Lara's POV;

“Whoever the fuck shot that cannon, better not have hit the Shadow!” I haven't finished my rant I was already in the air and at full sprint over to the dock.

From the horizon, we could make out a small fleet of four ships. All of them with a direct course at the port. A blink of fire came from them and shortly after ten fireballs bloomed over the sea.

Lia must've shot the cannonballs down. Good, these arseholes are not harming our ship. From this distance, I couldn't make out under which flag they sail. It weren't the Marines, the colour and design of their ships weren't matching.

“What are pirates under Flamingo doing here?”, asked Lia from my side.

“I don't know, but we will find out. Stay near the Shadow and see if Yosaku and the others need help. I'm gonna take care of them.” Lia nodded and descended, while I started to mix Soru between the Geppo.

For them, it must have looked like a small black dot blinking in and out of view. Seconds later and I was almost on their ships. A scout ship, two middle-sized and a bigger, almost, warship. The leader is mostly inside the warship, so the other three aren't needed.

I drew my sword while listening to their shouts. Some were wondering why their cannons weren't hitting and others have spotted me and were aiming their guns at me. Most won't be able to hit me from this distance. Only skilled gunmen could hit something past 50 meters. At least with the standard rifle.

And the reach of dad's [Diagonal Ship Cutter] was beyond that. I tensed my muscles and added some vibration power to my sword. With a loud grunt, I let loose and a massive force blade cut through the small scout ship. Both halves stayed connected for a moment longer and then the front broke off. Its crew jumped overboard before the ship was fully sunken.

I twisted the blade and raised it vertically. A second force blade flew towards one of the middle sized ships. It was weaker than the first attack but should have been strong enough to cripple the ship.

If it hasn't been intercepted by someone. It was a woman with a short sickle in her hand. Another long scythe was on her back. Strange, but cool weapons. Hmm, I might have seen her face before. I think her name is Maria the Scythe. A bounty of roughly 100 million.

She was glaring at me from the railing of the ship I just now tried to destroy. “Why are you attacking our ship, Slicer Lara?” Okay, I know the bounty posters are out for a few days now, but why is everyone knowing my name?

“I could ask you the same, you've attacked my ship first”, I retorted while getting in a position to intercept attacks.

“We did? Why is your ship inside the port of the royal family?”, she really sounded as if she hasn't known about our ship.

“It's good to have friends in high positions. Now let me ask you why you are here?” She contemplated if she would answer or not and then seemed to have come to a conclusion.

“We are here to fetch something for our benefactor. I am offering you a place alongside me and under him. With him, as our protector, we can roam the sea like kings.” Such a cliché invitation.

“Why should I want to work under the Joker?” I asked back. Doflamingo was better known as Joker. “Covering under a pirate like him is against the adventure and freedom that people like me seek out. Stand down and let us sail off or fight. I don't care.” Again she thought over this for a moment and then lowered her scythe.

“We aren't here to fight you or your crew. We will let you set sail.” I nodded and jumped back to the port. But not without having an eye on them. They will have a transponder snail on board. Doflamingo might already have been informed. Is it a good idea to make an enemy out of him, now, when the crew isn't strong enough to truly fight?

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It will be better to speak with Lia about this before deciding on anything else. She was sitting on our ship's crow nest. Playing with a dozen pebbles and looking at the waiting three ships.

The thaws were undone and the sails ready to go. “And? What do they want?”, asked Lia once I sat down next to her.

“They are here to take something”, I answered. Lia nodded and pointed down at a pile of stuff that was under a cloth.

“Jonny said they were attacked. They had a tattoo that would place them under Joker as a subordinated crew. They had a few carts with gold, sea stone, money, and some documents.

They might be after that. Do we sink them, give it to them, or sail off with the stuff,” she then said.

“I already sunk one of their ships. That might not anger Doflamingo too much, but we are definitely on his list now. Do you think it is a good idea to further anger him?” I asked back.

“That depends. As long as we stay here in Paradise it won't be too much of a problem. Maybe a few attacks here and there, but not a full out hunt. I don't know about the documents, but the rest isn't worth it.

Killing these guys might be enough for him to tag us as enemies. And while I wouldn't be against a few fights, his true power isn't physical. Nearly the whole black market us under his command.

We might ask them to speak with him directly. If they have no means of communication then we can sink them without problems. If they do, then we can at least question him for his perspective.”

I thought so as well. Doflamingo isn't a danger to us now, but his anger will close a lot of doors for us. We aren't as good as the Straw Hats, I might want to use the black market. Especially for a new ship of for selling stuff.

“Then let's ask her for a phone call”, I decided and jumped off, Lia directly behind me. Together we 'flew' back to them and were already awaited by Maria.

“What now?”, she asked while tapping her foot on the wood. She now had two scythes ready.

“We'd like to speak with your boss. There was an attack on our ship from the land and we found some stuff. It isn't clear whom it belongs to”, I answered. She frowned but beckons us to follow her.

We were led to one of her men that had a snail on a pillow. The snail had sunglasses and a pink feather bola.

I grabbed the speaker from the man and gave a greeting. “Hi, my name is Lara, to whom am I speaking to?”

“Hnhnhnhn, you may call me Joker. I've heard of you, Slicer Lara. A high bounty for someone as new as you”, laughed the snail in return. It was obvious that I spoke directly to Doflamingo.

“Yeah, you do what you can do. Anyway, I found myself in a small scuffle with some of your subordinates. They shot at my ship without warning and I might have sunk one of theirs in retaliation.” My words might have been an apology, but my voice wasn't.

“Yes, I heard of that, truly a horrendous mistake. But what's done is done. So what is it that you want, maybe you'd like to join under my flag?”, he laughed. No remorse for those who might have had drowned.

“Nah, we're more of the adventurous kind. My friends and I aren't really good at being ordered around. But thanks anyway.” Maria looked at me with wide eyes, probably thinking that I am stupid for declining an offer directly given by Doflamingo.

“Hnhnhnhnhahahaha, yes. An answer every true pirate should give. But so what is it you want from me then, if not to join me?” If not for his stupid pink feather bola, then Doflamingo would be really cool. Especially his voice.

“Yeah, you see. My friends got attacked and found some stuff under the belongings of the attackers. Some money, you know the usual. And then your minions come with their ships and attack us. We kinda reached a conclusion that would allow us to pass each other without a fight.

But the first attack made me think that those were also some of your soldiers. That's why I'm now speaking to you.”

“How nice of you, yes, it would be an annoyance to hunt you down just because we had a misunderstanding. Tell you what, you give Maria the documents that should be with found between the other stuff, as well as a small closed chest. And as a gift, you can keep the rest.

She won't be forced to fight you, I won't be forced to hunt you down when you have killed her and I will get my things quicker.

And maybe you will think over my offer again at a later time. Working under me can be quite profitable.”

“Sure, couldn't have used the documents anyway. We will give them to Maria. It was nice speaking to you mister Joker”, I agreed easily. While it might have been interesting to see what he wants, it's not as important as evading a sure animosity with him.

“Good good, let Maria give you my number, in case you decide to work for me,” he then said and hung up.

The man with the snail left back inside the ship and I turned around to the waiting Maria. “We're gonna sail next to your ship and then give you said papers.” She nodded and I left with Lia next to me.

“Okay guys, set sail. We're going to drive right next to the big ship. In the meantime I want Nojiko, Jo and Lia helping me in copying the most important things of these documents. Ignore anything that looks like money lists or papers for the ownership of buildings. I am only looking for things that can be used for blackmail or spying.” I ordered once we were back.

There were a good four dozen different folders, each with a label. And we only had little more than half an hour. Lia could only make our ship so slow without making it look strange.

We managed to copy ten folders, mine were about a testing facility of the Marines and another one about a report concerning new and rising pirate crews.

I also took a look at the chest. The key was found by Jonny, their leader had it. Inside we found a Devil Fruit. There was no label or letter that would tell us what kind of fruit it was, so I exchanged the fruit with our kilo-kilo fruit. Almost anything will be better, and who knows maybe it's some cool one.

And if Doflamingo knows that it's not the right fruit then he can't give us the fault. Which new pirate crew has a Devil Fruit lying around, and would then give it away for another one?

The last hundred meter Lia had to stop and watch the remaining three ships, in case they got the order to fire at us from a closer distance. They did not and we gave them all of the folders. Better not giving them less. Doflamingo might know how many there were.

In return, we received his transponder snail number and the other goods. Enough sea stone for a prison, two hundred million Belly and around two hundred kilograms of gold. Nojiko thinks they are another three hundred million Belly.

We sailed off with the same speed until they were out of sight and then changed course towards this Marine testing facility. Jo said that he wants to see what happens there. In case it is of the same kind we found in East Blue.

In the meantime, I can read through the folders. And maybe we can find a Devil Fruit encyclopedia. Would be nice to know what new fruit we now have.