It had been six years since Birdie had first met Cervantes in Alabasta. Since then their small band of 10 pirates had expanded to the better side of 50. They had taken their fair share of losses along the way, but the end result was they were steady expanding. Today they had just returned to Jaya Island after a trip to Baltigo. They had lost a few men in the process, but they were looking to replace some of their fallen crewmates. The Blackmarket wasn't just about tossing Beli in auction houses, but had its dirty side as well which involved it's fair share sabotaging rival operations and some times killing people not even involved with you just for the sake of staying good with important names.

"How do you feel about this one Birdie." Cervantes chuckled grimly and flashed his filthy teeth as he did so. On the deck of their ship, the Arakhne, Birdie stood on Cervantes right side hands in pocket chuckling along with him. "I don't think he knows what he's getting into and I don't care to watch another "dream chaser" get culture shocked." Cervantes nodded in agreement and wafted his hand to the side dismissing the man like a fart. With a drooping neck the man walked away, the crew that stood behind Birdie and Cervantes jeering as he did so.

The next person that stepped forth was a lazy looking fellow in a purple based outfit. To Cervantes this was just another thirsty person looking to get in their crew for a piece of the pie they were set on claiming. To Birdie this was one of his trusted followers, Verde. Verde would be amongst a few other of Birdie's followers that were unknowingly planted within the crew, he just hoped he didn't have to press so hard for the scruffy looking chump to be taken. "Hmmm, you got any talents?" Birdie sat on the deck of the ship with a leg propped up, the knee of which he rested his elbow on as he watched on. "I'm a pretty good blacksmith, so I guess I could help repair stuff and build things." Birdie was hoping for a bit of a better answer for Verde's sake. "Wow and I can piss standing up and wash my hands after I shit." Cervantes scoffed and Birdie couldn't even blame him. The youth wasn't even trying to represent himself in any spectacular manner, though Birdie and him had spoken of this moment many times prior to this day. Getting a little anxious and stressed out, Birdie sucked his teeth in an unsure manner as he scratched his head.

"Ehhhh, I don't know, I think he might have some potential. How old are you kid?" Verde scratched his head lazily, but in a thoughtful manner. "Uhhh, should be turning nineteen sometime soon." Birdie turned his attention towards Cervantes at this remark. "He might have some use in the future if we groom em right." Cervantes squinted his eyes at Birdie a bit before looking at Verde then looking back at Birdie for a short while before speaking. "Alright, we'll take him, but he's your child to breastfeed." Mentally sighing, Birdie made an intangible note to make Verde's first task the shittiest thing he could think of for showing so poorly.

"Hah, fair enough I guess. Hope you aren't as big of a shitter as you look." Verde continued to scratch his head as he walked over to the side and joined the circle of crewmates who watched Birdie and Cervantes make their picks at the aspiring pirates.

 

As the next prospect stepped forward Birdie couldn't lie and say his interest wasn't peeked. It was evident Cervantes was feeling a wave of enthusiasm as well, but that's what made Birdie skeptical on the whole thing. He'd never seen the bloke in the flesh, Daniel Blooms, so this could very well be some freeloading imposter and given how he carried himself Birdie was almost sold on it. Cervantes however took it at face value as did the rest of those in attendance. Cheering and breathes of awe were released amongst whispers about rumors they heard about the man who was Daniel. Birdie alone wasn't letting what his eyes saw influence him to make an impulsive decision. Still sitting on the deck of the ship he rubbed his length of hair on his chin and mentally questioned the motives of the man before him. "He could easily make his own crew if he wanted to or just as easily get drafted into a bigger more established crew." Birdie's eyes were fastened on the young lad ignoring the fact he stood there silently saying nothing, perhaps waiting to be questioned.

While Birdie sat in a term of meditation Cervantes took the reigns. "Well if you won't speak, I will. What brings someone like you to a crew like my own?" Birdie was surprised to see Cervantes didn't take all that glittered like gold without testing it first. Perhaps he was a bit more honed than he suspected. Birdie's focus was drawn out of his thoughts into the corporeal world awaiting the could be infamous pirate's response.

 

Birdie thought on the man's words. It did make sense that other Pirates would want his head given the type of place Jaya was, but at the same time it was a bit odd to him. "Imposter or not, just his resemblance alone could prove to be a good bargaining chip in the future. If he turns out to be the real deal, even better." Cervantes looked down at the sitting Birdie, then looked back at Cappadona nodding before flashing his filthy smile. "I like the way you think Birdie, I guess we'll take you and see what ends up happening. With that we're closing recruitment. So if you ain't make it, get the fuck off my boat." Birdie sighed and pushed off the floor with a hand to come to a stand. "If you did have the pleasure of making it . . . Birdie will have your first assignment." With that Cervantes disappeared to the back of the ship through the masses of pirates that were already apart of the crew. They themselves also dispersed and went about their business, while the new recruits began to walk towards Birdie much to his discomfort. "Always giving me the shitty end of the stick." he mumbled underneath his breath before pinching the bridge of his nose and rubbing it for a second to relieve the stress he felt in his eyes.

When everyone had gathered around he'd begin to brief them. There were only about 20 or so new recruits total, so they'd be operating on a scale a bit large than Birdie was used to. He'd be able to make it work though, he always did. "Alright so basically there is a crew we've been gunning for for a while now and we just recently found the window to deal a crippling blow to them. Should we succeed it should put us a few rungs up on the ladder. Should we fail, then like most of these scenarios, we'll probably die." He looked around and tried to measure up the forces he had at his disposal. Usually they drafted at least one fairly known drifter, but this time they were really scraping the bottom unless this Cappadona fellow came through.


"We'll be in and out of Jaya, but there isn't much I can disclose to you new recruits, just do what I tell you and you'll get paid well if you keep your head on your shoulders. There's a bit we need to handle prior to leaving Jaya, so meet me here on the deck at around midnight." Birdie looked around at the new recruits, most of which were grinning probably thinking of how fat their reward would be, which made Birdie scoff and shake his head. "Most importantly, think about the Beli when you're off the clock. Drooling about the payout while you're working for it won't do you or the operation much good."

 

As he was retreating to his own quarters he withdrew a cigarette and lighter and took a deep drag in preparation to cope with the stresses that had yet to come from this day. Sighing and expelling the smoke of the cigarette upon being called upon, he titled his head up as if looking to a higher being asking why he had chosen to walk down such a path. He had a lot on his mind and a lot he needing to get to work on, this delay no matter how small it was, was still a delay. Turning around to face Cappadona, Birdie listened to what the recruit had to say with one eye winced closed due to the cigarette fumes and his held titled to the side questionably. Taking the cigarette out his mouth with one hand, he expelled the smoke upwards as to not blow the grey toxic in the man's face. Coughing a bit before he spoke, he'd share what he had with him. "That's something for you to find out. I'm not your life coach, I'm just another person on this boat. I just happened to get here before you. Some do it for fame, some do it for money, some do it for other doors to open, and some do it because they got nothing better to do." He put the cigarette back in his mouth and took another drag, expelling through his nose this time before speaking again. "You get what you want to get out of it. Just do you. Any other questions?" As he spoke he saw Verde on the deck of the ship beyond Cappadona. "Hey you! Pinky, you go clean out the bathroom, people keep complaining that one of the pipes is backed up, make sure you take care of that." Literally the shittiest job and judging by Verde's expression he wasn't too excited or happy about it. After delegating that task away, Birdie would refocus on Cappadona awaiting his answer.

 

Birdie listened to Cappdona and was a bit interested in why he was so interested. "Hm . . ." Again he winced this one eye at him and tilted his head a bit as he blew smoke out the corner of his mouth away from the bloke. Grabbing the cigarette with two fingers, he kinda bounced it as he spoke to Cappadona, talking with his hands albeit he was holding a cigarette. "If you are who you say you are . . . You should know information doesn't come cheap." He put the cigarette back in his mouth pursed between his two tucked in lips as he chuckled a bit. "Stay alive after this move we bust at midnight and I just might answer your question." He fixated the stick between his lips in a normal more conventional way before taking a final drag depleting the length of the cigarette to about half it's length. Exhaling the smoke away from Cappadona, he grabbed it out his mouth and flicked it over board into the ocean. Giving a shrugging motion with his arms as he turned away, he figured he'd end their encounter right there. "That shouldn't be an issue for someone who killed a Rear Admiral though . . . right?" Cackling to himself as he walked away he retreated to his own private quarters to deal with his own private matters. Orders upon orders, he had a lot of work to do and a lot of product to ship out to his clientele and while the mission they are scheduled to be on tonight is camouflaged to be in the crew's best interest, it's actually for Birdie's own personal business.

[Exit]