23 Chapter 23

[A/N: To those it may concern, I have decided to put my first story, Star Wars: Rogue Empire, on Hiatus for the moment. All of the negativity and the nitpicking just made me burned out to the story. But, I do plan to return to it one day, and I'm going to try to stockpile chapters for it. In the meantime, I've started writing two new fanfics, but not sure which you all would find interesting.

One is a GTA fanfiction that follows the son of CJ and is set just before the start of GTA 5. The other is a Naruto fanfiction that follows a young man that reincarnates with the power of the Avatar. Tell me which you would like! Anyway, enjoy this juicy chapter!]

After Meli's explosions, Ronin sent the crew to finish off the pirates, but after their display of power, the pirates had lost all of their fight and were now either begging for their lives if desperately trying to get away. Unfortunately, Shinigami had a no mercy policy, so they were either killed or severely beaten and captured.

Only one of the younger crew members, who was just a young teen, was injured during the battle. Luckily, it wasn't a serious injury, so Ronin was able to fix them with some novice Healing Jutsu, but this only highlighted their need for both training and to find a doctor as soon as possible. Ronin knew a little of the Healing Jutsus, but he realized earlier on that he didn't really have a knack or an interest for it.

Sure he could learn it thanks to his, Limitless Potential wish, but that would take for too much time and he had no interest in it. Instead, Ronin was playing around with the idea of picking one or more of the crew members and training them to be the Healer until they were able to find a Doctor.

As the crew were collecting the corpses or securing their new bounties, Ronin and the others made their way to the Marines, who as of yet had not moved a muscle.

Flashing in front of the Captain of the ship, Ronin slung his hammer to the custom holster for it on his back, as he casually waved to the captain, "Yo, I'm a Bounty Hunter named, Ronin. Since we saved you guys, I'm going to claim these bounties, okay?" Ronin asked, but in a time that suggested that he was requesting permission, but telling them what was going to happen.

Seeing no way to argue with someone so powerful, especially when that someone just saved him and his men without even asking, the Captain simply nodded and agreed. But, their was a problem.

"I don't mind you claiming the bounty for these pirates, but unfortunately, we can't pay you at the moment. We're from the Navy base here on, Wahlund, and we had to carry a large bulk of Wahlund's funds to help pay for a ransom from these Pirates, but as you can see, it was a trap. We were planning a trap as well, but we weren't expecting a full fleet to ambush us. Worse yet, since we're so remote, we're the only Navy base for a while, and are numbers just got cut down considerably... I'm not sure what we're going to do now." the Captain said in a miserable tone, slightly looking to Ronin with a hint of expectation.

Ronin wasn't dumb, so he knew exactly what this pathetic Marine wanted. The Marine wanted Ronin and the others to play bodyguard for the island until god knows when the said reinforcements would show up. Unfortunately for the Captain, Ronin wasn't some bleeding heart, and he had important things to do, and couldn't waste time on some lame island at the beginning of the Grandline.

"Yeah, I get what you're trying to do, unfortunately we can't stay any longer. You said one of the ships that went down was carrying my would be payment, correct?" Ronin asked, suddenly very tired of dealing with this Marine.

"Well, yes, but it has to be at the bottom of the sea by now. That treasure is far-" the Captain said before Ronin interrupted him.

"Von, can you go collect our payment in full? Also, I'm sure that fleet must've had something nice on them." Ronin said as he looked to Devon over his shoulder, and with a simple nod, Devon jumped into the water, shocking the Marines as they just realized that he was a Fishman.

"Hey, most of our nations funds were on that ship, so if he finds anything-"

"It will be long gone, just like you said about our payment. Isn't that right, Captain?" Ronin said in a dark tone as he stepped closer to the Marine, towering over him as all the Marine shook in fear. They all clearly saw the display of power from Ronin, and they knew that they would die instantly if they tried to fight him. The sickening smell of burnt human flesh was a constant reminder for them.

"Good, it was a pleasure doing business with you. Now, I recommend you all sail back to.. what was it called again? Wahlund, and stay there for a while. I heard the waters can be pretty dangerous around these parts." Ronin said as he and the other flashed back to their ship.

"It's going to take Von a little while to collect everything from the wreckages. Have the crew hand off the pirates to the Marines and back to the main deck. Meli, I want you to train them all, including Bonney and Rory in the basics. Meanwhile, I'll be in my cabin waiting. Let me know if you need me." Ronin said as he flashed away before Meli could get a chance to protest.

"Me?! B-but I've never had to teach anyone anything! Devon should be the teacher!" Meli yelled hopelessly.

"Well, the emo fishy isn't here, so get to it, Teach!" Bonney said as held Meli and dragged her to the main deck.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At this time, the top powers of the sea were just receiving the report from what would be known as Ronin's debut to the Grandline, and what a debut it was.

At the Navy Headquarters, Sengoku was sitting at his desk and just read the briefing for Garp, Akainu, Kizaru, Aokiji, and Tsuru. To say they shocked would be an understatement.

"Who the hell was going to tell me the kid had a damn logia fruit?!" Sengoku bellowed as he smacked his desk in frustration.

"Calm down already, we can hear you. Look, his file says that he his very secretive and that he refers to himself as a ninja if sorts, so it only makes sense that the brat would have a few hidden cards." Garp said as he stuffed his face with crackers.

"Well, I'd say the power destroy a whole fleet of pirate with a giant lighting cloud is one hell of a card to keep, Garp! And stop eating my damn rice crackers!" Sengoku yelled as he tried and failed to snatch the bag of crackers from Garp.

"Well, I'd say that even though Ronin has done nothing but help us clean up the pirates, we'll eventually have to pin him down soon. Reports show the he is gaining a lot in popularity and as a result, we're getting more and more people trying to register as bounty hunters." Tsuru stated.

"And how is that a problem? Wouldn't that mean more firepower against the pirates?" Kuzan asked, his purple sleep mask still over his eyes as he leaned back in his seat.

"Let me guess, the powers at be are feeling threatened, right?" Kizaru asked lazily.

"Unfortunately, yes. This only ends in a few ways. We either have a larger number of untrained, delusional civilians dying trying to fight pirates like Ronin, or you have pirates getting smart and registering as bounty hunters while they go out and pillage." Tsuru stated.

"Hmm, that does sound bad, but rare. Our registration system is pretty thorough. Just in case, I'll have my men look deeper into the registration of new bounty hunters." Akainu said in a serious tone.

"That's all well and good, but that not nearly as bad as the worse possibility. Reports state that Ronin's crew, Shinigami, only had 3 members when he was at Ivory Island. But, this new report states that the crew now has upwards of 30 members, all fully equipped in strange, tactical armor and new weapons. Yes, this isn't too strange for the bigger bounty hunting companies like Baroque Works, but their leader, Crocodile is a known and registered Warlord under us Marines control. Ronin and the Shinigami, are not under anyone's control." Tsuru said in a somber tone.

The room was quiet for several seconds until Garp spoke up. "So that's what it comes to, huh? The World Government wants us to put a leash on this kid because their afraid he may turn into a new world power like the Revolutionaries?" Garp asked, no longer in a joking mood. The thought of his son and him being on opposite side put a sour taste in his mouth.

"That's the way it always is with them. But this time, since it wasn't a direct order, I choose to let this boy continue the good work he's doing. He has done nothing but help us by putting away dangerous pirates, and I refuse to potentially make a strong young man into a pirate by forcing him to join us. My gut says that were this boy to turn his sights on us, we'd have some trouble on our hands." Sengoku said, earning a nod of agreement from everyone but Tsuru.

"Meanwhile, Ronin is an unofficial ally of the Marines, so I don't want anyone giving him trouble,you hear me? Who knows, perhaps one day we can bring him to our side officially as an officer. That's it for now, dismissed." Sengoku stated.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At the same time, on a beautiful, picturesque island, a tall man with short, spiky, blonde hair, dark shades, walked out to his balcony naked, as two naked, young girls laid on his bed, lightly sobbing.

In his hands was a report of what happened just outside of Wahlund, as the constant wicked smile he wore somehow grew larger.

"Hmmm, so someone actually dares to fuck with one of my operations, hmm? Though it was just a branch from another branch crew, none the less, my name is still tied to them, which makes me look bad. Trebol!" Doflamingo yelled, a disgusting looking man booger slid into the room, leaving a trail behind him. As he passed the bed on his way to the balcony, he eyed the girls with a leacherous grin that made them both shiver.

"Yes, boss, you called?" Trebol said in a way that made him sound like he was sick with a stuffed nose.

"This new kid, Ronin has made a bad mistake of crossing me. Do me a favor and have someone make sure that he never makes the same mistake again." Doflamingo said, his tone unnervingly dark for the grin on his face.

"Huhuhu, yes boss, I got you! By the way, if you're done with those girls, do you mind if I play with them?" Trebol asked as he eyed the girls.

"Sure, this is only the guest room anyway. Just have someone clean up the mess when you're done." Doflamingo said nonchalantly as he threw on a robe and left the room.

"Huhuhu, let's play!" Trebol cheered as he slithered to the bed, the two girls screaming uselessly for help.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Back on the Static hours, Ronin sat at his desk testing out his powers while he brainstormed some of his future plans. During these hours waiting for Devon to surface with the treasures, Ronin managed to find out a lot about his powers, and even he was shocked by how versatile his fruit was.

He found that he could make stationary clouds, and that those clouds could hold many things up despite it's weight. To test it out, Ronin made a small cloud and had it stay still in the air while it held up his hammer for hours. Needless to say, it was a success, and got Ronin wondering if he could just make his ship fly in the air as well, but decided to wait until he completely mastered it.

Ronin also tried mixing his chakra with his fruit powers, but got mixed results. He wasn't able to mix them, but felt as though they could be connected in someway, but he couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried.

As he was thinking, he heard a knock at the door and told them to come in after he recognized their chakra signature. Turning around to see Devon walk in, Ronin watched as he sat down a giant storage scroll that he made for him.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that those Marines and Pirates are complete idiots for bringing so much treasure with them, but that also means that we won't have to worry about money for a long time, not that we did before. And I even managed to snag something extra." Devon said as he opened up the scroll which revealed other, smaller scrolls. Picking one of them up and opening it, out came several pieces of what could only be Seastone from the Marines ships.

Ronin was shocked to see the Seastone as he never thought about taking the Seastone from wrecked Navy ships, but then again, this is why Devon was his Vice-Captain.

Gingerly picking up a piece, Ronin felt immediately drained of all of his energy and strength as he slumped forward in his chair and caught himself at the last second. He had heard that those who ate Devil Fruits were completely weak when it came to sea water and Seatones, but he didn't take the effect so seriously, but after this, he knew that he would now have to be seriously cautious when it came to these weaknesses.

"Yeah, you're definitely going to have to be careful until we find a way to deal with your weaknesses. Is there a way to fix the issue with Chakra?" Devon asked as he picked up a piece of Seastone, studying it.

"I'm honestly not sure. I've tried replicating both Armament and Observation Haki with Chakra, but I haven't been able to make it work yet. Chakra is a mysterious and powerful energy that theoretically has endless possibilities, so it's possible one day. When we finally build our base, I plan on starting a research and development division that will start unlocking all of the mysteries of Chakra and anything else for us." Ronin said as he tightly clenched the Seastone in defiance, and forced himself to sit up strong. If he had endless potential, then he was going to use it to overcome this and every other weakness.

"Speaking of, when do you plan on looking for a place to become our base? I hear Arabasta could be a good place. It's all desert, and I heard another bounty hunting company called Baroque Works just opened up shop there, but the country is plenty big enough for the both of us. Plus, with our abilities, we could easily terraform the land to suit our needs." Devon said as he put the stone down and pulled out another cigarette to smoke.

Thinking about Devon's words, it actually wasn't a bad idea to Ronin, but he had other plans. "That's not a bad idea, but I don't want to be the village hidden in the sand, but the village hidden in the clouds. And for that, after my testing, I already know the perfect place for our future home." Ronin said, pausing to build up the anticipation.

"Well don't leave me hanging here, Ro. Go ahead and tell me this crazy place you want to try and build a base. Knowing you, I know it'll be something crazy." Devon said, already trying to mentally prepare himself for what his crazy friend had planned for them next.

"Come on, Von, give me at least a little bit of credit here. It's honestly not anywhere too crazy this time. All I plan to do, is to use the Redline as our future base." Ronin said as a sinister grin spread across his face. If this worked, this would be his first major step in becoming a new world power.