Lara's POV;

“You hardly notice that this place has been raided by the Marines only a couple of weeks ago,” commented Noa while we walked through Grove 5. He's right, bandit-like groups are lurking in the shadows and slavers as well as prostitutes and other shady people. Jonny and Yosaku stayed at the ship, the rest came along.

Jo nodded and said. “The farther we come along on the Grand Line the less Marine presence you'll encounter.”

“Makes you believe that the World Government has a problem,” chimed Nami in. She and Nojiko were window shopping, but the goods here were mostly slaves or weapons.

“They do. Over the last year, they have 'lost' Enies Lobby, Impel Down and almost the war against Whitebeard. The beat down we gave them on Poultry will only increase that. It may not become public knowledge, but losing so many soldiers, even if they were nothing special, will be felt throughout the Blues and some Grand Line islands,” I explained.

“What are we going her anyway?” Asked Fiara from her place on Nojiko's shoulder.

“I need to get experience with coating a ship. I don't trust any of these wannabe shipwrights. Give me a day or two and I will be able to coat ours on my own. We just have to find someone I can learn from.” Theoretically, he already knew how to coat a ship, but he said that he has to see it for himself before he is going to attempt it on ours.

“And? Any idea where we can find someone to teach you?” Asked Nojiko.

“Not really, but we do know where we can get the information. On Grove 13 is a bar, the owner is well informed and might give us a location,” answered Lia. Yep, we were on our way to Shakky's Rip-off Bar.

“Okay then. Say, do you think the Marines will try anything?” Asked Nami, she was still a bit fearful about this place and the last memories she has from it.

Jo dismissed her worries with a wave of his hand while looking at a dark alleyway. “Don't think so. By now they must have realized that nothing short of an Admiral or maybe even two of them can stop us. They won't risk the destruction of Sabaody just for a chance of fighting us. I'm more concerned with the local bounty hunters. Some of them are too stupid to see that our bounties have a reason.” He then fired a bone finger at the alley and we heard a pained grunt.

Nami did jump from the sudden attack and looked at him questioningly, so I helped Jo out by explaining. “There was a group of bounty hunters they were discussing an attack on us. I think one of them said 'Isn't that orange haired chick one of the Straw Hats? She has a smaller bounty, that will make it easier. Maybe we can use her a few times before selling her.' I think having you with us will lure a few bounty hunters in our direction.” I smiled sweetly and kinda enjoyed the now outraged expression of both Nami and Nojiko. The later even asked Fiara for one of her liquid fire balls and then threw it at the retreating bounty hunters. Their screams of pain deterred a few more bounty hunters from trying anything.

We did a bit of small talk on our way over to Grove 13 and reached it without much interference. Most simply stayed far away the moment they saw who we were. None of them was eager to fight a crew with a combined bounty of over 3.705.000.000 Berry.

“Hello,” I greeted loudly while opening the door to Shakky's bar. There was no guest present, only Shakky herself.

She stood behind the counter and was reading the news. She watched us coming inside and then folded her papers and greeted us back. “The Kage Pirates and Nami, it's good to see that you are well. What can I do for you? I would have thought you were already in the New World.”

“We want to visit Fishman Island, but need a coated ship for that. I heard that you have some of the best information on this island and we'd like to ask if you know someone who can show our shipwright how to coat our ship,” I explained and sat down on the bar.

She leaned on the counter and lit a cigarette, before taking a drag. “Hmm, I might know someone. What do I get in return?” She asked with a slight smile.

I touched my chest and looked as if I were in pain. “Please, we are just poor pirates. It is hard for us to get money or other valuables. I know others pillage and steal, but we never did that. I am not able to offer any monetary worth.

I can answer a few questions or let my sister make you the best food you've ever eaten, but we don't have anything else to offer.” I was glad that none of my crew called me out on my lie and Nami was too much of a money grabber to fall into my back.

Shakky chuckled and took a long drag of her cigarette, before smiling at me. “Good try. I know that you have sold a large sum of gold, close to a Billion Berry if I am not mistaken. But you are right, I have never heard of you stealing from normal people.

Hmm, tell you what, if your sister can make me a good steak I will tell you where you can fight the second best coater on Sabaody.”

“Where's your kitchen?” Asked Lia only a moment later. Shakky led her to it and within half an hour we were all eating steak. Just because it was for Shakky did not mean that Lia couldn't make some for the rest of us.

After the first bite, I knew that Shakky would tell us. I also knew that the best coater was Raleigh, but he was training Luffy right now, so not available.

Once the food was eaten and everyone was full she leaned back in her chair and looked at Noa. “The coater I know is called Hanibal, he is an old shipwright that has retired a few years ago. He is not as good as Raleigh but should be able to teach you well. I think he's living now on Grove 28 with his granddaughter.” Noa nodded in thanks and wrote the number of the Grove down.

“Thanks, tell Raleigh we said hi,” I then said. We have the info we wanted and even ate something. She waved at us and then continued to read her newspaper.

“So Grove 28, that's still in the lawless area,” spoked Nami with a slight frown.

“Just because he has a skill does not mean that he has money. And it still is one of the higher Groves, there should be fewer pirates,” tried Jo to explain.

“Let's not dawdle,” I said and increased our walking speed. A few minutes later we reached Grove 28 and began to ask the locals where a shipwright named Hanibal was living.

They directed us towards a housing complex and we would have reached it quickly, had there not been an open kidnapping attempt in broad daylight.

A woman and a man, they were pulling a small girl away from the streets and into an alley. The girl was screaming that she didn't want to go with them and that she didn't know who these two were, but the two adults were easily deflecting the attention by claiming that their 'daughter' was just throwing a fit.

It was a good enough explanation for any onlooker and most didn't want to get in any form of trouble, to begin with. “Seems like security isn't any better than on the lower Groves,” snarled Jo while firing off bone bullets at the two kidnappers. The projectile hit them in the shoulder and the knee.

He didn't kill them, as there still was a chance that the girl was really throwing a tantrum. But that was not the case. The moment the two let go of her she tried to run away but bumped into Nami. The girl fell on her bum and stared wide-eyed at our group.

“Well, she tried to run away, I think that confirms her claims,” I said and stood over the now fearful man and woman.

Nami kneeled down in front of the girl and smiled reassuringly. “Don't worry, we won't hurt you. Can you tell us what happened?” She asked.

“They p...pulled me suddenly,” explain the girl between stutters and with teary eyes.

“There was an ice cream parlour a bit down the road, why don't you go ahead and Lara and I will take care of these two?” Suggested Jo.

“What do you say, interested in some ice cream?” Asked Nojiko, who stood behind Nami.

The girl shook her head and scrambled up. “No, I want to go home,” she then said and runoff. Nami was about to stop her, but I gestured for her to let the girl go.

“We should have escorted her home,” protested Nami.

“Then follow her silently and so that she can't see you. She was just about to be kidnapped, how do you think does she feel? I wouldn't want to go with a different group of strangers as well. You know where to find us,” I said back and then grabbed the now pleading woman by the neck and dragged her into the alley. Jo followed me with the man.

We killed them quickly and I burned their bodies before we stepped back out. Nami was gone, she must have followed after the girl. “It's disgusting that humans do this kind of things to other humans,” muttered Inari angrily.

“Free will, it allows us to do what we want. Only oppression can stop this kind of things and then the oppression would become the same. I don't think it can ever be fully stopped,” said Jo, equally disgusted with how people sometimes acted.

I stayed silent, I would have helped the girl if I had found her without our crew watching. But I am not going out of my way to seek out the roots of this problem. Too much of a bother.

In the end, we reached the house we were told Hanibal was living in and strangely enough found Nami waiting for us in front of it.

“I thought you were making sure that the girl was fine,” asked Nojiko in slight surprise.

“I did, she is living here,” answered Nami with a shrug. I glanced at Lia and she at me. I'm close to 100% sure that this was the granddaughter of Hanibal.

“Well, let's go inside. Hopefully, he's home,” suggested Noa while reading the name tags on the different door.

We knocked on the door we thought was the right one and an old man opened it for us. He wasn't looking happy and was more snarling when he asked what we were wanting. “What?”

“Good evening, we were told by Shakky, the owner of Shakky's Rip-off Bar, that we might find a man named Hanibal here,” started Noa in a polite tone.

“That's me, what do you want? I'm busy,” grunted Hanibal. From inside the apartment, I could hear sniffling. Yep, we saved the granddaughter of the person we want something from. It's almost as if this was a story and not the real world.

“My name is Noa, I wanted to ask if you would agree to teach me how to coat a ship. We can pay you,” continued Noa.

“I'm retired,” shot Hanibal out. He was about to close the door when I saw the head of the little girl poking around a corner. She saw us and stared at us wide-eyed.

“Hey, isn't that the little girl from before?” I asked and pointed behind Hanibal.

The man turned around and saw her before he then slammed the door into our face and a series of locking noises rung through the door. “Not very nice,” I muttered with a small grin.

Noa was about to turn around and probably ask what we should do now, but then the door got unlocked again and pulled back open. “You've saved Eeri?” He then asked with a small glare.

Noa, who stood the closest to Hanibal nodded and then explained our point of view.“If that's the name of the girl, then yes. We saw how a man and a woman were pulling a girl into an alley. She was struggling, so we assumed the worst and got her away from the two. We then offered her to buy her ice cream before we take her home, but she, understandably, refused and run off.”

Hanibal sighed, opened the door fully and stepped back. “Come in, if you saved my Eeri then I can at least hear you out,” he then said. We followed inside and were led into a living room. The girl, Eeri was sitting on a couch and stared wide-eyed at us while we sat down wherever we found a place to sit.

Hanibal sat next to his granddaughter and looked at each of us before he focused back on Noa. “You're pirates, strong ones at that. I think I have seen you somewhere before, what crew are you part of?”

“We're the Kage Pirates, we wish to visit Fishman Island, but we need a coated ship for the journey and were told that you have been one of the best shipcoaters on the Archipelago.” Began Noa again.

Hanibal's eyes widened at the mention of the name of our crew and even the little girl seems to have heard of us. “Hooh, should I feel honoured or frightened that a crew with such a high bounty, such as yours, is seeking me out?”

“Well, definitely not frightened. And I don't know about honoured. We aren't much different than normal people,” joked Noa while rubbing the back of his head.

“Other than our Tontatta member, our Mink member, our two long-ear Humans, the fact that all of us are vastly stronger than a normal human, that a three of us have eaten a Devil Fruit and that we are hunted by the Government,” I listed off while counting each with my fingers.

Noa opened his mouth to retort something, but then couldn't come up with anything and instead chuckled awkwardly, before nodding. “Yeah, but we aren't evil people or anything like that. I just wanted to learn how to coat a ship and an acquaintance of us told us you're the best around.”

Hanibal looked at him, then at his silent granddaughter, before coming to a conclusion. “Hmm, okay. I will teach you, as payment for saving my Eeri.”

Noa beamed a bright smile and thanked Hanibal with a short bow. From then on the conversation turned into a discussion about shipbuilding and coating.

Meanwhile, I was bored and found Eeri starring at my ears and Inari, also a bit at Fiara, but most of the time at Inari. So I smiled and beckoned her over to me. She first looked unsure, but then gathered her courage and stood up, before sitting down next to me.

“I've seen that you are interested in my ears or Inari's tail. Do you want to ask her if you can touch her fur?” I stage whispered to her.

She looked at me, then at Inari, who was acting as if she was not hearing us, and then back to me, before nodding a tiny nod. “I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you were to ask, but you have to be careful. Her fur is like our hair and you wouldn't like it if someone were to ruffle your hair into disorder or do it too roughly, do you?” I continued. She touched her own head and then nodded again, but did not stand up and go over to Inari to ask. She must not be brave enough.

I decided that I could pet something soft and that I might help Eeri out at the same time. “Hey Inari, do you mind if I pet your tail, it's so fluffy and I might have boasted to little Eeri here that it is the softest thing in the world.”

Inari smiled at both of us, proud and happy that I was praising her fur. “Of course Lara-sama, you know that I always open for hugs,” she then said and stood up. She sat down on Eeri's other side and placed her tail in the girl's lap.

“Remember, softly, as if you would comp your own hair,” I reminded and began to stroke the soft fur of Inari's tail. I really like soft and fluffy things, fluffiness rules!

Eeri also touched Inari's tail, first only tentatively but then with more courage. “It is really soft,” she mumbled in awe. A glance up showed that Inari was sucking up the praise with a bright smile.

At least I have a tail to pet while waiting for Noa to finish his technical discussion. At some point I also had to pet Lia's back, but that only gave me two nice things to touch at the same time.

Hopefully the coating won't take more than a few days.