55 Recruitment Drive

Zephyr POV

Zephyr is a large, muscular, tan-skinned man, standing around twice the height of a typical man, with short purple hair and a large mechanical right arm connected to the left hip with converted mast rigging. Underneath that mechanical arm is a regular-sized and pitch black prosthetic arm.

Zed, as he was called by those who knew him personally, was sitting in the captain's quarters of his ship, going over some reports. He use to be a high ranking marine officer, and was a firm believer in the absolute justice system that was taught to all marines, but his view of the marines changed when the pirate that cut off his arm was promoted into one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Not being able to understand the Government's reasoning, Zed took what was left of his cadets and quit the marines. For the last two years, Zed has been building up his forces, taking out pirates, and keeping himself off the radar of the Government. He only had three warships, each holding around 300 soldiers, as well as his three most trusted subordinates, Ainz, Binz, and Shuzo. Ainz and Binz both had Devil Fruit abilities, but Zed didn't need nor want one, being a master at close quarters combat.

Zed's dream was to end the age of pirates, but to do so, he needed to get rid of the One Piece, which was not as easy as it sounded. It wasn't until the thought of cleansing the entirety of the New World, did an idea form. He would destroy the three End Points, causing a chain reaction to the volcanoes, engulfing the New World in magma, destroying every pirate and the One Piece along with it.

He of course knew that the innocent people of the New World would also die, but he would accept the loss if it meant ending the age of pirates. Already knowing the location of the three End Points, Zed just needed a way to destroy them, but to do that he would need something powerful.

He knew where to get the power to do it, but he was lacking in the strength and force to get it, so he would need to bide his time for just a few more years, then he could set his plans into motion.

However all of that changed a few weeks ago when he was woken from his sleep by alarms, followed by screens turning on. It was then he witnessed the feats of a new group of people, who did the unthinkable and raided Mary Geoise.

They declared that they would be coming for the corrupt of the world, putting pirates, marines, bandits, and the government to the sword if they crossed over the lines of what was right. Then they straight up told two of the Four Emperor's to gather their armies and prepare for their inevitable arrival.

After that night, Zed thought hard on the matter, and it was then he realized that these people did what he should have been doing from the very beginning. Changing his plans, Zed moved from island to island, clearing out the pirates and bandits, recruiting anyone who wanted to join the cause of true freedom.

As he flipped through another report, his Transponder Snail starting ringing. Not thinking anything of it, Zed answered the call. "Hello?" He asked calmly. "Hello, Z!" A familiar, yet unfamiliar voice echoed through the device.

"Who is this?" Zed asked curiously. There was a moment of silence before the voice replied, "How rude of me! My name is Jack Sparrow." Hearing that name, Zed put it to the face he saw that night, causing his full attention to be drawn to the Snail.

"Well Mr. Sparrow... what can I help you with?" Zed asked, his interest piqued at what this could be about. "Please, just call me Jack. As for why I called, well it's quite simple. I know about the End Points, and I'm calling to offer an alternative to death." Jack said, getting a raised brow from Zed in return.

'How does he know about that?' Zed thought, his mind now racing to ideas of traitors and spies in his group. He had already given up the idea of the End Points after that night, so he didn't have anything to lose. "Is that right? Do go on!" Zed answered in his deep gravelly voice.

"I wanna offer you a position in my organization. An instructor, advisor, however you wanna see it. I want you to give up on trying to destroy the New World, and fight the true corruption of the world. You watched what the rest of the world did that night, so you know the World Government needs put down." Jack said calmly, causing Zed to furrow his brow.

He knew Jack was right, and a large part of him supported the man already, but he had been duped once already and betrayed by an organization that he had given his life to. "Before I agree to anything, I got some questions!" Zed stated, not leaving it up for debate.

"Of course. Ask whatever you wish." Jack said coolly. Pausing to gather his thoughts, Zed asked, "First off, how did you know about my previous goal about the End Points? And what is your take on pirates?" Jack didn't even hesitate before he answered, "I knew because I watched you planning it. Witnessed it by accident if I'm being honest."

(A.N. That is actually true. Was a complete accident when I watched Film Z. Didn't even know what it was when I clicked on it.)

"Say I believe you. What about pirates?" Zed asked, unsure how felt about the first answer. He was glad there were no traitors, at least as far as Jack had told him, but he was also not pleased that they missed someone being close enough to spy on them while they were talking about something of that magnitude.

"Depends on whose definition we're going off of." Jack answered, causing Zed to be confused. "What do you mean by that?" Zed asked, unsure as to where the conversation was going.

"Well it might surprise you, but there are many different kinds of pirates out there. There are people who wanna pillage and plunder towns and ships for fun, which is pretty much the very definition of a true pirate. Then there are those who don't do what the government says, and are dubbed pirates by the marines, you know, dogs of the government and all." Jack said, getting a frown from Zed, but before he could say anything, Jack continued.

"Then there are people who adventure for fun, and use the word pirate because they obviously don't know any better. I mean seriously, the educational system for the common people is so lacking, it's actually sad. They hear that being a pirate is what true freedom is, and they want to be one even though they would never hurt a soul. Again something to blame the government for. After all, keep the sheep ignorant and misinformed so they obey, am I right?"

Zed couldn't refute Jack's words, knowing full well that those situations actually did happen. He hadn't ever met a good pirate, but then again, he never gave them the chance to speak before. He also knew that the government would dub certain people as pirates and then spread false lies about what they did, which would mean that not every WANTED person was actually evil.

"So depending on the definition, your opinion is different?" Zed asked, already knowing the answer. "Of course!" Jack replied quickly. "For the true pirates, they should be erased from the world. For the misinformed, they need to be educated, then given the choice. Then for those who are wrongly accused, they should be allowed to tell their story, and do what they truly wanna do in life. If it's piracy, they should be stopped, if they just wanna live their life, free of torture and slavery, then they have every right, do they not?" Jack said, getting a grunt of agreement from Zed.

Thinking Jack's world over carefully, Zed asked, "What about the Warlords?" There was a moment of silence before it was broken by Jack's laughter. "HAHAHA!! Considering the fact that I've already killed two of them recently, I'd say I'm not a huge fan. However even some of them have reasons for why they do what they do." Jack answered, finally calming himself in the end.

"How so?" Zed asked skeptically. He knew the Warlords didn't care for anyone, and they did whatever it was that pleased them.

"Well... Let's take Boa Hancock. She comes from an island where everyone is women, a place that is considered to be a dream by all men. The Government is actually using the safety of her home as blackmail in order to get her to serve them, and don't even try telling me that the marines didn't know, because they do!

The strongest among the Amazon's become pirates, but it is only to protect themselves and yet they are dubbed as criminals." Jack said, causing Zed's frown to deepen.

The marines had used threats like that in the past for sure, and it wasn't really a secret among the higher ups. "Then there is Jimbe. Fishmen and Mermaids are taken as trophies by almost everyone, so it is no surprise he would band together with his friends to protect his own people, and becoming a Warlord makes so everyone associated with him can go see their families without the fear of the marines taking their families away." Jack said, causing Zed's mind to move even faster.

So far that was two people who Zed thought were the worst of the worst, were actually just protecting their people. "You are right about some of the Warlords being scum though. I killed Crocodile and Moria because they wanted nothing more than to cause chaos and rule the world. Doflamingo is definitely at the top of that list too. He's caused more pain and suffering than anyone, but I can't go after him until I get the situation's in Paradise cleared up." Jack said, causing Zed to nod his head slowly.

The whole world knew that the first half of the Grand Line was in an uproar, but everything was slowly being brought back to order.

"What about the last two?" Zed asked, his anger on the subject plain to hear in his voice. "Hmmmm.... Well, Kuma is a little different. He was originally a Revolutionary, but he made some deals with that government scientist, Vegapunk. I heard he's already been through some experiments and is on the verge to being no longer human. He still has his thoughts for now, but I think in about a year or two, there won't be anything human left of him."

Jack wasn't sure how things would play out from here on out, but he did know that Kuma had already had a few operations, and he wasn't so sure he could get out of it anymore. "And what about the swordsman?!" Zed asked through grit teeth. "I get it! You're mad about your arm!" Jack said, almost laughing a little.

In response, Zed clenched his teeth, glaring at the Transponder Snail in front of him. "I heard you lost your arm to someone who became a Warlord, but I never heard who. Thinking about it, Hawkeye would be the only one of the bunch who could go toe to toe with you and come out victorious. I'll answer your question with a question of my own. Did you attack him or did he attack you?" Jack asked, causing Zed's anger to dwindle some.

Thinking back to that night, Zed realized that it was him and his crew who attacked Hawkeye. "We attacked him." Zed answered as calmly as he could. "Well there ya have it! Hawkeye likes to be left alone, but he isn't someone that can be pushed around. For over 20 years he's been traveling the world, fighting anyone who challenged him, but he doesn't fight civilians. I would actually wager a guess that he's one of the people that was labeled a pirate, but because of who he is, he didn't care in the slightest. Probably helped him get more opponents.

Anyway, I respect the hell out of the man, and I would help him out if he asked. I intend to offer him the same request I'm gonna make you, and if you can't cope with that, we can end this conversation here and now." Jack said in a surprisingly serious tone.

Zed sat still, his eyes locked onto the Transponder Snail in front of him. 'I hate this little bastard!! He's right!!' Zed cursed internally. Finally deciding to speak, Zed asked "Say I did join you, what would I be doing?"

A broad smile appeared on the Transponder Snail. "I want you to teach. Can be anything, except history or absolute Justice. Marines or former marines tend to be wrongly educated on those two subjects. But it would involve traveling around the Sea's if you wished, or you could stay in any of the Blue's at the HQ's.

Right now, only the East Blue Academy is set up, but give me a few years and there will be one in every Blue, Paradise and the New World. I'm gonna have schools set up on every island for civilians to get proper educations, and academies set up in the capital city of every country. This world is changing Z, and whether or not you want to be apart of it is up to you. If you still wanna destroy the New World, I'll find you and end you, but if you just want to live your life in peace, I'll leave you be and you'll never hear from me again." Jack said, getting a long drawn out sigh from Zed.

"You know what kid... you're an asshole!! Let me discuss it with my people first. I won't make a decision without informing them first. Call me back in 24 hours." Zed said, then ended the call.

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Dracule Mihawk POV

Mihawk was sitting on his little boat, which if one were to see it they would think it was a coffin with some sails on it. He was half asleep with a glass of whine in his hand, as there wasn't all that much that interested him in the world, save for a good fight, but it had been so long since he had an actual dual with a swordsman who could contend with him, that he was mostly bored.

Being the strongest swordsman in the world wasn't everything he'd dreamed it would be, but the title was his, and he wouldn't let anyone claim the title unless they could beat him. He wasn't going anywhere in particular so he let himself drift around, thinking about his future plans. So far all he had come up with was to go home and try his hand at planting some crops. He didn't have any reason for doing it, it was just a thought.

'Maybe head to back to the New World...' He thought lazily before he drifted off to sleep. A few hours later he was awakened by a ringing sound. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his Transponder Snail and removed the receiver. "Speak." Mihawk demanded, his tone sounding a little irritated from being disturbed from his nap.

"Yo, Hawk-eye!! The names Jack Sparrow!! How ya doing buddy??!!" Jack shouted far too cheerfully. Hearing the name, Mihawk was surprised to say the least. He knew full well who the man was. "I don't know you, so we aren't 'buddies'. What do you want?" Mihawk asked, his tone far more calm than before.

"Well we could be friends if you weren't playing the whole Batman, vampire role. I mean you are kind of gothic. Anyway, I called to see if you would be interested in becoming a teacher at my academy? It would only be for a year or two, and you would only have to train a few people, then they can train the others. Ya can't get any better than the worlds greatest swordsman, right?" Jack said cheerfully.

Mihawk was confused. 'What the hell is going on?' He thought, wondering how this ever happened. When he asked what Jack wanted, he expected Jack to tell him to quit being a Warlord and join him in his fight, but instead Jack wanted him to be a teacher. "Could you explain?" Mihawk asked, not against the idea, but not for it either. He never pictured himself as a teacher before, so this train of thought was all new to him.

"What's to explain? You come to East Blue and give some pointers to a few guys, and if you don't like it then you can go back to being a 'Warlord', but if you do like it then you could join us and get paid extremely well. Lots of delicious food, drinks the world has never tried before, anything you want really. Also just a heads up, if you did decide to join then you might have to deal with Black Arm Zephyr, Garp, Sengoku, Tsuru, possibly Whitebeard, if he tags along with Garp like I think he will. Just a bunch of old timers, nothing too serious." Jack said, sounding as though it was just an everyday occurrence.

"I'll think about it. I'm close to East Blue anyway, so I'll stop by and check things out before I agree to anything." Hawkeye said, then without waiting for Jack to respond, he ended the call.

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Jack POV

"God damn it!! Why do they always hang up on me?!!" Jack cursed aloud. "What did you think was gonna happen? Hell, I'm surprised they're even considering this." Luke said from beside him.

Shooting a glare at the blonde man, Jack shouted, "No one asked you!!"

Luke had been in the room when Jack thought of who he wanted to recruit, and decided it would be fun to listen to Jack try to convince some of the most powerful monsters in the world to come and work for him. He was surprised so far, because no one had actually said no yet.

"So whose next on the list?" Luke asked curiously. "This one should be a lot easier to convince. His name is Daddy Masterson, a master gu-" Jack was cut-off as Luke interrupted, "I know who Daddy Masterson is!! The whole God damned East Blue, and even some of the other Blues and islands in the Grand Line knows who he is!! A master gunman who carries 30 pistols strapped all around him. I heard he's pretty good, but has only been after small-time criminals for the last few years." Luke said, getting a nod from Jack.

"Yeah, it's true. He started being warry of the jobs he does because he has a child. I don't know if the child's mother is still in the picture, but he won't risk his daughter being raised without him to guide and protect her, which we both know is pretty fuckin sound!" Jack said, causing Luke to go silent. It was indeed true that a child would need protection growing up, and if they didn't, some fucking son of a bitch would cause some problems.

Calling Masterson only took a few seconds, and after explaining everything that he would be doing, the benefits of not risking his life, and getting a place where his daughter could grow up and go to school with people her own age, thrilled Masterson. The man agreed to pack his things and start his way towards Foosha as soon as possible.

"He's gonna need to learn Haki, and be given some better guns." Luke chimed in after the call was over. "I know, but we'll settle that when he gets here. Anyway, now it's time for a friend of yours." Jack said, getting a raised brow from Luke. "And who might that be?" Luke asked curiously.

"Your old swords master. You know, the one who trained you after you got away from those marines when we first met." Jack said, causing Luke's eyes to widen slightly. "I've completely forgotten about master Koushirou!! When I left him, he told me to look out for some green haired guy named Zoro, but I might have forgotten that too."

Jack smiled knowingly at Luke's words, thinking about how Zoro was probably still walking around East Blue, trying to find Mihawk. 'The frog just got out of the well and thinks he's ready for a Sea King.' Jack thought internally, whenever he thought of Zoro's venture out into the world before he was beaten soundly by Mihawk.

"Think he would come to Foosha to be a trainer?" Jack asked curiously. Luke looked as though he was thinking hard on the topic before he answered, "He might, but it wouldn't be for too long. His father was the one who founded the village way back when, and his daughter is berried there. I would say he might come for maybe 2-5 years, but then he would head back home."

That worked for Jack. Hell after two years there should be a few people who would have the lessons down, and they would be able to train people up to a certain level, then the rest would be taught with experience. "He doesn't have a Transponder Snail, does he?" Jack said, already looking inside his shop, but not finding the number.

"Doubt it, otherwise he would have given Zoro his number instead of asking me to check on him." Luke answered plainly. "Wanna head there and ask him if he wants to join up for awhile? You know, teach, get paid pretty well, meet a bunch of old monsters, share insight and all that other crap?" Jack asked lazily, not really putting his best salesman persona on for Luke.

"Yeah sure. Be good to see the old geezer after all this time." Luke said, then disappeared in a crack on lightning. 'Could leave the room before doing that!!' Jack mentally reprimanded Luke.

The next on the list was actually one he was looking forward too. Pulling out the number, Jack dialed Rayleigh. After a a few rings, Jack heard a click and "Hello! Ray speaking." Stopping himself from laughing at the way Rayleigh spoke, Jack asked "Yo, Rayleigh!! How ya doing?"

The face on the Transponder Snail quickly changed into a wide smile after it heard Jack, before it spoke, "Jack!! Good to hear from ya! I gotta say you put on quite the show a while back. And Shakky and I are both doing good." Rayleigh said, sounding quite cheerful to hear from him, which made Jack smile. 'Bout time someone is happy to hear from me!!' He thought happily.

"That's great to hear!! Look, I called to see if you and Shakky wanted to come and work for me for a little bit? Teaching sort of thing. Shakky would even get to run my guild hall, which has a massive bar, and is possibly the greatest place to gather information anywhere in the worl-" Jack was cut-off by Rayleigh as he said, "Let me stop ya right there! Ya had me at the massive bar! Just come pick us up and we'll head out." Rayleigh finished before he ended the call.

"Do old people just like hanging up on me?!!" Jack shouted, not angry but just annoyed. He actually really liked Rayleigh, but so far people have been hanging up on him today. 'Let's get this last one over with.' Jack thought as he dialed the number.

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Garp POV

"Would you calm the fuck down, Sengoku?!!" Garp shouted as he held two of Whitebeard's crew members as human shields, quite literally as he deflected a glass jar with the face of the man he held in his left hand. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, GARP!!" Sengoku shouted angrily.

"How was I suppose to know you ran out of money?!!" Garp shouted in defense as he blocked a wooden chair with the guy that was held in his right hand. "For starters, you idiots could have NOT charged everything to my tab!!" Sengoku screamed, his rage being completely justified.

Over the last few weeks, Garp and Whitebeard had been charging everything to Sengoku's tab, and now it was finally time to pay it. Garp didn't think that bill would be that high, but after reading the massive list of expenses, it was understandable why it would be $2.4 billion berries.

With Whitebeard and his entire fleet charging their bills to Sengoku's tab, the man was now in more dept. than he could pay off, and trying to get money from Whitebeard and his crew didn't work, as they were mostly broke. I mean they thought they were going into battle, why the hell would they bring their treasures with them?

Whitebeard did have around $1.5 billion berries on his ship, but most of that would be going to Soran, and he figured he would deliver it himself so he could keep the $175 million that Garp would have gotten for delivery fee, thus bringing his bill a bit lower, getting quite the reaction from Garp. Sengoku went to raid Garp of any wealth he might of had to pay his tab, but all he found in Garp's room was bags of rice crackers, thus beginning his rampage.

Just as Garp was about to block a desk, his Transponder Snail started ringing, which prompted him to drop his two human shields and answer the call, and accepting a desk to the face. The desk shattered into pieces, but Garp didn't look phased in the slightest as he pulled off the receiver.

"Hello?" Garp asked lazily. "Yo Garp!! How are you and Sengoku doing?" Jack's voice echoed throughout the room, causing the few people who were in the room to halt in the steps. "Pretty good, but right now Sengoku's throwing a little bit of a tantrum." Garp said it like he was talking about a toddler, which might have been the reason why Sengoku's face was turning crimson.

"I see. Knowing your personality, I'd say it's probably justified. Anyway, I was gonna see if you and Sengoku would be interested in some teaching positions? Just beat people up for a few hours a day, then live it up in our resorts. We got some of the best food in the world I might add, plus you can help me and Rayleigh train Luffy." Jack said, trying to entice the old codgers.

"WHAT?!!" Both Sengoku and Garp shouted in unison. There was a moment of silence before Jack asked, "What didn't you understand from what I said?" He didn't think anything he said was hard to understand, thus getting him confused. "What do you mean Rayleigh will be teaching my grandson?! And why the hell is he working with you?!!" Garp asked seriously, getting an equally serious nod from Sengoku.

"Oh that! Well he is a really good teacher, and I offered him and Shakky their own bar and some other benefits. You know, the usual stuff." Jack said, getting some satisfaction at the expression he was getting from the Transponder Snail.

Without waiting for Sengoku's opinion, Garp answered, "We'll do it, but before that, Sengoku is gonna cash in one of those favors. We need you to come to Secon and pay off his tab, then take us there." Garp had barely got the words out before a powerful fist slammed into face, sending him crashing through the wall of the building.

"Pretty sure your tab just increased." Garp said as he climbed out of the rubble. "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine for the next 20 years!! So stop acting like what's mine is yours, you stupid pain in the ass!!" Sengoku shouted at Garp, then turned his attention to the Transponder Snail.

"Although I do need you to come and pay my tab. And I won't join your group or train anyone, but I need to get out of the New World for a bit, so I'll be tagging along. Also, make sure my room is no where near Garp's!" Sengoku said, not leaving the last part up for debate.

"Why does it feel like I'm starting a retirement home for old monsters?..." Jack thought out loud, getting a chuckle from Garp and a harrumph from Sengoku. "How soon can you be here?" Sengoku asked, wanting to let the resort know when they would expect their payment.

"Give me about 3 days to a week. Got some stuff to take care of first." Jack said, then before any of them could say anything, Jack hung up as fast as he could. "HA!! Got ya this time old man!!" Jack shouted triumphantly as he went to go and make some arrangements.