7 7. Worst Emperor

Eiji and Vergil stood in front of a large ship. It had been a day since the meeting with their master and they finally departed on their mission, carrying nothing more than little jugs of water at their waists. And of course, their trusty swords.

"Ah! It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. white and Mr. Black." An orange haired girl rushed over as they began climbing the stairs to the ships deck. The ship was operated by dozens of Baroque works billions, ensuring that their ride would be smooth.

Vergil stared and locked onto the curvy woman. A cherry blossom scent waffled into his nose. "You... what's your name?"

"Rena, sir." She lifted her hand to form a salute. She was nervous to personally meet the demons in person, in fact, she was one of their biggest fans despite their ruthlessness.

Having gotten the information he needed, Vergil left the woman to her own devices and they began to set sail. He followed closely behind Eiji, both scrutinizing everyone they saw, not missing a single person on the way to their cabins.

"It seems there are some rats on this ship," Eiji said. "Looks like crocodile is getting sloppy."

"Yeah, but forget that, did you see that girl? Sheesh. What are they feeding kids nowadays?"

Eiji ignored his antics and activated his sharingan, he searched for anything else out of place, but found nothing. He didn't know how crocodile allowed spies to get on deck, or what the spies even attempted to do on the ship. Depending on their movements, things could get really ugly.

But with an organization as big as Baroque works, spies were bound to sneak their way in.

They soon found their cabins and entered them. They were quite luxurious, somehow managing to install a bathroom on the ship, and two large king sized beds located on different sides of the rooms, and a window to watch the calm seas. Overall, it looked like a room you would be offered on a cruise ship.

"Hmmm, if we ignore all of the ants on this ship, he really outdid himself." Vergil hopped onto the mattress that seemed to absorb him. He had worried that they would have a rough ride, but this came a bit of a surprise.

Eiji on the other hand, stood rooted at the door and observed everything in the room. One could never be too safe after all, and it had become a habit to always take precautions no matter the place he was at.

-2 hours later-

The journey so far had been smooth sailing. At their current pace they should be able to reach whiskey peak in six days. It helped that there was a skilled navigator on the ship to make things go smoother.

"I'm so bored~" Vergil said, he threw his limbs up in the air like a child who's toy had been snatched from him.

Eiji glanced momentarily then went back to what he was doing. Vergil throwing fits wasn't outside of his expectations. He was a ball of energy, and needed something to do at all times. He was a man who just couldn't stay still, almost like a dog.

It was also for this reason that when they met their current master, his personality trait nearly caused his own death.

-flashback-

Yuba, a small oasis town in Alabasta. It was originally built with the purpose of to act as an intersection for the towns and villages of western alabsta.

The towns future was grim, as crocodile would endlessly summon severe sandstorms in order to agitate the country's rebellion forces.

It would also later come to serve as the alabstan rebel army base, until they moved to katorea.

Currently however, it was still thriving with happy folks that walked the streets. There weren't starved people that would fight over the tiniest sip of water, or the endless amount of sands that would engulf the city. It was just a nice, unbothered, peaceful town. And in this town, two demons who would later go on to work for baroque works, had a request. A request to kill from a man seeking vengeance for his innocent daughter.

Despite its peaceful exterior, the recently built town housed multiple criminals who hid in the shadows or looked to set up and spread business.

A man tilted his head as he watched two boys enter his store from his counter. His eyes sneakily followed them as they took their seats and softly set the suitcase they brought with them to the floor. He raised the glass he had been cleaning in satisfaction. 'Flawless.' And set it gently to his side as he began to work on the next one.

"Zavier, right?" Eiji said, gathering the bar keepers attention.

"Depends on who's asking." Zavier smiled. He was a middle aged man with a trimmed beard, and tanned skin. He stood a couple feet above the counter and his hair was nonexistent.

"We're asking, old man." Vergil set his feet on the counter and crossed them. His finger traced the smooth almost marble like surface. "We need information."

Zavier smiled and his eyes narrowed. "I'll kindly ask you to take your dirty feet off. Before we have problems... for real. I just cleaned that too."

The two had a face off as they both released a wave of bloodlust, staring daggers at each other.

Eiji interrupted their clash, "Only kings, enter the lions den."

Zavier raised an eyebrow. There was definitely more to these kids then met the eye. "What if it is a tigers den?"

"Then they are not kings," Eiji replied.

[A/N: My fault if it sound cringe, but I didn't want to stay up all night thinking of something clever.]

He glanced back and forth between the duo. The older one seemed to be less mature, but was still sharp nonetheless. And the younger, a more level headed individual, carrying a dreadful aura. Possibly the more dangerous out of the two.

He sighed and stopped washing his glass. "Follow me." Before he left he called out to one of the workers in the bar. "Aye, cover for me! We have some very 'special' guests."

"On it boss!"

They were led through a series of turns through the kitchen, a hallway, and entered a room. The floors creaked as the Zavier opened a closet door that revealed a long staircase. So long, they couldn't see the bottom. It was dark and smelled of dust.

The sounds of their footsteps resounded off the walls as they unhurriedly went down the rocky stairs.

Vergil interlocked his fingers behind his head. "Man, why are there so many damn stairs."

"You're asking the wrong person. I'm not the one who built this place," Zavier answered.

The owner didn't like to show himself, and when he did, it would be to 'clean up' troublesome individuals that were out of their league. He was also the reason people didn't like to cause trouble in the building. Everyone, without exception, feared that old mans strength.

'Speaking of... isn't the boss supposed to be here today?' Zavier glanced at vergil and sighed. 'Hopefully this idiot doesn't start anything. Otherwise I'll be the one who has to clean up after his corpse.'

Their steps quickened as they neared a light at the end of the stairs. Finally exiting, the attention of the room shifted to them. There were a lot of men, and a few women. Some incredibly dangerous, and others held an aura of tranquility. But there was something they all had in common.

"Bounty hunters?" Eiji questioned. These people faces were already etched into his memory from the bounty hunter handbook he read a couple of years ago.

Zavier tilted his head. "Hm? Aren't you guys bounty hunters?"

"Not really," Vergil said. "More like assassins for hire."

"Ah, I see. Either way, I'm guessing you need information for someone looking to be assassinated, right?"

Seeing Vergil and Eiji nod their heads, Zavier turned his back to them and spread his arms sideways. "Well then, you come to the right place? This is... the lions den." He flashed a smile. "Follow me."

The interior was something you'd expected from an office. There were several beauties that worked at what seemed to be cubicles in tight uniforms that showed off their legs and arms. On their desks were mountainous amounts of papers and books, organized by names and numbers.

"Hey Angie, I got a couple of kids with me. They say they need some information on someone. Think you can help em out?"

Angie smiled seductively. "Of course~"

Zavier nervously smiled back, shoved the duo in front of him, and left hurriedly.

"Does it kinda seem like he was scared?" Vergil said, watching zaviers disappearing figure.

"Haha, it's nothing serious. We just have a few... nevermind. So, who are you looking for. And I hope it's a decently well known criminal; because we don't keep the files of everyone in this city."

"He should be well known," Eiji said. "His name is Xander "butcher" Beluim."

"Oh... him." Angie flipped her gold colored hair and dived into her papers. "You kids got your work cut out for you, huh?" She pulled out a folder in the middle stack. "Ah! Here it is."

She smiled brightly, and held out the folder to Vergil. As he made an attempt to reach for it, she suddenly pulled it back. Vergil raised an eyebrow as the woman rubbed her thumb with her other fingers.

"Money."

Who would give information free of charge, especially in the profession they were in? Everything revolves around money, you could even buy love with enough money.

"How much?" Eiji asked.

"Five mil."

Eiji unlocked the suitcase he carried on her desk, to reveal stacks on stacks of belli. It was exactly five million, because he knew that was how much information for their target was worth, considering he wasn't well known.

If this place had offered a bigger price, he would have tried to negotiate and lower the price, or just leave depending on how much they charged off the bat.

Angies eyes showed dollar bills for a moment. Then she composed herself. "Well well, Mr. Handsome over here came perfectly prepared." She handed Vergil the folder and shoo'd them off. "Run along now, I have other guests waiting, there's money to be made, and bills to be paid."

On their way out, they met an old man who had mostly grey hairs but some strands that were black. He was like a ghost. Quiet, soundless, and gave off a strong stench of death. More so than Eiji did.

Vergil had noticed him staring at them, and decided to challenge him mentally. Safe to say, things did not workout as he hoped they would. He was quickly overwhelmed and fell to the ground. Sweat dripped for his forehead and his palms became sweaty.

"Your too young to be challenging someone of my caliber... child." The old mans eyes were cold, like the Arctic.

Vergil picked himself from the ground, his knees shook, but his gaze still focused on the old man. At this time, he was still a hot blooded young man, and hadn't been humbled as each battle he got himself into, he won with relative ease.

Eiji watched from the sidelines. He had a deal with Vergil, that he wasn't allowed to interfere with any of his fights, and that meant even if his life was on the line.

'He got up? Impressive.' The old man thought. He looked around the room, they had once again become the center of attention. "Let's stop here, I have things to do and you're wasting my time."

Vergil bent his knees, tilted his torso slightly forward, and made a reach for his sword. He completely ignored the old mans words, as if he didn't hear them. And truth is, he didn't. Like a cheetah, he vanished from everyone's eyes, but Eiji and his opponent were able to see him like he was in slow motion.

"I said..." The old mans tone darkened considerably. This time a force like no other descended on the building. The grounds shook slightly as those who were weak were instantly knocked out. And even those who were strong, were forced to their knees, struggling to keep up their mental state.

Eiji was not excluded. His eyes widened as he had trouble trying to keep himself conscious. 'This is... conquerers haki!!'

Vergil's figure had stopped just before he was able to reach his opponent. The old man pointed with his finger to Vergil's forehead, but at that moment, his finger seemed to enlarge, bigger than a mountain.

"...stop."

Vergil felt at any moment that his heart could explode. He tried the best he could too get away from that finger, but he couldn't. His body fimly planted to the ground and his consciousness was being ate at from the immense force.

As the old mans rather skinny finger touched his forehead. A jolt went through his body. Immense heat arised from his stomach, making him pale instantly.

He finally couldn't hold it out any longer, and fainted with foam spilling out of his mouth like a waterfall.

-flashback end-

It had been two days since their little voyage, and today someone decided to cause trouble. The ship rocked back and fourth, as if trying to dodge bullets, which wasn't too far from the truth.

The duos eyes shot open. They gathered their weapons as they felt the movements on the ship. Finally, they left their rooms, not at all bothered by all of the noises and screams from the deck.

Vergil turned to Eiji. "Pirates?"

"Probably. Marines wouldn't attempt to attack the ship of a warlord."

"Ah, that's true."

Their attention shifted to two laughs they heard up ahead. They sounded almost maniacal, and were coming closer. Three men with open vests, and curved blades. From their appearance, it looked like they hadn't shaved in quite a bit or even brushed their teeth. They smelled so bad, Eiji and Vergil could pick up the nauseating scent even being six feet apart.

"Eh?"

They ran into each other. The pirates standing their ground as they glared at the duo, like how a cat would to a mouse.

One of them stepped out, and licked his blade. "I love me some pretty boys. Keikeikeikei, let's get them! But don't kill, I want to fuck their pretty little faces! Keikeikeikei."

"Yehahahaha!"

They ran towards the demon duo. Some with their swords high up in the air, and others with it screeching against the ground creating little sparks.

Eiji and Vergil's eyes seemed to lose color as they both advanced towards the pirates. They left afterimages of themselves, greatly confusing the pirates.

As one of them went to attack Eiji, he thought he had hit his real body, but missed completely. "Urgh."

He was stabbed through his heart from behind, quickly putting an end to his life.

Echo rhythm.

Blood dripped from Eiji's sword like a faucet, as he removed it from the pirates body. He already slipped on his mask, in order to not get any blood splattered on his face.

In mere seconds, the three men were taken care of.

They reached the deck where the billions were still fighting but were gradually being overwhelmed by the pirates. The pirates had a rope latched onto their ship so they kept coming onto the ship in swarms. But not for long.

Eiji and Vergil both slashed at the rope. Dozens of bodies fell helplessly in the water. They screamed, their bodies becoming more submerged under the water each second. And finally, they drowned as if they were lifeless fish.

Eiji and Vergil nodded to each other. The latter leaped from the ship and onto the pirates. He slashed his way through them as if possessed, leaving a pool of blood behind him.

And the former helped out on the ship, quickly dispatching the pirates.

The pirates could have possibly had some belli on them, and that was something that Eiji wouldn't miss out on. Perhaps if they were lucky, they might even find some even rarer items. Though they were doubtful, with the measly strength of these pirates, it was unlikely they had anything of importance.

"Thank you very much for your help!" Rena bowed. The rest of the billions did as well. They were taken aback by how he dealt with 2/3 of the pirates within seconds. They were ashamed, and began to understand what it took to become a top ranked agent.

"You may raise your heads," Eiji said.

Suddenly, their faces paled. As they now finally had time to study the flag that was embedded on the pirates ships. A red and black spear went down the middle of a skull.

Eiji had noticed it as well. Their ship most likely belonged to one of the most powerful players in the game. A man known for unmatched cruelt, and devilish charisma. Where he went, destruction was soon to follow without question.

"Captain of the chaos spark pirates..."

"The worst one."

"Fifth emperor of the sea's."

"...Tendo."