Life on the sea was rather boring as they had nothing much to do until they reached their next destination.
Looking at the map with a serious look, feeling the air with his finger which was wet with his saliva and finally putting up a stick which fell forward, Tom was sure they were close.
"Tom-san look!"
Lo and behold, as soon he thought that, he heard Jerry call for him and went to the front of his ship, where he could spot the distant island and was excited to see a different land than what he grew up on.
After docking their ship on an obscure part of the island to hide it, they got off to explore and after a while they found a village. Though initially excited, Tom's excitement soon died down because it was.. normal.
Though there was a difference with the people that lived there, it was mostly similar to their Hemet village. It was nothing like the islands he had been to, before Mammy settled down in Hemet.
Thomas soon became disinterested and returned to their ship, dragging Jerry along with him. As he laid down on his beach chair and thought of whether he should stay or just leave, Jerry came over.
"Tom-san, I'm hungry."
"...."
Looking at his first mate who just didn't really care about his problems, Tom sighed before getting up and going towards the kitchen with Jerry trailing behind him.
Unbeknownst to them, there was a man who had been watching them since they arrived on the island. Looking through a telescope, he saw them go inside the ship. Looking towards the top of the ship he spotted the pirate flag swaying with the wind.
Taking one last look towards where they went into the ship, he disappeared into the darkness of the night.
**********
YO-HO Island
Mayor's house
"Well, those are our conditions Mr.mayor. If you want to keep your and the people's lives then you better accept them."
The Mayor of Yo-ho island could only sit in silence and watch the others in the room leave. The men that were there with him were the gang members who were increasingly getting out of hand.
When there were still pirate attacks happening, there weren't many local gangs as they mostly had nothing to steal. But the pirate crews stopped coming anywhere near their island for some reason.
Though he was curious as to why, he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and decided to make the most of the situation as the island started prospering for a while.
The happy days did not last long though as local gangs started popping up. The same people that grew up on this island were attacking others they knew since young, or sometimes even killing them.
The mayor could do nothing until his grandson made the local militia and started thwarting them.
But it seemed the gangs were cautious and just laid low for awhile and decided to form an alliance. Now they had come seeking the head of his grandson, else they would ravage the entire town.
One part of him wanted to call them for their bluff and tell them he did not care, as where would they steal from and whom would they bully around if they destroyed the town.
But what if they actually went through with it? He could not take the risk, but he also could not sacrifice the boy, his last relative. How could he do that after remembering the words he had promised his son.
Seeing him grow up made the mayor happy but worried at the same time, as his grandson bore a striking resemblence with his late son not just in appearance but also personality, as both of them could not see people suffering and sit still.
Strength beyond the boy's age was what helped him put a stop to the gangs but that was when they were divided and had to be wary of each other. Now that they had joined hands, what could a single man do and the private militia he had was nowhere near enough to match the combined might of the gangs.
As the mayor was lost in thought he heard a knock on his door. Wondering who it might be, he got up and opened the door where he was greeted by a man well over six feet tall with short gray hair. Smiling at his grandson, he invited him in.
"So, where have you been till now?"
"The people noticed two guys who they didn't recognize. As there was no news of any new ship at our docks, I searched and followed them after finding them."
"And what did you find out?"
"They seem to be pirates. I saw them going to the far north end of the island where they had docked their ship."
"The north end, hmmm no one lives near there right."
"Yes."
"What was the number of the pirates on the ship?"
"Well that, uh, I only saw two of them."
"Only two? Hmm, take me over tomorrow."
"What!? No, it's too dangerous."
"Haha it's fine. Anyway, have you eaten yet? Let's have dinner."
Ignoring the ramblings of the boy following him inside, the mayor was thinking that if he could incite a fight between the pirates and the gangs then they would just need to clean up the aftermath.
***************
The next morning, Tom was dragged back into the town by Jerry, who unlike Tom was still interested and wanted to explore the island.
Sitting down in a restaurant and ordering some food, they both looked around with Tom thinking they should probably set sail soon for a different place. Maybe, just go to the Grand line.
"Hello, may I sit here?"
They looked to the side and saw an old man who was followed by a big guy. The old man was the one who asked the question. Looking at the restaurant, Tom was about to send them away to a different table as there were a few empty ones, when Jerry agreed to let them join the table.
Throwing a stink eye to his first mate, Tom looked at the two who sat down. The old man wore a smile as he struck up a conversation with Jerry but the big guy was looking at Tom with a frown. Even though he did not know why but he was being looked on like that, Tom threw a smirk at the big guy's way which seemed to flare him up even more.
As Tom's smile grew and the thought of messing with him along with it, their food arrived and they started eating with the old man and the big guy waiting for theirs.
The mayor looked at the two and started assessing them. The older one was wearing a blue t-shirt that went to his palms and black pants. The younger one was wearing a white shirt with green trousers and a red bowtie. He could not see any sort of weaponry on them.
The younger one seemed more hospitable, probably something that had to do with his age. He had given their names which the mayor did not recall hearing before. Probably low ranking runts from some crew. Finishing his train of thought, the mayor turned towards Tom and started speaking.
"So, are you some sort of scout party?"
"Scout party? What the hell are you talking about, old man?"
"I am asking if you are scouting our town for some pirate crew out there."
"Pirates? What do you mean by that?"
"Well we have seen your ship that you tried to hide. By the way, here's some friendly advice, never leave your vessel unmanned for long."
Tom just stared at the mayor for a moment and got back to eating. After finishing his meal, Tom just slumped back in his chair rubbing his belly seemingly content and waited for Jerry to finish eating, as if the conversation never happened.
The mayor was stumped as the conservation ended abruptly but he was fine as the show was about to begin and he would make these two the stars, whether or not they liked it.
And the moment came just a little while later as someone called out to their table
"Well well, if it isn't the mayor with his favorite dog. I don't recognise these two though."
Tom noticed that the man was speaking to someone on their table and he turned around to take another look at the old man, who turned out to be the mayor only to be met with an aggrieved look from him.
"???"