to use Moonwalk to escape the terrifying wave of power sent towards them.
"It's him! It's Sparrow!" One of the remaining eleven figures shouted to the others. The figure sounded like a man, though Jack couldn't tell because he was covered from head to toe in white robes and had his face covered by a mask. Seven of the other figures also wore similar outfits and had their faces covered, though three of them were simply dressed in white with no masks, but Jack only recognized one of them. Her name was Stussy, and Jack knew of her because she had been in the Whole-Cake Island Arc in the anime. He wasn't entirely sure how powerful she was, but he knew she was no slouch.
Deciding to meet these people in the sky so he didn't burn down the forest, Jack leapt into the air using Moonwalk. "Surrender!" Someone called out to him, then the guy had the brilliant idea to rocket himself towards Jack as if he were the protagonist of the story. He was enveloped in black flames before he even got within a hundred meters of Jack, ending his life almost instantly. Once the black flames touched someone, nothing could put them out until they consumed their target. Only Jack could stop the flames, but being that he wanted them all dead, he had no intention of putting out the flames.
"Don't get close to him!" Stussy shouted to the other CP-0 members, who were doing their best to jump in circles around Jack while keeping out of his reach. "You're learning. It's too bad your masters weren't as quick as you to learn not to come here. I'll be paying them a visit soon to let it sink in just how bad of an idea that really is!" Jack declared, then shot towards one man, but rather than run from him, the guy began to wave his arms about, however to his shock, nothing seemed to happen. Jack suspected the guy had probably tried to use a Devil Fruit power, but he was already blocking that, so it was a useless attempt that ended with that guy's head being cut off from a swing of Jack's sword.
"What happened?!" One of the masked individuals cried out in shock at seeing his comrade's head fall into the ocean. Evidently he, like the man without a head, was expecting something else to happen, and was dumbfounded when nothing did. "Fool." Jack said calmly, then appeared beside that guy and grabbed him by the face before fire crawled from his fingers and moved over the man's mask and into his hair.
His screams echoed around the area as he flailed about to try and put out the fire, but every time he beat away at the black flames they attached themselves to another part of his body until he simply stopped moving and fell into the ocean. The twelve original powerful auras were now down to eight, only now everyone was much more alert than before. Evidently they were cluing in that their powers didn't work. "My powers aren't working!" Stussy shouted to the others. See.
She was so scared that her powers weren't working that she moved so she was the furthest away from Jack, making sure there were always at least two people between her and him, though that wouldn't last if Jack had his way. "Range only! Getting close will only get you killed!" A guy who Jack thought was wearing a mask, but was actually just face paint shouted to the others. Try as they might with their Tempest Kicks and sword slashes, none of them even phased Jack, not that they could because he was a Logia user, though he never let them find that out because he was always in a different position when the wind blades reached him. "This isn't working! We need another plan of attack!" One of the other CP-0 agents cried out, finding that they were ill-prepared to go up against someone like Jack.
CP-0 was in the midst of trying to figure out what to do while keeping their all of their focus on Jack, they failed to notice anyone else around them, which Luke took advantage of as he came flying down from above them and impaled his sword through the skull of one of the people Jack was keeping an eye on. "Well, well, well, if it isn't CP-0! I've been itching to meet all of you!" Luke said, sounding a little maniacal as he pulled his sword from the man's skull and let the body fall into the ocean.
He knew of CP-0 from Jack's list, hell, he had pretty much memorized every person in all of the Cipher Pol divisions, so when he saw them all jumping through the air, he was quick to realize who they were. "What are you doing here?" Jack asked Luke, who only looked at him with a smirk. "You didn't honestly think I was going to let you leave me out of something like this again, did you? As soon as we saw the pillar of fire, we knew you had begun." Luke answered. "What do you mean, 'we'?" Jack asked, focusing on something Luke had said.
It was right at that moment when shots began to sound all around, and before Jack even realized what was happening, hundreds of people jumped out of the trees and through the air, moving about and attacking the CP-0 agents. "We must retreat!" Stussy called out to the other CP-0 agents. They were already having an exceedingly difficult time just dealing with Jack all by himself, and now that he had reinforcements, they knew the mission was a bust.
"As if, bitch!" Luke called to her as he moved to engage her, however Stussy was by no means weak, and met Luke with a strike of her own, only she had managed to get under his guard and sent him flying down into the ocean. She might have done more than just hit him, but Jack had actually seen the attack before it happened with his Observation Haki and had moved to intercept her, kicking her out of reach of Luke.
Haedrig and Deckard managed to kill one of the CP agents, and Xander and Stain worked together to kill another of them, bringing the CP agents down to five. Before it even happened, Jack saw it in a glimpse into the future through his Haki, which is why he acted so quickly. All of the CP agents acted in perfect synchronization as they pulled out round metal grenade-like objects, and after pulling the pins, they began to flee eastward towards the Red Line. Jack only had a few seconds to act, grabbing Leon, Deckard, Haedrig, Luke, and a few others who were close enough, and after quickly trapping them into a space of darkness, five explosions rang out in unison, making it almost sound like one explosion.
Jack and Smoker, who were both Logia type users were relatively unaffected by the blast, though Smoker was still blown away into the forest because he hadn't expected the sudden explosion. Jack had had to release his nullification zone to allow Smoker to have his powers, elsewise he wouldn't have been so lucky, however what this also did was allow for the CP agents to use their Devil Fruit powers, and they had used them with great effect to escape. Jack could see Stussy off in the distance with bat wings and flying for dear life. There was even one guy who looked as though he was a helicopter, only the blades looked like extra-large flower petals.
Jack wanted to reprimand everyone else for coming to help him as he knew he could have handled that all on his own without their interference, and he might have even been able to kill them all, however because he was running interference, five of them had managed to escape. However he actually couldn't be mad at them, because they had done exactly what he had trained them to do, and a few of them had done extremely well. Besides, it wasn't as if the five CP agents escaped unscathed. One of them had been shot in the chest three times, and one guy left without one of his arms. Jack was sure the other three had some sort of injury, at the very least they were scarred mentally and would hopefully never dare come back to the East Blue after their little failed assassination attempt.
Of course there were a few people from The Order who had been injured to some degree, though none of the injuries were fatal. The group worked like a well-oiled machine and managed to get everyone back to Windmill Village. It was only after the fight that Jack had realized he hadn't put out any crates of fruit to collect potential Devil Fruits, which he had scolded himself dearly for. It was a blow that he probably wouldn't let himself recover from for some time.
*****
The days following the confrontation with CP-0, Jack had made it known that he was going to be setting out from the East Blue, meaning it would be entirely up to the Sentinels to manage everything in his absence. One thing he couldn't get out of his mind from the fight was the difference some Devil Fruit powers could have, after all, without the deadly combination of both of his Devil Fruits, he doubted the fight would have been as one-sided as it had been, and he struggled to imagine what it would be like for the people of the East Blue if someone like Akainu, Kizaru, or even someone like Aokiji coming when he wasn't here. It was with that line of thinking that he purchased a few Devil Fruits from the [STORE], at least a few more than the few he had already purchased if for no other reason than just to have them.
Not wanting to advertise what he was doing, Jack gathered all of the people he felt were deserving of the powers and left it up to them to decide if they wanted the Devil Fruits or not, though he couldn't stress hard enough that even though they would have unbelievable power at their fingertips, it did not bode well to neglect physical training, especially not when it came to Haki.
That was actually one of the main reasons he was giving these people the first choice in the Devil Fruits because they had already proved that they were very strong, and the Devil Fruits would only add to that. Hell, in Once Piece: Film Z then even Zephyr commented that Kizaru relied too much on his Devil Fruit power, which was why an old man like him was able to kick his ass, though that could also be because Zephyr was a complete monster, but who was really to say.
In the end, Deckard, Leon, and Cormack chose not to take a Devil Fruit, stating they were content enough with their own abilities. Stain chose not to eat one, mostly because he said he was looking for a specific type of fruit that complimented his fighting skills, and none of them did that, so he opted to wait. Haedrig ate one, the Mythical Zoan, Monkey-Monkey Fruit: Model Monkey King. The fruit lets the user transform into a full Son-Wukong or a half-human hybrid, gaining increased strength, speed, body size manipulation, and the ability to create a certain number of clones. To Jack, the clones sounded like the shadow clone jutsu from Naruto, only unlike Naruto, Haedrig would be limited to the number of them he could create.
Leah was given the Logia, Wind-Wind Fruit, allowing her to turn into and control wind. It was a formidable power, one that would see her grow far stronger than she was now, something which they all knew. Because Deckard and the others declined the fruit, Tina was given the option and chose to eat the Mythical Zoan, Cat-Cat Fruit: Model White Tiger. The fruit gave her the ability to transform into a full white tiger or a humanoid white tiger hybrid. She had greatly enhanced strength, and could create a spiritual armor around herself that was similar to Haki, only it wasn't Haki, and she could control wind to a minor degree, though it was next to nothing when Leah was around.
The final fruit went to Xander, the Mythical Zoan, Human-Human Fruit: Model Lich. It gave him the ability to turn into a lich, a somewhat solid-like transparent ghost, as well as the ability to raise the dead into wraiths, and let him be able to pass through solid objects without damaging the objects or himself. He could fly while transformed into a lich, and he could even heal himself by consuming the soul of another person. It sounded like a stupidly overpowered Devil Fruit, but it also scared a few people, however Xander was not one of them. On the contrary, he said the fruit practically called out to him, and he had eaten it without so much as a second thought.
With the Devil Fruits distributed, Jack no longer felt as though there was anything holding him back here. He knew that The Order would be fine without him, and if they trained up their powers, he doubted even the Marines would stand a chance against them. In his haste to leave Windmill Village, Jack had actually failed to realize something important, or rather, someone important.
"You're going to leave me?" Soran asked him sadly on the evening before his departure. "It won't be forever." Jack told her, having every intention in the world to come back here. After all, everyone in his guild was from here, and despite their desires to go out into the world, they all knew where home was. "But you promised to take me to the island and see the ancient dragons." Soran whispered sadly as tears pooled in the corners of her eyes.
"I know I did, and I'm sorry I won't be able to take you, but I have to go out and help people." Jack told her, his words causing her to try to hold back her tears, for she knew better than anyone the kind of suffering some people went through out in the world, and she knew without Jack there to help them, many people would lose their lives.
Seeing her trying to be brave, Jack took the little girl into his arms and held her close as he whispered his apologies. After a few minutes of her silently sobbing into his shoulder, Jack decided to give her a bit of good news. "Just because I can't take you, doesn't mean you can't go there. I've already talked to Tsuru and she agreed to watch over you while you're there. Your mom (Makino) already agreed to it, though she will be checking up on you quite frequently with Radek's help." Jack explained, his words doing the trick of calming Soran down a bit more than she was.
"And since you're a member of Dark Phoenix, I thought I might be able to give you a mission while you're at it." Jack said, this time bringing Soran up short as she straightened up to look into his eyes. "A mission? What kind of mission?" She asked excitedly, her sadness from before all but gone. "There is a dragon somewhere on Warship Island who was left behind a thousand years ago, and it needs help to get back on its island when it rises from the sea. Will you help it get back to its home?" Jack said, getting wide sparkly eyes of affirmation from Soran.
Of course Jack didn't tell Soran about the little girl who was already trying to help the dragon, mostly because it would be weird that he knew that, but also because he couldn't remember the little girl's name, only that she had eaten the Whisper-Whisper Fruit that allowed her to talk to animals. "I'll do it!" Soran declared excitedly.
Right at that moment, someone cleared their throat, and both Soran and Jack looked over to see Nami in the doorway with a not so innocent look on her face. "Not so fast, Soran. This is a big job, so you shouldn't just accept it without thinking it over. Something like this is going to take a lot of time, and your time is valuable. Make sure you get your money's worth from him." Nami said, which only earned a frown from Jack. "Are you serious?" Jack asked her with narrowed eyes. "Hey, it's only fair. Besides, this is a big undertaking." Nami said smartly. "She's got a point. Even with Granny Tsuru's help, this might be a bit much for me. A little encouragement might go a long way." Soran said, fully siding with Nami.
Jack hadn't told them that he had to hire Tsuru through the Adventures Association to get her to take the job, which had been a few million berries, not to mention he had already bought her something to help her out, and the price of it alone was more than Soran would probably ever make in her life. Deciding to play along with her, Jack hummed and hawed, until finally he pulled out a small chest.
"In this chest is a power that is coveted by many, and I was actually going to give it to one of the Sentinels, but knowing you, I think this power might be more suited to you than anyone else." Jack said as he ran his hand over the lid of the chest. "What Devil Fruit is it?" Soran asked in a whisper as she looked hungrily at the chest. She, like everyone else in the village knew all about Devil Fruits, and even knew a lot about certain people throughout the world with really powerful Devil Fruits, like Whitebeard, Big Mom, Kaido, and even the powers of a few Marines, like the Admirals and the Fleet-Admiral, so seeing a Devil Fruit this close, Soran couldn't help but wonder just what sort of power it held.
"It is the Mythical Zoan, Human-Human Fruit: Model Fairy. With the power of this Devil Fruit, you will turn into an actual fairy, and I think you can shrink your size down to be really small with it, and I know you can use your fairy dust to heal people, and you of course will have wings to fly, and the final ability is to somehow talk to plants. So how about it? Is this payment enough for this mission?" Jack asked with a smirk as he saw the disbelief and excitement flash over Soran's face.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Soran cried out excitedly as she tried to hug the life out of Jack. He knew she would like the Fairy Fruit, and it suited her personality. She was too kind to be given a fruit that could only cause destruction, but he wanted her to have something that she could protect herself with, and this fruit seemed to be it. Plus she could do a lot of good with it, and he knew she would.
"Are you kidding me?!" A shout came from the doorway, and it was only then that Jack realized he hadn't taken into account how Makino would feel about him giving Soran a Devil Fruit. "Makino, calm down. It's a perfectly good-" Jack began, but was cut-off when Makino stormed over and stood directly in front of him. "She will lose the ability to swim, and who knows what else could happen to her! People will want to use her power!" Makino said, sounding a mixture between angry and scared.
Of course in his haste to help Soran get stronger, he had failed to realize that by giving her this power, she would become a target for others who would no doubt covet her power, however Makino knew this. How, Jack didn't know, but he could see it in her eyes. She was scared of what might happen to Soran.
"It'll be okay, mom. I'm part of The Order, and we stick together. If I need help, I know they'll be there to help me. Besides, I can't live my life in fear of what might happen, and focus on what's actually happening. I can help people with this power, and if it's not me, then someone else will surely have to bear this burden. Let me be the one to do it." Soran said, resolved to this, as well as excited. "My sweet, sweet girl. How did you get to be so kind?" Makino said as she knelt down and pulled Soran in close to her. "I had you there to guide me." Soran said into Makino's chest, which only caused the woman to cry a few tears of her own.
Watching all of this unfold, Jack wanted to comment that Soran wasn't all good, after all she had just tried to extort some form of payment out of him to go on an adventure, but he didn't really blame her for that. He blamed Nami, and as soon as they were gone from Windmill Village, he was going to give her an earful.
When everything finally calmed down, Soran ate the Fairy Fruit, and almost immediately wings appeared on her back. Knowing that the wings would make her stand out, Jack helped her figure out how to make them disappear, which they did by dissolving into dust, and when she wanted them back it was as if they shimmered into place. With his guidance, she was able to shrink herself down to be the size of an apple, and could shoot balls of glittering dust from her hands that seemed to make people glow when it touched them.
It also appeared she had to sprinkle the dust on a plant if she wanted to talk to it, which was good, elsewise she might very well become a carnivore if plants could speak to her and beg her not to eat them. Jack had to call Tsuru and inform her about the power Soran had, and asked that she help train Soran while she watched over her, something that Tsuru easily agreed to without even asking for more pay.
With that, they would set out to Warship Island to find the dragon, even though there was still more than a year before the island should rise from the ocean. Still, they could get the exact time from the old dragon, and hopefully Soran could either keep herself occupied with it, or she could go with Tsuru until the designated time. Either way, Jack didn't have to deal with it, which was good because he was a rather busy guy.
(A.N. Totally not because I didn't want to write about it! *Awkward whistling*)
*****
The next morning, Jack and the others all gathered down by the docks, no doubt ready for their departure. "Ugh! I forgot about that dumb little ship we used to fly in! When are you going to get a real ship?!" Nami cursed angrily at Jack. She did not like the little ship, regardless of how fast it was. Actually, she was so used to going through Radek's gates that the thought of flying through the air on Jack's death ship gave her a nauseating feeling in her stomach.
"I've told you a million times, I already have a ship." Jack said, not wanting to deal with her complaining. "I know you've told us that, but none of us have ever actually seen this so-called ship of yours." Nami argued, sounding as though she didn't believe Jack actually had a ship. "Oh yeah? Well then, feast your eyes on the Black Pearl." Jack said, then with a wave of his hand, he made his ship appear.
The sight of his creation given form nearly brought a tear to Jack's eye as he marveled at how magnificent the ship had turned out. The Pearl was larger than even a Marine battleship, but the coloring was different, as was the design. Jumping up to the deck of the ship, Jack looked up at the crow's nest, though unlike nearly every other ship in the world, the crow's nest for the Pearl was more like Luffy's ship, The Thousand Sunny. Instead of a basket or a small platform for someone to be on the lookout, there was a circular room with reinforced windows all around so someone could keep watch in comfort. There were even a few sofa chairs so whoever was up there on the lookout wasn't constantly having to stand.
"If you will all follow me, I'll give you the tour." Jack said to the small group who were practically gawking in surprise at the ship they were standing on. Going inside one of the doors on the main deck, they went straight in to a large dining area that had the tables secured to the floor, meaning they wouldn't move about if the ship was ever caught in a violent storm. Off to the side, there was a kitchen fit for a king, fully furnished with the latest and greatest appliances that money could buy, along with pots, pans, utensils, spices, and anything else a kitchen might need. Off to the side of the kitchen and dining room, there was a bar with a glass-like shine to it, and behind it secured to the wall were bottles of every known alcohol in the world.
Jack explained how he did in fact have a bottle of every alcohol in the world, some of which were impossible to find anywhere else. Visible from the bar and dining room was a large aquarium that was built to hold all sorts of different kinds of fish. Jack had rather liked Franky's idea of having fresh seafood all of the time, plus it had the added effect of giving the room a relaxing ambiance, so despite being able to keep food fresh in his [Inventory], Jack was still going to catch some fish.
The bedrooms were next on the tour. Closer to the main door leading to this floor, there were two rooms on either side of a long hallway, and in each room there were ten beds, five on each side of the room with trunks at the foot of each bed. These rooms were for if they picked up anyone who might be needing a lift somewhere, as Jack had no intention of sharing his room, nor did he expect anyone else on the crew to do so either.
Just past the two rooms, there were two large bathrooms, again, one on each side of the hallway. One was clearly marked for women, while the other was for men, and Jack felt as though he didn't need to explain that if you had a dick, you weren't allowed in the women's room, and if you had a cunt, you couldn't go into the men's room. If two people wanted to fuck, they could do it in their own rooms.
Past the bathrooms were the individual rooms. There were twenty-one of them, with ten rooms on each side of the hallway, while at the very end was the Captain's room, which was Jack's. He thought that went without saying, but apparently Nami needed to be told because she had tried to claim it as hers until Jack set her straight. Each of the individual rooms was nearly identical in every way, save for a few minor things here and there in the Captain's room. For one, it had its own bathroom, a comfy reclining massage chair, a desk, a small bookshelf for his most private books, and of course a bed fit for an emperor. All of the other individual rooms had a bed, a footlocker, a closet, and a hammock that hung from the ceiling.
Before moving on, Jack instructed everyone to claim a room for themselves while he stood in front of his door. Unsurprisingly, Nojiko picked the room closest to Jack's on the right-hand side of the hallway, while Nami was one door down from her one the same side. Luke picked the furthest room from Jack's on the left-hand side of the hallway, stating that he had excellent hearing, and the last thing he wanted to do was listen to Jack and Nojiko going at it like rabbits.
After that, Smoker picked the room across the hall from Luke, with Tashigi getting the one right next to him. Apparently they too didn't want to listen to Jack and Nojiko doing it, not that that was even a real problem. They didn't know it, but Jack had made sure that each room was completely soundproof, because like the others, he also didn't want to hear them going at it while he tried to sleep.
After inspecting the bedrooms, Jack led everyone down to the next floor below. The whole floor was one large room, and Jack had to say, he was particularly fond of it. "This, ladies and gents, is my library. You'll take notice of the [NO FOOD/DRINK] sign on the door. I expect this to be followed at all times, and should you break this rule, you will be banned from further entry, and I will work you so hard, you'll wish you could crawl back up your momma's coochie and never be born. Everything else I've ever done to you will feel like a wet dream, and you will rue the day, yes I said rue, you were ever even thought of." Jack warned them as he opened the door to reveal row upon row of shelves, all filled with books. There were transparent panels to keep the books secured onto the shelves, so hopefully nothing would happen to them.
In one section of the room, there were a few leather arm-chairs and sofas that lined the wall, along with a large desk with a file cabinet next to it. There were a few tables as well, but they were more for if someone wanted to take notes, at least in Jack's mind. If someone was just coming to do some reading, he didn't see why they wouldn't take one of the arm-chairs. "This is incredible! There has to be a million books in here!" Nojiko said, fully appreciating the amount of text in the room.
"More than a million, actually, but that's not important. What is important is that if you wish to take a book out of the Library, you write it down at the desk, that way I know who has it and where it is. Should someone take a book without signing it out, they will be penalized and have to pay a fine." Jack said, then ushered everyone out of the room. There was still more to see after all.
The next room he led them to was the medical ward, which only had four beds for patients off to the side and two desks in the corner. Jack didn't actually expect many people to be sick or injured at the same time, or at the very least he didn't expect them all to be filling up the medical ward, but then again, this was before he went on to create The Order, and actually hadn't expected to have so many people around him. Still, he would make do if a problem ever arose, and besides, they didn't even have a doctor on the crew yet, so any injuries were kind of a fix it yourself kind of thing.
"I know there aren't many beds in here, but in my defense, I built this before I met any of you. Plus the real jewel of the medical ward is actually the lab back here." Jack said as he walked to the back of the room and opened the door leading into the lab. It had the best cutting edge gadgets and gizmos, along with anything a good doctor would need to fix someone up. Granted, he knew next to nothing about being a doctor, but a book told him this was what every good lab needed, and he trusted books more than people, after all, he had learned everything he knew from books. That, and a broken ass [STORE], but really, who was keeping track at this point.
The next floor down was the training room, filled with weights, treadmills, practice dummies that looked like Marines, and a number of odd pieces of equipment. The room itself was reinforced to an insane degree, and was soundproofed, so hopefully it wouldn't become a problem in the future. If it did, Jack would force people to train outside, but for now, he didn't think it would be an issue.
There were two floors below the training floor, but they were both filled with empty rooms that Jack could convert into something else at a later time. For now though, they would be storage for the others, simply because he could store anything of his inside of his [Inventory]. Going back above deck, Jack led everyone to the Control Room, which was a lot like the command station on a spaceship. Jack never liked the idea of having the ship's wheel outside, so he built a room around it, with a large throne-like chair beside it so whoever was steering the ship could do so in comfort. From the chair, whoever was steering could look out of a giant glass window, though to be honest, Jack didn't think there would be much need for someone to always be in here, mostly because he had made so he could lock the ship's wheel in place, making so they could stay on course to wherever they might be going.
"Why is that chair made of metal?" Tashigi asked while pointing to the chair behind the ship's wheel. "Because the chair itself acts as a catalyst or a medium for my power. I can feed my flames into it, and in turn it will create a propulsion that will propel the ship forward like a rocket. I haven't tested it out yet, so I'm not sure how fast it will go, but I imagine I could get us going pretty fast if I put enough power into it." Jack explained, getting nods of understanding from everyone else.
"What are those things?" Nami asked as she stared at the shelves filled with eternal log poses. Jack had one for every island in the Grand Line, including one for Laugh Tale, the final island which contained the One Piece. Like every true One Piece fan, Jack was curious to know what exactly the One Piece was, but he was in absolutely no hurry to go there and see for himself. Unless it was the key to the end of the world, he couldn't be bothered to worry about it.
"Those are eternal log poses. In the Grand Line, compasses don't work, so you have to use what is called a log pose to get to where you want to go." Jack said, pausing long enough to show them all a regular log pose that only had one needle in it. "The log pose functions by recording the magnetic wave of an island in the Grand Line and points to that island so the user can travel there. Once you reach that island, the log pose will take a few days to lock onto the magnetic wave of another island, and you travel that way. The time it takes to lock onto the magnetic waves of the next island varies from island to island, so you better be prepared to wait, that is, unless of course you have an eternal log pose." Jack said as he gestured towards the wall filled with eternal log poses.
"The standard log pose is not suitable for sailing in the New World, which is the second half of the Grand Line. Due to the fact that some islands actually move or completely hide their magnetic fields at random, it could happen that if you have a log pose with only one needle, you're kind of fucked, and not in the fun way. To navigate safely through the New World, people travel with log poses with three needles. Each needle records the magnetic waves of a different island simultaneously, as opposed to the Paradise log pose that only records the magnetic wave of one island at a time. The stability of the needle reflects the stability of the island's magnetic field; if the needle is displaying erratic movement, it means that the island's magnetic wave is unstable, and possibly dangerous." Jack explained as he showed them all a three-needle log pose.
Finally grabbing one of the eternal log poses off of the shelf, Jack held up the hourglass-like container for them all to see before explaining, "Unlike the log poses that need to record a magnetic wave to get to the next island, an eternal pose records the magnetic field of a specific island, and then is sealed so it can never reset or change it's direction. No matter where you go in the world, they will always point to the island of the magnetic wave it has recorded. Meaning, even in the New World where islands have a tendency to move around, an eternal pose is the only surefire way to get to where you want to go in the New World."
"These are incredible! I can't believe such a thing like this exists!" Nami said in astonishment as she looked over the log poses, as well as the maps hanging up around the room. There were maps of places she had never even heard of, and she knew if a certain someone didn't stop her, she could stay in here for days on end looking over all of this stuff.
"You're all going to have to know at least the basics of what to expect in the Grand Line in case we get separated. I already gave you a piece of my Vivre Card, and I have a piece of all of yours, so we should still be able to find each other, but just in case you have to tough it out on your own for a while, make sure to take a few notes." Jack told them before he ushered them out of the room and towards the docks. As much as he wanted to, they weren't ready to travel around in the Pearl. Not yet anyway.
"What are those things?" Luke asked after they were back on the docks, and it was only then he noticed the dark pieces of metal spread about every few feet on the underside of the ship. "So, you know how Sea-Prism Stone affects Devil Fruit users? Well it also affects Sea-Kings for some reason. By coating the underside of your ship with Sea Stone, Sea-Kings will actually avoid the ship, so I implanted it all over the underside of the ship." Jack answered. "But if that's Sea Stone, how is your power not affected by it?" Luke asked, finding that to be rather odd. "Don't worry about it." Jack said, completely avoiding that topic. He had no intention of telling anyone in the world about his [Inventory] or [STORE] because they were by far his most broken abilities.
With the tour of the ship now done with, Jack stored the Pearl back inside of his [Inventory], however unlike what the others were expecting, he didn't pull out his little ship that he used to blast them through the skies. On the contrary, Radek appeared from one of his gates with a small duffle-bag on his shoulder.
"Since things are calm right now, I've decided to bring Radek along with us, at least for the first few weeks. I'm hoping to add a number of new islands to his list of places that he can open gates up to, that way we'll be able to get a bit of a foothold on the Grand Line for when The Order moves in." Jack told the others with a grin, at which point a gate opened beside them, which led directly to Loguetown.
"Get ready, ladies, because our next stop is the Grand Line!" Jack declared with a cheer as he stepped through the gate. This was the true beginning of his journey, and it started now.