A Fun Time: Orange Island 2.3 (ch. 7) (Patreon)

"Ehh? You're the one that beat Buggy? You don't look like much," The Navy Commander remarked, and I had to say, he was a character and a half based on looks alone. The guy was around ten feet tall if he wasn't ten feet tall outright. I barely came to his chest and I was pretty tall at six five. The guy was built like a brick shit house too, with a barrel chest, thick arms that seemed barely able to contain his white suit, and a coat resting on his shoulders though without his arms through it. More than that, even as he spoke, he tossed a rice cracker into his mouth and chewed noisily with his mouth open.

Honestly, the fact that he wore a dog mask that covered everything except his face was the least weird thing about him.

"Looks can be deceiving. Is it inconvenient being that tall? Do you run into a lot of doorways?" I asked, scratching at my bandages. We were at the docks of Orange Town, a Navy warship next to Buggy's ship. What was left of it. The cannon had fucked it up pretty bad, and even the rain hadn't managed to completely stop the fire. The citizens of Orange Town plundered it during the night in search of treasure but didn't find much that wasn't melted down in what had been the captain's quarters.

"Not for me. It's pretty inconvenient for other people when I go through their doorway, though," The Navy official answered, tossing another rice cracker into his mouth and getting some crumbs in his white goatee. The guy seemed to be on the older side of things. I'd put him past sixty. Maybe in his seventies. Still, he seemed to be full of life. "What's up with your funny breathing?"

"What's up with your funny-looking face?" I returned with less than zero hesitation. That actually seemed to catch him by surprise before he started laughing loudly. By loudly, I meant that I could physically feel the sound waves traveling through me.

"You're a funny brat! Here," He said, reaching into his coat and pulled out a stack of bills. "Home office said I could give that to you. It's Buggy's bounty. I think you normally have to do this at one of the Navy stations, but I dunno. I don't deal with bounties." He said, dropping the fat stack of bills labeled with a 1000 into my hands. I still had no idea what a beli was worth, but I'm guessing that fifteen million was worth a fair bit because the handful of people on the docks eyed it jealously.

"Thanks," I said, tucking the bills in my pocket. "What's going to happen to Buggy?"

The Navy officer shrugged, "He's probably off to Impel Down since he has a devil fruit. The crew will go to a more common prison since they're all pretty lame. You took out the whole crew, so you don't have to worry about retribution," he remarked, giving a dismissive shrug as he picked his nose and flicked away a bugger. Gross. He gave me a pointed look, "I also got orders to offer you a place in the Navy, if you want it. You get to start off as a petty officer. Since you're funny, I might even take you aboard my ship."

I wasn't surprised by the offer. When the newspaper is calling this time the era of pirates, it only made sense that the Navy was getting fucked up. It only made sense for them to pull talented candidates and I had just taken down the third biggest bounty in the East Blue.

My first thought was to reject the offer out of hand. This world was wild, and I didn't want to tie myself down to anything. It wasn't like I couldn't see the pros to joining up -- I'm guessing that the Navy had resources, and possibly they could help us figure out what plucked us from across the universe and tagged us. It could offer security, safety, and information. I understood all of that, but I had no interest in dealing with a boss or a chain of command.

I imagine fighting pirates would be far more exciting than dealing with corporate middle management, but it still came at the price of having to ask how high when someone ordered me to jump.

"Do the Navy not get paid out for the bounties?" I questioned, thinking the offer over. I should accept. I just didn't want to.

The Navy officer shook his head, "Nah -- the big wigs decided that it would taint Justice if our officers were motivated by money." He answered, and I could hear the capital J in Justice. "And it attracts the wrong kind of recruit. You only care about money, brat?"

"Nah, not really," I admitted. It was hard to when I literally didn't understand the value of money in this world. "If I join the Marines, am I going to have to deal with some shithead's orders?" I asked point-blank -- this guy struck me as the direct type.

"Yeah, probably," he admitted, sounding like he also got annoyed with being ordered around.

I tilted my head, "I would get to skip rank if I joined now just for bringing in Buggy. How many ranks could I skip if I brought in more?"

He laughed again and, holy shit, he had a set of lungs on him. "I dunno! You might get to skip all the way to Captain! HAHAHA!" He laughed before reaching into his coat again, "I'm on vacation, but I figured I'd come across some of these snot-nose brats. East Blue isn't that big. I'll tell you what -- if you bring them all in, I'll put in a good word for ya' for being an interesting brat." He said the words with a snicker as he handed me a couple of wanted posters.

They were separated by crews going from strongest to weakest. All of which were labeled wanted dead or alive.

Arlong Pirates: 42,500,000 total

Arlong ‘the Saw’, Captain: 20,000,000

Kuroobi ‘the Fin’: 9,000,000

Hatchan ‘Octo-arm’: 8,000,000

Chew ‘Far-Kissed’: 5,500,000

None of the crew were human. In the description, it called them fish-men, so I guess humanity wasn’t alone. That was pretty neat.

Trump Pirates: 38,500,000 total

Bear King, Captain: 11,600,000

Honey Queen: 7,800,000

Pin Joker: 9,900,000

Skunk One: 6,000,000

Boo Jack: 3,200,000

Krieg Pirates: 29,000,000 total

Don ‘Foul Play Krieg’ Krieg, Captain: 17,000,000

Gin ‘Man-Demon’: 12,000,000

Alvida Pirates: 5,000,000

Alvida ‘Iron Mace’, Captain: 5,000,000

The Mischievous Pirates: 2,500,000

Loki ‘The Trickster’, Captain: 500,000

Saeko ‘Death Stroke’ Busujima: 1,000,000

Megumin ‘Witch of Annilihation’: 1,000,000

There were a few others, about another dozen, but all of them were below the million mark. That seemed to be some kind of barrier for the bounties since they either hovered near that number or they shot well beyond it. The list of crimes became more intense as well so it looked like anyone that proved they were more than the average public menace got slapped with a bounty of above three million to attract bounty hunters.

Still, some of the crews looked intense. Krieg apparently had an entire fleet. Their list of crimes were long and without a doubt in my mind, they were all bad guys guilty of the same shit that I kicked Buggy’s ass over -- pillaging villages, merchant ships, and kidnapping innocent people. Arlong was noted to have his own little kingdom over in the Conomi Islands, wherever that was.

Others were marked for general piracy -- looting, raiding, and a wide variety of law breaking. Though, some of them sounded like they just pissed off the wrong people and got slapped with a bounty for it.

“Scared, brat?” The navy officer asked me, a wide smile on his face.

I scoffed, “As if. More disappointed. You made it sound like I had my work cut out for me,” I blustered, mostly because I was annoyed. That just got a snicker from him, prompting me to double down. “What rank are you?”

“Vice-Admiral,” he answered and I’m guessing that was impressive since he seemed pretty confident. It would help if I knew anything about the command structure I could potentially end up joining. I was still very much on the fence about following through, but if it was something I was going to do, then I wanted to aim as high up as I could. Captain sounded nice. Vice-Admiral did too.

“Alright -- if I join up, the lowest position I’ll accept is Vice-Admiral,” I told him, and he started tearing up at that, looking like he was trying his absolute damndest not to bust a fucking gut.

Still, a giggle escaped him, “I’ll pass that along to Sengoku. If you ever round-up that list of bounties, just ring me up at any navy base. Just ask for Garp the Fist,” he said with a laugh, turning around as he began to walk down the dock towards his ship that was docked, giving me a lazy wave over his shoulder. “I’ll be waiting! I’m not gonna be on vacation for forever, so you better hurry up!”

I sighed, watching him leave and it was only when the navy ship was beginning to sail away with Buggy and his crew in the brig that I realized I had been completely sucked into his pace. I glanced down at the good two dozen wanted posters in my hands, some of which were sporting food stains, and did the math. If I brought them all in, that would be a grand total of a hundred and thirty million beli with some change.

Tinkerbell poked her head out of my chest pocket, looking around now that the coast was clear. I had her hide on account that I didn’t know how people would react to a fairy, but given that there were fish people swimming around, I probably didn’t need to bother. I turned my gaze to the wrecked ship that belonged to Buggy… just in time to catch a hint of movement. Tinkerbell did too because she darted into the air to see what it was and upon spotting it, she pointed at it while looking at me.

Taking the hint, I flew up to the top of the ship to see an orange haired girl digging through what was left of the cabin quarters. She wore a white shirt tied off to reveal her stomach, a mini skirt, and sandals with heels on them. I think they were called wedges. Or pumps? Not sure. Either way, her clothing was pretty inefficient for digging through burnt-out wood while muttering to herself, "A safe. He had to have kept it in a safe. There's no way I came all this way just so some idiot could burn my map and treasure- aha!"

I floated behind her as she shoved the burnt remnants of a desk away to reveal a floor safe that apparently went unnoticed. The girl put her ear up to it and spent a grand total of three and a half seconds cracking the lock before she twisted the handle to open the safe. Inside was a leather tube that she pooped open to reveal a map of… something. I knew less about maps than I did about women's shoes.

"There it is! A map of the Grand Line!" The girl whispered to herself, holding it up in the air for inspection.

"The Grand Line? What's that?" I questioned, making the girl jump all of the ways out of her skin. She threw up the map, shouting as she darted away. I caught the map as it lazily fell to the ground, giving it a look over, and was completely unable to make heads or tails of it.

"Why you…!" The girl started to shout, taking out a collapsible bo-staff and aiming it at me, only to trail off. "You're flying?!"

"Don't worry about that -- what's the Grand Line?" I asked her, showing her the map. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw snapped shut. Looks like she got over the flying pretty quick.

"That's my map! Give it back!" The audacity.

"Technically, it's mine since I'm the one who beat up the Buggy Pirates," I pointed out. Apparently, there were plunder laws when it came to dealing with pirates that could more or less be summed up as 'finders keepers.'

"And I stole it, which makes it mine!" The girl shot back with no hesitation or shame. "Nine-tenths of the law is possession!"

"I'm not sure it works like that, but even if it did, doesn't this just mean I stole it back?" I asked her, earning a mild glare in response. "And you never answered my question -- what's the Grand Line?" I repeated, touching down on the ground while the girl watched me like a snake that might lash out at her at a moment's notice.

She searched my face for a moment before her eyes widened a fraction when she saw Tinkerbell. "I… the Grand Line is the fifth sea of the world. The most dangerous one. The only people crazy enough to sail it are pirates chasing after the Pirate King's treasure. It's filled with dangers and they say if you want to go there, you have to abandon all sense of rational thought completely." She scoffed, "But I'm sure that's just rumors started by petty pirates that wash up after failing to sail the Grand Line."

I looked at the map again, feeling my interest growing. That sounded wild. It sounded sick. This world was already nutty and there was apparently an entire sea that was even more bonkers than the little I'd already seen?

"Now give me back my map! I worked really hard tracking down Buggy to steal that, and I'm not going to just let some weirdo take it from me!" She demanded, pointing the business end of her staff at me.

That caught my attention, "You were tracking Buggy? Are you a bounty hunter?" I questioned, trying to get a read on the girl.

"As if! I'm a thief that steals from pirates! I was going to steal Buggy's treasure, but it looks like I'm a little late for that. So, I'll just have to settle for stealing his map of the Grand Line," she informed me making a vaguely threatening motion with her staff. "So, hand it over before you get clobbered!"

"Sure," I agreed, catching her by surprise when I tossed it over. This girl was interesting. More than that, I was interested in what she could do. She caught the map with a little difficulty as I continued. "Do you know where other pirates are?"

She narrowed her eyes in response, "I have a general idea. Why?" The timing was perfect. She was more or less exactly what I needed if I was going to start collecting these bounties. I lucked out finding this island. It was nothing but pure dumb luck that I was blown here and not in the middle of nowhere with nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see. Finding other islands, and more importantly, pirates needed someone who knew the lay of the land.

Right now, no one one on the ship fit that bill.

"Because I could use your help," I admitted. "I just made a bet that I could bring in every major bounty in East Blue, and if you even have a general idea of where they are, that'll move things along." The girl looked at me like I had grown a second head, so I reached into my pocket and her…

Yo. What the fuck. Her eyes just became beli signs.

It seems money was the way to her heart.

"I don't really care about money, so you can have a cut of the bounties. Seems fair since you'll be helping us find them," I said, splitting the stack of bills in half and tossing her one. She caught it and quickly thumbed through the bills. "Call that a retainer."

"Before we even discuss this -- I need to know one thing. Are you a pirate?" She asked me, tucking the bundle of cash into her cleavage. It must operate on the same principles as my pocket dimension because that money was fucking gone.

I shook my head, "Nah. Right now I'm more of a bounty hunter if you have to call me something. And if I win the bet, I could end up becoming a Vice-Admiral in the Navy." That got a reaction out of her. She seemed impressed for a moment before a confident smirk.

"A Vice-Admiral? Then you have to be pretty strong… in that case -- I'll agree on the condition of a fifty percent cut on the bounties, and an eighty percent cut on any treasure you find." She made the offer like it wasn't completely in her favor. "And I better not be doing any fighting! You deal with the bounty collection! I won't hesitate to leave you behind if you look like you're going to lose, got it?"

"Make it twenty-five percent of the bounty and ten percent of the treasure with room to negotiate for extra," I countered.

"Fine. Unless I find the treasure first, then it's all mine," she tacked on just as we shook on it. She really liked her money. "I'm Nami, a navigator."

I offered a smile, "Cassian Kaine."

"I didn't see another ship docked on this island, Kaine," she pointed out.

My smile became a smirk as I looked up at the sky, seeing the Icarus. Nami gaped at it and I took that moment to hook one arm around her and pulled her close. "Hold on tight!" I told her before lifting off into the air, taking a shouting Nami with me as we flew above Orange Town. I'm sure that the Mayor would be pretty sure about me leaving without saying goodbye, but I wasn't the one for big emotional send-offs.

Nami had me in a death grip as we flew up into the sky, the Icarus rapidly becoming closer. In about a minute, I cleared the railing and landed on the deck.

"Kaine!" Mikasa exclaimed, jumping to her feet and running towards me, not even noticing Nami, who hugged the deck of the ship like she was never going to let go, muttering to herself the entire time. Mikasa stopped in front of me, her eyes going to my bandages and I saw her face tighten at the sight.

"You should see the other guys," I remarked while Tae, Momo, and Kim walked into the top deck.

"They must be a sight because you look like you went through the wringer," Tae remarked while Kim offered a hand to Nami, who gratefully took it while glaring daggers at me.

I nodded, "Yeah… about that. We have some things we need to discuss."

…

"We should join the Navy." Upon hearing everything that I had to say, that was Momo's first reaction. I wasn't surprised given that she had gone to a hero school to become a professional hero. She hadn't said as much, but Quirk use sounded like it was something that was heavily regulated. It made sense that she would want to join the government body and work to stop this age of piracy.

"We shouldn't join anyone until we're certain that they're not responsible for what was done to us," Tae countered, her arms crossed as we all stood around on the deck. Nami looked like she was still processing the fact that we were from different universes. "For all we know, it was the Navy that brought us here because they were so desperate for talent in dealing with pirates."

Momo’s lips thinned, clearly she disagreed. "I don't think they would do something like that. The Navy and Marines sound like heroes."

"Who potentially kidnapped us," Kim seconded Tae's opinion. Momo looked vaguely upset, prompting her to continue. "I'm not saying that they did it or not but right now, it is a possibility. Perhaps they had a plan in place with us being stranded on that island, the Navy would come and 'rescue' us, and we'd be so indebted that we'd join."

Tinkerbell lazily played with a lock of my hair while she used my ear as a seat, completely disinterested in the conversation.

"It's not a decision that's going to be made now," I voiced, bringing their attention back to me. "Signs point to joining the Navy as the best bet, but we have to take care of some things beforehand. Even if we decide we aren't going to join, we could use the money. We can't just make Momo create everything for us."

"... Couldn't Momo create gold for us?" Mikasa pointed out, making me open my mouth, only to close it. I looked to Momo to see that she was shaking her head.

"I cannot! As a child, my parents taught me the importance of never using my creation ability to make anything that could destabilize the economy. Inflation is a very dangerous thing," Momo voiced, shooting the idea down. Nami, on the other hand, wouldn't let it sink.

"You can create gold?" She asked, making Momo nod. "Y-you shouldn't underestimate the world economy! It's a treasure economy! Billions of beli worth of gold and jewels enter the economy every single day, so a couple of thousand bars of gold wouldn't even be noticed!" She said, and she really didn't ask for anything reasonable.

Momo seemed thoughtful, absolutely considering the rather unreasonable request. "I'm afraid I cannot take your word for it, Nami. But my answer may change after I conduct an intensive study on treasure-related inflation in your world," Momo offered a small bow, and Nami looked at Momo like she was the source of all wealth in the world. "And provided that there are no laws against the creation of gold and other valuable materials."

"Other valuable materials?!"

To bring things back on track, I looked to Tae, "I'm going to start collecting bounties. Buggy nearly demolished that town and he would have if I hadn't been there to stop it. I won't ask that anyone else follow me." That brought a layer of tension over the deck of the Icarus. "We all escaped Skull Island together, but that doesn't mean we have to stay together. Especially if we want different things."

Tae cocked her head, "And what do you mean by that?"

"I wanna go to the Grand Line," I voiced, surprising Nami. "This world is completely unlike anything I've ever seen and I want to experience it. All of it. I don't really care how dangerous it is either, but I won't risk anyone's life but my own." I told them outright. I knew Momo, Mikasa, and Kim were eager to get home. To say nothing of Bocchi and Kobeni. "I also have no intention of going back. I'll still search for a way back for all of you, but I fully intend to stay in this world for good."

We weren't on the island anymore. There, we very much were all in it together, but the world had opened up. All of us had options. We weren't stuck together. If Momo was determined to join the Navy, then she didn't have to wait for me to collect bounties. If Kim or Mikasa didn't want to fight to bring people in for money, then they didn't have to. If Bocchi and Kobeni wanted a peaceful life, then they could settle in Orange Town and wait for me to find a way back for them. And if Tae decided she didn't want to waste her time patching us all up after every scrape, she didn’t have to.

"I'll go with you," Mikasa was the first to decide. I think to the surprise of everyone. She looked down at the ground for a moment, as if struggling to put her thoughts into words. "Armin and Eren… they've always hated that they were born behind the walls that protected humanity from the Titans. They wanted to see everything beyond them -- seas of sand, lakes of fire, and everything else in that book they found. I know… that they'd be very jealous that they weren't here, but they would want me to see those things for them."

"We're going to end up in a lot of fights. I don't exactly intend to do things the safe way," I informed, earning a small nod.

"Good," was Mikasa's determined response.

Kim crossed her arms, "I'm in too. Back home… I have people that would notice that I'm gone and they'd have the resources to bring me back. I don't know how long it'd take, so I'm not going to give up finding my own way back, but it does mean I have options." She said, catching my attention that she apparently had friends that could, theoretically, traverse the multiverse.

Tinkerbell nodded, hugging my face. Honestly, she was the one I was least concerned about. I don't think I could make her leave even if I wanted to.

Bocchi hesitantly raised her hand, “I-I have a family back home.” She didn’t seem to know how to elaborate any further, but she didn’t really need to.

“I’ll see more of the world before I decide! If this place is safer than my old world… I’ll stay,” Kobeni stated in no uncertain terms. I would give her this -- she knew what she wanted. I’m just not sure how feasible it would be with me given that I was all but determined to find every batch of trouble in this world and throw myself right into the thick of it.

Tae gave me a measuring look for a long moment before letting out a sigh. "You already have my answer. I suppose I’ll call it a nice little vacation for me," she decided, throwing on a confident smirk and an expression that told us she was very aware that we'd be dead without her.

Momo was the last one left and she seemed to be the one that was having the most difficulty deciding. "I still believe that the Navy is the greatest chance to return to our homes in a reasonable timeframe. I was just accepted into UA, and this disruption could cause issues with my recommendation and my hero career. Simply put -- we have no way of knowing how time will work in other universes. It is entirely possible that the ten days we spent here could be ten years in our home universes. Or it could just as likely be ten seconds." She was being calm and rational about it.

Her words did bring the mood down as we all considered that. In the end, we didn't know. We had no way of knowing until they got home and saw how much time had passed in their absence.

The silence was only broken by Nami after a long moment, "I understand where you're coming from, but Kaine's plan is your best bet," Nami voiced, catching Momo's attention. "The Grand Line is a place where anything is possible. From what I've heard, time travel and other universes would be the more mundane quirks of that sea. The Navy has resources, but they're tied up fighting pirates, and it's a fight that they're losing. They won't use them on you unless they're given a good reason… or they'll string you along to keep fighting pirates for the rest of your life if you give them too good of a reason."

Momo's lips thinned at that, not happy with that news. She glanced at me, considering it a moment longer before offering a small nod. "In that case… I will agree to travel with you, Kaine. Just know that while I might lack a hero's license, I will hold myself accountable to its standards." It really sounded like Momo was the least convinced, but I could work with that.

"Then it's decided! Nami -- you're our navigator. I want to take on the Trump Pirates first and foremost. Knock out the big leagues then work out way down to the small fry," I decided, feeling relieved that everyone was on board. Momo would be the shipwrights for the crew. Tae was the medic. Nami was our temporary navigator. Not really sure what Kim, Mikasa, Kobeni, and Bocchi were yet, but I'd figure it out soon. "Do you know where they are?"

Nami looked a bit apprehensive for a moment but offered a small nod, "I do… they're on Clockwork Island. I can set a course."

"Then let's go!"