27 Chapter 27 A Name For A Family

CORAZON POV

"Well….. I'd love to tell you but it's kind of personal" I answered Drakes inquiry as I lit my smoke. 'Well I could just tell him about the deal we made, he'll find out eventually anyway' I debated to myself under the scrutinizing gaze of Drake.

"Fine.. geez, you ain't gotta stare that much" I said with a sigh as I flicked the ash from the cigarette.

"I'm not going to go into an insane amount of detail but lets just say that when Kal contacted Law I was working undercover for the Marines. My goal was to monitor and observe a specific pirate…."

"A 'previous; spy huh? The perfect occupation for a man with abilities like yours" Drake complemented.

"Yeah but the thing is I was just a fresh recruit until I was asked to take part in this operation….."

"Fresh? Then why the hell would they put you on something that important?" Drake asked confused.

"Well it was a pretty simple arrangement, hell I didn;t even need an alibi to gain entry into 'his' crew. It was my brother…. 'The Fallen God' or Doffy for short" I replied to his question with a sigh. He seemed like he didn't know what I meant before his eyes widened in disbelief.

"That's it, I've been wondering why the Captain has been having us gather as many supplies as possible at every stop…. We've gotta retreat…. You two idiots were part of his 'crew', dammit" Drake said with a sigh as all the pieces came together for him.

"Wait…. He promised to take that fucker out didn't he…." Drake trailed off as he slumped in defeat.

"Uh yeah…. Do you not believe in him?" I was surprised as this was the first time I've seen doubt from the Vice-Captain.

"Huh? Oh, it has nothing to do with that, just know you've doomed us all….. By the way, what was the time frame he gave you for this 'Mission'?'

"Doomed? And 2 years." I answered both questions quickly.

"Damn... we're going to be working like slaves. 12 hour, no maybe even 14 hour training days are in our future…." Drake said while slumping even further as we finally made it back to what was left of the Ghost hand pirates Camp.

I couldn't help but stagger at that. 'Twelve hours! Marine boot camp was nothing like that' I thought with trepidation at what was to come.

POV CHANGE KAL

Realizing that everyone on their crew had already been defeated I decided to head over to where Monet was standing, seemingly shaken as she gazed down at the six corpses at her feet. 'Oh this would be her first kills..... Honestly forgot how 'normal' people would react to something like that.' I thought in worry as I made my way closer to her and got a look at her 'enemies'.

'Impressive really, 5 head shots and 3 hits in the jugular. I'm a damn good trainer…..' I thought while trying to be positive with this precarious situation.

"Hey…. you ok?" I asked as I put my hand on shoulder, now that I've gotten a closer look she seems to be shaking with fresh trails of tears and puffed up eyes.

"I..I didn't mean to kill them….. I just attacked, I..I thought they would dodge." She said between sobs as she collapsed into my arms.

"Don't mourn for them…. They aren't worth it. If your abilities were twitched they would've killed you, purposefully" I tried to comfort her with logic, which turned out to be the wrong answer as she slapped me.

"It doesn't matter it wa..was still a life" Monet said as she continued crying. 'Yeah.. might've deserved that… kinda insensitive.'

"Barely..." I said with a smirk still standing firm on how worthless their lives as mook pirates were.

"I know that, I…I.just wasn't ready I guess" She finished with a whisper, she seemed to contemplate something as she sprang up with surprising speed and captured my lips... 'what the hell…..'

"I'm sorry I hit you" She said with a slight smirk before getting up and actually running back towards the ship. 'Did I just get playgrounded?... Still it was.. Nice. kind've like licking a snowcone?' I thought while still frozen in the same place she kissed me.

*giggle..giggle*

Turning my head at light speed I see Drake and Corazon with their hands over their mouths barely holding in their laughs.

"Sigh….. Get your asses back to the ship…" I said annoyed as I finally stood up and brushed the dirt off my knees.

"Sure…. Lover boy" Corazon said with a chuckle as he headed off with Drake close behind.

'So childish, don't these people realize we just slaughtered a whole crew....' I thought with annoyance as I headed back towards the ship until something hit me. 'Why am I always in such a hurry? There's an entire island here, wasn't one of my goals to explore' I thought with trepidation.

'I've been too focused on work, what the hell is the point of this journey if all I do is fight and kill. This is supposed to be an adventure god dammit!' I thought with growing excitement as I headed to the ship at a quicker pace.

'Now what do I know of minion island? Besides that it's a rest area pirates use and that it was once the base of the Barrels as well the former Ghost hand pirates. Hmm with that much traffic there has to be some hidden goodies around here somewhere. Now how can I make it fun enough for everyone to go on a treasure hunt?' Finishing the thought while going into a debate before finally arriving at an answer as I pulled out a withered piece of paper.

I quickly arrived at the ship before calling everyone down.

"What's going on Cap? Didn't we already finish the job?" Mori asked for everyone as he came down the gang-plank. Everyone seemed to perk up at the question as all seven members of my crew stood in front of me.

"I've come to an epiphany of sorts….. Yes we are all fighters and our job is to fight and kill to make a living as bounty hunters, even if its a trying job and life to live we all still live it and I respect all of you for your choice. We are people that toe the line, or walk on the edge. We are thrill seekers more than anything, all adrenalin junkies even if some of us are more tame than the others" I said with a beaming smile as I paid special attention to Monet and the kids for the last part.

"With all that in mind I've decided to finally name us." I said with dramatics as everyone seemed to stand on their toes in anticipation.

"Like is said before we walk the edge in life, chasing dangers and adventure to fulfill us. But that seems to be tame for my motel crew" I said with a smile as Mori and Drake both cheered in response, while the others were more tame and just smirked.

"No we don't walk, we fucking run on the edge! We are the Edge Runners and this is our symbol!" I said with vigor as I turned around and pointed to the newly added black painted mark on the back of my red cloak.

"Hell yeah!" Mori yelled in response causing a wave among the crew that turned the 'chill' atmosphere to become one of celebration and glory.

"And I've decided on the perfect thing to celebrate our new moniker."

"Ohhhh what is it" Sugar asked with excitement as she hopped around.

"A treasure hunt! This island is famous for being a stop point for pirates and sailors alike, so they had to be some hidden goodies somewhere. We'll compete against each other in teams of two and whoever finds the most valuable thing wins this!" I said excitedly as I held up a withered piece of paper.

"And what's that?" Law asked casually but there was a glint of curiosity in his eyes he couldn't hide.

"A real treasure map, it's somewhere in the Alabasta Kingdom on the Grandline!" I said with excitement. "Now make your teams!" I said while looking at who would group up with who, some were obvious like Drake and Mori, Law and Corazon. But there were a few surprises, like Ceaser and sugar as the Ape picked the girl up so she could ride on his neck.

But seeing as there were only seven of us, the last remaining one came up to me while blushing up a storm, deciding to address that when we're alone I turned towards the groups.

"Alright you all have three days to make it back to the ship for your finds to be judged!" I said while they all rushed to the ship to get a few supplies to hold them over. Seeing as I already had plenty of necessities in my inventory I just waved to Monet and we headed east towards the island's center.

We walked for around ten minutes before I guess the silence killed and she squeaked out a question.

"Um, Captain…?" Monet asks, sounding uncertain about something. Turning around as I was leading the way I responded quickly.

"Yeah, what's up 'Snow Cone'?" I asked with a teasing smirk.

"I..it's about eariler, I'm sorry" she said with her head down.

"For what? Your slap didn't even hurt, my pain tolerance is kind of broken at this point" I said while pointing to my still injured shoulder that I almost forgot about, though it doesn't even hurt anymore. 'Hmmm, It was a pretty shallow wound all things considered. Fucker didn't even make it threw the other side of skin.'

"No, not that? For kissing you, I was just spiraling and needed an outlet." She said, sounding guilty. 'Jeez girl, that was only half an hour ago.'

"It's fine" I said with a mischievous smirk of my own, matching hers from earlier. "Afterall I can get pay back whenever I want" I said as I appeared in front of her in a flash of Soru and captured her lips as I wrapped my arms around her. She seemed spooked for a moment before giving in and allowing me to take control. It wasn't for long though as she began to fight back, trying to secure dominance over our spur of moment romance.

Deciding I let her 'win' for long enough I picked her up by her ass and lifted her in the air as I utilized Geppo to get us to a more romantic location. 'Well I guess the top of a tree at sunset is about as romantic as it can get in a forest' I thought as I landed on a branch and let her go to get her bearings. Though as soon as I saw she had I pounced, pushing her against the trunk as I continued to ravage her mouth until I was satisfied, which wasn't longer than ten minutes as the sun finally set.

"Huff… huff, apology accepted" I said as we finally separated, as I looked at her with lidded eyes and her beautifully messed up green hair. She skillfully moved it out of her face as she gave me a smile I would always remember.

"Come on 'Captain', don't get cocky, you only won round two. We're just tied" She replied with a sultry response as I felt my heart speed up to a new degree as I jumped back in to continue where we left off.