Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Wherever Your Heart Desires!
The Navy had sent us the path that the Black Flag Pirates were on and it was far from us. With Yuma at the helm, I figured we could make it to the next town along their path before they got there.
"Yuma how much further?" I asked impatiently.
"Not much, we should be there any minute." He replied.
"Do you have any information on the size and strength of their crew?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, they gave me a whole bunch of reports about their crew but I didn't read any of it." I said nonchalantly. "It doesn't really matter either way our strategy will just be crushing them head on."
"Eh, of course that's your strategy. Listen you can never be too careful on the Grand Line. We should research them as much as possible. Now give me the intel they gave you." Jack said holding his hand out.
"Fine, knock yourself out." I said tossing him a folder.
"Alright, apparently it's a pretty good size crew of over 30 members. Of those members three have bounties. The first is obviously their captain, Patch "Black Flag" Stash, he has a bounty of 250 million. He apparently has a Devil Fruit ability, but it's unknown what type it is. The next is his vice captain Ducet "Thousand Winds" Charlemagne. He's a master swordsman and has a bounty of 110 million but some people say he's even more dangerous than his captain. Finally their navigator has a bounty of 80 million, her name is Fantasia "The Enchantress" Rei. She also has some sort of mysterious ability. This is just one of many crews she's been on. She's called the enchantress because apparently she charms the captain of the crew she joins and uses him until their crew is driven to ruin, at which point she moves on to the next crew."
"Oh nice! What a delicious looking parfait! Thanks Claudia!" I said as Claudia handed me a decadent mixed berry parfait. I'd long since stopped listening to Jack's long winded explanation.
"Captain this is important! She might try to use her charms on you! You can't fall for her tricks." Jack said.
"Who? Claudia?" I said confused because I hadn't been paying attention.
"No, just, never mind. Just watch your back when the fight starts." Jack said giving up trying to explain.
We laid in wait in port to take the incoming pirate crew by surprise, and as it started to turn to night we saw the ship we were waiting for. But to our surprise the one who was launching an ambush was them. We had thought that there was only one way they could get into the port, but apparently there was a small inlet that led inland to a river that but put them right behind us.
Their cannons let loose and we tried to defend but a few still landed. Though we were lucky to avoid any serious damage to the ship. Before they were able to fire another volley, Jack shot at their ammunition stores with his rifle and caused them to blow up crippling their ship instantly.
"Nice shot Jackie! To be able to hit your mark through such a small window from this distance. You're an even better marksman than I gave you credit for. And I gave you lots of credit to begin with." I said patting him on the back.
With their ship disabled and most of the crew taken out by the explosion I moved in to finish them off.
"Bankai! Hihio Zabimaru!!!"
I used Zabimaru to completely break their ship in half and as I boarded the wreckage I was face to face with their captain.
"Well you've cut quite the swathe through my men. But now you've got to deal with me and the power of the Tank Tank fruit!" The captain said. The Tank Tank Fruit was a Paramecia type fruit that allowed its user to fire cannons from their fingertips. They could even combine their arms to make one large cannon.
As what's is name tried to shoot me with a cannon blast I instantly put him down with one hit from Samehada.
"Darn it. If only Charlemagne was here, then you'd have been in trouble." The captain said as he passed out.
"See Jack? That went exactly as I planned. More or less." I said.
"Yeah except the part where they almost blew up our ship." Jack said pointing to the damage that the cannon barrage had left.
"Yeah but it's not that bad. It should still be able to sail just fine." I replied. "Alright I guess we should just grab the rest of his crew and wrap this thing up."
"Wait, this isn't his whole crew. There's two members missing. The vice captain Charlemagne and the Enchantress Rei. It's important we find them."
"Char left the crew about a week ago, as for little old me. Well I'm right here." A voice said from behind us. "So you're the new Warlord? "Beast Sword" Buster Galileo. You're just as impressive as the rumors say. Captain Stash was no pushover but you and your crew crushed him in an instant even when we had totally caught you by surprise."
When we turned around we saw a beautiful red haired woman standing there. "Who's this broad?" I asked.
"Captain she's the one I was trying to tell you about. Don't fall your any of her tricks." Jack said.
As Jack was speaking, Rei came up to me and brushed her self against my arm and said, "You know, those swords of yours are even more monstrous than the stories give them credit for. It was such an honor to see it in person. I hope you'd let me stick around to see it action even more."
"Eh? You want to join my crew? I don't know these seemed like some pretty bad guys. I'm not sure I want someone like that on my crew."
"Oh I assure you that I never took part in any of their barbarism. I'm not much of a fighter after all. But I can assure you that I can be of use in other ways. I ate the Locate Locate Fruit, so now I have the power to locate anything I want. So I can lead you to anything your heart desires. So tell me captain, what is it that you desire right now?" She said running her fingers across my chest.
"Well what I desire right now is…" I said as I looked at her thick curvaceous figure.
"Yes?" She asked seductively.
"… is for you to get your hands off me you tramp!" I said as I knocked her hand away. "Jack lock her up with the rest of the crew."
"Yes sir." Jack said with a smile.
"What? You mean you aren't enthralled by my beauty?" She asked incredulously.
"Eh? Pretty full of yourself aren't you? But no…" I looked her up and down again. "I'm more into slim women."
"As for me the only lady I'm interested in is Lady Justice." Jack said, which objectively was a very dorky thing to say but I thought it was cool.
"Wait, wait! I'm a navigator I really can help you guys! I heard that your crew doesn't have one." She said desperate for a way out of being thrown in Impel Down.
"I don't know captain she has a point. We could use her help." Yuma said.
"No way she'll just betray us at the first sign of trouble." Jack said.
"Hmm, we could definitely use her. But we also definitely can't trust her. Eh whatever she can join I guess." I said indifferently.