I woke up on my bed inside the small cabin of the ship, feeling a slight headache and a little weak. I then headed outside of the cabin to find Wilson sitting leisurely at the battered deck of our boat.

The deck, however, wasn't the only thing in lousy shape. The mast was missing entirely, and the sails and railing of the ship had many chunks missing from it.

All intents and purposes did for this small unnamed carvel, but luckily she managed to fulfill her duty as we were currently at what seemed to be the port of a medium-sized town.

"how long was I out, where are we, and what happened to the mast?." I asked as I reached to one of the barrels and took some fruits to munch on.

"you were out for eight hours, the upper half of the mast broke and fell into the sea, so I ripped the lower half and used it as an oar to get us into the island. as for where we are I have absolutely no idea," he said as he poured himself some whisky and drank in a relaxed manner.

"Whatever, I'll just go and gather information myself since your too lazy to do it," I said, then picked up my backpack and my weapons and jumped off the ship's railing and into the wooden dock.

At first, I was content with exploring the town and taking in its sights. It seemed like one of those towns you would find in a wild west movie with people wearing all kinds of ranchers and cowboy outfits roaming all around it.

Once I had the lay of the town figured, I started heading in the direction of the town's only bar. Once there, I made my entrance without any fanfare and started making my way towards the bartender's table. And then simply sat at a stool and waited for the bartender to approach me himself.

"good day, what can I get you?" he greeted and then asked while holding an empty glass and drying it with a small piece of cloth.

"whatever is popular, and I also need some information," I said, as I put my hand on the table displaying a one thousand belly bill and slid it across the table in the bartender's direction. To which he raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"you see me and my mate are bounty hunters, but we've been lost in the sea for a while and now we have absolutely no idea about where we are or the current date," I said as I slid another one thousand belly bill in his direction.

"ask away," he said as he pocketed the belly pills and brought a large glass full of beer in front of me.

"what's the current date, and I don't mean the day of the month I mean the year," I asked as I took a sip of the bear in front of me.

"it's currently the twentieth year of the great pirate age", he answered without a change of expression.

'two years before Luffy departed and one year after ace departed. could have been better but still good enough.' I thought to myself but continued asking.

"What is this island called and what sea is it located on?" I asked him again while finishing all the beer left in the glass with a single gulp.

"We are currently inside the borders of the Ballywood kingdom located in the west blue and ruled by king ham burger," he said as his eyebrow raised in suspicion once more. (Author's note: To make things clear. Ballywood is an actual canon island, and it isn't something I came up with. The king of this island is called ham burger, and he is also a canon character who attended the Levely)

"come on man don't be like that, I already told you we were lost for quite a while and things got a little too crazy at times, but luckily we're still at the same sea," I said placatingly as I slid another one thousand belly bill in his direction, which he again pocketed.

I then proceeded to ask him about the island's geography, what bounties were available for me to collect, and the process of delivering them to authorities on this island.

It was by the time that I finished questioning the bartender that she walked into the bar. And by god was she a sight for soar eyes.

She had flaming red hair adorned by a black, wide-brimmed cowboy hat, resting on an oval-shaped white face with sharp green eyes, a delicate small nose, full red lips, and a pointy chin.

Lowering my gaze from her face to her body, the first thing I noticed was the red tie, tied around the collar of a simple white shirt and with its end tucked into a black leather vest with brass-colored zippers covering it.

Her right arm was covered with a strange bracer. While her right hand was holding the end of a lever-action rifle as she rested its barrel on her shoulder. And her left arm hung loosely by her side as the sleeve of her shirt was tucked slightly backward, revealing her thin, heavily tattooed forearm.

Suddenly her eyes met mine as I was devouring the sight of her with my eyes. She seems to have noticed my far from polite gaze on her while I was lost in thought.

"what you staring at punk, you got a problem with me?" she said menacingly as she spat to the side at the floor, and I think I'm in love.

"nothing like that miss, it's just that you're quite pretty and I couldn't help myself from staring. how about I buy a drink or two to apologize for my rude behavior?." I said as I tipped my hat in her direction with my index finger and smiled good-naturedly.

She didn't answer immediately as she took a second to look me over, her gaze lingering slightly longer on my left prosthetic hand.

"well you ain't too bad yourself tiger, and I won't say no to a free drink," she said with a smile as she sat on the stool next to me.

"The name's Johnny, a pleasure to meet you, miss...?" I said with a disarming smile of my own, trying to fish for her name as I extended my hand in her direction.

"I go by jones and that's all you need to know for now tiger," she said as she caught my hand in a firm handshake.

And so we began to drink and chat and drink for several minutes until someone came inside the bar and handed a piece of paper to jones and left. She looked at the article's content, then stuffed it into her pocket and just stood up.

"it's been a pleasure tiger, but something came up and now I need to go," she said as she made her way to the exit.

"The pleasure is all mine miss jones, I'll see you later then," I said as I watched her leave my eyes lingering on a specific swaying area of her body.

I then finished my drink and also left after paying the bill.

-0-

I woke up early in the morning feeling remarkably refreshed as I thought about what happened yesterday after miss jones had left.

After finishing my drink and leaving the bar, I could not bear it anymore. I felt my iron would finally fail me as I made a beeline straight into the direction of the town's brothel.

After living an entire year in isolation, without being able to see even the hint of a woman, I had finally snapped.

As I reached the brothel, I burst through the doors; ignoring all formalities, I took a five thousand belly note and shoved it in the hands of the brothel's madame, which seemed to be the right choice as she seemed to have understood my urgency. And so she brought me to a room with several girls and told me to chose.

I didn't even have the willpower to go over them all as I grabbed the first girl I found pleasing to the eye and led her to one of the empty rooms and kept going at it until the poor girl seemed to be on the verge of fainting.

Once the deed was done and I felt satisfied, I stuffed another five thousand belly bill into the girl's hands, wore my clothes, and left without saying anything.

I then made my way to the ship, and after greeting Wilson and telling him that I'd inform him of my discoveries tomorrow, I just threw myself at the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

Finally finished spacing, I made my way out of the cabin after having a quick breakfast.

It didn't take me long to spot Wilson, who was lazing about in his usual spot, looking around the ship. So I made my to him and sat down in front of him.

"Alright big guy, look alive we can't keep lazing out here," I said as I unfurled the map on the surface of an empty barrel separating us.

"it's not that I'm lazing around, I'm simply guarding our luggage, besides we had to have some information before acting, and that's your job you can't really expect a gorilla to do that kind of work," he said while nodding his head sagely and arrogantly as if he was a philosopher preaching some great wisdom to the unwashed masses.

"you fucking lump of muscles you only remember you're a gorilla at times like this when it suits you the most. ugh, whatever I don't have time to becker with you so just shut up and listen if you're not gonna say anything useful," I said in an irritated tone of voice, to which he snorted derisively.

"the Island we are currently at is a desert Island called the ballywood kingdom. it has several towns and villages scattered across its borders with a big city at the center of the Island acting as the capital of the kingdom, it's also known for importing bally wood, a kind of wood that is very suitable for building ships, " I said while pointing at the map with my index finger.

"We are inside a town situated on the west shore of the island that is called silver town courtesy to the silver mines located at the hills near the town," I said as I gestured with my index finger at the dot in the map that represented the location of the town.

"We currently only have enough food and drink to last us for two weeks tops, maybe three if we ration which we both know is impossible. and the amount of money we have will only be able to extend that by a week if we use it to buy more rations," I said again, pointing at the barrels which we used to store our food and drinks. And finally noticed a look of worry on Wilson's face at the Idea of not having enough food.

"Our top priority right now is to get another, bigger ship and to secure more rations, to secure more rations and get another ship we need to gain money, and the only way for us to gain money right now is stealing or doing some bounty hunting," I remarked as I took a bundle of folded yellow papers. After going through them, I took one out and placed it above the map.

"We can't go around robbing people because it would clash with some of my bigger plans, but luckily for us this island is teeming with all kinds of outlaws, and one of them just so happens to operate near this town," I said plainly as I pointed at the yellow wanted poster, which I had placed above the map previously.

"sam bass, a former resident of the silver town, he used to make a living as a soldier only to defect later and start his own gang, bounty: 5400000 belly, wanted dead or alive for murder, rape, armed robbery..etc. this is our target, for now, once we take him out and claim his bounty, we'll go to the capital by train to buy some bally wood which this kingdom is known for and named after, as it's said to be very good for making ships." I said as I removed the wanted poster and started gesturing at the map again.

"once we have the wood we'll haul it to this town at the eastern shore of the island called shipwrights town, once there we'll make a down payment for building the ship and I'll snoop around for any bounties there for us to claim," I said and raised my head to take a look at Wilson to see if he was still with me.

"All alright seems simple enough, but more importantly, is this sam guy strong or what?" Wilson said with an expectant smile as he seemed to look forward to the fighting part of the plan more than anything else.

"probably not, he's something of a monster to the locals here but that's only because of this place's low standards. though that doesn't mean we should lower our guard when going after him," I said in a purposefully grave tone to make sure that I was clearly understood.

"Okay, okay, I get it geez, I just have to be careful right?" Wilson said in an annoyed tone but nodded in agreement nonetheless.

"as long as you understand that then it's fine, make sure you're ready in one hour as that's when we'll go out on our hunt," I said as I got up and started to make my preparations.

-0-

Once an hour passed and we were both sufficiently prepared, we made our way outside of town. And headed in the direction of one colossal hill that would give us a better line of sight over the lands near the town.

It took only a ten-minute jog for us to reach the top of the hill. And once there, I took out the map and gestured for Wilson to come over.

"that sam fellow is known for operating around the town by ambushing travelers and merchant caravans going through these roads. he also seems to appear and disappear without leaving any traces meaning we don't have any leads on the location of his base except that it's somewhere in the vicinity of the town." I said while pointing at the dirt road beginning at the town and disappearing into the horizon.

"common johnny, get to the point already, you know I don't care about this stuff, I just need to know who I'm gonna tear apart and when I need to do it," Wilson said while rolling his eyes at me in annoyance.

"Now listen here you fucking muscle gorilla, this all necessary so we can find our target. so drop the attitude and start taking this seriously so we can get this thing over with as quickly as possible," I said in equal annoyance as I lit a cigarette.

"Alright, alright I'll just have to listen for now I guess, " he said mutteringly as he started to stretch his limbs in boredom.

"anyway like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, we don't have any leads about the location of his base. but we do know that it's near the town and that he attacked a caravan two days ago. so we can go there to investigate the ambush site and search for any remaining tracks." I said. I jumped down and started to slide down the hill while gesturing for Wilson to follow me.

"and if that doesn't work then there's a merchant caravan heading in the direction of the capital tomorrow, we can tail it in case that sam guy decides to attack it," I said again as I spat out the cigarette in my mouth.

It took an hour of jogging to reach our destination this time. It seems that the ambush site was cleaned up, as the only things I could see were traces of dried blood and several carriages that were damaged beyond repair.

"I'll check around for any tracks, you... you just go and be yourself I guess," I said as I kneeled by, bending one of my knees to get a closer look at the ground.

'Successfully tracking someone is a product of logical reasoning and common sense, and, in part, the carelessness of the prey,' I thought in my head while surveying the area in search of any signs of said carelessness.

'When a person passes by an area, they often leave tell-tale signs of their presence behind. This can be a shoe imprint, a discarded item, or upturned pebbles or stones... things that will be out of place but detectable only to a trained eye.' I thought to myself again as I searched for such signs.

However, this sam fellow seems to be quite proficient in covering his tracks, as, after an hour and a half of search, I was only able to find several turned rocks, evidenced by their tops that were covered by more sand and dirt than the other rocks nearby. And a barely visible footprint that I only managed to find thanks to my improved vision and zoom function.

"Hey, big guy, I found something. it seems that the left in this direction after the ambush." I said while pointing to the north of the ambush site.

"what're we waiting for then, lets get going." came Wilson's answer that was spoken in an impatient and eager tone of voice.

After heading in the same direction for two hours and not finding any more tracks, I was about to give up, but then the sight my eyes caught as I activated my zoom function to check the horizon one last time made me change my mind.

"look alive people ahead, fifteen or so, they seem to be cleaning something which that explains the frustrating lack of tracks. these guys are quite thorough they're still covering their tracks even after two days," I said as I looked in Wilson's direction with a malicious smile while pointing in their direction.

Wilson, of course, understood my meaning and obliged quite happily as he started to charge in the direction of the cleaning crew since he was even more frustrated than I was at this wild goose chase.

"make sure to leave some of them alive and kicking, we need to question them about their boss and base after all," I quickly shouted as I watched Wilson's back becoming smaller and smaller in my vision.

"can't make any promises," Wilson shouted back jokingly, and even though I couldn't see his face, I was reasonably sure he was smiling widely at the prospect of finally letting out some steam.

His shout seemed to have finally alerted them to our presence as all of them took out their guns and started to aim at Wilson's charging figure.

Wilson noticed this and raised one of his hands in front of his face to shield his eyes which were the only vulnerable part of his body, as he continued to sprint in their direction.

Several bullets were fired with surprising accuracy. And I watched as they impacted Wilson's body and bounced off his skin harmlessly while increasing my pace to remain close enough to react in time and cover for Wilson if needed.

"m-monster, bullets don't even seem to faze him." said one of them as he took a step backward in fear at the spectacle Wilson while gazing in horror at Wilson's approaching figure.

"don't shit your pants just yet, so what if he can shrug off bullets we just gotta use something bigger. you over there take that thing out," said one of them, who seemed to be one sizer bigger than the rest while pointing at a large black bag one of them was carrying on his back.

"make sure to keep that one alive and able to speak by the time you're done," I shouted at Wilson while pointing at the guy who just spoke as it didn't require one to be a rocket scientist to figure out he was in charge.

Wilson didn't answer as he continued to charge, but it seemed that the guy's encouraging words or maybe my mocking tone snapped them from their fear as one of them quickly reached inside a large bag one of them was carrying and took out a large hand canon.

Looking at that scene, I merely smiled in disdain, and I imagine Wilson did the same as he didn't halt or even slow his charge.

The big guy took the weapon from his companion's arms and only took a single second to steady his aim and fire a small canon round with a thunderingly loud bang at Wilson.

Wilson snorted as he raised his leg and unleashed vertical Rankyaky slash, which bisected the canon round in half, sending the two halves behind them as they exploded in an even louder bang.

Looking at this scene, even the big guy was speechless as his eyes popped and his jaw opened wide enough to stick one of Winston's large hands inside of it while he froze in both shock and horror, finally realizing the situation he found himself in.

"ready or not here I come", Wilson shouted as his figure became closer and closer to them by the second.

Wilson's last line, along with his previous display of atrocity, however, seemed to have been the straw that broke the camel's back as they snapped out of their shock once more and started to reach inside their backpacks.

They were taking out ropes this time instead of futile means to defeat the monster charging at them. They dropped their weapons and started to tie each other up.

-0-

"We're sorry. please forgive us."

Looking at the sight of these so-called stone-cold killers and outlaws banging their heads on the floor in a display of dogeza so practiced and refined that it would make any Japanese salaryman proud. I couldn't help it anymore and cracked up in a fit of laughter that made my synthetic lungs hurt.

Wilson, however, didn't seem to share my amusement as his eyes twitched in irritation. Wilson was obviously very disappointed at the fact that he would not get to tear them new ones.

"Alright, since you seem to realize what kind of situation you're in, it would make things very easy," I said and put a hand over Wilson's shoulder. Who was looking at them with bloodshot eyes as if waiting for them to object or say the wrong thing, so he could proceed to beat the living shit out of them?

"You see, I and my big friend here, we have some questions about your boss and base of operations," I said while making eye contact with them every one of them and then locked eyes with the guy who seemed to be in charge.

Seeing all nod without any hesitation, I continued once more.

"Now, we'll start nice and simple. what is the name of the person you work for?" I asked as I casually put a cigarette in my mouth.

"W-we work for Sam Bass. we'll tell you everything you want to know, so please spare our lives," one of them said quickly, seemingly wary of testing Wilson's patience.

"How many members do you have in your gang, and how many are there inside your base right now.?" I asked again while exhaling a small, white puff of smoke.

"There are fifty-three members of us in total, including our boss," one of them said and then took a second to recollect his thoughts before continuing.

"the boss ordered the fifteen of us to cover any remaining tracks. and sent eight more members to the town to sniff for information and news. he also ordered another five members to patrol around the base just in case. there should be no more than twenty-five people remaining in the base right now, including the boss." he said after a short bout of hesitation that he tried and failed to hide from my enhanced vision and senses. But he seemed to tell the truth, so I let it go.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"I see, now here comes the most crucial questions. so you better keep answering as honestly as you have been doing so far. my friend here may lose his temper otherwise," I said, this time with a grave tone of voice as I pointed my index finger in Wilson's direction.

"What kind of connections does your boss have?. does he work with any other gangs, is he working for someone, or is he acting on his own?" I asked while making eye contact, looking for any sign of deception or lies.

"We don't know if the boss is working for anyone in particular, but every two months or so, he takes a bag full of belly and goes to the capital only to come back empty-handed." the big one answered after slightly more hesitation. But he seemed to be truthful, so I let it go again.

'a tribute or a cut of the operations to someone maybe..?' I thought as I took a couple of seconds to organize my thoughts.

"very well, you have been cooperating quite well. and once you answer this last question, you may consider yourselves to no longer be in danger of being crushed to death by the big guy here." I said with a pleasant, reassuring smile on my face.

"y-yes sir, thank you, sir," they all said in one voice as their faces bloomed with hope.

"where is you're base of operations, and what kind of defenses does it have.?" I asked with an encouraging smile.

"We don't know, honest to god. we only joined the gang not long ago, and we usually meet the other members outside of town to receive our orders," the one in charge said with an honest smiling expression. But he seemed to have hesitated for too long this time, and I could smell his lie coming from a mile away.

BANG, the archangel's thundering voice echoed through the desert as smoke came out of its barrel. Suddenly one of the outlaws collapsed in a fetal position groaning in pain as the rest of them watched in horror, alternating their gazes between the collapsed man and the revolver which seemed to have magically appeared in my hand.

"I say, do I look like a fucking bitch to you guys?" I asked with a relaxed, unoffended tone of voice as I blew a breath of air at the archangel's barrel to disperse the smoke.

"N-no sir, we would nev-." they tried to deny quickly, but I cut them off.

"Then why the hell do you want fuck with me?!. you got a death wish or something because I could totally grant it to you if you want," I said this time, my calm expression and tone disappearing, replaced by a sinister, cold one instead as I slowly took aim at the collapsed outlaw and fired my revolver again, ending his suffering.

"now, try answering again, and remember every time you lie, I'm going to put a bullet in one of yall's brains," I said with a smile as I recovered my calm and friendly expression and tone.

It took some effort to press down the discomfort I felt about taking a human life for the first time in such a cold-blooded manner and not showing it on my face.

I was no stranger to death. As a citizen of a third-world country that can be described as a war zone if you were trying to describe it politely, I became very familiar with it as it was simply a fact of life there. But this was still my first time taking life with my own hands, and it was in such a cold-blooded manner, so feeling some discomfort, in this case, is ironically very comforting as it's a reminder that I'm still human despite the strength I had gained but, I digress.

It seems my casual disregard of their life, the maniacal mood swings I had purposefully displayed, or maybe even a mixture of both was enough to break any remaining will. They might have had because they started to sing like canaries.

-0-

After interrogating the outlaws for a while longer and milking them dry for any information they had, I ordered them to bury their dead companion and was now waiting for them to finish the process.

"Wilson, you take these guys back to the town and hand them over to the sheriff, don't forget to check if any of them have any bounties on their heads, and make sure to collect it no matter how small if that's the case," I said to Wilson, who was watching the prisoners go about their grim task, in no small amount of boredom.

"So you can have all the fun all by yourself? who cares about these guys anyway. just cut them loose or kill them or something." Wilson mutteringly, seemingly sinking even more into boredom.

"sigh, I know you're not stupid, so why don't you use that brain of yours for once eh,? you know we can't cut them loose because they'll alert their comrades to our presence, and we can't kill them because it would give us a bad reputation which we don't want so early in our journey." I said placatingly and continued to speak before Wilson could make any more objections.

"take some money with you. your two-and-a-half-meter figure lumbering around the town is bound to bring us too much attention. you can go to the bar to try some new kinds of alcohol too if you want." I said as I handed him some belly notes, which finally seemed to satisfy him as he smiled at the prospect of tasting a different kind of spirit.

Coincidentally, it was also at this moment that the prisoners completed their task of burying the body of the dead outlaw. So I ordered them to tie themselves up again and watched as Wilson shepherd them in the direction of the town, then started to move as well when their figures disappeared from my line of sight.

It took me an hour or so of light jogging to reach the outlaw's hideout, which was a big mansion hidden inside a large canyon and hidden further by a large rock sitting at its back, switching it between the canyon wall and its self.

Surveying the surroundings had taken me a minute, and I spent another couple of minutes infiltrating the mansion. I entered the mansion by climbing my way up one of its thin wooden pillars and into the balcony on the second floor, which conveniently had an open window.

Once inside, I found myself in a large room decorated with all kinds of fancy-looking furs and paintings, with a large double bed right in the middle of it.

Going through all drawers and containers of the room, I found nothing interesting except for a stack of money, worth twelve thousand or so bellies, which I had pocketed, of course.

Once I was done with the search and sure that I didn't miss anything. I headed towards the room's exit. And found me in a hallway, with several four wooden doors divided by a wooden staircase going into the first floor.

I, of course, decided to start checking the rest of the rooms, and after going through two of them with nothing to show for it, I suddenly heard a sound coming from the third room as I reached for its handle to open and inter it.

I reacted as fast as I could, as I quickly opened the door and pushed the door open, hitting and stunning the man standing behind it with the edge of the door. I then covered his mouth with my left hand and lifted him off the floor by his face, and slammed him into the wall behind the door while taking out satori and bringing it to his neck.

"if you scream, you die. if you speak without my permission, you also die. if you try lying to me, you guessed it, you die. so believe me, when I say, I will know if you lie, now nod if you understand," I said in a low tone of voice as I buried my fist into the man's stomach, not hard enough to make him faint, but hard enough to make him scream in agony if my hand wasn't covering his mouth.

I generously gave him a couple of seconds to groan the pain away as I watched him squirm in my grip until he was calm enough to understand the situation he was so suddenly in and nod.

"where is sam bass?" I said as I removed my hand covering his mouth and brought satori's blade close enough to his throat to cut his skin and draw a thin red line on his neck.

"h-he went out to check on the guys he sent on patrol, he should be back in an hour or so and bring them with him," he said as a dozen droplets of cold sweat rolled down his forehead while his eyes shifted nervously, alternating between looking at me and the sword held to his neck.

"I see. how many of you are at the hideout right now, including you, and what are they doing this moment?" I asked again while looking him dead in the eyes.

"there should be around twenty or something people in the hideout right now. they're all downstairs. some of them are doing chores around the mansion while some are just getting wasted or lazing around," he said quickly, trying to make his words as precise and short as possible.

"you did well to cooperate, but I believe it's past your bedtime now, young man, so goodnight," I said with a shit-eating grin as I punched him in the gut again, this time hard enough to make him faint.

I then made my way downstairs and proceeded to beat the living crap out of anything that moved until I was standing in the middle of twenty-something unconscious bodies.

I then picked up the guy who was the most fancily dressed and kept slapping him on the face until he woke up, and then slapped him some more until he led me to their stash, which had roughly around seven hundred thousand bellies.

I quickly pocketed the money and then tied up all the bandits. Once done, I moved on to take a seat at the stair's lower steps, which were located at the center of the mansion and right in front of the mansion's main entrance, and lit a cigarette leisurely to wait for my target's return.

-0-

Sitting on the stairs and just waiting for my target to come back soon became too tedious for me to bear, so I started to mutter a sea shanty under my breath after a couple of minutes of waiting. (author note: play the pirate shanty)

"I am not a pirate, but I long to be...," I muttered as I remembered the feeling of the sea breeze hitting my face. "Sailing by the stars across the seven seas..," I smiled as I recalled laying on the deck of the ship and feeling the waves hitting and rocking her gently while I gazed at the starry sky at night. "Living with no earthly cares, my mates and me..," the scene of myself and Winston taking breaks to fish and drink together when the direction of the winds was in our favor, and the weathers were calm, causing my smile to grow even broader. "The envy of all worldly men, who are not free," I remembered some of the more unpleasant sights that I saw while exploring the town this time and sighed, then shook all those thoughts out of my head as I started to hear voices coming from outside the mansion.

I sighed again as I stood up and prepared for the incoming confrontation with the un-sheathed satori in my left hand as my right hand rested on the archangel's grip.

I didn't have to wait for too long this time as a dozen or so men kicked open the mansion's front door and made their entrance. "crunch, look alive, you scum, it's time for us to move out of this town. there's nothing left for us here, and that woman was seen around here too.." the most noticeable of them a rotund, round man standing at three meters tall with scraggly black facial hair and a bald head covered in a cowboy hat. said while taking a bite of a FUCKING APPLE of all things.

He seemed too occupied with the evil fruit in his hands to notice the strange atmosphere around him, but the continued silence and not receiving a reply seemed to have given him a hint that something was wrong. So he raised his head and moved his eyes from the monstrosity he held in his hands and started to look around suspiciously until his eyes landed on myself and the figures of the tied-up outlaws. They were now squirming on the ground like worms in a futile attempt to free themselves.

I felt my eyes twitch in irritation at his and the other gang members' expression that seemed to freeze at this sight before them. I cleared my throat to get his attention as I didn't want this situation to become more awkward than it had already become. "Sam Bass, why don't you make this situation easier on both us, surrender and drop your fruit... I mean your weapon, and I won't have to break every bone in you're hands along with your teeth for eating such a... I mean for all the crimes you've committed." I said while trying my best and failing to distract myself from this cursed fruit of Eden that he held in his hand.

"Wha..., just what the hell are you talking about. in the first place, who do you think you are coming into someone's place and telling them to drop their food." He said with a visible tick mark on his forehead as he gestured with his hands wildly.

I looked at the sight of the evil fruit being waved around in the air and felt the twitching in my eyes grow even more intense. BANG, I couldn't hold it any longer and drew archangel and watched in satisfaction as the bullet fired from its barrel turned the apple to smithereens.

"I'm a bounty hunter, and you, my friend, are a walking, breathing bag of bellies. so why don't you surrender? and I promise I won't beat you up too much." I said as I pointed my gun at him.

"What kind of idiot do you think I am. just because you can beat these worthless guys doesn't mean you can do shit to me," He said as he reached behind his back and took out two large canons. "eat this, you shit-eating bounty hunter." he shouted as he simultaneously shot both of them at me.

I looked at the two approaching cannonballs and just swung my sword while muttering, "Gengetsu (Phantom Moon)." releasing a spinning flying slash from the blade of my sword that cut the cannonballs in half mid-flight, causing them to explode prematurely.

'these guys are small fries, but you can't be too careful, I guess so whatever.' I thought to myself as I looked at them again, frozen in shock, outlaws and their boss.

'time to end this ridiculous farce,' I thought again as I closed the distance between me and Sam bass with a quick application of soru and then planted a fist at the top of his head so hard I buried it in the mansion's wooden flooring.

I then beat up some remaining gang members who weren't smart enough to surrender and started unceremoniously picking up and throwing the tied-up bandits outside the mansion. Once done, I raised my left hand and released an arm projectile at the mansion center, and just left without sparing it another glance while dragging the gang boss's unconscious body with me.

I spent two hours of jogging to return to the town. I halted my steps to greet Wilson, who was now more appropriately dressed, wearing a simple white shirt covered by a black vest, a black, formal pants with thin horizontal white lines all over it, a brown leather belt, and a pair of long leather boots, as he seemed to be waiting for me.

"so that's the guy. he doesn't look strong at all," Wilson said while taking a sip out of a bottle of wine he was holding in his hand. "I guess it's not such a bad thing that I returned earlier than," he concluded as he stared at the bottle in his hands with a smile.

"at least one of us was having a good time," I said lightly with a smile of my own as I reached for my backpack to take out my whisky bottle. "what about the prisoners you took with you? did any of them have a bounty?" I asked as I took a sip of the whisky bottle.

"none of those small fries had any bounty on them, but the guy I handed them to... the sheriff I think he's called, he was quite interesting," he said with an eager expression that I instantly recognized as battle intent.

"oh, then why don't you tell me what's so interesting about him," I said questioningly, but I had a pretty good guess what his answer would be.

"he had the same smell like you," he said with a savage grin. "it wasn't as strong as yours, but it was definitely the smell of a monster," he said again and lost control of his battle intent, causing several horses nearby to flinch and start going wild.

"sounds interesting indeed. now I wanna see this guy who can make you like this for myself," I said as I turned to the gate and started to make my way towards the town, with Wilson following right behind me while taking the occasional sip from his wine bottle.

It didn't take too long for us to reach the town's prison/sheriff's office. After talking to a guard and going through some formal procedures to hand over the prisoner, I soon found myself sitting in an office room waiting for the sheriff to sign the papers stating that I had indeed captured and delivered wanted criminal Sam bass to the authorities. Fortunately, I didn't have to sit around doing nothing for too long as I soon heard the sound of the door opening after merely two minutes of waiting.

"How nice it is to be able to meet you so soon. you must be the partner Wilson told me about earlier." said a tall, pale white man as he entered the room, and I felt my brain freeze at meeting a canon character for the first time in this world.

-0-

"How nice it is to be able to meet you so soon. you must be the partner Wilson told me about earlier."

As I laid my eyes on the man and heard him speak in that familiar refined tone of voice, I felt my mind shut down, only to reboot and start processing the situation at superhuman speed and capacity.

"oh, nice to meet you two, Mr...?" I said as I stood up when he started walking in my direction out of both courtesy and caution." Laffite, just Laffite is fine, and you are called johnny, am I correct?" he said again in a friendly, refined tone of voice while extending his hand to me expecting a handshake. "that is correct, you said Wilson told you about me, he didn't say anything bad did he, knowing the big guy it's entirely possible." I answered and shook his hand, trying to fish for what information he knew about me.

"nothing like that, I assure you. he just mentioned you were bounty hunters and said that you and I would find each other interesting for some reason," he said as his pleasant, refined voice seemed to fade as he spoke.

"he also said the same thing about you to me, and meeting you right now, I know he wasn't wrong. You are a monster," I said as I put more strength into my hand that was grasping his own in a firm handshake.

"for a man who just met a monster, you don't seem to be very scared," he said as his elegant demeanor completely vanished, replaced by a sinister, cold one instead.

"That's because I'm something of a monster myself, tell me oh monster hidden in sheep's clothing, Do you know what happens when two monsters meet," I said as I let go of his hands once I noticed he couldn't put more strength into it.

"they tear each other apart or become the best of friends. luckily we are humans before we are monsters, and we don't need to go such lengths." I said quickly, interrupting him before he said anything himself, and took out my whisky bottle.

Lafitte seemed surprised at my change of attitude at first, but he regained his pleasant demeanor quite quickly as he smiled, reached into a cupboard, and took out two glasses which he placed at his desk, then sat behind it.

"so tell me, what is a bonafide monster doing in such a quiet place like this playing Sherrif?" I asked as I started to pour whisky into the glasses.

"oh my, playing sheriff, what a rude thing to say. I take this job very seriously, you know, but to answer your question, let's say that I'm waiting," he said as he picked up the whisky glass and surprisingly drained it all in one gulp without even a hint of caution.

I looked at this and raised my eyebrow, but he continued speaking as if he knew what I was about to say. "like me, you are also a monster, but you're not that kind of monster." he said simply with an assured and confident tone of voice, not that he was wrong, but I digress.

"well, in that case, doesn't that mean you don't have to wait any longer?" I said as I drained my glass and then refilled both of our glasses. "maybe, but then again, maybe not. I'm not the kind of person to follow the first monster I meet and call it a day. Why don't you tell me about what kind of dream drove you to the sea and how you are going to make it come true." he said as he took a small sip from his glass this time instead of draining it.

"my dream is simple. I want to see and experience everything this world has to offer. I want to shake this world and carve a piece of it to make my own." I said with a fiery passion as I spread my arms to my side as Laffite continued to listen attentively.

"I already have a plan for that. I'm currently working to collect enough money to buy a decent ship, and once I had that and a good crew. I intend to enter the grand line as a pirate and then stack as much power as I can by taking advantage of future situations that I will not share with you for now." I said with no passion this time as my voice regained its usual calm, calculating tone.

"oh, are you saying you can see the future somehow?" Lafitte asked with intentional amusement in his voice, but the solemn look in his eyes seemed to indicate that he believed such a thing was possible.

"you don't need to test me like that. I'm not such a narrow-minded person that I'll lash out at the first person to doubt or mock me. When you aim at the top, there are fights simply not worth fighting," I said with a broad smile, not minding his tone while shamelessly quoting Blackbeard and then continued.

"But to answer your question, I'm not capable of something as outrageous as seeing the future. I calculate and predict it." I said as I raised my whisky glass and drained it with one gulp.

"Now, back to the point, once I had gathered enough strength, I would then enter the new world and take on one of the Yonko to take their territory as my own," I said. I then lit a cigarette to give the man a couple of seconds to think, as he seemed to be contemplating and organizing his thoughts.

"very well, you have convinced me. I will follow you as a member of your future crew, but if I notice you slipping or losing your edge, I will not hesitate to leave, captain." Laffite said as he stood up, brought his cane behind his back, tipped his top hat, and bowed gracefully.

"hahaha, you've made a wise decision Laffite, welcome to the crew. just remember one thing as long as you don't turn your back on me, I'll never turn my back on you." I laughed in a loud, joyful tone of voice as I started to smack the man on his shoulder hard enough to make him wince.

-0-

"So when do you think you'll be ready to get out of here and come with us," I asked after calming down and smacking Laffite's shoulder long enough to be satisfied.

"I'll need to resign formally and then tie a few loose ends, but it shouldn't take more than a week," Laffite answered while rubbing his shoulder with his ever so refined and polite tone of voice.

"I was hoping we can leave immediately, but maybe I can use this time to work on a technique I've been thinking about for a while now, so it's all good," I said while rubbing my chin thoughtfully.

"very well, captain, let me sign these papers so you can collect your bounty first, then I'll write my resignation letter and send it to the capital," Lafitte said and returned to his desk to start working right away while I nodded silently.

"by the way, where should I look for Wilson and you when done tying up my loose ends?" Lafitte asked as he handed me the papers that I will need to receive my compensation.

"the bar, the inn, or onboard our small carvel at the docks. it's a shame we can't buy any den-den mushi here, it would make things much easier, but I guess we can buy them at the capital." I said as I received and stood up to make my way for the exit.

"I'll see you later then, Laffite," I bid him farewell as I waved my hands at him without turning around.

"see you later, Captain," came Laffite's simple answer as he took an empty paper and started scribbling his resignation letter.

Once outside the sheriff's office, I made my way to the quartermaster and handed the papers over to him. The man only took a cursory glance at the documents as he had seen me dragging the wanted sam bass into this building earlier and then opened a small safe to take out my just reward and hand it to me.

I stuffed the money in my backpack and then started making my way outside to meet Wilson, who was waiting for me at the street as he chooses not to enter in favor of not making Laffite too nervous.

"So how did it go? that man is not dead, is he?" Wilson said with a smile when he noticed my good as I exited the building five million and four hundred thousand bellies richer.

"oh, you're still here. I thought you'd get bored and leave after a minute of waiting," I answered with a smile on my face, deliberately not giving Wilson a clear answer.

"don't change the subject. Just answer already. you didn't really kill that guy before I got the chance to fight him at least once, did you?" Wilson repeated his question impatiently as he aggressively shoved his face in front of my own.

"too close, you bastard," I said as I pushed his face away with my hand. "I didn't even fight him, not only that, but he'll be joining us in a week, and you can fight him to your heat content then," I said in a good mood as I started to make my way to the docks for some well-earned rest.

"oh, an entire week? what are we going to do during this time, johnny?" Wilson asked while scratching his head like the gorilla that he is.

"the same thing we always do every day, Wilson. We train and try to improve our strength," I answered in a loud voice with my arms spread open to my sides and then threw my head back while laughing at the reference that only I understood.

Wilson also started to laugh for some reason as we made our way through the street, not minding the people that looked at us as if we were mentally ill while whispering and even pointing fingers when they thought we weren't looking.

-0-

One week later.

The week passed quickly and peacefully, and now I was in the desert, standing in front of a rather large rock twice my size with my eyes closed in concentration.

I furrowed my eyebrows in further concentration as the muscles on my feet started to wriggle, expanding and constricting, creating a wave-like motion through them.

I tried to guide the motion to move up my body as I started to control my ankle and thigh muscles to mimic the movement my feet's muscles were making and fortunately succeeded. However, I almost lost control of the muscular wave as I moved it up to my lower back and only managed to avoid having it dissipate entirely by the skin of my teeth.

Once the wave finally reached my upper back, I opened my eyes wide as I started to channel it to my right shoulder and reared my fist backward. I felt my biceps enlarge and then shrink back to their usual size as I guided the wave into my fist and struck at the rock.

I stopped my fist before making contact with the rock as the muscle wave finally reached the end of its path and then exited my fist as a shock wave.

Nothing happened as the shockwave hit the rock and went through it, but After a second of waiting, the rock suddenly exploded into smithereens with pebble-sized chunks of it flying in the direction of my punch.

I smiled in satisfaction as I watched the outcome of my hard work. I Came up with this technique when I tried to figure out Rokuogan (Six King Gun). Back when we were still at sea, I had to give up training it at that time, as the constant rocking of the ship continuously interrupted my concentration.

Basically, the technique works by expanding and constricting my muscles to create a spring-like force which I then confine inside my muscles and then move it to the next set of muscles while repeating the earlier process and accumulating as much spring force as possible to be unleashed through my fist as a shock wave very similar to Rob Lucci's Rokuogan.

I had first thought to skip accumulating the force through all of my muscles by simply producing and storing the spring energy in my fists before releasing it. My fists, however, were only able to house a small amount of force, and trying to go over that limit would cause severe pain and injuries, so I came up with this method instead.

."whistle. That's one hell of a move you have there, captain. do you have a name for it yet?" came a refined, polite voice from behind me, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"I was thinking, Shogeki ken(impact fist) or something along these lines. are you done with your personal business?" I asked as I turned around with a smile, recognizing the speaker immediately and figuring out that Wilson was the one to point him in my direction.

"I had it done yesterday, but I spent the extra time getting in contact with some of my acquaintances to solicit some information that could be useful for us," He answered as he twirled his red cane, seemingly in a good mood.

"oh, you must have something good then if you're in such a good mood," I remarked as I started to walk in the direction of the town while gesturing for him to follow me.

"I'll let you be the judge of that captain. I found out that the train leaving silver town and heading into the capital in three hours will have a load of cash and silver intended for the royal family. there's also a great chance that a big shot from the five great families of the west would try to attack it." Laffite explained as he started to follow me while gesturing continuously with his red cane.

"that's useful indeed. You've done well, Laffite," I said and watched a smile of satisfaction make its appearance on Laffite's face. "the person attacking the train should have a nice bounty on his head. If he doesn't, we follow him, put him down, and take his haul for ourselves," I said as I rubbed my chin in contemplation, and Laffite's smile became even broader and more filled with satisfaction.

We then continued making our way back to town but at a faster pace until we reached Wilson, who was drinking leisurely on the deck of the tattered carvel.

"get off your lazy ass, big guy. we stayed here long enough, and it's time to move on," I said as I started to stuff my personal items into my backpack. "I'll go and get us the train tickets. you two take stock of our inventory, sell anything we don't need or throw it away if not possible and buy anything we need from the town, then pack up what we end up with and meet me at the train station in two hours."

After I had my weapons and gear tucked into my belt and my personal items secured inside my backpack, I jumped over the railing started heading in the direction of the train station.

During my short trip, I had noticed a familiar mane of red hair that I reluctantly ignored because I needed to get us to train tickets as soon as possible or risk not getting there in time to buy any if they were all sold out.

Once the tickets were bought and secured in my pocket, I tried to look for her again, but I didn't have any luck in finding her and had to give up the search, as it would shortly be the time to meet with Wilson and Laffite at the train station.

My companions didn't keep me waiting as they arrived precisely at the agreed-upon time, both wearing large backpacks filled to the brim with supplies that we might need during our journey.

We then stood at the waiting area together while making small talk, me and Wilson talking about the island we came from, our first trip through the sea, the marine's six powers, and how we learned them since I intend to train Lafitte in there once we had time.

Laffite mostly talked about his work as a sheriff. And he also informed us of his specialization in navigation, stealth, and information gathering.

We only had to wait for half an hour before we heard the train caller announcing that the train would be departing soon, and so we made our way into the train without much fanfare.