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“Thank you for joining the first official General Body meeting of the Cross Guild” Buggy said with a cheeky emphasis on the word, causing both Crocodile and Mihawk to utter sizeable groans.
“Get it, body, Bara Bara…never mind. Moving on. So, as founding member and the public figurehead of this organization, I wanted to call this meeting to discuss some key moving parts of the functioning of this collaborative effort”
“How many more of these shitty puns do you think he has” Crocodile mildly growled at Mihawk. Mihawk shrugged “He was on Roger’s crew; mental instability of some form should’ve been a prerequisite to joining”
Buggy sheepishly laughed before coughing an interruption “First order on today’s agenda is a rather simple matter of well, financing. Now that the bounty system for Marines is in place, how do we, ahem, uhmm, pay someone if they happen to catch someone of, importance?”
Mihawk scowled “Yes god forbid someone marches in through the doors of this horrendous ship with Sakazuki’s head on a pike”
“Again, I am so sorry for the Big Top Blaster. My men are just very enthusiastic” Buggy’s brow started to sweat as his fingers tapped each other skittishly. He would’ve loved the eyesore if it wasn’t so unabashedly declaring him something of the boss of this guild. The cross was a fine touch though.
“Don’t you have any from the rag-tag group of assassins you created a while ago?” Crocodile said, shifting his cigar to the other side of his mouth.
Buggy knowing full well that this was Crocodile’s veiled way of reminding him of the debt he had not personally forgotten about, tried really hard not to immediately boast about the Top Blaster being entirely his investment into the guild.
“The delivery service is now fully at your disposal as you know so we could produce funds from that if needed. Some of our guys have been caught up with family disputes, I’m sure they’ll be back!”
“The giants you mean” Mihawk said twirling his moustache
“HOW DO YOU…I mean, excellent intel as always Mr Mihawk sir”
“That’s half your manpower gone. How do you even manage your people, Clown. Now if this was the Baroque works…” Crocodile’s speech was cut into half by Mihawk’s impassive glare.
“Anyway, we don’t need to worry about money” Crocodile loosened his posture and leaned further behind in his chair.
“That is fantastic news. If I may, how did you…make all that money, Crocodile?”
“Pyramid scheme”
An awkward silence followed with Buggy stifling a laugh, Mihawk utterly proud and Crocodile almost guilty.
“Soooo, now that we have that established, we can move on to the next agenda which is recruitment”
“What about it” Crocodile groaned immediately trying to forge a comeback.
“If we needed to recruit new members, we couldn’t possibly advertise being wanted and all that and me being a yonkou and all”
As if rehearsed, Mihawk tossed his leg aggressively over the table and Crocodile threw his hooked hand against with a resounding thud, asserting their territories and the power scaling of this association, yonkou notwithstanding.
“We don’t need members. We got your guys, my guys and his…monkeys”
“They are baboons, and they are rather peaceful creatures. Speaking of which, if this is all done, I must head back early to meet with the pack”
“No! this is all hands-on-deck meeting. Get it? Get it?”
“I swear to god Clown” Crocodile roared.
“Okay geez not that kind of room. But I had a thought. Do you think the humandrills will be able to recruit on our behalf” Buggy croaked.
Mihawk stared at him not betraying a single thought. He couldn’t decide if that sheer genius or the stupidest thing he had ever heard.
“What’s your hurry Hawkeye, has the ghost girl drawn you a bath?”
“No, baths are not part of our arrangement”
“What?”
“Arrangement?”
Mihawk did not dignify them with any further of an explanation.
“Buggy, get your guys to score us some more drinks will ya”
“AYE CAPTAIN MORE DRINKS!” came a loud cheer from outside the interior cabin.
Crocodile and Mihawk looked accusingly at Buggy.
“They weren’t convinced that neither of you would take a shot at me if you could”
The former warlords shrugged their shoulders in acceptance.
“Fair. You’re on thin ice with your jokes by the way”
“Not what Aokiji said! No sorry, I didn’t mean that. Okay so yes, lastly communications. How do we communicate without alerting the WG and giving away our position”
“Who the hell says WG and not world government” Crocodile crooned
“All the kids do! Except Eustace, poor guy”
“They really are the worst generation. I had a run in with Strawhat”
“Yes, we know. As does the whole world. Must you speak of Strawhat like you did not break out of Impel Down with him along with this exorbitant man’s now crew”
Crocodile hated being reminded of his brief camaraderie with the man who had led to break down of his entire war machinery. He could also not be seen appreciating him much to the Yonkou who considered Luffy his personal rival, while they all knew Teach was the man Luffy was truly after, not this weird jester.
“So how will we communicate? Vivre cards?”
“That feels terribly personal for business acquaintances” Mihawk complained.
“What about snails?”
“Too tapable” Crocodile moaned
“We do have our HQ at Karai Bari for now so we can stick to in-person meetings for now”
“About that Buggy” Crocodile “I think we should make this shit-ship our new HQ”
“Hunh, why would we do that? Don’t we want Bari to be the bounty drop off island?”
“Sure, and get Lulusia-ed? No thanks” Crocodile growled. Buggy intently stared at him “What, even I can do the verb thing like the kids these days. Get over it”
“We can keep the island for the drop offs, but we should arrange for a more mobile way around” Mihawk calmly interjected “Oh would you look at that Crocodile, it’s time”
“Time? What time?”
Crocodile smirked “Time to catch up with an old friend, eh Mihawk”
Mihawk softly caressed Kogatana as though in anticipation of its use.
“Strap on Clown. Things are about to get fun. And have your guys get you a better coat for where we’re off to” Crocodile’s grin grew wider “Step one, Pluton. Step two, Good ol’ Red Hair”
“Red Hair?! Shanks?? No no no, we are not ready for Laughtale yet”
“Who said anything about Laughtale. We’re just personally delivering you some of your lost assassins”
“My lost… No no no no. We are not going to Elbaph! We are not!”
Crocodile and Mihawk stepped out of the hatch and onto the ship’s deck.
“Alright men. You overheard us. Get moving” Crocodile hollered “See you soon Strawhat” he mused.
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