Disguises

On the ship of the Heavenly Demon Pirates, Silk was staring at Ori in disbelief.

"Captain… You… You mean that you're willing to protect Queen Otohime personally?!"

"You're now one of the Heavenly Demons, your problems are our problems. Since you want to protect Queen Otohime on her journey to Mary Geoise than as your nakama, we too want to protect her. Unless you're saying that you don't think we're strong enough."

When he heard that, Silk immediately shook his head emphatically. All 3 of the Demonic trio were monsters that were easily S rank. Between that and the fact that they worked extremely well as a team, he would be hard pressed to afford a better S rank adventurer team from the federation with his current funds.

He knelt down on both knees and kowtowed to his new captain.

"Thank you captain, it'd be an honour to have your support!"

Since they met, Ori had done nothing but help him. He was deeply touched by his display and made a promise to himself to do everything possible to help Ori achieve his dream of becoming king of the pirates.

Ori created a gentle wind lifting Silk to his feet and said seriously.

"Kneeling to someone isn't something that should be done lightly, the only people qualified to receive your kneeling are your parents. Although I'm your captain, I'm not your master. Do you understand?"

Seeing the serious look in Orion's eyes made Silk realise how serious he was. He then replayed Ori's words in his head.

[I'm your captain not your master!]

As far as he was concerned there was no difference. The captain of a pirate crew controlled the lives of his crew, the orders of the captain could never be doubted even if it meant giving your life. But just listening to those words he completely understood what Ori was getting at.

[He may be the Captain of the Heavenly Demon Pirates but he's not the master of my life. He wants a crew who can still think and act for themselves.

I don't know many pirates, but I'm sure there aren't many like you. Captain regardless of what happens in the future, I promise here today that from now till my last breath you have my unwavering loyalty!]

As he made that promise to himself he looked back at Ori and nodded seriously.

"I understand Captain!"

Hearing that Ori looked at Silk with a helpless smile as he said.

"Just call me Orion or Ori for short, you constantly calling me Captain makes me feel awkward, as if I'm some sort of dictator!"

"Yes Cap… I mean Orion!"

Ori shrugged helplessly before changing the subject of conversation.

"Ok now that's sorted we need to figure out a way to hide our identities as although there's no denying our strength, if the navy finds out that Queen Otohime is being protected by wanted pirates, it'll only bring fishman Island more problems."

It was then that Shaya walked over from the rear of the ship.

"I know someone who can help with that. He was a good friend of my father, if nothing's changed he should still reside on Cantera Island."

Ori turned to Shaya and asked.

"How far away is that?"

"Sabo would be better to ask but according to my estimates, Cantera Island should take 3 weeks to travel to normally."

Ori turned back to Silk and asked,

"Where abouts is Queen Otohime surfacing?"

"His majesty King Neptune said he would be sending lord Jinbei to accompany her to St. Poplar in 3 and a half weeks, so she could catch the sea train to Enies Lobby. From there she would speak to a few officials stationed at Enies Lobby who would then take her to Mary Geoise.

As unknown personnel aren't allowed to enter Mary Geoise, our task would simply be to accompany her majesty from St. Poplar to Enies Lobby and stay with her till she leaves Enies Lobby, then wait till her return 48 hours later. From there we deliver her back to Lord Jinbei's hands in St. Poplar."

Hearing that Ori couldn't help but frown.

"3 and a half weeks? That would only give us half a week to get to St. Poplar from Cantera Island… Unless the 2 islands are close by, it'll be too difficult!"

Shaya smiled as she said.

"While that'd be true if we were to sail normally, if we were to travel as the crow flies to Cantera Island we should be able to make it in 2 weeks, and if you were to speed things along it'll be even faster."

"Haha of course, why didn't I think of that?!"

Silk was happy there was a way to make it but he didn't understand what they were talking about.

"As the crow flies?"

Shaya nodded and answered.

"It means to travel in a straight line to reach your destination, instead of following the detours set by the usual path. Between that and using Ori's wind abilities, our travel time will be reduced drastically."

Silk nodded excitedly understanding this plan seemed feasible.

Shaya then went on to say.

"Now that's sorted we just need to figure out the best means of approaching this as we can't use our devil fruits or usual abilities as even with our disguises we'd still give ourselves away."

Silk nodded in agreement. The Demonic Trio were the talk of the world at the moment, their powers and abilities were no secret.

Ori shrugged as he said.

"We don't need to change too much, as long as we change our weapons and don't use our devil fruits, no one should recognise us.

Roman has achieved the Spearman Boundary, so he can use a spear instead of his halberd, you can change to a short bow and I'll buy a pair of swords and be a dual swordsman. Although we'll be weaker than usual, our strength will still be that of an S rank adventurer."

Shaya nodded in agreement as she looked at Silk and asked.

"Is there a decent weapon shop on Parch Island?"

"In the centre of town on the main strip is the island's best weapon shop. It may not be the best in the world, but they still have graded weapons and a few Skilful grade weapons."

Shaya nodded.

"That'll do, I'll pay them a visit now and pick up the weapons we need. Ori I saw your new sword, do you want me to pick up just one sword or two?"

Ori looked down at Purity Dream at his side and replied.

"2. This will be the sword I use from now on. If people see me using it whilst disguised as well, it'll blow our cover and they'll know that we were the ones who protected Queen Otohime."

Shaya nodded before turning to head back into town.

An hour later Shaya returned with the weapons she left for; an ordinary looking graded spear for Roman, twin graded katanas and for herself she ended up picking a set of 10 throwing knives.

Seeing the throwing knives in her hand Ori couldn't help but look at her oddly.

Understanding what was going through his mind she through a throwing knife at the ship's mast. The knife tore through the air at an incredible speed and pierced directly into the mast. Upon closer inspection, Ori noticed that she had pierced the wing of the fly, sticking it to the mast.

"I decided to use throwing knives as I can still use my arrow intent on them. If I had just picked a short bow, even with the disguises, there was still a chance we would be recognised as Roman was the only person who was using a different weapon and even then some of the concepts remained.

Seeing a swordsman, spearman and an archer, although not a dead giveaway, still would've been easily recognisable."

Ori nodded in agreement and didn't say anything further regarding the matter. He turned to Silk and asked.

"You ready to head out?"

Silk nodded and said.

"I'm ready whenever you are Cap… Ori!"

Orion shook his head helplessly before turning to Shaya.

"Which way are we heading then?"

Shaya lazily replied.

"North East."

Ori scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

"Which way's North East again?"

Shaya palmed her forehead and shook her head helplessly as she pointed.

"That way!"

Seeing the direction she pointed, Ori walked to the back of the ship. Seeing him walk to the back of the ship, Shaya hurried to tie Sabo and Roman to the ground whilst telling Silk to hold on to something.

Silk didn't understand what she meant but chose to trust her and grabbed hold of the rail of the ship when he heard Ori's excited voice.

"Cantera Island, here we come!"

As he said that the ship suddenly took to the sky like a rocket. As they took off, Silk's screams could be heard followed by the sound of Ori's laughter.

"Ahhhh!"

"Hahaha!"