Chapter 5- Teardrop Arc 1

After sailing relentlessly for the past few days with the help of my sturdy rowing cadets, we were able to reach three-quarters of the way to Teardrop Island, and by now the chief engineer of my team, Fire Garcia, we were able to get the failing motor working and the engine that had shut down was working all together again, now that the malfunction was fixed, so we were now going at 10 x the speed at which the cadets could row at, I gave them two days off chores but this didn't please the slightly higher up people in the team, some seamen dared to complain, they didn't walk out of my office with a whole healthy body. 

We were gelling together now and for some reason, no one cared if I was cruel to pirates, if I hit them at their lowest, they seemed to not mind, after all, most of these marines only joined because of their experiences of pirate violence, I was allowed to promote anyone to any rank below me on my ship, all I had to do was report it, and soon, Walters and Roberts, who showed remarkable strength became my right and left-hand men, they even showed some proficiency in Haki. I promoted them both to Chief Petty Officers. 

We were now just fifty miles from Teardrop Island and the signature structure came into view as we entered the beeline straight for the island's docks, the teardrop was quite literally floating above the ocean, but it was so small, it could contain, 20 warships of the same design as mine, nowhere near enough for a whole island, nevertheless an adventure is an adventure and we sailed onward, our guns tucked away and all sails white, I ordered every single man and women on board to get into casual clothes that had no relations to Marines. This was going to be a covert mission. 

{Island Image}

I put my Marine Coat safely away in a hidey hole in my cabin, I advised everyone else to do the same, if anyone got caught, they would be handed over with no question, and everyone else would deny their involvement with the Marines, technically, I have no orders to be here, I am here of my own will and judgment, getting caught in a bad situation, could well and truly mean expulsion from the corps. 

"Alright Bastards and Basdettes-" This earned a chuckle or two from the crowd I was the leader of. 

"We are a cruise ship, with no weapons and no ties to anyone dangerous, we are here to visit the famous teardrop-shaped island and we are hoping to stay just two weeks, if we can't find shit by then, we'll leave, if we do, we will feign a mechanical problem with other ship and try to buy ourselves a few days, is everyone on board with the idea, even if you do have a concern it's too late you should have told me 5 seconds ago, because now we are in their waters, just ten miles till teardrop."

We were in their docks by noon and what awaited us was shocking, as we entered through the glass doors of the teardrop the island that was inside seemed to magnify, in truth the island was enormous, it was being contained by the teardrop, anyone who looked from outside will see a small island, but this is bigger than some of the ancient kingdoms. 

I collected the crowd's attention once more,

"Alright, there are 600 of us, we only need a small number of people to come onto the island, all cadets shall stay behind, I want half the officers to stay behind on the ship, and lead the cadets, that leaves us with 50 explorers and I will pick who they are, these fifty will be divided into 5 groups of ten and please do not do anything dumb or I'll kill you personally." 

I picked out the fifty and chose the people for my group and then began working out who worked well with each other to create four more groups, of course, I took the best of these 50 who were already the best in the crew, with my group, we would most likely be doing the hardest stuff. 

"All right two weeks, the goal is to find accommodation, be silent, listen."

"Sir yes sir!" they shouted in my face. 

"Shut the fuck up, there is no sir, we are travelers, each group of ten will book into different hotels in different parts of the main city, which I think is Sobbingberg City, My group will take the city center, I need everyone else to take a position on the outskirts, is that understood" 

They all nodded and the groups walked together for a while until we came across a large body of water, where a few men stood, "Hey you have a lot of people with ya, where ya from?"

"We are from a kingdom in Paradise, we are on a cruise, and we wanted to see this famous island!"

"Ha, famous, kid we barely get around these days because of that stupid Glass bitch up in the tower, anyway, wherever you're going, you ain't gonna find better transport than a Tear spear!"

"What is it?" asked Robert from my right.

"It's a spear of hardened water, due to the overwhelming amounts of salt in the surrounding seas, we can mold it into anything and if not kept under gravitational exertion, the water will float away, it can However be controlled, by a gravi-handle, attach it to the spear, take a seat and fly anywhere, just like a bicycle, but no pedalling and it's in the sky!"

"We'll take fifty!" I handed the old man a wad of cash, it was clearly way too much and the old man didn't look like he had that much change, "Just keep it old man, and can we move faster with them spears please?" 

The other men around him were surprised at the generosity and I found myself doing another good deed, I chided myself in my heart, I was straying from my goal, I wanted to be the most evil person in the world and rule everything, I must stay focused, I'll let it slide just this once. 

We got our tear spear things and we all sat down and began floating immediately, i was lost for a few seconds, so was my crew, however, I pushed the handle forwards, the spear straightened and I moved forward doing loops, it took only a moment to teach the crew and then we were off, five group of ten.