Serious: The Duke Pirates Chapter 1: A crew explodes into reality

Jerome and Nick start to dance and sing in excitement for the new crew member. Nate walks up to Antiko and says "it is an honor to have someone as strong as you apart of our crew now, by the way don't take the captain likely he is incredibly strong and will only get stronger. But I one thing to ask, will you please be our sparring partners..." Nick chimes in and says "Me too" and Jerome walks over and says "me three!!"

Jerome starts to turn away and is thinking about how the crew would work an how strong Antiko actually is, he knows that he will meet more people who are just as strong if not stronger. Jerome knows that within a couple of months Nick and Nate will be lightyears away in matters of strength and skill. So Jerome turns back to the group and nods in approval...

Antiko nods at the crew members then says, "I'd be happy to help you all become stronger but just so you know it will only help me become stronger too. So if you plan on becoming stronger than me you'll have to spar with each other." Antiko then walked up to the captain and said, "I will help you do what you want only if you help me find this man." Antiko raised the news paper to show Jerome the picture of the Marine he was looking for and pointed to him. "That man there. He is the man who I have been informed killed my parents when I was younger, I promised myself I would avenge their deaths and I intend to follow through on." Antiko then heard heavy breathing and the sound of he didn't know how many but allot rifles being cocked.

As he turned around he saw that the familiar Marine and said, "Menthis, I was wondering when you'd show up."

[Introduction box]
Menthis Manta
Marine Captain

"You cheeky f**k! How dare you try and escape me I've been chasing you for 10 years ever since you robbed that back in Foosha Village. You will not elude me again, I won't let you."

A Marine who was aiming a gun turned to Menthis and asked, "What about these men he's conversing with sir?"

Menthis looked at them and didn't recognise any of them, he saw how chumly they were with Antiko and ordered.
"Kill them all they seem to be associates of Mr Remuss's so they're criminals too." Menthis then withdrew a whip and cracked it on the ground giving the order to open fire.

Jerome looks at Antiko and asks "do you know him?" then looks right in the marines and eyes and says "you are not going to touch us, because if you do" Jerome smiles and says "we'll touch you back." Nate gets right next to Antiko and Nick gets right next to Jerome to form a line. Jerome looks at Nate and Nick and says "show Antiko what you guys are made of.." Nate and Nick smile and nod. Nate puts his hand on his swords hilt and his other on the swords sheath. Nick reaches for both of his swords and says "you guys are gonna get it if you dare to shoot us." Nick and Nate start to laugh...

The Marines opened fire quickly mostly aiming for Antiko, Menthis threw his whip towards Antiko's neck hoping to hold him in a close range for the Marines to shoot him. Antiko wasn't ready for this and found the whip catching not his neck but instead his right forearm. Since none of his poison burnt through things he had to think quickly and gripped the whip as he ran away from the gunfire of the Marines and he let scorpion venom slide down the whip to Methis's hand.

The rest of the Marines kept a strong aim on the other men and fired away at them as quickly as they could manage trying to kill them. A few of the bullets were seen spilling blood as they flew from the barrels but it was hard to see if they were serious shots or just narrow misses.

Menthis dropped the whip letting Antiko free, he pulled the whip towards himself and threw it away then lifted his gas mask and breathed out his Poison Cloud Antiko looked at the Marines as a few looked at the cloud and exhaled it without wanting to, but then again no one ever wants to inhale it they just have to do so eventually. Antiko knew this cloud would make them weaker and easier to beat as for Menthis he was covering his mouth and nose doing what he could to avoid breathing it in and doing a good job too.

Antiko used, Finger Poison but every time he fired poison at Menthis he leapt to the side until he was on Antiko lunging at his chest and pinning him to the floor. Antiko was knocked back and held to the ground by Menthis's weight he smiled then began throwing punches quickly without mercy and even drew a little blood which dribbled from Antiko's nose. "I told you, you wouldn't get away this time you f**king b******d!"

Nick and Nate saw the whip come towards Antiko, but they also say him move so they jumped into action. The bullets were flying towards them, the moved so they were right next to each other and each used one of their own techniques "Sanjuroku Pound Ho" and "Nanajuni Pound Ho" deflecting most of the bullets. two bullets slid through their techniques and were heading right towards Jerome, he used Tekkai to no be injured and then used Soru to catch up to Antiko.

As Jerome got towards Antiko he was being thrown to the ground, as the marine was laying on top of him, Jerome used Soru to get right behind the marine and said "get your hands off of my nakama!!" "Shigun"....

Menthis heard Jerome behind him and awaited his attack as he used Shigun he leant to the left and grabbed Jerome's arm tightly then brought his other hand down quickly and with extreme strength to break Jerome's wrist. Antiko looked up at Manthis and couldn't move his arms or lift his mask to breath out.

Manthis was laughing evilly happy at what he was about to do, Antiko then remembered his hands were still uncovered and grabbed hold of Manthis's leg and began letting venom seep up his leg to get in contact with his skin to paralyse him. Manthis felt the poison rise up his leg and jumped to his feet letting go of Jerome and stomped on Antiko before he got up. Antiko managed to catch his foot and use, Reflection Mathis was thrown on to his back and looked up to see Antiko's gas mask looking down at him.
"Oh s**t." muttered Manthis before his face was covered in scorpion venom and paralysed.

The other Marines spread doing their best to avoid the attacks sent their way. About 14 Marines were taken down 7 Marines withdrew their swords and charged at Nick attacking him all from different angles, 13 remained with their rifles to fire at them all and formed a circle so they could get an aim at all of them then 8 more rushed towards Nate holding mace's, swords and one guy even had thick heavy metal chain. The man holding the chain was rather tall and giant looking.

[Introduction Box]
Mangna Thorax
Marine Soldier
1/4 giant 3/4 human

Manga swung the chain over his head around quickly as he yawned, he was an imposing look guy despite his tiredness. Manga smashed the chain into the ground on one side of himself the the other and managed to crack the ground and shake the ground so it felt like a little earthquake, this guy was strong and there was no doubting that.

Jerome felt the quick tug on his wrist and uses tekkai, he then puts his hand behind the marines head and used his Impact wave, which tears apart muscles due to the impact that Jerome shoots into the opponents body. While that is going on Nate and Nick are dismantling marines left and right.

As Nick cuts down his last marine he sees many more form a circle around him some with their swords drawn and others with rifles. Nick Jumps up in the air and uses his Taka Nami which sends the marines flying.

Nate on the other hand was facing a marine that looked like a giant who held a chain and other marines who held maces, swords and rifles. Nate laughed at the challenge he faced, he waited untill the marines got close and then used another "Sanjuroku Pound Ho" which was mainly used to get rid of the marines with the swords and maces...

Manga saw the Marines all thrown aside easily and closed his mouth once he finished yawning and swung the chain at both Nick and Nate hoping to sweep them both to the side.

Menthis was feeling stiff and knew in a minute he would be paralysed but he knew there was no point in doing anything as he was pretty much screwed. Antiko looked up at Jerome and said, "Thanks but I could've handled that myself and don't kill him, he'll be back on his feet soon and after me again."

Antiko then looked over at Manga and said " Should we help them?"

Nick and Nate dispatched the rest of the marines except the one with the chain, Nick offered to help but Nate put his hand in his brothers face and said "Finders keepers!!!" They both laughed and heard the Giant swing the chain towards their direction, both Nick and Nate jumped at the same time avoiding the chain and used there "Sanjuroku Pound Ho" and "Nanajuni Pound Ho" aiming the attacks at the giants head.

Jerome on the other hand helped Antiko up and said "sure you had him.." and smiled, he went over to the stunned marine and said "he will be a nuisance so....." Jerome used his Impact Bazooka to blow the marine out of the towns center. Jerome then looked back and Antiko and shrugged and said "lets see how strong Nick and Nate are, ill bet you Nate will take him out in 4 minutes"

Antiko ran towards the giant and fired off two shots of venom at the guy hoping it would disable his arms from swinging as he hadn't fired much. Manga saw them jump and took the attacks head on and felt blood dribble from his forehead over his eye he wiped it away angrily and attacked quicker and stronger than before making some of the attacks near impossible to avoid.

Antiko saw his swinging the chain around in circle at their height as he stood in the middle spinning round and round surely he would get dizzy soon.

Even though Jerome really wanted to see the outcome of Nate vs the giant marine he had to jump in. Jerome used a combination of impact geppou and soru to get close to Nick and Nate and used tekkai to protect them from the giant marines chain, he then used soru to get close to the hand that the giant was holding the chain and used Impact wave.

Nate on the other hand grabbed a hold of the chain as it nicked him in his side, he then waited for the giants swing to come back and then he unleashed his "Ittoryu Iai: Shishi Sonson" attack hoping to break the giants skull.

Antiko stood back and watched his crew attack the giant to see what they could manage. Manga laughed as he saw he clipped Nate as ha stopped swinging he leant back laughing and was met with a strong blow to the head and another slash which cut above his other eye. Angry still after feeling these attacks hurting him he stood up still and swung his chain at the enemies individually quickly and so hard he was denting the ground and making it weaker.

Antiko felt worried for his crews safety until he saw Manga's arms getting stiff and freezing mid swing. Antiko then ran up to him jumped on to hi chain and swung towards his face. Once at his face Antiko forced both of his feet into Manga's face as hard as he could and fired to more shots of venom into the giant's legs. Antiko then dropped to the floor to leave Manga toppling over backwards and landing on his back.

Nick and Nate saw be giant fall over, and before be could get up nick and Nate dug there swords into the tough skin on the hands of the giants. Jerome the. Jumped on to the face of the giant and met his gaze and yelled out "impact bazooka"

Nate and nick got blown away, this particular impact bazooka was powerful because Everytime he had been taking hits he was absorbing all the energy knowing that when he'd get the chance he would release into one spot on the giant...

Manga screamed out in pain loudly till Antiko fired a glob of scorpion Venom into his wide mouth annoyed at the sound which came from his mouth. The screaming stopped but he continued writhing around in pain. As Jerome used Impact Bazooka his eyes were knocked back into his face and all that was left was an unconscious quarter giant with two black holes where his eye balls had previously been but were now knocked back into his head.

Antiko looked at the crew feeling no regrets about joining the crew yet, he walked over to them and said, "Good job, but I doubt this little encounter will have given you guys bounties and this was only a small recon group, since I've become a rather large nuisance for the Marines, I can tell you now that they will send stronger forces, much stronger forces. Even people stronger than myself."

Jerome, Nic, and Nate nod and in unison say "that will be no problem, we don't care about a bounty, we just want to get stronger.!" Nick shakes his head and says "well Jerome i think you went too far, knocking his eyes back into his head!!?" Jerome looks at Antiko and shrugs and said "he deserved it! now everybody knows not to mess with my nakama."

As Nick and Nate are walking back towards the cafe, talking about what they want to drink Jerome looks at the giant and says, "wow that guy was strong, but i know if i couldve beaten him, his weakness was his strength... his size, i am good at picking up on people weaknesses."

Antiko listened to his crew said then mentioned to Jerome, "They'll be back and stronger too. The Marines can't afford to keep losing recruits as there being taken out left and right by pirates. These guys aren't done for just yet, I can tell you this now, every time I've gone up against Menthis, he's only come back stronger. His strength is surprising since our last fight but as his has increased so has mine." Antiko then took a last look at the quarter giant and Menthis wondering what they would be like next time they meet and asked Captain Jerome, "So whats next?"

Jerome starts to laugh and says "Time to eat after, but ill tell you this Antiko im gonna be able to take on the Pirate king one day, so the marines that follow our crew we will beat them all." Jerome starts to walk towards the cafe and goes up to the bar and orders himself a drink and a big chicken leg, Nick and Nate are already competing who can eat the most meat."

AS this is going on Jerome knows that he and his crew need to get much stronger, so much stronger that they already are because one day this is the crew that will rule the grand line. As he is thinking this he also thinks about what type of crew he wants to be the captain of, he cannot think of one particular thing, but he does know what he needs to get next, a Sniper....

Joy looked around the town, she didn't know what to exactly do there, she was bored since she had no job, no one was ok with hiring her in this town, it seemed like they weren't interested, or wanted older girls/boys, and it was boring to Joy, since she basically needed something to do other than meeting new places, not even her, who was someone lazy, liked to do absolutely nothing all day long. In the end, after so much thinking, she decided to go to the cafe, since she would get something to eat and MAYBE get a job, since she hadn't tried that cafe before, it seemed like she wouldn't have good luck though.

She skipped towards the cafe, yes, she skipped, not only was she really childish at the moment, but she also had a huge grin on her face, Joy hoped that she would get a job, even if the probabilities were little. But then again Joy didn't forget her priority, become a pirate by joining a pirate crew. She wanted to stay away from her parents, and being a pirate would be great. Also she wanted to feel the freedom that being a pirate meant, unless you got caught by marines.. but still, she didn't really want to be working from place to place all her life, she wanted to be a pirate, and hell, she was going to be one!!!

She opened the door of the cafe and went to a waiter with a sweet smile on her face. "Is there any possibility of me getting a job here? Because I have really good skills and would really appreciate if you guys hire me" she said, hoping the waiter would nod and take her to the person in charge of hiring new people.

The waiter looked at her for a second and then looked at some man in the corner, said man in the corner shook his head and looked at another place, the waiter sighed and shook his head, he kinda seemed tired, and Joy was wondering what he had been asking with his stare.. maybe it was something that she wasn't going to like, she could sense it but Joy didn't want to think about not being accepted, not again, she kinda was frustrated from so many rejections, she was young indeed, but that didn't meant that she didn't know how to work, she is a hard worker girl and she knew that even if sometimes she was a little clumsy, she still did a good job.

"Sorry we don't hire little girls like you..." he said. Joy now knew the most possible reason on why he had been tired, maybe he had rejected everyone who applied for a job for a while now, she kinda didn't like to be one to put pressure on people, and definitively didn't like making people tired or annoyed, not at least unintentional.

But when the words left his mouth Joy couldn't help but look at him with a really sad face, she was kinda cute and while being sad her face mostly resembled the face of a wet puppy.. with puppy eyes. Although she wasn't begging, she would never beg, ever, unless it was joining a pirate crew.. but that was her dream, so it did kinda count. Who wouldn't do as possible for achieving their dream.

Joy shook her head, that would only make him feel even worse, and she didn't want to do that, so she smiled brightly. "It's fine, I guess I'll just eat something here then! Where should I have a seat?" she said changing the topic of conversation, so the waiter would forget about it as well. Joy kinda wanted to forget about the rejection number 20th in this town.

"Oh, anywhere that you want, it'll be on the house's by the way, that's the least I can do after not hiring you" he said with a smile.

Joy nodded and sat in a table near by, looking over the menu, wondering what she should ask, and what should she do next, since she pretty much had to leave town, there were no jobs for her, and there were no pirates to join. "I wished there was a pirate crew here.." she muttered under her breath as she saw the pancakes dishes in the dessert section. "OMG YES PANCAKES" she yelled.

The duke pirates sat down at the bar, while Nick and Nate were trying to elbow eachother to knock each other off their incredible place of eating Jerome was thinking about who else he needs for his pirate crew. He was thinking of a giant who could be the crews navigator or an incredibly attractive woman to be there sniper. as Jerome was fantasizing about this he hears a young lady talking to a waiter, when the waiter leaves he gets a good look at the girl and waits untill she wits down and orders.

Nick and Nate both stop eating and watch there captain go over to talk to the lady, they bet on if he is going to come back back empty handed or not. Jerome walks over and asks "is this seat is taken" as he sits down. Jerome starts to look at the young girl and smiles and says "my name is Jerome i was wondering what your name is?"....

Joy looked at the guy that asked if the seat was taken, she kinda wanted to giggle as he sat without waiting for her reply, she wondered what would've happened if she said that the seat was taken, even if it was not, it would have been a hilarious situation, although Joy wasn't that mean, and she didn't know this man at all, which made her curious about why he had approached her, she thought it might be possible that he was flirting with her? that he was actually interested in her? He seemed to be around 16 or 17 years old, and Joy thought he was actually good looking, Joy specially liked his blue eyes, they were awesome.

Joy nodded and smiled slightly. "It's empty don't worry. And my name is Joy, nice to meet you Jerome, can I help you?" she asked, wanting him to go straight to the point before any more flirting, she hoped he would understand her intentions and not take her as a rude girl, because she didn't want to sound like that, she just didn't like guys flirting with her, it kind of made her uncomfortable, and it was just unnatural for her, even if guys had called her pretty and things like that before, and people in her other jobs flirted with her, she still wasn't used to it and didn't like it.

Jerome cleared his throat and said "well i came over here to tell you that you are pretty, and also was wondering why someone like you would need a gun like that?" Jerome was curious because of his previous thought of an incredibly cute girl sniper.

Nick and Nate are on the edge of their seats waiting for her to reject him, but the kinda want him to get a girl so he would stop talking to every one he meets...

Antiko saw his Captain Jerome and the others enter the cafe and decided nothing waited for himself inside so he chose to wait out side as he looked at the Marines that they had currently beaten he saw Menthis move a little bit and knew that his venom was wearing off. Antiko didn't want another fight so soon so he approached him and grabbed his hair tightly and firmly then dragged him away from the cafe and did the same with Manga although it took allot more strength to do it with Manga.

When he dropped them off in the near by woods of whatever island this was he heard ringing and recognized it as a den den mushi. Antiko searched the pockets and found it ringing away. He didn't want to answer it so he ran back to the small cafe in search of Jerome when he found him he saw Nick and Nate sitting at a table watching him chat up a young girl. Antiko shook his head then approached him. "Captain I have something for you." Antiko presented the still ringing den den mushi and asked, "Care to answer the call?"

Joy looked at her guns and then at Jerome, she smiled. "Thanks for the compliment, and I need these guns because I am a sniper, and a pirate, yes even if I do not look like one, and I should carry these for self defense.. or maybe to attack as well" Joy said with a wink, she hoped Jerome would understand that she wasn't afraid of shooting him, which would basically mean killing him, and also that she was a pirate, a dangerous person, and that he shouldn't be around her, unless he wanted to be in trouble.

About the compliment, Joy felt basically uncomfortable about it, she didn't like to be complimented.. at all, for no real reason at least. Her cheeks had blushed slightly, but it wasn't something really noticeable.

Then a man entered the cafe and went to Jerome, he called him captain and took out a den den mushi. Joy's eyes widened, he was either a marine captain or a pirate captain, she was still pretty much scared of what he could do to her, she didn't know whether to run away or to just stay there.

Joy ended up deciding that she was going to stay there, at least until they tried to hurt her or something like that, if they tried, she would use soru to run away. She wanted no problems, she wondered why problems still chased her anyway.

Jerome smiled at the comment, paused and replied with "if you were to attack me or you are thinking of doing so, how would we get to know each other?" Nick and Nate start to bust out laughing thinking to themselves why would he say that this girl looks like she could do some damage! As Jerome hears someone enters the cafe he turns and looks into that direction to see Antiko, he smiles and says "hey new crew mate how about coming and joining us in our celebration about you joining our crew!!" Jerome stops smiling and looks at Antiko's hand there is a den den mushi and according to Antiko it is for him.

Nick and Nate stop laughing and start to come over where their captain and fellow crewmate were sitting and started to listen in on the conversation at hand. Jerome turned to the young girl and says "im sorry about this, we will continue talking as soon as this phone call is over"
Jerome looks intently at the den den mushi wondering who it was and what it was about, before he answers he takes a quick look at all of his crewmates and gives them a small nod implying that whatever may happen we are going to face this head on as the Duke Pirates.

The voice on the other end of the Den Den mushi asked in a low growl "Menthis? Is this you? It sounds like your in a busy place. Anyway have you silenced Antiko Remuss yet? That guy has been a pain in our asses for way too long and we need to get rid of him as soon as possible, if we don't get rid of him now he will grow to become a huge problem in our future and especially mine. Menthis! Are you there?!"

The man on the other end of the Den den mushi sits in an office smoking a cigar with a rifle against the wall and sits back as he replays the memories over in his mind. He remembers sitting in the audience of that circus smelling pies and laughing at the performers till Marianne Remuss walked on stage and he opened up a suitcase he had brought with him and took aim shooting her followed by her husband Tim Remuss. He remembers the audience running fear and shock as both bodies fell to the ground leaking blood all over the floor.

The man pulls out the cigar from his mouth and stares at the one in his hand, he remembers having a job well done cigar afterwards and having the Ringleader of the circus shouting at him till he dropped a 500 Beli note to the ground. He remembers walking backstage and seeing a young guy running away from the circus. He remembers taking aim at him and tensing his finger on the trigger.

The man looks at his rifle and remembers seeing the man running as fast as he can.

The man remembers missing.