Undying Will

The island seemed to be the most peaceful and otherwise normal of the three that I had visited so far topping Las Camp with its sheer size and attention to detail.

While Las Camp seemed to be fashioned without a proper plan in mind, Toroa had so far displayed the opposite tendencies.

The road leading into town from the dock was paved with gra.s.s and greenery on either side, and each crossing held a sign that one could refer to for directions.

As I had exited from the dock, I had heard the people hawking their various products. The merchant ships had unloaded their cargo straight into the hands of the shops that stood out at the entrance to the pier, which seemed to serve as the island"s markets.

Only intensive stores like the weapon smiths or the cartographers held shop at the inside of the island, mainly because of how sensitive their products were as compared to the ones being sold at the docks.

That being the case, I could not help but look critically at this design choice. Leaving the food suppliers of the entire island to the mercy of anyone that set foot on the island, seemed counterintuitive to the whole concept of maintaining prosperity, but I digressed.

Well colored buildings stood out in the light of the day uncannily as neighbors greeted each other warmly. The foot traffic on the roads was quite heavy, and I had even sometimes felt a wave of slight claustrophobia in certain pathways.

At the very centre of a four sided crossing there stood a majestic fountain that many children played around. The falling water gave both an aesthetic affect to the pristine roads and also served as a breath of cool air to all those who pa.s.sed the structure.

Unfortunately, I did not come here to sightsee. Of our journey so far I could wager that this island was by far the island that I wanted to stay in the longest for.

With a dull final glance at the tall fountain and the joyful expression of the children in the distance I walked into a small una.s.suming building.

It was a pub. A tavern to be precise and was called the fountain side bar, quite unoriginal but critiquing the names of buildings was not the reason I was here.

As I entered I was met with an exquisite yellow light that illuminated the otherwise bland bar.

Wooden tables were neatly arranged with four to five chair for each one. At the very centre of the room stood a small and una.s.suming counter behind which stood a stocky man.

The man was bald with a black beard on his face being the only hair that he had. His piercing hazel eyes stared at me for a second, before dismissing me and going back to the shot gla.s.s that he was polishing with a dirty grey rag.

He wore a faded green shirt and a white ap.r.o.n to cover it up. His bald head glistened in the yellow lighting and his green shirt stood quite loosely on his muscled torso.

With a slow and steady step I walked up to the counter and sat myself on one of the wooden stools that was placed overlooking the counter.

The man glanced at me sparingly "What dya want? Ale? Happy hours are at noon so the strong ones aren"t served till then, if ya want a water I can tell you a good place to get it, now we offer only some mead." He said with a raspy voice before looking back down bored.

"I want to meet with Sai.. I heard that you could get me to him."

"Mead"r get out!" he snapped harshly seeming to have tuned me out when the first words out of my mouth weren"t "mead" or "I"m sorry".

With a groan and a quick face palm a voice called out from behind him. "G.o.d d.a.m.nit! a.s.shole don"t insult me in front of the guests!"

With a grunt from behind the counter, a wooden door slid out to reveal the form of a s.h.a.ggy brown haired well built man. The man had a tubular torso, and a set of sideburns that could almost be confused for a beard.

"My word when Superbia said that he would send a rookie pirate my way, I did not expect this! That b.a.s.t.a.r.d didn"t add the most important words- A rookie "New world" pirate! Even I don"t have Haki down to the same level as you do!" He called out jovially as he smacked the head of the bald bar tender.

"Now then, business talks are to be held there" he said as he pointed out to a shady corner of the room. The corner was well covered with a small and dusky black translucent curtain and was placed slightly farther from the rest of the chairs.

With a slight nod at him I got off the stool and walked towards the shaded glade. The tall man fallowed behind me just pausing slightly to get the bartender to break out some "negotiation brew" as he called it.

"So, what business does one of the underworld"s biggest tyc.o.o.ns want from me?" He asked as I pulled aside the curtain, and settled down at the seat to the wall.

" What mister Superbia wants is the navy"s show of good faith. He has delivered on the promise that has been made in his initial call to you." I said as I smiled shallowly.

Yes, it was right that I came into contact with the Happo Navy when I was working on Mimir"s forces in the West Blue.

Back then, it had taken me a little time to identify what he Navy was, or rather how useful they would prove to be.

After a little digging I had come across the bout that had occurred between Garp and the former head of the Happo Navy, a certain Don Chinjao. I had also heard of the jewel ice sheet, which was my reason for arranging this meeting.

The terms of the negotiation had been simple. I wanted the humiliation the Marines, specifically those that belonged to marine base 80 in some way.

As a matter of coincidence, the ship that Kuzan had commanded had indeed been marshaled from the marine base.

Sakazuki had been more than happy to dispense all manner of punishments, using his rank and the failure of his colleague as an excuse to torment them. They had been used as a scapegoat in this entire matter and the world government had taken preliminary steps to curb this.

Already, men from that base had begun to disappear. On the surface, a statement had been issued that the marines that bowed at the tombs of the "demons of Ohara" were no longer marines.

An adjacent report and a few articles from compet.i.tors had been able to ease the entire issue over in the face of the common populace to some degree, nonetheless the Revolutionary army had had a ball on their impromptu recruitment drives and had liberated quite a few islands from the control of the world government.

On the surface, there had not been any major undercurrents that accompanied this incident, but if one was to look deeper one could see the marines, those that till now were treated as the saints of the people, were now looked at with suspicion and fear.

That was a start.

Sai, slowly blew out a small breath of air as he contemplated what I had just said.

"Already the marines control of the entirety of West Blue has dwindled enough, that along with the retirement -" here he sneered " of the warlord in charge of these parts, will prove extremely beneficial to the navy. So, sure initially we were planning on giving Superbia a few million berries and letting sleeping dogs lie, but this will be enough to rocket the Navy to new heights!

So The navy shall respond in kind by allowing Superbia a major fraction of the Jewel Ice Sheet!

The navy shall also provide Superbia with a chance to fence products to us for a better bargain than would be likely for them through the black market. So, What do you say? " he said simply.

I could read into what was left unsaid though. If his proposition was accepted, then I would be forced into a partnership with the Navy. In the short run that would prove beneficial, but what about the long run?

With a deep sigh I decided. It was a tempting offer, and I would take them up on it. But I couldn"t be seen accepting this statement, after all wasn"t I a currier?