Pursuit

(Two Weeks Later)

"How far behind are they!?"

Rex barked at Kid, simultaneously working the ropes for the mast single-handedly. The rest of the crew had to take shelter from the churning storm outside, leaving only the few strong individuals to man the entire ship.

"I don't know!" Kid roars, yelling over the howling wind. "Maybe 10, 15 miles!"

Rex grimaced, that wasn't enough distance.

Ever since Rex had left Baterilla, he had found himself relentlessly being pursued by a marine vessel. He had considered turning around and fighting, but based off the size and quality of the ship, it came from the Marine headquarters and was manned by at least a commodore.

Rex didn't like his chances in a fight against such a ship.

"Bonney, age Kid and Killer up to 20! We'll need to be able to hold the line." Rex barked out. Bonney had finally cracked about a week ago, with the relentless pursuit of the marines serving to bring the crew together.

With Bonney's help, every crew member under 16 had been aged up to that age, making the crew look less like a bunch of children playing pirate and more like real pirates.

As for the Marines, Hina hadn't gotten too good of a look during her investigations and eyewitness accounts were rather unreliable, so they didn't think much of it. Still, Rex knew that 16 was pushing it, if his crew was any older, Bonney might be found out.

"Kid! I need you to go down into the hold, fill the cannons up with flour packed in clay and fire them behind us! Then, bring Heat up with you!"

"Flour!?" Kid asked incredulously but decided not to question any further. "How many of them!?"

"All the clay we've got!"

Kid nodded, running down into the lower decks. Soon, explosions echoed one at a time as a large smokescreen made of flour erupts behind the ship.

Unfortunately, Kid's accuracy leaves much to be desired, and the flour is spread out across a wide range instead of concentrated at the ship. Still, until Rex got a sniper, that would have to do.

Inside the flour, the vague outline of a ship can be seen with its Captain standing at its helm, sword in hand. The cannons eventually peter out as Kid rushes back to the deck, carrying a queasy Heat up with him.

"Heat, have you mastered that fireball trick of yours!?" Rex asks loudly.

Heat is confused by this question, but nods. "Yes captain, as long as I drink up enough fire whiskey, I can breathe out a small flame."

"Good. We're going to fuse now, and I'm going to give you control of what you need. When you taste the alcohol, I need as much fire as you can give me."

Rex rushes down into the hold for a moment, making last second preparations before quickly returning. He then envelops Heat, grabbing a massive metal belt out of a pocket.

"Kid, heave us up to the edge of the flour! Then everyone take cover in the hull. Remember to pull me out when this is over."

Kid obliges, and the duo soar through the air.

Then, at the edge of the flour, Rex releases his parachute simultaneously opening up a pocket in his thumb, and he promptly throws it into his mouth. Tens of liters of alcohol flow out of the thumb, entering Heat's throught.

For a moment, there is silence, then Rex feels an intense burning in Heat's stomach.

Gion looks at the flying man, she has identified as captain Vesta Rex, her eyes squinted. Was the man challenging her to come up and fight her? What was with the flour then?

Regardless, Gion felt this was a good chance and leapt up, a pair of handcuffs in her left hand and a sword in her right.

"Marines! You're under arres…"

BOOM!

Gion sees a bright orange light before she is flung dozens of meters backwards. Several of the marines on the deck are thrown overboard by the force of the dust explosion. The deck of the marine ship cracks under the pressure.

Rex and Heat go flying away together, guided by Kid's devil fruit back to the ship. Even their ship is not unaffected by the explosion, though more good than harm is done, with the explosion vastly increasing their speed.

Soon, the marines are entirely out of sight.

"Dock on this island and make repairs. A broken jacket is… nevermind." Rex limps up to his quarters, choosing an island not far from his current location.

Meanwhile, the marines are in chaos. They send divers to get Gion and the other marines who were sent overboard.

By the time everyone is recovered hours have past and the pirates are long gone. They had failed.

"Damn it!" Gion roars, smashing her table into sawdust.

What annoyed Gion so much was that the pirates who had been eluding her for weeks weren't any stronger than she was, just smarter. As a female marine, strategy and skill had been a large part of Gion's strength for years. Now she was being outdone by a teenager in these aspects.

This time it had been a flour explosion. The time before, they had launched flaming debris to a nearby island, forcing Gion to break pursuit. Before that, they had sent another pirate ship onto a direct collision course with Gion's pulling back their man at the last second.

These pirates were annoyingly cunning and extremely precise in their use of force. Other than a few injuries and some property damage, there were no other casualties in their attacks. No death, no severe injuries.

Their captain seemed to precisely time his diversions such that if Gion moved off course to stop the incident, she would save all the lives. If she didn't, she would damn them to death.

This fact bothered Gion even more. If he had killed civilians, at least Gion could justify a higher bounty and mobilize more resources to stop him. Unfortunately, ever since he attacked the Sorbet Base, Rex had only been robbing pirates, essentially freezing his bounty, which had only gone up two million up to twelve million. Kid had mirrored this bounty change with nine million and Killer had received a bounty of five million.

But what bothered Gion the most was that this man, who was one of her greatest intellectual opponents, couldn't even be bothered to act intellectually. Rex had so many incomprehensible quirks, like how he stole clothes from the marine base and the pirates he defeated or how he was willing to burn a pirate ship full of Berries just so that the marines wouldn't get it.

In Gion's eyes, Rex was an incomprehensible enigma.

"Dock at the nearest island to make the necessary repairs. I want to be operational in six hours. Also, alert neighboring marines to be on the alert for the King Pirates. Tell them to only engage if they have at least three ships armed and operational."

Gion knew that she would not be able to continue pursuit, as by the time six hours had passed, the King pirates would be long gone, but she had to try. As for other Marines finding them, that was even less likely.

The King pirates seemed to have a way of detecting and avoiding marine ships. If it wasn't for the marine spies on the islands the pirates had passed, they would have likely slipped detection entirely.

Gion knew she needed a trap. But the unfortunate thing was that she had no bait.

Meanwhile, on the King pirates' ship, Rex was puzzling a similar topic. His new marine pursuer was getting on his nerves.

If it weren't for the fact that he knew he would stand no chance in a direct fight, Rex would opt to do that, only to scare the mysterious commodore away. Fortunately, this time he should've shaken them off for a good while.

Still, Rex wasn't going to take any chances.

"Bonney, for the next island, I need you to age up anyone who needs to get off the ship. We'll then have Karina give us all a comprehensive disguise. I don't want the marines finding us again."

Bonney just sticks out her hand, expectingly. Rex sighs before placing a few hundred berries in it.

While Bonney had officially 'joined' the King pirates, she still extorted Rex for every use of her devil fruit, not unlike Nami in the straw hats. The difference was, while Nami spent her money on clothes and navigation equipment, this glutton only had food on the brains.

As for Karina, she was the slave that Rex had gotten from the Hideous thieves. She had been a maid to a decently large noble family who had gotten in debt to the black market. The family had eventually sold her to cover the debts.

Karina therefore had many skills from cooking to tailoring to doing makeup. Unfortunately, her standard at these skills was disappointing to Rex, and he would need to find a better crew member in the future. It wasn't that she was bad, it was just that when she was compared to Sanji or Zeff, her ability was just too lacking.

Of course, as a 21st century transmigrator, Rex didn't condone slavery and promoted Karina to official cook for now. Still, Karina had been brutally trained by the Hideous Thieves and insisted on calling Rex and all of the crew 'master'.

Personally, Rex was sickened by the tolerance this world had for slavery, moral aspects aside, it was just stupid. Fisher Tiger and Dragon were the prime examples of the consequences of slavery on the World Government. But admittedly, earth wasn't much more advanced with widespread human trafficking across the globe.

If it weren't for the fact that Rex knew that it would solve absolutely nothing, he would have killed off all the Hideous Thieves on principal. Still, all that would do would be to inspire another group to spring up in their place. Much like on earth, as long as there was a market, there would be sellers.

<i>Baroc, South Blue</i>

A few hours later, Rex and his crew make it to the chosen island, Baroc. Rex picked Baroc, mainly because of something he had read in a newspaper from the Hideous Thieves.

Apparently, Baroc was famous for being a hub for bounty hunters. They would share intelligence there and organize cooperative hunts.

The main reason Rex was interested in the island was that there were bounty 'offices' on it, that would exchange heads of bounty criminals directly for goods. After all, the marines would have to go through a long process before they certified a bounty and another process to requisition the money.

Most bounty hunters would deal with bounty offices to get a direct return on their bounties, with a small fee on the side.

This was perfect for Rex as he had several valuable pirate heads and no means to sell them. Bounty offices had been known for doing under-the-table deals, where they allowed criminals to turn in bounties.

Rex quickly lands on Baroc, with Kid, Bonney, Killer and a few others. They are all in adult form with generic brown hair and their scars covered up. Karina had scrapped the marine uniforms for fabric and had retailored them into civilian clothes for the crew.

"Three hours, back here, no exceptions." Rex clearly iterates before the crew go off in their separate directions.

Rex wasn't worried about any arrests, as other than himself, Kid and more recently Killer, none of them had any bounties. Killer had only recently received a bounty for fighting off a marine lieutenant commander while the ship was retreating.

The deal isn't too complicated and other than a slightly elevated fee from the bounty office for not giving his identity, Rex gets roughly thirty million in food and ammunition. After that, Rex promptly leaves the establishment, hoping to get off of the island.

Soon after he leaves, Rex feels a soft purring in his chest. Unzipping a chest pocket, a small furry head pops out, meowing in warning. Rex stiffens up immediately, he was being followed.

Ever since he had gotten Rouge, Rex had made sure to make full use of her refined senses. Rouge was almost always with Rex. After Kid, Rouge was Rex's best method of detecting unwanted pursuers.

Rex knew that his appearance was changed, so it was unlikely they were after his bounty specifically. Odds were, they didn't recognize him, but suspected him of being a criminal since he didn't give his name.

Added to the fact that all the bounties he had turned in were high-value, the hunters probably though that they could make a big score if they found his crew.

Rex makes several turns to try and shake off his pursuers, not wanting to start a large fight on an island filled with bounty hunters.

The bounty hunters stick to him like glue, causing Rex to just sigh. It seemed like there was no other choice.

Rex quickly located a vacant alleyway and stopped at the middle.

"So, you've finally noticed us." A sneering man says, followed by five others.

The group varied widely in age, with the sneering man being in his 40s and the youngest being around 14.

Rex shook his head. Maybe he was too low-key.

Otherwise, how did this group of low lives think that they stood a chance against him?

"We're only going to give you one chance, pirate scum! Where is the Davy Back fight!?"

'A Davy Back fight?' Rex thinks.

He remembered those words from One Piece, particularly his least favorite arc, the Long Ring Island arc. It was a pirate gathering to plunder crew members.

"Why would you think that I know the location of such a fight?" Rex wonders, as he was genuinely unaware.

"Oh, don't try tricking us! There was an 8 million Berry pirate's head in that bounty you turned in. You must be a big shot pirate huh?" The sneering man says, "Well we caught a five million Berry pirate a while back and he heard of it but didn't know where the fight was. But we figure you should know where it is!"

"And you think that you six can beat me?"

"If you had your crew, we wouldn't stand a chance, but us six have taken out dozens of five million Berry pirates over the years. We could beat a lone ten million Berry pirate like you with ease!"

"I see." Rex says, nodding his head along with what the bounty hunters said.

"That's right! Now tell us what we want to know and we'll send you to the marines alive. If you don't then you'll die right where you sta…"

Suddenly, Rex disappears, reappearing next to the sneering man.

Before the man has a chance to realize it, Rex roundhouse kicks his face into the dirt. Drawing two daggers out of his pocket, Rex stabs two other bounty hunters in the knees and kicks a fourth in the head.

The fifth tries to run, but a hissing sound is heard as a small tiger leaps out of Rex's chest and grabs the pirate hunter's face. Rouge ruthlessly claws the man's face, causing him to scream out in agony.

Rex then turns to the sixth one, seeing a projectile flying in his face.

Boom!

Rex instinctively dodges the attack, only to be baffled by an explosive force striking him from behind. The force doesn't even scratch him, but he is surprised that pirate hunters like these would have access to such small explosives.

Rex widens his eyes, seeing several drops of spittle flying towards him and jumps back. Each drop creates a mini-explosion of insignificant force.

'Wait is this kid…'

Before the boy has a chance to attack again, Rex makes his move. Softening his arm, he flicks it out like a whip, coiling it around the boy's throat. He then turns his arm back to normal, inflating it causing the boy to choke.

Hearing a commotion not far from the alleyway, Rex jumps up to the roof of one of the neighboring buildings and roof jumps his way back to the shore, dragging the unconscious boy with him. If he was right, this was the future Mr. 5 and would make an excellent candidate for filling the missing sniper role.

The crew is already waiting for him there, having been startled into returning early by the explosions and commotions.

"Who's this brat!?" Kid shouts out, seeing Rex's passenger.

"He's our newest crew member."

The crew looks at the boy carefully seeing his unconscious state and the light bruising on his neck. They all shook their heads; it was lucky that they had agreed willingly to join Rex's crew or such a fate would await them.

Meanwhile Bonney looks at the young boy with pity, knowing what was to come for him. While she now knew that Rex was a decent person, he was extremely determined when it came to getting his way.

With no further discussion the pirates return to their ship, with Rex loading the child into the makeshift brig he had made for Bonney. Using the sea stone cuffs, he smiles happily before moving to the next order of business.

"Hello, this is Beautiful Resort group in Baterilla, how can I help you." A voice calls out over the Den Den Mushi.

"Hello, I want the most hideous room imaginable, could you do that for me?"

"Just one second sir, I'll transfer your call to the next attendant."

Then, sounds of motion can be heard through the Den Den mushi as its appearance changes from a beautiful woman to Dongo's ugly face.

"What do you want from the Hideous Thieves?"

"Dongo? Long time no see." Rex says, grinning at the servile smile that immediately comes across the Den Den Mushi. "I want to know about a Davy Back fight happening in the South Blue."

"Ah, I was wondering when you would call me about that sir. I have all the information right here. It's on Karate Island and the instigator is rumored to be a possessor of a mysterious Devil Fruit power. He's a boxer by the name of…"

Rex quickly notes it down before ending the call.

It was as he expected, this was Foxy's debut. While he wasn't interested in recruiting the scheming, two-faced bastard, he was curious as to whether or not he could recruit some good grunts.

For one, Bonney and Kid's food demands were too much for Karina herself to deal with. Rex also needed a decent temporary stand-in for his navigator, doctor and shipwright.

Not to mention, Rex has his eye on one particular person who was a member of the Foxy pirates when they met the straw hats. A person that Dongo had confirmed was going to the Davy Back fight.

"'Big Fish' Pan, of the big fish pirates." Rex muttered, staring at the wanted order.

Pan had the highest Bounty out of anyone confirmed in attendance at the fight with a sizeable 22 million on his head.

However, this was not what interested Rex, as most of this bounty was mainly the racism of the marines. No, what intrigued him was the potential of Pan's body. Half-fishman with the ability to breath underwater, half-giant with the ferocious strength and durability that came with it.

Both of those abilities, particularly the former, intrigued Rex. He had long discovered that if he was being 'worn' by someone and entered water, he wouldn't be ejected, but instead both he and his host would be unable to move.

With that in mind, Rex wanted to gain the ability to breath underwater, not unlike the disaster Jack, giving himself a defense from drowning. While he would still be helpless underwater, it would no longer pose a threat to his life. Then, as long as he was wearing metal, Kid could pull him out.

"Is that our next target?" Kid asked, fists clenched.

"Not quite, but you needn't worry. Where we're going next, you'll be free to fight to your heart's content."

Kid grinned widely, laughing like a madman.

But back on the island, a young man with smooth, black hair stared at the departing King pirates with a grin. They would lead him to the Davy Back fight, then, when all the pirate captains were tired from fighting each other, he would receive all their bounties.

This young man was not the only one with designs on the king pirates, with Gion tirelessly pacing her office, waiting for some news.

"Captain…"

"Have you found them!"

The crewman is stunned by Gion's response and doesn't answer for a moment.

"We've received some reports from the local bounty hunters of a disturbance on Baroc island. One witness reported that the perpetrator turned in the heads of a pirate group known to have been hunted by the King pirates."

"Baroc Island? That's not far from here!" A sparkle gleams in Gion's eyes. "The moment that repairs are done, let's set off!"

"Oh, and there is some other news." The crewman continues. "There are some reports of a Davy Back fight organized by a rookie pirate somewhere in the western sector of the south blue."

"A rookie? Then no one too strong should show up." Gion says, not imagining that this rookie had a devil fruit. "Send Hina over to check up on them. With her new devil fruit, she should be able to arrest all of the pirates with ease."

"Yes ma'am."