161 Set off once more

A small bottle of alcohol swished around in my hand as I stared at the ocean bank. The papers had been distributed, what little was said within its confines had been gobbled up instantaneously by the general populace of the otherwise dank underground.

Now, plans of our actions had begun to surface within my mind. What were we to do next?

We would get out of the New World, that was something I had decided as soon as I had seen the state that a single island had left fairly strong members of my crew in. Paradise was where we were going to go, both to train the crew and to stock up on a ship's necessities.

A small tap sounded from behind me as my first mate joined me at the rail. Leaning over he shot me a look.

"When are we leaving, captain?" he asked as he glared expressionlessly at the deceptively calm sea.

"Tomorrow. We're going to need at least this much time for us to get everything prepared." I said softly before turning my back to the ocean and clapping my hands.

"Crew! Gather up your belongings, shore leave ends tomorrow!" I roared as the crew halted whatever they were doing.

Angella had been sitting on a barrel in the corner, perusing a semi-interesting book. Scipio sat right next to her, reading a smaller one that she had lent to him. Barts and Rein worked silently to understand their fruit while Sorren sat on the floor patiently giving Terrick advice on how he would have to condition his body.

The crew nodded simply before getting back to what they were doing, not an ounce of question in their eyes.

"Fawkes, come with me. We're going to finalize some of the goals and get Marco's help on some important stuff," I said before walking down the gangplank next to the side. Fawkes followed behind me silently.

Within minutes, we had waded through the relatively familiar thicket of trees to reach the still bustling town. Though the sun had begun to set on the horizon, people could still be seen cheerfully walking through the dusky streets of sphinx.

Parents muttered jokes into their children's ears while old grandfatherly figures sat at corners gossiping about the day's events. Orange lamps glowed brightly as the world began to darken.

As we drew nearer to the bar, we could hear the raucous laughter of its inhabitants. The Whitebeards partied as they had when we had first entered town.

I smiled with a hint of mirth in my eyes as I rapped by knuckles against the door entering almost immediately after.

A few of the pirates nodded to me in greeting while a few others jovially raised their tankards to me before going back into their own solitary bubble of conversation.

I chuckled softly as I walked beside him rapping his shoulder to gain his attention before looking over at the pineapple headed man who had been occupying the corner.

Thatch shot me an infuriated glance with his reddish eyes before muttering at the bar tender for a refill of his tankard.

"Jagged Dagger." Marco called out as he settled next to me, nodding his head in Fawkes direction before shooting me an expectant glance.

"Do you have a coater on board? We're gonna need to coat our ship if we're going to leave the New World. Sailing through the calm belt is a definite no no. Especially within the next few months, after all I amn't insane enough to challenge Sea king's in the heat." I asked as manner of greeting as I motioned for the bartender to bring me a cup of water.

"You're in luck, Lorean." he replied before beckoning to one of the crewmates in the far right.

"Nice. Now, what about our payment?"

*****

The sun glowered down on our naked backs as we left Sphinx in the distance. It seems the New World had decided it was going to be one of 'those days' where living felt like utter torture and the sun felt like our personal stalker.

It had been only a brief half hour since we had left the banks of the island and already most of us had begun to sweat bullets. Barts had opted back to her more airy and open island clothing as she waved her hand around from time to time to generate a wonderful smelling aroma that masked the otherwise repetitive smell of creaking wood.

Rein ran around with a pair of tiny shorts as he pulled the ropes of the sails around, catching what little wind would allow us to exit the shallow and languid waters that we were in.

Angella helped him, doing more work than he could even conceive of doing in the process. She had stripped down to her bra and had folded up her pants all the way to the edge of her thighs as she attempted to fight off the oppressive heat.

I stood at the very centre with dagger in hand watching the skies around for any sudden movement. My Haki pervaded the deck of the ship, spreading through the creaking wood empowering it.

Sorren stared at me from his end of the deck, glaring at me with a little dissatisfaction.

"Captain! Tellll mmeeeeee!!" He whined, referring to the brief encounter that I had had with his father prior to us setting off, where Thatch had in no unclear words told me about the suffering he would bring upon me if his son were to be hurt in any way. He had then had the gall to turn around with a sunny smile and tell Sorren he had confided within me a secret 'between men!' that was not to be repeated and firing me a surreptitious wink that meant nothing.

Luckily, for us, the coater in Marco's group had had with him a sizeable amount of resin that would be required in the overall coating process. All it had taken was a brief two hours for the ship to be fully coated before we were ready to set off.

Marco had also been kind enough to provide us with an eternal pose to one of the bordering islands of the New World. From there it would be a mere day to reach the Red Line.

Oh, did I mention he gave me Whitebeard's calling card?