chapter 51

The rest of the fight was not fun at all. It was disappointingly monotonous and boring instead as the ridiculously dressed pirate captain had nothing more than stupid amounts of endurance and pain tolerance along with his jello-jello devil fruit abilities going for him.

We kept fighting for almost an hour as the rest of my crew took care of both the pirates raiding the docks and the two ships bombarding the town.

The fight mostly consisted of me dodging his attacks and constantly hammering him with my sea-stone-coated left hand as he kept shrugging of all injuries even as blood covered most of his body.

The fight finally came to an end when he couldn't endure the beating any longer and declared his surrender. I accepted his surrender and proceeded to interrogate him about his identity and why he came all the way from the grand line to this small island to destroy it because I was curious.

It turned out that he was a pirate originally from west blue called Jelly bean jack, who tried to attack the island several years ago before he ate the jello-jello devil fruit. But the island's people defeated him, causing him to flee the island while leaving behind more than half of his crew killed or imprisoned.

He then reformed his crew and entered the grand line, making a name for himself there after finding and eating the paramecia type: jello-jello devil fruit. He even gained a bounty of forty million belies, but it seems the shame of his defeat here kept plaguing his mind until he couldn't take it anymore and came back to exact his revenge.

Once my curiosity was satiated, I unceremoniously drew my sword with my right hand and slit his throat while holding his head with my left arm that was coated with sea stone because normal cuffs won't be able to restrain him, and it would require me to keep holding him with my prosthetic hand to keep him from escaping which would have been a pain in the ass, so I took the easy way out.

"Put this in some ice and get ready to set sail," I said as I threw the pirate's head to Laffite. "We need to hurry up and bring his head into a marine base before it rots beyond recognition," I concluded as I turned around and made my way to the crowd of people that had gathered during my fight with jelly bean Jack.

"We won't ask for a reward for taking care of your pirate problem," I stated loudly while looking at the crowd that had gathered after my crew took care of the pink pirate captain's subordinates, causing them to cheer loudly.

"However, You'll have to pay for the ships if you want to take them over," I said, causing all cheers to come to a halt as the gathered town's people began exchanging glances. "Ten million bellies for each ship and the price is not negotiable," I concluded, and the town's people began murmuring amongst each other.

"But that's not fair. The pirates did a lot of damage to the town, and their belongings should go to us as compensation," said one of the braver townsmen as he took a step forward.

"While it's true that the pirates' belongings should go to you as compensation," I said with a shrug and waited for the crowd to calm down.

"That, however, doesn't apply to the ships as they belong to us now by the law of the sea since we defeated their crews," I concluded with a smirk, and even though some of the crowd were still dissatisfied, they were pirate descendants and knew that my words were not wrong.

"You have until we are ready to set sail to gather the money for the ships," I said after a second to make my words had sunk in.

"You should also know that I'll personally sink the ships before we leave if they aren't sold by then," I concluded as I turned around to leave, not paying attention to the grumbling and murmuring of the crowd.

I made my way to my room at the inn and started packing my belongings as soon as I arrived. It didn't take too long for me to finish packing, and I made my way downstairs once I was done.

"Mr. Johnny, that was so cool, the way you took care of that big bad pirate," said one of the two girls I drank with yesterday while giggling as both of them came to me and embraced my arms.

"Tehahaha, it was, wasn't it?" I said with a shit-eating grin all over my face as I raised my head backward and began laughing.

"Well, why don't you girls join me for a couple of drinks while I wait for someone to buy the ships here?" I asked with a smile as I freed my hands and held their wastes while guiding them to a table.

Someone finally came after thirty minutes or so, with an offer to buy two of the ships for twenty million bellies, saying that was all the town could scrounge up, and I gladly took their money with a smile on my face.

Some of the town's people were dissatisfied with this arrangement, but they didn't show it in front of me since the pirate captain had already defeated their best warriors before Wilson even found him and started fighting him.

I then bid farewell to the two girls who's names I still didn't know and made my way to the ship to wait for the rest of the crew to finish packing and restocking our supplies so we can set sail as soon as the rest of the crew were gathered and ready to depart.

My companions arrived an hour later on the ship with their luggage and the supplies they had bought from the town, and we were finally ready to depart, but we had to stop as a voice came from outside the ship.

"Please wait," exclaimed the battered and bleeding byron as he leaned on his knees while panting.

"If you're going to the grand line, then please take me with you!" He said as he caught his breath and bowed in front of us.

"What the hell do you think is in the grand line?" I asked as I stared him down with a raised eyebrow while leaning down on the black pearl's railing.

"Even the guy who almost destroyed your town just now is nothing but a small-time pirate compared to the real monsters roaming the grand line," I stated while pointing at Jelly bean jack's body which was left to rot on the docks.

"I'm fully aware of the risks involved, but even so, please take me with you!" He repeated without raising his head.

"Why do you want to go to the grand line, anyway? This place is a good place to live in, and you won't lack anything if you stay here," I asked as I jumped down from the ship and stood in front of him.

"I... I want to see the world. I could basically hear the sea calling for me since I was a child, and I can't bear to stay on land for even one more day," He answered as he raised his head and looked me in the eye, and I could see resolve burning in his eyes.

"I see, and is there any other reason why you want to go to the grand line?" I asked with narrowed eyes as I looked at him with obvious suspicion while rubbing my chin thoughtfully.

"I also want to find out what happened to my grandfather who entered the grand line several decades ago and never came back," He said with a clear tone with no hesitation what so ever.

That was the correct answer, as I already knew about his pirate predecessor and would have left him here without a second thought if he lied to me.

"I can see that you don't lack resolve, at least," I said with an expressionless face. "But, I don't accept weaklings on my ship, so if you want to come with us, you'll have to pass a test!" I said and paused, waiting for his answer.

"If that's what it will take for me to join your crew, then please go ahead and test me however you like. I will definitely pass," Byron replied with a confident tone as he lowered his head again.

"I see. In that case, the test is quite simple. You merely have to..."