To Be The Strongest

Akane and her crew had been lazying about for the last few days. They had resupplied their ship, explored as much as they liked on the island and bought what they would need.

Ban had also refilled their treasury with the dirty money of thieves and people who didn't see right from wrong. It could've been avoided had they taken another victim instead of Ban.

Right now they were just waiting for the log pose to adjust so they could move on. This island had been fun and they would probably visit it again when they were close by, but for now it had outlived its charms.

Akane was passing the time with Ban as they were both playing with the little Jade rabitts called Ivy and Maple. Ban had planned to use them for dinner, but having found out they didn't have that much meat on them, he took back his words. The glare he had received from Akane halped a lot too.

Akane was really fond of animals and when they'd build a new ship at Water 7, there would probably be a room for the animals she decided to bring with her. It wouldn't even be strange if there were trees planted on the ship.

After having relaxed for a long time, Ban and Akane decided to spend their last day here at a bar in town. They could taste the good liquor from here for the last time and they intended to fully enjoy it. Akane looked forward to it, even though she might pass out from just a few cups, it would've been worth it. She fully intended to collect a secret stash of good liquor to drink on special occasions.

"It still marvels me to see people with an extra joint. I mean, I've seen demons, Fairies, vampires and giants. It amazes me that there are still all kinds of races I haven't seen before." Ban said as he looked at the peculiar looking long arm tribe.

Akane laughed and poked him in the side with her elbow.

"You haven't seen all yet. There are still fishmen and mermaids and like your world has, we have giants too. Then there are Sky people, who have wings on their back, the Minks who look like animals walking on two legs, the longleg tribe, the three eye tribe, dwarves and a few other races. There is quite the diversity in this world, though I really want to visit your world once we've found a way there." Akane said as she looked forward to that time.

What would Ban's home world look like? What kind of powers and weapons would they use there? From what she'd heard from Ban, they used magic. Magic was something completely foreign for her, though she had a vague imagine thanks to Ban's 'snatch' abillity.

"Well, I'll show you around one we cross that bridge. Let's enjoy ourselves for now, right~"

Ban's casual smirk was back and he led them towards the best bar in the city.

They sat down near the counter and ordered for a few expensive bottles to be brought to the ship, while they enjoyed their own liquor.

There was a pleasant atmosphere in the room as there was boisterous laughter and amazing stories to be heard. Despite all that, Akane could hear from somewhere behind her a man talking in slight panic. When she listened carefully to their story, he face became pale as a bad feeling welled up inside of her.

Aokiji and a whole fleet was coming their way. She had confidence in her strength, but she wasn't so confident in battling against more than seven warships and a Admiral.

She could still remember how strong Garp had been, Aokiji couldn't be worse than that, as he had already attained the rank of Admiral.

She tugged at Ban's sleeve, who looked at her with the same merry smile on his face.

"Ban, we need to prepare. An admiral from the Marines is coming our way. I know you're strong, but we need to prepare ourselves to run away should he be too strong for us."

Akane said as they left the bar.

Ban's smile widened as if he could already imagine the fight.

"Ne, once we've prepared, we can still fight him right? Laffitte can sail ahead of us while you can carry us to safety should the admiral be too much to handle."

"Sure. We can still battle him, but the log pose needs to be adjusted for Laffitte to depart. From what I've heard, Aokiji's ship will arive in the morning. The log pose will be adjusted around the same time, so we also need to buy time for Laffitte to create some distance. Think you can do it?"

Akane looked at Ban, the pale face gone with a taunting look in her eyes to replace it.

"Who do you think I am? We could easily handle him, after all, I'm undead. He can't kill me even if he wanted to. If you're scared you can leave him to me, little fox. I'll take care of it nice and easy." Ban returned the taunting, the ship already clear in the distance.

"Well, let's see if I can finally break my losing streak, you annoying prick."

Akane said as on her lips was the same battle hungry smile as on his face.

They told Laffitte of the incoming danger. Laffitte didn't seem to bothered by it as he agreed with their plan. He would've decided the same had he heard of it first.

With that taken care of, the trio readied the ship to be able to depart as soon as it could and took their rest to be in the best shape for the coming battle.

So far, Akane was sure they would try to capture and not kill her. She could use that to her advantage and cut down their ships and numbers to make it easier to depart.

With everything going according to plan, Akane rested in the warm arms of Ban while she slowly dozed off.