Lion Hunting

Everyone around Jack was looking at him in confusion. They had been flying through the air for a few hours, but had to make a stop when Jack was answering his Transponder Snail.

It was a tiny ship, so they heard both conversations with Soran and Sengoku, and that's where the confusion came in. "So two of the biggest monsters in the marines made a deal with you to not attack some people with a God-complex, and you agree with it?" Nami asked curiously.

Shrugging his shoulders Jack answered, "We don't really lose all that much. We can still raid them of all the slaves and weapons, and we can kill them outside of the Holy City. They are basically cattle now. Judging by how Sengoku was acting, he is extremely fed up with something they did. For him and Garp to leave the marines, something big must have happened."

Jack actually looked pleased with himself. "Is there any downside for us with this deal?" Luke asked, not sure how he felt. "The only big thing I can see is that they will be trying to amass a large enough force to try and wipe us out, and they will still try to take slaves, but we can kill them anytime they come out of the Holy city."

Jack stopped to think for a second before continuing, "As for the marines, we can still kill them however much we want, but we should try not to kill the ones who are actually doing their job." Jack answered with a big smile on his face.

"Okay, why are you smiling like that?!! It's creepy!" Nojiko said, saying what everyone was clearly thinking. "Because, Sengoku was pretty much the only thing holding the marines together!! Now that he's gone, The marines will do something stupid like try and move there HQ into the New World to show their dominance, or their higher-ups will fight for the ruling position. Either way they don't have anyone smart enough to take over for him. As for Garp, he's not our problem anymore, and trust me, he was a big problem!" Jack answered, which after some thought, they all agreed with.

"Anyway, let's get back to hunting." Jack said as he once again took his seat and launched them through the air, this time with a far bigger blast. They were traveling to Merveille by Eternal Pose to get there directly, and judging by how fast they were going, they should be able to make it there in a few days.

When they got to Loguetown, Jack descended at the base to Reverse Mountain, where they would enter the Grande Line and landed quite smoothly. "Why are we stopping here?" Nami asked as she was looking at the map.

"It is tradition that anyone that enters the Grande Line for their first time, must go over Reverse Mountain. I haven't been over it, and I've always wanted to try it." Jack answered, doing it on a whim, just because he wanted to.

They propelled forward until the little ship was being dragged forward all on it's own, eventually getting to an opening in the Red line where the water went upwards. "This is impossible!!" Nami shouted at the sight.

"This is the Grande Line!! Logic and reasoning don't work here!!" Smoker shouted with a grin spread across his face. He had taken this route only twice, the other times he sailed through the Calm Belt on the marines ships. As the ship went upwards they eventually got into the clouds.

"This is amazing!! I didn't think this was possible!!" Nami exclaimed as she took it all in. As the ship made it's decent everyone acted as though they were going on a fun ride and not a death trap that has been the doom of countless pirates before them. Granted they had all flown with Jack, and compared to that, this was like a calm swim in a lake.

As soon as they made it to the bottom of Reverse Mountain, Jack immediately charged up a blast and launched them into the sky. He had no intention of staying to meet the light house keeper or the giant ass whale. He just couldn't bring himself to do it when Luffy would most likely be the one to do it when he got here, plus he didn't wanna make a promise to meet a perverted skeleton as well.

From the entrance of Reverse Mountain, it wouldn't take too much longer until they got to Merveille. They stopped at a few islands they came across, mainly to sleep or take a break from flying, but after a few days they came across a few strange islands that were floating in the air.

"This is where Shiki is holding up. We get in there, make sure he doesn't have any civilians, then end the fucker!" Jack stated firmly. "Everyone pick an island, scout all the rooms, kill anyone you can without setting off alarms, then we meet back here in 3 hours."

As soon as Jack said that, he vanished from the area, everyone else following suit right after. It was late into the evening and the sun was close to setting, but it still illuminated the some of the islands around them.

Jack went to the winter island first, not even finding a soldier on it before moving to another island. This island apparently had a barracks on it with a few hundred soldiers. Jack made short work of every single one of them before continuing on his way.

Luke used Moonwalk to get to one of the islands, and when he got there he only found dozens of mutated animals. 'What the fuck happened to these things?!' Luke exclaimed internally.

The animals were in cages and test tubes, and many of them looked as though they were in extreme pain. Luke crept around the room, not sure of what he could do for them. As he made his way around the area, he heard someone laughing maniacally.

He got close enough to get a proper view, and what he saw was a tall creepy blue haired clown wearing a lab coat. The clown was dancing back and forth as he held a vile of some weird liquid in a syringe. Luke watched as the clown walked over to a small caged animal, and injected the contents of the syringe into the creature.

The room was filled with cries of agony from the weird blue cat. The next few moments, the small cat visibly grew taller, muscular, and an extra tail. The clown proceeded to do something else to the now giant tiger, but before he could complete whatever it was, Luke bolted in with swords drawn and sliced the clowns arm off, and cut a deep gash in his side.

The clown managed to somehow get out of the way of the last strike, but he didn't even get to yell before a sword pierced his throat. The wails from the animals had set Luke off, and he vowed to himself that he was going to end this clown.

While still keeping one sword in the clown's throat, Luke severed the legs of the clown with his other sword. "You like to play doctor... I think I'll give it a try as well!!" Luke hissed out as he dragged the squirming clown to a table.

"First we need to make a small incision right here." Luke said as he placed a knife under the clowns remaining arm, then slowly pushed the tip of the blade into his skin. "With a quick pull, usually that will sever it cleanly, but as I want to show you everything, we'll take it slowly."

Luke was slowly pulling the knife back towards himself as the blade cut through the clown. The clown was choking on his own blood, but that didn't seem to stop Luke as he described everything in detail to the clown. "Animals feel fear just like anyone else! They are not yours or anyone's playthings!! Do you like being toyed with?!!"

After severing the clown's arm, Luke made a small cut into his chest before pouring some of the liquid from the syringe into it. Luke watched as the clown was in a seizure like state, and after a few moments he stopped moving completely. 'Maybe it doesn't work on people.' Luke thought before he cut the clown's head off, then cut the rest of his body into little pieces.

Walking over to all of the caged animals, Luke held up the clowns head before saying, "The creepy bastard can't hurt you anymore! Soon these islands will be back on the ocean and you can do whatever it is you want. I don't know what it is is he did to you, but you are free to do whatever it is you want!" After saying that, Luke cut all of the cages and made his way out of the room, all of the animals in tow.

As Luke was walking outside he noticed all of the animals following him. Turning to them he said, "I would appreciate it if you all kept out of sight until morning! We can't have these guys knowing we're here. If you all stay here for a little longer, I'll be back with someone who can get you all out of here safely." Most of the animals looked as though they understood what he was saying, and crept to the shadows. Luke smiled at that before jumping to another island.

Smoker went around a few islands, finding a deserted town, some shrines and other weird things. He found a few patrols walking around, but they were killed pretty quickly. He couldn't find any signs of civilians, so he continued to make his way to the other areas. He eventually found Tashigi and after learning she found nothing as well they traveled together until the set time before heading back to the meeting spot.

Nami and Nojiko explored islands next to each other, and after raiding a few office rooms, they got intel that there was a prison on the main island where Shiki's base was, with a bunch of feathered people who were native to these islands. Apparently Shiki killed most of them off a few weeks ago, but there were still dozens of them locked up. They explored some ruins, but ultimately found nothing else before the meeting time, so they headed back.

Jack sensed a few hundred people, maybe even thousands in Shiki's main base, but decided to hold off on attacking it yet. He checked a few more of the islands, killing dozens of patrols, then made his way back to the meeting spot where everyone was waiting for him. "You guys find anything?" He asked curiously.

Smoker and Tashigi shook their heads in the negative, but Nami handed him a stack of papers before saying, "It says there are a bunch of bird people in a prison on the main base, but most of them were killed. Apparently they were the original inhabitants of these islands before Shiki showed up."

Jack read over the paper with a grim look on his face before nodding to Nami. "We'll have to get them out before we attack Shiki, otherwise they might die when the islands fall." Jack said before he turned his attention to Luke. It was only now that he noticed Luke's arm was covered in blood, but it was apparent it wasn't his own.

"What the hell happened?!" Jack asked incredulously. "I played doctor on a creepy clown. Anyway that's not important right now. I found a few hundred animals that they experimented on, and they are all waiting for us to go get them. It seems they just want to get out of here, so we should remove them as well before we go after Shiki!" Luke said as he pointed out the island in which the animals were hiding.

"Alright, I can get them down here, and we can just put them on some ships until the islands fall." Jack said as they all made their way up to the floating island.

As soon as the animals noticed Luke, they all came out of hiding and into the open. "Hey guys! These people right here are my friends and they are going to get you all out of here!" Luke said to the animals, who looked happy when he said that. "Can they actually understand you?" Smoker asked curiously.

Luke shrugged his shoulders before saying, "No idea, but it seems like they can." Jack didn't waste anytime before he swept them all into his darkness, except a little yellow duck that Nami had fallen in love with. Soon they went into the lab, and it was then everyone got a look at the aftermath of Luke's doctoring skills.

"Remind me to never let you to patch me up!" Smoker said as they watched Jack burn all of the plants and drugs in the room with his dark flames. "Let's get down to the ships, then we'll head into Shiki's den." Jack said as they all left the room.

It wasn't long before there were dozens of ships filled with animals, and some of the giant ones were floating around in the ocean. "Alright, you all stay here and wait until the islands fall, then you can go back to your homes!" Luke shouted to the animals around them.

"What is with you and animals? You sound way too happy around them!" Nojiko could help but ask. Luke actually stopped to think about that before answering, "Not quite sure, but I like them. They're cool." Tashigi and Nojiko looked to each other before shrugging their shoulders. It was his life and he could do whatever it was he wanted, and it made him actually seem human so they were all for it.

Soon they were all moving through the giant fortress that was Shiki's main base. They went from room to room assassinating anyone they could find as they made their way towards the prison. They weren't too sure where it was, but Jack figured it was somewhere on the lower floors.

After over an hour, they eventually just captured a guard and forced him into giving them directions before they killed him. Following the directions they made it to the prison in no time at all and killed all of the guards in the room. Jack looked over the 26 remaining feathered looking people before he swept them into his dark space.

"Let's kill the lion!" Jack said with a hint of anger in his voice as they moved through the fortress, not bothering to be stealthy anymore. They knew Shiki was in the main hall on his throne as always from everyone they captured before killing them. They had to make sure they wouldn't accidentally run into Shiki on accident before they got to the prisoners, so they kept a few people alive for longer than was necessary.

(Shiki POV)

Shiki was sitting in his comfortable chair with a big gorilla standing beside him. In front of him their were a few of his division commanders discussing their venture into East Blue in a few weeks. He was listening to the plans when all of the sudden the doors to he room were kicked in with a loud *BOOOM!!!*

"Here kitty kitty kitty!!" A loud mocking voice sounded throughout the room. Looking at the doorway, Shiki saw six figures walk into the room with weapons drawn at the ready. At the front of them a man with long raven black hair looked at him with a big ear to ear grin spread across his face. "Who are you?!!" Shiki shouted in annoyance.

"Well that's just insulting!! You plan to destroy my territory, yet you don't even know who I am?!! The names Jack Sparrow, ya golden dickhead!!" The man in front shouted back, his smile betraying his hurt tone. Shiki knew all about East Blue being conquered by an unknown man, and that the government claimed in the papers recently that this man purchased it from them. "So you came to try and stop me?!!" Shiki asked in a haughty attitude.

"I'm here to get a knew lion skin rug for my walls!!" Jack shouted before disappearing from where he was. The next instant, Jack was behind Shiki with a gun pointed towards him. Shiki tried to get out of the way, but he wasn't quick enough and was shot in the shoulder, almost taking his arm off.

He kept trying to use his Devil Fruit to fly away from him, but nothing was working. All he could do was run around on his two sword legs, trying to get out of this crazy man's reach. "Where are you going?!! I want your fucking head on a pike!!" Jack roared angrily as he took one of Shiki's legs.

"What's happening?!!" Shiki shouted in a panic. Shiki looked around him, hoping to get one of his commanders to help him out, but all of them were either dead, or being slaughtered by Jack's own group. "What's the matter Shiki?!! Can't use your precious power?! You can feel it right? The islands are falling as we speak!!" Jack shouted as he fired more at Shiki, puncturing his ribs and stomach.

Shiki could do nothing but send a few weak wind blades towards Jack with his remaining leg, but Jack cut it off too, leaving a one armed, powerless Shiki in a pool of his own blood. Jack quickly grabbed Shiki by the throat and jumped out the window, his crew following behind him.

They were all floating in the air using Moonwalk as the islands around them crashed into the ocean, sending massive waves in every direction. After e few minutes, and the worst part being over, they all descended to the still rumbling lands around them.

Jack pulled out a few massive crates of Fruits before turning his attention back to Shiki. "I've been wanting to end you for awhile now. You have a lot of ambition to try and rule the world, but you are just an insect, destined to be crushed under heel!" Jack stated with a feral look in his eyes. Shiki didn't even get to say a word before a sword pierced his left eye and came out the other side of his head.

(General POV)

Jack kicked what was left of Shiki off his sword before shooting his torso a few times. "Better safe than sorry with this guy!" Jack said as he pulled out a few chairs. Nojiko took a seat, but looked at Jack with a curious look on her face, which prompted Jack to ask, "Do I have something on my face or can you just not take your eyes off me?!"

Nojiko rolled her eyes with a faint smile on her face as she said, "No, I'm just curious about the fruit. Why so much of it?" Everyone turned their attention to the fruit, then back to Jack, waiting for an answer.

"Ah I think I may have left that out. Well, when a Devil Fruit holder is killed, the power of the fruit goes into the nearest fruit that it is most compatible with. Each power only goes into one specific kind of Fruit, and the fruit has to be at a certain point. The power won't go into an unripe or a rotten fruit of it's specified choice, which might be why not many people know of this." Jack said in a teaching manner.

Everyone listened with rapt attention, and they couldn't believe it. "So what makes you think that it will enter one of these fruits?" Smoker curiously asked. "Well, in all of these crates there is one of every fruit throughout the world, each of them at just the right point. None are unripe, and none are rotten. My power keeps anything I put into it in the same condition as when it went in. I can't guarantee that we will get it, but odds are higher than not." Jack clarified for all of them.

"So how long does it usually take for the power to go into the fruit?" Nami asked with sparkly eyes, already thinking of ways to make money off this. "Could be different for each Devil Fruit, but we'll hang out here for awhile anyway, just to be sure. Anyway, I think we should bring the animals over and check for survivors." Jack said as he rushed over to a far part of the island before releasing the bird people and then coming back. He would meet with them after.

As Jack watched the crates with his Haki, he noticed one of the fruits start to change after 15 minutes. It wasn't long after when the fruit was entirely changed, and Jack pulled it from the crate before adding another of the lost fruits to the crate before putting them all back into his inventory.

"So this is the Float-Float Fruit..." Jack said as he held the strange fruit in his palms. He already had an idea of who to give it to, but would wait and see what they said. Stowing the Fruit in his inventory, Jack went to find the others to see how everyone was doing. The islands were still rumbling as not everything had quite settled on some parts of the islands, but the ocean had calmed down and it wasn't too bad now.

The area actually looked like a paradise, islands with different climates, and they were all in close proximity, creating a sort of utopia around the area. The animals had all been unloaded and were running off to certain areas of the islands, some sticking around Luke, some heading out to sea on their own. The bird people went to the island where their homes were, but most if not all of the buildings were demolished.

"So how goes everything?" Jack asked as he walked towards where everyone was resting. Smoker was sitting a lounge chair with a bottle of Rum in one hand and a cigar in the other, looking for all the world like a man at peace. "It goes well." He replied lazily as he raised his bottle towards Jack, who in turn tossed him a new bottle.

"Did you get the fruit?!" Nami asked expectantly, eyes still shining from earlier. "Yeah it worked, and I'd like to discuss it actually. If I'm being perfectly honest, I think either Nami or Nojiko should eat it as it would be something the navigator or someone with the navigator should have. Also it complements Nojiko's long range fighting style, and she stays with Nami most of the time anyway, so that's something. Thoughts?" Jack said as he looked to everyone around him.

"What about me?" Luke asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean you could if you really wanted to, but I already have a different Devil Fruit lined up for you. We should actually be where it is in the next few weeks." Jack said, which peaked everyone's interests.

"Which Fruit?!" Luke asked in excitement. In response Jack pulled out the book on Devil Fruits that he had, flipped a few pages and then handed the book to Luke. Looking over the page, Luke's eyes went wide. "I take it back, I'll take this one!!" Luke said with a smile on his face.

"I'm glad you like it. The guy who has it already is a dickhead who really needs to die, so it works out well for us." Jack said with a smile on his face. "So back to the Float-Float Fruit. What are your thoughts, and don't just say yes because I said so, if you don't like this power then you don't have to have this one." Jack said, trying to go back to the original topic.

They all discussed it for awhile, but eventually it was Nojiko who wanted to eat it, as it really did suit her fighting style, and it would allow her and Nami to stay closer and work together as they sailed.

Everyone watched as Nojiko took a giant bite out of the oddly shaped fruit, only to see her facial expression change to one of disgust. She did manage to choke it down, but she didn't look happy in the slightest.

Smoker and Jack were looking at her with faint smiles on their faces, remembering the time when they ate their fruits and how terrible it was for them. "So how do you feel?" Nami asked curiously. Nojiko for her part, walked over to a rock and touched it before levitating it in the air around them. "I feel great!" Nojiko said happily as she hugged Nami.

"We'll stay here for a week and let you get more acquainted with your power, then it's off to our next destination." Jack said with a smile at how happy Nojiko was. "And where is that?" Smoker asked curiously. Jack looked to everyone with a manic grin on his face, then said "To capture a princess, overthrow a monarchy, and kill a Warlord!!"