56 Sabaody Archipelago VI

While Shinobu was taking care of her own business, Lafitte had woken up as well. More than half of the day had passed and he was faced with the smiling yet unsmiling face of Shakky, the owner of the Rip-Off bar. No matter which way he moved, her eyes would follow him closely, unnerving him as he went.

As he left, he could do nothing but pay a large amount of beri. The bar truly lived up to its name, ripping him off as much as it could.

As he had no clue as to where Shinobu and the others had left to, he would for now gather some information about what to face in the New world. He knew one thing though. They were severely lacking in members of the crew. Maybe he should look into that as well, so that when the arrived they would know who to recruit in their crew.

Acertaining himself of his goals for today, Lafitte disappeared from sight.

***

Ban and Akane were watching from amongst the trees for a while now and the soldiers were finally leaving.

The Celestial Dragons seemed to have lost their patience and were moving on to the many slavery establishments all across the Archipelago.

"Aw, too bad. Maybe I should have left them a clue~"

Ban muttered as he continued to glance at the leaving backs of the bipedal jellyfish.

"Stop joking around. If it can be avoided, avoid it. Who wants extra trouble. More importantly, we need to do something that I have delayed for a while now. As we are well known now as a pirate group, there is no escaping it."

Akane sighed as she wondered about the eventual look.

"We need to make a Jolly Roger."

Ban snickered, knowing a lot of idea's of what the Jolly Roger might become.

"How about my tattoo, but the head as a skull? Or you know those Amazon Lily pirates? Why not a design like that one. Or just a giant fox head. There are so many idea's to try out."

Rambling on about possible idea's the two of them returned to one of the more lawfull groves, in search for a decent inn. They had a lot of paint and a lot of idea's to draw out. She was certain she wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.

***

The next day Akane and Ban returned to the ship. Shinobu and Lafitte would certainly regroup there as well, so all they had to do was wait for them.

And lo and behold, Shinobu and Lafitte were there even before they arrived and they were not alone. Sitting behind Shinobu were four people, two people who had the traits of aquatic animals, a mermaid and lastly a man who had the traits of a black cat, maybe a black panther.

"Who are they, Shinobu?"

Akane asked with curiosity.

"Let me introduce them, Akane-chan~"

Shinobu turned to the the mermaid.

"This is blue haired mermaid is Mero. She is a smelt-whitting mermaid. She used to work at a mermaid cafe on fishmen island, but was caught by slave traffickers."

Mero waved at Akane, smiling gently at the crew.

"I'm Mero. It is a pleasure to meet you, captain Akane."

Before Akane could reply to it, Shinobu moved on to the others.

"These two are brothers, both being from fishman island as well. One is an eel fishman called Duke, while the other is a Tiger shark fishman called Asher. They had been caught after they wanted to look at the Sabaody park."

The brothers didn't even look like each other, except maybe for the black hair growing on their heads.

Asher had brown stripes running along his body, his teeth looking as sharp as a sharks. His black hair was tied and hanging loosely down his back. He didn't appear to have any shark fins. He looked relatively humanoid.

Duke had the tail of an eel, while still having two legs. His skin was a dark grey, his hair done the same as his brother. They were both sturdy and big men, towering far over Akane. Not that that was hard, considering she looked like a child.

Though their future captain looked like a kid, they didn't have any misgivings and respectful greeted her.

""Nice too meet you, captain.""

"Ah... Nice to meet you too."

A bit overwhelmed by the sudden additions to the crew, Akane waited for Shinobu to introduce the last person, the mink.

"Ara~ I almost forgot. This man over here is called Soren. He didn't share how he was captured, only saying he wasn't raising his guard enough and made a foolish decision that led to his enslavement. He belongs to a tribe called the Minks, of which the location of the country is unknown. All four of these people wished to join the crew."

Soren nodded in greeting, not intending to speak up to add something to the conversation.

"Then I welcome you aboard my ship. As of now, you are part of the demon fox pirates. I am your captain, Eldertale D. Akane. This man here is my first mate and cook aboard the ship, the Undead Ban. You have met Shinobu, she is our ships doctor, as well as an expert in using poisons. And last but not least, there is our trusted navigator, Lafitte."

When everyone was introduced, Akane shared the next topic on schedule for the day.

"We need to make our Jolly Roger."

As the possible designs were shared, Shinobu and Lafitte didn't seem to have any opinion at all. They were fine with all of them. As the others were looking at the designs as well, it was Mero who gave the deciding vote.

"I think this one is better. The other one is too personalized for a certain person."

Mero glanced at Ban, not speaking any further.

Ban didn't seem to mind at all as he grabbed the remaining option.

"Everyone agrees? Good, then I'll paint it on the sails."

The rest of the day was spent painting the sails and the Jolly Roger.

When everything was done, the crew looked at the pirate flag, all satisfied with the end result.

"Now that we are done with that, I'll show you guys around on the ship and tomorrow we will spar and see what your fighting specialities are."