Chapter 1: Rayden D. Chronus (Part 1)

East Blue, Yotsuba Island Region!

Shakka Town.

In the middle of the street, Captain Rand, who was carrying a giant axe on his shoulder, looked at the dead bodies that were scattered around him with a deadpan expression. Together with his crew, they had looted this small town and anyone who dared to stand up against them had been mercilessly killed.

Even though they had successfully stifled any opposition that might come from this town, they had also suffered some casualties. His originally 12 crew members were now only left with five. But the haul they had looted from this town made him very satisfied. Looking at the giant chest filled with treasures that was placed in front of him, he turned around and asked the few pirates he had left, "Are these all the treasures?"

"Yes, Captain, that's all the treasures we found!" the pirate closest to him answered.

"Good! Prepare to evacuate this village immediately before the Navy Arrives!" he said to his remaining crew immediately with satisfaction as he moved towards the exit of this town.

What was now his first priority was to leave this town immediately before the Navy from Shells Town which is very close to his place arrives. However, before he could move a few more steps, he noticed a young man wearing a white open-front shirt and black boots, black trousers with an eyelet-studded orange belt with a leather hat on his head leaning with his arms crossed against a house across from him. This young man had two blades hanged on both sides of his waist whilst holding a modified flintlock in his right hand and a paper in his left.

He didn't know how long this young man had been here but from his manner, it seemed he had been standing there staring at him for quite a while.

"Hmm? Who is this little devil?" Frowning, Rand asked his subordinate beside him. After looting this town and killing a few of its inhabitants, the remaining citizens had been so scared of them that they had shut themselves in their rooms. So he was quite surprised to see this young man with a weapon appearing in front of him as if he wasn't afraid of him at all.

When the remaining pirates heard Captain Rand's question, they also turned and saw this young man. This young man had appeared out of nowhere and was just standing there starring at them. Was he planning to stop them?

Waking up from their surprise, most of them began to laugh! How can such a small devil stop them? Some of them shook their wrists and took out their guns and aimed directly at the youth at the end of the street.

"Hey! Kid, do you want to die? Leave here at once before we send you to meet your maker!" Some of them began to shout!

Despite facing all these weapons pointing at him and urging him to leave, this young man was in no hurry to leave. Instead he looked directly at Captain Rand and smiled, "A reward of ฿ 4,000,000, 'Bloody Axe' Rand, is it?"

"Kid, stop spouting crap! Leave here before I get angry!" even though he displaying an angry and impatient manner, this wasn't how he felt at all.

At this time, Rand's chin was slightly lifted up, revealing a hint of arrogance. In East blue which was considered the weakest ocean, the average bounty of pirates is ฿ 3,000,000. Any higher means that, that pirate is an elite among the weak. As a pirate, he hoped he had a high reward, and the reward of ฿ 4,000,000 was not low, which was why he had always felt very good and proud about himself.

"Oh, it seems I didn't identify the wrong person!" seeing that Captain Rand didn't deny what he just said, the young man nodded and gently dropped the paper in his hand and said, "Then, I'll accept the head of a ฿ 4,000,000 pirate!"

'Boom! Boom! Boom!'

Almost at the moment when his voice fell, the young man raised his modified flintlock in a swift speed, and shot six consecutive times at Rand and five of his subordinates. The six shots were so fast and steady that it seemed as if he was an experienced gunner who had done this for a long time.

The pirates apparently did not expect that the young people facing them would be courageous enough to fire at them so they didn't have time to dodge.

'Bang! Bang…Bang!' Six shots, five fell to the ground!

The only shot that didn't achieve its intended effect was the one he fired at Captain Rand who was fast and alert enough to block that gun shot with the huge axe on his shoulder.

At this time, the paper that was thrown aside by the young man slowly finally landed on the floor. It was a bounty poster. The wanted figure on it was the same as the man in front of him, 'Bloody Axe' Rand!

Even though Captain Rand had blocked the young man's bullet, he couldn't stop the death of the rest of his men. He watched as his five men were knocked down, and he began to fume with rage. Even though he was a very cold hearted man and killed without batting an eye, he still felt pain when he saw his subordinates that he had tried very hard to gather die in front of him.

"You! ... Damn it!" He roared, raised his heavy axe with both hands, and rushed up to the young man, slamming his weapon at him. The anger he felt at this time fueled the swing of his axe. The momentum that he unleashed gave the impression that this young man would be chopped in two the moment his weapon made contact.

However, in the face of the rushing Rand, the young man did not panic. He hurriedly tossed aside his flintlock ad unsheathed his two blade swinging it to clash with Rand. When Rand saw this, he laughed inwardly because among his peers, he was known for his monstrous strength. His axe was not only huge, but the materials were very special. It was both hard and extremely heavy! He thought this young man was very stupid for trying to clash head on against him.

"Death!" Captain Rand shouted!

'Bang!'

But the moment when the young man's blades clashed with the Axe, Rand's facial expression suddenly changed. He felt the abnormal power that was transmitted through his axe which made his hands shake.

'Bang! Bang! Bang!' He was repelled and moved three steps backwards. Every step he took left a deep impression on the ground.

"What!" Rand just couldn't believe that such thin looking hands could unleash such strength. The young man also shook his hands to release the numbness that he also felt in his hands. He looked at his axe only to realise that there was a gap in it.

"That's what you would expect from a ฿ 4,000,000 bounty pirate!" the young man said while preparing himself, "you've had your chance, now it my turn!"

Without even waiting for Captain Rand to reorient himself, the young man raised his blades and rushed at him.