(Patréon - patréon/Wicked132 - 1 chapter ahead.)
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It has been a day since we departed from Spider miles, and Charles has been getting along with the crew quite well. Even Wilson seemed to get along with him just fine, except for the two times Charles scammed Wilson, of course.
Charles being the crafty street kid he was, tried to scam each and every one of us. Still, unfortunately for him, my crew comprised people who were not easy to trick because of their pasts. Almost every one of them had a brush or two with the underworld, except for Wilson, that is.
Therefore, Wilson became a target for the little shit and lost twenty thousand berries after being goaded into unwinnable bets by Charles. And speaking of that, Wilson was being tricked into another wager by Charles right now.
"I bet you ten thousand berries that I can move this berry note from below this bottle without touching or moving it," Charles said with a smug expression while looking at Wilson. He then placed a thousand berry note on a barrel and an empty bottle on top of it with the bottle's neck facing downwards.
"I'm not betting with you anymore. You always cheat," Wilson said firmly, shaking his head with a scowl. "I'll let you go first, and if you can do it before me, then it will be your win," Charles replied, but Wilson ignored him, turning his head to the side and causing everyone to chuckle.
"Why not? You can take back some of your money this way, unless...," Charles asked, trailing off with a grin on his face. "Unless you're afraid you can't do it, of course," he concluded with raised eyebrows while shaking his index finger.
Wilson was about to reply and most likely agree to the wager, but he was interrupted with ship shacking, causing him to swallow his words and prepare himself to act.
The seawater next to the black pearl split open, and a giant purple squid roughly two times bigger than the black pearl emerged from underneath.
"You guys stay back. I'll handle it," I said with a smile as I launched myself into the air, activating the flame thrower on my left prosthetic hand, causing a small tube to emerge on my forearm, spewing flames as it did.
I focused on the flame, which was technically a part of my body thanks to my Bio-Cyber-Ware perk, increasing its density and giving it a distinct shape as it covered my fist.
"Flaming Impact Fist," I shouted, purely out of habit, punching forward and channeling my impact fist through my hand, pushing the flame forward as it took the shape of a fist while rushing towards the squid.
It didn't take long to reach the giant squid and explode right in its face with a loud, fiery explosion, which blew the poor creature's head to smithereens.
I came up with this new move when I was getting my perks and traits updated. It works by increasing the density of the flame while shaping it like a fist and then pouring more fire to create a shock wave launched fire fist that will explode on impact.
Am I ripping of ace's technique? Yes. Do I care? No. Why? Because that shit was cool as fuck, and that's all the reason I needed to do it.
The fact that this movie worked gives me many ideas, but I'll need to do a lot of testing before trying them. I mean, If I can even manipulate the density of fire, what else can I manipulate the density off?
Will I only be able to phase through solid objects? Or will I be able to phase through intangible elements? But that will have to wait until I master the basic abilities of my fruit first.
"How can you fly?" Charles asked in a loud tone with his jaw wide open. "No, more importantly, How can you shoot fire from your hands?" Charles asked again while looking at me like I was some exotic creature.
"Don't be surprised this easily, you little shit," I said with a smirk as I landed in front of him. "The world is wide, and there are many things more incredible and stranger than this," I explained, still smirking as I turned around and made my way to my favorite spot at the deck.
"What could be more incredible than flying and shooting fire from your hands?" Charles asked in a suspicious tone as he followed behind me.
"You'll have to go out to sea and find out yourself if you want to know," I replied with a smile. "Now stop bothering me and go scam Wilson or something," I concluded, shooing him away with a head chop and taking out my whisky bottle to indulge in it.
-0-
Two hours passed after our brief encounter with the giant squid and silhouette of Swallow island, which unironically looked like a swallow bird.
The island clearly got its name from the large, swallow-shaped mountain at the center of what, which was covered in greenery, creating a natural, beautiful image that was a sight for sore eyes after spending so much time in Spider Miles.
Other than the Swallow-shaped mountain, the island itself looked like Swallow, according to all the maps of north blue we could find in Spider Miles.
"Now that's something you don't see every day," I said with a smile while looking at the gigantic mountain in the center of the island. "There's definitely nothing like this in west blue," Laffite remarked, smiling as well while steering the ship.
"Why is this island so green?" Charles asked with wide eyes as he looked at the island. "It's not that this island is too green. It's Spider Miles that's too damn grey," Wilson replied while shaking his head.
"Oh, this will be a pleasant change of scenery after staying in that place for so long," Kozue commented from the side as she raised her head from the smut book she had it buried in.
"We didn't really stay there long, but I understand what you mean," Elly said from the side as she made her way down from the crow's nest. "Spider Miles was definitely an awful place to be in," she concluded with a smile, lazily stretching her limbs as she did.
"Well, lucky for you, we could end up spending a week or more here according to how things go," I said with a smile. "Full speed ahead, Laffite," I instructed in a loud tone of voice, eager to arrive there myself.
"Aye Aye, captain," Laffite replied with a smile as he began shouting instructions about the sails, causing Wilson and Byron to return to their posts on the ship's masts in a hurry.
-0-
"This place looks good, so far," I remarked while looking pleasure town's port, the only township on Swallow island. It looked like your average town, except for the running Swallow bird theme that the residents seem to be going the extra mile to keep.
"Even if pirate scum praise our town, then it doesn't make any one of us Happy in the least," said a tall man wearing what looked like a red police uniform with a sword slung on his side.
Armed men emerged from many places at the docks as soon as the man finished his sentence, threateningly pointing their guns at us with scowls on their faces.
"Since a certain pirate destroyed this town, pirate became no longer welcomed here," the man in red uniform said. "Turn around and leave immediately," he concluded, unsheathing his cutlass sword and pointing it at me.
"And if we don't leave?" I asked with a smirk while looking at the man dead in the eye.
"Then we will kill you all, here and now," the man said firmly, not showing a single shred of hesitation, and I can see the fingers of the men with him tighten on the triggers of their rifles and handles of their swords.
"Johnny, let's get out of here. Even you can't take on so many people," Charles said from the side with a nervous expression as he looked at the men surrounding the port.
I ignored the little shit as Bob immediately acted, giving him a chop on the head and taking him away from the deck.
"How scary," I said in a mocking tone while raising my hand. "But can you really do it?" I asked, my eyes coldly glinting as I unleashed my conqueror Haki, knocking half of the man at the port unconscious.
"Listen," I remarked as I used Soru to appear beside the man in the red uniform. "We're not here to cause trouble, so stay out of our way, and no one will get hurt, alright?" I ask, putting my hand on his shoulder.
"How I'm I supposed to believe anything coming out of the mouth of a pirate?" the man asked stubbornly despite his body that went rigid.
"I don't care if you believe me or not, but just keep one thing in mind," I say as I raise my hand, patting his shoulder. "If I wanted to cause trouble here, no one would be able to stop me anyway," I concluded, walking past him into the town, with my crewmates following behind me.