The twelfth supernova: Leah

Chapter 23

Gale and the shipwrights were surrounding a table as she started designing a ship for the pirates that arrived. "So, the pirates want a ship that can traverse the Grandline?"

"Yeah, I can't wait to start on it, I haven't had an order like this in a long time." She said excitedly.

The workers laughed at her excitement. "I wonder if they can pay the price for this?" One shouted between laughs.

"The paid the down payment so it's good so far."

"They better have the rest of the money for us."

Back on the Slithering Snake, the crew were on the deck talking amongst each other. "Good thing we have enough money to pay for the ship." Leah said lazily, just laying down watching the sky.

"Barely!" William tensly said. "Money will be an issue once we set sail."

"How much will be left?" Truffle asked worried about the food budget.

"Around 500,000 Belle." He responded.

"What?" The crew minus Leah shouted.

"Well, we knew that a new ship was going to be expensive." Leah said calmly. "But we will have a ship and we can earn money as we go."

"She's right our roads were tough just being here and we all knew that the road ahead would be together." Atlanta said staring solemnly at the deck.

Truffle put her arm around Atlanta in comfort. "Well, most of you guys are wanted, how are we going to earn money?" Andy asked.

"Yeah, it's not like people hire pirates for work." Annie said.

'That almost makes sense.' William thought.

"Maybe we can get a discount?" Leah asked.

"How?" William asked skeptically.

"A few pirate ships decide to come and attack the docks and we come in fend them off and or kill the pirates." Leah said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The crew looked at her blankly. 'There is no way that is happening.' They told themselves in their head.

A second later an explosion was heard and they quickly turned to see a warehouse on fire. They then turned to see five ships of varying size approaching the docks. The crew minus Leah had their mouths drop. The captain rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. 'I didn't actually want pirates to attack.' She thought in a panic.

On the largest ship of the pirate flee, the 10 ft tall captain was siting on a throne like chair on the deck looking over his forces as they began their attack on the docks. He looked at his ships, all were in a form of disrepair, but for this mission they would do. The ships for his future fleet and the money from the mermaid will set them up for success.

"Fire everything that we got!" The captain ordered. "Our rebuild begins today!"

Gale and the other shipwrights were shaking trying to find cover when a cannonball was heading straight towards them. They braced for impact only for the canon ball to be intercepted by liquid chocolate. Everyone looked confused until they followed a chocolate link connected to Truffle.

"You all okay?" Leah shouts as she and her crew run toward them.

"Yeah, but we don't really have a means to fight the pirates." One of the shipwrights said.

"Do you have any canons?" She asked.

"Ahh!" One of the shipwrights shouted.

"What's wrong?" Gale asked.

"It's the Warwick pirates!" The shipwright screamed in fear.

"What, I thought that they were on the Grandline!" One said scared.

"He must have came back." Another speculated.

"Who are the Warwick pirates?" Leah asked.

"You have not heard of one of the most dangerous pirate crews in the West Blue?" A worker asked in shock.

"Explain later fight them now!" William shouted.

Leah refocused on the task at hand. "I got a plan!"

Sorry for the long wait. I thank you all for you patients after a month of waiting. I should get in the grove with my new job and writing on my free time or when I get time. Thank you for reading.