Lara's POV;

Getting cleaned up took some time and Lia has already finished dinner when Nojiko and I were out of the bathroom. We would eat out on the deck, the weather was rather nice and we could keep an eye on the island or possibly hostile ships.

Today Lia made wraps for us, chicken, beef and fish. We all sat down and Yosaku told what happened on his end, while Nojiko and I explained what we have found inside the sea king.

Said dead animal was still drifting in the sea, but slowly sinking down. Tomorrow in the morning it will be fully submerged and probably bled out.

“Noa, do you have an idea how we can get the gold inside the stomach of the sea king?” Asked Nojiko once we have finished our meal. We were now lazing around and drinking fruit cocktails.

“Well, we have the mini-submarine, we can use that to dive inside its stomach and then get the gold out manually. But the submarine is not built for fights. You've said that there were eel-like monster fish inside its stomach, someone will have to kill them.” Answered Noa after some thinking over the question.

Jo continued with the plan. “Great, so Lara, Lia and I are already out. Lia might be able to help from inside the submarine, but real fighting will have to be done by Jonny, Noa or Yosaku.”

“Yeah, I don't think Nojiko's weapons will be very effective underwater and Fiara will be better inside the submarine, driving the thing,” I agreed. Seems like this will be something done by the rest. I'll stay guard on the ship with Mrs Chicken Wing.

Fiara started with the next topic, something I haven't decided on yet. “Should we speak to the people of the island?”

“Personally I don't see why we should, they attacked us first, we defended ourselves. Any more aggression will not be required. And I'm sure there are quite a few none combatants in that city”, answered Jo with a gesture at the brightly lit port town.

They haven't tried anything since our first clash. They did not come out to speak, nor did they try to attack us with cannons from their harbour.

There is only one reason I could think of why we would want to speak with them. “Do we need supplies?”

Lia shook her head. “No, we have enough for a few more weeks and that is if we don't bolster them with caught fish or our Mrs Chicken Wing hunting method.” Ah yes, my most liked method of hunting. We throw the hen inside the water and wait for a few moments, she can swim, sadly.

A few minutes later, most of the time, some big fish, sea king or other hunters of the sea will come up and try to eat her. Mrs Chicken Wing sadly is easily able to evade each and every attack, before kicking the living shit out of her attacker.

She feels great about her hunting ability, Lia likes the additional food supply and I get to sulk because poultry that should naturally be eaten survived another day.

“Great, then tomorrow we get our hands on a shipload of riches. I can't wait and tell Nami about our find, she will be so envious,” laughed Nojiko with a happy grin and Berry signs in her eyes. She really wants to have that money. From what I have seen it will be too much, our ship won't be able to hold all of that.

The next day, early in the morning, our group set out for some diving. Jonny and Yosaku will drive alongside the submarine, the mask we use for our raids had a breathing dial for underwater fights or gas attacks. Lia and Fiara will be inside the submarine and gather the money into nets. The rest of us will stay on the ship and have an eye on the surrounding sea.

We stayed in contact with the submarines via baby transponder snail. “Here is Lia, we are now passing the maw of the sea king. So far we have no problems,” reported Lia over the snail.

“Damn, these teeth are large enough to pierce whole ships,” commented Jonny from his mask integrated baby snail.

“Roger, the signal is good, we can understand you easily,” replied Nojiko who was on our end of the snail.

For a few minutes, there was nothing noteworthy. Soon they reached the stomach and Lia described what she could see. “The stomach acid is no longer present. There are parts of its food swimming around and I think I can see something further ahead. Wait a moment. Fiara, please move the submarine towards the right side.”

Fiara noted the command with a brief yes, a moment later Lia continued. “Here is a dead fish that matches your description. They might not be able to survive outside of the acid, they evolved to survive inside the sea king and died with it.”

Yosaku spoke next, relieve in his tone.“At least we don't have to worry about any of those things attacking us then. These things look to be very agile inside the water.”

They stayed silent for the next five minutes. And Nojiko was already worrying if what we have seen was our imagination.

That was until Lia spoke up again.“We can see the pile of gold now. Our net is definitely not big enough, I don't think our ship is big enough. This sea king must have eaten gold and shiny stuff for years, if not longer.”

Nojiko jumped in joy and whooped about our regained richness. She didn't like that we had not so much money after buying our new ship.

I turned around and grinned at her, only to lose my grin immediately.

With a jump I was next to her and threw her behind me, she shouted up, startled by my sudden actions, but her discomfort wasn't important now.

As right behind Nojiko stood Bartholomew Kuma, one of the Seven Warlords, one of the leading Rebels and one of the experiments on humans by the World Government.

“Slicer Lara,” greeted Kuma with a small nod, there was not a single noticeable emotion within his tone.

“What is the business of one of the Seven Warlords on my ship?” I asked, weapon already drawn. I don't want to get separated from my crew by his Devil Fruit power.

Lia heard us and was demanding answers. “What?! What is happening up there?”

Nojiko, who has now seen him as well, answered. “Kuma, one of the Seven Warlords suddenly appeared on the ship.”

“I am here to give you an invitation, after recent events the World Government is in need of a Warlord. Your strength and actions have qualified you to become part of the Seven Warlords.”

Say whaaat? How the heck did that happen? I have Jo in my crew, we wrecked Enies Lobby, we have Mrs Chicken Wing on the team. Why the fuck do they want me to become part of the Seven Warlords?

The ship was totally silent, Nojiko was openly gapping and Jo was looking strangely at Kuma. “Why?” I asked I couldn't find the reason for that.

“The World Government needs your strength for the coming future and is willing to ignore past transgressions in exchange for your service.” So this is about the coming war with Whitebeard. Do I get the position of Jimbey? Crocodiles place is taken by Blackbeard and Moria won't lose his place.

“What would I have to do, what are the rules and how can I be sure that this isn't a trap?”, I asked. Jo was about to protest but I signalled him to keep silent.

“I guarantee you that this offer is real. If you agree you will have to go to the Marine Base in Sabaody Archipelago, an escort will bring you to the Marine HQ. If you don't want to join, call the general Marine Transponder Snail number.

As for your responsibilities and limitations. You are to follow the call of the World Government when they need your strength and you aren't allowed to pillage and attack islands and ships under the rule of the World Government.

For these services, you will be allowed to attack other pirate crews and move undisturbed by the forces of the World Government.” The offer was kinda enticing, it would give me the chance to be present at the war.

“I understand, is there anything else? I will have to go over the offer with my crew,” I replied after a moment of thought.

“That would be all, the World Government needs your answer within the next two days. Do you have their general number?” I nodded.

He didn't say goodbye. He merely pulled one of his gloves off and tabbed his own face. With the speed of a blink he was gone, only a small 'pouw' sound signalled his departure.

Seconds later the submarine resurfaced and Lia jumped out of it towards the ship. Jonny and Yosaku were hot on her heels. They all reached the ship battle ready.

“Where is he?” asked Yosaku with a raised sword.

“Gone, he delivered his message and didn't stay for an answer. Let's wait for Fiara and then discuss what happened,” I answered. Lia was standing close to me, one hand on my back. She knew that Kuma was dangerous with his Devil Fruit power, not being here with me must have stressed her.

So we waited for Fiara to come with the submarine and the back on board. Once we were gathered I told them what Kuma and with him the World Government offered.

“Why would say do that now?” Asked Jo worriedly.

“Wait, I think I know why,” said Noa before standing up from the table and running off. He came back with the newspaper. None of us had the chance to read them so war, we were too busy with preparing the submarine.

“Here, I took a look while you were on your way to the sea king.” Noa pointed at the front cover. It showed the face of Ace. “It says that Blackbeard caught Fire Fist Ace, he got the rank of a Warlord for that. There will be a war between the World Government and the Whitebeard Pirates. I think they want your strength against them.”

The room was filled with silence. Jonny summed up what we all were thinking.“A war between one of the four emperors and the World Government? That will be one hell of a battle. The winner will be able to change the world. It will leave a massive power vacuum.”

“It would be dangerous to go,” added Nojiko, Lia squeezed my hand in worry. Fighting between these big names can be a danger to me.

“I think we should do a pro and con list. What would be against joining the Warlords?” I said, having their input might give me a few points I haven't considered.

“Well, we would be the lapdogs of the World Government. Not truly free, we could also no longer attack their research bases,” started Jo.

“And we would never know if they hold up their side of the bargain. Every time we have to follow their orders can be a trap,” added Jonny.

“We would also not be able to hit all those World Government fuckers in the face or stop the corrupted side from harming innocent,” came from Nojiko.

“Reason for joining would are also there. We would not be hunted by them any longer and could resupply on every island we find,” said Yosaku, but he wasn't too eager to agree as well. His tone said everything.

Mrs Chicken Wing has not clucked in any form, neither for nor against. I knew from the expression in her eyes that she does not want to join, however.

“I can see that most of you don't want to join. But there is one thing that you haven't taken into consideration,” I said. They all looked at me, waiting for my explanation.

“We can use this chance to get to Impel Down and get Mrs Chicken Wing's husband out of prison. If I agree we will be able to use the currents that are normally blocked by one of the great gates.”

Mrs Chicken Wing immediately perked up and was looking at me with hopeful eyes. “Bough?” I think she was asking if we would really do that for her.

“It will put you in immense danger. The moment they learn about our attack they will know that you tricked them.” Pointed Jo out. Mrs Chicken Wing's head moved back down, now also seeing the danger to me.

I waved him down, not really concerned with my safety. “Meh, don't care. If something happens I can always flee. They will be busy with fighting a war. Warning of your attack will only reach them in the middle of the war, we can make sure of that. You will attack Impel Down, while I take care of the war. Who knows maybe I will be able to kill a few high ranked Marines, of course only by accident.”

“Are you sure you want to do that? If we do it and get Mrs Chicken Wing's husband out we will rise to another height in our bounty. Attacking the best-guarded prison of the World Government is nothing small. That is on the same level as attacking Enies Lobby and the Straw Hats have taken the most blame for that.

They all reluctantly nodded in agreement. All but Lia, she was looking at me with a rarely stern face. “Only if you promise me to use every ability at your disposal. And I mean every!”

The last part meant that I am ordered to even use my inventory to get safely away from the war. I grinned at her and gave her a kiss. “Of course, no one will stop me from coming back to you.”

“Then we will do this? You will become a Warlord so that we can attack Impel Down?” Asked Yosaku in slight disbelieve at the sudden happenings.

“Seems so, we will have to do some last minute training, but I don't think that you will have any problems with the guards of Impel Down. They will be lazy from their normal duty. Those guards aren't used to fight for their lives. Only used to beat on weak prisoners,” I answered, already eager for the war and the change it will bring.

“Bough!” Mrs Chicken Wing has jumped on the table and bowed her head deeply to all of us and then again to me. There were tears in her eyes and we all could see how much it meant for her that we would risk our lives for her husband.

“Don't worry Mrs Chicken Wing, you will see your husband soon. We will have a few days or weeks left to train, I count on you to help,” I said and patted her head. For once not with the hidden intention to kill her.

“Bough!” She clucked determinedly. Maybe she can explain some finer workings of Haki if we give her a pen or some tool to write. Lia said she was able to tap on a computer.