"En garde bounty hunter!" she snarls as she stalks in my direction. "You cost me my beast! Again!" She raised her saber straight ahead as she picked up speed. "Raise your sword you little shit! I'm going to enjoy ripping out your-" The pirate staggered as the .44 round blew through her stomach. Her furious expression melted away and was replaced, not by pain, but rather.. bewilderment. One hand reached down to touch the gushing wound and when it came back bloodsoaked she appeared genuinely confused. And it was with that same mystified look on her face that South Blue's famous 'Beast Tamer' died as the next four shots rocked her body.
+1,290 Exp!
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I holstered the spent revolver and strolled over to the downed officer with an outstretched hand. "Thanks." she chuckled with a wince, accepting my offer and pulling herself up. "Lieutenant Yuriko. Branch 4-5-9."
"Jack." I replied in kind.
Yuriko looked around at the trashed vessel. "I don't suppose you have a-" she stopped noticing the rose-colored Den-Den-Mushi already in my palm. "Wow. You're really on top of this aren't you?" she marveled, accepting the snail.
"I've started carrying spares. I'm getting used to how this process usually goes. Did you see where her cutlass went? I need to take a look at it."
The marine grunted as she started dialing. "After we wrenched it away from her, I kicked it overboard."
'You did WHAT?!' "...would you care to elaborate why?"
"That thing was dangerous." she says with a huff. "Almost all of my men are dead because of it. It's better at the bottom of the ocean than in anyone's hands." Her caller on the other end picks up. "Ah excuse me. Hello, this is Lieutenant Yuriko of Branch 4-5-9! My men and I are stranded and are in need of immediate escort. Our coordinates are-"
While she conducted her call I stepped away and stopped listening. 'Damn it. I didn't [Observe] it when I had the chance! I know there's..limited..magic in this world besides Devil Fruit. I thought it was just some cursed swords and fortunetelling though. Those are practically nothing compared to the power to ensorcell a Sea King to your will.'
Ugh whatever. I'll be kicking myself over that for the rest of the day. May as well get my own phone call done with. I extracted the blue Den-Den-Mushi I use most often and dialed in the number I've already learned by heart.
The familiar rhythm of 'Puru-puru-puru' rings out for a few seconds before a frantic Mori picks up the line. "Jack! Oh- Thank goodness. I don't really have time to talk right now but listen! If you haven't found her yet, turn around! I've been thinking, and maybe a 30 million target is too ambitious to take on alone. Pull back and I'll try to call you-"
"Mori, it's done."
The snail freezes mid-rant. "..say again?"
I plop down near a railing and signal Kiwi to come in for a landing. "It's done. All wrapped up. Witch had taken a few prisoners, some of whom were marines. There's a lieutenant using one of my spare snails as we speak to call in the nearest ship for pickup. I'm gonna stick around here a few hours, make sure help finds them. There's definitely a number who need medical attention. Both civilian and marine." 'Plus I need to make sure there's no fuss on me claiming the bounties. Getting in the kill shots means it counts for the big [Quest] either way but I'm certainly not gonna throw away money.'
"...so you're good?" Mori paused as he worked through his disbelief. "Jack..I haven't directly asked you yet...I did that somewhat on purpose but..exactly how strong are you?"
I smiled into the snail. "Don't worry about it. You just go ahead and get the paperwork ready. I'll maybe see you tomorrow alright?" A quick afterthought strikes me. "Oh and see if you can come up with an answer by the time I get there okay?" "Hm?" Mori hums as the Den-Den-Mushi cocks its head to the side. "An answer to what?"
"On who's next."
Mori deadpanned at the joke. "Jack.. you need to stop treating this so flippantly." He sighed. "I get that you're strong. I'll admit you've exceeded just about..every..expectation I've had but this is serious work. Getting casual will get you killed."
I leaned back against the wooden railing with a grin. "Mori I just met a giant monster actually from the Grand Line. Two minutes later I had it running away with its metaphorical tail tucked between its metaphorical legs. What's the worst that could happen?"
Yeutton Port, Caeba Kingdom, South Blue
It's been nearly two full days since the incident with Mira-jane and Lorthos. The nearest Marine vessel capable of rendering aid had been roughly eight hours away at the time Yuriko made her call. Add in the extra little time it took for that ship to actually receive the order to shift course and you'll realize we were sitting there on the damaged decks of the Bloody Jewel for quite some time. Riding on Kiwi's back has definitely spoiled me. When you're used to zipping around from island to island all the time you temporarily forget that most sailing ships only get 5-8 knots. And that's assuming the weather's on their side.
I spent some of the time sitting around feeding Kiwi treats, much to the minor amazement from one Seamen named 'Hughes' in particular, and the rest of it keeping my hands busy by helping where I could. At one point I considered attempting a diving run for the Witch's cutlass but I discarded the idea for multiple reasons. Even if visibility wasn't an issue, which it would be. Even if the Blue wasn't deep enough here to obscure titans like Lorthos, which it was. It's still a bad idea because it lets a Marine lieutenant and her subordinates know I can swim without issue despite me demonstrating what looks exactly like Storage-Human Devil Fruit powers. Even if my extensive usage of [Geppo] and [Rankyaku] doesn't get ferried up the chain of command then that shitdefinitely would.
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