(Location: Shells Town)
(General POV)
After reading the article regarding the attack on the Marines and about how the message spelled out with their corpses was a warning by some mysterious force, most likely the Revolutionaries the newspaper guessed, Jack decided it was about time for him to leave. He had been alone for so long, he was starting to miss the quiet comfort that came when no one else was around. On top of which, he had yet to meet a group that wasn't out to get him. First it was pirates, then the Marines, though honestly he wasn't too choked up about it. He had after all gained a pretty tidy sum from both interactions, and had gotten that much stronger because of it.
Before he left he gathered up a lot more provisions, planning for the worst case scenario where he didn't find another town for a few more months. Also, he took the time during lunch to go through his [Inventory] and sell anything he didn't think he'd be able to sell normally. Like he had already planned, Jack sold the Marine warship, which went for a whole lot, though it was less than expected. 'I don't see how Duff's pirate ship went for $45 million berries and the warship only went for $125 million. The warship is like five times bigger, and it probably cost hundreds of millions to build the damn thing.' Jack ranted in his head before he let out a sigh and chalked it up to the [STORE] fucking with him like normal.
All said and done after selling everything that was useless to him, Jack had a little more than $215 million berries, which was quite surprising. He hadn't expected to make so much money so quickly, but he wasn't going to complain about it. On the contrary, he was already looking around for anything else he could steal from the Marines to help add to his growing reserves of money. The answer came when he was boarding his little boat down at the docks when he saw a Marine only shipyard with four ships that were a lot smaller than the warship he had already stolen, but they were bigger than the ship he had gotten from the Duff pirates. 'I guess that makes sense. There's no way these Marines wouldn't have their own ships on the island in case they had to sail out to deal with a disturbance.' Jack surmised as he looked at the little shipyard.
Without giving himself time to think of reasons why he shouldn't do it, Jack snuck into the shipyard and stole all four ships. Checking his [Inventory], he saw that each one sold for $50 million berries even, which again didn't quite match up when he compared them to the warship, but he was quickly coming to realize that the [STORE] made absolutely no sense and opted to just sell them and forget about it. With that, he now had $415 million berries, and if he sold the Goat-Goat Fruit, he'd only be $5 million berries away from being able to afford the Dark-Dark Fruit. 'I'm so close, I can almost taste it.' He told himself with a smile.
After setting off from Shells Town, Jack opened his map to try and think of his next destination, one where he could hopefully earn the last bit he needed to buy the Dark-Dark Fruit. As he was looking over the map, he saw an island he hadn't ever really thought about, but had heard of from the anime. Best of all, he knew of something that was on the island that he wanted. Something that called out to him. With his mind made up, Jack adjusted his course to the south, heading towards the island, Sixis.
*****
Over the next day or two he saw a bunch of merchant and fishing ships off in the distance, but he didn't feel like he needed to go and talk to them, nor did he feel like causing a stir with them either. Had they been Marines or pirates he might have just gone to deal with them for the sole purpose of getting the remaining amount he needed for the Dark-Dark Fruit, but sadly that was not meant to be. Even after four days he hadn't encountered another pirate, which would have lifted his spirits, but that didn't happen.
On the sixth day of sailing he finally saw something that made him smile. A Marine warship that looked almost identical to the one Captain Carson had sailed into Shells Town was coming straight towards him from the East, and though he might have usually been upset to see the Marines on any given day, at the moment all he could see was money.
When the ship finally pulled up beside him, Jack expected someone from atop it to call down to him and say something, but instead what happened was a man who looked bigger than Gates jumped from the deck of the marine ship without any warning, landing hard on Jack's much, much smaller ship, causing the boards on the deck to crack near where he landed.
It took a moment of Jack looking back and forth between the bigger man and the cracked deck of his boat before without warning he punched the guy as hard as he could and sent him flying into the warship, causing a splat that reminded him of an insect hitting the windshield of a car. There was some shouting coming from up on the deck of the warship, which only caused Jack to let out a sigh. He had already planned to kill them all and take the ship, but he was a little upset that they had broken his boat. Granted, it was probably an easy fix, but he didn't know how to fix a boat.
Like the Marine before, Jack didn't stand on ceremony and wait to be invited on board the ship. Leaping into the air, he landed on the deck in one smooth motion, and in a blink his weapons appeared in his hands without any of the Marines being able to understand where they came from. Jack immediately began firing bullets into the Marines, moving all the while and cutting them up with his sword.
He never stayed in the same spot for more than a second, not giving any of them time to get a good shot off onto him. "Enemy Attack!" They cried, however the shouts of attack were getting fewer and far between with every passing second. The whole thing was over in minutes, with every Marine on deck being either dismembered, shot, stabbed, and or a bit of all three.
Once the deck was cleared, Jack used Observation Haki to check for anyone else on the ship. There were a few Marines cowering below deck, and surprisingly there were three people in the brig. Getting rid of the threats first, Jack went down and slaughtered the Marines before he made his way towards the cells.
When he entered the room, he noticed right away that the three people he had sensed were two guys and a woman, all of whom were sharing a single cell, which was a little weird considering there were so many free ones about, but who was he to question why Marines did what they did. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Jack asked while standing in front of the cell holding the three people.
They eyed him suspiciously, especially the girl who was hiding behind one of the guys who, if Jack guessed right, was her brother. He figured that because they looked so similar, almost as if they were twins. The other guy didn't seem to be related to the two, but Jack could have been wrong. He was rather unique, with silver hair that was bordering on being white, and dark crimson eyes that gave him a sort of demonic look about him. 'He reminds me of Dante from Devil May Cry.' Jack thought as he eyed the guy. The guy was a little taller than Jack by an inch or two, but he looked a bit skinner. Jack honestly thought he could use some meat on his bones, because right now he looked kind of sickly.
"So, why exactly are the lot of you behind bars?" Jack asked after a while when no one said anything. Depending on their answer, he might let them go, or he might just kill them outright. He'd wait and see what they said. "We caught the eyes of a noble." The weird-looking guy answered simply. Wanting to know more, Jack urged them to explain things a bit better.
Evidently some nobleman saw them, figured he wanted some more slaves, and after having them arrested on some bullshit charges, they were now being escorted to the Goa Kingdom where they were to serve their new master. The woman was to be his concubine, but Jack didn't understand that. Sure she was beautiful and all, but she had a nasally voice that reminded him of Janice from F.R.I.E.N.D.S., and he couldn't get past that.
Jack had obviously been staring at the woman for a little longer than he should have, because the weird-looking guy stepped in front of both the girl and her brother, acting as a shield for them. "I have no intention of touching her." Jack said as he went about looking for the keys to the cell. When he found them he went to unlock the door, and as he did so he couldn't help but ask, "Say I did try to touch the girl, what was to stop me from just shooting you?"
At this, the white-haired man shrugged his shoulders before answering, "Then you better have killed me, because I wouldn't have let you touch her so long as I was alive." He liked that response, and found the guy to be rather amusing. "What's your name?" He asked curiously. "Luke Strauss. What's yours?" The man now known as Luke asked. "Jack Sparrow." Jack answered simply before he turned and left the room, leaving the others to stare dumbly at his back for a moment before they all decided it was in their best interest to follow along after him.
When they arrived above deck, Jack was in the midst of throwing the bodies of the Marines overboard, however he had yet to clean up the carnage that followed what could only have been called a massacre. All around there were the dismembered bodies of the Marines, and there wasn't anyone else around, which meant that all of this was done by the strange man who saved them.
The brother and sister just stood there watching everything, but Luke Strauss was quick on the uptake and began wandering around and grabbing the bodies before he dragged them over to the edge of the ship and threw them into the water below. After that, he even helped search the ship for anything of value and brought it all up on deck and put it by the main mast in one big pile. Jack of course took anything he could get his hands on, and when he finished he came and found the pile of stuff Luke had gathered for himself. Mostly it was weapons like swords, knives and guns, but there were a few bags of food and a few barrels of water, which was good thinking on his part. He had even managed to get his hands on a map, compass, and a spyglass.
Feeling a little impressed with the guy, Jack helped him get all of his stuff loaded on his little boat down below, and after that he gave the man a few hundred thousand berries. "You all are more than welcome to have the boat. Go wherever it is you want, I won't stop you. I wouldn't recommend going near the Marines again, but that's your prerogative." Jack told them, getting looks of appreciation from the brother and sister duo, however Luke just stared at him.
"Can I come with you?" Luke finally asked. "I'm afraid not. You're too weak to join me. Maybe one day when you're stronger, seek me out and we'll discuss this again." Jack said as he quickly went into the [STORE] and purchased another little boat that was identical to the one he had just given the three people, minus the cracked deck, and after making it appear in the water beside the warship, he climbed down and made the warship disappear before their very eyes.
Not bothering with good-byes, Jack directed the boat back on his original course. Looking over his shoulder at the three who were still stunned stupid he called out, "You will always remember this as the day you met the great, Captain Jack Sparrow!" And with that, he was off. 'Fucking nailed it!' He laughed internally, having wanted to say that line since the moment he decided to use Sparrow for his last name.
*****
Aboard his old boat, the three people could do naught but stare at Jack's retreating form. "I can't believe that just happened." The brother said to his sister, who was just as shocked as he was. Luke on the other hand was still in a daze, thinking to himself. 'I will get stronger, and one day I'll come find you again. Count on it.' Luke promised, vowing to himself that he would do whatever it took to join the man named Jack Sparrow. After all, how often did one come across a man who so easily killed the Marines? Luke had a vendetta against them, and he knew that the way to get his revenge was by joining that man. He could feel it.
*****
Back on his boat, Jack was quick to sell the Marine warship, and combined with the few million berries that had been on the ship, he now had a grand total of $542 million berries, and he didn't even have to sell the Goat-Goat Fruit either. 'I'm not going to lie to myself, there's no way I should have been able to get this much money this fast.' He thought happily even as he went into the [STORE] and began to scroll through it until he got to what he wanted.
==========
[Name: Dark-Dark Fruit]
[Cost: $500,000,000]
[Purchase: Yes/No]
==========
Selecting [Yes], he felt the Devil Fruit appear inside of his [Inventory]. Swallowing hard, he pulled out the Devil fruit and looked it over. The Dark-Dark Fruit was a large, round fruit that was about the size of a pineapple. It was light purple in color and looked to be made up of small teardrop-shaped components with swirl patterns with green leaves sprouting from the top of it. "Fuck yeah!" He couldn't help but cheer aloud, proud of the fact that he had finally managed to get the damn fruit that had been at the front of his mind for almost nine months.
To his surprised delight, a pamphlet appeared with the fruit, and after looking at it, he couldn't help but think of how informative his [STORE] could be.
==========
Name: Dark-Dark Fruit
Type: Logia
Sell-Price: $250,000,000
Description: Consuming the Dark-Dark Fruit grants the consumer control over darkness, granting them absolute authority over the void itself. Unlike most other Logia-type Devil Fruits, the consumer can't become intangible at will unless they are in a space devoid of light, the bane of darkness. Nothing can hide from the darkness.
Basic Abilities:
Black Hole: Spreads darkness over a large area, and much like an actual black hole, swallows up anything the user chooses. The user can control the gravity and all aspects inside the Black Hole.
Liberation: Used following Black Hole, expels all of the destroyed remains of whatever the darkness had swallowed up at once. Can be used in any direction, and with the gravitation powers under the user's Domain, can amplify the force of projectiles.
Black Vortex: Extending one arm towards an opponent or object, activates the gravity power of darkness to pull a person and or object into the user's grasp.
Nullification: The ability to nullify the powers of other Devil Fruits. The nullification of darkness is absolute, and so long as the consumer has eaten the Dark-Dark Fruit beforehand, they will be able to consume one other Devil Fruit.
==========
When Jack finished reading over the pamphlet, he was a little lost in thought. It had answered some of the questions he had about the Fruit, but it also left him with more questions as well. For one thing, everyone always thought that the Dark-Dark Fruit had the ability to take Devil Fruits from their hosts after Blackbeard was able to take Whitebeard's power from his corpse, but that didn't really make sense to Jack.
If that was the case, would the entire Devil Fruit come out of the person, or would just the power come out and be in Blackbeard's control until he put it into someone else? There were so many holes with that, that Jack had brushed off that theory rather quickly. Besides, Jack already knew how Devil Fruits respawned, and now he figured Blackbeard just had a fruit for Whitebeard's power and was able to consume it because of the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit.
Opting not to eat the Devil Fruit until he made land, Jack stored it away into his [Inventory]. It took another three days after that before he made it to Sixis, where upon getting close to the island he found that his little boat was getting pulled to the island. Not worried about it, he let himself be pulled right into the shore where, after making land, he jumped onto the island with a bit of excitement. Regardless of how barren the island seemed, he knew it wasn't entirely empty. After all, this was where Ace had gotten his hands on the Flame-Flame Fruit, something which Jack had full intention of claiming for himself.
Sixis was a tiny island, barely smaller than the island Jack had first appeared on when he was brought into this world. The forest was much smaller, and there didn't appear to be a mountain anywhere that he could climb to get a better view of his surroundings, but with his Haki, he didn't need it. It was by using Haki that Jack realized there was no life on this island whatsoever. Not even birds. 'It's a good thing I already stocked up on everything, otherwise I'd be screwed.' He concluded after seeing the place. Still, his objective for coming here wasn't to sight-see, but to find the Flame-Flame Fruit, so with that thought in mind, he moved out to begin his search.
He walked around the island first, checking for any sign of where it might be, and after not seeing anything he concluded that it was somewhere in the little forest. Heading there, he began to look around at the trees for any sign of it when suddenly he saw a tree with some weird-looking blue fruit the size of apples in it. Searching around the tree, Jack saw an orange fruit that stood out from the others, and he knew from the first glance that he had found the Flame-Flame Fruit. The pyromaniac inside of him was excited upon seeing the fruit, and he had to hold himself back from grabbing it and immediately biting into it.
Controlling himself, he put the fruit inside of his Inventory, double checking to make sure that it was actually in fact the Flame-Flame Fruit even though he knew without even checking that it was it. Still, it never hurts to be too careful. After that, he saw that it was getting late into the day, so he opted to go find a nice spot near the forest's edge where he made his little boat appear. It was going to act as his house while he was here as it actually had a bed he could sleep on. Given how the bathroom only worked if the boat was in the water, Jack figured he could just put it in the water near the shore if he really had to, but for now this would work.
*****
The next morning he woke up bright and early to get a good head start on the day. Choosing to opt out of training for once, Jack immediately went into his Inventory and grabbed the Dark-Dark Fruit, and without wasting anymore time, he took a big bite out of it. He knew from the anime that Devil Fruits all tastes disgusting, but nothing could have prepared him for how awful it truly was. He retched for a few seconds, doing his best to not throw it all back up, which was a challenge because it was easily the most vile thing he had ever had in his mouth, and he had eaten Lisa Thompson's asshole out on prom night.
It took a few minutes, but eventually the vile taste left his mouth, which wasn't soon enough according to him. With the worst part over with, Jack focused on the power of darkness and materialized an orb of inky blackness in the palm of his hand. The darkness formed at his mental command, being far easier than he thought it would. He practiced for hours with his new powers over darkness before he realized something that completely killed his mood. 'I have to eat the Flame-Flame Fruit now.' He thought sadly as he remembered why he had to eat the Dark-Dark Fruit first.
'I'll eat it tomorrow. I'm not going through that twice in one day.' He told himself, pushing back the matter for the moment. Besides, there was still so much he wanted to try out with just the Dark-Dark Fruit. He did some testing, he found out that he could in fact, NOT turn intangible so that things could pass through him, but that was okay. It wasn't like he had any intention of letting people hit him anyway. Testing out all of the abilities that were described in the pamphlet, Jack thought about the numerous different ways in which they could be used in battle, and he had to say, the only limit to his abilities were his imagination.
Jack had practiced late into the evening with his powers before he went to bed, and the next morning he awoke with a feeling of dread hanging over him, mostly because he knew what was on the menu. It took awhile of psyching himself up, but eventually he bit into the Flame-Flame Fruit, and like he expected, the Fruit tasted worse than ass. 'I don't know how it's possible, but it's worse than the other one.' He complained to himself, silently lamenting his life choices up until now.
Just like the first time, it took a few minutes for the vile taste to go away, and only then was he able to focus on the raging fire that was burning inside of him. Doing just as he had done with the Dark-Dark Fruit, he mentally WILLED the power of his flames into existence, however to his surprise, something weird happened. Unlike the orange flames he was expecting to see, the fire that was dancing across his fingers was as black as night. 'Did both Fruits combine somehow?' He wondered in surprise.
Honestly, he thought it was going to be a bit like in the anime where Blackbeard used the power of Darkness with one hand and then Whitebeard's power with the other, but then he realized that was kind of stupid. Blackbeard probably only did that so he could show off using both powers at the same time, but there was no way the powers were restricted to one part of his body. If that were the case, all someone had to do was cut off his arm and then he would only be able to use one power, which was stupid.
Letting the pyromaniac inside of him free, Jack unleashed a wave of pure terror across the water's surface, causing a wave of steam to instantly rise into the air while the water's surface remained on fire. Testing something again, he unleashed just darkness over the black flames, and when it disappeared, the flames were gone. Jack spent the entire day testing the limits of his powers, and he had to say, he was downright impressed. He could unleash a wave of fire at a tree with the sole purpose of consuming the tree until it was nothing, and it would disappear into nothing. What was cool about that was also the fact that everything else the black flames touched remained completely unaffected, meaning he only burned what he wanted to burn. It would definitely help in a situation where friendly-fire was a concern.
Testing out his powers individually was entirely possible even though it seemed they both fused together, it was just more natural to use them together than it was to use them separately. He could still make his flames orange if he wanted to, but after using the black flames, they just weren't as cool. On the contrary, they reminded him a lot of Amaterasu from Naruto, and that by itself was a broken ass ability.
One thing he tried was going inside the Black Hole he created, but when that didn't work he tried something else. He created a sphere of darkness before jumping inside of it, and like he suspected, he could move about freely inside of it, almost as if he ruled over that domain. It reminded him of the Op-Op Fruit in a way, only he didn't have absolute control over others in there like Law did with his power.
Another thing he discovered that was downright awesome, was after consuming the Flame-Flame Fruit he was able to go intangible, meaning he didn't have to worry about a lot of the physical attacks of others. Just the ones who could use Haki. He could also basically turn into a shadow and move unseen across the ground, which just added even more to his threat level, especially if he attacked at night. His speed while moving across the ground like a shadow was no joke, and he felt that the only real threat to his speed would have been Kizaru, but that guy could move at the speed of light, so Jack didn't bother to make that comparison for long. Instead he continued to train his powers.
*****
After a few months of doing everything he could think of with his powers, Jack decided it was time to go back to the basics. Going into the [STORE] he found the Six Powers techniques, doing a little sigh after he saw the price for them.
==========
[Name: Moonwalk Manual]
[Description: Gives complete and accurate instruction on how someone can push themselves off the air itself with superhumanly strong kicks, allowing them to travel through and remain in midair for an extended period of time, giving the impression to those observing that they are flying.]
[Cost: $10,000,000]
[Name: Shave Manual]
[Description: Gives complete and accurate instruction on how to show someone to move at extremely high speeds, making them harder to hit, as well as to attack at higher speeds with greater power.]
[Cost: $10,000,000]
[Name: Tempest Kick Manual]
[Description: Gives complete and accurate instruction on how to create a powerful bladed-projectile technique with nothing but one's own body.]
[Cost: $10,000,000]
[Name: Finger Pistol Manual]
[Description: Gives complete and accurate instruction on how to perform a close-quarter combat technique, in which the user uses their finger to pierce the target's flesh at a very high speed.]
[Cost: $10,000,000]
[Name: Paper Art Manual]
[Description: Gives complete and accurate instruction on how to relax one's body and make it take on the characteristics of a piece of paper; this grants the user extraordinary flexibility that allows them to avoid any attacks. The body being in this paper-like state also allows the user to float on the wind, as well as the ability to bend and contort their body in ways that they normally wouldn't be able to.]
[Cost: $10,000,000]
[Name: Iron Body Manual]
[Description: Gives complete and accurate instruction on how to harden one's muscles to the level of iron, an effect that seems to extend to their skin, greatly boosting their durability.]
[Cost: $10,000,000]
==========
After reading over the Six Powers techniques, Jack checked how much money he had, finding that there was only $42 million berries remaining after he had purchased the Dark-Dark Fruit, meaning he could only buy four of them. Had that joke of a manual he had looted off of Captain Carson proved worthwhile he would have been able to afford all of them, but as it stood, that manual was more of a hindrance than a boon, which was why Jack had already burned it to ash. With his options limited, Jack decided that Moonwalk was a must, as was Iron Body, Finger Pistol, and Shave. He could buy the remaining two manuals at a later date when he had the money for them, but for now, this was the best he could do.
With that, he purchased the manuals he had decided on, and then got right to reading.
*****
::::Interlude::::
As God watched his entertainment continue to beat himself for his training, one question kept swimming in his thoughts. 'What is wrong with him?' God had been monitoring Jack ever since he came to this world, and for the most part he was extremely amused. When he watched Jack kill the pirates after leaving his starting island he was surprised that this mortal, who had never killed before, had no qualms about ending the life of not just one, but multiple people without being phased in the slightest. Normally any mortal who had come from a world as narrow-minded as Earth would have doubts about killing, or at least show some form of remorse, but not this one.
God had laughed his metaphorical ass off when he watched his pawn kill the Marines, and then using their corpses he spelled "JUSTICE SERVED". It was a direct "FUCK YOU" to the face to those who preached what justice actually was, and he rather enjoyed watching it. He had seen how the little mortal had stopped seeing Marines as people, and though that should have been a little concerning for a mortal, he didn't care. On the contrary, it was funnier than shit.
Then when he saw Jack get to Sixis and eat both Devil Fruits, he had expected him to move on to the next island after getting used to his powers, but again, Jack seemed to surprise him. He didn't just spend a week or two on the island, he spent an entire fucking year there training and doing dumb ass shit. 'What kind of a nutjob is he? He trained almost non-stop for the first eight months that he was in this world, and after getting a taste of civilization, he hides himself a way for a fucking year for more training. Honestly, with his gifts and his drive to get stronger, I wonder how much longer this world has left.' God wondered, finding the whole thing to be rather ridiculous.
Still though, after watching the mortal train his swordsmanship even further, and then train his mastery over guns as well, God was happy to see that his pawn had finally decided to leave the island. 'Let's watch the world burn.' God laughed as he watched Jack get ready to set sail.
::::End of Interlude::::