We boarded the train and then spent a minute or two looking for our seats and then sat down to continue our conversation while waiting for the train to depart.

Ten minutes into our conversation, we were interrupted by the train caller announcing that the train would be departing immediately.

The interruption also allowed to survey the surroundings without getting anyone's attention as all the train passengers' attention was focused on the caller.

Most of the passengers in our train cart seemed like regular people except several of them, who had weapons like guns and knives on their person. But there wasn't anything interesting about them as they looked like your average outlaw or bounty hunter, so I just ignored them.

The only person who drew my attention was a man dressed in a black, white striped suit with a gray overcoat hanging on his shoulder as he seemed to be scouting the people in the cart just like me.

My gaze lingered on him for slightly longer than the other passengers, but I soon shifted my eyes from looking in his direction when I noticed he was about to turn around and spot me.

"the guy with the fancy suit up ahead, keep an eye on him Laffite, he might have something to do with the upcoming robbery," I said to Laffite, who was chatting with Wilson about the soru technique. He was very interested in said marine power because he can perform something similar to it in nature.

"good eye, captain. This person seems to be very suspicious indeed," Lafitte remarked as he took a quick glance at the man while turning around his face to look in my direction. "he might be an accomplice. A scout or something of similar nature." he concluded as he spoke in a hushed tone while facing me.

"Well, whatever he is, we need to keep him in our sights for now in case he's really involved with the attack on the train," and with that, we stopped talking about him and sank back into our small talks to pass the time.

For the next hour and a half of our journey, I, Wilson, and Laffite continued to chat about all kinds of topics, both complicated and not. But our conversation was interrupted as the man we were keeping a close eye on stood up from his seat and started heading into the train cart behind us.

"Laffite, go after him and see what he's planning to do," I said, and Laffite immediately tried to stand up, but I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "remember, don't act against him, only observe him for now. We need to know who's attacking the train to determine whether to stop him or rob him after he does the dirty work for us."

"That was my intention from the beginning," Laffite said with a smile. "that said, however, being meticulous is a good trait for a captain to have, so you will not get any complaints from me about that, captain," he continued with an even bigger smile.

I just nodded at him and then closed my eyes and rested my head against the soft seat as he stood up and left.

'having someone competent at more than just fighting sure is convenient,' I thought as I opened my eyes to shoot Wilson, who was picking his ear with his pinky finger a dirty look and closed them again.

After several minutes that passed quietly and peacefully, I suddenly opened my eyes again as I looked outside the train through the windows after my enhanced hearing picked up on the sound of running horses coming from the side of the train.

After several seconds the source of the noises made its self apparent as a group of people mounted on horses were now heading in the direction of the train, but I ignored them in favor of waiting for Laffite to come back.

BOOM, suddenly there was a loud explosion strong enough to shake the train, and Laffite chose that exact moment to appear by my side with a severe expression on his usually carefree face.

"the man in a suit I just followed has planted a bomb on the last train cart which contains the tributes to and detonated it to separate it from the rest of the train," Laffite said quickly and precisely in favor of not wasting any time.

"what's more, he is probably the person in charge of the attack. I identified him as the son of a high-ranking member of the local crime family. I didn't recognize him at first because he was wearing an elaborate disguise which he threw away after completing his objective." he explained with some disappointment in his voice at his failure to recognize the man.

"well, there's nothing we can do about that now, So don't overthink it," I remarked with a consoling voice, placed a hand on his shoulder, and continued. "More importantly, does the guy have a bounty on his head? and what do you know about him when it comes to his strength?"

"Unfortunately, he doesn't have a bounty since this seems like a rite of passage for him to start working on a high level in the crime family," he said and stopped talking for a second to reorganize his thoughts.

"he's said to specialize in the use of guns and poisonous gas bombs. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you about him at the top of my head," he said again as he sat back down in his seat.

"then, you guys stay on the train, and I'll go ahead and follow the man until he's a safe distance away from the train since he doesn't have a bounty," I remarked. I then opened the train's window to make my exit, only receiving a nod of agreement and a grunt from Laffite and Wilson, respectively.

I then geppoed my way to the tribute cart that the speeding train had already left behind due to the conductor being too scared and underpaid to try doing anything about the robbery.

I stopped once I became close enough to observe the cart and made myself scarce as I looked at the outlaws while they took out a small black safe from the train cart. They then loaded it into a horse-drawn carriage with several wooden boxes, which contained the silver bars after they dealt with the guards assigned to protecting the tribute.

-0-

The gangsters seemed to be very well trained and coordinated as they worked to load their haul into the carriages, and after mere ten minutes, they were already done and ready to leave. I, of course, also followed behind them while maintaining a safe distance.

They just rode their horses in silence as they made their way through the desert for what felt like fifteen minutes, and once I deemed it the right time to act, something changed as one gangster's head exploded, sending grey matter and red pieces of flesh flying everywhere.

That, however, was not the end, as a stick of dynamite flew over their heads and then exploded, injuring and killing even more of them.

"Dismount from the horses and the carriage, use them for cover, and look for the attacked," the man in charge barked orders quickly as he took a gun and held it with his right hand.

As the attack on them continued, the gangsters acted quickly, following the orders of their boss as they took cover behind the horses and the carriage.

"The attacks are coming from that hill to the north, boss. What should we do?" one of them finally seemed to discover the location of their attacker as he shouted at his superior.

"Shoot back and keep them busy. I'll flush the attackers out myself," replied the boss as he reached into his overcoat and took a cylindrical object with a light green skull drawn on it.

Looking at the small cylinder in their boss's hand, all the gangsters paled as they quickly took out black gas masks that covered their entire faces as they wore them in panicked haste.

The boss took a deep breath as he threw the cylinder at the hill's cliff, and then he too took out a gas mask and put it on his face quickly. The cylinder flew in an arching path and landed precisely at the edge of the cliff, exploding with a green cloud of poisonous smoke that seemed to expand as if it had a will of its own.

The attackers, a red-haired woman, which I had instantly recognized, and a man of average height with brown hair, and green eyes, took out their own gas-masks which they wore, and then jumped down to take cover behind a large rock below the cliff to have a clear line of sight without smoke hindering their vision.

The two groups continued to shoot at each other for a while longer. Miss. jones and her friend seemed to do very well, even outnumbered as they continued to thin the numbers of the gangsters.

Between the red-haired girl's accurate aim, her dynamite sticks, flashbangs that disoriented the enemy, and the power of her lever-action rifle, they were slowly gaining the advantage as the fight ensued.

But there was something strange about how miss Jones's friend, the brown-haired guy. More precisely, it was his shots that stood out as weird to me. His bullets didn't kill any of the people he hit, and he also avoided hitting any vital area, like the eyes and throat.

'Maybe he's one of those people who can't bring themselves to kill others, even when their life is on the line. What an idiot,' I thought in my head mockingly as I continued to watch the fight without revealing myself.

The fight continues to rage on as the advantage shifted slowly in miss jones's favor until there were only ten gangsters left standing, including their boss, who received a shot to his gut at some point during the fight.

"that's eno-cough, enough. We give up, so stop killing us, and we'll do as you say." said the boss while coughing some blood that traveled from his internal organs up to his mouth because of his injury.

"Drop your weapons and come out of cover with your hands held above your heads," the red-haired girl answered as she took out a yellow cylinder, which she hid beneath her sleeves.

"Ok, ok. I'll come out, so don't shoot. You boys hurry up and drop your weapons too," the boss said as he threw his weapon to the side and came out with hands up. His subordinates soon did the same and came out with their hands held up in surrender.

Miss Jones and her friend peeked from the side of their cover to check if the gangster's words matched their actions, And then they also came out from behind the rock, with their weapons aimed at them.

Looking at this scene, which should have indicated the end of the fight with miss jones's victory, I couldn't help but feel that something was off.

"Francis Nitti, son of Frank The Enforcer Nitti," miss jones said in a mocking tone of voice and halted for a second to spit at the ground. "I imagine your old daddy dearest would be very disappointed in you when he hears you failed this little rite of passage test and ended up in prison," she continued with disdain apparent in her voice as she kept her weapon aimed at the gangsters.

"Now why would daddy dearest be disappointed?" Francis said with confidence that a man in his position had no right to have, and the red-head merely raised an eyebrow in suspicion at his remark. "You see, I haven't failed my rite of passage yet, because it wasn't about robbing the train in the first place," he continued with a shit-eating grin on his face, and that when I knew for a fact that something was indeed wrong.

"Oh, then pray tell, what this whole farce was about if not your rite of passage," the red-haired girl said while tightening her hold on the weapons in her hand as the strangeness of the atmosphere finally seemed to make its self apparent to her.

"This whole train robbery situation was all a diversion, nothing but mirrors and smoke that I used to lure my actual target. And that target is you little miss bounty hunter. "the sleazy man explained like your stereotypical third-rate villain." and now I have right where I want, do it," He continued to explain and then made a simple order at the end of his speech.

The red-head reacted as quickly as she could and tried to squeeze the trigger of her rifle to blow the sleazy gangster boss's head up with a bullet, and suddenly the sound of a fired pistol echoed in the area.

Unexpectedly, however, the person to collapse was not Francis but her instead, as she wasn't fast enough to pull the trigger. What's even more surprising to her was that she was shot in her back, and the only person who could have taken that shot was her companion, the brown-haired man.

"Nothing personal miss, it's just the great families have deeper pockets."

-0-

"Nothing personal miss, it's just that the great families have deeper pockets," he said with a mocking smile on his face, as the men he had shot before stood up while dusting themselves, and I took that as my queue to make my move.

I instantly appeared behind the gangsters with a quick application of the Soru technique.

"Excuse me, gentlemen. Would you be so kind as to tell me what time it is right now?" I asked in a polite tone, but my mind was in a state of extreme concentration.

"Of course, sir, I believe it's..." perhaps it was my polite tone, how strange the situation was, or possibly a mixture of both that causes one of them to answer my question on reflex as they turned their attention to me.

"It's high noon, bitch" I interrupted him as I had accumulated enough focus and drew my gun immediately, and emptied its chamber within a mere fraction of a second.

I shot six bullets, and six gangsters fell dead. Unfortunately, Francis and the brown-haired traitor were out of my line of sight as the other gangster goons blocked them from my aim.

That, however, was more than enough to make an opening, and The redhead was quick to make use of it as she took out the cylinder in her sleeves and smacked it into the ground, causing it to explode in a black cloud of smoke. She then rolled backward and took out a knife, which she buried in the brown-haired guy's back of the head and ran back behind cover.

All the gangsters stared at me with shocked expressions, even their boss, but he seemed to be the first one to snap out of it. "You just interfered in the Nitti family's business. All who do that are dead men, but it's not too late for you. Help us deal with her, and I'll even put in a good word for you," he said with a calm tone, trying to salvage his situation.

Glancing at the rock that the red-head was peeking from behind now, I decided to show off a little.

"The Nitti family? never heard of it," I said as I twirled my gun in my fingers and tucked it back into my belt. "I don't care whose chickens and dogs you fellas are let's just this over with," I continued as I took out satori without unsheathing it and held it by its sheath just below the handle, intending to leave a long-lasting impression.

There was no further need for words, and Francis was the first to act as he retrieved a poisonous gas bomb, which he then threw it in my direction quickly.

Looking at the approaching canister, I unsheathed my sword and waited for it to become close enough for me to cut in half. "NO, DON't." miss jones screamed from behind the rock, and the gangsters seemed to smile in both malic and mockery.

I sent the redhead a reassuring smile as the gas bomb was finally within Sator's range and cut it in half with a simple swing of the sword with no flashiness or fanfare and watched in interest as it unleashed its contents.

Looking at this scene, the red-haired girl was both concerned and resigned, thinking that any chance she had at survival was now gone. The gangsters, however, we the extreme opposite as they laughed and cheered at my supposed demise.

"Hahaha, that guy is probably puking his inside on the floor right about now," one goon said in a very cheerful tone.

"Yeah, that's what you get for fucking with the Nitti family," another one said while looking so smug you'd think he threw the bomb himself.

Hearing their oh-so stereotypical lines, I decided that now was the best time to give them the shock of their lives as I calmly stepped out of the green cloud of gas as if I was on a leisure stroll through the countryside.

"That will not work on me. I'm immune to poison, so I'll give you another chance to try something else," I said as I brought the sheathed Satori to my side." but first, this green cloud is quite an eye-sore, so let me get rid of it," I said as I lowered my stance by slightly bending one of my knees.

"One sword style draw technique, Revolving wheel," I said in a calm voice as I drew Satori from its sheath and spun myself in a circle unleashing a tornado that swept all the green gas near me and dissipated it into nothingness and then put the sword back to its sheath.

"so what, if you're immune to poison, so what if you can perform a fancy sword trick? You've made the mistake of bringing a sword to a gunfight, and I'm going to make sure it's the last mistake in your life," Francis said with a visible tick mark on his forehead as he seemed to have forgotten about the redhead's existence.

The gangsters didn't need any convincing as they shot at me with everything they had, not withholding even a single bullet.

Deciding that I've showed off long enough, for now, I geppoed my way into the air and activated Soru to fly in a zigzag pattern above the goons' heads, ignoring them and heading straight into their boss while deflecting any bullet that would have hit me.

I covered the distance almost instantly and used Satori's blade to cut the sleazy man's throat in one swift swing and landed behind him as he fell to the ground holding his neck that spurting large amounts of blood.

I suppressed the disgust and discomfort, and then turned around and massacred the rest of the gangsters, beginning with the ones that were smart and dumb enough to try running and taking care of the rest when once done with them.

'This was a necessary evil,' I thought inside my head when the slaughter was over. They've seen too much, and letting them live would have come back to bite in the ass, eventually. Besides, they were not good people, so I did the world a favor by getting rid of them.

"oh, it's you, Johnny right,?" The redhead said, interrupting my thought process as she came from behind the rock while nursing the bullet wound on her back.

"Miss Jones, so you do remember me. It's been a while." I said as I tipped my hat in her direction.

-0-

"It's been a while indeed, tiger. What are you doing here in the middle of nowhere, anyway?" The redhead asked me with some suspicion hidden in her tone.

"That's what I want to ask you. But the questions can wait, for now. Both yours and mine," I said with a shrug of my shoulder.

"Let me take a look at that wound of yours first unless you want to bleed out and die while we question each other, that is," I continued as I pointed my finger at her midsection, then at the pool of blood on the ground at the end of my sentence.

She hesitated for a moment but then relented. "Alright, I guess you're right," she remarked as she turned around to give me an unobstructed view of her back, then sat down cross-legged on the floor.

I approached her and sat on the ground behind her, and after taking permission, I lifted her shirt to examine her injury.

"You're quite lucky, miss Jones. Not only did the bullet miss your spine, but it also got stuck between two of your rips, which means it didn't puncture any vital organ," I said after a quick examination and took out my first aid kit from my backpack.

"I'll start first then. I'm a bounty hunter, and I was on the train this guy robbed," I said as I started patching her up by disinfecting the bullet wound with whiskey.

"Unfortunately, I didn't know he didn't have a bounty on his head until I was close enough to identify him," I said, and the redhead's only response was to grunt in pain as the alcohol made contact with her flesh.

"At first, I thought it was a wasted trip and was just about to turn around and leave when you and your friend showed up," I said as I took out a pair of medical tweezers, and I think she might have muttered, "he's not my friend" in between her grunts of pain.

I then gently inserted the tweezers into her wound and took it out along with the bullet after several probing nudges to find its exact location, causing her to grit her teeth in pain and start cursing under her breath.

"It shouldn't have left any serious damage except some fractures and bruises on your back ribs," I said as I flung the bullet in front of her." Now I need to close the wound, and we'll be done," I continued, and then took out my suture thread and a hypodermic needle.

I then washed her wounds with whisky again and started stitching her open wound.

"all done. You need to rest for a week or two, and then you'll be as good as new. Now that you're all stitched up, I think it's about time you tell me why you're here, and more importantly, why that Francis guy was targeting you." I said after completely stitching up her wound as I stood up and sat in front of her while offering her the whisky bottle.

"I'm a bounty hunter like you. That's why I came after him," she said as she took a large gulp from the whisky bottle and then handed it back to me.

I heard her explanations that were anything but truthful and just raised an eyebrow as I stared her right in the eyes. The staring contest continued for an entire minute until she averted her eyes in defeat while sighing.

"Alright, alright, yeesh. It's not like I really want to hide it, anyway. I just don't enjoy talking about it," the redhead said as her arms rose in surrender and then snatched the whisky bottle from my hands.

"I didn't come after that piece of shit because I was aiming for his head. I came after him because I have a bone to pick with his father and his crime family," she explained as she brought the whisky bottle to her mouth and tipped her backward.

"You see, my parents used to be successful animal wranglers. We even had a large piece of land just outside of the capital where we tended to our animals," she continued to explain with nostalgia written all over her face.

"Life was cakes and rainbows at the time, and everything was going just fine. But then the Nitti family showed up, demanding we pay them a monthly protection fee," she said while showing apparent signs of malice in her tone as she said the name "Nitti."

"Even though dad didn't want to give them even one belly of our hard-earned money, he still did it to avoid that kind of trouble." The redhead said as I continued to listen in silence while only shaking my head occasionally.

"After dad paid them for the first time, they kept increasing the amount they demanded every month until we couldn't afford to pay them," she said as she clenched her hands hard enough for her knuckles to turn white.

"that's when we realized they weren't interested in protection fees. They were trying to provoke my dad to give them an excuse to take over the ranch," she said as she lowered her head to hide her expression from my eyes.

"When we stopped paying them, they started all kinds of rumors about the ranch and even sneaked into our land to kill our animals. They started to follow us around and threaten us every time we left the house to go anywhere," the read head continued to tell her story as she took another large gulp of whisky.

"mom was the first to break. She took all the money she and dad had saved up and just disappeared one day," she remarked, but there was no resentment in her voice as she mentioned her mother.

"mom's disappearance was the last straw that broke dad's back. He just walked into the house one day, took his rifle, and went out. That was the last time I ever saw him." the redhead said as she raised her head, her teeth gnashing in bitter hatred. "I later learned from Bob, our butler, that he went out on his own terms as he attacked the Gangsters base and killed fifteen of them before he died himself," she as she used her sleeve to wipe away a single tear that had escaped her eyes.

"I then took away whatever I can from the mansion, especially all of dad's weapons that he kept from his bounty hunting days, and ran away with Bob. I've been biding my time ever since then and only acted on my revenge a year ago. But I seem to have drawn too much of their attention to me, leading to this situation." the redhead seemed to have finally calmed down as she pointed at the dead Gangsters lying all around us while shrugging her shoulders.

"well, miss Jones, I don't know what I was expecting your story to be, but that definitely wasn't it. It kinda makes me feel bad about asking," I said with a sheepish smile as I scratched my head awkwardly, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"Elizabeth, my name is Elizabeth Jones. The least I can do after having my life saved by you is tell you my name," she said with a bitter chuckle. But it was indeed a chuckle, so I counted that as a win.

-0-

"well, Elizabeth Jones, it's a pleasure to meet you, officially I mean," I said with a small smile painted on my lips.

"and it just so happens that I might have the solution to your dilemma," I stated as I dramatically spread my arms to the sides with an even wider smile.

"oh, and what would that solution be?" she replied with a question as she smiled with a raised eyebrow at my theatrics. "you only need to join my crew. I'll slaughter everyone and anyone trying to harm my companions," I answered without even a shred of doubt about my answer as if it was not a mere fact but a truth of the universe.

"and why would you want me in your crew? Because you pity me? Or is it just because I look pretty," she asked with a calm voice, but I could feel the anger hidden in her words.

"nothing like that, I promise you. I've seen the way you shoot, and I'm very impressed. I believe you have both the potential and the heart required to reach that potential," I answered her placating tone in my voice as I stated my reasons for inviting her.

"you may not be that strong right now, but with the training and knowledge we can provide for you, I'm sure you'll be strong enough in no time," I continued my explanation, and she seemed to have calmed down by the time it was over.

"in the first place, what kind of crew do you have? Bounty hunters act alone and only cooperate with others occasionally," she asked in suspicion, but there was no longer any anger in her words, so I took that as a win.

"we're working as bounty hunters to gather enough money for a ship. We'll raise a pirate flag and inter the grand line once we have a ship and a complete crew," I stated in a clear tone with no deception as she would find out eventually if she joined.

"how many members do you have now? And how money have you gathered?" Elizabeth asked as she seemed to contemplate my offer.

"We currently have three members in our crew, me the captain, Wilson my first mate, and Laffite, our navigator. We don't have a proper doctor for now, but I can take care of most injuries, as you can see." I said as I pointed at the bandages covering her mid-torso.

"We've gathered five and a half million bellies for now, and most of it came from claiming one bounty. Sam Bass, to be more precise. Add to that whatever is inside that safe." I said, then paused as I looked at the safe loaded into one carriage.

Elizabeth didn't answer as she closed her eyes in contemplation, and I let her think about it as much as she wants. This is a life-changing decision, after all.

"I agree with your offer, tiger. You saved my life after all, and I really wouldn't know what to do with myself after I got my revenge," she said with a smile as she stood up and offered me her hand for a handshake.

"you've made a wise decision, Elizabeth Jones. a decision that you will not regret in the future." I stood up with a smile of my own and shook her offered hand.

"Elly, call me Elly. Elizabeth is too big a mouthful to say every time you call me," she said with a smile still on her face as she let go of my hand, and I merely nodded.

"Now, let's open this safe and see how much money Francis brought to us," I said and walked to the safe.

I spent several seconds examining the safe's lock and then just slashed with a shrug of my shoulders as I muttered, "Zekkū (Absolute Void)" and watched as it broke and fell to the ground.

I spent several minutes counting the belly notes inside the safe and concluded that it amounted to a grand sum of four million bellies, which I stuffed into my backpack, of course.

"We need to cover our tracks, and then we can leave. We should first inform that butler of yours, bob I think you called him about you leaving, and you can bid him farewell while we're at it." I said as I began to pile the bodies of the dead gangsters.

"bob will be coming with me. I can't just leave him here after all we've been through together," she said in a resolute tone as she watched me go about piling bodies.

"sigh, look, Elly, I get he means a lot to you, but the sea is no place for a mere butler, he could become a liability, or even worse, he could die," I said in a grave tone while shaking my head without stopping my work.

"bob is no mere butler, I assure you. He can take care of himself and others if need be. Besides, you seem to be lacking a cook in your crew, and he's an excellent one." She said with a serious face and then continues. "Dad found him stranded in the sea and saved his life before I was even born. So he should have some knowledge about sailing too," she concluded with a confident smile after pleading her case.

"well, I guess I could meet him and then see what happens. Where is he anyway?" I asked as I finished stacking the bodies.

"he's at the capital right now gathering information for me," she answered as she looked curiously at me while I rummaged through the gangsters' bags and take out some bombs.

"that's rather convenient. We were heading there before our trip was interrupted anyway," I said in a leisurely tone as I placed the bombs on the battlefield. "Which reminds me, what's the deal with that brown-haired guy, anyway? I asked as I finally remembered his existence after seeing his corpse in the corner of my vision.

"He was a bounty hunter. He had an excellent reputation, so I bought his services to help me go after Francis, but he seemed to be in the Nitti family's pocket from the start," she said with a sigh as she looked at his corpse.

"It doesn't matter now, I guess. Come, it's time to move," I said as I walked away from the battlefield with Elly right behind me.

Once we were at a safe distance, I raised my left arm and shot an explosive arm projectile that hit one bomb, starting a chain explosion decimating the place, and erasing any evidence that we might've been here.

-0-

"where the hell can I get one of those?" Elly whistled as she asked me while pointing at my prosthetic arm. "that's the neat part, you can't. It's one of a kind," came my smug reply with an even smugger smile.

"Fine, keep your secrets," she said with a pout. "But how are we going to reach the capital now? I can't ride a horse with my injury," she asked after a brief pause.

"who said anything about riding a horse?" I said as I lowered my poster invitingly as I stopped in front of her with my back facing her. "Get on my back and hold tight. We need to hurry up if we want to catch up with the train," I said as I gestured for her to hurry with my head.

"I'm probably going to regret this, but what the hell?" she said with a sigh as she wrapped her arms around my neck, and I held her legs right above the knees.

"Hold on tight, and close your eyes if you get dizzy," I said with a wide smile and then kicked the ground, vanishing instantly.

It took fifteen minutes of consecutive soru use for us to catch up on the train. Once it was in sight, I increased my pace and then boarded the train's last cart with a geppo step when we were close enough.

"you've been awfully silent the entire trip," I said as I turned around to look at the strangely silent Elly. 'She fell asleep, huh? I can't really blame her," I thought with a smile when my eyes fell on her peacefully sleeping face.

I spent several minutes finding my seat again and sat down as soon as I reached it while greeting my sitting companions.

"This is Elly jones. She'll be joining us, so play nice," I stated as I laid her down on an empty seat next to me. "We'll celebrate her and Laffite joining us once we reach the capital and she's awake," I continued with a smile on my face.

"How wonderful, another person to join our crew, but how did she come to join us?" Laffite said in a cheerful tone after giving the redhead a quick once over. "Is she strong?" Wilson asked with a lazy tone after giving her a once over of his own.

"More importantly, who did this to her?" they both asked, with murder in their eyes as they finally noticed her wounds.

"The people who did this are already dead and in thousand pieces, you'll have to ask her yourself when she's awake if you have any more questions," I said with a shrug as I lit a cigarette and reclined my head backward on the chair to get some rest.

The rest of the train trip passed peacefully with no disturbances, and we made it to the capital as the sky was getting dark, so we booked four rooms in a high-class inn.

I First took Elly to her room and put her to bed, and called it a day early as I went to my own room and threw myself at the bed.

Laffitte and Wilson wanted to explore the town, so they didn't go to bed and went out instead. Laffite went out to gather information and scout the area, while Wilson only went out to try new foods and drinks.

I woke up early in the morning and went down to the inn's dining area to find Elly sitting and chatting with Lafitte and Wilson.

"Morning," I muttered as I took a seat with them. "How's your wound, Elly?" I asked after I adjusted myself to a comfortable sitting position.

"it only hurts when I move my arms too much. I can't complain about anything else other than that," Elly said while rubbing her back with a smile on her face.

"that's good to hear. I also see you've already met the rest of the crew, and you seem to get along just fine." I said with a smile and received nothing but smiles from my crew as they nodded in agreement.

"Alright then. You and I should go and meet that butler of yours after having breakfast," I said to Elly, and then turned around to Laffite and Winston.

"you two can do whatever you want to do, but make a note of anything interesting you might come across and report it to me later," I said to the duo, and they nodded in agreement.

We just sat there and chatted for an hour while waiting for the inn's breakfast time, while talking about all kinds of different topics.

What surprised me the most was that Elly had decided to share her story with the Laffite and Winston. Even though both of them couldn't relate to her story, they both seemed determined to hunt down and butcher every last member of the so-called Nitti family.

Wilson and Laffite were by no means bleeding hearts that would rush in help random people after hearing a mere sob story. But Elly was not some stray person with a sob story. She was a part of our crew now, and they both understood how protective I am of my companions.

And so, after a hearty breakfast, Elly and I left the inn and made our way towards the less renowned parts of the capital, the slums, to be more precise.

After several turns and dark alleys, we were standing in front of a dingy-looking bar that screamed danger and filled with all kinds of seedy and suspicious individuals.

Once we were inside, she took the lead and made her way to the bar towards the bartender, a large man, possibly 2,25 meters long with salt and pepper hair tied in a long ponytail, who looked comically out of place in this bar with his monocles, fancy black suit, and shiny black leather shoes.

"ah, young miss, you're finally back. And who is this bum you brought along with you?" he said in a refined English accent.

'This guy's name and appearance don't match at all,' I thought as I gave the man a quick once over. 'his name should have been Alfred or Wadsworth or something like that,' I stated in my head as my eyes twitched.

"watch it, old man. Depending on your performance, I might end up becoming your captain," I said with a shit-eating grin as I raised my head and looked at him in the eyes.

He didn't fall for my bait and refused to make any remarks about my statement, choosing to stare at Elly with a raised eyebrow instead.

-0-

"Well, a lot of things happened, and Johnny here saved my life after things went wrong with Francis," she said and then paused while pointing at me to let it sink in. "he also offered me to join his crew, and I agreed after some consideration," she concluded with her arms.

"so don't call your captain a bum since you'll come with me too," she said as she crossed her arms while looking at her butler. "You should try to get along with him too, captain. He has a sharp tongue, but he's a great company once you get to know him," she continued her speech as she turned to me.

The sharp-tongued butler and I stared at each other for a while, and then we looked away while grunting in annoyed agreement.

"as I've said, I won't accept anyone who can't carry their weight in my crew. I'll need to test his strength before he can join," I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

"I can't let my friend's daughter join some punk who can't take care of himself either, so a test suits me just fine," he said while playing with his mustache.

"It's decided then, but now is not the time, so tomorrow morning, you and me, old man, outside the city," I ended the conversation while pointing my finger at the redhead's butler, and he nodded his head.

"you stay here if you like, Elly. I will go to explore the city and find someplace where we can buy some quality wood for our ship," I said to Elly as I made my way to the seedy bar door. "alright, captain. I'll meet you at the inn at six in the evening," came the redhead's reply as she sat in front of her butler and started to chat him up.

The capital of the Ballywood kingdom, a city unironically called Ballywood city. It was a typical wild west themed city, which looked very much like Saint-Denis city from red dead redemption 2, except it was much larger and had a forest of weird leafless black trees to the west of it, giving it its name.

I spent several hours roaming around the streets while occasionally stopping to ask some people about the city and its landmarks to familiarise myself with it. I also stopped at shops that seemed interesting to browse and look around.

I've discovered all kinds of shops in this city, weapon smiths that would sell all types of weapons, swordsmiths that specialize in crafting and selling swords and nothing else, and even armor shops that sold all kinds of protective equipment.

And that was just the combat-oriented shops. There were many different stores like exotic pet shops, weird art merchants, and even a shop that sold pirate memorabilia items.

I'm not even ashamed to admit that I might have bought wax figures for Gol D Roger and Whitebeard, which I stuffed into my backpack.

It was lunchtime before I knew it, and just as I was about to head back to the inn for a quick meal, a familiar, enticing smell had sneaked its way into my nose and drew my attention.

I followed the smell and what I found at the end of the smell's trail put a smile on my face as I entered a small restaurant packed full of people enjoying their meals, meals which comprised hamburgers, fries, and coke.

It kind of makes senses now that I think about it. It is an island based on America, after all. Their king even named Ham Burger, for god's sake.

I made my way inside after taking a second to examine the restaurant and look for an empty seat and then made my way into it once I found one.

I first adjusted myself into a comfortable position and then started browsing the menu left on the table in front of me. It took ten minutes for a waiter to come and take my order, as the restaurant seemed to be having a busy day.

"Hello sir, what can I get for you?" asked the server with a friendly smile as he placed a cup of cold water on the table in front of me. He was a young man who seemed to be the epitome and representative of averageness in this world.

"Hello, I would like a hamburger meal with dries and a coke please," I remarked with a friendly smile of my own while trying my hardest not to show my less than polite thoughts about his averageness show on my face.

"very well, sir. Your order should be ready in ten minutes. Please, don't hesitate to call me or any waiter if you need anything else," he concluded as he wrote my order and then left to deliver it to the cook.

After ten minutes, the same server came back while carrying a tray that had my order, and he placed it at the table. "Here you go, sir. Please enjoy the meal," he said with a smile as he finished placing my order at the table.

"Thanks," I replied with a smile that hid my conscious effort to not fall into the typical you too trap.

After having my meal and paying the bill, I went outside and began exploring the city once more, and after several more hours of that, I decided to go and inquire about buying the wood required to build my ship.

I made my way to a somewhat large shop with all kinds of miniature woodworks showcased inside of it. I then went straight to the shop owner and spoke to him.

"Hello, I would like to buy enough Bally wood to build a brigantine ship. Are you capable of providing that kind of quantity?" I asked the man, a shifty-looking merchant who looked very similar to leather from Skyrim.

'he'll definitely try to rip me off,' I thought as I shamelessly judged the man based on his appearance.

"Hello, sir," he first replied to my greeting and then paused to give a once over. "Yes, of course. We can provide the necessary amount to suit your needs," he concluded with a flawless business smile adorning his shifty face.

"How much will that cost me exactly, and How soon can you have it prepared for me?" I asked as I crossed my hands and looked at him with a blank face.

"While we can provide such amounts of Bally wood, it would take us a month or so to prepare it any sooner than that would cost you extra," He replied, and I could have sworn his eyes turned into belly signs for just a second before reverting back.

'here it comes, I knew the bastard would try to rip me off,' I thought in my head as I haggled with him for the best price and shortest time I can get.

After a half-hour of going back and forth with the merchant, we finally came to an agreement.

"very well, sir. You drive a hard bargain, but this is the best I can offer you for now," the merchant said with fake distress in his voice. "Five million for the wood and I'll even take care of transporting it to shipwright town for you, once it's ready in a week's time," he said, as he offered me his hand.

"that will have to do then," I replied as I took his hand and grasped it in a firm handshake.

I might have placed too much strength into my grip, causing him to wince and start sweating because I knew he was still ripping me off somehow.

-0-

After completing the deal by signing my name on several documents, which I examined with my zoom feature over and over to make sure it didn't have any hidden clauses, I exited the woodworks shop made my way back to the inn.

I found the crew already gathered on a table just like in the morning, but this time with the addition of bob, Elly's butler, and potentially our crew's cook.

"I see you guys are getting along well enough," I said as I took a seat at the table.

"you're just in time, captain. I was just talking about the den den mushis I bought for us earlier today," Laffitte said as he took out a small box with several air holes in it.

I picked up one of them and put it in my pocket after inspecting it to satisfy my curiosity. "Good thing it slipped my mind then. We might have ended up with more than we need right now, otherwise," I remarked as I lit up a cigarette and took out my whisky bottle.

"how much did these things cost, anyway?" I asked as I poured myself a cup of whisky and placed the bottle on the table for the rest to use.

"they were five thousand bellies each. I bought six, four for each of us, one to stay on the ship once we have it, and another one just in case," Lafitte answered as he handed over the den den mushis to the rest of the crew.

"at any rate, you did well," I remarked with a smile. "Now let's get something to eat, so we can go to the most expensive bar around to celebrate our haul and you two joining the crew," I concluded as I drained my whisky cup with one gulp.

"Now we're talking," Wilson shouted and then poured himself a cup of whisky and drained it, then repeated the process several times.

"Sounds good," said Laffite as he stood up to call for a waiter to take our food orders.

"your call, captain," said Elly cheerfully with some expectation in her voice.

"very well, I shall accompany you young punks as well," said Bob, while playing with his mustache. "Nobody invited you, old man," I snapped at him, but he ignored me and started chatting with Elly.

We left the fully fed and in an excellent mood after half an hour and made our way towards the city's best bar, old Talbott Tavern. which was a large two-story building made of redwood.

"Everyone's drinks are on me tonight. We're celebrating a special occasion," I shouted once we were inside, and all the bar's patrons started to cheer, whistle and clap in joy.

One of the bar's waitresses came to guide us to a table located right in the middle of the bar soon after my remark, then smiled at me in expectation and asked what she can get for us after we took our seats.

"get us the best drinks you have and keep them coming," I said as I took a one thousand belly note and slid it into her hands.

We kept drinking and chatting for a while, but that soon became too boring for me, so I stood up, went to the band playing music at the bar, and asked them to play a specific tune after I slid some belly notes into their hand.

After glancing at the piano player and receiving a nod, I took out my guitar and silenced everyone with a loud twang of its strings.

"What kind of celebration would this be without a proper song?" I shouted, watched as everyone in the bar sent bewildered looks in my direction.

Even Laffite and Elly seemed confused by my actions, as they didn't know I was a musician, but I didn't care. I wanted to sing, and no one was going to stop me.

"you guys like parties?" I asked with a booming voice as I sent another electrical guitar twang into the bar's patrons and smiled as they cheered and clapped.

"then I'll give you the party of your lives," I shouted again and signaled the band behind me to play. (author's note: play the jolly rogers - the flying dutchman)

"The sky was grey and cloudy, And the wind was from the west, When we spied a battered frigate, With her tattered sail full dressed," I sang after waiting several seconds for the right moment to start, and the crowd cheered even more.

"They signaled they had letters home. They asked if we could take. They dropped them in a barrel. They left bobbing in their wake," I continued to sing along with the music as some of the bar's dwellers stood up and started to dance.

"We reefed the sails and slowed the ship, To fish, the barrel out. The old ship sailed to the distance. Then we saw her come about,"

"The captain watched through a spy-glass when we heard him catch his breath., And we saw the storm a-brewing Had become a wall of death," more of them, including Wilson, Laffite, and Elly, stood up and started to dance. The others listened to me sing without moving, as if they were listening to a story and not a song.

"Turn this ship around, me boys, turn around and run! That storm it wants a battle, and it's sure that we're outgunned. What of that ship that's out there, she's called the flying dutchman, and it's rage that fills her sails," I sang the chorus, and after gesturing for the listeners to sing with me, I repeated it as almost every in the bar sang it with me.

We continued to drink, sing and dance until it was the bar's closing time and left.

We were all drunk at that point except for me as I was only feeling tipsy and bob, who didn't drink too much, so we left after paying our tab. Which had amounted to the staggering sum of 75,000 bellies, and that's when I started having regrets, but it was worth it so whatever.

-0-

I woke up feeling a slight headache, But I didn't mind it as I imagined it would be much worse if not for my cyber ware enhanced body and all the training I've been doing.

I took a couple of minutes to freshen up and get ready. I then went downstairs and didn't find any one of my crew there like I usually do.

'they must be suffering the consequences of our merrymaking last night,' I thought with a chuckle and made myself comfortable as I took a seat at our usual table to wait for them.

After several minutes of waiting and doing nothing as I relaxed in my seat, Wilson came down the stairs while cradling his head, seemingly going through his first hangover.

"Welcome to the wonderful world of humans, my friend," I said to him with a grin as he took a seat in front of me. "What you're feeling right now is that hangover I've been telling you about,"

Wilson grunted as he started rubbing his head and then said, "ugh, my head. I'm never drinking again." I just laughed at that and answered, "we both know that's not true." Wilson heard what I said and shot me a dirty look, But then he started to laugh too.

"So, what do you think of our crew so far, big guy?" I asked while looking at him as he adjusted himself in his chair.

"honestly, they're great. Laffite is strong, and he's fun to be around," he answered with a smile. "That Elly girl is not bad either. She just needs to toughen up a little. That bob guy seems decent too, but I'll let you be the judge of that," he concluded with a shrug of his shoulders.

It was when he finished his sentence that Laffite and Elly showed up. Both of them looking much worse than Wilson, who was rapidly recovering from his hangover.

The two of them sat down after a simple greeting and began rubbing their heads. "Since everyone is here, let's hurry up and order some breakfast," I remarked as I gestured for one of the Inn's servers to come and take our orders.

Everyone seemed to be much better after a hearty breakfast. So it was finally time for some serious discussions.

"I put an order on enough wood to build our ship yesterday," I remarked and watched as everyone at the table turned their attention to me.

"it will take a week to be ready, and the merchant who sold it to me said he's going to take care of transporting it for us," I concluded, and everyone nodded in understanding.

"we'll take care of Elly's revenge during this week if possible. If not, then Laffite and Wilson would go with the wood and find a decent shipbuilder to make us a good ship while Elly and I stay to take care of the Nitti family," I said all I wanted to say and waited to see if anyone had any questions or objections.

"Sounds good to me," Wilson said with a shrug. "If that happens, I'll finally get the chance to spar with Laffite once or twice," he concluded while eyeing Laffite like a predator looking at his prey.

"I don't mind either," said Lafitte. "I wanted to supervise the shipbuilding process since I'll be steering it, after all. I've been feeling rusty as of late too, so a good fight is just what I need," he finished his sentence while smiling pleasantly at Wilson, who was beaming at his reasoning by the time he stopped talking.

"No objections from me. But I want to be the one to put down Frank Nitti," she said while gnashing her teeth in a strange mixture of both hate, excitement, and expectations.

"it's settled then. Now we need to find Bob to test him and decide if he's going to join us or not, and then we can start dismantling the Nitti family," I said as I got up, and the rest followed me to the exit.

We then went to the seedy bar that Bob worked at and found him ready to go, but he wasn't wearing his fancy black suit this time. He was wearing black leather boots, blue jeans, a long sleeveless black vest with nothing underneath it showing his muscular frame, metallic gauntlets that covered his hands and forearms, and a small, black boiler hat. (Author's note: www zerochan net / 2486734)

"Alright, old man, let's take this outside of the town," I said while cracking my knuckles.

"Hoho, you don't need to be in such a hurry, young man. You'll get your thrashing eventually," he said while twirling his mustache.

I didn't reply to him and just left the bar, then made my way to the Capital's gates, forcing him to follow me with an amused smile on his face.

We reached an open area with a single hill overlooking it after a half-hour of walking and stood facing each other while the rest of the crew stood at a safe distance to watch us fight.

"I'll give you the first move, old man. I don't want people to think I'm bullying the elderly," I said with a shit-eating grin and deliberate disdain in an attempt to provoke him.

"if that's the case, then it would be very impolite of me to turn down your offer," he said and suddenly vanished and appeared right above me with his fist reared backward, But I didn't even flinch or react because Wilson appeared in front of me at the same time and took his punch with the palm of his hand.

"you know, you can't just go after the captain. If it's just a test, then I'm more than enough to be your sparring partner," Wilson said and I felt myself smile involuntarily.

I had already known that Wilson would do this as he told me about it himself; I didn't stop him because he didn't have a good fight in some time, and I've been hogging all the action lately.

To my surprise, Bob didn't seem to be upset or offended that I won't be fighting him myself, as he smiled and jumped backward.

"a pirate captain's worth is measured by his crew's strength, before his own strength, so this works just as fine," he said as he jumped backward again to dodge Wilson came flying at him, causing Wilson to land on the ground and create a small crater at his landing spot.

"you talk too much. Hurry up and start fighting," Wilson said with a hungry smile as he charged at Bob again, while bob smiled back at him and charged as well.