Destination, Thriller Bark

The party lasted till down, with most of the Blood Moons falling asleep either on the floor or on the couch. Some of them such as Kumadori and Jabra were also filled with all kinds of small wounds after fighting last night to test his Devil Fruit. The result of the fight was a draw, as Kumadori had yet to truly learn how to use his Devil Fruit and Jabra had been using his for years. If someone were looking now in the room where de party was held, would notice the absence of two people, namely Lucci and Kalifa.

After the party got too heated up, Lucci chose to retreat for the night, as he was now unable to get drunk easily and was unable to join the others in their shenanigans while being still sober. But as he was getting up to leave for some early rest, he noticed a drunk Kalifa who had poured drinks for him all night. Unwilling to leave her here with all those drunk people, he offered to escort her to her room, which she gladly accepted, thanking him kindly. However, as they got to the said room and Lucci was about to leave her be and go on his own, he was stopped by Kalifa. As she grabbed his hand and looked straight in his eyes with a small blush visible across her face, she invited him in, which took him totally by surprise.

He would normally be a gentleman and refuse if the invitation had come from a normal drunk person, but Kalifa was anything but that. She was a train assassin since birth, so her sense of preservation was top-notch even in her current state, not to mention this is the world of the pirates where a woman could be said to be more direct. After a short moment of consideration, he walked inside the room with her, as for what's next it can be left to the imagination.

... Next day...

As the sun was slowly creeping out-of-the-blue horizon of the ocean and waves were hitting the shore, the Blood Moons were slowly getting up from their respective slumbers being greeted by some strong hangovers.

Inside a certain room, lying on the bed were Lucci and Kalifa sleeping tightly. As the light of the sun slowly illuminated the dark room, Kalifa eyes opened ever so slowly as she took a look around her only to see a sleeping Lucci beside her, which put a small smile on her face. As she was looking at his face, he also started to wake up, noticing the pair of eyes that were currently looking at him.

"Morning!" Said a still sleepy Lucci.

Kalifa covered her smile with her hand and slowly got up, covering herself in the process, then turning back at him to answer his greeting.

"Good morning, did you enjoy the night sleep, captain ?" Said Kalifa cheekily.

"Mmm... Very!" Answered, Lucci, with the same type of voice.

"You know, Lucci, you have changed a lot since the Enies Lobby incident. Before I had the feeling that you were just a weapon meant for killing without any other goals or interest, but now it seems there is a lot more under that. I'm glad to finally be able to see it for myself! " Said as she moved in to the bathroom, leaving him still lying on the bed.

"Hmm… hope you liked what you found!" Said Lucci with a slight smile.

"Mmm... I do!" Replied her as she closed the door to the bathroom.

As the water in the shower stared to be heard, Lucci finally found the energy to get up, put some cloths on his body and leave for his room to prepare himself. They still have a long voyage in front of them and not too much time before they depart.

However, as he got out of Kalifa room with messy hair and matching clothes, he did not see a figure who was also going to his room appearing at the end of the hallway. It was the worst person one to find out a spicy new rumor, namely Fukuro!

"Chapapa!" Exclaimed as he creeped at Lucci then at Kalifa door.

... Some time later...

In the port of the Spring Queen, all the Blood Moon pirates crewmates were already present. They started to prepare the boat they have stolen from the Candy Pirates for their next journey while they were waiting for the captain to arrive. Which they did not have to do for long, as he did show up, bringing with him together their unexpected guests.

The sudden arrival of a new beauty together with the gossip they have heard from an undisclosed member of their crew made most of them look between Lucci, Kalifa and their guest. They even talk about it in a very low voice. The gossip become even more fierce as Kalifa laid her eyes on the princess, not knowing how the meeting between the 'wife' and 'mistress' will go.

But the gossip hungry crew was left unsatisfied as Lucci stared to introduce the princess and why she was traveling with them, even prompting them in to booing him in silence.

"Everyone, I want to introduce to you our guest from the last night, this is princess Vivi of Arabasta or should I say former princess as she now is on her way of being a pirate. She will be going with us to Moria's turf to look for her future crew, the Straw Hats." Said Lucci still obvious about his crew peculiarities.

"HAA!? Straw hats? Why should we help her then!?" Said Jabra with anger.

"Because I'm responsible for her sudden decision to change her path from a princess to a lowly pirate. You may not know, but the Nefertari family was at the center of a recent plot from our former bosses, which failed miserably. I happened to pass by, so I took the chance to tell her a few of their secret plans to make it even more difficult for them to get things their ways. All you really need to know is that by delivering her to the Straw Hats, we'll make sure to screw a lot of their plans." Said Lucci with a slight smirk on his face.

"So are we doing this to get revenge?" Asked Kalifa as she touched her glasses while looking extensively at the princess, who chose to stay silent during their talk.

"Yes." Affirmed Lucci.

Not waiting any longer, Lucci asked the crew to be ready to board the ship, but suddenly an idea popped in his mind. He almost forgot about the dead pirates he absorbed during his battle with Shiki using his power.

So Lucci closed his eyes and started to concentrate on his ability to manipulate life, combining the bodies with some of the life force he took from their former crewmates, giving them form and a limited amount of sentience. Then a big pool of blood formed under his legs, which extended into a quite big pool of blood that rapidly started to move as multiple armored body parts taking the form of limbs started to rise from all over. Slowly, fully armor wearing individuals become apparent, as they comprised a small army of over a hundredth blood knights.

~~ Arise ~~ Said Lucci in a deep sounding voice.

Their crimson armor barely moved as they walk out of the pool almost in sync, creating two lines in front of Lucci leading all the way to the boat as they kneeled greeting their ruler. He walked between the two lines without care all the way to the ship as the knights started to fallow and under his command board the ship and even take control of different parts of the ship.

"Oye! Lucci what are those!?" Inquired Jabra looking at the strange sight.

"I've been experimenting with my Devil Fruit while on our journey and I manged to come up with quite a few new tricks, this is one of the best of them, I call them Blood Knights. I'm able to summon a much larger number of them, but unfortunately our current ship doesn't allow it, as for their power level, well, it depends on how much life force I invest in them at their creation for example those are similar in power to an average marine or pirate!" Said Lucci admiring his new armada.

This information left the Blood Moons stunned in place, still staring at the knights, who by now have already taken control of the ship, starting to sail it over the restless ocean.

"Ok, listen here everyone, this time our destination is Moria base of operations, Thriller Bark, which is currently stationed inside the infamous Florian Triangle. Some of you might have heard some legends about that place and its sudden disappearances of different ships that happened there, and you might have also probably attributed it to Moria. But even if he is to blame for a good number of them, the fact remains that he only stayed there in the last few years, while the mysterious disappearances have been happening for far longer than that. I want all of you on alert from the moment we enter the dark mist, who know what's actually happening there." Said Lucci remembering the giant shadows that appear after the Straw Hats left the area of Florian Triangle.