06. Alvida Pirates

Goat Island is a small island, even smaller than Sixis Island. But unlike the barren lands of the latter, Goat Island is filled with life, trees grow on it, animals live and so on. In general, a small paradise in the middle of the ocean.

True, due to its small size and the fact that the island is far from the main trade routes, no one is interested in it and no one lives on it. At least that's what the whole world thinks. In fact, the island is the base of the pirate team, which uses the remoteness of the island to their advantage.

"Iron Mace" Alvida and her crew use Goat Island as a place where they can rest after their raids, as well as hide from the pursuit of the Marines. In fact, this is a good idea, since there are a lot of small and deserted islands like Goat in the ocean, and if you don't know exactly where the team is hiding, it will be very difficult to find it.

That's why the Marines don't even try to look for them, as it's a waste of time and resources. It's easier to wait for the next appearance of the pirate team and then tie them up.

Though the Marines have better things to do than worry about the little East Blue crew. In general, this is precisely what bounty hunters and other mercenaries exist for, who will do the work of Marines for them, for an impressive reward, of course.

Alvida herself is nothing, especially now that she hasn't eaten the Sube Sube no Mi yet, but there should definitely be a reward for her. And given that she has been a pirate for a long time, she should have accumulated enough trophies that I do not mind confiscating.

Other than that, I decided to target the Alvida Pirates, due to the fact that I know this team and their level of power. Well, also because they are closest to my current location. Before a full-fledged exit into the world, one more trump card is useful to me and I want to earn one lottery ticket before I get to the mainland.

It took the Quinjet only two hours to reach Alvida's island, and now, under the guidance of the Oracle, we landed in a clearing, next to the ocean shore, which was on the opposite end of the island from the place where the base of the Alvida Pirates was located.

All the time, while we were on the road, I continued to build the psionic shield and was quite successful at it, although it would take me a few more sessions to completely finish it. It turned out to be much more difficult and exhausting than I initially thought, but when working with the mind, especially your own, you should be extremely careful.

After landing, I had a little refreshment and replenished the lost energy. And now, it's time to earn a few more million belly.

This time, I decided not to use the force method, but to act in a more accurate way, and at the same time test a few more of my psionic skills.

Sitting comfortably in the pilot's seat, I closed my eyes and concentrated as I separated my astral projection from my physical body. I didn't manage to understand anything, how I was in the air and now hovering under the ceiling of the Quinjet, looking at my unconscious body, which lay limply on the chair.

- Whoa… - I involuntarily said, noticing how unusual it felt to be an astral projection.

Now I was on the astral plane, an alternate dimension equivalent to our own space, where all matter is made of ectoplasm. At least that's what Emma's experience tells me.

I could observe what is happening in the real world, but other beings who have no connection with this place will not be able to see me or harm me in any way. I don't think even Haki can cross the dimensional boundaries.

But among the Devil Fruits, there should definitely be those that make it possible to connect to this plan. It is not necessary to go far for an example, and I think that the same Perona with her Horo Horo no Mi fit these criteria.

Now I was on the Astral Plane, which is tied to this planet, but at any moment I can plunge deeper into the real Astral Kingdom, which is a completely different dimension, with its own rules and laws. True, I'm not going to do this, because I'm not sure that I can return back, and who knows what kind of creatures are found there. I'm doing well on the material plane as well.

By the way, about the material world. I can at any moment show my projection in the world of the living, and even then, people will be able to see and communicate with me, but they will not be able to touch me. Like me, but my telepathic powers will work fine, besides, they will become stronger, due to the fact that I'm not limited by my meat suit.

In fact, I become a living ghost. I can be invisible, fly, walk through solid objects, use telepathy, and fire psychic blasts and lightning. The only thing missing is the infusion and capture of the body.

'I didn't expect this ability to be so promising and useful. Maybe I should take the surname Fenton? Or is Phantom better? No, it's stupid though.' - I thought involuntarily, continuing to examine my projection and the astral world.

After spending a few minutes getting used to handling such a body, and how to fly, I decided to make sure that everything was working correctly.

- Oracle, can you hear me? - hovering next to my real body, I asked loudly, still on the astral plane.

Hearing no answer, I manifested my projection in the material world and again turned to the on-board computer of the Quinjet: - Oracle!

- [Captain?] - the Oracle asked, ignoring the fact that there are two of me, one sleeping on a chair, and the other flying nearby.

- So everything is working. Continue to maintain camouflage, and if you spot any intruders, you can get the jet into the air. Your main task is to prevent the Quinjet from being discovered, and also to protect my body. - I gave the order.

- [Yes, sir.] - answered the Oracle.

After making sure that I had not forgotten anything, I again plunged into the astral plane and, flying through the ceiling of the jet, flew to the other half of the island, where I felt the accumulation of minds.

A couple of minutes of flight through the dense forest, which did not cause me any problems, as I flew right through the trees, passing them through my ghostly body, I ended up on the other side of the island, where I noticed several wooden buildings and a four-masted ship.

It was painted pink with white sails painted with hearts. A pirate flag flies on the mainmast, and the figurehead was in the form of a white duck. The Jolly Roger of the Alvida Pirates was a traditional skull and crossbones, however the skull is depicted on the side and has a red heart.

In total I felt eighteen people. Seventeen men and one woman, who was now on the ship. This apparently was Alvida herself, and the rest of her subordinates. Lucky again, and there are no hostages or unnecessary witnesses.

Most of Alvida's subordinates were now sitting around the fire in the center of the makeshift camp and celebrating something, laughing very loudly and singing alcoholic drinks. Only two guys were unlucky who were on duty on the ship and apparently served as the captain's bodyguards.

After a little listening to the conversations of drunken pirates, which mainly consisted of insults to Alvida herself and her appearance, as well as complaints about how cruel she treats them, I was able to find out that they had just returned from a successful raid on a passenger ship. Lucky.

I decided not to dirty my hands about them and just put them to sleep with the help of telepathy. Firstly, the pirates are now too drunk and they definitely won't be able to fight, and secondly, I hate to deal with these cowards who hide behind a woman's back.

Not only are they incompetent weaklings, they also insult Alvida behind her back, while in front of her they act like her devoted fans and praise her 'beauty', afraid to get hit on the head with an iron mace.

I understand that in such a dangerous world you can do anything to survive, but since you have a healthy body, nothing prevents you from doing honest work. They themselves decided to devote themselves to a life of crime for the sake of easy money, and since they are such weaklings, they definitely have no right to complain about Alvida, who, in general, protects them.

'Okay, it's none of my business. It's not for me to judge people by their actions. I myself do some pretty immoral things. Who knows what I would have done if I hadn't had the Golden Lottery.' - After putting all the pirates to sleep, I thought, noticing that Koby was not here.

Apparently, he was lucky, and thanks to me, he will never be enslaved to Alvida's team. After making sure that there was no one else on the island, I flew to the ship.

After quickly putting the guards to sleep, I went to the captain's cabin, where Alvida was. After passing through several walls, I found myself in a rather luxurious room, in the center of which there was a large wooden table, at which Alvida herself was sitting, almost two meters fat woman with black hair and freckles.

To be honest, aside from her weight, she actually looked pretty in reality, at least now that she had a concentrated expression on her face while counting money.

Although it is possible, I think so, due to the fact that she is the first woman that I have seen in the last month.

- Khm, Good Afternoon. - Returning to the material plane, I politely said to attract the attention of a 22-year-old woman.

- What? What the hell? ; the woman screamed in fright, throwing away the money and raising her mace.

- Handsome? How did you get here? You came at the call of the heart for the sake of the beautiful Alvida-sama? - Seeing my appearance, the female pirate cast aside all her wariness and began to flirt with me.

Expecting something like this, I didn't react at all and calmly said: - No, I'm a bounty hunter and I've come to catch you 'Iron Mace' Alvida.

- Catch me in your love nets and never let me go? Oh you scoundrel. Well, okay, I agree, handsome. I knew that sooner or later it would happen, after all, it's hard to be the most beautiful woman in the world. - Alvida said with a sigh, putting her hand to her cheek.

- You have serious complexes about your appearance, right? - I asked, in fact, a rhetorical question.

- I don't have any complexes! - Alvida shouted, and in confirmation of this she destroyed the table with a mace.

- Eh... If you want to get rid of excess weight, I advise you to find the Sube Sube no Mi Devil Fruit, it looks like a glossy pink peach-like fruit with s-shaped swirls and a green stem growing on top of it. If I'm not mistaken, it must be close to this island. - I said with a sigh. Today is too long a day.

- What? It's true? - Alvida asked seriously, putting aside all her clownishness.

- Yes. But, you will have to look for him after you escape from the Marines, if you succeed, of course. - I answered honestly.

- Ufufufu, you are funny. That's it, I decided that you will become my husband and stay with me forever. Be happy, love, you got the most beautiful girl in the sea. - Alvida said confidently, pointing at me with her weapon.

- What a trouble ... I knew that I just had to knock her out and get out of here, taking all the loot. So no, I wanted to chat. Stupid fool. - I said softly, scolding myself for my own stupidity.

- What are you whispering? Shouldn't you be dancing with joy at having a beautiful woman like me? Alvida asked arrogantly. Yeah, specifically, her roof went crazy because of an inferiority complex, if she says such things out loud.

- I will probably refuse such a tempting offer. I said quickly.

- And who will ask you? You will stay here and this is NOT DISCUSSION!!! - Alvida shouted and attacked me with her mace.

True, there was no sense in this, because while I was an astral projection, all material objects simply pass through me and do me no harm.

- WHAT??? - Alvida shouted in shock, seeing that I was calmly standing in the same place, and the blow fell on the floor of the cabin.

- Okay, that's enough. It's time to end this circus. If you run away from the Marines, so be it, I won't touch you again. But now I need money, so go to sleep. - I said absolutely calmly, and then using my telepathy I easily put Alvida to sleep.

She had no chance to resist my psionic powers, so she instantly passed out and fell to the floor without even realizing what had happened.

Flying up to the woman's head, I put my hands on her temples and started using information absorption.

Alvida is a rather experienced pirate and she has been sailing in the sea for several years, and unlike the same Gally, who knew nothing about the world at all and survived only thanks to his luck, Alvida has quite a lot of information and knowledge about sailing, navigation, past events and how the world really works. Well, at least that's how the East Blue works.

This is exactly what what I need now, after all, one should not forget that I'm not a native of this world and I do not know many things that are familiar to the locals.

Now, thanks to the memory of Alvida, I understand the world better, and my further journey will go more smoothly.

Having finished downloading all the useful information, I drew attention to Alvida's destroyed table, on which lay what I came here for.

- Oh yeah, I can't touch anything until I have a body. - I said out loud after I tried to pick up a pack of belly from the floor, but I couldn't.

- So, first I need to return for the body, and then I can take all the treasures of the pirates and Alvida herself. - I muttered, about to leave the ship, as at the last moment I noticed a leaflet hanging on the wall.

- Only three millions. I was hoping for five. - I said indignantly, noticing that Alvida's reward was paying two million less than I thought.

- Although it is logical, now it is only 1518. At least they have plenty of loot. Okay, don't go anywhere, I'll be right back. - I said in the end, and then flew to the quinjet.