Serious; Salty's and Johnny's journeys; Chapter 3; Off to another adventure: The secret behind Mirage Island (Open to me and Shad0w)

Romano vs Johnny (Black Cross Casino - BF01)

The epic battle of fists between the two people had reached its climax and as Johnny fires off another one of his punches at Romano, the man is actually standing still, using his Tekkai in order to block the damage of the attack. The attack actually crushes on his body, sending him flying several meters away and making him fall on the ground for the first time ever since the battle started. However, even if he falls on the ground, he stands up, he cleans the dirt from his body and with a silent pace and look, he rushes towards Johnny, striking him with a powerful kick at the stomach that sends him flying away. Then, he disappears from his position before he reappears in front of the marine, started a barrage of kicks at the man's body, making him bleed quickly. For a while, for around ten minutes, he kicks him at the face and his whole body in order to unleash all the power that he gained after sustaining the serious damage from his punching attacks. Johnny's punches looked like that they drove Romano to his limit and so he had become so angry that he suddenly gained a sudden boost of strength that allowed him to actually overpower Johnny. Afterwards, he spits at the man's tattoo and he takes an evil look on his face. He would open his mouth to speak some words "You are a really bad, really bad boy. I gave you a chance and you dropped it away... You should be ashamed of yourself and especially for that tattoo you have on your arm. He would be disappointed with you...".

However, as soon as those mysterious words were spoken, something strange would happen. A door opened behind Romano, a door out of thin air. The door was green colored and it was created out of nothing. It looked like a fruit ability was put in usage and by the time Romano realized that, the damage that he received from Johnny's attacks actually prevented his reflexes from working. Before he could move away, he was struck by a man who appeared behind the door. With a powerful kick, the boss of the Mafia Pirates was actually sent away several meters and he was dropped on the ground in an unconscious state.

"It looks like I arrived just in the nick of time..." the mysterious man behind the door said and he stepped forward. His shadowed face until then was lit and he was finally shown. That man was none other than Old Man, who had come to the rescue of Johnny, now that all the other members of the Mafia Pirates (except Dore and the generic henchmen he was keeping inside him) were all defeated.

"This young nasty pirate actually wanted to weaken me to find his way out of the island prison... How much interesting." Old Man commented. What was the meaning of his words?!

Meanwhile, Salty was acting as if he was unconscious, even if he was not.

Johnny, at the sight of this unexpected appearance, is left speechless, merely looking towards Old Man. "You are that old man.. Old Man, isn't that right?" He asks the person. After that, he stands up properly, as opposed to having his upper body bended downwards, due to the barrage of attacks as well as the surprise, that kept him frozen in the state he was last standing on. Despite having suffered a massive barrage of strikes, and despite being filled with bruises and wounds, Johnny seems to have actually absorbed most of the blows, and he's actually able to move normally. His durability indeed seems to be incredible, considering he didn't used any teckniques to amplify his durability, unlike Romano .. or did he?
Either way, that wasn't the case now. As he reaches for his shirt, he looks at Old Man again. "Alright, I'd like to hear some explanations about what exactly is going on in this place, sir."

Johnny and Salty with Bill, Wish and Genesis (Black Cross Casino - BF01)

"Explanation? Oh, sure, I am going to give you one." Old Man said and then he started explaining "Firstly, a marine like you has to call me Genesis... That is my real name, or at least it was until I was transfered in the secret island prison of Mirage Island... You see, a few years ago, I ended up inside this place by mistake. The only thing we found inside this underground island were wrecked ships and the corpses of several missing pirates, whom we thought until then that they had vanished from the world all of a sudden. However, due to my Devil Fruit ability which is none other than the Door Door Fruit, me and my two subordinates managed to easily get out of this place. On our report, though, the Fleet Admiral granted me with another mission. He quickly realized that this place was a natural prison and any pirate who would end up here would have no way of getting out. As a result, he sent us back here to organize the place... For some time, we worked on the place, we built the city and things were moving on smoothly. While we were building the place, pirates would accidentally end up on the island. At first, all of them were savage. However, as I demonstrated that I had the power to get outside, they started changing or at least acting as if they changed. Of course, I would never get them out of here, but it was nice seeing that some of them really changed. And all these things would happen until the Mafia Pirates arrived. When they arrived, many of the other pirates tagged with them in order to make a revolt against me, eliminate all my supporters here and defeat me so that they could force me to make them a way out. What a silly idea they had! Even if I was defeated, I would never get them outside... However, it was funny seeing them. And then, they came up with that plan they had. They split themselves at the East Part of the city, they organized themselves and they even started making casinos to attract all those who were supporting me to their side. And when they realized that they gathered anybody they could gather, they went with another plan. They then attempted to nuke the West Part to kill my subordinates and damage me to the point that I would be forced to make them a way out... Oh, those children nowadays are too stupid, indeed! And while they were about to perform their plan, it was the time that YOU arrived. At first, I was cautious about you. I didn't know whether I should trust you or not. That's why I let you go with them and see how things would develop. As you were leaving, though, I realized that you are alright and came to your rescue, especially now that somebody even volunteered to cut down the explosion of the bombs the Mafia Pirates set up and save the whole island. You are with the good guys, Johnny-san, aren't you?" Genesis questioned Johnny but before he could answer, Salty got up and said "Of course he is! He beat the crap out of that bastard!!!". Salty was really believing in Johnny's kindness.

"Salty-san.." Johnny says, and turns to Salty, noticing that he finally was awake. He seemed fine, so it looks like things went perfectly well, since that unexpected arrival more or less sealed that the good guys won this one. Wearing his shirt and marine coat, the man then glares down at Old Man, or rather, Vice Admiral Genesis, before he replies to his question, after a few moments of silence. "I believe that actions speak more than words. You can examine my actions and judge accordingly, Vice Admiral-dono." He simply replies to him. Then he looks at Romano, the man's unconcious, but not dead.

"It looks like you are a man who knows how to speak, Johnny-san." Genesis spoke and then he moved his hand at the forehead of Johnny. "Relax. I trust you, Johnny-san. You were the one who took care of those guys, after all." Genesis finished and he started laughing loudly. Then, Salty got up and he started walking towards Johnny and Genesis. He said "Anyway... It doesn't matter... Is there a way that you can get the two of us, as well as our friends outside?".

"Of course there is..." Genesis replied and by the time he replied, Fino appeared by opening a door. He was carrying his sword with him and the camera of Salty, which was taken by the Mafia Pirates when the two of them were caught. "Oi! Salty-sama!!!" he spoke with his pitched voice. "I found our equipment!!!" he said and then he handed the camera back at his superior officer.

"I see..." Genesis said and then he created a door with his fruit ability. "The culprits have all been defeated, or at least most of them. However, that doesn't matter as me and my men can easily defeat the remaining ones... There is no need to take them away. They were trapped here, after all, with no means of getting outside and it looks like your job is done here. This door I made will lead you to the ship to take your stuff and then I will make a way for your next destination, which is...?"

"Blue Stripe!" Salty replied and Genesis smiled.
"I see..." he said and he entered the door that would lead to the destroyed ship of the marines.

"Can you leave me a second with that man?" Johnny says, and nods towards Romano. "Earlier on, before I got to free you Salty, this man spoke to me something about a location where allies of him are awaiting him. Maybe I can take some information of him. Go ahead, I'll come right away, you should hurry too; we carry some high-bounty pirates so yeah.." He adds, the first part, it was a lie, but, of course, no one could possibly tell, no one was really up with Johnny before he was dropped to Salty's location. And he was right about the pirates, all of them together held well over 200,000,000 in bounty heads.

"I see... Well, you have around 5 minutes before the door will automatically close... So come back in 5 minutes maximum..." Genesis said to Johnny before he and the rest of the marines actually entered the door and started following it to reach the destroyed ship of the marines so that they could take their equipment and the arrested pirates they had and move on the their next destination; Blue Stripe.

"Roger that, don't worry, I'll come back with him handcuffed in no time." Johnny says, and actually turns his head and smiles kindly at them, a somewhat rare thing as Johnny is usually with a calm demeanor and doesn't show much emotion, his facial expressions at least, most of the time.
And, as the others leave, he waits a few seconds, looking towards the peculiar door that is literally opening a path between the air itself. Once he's sure that everyone went past and to the point where he cannot be seen, he turns to Romano's injured body, and walks towards him. Reaching him, he pulls him up by the back of his shirt, and lifts him up, holding him from the front now, to prevent him from falling off.
"Aren't you naive?" He simply, calmly, comments, looking at Romano. What was with his behavior all of a sudden?

Romano opened his eyes as soon as Johnny pulled him. He could barely speak due to the injury he received from the attack of Genesis. "You bastard... You were lucky to be saved by Old Man... But that doesn't mean that your true colors won't be revealed eventually... You might be lucky enough to be in the division of that idiot, but when you get transferred to another one with a smarter captain, I am pretty sure that you will get exposed and that you will be killed, just like you deserve. And when that time comes, I will be laughing, whether it will be from here or from hell, in case I am dead until that time..." Romano said and started laughing loudly. Then, a wave of air was felt and the sound of a door opening and closing swiftly was heard, although nothing could be seen around. That must have been just an idea of Johnny and Romano.

---

Meanwhile, at the ship of the Photography Department... By the time Salty and the other marines arrive, Douche is seen at the deck of the destroyed ship. Around him, the Troll Pirates are shackled. It looked like they were planning to escape but before they could do so, Douche actually stopped them.

"Hey, Douche!!!" Salty said with a smile on his face and he run towards him.
"Salty-san!!!" Douche said and he started running towards him. While they were running towards each other, they comically jumped on the air and hugged each other, showing their happiness because of their reunion.
"Oi! Salty-sama!!!" Fino's voice was heard afterwards. Apparently, the marine jumped off from the beach to the deck of the wrecked ship. "I accidentally found my way up here some time ago and then I fell asleep... I was very tired, you see. Sorry for not helping out!!! I am really, really sorry!!!" Fino finished. And while he was doing so, Genesis was staring at him with a curious look on his face...

"Nicely put, the last part about hell that is." Johnny calmly says, before he fires off a shigan on the man's chest, right to where the heart is. What was with this sudden burst of utter brutality? The enemy was obviously in a condition where he was no longer a thread! "And another thing ... it's about to happen, the event that will swift the tides. Your words are invalid and foolish. Now leave this world, before you see the darkness thrumb." Saying that, Johnny hits the man with yet another shigan, finishing the man off, his heart is basically destroyed. Letting the corpse fall off, he slowly turns, and walks towards the gate, who is about to close by now.

As the others were reuniting, some time after Johnny brutally murdered Romano, Johnny finally appeared, right before the gate that would lead to the others disappeared. Johnny closed the door and came back to the surface of Mirage Island, relieving Salty now that he knew that he was fine. Finally, they were all reunited!!!

"Welcome back, Johnny-san!" Salty said with a smile on his face, before he grabbed some orange juice and dropped it towards his friend. "I am pretty sure that you are thirsty. Here! Have some orange juice!" Salty said to his friend.
"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELCOME BACK!!!" Douche was heard afterwards and run towards Johnny's direction. He jumped on the air, similarly with before and as he fell, he opened his hands widely in order to hug Johnny.
"Welcome." Fino said with his chipmunk'd voice as well and before everybody could speak about the reunion, Genesis interfered.

"Well, my friends... It looks like your time to get to Blue Stripe has come... I have already created the door that leads to Blue Stripe... So by the time you enter this door, you can follow the path and make your way to the prison to hand over your captives. Any questions?"
"No, sir!" Salty said with a smile on his face, before he entered the door, along with a large package on his back. The package actually contained all the personal equipment that each member of the Photography Department had until that time. Then, everybody else followed. Douche followed Salty, Johnny came behind Douche and Fino came behind Johnny, while also holding all the captured Troll Pirates. Soon enough, the door closed and Genesis was left with his subordinates.

"Hm... Those guys... They are all really beasts... Anyway, let's go." he said and the three men left from the place as well.

And while the three marines and their awkward friend were walking through the passage that would lead to Blue Stripe, Salty was wondering... "All those marines... Vice Admiral Genesis had this door ability and his powers did not look like they were related to fire... Then who was the one who burned down all those pirates?"

[Flashback]

Black Cross Casino, BF02

The goons are all shooting towards a strange creature. The creature looks like a demonic creature. He has wings on his back, long claws and he is carrying a sword. The sword slashes down the pirates one after another. Their blood is falling down on occasions, while some others are simply getting burnt with a mere slash from that mysterious sword. The man speaks with a voice that makes him look like a creature that has come out of hell. A very deep voice indeed.

"Why? Why are you attacking us?! Who are you?!" one of the pirates asks.
"Who am I you ask?" the demon says before slashing him down and burning him ultimately! WHO WAS THE MYSTERIOUS DEMON?!

[Flashback ends]

"Anyway... I am way too curious. I guess it was one of the Vice Admiral's subordinates..." Salty said and he kept walking.

[THREAD ENDS]

*THREAD CLOSED*
Sorry, I just had to