Ceremony and Guilds

"Where did Jack go?" Nojiko asked curiously. Everyone looked around, but couldn't find him. "I bet he's back at the bar." Tashigi comented, everyone nodding at her words. "Let's all go and relax." Makino said happily as they all left the stadium. It was only after they left the massive building that everyone's attention was drawn to the giant pillar of midnight flames off in the distance.

(A few minutes earlier)

Jack was watching the fight between Smoker and Stain when something caught his attention. With his Observation Haki out spread out to the max, he could sense a ship making it's way from the other end of the island, but unlike most ships that had come recently, he could sense power radiating off of these people.

'Government or Emperor's?' Jack pondered in his head. He made sure to not show any change on the outside as to not have anyone panic, but the group of people coming were dangerous.

Jack waited until the match was over, then gave Stella the prize before he shot off towards the incoming ship. It only took a few moments to reach the shoreline where he could get a glimpse of the ship, and what he saw made him clench his teeth.

The ship was a big brown ship, with blue lining, it had three giant battle cannons on the main deck, but the most noticeable thing about the ship was the sails. The sails had the symbol of the World Government, but at the top it read AIGIS with CP-O on the sides of the symbol.

'It looks like the government didn't listen very well.' Jack thought as he donned his mask, placed Video Transponder Snails around the area ahead of them, then he used Moonwalk to get in front of the oncoming ship. It was only when Cipher Pol noticed the man practically standing in the air, that they dropped anchor and furled the sails.

"Greetings Government assassins!!! To what do I owe the pleasure of CP-0 coming to my humble sea?!!" Jack shouted loudly towards the ship. There were a few hundred regular government soldiers on board the ship, but Jack could sense 12 figures as well that were extremely powerful.

It only took a few seconds for the 12 power-houses to gather together at the front of the ship to confront him. 8 of the figures were wearing masks and wore big white robes to cover themselves, and of the four who weren't wearing masks, Jack only recognized one of them.

She was the woman names Stussy who was a monster in her own right. The only thing Jack could remember about her was that she was a lot older than she looked and was sensitive about people knowing her age. The other three men were of no importance to Jack as he didn't know anything about them for now.

"It seems the Dragon's don't hear very well!! I'll be paying them a visit in the near future!" Jack taunted, which got the reaction he was hoping for. One of the unmasked idiots shot towards him, while the others just watched on from the ship.

'Apparently they think this guy can handle me... alright then.' Jack thought before unleashing a massive pillar of darkfire onto the guy, incinerating him in an instant. "I gotta say, that was anti-climactic even for me!" Jack shouted to the now, on guard group of assassins.

Jack wasn't the kind of person to let his enemies get into position, so as soon as he noticed CP-0 pulling out their weapons he shot forward again, only this time he didn't target CP-0, he went for their ship.

Once again, Jack unleashed a massive wave of fire that enveloped the entirety of the ship, causing a few explosions here and there, but in the end the ship was done for as were everyone on board. As the ship burned to nothing, Jack turned his attention to the 11 individuals who were hopping around in the sky all around him.

He was completely surrounded, and all the members of CP-0 had their weapons out ready to attack him at a moments notice. Discretely, Jack used an attack he developed. The attack wasn't harmful in any way, but it did cancel out all Devil Fruit powers all around him for 10 meters.

"I do hope you will be taking this more seriously from here on out!! I have to give the government some hope of surviving before I end them!!" Jack's mocking angered everyone present, but none let their anger cloud their judgement, lest the same thing happen to them as their comrade a few seconds ago.

Jack jumped towards one of the masked individuals to avoid a few shots that were fired towards him, while at the same time drawing his sword and pistol. A few wind blades were sent towards him, but he sent wind blades of his own to deflect them. All the members of CP-0 were trying to keep their distance from him, but he was making it difficult.

Jack jumped towards one of the masked men, but the man didn't try to flee, instead he made a gesture with his hands, but nothing happened. Jack figured the man was trying to activate a Devil Fruit power or something, but sadly for him he couldn't do anything and was decapitated.

As the 10 members of CP-0 saw the head of one of their comrades fall towards the ocean, they froze. "WHAT HAPPENED?!!! A voice from one of the masked men sounded out. "FOOLS!!" Jack shouted before shooting towards the woman known as Stussy.

She jumped around out of Jack's reach towards her allies, and if her expression was anything to go by, she was scared. "What's the matter you old hag?!! Gotta rely on the other little bitches to take over for ya?!!" Jack shouted to her as she fled.

Stussy was indeed angered when she heard Jack's words, but she had a feeling if she went anywhere near him she would die just like the others. She was allowed a moment of reprieve when Jack halted in the air, keeping a watchful eye on the man with long black hair that looked like a flower.

CP-0 was so focused on Jack, that they failed to notice a man come flying down from the sky and rammed a sword right through the skull of the man Jack was watching. "About time you showed up!!" Jack shouted with a big grin spread across his face.

Luke was standing on the shoulders of the man he had just punctured, and with a careful eye he observed the nine people around him. "Who are they?" He asked calmly as he pulled his sword from the mans skull and let his body fall into the ocean.

"They are the Celestial Dragon's personal assassins, CP-0." Jack answered back calmly. Before anyone could do anything, Luke and Jack both shot towards another of the masked men, who couldn't react to both monsters quick enough and was shot in the face by Jack.

The other 8 members of CP-0 were jumping around, trying to dodge bullets that were flying towards them from a small group of people on the shore. Nojiko managed to hit two of the masked men, but they weren't fatal shots. Nami and Tashigi were no gunmen, but they were good enough to keep the members of Cipher Pol on their toes.

All 42 trainee's were armed and at the ready, some beside Nojiko firing at will, while a few of them were in the sky at Smoker's side surrounding the group of assassins.

"We must retreat!!" Stussy called out to the rest of CP-0 in a panic. They nodded to each other before they all pulled out round metal grenade like objects. They all pulled the pins at the same time, then the next second there was an explosion of white mist the covered everyone.

Jack and Luke rushed towards them and before they could get away, Jack shot one of the injured men 3 times in the chest, one bullet piercing the man's heart, while Luke managed to sever the left arm of someone that fled. When the mist cleared Jack could see the 7 remaining members of CP-0 off in the distance running through the air towards the Red Line.

There were a few people who wanted to rush after them, but Jack signaled everyone to halt. "Let them run for now!! They are all masters of the Rokushiki techniques and now that they are out of my range, they are a lot more powerful with their Devil Fruits!! Let us return for now!!" Jack shouted loudly for everyone to hear.

"If there are any wounded among you, let us know!!" Smoker shouted, getting nods from everyone. They all made it back to the shore before heading towards Foosha, but not before Jack collected the video Transponder Snails. 'Hehe just you wait!' Jack thought viciously as he held the Transponder Snails.

When they got back to the town, Jack made his way to Makino's bar with everyone else in tow. "You all probably have some questions as to what that was all about!" Jack spoke loud enough for everyone to hear without shouting. Everyone just waited patiently for what Jack would say, even Tsuru was here listening.

"The World Government has two groups of assassins that the most of the World doesn't know about, not even the marines. There are eight official Cipher Pols that are numbered from CP-1 to CP-8 with two unofficial units, which are named CP-9 and CP-0."

Not many people were surprised at Jack's words, as most of them knew first hand how horrible the nobles were, so having a group of assassins wasn't all that shocking. "The group that we just faced was CP-0, the strongest of them. We dealt a massive blow to their strength, but I believe they will return sooner or later for vengeance or just to try and get rid of us. We need to get stronger and be ready!!" Jack said seriously, which caused a lot of shouts of approval from everyone else.

The next moment a grin spread across his face before he added, "For now, let us all celebrate our victory!!" There were cheers from everyone as bottles of all kinds of drinks were passed around.

Jack was a little bruised and scraped up from the fight, but nothing serious at all. He of course milked it for all it was worth and had Nojiko put some unneeded wrappings on him just to get close to her. Luke and Smoker were having a drink off, as it was one of the only things that Smoker could beat him at lately.

The party raged on well into the night, everyone playing games, drinking and gambling and other fun stuff. The next morning the sun was just rising when Jack strode out of the bar with half closed eyes.

'Today's the ceremony and I got shit all prepared for it. Way to go ya lousy assassin fuckers!' Jack cursed CP-0 internally as he walked towards the stadium extremely slowly, almost not wanting to go at all.

He spent the next few hours getting the stage built up and decorated, along with filling all the stalls with new foods and drinks. He also added some gambling rooms and other fun ideas, but everything would wait until the ceremony was over. Around noon, Jack finally finished preparing everything to his standards before he went out to the town with a large microphone.

"ATTENTION EVERYONE!! YOU ARE ALL INVITED TO COME TO THE STADIUM FOR TODAY'S CEREMONY!!" Jack wasn't one for words, so he left it at that before rounding up the 42 trainees and the big 5. He also gathered Tsuru and told her to bring all of her people to the stadium as well, but she would be sitting on stage away from them.

The time finally came where Jack was standing on the stage in front on the entire town, with everyone affiliated with him sitting on chairs behind him.

"MANY OF YOU ARE PROBABLY WONDERING WHAT THIS CEREMONY IS ABOUT. TO PUT IT SIMPLY, IT IS TO OFFICIALLY WELCOME THESE BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN BEHIND ME INTO THE ADVENTURER'S ASSOCIATION!!"

There was murmuring throughout the crowd, and even those among the new recruits. "TO BE AN ADVENTURER, ONE NEEDS STRENGTH, WHICH EVERYONE THEM HAS IN SPADES!!" Jack waved his arms towards his people as he spoke.

"WISDOM! I CAN ATTEST FOR EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM THAT THEY ARE MORE THAN READY TO HANDLE ANY SITUATION CORRECTLY!!"

Some members of the audience were nodding along as well, not really surprising as many of them watched the recruits training and doing Jack's ungodly courses.

"AND FINALLY, ONE WOULD NEED OUR MARK!!" Jack said as he showed his tattooed right shoulder for all to see. "THIS REPRESENTS THE FAITH WE HAVE IN OUR PEOPLE!!"

Jack turned to stare at his people with a serious gaze before shouting, "DO YOU ACCEPT THE FAITH OF THIS MARK?!" In response, Luke was the first to step forward with a fist over his heart and stood at attention in front of Jack.

Everyone present watched as Jack created a blue and black fire in the shape of the Wings of Freedom, then pressed it to Luke's shoulder. There was no sizzling, not smoke, no smell, only a glow of the mixed fire before it disappeared, leaving the same mark Jack had on Luke's shoulder as well.

This was something Jack had been working on over the months he trained everyone else. Jack remembered reading a number of stories where people had so much control of their power, that it only effected what they wanted it to. Jack practiced with his fire and after countless attempts, he was able to control it to a massive degree.

He used the blue fire to imprint the mark, while at the same time using his darkness to negate all the pain it caused. The fire burned while the darkness removed it, over and over until the mark was effectively apart of that person. His fire was an anomaly in itself, but it was his.

After Luke got the mark, everyone else stepped forward as well to receive their own mark, even Makino stepped forward to receive her own mark as she whole believe in the Association. Soon everyone had received the mark until Tsuru was the last one remaining.

Jack watched as she stepped forward like everyone else with a fist over her heart, then gave her the mark of the adventurer as well. Knowing that there were probably questions from everyone, Jack addressed everyone.

"YOU MAY BE WONDERING WHO THIS IS, AND WHY IS SHE GETTING A MARK. SOME MAY ALREADY KNOW, BUT FOR THOSE WHO DON'T, THIS IS FORMER VICE ADMIRAL OF THE MARINES, STAFF COMMANDER TSURU."

Jack paused to let that sink in for those who didn't know. "SHE HAS STRENGTH, THAT IS WITHOUT QUESTION!! SHE HAS THE WISDOM TO CARRY ON, AND DO RIGHT BY THOSE AROUND HER. YES, SHE WAS ONCE A MARINE, BUT NOW SHE FIGHTS TO FIX WHAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS DONE WRONG. I PLACE MY TRUST IN HER!!"

Jack shouted the last part with so much conviction and sincerity that no one could say anything for a few seconds, leaving the stadium in complete silence. The silence was broken however as everyone erupted into cheers, Tsuru's crew being the loudest.

Jack waited for everyone to calm down before he continued, "NOW THAT WE HAVE THAT SETTLED, I HAVE ANOTHER ANNOUCEMENT!! I HAVE CREATED THE FIRST GUILD AMONG THE ADVENTURER'S ASSOCIATION. IT IS CALLED 'DARK PHENIOX'!! I WOULD LIKE TO SPECIFY THAT ANYONE OF THE ADVENTURER'S ASSOCIATION CAN CREATE THEIR OWN GUILD AS THEY WISH!!"

There were applause from the crowd, and Jack was happy because Makino had actually explained guilds to the town already and word had spread to the entirety of East Blue about the guilds. They were trying to get a head start on that, and it worked out surprisingly well.

"THE SECOND GUILD HAS ALSO BEEN CREATED AS WELL!! TSURU HAS CREATED A GUILD OF HER OWN, AND WOULD LIKE TO SAY A FEW WORDS." Jack handed Tsuru the speaker before he took a step back to give her some space.

"MY GUILD IS CALLED 'VIRAGO GUARDIANS'. VIRAGO MEAING, HEROIC MAIDEN OR FEMALE WORRIOR. MY GUILD WILL ONLY BE ACCEPTING WOMEN INTO IT, AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US, OUR MAIN BASE OF OPPERATIONS WILL BE LOGUETOWN!"

Tsuru just handed the speaker back to Jack and sat down, not even bothering with the now dumbstruck crowd. 'Well she certainly speaks her mind.' Jack thought before looking back to the crowd.

"THERE WILL BE OTHER GUILDS CREATED LATER, FOR NOW LET'S ALL TURN OUR ATTENTION TO THE GAMES!!" For the next hour Jack was showing the games to everyone, some fighting challenges, the food stalls, and the other competitions that didn't involve beating the tar out of each other. This whole thing was in honor of the Adventurer's, so he let everyone have a good time.

The whole thing lasted until it was almost midnight before everyone but the Adventurer's were back in their homes. "I want to once again congratulate everyone here for coming as far as you have!" Jack said once more, just for them.

"I hope each and everyone of you know that I consider you all apart of my guild, but I can't have you with me all of the time. I want you to go out into the world and start your own guild, have adventures, help those in need, kill the government officials and their dogs!!"

Jack paused as he noticed some of the people were downcast at his words. "Know that if you ever need my help, you all have a way to contact me, and I will be there. I am going to set out tomorrow myself and start my own journey, and I hope each of you can do the same!!"

That seemed to cheer up the few who were down, as they knew they would all come together to face what they couldn't handle alone. They all had ways to contact one another, and this was just the beginning of their journey.

"I won't be here in the morning when you all wake, so I would like to say my goodbyes now. If you do decide to create your own guilds, send word to the people stationed here. They will let everyone else know." Jack said as he walked around and shook everyone's hand as he said his goodbyes.

A few of them already decided they wanted to travel together for awhile to the other Blues, some wanted to go to the Grand Line, and some wanted to stay here and train some more, either way Jack was happy with whatever it is they decided on doing. Some of them that wanted to stay here actually volunteered to recruit some more people and train them, hopefully growing their numbers.

As everyone was leaving, Jack stopped Tsuru and asked, "Could I hire your guild for a job?"

Tsuru was a little shocked at first, but calmed quickly and said, "It depends on the job." Jack smirked at her before he continued, "Soran and Makino are heading to Warship Island tomorrow, and I would like to hire you to take them there, and maybe leave one or two of your people with them for a few months while they wait for the island to rise from the sea?"

Tsuru looked at Jack's hopeful smile and couldn't help but let out a soft laugh. "You know, you are quite something Jack. I will do it, but you will pay for room and board, plus 10 million berries."

Jack wasn't sure if that was a good deal or not, but he haggled his way down to 8 million berries for everything because Warship Island was only a few days away from Loguetown anyway. Jack paid her before she left to go back to her ship as well, leaving Jack alone with his 5 original crew members.

"So what now?" Nami asked curiously. Jack stared at her blankly before saying, "Now I'm setting out to kill a lot of people, see the world, find treasure, free slaves, eat new stuff and meet new people. You are all welcome to join me, but you don't have to come if you don't want to."

Luke looked at Jack like he was an idiot before asking, "What time are we leaving in the morning?" Everyone else was looking at Jack expectantly, not even bothering to clarify that they were coming as it was already obvious.

"We set out when the sun rises. Make sure to say your goodbyes and be at the docks bright and early." Jack said as he went to go and find Makino to say his own goodbyes.

Hours later, and a few million berries poorer, Jack made his way towards his room to get some sleep. He thought about how good Soran was at extorting not just him, but the entire village and knew that she would be alright out there in the world. Plus she had Makino and Tsuru to watch her for the next while, also she had his number if she ever needed it.

Makino was a lot easier to deal with when saying goodbye, only needing to promise to check in every few weeks and do what was right. 'They really are like family' Jack thought as he entered his room and tumbled to the bed. He was asleep in minutes, his final thought, 'Shiki, I'm coming for you!!'