Chapter 10: Chapter 9
As soon as they arrived near Lougetown, the first phase of their plan began.
Bonney transformed herself into an old woman in her early fifties and then she did the same to Augur, transforming him into an old man. The two of them then wore black cloaks and downed their hoods to hide their faces. Augur did not wear his beloved Sniper on his back but held a giant Axe in its place.
"We are ready, Captain." He said.
Black Pearl was now anchored four miles away from Loguetown, hidden on the back of the Polestar Islands, where they could not easily be seen by the Marine scouts. Some cargo ships did change their course after seeing their ship, but the Town had not been alarmed about their presence.
Sin did not need to explain the plan to them as they were not doing it for the first time. Both Jewellery and Augur had other identities and those were of Pirate Hunters Jewel and Axe, famous in the West Blue.
"You have your story ready?" He asked.
"Yup." Bonney nodded to him. "If they ask how we found these three, we will say that we found them on the beach of a deserted Island in this condition."
The Marines were bound to know that Blackstar Crew had defeated Arlong Pirates, and if suddenly two people came to their base to collect the bounty on their heads, the suspicions were inevitable.
Sin nodded to them and did not say anything else. In case something went wrong, he was confident that they were capable enough to hold their own. The strength of the Marines in the Four Seas was substandard when compared to the Marines in the Grandline, and both of them were adept fighters.
A sailing boat was readied for them by Bepo and Law, and the unconscious Fishmen, who had been tortured quite generously by Bepo practising his Mink Arts on them, were bound and piled up on it.
Bonney and Augur took their leave, and the rest of the Crew patiently waited for their return, focusing on their daily tasks and training.
Nami and Nojiko were quite worried about Bonney, and after nightfall, they were distressed that something might have happened to her.
Robin assured them that they would be fine, asking the two girls to focus on their studies, but the little girls only calmed down when their favourite sister returned a couple of hours later.
"I suppose there was some trouble?" Hancock lightly smiled when she saw how displeased Bonney looked.
"That bastard new Captain of Lougetown Marine Base was suspicious of us. He kept us waiting in a room for hours, and when he finally called us to his smoke-filled office, which nearly choked us, he looked at us as if we had killed his family."
"Any questions about our Crew?" Robin asked.
"No." She shook her head. "I went with the story we had prepared, and, in the end, he gave us our money after some routine questions." Augur placed the two briefcases on the table. "39.5 Million Berries." Bonney happily said.
"39.5?" Sin raised his brow at the figure.
"Arlong's bounty was raised by 5 million earlier today by the Marine Headquarters." She smirked. "Lucky us."
"More the merrier." Sin chuckled and raised his mug of mead.
"Kanpaii!!"
They all cheered and chugged down their drink, which in the case of Nami and Nojiko was fruit juice. Hachi was quiet as he found it inappropriate to celebrate the occasion, and peacefully ate the delicious dinner he had prepared for everyone with the help of Robin and Nojiko.
The next morning, after a peaceful night where they were still undiscovered by the Marines, the Blackstar Crew were ready for some fun. Bonney used the Power of her Devil Fruit to age herself in her mid-thirties so that she could be deemed the mother of Nojiko and Nami. After which she then took the two girls for some shopping in the town.
Kuina, Law, and Bepo entered the town to shop for some supplies for their next journey, and they were not particularly worried about being recognised since the Marines only had the image of their Captain in their records. But Bepo still wore a cloak as a Mink was bound to attract attention in these waters.
Sin took Robin and Hancock with him to explore the town, leaving the Black Pearl in the care of Augur and Hachi. He had to formally introduce the two of them to the Marines and had some complaints about his picture on the Wanted Poster that he needed to talk about.
The Marines stationed at the Dock were alarmed when the three of them appeared out of a lightning bolt.
"Black D. Sin!" A soldier immediately recognised him, which he was really pleased to see.
He let them signal the Alarm bells and causally walked past them with his arms wrapped around the waists of his two companions.
The three of them did not care even when the Fire was opened on them, as the bullets just passed right through their bodies, scaring the life out of the soldiers.
Sin evilly started laughing, and to scare them even more, created some thunderclaps, that rocked the entire town. He had already used his Observation Haki to find the direction of the Marine Base and took the shortest route towards it.
A couple of blocks away from the Marine Base, a signboard caught Sin's attention, and he stopped to intently look at it.
"Gold Roger Bar." He smirked. "Let's go meet this brave person who dares to name his bar after that man."
They were not sure what they were expecting, but the bar was empty, and only an old man was working at the counter.
The old man looked at the three of them, and he seemed to be surprised at their presence.
"The new Don of the East Blue." The old man gruffly chuckled. "What can I get you?"
"Your best Rum." Sin smiled at him and took his seat at the counter.
There were quite some Wanted Posters pasted on the walls of the famous Pirates that hailed from East Blue. And even some from its sister Seas.
"Here to loot the Marines again?" The old man jokingly asked as he served them his best Rum.
"More to complain about my picture on the Wanted Poster." Sin chuckled and gulped down the glass of Rum in one go. "I hope you have more of these on you, old man."
"Don't worry. I have a surplus of supplies since my business took a hit a month ago." He poured himself some from the same bottle and took a sip. "My name's Raoul, and it would be appreciated if you don't call me an Old man."
His request made Robin smile, and she turned to look at the Wanted Poster he had framed on the front wall.
"Gold Roger
Dead or Alive
27,000,000"
"Roger's first Bounty," Robin commented.
"Aye." Raoul nodded his head. "He was a man of ambition, who had an unyielding desire to explore the world."
"So you knew him?" Sin raised his brow and asked.
Raoul nodded his head and looked at the first Wanted Poster of Gold Roger.
"He used to come here for a drink, and the last time I met him, he was about to step inside the Evil Sea with his Crew," Raoul recalled the day with a fond smile. "I warned him about its dangers, but it only motivated him more to head there. He was quite stubborn about his dreams." He chuckled and drank his glass dry, before coughing heavily.
"And you ask people to not call you an old man, Old Man." Sin laughed and poured himself some more Rum.
Raoul took the challenge and poured himself another glass. He emptied it in one go and managed to hold back the coughs this time, prompting Sin and the girls to chuckle at his antics.
"Are you heading to the Grandline?" The Old Man curiously looked at the three of them.
"Aye, the Grandline." Sin stared at the Rum in his glass as he swirled it around with a light smile.
"You don't seem too excited about the journey," Raoul noted.
"The weight of our dreams is too heavy." Hancock cryptically said to the old man. "But the lack of excitement is probably because the three of us have been there before."
Raoul did not seem too surprised at the revelation that they had been to the Evil Sea before. However, he was quite interested in their dreams.
"Finding One Piece and becoming the King of Pirates. Eh?" He chuckled as he guessed what their dream was.
Ever since the start of the Great Pirate Era, it was what most Pirate Crews were after.
"King of Pirates?" Sin smirked at him. It felt like he held the title in contempt, which made Raoul frown at him. "It is not enough." Sin lightly spoke. "We will conquer the World, Old Man. 'King of Pirates' was but a title that was given out to the most dangerous Pirate of an era by the World Government."
There was a deathly silence in the bar after his words. Raoul could see it in the haunting grey eyes of Sin that he was not joking. It was similar to how Roger had once said that he would conquer the Grandline, but where his yearning stemmed from his desire to explore the world, Sin literally wanted to conquer it to rule over it.
"Is that your dream?"
"No." Sin shook his head and smiled brightly. "It is what accomplishing all our dreams would lead us to."
"And if you fail?" Raoul curiously asked.
"Then we fail." The three of them replied in unison and smiled at him. They were ready for everything, and it was clear that they cherished something even more than their dreams. And they already possessed it.
Seeing how confident they were, Raoul could not help but smile as well.
"I hope I live long enough to see the day you rule the world." He said and raised his glass.
"Kanpai!"
The four of them emptied their glasses and then turned quiet as they waited for what was to come. There was a sound of heavy steps approaching them, but they continued drinking in silence, ignoring that the bar was now surrounded by all the Marines present in Loguetown.
"Pirate, Black D. Sin. You are under arrest." A gruff voice said from behind him, and smoke started filling up the room.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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