One Piece; The Great Pirate Era

For the remainder of hours, the celebration continued, as the food and barrels of rum intended for Rum Drum Johnny and his pirate comrades was consumed. All enjoyed the small spur of the moment event, laughing merrily, eating plentiful, some even singing and dancing away their troubles.

However as noon transformed into evening and the sun was hours away from setting, all good things, even happy celebrations had to come to an end. With the last of the patrons dispersing to rest their partied bodies or to resume what work was left to be done, there were few left within the bar.

One of them was Flint, who began to ready himself for his voyage. With a large bag in hand, he packed what leftovers he could, as the barkeep and waiters cleaned and tidied up their building. "Well, I guess I'm off," Flint said with a wave, as he slung the large bag of food over his shoulder.

With a nod, the barkeep then looked over to the waiter, "Go show him to his boat." Nodding immediately, the waiter dropped what dishes they were drying, gently on the rack, before heading to the entrance. "Follow me, it's right this way." They said, which excited Flint greatly, "Oh boy!" He exclaimed, before exiting the bar with the female waiter.

By the time Flint was ready to leave, Blood was completely drunk out of his mind to the point where he could barely stand. However, for one reason or another, when he saw Flint leaving, he felt the need to get up.

"Wait, I'll see ya out," he said, his words completely slurring into one another to the point where it was almost impossible to understand him. He swayed a little as he followed Flint and the waitress.

"Uh...ok." Flint replied to Blood's odd expression and words, he wasn't quite sure what to make of it and replied in the only way he could think of without having to press him for more questions.

Once they traveled outside, the waiter stopped at a shed near the pier, where she fumbled with some keys. "I'll drop it in the water, stay here." She replied, entering the room.

As he waited for the waiter to come back with his boat or to put it in the waters for him to set sail, he was now alone, with no one but Blood. And that made things even more awkward with such a drunk around. "So...uh. You like drinking?" Is all he could think to say.

"Yeah, what of it?" Blood asked as if Flint was getting on his case or something. "Listen, I can stop anytime I want." He hiccuped immediately after saying this and took a swig from the bottle that he had taken with him. "I just don't want to." Clearly, this was something Blood had heard many times before.

"I didn't say nothing." Flint replied quickly, shrugging his shoulders. "It's just, I don't know why you came out. You didn't seem all that interested earlier, or anytime."

"Well listen here," Blood said as he placed an arm around Flint's shoulder, leaning on him as he spoke. His breath wreaked of alcohol. "I'm not goin' out to sea with you. It's like I said: I'm just seeing ya set off. Charting your own course."

He then let go of Flint and ruffled his hair as if he were a child.

"Cause I like ya kid. You're alright."

Gagging once and then coughing several times, from Blood's pungent alcoholic breath, Flint fanned the area slightly around his mouth. "Thanks, I guess. You're pretty neat for a drunk to, I suppose." Is all he replied.

However the shed's gate, where the waiter went in, immediately opened. Quickly a boat slid out on the ramp and into the ocean with a wondrous splash. It rocked and swayed with the current. It was a very detailed and beautiful fisherman boat, with a sail, and lion-like figure head at the end.

Amazed at the craftsmanship, Flint dropped his mouth at its sight, "Woah!" Is what his initial reaction was, "Amazing!"

"Well, ain't she a beaut," Blood said as he looked at the boat.

"She sure is!" Flint exclaimed excitedly, "Are you sure you don't want in, technically we both fought for half of it."

"I'm sure," Blood replied though it was clear from the sight of the boat that he was beginning to waver. Or, perhaps he was just so drunk he wasn't thinking perfectly straight.

"Well suit yourself!" Flint said, before charging and leaping into the waters, where his boat was. "Adventure, here I come!" He exclaimed, raising his arms into the air, and extending his legs outwards.

However once he landed onto the boat, it immediately caved in from his weight. Both ends of the boat sprung upwards, slapping into each other, with him in between. Then a hole tore right through the middle, where Flint once was. Water shot right up from where he pierced through, before the boat began to sink, and seemingly dissolve.

"Oh no!" The waiter exclaimed, "That wasn't your boat! We use that for our stage props in the bar!" She added worried, as the boat began to break apart in small soggy paper pieces. "...Where did he go?"

At first, Blood didn't really know what to make of the situation. He was a tad bit too drunk so it was a little hard to process.

"Aw ****," Blood said as he noticed Flint was nowhere to be found and still hadn't come up. "I don't know if I'm cut out for this..."

Stumbling, Blood jumped into the water. The water seemed to wake him up a bit as he desperately tried to search for Flint. Through his blurry vision, he managed to see a large mass sinking towards the bottom. Blood swam as best he could towards what he guessed (and hoped) was Flint. Luckily, this part of the water wasn't too deep so Blood kicked off the ground, propelling the two towards the surface.

As soon as he reached the surface, Blood immediately gasped for air. He then dragged Flint towards the edge.

Flint did little, if anything, as he sunk into the ocean's waters. A few bubbles had rose and popped, but being one who ate the devil fruit, he had lost the ability to swim. It wasn't his fault though, he thought this was his boat, or at the very least a real boat. It looked convincing enough, or it did when it wasn't completely dissolved in the waters.

Once Blood rescued him, he gasped and coughed for air, spilling some unintentionally swallowed water out of his mouth. He leaned on his shoulder until the both of them reached the pier again, where he gasped for air some more, lying weakly on the dock, before looking upwards. "That boat was crappy..."

"Well...that wasn't your boat, I'm afraid." The waiter said worried free, now that the crisis was averted. "Your boat is in the shed and ready to go." They said, moving out of the way.

"Really!?" Flint exclaimed, immediately standing upright. "Well let's check it out!" He added, rushing into the shed, before spotting it with his own eyes. "Wait, this is my boat?" Flint asked, pointing to the lone large wooden washtub in the middle, held together with three bands of metal, and a fairly tall flag like sail. To its side were two oars, used to row the ship when needed.

"Yup," The waiter nodded. "I know it's not much, but we used to use this all the time to deliver and bring over our rum barrels.

"This is awesome!" Flint exclaimed happily, checking over his new boat. "A little paint and I could make my ships flag mark!"

"Hey now wait a minute!" Blood shouted towards Flint as he had completely ignored the crisis that had just happened and was currently running into the shed. However, this didn't stop Flint and so Blood was forced (or rather, he felt he was forced) to follow.

When he got a good look at the boat, the only thing that came into his mind was 'this seriously can't be the boat'. But sure enough it was and sure enough Flint was just as excited as ever.

"Hold it there tiger," Blood said. His head was spinning by this point both from the booze and the situation he was currently finding himself in. "You can't just go out to sea in this boat when you can't even swim! What are yer, nuts?"

"Well you heard them, this is the only boat left untouched for miles." Flint said more seriously, with a grin. "And it's really got character." He added, crossing his arms contently. "I just need to paint something neat on it, besides I can't just wait around forever, my destiny is calling me."

"Ugh, you kids these days, I swear," Blood said though this was mostly to himself. He was still very drunk but even so he knew he couldn't just leave this kid with a little boat like this out in the open sea when the kid couldn't even swim. "All right, listen up: I'll go with you until you find a bigger boat and someone else to crew."

"Huh?" Flint replied confusedly, as he simply looked over to Blood. Especially since his choice of words and decision. "I'm not begging you to join." He stated bluntly, "If you're content drinking alcohol here all day, that's fine by me. I don't need someone to babysit me." Flint explained.

"I got this far on my own, I can go farther. My goal is out there in the sea and if I have to go it alone, then so be it."

"Now you listen here, kid. I'm not taking no for an answer," Blood said definitively. He looked pretty serious when he said this though it was also clear he was still very drunk.

"And I should take you on my rickety boat, when you're drunk off your ass?" Flint asked, crossing his arms, before adding. "Look if your reason's because you don't think I can make it, save it. You can stay here, unless you have a better reason." Asking him for a reason, and a good one at that.

"A reason? I'll give you a reason," Blood said and he was clearly getting irritated. "You need someone who knows what they're doing especially if you're taking this piece of crap out in the ocean. Someone who's been out to sea before. So shut up and let me in your boat."

Of course, there was another reason, one Blood wasn't even fully aware of largely due to the fact he was too damn stubborn to admit it.

Flint stood there, not all that convinced, or eager, especially after someone was telling him that they wanted to join to simply hold his hand. Turning away, without replying, he tossed his black bag full of fruits and vegetables into the washtub. He wanted to bring some meat along, but he went and ate most of it at the party.

"Sorry, like I said, I'm not accepting charity." Flint replied. "You can come if you want and have a real reason, otherwise good luck where it takes you." He replied, pushing the washtub down a ramp and into the ocean. It splashed and rocked upon impact, but remained afloat.

Not really waiting for a word, Flint casually walked to the side, keeping his hand on the railing, as he hopped into his boat.

Blood groaned in frustration.

"You can't just let a man be, can you?" Blood said as he followed Flint. Without Flint's permission, he then got into the washtub with him. "Fine, here's your reason: I'm tired of being a loser that people like Rum Drum think they can just push around. There? Satisfied?"

His eyes were dead serious as he said this and he looked as though the only way to get him out of the boat was if Flint pushed him out.

Smiling from Blood's words and realization, Flint laughed slightly. He reached into his black bag, pulling out a bottle of rum, before tossing it over to him. "I knew you'd come around," He added. "Now we're even, on account that you suckered me out of my coin."

With his last words, he pushed the washtub further away from the pier, by using the dock's wooden legs as leverage, and with that, the small, rickety, and slow moving washtub was off, wherever it was going.

Blood frowned at Flint's remark. But he took the rum and sat down.

"Eh, shut up," he said as he took a swig from it.

"Then it's settled, we're heading to the Grand Line!" Flint exclaimed, as the washtub slowly distanced itself from the pier of Rum Drum Island.