Chapter 359 – New Members for the Fleet.
Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV
Sabaody.
...
...
"You're going out again?!" Nami looked past Vivi to Luffy.
"There's another group of people nearby, I can meet them without drawing attention while I plan to recruit them," Luffy told his entire crew.
"..." No one could disagree with that as Luffy nodded. They were almost reaching Skypiea and Luffy wanted to see a few more people he had secretly kept Vivre cards for, to follow them in the near future, which would be used at this moment, after all, his fleet needed new powerful members.
"I want you all to organize everything in Skypiea, see what damage the prison break has caused and check on the rest of the crew, I'll head there when I can," Luffy spoke again before leaving Amazon Lily, floating through the air.
He quickly advanced over the blue sea using geppo as he spotted some islands, but he followed his Vivre Card, directly to a specific one.
It was a small island, where there was a port village, trading fish, and resources that some pirates bought to stock up their supplies. With the fall of the Marines, their ports were busier than ever, while everyone laughed and even fought with each other.
The pirates themselves fought to preserve the town, after all, if it lacked resources to fill their ships, they would be without a place to refuel on their journeys.
In a tavern where pirates met, it was quiet at this moment, while a man watched attentively ahead, being the tavern keeper. He used to work in Jaya, but the island was destroyed by powerful pirates fighting against each other, so he decided to open his bar here but ended up encountering one of the pirates involved in the chaos of Jaya's destruction.
This same man seemed in a bad mood as he hit everyone else present, and the entire bar was full of bodies thrown around. He was cautious despite not wanting a fight in his bar, he didn't have the courage to contradict this pirate.
"Give me more alcohol!" the blond man demanded while the bartender, with no choice, nodded; he still remembers that everything started with that supernova Kid starting a fight with this man in his bar, who got beaten so badly that Doflamingo came to Jaya and the chaos began even with the arrival of the Beast Pirates and Monkey D. Luffy himself.
'I still remember that pirate Kid wanting to go after Straw Hat back then... Surely the man had no idea who he was dealing with...' The man quickly dismissed this thought and went to the drink showcase to get another bottle to hand to the pirate before he became the target of his fury.
As soon as he placed the bottle on the table, the doors burst open at that moment, while the owner looked up with a furrowed brow, knowing he could be yet another victim of this frustrated lunatic.
"Bellamy," the voice of the stranger said as he began to enter the bar. The owner finally began to see who was entering the place and couldn't be more shocked, as he froze completely standing in that position, seeing that man of all people at sea at this moment, entering his bar.
Bellamy turned around at this moment, frustrated, to see who had called him, but as soon as he saw Luffy, he recognized him immediately. "You?!"
He was furious about everything that had started happening months ago, having left his pirate group after learning of Doflamingo's death at Marineford. He didn't know what to do anymore. After all, Doflamingo was the person he most admired in this world, a person he wanted to become. And standing in front of him was none other than Monkey D. Luffy, the one who had overcome Doflamingo, had him imprisoned in Jaya, and had crew members so powerful that one of them ended the life of the one he most admired in the world.
"I see you're handling your frustration in a rather odd way," Luffy spoke calmly, practically mocking Bellamy.
"What are you doing here?" Bellamy demanded immediately, but Luffy just smiled.
"Isn't it obvious? I came here to recruit you. You seem lost here..." he said.
Bellamy really was lost, but his plans were to go to the New World and speak with the remnants of the Donquixote family members to find out what their plans were, looking for a new path in his life.
"Why would I join you?" Bellamy immediately questioned. The last crew he would think of joining were the Straw Hats themselves. However, Luffy didn't care about his response as he approached.
"You don't understand, I'm not asking you a question or giving you an option," Luffy spoke, and Bellamy only had time to stand up as his head was grabbed by Luffy's hand and smashed onto the counter, falling the next moment while even the bartender, who had been frozen, jumped back scared and looked at Luffy cautiously and trembling.
'The same thing you did to Luffy...' Luffy thought about the original story and found it satisfying to do this to Bellamy. He looked at the trembling man in front of him now.
"Take this for the damages," Luffy said as he threw a bag of berries to the man. The man couldn't even respond, as much as he didn't want this pirate's money, but also, it could offend him and he just remained silent.
Luffy grabbed Bellamy and dragged him out of the tavern, shooting up into the sky while the rumors of Monkey D. Luffy appearing on the island quickly spread to everyone, causing pirates to start moving around looking for the pirate for a rare chance to join his fleet.
However, Luffy was already far away, traveling with an unconscious Bellamy, secured by his own clothes by Luffy as he approached another island.
This next island was a mid-sized kingdom subordinate to the World Government, with a large marine outpost and good trade, especially in rice and other agricultural foods. Even their ports were bustling with the construction of ships, from small to medium-sized vessels, and with a huge amount of fishermen selling seafood at the market that gathered tens of thousands of people every week.
But this was not important to Luffy, as he traveled over the country, crossing over the King's Palace and continuing through the middle of the capital.
Meanwhile, in a place below him, there was a small warehouse. In this place, there was a small group of people gathered there, while some seemed quite injured with bandages, others looked fine, but still tired.
"We need to get out of this kingdom soon..." one of them commented while the others agreed.
This was the former CP9, with the members having to flee after the events that occurred at Enies Lobby, being marked as outlaws by the government chasing them.
The former government agents had no choice but to flee, and the pursuit intensified even more with the fall of Marineford, with high-ranking members being relocated to capture them.
Their last encounter with their pursuers did not end very well, as they faced a member of CP0 in person and managed to escape by luck, but Rob Lucci ended up injured along with others to have a chance to flee. They were trying to recover while staying hidden in that warehouse.
"It's getting harder and harder," Mia Kalifa murmured as she tended to Lucci's wounds.
"This is really bad," Kaku murmured, keeping an arm supported after being broken.
"I knew we'd be betrayed by our own organization one day!" Jabra exclaimed furiously.
"We made a mistake, so we're disposable," Rob Lucci said as if he accepted his situation very well.
"How can you speak so naturally about this?" Jabra complained again.
"Anyway, let's head to South Blue. We can pass through the Calm Belt flying with geppo," Bueno said, and the others agreed.
"That's right, let's just rest here today and leave this island," Lucci spoke at the end.
But at that moment, the door of the warehouse simply opened and everyone went into combat mode, looking with surprise and caution as a shadow cast in front of the sun. He began to enter the place, as his figure finally became visible, and their old enemy, Monkey D. Luffy, entered the place, finding them finally, still carrying an unconscious Bellamy while all the other members looked stunned.
"Straw Hat," Lucci immediately frowned and clenched his teeth.
"How did you find us?" Kalifa immediately exclaimed.
"I don't think that matters now," Luffy shrugged as he approached them. "Anyway, I'm here to give you a chance beyond just running away through all the Blues until you're captured again by the World Government," Luffy explained.
"What do you mean?" Lucci narrowed his eyes.
"Simple. If you want to come work for me, I'll give you security to escape from the World Government, after all, you were only pursued for failing your mission," he said, leaving the CP9 members even more surprised.
Luffy wasn't so desperate to hire them, so he let them choose, unlike Bellamy, who was forcibly taken. They looked at each other for a while, seeming to think, when finally someone stepped up to Luffy.
"Let me work for you," Bueno spoke.
"Bueno, what are you doing?! You're going to trust him?!" Kalifa exclaimed, but Bueno shrugged.
"Do we have much choice? At least he is powerful enough to ward off the government, and I'd rather work against the government at this point," he said, still frustrated with the situation, so he didn't think twice before accepting Luffy's request.
"Good," Luffy murmured, pleased with this. Of all there, Bueno was the one he was most interested in, after all, he possessed an important fruit, one he even considered stealing after killing him before delivering him to Enies Lobby, but Luffy wasn't so cruel as to kill a prisoner.
"Sorry, guys, but I also see no way out in continuing to run from the government. At least we'll be aligning with someone powerful," Jabra declared, leaving the other members looking at him with furrowed brows, while Jabra walked up to Bueno who knelt before Luffy and did the same.
The others thought a bit, and many looked at Rob Lucci, seeing what he would choose, but he simply shook his head.
"I won't ally with you, much less, intend to work for you," he finally spoke, and Luffy wasn't offended. In fact, he wanted Lucci to become a challenge for him in the future, someone he could fight. After all, the sea is more satisfying with obstacles as Luffy sails.
Then, Luffy just watched as all the others decided to follow Lucci. "Well, let's go. We have to head to my current HQ," he said, while Bueno and Jabra followed him. It didn't take long for the three to start flying out of the island.
Meanwhile, Lucci just looked out the distance through the warehouse window. "I swear I'll defeat you one day, Straw Hat," he murmured. And if Luffy heard that, he would be satisfied with the determination.
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