chapter 72

"Then, the only thing left on today's schedule is deciding your fates," I remarked, watching Fukurou paling, Kumadori halt his twitching, and even Jabra chose this moment to regain consciousness.

"Deciding our fates- cough - don't make me laugh," Jabra said, coughing blood as he did while clutching his chest. "We're already dead. Our only hope of survival was to complete our mission without any further complications," the wolfman added, his expression a mixture of pain and resignation.

"And now that's impossible since news of this defeat would reach the higher-ups somehow, like our earlier defeat," he concluded while looking me in the eye, making it clear that I should hurry up and kill him.

"I see," I said, getting up and kicking Fukurou and removing him from Jabra. "Then die," I stated as I drew my gun and put a bullet between his eyes that were stubbornly looking at me to the very end.

"Do you two wish to die as well?" I asked while looking at the Fukurou and Kumadori, only to be met with silence from them, with Kumadori struggling to turn himself around to lie on his back.

"No matter what you do, the world government will try to erase you as soon as you finish your mission," I remarked while lighting a cigarette as I kicked Kumadori, giving him a helping hand (or a foot in this case) and turning him on his back.

"You know this as well as I do," I stated while watching Fukurou crawl his way to sit in front of Kumadori protectively. "But your fates aren't in the world government's hands. It's in my hands," I added with an amused smile while looking at Fukurou and Kumadori, who were listening intently to my speech in silence.

"Unlike the higher-ups of the world government, I'm a very reasonable man. You only need to ask for a chance to live, and I'll give it to you," I concluded with a smirk as the two's expression began shifting rapidly, seemingly very conflicted.

"What do you want?" Fukurou asked with a resigned tone of voice after exchanging several meaningful glances with Kumadori.

"Those are not the magic words, my rotund friend. Why don't you try again?" I replied, my smirk becoming more pronounced.

"We would like to live. Give us a chance to live!" Fukurou said through gritted teeth, his body tensing, only to lose its tenseness as when he finished his sentence.

"Still a little lacking, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess," I replied in a leisurely tone. "The way I see it, the world government will try to erase you one way or the other, so why not work for me instead?" I added with a smirk.

"You want us to join your crew?" Fukurou asked suspiciously with a raised eyebrow.

"Rehahahaha, Hell no. I don't take weaklings and government dogs on my ship," I stated with a laugh. "And you two check both boxes," I added with a shrug after I stopped laughing.

"We're not weaklings. It's you who is a monster," Fukurou shouted with an outraged expression and a loud tone.

"Why, thank you," I replied with a beaming smile. "Anyway, what I want you two to do is join The baroque works organization, and provide me with whatever important information you come across about both the grand line and organization itself." I explained while looking at their expression that shifted with every word I spoke.

"What about the world government? Won't the higher-ups notice something and send people after us?" Fukurou asked with a frown, seemingly contemplating my offer.

"That's simple. Pretend you're still doing the mission and disguise yourselves when you infiltrate the Baroque works and make up some bullshit to report to the government when they contact you," I replied with a shrug while looking at Fukurou like he was an idiot.

"What about Jabra? What happens when they ask about him, and what should we do when they discover that we're lying?" Fukurou asked again while pointing at the dead Jabra.

"If they ask about Jabra, then tell them he went rogue and ran away, you wouldn't have any problems convincing them of that since he's the one who started this entire farce," I replied while pointing at Jabra's body as well. "And when they find out you've been lying, then the organization of the Baroque work is the perfect hiding place," I explained in a leisurely tone. "As long as you hide yourselves, well, that is."

"No matter how good a hiding place we find, we'll eventually be found," Fukurou replied while shaking his head.

"You won't have to stay there forever, only two years, which is how much time you need to finish that so-called mission anyway," I said with a wolfish smirk, causing Fukurou's eyes to widen in shock.

"How do you know that?" the green-haired agent asked, his shock visible on his face, and I merely replied with a bemused grin. "Fine. Never mind then," he added a second later, after seeing my expression.

"We accept those terms. No, we don't have any choice but to accept those terms," Fukurou said with a resolute tone after exchanging a glance with Kumador in what seemed to be a silent conversation.

"Then get a doctor to look at your wounds or something and contact me on this number when you leave the island," I said as I got up, turning around and throwing a small piece of paper on the ground.

"Oh, and just in case you two think of double-crossing me," I added without turning around while walking toward my improvise entrance (The wall I exploded earlier) as I took out a transponder snail and pressed the red button on its shell.

"Don't," I concluded with an amused voice as the transponder snail began playing the conversation we just had.

-0-

Later at night.

I sigh in content as I slump into the black pearl's railing, leaning on it and taking out my whisky bottle to indulge in as I do.

After venting most of my frustrations at the cp9 agents and Killing Jabra, the piece of human waste who started this whole situation, I'm finally able to relax now.

Even though it was Jabra's reckless actions that alerted me to the situation early, allowing me to begin planning ahead of time to get on top of any similar circumstances in the future, he still had to die.

But I wasn't satisfied, as the main reason for all of this situation. A fat pig in a fancy space suit is still living in Mariejois, enjoying his life without a care in the world.

I shake my head as I take a sip of whisky, pushing down the urge to climb the red line and doing something similar to what Fisher Tiger did in the past.

"I'm not nearly strong enough to do something like that. I need to focus on my plans and become strong for now, but one day...," I murmur to myself with an inaudible voice while smiling, the image of a burning Mariejois appearing in my head as I did.

"What did you say, captain? And your smile kind of felt scary for a moment, just now," Elly said, causing me to stop thinking about all the different ways a celestial dragon would squeal when I finally get the chance to beat one of them to death.

"Nothing important, just thinking about something fun," I replied with a smile as I turned around to look at her. "More importantly, give me my hat back. I just lent it to you when I went to meet with Hina," I said while looking at my hat that was resting on Elly's head.

"No," Elly replied with one word, causing my eyes to twitch. "What do you mean, no? That's my hat. Hurry up and give it back," I said with an exasperated voice.

"No means no," Elly replied again, looking at me like I was an idiot. "You..., fine. You can keep it for now, but you'll have to give it back sooner or later," I said with a defeated sigh when I noticed Laffite and Kozue coming back to the ship.

"Welcome back, you two. How did it go?" I asked as I turned to look at the two as they jumped aboard the ship. "It looks like someone called Obbi had too much to drink on while moon gazing on a rooftop and fell headfirst into the ground, breaking his neck and dying in the process," Kozue replied with a smirk.

"I see, what a shame," I remarked with a blank expression as I leaned my head backward, taking a big mouthful of whisky into my mouth and swallowing it promptly.

"You guys did well, go get some rest," I added with a smile, causing Laffite and Kozue to smile as well as they turned around to mingle with the rest of the crew.

Laffite went to drink with Wilson while Elly took Kozue's hand and led her into the lower decks to do god knows what females do in private, causing me to shrug as I made my way to my room to call it a day and get some shut-eye.

(Author's note: discord gg/sEtqmRs5y7 <—- the link to my discord server. It already has a couple of awesome guys with memes and constant discussions about one piece)