Lia's POV;

“What have you two done now?”, questioned Nojiko us the moment we landed on the Shadow.

“Nothing, I swear. We were just casually winning the race and suddenly got attacked by the Marines. Noa then asked to join us and that's it”, defended Lara herself and pointed at Noa.

Nojiko looked at Noa, who was smiling at the rest and waved to them, “Hi, I'm Noa Franklin. Lia and Lara helped me in the race. Then the Marines came and, yeah, well, I did want to leave the island anyway, so I thought why not ask them to join.”

“Welcome to the damned. I'm Nojiko, these are Jonny, Yosaku, and Josef, you co-damned. The curly haired guy in the back is Igaram, a guest,” introduced Nojiko. She gestured at each of them and they all grunted in greeting or said hello.

“Noa is a shipwright and will from now on take care of the Shadow. And, of course, join Jonny and Yosaku in their training”, announced Lara happily. Both idiots walked up to Noa while telling him how sorry they are for him.

Noa could only look at them in confusion, “It can't be so bad, it's just training”, he said, not yet realising what he has gotten himself into.

“How nice it must be to not know, oh brother”, said Jonny in melancholy to Yosaku.

“Yes, my brother, those who do not know are often happier”, agreed Yosaku. Both then walked into the ship, probably to start drinking.

“Are they always like this?”, asked Noa amused.

“No, that was a moment of wisdom. Anyway, I'm Josef Mengele, call me Jo or Josef. I'm the doctor on this ship, so please follow me to my office, I need to check you for any wounds and start on a medical history”, said Josef with a laugh. He promptly grabbed Noa and both vanished inside the ship.

“At least help me with the sails, we have to set course and outrun the Marines”, grumbled Nojiko to us before walking up to the steering oar. I said nothing and started to push the Shadow forward, while slightly decreasing the resistance the sea has on us. With this done no normal Marine ship should be able to catch up to us.

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“Kill me please”, whined Noa, we just finished the normal training and he is already looking like a corpse. Whelp, he should do Lara's and my training, then he is allowed to complain. Yet, I said nothing but rather choose to put a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him.

For all her intelligence and strangeness, Mrs Chicken Wing still lays eggs and gives those to us. This bird is strange, she even trains with us. Well, in my 'gravity well'. She's even able to flutter with a pressure of 6 times what the earth puts on us. I think it was 6g in short. She's now sitting on the table and pecking on some corn, occasionally ducking away from a flying fork or knife sent by Lara.

Still, It's good that people of this world have more resilient bodies than what Lara told me about her first life, otherwise, the crew would not be able to survive our training. They train under 2g.

“Told ya”, laughed Jonny, he was fine, already used to the training, we might have to up it soon.

“Lara, I think we should increase the training for Jonny and Yosaku, they seem to have energy to spare”, I proposed. Lara looked up from her chicken gyros and nodded once before going back to her food.

“Why sis Lia? Why are you so cruel to us?”, asked Yosaku while crying crocodile tears.

“Your suffering is my nourishment”, I replied casually and gave him his own plate. He was still crying when he started to eat.

“If your food wasn't so good I would hate you now, but damn, how can you stay angry with such food?” He shot a glare at me, but his tears were now those of bliss.

“Holy! This is good”, came from Noa, all exhaustion was now forgotten and he wolfed his bacon down as if it was his last meal.

“Yes, my Lia is a goddess, you should try some of the better dishes, or anything with chicken”, agreed Lara. Noa hummed in agreement, too busy with eating.

“Nojiko, when do you think will we reach Alabasta?”, I asked while sitting down with my own food.

Nojiko looked up from pancakes and thought for a moment. “Hmm, if the weather is good maybe in two days. Any special port we have to aim for Igaram?”

“There is indeed one. It is a, ahem, mimimi, a secret and secure port in ownership of the crown. We will be able to reach Arbana quickly from there. A squad of Super Spot-Billed Ducks is stationed there at all times. With them we will reach Arbana in a matter of hours and inform the King of Crocodiles treachery,” answered Igaram. Nojiko nodded and continued with her food.

So another day before we can do something. Maybe I can try out some new variants of my chocolate cake?

“Caw!” The cry of a seagull came from the window and in its frame sat a News Coo.

“Oh great the news”, said Jonny. He stood up and paid the bird, in return he got the paper and a stack of bounty posters.

“Hey look, the new bounties are out,” he then said and gave me the stack of posters. Jonny was only interested in the joke section and the Sola, Warrior of the Sea part.

I looked through the posters and saw the reason for the attack from the Marines. How we were able to gain a combined bounty of 225 in such short time is a mystery to me, as well as the fact that Josef also has one with 50 million.

“Didn't know you have a bounty Josef, 50 million? Must be because of what you know, rather of what you can do”, I commented and showed the others his picture.

It said that Pressure Point Mengele was a highly dangerous man with a bounty of 50 million, his picture was a professional picture, normally used for work applications.

“Yeah, strength wise I wouldn't get more than 20 at most”, he said with a shrug.

“Are there any new ones? Maybe of me and Jonny?” asked Yosaku hopefully.

“Nah, but Lara and I got a raise”, I answered with a grin and showed them our new posters.

“How did they get this picture? And why is Mrs Chicken Wing in a better light than me?”, cursed Lara. True, it seems like the photo has Mrs Chicken Wing more in focus than Lara.

Mine was of me sitting on the crows nest of the Shadow. I was sitting in a lotus position and had my hands put together, it's my most comfortable position when I manipulate the ship. I only wore a bikini top and really skimpy shorts, it was hot.

“And now idiots like Sanji have fap material as well. Lia, how dare you to look so good and sexy,” she further cursed and then kissed me.

“You look the same,” I defended myself.

“Yes, but who would not masturbate to your beauty?” She punctuated this by giving my ass a squeeze. Hmm, maybe I know what we will do today.

We were interrupted by Nojiko who, not so quietly, coughed a few times. “It would be nice to not have you doing this during breakfast. Please do such things in your quarters, and please remember to put up a sound barrier.” Her face was flushed and she received death glares from every male on board.

“It was painful but hot, and painful, yet hot”, muttered Jonny, while shifting in his seat, the others agreed with a silent nod.

“Sure, come Lia, we have 'stuff' to do.” Lara then grabbed me and run with me into our room, where she locked the door. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Mrs Chicken Wing was sitting on a table, watching us. Is our pet a voyeur?

Two days later we were finally nearing Alabasta and it was noticeably getting hotter. A change of clothes came naturally with such heat. The guys were now wearing shorts with t-shirts and will later use coats. Igaram has a Kandora, one of these large male dresses. Nojiko decided she wanted to look like a belly dancer. She had a red bikini top and long, wide, red, silk pants. She also wore a straw hat, completely ruining the picture of a sexy dancer.

Lara and I were more practical, both of us decided to wear something similar to a Tschador. Basically the same as what Igaram has, just for women. We were using it for its sun absorption and the general airiness that comes with wearing nothing but underwear under it. A nice big sun hat protected our head.

Neither of us could get a sunburn, thanks to our healing ability, but we are still sweating and would need more water without the clothes.

We were sitting in the kitchen, drinking some tea, when Yosaku came inside with a piece of black clothes in his hands. “Hey guys I finished the Jolly Roger”, he announced and unrolled the flag on the table. It was a simple skull with long ears. The forehead had the sign for Shadow on it and a green flame was on the left side, with a red flame on the right side.

“Looks good to me”, muttered Lara before going back to her apple tea. She was not really interested in anything related to a pirate, she was not even sure if we could be labelled as such.

He lacklustre comment left Yosaku in a slight depression, so I patted his back and gave him a thump up, before also ignoring the flag. Why do we need one?

“Oh this looks good,” praised Nojiko, while comforting a crying Yosaku. Have we done something? His other pictures are way better. I especially like the one where he painted me lying on Lara's lap while watching the sea. We have this one in our room.

“But neither sis Lara or Lia are looking interested.” sobbed the guy.

“I'm sure they are just overwhelmed”, assured Nojiko. She gave us a glare and I'm pretty sure that I now have to say something positive about the flag.

“It's not that it's bad, but I don't see the need. Your picture of me and Lia watching the sea was beautiful. This is just a flag”, commented Lara. I nodded but the next glare told me that is was not completely the right thing to say.

“A flag is it's crew holy artefact, we sail under it, are proud of it and want to have it known to the world”, explained Jonny to us. Ah, so male romance?

“But are we pirates? We don't pillage, don't rape and are also not killing the innocent. Aren't those the things that make a pirate a pirate?”, I asked. Sure this worlds outlook on pirates is a bit different, but those are all things the common person associates with them.

This time it was Josef who answered. “Pirates are adventurers of the sea, brave men and women that stare into the unknown and face the mysteries of the world. Having us known by simple seeing our flag will be something of a great achievement.” He sounded convinced and sure of himself and our ability to archive such a thing.

“Hey, we haven't said that we won't use it. But it's just a symbol. Those behind the picture are more important in my opinion. Those who have built the reputation. Mihawk does also not have a flag and he is known throughout the world.

But yes, I think it is good for us. Thank youYosaku”, explained Lara herself. I again agreed with a nod.

“So I can raise it?”, he asked hopefully and was out in a blink after seeing Lara's agreeing smile.

“Hey guys, I can see land”, he suddenly yelled from outside. We all rushed out and indeed, there was land on the horizon. It was yellowish, like the sand it is made out of and glimmered in the heat.

Igaram smiled happily and looked at the desert with barely retrained happiness. “This is Alabasta, ahem, mimimi, home to the best fruits you can find and with citizen as friendly as they can become. Nojiko, could you please steer us to the west side? The hidden port is inside a small cliff.”