บท 8: New Enemies

Unknow POV

"C-captain the blue-eyed pirates were defeated!"

"Huh?" I turned around. "By who?"

"A bounty hunter. W-we uhh... don't know who they are, though."

"Tsk," I clicked my tongue, slamming the table as my subordiate flinched. "That's not too big of a problem. They weren't bringing us that much money to begin with. But it's still got damn annoying to have wasted a devil fruit on a weakling like him. What was his bounty again?"

"37 million Captain. A-and uhh, there's another pirate group that wants to work under y-you..."

"I'll look into it later. Our profit is looking great so far."

"U-uh, yes captain. Should I leave your room?"

"Yeah, just fuck off. You're so damn annoying."

"Yes, sir."

I watched as he closed the door behind him. "A bounty hunter... hmph. This isn't a problem at all."

I got up from my seat wandered out onto the deck. My crew was busy, working like ants on my ship. They all stopped what they were doing as I came out.

"I'll be leaving soon," I announced. "Make sure everything's ready by the time I come back."

"Y-yes, captain," they all said in unison, rushing to work harder than ever.

I jumped off the deck, landing on the sand beneath. I walked out of the cove, into the town nearby. Carran was what is was called, a place that used to hold great ties with the marines. If I was to wreck such a town, surely my bounty would increase again. I'll surely be recognized my the yonkos eventually.

"It's been a while since I've caused a ruckus," I smiled, licking my lips. "Time to make the whole country go wild."

***

Eden POV

A few days had passed since Lillian and I formed our crew. We still didn't have a name, a jolly roger or a ship. Now that she was conscious of it, she had drastically improved her observation haki, even showing signs of awakening armament haki. Her potential was through the roof. And even though haki was extremely difficult to teach, she had managed to give me some insight. Although I still haven't been able to use it yet, I still felt like I was getting closer to grasping the basics.

"Ahh, got damn it... why's it so hard to get a ship?"

"Hm? You were talking to me?" Lillian asked, stopping her practice session to look at me.

"I thought 37 million was great. But finding a boat's harder than I thought."

"True. You shouldn't gone all out again those pirates. We could've taken theirs."

I sat up straight as an idea sparked in my mind. "How about we just beat up another crew and take their ship? Then our money can go towards food and other essentials."

"Oh, that's not a bad idea. But it's not going to be easy to find them. They aren't just gonna be on the side of the road."

I sighed. "You're right."

She went back to practicing again as I drifted off into my thoughts.

"What's wrong, Eden?" she asked, putting down her wooden sword.

"Nothing much," I answered. "Just focus on your training."

She gave me a quick concerned look before returning to her sword swings.

In truth, I wasn't sure whether or not I missed being on Earth. So far, I've had a pretty fun time, playing around with my new abilities and hanging out with Lillian. A small part of me wanted to return, but I knew it wasn't going to happen. I needed to accept that this was my new life.

Eventually I began thinking about what I really wanted to do. What were my ambitious for my new life. I wasn't interested in becoming the king of pirates, but exploring the world was a must. It would also be incredible to have my name be spread around the world as someone powerful. Maybe I'd even become a Yonko one day, but that's not what I want right now.

Suddenly, I got snapped back to reality as Lillian fell, smashing her face directly into my chest.

"Arhh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you."

Her mellow bosom pressed hard against my abdomen, and as she realized what was happening, she pushed herself away, slightly flustered.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "Your nose is bleeding a little."

"Oh, uhm... yeah. I'm fine. Thanks."

She turned around and grabbed a cloth to wipe her nose, her cheeks turning a light pink.

"Soft," I thought. I stood up, giving her a quick tap on the shoulder as I walked past her to check out the commotion in the village. Newspapers fell from the skies as some seagulls flew by. They must've been delivering the news.

"What's going on?" I asked the old man next to me, grabbing a paper.

"It seems like there's a pirate crew causing trouble. I heard that they're destroying towns for fun, taking anything that isn't nailed down."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. They're actually quite close, so we're all worried that they'll destroy us next. We can't survive another raid."

"Show me their bounties," I demanded.

He handed me his paper, and I immediately noticed their names and bounties. "Alger Silverhair," it read, followed by a 340 million berry bounty. I flipped to the next page, noticing a picture of a woman with black hair. She had a rather large bounty for a female pirate. "Diana Sugerheart, worth 70 million."

"Heh," I thought to myself. "Jackpot."