Eden did not bother to hide in the slightest as he walked out of the Bowels of Shipwreck City, and headed for the Cloudtop part of the city.
Pirates and Players alike saw him, yet none dared to approach as all they needed was a single glance to understand there was something wrong with Don Rafael.
Ignoring them, Eden walked up to the chamber of the Brethren Court, where the Pirate Lords would meet. It was empty at the moment, because of the ruckus he had caused just now.
It was a large room, the largest Eden had seen, constructed out of two ship hulls. There was a large table in the middle, around which the chairs on which the different Pirate Lords would sit at.
At the end of the table though was a different chair, one that was distinctly more ornate than the others.
Eden sat down in that chair.
It did not take long for the doors to once again be opened, and Edward Teague walked in. He was followed by the other Pirate Lords, as well as a crowd of regular pirates, and probably some Players.
Even as a group of veritable superhumans escorted by an army entered the room, Eden simply laid back, his feet on the table as he greeted lazily, "Took your time, my fellow Pirate Lords."
Said Pirate Lords stood frozen, staring at him and the blank-faced Rafael with wide eyes. Eden taped Rafael's side, adding with an amused tone, "Don't worry about him, he's an undead. Thankfully, he kindly passed his Piece of Eight, along with his title, before dying. It was mighty kind of him."
Mentioning the Piece of Eight erased any doubts Eden might not know about them, cementing his position as one of their own.
Edward Teague's face was stony as he spoke, "You expect us to accept someone like you in our midst?"
Eden tilted his head, asking, "Where's the problem? I'm famous, feared, I killed my predecessor, got his Piece of Eight. I'd say I meet all conditions to be one. Besides, it's not like you can exactly afford to refuse any allies, considering your current situation."
Boris stepped forward, and barked, "You mean the situation you caused? We know you are the leader behind the Rogue Pirates! I say we give his head to the French and the Spanish and be done with it!"
This earned him very little support among his fellow Pirate Lords.
On the other side of the room, Eden smiled at the Russian Pirate Lord, and deadpanned, "Yes, the Rogues. I don't know how they managed to make you believe that. Since you've heard the French and the Spanish were coming for me, you must also know they only want me alive. Makes perfect sense."
Boris snarled back, "Then we break whatever limb you have left and give-"
"You shut the fuck up you Russian pig!" Eden's sudden outburst shocked everyone, Boris especially. This shock instantly turned into rage as he took out his flintlock, and fired at Eden.
However, all that did was blow a hole into the back of his chair as Eden dodged the bullet by simply tilting his head.
The shot having missed, Eden burst out into laughter, portraying himself as an unstable madman as he wheezed amidst his laughter, "You really suck at covering your tracks, Mr. Rogue!"
The other Pirate Lords looked at Boris suspiciously, along with the pirates present. Before things could degenerate even more though, Teague ordered, "Everyone out! This is the affair of the Pirate Lords!"
Despite the current chaotic situation, the respect and fear Teague commanded remained unchanged as the pirates left the room, closing behind them. The Players that had arrived were reluctant to be left out, but they knew they could not force their way in, unless they wanted to die a very painful death.
Once they were left alone, Teague looked back at Eden and said, "You're in my seat."
Eden cocked an eyebrow, asking, "Would you rather I destroy this room? All you've got to do is ask."
Teague was displeased, but the reckless persona Eden had shown so far did its job as the legendary pirate reluctantly sat down on another chair, followed by the other Pirate Lords. They all looked at Eden hostilely.
Ignoring the stares, Eden explained, "I think Boris' has made it obvious enough he is the leader behind the Rogues, but that doesn't really matter, because we are going to need every man we can get."
Villanueva twirled his mustache, saying, "While I am grateful you finally rid this world of the scourge that was Rafael, I say we capture you and hand you over."
"And you think the French and the Spanish are just going to leave you alone? You think that the two enemy kingdoms, who have allied under the orders of someone, would just… leave? Fucking retard."
Villanueva unsheathed his sword, leaping from his seat to attack Eden. He did not even flinch though as Rafael easily parried the blow, and kicked Villanueva away.
"Enough!"
Teague had taken out two pistols, pointing one at each of the two. Villanueva screamed an insult in Spanish before sitting back down, his sword not returning to its sheath.
Slowly lowering his guns, Teague warned, "We can kill him once the threat at hand is dealt with."
Eden gave them a charming smile, not minding the threat in the slightest as he said, "Finally, a gentleman with some brains. Now, I have a plan to deal with them, wanna hear it?"
Mistress Ching scoffed, "Who do you think are, the Pirate King? You think we would listen to the plan of an inexperienced youngster?"
Eden shrugged, "Fine, listen to the old bat if you want. I can't wait for you bunch of scurvy dogs get sent to Davy Jones' locker."
Boris kept quiet, knowing he was in no small amount of troubles himself with the suspicions of being the Rogue Leader weighing on him.
Teague looked at Boris intently, and said, "There's not going to be any plan if we don't know what we are dealing with. I say we send a ship to scout the enemy forces. Boris will do. All in favor?"
All Pirate Lords were proud individuals, and would get revenge against any who dared to trample upon said pride.
Teague was no different from the others in this aspect. However, if there was one thing he abhorred even more, it was those who broke the Pirate Code.
Boris, as the leader of the Rogue Pirates, was thus an even worse figure than Eden in his eyes.
Eden lazily rose his hand, "Aye!"
"Aye!"
"Aye!"
The other two agreed as well, prompting Boris to slam his hands on the table, screaming, "Is this a joke? You believe him? Send that petulant child instead!"
Unexpectedly, Eden grinned, and replied, "Gladly!"
Teague was not amused as he stated, "So you want to give him the opportunity to leave and escape? I suppose you are volunteering yourself to be the one who will explain where he went to the Spanish and the French then?"
Boris clenched his fists, and one of his hands moved slowly towards his weapon. Teague's movements mirrored his.
"Well, we could do that, or you could listen to my plan."
Boris' movement paused, which Eden took as an invitation to say his piece, "I know of a place where we could fight. An island East of here."
Mistress Ching immediately interjected, "I know your kind, sorcerer. If you think we are going to follow you into a trap, you are sorely mistaken," she turned to Boris, "I think our plan is good enough already."
Boris gritted his teeth, clearly hesitating whether to start a fight right there and then, before an idea came to his mind.
He looked around and challenged, "Do you all take me to be some expandable pawn?" he turned his attention to Eden, "Once I'm dead, they are coming after you. What do you say we team up? If we leave, they can't stop us," he looked back at the other Pirate Lords, "unless you think you can kill us?"
The room was tense as everyone had their hands on their weapons, and Rafael was now standing right over Eden's shoulder, ready to attack at the slightest hint of a threat.
Then, the fuse was lit, and Teague shot at Boris and Eden.
Thanks to his Talent, Eden dodged the shot by lowering himself beneath the table, the back of his chair getting completely obliterated. These were not normal guns.
As for Boris, although he did not managed to dodge, the bullet hit him in the shoulder, but Boris himself also shot Teague.
"I cast Mists of the Underworld."
That was the last thing they saw before the entire room was covered in a thick blanket of darkness.
Eden felt himself get pulled away as Rafael, under his orders, jumped on top of the table, rushing forward. They reached Boris in an instant, whom Rafael grabbed with his other arm. Before he could attack, Eden yelled, "Don't resist!"
Boris, who had been about to slash at Rafael's arm, relaxed as he followed. Four more gunshots echoed, but they all missed because of the darkness.
As they reached the end of the table, the doors were slammed open, a veritable sea of pirates pushing each other to enter. The moment they opened the doors however, the darkness spread out a meter beyond the door, engulfing those in front in the spell.
"I cast Strengthened Fireball!"
They did not even see it coming as the pirates in front were swallowed by the flames.
"I cast Strengthened Fireball!"
The few that managed to survive the first one were finished off by the second as some more were hit, and a large area was suddenly cleared off.
"I cast Strengthened Fireball!"
The first few fireballs had already extended out of the Mists of the Underworld, making some retreat seeing the others get burned. A few were brave enough to stay however, had no time to react as a third fireball flew out of the darkness, and exploded in their mists.
As the few unlucky survivors screamed in pain, Boris, Rafael and Eden ran out of the darkness. Eden had Rafael drop Boris as he shouted, "To the ships!"
Boris said nothing as he accelerated, and his men took that as confirmation as they ran off as well.
Soon after, the other Pirate Lords ran out of the Grand Chamber as well, and ordered for Eden and Boris to be stopped. However, the scene was already far too chaotic for anyone to properly follow their orders.
However, as Eden ran, he heard a familiar laughter as two figures approached, running alongside him.
"You crazy wizard, what's the plan!" This was none other than Barbossa, with Drakon following closely.
Eden shared a look with Drakon, before answering, "We're leaving this damned place! Let Boris take the lead!"
"Are we taking Don Rafael's ship? I'm sure he won't mind!"
Eden shook his head however, "No, let it be the bait. We leaving the same way we came in!"
The group of enhanced individuals did not hesitate to leap down the broken ships as they quickly reached the port, where the ship they had arrived in was.
Fortunately, it seemed that Ragetti and Pintel, who had stayed to watch the ship, were smarter than they looked as they had already started preparing the ship, and by the time they reached it, they were ready to leave port.