One Piece; The Great Pirate Era

The remaining hours went by, and Hawkins rested up well, mainly because Flint preoccupied himself with different things. Such as sampling all the left over drinks and food still on the tables. Although they weren't as chilled or warm as they used to be, they still were quite tasty and went down all the same.

Once the gypsies and captain began to awaken, he knew it was time to finally get ready to set off and see their new boat, which excited him greatly. Shaking from the anticipation, as the tired celebrators of the previous night began to slowly come to, as they stretched so painfully slow, Flint grew impatient.

However, that eventually came to an end, as the were wide awake, or at least on their feet, with the other gypsies who were preparing their boat before coming their way.

Excitedly he could not wait anymore, as they informed him the ship was ready, and he rushed off towards the dock again.

Trouillefou led the way along with several of his men towards the dock with Flint and Blood trailing behind. Again, they came towards the two rather large boats where their new ship was no doubt nestled safely between the two.

Blood was walking at a relatively leisure pace. He did not so much care as to what sort of boat they might have gotten. But he did make sure to drink from his flask a few times on the way over.

Trouillefou then stopped in front of the boat. With a wave of his hands, he motioned towards it though it was still hiding from view for Flint and Blood. "As promised," he said.

However, the boat was not really a boat. In fact, Blood wouldn't have even called it a boat. It was more of a tub similar to the one they had been on before. At first, Blood was too stunned to say anything, but he felt his face turning red with anger and irritation.

Happily Flint leapt on the dock, where their supposed new boat was, and in between the two large ships. The view of it was once blocked by these mighty ships, but now it came into view with all its glory. His excited expression grew larger at the thought of catching a glimpse and being so close to it.

However that all soon fell completely flat as he took in what this boat actually was. It was just a washtub, and although he liked it before, he was ready to move onto larger ships. "Hey..." He said in a slightly disappointed and irritated tone. "This looks familiar, this is our boat!" He said pointing at it, as he implied that they had hunted down their washtub lost at sea.

"What the hell?!" Blood exclaimed, finally able to find the words that expressed his aggravation. However, he felt as though he could have a lot more colorful words to pinpoint his exact feelings.

"It is not!" the Captain snapped in response to Flint. "The deal was you defeat the Judge and we give you a new boat: this is the same type of boat we found you in so we replaced it."

"Are you sure?" Flint asked skeptically, as he leaned in to inspect their 'new' boat. I remember Hawkins heave-hauled over the side, and it really stinks on this spot." He said fanning near his nose, as he pulled back.

"It's just your imagination," the Captain said flatly. "Your old ship is gone." It was clear the Captain was now getting annoyed as Flint questioned his honesty.

"The real question should be why the hell we're getting this piece of crap," Blood remarked as he kicked the washtub. It was still tied down so it continued to stay nestled in his current position.

"Well it's still a cool boat!" Flint exclaimed, "And you even packed it with my favorite snacks!" Immediately hopping in, he grabbed a piece of bread that was in a bag and began to chew on it. "Come on Hawkins!" He said with a mouthful, as he patted there boat. "We're wasting daylight! Let's get to our next island and adventure already!"

"Fine," Blood replied, still pissed about the whole boat thing. He then turned towards the Captain. "I still don't forgive you for this." But the Captain seemed indifferent to Blood's comment. Still, Blood followed Flint and climbed into the boat.

"Good luck on your adventures. And should you ever need us, you know where we'll be," the Captain said.

As the boat, or perhaps rundown washtub made its course away from the docks, the gypsies and Captain bid their farewells through cheers and waves, with the two pirates doing the same on different levels of enthusiasm.

Little happened after the island vanished in the horizon. The waves for the most part were calm, sometimes bumpy, as is expected in the ocean, while the sun beamed down brightly and warmly. It was a peaceful day for sailing, not a problem to be had for anyone who would ever decide to get on board a ship.

For most of the hours Flint spent his time eating what was provided by the gypsies, and there was still plenty to go around, so it did not matter much. However the further north they went, a peculiar grayish cloud began to grow larger, darker, while the air around began to become chilled. The warmth of the sun before was quickly waning.

Eventually, Blood's annoyance wore off as he sat in the tub with Flint. Though, he knew they'd have to find a ship soon. They couldn't just sit in a tub forever and expect to make very far.

Blood ate some of the food but didn't gorge himself with it. He would have liked to have rationed it but knew with Flint's appetite and the small scale of the boat that this was not going to happen. So he let Flint eat as much as he wanted without complaining.

However, as the clouds started to roll in, a look of concern washed over him. The last thing they needed was to encounter a storm in this thing.

"Storm's comin'," Blood remarked just to see what Flint's reaction would be, if he would be concerned at all.

Shoving another loaf of bread in his mouth, Flint overheard Hawkins, before observing the large grayish clouds ahead, which began to flash weakly with what seemed to be lightening. "Oh no!" He exclaimed, before engulfing the entire bread. "All our food is going to get ruined!"

"Yeah." Blood's tone was flat. He then looked through some of the things the gypsies had left them to see if there was anything that might be of aid.

As the tub came closer to the storm clouds, the air became more chilled, the wind adding a slight breeze, and the weak flashes growing more brightly.

A single tiny drop hit Flint in the forehead, it hardly could be called a rain droplet at all. But more of the same size began to fall, misting the surrounding area slowly. Sticking his tongue out, Flint smiled at the wonderful and fresh water that he was partaking in, even if it did take forever to accumulate.

"Mmm!" He exclaimed in delight, before noticing his bread was getting slightly wet. "Ah, soggy bread!?"

Elsewhere on a nearby island, which would not be seen by the two just yet, several peculiar figures stood by the shore. The wind here was blowing more strongly, enough to move the fabric and hair on these individuals.

As the wind blew powerfully, the sky became dark gray, with distant thunder crackling and echoing, until several lighting bolts etched through the sky. This island was a simple sandy shore, but there were many rock outcroppings jagged stones, which made the shoreline impossible to traverse through or sail.

There were many boats of different kinds, strewn across these landforms, pierced through rocks, run aground, and in pieces. It was as if this was a ship graveyard, as many flags fluttered lifelessly, even now as the storm began to come in.

"Another powerful one is coming in." Remarked one of the taller figures, to an even larger and muscular built man. The strong man grinned, "Good work, you called it again." He remarked, as the shorter of the three figures seemingly stared downwards, displeased with a frown. "I wonder how many idiots we'll get this time."

As the storm appeared gradually at first, Blood couldn't help but to feel annoyed. Of course he had gotten himself caught in a storm with someone like Flint. If he had told himself a month ago he would be going on this adventure and getting stuck in a storm with Flint, he'd had called himself crazy. He continued to search through the supplies that had been given but who was he kidding? The only thing that might even be remotely helpful in this situation was perhaps an oar or two. But there was none of that.

With the wind picking up, Blood muttered a few profanities as the wash tub was tossed around as if it were a rag doll.

The farther the little tub traveled towards the storm, the more the wind began to pick up. Soon it was blowing violently, as a hail of hard rain poured mercilessly onto and into the boat. The area was dark, a blotch of gray from all sides and corners. Thunder and lighting echoed and struck wildly.

As the storm raged on, the two in the boat were now completely soaked, with their ship swaying quickly through the rapid waters. Attempting to stay on course somewhat, Flint paddled as best as he could, in such an intense storm and wave.

However it did little as their ship moved with the violent waters. Up and down, their boat absorbed the motions, and then a large wave splashed over into their tub. Completely drenched by the wave once again, it sucked their food into the ocean, as a loaf of bread dissolved in their tub.

"Ah!" He exclaimed, "Our food is gone!" Flint added, until the powerful currents broke their oar in two, making it completely useless. Their tub was also taking in too much water, as the waves pounded in, and the rain flailed.

With the storm continuing and the oar proving to do absolutely nothing, Blood couldn't help but to get a little nervous at the situation. It had been a long time since his last voyage and he honestly wasn't used to the dangers the sea actually could provide.

Blood ignored Flint's complaints of the food as he tried to get whatever water the tub had taken in as best he could. But his efforts were clearly proving to be futile.

"Any chance your propeller could get us out of here?" Blood ventured to ask. He knew Flint couldn't control his powers yet very well but it still didn't hurt to ask and get Flint's mind off the damn food. They had more important things to worry about.

As the water began to fill in the tub tremendously, both from the splashing waves and rain, Flint attempted to paddle with his broken oar. It was useless now though, and before Hawkins could suggest something, it was already too late.

Standing quickly up with a determined nod, Flint then limply slumped and slid across the boat. "Ugh I don't feel so good..." He muttered, before his entire body and face was submerged into the water in the boat. Bubbles began to ascend and pop, as the water covered him.

It didn't help that the rain, wind, and rough waves never ceased in between.

Seeing that Flint was sinking and sinking fast, Blood made a grab for him before he could be completely out of his sight. Grabbing hold of him, he then climbed out of the tub. As he did so, he held onto the edge so that it would tip over with him.

The waves were not helping him in his attempt to keep Flint afloat while also creating something for Flint to hold on to. Salt water filled his mouth but his fought his way through it. Because there was no way he was swimming for who knew how long while also carrying Flint. Now that the tub was turned over, it stood afloat. Before another wave could come, Blood pushed Flint onto the edge of the tub so he had something to lean on before leaning on himself.

Despite all their efforts to best this wild and dangerous storm, one large wave was all it took. The entire tub burst into pieces, as force came crashing and pounding down. Through the thick rain, rough waves, and misting fog, it seemed all was lost at sea, as the environment raged on, not even a second spared to mourn.

Later, as the storm began to calm down, several boats on the island in different states of disrepair were washed upon a shore. It was the same shore and island where the three peculiar figures from before stood.

Driftwood and wooden ship scrap was plentiful on the sandy surface, as several figures laid unconsciously on its sand. Two were quite notable as Flint and Hawkins, as their body laid face down in the mucky ground, with calm water rushing and receding over them.

The sky had not yet cleared, but was a lighter gray, as the rain still flailed, but very weakly with muffled thunder echoing beyond the horizon. Aside from the lands ambient sounds, the rustling and crushing of foot echoed.

As it ceased, two figures stood, staring downwards at their new arrivals. "Hm..." One said unimpressed. "Not many this time..."

"We still got some, so let's take them to the brig. The Captain can decide from there." Another said, as several men rushed to all the unconscious people.

Once all the shipwrecks were taken care of, they would soon notice they were locked away in several different jail cells. It wasn't anything fancy, just some regular steel bars, all close together, so that even a full arm could not reach out, and was sloppily brick together. Sloppy, yet not weak.

The walls were quite thick indeed and many had tried to break out of these cells and failed miserably. Flint and Hawkins were still unconscious after what they had been through it was a miracle they even got to land. Slowly slimy water began to build up above the ceiling, before it dripped constantly onto and into Hawkin's wide open mouth.

Blood awoke to a horrible taste filling his mouth. At first, he thought it was some sort of terrible alcoholic beverage or perhaps something stupid Flint was doing. However, as he jolted forward, he realized that this was not the case.

Confusion immediately filled him as he looked around the foreign territory. He tried to recollect what had happened previously in hopes that this would somehow explain why they were now in a cell. But the last thing he remembered was a wave crashing over the two as he tried desperately to keep Flint afloat and alive.

Gruffly, Blood started to shake Flint. "Hey, wake up."

Groggily Flint began to come to, as Hawkins shook him forcefully. "Ugh..." He moaned weakly, before opening his tired eyes. However his limp dangling posture and grogginess soon dissipated, as he observed their new location.

"Huh?" He uttered, breaking out of Hawkins grips and lunging upright, "Where are we?" He asked, inspecting every little detail about this tiny boxed in room. "Last I remember, we were out in a crazy storm...!"

Quickly he rushed towards the bars, shaking them frantically, as it was the only noticeable opened exit nearby. "Ah! Oh no! Are we where I think we are!?" He exclaimed, panicking, as he tried to break open the bars. "Oh no, this is purgatory! We're dead! We're really dead!"

"We're not dead you idiot," Blood remarked as he stayed where he was, watching Flint moving about frantically. "We're in a cell."

"Are you sure? Because I remember stories as a kid, and this looks exactly like it!" Flint exclaimed worryingly. "We're waiting for it. I mean I'll probably go to heaven," He remarked, before pausing and glaring towards Hawinks. "...but I don't know about you."

"Oh you're waiting your judgment alright," A voice beyond the cell's vision rung, as their footsteps echoed into the thin hallway. "But not by anything almighty." The person added, as they came into view from the barred irons.

Confused, Flint stared at the man, who was grinning sinisterly. He wore a white short sleeved shirt, which buttoned to the far right, dark blue pants, brown boots, a lighter blue double tie, and a white baseball cap, which had the the lettering 'Marine' placed boldly across.

Before any of them could speak to him, several people from an cell to the opposite side ran to their barred entrance. "Please, let us go!" A man pleaded, as a woman came behind him, holding him worryingly. "We didn't do anything, we're not pirates, we're innocent!"

Angrily the Marine soldier growled, as he stared at the two. "Quiet you!" He barked out, "What were you doing sailing the seas then!? The Captain will decide your fate!"

Blood frowned at Flint at his suggestion. But before he could say anything, they were interrupted. He looked over towards the man and eyed him carefully. He kept a straight face though despite the fact he was already worrying. Being caught by the Marines was not something he had anticipated nor wanted.

Blood listened as the people tried to plea their innocence only to be shunned by this man. Great, just great.

"Whose this Captain?" Flint asked eagerly, as he leaned into the bars. "And what's the judgement?"

Smiling wickedly at Flint's questions, the Marin soldier then looked over to him once again. "He will deem if you're guilty or a pirate..." He stated, pausing himself mid-sentence to savor the remaining answer. "And then we'll execute you."

"Oh?" Flint replied, not too intimidated. "We'll we're pirates." He stated gleefully, as he pointed to himself.