125 The storm begins.

Fawkes hummed as he padded along, at some point along his shopping spree he had come across a groaning Barts, in the process of being fleeced by a market seller. She had had her hands on her chin as she lapped up the exorbitant price that the man threw out. If it wasn't for Fawkes, it wouldn't be surprising if she never made it past the first vendor having exhausted all her stipend on a few meager fruits.

Now she followed him, pointing silently at the fruits that she thought would help make the wondrous alcohol. Then Fawkes would handle the negotiations. By this point, stars could be seen gleaming in her eyes as she looked at the crew's first mate, quoting prices that the sellers visibly balked at, before they sadly conceded.

A small fruit basket sat in her hands, a collection of assorted ingredients. She could already imagine the taste that the collection would provide her, for she used her fruit to simulate their amalgamation.

She had obtained the Scent Scent fruit. A devil fruit that allowed one to control, exude and create different typed of scents. Of course one of the major drawbacks had to be that the she had to have smelled the scents that she wished to create at least once.

Her mouth watered as the serene concoction dripped down her nose, so heavy it was that it gave her tongue a phantom taste.

Fawkes looked back at her, before going back to his chores. He too had a basket in his hands as he bartered the various shop keepers for their product. At times he would run his hands over the different articles of food on display, testing the firmness of the tomatoes and the supplely of the different meats.

"Hey Fawkes, what else do you need?" the silent Barts asked, at this point slightly confident in her own ability to negotiate.

He looked at her pensively before pulling out a crudely made list from his pant pockets. The paper was crumpled, with a whole stream of scrawled down words, scribbled with his barely legible handwriting.

"Here's the list, the last three are the only ones left. You can go buy them, but you can pay only less than this amount." and with that he handed her both the list and the bundle of cash that he had hastily grabbed from his breast pocket.

With that she was off, visiting the nearer stalls first, and when they denied her the price that she quoted she moved on.

'Eh, I don't think anyone can scam her for those products. Besides the quality of the stuff doesn't have to be too good..' At this point Fawkes quite felt like his father, when he had first taken him to shop.

And thus he renewed his shopping, with a smile on his face as he mentally recited the products that he would need.

After what felt like a major portion of the morning the duo were done. The bags they held bulged outward, with a trail of fabric spilling from their sides.

"- Ka-lick, Terrick here." the voice answered. A barely concealed hint of apprehension at the sudden call that he had received.

"Fawkes on this side, we've given the town a cursory look. There aren't any hostiles as of yet. My task is done and I'm coming back to ship to drop off the goods." Fawkes said, taking no small level of satisfaction at the professional vibe that his statements had given him.

"Ok, the ship is still docked at the shore, no changes on our end. Scipio and Sorren have returned with no alarming news. " Terrick reported before he ended the call.

"Well, off we go!" Fawkes called out enthusiastically as he nodded to Barts, then together they set off….

****************************

Not far from the island of sphinx, a storm was brewing.

On a little visited island, that went by the name of Wano, two forces had begun to move simultaneously.

For at this time, Wano had been the territory of one 'Kaido'. He had taken the island not long and then ruled with an iron fist. His crew of pirates were called the 'beast pirates' and he was their Grand Marshal.

Now however, his claim to the elusive home of the samurais had been challenged. At the eve of the new year, the two forces would collide. Already men had been amassed on the banks of Toto land on orders of its sovereign ruler, one Charlotte Linlin. Set to sail off the sweat covered fortress with only a few short and scanty officers missing from the Monstrous Campaign.

They would besiege the island, the gluttonous queen had decided. With her children at the forefront of the battle. Her proud boy would lead them, already he had begun to shape up to be her first commander, the one she had named Katakuri.

Though he was young, and this would be his first time in charge of her grand army, Charlotte felt not a single smidgen of worry, for why would she worry? Was it not perfection himself that led her crew?

As she sat on her blazing throne she could not help but smile, first from pride at the strength that her son was showing as he rallied her crew, and then from hunger as she imagined the sizeable territory that she would grab off the hands of the mangy rabid creature.

"Katakuri! We set off!" She roared, her voice easily overshadowing her cheering children. As the wind began to pick up, the big mama chanter began to sway into the sea, at the very forefront of her massive fleet.

With the idle drum beats of war, the oars off the side began to sway, and then as one they began to row.

Her fleet was off! Their next spot would be off the coast of Wano, and her next move would be to flatten the face of the one they called the strongest creature….