Chapter 4
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Jester and his men were standing beside the river. Jester covers his mouth with his left hand as he begins speaking through a white crow that was still beside Captain Thorne. "The boy and his navigator aren't here, either they misled us or they turned back. How would you like us to proceed, Captain Thorne?" Jester says through his crow. "Do nothing. Find the treasure and come back to the fleet, Chopper is already after them." Captain Thorne says with a bland tone. "Yes sir." Jester says with distain on his face as he hangs up the phone and throws it to one of his men. "I hate when that damn Chopper takes my shine." Jester says in a spiteful tone. "Everyone spread out and-" jester began but then he stopped talking and his eyes began to widen with fear and bullets of sweat began to pour from his face. In front of him was a massive black snake with red eyes and spikes protruding from its spine and beside it was a woman holding a staff, she wore a red crop top with blue jeans and boots. She had short black hair with brown eyes and two earrings in her left ear. Jester gulps with immense fear as the snake screeches at them and expands its shrill from its neck.
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Erick stood there with a smile as he stared at Captain Neoma and her ship. "Get ready for battle men!" Erick exclaims boisterously. "There's only one other person here." Jonah says with an annoyed face. Erick turns around and looks at Jonah with a smile. "I know, I just always wanted to say that!" Erick says with a wide smile. "Can you be a little more serious right now? We have one of the twelve titans behind us and a captain worth forty million Estos." Jonah says with a worried tone. "Didn't I tell you that you worry too much." Erick says with a confident smile, causing Jonah to instantly calm himself down. "Okay well what are we going to do?" Jonah says in a more calm tone. "We're gonna keep sailing forward… we have to get to Fruit island Jonah… so just keep sailing forward." Erick says as Captain Neoma and him both lock eyes.
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'Normally I would have something to say, this is a terrible plan, but for some reason… I trust him.' Jonah says to himself with surprise as he begins to keep sailing forward. Erick and Captain Neoma kept their eyes locked together as their ships passed each other, the massive size of her ship making Erick's look pee sized but they kept holding their locked gazes. Jonah stood beside Erick but wasn't looking at Captain Neoma. 'Why the hell is the air so heavy right now' Jonah thought to himself as bullets of sweat begin to trail down his face. The men on Captain Neoma's ship were also feeling the same kind of pressure. 'Is this Aura? No he couldn't have learned it so fast… has he always known how to do it? My captain is insane.' Jonah thought to himself as his knees began to shake.
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Erick's head snaps back slightly and he then falls on his butt. Captain Neoma giggled at him as she walked back to the other side of her ship as they completely pass each other. Jonah turns and looks at Erick with a surprised look. "What… was that?" Jonah asks, completely shocked. Erick looks at Jonah with a smile, while still on his butt. "Well when you had told me about Aura it reminded me of something this old man told me from my village in South Estoria. He called it Enkei, he had me practice it nearly every day on mountain bears and sea lions around South Estoria." Erick says as he gets up and dusts himself off. 'It definitely didn't feel anything like when I was in the Aura of Captain Rory or even some of the other Captains at that time but his aura held off Captain Neoma briefly.' Jonah thought to himself as Erick was picking his nose.
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Captain Neoma was looking at Beast island as a green haired girl with blue eyes and glasses walks up to her. The girl wore a purple crop top and leather purple pants with black heels. "Miss Gena…"Neoma says In a soft tone. "Yes Captain Neoma?" Gena says quickly. "Take one of our fleets ships and follow that boy." Neoma says in a calm tone. "With all due respect Captain, are you sure that's the best course of action? We finally have the chance to take out Captain Thorne, I believe and-" Gena said but was cut off. "The boy just used Aura, it was weak and felt awkward but still… he's more important than ten million Estos." Neoma says with a smirk. Gena's eyes widen a bit in surprise. "Yes ma'am. Would you like me to take him out once we catch up?" She asks with a straight face.
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"No. The course he is taking must be to fruit island, I want you to find out what Berry power he acquires and then report back to me." Neoma says as they get closer to Beast island. "I can handle Thorne myself" Neoma says with a smirk. "Yes ma'am" Gena says as she turns around and walks to the edge of the ship. "Miss Gena." Neoma says as she is still looking at Beast island. Gena turns around. "Yes Captain?" She says with a curious face. "Do not be hasty and approach that boy. I've been a pathfinder for almost two decades now, half of that time I explored without the power of a Berry. Even though it was a terrible display of it, he can use Aura before eating a Berry…" Neoma says with a straight face. "Are you saying some no name Pathfinder can beat your Vice Captain?" Gena asks with a smirk on her face. Neoma chuckles slightly. "Just… be careful."Neoma says with a slight smirk. "You too, you're fighting one of the 12 titans of the sea after all." Gena says as she then jumps off of the ship and onto another metal ship that began sailing toward Erick.
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Neoma looks at the ship, Gena had jumped on, with a smirk and then looks back to Beast island as she then chuckles slightly. Erick was sitting down on the floor of The Black Pearl with a bowl in his hand that had some sort of soup in it. "Forget a swordsman, we need to find a cook. I can't keep eating Salt clam soup." Erick says with a sickly face. "Will you stop complaining? You're the one who set sail without an Exploration team and basic supplies. Erick looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was starting to go down. "Hey so when we go to sleep, who's going to steer the ship?" Erick asks with a curious face. "I'll stay awake, it's clear that you can't navigate the sea to save your life and I'm not the best fighter so it's better if you rest now… we don't know who or what could be waiting for us on Fruit island." Jonah says in a serious tone.
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"Are there monsters there too?" Erick asks with a confused face. "No, not really. It's just… Captain Thorne knew we'd be there somehow and where we were going. They're most likely using Jesters Berry power although, I don't know what that is and not to mention, you haven't said anything about hearing choppers name so he's probably not with them." Jonah says while rubbing his chin causing Erick's eyes to light up with excitement. "It would make sense for a Vice Captain to stay with their captain but most captains also use them to carry out separate tasks as if they were a captain." Jonah says. "So what do you think we should expect?" Erick asks with a smile. "Anything. Chopper could be tailing us or already on Fruit island but he could also still be with Captain Thorne so… we'll just have to be ready." Jonah says with a straight face. "Alright sounds perfect! I'm going to bed!" Erick exclaims as he walks through the door that leads to the bottom of the ship.
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Jonah was staring at the map, in the dead of night, as Erick slept underneath him. "Francis, I've met this boy… his name is Erick. He actually reminds me a lot of Captain Rory…but that's the problem, I don't feel like I'm as good as you yet. Erick can already use Aura, just like Captain Rory whenever you first met him… it's incredible. What should I do Francis… What should I do to reach his level?" Jonah asks in a disheartening tone. Jonah looked at the night sky, that had stars occupying every inch of space. "Of course I can't ask you anymore." Jonah says as a tear begins to fall from his left eye but as this happened Jonah felt a hand push his body slightly forward. "Go forward…" Jonah hears as he turned around and saw Francis Da Gama smiling at him. "… Go forward with unabashed goals and unwavering courage." Francis says but as soon as Jonah blinked Francis was gone.
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Jonah stood there with a face of disbelief but that soon changed as he began to slightly smile. "Thank you teacher… I'll do just that." Jonah says with a smile as he crosses his arms on the edge of the boat while leaning over it. The sun arose a few hours later and so did Erick, he came bursting out of the door with a wide smile. "I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!!!" He yells causing Jonah to reel back in annoyance. "Don't you think it's too early to be so loud?" Jonah asks in a bothered tone. "How's the sailing Jonah?" Erick asks excitedly. "We're about three hours away from fruit island but the winds are picking up so it may be less." Jonah says with a straight face. "Perfect!" Erick says as he sits down and pulls out a bowl of Salt clam soup. Jonah looks at him with a confused face. "I thought you hated that stuff?" He says with a smirk. "Yeah but… you said to quit complaining." Erick says as he begins to stuff his face again. Jonah chuckles as he turns his head and looks back out to sea.
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"Have you ever been to Fruit island, Jonah?" Erick asks with a face stuffed with soup. "Yeah a few times but only to intercept other pathfinders, we never went into the island." Jonah says with a straight face. "I wonder what Berry I'll get?" Erick says to himself with curiosity. Jonah snapped his head up and looked behind the Black Pearl, causing his eyes to widen. "Erick get up now!!" Jonah exclaims, causing him to snap up and run beside Jonah. "Who is that?" Erick says as he looks out to sea. There in the water was a man wearing a scarf made of alligator skin. He had no shirt on with jeans that had a belt holding them up and at the center of the belt was a metal pendant of a snapping turtle. He had long black hair with sunglasses on his face and a long brown cigar hanging from the left side of his mouth. He was surfing on a small surf board like boat and on his chest was a large Tattoo of the letter T. "That's Vice Captain Chopper!!" Jonah exclaims with worry in his voice.
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Captain Thorne steps off of his ship and onto the white sand, he had landed on the other side of the island. "Jester should be close to the bounty at this point and Chopper should be engaging that boy now. We'll go haul the bounty onto our ship then meet up with Chopper." He says with a low and boisterous tone. "YES SIR CAPTAIN THORNE!!" The one hundred men yell back to him. "You're forgetting something Mister Thorne." A female voice says from the right side of the men, as they all turn their heads they saw Captain Neoma walking with her umbrella blocking the sun from her body. Thorne chuckled slightly. "And what is that, Miss Neoma?" He asks in an amused tone. She looks up at all of them and smiles. "It would be a shame if another Exploration team intercepted your pathetic excuse for a navigator… and then took the bounty for themselves, wouldn't it… Mister Thorne?" She asks in a sarcastic tone.
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Thorne's face began to boil over with rage. "You little bitch, all of you, go to Jester now and hold off until I get there…" he says as he then turns back to look at Neoma. "… I obviously need to teach you some manners." Thorne says as he lets his Fur coat fall off of his back and onto the white sand of Beast island. "YES SIR!!" The men yell as they run forward and into the forest. "Why would you do this? You are a veteran Pathfinder… do you know what I do to my enemies." Thorne says to her. "Is why I'm doing it even important…" she says as she lets go of her umbrella and it begins to float beside her. She then rips off her dress to show that she was wearing a pink Crop top with blue jeans and black boots. "…I'm doing it and that's all that matters." Neoma says with a smirk. Thorne chuckles deeply.
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"I am impressed by your incredible career as a Pathfinder, almost twenty years now, right? But that is all… your Berry power is average along with your strength and it is no secret that your Vice Captain is one of the weakest in Estoria. You have skated by for nearly twenty years with a forty million Estos bounty because you are irrelevant." Thorne says with distain on his face. Neoma smirks at him. "You said it yourself, it's been almost twenty years now so… don't you think I've already heard that bullshit before?" She says with a grin. Thorne's face began to scrunch up with rage as large spikes began to protrude from the skin on his arms and through his shirt sleeve. "You are really starting to irritate me Neoma." He says as he begins to walk toward her. "Ohh, my apologies." She says as she grabs her umbrella and throws it at Thorne.
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Thorne catches the umbrella with ease. "Seriously?" Thorne says mockingly but as he said that Neoma began to look at her nails. "Maybe I need to change these when I get back." She says aloud while still looking at them. "You petulant-" Thorne began to say but as he did, the umbrella he was holding suddenly began to weigh thousands of pounds. 'I can still lift it but damn, that was sudden.' Thorne thought to himself surprised. "You need to pay more attention." Thorne hears as he looks down and sees Neoma reeling back a punch. 'That was pretty fast' Thorne thought to himself as he pushes spikes out of his stomach, pushing Neoma back but not piercing her skin. 'And she's tough… although I've heard about her Berry power, witnessing it first hand is different.' Thorne thinks to himself as the spikes receded back into his stomach.
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"Maybe I was wrong about your berry power, these spikes can slice through solid steel, so I apologize." Thorne says as he stands straight up. "No need to apologize, I'm actually impressed as well, most people can't lift my umbrella." She says with a sly smirk. "What is the real reason you are here Neoma, this is a battle that is at best fifty-fifty for you so why risk it?" Thorne asks in a curious tone. "That boy that I passed…" Neoma began. "The one on that puny ship?" Thorne says as he begins to chuckle. "You risked your career for a boy?!?" Thorne exclaims while chuckling now. "I thought it was funny at first too but then I saw his eyes…" Neoma says causing Thorne to stop chuckling and look at her with a surprised look. "… those eyes were the same eyes that I saw the day I lost one hundred million Estos… to Captain Rory." She says with a low face.
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"So no matter what I do now… that boy needs to reach his full potential, so I can get my rematch against Rory." She says with solemn eyes. Thorne chuckles at her statement. "Whatever you say, I am destined to find the North Star and no matter what I must do… I will be there at the end of it all." Thorne says with a grin as the spikes protruding from his arm began to grow thicker.
Chapter end.