Chapter 3 – The alchemist

"I see a pirate ship!" Desoto yelled out and thrusted his wings towards his body and he momentarily broke the sound barrier as he was propelled forward like a speeding jet. He kept his black wings against his body as he rode the force and then he pushed his wings out to lessen his speed and maneuver around the ship. He made the distance in a few seconds that would have taken a ship a good ten minutes, even with the aid of a current. He hovered mid air as he looked down at the shocked people; they were silent as they stared at him with a mixture of expressions. Have they never seen a dragon before? Most likely not since they were thought to be extinct.

"Hello!" Desoto greeted.

The crew went into a panic. They misinterpreted the greeting as a bloodthirsty roar. "Ryuu!" one of the men shouted, "We're being attacked by a demon!" another chimed in through all the screams.

The main cabin's door flung open and a sturdy bearded fellow walked out, he was the picture perfect face of what you'd expect a pirate would look like, a real pirate.

"What are you girls yelling for!" he cussed, "This is the grand line! We have encountered far worse than this lost bird. Get to your battle positions before I crush you!"

"Yes captain!" they yelled in resonance and scurried around.

"Battle positions?" Desoto asked with a raised brow. "Wait a minute old man. If I were a threat I would have attacked you by now. I came here to seek your help. My friends over there a…"

"The beast talks!" The captain interrupts him with untimely laughter.

"I am not a beast you ugly goat! I'm a dragon boy" He snapped as his wings swayed agitatedly while he hovered. "I need a lift to land"

"Do you know who I am boy?" he hissed.

Desoto sighed.

"I am Rockefeller, captain of this here devious crew!"

"Never heard of you" Desoto replied and the captain stared at him blankly.

"My flag has an 80million beli on it you fool; my name brings fear in all of the grand line! And you will learn to fear it right now"

Desoto stopped listening to him after he said he had an 80million beli reward for his flag. That was a remarkable sum of money. Only a strong pirate could have gotten such a large amount. Desoto has just started out as a pirate so he has no reward on his name, he isn't wanted anywhere except by a few towns he owes money to. He looked at the crew and then couldn't help but wonder, how did they get that amount? Only notable person on the mediocre looking ship was the captain. Suddenly a shot was fired through the web of his left wing. He flinched in pain and was hit out of his thought process. Bullet after bullet was fired at him and he batted higher into the air to mess with their accuracy.

"I guess we aren't going to be friendly then. Fine with me!" He roared and dropped towards the ship with his wings retracted to gather more speed.

"SKY DRAGON'S INFERNO!" he roared and he blew flames from his mouth and nostrils down into a thick inferno to the deck of the ship and he disappeared into it. He obliterated the main mast almost instantly and then he collided with the deck. Or that was his intention. Something was wrong. The raw power of his flames and force pushed to the sides and propelled most of the crew overboard with intense burns. He opened his eyes and saw he was his face was pressed against a rock shield. A rock on a ship? Bizarre. But that was what stopped his infernal force. Suddenly he was tossed into another mast and it broke as he hit. The ship was in ruins. It was scorched in flames and only one mast remains. At least it still floats.

He pushed himself up painfully. The wounds he got from the fight with Kumori gushing blood through his scales. He saw the captain looking at him from over the rock. His arm, Desoto noticed, his one arm was morphed into a rock shield.

"Devil fruit user?" Desoto smiled.

"Rokku Rokku no Mi. I am a rock man, lizard boy. This is where you will start to fear me. Let my face, let my name sink into your scaled brain!" He yelled, "I will make you suffer for what you did to my ship. I will crush you!"

"Hey all I wanted was a lift. You got carried away"

Rockefeller was so angry it looked like he was going to blow steam from his ears. He charged towards Desoto with his rock shield ahead of him. Desoto was too disoriented and wounded to move away quick enough so he spat out a fireball. It exploded on the shield but it didn't do anything to stop Rockefeller slamming into him and pushing him into the ground. His arm decreased in size and his other arm morphed too. Both hands were rock and he punched Desoto in the face, neck and chest. It was odd, for Rockefeller to sit on the dragon's chest and not feel any sense of humility. Desoto was three times the size of him. He looked like a small child on a father's chest, playing. But this was no game, each punch felt like tons of boulders falling onto him. Desoto vomited blood as he was sure his one lung collapsed. His scaled defense was no match for the force of Rockefeller's punches. The wood under Desoto couldn't handle the beating anymore and finally collapsed through. They plummeted into the dark abyss and Rockefeller instantly got to his feet. Desoto tried to get up to but Rockefeller kicked him in the face and he flung over.

"Were you suppose to be a match for me, 'dragon'? You are pitiful! Weak! I will enjoy putting you out of your misery"

Desoto lift up his wing to hit Rockefeller away in a final futile attempt to buy some time, but it was no use. He weighed what seemed a ton; his wing had no effect on him. Desoto opened his bloodshot eyes and he saw a girl behind bars, watching him wide-eyed.

"I can help you" she said.

"Wait for your time sweet girl, I will kill you after I am done with him" Rockefeller said and kicked Desoto again and he flung into the bars.

"Get me out of here, dragon. I can help you" she whispered and placed her hand on his bloody cheek. Without thinking about it he swiped the bars open with his last bit of energy. She jumped out, rolled forward and picked up a belt and tied it around her waist. She stretched her fingers and drew two revolvers from her belt and aimed it at Rockefeller.

Rockefeller froze and looked at her with an expression Desoto didn't understand. Was it fear? He had no reason to fear guns, he had the ultimate defense!

"Now wait just there missy, let's not do anything we'll regret" Rockefeller said and stepped back.

"You should regret capturing me, Rockefeller" she smiled and hit both guns into her waist. Desoto didn't understand the movement at first but then he figured it out when he heard a click. She loaded ammunition into her dual revolvers.

"I will let you go, I will return your…"

Bang.

She shot the first gunshot. But no normal bullet came out, when it reached its impact it exploded into ice that fiercely grew and covered Rockefellers arm. He yelled out in pain and another shot was fired, one into his chest. She jumped towards him and swung at him as a swordsman would. She sliced and shattered his arm and chest as he stumbled back. Her guns pointed forward into blades. Truly a unique weapon. She released a flurry of shots until the rest of his body was completely frozen. And then she holstered her weapons and wiped a drop of sweat from her forehead.

"Can you stand?" she asked without looking back at Desoto.

"Yes" he whimpered.

"Good. This won't hold Rockefeller for long. I will take care of his crew" she said and ran through the corridor and up some stairs. After a few seconds he heard shots. Desoto turned into his human form and got up painfully. His body was still in one piece, bruised and bloodied but one piece nonetheless. He walked towards Rockefeller and wondered why the ice rendered him useless. With his raw strength he could have broken out of it by now and rejuvenate. He touched the ice and his breathe was sucked away and he nearly collapsed.

"Concentrated salt water!" He gasped.

The girl jumped down and landed swiftly behind him, "Yes dragon boy. A devil fruit user's worst enemy. But once it melts he will recover and face us again. Help me toss him into the ocean.

"I can't pick him up in the state my body is in" he said and she truly noticed the condition he was in, his pale flesh was stained with blood, bruises and wounds. She sighed and moved her brown fringe behind her ear.

"Well we will just have to wait for the ice to melt so we can ask him politely to jump into the ocean for us" She hissed sarcastically.

"DRAGON FLAME" Desoto blew forth his flamethrower in an attempt to melt the ice quicker but he blasted Rockefeller into a million pieces of water and mud. His flame was too hot for the melting process thus causing him to shatter. Desoto turned around to face her but instead he faced the barrel of a gun and a pair of fearful eyes hiding behind it. "Help me scoop him down the drain. It leads into the ocean, yes?"

"Yes…" she said and lowered her gun and holstered it.

Desoto picked up a shovel and the girl a broom and they scooped the mud down the grate. Once they were done, Desoto jumped up through the hole in the deck and checked the damage of the ship.

"It was a piece of shit to begin with" she said coming through the doors. Desoto could see her better now under the bright blue sky. She had a friendly face and long straight golden-brown hair. She wore a beige tank top and a brown jacket, long pants and cowboy boots. She looked like a marksman. She picked up a hat from next to one of the unconscious crew members and fixed it upon her head.

"I am Asuna, dragon boy; you have my thanks for getting me out of that cell. Now get off my ship"

"YOUR ship?" Desoto laughed, "This is my ship now, at least until the next island. You can get back to YOUR cell if you wanted something of your own"

Her fingers were agitatedly tapping on her gun, she wanted to pull it out and splatter this guy's brains out onto the deck. But she lowered her hand and forced a smile, she owed him for saving her life. And that ship wasn't worth fighting for anyway.

"Very well. Let's sail together until the next island. What is your name?"

"Desoto, the new captain of this ship" he smiled.

Seriously…

"My crew needs a marksman like you, Asuna"

She was stunned. Did he seriously just imply for her to join his crew?

"What makes you think I would join a pirate crew after just been held captive by another?" She snapped, he stared at her blankly which she didn't understand and then he turned his head towards the tree island he left Kumori on, he had completely forgotten about them. He ran and jumped over board and shifted into a dragon, His blood splattered into the ocean as the transformation hurt him intensely. But his sight was set on the island for he has a promise to keep.

Kumori's head was still above the water with Yuna's unconscious body on top of his shoulders. He was trying his best to keep her massive body above water as the water tried to pull her down like the Anker she was. Kumori reached out his hand towards Desoto and held tightly onto Yuna's pelt and Desoto lifted them up out of the water and swerved around back towards the ship. Kumori swore angrily at Desoto for coming at the last minute and destroying the ship but he stopped as Desoto's blood dripped on his face and when he looked into Desoto's eyes, his pupil was grayed out as if he was dead.

They reached the ship but they didn't slow down, they plummeted towards it and Desoto let go of Kumori arm, clawing him in the process, and they dropped to the deck. Desoto crashed into the deck as well but harder than Kumori. His body dug into the wood until there was no more floor to break his fall and he busted through the edge's rail and dropped into the water.

Kumori dove in after him and swam deep under water to get the sinking rock that was in human form again. Kumori couldn't see in the water from all of Desoto's blood so he just had to close his eyes and swim up. Asuna lowered a rope and pulled them up. They laid Desoto on the deck and proceeded to do CPR on him

"His body gave in before he took flight; he died before he went for you. His spirit kept on going even after his body was ruined" Asuna said with her ear on Desoto's chest.

"He can't be dead" Kumori hissed.

"The beating he took from Rockefeller was fierce"

When she mentioned that name he recognized it immediately, he was an infamous pirate known to be one of the most powerful and bloodthirsty. Desoto fought him after he fought me, Kumori though sadly.

"We have to do something!" Kumori yelled out.

"He's dead"

Kumori entwined his fingers into one another and punched down onto Desoto's bloody chest, continuing the CPR, but it was futile. Asuna looked away sadly. Her hand placed firmly on one of the satchels on her belt buckle. She opened it and threw a small bottle into Kumori's lap before she could stop herself.

"Poor it into his mouth"

He picked it up and opened it, "What is it?"

"It will give his heart a jump start; it's a rare potion I mixed a couple of years ago"

Potion? Kumori didn't have time to think it over. He poured the purple substance into Desoto's mouth and closed it. They watched his body lay motionless for a minute and then it started to spasm and shake on the deck. Desoto grabbed his head and yelled out in horror. And then silence. He was lying motionless again, but breathing. He wasn't dead, but unconscious.