chapter 14

I woke up on my bed inside the small cabin of the ship, feeling a slight headache and a little weak. I then headed outside of the cabin to find Wilson sitting leisurely at the battered deck of our boat.

The deck, however, wasn't the only thing in lousy shape. The mast was missing entirely, and the sails and railing of the ship had many chunks missing from it.

All intents and purposes did for this small unnamed carvel, but luckily she managed to fulfil her duty as we were currently at what seemed to be the port of a medium-sized town.

"how long was I out, where are we, and what happened to the mast?." I asked as I reached to one of the barrels and took some fruits to munch on.

"you were out for eight hours, the upper half of the mast broke and fell into the sea, so I ripped the lower half and used it as an oar to get us into the island. as for where we are I have absolutely no idea," he said as he poured himself some whisky and drank in a relaxed manner.

"Whatever, I'll just go and gather information myself since your too lazy to do it," I said, then picked up my backpack and my weapons and jumped off the ship's railing and into the wooden dock.

At first, I was content with exploring the town and taking in its sights. It seemed like one of those towns you would find in a wild west movie with people wearing all kinds of ranchers and cowboy outfits roaming all around it.

Once I had the lay of the town figured, I started heading in the direction of the town's only bar. Once there, I made my entrance without any fanfare and started making my way towards the bartender's table. And then simply sat at a stool and waited for the bartender to approach me himself.

"good day, what can I get you?" he greeted and then asked while holding an empty glass and drying it with a small piece of cloth.

"whatever is popular, and I also need some information," I said, as I put my hand on the table displaying a one thousand belly bill and slid it across the table in the bartender's direction. To which he raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"you see me and my mate are bounty hunters, but we've been lost in the sea for a while and now we have absolutely no idea about where we are or the current date," I said as I slid another one thousand belly bill in his direction.

"ask away," he said as he pocketed the belly pills and brought a large glass full of beer in front of me.

"what's the current date, and I don't mean the day of the month I mean the year," I asked as I took a sip of the bear in front of me.

"it's currently the twentieth year of the great pirate age", he answered without a change of expression.

'two years before Luffy departed and one year after ace departed. could have been better but still good enough.' I thought to myself but continued asking.

"What is this island called and what sea is it located on?" I asked him again while finishing all the beer left in the glass with a single gulp.

"We are currently inside the borders of the Ballywood kingdom located in the west blue and ruled by king ham burger," he said as his eyebrow raised in suspicion once more. (Author's note: To make things clear. Ballywood is an actual canon island, and it isn't something I came up with. The king of this island is called ham burger, and he is also a canon character who attended the Levely)

"come on man don't be like that, I already told you we were lost for quite a while and things got a little too crazy at times, but luckily we're still at the same sea," I said placatingly as I slid another one thousand belly bill in his direction, which he again pocketed.

I then proceeded to ask him about the island's geography, what bounties were available for me to collect, and the process of delivering them to authorities on this island.

It was by the time that I finished questioning the bartender that she walked into the bar. And by god was she a sight for soar eyes.

She had flaming red hair adorned by a black, wide-brimmed cowboy hat, resting on an oval-shaped white face with sharp green eyes, a delicate small nose, full red lips, and a pointy chin.

Lowering my gaze from her face to her body, the first thing I noticed was the red tie, tied around the collar of a simple white shirt and with its end tucked into a black leather vest with brass-coloured zippers covering it.

Her right arm was covered with a strange bracer. While her right hand was holding the end of a lever-action rifle as she rested its barrel on her shoulder. And her left arm hung loosely by her side as the sleeve of her shirt was tucked slightly backwards, revealing her thin, heavily tattooed forearm.

Suddenly her eyes met mine as I was devouring the sight of her with my eyes. She seems to have noticed my far from polite gaze on her while I was lost in thought.

"what you staring at punk, you got a problem with me?" she said menacingly as she spat to the side at the floor, and I think I'm in love.

"nothing like that miss, it's just that you're quite pretty and I couldn't help myself from staring. how about I buy a drink or two to apologize for my rude behavior?." I said as I tipped my hat in her direction with my index finger and smiled good-naturedly.

She didn't answer immediately as she took a second to look me over, her gaze lingering slightly longer on my left prosthetic hand.

"well you ain't too bad yourself tiger, and I won't say no to a free drink," she said with a smile as she sat on the stool next to me.

"The name's Johnny, a pleasure to meet you, miss...?" I said with a disarming smile of my own, trying to fish for her name as I extended my hand in her direction.

"I go by jones and that's all you need to know for now tiger," she said as she caught my hand in a firm handshake.

And so we began to drink and chat and drink for several minutes until someone came inside the bar and handed a piece of paper to jones and left. She looked at the article's content, then stuffed it into her pocket and just stood up.

"it's been a pleasure tiger, but something came up and now I need to go," she said as she made her way to the exit.

"The pleasure is all mine miss jones, I'll see you later then," I said as I watched her leave my eyes lingering on a specific swaying area of her body.

I then finished my drink and also left after paying the bill.