Chapter - 15
The Heart Pirates and their captain Trafalgar Law had received the brunt of the damage from the battle with Kaido's forces. Out of his 21 crew members a few were still nursing wounds. They were lucky to all make it out alive. Law still was nursing his own injuries, he wasn't sure exactly how they escaped with their lives. Maybe they were just lucky The Beast Yonko didn't hunt them down one by one and slaughter them. He thought it was more than likely the fatigue Kaido suffered rather than damage from the battle with himself and the four other supernovas. He deduced Kaido would eventually retreat soon to an unspecified location; off the grid. They had to make quick of work of the other Yonko that was currently after Kaido's head as well.
The strength of Strawhat Luffy far exceeded the other's expectations.
He was the strongest in terms of sheer strength and durability among them all. If they were even going to have a slimmer of hope he would need to be at the forefront once again.
Kidd made an interesting comment on the straw hat captain drawing a smirk to the surgeon's face. 'That's kids so strong, it's actually really frightening, glad I'm on his side.'
It was one hell of a true statement. There was no doubt in his mind the young captain could become the King of Pirates.
Standing up from his desk he left his quarters heading outside to the main deck. His crew laid all about napping, chatting, and or just day drinking. Nothing out of the ordinary; he wondered how long this would last. These rare moments of peace. At any moment it could all be taken away.
The current threat at the moment was Marshall D. Teach. Blackbeard. He was currently after the devil fruit he acquired. It was rumored to be very powerful and of unknown origin. The fruit was a contingency plan to make sure Kaido doesn't win, Law would take the fruit himself to put the 6 billion beli beast down for good.
But first he had to deal with the leftover scum from Marineford. It wasn't right that someone that powerful was running around wrecking havoc, unaffected by the consequences of his actions. Just another crazy asshole who would want nothing more than for the world to burn and let the world know afterwards he was the cause of it.
Trafalgar limping slightly, walked over to stand next to Jean Bart.
"Its only a matter of time captain, we have to stop running eventually." Jean said keeping it honest with his captain.
"We're not running Jean-ya" pausing before continuing. "We are leading that bastard to an operating table." Law spoke with the slightest grin.
"So we just have to wait until Straw hats and the others arrived huh?" Jean says a questioning look to him.
"Yeah we need all the help we can get with this scum, he isn't worth much of our time." Law states with a bit of arrogance. It did not go unnoticed by his vice captain.
"He shouldn't be taken lightly captain.. Even still if he was forced to retreat by Kaido also. He's still a yonko, He has an uncanny bloodlust, and he's coming for you for your devil fruits, aren't you least bit concerned?" Jean asked.
"Not in the least bit Jean-ya, we got Strawhat Luffy." Trafalgar said reassuring his first mate.
"That sure makes things a helluva a lot easier boss." Jean finished turning around to see Bepo and Penguin barreling towards them. The pair out of breath as one of them tried to speak.
"Sir the Stra-" Peguin started But was abruptly interrupted by Bepo socking him in the back of his skull.
"Idiot I called it! Captain the Stra-" before Bepo could finish, Penguin's hand crashed into the polar bears face shutting his mouth.
"I-I'll kill you damn albino bear!" Penguin said now shouting in the bears face.
"Bring it wannabe mink!" Bepo challenged chuckling at the expression of his speechless crew mate.
"Bepo..I'm going to make you into a damn RUG!" Penguin shouted before leaping dramatically in the air to fight one another. Law and Jean put an end to the squabble pulling apart the kids. The four crew mates couldn't help but laugh at their ridiculous behavior. It was times like this they'd miss.
"Oi! Idiots!" A voice caught their attention. It was Ikkaku the female navigator of the Heart Pirates.
"Straw hats have arrived captain." She said smiling at the quadruplets.
"Good send out the flare prepare to disembark." Trafalgar ordered. With a simple nod from everyone his subordinates began shouting orders to the other crew mates. It was almost time to face that scum Blackbeard.
The Polar Tang met the The Thousand Sunny ship not to far off the coast of the red line. Dressrosa and Zou a couple days away respectively. A moderate island was located a few hundred meters away; the rendezvous point.
Thousand Sunny met Polar Tang at the Island shore not long after; the two crews meeting on the beach. The two captains stepped forward greeting the other with a handshake.
"Straw Hat-ya."
"Yo Tra-Guy!"
Law's crew collapsed face first the ground hearing Luffy tarnish their captain's name so causally much to the straw hat crew's amusement.
"It's almost time. It shouldn't be long before Blackbeard and his men appear over the ridge. What is your plan, we are short handed."
"I don't have a plan!" Luffy laughed out loud holding his sides. The Heart Pirates were belligerently yelling out that about their impending deaths flipping over one another. Even their captain was a little blue in the face.
"Y-you really don't have a plan?"
"Nope sure don't. My navigator does though." Luffy claimed with an all to big of a smile. Moving aside, Nami stepped to the forefront of the two crews.
"You boys mind if I take on this operation?" She asked knowing full well she was going too. Her tone was a question but it demanded attention and held respect.
Law glanced over at Luffy who possibly had one of the biggest smiles he's seen on anyone. Already knowing the straw hat captain's answer, he gave his.
"Floor is yours Nami-ya." Law said giving a nod for her to explain what she had in mind. Trafalgar could hear his crew shout in tears of joy screaming about the straw hat's navigator being their savior. Seeing the two together gave him one thought; 'quite a team.'
"Alright guys listen up!" Nami began drawing on the beach explaining to the two crews how they would gain the upper hand on the Blackbeard Pirates.
~~~
Marshall D. Teach was busy staring at the open ocean ahead approaching an island in the not so far distance.
"Just beyond that Island's ridge. Is that where your hiding Trafalgar Law? I will have that Devil Fruit at any cost." Blackbeard said to no one in particular. He was a very introverted thinker sometimes expressing his thoughts aloud to himself.
The Devil Fruit he was after was reportedly cosmic in nature. An unobtainable treasure somehow ending up in the hands of a brat. The fruit itself was not specified to a certain class: it wasn't a pure paramecia, nor a true Zoan, and not quite a Logia. He didn't think a fruit could transcend all 3 types to create an undetermined hybrid. Either way in order to consume the fruit ,he needed the surgeon of death's eternal life. Teach figured he would eventually get it, he always gets what he wants.
Straw hat Luffy was nothing more than a nuisance. The Boy was overrated in Blackbeard's mind. His bounty was 1.5 billion bellies, yet he was repelled by Kaido much more sure handedly than himself. The only living creature to strike any amount of fear in the cruel man was none other than the Eternal Beast himself. Gaining more resolve the captain quickly downed the rest of the bottle that was resting in his hand.
"This all end here, I will obtain that fruit and the eternal life. Nothing will stop me from becoming King of the Pirates, I'll kill anyone who gets in my way." Throwing the bottle watching as the glass crashed shattering on the mast. His crew just cheered, chanting his name. Blackbeard currently had four ships tailing his mother one, filled with soldiers ready to kill and die for him. His slaves and subordinates . There was no way he was going to lose, not to some snot nosed brats. He took made all the right moves to get here and played the world like it was his personal chessboard. His manifesto was to become Pirate King obtain the powers of an eternal god.
"CAPTAIN THE ISLAND IS ONLY A FEW CLICKS AWAY! WE'll BE LANDING SHORTLY!" One of the underlings shouted grabbing the captain's attention.
"It's almost time ... A mischievous grin appearing on his face. "To become a god."