(Serious) The Bad Hip Pirates - A Blast From The Past (Open to the Bad Hip Pirates)

[Kazanova Island - 7 AM - Half Moon Dock]

With a crack of the old bones, an bald man limped towards the northern-most corner of Kazanova island. The path was familiar after traveling through it on a daily basis for almost 50 years, but today was different, today he wasn't going to travel it back.
Ever since he read that awful report about the new Shichibukais, Ahab was busy with coming up with new curse words for today's pirates. He still couldn't believe how pathetic today's pirates were, making a deal with non other than the World Government itself, who would have guessed that the world will take such a turn after the death of George Sunshine... Just awful. He packed his belongings, which consisted of only some food, some money and whatever he could carry on his person. Just an hour ago he locked the door of his home and said his goodbyes to the few villagers who weren't trying to steal his ship.
On his way down the path, Ahab spotted mental milestones of the many fights he had with the mountain bandit gangs that lived in Kazanova island. They were always trying to steal his ship from him, but he couldn't let that happen, he couldn't give up on the memories of his old crew. He walked for a few minutes, taking in the last sights of the damned island that he lived in for 49 years.

The ship was docked in a little half moon-shaped pool of water that was separated from the sea by a wooden wall that Ahab and his former crew mates placed there 49 years ago. It was quite pathetic to look at:The wood was old and damp, the sails were dirty and the nails were rusty, and the old flag of the Sunshine pirates barely managed to remain hanging from above the crow's nest. The water it was resting in were green and dirty after years of no mixing with the ocean, and different frogs and weird fish housed them. That was undoubtedly the Young Spirit. "Long time no see old pal! Eiheiheiheiheihei" Ahab shouted with a cheery voice towards the ship, hoping it would answer back. He stepped next to it and patted it's side, before tossing his things up to the deck. Ahab was no kid, he was 76 years old, but he had the strength of a man at his prime. He pulled an old wooden lever that held the wall up, causing it to drop into the water for the first time in 49 years, allowing the green water to mix with the sea once again.

"ALLLLLLL ABOARD! Eiheiheihei" He shouted to no one as he grabbed the helm of the Young Spirit. He pulled the lever that controlled the anchor, causing it to withdraw into the haul. As the sails picked up on the wind, the ship started moving. As he inched out of the dock, many mountain bandits crowded next to shore, watching as their old target sailed away towards new adventures. The wind blew against the old flag of the Sunshine pirates, but also against a second flag, a new one that Ahab prepared this morning, the flag of the Bad Hip Pirates!

[1 Kilometer away from Drum Island - 1 week later - 11:00 AM]

Ahab inhaled a lungful of the cold air that surrounded Drum Island. He was manning the helm, letting the wind blow against his long beard and eyebrows, with his cane resting on the railing next to him. To achieve his goal of returning the old age of piracy back, Ahab needed a strong crew of people he could rely on, people who knew what being a pirate meant. He tried a few islands before getting here, but no one seemed to fit: The young pirates were just snobby and weak, while the older ones were either dead or dying. In Ahab's case, fighting off Mountain Bandits proved to be a great age delayer.

Drum island was the third island he was about to visit, and the first big one. He chose it for a very nostalgic reason: During the visit of the Sunshine pirates at Drum Island, about 56 years ago, Ahab remembered facing a pretty powerful pirate crew, one of many who were staying there at the time. After battling the crew about a docking spot, the Sunshine pirates befriended the crew, who eventually stayed in Drum Island when the Sunshine pirates left. Ahab wondered if any members of that crew remained there.

"Let's see how weak the pirates of Drum Island became, or at least how strong are their coffins! Eiheiheihei!" Ahab joked. Witht he amn's poor arsenal of unfunny jokes, the world was lucky that he was alone right now.

After declining to be king of Drum Island Blake was returned back to being a tax collector and bodyguard of the king due to his usefulness. Even in his old age he was a powerful force to be reckoned with and a man with simple dreams. Blake approached a door in the little wintry town and allowed his cape to cover his body and scars up. It was colder than usual out and he knocked on the door, as his fists came into contact with the door a second time the door simply felt down flat on the ground.

Blake walked in and looked around then spotted an elderly woman who walked up to the door and looked down. The old woman looked up at Blake through fearful eyes and handed over a handful of Beli. Blake nodded to her and smiled, "Pleasure doing business with you Ms." Blake then turned to leave back out into the cold and heard the old woman mutter under her breath, "Filthy bastard," then he could hear her going off on one of those rants like old people do moaning about how Blake was a stupid old man stealing from old people cause he had nothing better to do. Blake smiled then continued to the next house thinking that for a 69 year old he looked and felt pretty youthful. "I hope I never end up like that."

As Blake looked up at the snow setting on the ground he wrapped his cloak around himself tighter and knocked on the next door when he was once again given the same amount of Beli straight away. The way the people simply opened the door handed over the money and slammed the door shut was more than an indication that Blake wasn't a very much liked person among the citizens of Drum Island.

Blake laughed and continued about his work, he was usually done by 12 since people never put up a fight against Blake years ago they had learnt the hard way what happens if you oppose him. After the citizens saw what Blake was capable of when he stopped the Marine attack on the previous king everyone was feared to even dare attacking him.

When he reached the last house Blake noticed an envelope full of money which he suspected was the tax he counted it and pocketed it. Blake approached one of the King' royal guards and handed over the money. He looked at the guard then turned to look up at the snow as it fell.
"Take it to the king, its the taxes." Blake heard some flicking and looked at the guard from the side of his eyes and said, "Don't take any of it for yourself."

The guard coughed and nodded, "Um yes sir, Blake Sir." Blake smiled and looked at him, The king will know if you do and you know what he'll do when he finds out its you don't you?"
The guard looked terrified and replied, "S-s-s-send you?" Blake nodded,
"Bingo my good man, I may be an old git and you may be thinking you can handle me but I was appointed the king's bodyguard for a reason. You do know what I am capable of right?"
The guard nodded frantically then pushed the money back into his pocket and grabbed his rifle and walked back up to the castle.

Loving the feeling of fear he struck into people Blake laughed and decided it was time he went to do some training to improve his strength, stamina and techniques and maybe even come up with some new ones.

As his ship got closer to shore, Ahab began seeing large blurry objects hanging around at the dock. After squinting for a bit, Ahab managed to comprehend what he was seeing: Pirate ships! "Eiheiheiehei! What do you know about that?! Looks like the old guys stayed here after all!" Ahab said as he patted the railing of the ship he spent 50 years protecting. Of course, the ships weren't the ones that Ahab knew in his youth, but he was too old and had too bad of an eyesight to see or comprehend that.

He lowered the sails as the ship got closer to the dock, and allowed it to inch on his own into one of the docking spots. Of course, giving a vehicle to an old man is never a good idea, and the ship ended up smashing into the edge of the dock and producing an awful crack that scared a few birds away. "Soft landing!" Ahab declared. He picked his cane up and lowered the plank so he could get off to shore. "Hey you there! Mind tying up a ship of an old man?! Thanks a ton!" He said to who he guessed was a docker. The man, who wore torn up clothes, a red bandana over a greasy hair, and had a short beard and a dirty skin smiled and rushed towards the ship, giggling with joy. "Sure thing sir!" He said, he couldn't wait to loot the ship for his crew! But Ahab couldn't see that the man was in fact a pirate, and just strolled away towards the city. "I knew that the present had some fine men to offer!" He said with a jolly voice.


Around the city, a set of violent knocks could be heard on a wooden door. After the 8th knock, the door came down. "Dammit! I fixed this door just a second ago!" An old lady complained. She limped towards the broken door of her house and spotted two people standing next to it: A man and a woman. The man was at least 7 feet tall, with a shaved head and one eye that was crossed by a scar. He was wearing a black cloak with the hood pulled back, and had a large buster sword resting on his back. He was about as wide as the door, perhaps even wider.

[Introduction Box]
Name: Bronco Spins "The boulder"
Bounty: 500,000B
Extra Info: Weights about 300 kilograms, and lifts about 10 times more.

The woman, on the other hand, was quite attractive, a complete opposite to her ugly companion. She was thin yet curvy, and was wearing a complete set of red revealing clothes. Her blood red eyes glanced upon the old lady who owned the house. Se had pitch-black hair that curled down to her waists, and had a folded whip tied to her belt.

[Introduction Box]
Name: Serenity Mist
Bounty: 1,500,000B
Extra Info: The only thing that's deadlier than her fighting style is her looks

"Sorry to drop by, but I'm afraid we need to collect some taxes" The woman said with a soft voice. "What are you talking about?! I paid just this morning!" The old lady complained. Hearing that, the large man stomped on the ground, almost making the entire house shake. "Well, it seems the taxes were raised, so you'll have to pitch in a little bit more" The woman said. "This is getting ridiculous! How much more?" The old woman asked. "Well..." The attractive woman said as she stepped into the house. "How much more do you have?".

Heading down to the woods where he could train himself up to become stronger and more fearful Blake passed among many of the houses he had earlier visited collecting taxes Blake often saw that some people left out some traps for him to wonder into but recently all of these traps had stopped. After Blake walked along this stretch of road the last time he had someone try and set fire to him and instead turned the torch around and had set fire to the young Mr Groon who'd been unhappy about the amount he was paying, he managed to give Mr Moon his toothless grin after he charged Blake with a mallet, which he grabbed the bulk of and used the momentum to swing it down around and back up into his chin. And most recently he had managed to gift the Reily sisters with the gift of blindness it was their own fault really.

When the Reily sisters came at him Blake didn't want to hurt them and simply placed his hands on their shoulders and launched himself up and over them. The girls sadly where so weak that when Blake landed he heard them scream to see they had fallen down the hillside he had been standing on when they ran at him planning to push him over the edge, and the girls rolled down the hill where they managed to get large sharp rocks and twigs lodged in their eyes. Being the gentle man he was he helped them back home afterwards but didn't feel bad about them falling.

Blake saw a large man and a very beautiful woman in the threshold of the old woman whose door he'd broken off earlier and ignored them, he didn't think anything of them until he heard the pretty woman's voice mention something about tax.
Taxes?
Blake thought, I collected them earlier and I heard nothing about a raise in taxes, he approached the woman looking at the large round man and mentioned,
"Excuse me miss, but did I just hear you say there was a tax increase?"
Blake looked at the large man then back at the woman , he looked at the old woman who these people were trying to get money from and decided he would play the dumb doting villager, when these guys finally made a move to try and mug him or whatever he would then show these two people what he could do even in his old age.

The face of the old woman assumed a surprised expression as Blake entered the scene. "You wanna tell me that the master tax collector himself haven't heard of the tax raise?!" she asked. She then pointed at the woman with an accusing finger and shouted "You are nothing but criminals trying to scam me!". "Please, don't insult us" Serenity answered, "It's not a scam, it's a full scale robbery". She then smiled and clicked her fingers. Once she did so, Bronco turned towards Blake, blocking the entrance to the small house with his monstrous size. "Stay out of this if you know what's good for you" he said slowly, revealing several missing teeth as he smiled. The man was the closest thing to a human boulder the world had to offer. He was like a sumo wrestler but with muscles instead of fat, a marvel. Meanwhile, Serenity stormed into the house, pushing the old woman against the wall and holding a knife to her throat. "Now, tell me where you keep your savings and you will be spared" She said with a cruel yet tempting voice.

As this was happening, Ahab was strolling down a road he came upon in the city. He had no idea where it was leading, but he had the feeling that he should be looking for bars if he wanted to find any pirates. "I could have sworn that the tavern was right here..." He said while he stood in front of a barbershop and scratched his bald head.

Blake looked at the boulder who stood before him and could hear the young beautiful woman prattling on behind the boulder trying to rob this elderly woman. If it was his job to get her money Blake wouldn't care and would take it with brute force if need be but now that this actually a robbery he decided it was time he helped her. He knew how the king felt about Beli going to robbers instead of his treasury.
"You know the idea of telling this old woman was a pretty damn stupid one since I'm this island's Tax collector and the king would rather have her money than let you guys take it." Blake cracked his knuckles then stretched out, he figured that the woman in there would be ok for now and if the young woman needed to leave any time soon then big boulder boy here would have to move. Blake was pretty sure he could handle these guys easily enough. "You know they don't call me The Black Star Butcher for nothing."

clenching his fist as tight as it would go his fist became hard like a hammer and he called out Black Hammer Blake swung his right hand around like a hammer and brought it down hard and fast into the Boulder's head before swinging it back the opposite way and reversing the hit to swing his fist up into Bronco's chin and hopefully upper cut him out of the way.

Just in case Blake gripped his Kukri knife with his left hand and prepared himself to unsheathe it and slice across Bronco's chest. If these hammer hard hits wouldn't make him budge then perhaps a nice deep cut into his flesh would.

Bronco wasn't even nearly agile enough to dodge the fists, but he was powerful enough to take them head on. The first punch made his head tilt backwards, but his body didn't even budge. The second punch hit him dead in the jaw, making his head stretch upward, but his body was standing still. "You're strong, for an old man!" Bronco shouted. As dumb as he was, he knew that he could take the punches without too much damage being dealt to him, but a slash would surely mess his day. He spotted the Kukiri that Blake held between the two punches, and managed to grab his buster sword when his head tilted. Then, he quickly swung it forward, blocking Blake's slash. "Those punches hurt you know?!" He shouted.

As he kept on strolling, passed by a small neighborhood. He couldn't hear anything weird going on until a sound of two swords clashing was heard. "Now perhaps I've reached my destination" He said with a sly smile, he knew that fights were usually attracting pirates. He skipped to the end of the street and took a corner. He was now facing a house, with a gigantic man standing in it's doorway and an older man facing him. "Who is this giant?" A woman asked with horror. The fight seemed to attract some attention from the bystanders. 'Pirates! I knew it! Time for me to make my entrance!' Ahab thought to himself as he stepped forward, but before he could do anything, the kitchen window of the house was shattered, and a beautiful woman jumped out of it.

"Come one Bronco! It's time to leave! We don't need the extra attention!" Serenity shouted to her giant companion. "Ok Ok" He complained. He then pushed Blake's Kukiri out of the way with his monstrous strength and rushe dot the side, following Serenity. "You just wait old fool! I'll get you back for those punches!" Bronco shouted above his shoulder as he ran away. "They took everything!" The old woman shouted from inside the house, "Somebody stop them!", but the crowd feared the giant man too much to follow the pair, letting them escape.

"You call yourself pirates?! What kind of pirate runs away from a fight?! You're nothing but simple bandits!" Ahab shouted at the pair, swinging his cane around. He took the role of an idiotic old man. In actuality, he wasn't interested in the pair after seeing them escape a battle without even a drop of dignity, he was more interested in Blake, who seemed to be brave enough to punch a giant like Bronco even at his old age.

Seeing Bronco's little reactions to his attack he realised this man was allot stronger than expected and managed to block his attack when he withdrew his kukri. Blake saw the beautiful woman leapt out the window and felt pushed back by bronco and saw him and the woman run off. He heard someone call out, "You call yourself pirates?! What kind of pirate runs away from a fight?! You're nothing but simple bandits!" and turned to see a much older man and smiled. He agreed these guys weren't real pirates and since he hadn't done any damage to this boulder of a man he drew his arm back and used his, Boomerang Blade His blade aimed mainly for the woman's legs as she was the one with the money.

As his blade rushed up to meet her legs he began walking over to them planning on attacking Bronco when he helped her up if he did.

Bronco noticed the flying Kukiri, and he did pull Serenity up just like Blake anticipated, but chasing them was out of the question. Serenity realized that Blake wasn't going to give up, and had to act. "Damn it, I hoped I'll save these for later..." She muttered as she reached for her pocket. She pulled a small grey spherical object out and forced it to the ground over Bronco's shoulder. The object erupted and created a thick smoke screen between the pair and Blake. The crowd gasped in reaction to the smoke. Bronco and Serenity ran straight into it, and couldn't be seen any longer.

Ahab's interest in Blake increased as he watched him chasing the pair after they escaped. He limped with his cane towards Blake, he hoped he was actually a pirate. His tattoo of an old woman attratced some attention from the bystanders, but he was used to it and proud of it. "I'm telling ya... Today's pirates are not what they used to be..." He said as he closed in on Blake. "It seems you managed to show this oversized potato who's boss around here huh? And they actually think the world belongs to their generation, pathetic..." He continued ranting. Ahab then realized he was once again blabbering on and on, which was a habit of his. He better cut to the point before the man lost his interest. "Hey, mind joining me for a drink? I have an offer that I think you'll love" Ahab said. At the moment, he seemed like nothing more than an old man who could use some company, but he had much more to him under this cover, more than anyone could imagine.

Blake caught his knife as it returned and he sheathed it when he saw both the boulder and slim beautiful woman disappear in the smoke he smirked, it was a good move and didn't bother him that they had escaped as it wasn't his money but a little fight would've been nice. It had been years since any real competition had confronted him.

Seeing an older man than himself armed with a cane approach him Blake thought to himself, this man looks like a nice enough chap, but he also thought this bloke was probably on his last legs. Hearing what he had to say though made him smile, he agreed with what this old man had to say and thought to himself, there should be some people around the place somewhere who should show these younger "pirates" as they called themselves what true piracy was about but all of the older people nowadays we're all too focused on having a simple life, get up in the morning get the paper, sit at home with the paper and a cup of tea then read the paper, have dinner then in bed by 7.

It was appalling to see them give up o the lives they once knew and loved, when even at his ripe old age of 69 Blake was still wondering the streets as the bad ass he had always been taking people's money and beating off anyone who came his way and leaving them mortally wounded or dead.

When this old man offered Blake a drink, he wanted to say yes straight away, as this was something no other old man would do, join him for a drink. It had been a long time since he'd been for a drink with a fellow elderly man and Blake jumped at the chance to do it and replied.
"Yea sure I could a drink as long as its the good ole stuff and not this new shite these bloody pirates drink now. Never drink it, it tastes like crap and doesn't even get you drunk. Well unless your a lightweight, last time I drank some of their beer it took me 23 pints before I felt tipsy, so if we'll be having a proper drink from the golden ages then fucking yes I'll join you, other wise your on your own mate."

Blake looked at the old man and his tattoo of an elderly lady and shook his head, he wanted to laugh but stopped himself before asking, "Was that an old woman when you got it? Please tell me it wasn't."

"Eiheiheiheihei" Ahab laughed. He took a liking to Blake, he seemed like a younger version of himself, although not too young. "I wouldn't drink anything other than that even if you'll hold a knife to my gut" Ahab answered. He couldn't remember much, but the name of the first rum he ever drank never slipped out of his old mind: "Ol' Daniel's Throat Burner", he drank that when he was 11, and after throwing up for two days in a row, managed to appreciate it's taste. "Ah the tattoo, it used to be a fine woman back in the days, and it still is" Ahab answered, not handing out any clear answer. "You'll have to excuse me, but it's been an awfully long time since I've parked my bottom around here, and I can't remember where the bars are" Ahab said. "I'd assume you know a few" Ahab said with a sly grin.

In the background, the old woman who's house was raided collected what she had left and was invited to stay with a few of her relatives. The crowd threw piercing glances at Ahab and Blake, who were rude and inconsiderate enough to discuss alcohol at a time and place like this, but it didn't bother Ahab, not even a little, mainly because his eyesight was too bad to pick up those glances. Ahab wasn't a bad man, but piracy was imprinted into the deepest parts of his mind for as long as he could remember, and this was how he was taught to behave.

"Oh, almost forgot" Ahab said. he extended his right hand for a handshake. "The name's Ahab Boomer, formerly known as the Two-legged Beast" He said, introducing himself. Ahab's name and pirate nickname weren't so famous, as his bounty was relatively small around the Grand Line, but he still liked to show it off: It reminded him of the old days.

*Feel free to time skip the way to the bar if you want, otherwise I'll do it in my next post*

Blake smiled at Ahab as he mentioned how he'd never drink such vile drinks the youth of today drank. For first impressions this guy was making a pretty good one on Blake, he was elderly so that's one thing they both shared and had in common, they both hated the youth of today and both just wanted a good old fashioned drink.

Blake nodded and replied, "Yea I know a few places in town, where you can get a proper drink." Blake saw the old woman and the evil glares of disgust from the people and like himself Ahab didn't seem bothered by it, or maybe not even able to see them but he didn't care. Blake raised and eye brow as he cast his own glare towards them.
A glare which gave of the impression of, "Do that again and you'll be seeing red."

When Ahab offered his hand to Blake and introduced himself as Ahab Boomer, formerly known as the Two-legged Beast, he realized this man must have had some reputation years ago, but sadly he felt that he had to reply, "Nice to meet you Ahab, telling from your nickname you must have had some reputation some years ago, but I can't say I've ever heard of you." Blake shook Ahab's hand gripping it firmly.

"I'm Blake, Blake Maze, also known here on Drum Island as The Black Star Butcher."

20 Minutes later in the Bloody Snowflake pub

Blake walked in through the doors and up to the bar, due to its strong drinks and olden day or as Blake refereed to it as proper food and drink, the pub was always fairly empty with only the few odd patrons.
"1st rounds on me." Blake removed a wad of Beli from his pocket which he'd collected many of from the king, some of that tax money had to go somewhere if not on resurfacing road or repairing buildings. Blake knew his king was corrupt but as long as his paycheck was sufficient for the amount of work he'd been doing, he had nothing to complain about.

Blake looked at the bartender who was a young brunette haired woman and the daughter of the previous owners who had been a lovely old woman, now deceased.
"Hello May, I'll have two pints of Rose Thorn Beer." May nodded and grabbed two pint glasses and proceeded to fill them up.
"So who's your friend Blake?" asked May as she finished filling up one pint and began on the next.
Blake looked at Ahab waiting for him to introduce himself.

The Rose Thorn beer in the glasses was a dark red color and had a pink bubbly foam at the top of it. Blake laid his money down on the table and slid one to Ahab and took a large gulp of his own beer.
It tasted just as he remembered, it stung the throat and even scorched it a little. Felt like thorns dragging down the sides of the throat. This was a proper drink.

Ahab appreciated the look of the bar Blake chose. It reminded him of the old days a little. All there was missing was a piano player at the corner and a couple of drunks fighting over the foxy bartender. "The name's Ahab Boomer, you wouldn't happen to have any remaining bottles of Ol' Daniel's Throat Burner do you?" He asked, hoping to feel the forgotten taste. But he knew the truth, that drink stopped being manufactured after Ol' Daniel moved to his grave 30 years ago, and he was left with false hope. "Ah never mind, I'll just have some of that" He said. He took a swig of the beer Blake ordered him. It stung the throat as well, but it wasn't the drink of his childhood. Still, it was pretty damn good, another reason why Ahab should have Blake in his crew.

"So..." Ahab started, turning to face the bar. "The reason that I invited you to a drink is that I have an offer for you" Ahab said, taking another swig of his drink. "Ya see, the world is filled with baby faces like the couple you encountered today, who think that the world belongs to them" He said, taking another swig. "But in actuality, they do nothing but scam their way to the top with nothing but wimpyness and political mumbo jumbo. It's been a while since I've seen a pirate fighting without any devil fruits or any expensive weaponry". After that statement, Ahab pulled a rolled paper from his hood and unfolded it on the counter. It was the edition that reported about the new Shichibukais., the one that got Ahab out of Kazanova island. "I suppose you've seen that junk already" Ahab said, spitting to an ashtray while he referred to the report.

"The world is getting ridiculous my friend, and we won't be here for too long. After we're gone, there would be no one to teach those idiots the meaning of piracy" Ahab said, emptying what was left in his glass. "So, I'm here to teach these brats a few lessons, and seeing how you share the same opinion as I do, along with the strength and charm" Ahab said, half joking half serious. "I wanted to ask you to assist me in saving this world from the baby faces" Ahab said, concluding his speech.

Blake looked at Ahab as he asked May for some Ol' Daniel's Throat Burner and smirked, he knew the drink and had drank some back in the day. It hadn't been his favorite drink and he knew the chances of them having it here were pretty slim.

May offered a hand to Ahab replying, "Nice to meet you Ahab, I'm May." May took Blake's money, she didn't need to count it like some of her other patrons.

Blake drank down his beer as he listened to what Ahab had to say to him, it was true, the world was seeming to be allot weaker with this new age of pirates. Even truer was the fact that wimpyness and political mumbo jumbo did seem to be the only weaponry in their arsenal, unless they had a devil fruit but even then, they still were wimpy and pathetic to the point of being hydrophobic.

Blake finished his beer and gave out an "Ahhh" of how refreshing he found Rose Thorn Beer and held up his index finger to May signalling he wanted another. May nodded with a gleeful smile and took both Ahab and Blake's glasses and refilled them.

Seeing the paper with the new Shichibukais on it Blake closed his eyes and shook his head, he had seen it and didn't even want to acknowledge it, to him Lem "Slenderman" Snickett Captain of the Myth Pirates was still the most terrifying and powerful Shichibukai.

Once Blake and Ahab's new beer had been placed on the bar, Blake grabbed it once again and guzzled it down.
When Ahab finished speaking Blake sat for a few seconds thinking before replying, "If your thinking we won't be here for long then we probably won't be, but until then I guess we've got a job to do. Show these young whippersnappers what true piracy is."

Ahab was thrilled after Blake accepted his offer. "Well then this calls for a celebration!" Ahab said and lifted his glass up. "Cheers" He said, before gulping down the content of his glass without a single twitch. He didn't have any plans for his crew, he just planned on roaming around, but before he got to that, he should probably know a little bit more about his new companion.

"So, you have any pirate background? Any bounty? The more the merrier" Ahab said smiling. Now that he had another partner, he could start his revolution: Sending the Grand Line back in time! But before he did actually do that, he should probably try and recruit some more companions, although the modern pirates and marines were just pathetic and wimpy.

[At a different corner of the island]

"Damn that old fart had one hell of a punch" Bronco said with his deep voice while rubbing his gigantic chin. "If he wasn't that old I would have gave him one back!" He said. "Oh will you shut it? So you took a punch, BIG DEAL!" Serenity said while going through the pile of cash they stole from the old lady. "That one didn't have much, most of this island seems to be poor" Serenity muttered. "The boss won't be happy..." Bronco said.
"On the contrary my dumb friend, the reason why this island is so poor is because all of the money is concentrated in one spot: The King. All we have to do is mug the king, and then we can run along" Serenity said. "You're lucky you're a girl, otherwise I would have punched you for calling me dumb..." Bronco said, and Serenity knew he wasn't joking. The only reason why she was paired with him was because she was the only girl in the gang, so she was the only one who was safe.

"This is the place!" Serenity said, after they arrived at a pub named "Neo-Alcohol", "This is the meeting place". They both then entered the pub, which was lit with modern lighting and had fancy music music coming out of it.

Blake nodded and replied, "Yea of course I have a bounty and I'm also strongly hated here too by the towns people, and I have a bounty of 28,000,000 for stopping a Marine attack. I took down a few ships by myself, and well tried to protect the previous king but by the time I got to him he was dead. They offered me the title of king but I really didn't want to be king, dealing with taxes and sitting on my arse all day dealing with the nations welfare. I couldn't be dealing with that I requested I remain doing this as a job. What about you Ahab? What have you been doing with yourself all these years, I mean you introduced yourself as the three legged beast you must've been a pirate back in the day."

Brendan liked listening to what Ahab had to say he seemed like a good guy, a nice old guy who thought the world needed to be taught how to act and he was right, pirates including the Shichibukais and Yonkou's we're all way too weak and would never have stood a chance back in the good old days.

Brendan ordered another beer for himself and Ahab and laid more money down which May snatched up quickly before placing down more drinks. Brendan smiled to May who in return smiled back as she handed him his change.

"Mr Ahab I must say it sounds like you have a death wish wanting to go after pirates and Shichibukais in your old age, not being rude or anything but your not as young as you once were, I'm sure your a tough old guy but I wouldn't recommend you guys going after Shichibukais." mentioned May as she leant against the bar.

"Don't worry May he'll have me fighting along side him and I won't let anything happen to him. You know me, I stand up for the little guy and guys I like, and this guy, I like, he's old and tough as nails, I'm sure of it."

May nodded to Brendan and smiled, "I know Brendan my mother was grateful for your help."
"No problem they were trying to burn down my favourite watering hole what else was I supposed to do?" chuckled Brendan.
May kissed him on the cheek and scampered down to the other end of the bar to serve some people.

"Eiheiheiheihei" Ahab laughed after hearing May's words. "Well, she seems to like you, even though you say you're hated" Ahab mentioned. "I was quite hated back in my home as well..." Ahab said, remembering the 50 years he spent on Kasanova. "That rotten island had so many mountain bandits! You couldn't even spit without hitting one of them!" He said. "But that's where my crew decided to leave the ship and so that's where I stayed. Hell, beating the living hell out of them for almost 50 years is what kept me in shape" Ahab said. At that moment, he sounded more senile than ever. Not only didn't he seem in any kind of shape, but to think that a man as old as he was managed to defend his ship for 50 years was just unreasonable.

At that point he gulped down some more of his drink. "Speaking of the ol' lady, I guess I'd better give you a tour to the ship before we had out" Ahab said. "I just hope that snotty little brat docked it right" Ahab said, not even knowing that there were no dock workers where he left his ship. He pulled his cane up and forced it's tip into the floor, to help himself get up of his stool. "We better get going, there are a lot more of those wimpy guys you punched today out there and we can't let them roam freely, Eiheiheiehi" He joked. Hearing this, a skinny brown-skinned guy that sat in the far corner of the bar stood up, left a few coins on his table and quickly left the bar.

"Thanks for everything Miss May, it's a lovely place you have here" Ahab said. He then turned to Blake. "Well, since you're the tax collector around here, are there any arrangements you have to do before we leave?" Ahab asked.

[At the Neo-Alcohol]

A muscular man with orange hair, a yellow Hawaiian shirt and red Bermuda shorts was sitting in one of the fancier booths of the bar. He seemed really out of place there, since he wore particularly nothing that would help him survive the cold of Drum island. The man had two attractive ladies sitting on either side of him, one ordering him a drink and the other looking at the menu. "Anything you want babe, it's all on me" The man said with a grin.

[Introduction Box:]
Gregor "Slim" Jankins
Captain of the Sizzling pirates
Bounty: 15,000,000B

Gregor was sharing his booth with another man.
One of them had a gray spiky hair that had tendons of it pointing towards every direction. He had a ridiculous amount of piercings on his ears and nose, making him seem intimidating. "Hey Captain, don't hug all the merchandise! Let me have one too!" He said.

[Introduction Box:]
Danny "Shackles" Mornings
First Mate of the Sizzling pirates
Bounty: 10,000,000 B

Gregor then spotted Serenity and Bronco entering the bar. "You can have them both Shackles, I got my main babe back" He said, signaling to Serenity and Bronco. The two girls looked at Gregor with shocked faces, that turned into frightened faces when they realized how terrifying Danny looked.

Brendan looked at May then he replied to Ahab, "I am hated by many people on this island but May's one of the only ones I'm not hated by." As Brendan listened to everything else Ahab had to say and smiled, it seemed like they had allot in common and Brendan was looking forward to seeing what skills this man Ahab possessed.

"Sounds like a plan Ahab, I'm looking forward to taking down those younger pirates and showing them what true piracy is about. I'm looking forward to seeing this ship you own too."

Brendan finished off his beer then placed his empty glass behind the bar and replied once again to Ahab's question.

"No I may be a tax collector for the King of this island but if I were to leave I doubt he'd come after me. Due to my strength and known reputation on this island if I do something wrong, the most their going to do is politely ask me not to, the king doesn't want to waste so many of his guards on me."

Brendan the got to his feet and headed for the door when he asked Ahab, "So where are you docked?"

As Brendan headed for the door, a large, tall, armoured and gruff looking man just entered quietly. He was wearing a helmet with horns attatched pointing upwards, metal plating on his shoulders, gloves, arms, shins and boots, as well as his chest. He had a sword almost as large he was in a sheath on his back, a large bushy blue beard, and a strange creature the size of a small dog, with the body and mane of a lion, yet the head of a human, casually sitting on the strangers shoulder. The armoured individual merely walked round Brendan and up to the bar, gruffly asking the bar man; "I'll buy a few drinks and some nuts for cute little Widdles here if you tell me any any jobs for mercenaries around these parts.", refering to the strange creature on his shoulder as Widdles, who he mentioned an uncharacteristicly sweet fatherly voice, aposed to his usual gruffness.

May looked at the bearded man and smiled as she placed the money from the other elderly man she'd just served in her pocket. may approached him and saw his cute little pet and asked, "Aww whose this little cutie?" she grabbed a bowl of peanuts from not so far away along the bar and slid them beneath the Manticore's nose for him to nibble on then looked up at Victor and asked, "So what's your poison?" she asked Victor playfully.

May loved collecting tips and the best way to get them was by making her customers feel comfortable and she knew flirting with these older men was one of the best ways to make them comfortable.

Brendan looked back at May as she had began to flirt with Victor and lean towards him enough to give him a cheeky glance at her cleavage which was very impressive Brendan smiled then looked back towards his new Captain Ahab Boomer. He was looking forward to working with this man.

Ahab, even with his poor eyesight, could easily notice the mountain of a man that entered the bar just when him and Blake were about to leave. He whistled in surprise at the man's attire, he looked like a true hardcore pirate, the one's Ahab remembered fighting against and drinking with back in the days. Just seeing him made a few flashback flow to the surface. He was drifted out of those flashback when he heard the menacing viking say the word 'Cute'. Why would such a manly man be using that word?! It went against everything Ahab believed in. He turned to give the man another look, just to check if he was wrong about him, and noticed Blake checking May's cleavage out. Ahab couldn't blame the man, he too was attracted to the sight.

Ahab turned his back tot he door and gave Blake a little nudge with his elbow. "Eiheiheiehi, make sure your eyes stay in their sockets ah?" Ahab said joking, making sure to keep his voice down so May wouldn't overhear. "This guy seems quite hardcore wouldn't you agree? I say we test him" he whispered to Blake. He then strolled back towards the bar to try and have a few words with the heavily armored gentleman, he did need more crew mates after all. But first, he had to check if that man had what it took to roam around with the Three-Legged Beast.

He took a stool next to the viking, and signaled Blake to take the stool on the other side of him. He couldn't remember what his old captain used to do when he thought someone fitted the crew, but it was probably some sort of a manliness test, determined by the man's drink of choice. After sitting down, Ahab cleared his throat to get the viking's attention, but in his old age, that simple act turned into a full scale cough that seemed to be dragging on and on. There was no doubt about it, Ahab was past his prime.

Victor smiled happily as May handed his pet manticore a tray of nuts, to which he leapt to in a gluttonous frenzy, squealing with joy; "Cheese Slices!", quickly scarfing down any nuts he could get his little jaws on. Victor's smile faded as turned back to the barmaid and asked gruffly; "I'll have just a mug of grog, if your out of it give me anything else, I plan on getting employment here soon.", handing fifty berri note to the barmaid. He then noticed that a pair of elderly pirates where sitting either side of him, making the viking a little suspicious of the strangers, but was once again distracted by Widdles the manticore chowing down on the nuts, beaming at his pet when it cheerfully exclaimed "Severed Limbs!" while it had some shell remains around it's lips.

After managing to grab a hold of his little coughing attack, Ahab managed to notice how weird the animal the viking had with him was. It could talk, like a parrot, but looked totally different than a parrot, very different. "That's one weird pet you got there son" Ahab said, trying to get a conversation going. The viking seemed to be looking for a job, and even though Ahab didn't have much to pay with, he planned on making some as soon as possible.

"If you're looking for employment, I might be able to help you out, ya see, me and my fried over there are looking for some muscle to accompany us in a small journey of ours" He said, pointing towards Blake. "Any chance you might be interested in that?" Ahab asked, completing his verbal assault and waiting for response.

[Meanwhile, At the Neo-Alcohol]

"No kidding" Gregor said as he gulped down the last drops of his glass. "All we need to do to hit the jackpot is just rob the palace, that's it?" He said, making sure he understood what Serenity reported. "Shouldn't be that difficult" He said, jokingly.

"Hey there big guy, what happened to your jaw? It's red as a cherry" Danny said to Bronco. "It's nothing, some idiot punched me that's all" Bronco said, rubbing his chin. Hearing this, Gregor smashed his glass on the table, shattering it. "Say what now?" He asked, getting up form his seat. His cheeks were rosy, and he seemed angry. "No one messes with one of my boys and gets away with it" He said. It might have been the alcohol talking, but Gregor forgot about the robbery, he was now focused on tracking down Blake. "You know where that scumbag is?" He asked Bronco, but before the giant could answer, the skinny man from the bar burst into the pub and rushed towards Gregor. "Boss, a couple of old guys were bragging about hitting some punk at the bar, I think they might be some trouble" The man said, breathing heavily as he did so. Gregor then raised his head with a satisfied look on his face. "Let the manhunt begin".

"Wierd? I'll have you know that Widdels here is a manticore of a rare breed, that is all!", Victor snapped at the elderly stranger, before hearing his propersion, noddding in approval. "Well, it seems like a standard escort job, I can't see how this could be too much trouble. I don't suppose you could give me more detail on this 'small journey'? I shall have write down the full intent of my employment on my cotract before we can agree on a deal.", The mercenary replied in an all buissness attitude, which completely melted away when Widdels cheerfully nuzzled May and purred; "Silky Smooth!", nuts shells still clinging to his little face. "Awwwww, look like he made a new friend!"

Blake sat next to the large mercenary and saw his new captain Ahab sit the other side. Now if this man wanted to run away he couldn't but he looked like a strong enough guy to not fear himself or Ahab.

May looked at Widdles and began stroking him finding him terribly irresistible she couldn't pull herself away from his cuteness, Blake spent time listening to what both Ahab and Victor had to say. He understood from what Victor said that he was a mercenary and felt he now had something to say.
"Sorry to interrupt but Ahab we don't need to be paying someone to work with us, they should choose to work with us. If we're truly pirates from the golden age we shouldn't take no for an answer, it either he joins us or we kill him right? Thats what being a pirate is about is it not? I mean I've never actually been a member of a pirate crew before but from what I heard I would assume that's what it was like." Blake then looked at Victor knowing he probably insulted him and smiled to hopefully lighten the blow.

Blake then awaited Ahab's reply and looked towards May who was still playing with the little manticore with nuts crushed all around his face. Blake's right hand slowly clenched into a tightly fist under his cape in case a fight soon broke out and he needed to fight. It was his simplest and easiest form of attacking and it also caused allot of damage. He was ready for anything which might come his way now.