Chapter 8
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A man wearing a white pirate outfit with black boots was walking through a land of grass. On his hip were two pirate swords with black and gold hilts. As he knelt down and felt the grass a large symbol was revealed on the back of his outfit, the letter T written in black letters with a white outline. He snatched a single blade of grass from the earth and rubbed it in between his pointer and middle finger. "It's definitely here… after I get this Berry I will finally be able to start my quest to the North Estoria." The man says as he looks forward while still kneeling down. "And if I ain't the rightful owner of it then I'll just kill whoever it is." The man says with a straight face. Erick woke up in a a small room with wooden walls. The room looked as if it were designed by a child and as Erick sat up, he realized that he was lying in a bed. "Where the hell am I?" Erick said to himself out loud with a baffled look on his face. 'Jonah!' Erick thought to himself as he began to try and get up quickly but it was so hard for him to move that all he could do was sit up in the bed.
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Kora walks in with a comforting smile on her face. "Kora? Where's Jonah?" Erick says in a slightly calmer voice. "He's down stairs with the rest of the family, I know you can't move right now but-" she began but Erick had cut her off. "Nah, don't worry about me. Is everyone in Arton alright?" Erick asks with a smile. "Yes, all because of your incredible strength. This morning Captain Kekela and his Exploration team left Arton with every single ship of their fleet." Kora says with a soft smile that lit up the room with joy. Erick began to blush from embarrassment. "No, no. I was just doing what I thought I should do… I'm just glad it all worked out in the end." Erick says as he looks down at the bed he was lying on with a blank stare. "Well I'll say this, you saved my family and for that I will always be grateful… Captain Erick." She says with a smile, causing Erick to slightly smile back at her. "Would you like us to bring you your breakfast, you look pretty beat up." Kora asks as she chuckles softly.
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Erick waved his hand up and down toward Kora. "Nah, I'll be down in a second." Erick says with a smile. "Alright." She says with a smile as she turns around and closes the door behind her as she walks out. Erick's smile faded as he was staring at the bed. "That thing isn't real, Captain Rory got lucky when he found Estoria and then made some crap up about an all powerful weapon that he hid away." Erick remembers Captain Kekela saying those words to Jonah during their fight. Erick stared down at the bed with a blank stare but that quickly changed as he began to smirk. "Stupid old man, of course the North Star exists." Erick says aloud to himself as he removes the blanket on his body and moves to the side of the bed. As Erick stepped off of the bed his legs instantly gave out but Erick had caught himself on a small wooden dresser next to the bed. 'Damn I really messed my body up using my Enkai, but still… I beat a captain with a berry power.' Erick thought to himself with joy as he began to push himself up, using the night stand as leverage.
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Erick began walking out of the door, walking while using the hallway as leverage. As he made it out of the bedroom he saw five other doors on in the house and he heard the families chattering as plates and pans were clattering against each other. Erick walked down a small hallway and as he exited the hallway the room opened up to a large living area with toys all on the floor and to the right of Erick was a kitchen that hosted the entire family and Jonah. "Hey Erick, you're alright!" Jonah exclaims with a smile. Erick saw Jonah wearing an apron and cooking for the family as they sat down and laughed together. Erick made a confused face as he saw Jonah and Jonah looked back at him confused as well. "What?" Jonah asks in an awkward tone. "You could cook this whole time?" Erick asks him, baffled. "Of course I can cook, why would you think I can't?" Jonah says curiously. "BECAUSE YOU NEVER COOK FOR YOUR CAPTAIN YOU IDIOT!!" Erick yells in rage, causing Jonah to look at him with annoyance. "YEAH WELL THESE NICE PEOPLE HAVE EQUIPMENT TO ACTUALLY COOK WITH YOU HALF-WIT!!!" Jonah yells back as both of them butt heads.
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Kora's husband walked up to both of them with a genuine smile. He was a stout man with short blonde hair and he had a calming smile on his face. "Now now, there's no need for that… how are you feeling Captain Erick?" He asks. "Just Erick… and I'm perfectly fine!" Erick says ecstaticly. 'Perfect?' Everyone thinks simultaneously as Erick said this completely false statement. "I heard you two were Pathfinder's and rookies at that." Her husband says with a curious smile. "Yeah, we're trying to find the North Star!" Erick says causing the family to go completely silent. "Um… did I say something wrong?" Erick asks with confusion. "No, it's just… I was once a pathfinder as well, that voyage is a dangerous one Erick." He says with a blank face. Erick smiles back at him widely. "We'll be fine old man!" Erick says ecstaticly. 'I'm only thirty-six.' Her husband says to himself with despair
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"Wait did you say you used to be a Pathfinder?" Jonah asks with curiosity. Kira walks up to the stove and begins to prepare the food on wooden plates. "Oh Kuma wasn't just any old Pathfinder, he was one of the best Pathfinders back then." Kora says with a cocky smile, causing him to sweat and blush from embarrassment. Erick's eyes light up with complete joy as he sits down in one of the chairs. "Hell yeah! I wanna hear some of your war stories old man!" Erick says to him as Kora walks around the table, placing a plate in front of everyone. "Are you sure? I have plenty of stories but I know you two will have to leave soon so I don't want to be the guy that holds you up." Kuma says with a smile. Erick turns his head and smiled at Jonah, who was sitting beside him at the table. Jonah looked at him with a defeated face. "I think we can stay a few more hours." Jonah says with a straight face, causing Erick to chuckle with complete joy. "Alright. Let's hear it old man!" Erick says to him with a wide grin.
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As the three men finished eating they all went to the front yard of the house and talked about Kuma's life as a Pathfinder. "No way! So you actually fought Captain Rory?" Erick asks in a surprised tone. Kuma chuckles deeply. "I wouldn't call it a fight honestly, but I did come across the greatest Pathfinder of all time during my life, and I am grateful for that." Kuma says while closing his eyes and smiling. "Kuma." Jonah says in a stern tone, causing Kuma and Erick's smiles to fade as they turned to him. "You said you were a captain, correct?" Jonah asks him with his arms crossed. "Of the White-White Exploration team, yes." Kuma says with a curious face. "So did you eat a Berry from Fruit island?" Jonah asks, causing Erick's eyes to light up with curiosity as he looked at Kuma.
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Kuma smiled back at Jonah and then at Erick. "I did eat a berry… The Set off Berry." He says with a smirk. "Woahhh! What can that one do?" Erick asks with a curious smile. Kuma walks into his home and then walks back out again but only now he had an orange apple in the palm of his hand. He looks at them with a smirk as he throws the fruit into the air. Kuma then points his finger, as if it were a gun, at the fruit causing it to burst instantly. Erick's eyes and mouth were widening with glee and Jonah bore a stoic smirk on his face. "Anything I touch turns into a mine, that I can set off at anytime." Kuma says with a proud smile. "With a Berry power like that you could still be a pretty good pathfinder." Jonah says with an impressed smirk in his face, causing Kuma to blush with a smile just a bit.
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"I'm serious, you could probably still do some serious damage with that power." Jonah says to Kuma with a smirk. "We do need some more firepower on the ship, Jonah is practically useless." Erick says with a grin, causing Kuma to chuckle boisterously. "I'M YOUR NAVIGATOR, WHY WOULD YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT YOU IDIOT!!!" Jonah yells as Kora comes out of the house holding a phone with a line attached to it. "It's for you Erick!" She exclaims as she passes the phone to Erick, who receives it with a confused face.
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"Hello?" Erick says curiously. "…Captain Erick?" The voice asks in a quick and feminine tone. "This is he." Erick says bluntly. "This is Reta from the funds department of the exploration corps, how are you today?" She asks quickly and as Erick opened his mouth to speak, she cut him off and began speaking again. "That's great! I'm calling today to ask if you've retrieved an item from Captain Kekela after your battle?" The woman asks. "How did you know about that?" Erick asks with a confused face. Reta chuckles. "We're the Government of Estoria… we know everything." The woman says bluntly. "Oh… well, no I don't think-" Erick began but Jonah walked up to him with a smirk as he opened his hand, causing Erick's eyes to widen.
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In Jonah's hand was a golden pendant that had a fish skeleton with two bones crossing each other through the fish. Erick smiled widely before he spoke again. "Actually yes, I have his exploration team pendant." Erick says gleefully. "Ah yes. Great choice. And can you tell me what is the number on the back of the pendant please?" Reta asks in a quick tone. Erick turns the pendant over and sees the number 22314. Erick repeated this number to Reta. "Okay thank you so much Captain Erick Drake, and one last question about this topic, is Captain Kekela still alive?" She asks him as if it weren't an odd question. "Uh… yes he's alive." Erick says with a straight face. "Okay thank you so much. Now we have one more part of this call and then I'll be out of your hair." Reta says cheerfully. "It's no problem I promise." Erick says with a nervous smile.
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"Now that you have collected a bounty… You, Captain Erick Drake, are worth twelve million Estos." Reta says causing Erick and Jonah to smile happily at the news. "Now Erick, what item of yours is your token of defeat, we need that now, no exceptions." Reta says clearly and not too fast this time. Erick turns his head and looks at Jonah, who looks at him with a confused face. "Am I allowed to offer up my self as a token of defeat?" Erick asks with a curious tone. "Give me one moment please." Reta says as elevator music begins to play. "Erick what the hell are you doing? You'll be a slave forever if you lose to anyone!" Jonah exclaims with worry in his face but Erick looked at him and then smiled. "We better not lose then huh?" Erick says while chuckling. Jonah's eyes return to normal as a smirk begin to rise on his face. "You're an idiot." He says with a slight smile.
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The music stops playing and Erick can hear Reta pick up the phone and place it to her ear. "That is perfectly fine. You do know that upon defeat you must be a slave for your opponent until you can beat them and regain your freedom, don't you?" Reta asks with a confused tone. "Yes ma'am." Erick says bluntly as he hears her typing on the other end of the line. "Alrighty! Thank you so much Captain Erick, have a safe exploration and may god be with you!" Reta says. "You-" Erick began but the phone began to beep due to Reta hanging up the phone quickly. Erick hands the phone back to Kora while saying thank you. Kora takes the phone and walks back in the house.
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"So you're worth twelve million now, how about that?" Kuma says as he places both of his hands on his hips. Jonah's face began to sweat and fill with worry. 'That's not a good thing.' Jonah thinks to himself with panic. "I guess so. Not too bad of a start tho huh?" Erick asks with a wide smile on his face. "Not at all, My peak was at a seventeen million Estos bounty so you're doing great kid." Kuma says with a soft smile. "I know that you boys have to get out of here soon but come back and visit sometime, maybe we can actually get one of those parties going for you guys." Kuma says causing all three of them to laugh at the statement. "Of course we will old man. Thank you guys a lot for taking care of me, I really appreciate it." Erick says with a soft smile.
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"Don't thank us, you're the one who saved our village from that tyrant." Kuma says. Jonah touches Erick's shoulder as Erick and Kuma locked eyes. "You ready Captain?" Jonah asks. Erick and Kuma stare at each other intensely as they then fist bump each other, both having wide and boisterous smiles. "Yeah. I'm ready." Erick says as he turns and looks at Jonah. As the two of them walk to the harbor, Kora's entire family came out to wave them goodbye, along with all of the town's people that Erick had saved. "Jonah." Erick says as they step onto the Black Pearl. "Hm?" Erick says in a little surprise.
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"That felt… good." Erick says with a bland face. "Well you don't look too excited to be the savior of an entire town, I mean damn dude, you just took out a former Titan of the sea." Jonah says with a smirk. "No… not that." Erick says bluntly. "Then what are you talking about?" Jonah asks curiously. "Overpowering Kekela. Watching him fear me felt… good." Erick says while staring at the townspeople waving at him. "Is that bad Jonah?" Erick asks with curiosity. "Erick, you're a captain of an exploration team. This is not a child's game that you play with your friends outside. What you're feeling right now… is the greatest trait a captain can have." Jonah says causing Erick to look at him with his eyes widened slightly. "Fruit island we go, right?" Jonah says to him with a smirk. Erick smiles at him. "FRUIT ISLAND WE GO… NAVIGATOR!!!" Erick yells with a wide smile, causing Jonah to chuckle.
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The man wearing the white pirate outfit was walking through the forest of fruit island as he stood and looked down at the ground. His eyes begin to widen and a smile crept on his face as he knelt down in front of a silver banana that had a green stem. The man stood back up with a smile as the berry was now in his hands. "Finally, Now it's time to stop you… GreyBeard." He says with a grin.
Chapter end.