Chapter 37: Chapter 37: New Search!
"Huh? Are we missing someone?" I said as my crew was all gathered together. As my stomach grumbled in hunger, I remembered who we were missing. "Oh yeah, where's Claudia?" I asked.
"I'm right here Captain!" Claudia declared as she strode towards them. Claudia previously had the look of a plain shy woman, but she now looked completely different. Almost like an entirely different person. Her long blonde locks now tumbled across her shoulders where she used to tie it up before. She also wore more makeup now and wore clothes that complemented her figure more now. It was a complete transformation in her look. But that wasn't all that changed about her.
"Just so you know Captain, I'm not the shy little girl I used to be. I have more confidence now and I won't be pushed around any…." She started to say before I cut her off.
"Yeah that's great Claudia. I'm starving go make me something to eat." I said as I waved my hand, I wasn't listening to most of what she said.
"Y-Yes sir." She said as she left to make food for the crew. She looked a bit defeated as she walked back to the kitchen.
Claudia then presented a meal that was one of the best I'd ever had. "Wow! You must've been training hard all this time! This food is incredible!" I said with a mouth full of food. "Anyway now that everyone is here we need to get on to our next moves."
"Wait Captain, Rei isn't here either." Claudia said.
"Yeah so?" I replied.
"I understand what you mean Captain, but we really do need her ability." Jack said.
"Fine, whatever. Where is she?" I asked.
"She left shortly after you did. I heard she's running some sort of scam on an island near here." Celeste said.
"Whatever, let's just get this over with." I said unenthusiastically. We then traveled to a nearby island where we found her up to some sort of scheme, I wasn't really paying attention to what they said she was doing so I can be sure. I didn't really care either way.
"Oh, what are you guys doing here?" Rei asked as she saw us arrive. "You see, this whole thing isn't really what it looks like." She said trying to explain herself.
"Shut it. Don't care. We're leaving now." I said ignoring whatever she was blabbering about. "Eww, you look disgusting. You've gotten so fat. What have you been doing this whole time?" I asked as I finally paid enough attention to see what she looked like now.
"What? I'm not fat! These are luscious curves." Rei responded.
"Curves? Rolls maybe. Whatever, just get your stuff and let's go before I change my mind." I said.
"I don't know Captain, like thicker women." Jack added.
"If you say so." I said dismissively. "Mas rapido porky, let's get those thunder thighs moving."
We eventually got back to the ship and the crew gathered around to hear what our next step was going to be. I was about to start explaining my plans when Yuma interjected.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I have some news you might all be interested in before we start." Yuma said while holding a news paper. He went over several events that happened over the time skip such as Kuzan and Akainu's battle on Punk Hazard and Blackbeard becoming one of the Four Emperors after defeating the Whitebeard Pirates.
"That's ridiculous, you should have taken Whitebeard's spot Captain." Sig said.
"It's not that big of a deal." I said.
"I agree with Sig. But in other more entertaining news. We've all gotten updated bounties since Gai left the Warlords. I thought it'd be more fun to wait to look at them until everyone was back together." Yuma said.
"Ah! That was a great idea buddy! Let's see!" I said excitedly as I was slapping Yuma on the back.
"I thought you'd appreciate that. Let's start from lowest to highest. I think it's more fun that way."
"First, Claudia "Cook" 200 berries."
"Huh? I have a bounty? Why I just make you guys food?" Claudia said as her new confident persona was already starting to crack again.
"I don't know I guess they're just going to put bounties on anyone associated with us. Anyway, next is Sig 110 Million berries." Yuma continued. Sig's wanted poster didn't have his full name or an epithet. Sig was just Sig everybody knows that.
"Then next is, Fantasia "Enchantress" Rei 115 Million."
"Next we got, Magnolia "Fairy Queen" Celeste 340 Million."
"If I remember, correctly the Navy used to call me the "Witch Queen" I wonder why they changed it." Celeste said.
"Because they think the "Witch Queen is dead remember? I thought "fairy" fit better than "witch" so I told them that was your name a while back." I said.
"Ah, that's right. Thank you Leo I appreciate that."
"Alright, next we have….. wait this can't be right. Isabella has a bounty? And it's huge!" Yuma said in shock. " Isabella "Singing Empress" 750 Million. And it also says only alive."
"Of course, there must be somebody out there who's after Bell's majestic voice. I can't blame them, but…" I took a second before shifting to a more serious tone and looking at Isabella. "…. If anyone ever tries to come after you. I'll wipe them off the map."
"Of course, thanks Leo!" Isabella said cheerfully.
"Man that was a shock, anyway, next is Grover "Black" Jack 930 Million."
"That's too bad, I just barely missed the top three." Jack said.
"I'm next, Cortez "Green Haired" Yuma 1.05 Billion."
"Whoa, congratulations buddy you've really come a long way."
"Next is, Ducet "Thousand Winds" Charlemagne 1.10 Billion."
"Keh! It's still too low." Charlemagne scoffed.
"Finally, as we all expected Gai is the one with the highest bounty. It says, Buster D. "Beast Sword" Gaileo 1.25 billion. Not too shabby."
"Alright, it was fun to get to see everyone's new bounties but it's time to get down to business then. I know how we can find Raftel."