Chapter 22: Departure and True start of the Hunt

Shank's Pov:  As the next day rolled by, I woke up to the annoying rays of sunlight that somehow still found a way to inconvenience my morning even when I'm 10,000 meters below sea level. I sighed and got out of bed to do my morning rituals before I got ready to set sail. This time with two crew members no less. While I didn't plan on it this early,a little improvising never did hurt anyone. After a good shower, I put on my cloak ,shirt and pants while packing everything else into my bag. I then put on my sandals and the moment the straw hat was on my head was the moment I left the inn after paying the innkeeper. I made my way to the breakfast cafe I had been frequently visiting and after a good meal, I was on my way to this island's market to stock up on any supplies I was short on. It was a pain having to check the storage and count up everything I needed to restock up on last night,but you gotta do what you gotta do. After two hours of shopping like a schoolgirl, I was out the market and onto the docks. The moment I entered the docks, I sensed hostile intent directed at me and all I could do was sigh and inwardly ask the world if this cliche was really necessary. I just sighed after a second and rolled my eyes before I let my observation wash over the whole dock. I eventually sensed the presence of the two brothers after skimming through the presence of countless fodder who seemed ready to tear me apart . ' seems like somebody hired them to come after me,probably one of the people i knocked out yesterday. Not like it matters to me all that much', I thought. I then pinpointed every fodder and slowly let my control over my conqueror's haki slip and I sensed multiple fodder start shaking for a second or two before they were knocked out. I walked through the docks and every time i passed by a ship or alley, all I saw was knocked out bodies of pirates who had foam coming out of their mouths. The scene repeated multiple times until I reached my ship. There I found Levi, the young one, and Kenny the older one leaning on the ship. They both looked sleepy, a sign of a wacky sleeping schedule, and both wore matching clothes. If it weren't for their difference in height, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference as they both wore trench coats and matching black pants. They had gun holsters on their left and right hips. Kenny sported his fedora hat while Levi had a sword guard that contained a pair of cutlasses that looked the same. Though his hair was in a mess which told me he got here not long ago. They both looked at me and I looked at them for a second before I sighed and getsured them to get on the ship. They just smirked  at each other while I sighed at their antics before  I just jumped up and landed on the deck of the ship. I pulled a rope that released the accommodation ladder. Both brothers climbed up the ladder onto the ship before I pulled the rope back for the ladder to reattach itself to the ship. It was a neat and weird  mechanism I found out about this ship as I was sailing from Loguetown to Saobody. I then pulled up the anchor and in a minute the ship was on the move. Levi climbed to the lookout while Kenny put the supplies I bought from the market into the ship's inventory. I double checked the ship's coating and made sure it was in good shape as the ship approached the exit point of Fish-man island. I looked back for a moment as the wind started to pick up and the ship's speed increased. I heard footsteps approaching my position  as Kenny emerged from the ship's inventory. Levi landed next to me as both approached and stood besides me on the side of the ship as I looked back on the island. I looked at them for a moment and saw their resolute expressions on their faces. I then asked ," Having doubts,second thoughts about leaving the place that's been your home since birth?". They both seemed hesitant for a second before a calm expression took over their faces. Kenny then looked at me and  confidently said. " No,captain. We've made up our minds and that's final. Besides , we were planning to leave eventually , so joining your crew was like fate smiling up on us and giving us a break for once.So although we'll miss it , our doubts were cast away the moment we agreed to join your crew captain." I turned around from them and said ," Dahahahahhahahahah" and laughed. I laughed for a minute before I then smirked and then said to them, " Then I captain ,Red Haired Shanks,welcome you to the Red Hair Pirates , vice captain Kenny and first seat commander Levi. Glad to have you with me at the start of my journey. And to commemorate you joining my crew,what do you say, wanna  a party?."  They both smirked at me in response and the rest of the day was spent drinking and talking about our life experience. I told them about my time on the roger's pirate crew and they were shocked when they found out that i was an apprentice on the Pirate king's crew before they eventually calmed down. They then talked about their life growing up on Fish-man island. While they did have to deal with discrimination from time to time, it wasn't as bad as one would expect as while the Fish-man did discriminate against them, they both did eventually earn some of their respect and fear by becoming notorious in the most violent districts. They earned this by getting into scuffles that were always caused by Levi's brashness which Kenny balanced out with his logical personality. After the thugs figured Kenny was the calm and logical one, they targeted Levi who was easier to provoke as he had a short temper. Anyways, while Levi kept denying that most fights started because of him, Kenny told me stories of some of their fights and some were hilarious. Like the one that started because Levi heard someone say something he thought was stupid. He and the Fish-man argued over it until it evolved into a fight that Levi won. The funny thing is, that thug went to call his two brothers who tried to jump Levi but Levi reversed jumped them and beat them up. And then the world decided to play a joke on Kenny that day as he and his brother had to fight every friend and parent related to that one thug and his brothers. They eventually beat up everyone and later found out that the thug was part of a notorious gang that controlled a lot of Fish-man districts. They were both shocked as was everyone else before they got over it and continued on with their life like nothing happened. That was the day they earned the respect and fear of some of the Fish-man. The Fish-man even gave them the moniker " Bloody Hounds Kaichen '' as they were both seen bleeding the whole day from their face to hands. The " Kaichen'' was in respect to the district they lived in and grew up in. I laughed during the whole story as it reminded me of those Chinese stories where a young master would call his father after getting beat up by the Mc and then the father would get defeated only to call on his grandfather and a whole cycle would start until the protagonist had beaten the whole bloodline of that young master. Kenny was smiling while sipping on some wine  from his bottle while Levi was looking flustered  the whole time and trying to deny some details. This went on until night time which was when we started to experience the waves of the ocean. It was a long night ahead and by the time we resurfaced, we were sweating and the rising sun did not help.We were all exhausted as we had to continuously fight the waves and underwater no less. It was times like these that I was glad I took my navigation classes with Rayleigh seriously. We took five hours and luckily for us, there were no unusual changes in the weather. As I was laying on the middle of the deck on the front of the ship, Kenny asked," By the way, Captain ,where exactly are we heading?" I smiled in response before I said," Boomecks. We're headed to Boomecks island." He looked puzzled and Levi,who had been listening in silently, then asked in an inquiring tone," And what's our goal there captain. No offense but you don't seem like you're going there to explore its wonders and landscape." I smirked this time before replying in a serious tone," We're going hunting. And our prey is a big shot. His name's Bjorn but they call him Bjorn the plunderer and he has quite the hefty sum of a bounty on him, 1.5 billion to be exact. As for why we're hunting him, well, I just want to challenge myself and grow stronger." They both looked surprised before Kenny just sighed in exasperation while Levi laughed. Levi laid his hand out in a " Give me" gesture to Kenny who just sighed before passing a ten thousand  berry note. I looked at him questioningly and he scratched the side of his head embarrassingly before he said ," we kinda had a bet on what our first objective as a crew would be and I bet it was gonna be an easy one that you would issue in order to get us into the groove of things. Levi bet it was something crazy as he thought you didn't seem like the typical pirate captain and it seems like he was right . I have never heard of a pirate hunting a billion berry man as his first objective with the first two members of his crew but I guess life surprises now and then."  My mouth twitched for a second before I sighed as it wasn't like he was wrong. I just sighed before I asked , " Since you're good at navigating ,which I'm still surprised at by the way,how long would you estimate until we reach Boomecks island?"  It was an unexpected, pleasant and welcome surprise finding out he was good at navigating and Levi was a good chef. While I wasn't bad at cooking or navigating, my main specialty lay in fighting so I gladly gave them roles of chef and navigator. While I was proficient at navigating , Kenny said he had been the art of navigating since he and his brother found out about the outside world and piracy. Levi had been a skilled chef the moment he could start cooking in the kitchen which was way longer than when I started to learn how to cook and navigate for six months. So I wasted no time assigning them those roles. Kenny looked at the log pose for Boomecks island and looked at a map I had bought of known islands in the New world in the Fish-man island market. He did some quick calculations before he said ," we should be there in 7 days at max and 6 if we keep sailing at this speed . Why ,you have something in mind, captain."  I nodded at his confirmation and a grin emerged on my face and I thought I saw a shiver pass through the brothers spines. 'Must have been my imagination', I thought. I then calmly gazed at both brothers,since we have a whole week, I'll try to help you get stronger than you currently are since Bjorn isn't  exactly weak and he might not be alone,'ll be reassured if you're not hurt when I clash with him. Now with that said, drop down and give me  a hundred." They both seemed to be in slight daze  before my voice woke them up when I yelled,'' Now!!!" And they both dropped down to the ship's floor and started doing push ups.