"Captain Ross! He actually killed the captain!" One of the marines shouted but all Nox could feel was satisfaction. He had done it, his second sword technique, absolutely his own. Minutes later, they had tied up every marine on that ship, some unconscious, some surrendering. Looking through the ship, they found 5 million berry, 1 million for each of them, trashy swords, basic rifles, some food to restock their own supply and sea prism stone handcuffs.
Nox kept those handcuffs, just in case.
When they continued sailing the next morning, Nox and Zoro were sparring, "tattoo sword style: thunder wave!" Electricity hit Zoro's sword, travelled down the blade and turned his fingers numb and yet, he still fought onwards, the numbness but a simple distraction. They clashed, steel meeting ink and a sharp *clang* echoed through the calmness of the cloudless sky.
In the end, Nox was disarmed after an hour of combat, the longest he had lasted against Zoro. Zoro didn't stop, didn't slow down, mere minutes after he had defeated Nox, who was still panting one the deck, he was back to training. He couldn't slow down, not when Nox was improving at such a rapid rate. For now he had the skill advantage but how long would that last? Especially when he had those tattoos to empower him. Yet he trained more with the sword, in order to prevent him from catching up. It was a matter of personal pride as a swordsman. He wouldn't be defeated by his student so soon after starting his training. He might've said that he was no better than an apprentice but that was a lie… he was already pretty good. Not at his level but at the peak of what could still be considered normal.
"An island full of giant cactuses!" Luffy screamed from the figure head, "there is a river up ahead, it looks like we have to sail inland!"
"I- I hope there aren't monsters and stuff!" Usopp shivered despite the weather being largely warm and sunny, not a cloud in sight.
"That is a possibility", Sanji took a drag of his cigarette, "this is the grand line after all!"
"If there are any, we'll just run away" Luffy shrugged.
Nami chided, "hold it. Don't forget we can't leave right away! We have to record the islands magnetic field with the log pose before we can move on to the next island. The time it takes to 'log' on each island varies. Some only take a few hours, while others may take days!"
"You mean if this island is full of monsters, we might be stranded on there for days?" Usopp asked, "Zoro, let me have a swig of your sake, I need to drink me some courage"
"I think you'll find no monsters here, not in the literal sense", Nox smiled as they heard the noises of celebration came ringing out from the island centre.
"Welcome to the town of celebration, whisky peak! Pirates! Welcome to our town! Welcome to the grand line!"
"What beautiful ladies", Sanji's eyes turned to hearts as he gazed at the women celebrating.
"What a welcome! Pirates are heroes to these people!"
"Ahem… mi mi mi mi! Welcome, my name is Igarappoi, the mayor of whisky peak! No doubt this comes as a surprise to you. This is whisky peak, a bustling town of ale breweries and musicians! We pride ourselves on our hospitality. We are also proud of our ale and we have more of it than we can export. We'd love to hear the tales of your adventures! Would you like to, ahem! Mi mi mi mi mi! Join us in a celebration in your honor?"
"You bet we would!"
"Say, how long does it take to log this island?" Asked Nami, pointing at her log pose.
"Log? Please set aside such trivial matters! Rest from your travels! All right everyone! Prepare for the festivities! Let us pay tribute to the adventures!"
The sun slowly set on Whisky peak as they partied. They drank and ate. Meanwhile, Nox summoned his doves and let them fly around the island, spying through their eyes. He saw mr nine, miss Wednesday(aka Vivi), ms Monday and mr 8 fighting with Zoro, alongside the other bounty hunters. He opened his eyes. Can't let Zoro have all the fun, now could he?
He jumped down from the building where he had been meditating. Cracking his neck with excitement rushing through his veins.
"Look, that is Amari Nox! 12 million berry!"
"His head is mine!"
"Screw you, I saw him first!"
"He doesn't even have a sword! Let's get him together!"
"Hehe… I don't need my sword for low fry's like you!", his lightning tattoo glowed as he summoned the element to do his bidding, he spread his arms wide, "Tattoo style: shock pulse!"
Lightning surged around him in a sphere, knocking out these bounty hunters with ease. He could still see through his dove's eyes. Zoro had taken care of his share of bounty hunters and mr five and ms valentine had just revealed that Vivi was a spy, chaos was unfolding and-
"Ow!" A sword cut into his arm, looking up, he saw more than a hundred bounty hunters arriving. He had been distracted and didn't notice them. He dispelled the doves and focused on fighting these guys, summoning his sword, "ready to dance?"
They fought for an hour, then two, then three. No matter how many he cut down, new ones would just come in to replace them. As he was fighting, his stamina was slowly draining. After the second hour, he couldn't even use his flames or lightning any more, yet he kept of fighting. When he was about to collapse, Luffy came running to him and knocked the other bounty hunters out with a sweeping blow and took him to their ship.
Nox was too tired to listen much, only catching snippets of their conversation, baroque works… 2000 agents… alabaster…
"Be careful not to run up on those rocks", Nico Robin said, " I'm so glad you managed to escape!"
"What! Who's that?!"
"I met your friend mr 8 earlier, miss Wednesday"
"Did you… kill igaram?" Vivi hissed.
"Forget about that! How'd you get onto the ship?!"
"What are you doing here, miss all Sunday?!"
"What now? Is she mrs what's her numbers partner?"
"She is Mrs zero's partner, the only two women team in baroque works! She was the only one who knew the boss's true identity, so we followed her and found out who the boss was!"
"Actually, I let you follow me" Nico Robin had a coy smile on her face.
"Just what do you want?!"
"I'm simply curious… you seem earnest, I just had to help you… A princess declaring war on baroque works to save her country, how pathetic!"
"Don't underestimate us!"
Nox, felt a surge of energy shoot from his body and he summoned fire, letting it dance over his arm, pointing at her. Suddenly, he was grabbed by half a dozen arms, "didn't your mommy tell you never to play with fire?"
"What the-? She must have a devil fruit!" Nami declared.
"What kind of power is that?" Asked Zoro and Sanji simply swooned over her beauty.
"Hehe, don't get excited. I'm not on an assignment, so i have no reason to fight you. I know where your log pose is pointing you, little garden. I guess, I won't have to bother killing you after all. You'll never get to alabaster, nor see Mrs Crocodiles face", she threw an eternal pose in vivi's hands, "you'll be able to bypass difficulty with that. It points to an island of nothing, which is one step in front of alabaster! It's a route not even our agents know about, so no one will follow you"
"Why would you give us that?"
"It's a trap, obviously!"
Nox wanted to struggle against the hold of the arms but he was too weak.
"Who needs that thing?" Luffy smashed the eternal pose, "she isn't deciding the path we take! I don't want shortcuts, I want a proper adventure!"
"We will meet again, if you survive!"