(Location: Secon)
(Garp POV)
Like everyone else on Secon, Garp could only stare dumbly at where the screen had been that had just shut down, not sure if he truly believed what he had just witnessed. After all, it should have been impossible for a force to not only make it to Mary Geoise, but to also attack the Celestial Dragons and survive the Holy Knights, but Jack Sparrow and some people nobody had ever heard of did it, and by the looks of things, he was very much victorious in his attack.
"Hey, Garp? We both saw the same thing, right?" Sengoku asked slowly. "Yeah… It's a right kick in the dick, isn't it?" Garp said, to which Sengoku could only nod in agreement. If they were right, most of the entire world should have seen that broadcast, and if so, Garp was betting that more than a few countries would be pulling themselves out from beneath the Government's hold, and if they weren't flying Sparrow's flag before, they sure as hell would be now.
"Could someone tell me what the hell just happened?" One of Whitebeard's commanders asked stupidly. "So here's the thing… we sort of left out a bit of information on why we left the Marines." Garp said while looking pointedly at Whitebeard, who gave him a look as if telling him to continue.
"That guy you just saw, Jack Sparrow, well he's a complete fucking monster. When he first took over the East Blue, the Marines sent in fifteen battleships with a thousand men on each of them and fifteen Vice-Admirals, and the son-of-a-bitch killed them all in a matter of minutes, and he made it look effortless too. Anyway, after that things got even more chaotic when the World Government tried to deal with him themselves, but it just pissed him off even more, then they tried to get Sengoku to deal with him, but as much as we like the Marines, we didn't agree to a wholesale slaughter, so Sengoku and I made a deal with him to leave the Holy City alone for a few months. By my calculations, he actually waited a few days after the timeframe he gave us, but none of us actually believed he would attack the Holy City." Garp explained plainly.
"And what about that bit where he said he wasn't the one to attack my territories? How'd he even know about it if he didn't have something to do with it?" Whitebeard asked. "That would actually be my doing. I called him the other day and informed him about this whole thing. He wasn't too happy to learn that the World Government was defaming the name of his organization. When he said he would take care of it, I didn't think it would be anything like this." Sengoku said, still looking a little surprised at the whole thing. When Jack Sparrow wanted to set the record straight, he did it on a whole new level.
Looking between Whitebeard and a WANTED poster he was still holding of Teach, Garp slowly shook his head before saying, "You probably don't want to hear this, but Jack will be coming after Teach. Doesn't matter if it's in a month or a year, he will come. Best you get that WANTED poster sorted before something happens that you can't fix." It was sound advice, and if Whitebeard was as smart as Garp knew him to be, he would deal with this matter sooner than later.
"If you really want to know what the deal is, you better ask the man responsible for creating the poster. Call Sparrow. He might be a complete monster, but he's honest and straightforward. He'll at least be able to tell you why he created the bounty." Sengoku said, making a whole lot of sense on the matter.
"Right, you did mention telling him about this attack, so you must have a way to contact him." Whitebeard said, however Sengoku shook his head with a smile on his face. "You don't contact Sparrow, he contacts you. However, to make that happen you've got to be willing to pay." Sengoku said, his grin widening even further as he imagined Whitebeard talking to the little devil that was Soran.
"What do you mean?" Marco, Whitebeard's 1st Division Commander asked. Like everyone else save for Garp and Sengoku, he had no idea what Sengoku was inferring. "It's Sparrow's little sister!" Garp said with a laugh, then continued, "She's like eight years old and she's a little extortionist. She got Sengoku for five-million berries already!" Saying this, Garp began to laugh uncontrollably as he remembered that time all those months ago.
He only stopped laughing when Sengoku threw a nearby cannonball at his head, which exploded in his face and almost knocked out one of his teeth. Rather than take the cannonball as the warning to shut-up, Garp picked himself up off the ground and went to his room before coming back out with the Video Transponder Snail he had used to record the interaction between Sengoku and Soran.
"God Damn it…" Garp heard Sengoku mumble as he began to play the all too familiar scene, showing one of Sengoku's biggest blunders that was still eating at him to this day. After finishing the video and sharing a laugh with his crew, Whitebeard asked, "So you can get into contact with her and she puts you into contact with her brother for a fee… Can we call her now?" "I don't see why not." Garp said, then without being prodded, he dialed Tsuru. It took only a few seconds before a child's voice answered, "Hello, this Soran. May I ask who's calling?"
"Hey Soran, it's Garp!" Garp greeted the little girl excitedly, and he was happy to talk with her. It had only been a few months since he had found out about her being adopted by Makino, but already he considered her something like his own grandchild. "Hey gramps! How've you and Grandpa Goku been?!" Soran asked, sounding equally as excited as Garp.
"We've been great. We're travelling all over the New World, and we just reached an island resort yesterday. How have you and your mom been doing?" Garp said cordially. "That's cool. We've been pretty good. We rescued a magic dragon, and Granny's teaching me how to fight with a sword. Right now we're on our way back to Windmill Village." Soran said, then explained the events in finer detail after Garp probed her for more information.
"That's so cool. I'll bet your brother will be happy to learn you're getting stronger. Oh, by the way, there's an old man here who's trying to figure out a puzzle and needs Jack's help to figure it out. Could you tell him to call Whitebeard?" Garp asked, still smiling. "Whitebeard? You mean the Emperor?" Soran asked in surprise. "You've heard of Whitebeard?" Garp asked curiously.
"Well duh. He's one of the freaking Four Emperors. I know all about them, the Seven Warlords, well five now I guess, the Marine Admirals, and some of the more notable pirates in the world. I'm actually surprised you're hanging out with someone like that, Gramps. You didn't become a pirate, did you?" Soran asked suspiciously.
"WHAT?! ME?! Become a stinking PIRATE?! Don't be ridiculous! We just happened to run into him in the New World, and now he needs our help. Well, your brother's help, but you get the point." Garp said, sounding a little affronted at the accusation.
"Hmm… How rich is he?" Soran asked, not sounding opposed to the idea of helping out. "Given the fact that he owns a few islands, I'd say he's probably loaded." Garp answered happily now that they were getting back on topic. Whitebeard tried to shoot him a menacing look at his words, however if there was anyone who could ignore strong figures, it was Garp. "Tell him I want a hundred-million berries, then I'll get Jack to call him." Soran said, and almost instantly Sengoku spit out the mouthful of food he had been chewing, almost choking from laughter.
"Little girl, I'm the strongest man in the world." Whitebeard said, butting into the conversation and trying to sound menacing. "I think old age has made you senile, old man. Right now you're the SECOND strongest, and soon to be THIRD strongest if Luke has anything to say on the matter." Soran shot back firmly, not scared in the slightest at the fact that she was arguing with Whitebeard of all people.
Garp knew children could be ignorant of what was going on and that was why they could be so brave, however he knew Soran wasn't an ignorant child. Given her backing, Garp knew she had nothing to fear, regardless of the fact that Whitebeard would never harm a child, but still, not just anyone would dare speak to Whitebeard like this.
"So you think your brother is stronger than me?" Whitebeard asked with a half smile on his face. "I don't think he is, I know he is, old man. And the price just went up to two-hundred million berries!" Soran stated, which did the trick of making Whitebeard's smile disappear. "Listen here, brat!" Whitebeard began, however Soran interrupted him. "Oh, I get it! You're broke! Some Emperor you are. I bet Kaido or Big Mom wouldn't even think twice about paying such a small amount." Soran said, doing the trick of making Whitebeard's eye start twitching.
"That's because they don't have a brain cell between them, and I'm not dumb enough to pay that much just to talk to someone, even if I am one of the wealthiest people in the world!" Whitebeard said, sounding very annoyed. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Mr. Cheapskate!" Soran shot back. "Sorry Gramps, it doesn't seem we'll be doing any business today." Soran said, obviously to Garp. "Sorry about that, I really did think he wasn't so poor." Garp told her with a shrug.
"Wait a minute!" Whitebeard called out when it looked like Soran was going to end the call. He looked to be thinking hard on the matter for a few seconds before he finally let out a deep sigh. "I'll pay." Whitebeard said reluctantly. "That's great! You can send the three-hundred million berries to Windmill Village in East Blue! Just mention my name to anyone in town, and they'll send you to me." Soran said cheerfully. "Wait a minute. You said-" Whitebeard began, but was silenced when Garp signaled for him to shut his mouth.
"I'll see that you get your money, Soran." Garp said simply, not wanting to drag this out anymore than it already had been. Plus he wasn't sure he could keep holding his laughter back for much longer, and Sengoku looked like he was struggling to breath from trying to contain his laughter. "Awesome. I'll call him right away." Soran said innocently, however before she could end the call, Garp decided to say something.
"I wouldn't call him just yet." Garp told her, causing the little girl to frown. "Why not?" She asked. It was obvious to Garp that Soran hadn't seen the broadcast of Jack fighting in the Holy City, otherwise she would have been way more worked up, and she would have brought up the topic with Garp, so it was clear she was ignorant on the matter.
"Jack and the rest of The Order are currently fighting in Mary Geoise. They just did this big broadcast about it a few minutes ago. I wouldn't be too worried about him, because it looked like he was winning, but he probably won't answer his Transponder Snail for a few hours. Maybe call him in the morning. We'll wait until then." Garp told her, doing his best to not make the situation sound as bad as it was. "Okay. I'll call him in the morning. Goodnight gramps." Soran said, then ended the call.
The moment the Transponder snail disconnected, both Garp and Sengoku let out a roar of laughter, as well as a number of Whitebeard's own crew members. "That was fucking hilarious! She may have gotten me for five-million, but she got you for three-hundred million!" Sengoku wheezed out, still struggling to breathe.
"She goaded you good, Pops!" Marco said, not even trying to hide the enjoyment he got from that whole conversation. It took a few seconds, but Whitebeard himself soon joined in the laughter after realizing how ridiculous the whole conversation had been. Knowing that it wouldn't be for a few hours until they got the call, all of them went back to drinking their asses off.
*****
(Location: Secon)
(Whitebeard POV)
The following morning, Soran had called Whitebeard back through Garp to inform him that Jack was super busy with taking care of the sick and injured, but that he would contact him in a day or two, and Soran would make sure of this, seeing as how she was only a day or so away from Windmill Village herself, so she would remind Jack to call him if he hadn't done it when she arrived. Whitebeard was thankful for the call, even if he didn't particularly like the little devil, he liked how sincere she was about the whole thing.
On the fourth day after the attack on the Holy City, or G-Day as most people were referring to it, Whitebeard woke up midafternoon, his head a little groggy after drinking so much the night before. Ever since coming to Secon they had been getting shitfaced almost every night, but last night had been rough, for the simple fact that a new shipment of booze came in on the Sea Train and Whitebeard and his crew were able to drink to their heart's content. Heading out onto the deck of his ship, Whitebeard saw many of his sons and allies were still sleeping wherever they had passed out, some still with bottles of alcohol clutched in their hands.
He smiled at the sight, knowing this was more than he could ever have asked for. Though none of them shared his blood, they were his family, and nothing would ever change that, at least not while he was alive, however long that lasted. Whitebeard was just lamenting to himself about the fact that he was almost constantly hooked up to IV's and wondering how much longer he had left in this world when he was brought out of his musings when someone placed a large platter of food in front of him.
"Morning, Pops!" Thatch said cheerfully. "Morning, Thatch. I take it you slept well?" Whitebeard asked, his smile widening somewhat when he saw a cute girl step out onto the deck of the ship, look at Thatch with a bright red face, then she ran off back into the city. "You could say that." Thatch said with a smile, also having seen the girl exit the ship before running off.
Breakfast was just getting into full swing before Whitebeard's Transponder Snail started ringing, and without much thinking he answered it. "Hello, this is Whitebeard." He answered simply. "Hello, Whitebeard. This is Jack Sparrow." Came the voice over the Transponder Snail, and at once everyone on the deck of the ship quieted down so as to listen in to the conversation.
"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me." Whitebeard said nonchalantly, even though he knew he was talking to one of the most dangerous individuals in the world right now. "To tell you the truth, I did, but Soran reminded me last night about it, and then first thing this morning. I don't know why she's so gung-ho about me calling you." Jack said honestly. "I can give you three-hundred million reasons why." Whitebeard said, getting an immediate reaction from not only Jack, but a few other people on the other side of the line as well.
"WHAT?!" They all cried in unison. "SORAN! You get your butt in here!" Jack called out in the background, then to someone else he growled, "This is all your fault!" "Hey, would you rather her scamming someone or being scammed?" A woman's voice asked. "I don't want anyone to be scammed, so stop teaching her that that's alright!" Jack told the woman, then they heard Soran's voice ask, "What's up?"
"Did you seriously make Whitebeard pay three-hundred million berries for me to call him?" Jack asked the little girl. "Technically you never said I couldn't scam bad guys, and Whitebeard is a pirate, so I didn't break the rules." Soran said defensively. "What about when you scammed Sengoku?" Jack asked her. "He was a Marine at the time. They're worse than pirates." Soran retorted. "She's not wrong there." An unknown voice said in agreement. "Shut-up, Luke. You're not helping." Jack said, then to Soran he added, "I should tell your mother about this and see what she has to say about it."
"Oh come on, don't be a snitch! You don't want to sink as low as Whitebeard and Grandpa Goku. They're criminals." Soran pleaded sweetly. "You know I'm right here listening to you, right?" Whitebeard chimed in. "And I stand by my words, snitch." Soran said in annoyance.
"I'm putting you on probation. If you scam anyone else in the next year, I'm telling Makino. Now you and Apis go run around the deck of the ship a hundred times, and no flying!" Jack warned her. To her credit, Soran never tried to argue, nor did she even grumble in annoyance, she simply did as she was told.
"Right then, so what did you want to talk to me about?" Jack asked, getting back on to the topic at hand. "I want to know why you put a bounty on one of my sons, and what your warning is about." Whitebeard said, getting a frown from Jack. "Well, that's a little difficult to explain." Jack said slowly.
"A few years ago, there was this man who ate a Devil Fruit that allowed him to see the future. His name was Oda, and he showed me this future. It was chaotic to say the least, with a number of events taking place, one of which was a war that was caused by Teach, AKA Blackbeard. It would have been about this time in the vision when someone on your crew named Thatch was supposed to find the Dark-Dark Fruit, an incredibly powerful Devil Fruit. Teach killed him, took the fruit and fled. A member of your crew went after him, but was beaten by Teach, who turned your crewmember into the Marines for the position of Warlord. Anyway, you rallied your crew and allies to attack Marineford to stop the execution, but you ultimately failed to save him, not to mention you and a number of your allies died. Somehow, and I still don't know how, Teach was able to get your Devil Fruit power as well, then he left the Warlords and took over your territories as an Emperor." Jack explained, and everyone listening was completely dumbfounded.
"Sadly, because of how Oda's power worked, I didn't get to see much more than that, at least where it concerned Blackbeard. Anyway, with my actions, I think I've irrevocably changed the future I saw, and now its anyone's game. I mean, Thatch won't ever get the Dark-Dark Fruit, but Teach could still kill him over something else. I don't know if he will, but regardless of whether he will or won't, I've seen enough of him to know he's a horrible power-hungry person, and whether you believe me or not is irrelevant. Should I meet him, I will kill him, regardless of whether or not that means I become your enemy." Jack finished, and it was at this point that Whitebeard realized he and everyone else had been staring at Teach this whole time.
Whitebeard had been looking at his son to gauge whether or not there was any semblance of truth to Jack's words, and he had to say, there was cause for concern. The moment Jack mentioned the Dark-Dark Fruit, Teach's eyes had widened. Whitebeard could also see how Teach was sweating, and he was also slowly moving so there was no one at his back.
Out of the corner of his eye, Whitebeard noticed how there were a few of his more observant crew members who also noticed Teach's behavior, and though that could simply be because he was being accused of something he had yet to do, or that one of the most powerful people in the world was gunning to kill him, Whitebeard didn't know, but regardless, this whole situation seemed to be getting a little out of control.
"I would appreciate it if you let me deal with my own family matters. I don't care how strong you think you are, I won't let you hurt a member of my family before they've even done anything wrong." Whitebeard said in defense of Teach, not only against Jack, but to those of the crew who were looking distrustfully towards him. "I make no promises on that. Either you deal with the situation or I will." Jack said, not backing down from Whitebeard.
Just when Whitebeard was going to say something, Garp of all people appeared beside him and stole the Transponder Snail. "Hey, Jack. The next time you see Dragon, tell him to give me a call." Garp said coolly, his words completely calming the people around him. "Yeah, sure. By the way, what are you and Sengoku doing with Whitebeard? I thought you guys were supposed to be enemies?" Jack asked calmly, getting a chuckle from Garp and a nod of confirmation from Sengoku.
Jack thought that by clearing the air between them at Mary Geoise, Whitebeard would be off somewhere else, leaving both Sengoku and Garp to continue their retirement. "This resort is top notch, and Whitebeard thought he'd stick around because we're such good company." Garp said with a laugh. "More like you and him are both nutcases." Sengoku said bitterly.
"Well then, if there's nothing else you need from me, I'll be on my way." Jack said, and after a few seconds of no one saying anything, he ended the call. "What a cheeky brat!" Whitebeard said, still unsure about the whole thing. Sure he got answers to his main questions, but now he wondered if anything Jack told him was true, and he didn't know one way or the other if Teach was as bad as Jack thought him to be. There was also the fact that many if not most of the crew was wary around Teach now, and none of them even bothered to stop him when he moved inside the ship.
"You know, now that you got your kid, you got your answers, don't you have somewhere to be? Like anywhere but here? You're kind of ruining my retirement, so scram." Sengoku said, fully agreeing with Jack, that Whitebeard shouldn't be hanging out with them. It made him uncomfortable, and right now he was in need of some pampering, so with that, he made his way towards the hot springs.
Both Garp and Whitebeard looked at his fleeing figure before Garp said, "You know, I hear hot springs do wonders for old bones like ours." His smile was inviting, but his eyes said they just wanted to make Sengoku miserable. Catching his idea, Whitebeard smiled widely. "Alright boys! We're going to spend a few days at the hot springs!" Whitebeard bellowed, getting cheers all around. Thus began Sengoku's road to madness.
*****
(Location: Windmill Village)
(General POV)
After hanging up on Whitebeard, Jack looked to those gathered around in the room, all of whom had different reactions. Luke looked like he was itching to go and fight Whitebeard, Nojiko was doing her nails, Smoker looked shocked, Robin looked worried, Tashigi was confused, and Nami was half asleep. "Are we enemies of an Emperor?" Robin asked curiously.
"Kaido and Big Mom for sure, but I'm still unsure about Whitebeard. I don't honestly think he's going to hunt us or try to hinder us in any way, at least not until I actually kill Blackbeard." Jack answered simply. "Is what you said true? About the guy who had the power to see into the future." Robin asked him. "Yes. It's actually because of him that I was able to learn about all of you, save for Luke. Running into him had been more of a fluke to be honest." Jack admitted, being somewhat honest. Technically it wasn't, but it was the closest to the truth they'd ever get.
"Where is this Oda?" Nami asked, paying more attention now than she had been before. "Gone." Jack answered firmly, his tone letting them know that he was done talking about the subject. Robin was curious to know if Jack had seen more of her future and what that had entailed, and he told her as much as he could, though he did leave out certain events and names.
For instance, instead of telling her that her alternate self had joined the straw hat pirates, he told her that when Crocodile's plans were about to reach their conclusion, she had tried to kill him but failed, however another pirate had stepped in and saved the country, and she had also joined that pirate afterwards.
Smoker was told that he rose through the ranks up to Vice-Admiral, but that he became conflicted with his duty because he wasn't sure if the Marines were truly the heroes of the world. Nojiko and Nami were glad to know that even without Jack they would have been rescued, but they were thankful to him for doing it a few years ahead of when it was supposed to happen. As for Tashigi, she only wondered if she collected all of the greatest swords in the world, something which Jack ignored.
He made sure to point out that no one had ever attacked the Holy City or killed the Celestial Dragons like he had done, nor had they killed off as many Marines as they had done, and no one took over the East Blue and started The Order, so their future was a complete unknown. The great Oda's future would not come to pass, so everything thus far was a guess, so they were to continue on as if they didn't know the future, which they didn't.
"So we don't need to be concerned about Whitebeard?" Robin asked. "Not yet. Plus, in the worst case scenario, I kill him and his crew. I don't want to, but if I had to…" Jack said, and she and everyone knew that he would do what needed to be done. They finished up their little meeting in short order, and then Jack headed out to go and check up on the people again. Regardless of how much progress they were making, it seemed there was always someone who needed their attention.
Unlike the day before, Luke was tagging along with Jack, at least until they arrived at where the members of the Mink Tribe were staying. Luke rather enjoyed spending his time with them, and funny enough, they enjoyed spending time with him. They had nearly arrived where the Minks were staying when a stick flew through the air and passed right through Jack's body, causing Luke to turn his head where the stick had come from, while Jack pretended that nothing had happened. "Damn…" The little cat-girl said dejectedly before she turned and walked off, clearly feeling better than the day before as she no longer hobbled.
"What did I miss?" Luke asked Jack after seeing the cat-girl wander away. "She wants to join us, but I said she had to hit me before I'd let her join. What she needs to do is go back to Zou and find her family." Jack answered, then with a frown he added, "If she has any at all."
Given the look in her eyes and the drive to get stronger, Jack could more or less guess that she didn't have any family left, however he wasn't exactly a ray of sunshine, and after seeing how Luke was turning out, he wasn't sure he was the best thing the kid needed. Without explaining himself, Luke disappeared, leaving Jack to continue his rounds alone, something he wasn't completely against.
*****
For a few hours he moved from house to house, making sure to drop off food and clothes where they were needed, and had even stopped at the same tent as before where Soran was healing people. The line still looked never ending, however people were more than happy to wait if it meant that they could get proper treatment. Jack had given Soran lots of food to keep her energy up, then stopped at Kureha and Chopper's work station where he restocked all of the items and materials they were missing before he checked in with Haedrig and the Sentinels.
Evidently they were busier than ever, as pirates and other criminals had been emboldened by the attack on the Holy City, and now people were calling in for help all over. Radek was constantly opening portals, and he was finding that it was quite draining to do something like that, and like Soran he required a lot of food to get his energy back. Deciding to give them a hand, Jack went to a few islands throughout the Grand Line, restoring order where it was needed and putting the fear of God into anyone who thought becoming a criminal was the right idea.
When he finally returned back to the ship later that evening, he was dead tired, however the day wasn't over just yet. He had promised to take Nojiko out on a date the day before, but given that this was something he was actually excited about, he gathered what energy he had left and the two took off into the sky. They drank, they danced, they fucked, and all around they had a really fun time.
It wasn't until late into the night when they finally returned to the ship, both of them stumbling here and there, and had it not been for her powers, Nojiko would have tumbled down the stairs. They were just beginning to walk down the hallway to their room when a net dropped from the ceiling, wrapping itself around Nojiko and pinning her to the floor, while it merely passed right through Jack.
'The fuck?!' He cursed inwardly before he immediately flared his Haki and spread it around him. Barely had he done this when he noticed the guns pointed at Nojiko, and before he could shout to tell them to stand down, the guns fired. Acting as quickly as he could, he moved to use himself as a human shield even as his body was coated with Armament Haki, and in the next moment he felt some projectiles hit him, however they weren't bullets, but beanbags, the same ones they used in training.
He was trying to make sense of everything when he felt a little hand touch his shoulder, and after looking up, he couldn't stop himself from letting out a tired sigh. It was the little cat-girl, and she had in fact managed to lay her hand upon him.
"Alright, come on out." He commanded, and a moment later the doors on either side of the hallway opened up, revealing Luke, Smoker, Robin, Nami, and Tashigi, all somewhat smiling at him. "I told you he'd be shitfaced when he got back. Too relaxed and carefree. Plus all of the blood in his body is running to the wrong head." Luke told Smoker, who simply shrugged at him.
Getting to his feet, Jack pulled the weighted netting off of Nojiko, then helped her to her feet. "It was all Luke's idea!" Nami said quickly after seeing Jack's frown. It didn't matter to him whose idea it was, they had all participated in it, and now they were all going to be punished for it. "You're in trouble…" Nojiko said in a sing-song voice as she laughed, all the while flying towards her room, similar to a drunken monkey if it had wings.
"I do hope whatever you got out of this was worth it, because now I own your asses." Jack said, shooting everyone a cruel smile that sent chills down their spines. Looking down at the little cat-girl, Jack asked, "What's your name?" She smirked at him before answering, "My name is Selene, and I look forward to being part of your crew."
"We'll see if you still think that way by the end of the week. Anyway, take any one of those free rooms, and Nami and Robin will show you which one is the girl's bathroom." Jack said, then without explaining anything else on the matter, he went off to go help Nojiko open the door to their room.
"Is the suffering really worth the reward?" Robin asked once Jack had gone into his room. Looking down at the golden medallion held in his hand, Smoker clicked the face of it, causing the medallion to open up, revealing the words engraved onto one side of it.
==========
Any Favor
=========
Etched onto the other side of the medallion was an imprint of Luke's thumb print, which he had melted onto the medallion using his lightning powers, then to seal the deal even further, he had filled the thumb print with his own blood. Nami, Smoker, Robin, and Tashigi had all been given one of these medallions for participating in this little event, which just went to show how much Luke wanted the little cat-girl to be part of the guild, because with these favors, Luke would do unimaginable things to fulfil these requests, things they probably wouldn't be able to do themselves. "It was worth it." Smoker said, already having an idea of the favor he would request from Luke.
*****
The rest of the week passed by rather quickly for Jack, though the same could not be said for the others. For a whole week, Jack worked them to the bone, pushing their Haki and their abilities to a whole other level, and though they were definitely stronger than before, they had their fair share of suffering, and they couldn't even take a break to recover, as Jack had Soran on standby to use her powers to heal whatever he broke and then he went ahead and broke it again.
By the time he had concluded their "Advanced Training" as he called it, all of them were dead on their feet, and all of them vowed to never make Jack upset again. Included in the training was Selene of course, but also Nemo, Tedi, and Lucian, however the latter three didn't suffer to quite the extent as the others, something which they were somewhat thankful for.
Having been allowed to fully heal for the first time in his life, Nemo was able to really train to his heart's content, and Jack found he was a natural when it came to hand-to-hand combat, however the same could be said for the two Minks. They weren't as quick to learn the fighting forms, but they were learning Haki faster than most people Jack had trained. All it took was using his own Haki to awaken their own, and then they did the work all by themselves. Granted they still asked questions, but they were easy enough to answer that it was almost nothing.
"Even my bruises have bruises." Nami whined at the table that evening at dinner. "But I already healed your bruises." Soran said, not believing her. Mentally she might be exhausted and pained, but physically she was completely fine. They all were. "It's phantom pain then. I can't get it out of my head so it feels like I'm still hurt." Nami said, not willing to believe that she was alright after the suffering she had gone through.
"Snivel and whine." Jack told her, not showing the slightest bit of remorse for what he had done to them. "You know, you can go and fu-" Nami began, but was interrupted when the door flew open and Nojiko stepped inside holding a stack of papers. "You guys have got to see these!" She said excitedly before holding up what appeared to be WANTED posters. Their WANTED posters.
==========
WANTED
Monkey King Haedrig
$1,333,000,000
Dead or Alive
==========
==========
WANTED
The White Hunter (Smoker)
$2,005,000,000 berries
Dead or Alive
==========
==========
WANTED
Gate Master Radek
$4,250,000,000
Dead or Alive
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WANTED
The Lightning Demon (Luke Strauss)
$5,000,000,000 berries
DEAD ONLY
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WANTED
The Shadow Wraith (Jack Sparrow)
$6,666,666,666 berries
DEAD ONLY
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Jack was surprised upon seeing the WANTED posters, if for no other reason than the fact that they had gotten all of their names, but they had pictures of everyone too. He was also slightly surprised that there were only five of them, however he couldn't expect them to get everyone in The Order, but he did expect them to get at least a few more than only five of their names. They had also managed to get pictures of everyone, which was sort of an achievement, not to mention the pictures didn't look all that bad.
"Why in the hell did they use that name for me?!" Smoker said in annoyance as he grabbed up his WANTED poster. "I look like a fucking badass." Luke said appreciatively, quite liking his new bounty, after all it meant that the Government was scared of him, and he wanted them scared. "Radek's worth a fortune! I mean look at this!" Nami said in surprise.
Jack figured the Government knew how much The Order relied on Radek's power to get around, hence the fact that if someone managed to kill him, they would put an end to The Order's movements. 'I'm going to have to make sure he gets a bodyguard or something.' Jack thought to himself, noting down something that was very important.
Looking at his own WANTED poster, he was surprised to see that they had added a title or sorts to it, however he wasn't sure how he was a wraith. 'Someone out there just doesn't know how to come up with cool names.' He thought, though in that same breath, it wasn't the worst name he could have been called.
"You know, with this, you're worth more than all of the Four Emperors, and you're worth more than Dragon. I think this makes you the MOST WANTED man in the world." Nojiko said with a smile as she wrapped his arms around his neck. "Let them come. You're the only one who's going to get me." Jack told her, earning a kiss as a reward for giving her the correct answer.