The King's Vessel

Ori hadn't said a word. He was looking closely at the black flag at the top of the mast with a frown.

On it was painted a smiling white skull with a pair of demonic horns that sat atop a pair of cross bones.

"It's missing something…"

Before anyone could say anything he had vanished from his original position. Next thing they knew he was stood mid-air holding a paint brush and a tub of paint that was previously sat by the ship.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes a fearfully sharp aura surged forth. Ori's arms moved like a blur as he began to paint.

It only took a few seconds before Ori returned the painting equipment to where he found it and he returned to the others.

"That's better!"

As he said that, the others all looked up at the flag.

"This…"

Even Tom was surprised by the new design of the flag.

Ori had only added a plain sword that stood erect dead centre behind the skull and crossbones, but everyone who witnessed felt as if they were looking at a truly beautiful work of art.

Suddenly Tom turned around and saw Franky and Iceburg bleeding slightly from their eyes. Without hesitation he appeared behind them striking them at the back of their necks, knocking them out.

Shaya also ran over to them and used her blood healing to help heal their eyes. After a few seconds she let out a sigh of relief.

"They'll be fine after a few days of rest. Thankfully you knocked them out before they could stare at it for too long."

"Thank you for healing them."

Shaya shook her head as she replied.

"It's the least we could do as it was our Captain's fault they ended up in that predicament in the first position."

As she said that, Ori couldn't help but scratch the back of his head sheepishly as he said.

"Sorry about that."

Tom shook his head as he gave the flag another look.

"I wasn't expecting you to infuse your sword intent into your painting. Where did you learn to do that anyway?"

Ori shrugged as he replied.

"I sometimes use calligraphy as a way to train my Sword Intent, when I saw the flag I thought it was only fitting to infuse my sword intent into it since it's such a big part of who I am."

Tom stared at the young Captain.

"You really are a little monster…"

Shaya looked at the flag with a frown.

"Ori, is it always going to emit that sword intent? If it does, a lot of weaker innocents will be hurt just by looking at the flag."

Ori shook his head as he retracted his own sword intent. As he retracted his, the sword intent coming from the flag vanished as well.

"It only reacts to my aura. As long as I don't release my sword intent, it will just look like an ordinary painting."

Seeing the painting go back to normal, Shaya and the others felt relieved. Even if they were pirates, none of them wanted to hurt the lives of the innocents.

Ori took another look at the ship as he asked.

"Bai why can't I sense anything on the ship when using my haki?"

Bai let out a proud smile as he said.

"I used a layer of Core Essence Metal when coating your ship, it prevents others from being able to spy on your ship using haki."

Ori's eyes lit up as he heard that.

"That's useful!"

Bai nodded as he walked towards the ship.

"So how about a tour of your new ship?"

Ori followed on excited.

The main deck was covered with luscious green grass and a small palm tree. As Bai lead them inside they were greeted by a beautifully decorated kitchen and dining room that could sit up to 20 people. In the corner of which had all their most up to date bounties, including Roman's. Ori took an extra look at Roman's before following on behind Bai to continue the tour.

He proceeded to lead them to the bedrooms, of which there were 3 in total. First was the boys room which was pretty plain other than having a small sofa and 5 double bunkbeds. Next was the girls which was pretty much the same. And finally was a spare room which had 2 large double beds, a desk and a chair.

There was all sorts of rooms in there from a small med bay, to a large study but the place that really caught Ori's attention was the training room. Inside was a typical gym but there was also three handmade metal puppets.

According to Bai, once activated it was equal in strength to a powerful marine Rear Admiral. After a short test, Ori estimated that it's strength had roughly reached the A- level. Even though it couldn't do much to help the training for Ori and the others, it was perfect for Sabo and Silk.

As they were coming to the end of the tour Sabo couldn't help but ask.

"What about the cannon's? I haven't seen any weapons on board…"

Bai scratched his head as he said.

"I thought about it long and hard but considering the strength of each member of your crew, no weapon I'm currently able to build would bring any added benefits. Instead, the weight and shape would only end up reducing the ships speed. So after a long hard think, I decided not to bother building any weapon's."

When he heard that, Ori was shocked. He looked at the ship then back at his crew.

"Hahahaha. Why do we need cannons when we're demon's?!"

Ori looked thankfully at Bai as he said.

"Shaya was right, you really did outdo yourself with this one. It's perfect!"

Even Sabo and the others were forced to eat their previous words. Although from the outside it was nothing special, but when you get to see the ship in its entirety no one could deny that it was truly an outstanding ship!

Bai smiled as he said.

"So what do you intend to call it?"

It wasn't till that moment did Ori realise his ship was still nameless.

Sabo was the first to offer his opinion.

"What about the Demonic Destroyer?"

Silk then added.

"The Demonic Fist?!"

Sabo rolled his eyes as he asked.

"What part of this ship has anything to do with fists?"

Just as Silk prepared to argue back, Benji interjected.

"How about Perfect Pitch?!"

Malia instantly shot that one down as she said.

"This isn't a musical ship, it's a pirate ship. What about the Demon of Darkness?"

Benji rolled his eyes as he argued back.

"Other than the flag, what other part of the ship reminds you of darkness?"

Before they all burst into a sudden row, Shaya shook her head and said confidently.

"You're all wrong the name of the ship should be, Ship of Destiny!"

"Ship of Destiny…"

"It has a ring to it."

Just as they finally found a name they all seemed to like Ori turned to bai and said.

"As it's your creation, why don't you name it!"

Bai was surprised as although he's used to naming all of his pieces of work, even if it proceeded to end up in the hands of someone else, it's normally always the captain who would name the ship.

"Are you sure?!"

Ori nodded as he said.

"I'm positive!"

Bai looked back at his masterpiece with a smile as he said.

"What about, The King's Vessel?!"

Shaya looked at Ori before back at the ship with a smile.

"Simple yet fitting!"

Ori looked at Bai with a grin.

"The King's Vessel huh? Perfect!"

Tom glanced at the ship before turning back to Bai and Ori.

"That's a truly arrogant name. Once the rest of the world hears the name of your ship, they'll see it as you stating your intentions. Especially other pirates, they'll more than likely see it as a challenge for the title.

Are you ready to challenge the world!"

When he heard his words, Ori thought back to the day he found out about Roman's disappearance and knowing that he wasn't strong enough to change anything.

[The path to the throne was never going to be an easy one, but as long as I keep moving forward one step at a time, one day I'll make my dream a reality. And I'll sail that path on the back of the King's Vessel…]

Thinking to there, Ori looked at Tom void of any hesitation.

"I'm ready!"