Hugh sat on the deck of the ship, Oriel and Issac sat next to him. They were all engrossed by the latest issue of the World Economic News. The newspaper had arrived by way of a seagull, and charged five berries for this issue.
“We were barely a touch stone!” Issac said, falling off his improvised seat, an empty crate. “And they didn't even bring up how the people were rioting against the oppressive government! We did them a favor!”
“It makes sense for the government to cover up what happened.” Oriel said casually, looking at the main headline again. She seemed very interested in this ‘Smiley Man’ that was spotted in the south blue. “53 total, that's impressive for us. Oh look, Hugh you surpassed me.”
“I did not!” Hugh said out loud, far more defensively than he wanted to. “I surpassed your old bounty! You beat me by three million!”
“Yes, that is weird, I didn't even really do anything?” Oriel said, faking obliviousness.
“You were with Issac the whole time, and he fought that captain that appeared, you got attention by association.” Hugh sighed.
“Barely noticed all the work you did, huh Hugh?” Oriel said with a smirk.
Issac jumped to his feet. “This Renshu guy surpassed everyone! How dare he! We need this spotlight! We need to show everyone of the North blue that thy can fight back!”
“Well this is a good start.” Oriel said. “Now people are really paying attention to us, anything you do after this will shine. Plus we know the Regime is sending a crew specifically to hunt us down, the Undead Pirates have become a symbol already, now you just gotta keep going.”
“Ya but those Umbra Pirates overshadowed us hard.” Issac said, sitting down. “Taking out two of the biggest names in the south blue, and working with another. It's unbelievable! How do we stand to that!”
“The grandline is the great equalizer Issac.” Hugh said with a sigh. “Well just have to shine brighter there, think you can do it?”
Issac shot Hugh a look, then smiled with resolve. “Of course! Lets do it! Next stop, Reverse Mountain!”
Julius “Orange” sat on his ship deck, reading his news paper with a wide smile. A storm was brewing ahead, the rest of the crew frantically prepared. The Grandline was truly strange, this storm looked like it was raining stones according to Indigo’s report.
“Those noobs really are showing their stuff.” Julius said, running his hand through his hair. “I knew sending them to Dunberal would be fun, but killing Lozenge? Risky, and taking out Catfish, amazing!” He laughed before promptly being slapped upside the head by Maroon.
Maroon was a large man, standing over seven feet tall, and muscles that threatened even the greatest bodybuilders. People find it funny when they learn that Maroon was, infact, a major softy and loved cute things. He made a fine baker, and an even better Navigator.
Julius wasnt sure why he called everyone on his crew by their nicknames, it just worked that way. When the government started giving them names based on colors everyone looked so proud, so they took to it. It was tricky responding to Orange but it worked well for him.
“Captain, help us.” Maroon said sheepishly. It was almost as if he didn't just strike Julius upside the head with his mighty hands.
“Yeah yeah.” He said, waving Maroon off. “Ill help, just reading. Apparently those Umbra guys are heading into the Grandline. Word says Byram is too, maybe well run into him at some point.”
“Less talk, more help.” Maroon said, it would sound sturn if not for his voice shaking. Julius sighed as he headed for some ropes, they would get thru this and rise, they would become the greatest pirates in history.
Renshu sat leaning against one of the walls of his ship. 50 million berries, one step closer to that goal. His crew was in a roar at this news, they viewed his success as their success, idiots.
The grandline was only a day away now, he wondered about these others. Undead, Orange, Eternal, and Umbra. Would they stand in his way? He had to remove them if so, but perhaps if they met it would be like ships in the night.
Vitali, he was spotted in paradise recently, he would be a large enough target for Renshu. The Spirit Pirate, rumors about him were small, Renshu had to gather more intel. He needed to clear a seat, so he could fill it. Whatever it took.
Don Colgate hated these meetings. The five Dons sitting around a table pretending like they liked each other just to get through another hour. They ran this show, the West Blue was theirs and had been for years, the government were just lucky to have a presence here.
“Lozenge was taken out,” Don Degree said, looking over a recent newspaper. He tossed the paper and it slid to the center of the round black table.
“Umbra Pirates?” Don Halls questioned, eyeing the paper. “Never heard of them.”
“They are up and comer pirates.” Don Loreal said tiredly, did that man ever get enough sleep? “Two of their crew already took over twenty million berry bounties and they haven't even been active for a full month.”
“Great, so there's a power vacuum in the south.” Don Colgate said, determined to take that spot.
“Yes that is what it means.” Don Degree said, his clever smirk showing. The Don’s all looked amongst themselves, it would be a rat race wouldn't it? It was fine, Colgate told himself, I will get it.
Jalos Rein walked from the newspaper stand, carrying this issue in front of his face. He knew the captain would like to see this and so made to quickly walk for where they were stationed. The ramshackled house had been abandoned for many years, and it served as their temporary home base.
“Hey captain you wont believe this.” Jalos said, tossing the paper onto the coffee table that was missing a leg, cinder blocks replacing it.
He sat with his arms spread wide on the couch, captain of the Sapphire PIrates, Moryn “Blue Streak”. He picked up the paper and looked it over. A wide smile broke his lips.
“So more are coming now, and making news too, this is perfect.” Moryn said, then threw his head back in a laugh. “I can't wait to meet them!”
