I'm the Captain Now

I was meditating in my room, focusing on my heartbeat, the steady 20 beats per minute. I exhaled, thankful that I could have this moment of silence. Then I opened my eyes as the door burst open, and Bane was looking at me, holding a crumpled-up sheet of paper.

"What is it this time? And it better be that someone is dying or I'm going to fucking lose it." I hadn't been able to relax all week. For so reason, there were more and more bounty hunters coming our way nowadays.

"Don't go yelling at me. You have to explain why you have a seven billion bounty on your head." Bane thrust the paper in my face, and I was barely able to make out the writing. Snatching the article, I slowly read the nine zero's following the seven.

"What the hell happened? Is this why all bounty hunters have been coming after us." Bane nodded, "And the article in the news reveals your background." I shrugged, "Well, it was bound to come out anyway."

"You aren't mad?" A mad grin crept across my face, "I'm bat shit crazy man, there's nothing they can do that they haven't done already. But I need to do something in response that shows I'm still going strong."

-Five Minutes Later-

"I have a higher bounty than the Captain!!!!" Everybody cheered before Whitebeard hit me with a Gura Gura punch, sending my head into the deck, "Don't get cocky; I can still beat your ass."

Everyone laughed even harder, and I pulled the splinters out of my hair. It was an impromptu party. I openly showed my burn scar. Some of my men had seen it before, but knowing what it symbolized, they were kind enough not to ask.

I even pulled out the violin, playing along with the rest of the band. The party was cut short as we were attacked, but I waved everyone down, saying I would take care of it. Flying over to the relatively small caravel, I looked around. It was mostly men, but there was a woman, and my mind went into caveman mode.

I looked at her dumbly, almost drooling. My abstinence and BAC dulled my thinking. I was so out of it that two of the bastards were able to land an attack on me. Both of their swords tried to take my head, but I bet I could give Kido a run for his money.

Standard weapons couldn't hurt me anymore. Grabbing the two shocked men, I bashed their skulls together with a hollow thunk. They both dropped like a sack of potatoes, and everyone was silent, "What, you don't want some of this."

The men looked at each other, unsure, but then the girl chimed in, "What are you doing? Attack him!" I sighed as they all charged me at once, Sanguinem begged to be used, and I was tempted, but I didn't trust the blade not to take advantage of my lowered defenses.

Even though I forged the damn thing, it regularly tested me. The stupid sword determined not to be my bitch. "Fisticuffs it is," the first guy came at me with a dagger and a flintlock pistol.

The first shot missed, and that gave me the opening I needed. Forging a bone spike, I stabbed him in the kidney, killing him instantly. The second man met the same fate, but it was through his eye.

Next, I had to deal with three at once, which still wasn't a challenge. But as I was facing the fifth guy, I heard someone sing. It was the girl. I stumbled as her voice confused me, making me weak, but her crewmates seemed unaffected they looked like they got stronger.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect that." I smiled, and my ears melted back into my face taking away my hearing. It was a surreal experience fighting without sound, the familiar sound of bone on flesh was gone.

In a minute, it was just me and the girl who had stopped singing and was glaring at me, "Sorry, I got rid of your boy toys. So tell me, how did you get your devil fruit?" The girl snorted, "Maybe if you get down on your knees and beg, I'll tell you."

My smile morphed into a frown, "You're just like her, a bitch." One flick of my wrist sent a bone spike through her eye, pinning the siren to the mast of the ship. Scowling, I ransacked the boat and found a devil fruit sitting in a fruit bowl.

"At least I got something out of this." Returning to the party, I tried to forget the encounter getting lost in sweet rum.

-In the Calm Belt-

A single island stood alone, thick jungles covering the ground. And in the middle of the forest was a wall, and guarding that wall were several beautiful women wearing nothing more than loincloths and fur bras.

Boa Handcock looked down at the newspaper on her lap. She had just returned from an expedition to secure her position as a Warlord. Her amazons came across a group of bounty hunters who had a copy of the latest article.

She was almost ready to burn the paper when she recognized a pair of familiar eyes. Boa almost didn't believe it. She still remembered that day all those years ago.

Boa had turned Soren down and even attacked him with her devil fruit. Boa didn't turn him to stone. Never before had that happened, and sometimes, when she thought of the time that Soren cared for her and her sisters, her heart started to beat faster.

She asked her sisters, but the same thing happened to them, she thought that Soren had done something to her, but she couldn't figure out what.

Crushing the paper in her hand, Boa curled up on her bed, "Why am I feeling this way. What did that man do to me." Boa then sat up, "I have to find out."