Rest and Relaxation

As Jack walked over to the still stunned marines, he threw the body of Gates towards them. "Get me my payment." Jack said cooly. The marines finally snapped out of their dazed states, and one rushed back to the baracks to get a superior, while four of them walked over and loaded the body onto a small cart. Jack followed them as they were heading back to base, not willing to give up another bounty. After he had thrown Duff to the sharks, he had realized that he missed out on $5,000,000 berries, but it really didn't bother him all that much, cause he got to vent some anger.

By the time they arrived to a big white building with "Justice" on the front of it, there was already a group of people waiting for them. Standing at the front of them was a man with a white hat, the typical marine uniform, but he also wore a long coat, although it looked like a cape. "My name is Lieutenant Carson. What is your name young man?" Lt. Carson said to Jack. Not wanting to reveal his name to the world just yet, Jack pondered internally for a few seconds on a proper name. "My name is Cataclysm" Jack said with a smirk on his face. The surrounding marines wondered why someone would call themselves something meaning disaster.

"Very well then... Cataclysm. I have already prepared your payment, but I would also like to offer you a position in the mari-" Lt. Carson said before he was interupted by Jack. "I refuse. I have no intention to be a dog to some spoiled rich assholes. Now I'll be taking my payment." Jack said walking forward to the briefcase full of berries. Lt. Carson was angered at his words, but knew he was no match for him. They had tried to take down Gates before, and they lost quite a few marines that day. There was no resistance or complaint as Jack took the case and left the compound.

As Jack walked down the street, he noticed everyone turn their gazes towards him. He of course knew why, but it was still weird to him. Not wanting to stay somewhere that he couldn't have any privacy, he started walking towards the edge of town. He had every intention to claim the treasure that the thug had told him about for himself. Just as he was leaving the town he heard a somewhat familiar voice calling out to him. "HEY WAIT!!!" Looking over his shoulder he spotted the father of the little girl running towards him. Jack stopped and waited for the man to catch up, then let him catch his breath. "Hello there sir. My name is Mark. Mark Collins. I just wanted to thank you for what you did today. If it weren't for you..." Mark trailed off. "Don't worry about it. There are scum like him all over this world. There are many who are far worse in fact. They wear the disguise of protectors, when in reality they are the worst of the lot. I just think the world would be a tad bit better if they all just died, but hey, thats just my opinion." Jack said to Mark.

Mark was taken aback for a moment. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he meant. This young man here had pretty much declared that the marines were worse than pirates, while at the same time saying they should all just die. "You aren't very shy about your words, but I guess no one here could really stop you even if they wanted to, not that they do of course. hahaha." Mark said a bit dryly. "Anyway, to me it doesn't matter your reasons for doing what you did, I'm just thankful that you did it. My wife was not taken advantage of, and my daughter is safe and I'm alive" Mark said before bowing his head to Jack. Jack listened to Mark, and it actually put a genuine smile on his face. "You are welcome Mark. You take good care of yourself and your family." Jack said before turning and walking away. He got a few steps then stopped. Looking over his shoulder Jack spoke, "In this world the strong rule over the weak. Get strong Mark, and never let what happened today happen to those around you." After saying that Jack continued on his way, not giving Mark another glance. Mark stood there in silence, watching the figure of the man that saved the life of not only him, but his family as well, just disappear. 'I don't even know his name.' Mark thought before turning around to go back home.

After a few hours of searching, Jack managed to find a little shack deep within the forest. The shack wasn't that bad, and unless you were actually searching for it, you would probably never find it. Making his way to the door, Jack pushed it open, then jumped to the side of the door incase of traps. It was lucky too because as soon as he did, a log attached to a rope came crashing through the doorway. After that was done, Jack marched inside, using his Haki to search the building for more dangers. Finding none, he made his way over to the fire place and wiped away the soot and ashes. He used his sword to pry up a few layers of bricks, and found a nice big chest. Breaking the lock he crossed his fingers and opened the lid. Jack looked inside and found piles of berries, gold, jewels, trinkets, rings, and a bunch of papers. Jack stored everything in his inventory, not bothering to sell it to the shop now that he knew how much of a rip off it could be. He would compare the sell prices of certain things to the markets before he recklessly sold stuff again. His piles of berries went right inside, adding themselves to his curreny tab. It was good too, becuase he had spent around $60,000 berries on the 3 sets of different kinds of fruit, which dropped his total down, but now from looting the building back in town, the bounty reward, and the berries in here, he now had $70,500,000 berries, and that wasn't even counting all the gold and jewels he had in his inventory. 'Not bad for a day's work.' Jack thought happily

Making his way back to town in the evening, Jack made his way to a hotel. He could just go down to the docks and sleep in his little boat, but he had decided that he would treat himself while he was here. Finding a pretty nice looking place he went inside. When he got in he looked around the lobby. Finding the place met his standards he walked over to the front desk. "Excuse me. I would like a room for the night." Jack said to the man that had his head burried in some paperwork behind the counter. When the clerk turned his head up to see who was speaking to him, his eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets. "Y-yes Sir!! R-right away Sir!!" The clerk stammered, clearly recognizing him from his execution earlier. Jack knew the man was terrified of him, but he didn't like it. He liked being treated kindly, not this scared sumbservience. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna do anything to you. As long as you're fair and respectful to me, I'll treat you the same in return." Jack said to the clerk trying to put the mans mind at ease. At Jack's words the clerk relaxed a little, but you could tell he was still really tense.

The clerk looked through some documents, then asked, "Which kind of room would you like sir? All of our rooms are of a high standard, but some have more than one small bed, while some have single large beds. Each room is equiped with it's own washroom, but the more expensive ones have luxury baths." The clerk was very informative, and went through the prices of the rooms. Jack couldn't help himself and got the most expensive room. It was $70,000 berries a night, but it came with dinner and breakfast, a king sized bed and bath, also there was free drinks for the night at the drinking lounge. Jack decided to rent the room for 3 days, cause he had never been treated this good in either of his lives.

Before going to his room, Jack asked if the barber was still open, but sadly it wasn't. The clerk said that he could wake him, but Jack politely declined, saying he would check it out in the morning. Walking to his room, he looked around. Never before had he seen anything the nice. The bed was gigantic, easily being able to fit 7 people comfortably. Going into the bathroom he found it was spotless. The bathtub was a miniaturized swimming pool, and it even had air jets. Jack scrubbed himself clean then just relaxed himself. He hadn't realized how much he missed baths. After over an hour hour of soaking, the water was cold and his skin was shrivled. Getting out he found there were even silk robes for him too. Getting to his bed, he browsed through the shop until he found a nice suit. Getting dressed and heading down stairs Jack made his way to the lounge. Upon entering the room he saw that there were lots of people drinking and playing cards, and other forms of gambling and such. As he made his way over to the bar, everyone started to quiet down and stare at him. Noticing how quite the room was, Jack looked around and noticed that all eyes were on him.

"I'll take a beer please." Jack said ignoring everyone around him. The bartender didn't waste anytime at all and promptly put a frosted mug, filled with liquid gold in front of him. 'I've always wanted to drink in a bar!!' Jack thought happily to himself. He had gotten drunk a few times before in his previous life even though he was under-aged simply by raiding his parents fridge when they were sleeping. It definately was an aquired taste, but he had grown quite fond of it. Since coming to this world he hadn't had a drop of alcohol, and now he would finally get to see how it compared to his world. Bringing the mug to his lips he started to sip it slowly, but picked up the pace faster and faster. He had downed the glass in a few seconds, and when he was done he had a grin across his face that stretched from ear to ear. The beer was amazing!!! The stuff from his previous world didn't hold a candle to this stuff. "2 more!!" Jack shouted happily to the bartender, who looked extremely relieved for some reason. The rest of the patrons also let out a breath, then continued with their gambling.

Jack downed his second drink, but just sipped the third one slowly. He wasn't too sure how high his alcohol tolerance was, but considering it was a new world, probably not gonna be the best. Jack eyed the room, but didn't really see anyhing that struck his fancy. He wanted to use his Haki to cheat and get rich quick, but he observation Haki wasn't quite at the future seeing level. After a bit more drinking he could feel the alcohol starting to take effect. Getting back to his room, he was asleep the instant his head hit the pillows. Waking up the next morning, he felt more rested than he had ever been before.