Defiance Against The Celestial Dragons!


Raymond Everett was in a difficult position. After chasing off three goons earlier with the help of an elderly blacksmith, the old man forced him inside of his shop to show off his weapons. At first it didn't seem like a such a bad idea. Despite not having much need for weapons due to his fighting style, it didn't mean that he wasn't interested in them. He was lead throughout the large weapon shop, being showed all types of weapons ranging from swords, maces, axes, shields, and spears. Raymond's eyes sparkled at the sight of the impressively crafted weapons. He could tell that the materials used to make them were indeed top notch.

Every time he reached out and picked up one of the weapons, the blacksmith's face seemed to brighten up, almost blinding him, although it may have just been his imagination. Also, every time he set the weapon back down onto its rightful spot, the blacksmith's face would turn sour and he would mumble some kind of swear underneath his breath. Raymond could immediately tell that the blacksmith was only after one thing…money. He caught onto the man instantly after hearing him mention something about him being wealthy. Of course Raymond himself wasn't wealthy. He was an escaped slave. He had no money to his name whatsoever.

But the greedy blacksmith was unaware of that fact. For all that he knew, Raymond was a wealthy noble considering the expensive clothes that he was wearing. Every time the blacksmith looked to the black haired man, his eyes would transform into beli signs and maniacally rub his hands together, imagining all of the money that he would get if he could just "convince" him to buy something. So far he had shown him some of his best work. At first Raymond seemed interested in them, but he would ultimately set them back down and refuse to buy them. This angered him to some extent, but he nonetheless controlled his emotions and continued with his advances. He could tell he was getting close to home. Raymond was feeling anxious, as if he was getting close succumbing to the peer pressure. The blacksmith simply needed to find something that would push Raymond over the edge and convince him to buy something.

He was going to have to show him the big guns. He was going to have to show Raymond something so amazing that he would be a fool not to buy it. Luckily the blacksmith had such an item. He was certain that the black haired man would be putty in his hands in a matter of minutes. He guided him to the basement of the establishment where he crafted all of his weapons. The place was a complete mess. There was equipment scattered around all over the floor. There were broken crates as well as broken weapons discarded in a pile near the corner of the basement.

There were even spider webs and many other insects crawling about the place. However, completely untouched by the filth of the basement was a lone sword being held up on a mantle above the fireplace. The blacksmith led Raymond to the sword while giving out details of the sword and its origin. It was crafted using a special kind of shape-memory alloy that went by the name of Wapometal. That's as far as Raymond listened in on the explanation. He didn't mean to be rude to the blacksmith, but something else had crossed his mind at the moment as a certain object entered his field of view.

It was a branding iron. His expression grew dark and his body became tense at the sight of it. Branding irons brought up bad memories for him. It immediately reminded him of the time when he was branded by the World Nobles. On his back was the Hoof of the Soaring Dragon, the symbol of the World Nobles. He could still feel the burning sensation on his back as if it were still fresh. The sound of the burning hot piece of metal burning away at his flesh echoed through his mind at the moment. The smell of his burning flesh at the time made him feel nausea's.

He felt like he was going to have a panic attack at any moment. That was until he felt a large pair of hands grip tightly onto his shoulders. He quickly snapped back into reality and he swatted the pair of hands away from him, getting into a fighting position. The blacksmith raised his hands up in a defensive manner, not meaning to cause any harm to Raymond. Once the black haired man saw this, he eventually calmed down and lowered his hands down to his sides, a sigh of relief escaping past his lips.

"Are you okay there, kid? I thought I lost you for a second there." The blacksmith nervously commented.

"Oh...ah...I'm sorry about that. I was lost in thought for a second there." Raymond regained his composure and looked to the blacksmith with a blank expression. It had been quite some time since he had experienced such a feeling of dread.

"It must have been one hell of thought for you to make such a grim expression." The blacksmith stated, keeping a close eye on the black haired man.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." Raymond apologized for his rude behavior.

"Well…alright then. Now back onto the topic of the sword here." The blacksmith nudged his head toward the sword. Raymond stared blankly at the old man for a moment, finding it hard to believe that the greedy man still wished to continue trying to sell him stuff despite the awkward moment that had occurred measly seconds ago.

All the feelings of guilt that Raymond held towards the man were now gone. He no longer felt any shame in openly declaring, "I don't have any money. I can't buy any of the weapons or equipment that you have shown me here today."

After those fatal words entered the ears of the Blacksmith, his expression grew dark. A chill traveled down Raymond's spine at that exact moment. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he felt like he needed to get out of the weapon shop as soon as possible.

"What…what do you mean you don't have any money?" The blacksmith asked in a rather harsh tone. A dark atmosphere seemed to loom over the entire room.

"It's exactly as I explained to you. I don't have any money. And as such, I can't buy anything that you're trying to sell me." Raymond reluctantly explained to the blacksmith again.

"You're messing with me, right? Aren't you a noble? Aren't you rich?" The blacksmith slowly approached Raymond, his eye slowly turning red with anger.

"I'm not a noble. And I'm far from rich." Raymond slowly backed away from the blacksmith until he tripped over an anvil and fell onto the ground. The moment he looked up, the blacksmith was looming over him.

"You're not just trying to screw me over are you? Those clothes certainly belong to a noble." The blacksmith pressed his finger against the insignia on Raymond's shirt. "This insignia belongs to the Hollostein Family. You're a member, aren't you?"

Raymond paused for a moment. This was his chance to get out of this situation safely. He could try and lie his way out of the situation. He could simply reply with a yes and that he was a noble. But after remembering that he had claimed not to be one, that idea was immediately tossed out the window. Now he didn't have much time left. The blacksmith's glare only seemed to intensify. If he waited any longer, certainly the old man would figure out that something was up.

He simply decided to just come out and tell the truth. Or at least some version of it. "No, I am not a member of the Hollostein Family. I'm just wearing their clothes after…finding them."

"Ah…so you're simply wearing the discarded clothes of a noble. I should have known There's no way I could be that lucky." The blacksmith backed away from Raymond and heaved a heavy sigh of disappointment. He had heard of situations where people would wear discarded clothes of nobles and pretend to be them in order to get free things such as merchandise and food. The old man never imagined that he would fall victim to just a scam.

But then again it was not like Raymond was scamming him in the first place. The blacksmith immediately realized that it was all his fault for jumping to conclusions. His greed clouded his judgement and he took some precious time out of Raymond's day. He needed to find some way to repay him for his rudeness today.

"I'm sorry if inconvenienced in any way." The blacksmith extended his hand out, offering to help Raymond back up onto his feet. The young man accepted the offer and grabbed a hold of the man's hand, quickly getting pulled up to his feet.

"It's no problem. You did help me out with those goons earlier. So I can easily forgive you for practically kidnapping and trying to forcibly make me purchase your merchandise." Raymond sheepishly accepted the apology, receiving an awkward laugh from the blacksmith in response.

"How about we restart everything and have a proper introduction? My name is Hephaestus." Hephaestus introduced himself.

"I'm Raymond. Raymond Everett. It's nice to meet you." Raymond returned the favor and introduced himself.

"So tell me, what are you doing here?" Hephaestus asked.

"I'm here to gather a few supplies like food, clothing, things like that." Raymond answered.

Finding something odd about his statement, Hephaestus once again looked at Raymond, gauging him for some reason. "How do you plan on gathering such supplies when you don't even have any money? What do you need those supplies for anyway? You some sort of traveler?"

"Somewhat…" Raymond decided to keep things vague. He had no idea of how the old man felt about pirates. "Since I don't have any money, I figured that I would find some way of getting a job. I would then use the money from that job and buy all of the supplies that I need."

"Well you don't seem to be in any kind of rush. It could take you days to gather up enough money to purchase all of those supplies for your adventure."

"I guess I could stay here for a few days. But I am in a rush. I'm with a friend of mine and he isn't the type that likes to dillydally."

Hephaestus crossed his arms over his chest and raised his head. "Well…if you're looking for a job, I guess I could give you one as an apology for my rude actions earlier."

Raymond's face immediately brightened up after hearing those kind words from the elderly blacksmith. "Thank you so much, Hephaestus! You're really doing me a huge favor here!"

"Don't go thanking me just yet. I won't be able to pay you as much if you don't manage to find any business for me."

"Business? Why are you having trouble finding any business? Your weapons are amazing. They should be selling quite well if you ask me." Raymond gave his input. Since he didn't have any money, it was obvious as to why he didn't take any of the weapons. But if he did, then he would take a few of them, despite not being the weapons type of person.

"It's because of those goons that you encountered earlier." Hephaestus took a seat on a nearby crate and heaved a sigh of exhaustion. Remembering back to all of the times those goons had appeared at his shop, harassing him and all of his potential customers.

"Oh, those three stooges? How could those three interfere with your business? You didn't seem intimidated by them in the slightest earlier." Raymond mentioned.

"I'm not intimidated by them at all. But my other customers are. They're terrified of those men because of the organization that they belong to." Hephaestus answered, his face making a grim expression once again. "This entire town is ruled by an organization known as Nefarious Cage. They're a slave trading group. They normally go around kidnapping people from different races or even exotic animals and sell them off as slaves for a high price."

"Nefarious Cage…" Raymond's expression went grim as well after repeating the name of the organization. He felt a great wave of anger raging through his body. The intense aura exerting from his body could be sensed and even visualized by Hephaestus.

"Have you heard of them?" Hephaestus unconsciously felt the need to ask.

"Heard of them? Oh yes…I'm far more acquainted with them than you even realize." Raymond chuckled menacingly while cupping his hands together. "So tell me, how did such an organization become the rulers of this town? Aren't slave trade organizations meant to be illegal? Why haven't the marines done anything to subdue them?"

"The reason for that is…Nefarious Cage has been approved by the World Government. It's a legitimate business now." Hephaestus informed him, taking immediate notice of the surprised expression on Raymond's face. He couldn't blame him for being surprised. Anyone would be if they found out that a slave trade organization was considered legal by the World Government.

"And how did that come to happen?" Raymond somehow managed to contain his anger long enough to ask that question.

"Nefarious Cage is an organization well-liked by the World Nobles. So much that anyone within the organization is pardoned for their crimes of slavery for as long as they continue to provide high quality slaves." Hephaestus continued with his explanation. "Fishmen, Giants, Minks, you name it, Nefarious Cage have captured strong members from each race and personally sold them off to the World Nobles for large sums of money."

Raymond sat down on a nearby crate as well, trying to process all of the information that had been given to him by the elderly blacksmith. So far he had gathered that no matter what Nefarious Cage did, no matter who or what they captured, as long as they proved to be high quality slaves the World Nobles and World Government would pardon them for their crimes. Now everything had begun to make sense to him. It was situations like these that made him despise the World Nobles and the World Government. They allowed cold-hearted criminals like slave traders openly operate as much as they please without having to suffer any consequences.

He could already picture the hundreds, possibly even thousands of lives that this organization must have ruined during their operations. They were allowed to run wild, kidnapping and selling off anyone that they pleased. He couldn't allow this to run any longer. He wouldn't allow this to run any longer. Since he wished to destroy the World Government and the World Nobles, he might as well destroy the organizations affiliated with them to help cripple their power a little bit.

"This is such a perfect opportunity." Raymond muttered.

"What was that?" Hephaestus leaned forward, trying to make out what Raymond had just said.

"I said that this is such a perfect opportunity." Raymond stood to his feet, a sinister expression plastered onto his face, unnerving Hephaestus. "I'm going to destroy Nefarious Cage. Tell me where their base of operation is."

"What?" Hephaestus shot up to his feet, exclaiming in surprise after hearing such a bold proclamation coming from the young man he had just met. "Listen kid, I know that you're upset after hearing everything that I've just told you, but you can't go around saying outrageous things like that. Despite how despicable they are, Nefarious Cage are a legal business sponsored by the World Nobles. Defying them is like defying the World Nobles. That is the one absolute rule that everyone in this world is forbidden from doing."

Raymond scoffed in response to Hephaestus' words, earning a sharp glare from the old man. He couldn't care less about defying the World Nobles. In fact, he had already done that several days ago. But of course Hephaestus had no way of knowing about that.

"That sounds a little hypocritical coming from you, old man. Didn't you throw those men out from your shop earlier since they didn't have any money? In way you defied them. So didn't you indirectly defy the World Nobles?" Raymond countered, watching in amusement as Hephaestus was taken aback by his words at that moment.

"That was different!" Hephaestus angrily exclaimed even though he couldn't come up with a good explanation for his actions since he knew that Raymond was correct.

"Tell me old man…what do you think about Nefarious Cage?" Raymond suddenly asked, giving the blacksmith a unique stare as if he were looking into the man's very essence, his soul.

"I think they're a bunch of self-righteous bastards that are simply riding on the coattails of the World Nobles to get ahead in life. To be honest with you, I wouldn't care if they disappeared for good from the world." Hephaestus answered.

There was a brief moment of silence in the room. The two men continued to stare each other down. Raymond closed his eyes and processed the words said to him before nodding his head in confirmation. He could feel it. Hephaestus wasn't lying. His words were genuine.

"Then you have no complaints for when I destroy them." Raymond continued with his topic of destroying the organization.

"You're still going on about doing that? Don't be ridiculous kid! You're no match for such an organization!" Hephaestus informed him, desperately trying to convince the young man to cease with his rash thinking. "They have the backing of the World Nobles and World Government. If you by some miracle destroy them, you'll only anger the ones sponsoring their actions. You'll become a wanted criminal."

"Ah, I'm already a criminal." Raymond bluntly stated.

"What?!" Hephaestus jumped back in shock.

"Sorry for telling you this so late into meeting you, but I am a criminal. Or rather, a soon to be criminal. You may not be aware of this, but I am an escaped slave." Raymond informed him before he turned around and removed his shirt, feeling no shame in revealing the slave mark on his back. Hephaestus once again let out another shriek of shock after seeing such a mark. He recognized it all too well.

"The Hoof of the Soaring Dragon. The crest of the World Nobles." Hephaestus mumbled, staring intensely at the mark. "So you were once a slave of the World Nobles?"

"Yeah, that was the case until a few days ago. A buddy of mine and I have escaped from them and now we're on the run." Raymond turned back around to face the blacksmith, putting his shirt back on in the process. "And while on the run I plan on pissing them off for as long as possible until I gather up a massive crew strong enough to someday destroy the World Government, the Marines, and the World Nobles. Since that is one of my dreams, I might as well defeat any organization affiliated with them."

Hephaestus was too stunned to even properly respond to Raymond any further. At first he thought he was a simple, gullible noble that he could manipulate into buying some of his merchandise. Then he believed he was a penniless traveler. But now he finally learned the truth. The man was a former slave of the World Nobles that planned to destroy them some day. Such a declaration alone was more than enough for the World Government to issue out a bounty on him and then have him executed upon capture. But somehow Raymond was alive and there was no mention of his escape or bounty placed on him yet.

He didn't want to get involved with this man. He couldn't afford to get involved with this man. It was far too dangerous. Anyone caught harboring an escaped slave of the World Nobles would be branded as criminals and possibly executed or worse…being turned into slaves themselves.

"You need to get out of here…right now!" Hephaestus glared at Raymond.

"Kicking me out now are you? Oh well, I understand. You don't want to get in trouble." Raymond shrugged his shoulders, feeling in different about Hephaestus treating him rather harshly now. It wasn't like he could blame him. He knew exactly what the old man was thinking.

"Listen, I have nothing against you kid. But I cannot afford to be brought down because of you." Hephaestus clenched his hands into fists and looked down to the floor. "If you wish to continue with your dreams of destroying the World Nobles or whatever, I will not stop you. But you need to take into consideration the repercussions of your actions. If the World Nobles figure out that you're here, they will not hesitate to send Admirals here to burn this entire island to the ground. Simply talking to me is endangering my life as well as the lives of others."

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right about that." Raymond nodded his head in understanding of the situation, realizing that the blacksmith was indeed correct with his statement. "Okay, well I promise I'll get out of your hair. But before that, can you do me a huge favor?"

"No I cannot! Do you understand what will happen if I help you and the World Government finds out about this?" Hephaestus angrily shouted.

"Relax old man, it's nothing too serious." Raymond removed his shirt again and turned his back to the blacksmith, revealing his slave mark once again. "I just want you to brand something over my mark."

"You want me to hide your slave mark?" Hephaestus quietly murmured, knowing that doing such a thing was forbidden. He had heard that freed slaves would immediately put some sort of mark over their slave mark as a way to conceal their statuses as slaves.

"Hide it? No way. I don't want to do anything like that." Raymond shook his head defiantly, confusing the blacksmith in the process.

"Wait, what? You don't want to hide your slave mark?"

"No, I don't. It is true that this slave mark is my greatest shame and that I will always carry it on my back for the rest of my life. This mark signifies that I am "less than human". So I wish to regain a bit of my "humanity" by placing a mark over this one. Not to conceal it, but to empower it. Others would seek to hide their shame and forget that they were once slaves. Well not me. Knowing that I was a slave fuels my desire to see to it that they are dragged down to hell where they belong."

"Oh my god..." Hephaestus spoke softly.

"Do you have a cross out branding iron?" Raymond turned around and looked to the blacksmith with pleading eyes. Hephaestus clicked his tongue and looked around for the branding iron, deciding to simply get this over with so that the young man could leave his store for good and never come back to bother him. He eventually found one and showed it to the young man.

"Is this the one you're referring to?" Hephaestus sighed.

Raymond looked to the branding iron and smiled. "Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about. I want you to brand my back. Put it over my current slave mark. It shall be the Jolly Roger of my pirate crew."

"Pirate crew? You escape from horrid life of a slave and yet you wish to become a pirate instead of going into hiding?" Hephaestus was flummoxed by Raymond's logic. Any sane person would go into hiding for the rest of their lives after escaping from the World Nobles. But not Raymond. He was doing something idiotic and becoming a pirate instead. The blacksmith wanted to call him out on his stupidity and recklessness, but he decided against it. No longer wanting to involve himself with that man after branding him.

"Don't you start to lecture me too. I already get enough crap from my First Mate." Raymond dropped down onto his knees and showed his back to the blacksmith. "Just stick the branding iron in the fire for a little bit and then brand me. After that I will leave your shop."

"You'd better. If anyone finds out what I've done for you so far, I'm a dead man." Hephaestus reluctantly followed Raymond's orders and placed the branding iron in the flames within the fireplace. He kept it in there for a few minutes before pulling it out and pressing it against Raymond's skin without warning. He had expected the young man to holler out and writhe in pain. But that never happened. There was no reaction from him whatsoever.

Even Raymond was surprised by this. His heart was racing moments ago before the hot piece of iron touched his skin. He could hear the sound of his flesh being burned by the hot piece of iron, but there was no pain strangely enough.

"You're certainly an odd one. No doubt that Jolly Roger of yours will make you an enemy of the entire world. I don't feel sorry for anyone that dares to sail under the flag that carries such a symbol as their Jolly Roger." Hephaestus removed the branding iron from Raymond's back and he stared intensely at the new symbol now placed there. Certainly the World Government would capture and execute anyone that raised a pirate flag with a symbol of the World Nobles crossed out.

"Finished already are you, old man? Does it look cool? Tell me! Does it look cool?!" Raymond constantly looked over his shoulders, trying his best to get a good view of the new symbol placed on his back.

"I don't know if I would use the word "cool" to describe that symbol. To be honest, you could have chosen a more traditional symbol. Like the classic skull and cross bones for instance." Hephaestus mentioned, soon coming to regret saying such words. He was beginning to return to his casual manner of speech.

"Traditional is boring. Sometimes simplicity is key. I've decided to use a simple symbol unthinkable by most pirates. This symbol is a clear sign of my goals. Anyone that lays their eyes on this symbol will know who I am and what I am after." Raymond proudly stood to his feet, placing his shirt back on. "Thank you for your help old man. As promised, I will get out of your hair."

Raymond turned to Hephaestus and bowed his head out of respect for the old man. He knew how troubling and dangerous it must have been for him to do such a thing, so he planned to no longer cause any further trouble for him than he already had. He raised his head and then bid farewell to the old man before finally leaving the weapon shop.

Once Raymond had left, Hephaestus sat back down on the crate and heaved a heavy sigh of relief. Despite the things he had done today, he had hoped that nothing else would happen to him. So far no one on the island besides him knew that Raymond was an escaped slave. As long as no one found out such crucial information and the young man somehow managed to leave the island without causing some kind of ruckus, then he would be in the clear of any future trouble that the young man was certainly going to cause. The smart thing to do would be to call the marines and inform them about his location so that they could capture him. But the old man wasn't going to do that. He wanted to completely wash his hands of the situation. No matter what happened from here on out, he was not going to get involved.

"That damn kid…he's just as troublesome as the other brat that crossed paths with Nefarious Cage a few days ago." He sighed and looked up at the stone ceiling. "I wonder how she's doing by the way. Hmmm…probably dead by now. No one messes with them and gets away with it."


Meanwhile outside of the weapon shop, Raymond continued to leisurely stroll down the street of the large town, whistling a joyous tune to himself. It had already gotten quite dark since he first set foot on this island. So he needed to find a place to sleep for the night. But of course the issue of money came up again. He had none. He didn't have a job either. Clearly no one would be willing to hire him at this point in time, not at this time of night. But Raymond wasn't too worried about this. He simply continued with his stroll and headed towards the docks.

He couldn't wait to show Jaw the new mark on his back. The symbol that their crew would use as their Jolly Roger to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies. He could see it now, future enemies falling by his feet in sheer awe of such a dangerous symbol. He knew that using such a symbol as a Jolly Roger would immediately incite the wrath of the entire world. But he didn't care about that at all. As far as he was concerned, the world could go ahead and go to hell considering the organizations that were running it. He was going to be the man that would destroy those organizations. So in essence, he was going to destroy the world.

The new symbol on his back was the symbol of his defiance. His defiance against the World Nobles. His defiance against the World Government. His defiance against the Marines. His defiance against the whole damn world. It was beginning. His plans for revenge were about to begin. It had not been long since his escape and he already had the opportunity to land a blow against the World Nobles. It happened a lot sooner than he had initially expected, but he wasn't going to complain.

"Nefarious Cage. It's been years since I've heard that name. I remember it quite well in fact..." Raymond menacingly spoke to no one in particular. "I remember that I've been cursing that wretched organization every day since I've become a slave. It's not every day you get the chance to crush the very organization that captured and sold you off as a slave to the World Nobles in the first place. I look forward to crushing them beneath my feet. They will be my first stepping stone towards my goal to greatness and revenge."


A/N: And this marks the end of this chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed it! Don't forget to leave a review, I would really appreciate it! There are only three spots open for the crew! Come and get them while you still can! :D


Berserker Pirates

Captain-Raymond Everett

First Mate-Jaw

Second Mate-Taken by PirateDragons121

Navigator-Taken by Troliver1994

Doctor-Taken by Origm2012

Cook-?

Musician-Taken by MyDearWatson

Swordswoman-Taken by Tomanyideas

Entertainer-Taken by Stargaze Valintime

Archaeologist-Taken by Strawhatsrule

Shipwright-Taken by Outcast001

Marksman-Taken by theDarkRyder

Chronicler-Taken by Lightning God Traxid

Blacksmith-Taken by KingKatsu

Helmsman-?

Lookout-Taken by MorFaeSparLightning

Quartermaster-?

Spy-Taken by PokemonKing0924

Assassin-Taken by SomethingAppropriate

Underworld Broker-Taken by Dreadburner94

Demolition Expert-Taken by Shirou Fujimura


Please Review and Enjoy!