155 What is a captain?

I stared at Thatch expressionlessly; any mirth that had existed in my mind had long deserted me. I wasn't as baffled by the fact that Sorren's father was Thatch as I was from the fact that the man had seamlessly abandoned his child. The attitude he displayed on the other hand, made me pause. No man that abandoned his family would react as violently as he had.

Instead, I merely sat down keeping the man's stare with equal parts intensity and curiosity.

"What happened?" I asked simply. I had heard fatty's version of the story, but I could not simply assume that things were as plain as they appeared.

His stony expression began to fall a little as he took a shaky breath.

"I suppose you know of the celestial dragon?" he asked woodenly. His question only being met with a nod as Fawkes settled beside me.

"The entire trip was supposed to be my vacation, going away from the hectic new world and settling in within one of the more pleasant blues was the idea. Sorren's mother Martha was one of the few that still subscribed to the 'Red Roll' philosophy. It was one of the reasons that I fell for her in the first place.

She cared for anyone that was stranded on the sea on her ship... Every few months she would land on one of the islands both to drop off her patients and to deal with supplies. When I landed in the North blue, she was tending to a small battery of sailors from a recently pillaged merchant ship.

When the patients left, one of them contacted me. A man by the name of Wanze was on that ship. He left for me a note that told me to meet him a few miles off the calm belt if I didn't want the navy to find out about Martha and Sorren...

I followed his demands telling Martha not to worry about it too much. The damn bastard on the other hand, was part of an entourage for one of those scummy bubble headed monsters!

He told his master of Martha, convincing the old senile man that she would make a fine slave! When I reached the location that had been pointed out on the map, no one was to be found...

I sailed back as fast as I could, reaching just in time. I killed him. But, Wanze escaped back to the Celestial dragon's ship firing a whole host of cannons while I was occupied.

The ship sunk, with Sorren hiding in the captain's cabin, I thought he had drowned too... "The man finished, his face twisted with a feral rage as he recounted the scene.

My mind churned with the new information that I had received.

With a raspy breath Thatch continued, his tone now bone dry, he shook away Marco's attempt to feed him from a jug at the side as he glared at me.

"Let me have my son." he said, a tone of finality in his voice as he looked at me.

You want to sway his mind, go ahead. But if you question his conviction then the two of us will have some words." I finished, my gaze following his every movement as a trace of Haki pressed outward.

Thatch's expression cleared up, no longer as worried.

"If you shall not force him to remain, then we shall not have a problem." he snipped back, regaining a bit of the swagger that he had had on our first meeting.

I chuckled softy, before glancing at my first mate.

"Done questioning my authority?" I asked softly looking at his stern expression.

With a sigh, he nodded. "The captain is not easily questioned. But, you're foolhardiness was without thought of the whole crew. Honestly I amn't mad about the shenanigans or anything, but after the calm belt you began to treat the rest of the guys as you would a mook.

Advance recklessly, but with caution as my father always said to yours. He told me, before he died, that if I were to join your crew then there was something I had to tell you. A captain's head belongs to his crew; his body to his journey and his mind to his goal.

Earlier on this island, you finally found you're head space, now the crew shall forgive no more mistakes.

The new world might be where you thrive, but the rest need paradise." he finished before subtly bowing.

Usually on sea, anyone who questioned the captain was a mutineer. Anyone who berated him a foe, but on land, the penalty was much lighter.

Besides, Fawkes was not insulting the crew; he was representing it, as a first mate should. So even if I was angry with him, I couldn't.

"Fair." I said simply before shooting the Whitebeards a glance.

"Any news from the head Honcho?"

"Nah, Pops just said that red hair was coming in for a visit... Speaking of" Marco said, before glancing out of the ship's window.

"You ok to make a trip Jagged dagger?"

"Please, call me Lorean." I said as I got to my feet.

"From pops prediction Red hair must've landed by now. So why don't you accompany me to welcome the man?" Marco quipped before looking at Fawkes.

"You can look over stuff here right?" It seemed that through our somewhat brief encounter Marco had developed a level of trust in Fawkes that was not easily reciprocated within me.

With a little twist around, I got to my feet, happy for now that my crew had vented its issues with me. (Well at the moment, it was only Fawkes, but the rest wouldn't complain to me as much as they would beat themselves up)